Happy New Year! I started my New Year off right. A couple of years ago I purchased Genealogy of David Elder, Margery Stewart compiled by Thomas A Elder from Wooster Ohio. It has a lot of information that goes down through my mother’s side of the family and my grandfather is in it.
I had used it to verify information and had to laugh as they had my Great Uncle Ross in it as Rosa. The book is signed from the author on the first page with “compliments of the author” and has a few of his handwritten notes inside of it. The paper is fragile and the book is dated from 1905, stapled together with a cover sheet glued to the outside.
When I had finished with the book I had placed it somewhere safe and promptly forgot where that was. I have searched this house over multiple times looking for the small book, no bigger than 5” by 7” and no thicker than ¼ inch. Positive that I had placed it with other genealogy data I repeatedly searched those places. Like all information the more times you go over it the more likely you are to have an “aahh hahh!” moment. It was gone, swallowed up in some recess of this house, never to be seen again.
I grabbed a file holder and moved it New Years eve. I have no idea why I still have most of what is housed in the metal stand; it hasn’t even been touched in a couple of years. Glancing down at it as I adjusted its placement on the desk I noticed something tucked between two file folders. I reached in and pulled out the little genealogy book that I had placed for safe keeping and had been hunting for. Why in the world I would have stuffed it in there is beyond me at this point.
As I looked through the book again I noticed that there was a lot of information in it that I had not entered in my data base. At the time I purchased the book I was looking for more specific information and this time I looked broader. There is even some information that I may be able to find right here in Memphis.
My New Years Resolution is to stop hiding my genealogy information in "Safe Places."