It all started with a Prince

Growing up we all went to the Sheridan family reunion. It was always the 2nd Saturday of August.    We all knew where we would be on that day. Rain or shine, warm or cold.   Mom would make potato salad and tuna macaroni salad. Pack the car and we were off by noon. We gathered at Uncle Don and Aunt Tressie's in Chesaning, Michigan for a few years. Mom always talked about Uncle Don playing the squeeze box...I don't remember ever hearing it. How about you? Aunt Edythe would hide candy in the front yard while we were all in the backyard waiting for her to say 'go'! Uncle Mike always had a new-fangled camera, and we would have to pose for pictures. If you got too close to Uncle Fay, he would pinch you. Or was that Uncle Kahl?  John always had a new car...a real car buff.  Uncle Fay had a transistor radio next to him, and we listened to Ernie Harwell announce the Detroit Tigers baseball game. Aunt Aggie always brought homemade butterscotch pie and fried chicken....

This picture has always made me wonder about my dad's brother Harry Edward Porter, Jr and his role in WWII. Was he a courier? Was he just sitting on a random motorcycle? What an awesome picture of him, even if it was wartime. Where was he stationed? I finally am doing the research needed and attempting to disprove or collaborate the stories that I remember and try and solve the mystery of the motorcycle.  I was told that Uncle Harry was in WWII, but because of an affliction (flat feet?) he tried to enlist and was rejected. He finally went through the same 147th National Guard Unit in Flandreau, SD that his younger brother Bill (my dad) had enlisted with.  But because of being denied, he was late to military service. My dad had served from November 1940 -1946.   Harry had been in Europe whereas my dad had been in the South Pacific. Harry was born 31 Mar 1916 in Manning, Carroll County, Iowa the oldest son, but the middle of three children of Harry Sr and Nellie (Dilli...

Wheels...... Dating my (future) husband in High School he drove a 1965 Plymouth Satellite. A true hot- rod. Jacked up, glass packs, 4 on the floor. A nice rumble. I saw the car driving down Saginaw Road one time and thinking it was him I chased him down! To discover it wasn't him in the car but his mother! I was so embarrassed. And impressed that she could drive it. My first car that I bought was a used 1970 Pontiac Firebird back in 1973. A super-chicken! I loved that car. It was blue with blue interior. Bucket seats and an automatic on the floor. Couldn't hardly put a jacket in the back seat but was sure comfortable in the front. It cost me $1,100.00 and the payments were $64.00 a month. That was a week's pay from working 40 hours at Dawn Donuts.  I don't remember what the mileage was, but after we married in 1974, my husband drove it for a year, and then we traded it in for a 1973 Dodge Challenger. Dan enjoyed the mantra, 'the faster, the better' and that work...

Libraries are the world's greatest invention. They have been around since the beginning of time almost. If there is more than one book, then it is a collection. Libraries have educated us, fed our minds, increased our socialization skills and given us a safe sanctuary. We all used our school libraries and our local town libraries growing up. And as a person of genealogy pursuits, that is my first go to whenever researching a family or an area.  We can't just go next door to one in another location without a lot of cost and travel expenses, so we all utilize the internet. Each town's library has a special collection - usually pertinent to the citizens of the area. Yearbooks, directories, special history books. And if you are lucky, they have a special room or area just for those types of genealogy research items.   Billings, Montana's library has ALL the Civil War regiments and battles in book form  - Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Ar...