I’m forever getting distracted as I go about my genealogical business, often duplicating, complicating, or worse of all, neglecting genealogical sources. And that “pending” folder in my file cabinet?… is about to become a drawer unto itself. I had a research plan at one time and I know I should focus on one family group at a time, but sometimes a shiny object whizzes by and completely derails my best intentions.

I don’t make New Years resolutions, but if I did, I would vow to get my genealogical poop in a group. All the research in the world goes for naught if it never gets condensed into something usable, like a compiled history of one family group. I’ve written not one, but two summaries of the life and times of my great-great-grandfather and, as always, there’s new information to be added. So that’s where I’ll be in the early part of this year… heads down on the third edition.

That, and reconciling the data in my family history software with the online database on this site. Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as exporting and importing a GED file from one source to the other. Learned that one the hard way back in October.

And, taking a clue from a few ancestors past, I’ve started recording my own life and times. You never know, after all, when the grim reaper might come a-calling. Of the hundreds and hundreds of ancestors I’ve researched, only four bothered to sit down and tell me (us) what they actually did and thought in their own lifetimes. I consider those, as crude as they may have been, the real treasures of family history.

Don’t get me wrong, there are still stories to be found, research to be done, data to be recorded… but for me, I think 2010 is going to be The Year of Organization. Yeah, like a year is gonna do the trick.

How ’bout you?

So what’s that got to do with family history? It reminded me of some of my Dad’s favorite expressions, grandad’s, too.

Now, my family being what it is, me being who I am… things could get a little more, uh, earthy.

• Colder than a witche’s t*t.
• Colder than a well-digger’s ass.
• Tighter than the bark on a piss-ant tree. (Ever seen one?)
• North end of a south-bound mule.

Yunno, this topic sounded a lot funnier in my head. So how ’bout you? Got any weird only-in-my family expressions?

Odds & ends
Haven’t had much time to research lately, but I can tell you we’re working on getting some daguerreotypes converted to digital photographs. One of them is a picture of Mary (Van Ort) Leonard, mother to Edmund, Isaac, Uncle Dan, et al. Given the fact that she died in 1868, this will be one of the oldest photographs ever taken of a Leonard!

Please vote!
Never shy about prostituting myself, I’d like to encourage you to vote for Leonard Family Legends & Legacies in Family Tree Magazine’s “40 Best Genealogy Blogs” poll. Polls close Nov. 5th, results published in the May 2010 magazine! We’re listed in the Personal & Family category about halfway down in the last category. You’ll have to click inside the voting window and then scroll down. While you’re at it, go vote for FootnoteMaven in the much tougher All-Around Category. fM came out as one of my “mystery visitors” earlier this week.

Coming soon
Personal memoirs & archival materials. I bought a do-it-yourself memoir book (hard back, acid-free paper) for my Dad last Christmas, sight unseen. The idea is to answer questions about your life right IN the book. Last week, I ordered one for myself. Then it occurred to me, I have no idea what type of pen or pencil to use for the best results. Researching that now.

Until next time… Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

Do you get that reference? Do you know what it means to look a gift horse in the mouth? There’s a Web site for that… called The Phrase Finder. It can come in handy when you’re trying to decipher a 19th century letter.

My point is this, a LOT of the information I ordered from Family History Centers and libraries ten years ago is available at the click of a mouse today. I openly encourage new researchers to use them, with the caveat that Web sites are finite and may NOT last forever. It all depends on who’s paying for it, maintaining it, and supporting it. Whenever possible, please take note of the original source and where it might be found in physical form.

That said, here are a few sites I visit on a regular basis. Keep in mind some of them are very Leonard-specific, but rest assured there are similar sites for virtually any family name.

• Ancestry.com – THE mother of all genealogy/family history Web sites. Requires membership for the best info, but you can search for free. US Census reports, birth, death, marriage records, new databases added monthly.
• Genealogy in Washington County, PA. – Lots of history, including searchable volumes of Crumrine, Beers, and Bell histories.
• Genealogical Society of SW Pennsylvania – Citizens Library, Washington, PA.
• Uniontown Public Library, Pennsylvania Room – This is the repository for Jennie Leonard Hutchinson’s manuscript and many, many notes. While they’re still not available online, the library staff will be happy to look ‘em up.
• History of Washington County, PA.. – Boyd Crumrine, 1882. Fully searchable text from the University of Pittsburgh.
• History of Fayette County, PA. – Franklin Ellis 1882. Same source, also searchable.
• Genealogical and Personal History of Fayette County, PA. – by John W Jordan, James Hadden, 1912. A more recent history, references to Plum Run Church & others.
• Cornerstone Genealogical Society – The place to go for all things Greene County, PA.
• Leonard Descendants – One of Jane Peppler’s family trees. Descendants of Solomon Leonard.
• Burt Descendants – Another of Jane Peppler’s family trees, showing the relationships between the Leonard and Burt families.
• Leonard Family Forum – The place to go to browse/ask random questions about the Leonard family. Be patient. I’ve had answers come back four years later!
• Family History Archives – digitized family history books from Brigham Young University, in conjunction with the LDS. Includes three volumes on the Iron Leonards.
• The Old Pike: A History of the National Road – Thomas Searight, 1894. History of the area, mentions Edmund Leonard owning an old tavern.
• History of Bridgewater – Nahum Mitchell, 1840. Awesome book about the history of Bridgewater, MA., where Solomon Leonard was a founder. Lots of Solomon references.
• Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of new England – James Savage, 1860. Mostly just reference that Solomon, Isaac, Benjamin and others existed. Read carefully, the paragraphs are broken in odd places. Savage had a few of the Taunton & Bridgewater lines crossed up.
• Genealogical Memoir of the Leonard Family – Wm R. Deane, 1852. Descendants of James Leonard, aka “The Taunton Leonards” or “The Iron Leonards.”
• Find-a-Grave.com – Ridiculous as it may sound, there’s database of MILLIONS of pictures of tombstones. Lots of Leonards (and others) to be found.
There, that should hold you for a while, right? I know I’ve left some out and I fully intend to formalize this list onto it’s own page, one of these days. In the meantime, feel free to leave suggested sites in the comments.

And as a footnote, this may be the last post for a while (or not), as I’m trying to go heads-down to rewrite my own family history, long overdue for updating. At any rate, don’t worry if you don’t hear from me for a while, I’m still alive and well. (That’s song, isn’t it? Edgar Winter maybe?)

Cheers!
Rick

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