Merry Christmas!

Here's wishing all a very Merry Christmas, or whatever holiday you may celebrate!

Nice forms

I found some nice forms here:

http://kindredkeepsakes.com/products/charts/free.html

They also have products to help with family heritage. One is a custom memory book. The
price is based on size of the book, number of pages and whether it is black and white or in color.
You can get a custom estimate here:

http://kindredkeepsakes.com/products/charts/free.html

Examples:

http://kindredkeepsakes.com/examples/index.html

Where does the time go?

It is so busy this time of year! I have done some research and found some information and records. I have even found some records for my dh's maternal lines in Scotland. I decided I needed to write out family charts etc, just getting too many people in all our lines now. I go to the library to do research also, I can access more websites that way, so I need the charts and other info to carry with me. Getting it all written out has taken some time, besides what I could print out, and some of it is to share with my brother and cousins, etc.

I received a notice that the Irish Times newspaper is celebrating 150 years in publication by letting you access its digital article archive free through December 14. I am off to do some research there now.

http://www.irishtimes.com/150/

No internet!

Been without the internet for almost 5 days! Yikes, and when it was working it was slower than the worst dialup!
We have it back and they hook us up in a different area of the line, we have cable internet.

I hope you were able to use the free access at Ancestry.com to look up any family members that served in the U.S. military. Right now Footnote.com has free access to Holocaust records. My dad was in the service during WWII and he took a lot of photos and some are from the rescue of some people at the death camps. Such a terrible tragedy. The free search was suppose to be only for October, but they extended it until the end of the year. Who knows, anyone might have a family member that was connected to someone that died in those awful camps, or have family members that died or were rescued from them.

http://go.footnote.com/holocaust_records/

Time goes by too fast!

I have been so busy, more contacts with distant cousins for my lines and dh's lines. One person had family photos of my FIL when he was young with his parents and even photos of his grandparents, that neither my dh or his siblings had ever seen. So I'm in the process of sending out emails, but will have to burn CDs since their dialups can't handle the size/quality. The distant cousin of my dh said I could copy all the info in her tree, they connect aways back, and is much farther in that line than I thought I would find any time soon. My head is whirling with all the new findings. I am presently trying to organize some binders instead of the box I was using. I will still keep the box and folders for the other findings, like history of areas etc, but the main info will go into the binders. I signed up with NewspaperArchive.com again, finding so much with them. I got a deal through WorldVitalRecords.com to sign up for half price. Well best get back to research while the house is quiet and I am alone. Happy hunting! :)

Time flew by!

Wow time has just sped by and I am so busy. Still recovering from 3 broken toes, and still unable to start physical therapy for my injured spine because of them. I am so accident prone!

I have been working on my research, and purchased some good used genealogy books, can't see buying new if they look almost new. I did buy one new book, and will use the money I would spend on new books for more new books I need and for use on paid sites.

I also purchased some credits at scotlandspeople.gov.uk , and found some documents on my dh's maternal line. I also set up some more memorials at findagrave.com and put in some photo requests and they were filled right away. We live live out of state from where family is buried and hadn't been able to get back to take some photos.

I also have another second cousin and her husband doing research, and we recently hooked up to share some info. I feel very fortunate to now have some family members interested in genealogy and doing research who will also share info.

No surgery and other stuff

I thought I would have to have surgery on my neck, but the dr is too worried about paralysis because of bleeding disorder and sensitivity of my body, so no spine injection either. I will just do a steroid pack and then physical therapy. That is a relief! :)

Don't you hate it when you share your research with extended family members and they use it but don't give you credit, or even share what they find? Well I learned that lesson after sharing the tons of info I had found over the years, including things my mother had and even the family tree I made as a high school student. It is very sad that people are that way, but I will no longer share everything, only the basics. I have already started doing that, they lose out, but if they want to be that way I don't feel I have to share everything. I was always more than willing to share info, links, documents, photos, and even newspaper articles I personally own. I thought others would be the same way, but I was wrong. :(

Free sewing/quilting patterns

I just got an email notice of a new free breast cancer pin pattern at ConnectingThreads , and they have nice other patterns, I think there are at least 75 now. The patterns include quilt squares, purses, pillows and even a doll quilt. I thought the quilt blocks would make nice templates for scrap LOs especially for LOs on heritage pages. If you are into sewing and/or quilting check it out. I was checking their fabric selection for a scrapbook cover I want to make. I find that some of the quilting specialty shops have some unusual fabrics. :)

My computer died!

