A New Branch On the Tree

photo by Matt Dunham AP

A lovely and historic day in the UK. Could Kate's parents ever have dreamed this for their child?

As I watched the festivities this morning the thought came to me, over and over, it is so random...this life.

Or is it?  I firmly believe that things happen as they must. We choose the school or take the job or vacation or apartment that leads us on a new path. That path is shared by new people who impact our lives in ways we can't ever imagine at the moment. In my own case, my husband was born and raised in Hong Kong. I am a Montana girl, through and through. How on earth did we ever end up together? 

Briefly,

His older sister moved to the Bahamas.

She met a man from Montana who was working and living in the Bahamas.

They fell in love and got married then moved back to Montana.

My husband wanted to attend university in the US. He couldn't afford school and living expenses, so he registered at the local private college near his sister and moved in with her and her husband.

I registered at the same school that same year.

We met through mutual friends.

The rest is history.

Random? or Destined? You decide.

To their Royal Highnesses Prince William and Princess Catherine, may your days together be full of love and laughter and may you live Happily Ever After!

Having some computer issues

The dreaded computer crash has occurred. However, all the important stuff is safely stowed on the EHD. I'm currently begging computer time from my children and not of the mind to hook the EHD up to one computer after another, so I'm taking a bit of a break from blogging. When things get back on track, I'll be back at it. In the meantime, I'll post when the mood strikes but it won't be often.

Tuesdays Tip...Leave no stone unturned

From Geneabloggers
Tuesday’s Tip – What advice would you give to another genealogist or family historian, especially someone just starting out? Remember when you were new to genealogy? Wasn’t it great to find tips and tricks that worked for others? Post your best tips at your genealogy blog on Tuesday’s Tip. This series was suggested by Susan Petersen of Long Lost Relatives and, in fact, this has been an ongoing series by Lynn Palermo at The Armchair Genealogist and by Miriam Robbins Midkiff at AnceStories: The Stories of My Ancestors. 

My best advice is leave no stone unturned. You want to wring every bit of information out of every document and written source. Use every clue to find new things to research. Don't just focus on your direct ancestor. You must research all their siblings and children and find out everything you can about every person in your tree. Don't overlook newspapers, city directories, school records,  church minutes, county histories, pension files....basically, dont' overlook anything. Your people will pop up in the strangest places. That's most of the fun of it.