Thank you to Linda Teather, Diane Burley, Hal Gill, Patrick Witter, Jane Chapman, Marci Keats Rudolph 🦫, Kristin Rapinac, Jennifer Jones, David Shaw, and many others for joining us for our Stories250 Livestream.

Projectkin is free. We always welcome fellow travellers on the path of family history. Learn more Projectkin.org/about.

What fun to welcome Tad Callin of Mightier Acorns to his first Livestream for Projectkin. Tad joined Substack well ahead of me and for a series of reasons he explains on his publication, has more recently moved to a WordPress installation accessible here:

I invited Tad to join us at Stories250 after reading his post,

Tad’s fascinating story combines his deep research with a fictionalized narrative thread to consider connections between three of his ancestors. It’s a fun read.

Resources

With each of these posts, I like to include links to references made in our conversation, “show notes,” if you will.

* Tad mentioned a book he’s been reading that’s been particularly meaningful in understanding the period in the modern context, “The Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution, 1787-1788,” by Pauline Maier.

* Tad also referenced his ancestors’ book George W. Callin’s “The Callin Familiy History,” both in its original form as well as an 800-page, 2020 update including his own modern research. You’ll find these on the “Passing the Hat” page of his site, along with a couple of other pieces about his own life.

* His mention of his Scots-Irish ancestors had me thinking about the Backcountry cultural ways referenced in “Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America,” a book by David Hackett Fischer I’ve been reading for DearMYRTLE’s Book Club.

This series allows us to explore our stories of this remarkable historical period together. Each contributor adds their own context of time and place. Learn more:

We now have nearly 50 stories, though only enough time for three shared live like this. Several of our speakers and contributors have submitted a half-dozen or more stories. Explore the interactive timeline and map to find the stories and consider the connections:

* Timeline: Projectkin.org/stories250-timeline

* Map: Projectkin.org/stories250-map

If you have a story to contribute, I’d love to include you. The full details are at Projectkin.org/stories250-form. I’d also love to include you in an upcoming Live program.

Revolutionary War Resource Tips

As we approach the 250th celebration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, several terrific resources have become available. Among them is the extraordinary documentary, by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein, and David Schmidt, “The American Revolution.” I can’t recommend it enough, though it may be a while before it’s available outside the US without a VPN. But… ya’ll know how to use a VPN, right?

I hope that this Stories250 series provides all of us in this community of family historians with a way to participate in the exploration of this history within the context of our ancestors’ lives, from around the world.

January Stories250 Guest: Diane Burley

My guest for the Stories250 series in January is Diane Burley of Musings of a Storyteller. Diane will join us to share her story of a great-grandmother’s story in the midst of the Revolution. It’s a harrowing tale you can read now at “Jane Ryerson: Revolutionary War Wife and Flame Keeper.”

This program will again be held as a livestream, so no registration is needed though you can view the program from any device.

I have speakers booked through the Spring for this series that will likely only run through July. I’d love to hear from you if you’re interested in joining us to celebrate your post about that period of time, either on Substack or another platform. Learn more about the program and add your stories here, and message me if you have questions, ideas, or suggestions.

Finally, free to share this post with your genealogy friends and family. While you’re there, invite them to join this thriving and generous long-form family history storytelling community on Substack, WordPress, Blogger, and dozens of other blogging platforms.

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