Wow I cannot believe how long it has been since I last posted. I have been busy though, between my computer totally crashing, buying a new computer which was a 64 bit and everything I have is for a 32 bit, so that computer went back and my son finally decided I had to start from scratch on my old computer, and hopefully it would work for a while until I could find something else I liked to replace it. He used some Linux disk that made a virtual XP so I could copy my last entries and then he wiped the computer clean and reinstall XP. He used a more updated version so it is a bit different. Then I had some injuries along the way, some sprained fingers one time, with one that looked broken but wasn't, then , I broke a toe and injured a couple of others. I am always breaking or spraining fingers or toe, it seems to be a way of life! I don't have much reinstalled on the computer yet, it has been slow going with injuries along the way. I do have a site to share that I thought was interesting, besides the similarity in name. I found her site from her bio, she had posted a tombstone photo for me on findagrave.com. I sure appreciate those that are so generous with their time.

World, Eastern, Europe and England maps
http://www.packrat-pro.com/maps/maps.htm
Timeline for 4 million years ago through 1600 AD
http://www.packrat-pro.com/timeline/timeline.htm
Pilgrim period shiplists
http://www.packrat-pro.com/ships/shiplist.htm
Her links page, lots there
http://www.packrat-pro.com/links/linkstree.htm

Computer Woes Again!

Well just when it seemed things were going fine, my computer acted up. My youngest son started running various scans, including some online scans and found another trojan and a few spyware! It was a busy week anyway, so it was just as well the scans were done when I didn't have much time to be online. I had a couple of doctor appointments and one was not fun at all, I had some nerve channel checks and the worse pain ever! I would rather give natural childbirth again! I even blacked out a couple of times and have bruises on my arm from the needles that had attached wires. It seems I have cervical radiculopathy or in layman's terms a pinched nerve. It is around or in my 6th vertebra, or maybe it was 7th, I was not very alert after the testing. The options do not sound fun either. I am hoping I won't need surgery, and can try all the other options first. No more heavy lifting or most of my gardening for now. :(

My cousin in Sweden and I are starting to share more information and he will translate when necessary. I am making more headway on lines I didn't think I would ever break through the brickwall or ever find much. It just goes to show if you keep at it you might break through! :)

Footnote.com is offering access to the 1930 U.S. Federal Census free for the month of August.

Genealogy Wise

A friend told me more about a new social networking site . I had heard of it when it was first starting up
but hadn't been back to check on it again until my friend mentioned it today. I noticed there are different types of groups, like by ethnic background or interest. I looked over a Swedish one I noticed on the first page of listings and then checked out a few others. Some of these have few or no members yet, but I think that more people will be joining as word spreads. I will have to check more into it. We are having lots of storms so have to get off the computer again. I have only been on a few minutes a couple of times and the rest of the week will be the same. Oh well I need to read a couple of new genealogy books I bought. :)

www.genealogywise.com

Made contact!

I made contact with a second cousin in Sweden! I am so happy and we are starting to share information! He saw one of my posts on a message board. If you haven't gone to www.findagrave.com, you should to set up a memorial for your ancestors and if you are not able to visit the area, you can request that someone take a photo of the headstone. You might find some interesting information or at least see the headstone. I have done that and some people are so nice they take the photo and post it right away. I am goimg to try and trace some of my dh family in Canada and other areas of the US and see if I can get some more photos. I requested a transfer of a couple of ancestors but the people wouldn't do it. I did get them to correct some info and attach a link to one or more other memorials of family, parents of siblings. Happy hunting! :)

Find a Grave

I've been spending some time searching on findagrave.com and found a lot of ancestors listed. I recently had some memorials transferred to me, as the person who first set them up was not related she was just being an angel and helping others find their families. I also found out that they have a forum, which was very interesting. They have a general area and then one for cemetery and genealogy research help. That area is listed by country and then by state for the U.S.. I found some links that will be useful in my research and you can request lookups also. It just proves that there is more online all the time. Rechecking sites can be very helpful. I have so many lines to check, that I get lost at times deciding which to stay with. I try to check all the names I can at various sites, including some of a couple of good friends. Keeps me busy! Be sure to check them out, they do have info for other countries also. You can request a photo of a cemetery/headstone in the forums by country, they are not posted on the site, at least not yet. I don't know how they do it, it is still free! :)

My Passenger List Results

Well I didn't find much looking at the passenger lists, but I did stumble upon another person who posted a family tree with some of the same family members as my DH. I had free access to that, I pay for a part of Ancestry, so I didn't need to sign up for a free account and I can save documents or persons to a family tree or shoebox for later research.

