Party of Five

This blog post is not genealogy related.  I'm sorry to disappoint my genealogy readers, but this is just one of those days when something else is on my mind, invading my thoughts, and overwhelming me that I simply need to get it out of my system.  Lucky for you, that involves jotting my thoughts via this blog. Let me say first of all, I love the small town that I live in.  And actually, I don't necessarily even really believe it's a small town.  I grew up in a REALLY small town...an INSANELY small town.  But where I live now has a small town feel to it.  I can walk comfortably from my house to the library, or up to the corner ice cream stand...and probably pass more than a handful of people that I know personally to have a quick hello and conversation with.  Our kids probably go to school together at the local elementary.  This is why I live where I do.  I love this town, and I love my kids' school. The elementary school where 2 of my kid...

Imagine with me...you've moved to a new state, city, home....starting a new life.  Exciting, right? Now imagine with me that upon moving into your new home, you come across a little..."surprise" in your new living space. Okay...so it's not exactly the typical house-warming gift that one might expect.  And yet, it's exactly what was found when my brother moved into his home near Waco, Texas. Knowing that his sister spends an excessive amount of time wandering around cemeteries looking for ancestors never personally known, as well as others who have passed who aren't even related....well, of course I got the call alerting me to their home discovery...which led me to the challenge of trying to discover who Alex Perry was and why in the world was his headstone sitting at my brother's home? I have located a death certificate, I have located census records for Alex and his family from 1920 and 1910, as well as 1930 and 1940 for his wife after his deat...