WOW!!!! I'm so sorry that it has taken me this long to get back to my blog. To be perfectly honest.... it took me a while to find it again, "Outta Site - Outta Mind" is sooooo true.
I have been taking a class on using the Internet to my best advantage in my genealogy research, and 'MAN' is it paying off. If any of you have not checked out the Find A Grave website, you absolutely have to do it immediately. I started out with my father, James Ross Townsend. While never knowing him, I did know where he was buried. I found his grave at FindAGrave.com, but no pictures. Once you have signed in... and it's FREE to do so, you can request a photo to be taken. FindAGrave has members all over the US and there were several in the town where my father was buried. One of them went out to the cemetery and took a photo of his tombstone for me and now I have a way to actually connect with him. It's really an AWESOME site, so if you haven't tried it yet, you really MUST!
So anyway, I was working backwards one day into my 'Buchanan' side of the family and there was a touching memorial note posted at the bottom of my g-g-g-grandfather's, William Haynie Buchanan, page. I read it and found someone who wanted their g-g-g-grandfather to Rest In Peace too. I was stunned, if this person was still living, that would make them a cousin of some sort. So I clicked on their name and sent them a message asking about their ancestral line back to William H.
The response I got back "BLEW" my mind wide open. Her grandfather was the brother to my grandmother, Ethel Buchanan. We were THAT closely related. I am happy to say that my existence "BLEW" her mind too. Since that day, we have been exchanging info and have actually talked on the phone to one another. I NEVER in my wildest dreams thought that I would find another living family member, but I DID! It is so much fun to open up my mailbox and find more information coming in to me regarding LIVING Buchanan relatives.
I can't express to you have VERY VERY valuable that website was to me. Yes it brought me closer to my family who has passed away, but it actually brought me LIVING family as well, and that has made ALL the difference to me and my own existence. So take a minute, or an hour, and check out FindAGrave.com for yourself, while you go 'digging' you might just dig us someone still LIVING!
Happy Hunting............
