Welcome!

Echo of the Past documents my journey in rediscovering my roots after my last computer was destroyed and I lost the 10,000 names on my family tree.

I'm an ethnic mutt. My background is varied and the world is small; it's likely that my research will help somebody, somewhere, so please feel free to use me as a source if need be.

Feedback is more than welcome, and I read any and all comments I get. I'm also up for trading links. If you're interested, email me at: PrettySiren@gmail.com with "link request" as the subject line. (Genealogy and history sites/blogs only please.)

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Found a Family Pic from 1910!!

I know it's been awhile since I've updated, but that's mainly due to the immense pain of losing all of my research when my last computer had a meltdown. Moral of the story: backup your back ups -- and back those up too.

But I'm back in the genealogy game today, and I came across a rather spectacular find during my first perusal of ancientfaces.com


Click the link to read the poster's description (and also to see who originally posted this). The poster describes Curtis Cole, perhaps his brother Charlie, and some relatives. Well, the time and place were right, so I say, "Mom, come look at this photo, and tell me who the young men on either end are."

And mom comes up and says to me, "That's Grandpa Archie [on the left] and Uncle Bert [on the right]!"

Now, seeing as how the pic is circa 1910, you've probably deduced that Archie can't be Mom's grandpa and nor can Bert be her uncle. That's because Archie is Mom's mom's mom's step-dad. In other words, he's my great-great grandpa (as he adopted my great-grandmother). My great-grandmother's older half-sister, Jess, went on to marry Uncle Bert (her step-uncle). (The announcement literally came in the form of her walking into the living room and saying, "Mom, Dad, I'm marrying Uncle Bert.")

And they were such great guys. I wish I knew them, because not a day goes by where I don't hear a story about the things they did or said. They're very much alive to me, even now. But today (or technically yesterday, now) was the first time I ever saw their faces. (We don't have many family photos.)

On a side note, I will be revamping the layout. I like the background and all, but the narrow width is so 2004 and not conducive to larger photos.