I have had a passion for genealogy since 1987. That was the year my grandmother, Lennora Ford Winter passed away. I arranged a family reunion that summer in Dysart, Iowa in part to honor her passing. During that reunion, we all went to grandma Lennora's home at 308 Tilford Street to claim items we wanted. It had been 11 years since I visited her home, but I remembered a large trove of family photos stored in a secluded crawl space in the upstairs bedroom of this 900 sq ft home. I remembered finding these photos as a young boy in the 1960's and looking through her collection. The photos were all black and white, on thick paper stock and in pristine condition. To my surprise, they were all still there! So I pulled out what amounted to about 300-400 photos and documents and laid them all out on tables in the community center we rented a few blocks from her home. That allowed all our aunts, uncles and cousins to sort through and claim photos of their family. Grandma Lennora had a warm and engaging personality that lit up the room. And she was quite active in maintaining family ties and friendships through her prolific letter writing. I discovered a log she maintained of letters she had received, those she had written, those she intended to write and those she owed a return letter. So, I realized that Grandma Lennora shared this same passion for collecting photos and memories of her family and friends. She just didn't have a place to store them other than cardboard boxes in a secluded upstairs storage space. Seeing all these photos of family members that lived as far back as the 1800's captured my imagination. I was hooked but didn't have the time to research our genealogy. However, I spent the next 32 years collecting photos, documents, letters, audio and video recordings and other memorabilia. Upon semi-retirement in 2017, I now have the time to reconstruct the rich history of our ancestry and preserve it for future generations. And our generation has the technology to store it digitally in searchable databases rather than cardboard boxes in an upstairs bedroom forgotten about by all except a young boy. This treasure trove of photos and documents continued to grow over the years as my own parents passed away along with others who have sent me items to curate and share. From my research so far, I have discovered the many hardships and obstacles they faced much more challenging than we have today. Yet they persevered and prospered because they had a strong faith in God, they loved their family and were men and women of honor. They worked hard to raise their children who became our parents and grandparents. What a time of rejoicing we will have some day as we gather together in eternity. To God be the glory! These are the surnames I am researching. On my paternal side; Winter, Ford, Knight, Davis, Furrow, Van Horn, Elliot, Babcock, Fitz Randolph, Dye, Florer, Brown, Curry, Heck, Shockey and Hinton. On my maternal side are Ellison, Sutton, Kilpatrick, Manning, Whitecotton, Beams, Lay, Tye, Cummins, Pemberton, Inman, Early, Mc Conkey, Tackett, Mahan and Hammond.

I have had a passion for genealogy since 1987. That was the year my grandmother, Lennora Ford Winter passed away. I arranged a family reunion that summer in Dysart, Iowa in part to honor her passing. During that reunion, we all went to grandma Lennora's home at 308 Tilford Street to claim items we wanted. It had been 11 years since I visited her home, but I remembered a large trove of family photos stored in a secluded crawl space in the upstairs bedroom of this 900 sq ft home. I remembered finding these photos as a young boy in the 1960's and looking through her collection. The photos were all black and white, on thick paper stock and in pristine condition. To my surprise, they were all still there! So I pulled out what amounted to about 300-400 photos and documents and laid them all out on tables in the community center we rented a few blocks from her home. That allowed all our aunts, uncles and cousins to sort through and claim photos of their family. Grandma Lennora had a warm and engaging personality that lit up the room. And she was quite active in maintaining family ties and friendships through her prolific letter writing. I discovered a log she maintained of letters she had received, those she had written, those she intended to write and those she owed a return letter. So, I realized that Grandma Lennora shared this same passion for collecting photos and memories of her family and friends. She just didn't have a place to store them other than cardboard boxes in a secluded upstairs storage space. Seeing all these photos of family members that lived as far back as the 1800's captured my imagination. I was hooked but didn't have the time to research our genealogy. However, I spent the next 32 years collecting photos, documents, letters, audio and video recordings and other memorabilia. Upon semi-retirement in 2017, I now have the time to reconstruct the rich history of our ancestry and preserve it for future generations. And our generation has the technology to store it digitally in searchable databases rather than cardboard boxes in an upstairs bedroom forgotten about by all except a young boy. This treasure trove of photos and documents continued to grow over the years as my own parents passed away along with others who have sent me items to curate and share. From my research so far, I have discovered the many hardships and obstacles they faced much more challenging than we have today. Yet they persevered and prospered because they had a strong faith in God, they loved their family and were men and women of honor. They worked hard to raise their children who became our parents and grandparents. What a time of rejoicing we will have some day as we gather together in eternity. To God be the glory! These are the surnames I am researching. On my paternal side; Winter, Ford, Knight, Davis, Furrow, Van Horn, Elliot, Babcock, Fitz Randolph, Dye, Florer, Brown, Curry, Heck, Shockey and Hinton. On my maternal side are Ellison, Sutton, Kilpatrick, Manning, Whitecotton, Beams, Lay, Tye, Cummins, Pemberton, Inman, Early, Mc Conkey, Tackett, Mahan and Hammond.