Interior view of the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library, Lexington, Massachusetts. Photo by author.
Though I have not been able to post as regularly of late as once I did, I could not let this occasion pass without comment. Three years ago today I began this little blog. What an extraordinary experience it has been, with more than 35,000 folks visiting these pages to read about life in a rural Ohio village more than a century ago.
My posts may be more infrequent, but that does not mean the research has ended. On the contrary, I have been working on several larger, more in-depth projects over the past few months. For example, I have spent over fifty hours to date investigating painter Archibald Willard‘s connections to the Freemasons, and hope to write up my findings on that topic in the next few weeks. (As part of that research, I visited archives and museums on a recent trip to Massachusetts, including the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library in Lexington, pictured above.) The Southern Lorain County Historical Society is planning to have three large-scale Masonic panels painted by Willard conserved and put on display, hopefully in time to commemorate the centennial of his death in 2018.
I am also in the early stages of putting together two print publications. I am cautiously optimistic that both will be available to the public by Wellington’s bicentennial celebrations, also in 2018. I will provide additional information via this blog as it becomes available.
One of the most wonderful effects of publishing on the Internet has been the wide reach of the posts. I have been contacted by readers from across the country, often descendants of the people profiled in these essays. It has been my pleasure to provide some of them with additional assistance in tracking down ancestral homes, and even providing photographs of what the properties look like in the present time. I am very pleased to report that at least three different individuals I have spoken with are planning a first or return visit to Wellington, inspired to pursue their own genealogy by the stories they encountered here. That is deeply rewarding.
I hope you all continue to enjoy reading this blog as much as I enjoy writing it. Here’s to many more years of discovery to come!
19th-Century Wellington 
Looking forward to reading all the results of your research!
Thank you!
Congratulations on achieving the 3-year milestone! I’m eagerly anticipating many more informative and entertaining posts in the future ~ I always learn so much from your narratives.
Thank you, Lynne! You are very kind.
Love all that you do but miss not seeing you so much.
Appreciate it, Linda! Wish this was my full-time job, but sadly it isn’t even in my top five. 🙂 These past few weeks have been especially busy getting my child settled in kindergarten while doing a small home renovation project at the same time.