This story revolves around the complex family ties and the mystery of Robert Keith Marvin's parentage. Born Charles Audrey Rice in 1922 to Harriet Rice, he was adopted by Ray and Jesse Marvin and renamed Robert Keith Marvin. The adoption was recorded in the Marvin Family Bible, indicating the family's awareness of it. In 1942, Robert accidentally discovered his adoption when he requested his birth certificate. The truth about his biological parents remained a mystery until DNA analysis in 2017 revealed a connection to the Bonebright family line, suggesting that Elmer Bonebright and Harriet Rice were his real parents. Robert passed away in 1970, never knowing his true origins, which were only uncovered nearly a century later through DNA science and his son's determination.   The story begins In the tapestry of family history, few threads are as entwined with mystery and discovery as the lineage of Robert Keith Marvin. Born amidst the snowy peaks of Helena, Montana, in the

Illustration Vectors by Vecteezy I love serendipity!  I've been toying with a blog topic for a couple of weeks and have even received a couple of responses for future publication.  The basic topic is storytelling and title of the blog asks people to "Tell Me A Story".  More on this below. Friday April 26,2024, on ABC's Good Morning, America  there was an item about a new book, Cemetery for Untold Stories  by Julia Alvarez.  Brief synopsis of the book: an author decides to literally bury a pile of unfinished manuscripts in a cemetery plot and be done with them.  But the characters in the manuscripts protest and haunt her to finish their stories.  That sounded so intriguing, I had to go on Amazon and purchase the book! I am about one third into the book and Alma, the protagonist is expressing some of my exact thoughts.  The epigraph is a simple four words: Tell me a story.   I swear, and have witnesses, that I started using that phrase before I obtained the book.  No pl

Generated with Bing ImageGenerator, February 4, 2024 at 1:54 PM Some years ago, Lowell Tuttle led a family history writing group which met at a local library, where the writers swapped ideas and drafts of their writing. Over time, health issues etc. caused the group to dwindle. Months ago, Lowell wrote to me (Valorie) with some rough drafts for which he wanted feedback. I wrote back with a few suggestions and asked if we could use part of what he had written here in the blog. Recently he wrote back, giving us his permission to do so. Note: While we have not been able to rekindle the Family History Writing group, we do have an online group:  https://skcgs.groups.io/g/Family-History-Writing . While it has not taken off, it is a place to send your drafts and ask for feedback.  Introduction Dear Readers:  My name is Lowell Allyn Tuttle. This is a Pep Talk on why you should write your or your family's stories. There are  hundreds of sources on HOW to write your or your families' sto

  Education Everywhere I am an education junkie. What better addiction for a genealogist? I read books, mostly non- fiction, attend lectures and multi-session classes, listen to podcasts, and watch webinars. I  watch lots of webinars. During a recent week I had the privilege of watching three hour-long  video programs on genealogy topics. Descendancy Research The first was a presentation on Descendancy Research delivered to our own South King County  Genealogical Society by a professional genealogist located in Utah. Descendancy research is a  new topic for me. I remember attending a presentation on the topic when I was just beginning  genealogy, but it did not mean much to me then. Now I can see that it may hold the answer to  some problems in my family tree. I began watching in a vacation spot on Maui, but was soon  interrupted by a fire alarm emergency in the building. No problem: I was able to watch the full  recording of the presentation later that day. The program was free to Me

  Thanks to Twisted Twigs on Gnarled Branches via Facebook Organizing is a bunch of four letter words--sort, list, file, scan, copy, move. . .and a few others not to be uttered in polite society. Of those words, "List" should be one of your first actions.  Take an inventory of what you have and at least mentally remember where it is located now.  You might be surprised what you have in your file boxes and bookshelves.  Recently I spotted a book on my bookshelf that I could have used a few times myself and could have shared with others. A few years ago I prepared a presentation about the rectangular land survey system by which federal lands were allocated under various land grant acts including the Homestead Act of 1862. In the course of the presentation and several times in my own research I have encountered reference to Military Bounty Warrants. While I roughly know what they are, I have felt I needed to learn more about them but have never made the time to do so. What'