The Lull

With the start of 2013, I've been in a bit of a lull on this blog. Primary obligations have spiked in preparation for upcoming travel and meetings, I'm awaiting some documents to arrive on earlier queries, and I've also had a bit of a struggle on which stories to bring to the blog.

I've been looking for some ideas and inspiration, and based on Amy Coffin's review, I downloaded Reunion: A Search for Ancestors for the iPad by Ryan Littrell. I'll have my own review coming up, but so far, I haven't been able to put it down.

It's hard to believe I'm approaching a year with this blog. January began with a look back at some of the early stories from last year, on the O'Briens, my never-ending quest to research the Jones family in East Tennessee, my 4th-great-grandmother Emily Ballard Read. This helped identify some new information, such as the coal mine report from the Prairie Research Institute and the bounty land assignment in LaSalle County. I'm behind in sharing the results of Lucinda McIntosh Smith's widow's pension application for her husband Asa Putnam Smith's service in the War of 1812 and on the Lamon family. I have some additional information from the Illiana Genealogical and Historical Society on the Davis family in Vermilion County, Illinois, and am behind on exploring the Revolutionary War service of Azariah Davis. I hope to get to these stories in the remainder of January.

So it's time to break out of the January lull, take advantage of the long weekend in DC to do some reading, thinking, and writing on the blog. There's lots of history to share and it doesn't help if it sits on the shelf.