Several years ago my mother gave me a fork, knife, and spoon that belonged to my grandmother. Spending most of my childhood living next door to my grandparents, needless to say I ate most of my meals at their house. My grandmother had a beautiful set of sterling.
I would set at the kitchen table and watch my grandmother cook all the time. Even after 45 yrs I can still see her making a pot of beef soup, or a lemon chess pie as if it was only yesterday.
Family recipes help keep the memories of a deceased loved one stay alive. My grandmother made the best lemon chess pie. For years I stopped eating lemon chess, because I knew I would never find one as good as my grandmothers, but now I buy one every now and then. I use the knife of hers to cut a slice, the spoon to stir my coffee, and her fork to eat the pie with. As I sit there holding the fork with a bite of pie on it I think back to those days sitting at her kitchen table watching her cook.
Whenever I eat something that my grandmother would cook, I break out her sterling. I only wished I would have got some of her recipes! I am sure my aunt has some. Think I just might have to go visit her one day!
Some people think ice cream, or chocolate as a comfort food.
To me a comfort food is something my mom, or grandmother cooked. Oh, ice cream is a comfort food for me. On a Saturday night as a kid my father would turn on the TV and find an old WWII movie, as it was starting, he would go into the kitchen and come back, with bowls of ice cream!
For me geneology and recipes just naturally go together!
Over the next few months I will be posting stories of people and their memories of the food they grew up on. Do you have recipe that brings back sweet memories?
Family
Trees are not that hard with todays internet. There are tons of
Genealogy sites on the internet. Most offer a free start up package. If
you get stuck on a branch there are genealogist who will help you out.
Some for a price, and some will do it for free.
I personally use about 15 genealogy sites.
Which would I recommend?
The one I use the most is Ancestry.com.
You can start your Family Tree there for free. They do have some free
searches, but if you want to dig deep (more records) you will have to be
a paying member. If you choose that, they offer a free 14 day trial,
but be sure and call them to cancel before the 14th day. The second site
I use the most is FamilySearch.org it is totally free.
One thing you will run into is a broken tree branch. There are some of
my family members only a couple of generations back that I can not find.
As my dad use to tell me "If a person doesn't want to be found, you
will not find them." You have to take in to consideration that back in
the 1800's some peoples birth information was not recorded. or the
Family surname was spelled different. My Great grandfather Tobias Batson
is a broken branch in my family. It seems just about every record I can
find on him he spells his first name different, along with giving a
different birth year and what state he was born in. ( I think he knew I
would go looking for him!)
So what are you waiting for? Google " Family Tree " and start digging!
Do you have a story you would like to share?
Need help finding a long lost relative?
Drop me a line.
Paul
