When the annual A to Z Challenge begins on April 1, 2017, Molly’s Canopy will participate for the second time in the month-long blogging marathon. My theme this year is Whispering Chimneys: My Altamont childhood — where my genealogy journey began.
Last year I blogged about Ancestor’s A to Z, sharing stories of forebears on distant branches of my family tree and how I discovered them.
This year, I’m going back to my childhood to explore how my interest in family, ancestors and heritage took root — rolling out my own story from A to Z at one letter per day (minus a few Sundays) throughout April.
- My inspiration: Genealogy bloggers who wrote about their own lives during last year’s challenge.
- The rationale: We spend so much time searching for our ancestors and telling their stories that we forget to tell our own. As family historians we owe it to posterity to include ourselves in the mix.
Leaving an ancestral diary
Have you ever wished your ancestors had left letters or a diary — some tangible record in their own voice? I know I have, and I don’t want to be guilty of the same omission. So I intend to tell part of my own story during this year’s #AtoZChallenge.
My plan is to blog about life at Whispering Chimneys, the upstate New York farm where I lived until age seven with my parents, my maternal grandparents and my two younger brothers. Along the way, I’ll examine how my formative years incubated my heritage quest.
- Time: The early 1950s.
- Setting: An 1850’s farmhouse on Route 20 in Albany County.
- Backdrop: Ten agricultural acres crisscrossed by streams and surrounded by working farms.
- Players: Me; my immediate and extended family; and neighbors, friends, classmates and visitors who lived in a world beyond the end of our long dirt driveway.
Please take a seat and get comfortable. On April 1 the curtain rises on Whispering Chimneys: My Altamont childhood. See you then!
© 2017 Molly Charboneau. All rights reserved.
This’ll be really interesting to read. I love hearing about where other people grew up and how things influenced them.
Good luck with your challenge.
Cait @ Click’s Clan
Thanks, Cait. You’re way ahead of me on preparing posts! Good luck with A to Z this year.
Will be following for sure. This will be my second year in the challenge, but the first participating with my Lincecum Lineage blog. It’s a one-name study, but I’ll be writing about direct relatives for the challenge. Good luck!
Nice! I’ll stop by your blog during AtoZ to cheer you on. Good luck with the challenge! Molly of Molly’s Canopy
Who cannot fail to be intrigued by the name “Whispering Chimneys”! I did like the way you set out your introduction here and will be following you again as I did last year. For various reasons I will not be participating in A-Z this time, apart from contributing letter S for the One Place Studies blog. Good luck with the pace and pressure!
Hi, Sue! I remember you from last year. Thanks for following. We’ll miss you, but totally understand those workload issues! Good luck with the One Place Studies blog. Will try to stop by for a visit.
Molly’s Canopy
I will be following your blog. As a fellow genealogy fanatic, it sounds interesting.
Finding Eliza
Thanks, Kristin. I checked out your site during last year’s AtoZ and will be following you again. Good luck with the challenge!