Oh, this is so damn cool!!

This was sent to me by my friend, Mark Bosworth, who runs the Photography Museum in St. Louis, Missouri.  I copied the letter so you will know all I know:
***

Lou, I thought you would appreciate this one.  In our collection we have a glass plate negative of Lincoln.  The negative was made in 1859 from a 1858 ambrotype portrait of Abraham Lincoln. The original print no longer exists according to historians in Springfield, IL. and as stated by Mr. Loyd Ostendorf, famed author and historian of Lincoln.   The original print was made by Preston Butler of Springfield IL.  Six cities lay claim to where the photograph was taken.  The negative was taken by A. R. Nicholson of Peoria, IL. Attached is a photograph we took today of me holding the negative.  I am really enjoying working on this museum project. Mark     The International Photography Hall of Fame has the copyright on the image.   ***

Now, I ask you, is this amazing or what?  Click on that above and it will get bigger.  Then look at it real hard and know that in 1858 Abraham Lincoln posed for this picture.  At that point in time photography was pretty new, especially when you stop and think that today we point and click then load the digital image on a new media device and there are no such things as negatives.    But the part that fascinates me is that some one was just a few feet from this man and there is a record of this meeting in glass.  Mark is all twittery because he will be holding the grand re-opening of the Photography Museum in St. Louis on September 3 of this year.  See, it was his job to go to Oklahoma City (?) and pack it all up and move it to St. Louis, where he lives.  That is an opportunity few people get!   Mark was a very good friend of Sherman's from way back when.  One of Sherman's most treasured possessions was a picture of him taken when he was 50 years old standing behind his Norton Motorcycle.  Mark had printed the picture on special canvas.   When Sherman gave the picture to me, I knew I was very special.  Today I have the picture and Mark has the Norton.  He completely restored it and brought it to Pueblo so he could take Sherman's picture behind it 30 years later.  I have a copy of that picture also.      This story is told so you will all know just how devoted this man is to the art of photography and the preservation of the art.  And how blessed Sherman Schroeder was to have such a devoted friend.  Greater love hath no man.

Been working on the family tree and my mind is boggled!

Well, I decided that I would just bite the bullet and figure out who Reuben Floyd Bartholomew was.  I found me a place called Ancestry.com.  There I typed in Reuben Bartholomew and the approximate year of his birth.  And up he popped!  Also found his mother and her parents.  Apparently her maiden name was Pratton and she had 3 brothers and 3 sisters.  Right now I am a little busy, but I will fill you in as I make discoverys and if anyone might be interested in helping me just feel free to jump right in and go for it. 
As for now, it seems that William G Bartholomew was born  in Grand River, Missouri about 1867.  The lovely  Luella(Louella) was born in 1870-71 in Jefferson, Indiana.  Some how the star crossed lovers met and married and little Reuben appears to be the first child being born on February 3,  1894.
Now you recall that back in the early years, census records, birth certificates and such were all filled out with a pen and ink.  So some things are up for debate.  For instance, on the first census record he is recorded as Ruby.  Louella and Luella and Luela all appear to be the same person. 
the point is, this is some fascinating stuff and I may have to give up my day job!  So hang in there.  I will have updates as I find them relevant.

We are home!!!

There you see the trip meter.  Realize that it does not show the first 1,000 miles.  So we went 1,784.9 miles in 6 days.  Pretty good for an old lady and a wiccan, you think!  Got lots of pictures, but those will need to be sorted through and some tossed.  Lot of X rated, some blurry, and a lot that are completely irrelevant to life, not to mention a vacation.  Actually took 184 pictures.  Glad those were not on film to be developed.

Here is me about 80 miles from home.  Needless to say I was getting pretty bored by this time.  It is rather hard to get a good picture of one's self when one is riding in the front seat of a Ford Focus going into the sun, but as you can see I am my usual jovial self.   It was a 10 hour drive from Kansas City and I was starting to get a little hungry and a little bit testy.

Here is my buddy, Lyn.  She is not really a wiccan, but I like to call her that.  Can't call her anything else.  I know this is not a good picture of her because it looks like she is missing her chin.  She does have a chin and we did have a very good time despite the fact that this trip crossed 4 states and there is not a bed in the world that feels like your own bed.  All our friends and family were most kind and gracious and fed us very, very well, but still there is no place like home.

Now throughout the whole vacation  I was very mellow and was never rushed, did not give the Hawaiian Good Luck signal to anyone, mostly just set around and let life happen.  I did,  however, tell this woman that I would let her post her side of the story on this blog.  You might want to watch for that little fabrication, if it actually happens.  I have a trip planned for next Spring which will cover Kansas, Missouri, Florida, Illinois, Niagara Falls and Ohio.  I plan on taking 10 days for that one and guess who will be waving her arm wanting to go?  Must not have been too bad, huh?