Ramblings, Recipes and Genealogy!
You’ll find ramblings, recipes and genealogy! With a little gardening too! Isn’t that what Grandma’s are best known for? It’s all about the family.
Grandma has been online for 25+ years and went through numerous changes, but the most recent was not by choice.
After a lifestyle change (widowed and retired), I made some bad choices. One of those was changing webhost.
Long story made short, during a short (less than 4 months) period with my new webhost…I lost my complete website!
So now, here I am, starting over. It’s okay, I needed a fresh start anyway!
Changes…
Cooking with Grandma will remain, as it fits in with my new plans.
I love down-home southern cooking because it’s what I was raised on. My mother and grandmothers prepared some delicious southern meals.
I am a real Grandma, and through the years I have collected what I believe to be some of the best southern recipes from the deep South to share with you. Some might even have a pic of the handwritten version from my recipe collection.
The recipes you find here are mostly vintage, traditional southern food recipes with an occasional modern, easy and simple recipe included.
Gardening with Grandma also stays, because sharing my love of growing flowers and vegetables remains.
In our family, there is nothing more valued than coming together to admire each other’s gardens, laugh at some of our crazy gardening tips, and then picking what we need to prepare our meals.
Even at my age, I still love trying new gardening ideas and sharing a tip or two with others.
Sharing GENEALOGY, my way…
Finding my Roots!
They didn’t all begin in the South, but they certainly grew deep in the Southern States.
Most came from England and other European countries to America, starting off in Massachusetts. Some family lines migrated to Virginia and on through the Carolinas and into Georgia and Alabama. While some stayed in the area, others headed west.
I hope to share what I know about where they started out, what they did for a living and where they traveled to.
I’ve been researching for years.
Starting out with the book my grandfather used like a diary of sorts and of course, the Family Bible. Having a cemetery less than a block away also kept me inquisitive. I just couldn’t stand seeing those names and wondering if they were relatives.
I never knew my grandfather, but I’m pretty sure that’s where I got the ancestry gene. BTW, his name was Gene!
His wife, my grandmother, died just before my 3rd birthday. We lived in the house with her, so at least I had some time well spent with her. But unlike my grandfather, she wasn’t one to keep up with family. Those names in the cemetery were her family, but apparently she never talked about them.
My father died when I was young, but he left behind memories of visiting with family. I didn’t know then, how we were related, but I asked questions by mail and got a few responses.
Years later, I discovered microfilm and Census Records. So once a week, I traveled to the big library and researched books and records on microfilm. Sure glad someone came up with transcriptions!
I hit a lot of brick walls but connected with some cousins that helped me to put my pieces together on some of my branches. Life got in the way often, so research would stop, but questions were still unanswered.
Then came the internet and eventually Ancestry.com. Once again I was hooked!
But even with all that information available, trying to put it all together still led to some brickwalls and I laid it aside again.
Now, retirement days!
Being alone has it’s advantages when it comes to researching online. You can sit up all night or do nothing but research all day if you want to. Either way, time flies by quicker than you realize. I finally had to create a plan so I could quit going down those rabbit holes! (Even if I was gathering info.)
There are times when I purposely go down those rabbit holes. Afterall, if you want to keep learning about your family, you have to jump into some of your ancestors siblings. And you just never know what else you’ll learn.
That’s how I knocked down one brickwall and found one of my great-grandfather’s brothers.
I had always thought that I would eventually print my findings but I realized that I would never get finished. (No one ever does! They just find a stopping point and quit.) Most family historians have discovered as they work more and more on their research, that no one is ever truly “finished” with research.
But it doesn’t end there. Think about it. The answer to one question will always lead to more questions. One found ancestor will lead to the search for two other ancestors. It is truly a lifelong task for those who want to carefully document and verify each fact before they publish what they know.
One more great fact about publishing online…
You can post something one day, locate a new bit of genealogical data the next day, and update your website with the new data the same day!
Can’t do that with a book!
Think back to the errors in some history books you read… if you make a mistake, you can correct it online!
I took all this into consideration, and I decided to publish what I have online. This way I can share with those family members who are interested in my findings or just want to know something about their roots. Of course, I am hoping to connect with cousins who might be able to help me fill in some gaps and maybe even knock down a brickwall or two.
Publishing on the Internet can be a perfect compliment to genealogical research.
Genealogy research evolves and changes with time…Websites are always a work in progress.
So publishing your family history online as you are doing the research is a perfect fit!
Ramblings, Recipes and Genealogy! With a little gardening too!
Along with my genealogy research, old family recipes and tips for gardening, you may find an occassional post that might have peaked my interest. Anything that doesn’t fit into these categories will be shared under “Ramblings“, since I dislike the “uncharacterized” or “miscellaneous” labels.