If there’s any certainty in genealogy and family history, it’s that people will make mistakes. People often make “mistakes” about the year they were born. But when someone makes a mistake about the day they were born, all sorts of havoc can ensue. Such was the case of two of my ancestors, brothers Daniel and Isaac Leonard.

For as long as I could remember, I firmly believed my great-great-grandfather’s birthday was June 24th, 1930. That’s what it said in a county history, three obituaries, and his death certificate.

Nothing says trust quite like an IOU. And trust me when I say nothing pleases me more than being able to find one involving one of my distant ancestors. An IOU says, “you are an honorable man and I know that you’ll pay me when you can.” Perhaps more importantly, it tells me what was on my ancestor’s shopping list.

My latest example surfaced this week in The Indian Pioneer History Collection Papers at the University of Oklahoma and at the Oklahoma Historical Society’s Research Center.

How many times have you stumbled across an old box of pictures, letters, or documents only to find them too brittle to handle? If you haven’t yet, believe me, you will and then what do you do?

The basic problem with old documents, especially those stored in low-humidity environments like an attic, is that the paper itself dries out and becomes brittle. Just opening a letter or document can destroy it. Photos, in particular, should never be unfolded or uncurled without some TLC. And by TLC, I mean the use of a humidification chamber.

Hackers were giving me fits in the month of May, but I think we’ve righted the ship. Leonard Database is back on line and better than ever!

Update: The hacker attacking this site is persistent and as a result, I have taken the Leonard Database offline until the security hole can be located. I’m not much of a code jockey, so this might take a while. Sorry for the inconvenience.

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Some damned hacker got into the site today and started sending off phishing messages pretending to be some British bank. I doubt that any of you are affected as this kind of scam is usually targeted outside of the domain it’s using to send the phony emails.