A Message from Judy

by Judy Sander Cockrell

Summer is almost over; the kids are going back to school (yea!); and we will all have a little more time for our family genealogy. So this week, I would like to give you an idea to help you pass the time while you wait for that ever hardening brick wall to tumble, and give you a kick start to begin your genealogy once again.

Ready? You're going to think I'm a nut, but this has been fun for me this summer.

I have decided to do a "neighborhood" genealogy of sorts… now I know we all don't "love thy neighbor" and maybe some of us hardly know any of them, but this is a great chance to break the ice.

Take a couple of minutes a day to canvas the surrounding homes in your area, talk to your old timer neighbors and ask them if they have any historic pictures of themselves and their houses from years gone by. Scan them, return them, and write a brief history on what they have told you.

Amazingly enough people love to show off themselves and their homes.

If you can get a little detail on some of the memories they have on other neighbors, the surrounding homes and maybe just good 'ol days yakin' on the porch all the better!

Put all this info together, and for the upcoming Christmas, give back to your neighbors a little history of themselves and their friends next door. Put all this gathered information together in a small photo album or scrapbook.

I think you will be surprised at the history you will uncover and the friends you will make in the process. And your newfound friends will be thrilled!

Everyone needs to get to know their neighbors a little better, our families before us thrived on each other, why don't we? I believe in the power my neighborhood family. Family, in the true sense of the word surrounds me.

Please visit the web site I have chosen for this weeks tempting project… and be sure to tell your next door kin how much you appreciate them.

Check out The Seeker's Genealogy Sites.

Return to the Turning Over New Leaves home page.

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