The most “charming” genealogist we’ve ever met!

Barbara McDaniel Ray of Atlanta, Georgia - shown here with Family Tree Assistant, Jinx Stubbs,  came to visit The Odom Library wearing a most wonderful collection of charms!  She said that her charm necklace and bracelets were her “family history charms” and that each of the hundreds of charms she was wearing represented some aspect of her own family roots.  She had on what had to be several hundred charms on the day of her visit with us...they weighed about a pound!

Mrs. Ray has been collecting for about two years and says the collection began when she retired as Professor Emeritus from Georgia State University in Atlanta as a professor of Public Administration and Urban Studies. 

Treasures are found at flea markets, on the Internet, in jewelry stores and most anywhere.  The old charms, she says, are the most wonderful to her.  Her favorite?  Professor Ray says that perhaps her favorite bracelet is her religious bracelet representing the worship of her family for many generations...and her bracelet of cats and animals - even opossums!

Here are just a few of her charms - two bracelets and her necklace - she was wearing when she visited in Moultrie! 

You may contact Barbara Ray of Atlanta at <barbray@mindspring.com> if you want to talk “charms”!
  

Harvey Weiss, Ruby Morris, Leonard Rizor & Paula Keen  track down that skinny man.  They win nice prizes!  You can track him down & win too! 

Lots of our intrepid Skeleton Hunters followed our boney one to Ludlow Porch’s ad in the last issue of The Family Tree...to win nice prizes!

Harvey Weiss of Sanford, Maine won a great packet of beautiful Celtic art from Bennett Celtic Art.  Ruby Morris of Prineville, Oregon won Carl Peterson’s CD Scotland Remembers the Alamo.  Leonard Rizor of Marshall, Michigan has won a tartan dog collar for his four-legged canine friend from Bonbright Woolens.  Paula Keen of Bradenton, Florida has won a delicious haggis from The Caledonian Kitchen.

Skeleton Hunters have also won subscriptions to Reunions Magazine.  Those winners include Norah Jelley from Christchurch, New Zealand; H. Gene Baird of Hayden, Alabama; Leonard and Jean Ouellette of Claremont, New Hampshire; Virginia Elrod of Eureka, California; Carl Finley of Denver, Colorado; Jay Beasley of Idaho Falls, Idaho; Jane Newton of Forsyth, Georgia; Audrey Howe of Albion, Illinois; Norma St. Clair of Madison, New York and Beverly Scott of Tyler, Texas.

We’ll have prizes next time too.  Beautiful Celtic Art from Bennett’s, a CD from Carl Peterson, a tartan dog collar from Bonbright Woolens and haggis from The Caledonian Kitchen.  We’ll also have a little box of Celtic goodies from German Hill Farms for our winners next time...and winners will receive subscriptions to Edith Wagner’s Reunions Magazine.

People ask, “Why in the world hunt a skeleton?”  Well...experienced genealogists know that skeletons are good things to find since they left records.  Some beginners are a bit nervous about finding the black sheep or skeleton that we all know lurks in each and every family history.  We just take the “scary” out of it and make it fun.  With so many ancestors, you’re going to find a nut in your family tree somewhere...and know that we all have them...and they - once again - usually left precious records of themselves! 

Our skeleton is hiding somewhere in our pages!  Track him down and you might win something nice!