Buried Treasure!

A few months ago my Aunt Babs and I were talking about our family history. She's always been interested in mapping out the family, and she's the one who mentioned years ago that part of our family lineage is documented in the "Hutchins - Hutchens: descendants of Strangeman Hutchins, born 1707, of the James River in Virginia and Surry (Yadkin) County, North Carolina."

I mentioned to my aunt that I'd planned to try to get my grandmother Blanche's birth certificate, among other records, to more fully document our family tree. She told me that she thought that record was among others that she gave to her daughter (my cousin) Susan. So I contacted Susan and asked if she'd mind if I took copies of the records since I'm knee-deep in our genealogy research. Susan graciously offered to give me all of the family paperwork; in return, I told her I would scan and post the significant finds.

So, as I mentioned in a previous blog posting, I went to visit my aunt and cousins in Minnesota early this month. I stayed with Susan (and Doug) at their house. During the day I visited my aunt at the nursing home and in the evenings we dug through the boxes/bags of papers. What a treasure! There were records for things I'd completely forgotten about (like my grandmother worked for the Department of the Navy during WWII) and pictures and artifacts from not only my grandparents but also my great great grandparents. Amazing!

So at the end of the sorting frenzy there were 3 very large piles of paper. Since I couldn't carry that back on the plane with me, I decided to mail it to myself and pray that it got home OK. I started writing this post early today and the box had still not been delivered...I was getting antsy. Thankfully, the mailman delivered the package just a couple of hours ago. I'm in heaven! While I would love to start sorting/organizing/scanning, I'm going to resist for this evening. Tomorrow I'll begin the process slowly and methodically. I just hope I can sleep tonight!

Going Home

As I was growing up I heard stories about Indianapolis, home to the Kingery and Vinson side of my family. I'd never been there but had always thought about visiting. Since I was going to attend my niece Lauren's wedding in Washington at the end of August and also wanted to visit my Aunt Babs in Minnesota, I combined those trips along with a trip to Indianapolis.

While in Indianapolis I wanted to do some genealogical research at various libraries and records offices. I also wanted to visit some of the areas I'd heard about as a child. I spent time in Valley Mills (luckily still a quaint little enclave that's just off Kentucky Ave), tried to find my great grandmother and grandfather Kingery's house on S. Sheffield (wasn't successful), visited the unmarked graves of my Kingery and Vinson ancestors (Floral Park, New Crown, and West Newton cemeteries), and even went to Sunday service at the Valley Mills Friends (Quaker) Church where it seems my great great grandparents worshipped:

I did some research at the Indiana Historical Society (http://www.indianahistory.org/), the Indiana State Library in their separate Genealogy library (http://www.in.gov/library/genealogy.htm), and at the Indiana State Archives (http://www.in.gov/icpr/2358.htm). While I found a few things, I basically just tried to find my way around how Indiana handles its records, discovering that most of what I was trying to find was likely in various Marion County records facilities. Of course by that time my stay in Indiana was coming to a close. Armed with this new understanding, I'll contact the appropriate agencies to continue the search, and hopefully make it back to the area next year to do more on-site research...and to visit the Howell family graves where I was oh-so-close but didn't know they were buried there (another downside of lacking full preparation).

One of the highlights of this trip was meeting my 83-year old aunt Anna...yes, I did say "meet." Anna is my grandfather Albert's daughter from his first marriage. While I had always known about Anna (and her brother "Sonny"), I didn't realize that my Aunt Babs had been in touch with Anna since 1973, the year of my grandfather's death. I had the happy occasion to speak with Anna during my visit to Babs earlier this year, and so arranged to visit Anna during my Indiana trip. My newly-found Aunt Anna was very sweet and welcoming, fixed lunch for the both of us, and we just talked and talked for hours. I was so glad to have made this connection after so many years. Here's my lovely Aunt Anna just before I had to leave for the day:

So, although I'd never been to Indiana, this really did feel like a bit of a homecoming. The stories I was told of this place and our family came alive for me. I felt at home. I plan to visit again next year...perhaps I can get cousin Genna from Texas to join me. Now that would be fun!

Why this? Why now?

Many of my friends and most all of my family know that I've had an interest in family history. That's been challenging given the various skeletons in my family closet! I really got the bug last year when my mother was quite ill...I found myself spending more and more time researching and documenting my family connections.

I'd thought about creating a blog to chronicle certain research and interesting findings but never quite got around to it. Now that I've just returned from a research trip to Indianapolis, the birthplace of my grandparents and mother, it was time to finally start this blog. I don't know how often I'll post...I'm shooting for once a week after what I expect will be a flurry of postings in the next few days.

One thing to note: I plan to tell the truth, rather than to perpetuate the family mythology. As I've already discovered, the truth is just one found record away! Yes, as the name of this blog indicates, and with a nod to George Bernard Shaw: “If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.”