Another cousin, and some inspiration

One of the side benefits of researching your family history is meeting people you never would have encountered in everyday life. Even better, most of them are your (distant) relatives.

I was very pleased to meet my distant cousin, Barb, and her husband a few weeks ago. We share common Shaffer ancestors, and both have roots in small town Elgin, Iowa, though neither of us grew up there. She lives outside of Chicago, but is a University of Iowa graduate whose mother grew up in Cedar Rapids. We corresponded for more than a year about finding a time to meet so that I could scan family photos (my long-time passionate obsession) and we could compare notes on the family.

I was fully prepared to drive to Illinois to meet them. I find the more obliging I can be the more willing people I've never met are to let me rummage through old boxes of familial detritus searching for gems. We finally had a weekend planned, when at the last minute it fell through. Barb said, "You don't by chance have this weekend free?" Lucky enough, I was. Suddenly, a trip years in the making was tomorrow. Fortunately, Barb planned to come to Iowa. She wanted to see where her mom grew up again after several years. Considering it cut my trip from five hours to 50 minutes, I was happy to agree.

We met at their hotel lobby, where I had access to an outlet to plug in my scanner. Barb brought bags of photos, many from the 1920s and earlier, all of the Capper branch of the Shaffer family (My great-great-great-grandfather, John D. Shaffer, had a sister, Emeline, who married Thomas J. Capper).

After scanning was done, we decided to head to the Czech Village for dinner. While the main purpose of this trip was family history, the highlight might have been enjoying dinner and drinks with them. We talked about travel, writing (Barb and I both have journalism backgrounds), and all sorts of associated things. It was lively and relaxing and truly fun. I left feeling inspired to commit to actually writing a family history of some kind. Thanks for that, Barb!

Now we're connected on Facebook and I hope to keep in touch, like I do with so many distant relatives I've met in the 15+ years I've been researching my heritage. I'm now starting an outline for a biography of John D. Shaffer that I hope to begin writing this fall. There are so many stories to tell in my family tree, and I was struggling to figure out how to tell them all. The reality is that I don't have to tell them all. Not at once, anyway. One story at a time, step by step.

I'm looking forward to the process (I say now, having written exactly zero words). I hope that doesn't change.

Fingers crossed.