Follow Friday - The Family Tree Writer

I've been doing genealogy "officially" since 1990.  Nothing should surprise me, right?  Pffft!

One day, a few months ago, I was wandering around on the internet.  That's no surprise.  I followed a link, then followed one from that one, and so on and so on.  Somehow I found myself at The Family Tree Writer's blog.  I think it may have been one of the daily themed blog events hosted by GeneaBloggers.  Anywho, I read this post and thought I'd help her out with a little information on this beautiful child's death.

She and I have chatted off and on since.  Well, imagine my surprise when I finally took the time to look through her tag cloud and found "Breniman".  Mind you, "Brenneman" was my 4th g-grandmother's maiden name.  I shot her an email and lo and behold....we're cousins!

Sherry's a great person and I can't wait to compare notes with her.  She's a founding member of Sumner County (Kansas) Historical and Genealogical Society and they are hosting Kansas Council of Genealogical Societies on June 19th, 2010. 

Stop by her blog and get to know her!

Do They Really Help Us?

Have you felt "guided"  to a place while doing genealogy research?  I've had this happen several times.

Yeah, I'm sounding all (insert mystical music here) weird, but it's happened several times.  Do the people we research help us in some way?  Sometimes its just a pull to a certain area.  Sometimes, it's the hair on the back of my neck standing up.  It's unexplainable, but....well, it's true.  A friend of mine once said that she'd never knew anyone who could find a cemetery like me.

There was a time we were driving with her mom.  I was in the backseat and yelled "Stop" as we were going up a hill in Clark County, Kentucky.  When I got out of the car, there it was - several, several unmarked graves.  We returned the next day to investigate it more.  There were only two marked graves.  As we wandered around, I found an old telephone insulator on the ground.  As I went to pick it up, I saw that it was resting on a grave.  The grave of William Aldridge.  I stood and looked.  And wondered.  My 2g-grandfather had a brother named William B. Aldridge.  I've been searching for more information on this generation of Aldridges in Clark County.  They don't seem to be connected to the rest of the Aldridges in that county.  Is this the William B. Aldridge I've been looking for?  Why was the insulator found right on his grave?  I'd walked past it a couple of times.  Then, the insulation caught my attention.   Was it  serendipity?  Was it just a coincidence?  What caused this insulator to be on this particular grave?  In the cemetery that only had 2 marked graves....  I have no idea, but it happened.

If you Google "Serendipity Genealogy", there are hundreds of stories like mine.

Did William help me find him?  I believe so.  Is he *my* William?  I can't help but believe it is.  Obviously, more research needs to be done, but, regardless, this is yet another episode in the wonderful, frustrating hobby we all have.