Whenever I'm in the Salt Lake area I try to take a day and spend it at the LDS Family History Library. Today was my day. The best part about it this time was that my sister, Tina, came with me. I had previously decided to focus my attention this time on the Drewes branch of my family (the maiden name of my great grandmother pictured here). The Drewes family resided in Hoboken, New Jersey during the late 1800's and the beginning of the 1900's.
My sister and I gathered up some of the films that we had decided to use to begin our search and were happily reeling away at them on the microfilm machines. We were discussing the different counties that we were investigating and all of the sudden a voice from the other side of my sister said, "Are you searching in Hudson County? I'm from there." Turned out this guy was on his yearly two week genealogy trip to Salt Lake. He was able to give us all kinds of advice and practical help. He was also very entertaining. What are the chances!
In the end we were able to locate the birth record of my grandmother, Sophia Anna Drewes's, brother. They came from a family of twelve children. I've now identified ten of them. Only two more to go!
We took family pictures tonight. It was easily the most painful picture taking session ever. Eighteen kids in white shirts on a dock? It is nothing short of miraculous that one or more of them didn't end up in the drink! I don't have a group picture because we used a tripod and timer for that. But here we have my parents with their four children, my parents with their 18 grandkids, and my parents with their children and spouses.
Friday we arrived in Lake Tahoe for our Eckenfelder family reunion. We are staying in the Richardson house at Camp Richardson. Today we drove out to Emerald Bay and went for a short hike down to Vikingsholm which is the coolest vacation home ever built (wishing it was mine!).
Here is not so little Boone, who was nasty and said he absolutely would not let me take a picture of him with his sand castle (in the way only a four year old boy can). But as you can see, I managed to get one anyway!
Whenever I'm in the Salt Lake area I try to take a day and spend it at the LDS Family History Library. Today was my day. The best part about it this time was that my sister, Tina, came with me. I had previously decided to focus my attention this time on the Drewes branch of my family (the maiden name of my great grandmother pictured here). The Drewes family resided in Hoboken, New Jersey during the late 1800's and the beginning of the 1900's. 