Now I have more info and the citations for the sources used by that very distant cousin of my DH. This was a big break through, since many members in the maternal line were in Canada. Later I will sign my DH up for a trial membership with Ancestry.ca and see if we can find more information, and especially save some of the documents that were cited. I am still hoping to evenutally have a full worldwide membership with Ancestry since between the two of us we need access to a minumum of 10 countries.

Hope others were able to find info also. :)

Free Passenger List Search

Through July 3rd, you can search for free at Ancestry.ca. I just found out about it late tonight, July 2nd, so I have been searching for any ancestors who might have gone to Canada first before they themselves or family moved to America. I have some I have never found on ship lists. :)

Info here:
http://www.ancestry.ca/about/default.aspx?section=pr-2009-6-29

Direct link to search:
http://search.ancestry.ca/iexec/Default.aspx?htx=List&dbid=1263&offerid=0%3a7858%3a0

FTM 100 Best Websites 2009

Just received my latest newsletter from Family Tree Magazine, and in it was the link to the 2009 best 100 websites. I've found some good info in the past lists. :)

http://familytreemagazine.com/101for2009/

Wayback Machine

I have found this site to be so helpful in finding info from links that no longer work. This is especially useful in genealogy since more and more links I saved from a few years ago, no longer worked. I have been able to find info, even pdf files of booklets to help me with research. Go to the site, enter the link that no longer works, and it will show info by year, which is great if the site had newsletters, links etc, which you can now read or even download. :)

http://www.archive.org/index.php

FREE Photo Editing Class!

Here's a great deal, a free class, can't beat that! I took one of her other classes and it was great. I enjoy going to her site and reading her blogs also. Check it out here :) :

http://www.jessicasprague.com

Where has the time gone?

I have been busy with my Swedish research. I didn't expect to find much, but after getting the hang of using Genline, and trying to figure out the handwriting, and then some help at the genforum at Genealogy.com, I found ancestors several generations back so far. I even found when my ancestors changed their surname and that some siblings also came to America. That trial period was so worth it. I found birth, marriage and the household records. My biggest problem was trying to read the names written. Luckily all the ancestors stayed in the same general area, county, so that helped. I would get lost for hours and hated to end it. I wish I could find some photos to go along with it all, but maybe someday I will track down a cousin with some photos of someone. I didn't even read much email, so have tons to catch up on. I haven't even checked out any of my genealogy newsletters, and those are very important to me. Here's hoping it will be a good week, month ahead for all. :)

Old script in research

I finally got to start doing research at Genline.com on my Swedish lines. They have copies of the original records, boy that handwriting is hard to read. I have seen some pages that were very nice and easier to read, but so far no such luck for me. I didn't have much to start with, but I did find a couple of things I think are the right people. I definitely found the marriage record for my great grandparents, who were the first to come to live in America, at least as far as I know. I wasn't sure what the names were following each of their names, so posted at the Sweden Genforum asking for help. One nice woman replied right away, she had most of it figured out, and as I was leaving a thank you, she posted the 1880 census which was full of information. I am going to try to decipher the handwriting as best as I can, I hate to ask for help again already. I decided to look online for some help reading the handwriting, most of what I found was German script, but some looked similar and then I stumbled on an old Swedish document for practicing writing, so it should help me. I found some help at Cyndi's List and then looking for fonts to download too. So I have 2 links to share. The font site has many fonts of various types. :)

http://www.cyndislist.com/handwrit.htm

www.fonts101.com

Do you Tweet?

