Saturday, July 18, 2009

The Love of the Written Word


JOHN JAMES RALEY was an incredible man. While working away from home for the Railroad Company, he decided that he was going to start writing a book about the history of the family, as well as other news events that he deemed important.


As a result, in the early 1900s he began what would become a 300 page long book in a tall ledger. This book is a gift beyond measure for the family, not only for the obvious family references, but also beacuse he decided to write his feelings about events of the time, included poems he wrote to his wife and children, and included copies of newpaper articles.


I plan to write about some of these contents in the upcoming weeks in the spot, but for now it is such a stark reminder for all of us to begin making our own historical record.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Hello!

This is the beginning of what I hope will be a great way to display information about my ancestors and their life, as well as a forum for discussing other ancestors from the tri-state area of Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky.

My ancestors came from Ireland, England, and Germany and traveled throughout the Eastern seaboard before landing in the tri-state area and then traveling beyond. I plan on sharing the results of searches I complete, cousins I meeet, and the brickwalls I need help with, and more as time goes on.

Welcome!