Monday, August 08, 2011

Stuck in Blogger's Block

Although I have gone far and still have far to go, I have been tied in knots for this past year when it comes to writing my blogs. They are beginning to resemble those new spiral notebooks I would buy every new year and start writing a journal, only to abandon them and leave a lot of white pages. At least no trees have died because of my virtual publishing absence.

I have been working in fits and spurts on my family history. Every answered question leads to new discoveries and new questions. I have found Hugh McElyea in Robertson County TN for a longer period than I expected. I have also found John Burch there in 1840, but no other traces before 1850 to explain why he turns up without the mother of his boys in Missouri a decade later. And the Logan County KY genealogical archive that we visited last month was brimming with new details about my mother's Morgan and Paris ancestors. I have pictures, too.

Before this blogging anniversary month is out, I will post some of what I have found and my reflections on how learning about one's ancestors really can inform the present.