Over the 37 plus since I started doing genealogy I have collected thousands of names, and hopefully some of them are actually my ancestors.  At the present time I am trying to go through my records using RootsMagic 5 to make sure I have the correct ancestors correctly identified and sourced.  Moving to RootsMagic a couple of years ago was a giant leap of faith for me because I had been using PAF since 1986.  My husband finally got through to me that PAF was NEVER going to be updated again.  So kicking and screaming I transferred all my family data to RootsMagic.  Except for some strange problem with notes showing up randomly on the wrong person I have been quite happy with RootsMagic - although I'm sure I have lots to learn about it.

In order to not spend all my time at the computer on just one line, I work for one month on each of my four grandparents lines.  January, May and September my focus is Lorange - My paternal grandfather Louis Arnold Lorange was born 15 Jun 1910 in Salt Lake City, Utah and died in Salt Lake on 3 Apr 1967.  February, June and October is my Johnson line - the most common surname and the line I know the   least about.  My paternal grandmother Lucille Edla Johnson was born on 23 Apr 1915 in Salt Lake City, Utah and died there on 19 Mar 1991.  On my maternal side I focus on my mothers paternal line in March, July and November - Ralph H Rasmussen was born 15 Jul  1908 in Hunter, Utah and died in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho on 29 Apr 1972.  Last is my mothers maternal  line during the months of April, August and December - Edith Lillian Gordon born 18 Sep 1909 in Murray, Utah and died 23 Jan 1975 in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.  Each line is color coded in RootsMagic which helps me keep track of who I have verified information for.

Louisa Louise Cooke in her Genealogy Gems Podcast said all genealogists should have a blog.  So here is my first attempt at a blog - proving that perhaps you can teach an old dog new tricks.

But if somehow I can get information out there (wherever there is) about my family that might lead to someone helping me with my brick walls, then this time will be well spent.

I first started on my genealogy shortly after my wonderful husband Rick and I were married over 37 years ago.  My dear mother-in-law let me know I should not wait until I was old and retired to begin working on my genealogy and I am so thankful I took her advice - since I am now old and still not retired.

My maiden name is Lorange - not very common - but I have been surprised at how many times I come across that name with the advent of computers and the internet.  In some of the very little actual research (as opposed to name gathering) that I have done, I discovered that my great-grandfather was born in Sweden in 1886 as an ANDERSON and married in 1907 as a LORANGE along with several first name changes. "Name on birth record is John Axel Waldemar; on 1900 census name is Axzel J. ANDERSON; name at marriage (1907) was John A. LORANGE; name on death cert (1964) was Edward Axel LORANGE"