Christmas came early for me this year. Shelley Cardiel contacted me earlier in the year after having found the family tree posted to Ancestry.com which includes a third cousin, Hiram Austin Tuttle (b. 5 Feb 1869, d. 25 May 1948). Shelley rescued the photo of Hiram along with a photograph of Hiram's wife (Laura Susan Olds, b. 07 Apr 1873). When Shelley initially contacted me I told her that I thought the photograph would be better to go to one of Hiram's direct descendents but if she was unable to find a "home" for it, I would be more than happy to accept the photograph and to continue to search for a direct descendent to eventually take the photo. Shelley was able to find a family member of Laura (nee Olds) Tuttle but not for Hiram. I received the photograph last week and it is in pristine condition. A scanned copy will be posted to the website soon.

While I have not been as active in researching the family as of recent due to other obligations, I still find time to work on it from time-to-time. The SAR application for Besecker has been completed and is awaiting approval. We are close to 19,000 individuals in the family tree.

We hope that all of you have a very Merry Christmas and we wish you all the best for the new year!


Happy Holidays!

Bill