Well I haven't done it yet, but I do go to a few listings for genealogy, etc. It is short so you can get a link and go. I found some info today while doing some research and wanted to share. :)

http://twitter.com/fairangels
genealogy. photography and writing

Then something totally new, I never heard of before, but you can join a group of people with similar interests:

http://www.twibes.com/
twibes twitter groups

A Place To Bark

I found a story about a wonderful woman, her name is Bernie Berlin. She is an artist, and runs a full time dog rescue, which also includes cats. She is having a fund raiser and in these times she is losing money and grants. She needs blankets, food, etc, there is a list on her blog, besides even a dollar. She has a matching grant of $10,000, so every dollar she brings in counts for two. Please consider donating. We sure need more people like her! :)

http://aplacetobark.blogspot.com/2009/03/ten-to-life-place-to-barks-annual.html

Antivirus Programs and a free frame

Well my son kept telling me he would try the Bit Defender Total Security on my computer again, but I wouldn't let him so he put it on his computer, and same thing happened, his computer froze up! So I am not going to get Bit Defender's full package, I will go with Kaspersky again. I heard back from Genline and they told me how to change some settings in Kaspersky so I could use their viewer. I hope to get that fixed by this weekend or the beginning of next week. In the mean time we are going to be busy getting ready and working on some minor remodeling, a new dishwasher (the oold one died a while ago) and replacing a few things in the main bathroom. I will have to put any research on hold until next week. Have a good weekend! :)

Get a free polaroid frame here:
http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/freedownloads/ht/polaroidframe.htm

Digital enhancement, soft fade vignette

I found a couple of tutorials on making a vignette effect to a photo. I have done this a few times, I found it is especially great on old photos, but also great on new photos. I really like the oval fade away that softens the look of your subject. Hope this is useful. :)

http://legacynews.typepad.com/legacy_news/2009/04/digital-picture-enhancement-tips-cloning-and-vignettes.html


http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/pselements/ht/ndvignette.htm

http://graphicssoft.about.com/cs/photoshop/ht/apsvignette.htm

Computer Woes!

Once again I have computer issues. My antivirus security program, is getting ready to expire soon, so I have to either renew it or buy something else. When my computer was full of trojans etc, my son downloaded a free version of Bit Defender's anitvirus program and it found what was causing issues on my computer and I was able to remove the trojans. So my son decides I should try a 30 day free trial of their full security program, but I still had my Kaspersky and well to make it short, they didn't like each other! I had constant crashes, even in safe mode. It took hours to get it to stay on long enough to do anything. I finally got it to last so I could restore to an earlier date and with both of us working on it the computer is fine now. I am not sure if my computer will take the full Bit Defender program now or not. This poor computer is bits and pieces from Dell, they made it supposedly for Vista but it wouldn't work even with the Dell printer, which they sent me a new one that also wouldn't work with it. Finally after months or replacements we sent it back for XP to be put on it, but they made us send them all the CDs for all the programs. We received this computer badly dented (we believe they kicked it from the way the box looked) and they would never respond to any calls after that. We only had help to begin with going through the Better Business Bureau, but then some jerk took the next step and just stopped it all! We had to try to bend the computer back into shape and one USB no longer worked and one only worked at times. I will never buy a Dell computer again, nor will others I know who have had problems especially with customer support. We talked to people at the Texas main office and then another office in the US and even with that it is a company who doesn't stand behind their product or care if it is under warranty. Our attorney general is a joke and it was useless to complain there either. Well I hope to return later for some info and links. Have a good day! :)

Genealogy magazine reviews and info

I really enjoy checking out new posts on Dear MYRTLE's new blog, Internet-Genealogy Blog, you should check it out. She writes tips and info about 4 genealogy magazines. The latest post has an article from Discovering Family History, which included a link to get genealogy forms. I really liked a few of them, including a larger eight generation fan shaped family tree chart and a few for making family time lines. You can also get a free issue of Discovering Family History magazine at their site. I enjoy some of the genealogy magazine. Right now I am only getting Family Tree Magazine, but I do purchase a few others at times at a local bookstore. I am still trying to learn more about researching. :)

Links:
http://blog.internet-genealogy.com/
http://discoveringfamilyhistory.com/FreeTrialOffer.htm
http://www.cs.williams.edu/~bailey/genealogy/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzEmail&utm_content=%3C$BlogListID$%3E&utm_campaign=%3C$BlogCycleName$%3E

Perpetual Calendar

This site is so cool! You can enter a date and find the day of the week on which it occurred. I looked up when my parents were born and then a few relatives farther back. I like being able to have the day of the week for my genealogy, and it makes me think of the old nursery rhyme about the days of the week. :)

A Week of Birthdays

Monday's child is fair of face,
Tuesday's child is full of grace,
Wednesday's child is full of woe,
Thursday's child has far to go,
Friday's child is loving and giving,
Saturday's child works hard for its living,
But the child that's born on the Sabbath day
Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay.

