Happy Blogiversary, HeritageRamblings!
Broida Family Beerbower Family (Click for Family Tree)
Today is the ‘blogiversary’ of Heritage Ramblings! We started writing two years ago and have told a whole lot of family stories since then.
This has been a good year for our genealogy but challenging to find time to research and write. I know, I should write shorter posts but hey, don’t you want the full story? I have tried to utilize the series feature more so posts can be shorter, but the software is clunky, so until they work out the bugs, I am not fussing with it.
Writing the stories also helps one to find the ‘holes’ in the research, so thus ends up taking a lot more time to finish. Adding social history is important too, I think- we can’t understand our ancestors and their lives unless we know the context of the times. But that is more time and research, though I do really enjoy it. Knowing when to stop researching and start writing is tough!
The blog has been great ‘cousin bait’ as well as bait for artifacts to find their true home. A number of persons have found me through the blog, and the above picture of Buster Brodie/Max Broida was generously returned to family after being found in an antique shop in Texas.
We were very fortunate this past year that the Marion County Historical Society shared so many images with us including the Samuel T. Beerbower Family Bible, and quite a lot of portraits, mostly of the family of Sam’s wife, Irene Peters Beerbower. We have posted quite a few, but a number of stories are still coming about the Peters family. They are fresh research subjects but I think I am getting close to ‘finished’ and can get the information posted in the near future. Even though the Peters families are distant collateral kin, it is great to use the blog to get any family stories out there- we don’t want them lost.
Our good deed in telling the Peters’ stories has been rewarded. A researcher found us through the blog, and contacted me saying they had a prayer book that belonged to Sam Beerbower. It had been given to him during his hospital convalescence during the Civil War, and ended up in their very distantly-related family. Even though Sam is not my direct ancestor, they were kind enough to send it on (well insured and tracked), and it is lovingly preserved in our home. It is amazing to hold it close in hand, knowing that Sam likely kept it in his pocket, close to heart, as he was healing from his terrible wounds. We know he was a religious man later in life, but was that possibly because of this book and experiences in the Civil War? We probably won’t know unless letters or a diary are found, but will be posting the pages from it soon.
Thanks so much for reading the blog! We hope you enjoy the family stories, and we look forward to those that are still to come. If you have more information and/or artifacts, please use our “Contact Us” page to share. There are so many little pieces of our family tree spread out all over the country, and it is wonderful to bring some of them together to tell a bit of a life story.
Notes, Sources, and References:
- Use our search box at the top right to read more about any of these stories. To browse a particular family link, use the ‘Family Trees’ drop-down menu and all associated posts will be listed along with pedigree charts.
Please contact us if you would like a higher resolution image. Click to enlarge images.
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