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When my dad was in hospice, I asked him what he was most proud of in his life. He said, "You girls. My family." My mom wasn't able to talk before her death, but I know she felt the same way. I'm happy we made them proud. My sisters and I were raised well. We were always encouraged to find our own path in life, and to be kind and accepting of others. They let us make mistakes, which allowed us to grow. Actually, if you think about it, we turned out the way we did because of th

I currently have 24,512 "Hints" for my family tree on Ancestry.com. Every so often, when I get bored with my research, I take a peek in there just to see what I can find. Sometimes there is some low-hanging fruit that I can pick and add to my tree without much difficulty, but today I thought I would research whatever hint was at the top, or, my newest hint. The hint was for Finis Marion Estep, my 3rd great grandfather. This is some type of folder which contained the marriage

At the time of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, St. Louis was a small French town in the middle of nowhere. The residents were used to change, I suppose. Many of them had come from the Illinois Country in 1764, preferring to be citizens of Spain rather than Great Britain. Some stuck it out in Illinois and moved after the United States took over, unhappy with the American leadership at the time. In 1800, they were once again French citizens but didn't know it until Napoleon sol