“You can inspire others by sharing the historical context of your life and your values, experiences, accumulated life wisdom, and insights. Stories also mend the rifts between generations or individuals, because when you honor what was good, you find how to forgive what was bad and reconcile your past.” ~ Marlee Ledai, Living Spaces

Read this insightful article at Ancestrymagazine.com

“Whether or not your ancestors could read and write, you’ll learn a thing or two about them through the “signatures” they left on old documents.

It is an exciting moment to look at an ancestor’s original signature on a document. For a moment in time, it is as if we are standing there with them, pen in hand, imagining the land to be bought or sold, the will and the properties to be divided, the marriage that will join two lives. Even when their signature is only a mark, it represents an expression of their will and offers us a glimpse into their lives and their literacy—if we know what to look for. Even when we find our ancestor’s signature recorded in a deed book by a clerk, there is much that we can learn from the clerk’s facsimile signature of that ancestor.”        READ MORE > > >

Today is the 100 yr anniversary of the death of Sarah Orne Jewett, Maine author of “The Country of Pointed Firs”, http://tiny.cc/oj37Wsary. Sarah was a famous 19th century author, and a cousin in our family tree.