it comes in pints?

And another thing...

Okay, I'm a sap, as you well know. I'm a sap for sentimental stuff that doesn't even necessarily pertain to me or my family.

Also, I'm a history buff. No, not to the extent of being an amateur expert on anything, I just like history in a general way. I like reading popular-oriented works on history. Especially, I like personal histories, which is why I found the book War Letters so compelling. Not that I get much time to read such personal histories, thanks to the foul species that is Marketing - sorry John, but you knew I couldn't go without a zinger ;).

ANYway, the reason I bring this up is that the last post and the earlier one reminded me that I had not yet explained anything about an even earlier enigmatic post.

Doing good deeds is nice. It feels good. And below the fold is the specific reason for that "good deeds" post.

I am a member at Ancestry.com. I have learned much from the good people who have posted information there, and it feels good to return the favors. Over the last several years I have traded much information, and many pictures, with other members. I have also offered, and provided, pictures from Red Bluff, where much of my family lived.

But for the specifics of the post mentioned, on my family's property is an old private cemetery, much like the one mentioned here (of which I just this week found another picture, BTW - undated but very old). Next to this private cemetery is another, about which we will never know anything because the grave markers were wood. I have found one of these wooden markers, which is why I know it was a private cemetery, but after a hundred years or more it is, of course, unreadable. Nonetheless, I keep it for weird, historical reasons.

But about that other cemetery: there are two graves in it, both marked by stones and more recent markers contributed by my cousins as a 4H project more than 40 years ago. The people buried there are no relation to my family, but apparently lived on the property either before my family bought it or perhaps as tenants or lessees (probably lessees, given what little I can learn of their residences in census data). The stones are now barely readable, but the newer markers are still in good condition.

So what was my good deed? Looking up these names at Ancestry.com and contacting some distant relatives of the people buried there. I am now charged with acquiring pictures of said cemetery and graves, and forwarding to these distant relatives of the deceased.

A charge which I am more than happy to fulfill. I can't give back directly to the people who have helped me in my family searches, but I can give to others.

And that feels good.