Christmas is coming up fast and I keep getting myself in deeper with the genealogy gifts. I started making family trees for Mark’s aunts. Next thing I knew I was researching their husbands to include in their individual trees. The aunt that married the Shipley was easy. There are hundreds of them, all buried in the same place with lots of descendants doing research. We had even been out to the cemetery in Dora, Ozark, Missouri, in the middle of no where and then take a left, so I had a feel for the family and the size. The aunt that married the Good is another story. I spent an evening picking and digging around and Mark even called his mother for help.
I ended up using the charting companion that was sent with my Family Tree Maker to create the family trees. It displays each generation in a different color and I included the siblings on the chart. I am sure these will stir up even more conversation. To keep things neat I “borrowed” works color printer and copied them off on legal size paper. It also means a lot less taping for me. Mailing tubes, which I picked up at the office supply store, gives them a place to store the document.
To round out the gifts, I printed off a couple of the lines of family in document form. I did find interesting stories on some of the people, from those who blew themselves up in gun powder factories to the one that was ambushed and killed. A copy or 2 more today and I should be ready to go.
It has been more fun messing with Mark’s family tree, for now his dead folks have been more “chatty” and easy to find. I haven’t stumbled on too many of the sullen silent types yet.