My Portfolio

It was a weekend just before school resumed this fall and granddaughter Mia age 9 was invited for a sleepover at a special friend's house.  Her younger sister Nikki age 7 immediately began packing her 'stuff', expecting to be included.  Our Anna (their mom), sensing that Mia was needing some space from her younger sister, came up with what...

It was a sunny afternoon at the Bretton Woods Ski Resort in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. My brothers, Jimmy and Johnny were onstage performing with me at the resort's nightclub. Performing 5,6, 7 days a week took its toll on us and after a while every venue became a blur and...

Who am I proud of in my immediate family? I guess that would be my Dad and his participation in the Army. Dad taught ROTC at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. and MIT. Dad taught weapon instruction and was very good at what he did best and that was being part...

While I was reminiscing over the years trying to figure out who impacted me the most while going to school, I remembered our librarian, Mrs. Heavner, in grade school who always celebrated St. Patricks Day in fun ways. Everything went green and the balarney stones came out. She had a whole...

  When I was in the prime of trying to raise a family, there were days when I wondered if any of my children were learning the values of honesty, integrity, hard work, service, faith in God and everything else that they would need in order be become good honorable people...

Well, I was about 6 years old and I had been riding my first bike for about a year.  We were living in a small town in N.H. called Conway.  We had a driveway that was about 100 ft. long to the main road and was two cars wide.  My younger...

When I was a boy about 12 years old I was in the band and I played the Trumpet.  I was outside one day practicing in the backyard when my brother came up from behind me and quickly jumped in front of me and intentionally whacked the front of the horn. ...

As I describe a proud moment that involved members of my  immediate family, the event I have chosen is the birth of my first child, our daughter Chantel. At the end of July and beginning of August, I was involved in teaching at the 8th Annual Genealogical Priesthood Research Seminar held on the...

My paternal grandmother, Virginia Brann Adams, was a member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) in Tremonton, Utah during the 1940s and 1950s.  Since I had shown "promise" in oration and public speaking, I became involved in the WCTU Speech Contests during the mid 1950s at about the age of...

I guess the proudest moment I ever had with a close family member is when my Granddaughter was born. She was born March 10 1999.   Carolyn Sue Spratt First Halloween 7 Months Old In The Costume That Grandma Made   It was special but I guess what really made it...

There is so much to be proud of with my immediate family. By immediate family I mean my wife Christine and sons Justin and Tyler. For this I choose to share a story about Justin. After returning from Vietnam the climate back home was so hostile towards veterans I hid the...

  Sarah Ellen Corder When she Young   My Great grandmother name was Sarah Ellen Corder. I know everyone talks about having skeleton’s in their closets. I believe this is mine. I know time’s were different back then but still I find it hard to believe that even a woman born...

Andrew Johnson Spratt’s Father was born ( according to census’ ) about 1834 in Kentucky. I believe probably Greene County. I haven’t been able to find his father’s name but I believe it may have been Enoch Spratt. But Andrew’s father’s name was Wilson Marion Spratt. Wilson Marion Spratt   The...

Before I fell in love with genealogy I loved working with wood. We ended up moving and I didn’t have a good place for a work shop. I was working putting a roof on my deck outback and fell two steps off of a ladder and broke my hip. My wife...

Around 1980 Waylon Jennings recorded a song about a  “Good Timin’ Man.” who “liked the bright lights and good timin’ friends” and a woman who “through teardrops and laughter” passed through this world “hand in hand” with him.   A little over a hundred year’s earlier a boy-child named Arthur Benton Carriker...

The stock from which my family evolved was mostly Southern and most of them had little or no formal schooling.  But imbedded in the gene pool they created were genes that came to the fore in a very pronounced way in my Dad's personality.  Two of those genes could accurately be...

DESCRIBE AN AMAZING COINCIDENCE THAT OCCURRED WITHIN YOUR FAMILY Click  HERE to create your story * Click  HERE to learn how * Click HERE to trigger memories and ideas Read some member stories from last week's "Pride" topic: When I was growing up, school was challenging for me, especially math, and...

My wife and I were sitting in our living room when our youngest son called and told us to turn on the TV.  We watched in stunned disbelief as fire and smoke billowed from the first-struck tower and then in complete incredulity as the second airplane hit the other tower.  We...

We were living in Houston in 2001.  Thinking our stay there would be brief, I temporarily stepped outside my profession and took a part-time job at a nearby travel agency. I had been an agent years before and thought it would be fun and good for a few travel perks. On the morning of...