Welcome!

I've had a love of history ever since I can remember.  Maybe it was the Little House on the Prairie books that my mom started reading to me when I was three years old.  The stories of Laura, Mary and their little family surviving alone on the great American prairie caught my imagination and transported me to another world.  As I grew up, many historical fiction books, visits to Gold Rush country, a trip to Washington D.C., and even a subscription to Smithsonian magazine all fueled my interest in the past.  So when as an adult I started doing a little research into my family history, it gave me an outlet to explore the past in a more personal way.  Some people study their family genealogy to see how many names they can add to their family tree or how far back they can trace their lineage.  But what I love is to see how much I can learn about them.  What was their life really like?  Not just the big events like when they were born, married, and died.  But what happened in the in-between times?  To dig down deep into the past and mine out those hidden gems and nuggets of information is so exciting.  This blog will be an outlet to share those finds with my family and anyone else who might be interested.  And I'm sure you'll see some random posts about totally unrelated people or events because, well, I just can't help myself, interesting things shouldn't stay hidden in the past forever.  Thanks for reading and if you see some connections with your family history, I'd love to hear about it!