"Keep some souvenirs of your past, or how will you ever prove it wasn't all a dream?"

I have been researching my family tree for over 30 years. I've always loved history.  In fact, I have a degree in it. I grew up going to family reunions.  My paternal grandfather, George Cross, was one of 9 children and all his siblings but one were within a 20 mile radius, so those family gatherings were rather large. Family and family stories have been a part of me for as long as I can remember.

But it was the birth of my only child, a daughter, in May of 1981, that was the catalyst to really start me on my journey into the past.

The photo up in the right had corner is one I grew up looking at in my grandfather's photo album every time we would visit. They only lived a little over a mile from us, so we visited a lot, and I looked at that picture a lot.  In the back on the left is his father, my great grandfather, Henry A. Cross. He died 2 years before I was born. Oh how I wish I could have known him.

I have that same longing to know all of my ancestors!  Come along with me as I journey back and let me introduce you to some of the most interesting people I have ever "met."

Here's one of the most important of those interesting people, my father, John Stanley Cross.  This picture was taken a year or so  before I was born.

Daddy was born in 1930.  But wait, we'll save more of his story for another post.

Thank you for coming along for the ride.

Valerie