Enter any month, day year from 0001-9999:
http://www.wiskit.com/calendar.html

World Digital Library

Interesting site, useful for students and genealogy/history research. The best part is it's free! This is a site for the whole world, there are maps, history, images, all sorts of info. It is divided basically by continent. I tried Europe and found a lot I want to look over. I picked one item, a map of Austria-Hungary, and was able to zoom in very close to read the names of cities. I will definitely be going back to look at info on my areas of research. It is available in several languages too. :)

about the project
http://project.wdl.org/project/english/index.html

the actual library
http://www.wdl.org/en/

Free searches and software

Family Search is especially helpful for those starting out or not wanting to invest money in software. The LDS (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), offers so much at their website. You can search and use their free software, PAF (Personal Ancestral File), plus they have help files and forms to print out. I was directed to do searches at their site and found the help available useful. They even have info by country and dictionaries etc. Since I have many countries I need to research, I make sure to check with them and recheck months later. They are adding new info all the time too. In fact you can get lost for hours researching and reading all the info available on the site.

Also be sure to check for a Family History Center near you. :)

Search, software, a local center, helps etc, find it all here:

Family Search

Happy Earth Day!

Well it is Earth Day once again. It gets more attention this year than it has in a long time. It seems every decade since the 70s movement to save the environment by recycling and reuse, things change for a while. I remember buying books for my sons when they were young, about saving the earth and wildlife. There were even some kids shows about it, along with it being taught in school. The attitude to change and be more earth friendly seems to come and go. I wish it would stay for good this time. I want the world to be a clean, beautiful place for my sons, their future children and future generations. Okay off my soap box. :)

Find Alternate Surname Spellings

This site is really great for helping with researching, especially more difficult surnames. I tried it and found spellings I never would have thought of before and you can also try the search on given names. :)

http://www.familytrackers.com/ftprelogin/soundexsurname.jsp

Secret from WWII

I found a very interesting story in my recent GeneaNet newsletter. Women were truly doing their share of fighting in WWII by the jobs they held. This story is about a woman in Fresno, California whose job was one of an elite group of interceptor operators. Their job was to type the Japanese radio broadcasts to be decoded. To read more:

http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/1339552.html

Surprises all around

I found a way to sign up to receive notices from the CDC (Center for Disease Control) and the FDA (U.S. Food & Drug Administration). I cannot believe how many notices a day I receive! The CDC does give out some good health info for women etc, you can pick what you want. The FDA sends out recalls which aren't only food, but also plasma, blood, drugs, surgical devices, even surgical instruments! One notice today was for surgical scissors that had rough outer edges that could cause injury to blood vessels during surgery, and another was a recall for plasma and blood because a donor had traveled in Malaria infested areas! I signed up because of all the food recalls on the news but never expected the variety of things being recalled. Like there isn't enough going on these days!

I signed up for Genline to do some Swedish research, only to find out my antivirus will not allow me to install their viewer, says it has a Win32 trojan installer. I contacted Genline and explained my Kaspersky found a trojan and what should I do. I received a quick reply, they tried it out with Kaspersky and had the same result, so they contacted Kaspersky labs and I am waiting to hear if anything can be done. At least I was given the option to get a refund or wait and see. I would like to try them out and see if I can find any info, I don't have much to go on.

Great short genealogy tips

I hope you had a nice Easter, I did, even though part of the day was spent cooking and cleaning up.
I found a blog with some really great genealogy tips I wanted to share.

http://georgegmorgan.livejournal.com/

Happy Easter!

I hope you have a wonderful Easter. I'm still working at organizing my genealogy and thinking I will start a journal on the computer, it takes too long to write it out plus I might misplace it. I was thinking whenever something reminds me of the past, whether growing up or my kids, I could write it out and have it for family history or for scrapping. I sure wish previous generations had done that so I would know more about how life was for them. :)

Free ebook through Family Tree Magazine

I was just reading through old email and found this link for a free ebook from Family Tree Magazine. You have to sign up for their newsletter, but the ebook, Best of the Photo Detective, is from Photo Detective and worth signing up. Plus the newsletter is worth receiving also. You don't have to subscribe to the magazine, although I do and enjoy all the tips and links. If you get a pop up to subscribe to the magazine you can click no if you aren't interested. You only need to give your email address and after clicking "submit" you will be taken to the page with the download link. It is in pdf format so you can save it. It is 42 pages of how to look for clues in old photos, especially helpful if you aren't sure of the time period.

http://www.familytreemagazine.com/enews

Time flies!

