In my humble opinion, this is a “must-read” blog message. “The Future Is Upon Us.”

Today, I started documenting the obituary for Thomas Kenneth Longenecker (1939-2020) and (to make a long story short) it led to Honeyman which led to Macy. The name “Macy” is in my maternal line so I researched that information and it led to “Fluke.” Suddenly, I’m looking at information for my third-great-grandmother anticipating I’d find a brother-sister relationship. Now I’m looking at the same individuals in both my maternal and paternal lines. This is so exciting!! An unexpected surprise!!

COLD!! and very little sleep last night!! The cell phone was dead and is charging. Internet is intermittent and the TV is flickering.

Encountering errors like this is an everyday occurrence. It has me shaking my head in disbelief that an individual, researching their family, is oblivious to their mistake. ~~ On television, we watch Mike Rowe clean up “Dirty Jobs.”  On Ancestry.com, Lorraine cleans up “dirty jobs.”

This entire day (almost) has been devoted to the obituary of this man. “Cousin” sent the message at 11:00 PM last night. I started documenting… at 8:30 this morning. During the process of adding siblings and ancestors, I found a fourth-cousin-one-time-removed. I’m only remotely related to Melvin E. Bechtold (1927-2020) but firmly related to Harold M. Neher (1904-1972). Melvin’s sister married Harold Neher. ~~ It’s almost 3:00 PM as I add this postscript so (explicitly) six hours documenting and sixty-two individuals added to my Ancestry database. Many family members were already in “my forest.”

.

Thirteen hours; can I stop now? I’m ready to crawl into bed; I haven’t gotten out of my pajamas all day!!

Three new obituaries today–and I haven’t completed documentation of families connected to yesterday’s obituary. Truthfully, I didn’t even look at the three new ones. My cousin only sends ones he knows are likely to match the Old German Baptist Brethren families in my Ancestry database. ~~~ It was a cold, cloudy day with occasional rain showers. This weather is forecast to continue for several days so I’ll probably spend a lot more time “climbing the family tree.”

Ancestry addiction!! I honestly devoted time and energy to projects other than “climbing the family tree.” There were several days spent with Christmas lights—decorating the RV Park. (The lights were turned on at dark on Thanksgiving evening and the decorations ARE BEAUTIFUL.) Household projects, and laundry, were accomplished. It amazes me when another one-thousand individuals are registered in the database. It frustrates me when I’m tired, and sleepy, and it’s midnight but “never a stopping point.”

Gospel truth: One-hundred-twenty-four (124) individuals were added to my database because of the obituary for this man (my Old German Baptist Brethren seventh-cousin). The individuals in his family connected with families already documented in my Ancestry.com database. I may have added “sources” for two-hundred individuals and “sources” were (conservatively) in the hundreds. I share these details so the reader can understand the extreme value of the obituaries—and the time it takes to document the information. (Twelve hours today, Thanksgiving Day.) Although the obituaries do not list the cause of death, the cousin who sends the sad news (via email) says the Coronavirus is a factor. The “good news”: These dear Christian folks are enjoying Heaven with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. ~~~~ Very soon, obituary details will arrive via email regarding the death of the 104-year-old husband of a seventh cousin.

“Mother Nature” put on a show!! See the rain pouring off the roof?  We had extremely hard rain for about half-an-hour. Lightning, too, but I did not capture the image. ~~~ Earlier today, we had strong winds that toppled my garden flags. The American flag was on the ground because the pole broke!!