Willow #3

I am having a problem. I am not getting anything done. I have years worth of boxes from my parent's home that still haven't been completely sorted, stored, given away or thrown out. Oh, I know, I get all sorts of suggestions on this subject. Just leave me alone about it.

I could use my time to work in my flower gardens. It is my therapy. However, after so much rain in Iowa, the mosquitoes are out. I can honestly say I have never seen mosquitoes this bad in my entire life (and it is a long one). Where in the past, one might see a mosquito, they now swarm. Even the sound is daunting. There are soooooooo many. Of course, we live in the country near the timber and the river. It is mosquito heaven.  There are no smogging trucks here to help like there is in cities and small towns. So, I just stay inside.

If you are wondering what all of this has to do with genealogy, I am getting to it. In fact, I am just trying to legitimize the amount of
time I have been spending in my recliner with my iPad reading blogs.

The more genealogy blogs I read, the more I want to read. After I check out some of my favorites, I start seeking out ones I haven't read. Recently, I have been working on setting up searching capability on my blog. This has lead me to trying out some 
searching of my own on other sites.

http://www.geneabloggers.com has search capability. Since my blog is listed on this site, I was sure I would find myself. Sure 
enough. However, I found a big, big surprise. A HUGE surprise. A well known blogger (Dr. William Smith) in the blogosphere had a post with my last name in it.  I should say my married last name. He had posted this at least a year before I even knew what a genealogy blog was.

I keep reading about bloggers hoping to find distance cousins with
their sites. Some bloggers talk about cousin bait. I have been hoping I might trip over some distant cousin or two one of these days. Instead, I tripped over a post about Willow #3 in Willow Township, Greene County, Iowa, the one room school my husband and two older siblings attended.  This Wordless Wednesday post for January 15, 2014 was added at http://www.drbilltellsancestorstories.blogspot.com


 It consisted of a photo outside the school building with the kids and their teacher. Dr. Bill identified most of the kids including my brother-in-law and my husband. My 97 year old mother-in-law identified the others. The photo is from about 1946 so my husband was a baby. An older girl with dark hair is  holding him. We have no idea why he was at school. It is also a picture that neither of us had ever seen or even knew existed.





Left to right: Mildred Peversdorf (teacher), Shirley Wood, Dick Hunter, Judy Tolsdorf, Charlotte Shirbroun holding baby Tom, Robert Hunter, Jim Tolsdorf, Ruth Ann Christinsen.
 
In the front on the right wearing suspenders is Bill Smith and his little brother, Jimmie about 2, sitting on the ground looking down.
 

Can the world get any smaller?