Gosh the time has flown since the last post. I just haven't been on the computer, too busy. My youngest son has been on spring break and the dh took that time off also. We have been busy cleaning the yard and preparing our vegetable gardens, two separate areas. We bought some plants and those are planted, and of course the weather turned bad, down to freezing and even some light flurries and ice pellets. I also bought a bunch of herbs and as soon as the cold weather stops I will plant some vegetable and flower seeds. I am behind on my research and reading genealogy newsletters and websites. Well our weather alert radio just went off, we are under severe thunderstorm watch, so best get off.

Computer Woes!

Well I got a virus and some spyware yet again! I think I got it from 4shared, so I am not going to be using it any more. It has taken over a week to get rid of it all, the virus just didn't want to go!

Yesterday I spent the day organizing my genealogy, well at least it is all within two bank boxes. I still plan on burning some CDs with info once I get more of it organized and make some more layouts. I am still hoping to find some more info too.

I find lots of help and links at about.com, and one I found today was good on setting up your family history. It explains how geography plays apart and the genealogy of the town is part of what made up regular life for families.

http://genealogy.about.com/od/basics/a/social_history.htm

Free St Patrick's Day images

Lisa Vollrath has the latest holiday downloads available. Be sure to check around her sites for all her great crafts and supplies. :)

http://countdown.tentwostudios.com/

My prayers were answered!

Thanks to my friends and family and their prayers, my breast biopsy results were negative! It has been a tough few weeks of testing and worrying, especially this past week, but Friday, yesterday I got the good news. So I'm good for now and maybe for good, time will tell. I plan to have the BRAC analysis to find out if I carry the genes, since breast cancer runs in my maternal line. Hope things are the same for all of you too if you are ever in the same situation. :)

Free Valentine printables

Lisa Vollrath has some wonderful daily downloads for Valentine's Day. Her sites are very interesting, filled with lots of crafts. Go here to see the downloads: http://countdown.tentwostudios.com/

New Records online at FamilySearch.org

Wonderful news! I just got this info from my Legacy newsletter:

New records online for Argentina, Canada, Costa Rica, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Netherlands, Philippines, United States

from FamilySearch.org: 30 January 2009

Since the last update on January 5, 2009, FamilySearch added over 40 million new records to its Record Search pilot. Individuals with international roots from Argentina, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, and the Philippines will find some nice surprises in the newly added collections.

Birth, marriage, and death records were added for the Netherlands and Ireland. Irish researchers in particular have been anxiously awaiting the 23 million records from the Irish Civil Registration indexes.

These records date from 1845-1958 and are also known as the Statutory Registration Records. Statutory registration for Protestants began in 1845 and for Catholics in 1864.

What Tarot card are you?

You are The Star

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Star is one of the great cards of faith, dreams realised

The Star is a card that looks to the future. It does not predict any immediate or powerful change, but it does predict hope and healing. This card suggests clarity of vision, spiritual insight. And, most importantly, that unexpected help will be coming, with water to quench your thirst, with a guiding light to the future. They might say you're a dreamer, but you're not the only one.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Family Health History

It is very important to have a family health history written down. You can go to this government site and create one to print out and file away and take with you to various doctors.

https://familyhistory.hhs.gov/fhh-web/home.action

Busy, busy!

Well it's been almost a month since my last post because I have been busy with researching. I found another distant relative who has been working on one family line since the mid 70's and we shared some basic info with each other. He will publish a book on the family line soon and hopefully my family and my cousins will be mentioned through their mothers and our grandmothers. I now have a few photos on that line, and he even had some info on another one of my maternal lines because it intersected with the line we share, so I got more info there also! I now have the ancestral home areas for two lines back into Europe. My resolution is to get my genealogy organized so I can see everything I have and get to it easier. I will print and fill out forms, then file in a new file system, at least that is my plan. I hope to make layouts to go with much of the info I find and photos when possible. I won a prize of a gift card at Amazon and bought myself a few genealogy books, so that was a great treat! One can never have too many books for genealogy.