My eyes are bleary, my mouth dry, and there is a throbbing
in my head. I’ve lost track of time. I resisted all of yesterday evening, and
even into the afternoon today, but then I lost it and made the plunge. And
since then it has just been one after another, with no letup. And tomorrow will be the same – I won’t stop.
The last time it was this bad (and it was worse then,
actually) was back in September 2008.
That was when Family Search made the Texas Death
Certificates available.
Hello. My name is Greta, and I’m a geneaholic.
This is the weekend that FindMyPast searches are free.
I thought I’d just put in a few terms, check out the
website, maybe find a few things. Didn’t
really need the censuses; thought I’d try newspapers. Some names yielded hits; others gave bupkus.
Then I discovered filters.
So I filtered for the state of Texas and input “Brinlee.”
Bingo.
3030 articles.
OK, so 85% of them are on Rex Garland Brinlee, aka the
notorious “Bristow Bomber.” (Google it –
not a pretty story.)
But when you get to the Bonham Daily Favorite and the
McKinney Daily Courier Gazette – that’s MY family’s part of the state. And Genealogy Bank does not have those
papers.
And those papers contain my geneaholic’s liquor of choice. So far:
- Obituaries for most of my father’s family members.
- A story about a Brinlee family reunion (be still my
heart!).
- A story about the Norman and Brinlee families in and
around Fannin County throwing a big Christmas party for my grandmother and her
sister.
- A long article on my father’s eccentric cousins, Bun and
Square Brinlee.
- An article on a Brinlee who is an artist.
- Miscellaneous other Brinlee obituaries.
- And an article on my brickwall great-grandmother Elizabeth
Brinlee celebrating her 98th birthday (it was actually probably
closer to her 90th birthday).
It does not mention parents or even siblings, but at least it’s
something.
