What kind of Mayflower descendant would I be if I let a Thanksgiving holiday pass without a few notes on our Pilgrim progenitors?

When was the last time you sent or received a hand-written letter from a friend or relative? “Hand-written” rules out the annual word-processed Christmas “here’s my life in pastel colors” letter. “Letter” rules out the thank you note or get well card, although I can see either of those becoming an heirloom down the line.

No, I mean an honest-to-goodness, pass it around the coffee clatch letter from home? I’m ashamed to admit it’s been years. But a recently discovered letter, mailed in 1889, just might inspire me to write a few of my own. To wit…

Lookin’ for sumpin’ to do in SW Pennsylvania next month? Cousin Polly informs me that the Whiskey Rebellion Dinner is coming up July 17th.

Sponsored by The Bradford House and none other than Jim Beam himself, the event will honor an early staple of the Western Pennsylvania economy… Whiskey. (Okay, okay, so Jim Beam has been dead a while, but a direct descendant, Frederic Booker Noe III, will be there in his stead.)

As a child of the fifties, nothing could be more exciting than the possibility of an ancestor who might’ve crossed paths with the heroes of black-and-white westerns…

Some of you are no doubt familiar with the legend of Samuel Leonard, and some of you are not. No surprise, really, since his story was essentially hijacked (no offense) by the family of Hannah Duston/Dustin…