It is not only time for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun, it is also the weekend before Thanksgiving and Randy Seaver has given us a holiday-related challenge:

1)  Think about the answers to these questions about your thankfulness for genealogy:

a.  Which ancestor are you most thankful for, and why?

b.  Which author (book, periodical, website, etc.) are you most thankful for, and why?

c.  Which historical record set (paper or website) are you most thankful for, and why?

My answers:

a. Like Randy, I am most thankful for two ancestors (although they both lived in my lifetime) who were the caretakers of so many photos and documents before me. My grandfather’s cousin, Charles Adams Chadwick (1921-2006), grew up listening to the family stories shared by his mother and other Adams relatives and passed on Aunt Pearl’s treasured album of vintage photos to me as I was the only family member interested in genealogy. On my father’s side of the family, my Nana, Helena (Julia) Anna Scerbak Sabo (1893-1985) saved many family photos, letters and documents from both her family and that of my paternal grandfather, George Kucharik aka Sabo, who died long before I was born, in spite of the fact that she didn’t like any of her inlaws! She also told me stories about the family back in Slovakia.

b. The website I’m most thankful for is FamilySearch and extremely thankful for all the volunteers and missionaries who have painstakingly collected and digitized records through the years – all of which are free for us to use. A huge shout out to FamilySearch for all they have provided for genealogists. 🙂

c. With as many early New England ancestors as I have, there is one historical record set that immediately comes to mind and for which I am very, very thankful – the “Tan Books” better known as the Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850. In the pre-internet days, I spent many hours thumbing through volume after volume of town records in this series. Today, some of them are available through Google Books and The New England Historic Genealogical Society has digitized them and added them to their AmericanAncestors website.

It’s hard to believe another year is almost finished and the holidays are upon us. Thank you, Randy, for this week’s challenge and best wishes to everyone for an enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends.