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Where the Past is a Passion

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Tag: #bailey

Cousin Bailey: “I hate to claim it, we are kin!”

February 23, 2021

Last week the call came that I had been expecting for some time; my oldest living relative Bailey had passed away. He would have been 95 on his next birthday. He was my grandmother Grace Valentine Kembel Spencer’s first cousin. Bailey’s Mom Nancy [“Nannie”] was Grace’s father Robert’s sister.

Bailey & his older brother Elbert … Continue reading "Cousin Bailey: “I hate to claim it, we are kin!”"

Michelle Spencer

Genealogist, Speaker, Writer

Researcher for two seasons of TLC’s
Who Do You Think You Are? and 2021 Season of Finding Your Roots with Henry Lewis Gates, Jr. on PBS.

 

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"A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots."

- Marcus Garvey

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romamarygrace

romamarygrace
Happy 95th wedding anniversary to these two crazy Happy 95th wedding anniversary to these two crazy kids! My grandparents Carl and Roma Rasa Siegel. #florencemissouri #ccsiegel #romarasasiegel
Decorating the tree with our kid-made ornaments in Decorating the tree with our kid-made ornaments including “Jimmy Angel”  ca 1989. Blitzen the wonder cat was helping! #chrismaspast #mystory
My narcissus are blooming! My narcissus are blooming!
A great advertisement from Hirsch Bros Dry Goods i A great advertisement from Hirsch Bros Dry Goods in St. Joseph, MO, date unknown. #businessresearch #santaclausiscomingtotown #missourihistory
Pretty awesome when you guard dog keeps your beer Pretty awesome when you guard dog keeps your beer safe! #daschundsrule #daschundsofinstagram
I’ve been looking through some land files I requ I’ve been looking through some land files I requested from the National Archives.  Land files can be huge troves of information, especially those of homesteaders that required applicants to prove five years of residency and improvements to the land such as cultivation and construction of a home and other buildings. Any conflicting stories or questionable claims had to be defended with affidavits from friends and neighbors.  More conflict = more proof.  Some files have photos, pages from family bibles, and letters by the applicants or their neighbors. 

Unfortunately it seems my family didn’t have fights with their neighbors or anyone who contested their claim. However, the files still hold a few gems. This is one: the signature of my 2x great grandfather, Carl Christian Raiffeisen. It is great to see that clearly he learned to read and write in Germany before his immigration to the U.S.
I hope you had a wonderful National Cookie Day! I I hope you had a wonderful National Cookie Day! I made up a few batches from my favorite Christmas cookie book given to me by Grandma Roma in 1987. Pulling it out confirms Christmas season is here! #nationalcookieday #holidaytraditions #mystory #familyhistory
I love comparing old and new photographs especiall I love comparing old and new photographs especially those that show the longevity of a place.  The first is a recent photo I took from the top of the Elyton Hotel located in the historic downtown district of Birmingham, AL.  The second is a stereoscope card of the same with a boy sitting on it.  Did I mention it is 15 stories up? I did not feel an urge to copy his pose! #birminghamal #elytonhotel #oldphotos #historicpreservation #historicbirmingham
Happy birthday to great grandpa Fred Rasa. He was Happy birthday to great grandpa Fred Rasa. He was a founder of the Bank of Florence in Florence, Missouri. The community bank served the citizens of Florence 1918-1934. See my blog (link in bio) for the full story. Happy birthday Grandpa!
Preparing the troops at Camp Funston, Kansas in 19 Preparing the troops at Camp Funston, Kansas in 1917-1918. This postcard was part of a packet of cards soldiers could send home showing their training. The men were encouraged to write home to Mom and Dad with these wholesome images to keep morale high on the home front.  #WWI #homefront #homefronthistory #campfunston #morale
I've spent a lot of time this year focusing on lan I've spent a lot of time this year focusing on land records.  I took a great course on them in 2021 at Salt Lake Institute from Rick Sayre and I continue to use the syllabus.  So I have my spreadsheet of land ownership for paternal and maternal lines and I have plugged every variable into the US government database at the Bureau of Land Management....or so I thought.  I hadn't used all the misspellings of my ancestor's names.  Over the last few years I started keeping a list of all the misspellings but I had missed this one.  Great Grandpa Frederick Rasa bought 4 pieces of land (one patent was reissued in 1913). More records to uncover at the national archives!!! #nara #archives #LandRecords #blmglo #morgancountymissouri #MissouriHistory
We don’t often think about stationary since we i We don’t often think about stationary since we increasingly keep in touch with friends and relatives through social media or email. I bet a lot of soldiers and sailors appreciated the humor of this WWII stationary I found on EBay. It was sold by Walgreens during the conflict.  #wwiihistory #wwiii #warlettersproject #warletterstofriends #warlettersmuseum #familyhistory #familyhistorymatters #militarymail
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