A to Z Challenge 2020

A to Z Challenge 2020 Theme Reveal/ “Endwell: My Elementary Years”

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When the annual A to Z Challenge begins on April 1, 2020, Molly’s Canopy will participate for the third time in the month-long blogging marathon. My theme this year is Endwell: My Elementary Years — where my genealogy journey germinated.


In 2017 I blogged about Whispering Chimneys: My Altamont Childhood, where my genealogy journey began — sharing stories about my earliest sense of family and relatives.

This year, during the Coronavirus quarantine, I’m going back to my childhood to explore how my interest in family, ancestors and heritage germinated once my family moved from our Altamont, N.Y. farmhouse to the suburbs circa 1957 — rolling out the next chapter of 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 previous challenges.
  • 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.
  • The urgency: No one is sure how the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic will unfold in the U.S., so there is no time to waste in getting these stories out there.

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 the next part of my own story during this year’s #AtoZChallenge.

My plan is to blog about life in Endwell, N.Y., the Broome County suburb I moved to at age seven with my parents and my two younger brothers. Along the way, I’ll examine how my elementary years germinated my heritage quest.

  • Time: The late 1950s and early 1960s.
  • Setting: A small upstate New York suburban community.
  • Backdrop:  Malverne Road, a dead end street one block from the Susquehanna River and packed with more than 50 children during the Baby Boom years.
  • Players: Me; my immediate and extended family; some of my ancestors; and neighbors, friends, classmates and visitors.

Please take a seat and get comfortable. On April 1 the curtain rises on Endwell: My Elementary Years. See you then!

© 2020 Molly Charboneau. All rights reserved.

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12 thoughts on “A to Z Challenge 2020 Theme Reveal/ “Endwell: My Elementary Years””

  1. I look forward to reading your posts, Molly. A few years ago I wrote on a similar theme “ I Remember…..Memories of Childhood”. It proved a very enjoyable theme to write about – nostalgic and at times moving.

  3. I subscribed to your posts. I didn’t grow up in Broome County but I’ve lived there (near, but not in, Endwell) for over 30 years. My A to Z will include some pictures of Binghamton, where I work – or did, until COVID-19 sent me home to work.

    1. Welcome back, Alana! I remember us visiting one another’s blogs during previous A to Z challenges. Look forward to seeing your Binghamton photos, since I lived in the area for 12 years as a child and young adult — part of which I will be writing about this time during the COVID-19 quarantine here in NYC.

  4. I’m very interested to see how you go about the self-geneology! I certainly agree that it’s a person’s duty to share their own story and look forward to reading this series. Adding you to my list 🙂

    1. Will stop by to visit during A to Z Challenge. I’m a huge fan of Maine Cabin Masters, so I am interested in your theme.

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