Treasure from a Phone Call, or Two

A week has just blown past me and I have no idea how that even happened. We have had some hot weather this week, which always tends to wipe me out. I have been rather busy with my normal routine but there have been several added and even unexpected events. All in all, another tough week for me to blog.

My grandchildren (the prince and princess) are always number one and I donate my full attention to them when they are with me, at least twice a week for anywhere from nine to twelve hours. Other evening activities and such have completely worn me out and left my blogs rather quiet. Sometimes I just don't have the time or energy to do it all!

I did make some phones calls that I had been wanting to make. My newest contact had given me a number to another cousin in MN. I finally phoned this cousin, and when I did it sounded like she had given up on me calling her. She kept some family information next to her phone that she wanted to share with me for at least a week, and then put it all away. I knew she was more than happy to receive my call, and I let her know that I was more than happy to wait while she retrieved the paperwork.

We talked and shared information. I was under the impression that another cousin had published a book on this family line, the Westbys. You can imagine how excited this news made me! This particular cousins phone number was graciously given to me. I was told she lives in Montana. After the phone conversation with the "first" cousin, I made sure I understood all the notes I took and reconstructed them, so it was cohesive and in order. Then I proceeded to make the phone call to the "second" cousin.

This cousin was not expecting my call, and all I knew about her was that she lived in Montana. I stumbled at first when she answered the phone and stated she was who I was calling for. I did catch myself right away though and quickly tried to explain who I was and how I ended up calling her. Before I was finished, she knew who I was and started talking to me about some of my relatives. She told me I made her day by calling her! Isn't it wonderful when we get receptions such as this one? She had no idea how happy she made me, although I tried to tell her! I was a bit disappointed though when she said she had not published a book and more than likely never would. but, I got over that quickly as I knew she had a lot of family history that I was lacking. We agreed to exchange information, at our earliest convenience.

After I hung up the phone I immediately started checking all the information on the Westbys that I had accumulated in my tree. I needed to make sure I had good sources on all of the information in this line and that there weren't holes or notes I hadn't entered yet. (I also wrote the notes over again from this conversation and restructured them neatly) I spent a couple hours working on this line until I was comfortable with it. I then sent it to my cousin in Montana, via email.

I understand how busy people are (after all I am usually one of those people) and really wasn't expecting a copy of my cousins genealogy information for some time. I was very surprised actually when she sent me an email and informed me that she was double checking all of her information, making sure all of her notes were entered for the family before she mailed it to me. Her genealogy is on an old version of Family Tree Maker, and from what she stated, it couldn't be imported to a newer version, so she prints out what she wants and snail mails it. I don't mind! I know it is coming.

What she has been able to do for me in the meantime is send me some pictures via e-mail. The first one was such a surprise and actually gave me tears. I recognized a couple of these children, which made it more emotional. I hadn't seen pictures of them as children before. I thanked her and she has sent me a few more pictures. Every one of them is so very precious! I will be looking to see if I have any photos that may be of of interest to her, or that she may not have. I am not sure I can do much for her, but if nothing else I can send her a photo of me! She has no idea what I look like!

I have had contact with many different cousins this past week that I have met since I started this blog, and actually before that. It takes time to be thorough and precise and elaborate when sharing information with others. I have spent a good part of my week working on these replies knowing how important they are. Sometimes you just have to do the most important thing at the time. Blogging was on a back burner, but well worth it in my eyes. Just look at all the treasure I have started to accumulate from these calls. Hope to share more with you soon on my Westby family.

Thanks for stopping by!

Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts!