Can I just say that RAOGK RULES, once again??!!

[fudge stripe cookays]

On an off chance it would yield anything, I had a volunteer up in New York State go to the cemetery where my GGG grandfather is buried (yes, another of those pesky Smiths I'm researching!)

The line ends with him. We have very little other information on him other than his death date in 1829. The cemetery transcriptions in books and online show that he and 2 sons were buried in this one cemetery and so I had a volunteer go take pix for me of the stones.

Thank God theyr're still THERE, and still READABLE!! And guess what? No one had ever noted in the transcriptions that Smith's WIFE is also on the stone, with her death date and age when she died! So, now I'm hoping for the best when requesting an obituary from a Newfield paper! Since she was 100, I'd like to think that the family would pay her a decent tribute.

My family had already left for the Midwest, but some of her sons and daughters were still there. And from this, we might get a MAIDEN NAME for her!

I'm about to explode, I'm SO EXCITED!

So guys, if you have not used this service, DO IT! I've written half my book with the help of these volunteers.....
http://www.raogk.org

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[Gormy Cuss]

1. "Off chance" my foot

We genealogists are a bunch of hunch-playing, long shot gamblers. Otherwise we'd get nowhere!

:-)

I've had good luck gleaning clues from photos of headstones and good luck on finding a news story on a centenarian. I have one for a gg-uncle who lived to be 102 and his reminiscences of his early childhood are the only way I discovered the large number of siblings my gg-grandfather had. Through my grandmother I knew of only four, but there were fourteen.

[fudge stripe cookays]

2. Wow!

I so love our forebears who took the time to either write down or tell people about family. I don't know what I would hve done without them!

I'm up in Everett, Washington this weekend. Spent Veterans' Day meeting with more cousins, and scanning more of their photos! I finally got a picture of the last elusive Smith brother I've been searching for for YEARS!

The other cousins are going to be VERY excited! :D

[Montauk6]

3. If you don't mind my asking, how much did it end up costing you?

I've already got 2 or 3 subscriptions so I'd need to know before pursuing.

[fudge stripe cookays]

4. RAOGK is completely free.

Every once in a blue moon, I have someone ask for some gas money or a buck for copies, but it is very rare.

That's why I talk it up so much here. You can't afford NOT to use it. Seriously. I have almost an entire file cabinet full of goodies I've gotten from these people.

I just try to pay it forward and do good deeds for others, so the karma gets returned. I buy old photographs in antique stores that are labeled and try to get them back to their owners, and I've looked up up a few things for a couple of DUers. I've also had a few do nice things for me.

Genealogy karma is the best kind there is.

[fudge stripe cookays]

5. And just today...

after finding a few more goodies on the Rootsweb site for Tompkins County, NY (most of my family are all buried in the Sebring Settlement Cemetery there), I think I may have found a lady who is looking for a common ancestor!

I have sent her an e-mail and am WAITING (not so patiently, I might add!) for a RESPONSE!!! It would be very cool if we could trade info (and if she has a picture of the guy...that'd be even better!)

[fudge stripe cookays]

6. Woo hoo!

She has e-mailed, and given me her portion, AND she has a picture of the guy! :bounce:

I have finally connected my GGgrandfather's branch to his brother's family and together, we may be able to take the lines further back! :bounce: