52 Ancestors: Fortune - 10 years of blogging

This week's blog prompt is Fortune.  Many of my ancestors had one fortune or another - a long and healthy life, a house full of children, a successful career, or a large bank account.  But today I want to concentrate on the Fortune I've had by starting this blog 10 years ago tomorrow.

Photo by Phae

You can read my first post HERE.  I remember writing that first post (thanks again for the push, Kerry!) and wondering if I'd have enough to say.  When I first started blogging I was so envious of the ephemera that other bloggers had and longed to find just a snippet of what they had. Be careful what you wish for!  

The first two years of blogging I was able to share what I'd learned with my mother and each year for Christmas I put together a book using Blurb to share with her since she didn't use a computer.  I remember sitting together and looking through the book and I could see a gleam in her eyes when she learned something new about her family.  Seeing the happiness it brought to her is what helped me to keep going and sometimes when I feel like I've had enough, I think that maybe, just maybe, someone will be glad that I did.

Over those 10 years, I've written 407 posts and had 1835 comments on the blog plus countless others on Facebook.  In looking back on the posts, the most read posts were:

Back in Time  The story of my grandfather asking my grandmother's parents if they could be married.  And the letter they wrote back to him giving their permission.  What a beautiful love story.

Wanted: Herman Levy Herman Levy was my great grandfather and has been a bit of a brick wall for me.  I posted this on the History of Fresno Facebook page and received a lot of views.  Over the course of the last 10 years I've connected with many grandchildren and great grandchildren of Herman - maybe one day we'll all be able to bust through this wall!

Best Wishes for a Long and Happy Life Together  The end of the books recording the wedding of my parents.  I have such wonderful memories of lying on the floor with my sister and pouring over these books.  

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Where Were They 100 Years Ago?  It's fun to look back at where our ancestors were living, especially when there's a picture of the house!

Grandma Was a Party Animal!  I loved going through my grandmother's scrapbook and learning about her as a young woman.  Not only am I happy that she had a scrapbook but that she saved it for me to find!

Not necessarily one of the most viewed posts (although it is much more recent so hasn't had the opportunity for people to "find" it) was one I struggled with for the blog prompt.

52 Ancestors: Multiple - Love Letters  My grandparents' thoughts during the Spanish Flu Pandemic in 1918. I have finished the transcription project and am now working through the letters my mother wrote to my father when he went away to college and then into the service.  Just proves that my dad had the packrat gene as he saved the letters.  Unfortunately, my mother must have missed the memo that she was supposed to save his letters as I haven't run across any yet.  

It's been an amazing 10 years and I've learned so much about my family.  I would like nothing more than to share this with my father, who used to give me tidbits of information, for I know the joy it would have brought him.  But he knows, he knows.

Thanks for sticking with me!