Hidden Photos: Negatives In The Rightmeier Trunk

The trick is that you can’t find the hidden treasure until you start digging. Often enough, if you take the leap and do something, something will happen. Probably not what you thought, but something.  Debbi Fields Recently, I found a packet of hidden photos in the form of photo negatives.  This occurred as I was digging  […]

Aunt Beulah’s House Smiles Again – A Happy Miller Reunion

There is an eternal landscape, a geography of the soul; we search for its outlines all our lives.  Josephine Hart My childhood is steeped in geography with Aunt Beulah’s House as a significant one.  These locations connect to relationships and key events.  In most cases, when memory recalls a particular occasion, it includes a place: […]

My Grandfathers’ Rocking Chairs – What They Represent

There is a peacefulness, an air of reflection, about a rocking chair that attaches to no other moving object. – Wallis Simpson We are fortunate that two rocking chairs, one from each side of my family, the Hancocks and the Rightmeiers, remain in the family. We do not know much about them, except they were […]

When The Waters Divide To Reveal Your Story – Step Two

A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin, and culture is like a tree without roots. – Marcus Garvey We are walking through the basic steps to reveal your story.  I began in a previous BLOG with step one: write down what you know. Using, as an example, a side of my family […]

How To Rescue A Precious Buried Lost Story – Step One

Discover how to visit the past and bring yesterday’s stories into our lives today” ― Gillian Hovell, ‘Visiting the Past’ We all have a buried lost story or two that sits in the back of our minds asking to be brought to light.  It may be a family story, which is the most precious, but could […]

Three Ways To Use DNA To Authenticate And Launch Your Story

DNA opens an even more mysterious door to understanding the human condition: all of our ancestors live within each one of us whether we are aware of it or not. ― Laurence Overmire, from:   The One Idea That Saves The World: A Message of Hope in a Time of Crisis There is science that bears out the […]

What Wonderful Stories Lurk In Mysteries Within Vintage Family Albums?

“When A Photo Outlives The Memory, Write The Story…Give It A Voice – Again”. – Nancy Cullen Making wonderful stories, twenty or so members of my mother’s extended family gathered for Thanksgiving this past year.  Although we kept in touch remotely, due to the health emergency, it had been a couple of years since we […]

Every Last Generation Is A Powerful Servant Of The Next

“He shows mercy from generation to generation to all who fear him.” – ‭‭Luke‬ ‭1:50‬ ‭NLT‬‬ God’s mercy in every last generation, goes beyond simply not getting what we all know we deserve.  The word for mercy embraces His covenant love for all of mankind.  However, a critical element is mankind’s individual choice to receive […]

When A Surprise Truth About Family Story Is Exposed-Do These Three Things

“Fred and August (Rightmeier) came to America in the year 1864 at the age of 14 and 16 years.”  – written by Melinda Rightmeier in the family Bible. As we have explored my family history, surprise truth has exposed details that have delighted, given me pause, and stirred up great gratitude for the courage and […]