Korea. People Didn't Care

Been reading up on the Korean War and the communism fear of the 1950s, because my Uncle Frank "Junior" was in that war.  I've been told it was one of the most bloody wars yet.  Hard to imagine, remembering Vietnam.  But I just read that nearly 5 million people died, more than half of them civilians.

Also noted on History.com  that the "... rate of civilian casualties was higher than World War II’s and Vietnam’s. Almost 40,000 Americans died in action in Korea, and more than 100,000 were wounded."

Corporal Frank E. Dean, U.S. Army, Korea

Uncle "Junior" was Grandma's youngest, and I remember her worrying about him, just like she worried about her two older sons, my Dad and Uncle Norb, when they served in WWII.  

I was worried about Uncle Junior.  I was also worried about "the bomb" the adults kept talking about coming for us from Russia.  It was a scary time for a kid who didn't understand everything on the nightly news.  

I watched a YouTube today by a Korean War vet describing the Homecoming, who said when he came home, people in the U.S. really weren't interested in hearing about the war.  It was five years since WWII, and Korea was a different war that didn't get all the same publicity or interest.  

I found that sad.

But then, I find war sad, period.  Still, I'm proud of my Dean family heritage of helping protect our country.  And I thank God they all returned home in one piece.

Challenge Writing!

Today, February 1st, starts the month-long Family History Writing Challenge and I've been taking a critical look at my outline, the one I started last February and have edited and changed more times than I can count.

I changed it, hopefully, one last time yesterday.  I'm mostly in the rewrite stage, which will take me most of the way through the month.  Then the last edit (I hope).

Then comes the publishing, which I'm doing through CreateSpace and Amazon.

I haven't been letting myself think too much about the publishing and having a book on Amazon, but now those thoughts are starting to creep in at all hours of the day and night.  I tell them to go away, because I still have much to do.

Over the past couple of years, I've had lots of ups and downs with this book.  On top of the world one day over discovering some fact or person that had stayed hidden from me for so long.  And then a few days later telling myself to just quit because the project was too big, it would take me the rest of my life.  And I'm sure not getting any younger.

What kept me going was telling myself to just keep writing.  Don't think.  Just keep writing.  Keep putting words on the page and don't worry if they make sense.

Then I found out about The Family History Blog-to-Book, and the writing got easier.  Just write a short story, I'd tell myself.  Just one story.

And here I am at the next challenge, almost not believing I've come this far.

I have two more books on the shelf ready to dive into when this one is published, bound, and sitting on the "Finished Shelf."    Life is good.  Today it is.

Pinterest Genealogy

Just found out Geneabloggers is on Pinterest.  Must have been snoozing, or had my head buried too deep in my Family History Book!  Sure glad I found it though.  It's beyond expectations.

I had to pry myself away there's so much interesting, but before I unstuck myself I had to check out the  Geneabloggers Social Media board.  One of the pages here has some good info about Facebook, whether you do genealogy or not.  Always finding things we didn't know...

Family History Timelines

Adding to my family history timeline, after this past week's discussion on The Armchair Genealogist.  Yes, getting ready for the  Family History Writing Challenge again.  Getting my ducks in a row, I guess you could say.

Seeing as I'm about 95% finished with this first book on my family, I'm even more excited this year than I was last February, when I had one long manuscript, not even in chapter form.  Then came the The Family History Blog-to-Book Project, and the rest is history, pardon the pun.  Once I started getting those chapters and stories here on the blog, the book gathered steam.

Of course, I added much to the research this past year, gaining new relatives and ancestors at every stop along the way.  Love that.

So now I'm basically making it pretty, pulling everything together into a finished book.  If it can ever be finished actually.  But there are always second editions I guess.  I just know I'm going to find all the rest of those elusive ancestors after the book is printed and gone out.

History Timelines

• I have Family Tree Maker, Ancestory.com's product, and it will generate an ancestor's timeline easily, filling in major historic events along with the person's own life events, births, marriages, deaths.  I consider it valuable.

• Recently I found Timelines of History online and began using it to find other events I didn't yet have.  I used this one when researching the time period my 2nd great grandparents arrived in New Orleans from Baden, Germany via Le Havre, France.  

• Washington.edu.US. History Timeline:  I've used this timeline quite a bit.  You'll note the link takes you to my 1700s search, which is the last timeline I was working on.  Once on the site, you can search on any decade or date you choose.  
  
  One of the events I found was the opening of Rockingham County, Virginia's first state public school.  My 2nd great grandmother Betsey was born in Virginia, so this helped my story a bit.
  The next event I found was on January 26, 1850, when the first German-language daily newspaper in the U.S. was published in New York City.  My ancestors came to America in 1852, so this was a good source for their story.                                   

• Preceden.com - I admit I love this one.  You create your own timeline on their site.  Once I saw my ancestors lengthwise across the top showing the states they were born in, I was impressed.  I've needed this.  You can sign up for a free account, which is what I did.  I'll be using this one for a long time.

• Our Timelines:  A big favorite which I found on Cyndi's List a few years ago, when I'd scour her site for anything and everything to help me with my family history project.  This was also before I had Family Tree Maker, so a personalized timeline for my ancestor, for free, was even more desirable.  I still use it.  It's just fun.

I am disappointed that Google discontinued their "News Timeline for Genealogy and Family History".  Here's a YouTube that shows what it did.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrn1gt_CvN0

Maybe if we all swarm Google and beg and plead, they will bring it back.  Someone out there I'm sure can tell me how to do this myself using Google News.  I would greatly appreciate it.  

If you have Timeline resources of your own, or tips or tricks we can use, please do not hesitate to let us know in the comments below.  This is such a helpful tool in writing our family stories.

Amazing Video, Breathing of an Ancestor's Space and Time

Thanks to one of my fellow Armchair Genealogy Family History Writers, Debra Newton-Carter for finding this Youtube by Charles R. Hale and sharing with us.

This short recording is rich with inspiration for those of us researching, writing and saving our ancestor's stories, especially if we don't feel we have much to go on.

Breathing of an Ancestor's Space and Time