Random Genealogy

Meghan Burke has written an article in the The Villages Daily Sun (Florida) about a lady bitten by the genealogy bug and the unique circumstances surrounding it. Betty MacDuff accidently broke a framed photo and discovered a 600 page family history. Betty has also some good tips (from the article):

MacDuff admits her children and grandchildren haven’t yet been bitten by the genealogy bug, but she is hoping they will. For now, she settles for gathering her treasures, organizing them, and making sure they stand the test of time.

“Put it in writing,” MacDuff advised anyone who may be thinking of following in her footsteps and recording their own family history. “Don’t just put it on CD. Floppies are now gone, DVDs will be gone, CDs will be gone. We have no idea what the technology will be in another two generations in the future, but a book will never disappear. It will always be here.”

She’s since written two genealogy books for her family, and is working on a third.

Daniel Gilbert writes in Potomac News Online, about how Margie McHose tracked down the relatives of a man on a postcard she found in her garage while getting ready for a yard sale. Another woman, Char McCargo Bah, a professional genealogist, decided to help McHose track down the descendants, and then two more genealogists, Pat and Paul Sluby, joined in.

Excerpt from the article:

An image of Leigh, a former slave turned shoemaker, wound up on the face of a postcard in McHose’s garage last May, inspiring a search to locate his living family. The search ended on Thursday at a conference in Washington, D.C.