52 Ancestors - Week 19 - At the Library

52 Ancestors – WEEK 19 – At the Library

By Cynthia Keefer Patton 

I love libraries. I have tried as a professional genealogist to visit as many libraries, particularly in my local area of Kansas City, Missouri as I can. We are so fortunate to have the Midwest Genealogy Center in Independence, arguably one of the premier research facilities in the United States. But I love our other libraries as well.

The Mid-Continent Public Library system and the Johnson County Library across the state line are both excellent sources of not only books, but online resources, DVD's, audiobooks, computer work stations and rooms available to individuals and small groups to use for homework or meetings.

One library branch, Green Hills, has a wonderful children's play are with a small kitchen and they have several story times throughout the week. There is also a full chef's kitchen and classes are offered to all age groups. Finally, there is a coffee shop/cafe where patrons can use the internet and enjoy a chat with friends or a "work remote" situation.

Don't leave libraries out of your game plan if you are doing family history research.

52 Ancestors - Week 13 - 2025 - Home Sweet Home

52 Ancestors – WEEK 13 – Home Sweet Home

By Cynthia Keefer Patton 

My son and his wife recently shopped for and bought a new house. They had been in the older one for almost thirteen years, and in that time frame I have moved and lived in 4 different houses. I moved not because I was itching for a change, but because circumstances (jobs, commute, number of step-children needing space, etc.).

I have had a lot of time to reflect on "home". Home is where you hang your rucksack. I have had to make myself "at home" in a trailer at the edge of an airfield in Kuwait and in a motorhome overlooking a small lake while I worked as a contractor in another state.

Each time I try to have a very few small items that make wherever I am "home". Often it is a favorite coffee cup or pillow. I always have photos of loved ones and for a long time I carried around a little flag of the US to put in a pencil holder on my desk or dresser. But primarily I brought memories of home. Those parts of our heart that nothing can take away.

The memory of our mother in the kitchen making dinner while we did our homework at the kitchen table. The smell of freshly bleached sheets when you crawled between them after a long day playing out in the sun. The Christmas season, laying on the living room floor going through the Sears toy catalog longing for gifts we dreamed of.

Later as an adult, the memory of bringing our son home from the hospital and celebrating wedding anniversaries and birthdays with each person's favorite meal and cake. I have lived in a LOT of places. I have had a LOT of furniture. But it is the abundance of wonderful memories of love, laughter, and family that make my "Home Sweet Home".