Tag: Alfred Josiah Smith

Indecision & decision

On the fence You know how sometimes it’s easier to not do anything when you don’t know what to do?  That has been exactly the case. Indecision has been my companion, but I’ll get back to that. I love family history, and I’ve been trying to sort the piles of documentation our family has collected…

Letter #5: June 2, 1889

INTO IRONWOOD I found myself giggling like a kid when researching this one, had to force my eyebrows down. It was an “Oh, goodie!” moment, and I thought, “this is too much fun.” Today I share #5 of 14, letters written by my great, great grandfather Si Smith from Ironwood, Michigan beginning in 1889. The…

Letter #3: March 31, 1889

INTO IRONWOOD One of the utter frustrations of genealogy is slamming into that brick wall, again, and deciphering the scanty, often hard-to-read records. But we all know the delightful, gut-giggling joy when a puzzle piece fits. Or several. This letter, #3 in my INTO IRONWOOD series, has done it all. This is a new, short…

Letter #2: February 10, 1889

INTO IRONWOOD I don’t know cold, or what it’s like to experience a truly, deep cold winter. I’ve been neatly tucked away somewhere in the Pacific Northwest most of my life. I haven’t experienced bitter, biting winters next to Lake Superior. We are pretty spoiled in the garden department as well; what we plant grows…

Letter #1: January 27, 1889

INTO IRONWOOD Some of you are familiar with my series about my great grandma, Orah Myrtle Butterfield (the link takes you to the first entry titled Cherry Season). I stared a series about her for several reasons. At first it was to preserve our family history, but also because her letters were shocking. Hundreds of…