Roberts Roots & Branches

Sunday #4: Reflection of the years gone by, how has the meaning of Christmas changed for you? Do you feel more religious about the holiday, do you like or dislike the shopping, has your anticipation changed?

Sunday #3: What was your most memorable Christmas gift that you gave and that you received? How much did it cost, who was it from, and did you ask for it? Who did you give it to, did they ask for it and what made it the best to give?

Selina Parker Roberts(162) wife of John Richard Roberts(8) daughter in law of Hugh Roberts(1) & Margaret Roberts(2) As of Monday, there were 2,747 images of south Lincoln County headstones online at www.kemmererhs.org. The photos are the painstaking work of north Lincoln County resident Ed Lisota, along with his wife Mary Lisota and former area resident Kent Lindberg. Lisota said that the South Lincoln photos are only a fraction of what he’s put online for the Star Valley Historical Society. “We’ve only just touched the surface,” he said. He calls the online historical work both “his retirement project” and “his baby.” Lindberg and the Lisotas took several trips south to walk the Viola-LaBarge, Kemmerer, Ham’s Fork, Diamondville and Beaver cemeteries, he said. The site is sponsored by the Lincoln County Historical Society. So far, Lisota says he’s only charged them the $25 for the website domain name. For Lisota, the thousands of pictures are just a start. “There’re ...

"In all of us there is a hunger, marrow-deep, to know our heritage - to know who we are and where we have come from . Without this enriching knowledge, there is a hollow yearning. No matter what our attainments in life, there is still a vacuum. An emptiness . And the most disquieting loneliness." -- Alex Haley

December 13, 2009 Take out a pen and paper and write... Sunday #2: What was your favorite holiday sweet when you were growing up? What is your favorite holiday sweet now? Was it homemade, who made it, and did you ever eat so much of it that you got sick?

Dear Family & Readers, A couple of months ago I drove up to Rock Springs for a mini family history trip. It was a short trip that was not very well planned out or prepared. However, it gave me an opportunity to remind myself of what I love and what my passion is---research in the cemeteries, micro-film, and county records... The fun of it...Makes me giddy just to think of it. Anyway, I decided to collect and gather all of my cemetery records into one place, a book about the Roberts family members buried in Wyoming. I currently have allot of information, but if you have any information about the cemeteries in Wyoming where our Roberts' family members are buried please share. I am hoping to have the book complete by the spring, but that may be too ambitious. Most fascinating these past few weeks I have been working on the symbols used on headstones and in cemeteries. I have found this most interesting and amusing. Here are a few links you might find interesting: ...

Every Sunday in December take out a pen & paper and write: December 6, 2009 Sunday #1: Write about your Christmas trees as you were growing up. Did you have a real tree or artificial tree? Did you go as a family to cut it down, like in the movies? When did you decorate the tree?

Dear Santa, Don't bring me new dishes, I don't need a new kind of game. Genealogists have peculiar wishes For Christmas I just want a surname. A new washing machine would be great, But it's not the desire of my life. I've just found an ancestor's birth date; What I need now is the name of his wife. My heart doesn't yearn for a ring That would put a real diamond to shame. What I want is a much cheaper thing; Please give me Mary's last name. To see my heart singing with joy, Don't bring me a read leather suitcase, Bring me a genealogist's toy; a surname with dates and a place. (author unknown) (seen in Illinois State Gen Soc newsletter 1984) http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~bridgett/chhumor.htm

1. The public ceremony in which your distinguished ancestor participated and at which the platform collapsed under him turned out to be a hanging. 2. When at last after much hard work you have evolved the mystery that you have been working on for two years, your aunt says, "I could have told you that." 3. You search ten years for your grandmother's maiden name to eventually find it on a letter in a box in the attic. 4. You never asked your father about his family when he was alive because you weren't interested in genealogy then. 5. The will you need is in the safe on board the Titanic. 6. Copies of old newspapers have holes occurring only on the surnames. 7. John, son of Thomas the immigrant whom your relatives claim as the family progenitor, died on board ship at the age of 10. 8. Your great grandfather's newspaper obituary states that he died leaving no issue of record. 9. Another genealogist has just insulted the keeper of the vital records you need. 10....