Piecing together bits of time..........

Last year coming home from an Iowa trip, I found an article in Memory Makers about geneaology. This subject never really interested me. My aunts have done it for years, but stomping around in over grown cemeteries just did not appeal to me in the least. But, after reviewing the article in the magazine and noting that there were several websites listed, I thought, "What the heck?...I'll check out the site (ancestry.com), plug in my grandparents name and see what i come up with."

Well....ten hours later, I had family mysteries solved. I had also traced back most of the family to the early 1800's. There were civil war records, records with my great grandparents own hand writing - it was unbelievable.

My uncle was kind enough to loan me a couple of family heirloom boxes that contain much of my grandparents photos. Among the prized artifacts in there is a church document dating back to 1857 and written in German. I also have a photo of my great grandfather's 4th grade elementary class.

You know from my last post that I enjoy a challenge. This is like solving a puzzle, searching for the missing pieces. It's amazing what you can learn by just studying a photograph, not just the people, but the surroundings. It's absolutely fascinating.

Tonight, I began what I hope will become a very treasured book amongst the family, the project of documenting and digi-scrapping all the old family photo's. It's my hope that someday, my great grand kids won't have to guess who I am, or what my life was like.

Do you have information about these family names?

• Molden (particularly those living near the St. louis area - originally Augustus Molden immigrated here from Bavaria


• Joesel - My grandmother Otillia Joesel - Molden was from France. I have no information as to her parents, though Im suspecting that they may be a family of Joesels living near St. louis but on the Illinois side of the Mississippi


• McClellan - Sara McClellan or any McClellans from Browning Missouri


• Frey - Michael - from the St. louis Area (The page above is Michael and Dona Frey - my great grandparents)

If you do, please take a moment to email me, maybe we can swap information and gather another piece of the puzzle.

For now, here's the first of many pages of the Molden family heritage book. Thanks for taking a peek! Hope this inspires you to a family memory treasure hunt.

(papers and embellishments are from scrappersguide.com - premier membership)