Reviewing and looking forward

Unidentified Woman sitting on steps
of home in Old Hickory TN(likely
Clarke St late 1920s)

 Feeling like I haven't blogged in forever.  It has almost been a month.  I've been working on genealogy though I haven't put any time to blogging about it. That said, I want to use this post to give a bit of an update.  I really don't want to go into what a terrible year this was ....truly it was, but I'd like to think that even given all the loss and heartbreak there is hope and we have reconnected with things which always were important that had been let go by the wayside.  

I was in treatment for breast cancer at the start of the shutdown from the pandemic and I'm glad to say I have finished my treatments from that and used my time to organize things and fight paper clutter.  Sometimes chemotherapy makes it difficult to keep a train of thought but if you narrow it down to one...it's much easier to focus.  

Because of the pandemic, conferences and education has had to adapt and go virtual. This part has actually been a help to me as I was able to attend a conference, society meetings and more webinars this year than in previous years.  I am extremely proud of the genealogical societies in my home state of Tennessee.  The Tennessee Genealogical Society and the Middle TN Genealogical Society have really improved in what they offer members.  I've been a member of both for a number of years and I'm extremely proud of how they were able to adapt in difficult times and continue sharing the love of TN history and family research.

I've been continuing my work on family archives binders.  I found more items to include in the Cooke /Jakes binder and loads more for the Cooke / Luna Binder.  I've also found that I probably have more sheet protectors than I'll ever be able to use.  I've been finding items I'd put back for safe keeping so you never know...

I've been working on organizing and scanning my old family pictures.  This includes my own families current photos as well.  I wish I had more ancestor photos but I guess we all do.  My ancestry in pictures doesn't go back too many generations.  Also while the typical generation is 20 yrs.  in my family it can be much longer.  If you are a Cook(e), Jakes, Luna or Acuff descendant people make sure you share your old family pictures and identify them.  This was something that kept crossing my mind during my treatment.  Wondering if I'd shared all my older family pictures with cousins.  I've uploaded many of them to my Ancestry Tree(and labeled them) as well as to FamilySearch and here on this blog.Just something to think about.

Adding to the Old Hickory Tree that I'd started at Ancestry.com by using the yearbooks from the 1940s.  I'd love to find more of the yearbooks for that high school  I have 1944, 1946 and 1947.  Ancestry has a great deal of the ones after that online.  Ii'd really like to find some of the earlier ones if any still exist.  I have a group picture with Dad's older sisters in it during their younger years.  I think they went to the 7th or 8th grade but not High School.  Their class would have been about 1933 or so if they had finished out high school.

I've been working on a neighborhood study of the area that was Williamson Co TN Dist 25 particularly for the years 1836-1840.   Studying the families that lived there, where they were from, where they went and the later boundary changes of that area.  I've decided it will be a PAGE on the blog rather than one blog post  or a series though I've not ruled out writing about some of the families I find interesting from time to time.  

A new hobby I've picked up for this year is collecting postcards.  This is something my paternal grandmother used to do and I'm fortunate enough to have some of her collection.   I'm focusing on areas in which I have ancestors or where cousins moved.  Also I love the ones which highlight buildings.  I've also purchased some used ones and research the stories of the people who sent them when I have the opportunity.  

I've also been attending Genealogy Chats on Zoom.  In particular the Zoom Genealogy Chat hosted by Lori Thornton.  I really enjoy it and you never know what genealogy topic will be discussed.  Very educational.  If you are interested in this particular one there is a Facebook Group that has the details. Revolutionary War,  Researching Enslaved, Migration and other's success stories or brickwall brainstorming are just a few of the topics.I've enjoyed. 

My plan for this year is to continue what I'm doing because it seems to be working.  Keep on keeping on!