I am going to attempt to blog my research activites each day, so that my fellow researchers can post their comments as we go. This is more personal than other social media.Some prefer to keep their ancestor's activities more personal. Today, I am finishing up the Latch Community History Book. These are picture books of the past, along with memories and some documents, of the days of the communities that my eight grandparents helped settle in western Upshur County, Texas. I hope you will find some bits and pieces you can use in your family research.My research room is open Tuesday-Saturday 10-5, for anyone who would like to come by for a visit. I have lots of books for researchers to go through. I recently added the Virginia Abstracts. These books are treasures for those trying to trace their roots in Virginia. but, first, I have to share a picture of my research room. This spring has been one of the prettiest in many years.

I started tracing my roots when I was in my early twenties, along with collecting everything that belonged to my families. I have a piece of furniture that belonged to my great grandfather. The story goes that he brought it to Texas in a covered wagon. I have his Bible, also. After my husband and I decided to move from a rather large B&B to a much smaller place, my collection outgrew my space. So, we re-furbished the hay barn on my family's homestead to accomodate a guesthouse. This addition still did not accommodate all my 'stuff '. Then, it became apparent that we must build a 'genealogy research play house', that I call my 'librarie'/ research room. (mis-spelled on purpose).

Since all of my roots have been traced, I decided to take on the challenge of tracing all of the first settler's, from this part of our county, along with their ancestors and descendants. All of my eight great grandparents were among the first settlers of this area. I felt I had a good basis for my start. Well, little did I realize what I had bitten off. I have worked daily for over ten years, and I still have not completed the tip of the iceberg. Now, I realize that I must have many people, with an interest in my project, to be able to semi-complete this in my lifetime.

To accomplish this, we started hosting Family History Gatherings. These are not to be confused with reunions. They are weekends that are more like history/ genealogy workshops for certain families from this area. Groups of serious researchers for the specified and associated families come together to compare research and share pictures and documents.