Never Have I Ever…

The end of 2021 is finally here… thank you, dear Lord. Never have I ever wanted to see the back-end of a year as much as I have this one.

Granted, 2020 was not a good year either, courtesy of a global pandemic. But, like most people, I did my best to weather the storm by masking, social distancing, and avoiding large gatherings…not that there were many of those to be had, sadly.

Like many others, I made a conscious decision to protect family and friends by masking up or just staying away. We didn’t like it, but it was the right thing to do.

Daddy’s Last Days

Daddy, you doubted that it was as bad as was being reported. “You know the news sensationalizes things all the time, right?”

Even when your daughters, two of whom are nurses (one who worked firsthand with people stricken by this virus) assured you that it is bad, REALLY bad, you still did not believe.

Book Review: The Orphan Collector

One hundred years ago, during the final days of the First World War, a microscopic menace attacked humanity on a global scale: the Spanish Influenza. The conditions of the war (overcrowding and global troop movements) hastened the rapid spread of this disease. Because of the lack of reliable healthcare and sanitary practices in the public-at-large, this disease quickly escalated into a public health crisis.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Uncertain

It is week 22 in the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks writing challenge. This week’s writing prompt, Uncertain, is an appropriate adjective to describe these past few months. The world is turning topsy-turvy. Amid pandemic, prejudice, and protests live unease, unrest, and uncertainty.

For days, I have tried to focus on genealogy and write about the past, but the present, so chaotic and psychotic, has kept me in the here and now. So instead of writing about our ancestors this week, I will instead highlight the lives and experiences of the living…

Where There’s a Will

It is Week 18 in the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks’ writing challenge. This week’s writing prompt is Where There’s a Will.

The first thing I thought about when I saw this week’s theme was all the William Williams ancestors there are in the family tree. However, as I had already covered some of these William Williams, specifically William Williams, son of Welsh Quaker immigrants, who was born in 1749, in Chester County, Pennsylvania, perhaps I should write about someone else.

What about some famous Williams? Well, I have already written about William of Longespee, William I of Scotland, William III of Aquitaine, and William IX of Aquitaine. Did I really want to feature another well-known William?

No, I would rather highlight an every day Will. Someone who would rarely appear in the pages of history. As I had already written about William Christian, William L. Goss, William Ferguson Taylor, William H. Taylor, James Bernard Williams, Philip Williams, and a slew of other Williams, would there be any left about whom I could write?