Dear Reader,

This fourth issue of 2022 was inspired by a recent book I read: The Divorce Colony: How Women Revolutionized Marriage and Found Freedom on the American Frontier. In this issue you will find the following feature articles:

● Courtship, Marriage and Divorce: Early American Style. This lead article covers early American customs and laws (seventeenth and eighteenth century) regarding courtship, marriage and divorce, including those of the Puritan, Anglican and Quaker faiths.

● Ye Olde Runaway Marriage: Tying the Knot at a “Gretna Green”. Have you ever experienced difficulty locating a marriage record for an ancestor? Do you sometimes wonder if they ever married? Might they have married somewhere unexpected, away from their hometown, a place sometimes referred to as a “Gretna Green”? It’s a fascinating history.

● Mining Genealogical Gold: It pays to PERSI(st) - uncovering buried treasure in newsletters, magazines and journals. If you’ve never used this special genealogical resource, you’re in for a treat. Numerous examples of using this valuable resource to potentially uncover stories about your ancestors.

● (Oh, Dear!) The Pitfalls of Genealogical Research (gold mine or land mine?). If you’ve been researching family history for awhile, it’s possible you have come across unexpected – or perhaps even shocking – information about one or more of your ancestors. How should we respond? Do we freely share the information or hide it away? Of course, our response may depend on what we uncovered.

● The Dash: Virgil Edwin Earp (1879-1959). A detailed look at the famous (or infamous) Earp family. Subtitled: “The $64,000 Question: Did Virgil Earp (Wyatt’s Nephew) Get the Answers Ahead of time and Was He Really Born in Tombstone?”

Enjoy the issue! I am looking forward to the next issue, featuring a topic I’ve wanted to cover for some time – “Ways to Go in Days of Old”. 2022 will wrap up with an issue featuring the Korean War and finding records of our ancestors who served.

As always, I am grateful for my faithful subscribers. You are a blessing to me!

Sharon Hall, Publisher and Editor