Archive for CREATING YOUR LEGACY

How NOT to Save Your Photos

By Hazel Thornton on November 11, 2019 11 Comments
photos

Photos found in donated books (click to enlarge)

Have you ever hidden anything in a book? Maybe used a photo as a bookmark? I don’t recommend it as a way to save your photos! Here’s why:

I volunteer weekly for my local Friends of the Library. We price and sort donated books for our monthly used book sales (at which I also run a cash register), and we have a lovely used book shop in the Main library downtown which is open six days a week. We raise around $200K every year for library programs such as the Summer Reading Program for children.

Don’t forget to check your books before donating them!

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Categories : Memorabilia
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Are your keepsakes a legacy, or a liability?

By Hazel Thornton on September 30, 2019 17 Comments
Mom's punch bowl, usually used for fruit, is being used here for pecans.

Mom’s crystal punch bowl, usually used for fruit, is being used here for pecans.

Have you inherited keepsakes you don’t know what to do with?

I can’t tell you how many of my clients have had a garage or storage unit full of stuff they inherited from a loved one. These items represent a mix of emotions – memories good and bad; guilt over secretly wanting to reclaim the space they occupy; fear that they will accidentally discard a priceless heirloom. They are paralyzed with indecision: Am I betraying my loved one if I part with this item? Will I forget them if I don’t keep all their stuff? (I promise you won’t!) How, and where, can I get rid of it? How, and where, can I keep it?

Will you forget your loved one if you don’t keep all their stuff? (I promise you won’t!)

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Categories : Memorabilia
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Are your files backed up?

By Hazel Thornton on August 19, 2019 9 Comments

I originally wrote this post for World Back Up Day (Don’t be an April Fool – Take the Pledge!)

But…really, shouldn’t every day be Back Up Day?

(Click to view video: “What Would You Do if You Lost Everything?“)

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket — follow the 3-2-1 rule!

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Categories : Are you prepared?, Memorabilia, Organize Your Home, Organize Your Office

Thornton Farmstead: Home of the Iowa State Fair

By Hazel Thornton on August 13, 2019 8 Comments

I’ve never attended the Iowa State Fair. I gain weight just reading the 2019 Food On A Stick menu! But I did visit the fairgrounds a number of years ago on a genealogy research trip with my dad. Why? Because the land formerly belonged to my 2nd great-grandfather, Calvin Thornton. Prior to that, it belonged to his pioneer father-in-law, John Harris, who left it to his daughter, Araminta. (So, it was really hers…and, well, who knows who it “belonged” to before they came to settle in the area, right? But I digress…)

Who knew that the Iowa State Fair was held each year on property formerly owned by my ancestors?

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Categories : Hazel's Family Stories

Playing Detective: Grandma’s Birth Certificate

By Hazel Thornton on July 11, 2019 2 Comments

AHA! I was RIGHT!

Right about what, you ask?

Right about where my Grandma Hankins was born (Villa Mae Lawrence Hankins 1904-1986).

By playing genealogy detective, I found out where my grandma was really born.

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Hit a brick wall? 20 reasons why you can’t find your ancestor

By Hazel Thornton on June 25, 2019 5 Comments

Can’t find your ancestor? Getting frustrated?

We all hit a brick wall in our genealogy research now and then.

Or, as we call them here in New Mexico, adobe walls, lol!

Hit a brick wall? Getting frustrated? Need some fresh ideas? You’ve come to the right place!

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Categories : Genealogy
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Thornton Family Resemblances Revisited

By Hazel Thornton on June 10, 2019 7 Comments

2019 (left) Archie Raymond Thornton Jr. and (right) Michael Ray Thornton

I once wrote an article for APPO (Association of Professional Photo Organizers) called Who Do You Think You Look Like? The Mystery of Family Resemblances. It featured a small selection of photos from both sides of my family.

This time, in honor of Father’s Day, I’ve gathered photos from six consecutive generations of Thornton fathers and sons. I only recently found the oldest two photos — Calvin and Nathan — in the course of my never-ending genealogy research. Once again, I find the similarities between all of these men striking, don’t you?

A Father’s Day celebration: Six generations of Thornton family father-son resemblances. Who are the look-alikes in your family?

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Categories : Hazel's Family Stories

Mom’s Boxes Part 8: The Gangster Hideout

By Hazel Thornton on May 23, 2019 6 Comments

The “farmhouse” after being painted white, pillars added, and lower windows remodeled into new front doors.

READERS: This is the sort of story I intend to write more of over the next few years to share with my family. It’s also the sort of story I encourage you to write about your own family! It doesn’t have to be fancy, with links to articles and such. Just capture the memories for future generations.

Family stories combine memories, family lore, genealogy, internet research, and photos. Have you told yours?

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Categories : Hazel's Family Stories
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The Gift of an Organized Family Tree

By Hazel Thornton on April 30, 2019 17 Comments

My own 4-generation pedigree chart, and my paternal grandparents, Archie Raymond Thornton Sr. & Hazel Islery Clay, on their wedding day in 1925. Aren’t they a handsome couple?

Who wants their chart done? Family tree pedigree chart, that is?

If you think pedigrees are just for royalty, dogs, and horses, think again! Genealogy makes history personal for everyone. And a family tree makes a great gift for a loved one…or for yourself!

If you think pedigree charts are just for royalty, dogs, and horses, think again!

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Categories : Genealogy

Climbing your never-ending family tree

By Hazel Thornton on April 29, 2019 8 Comments

7 Generation Pedigree Chart with sample projects indicated.

Your family tree is never really finished! It is forever growing on both ends. New descendants of your ancestors are continually being born (even if not to you, personally), and no matter how many branches and leaves you’ve added in the past, there are always more for you to discover.

It’s important to define your genealogy project, so you (or I) don’t work endlessly and randomly.

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Categories : Genealogy
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