My Portfolio

On my 16th birthday my beloved grandmother gave me a ring.  It was a simple, and in todays standards, very inexpensive ring but to me it was worth EVERYTHING.  It was round with dainty scallops around the edges and my initials engraved in the center.  I slipped it on my finger...

I began my genealogy obsession looking for my great-grandfather, Harry Thurman Mercer. My mom and uncle really didn't know much about his life story as a small boy or anything about his family.  We all believed him to be an only child.  I knew he was born and died in Illinois...