Current Projects:


I am currently working on three projects:  Roberts Family Stories, a cemetery book and an address book.  Each project is different and is in various stages of completion.

I have been writing Roberts Family Stories for about a year and a half now.  I knew I needed to write and preserve my research, but it took me several months to figure out a process.  I figured I would write a biography or life sketch for each person, but there are several issues with this approach.  Research results are not finite and change, as records and documents become available so a printed story’s details may change.  Gathering and combining various facts, histories, and events of an ancestor’s life is daunting and may be repetitive.  Rather, I decided to write short stories about certain situations from our ancestor’s lives.  For example, if I write about each family member individually, several family members would have a section about immigration where the basic information that needs to be included would be repetitive.  Whereas, if I write short stories, I am able to combine all of our ancestors who immigrated together into a single comprehensive story.  I currently have 21 stories in various stages of completion and a whole file of ideas.

The second project is the cemetery book.  I began working on this project over fifteen years ago, but became frustrated with the layout of the book and overwhelmed with the large amount of sources that would need to be cited for each event.  Not that citing sources is an issue, but the amount of print for the sources would be larger than the amount of information printed!  I put the book on hold until a year or so ago I had a new thought about how to put the book together.  Rather than write a short life sketch for each person, I would use his or her obituary.  Additionally, by setting aside this project, technology has progressed so now I am able to include my photographs with my maps.

Finally, the third project is an address book.  While living in Rock Springs, I would drive past some of the homes and places associated with our family.  I remembered trips to Rock Springs where my Dad, Uncle Jack, and Kathleen would point out places of interest and tell me stories.  However, there were many other homes and places lost to my memory and my Dad, Uncle Jack, and Kathleen have all passed away.  I began to formulate a plan where I could use my notes from previous visits, photographs of homes, addresses from census records and city directories to create a useful and interesting book for those visiting Rock Springs, as well as those reading it from home.  While this project is in the beginning stages as I am continuing to formulate the layout and presentation.

While in the midst of working on these projects, I have a list of future projects! 

Which project sounds most interesting to you? Leave a comment below:

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