Gus Keasler - Getting Underway

There are more files on Gus than I remembered.
And I have photos to scan as well.

That is I used to have photos. No surprise, they are not where I thought they were and I cannot lay my hands on them immediately.

The hardest part of research for me is organizing and filing so that I can touch it as soon as I think it. In all the books and workshops those "in the know" tell you to set up systems. Its good advice, I have sort of followed.

My way means more work, ofcourse - however it is fun to leaf through file folders, re-read letters. Day dream. Put two and two together. Hopefully coming up with a story.

It would have helped this process if my previous desk top computer had not crashed a few years ago. Ok, now I remember. Ah, yes, that's what was on that hard drive. Know the feeling?

All this to say - this is going to take a bit more time than I thought.

But not like Ione Keasler. about ten years ago I saw a spiral bound soft cover "Keasler" Book at the DAR library. I tracked down the author, Ione Keasler, to ask if I could buy one. She had two copies left. I bought them.

The best part was that I met my Keasler cousing, Inez Winans over the phone and through letters. I have been re-reading those letters as I graze through Gus' files. This process is like rubbing sticks together to spark a fire. I am stoking the embers to remember what I knew a few years ago.

Inez, a woman in her eighties, lived in Texas. She was devoted to researching her families. She was also extremely generous with information - sharing with her Cousins. Her letters to be begin, Dear Cousin. I loved that. I also felt included when she wrote about "our Abraham" and suggested I go here or there to fill in another blank,

She wrote, " I have been working on this for thirty years. I don't know what I would do without my genealogy."

Inez is still with me through her letters - urging me to ties up these loose ends and - move on - to work on another line - and then another- and another..

TIP: If you are working on genealogy research - make a system for filing and keeping your records. Later you will be glad you set it up in an organized way. AND, back-up, back-up, back-up if you are using a computer to store files and photos.