It was nine years ago on this date, September 8th, that I posted my first blog piece on my own website — Darpity Jean’s Blog. The saying “time flies” comes to my mind when I think about how fast those years have come and gone.

My interest in genealogy and family history stories started over forty years previous. Over those years, I spent a lot of my research time in-person with visits to town halls, libraries and historical societies.

My dad as a baby in 1921 with his parents
James and Alice (Holden) Lindall

Stemming from my “membership” within a Swamp Yankee family, I have had the designated honor of sorting through many years of treasures left behind by those who have gone on before me.

Among the trove of items were antique and vintage postcards–many, many postcards. There were several album books filled with postcards, as well as, many safely stored within old shoe boxes.

Being faced with the decision of what to do with all these postcards, ideas began to swirl within my brain. For a while, I did sell a few online. Then, I started to really make the connection of postal history with genealogy. Those postcards, which had actually been written upon and sent to a recipient, held various genealogical clues. Many of the other postcards that were “unused” hold historical pictures that show places the way they used to be years ago.

Over the years, I had often thought it would be nice to write a book based on family history stories–so many stories to be told. However, the concept of putting together a huge project that a book would entail just seemed so overwhelming.

In 2016, as an alternative to a book project, I started to explore the possibility of starting a blog. My idea was one that would combine the family stories with the historical clues of the postcards. It meant I could write small pieces at a time, rather than trying to complete a whole book.

In order to start a blog, I needed to do plenty of research about how to start one and how to function within all the technical features–not my strong suit. Once I decided on a blog platform to use (WordPress), I really needed to go into a deep dive in order to learn all the technical pieces.

Part of the blog startup process included coming up with a name for my page. In memory of my best childhood and lifelong friend, Debbie, I decided to go with the nickname she gave me when we were just kids–Darpity. Purposely, I published my first blog post on September 8th–Debbie’s birthday. She and I grew up next door to each other and were born a mere month apart–she is greatly missed.

My friend Deb

A couple of years after starting my blog, I decided to upgrade my plan which gave me more features so I could set up my home page with more detail. A while after changing my plan, I really felt it was not necessary for me to pay out the extra for the upgrade and I went back to my original plan. When I did that, of course I lost some of that added detail on the home page and I had to readjust to the technical changes again.

My original blog focus was primarily in the direction of the three ladies from whom I acquired the majority of the antique and vintage postcards: Bertha (James) Watts (Gra Gra); Henrietta (James) Hooper (Aunt Etta); and, Julia Ann (Moore) James (Grandma Julia). Although, I have also acquired quite a few from my parents and also from my paternal grandmother Alice (Holden) Lindall (Grammy Alice).

Julia Ann (Moore) James
(Grandma Julia)
Bertha L. (James) Watts (Gra Gra )
With my brother Mark
Henrietta (James) (Aunt Etta)
and
husband William Hooper

A large volume of time, during that 40-year-plus genealogy research, was spent on what I thought to be my biological maternal family. This focus of research will continue, as time allows, as there are still answers to find and many stories yet to be told.

My family history exploration took a huge detour in the late months of 2018 when I completed one of those at-home DNA tests. Soon afterward, it came to light that my mother appeared to have been adopted. I was totally blindsided and it derailed my blog and my brain for a while.

My Mom and Dad during the 1940’s

It has been almost seven years since I first learned of my mom’s adoption. In the near future, I will be writing about newly learned details about my mother’s birth family. It has been a long fight as I have tried repeatedly to get certain information I needed. Finally, this past August, one day prior to my mom’s birthday, I was finally able to successfully achieve the piece I have been seeking after over these past seven years–a minor miracle, indeed!

Several pieces to my mom’s biological family history have been coming together and blog pieces will be posted at some point in the future.

During January of 2019, I started to write some shorter blog pieces and called that feature “One Postcard Saturdays”. These pieces highlight one postcard and provide some supporting and historical information about the subject pictured on the postcard. Starting this type of feature was my way of being able to write shorter pieces without having to delve too deeply into research and details. Since I really tend to get bogged down in the preparation and details of my longer posts it tends to cause large gaps in my posting intervals. So, for a while, I kept up pretty well on writing the shorter pieces on Saturdays.

The postcard above, the Hotel Velvet, was located in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, is one used in a previous “One Postcard Saturdays”

In 2022, I had a major unexpected life change. There have been several times when I felt perhaps it better to discontinue my blog and delete my webpage. To this point, I don’t have too much of a following; though, if I had been more consistent with my writing it would potentially be much better. However, since the start of writing my blog, I have had the pleasure of the opportunity to connect with a few folks that either relate to the family somehow or have appreciation for the content–all is very much appreciated.

Since late 2022, I have personally moved four times which is not very conducive to having my brain feel square enough to write blog stories. In addition, over the past year and a half, or so, I have had some medical issues which created an onslaught of medical appointments. It seems the toughest part is identifying a medical issue and determining the best treatment. Hopefully, things will remain stable for a while and it seems less medical appointments these days. Hooray, for that!

The good news is, my brain is feeling like there are still many stories to tell–both old and new. I am feeling a renewed sense of wanting to recommit to my blog and pass along some of what I have learned during my genealogical research. There are errors that I have come across when reviewing some of the online sites for family history and I hope that I live long enough to find the right answers. It really bothers me when I realize that folks just recopy and repeat the error over and over without researching the proof of it. Always make an effort to prove what you find listed in family trees.

The following ideas have been unfolding for the future of my page: posts that focus on specific family highlights may feature just family pictures rather than a postcard; I have a lot of vintage recipes and am trying to figure out a way to share those within blog posts; I have recently added a page that can be accessed from the home page with some family photos, more may be added in the future; posts on my mom’s biological family and my process of obtaining her records; more research and posts on my paternal grandmother’s family (Holden); continued reunion stories of my dad’s WWII service group–and the list goes on.

Family picture from 1965 Christmas Dinner

Of my past blog pieces, I share a few of the links below. These stories took quite a bit of work putting together, I probably would have done better to cut them into smaller pieces.

These links will lead you to some of my more extensive stories but worthy of checking out nonetheless:

My newly added family photo page can be accessed via the following link:

Family Photos

As I now begin my tenth year publishing this blog page, my hope is to continue sharing family stories, genealogy information and vintage postcards with anyone interested to read such material–providing that my brain, my energy level and overall health allows.

Until next time…