Today I was faced with a decision to start a new genealogy blog here on Blogger with the rest of my blogs or continue to use the journal feature on Family Circles. After dealing with all the posting shenanigans on Family Circles, I have chosen to start a new blog here. 

A little about me, I do volunteer work both online and offline and I totally enjoy it, it never ever feels like work or a chore to me. I have met some very nice people while doing volunteer work for Find a Grave. For anyone unfamiliar with Find a Grave, it is a website full of memorials placed there by family members and volunteers. Many have photos of the gravestones which can be very helpful to anyone doing any kind of family tree work. 

As a volunteer, I go out and take photos of family grave sites for folks who either live out of the area or are unable to get out into the cemeteries. I don't always find who I am looking for but I always find someone who wants to be found and remembered. My current pet project is taking photos of any and all children I happen to run across. My reasoning is simply that they do tend to get lost in time because of their short time here. 'Planted on Earth to Bloom in Heaven' ~ Author Unknown

My other volunteer effort is indexing for Family Search which is run by the Latter Day Saints. While I am not a member of this spiritual group, I do believe in what they are doing since their website gives free access to millions of historical records. My most recent big project I worked on was the 1940 Federal Census and I truly enjoyed being able to index records from several states. I think the most interesting might have been California which was quite the melting pot in 1940.

Other volunteer projects come my way through people wanting to know a little bit more about their family and heritage but not really knowing where to start or where to go next. Sometimes this is just a matter of helping them back on the right path and other times it is a a labor of love. I do love doing this and every time I think about dropping subscriptions, I don't. I just love it way too much. 

On that note I shall close with a photo taken a few years back at Forest Hill Cemetery, Owatonna, Steele County, Minnesota.

Veterans Row (Civil War Graves); Forest Hill, Owatonna, Steele County, Minnesota