I have a few of those Bob Smiths myself. Most of my Bobs are multiple generations with the same name, but I do have a few that are just a flat out mystery. O_O

The photo of your grandmother is just lovely. Thank you for sharing that with us.

I'm very curious about the additional DNA tests you mentioned...

I love that you found your grandmother's and great grandmother's photos in all the paperwork. How great are those?! And really nice formal photos to boot. It's so interesting that they were both crafters, maybe it really is genetic. :)

I wish I had the patience to do genealogy, I've tried several times and end up getting frustrated with it.

You have been making so much progress sorting through all your stuff, way to go! My brother is the geneologist in the family now that dad is gone. My did got really into it and would visit old relatives and interview them about family and their lives, where they grew up, etc. I think my brother has all the notes we could find when we cleaned out the house after dad died. My brother also had his dna tested and we had a few surprises in there as well, such as family stories about us being 1/32 or 1/16 Kickapoo Indian are likely completely false. So that was really interesting. It was really interesting to hear about your Aunt I lived in ST Louis for my first 9, nearly 10 years of my life and was raised in the presbyterian church, so I'm familiar with the Missouri Synod, which is the regional governing body of the church.

What a treasure trove you have there. It's so wonderful to see pics and hear stories of your crafty ancestors. :) You are in good company.

Wow, you got through a lot of stuff sorted. How awesome is it, to find those old photos of your relatives. The whole genealogy thing is very time consuming, my dad and I inherited my uncles files when he passed away a couple of years ago, and for a couple of years, I helped my dad quite a lot, until I discovered quilting. Now, my dad works on it and share interesting stories with me while I sew. He is still working through a box of photos and slides, some of which we do not have a clue who they are. My dad did the dna thing as well, and found out we are part Scandinavian, (what the hell)nowhere in any family stories was there any mention of that. But then Vikings WHoo.
So now I am itching to do it as well, to find out what % I have, and whats coming from my mom side.

I've been trying to gather some family info myself and it is very time-consuming. And trying to keep generations straight is extremely difficult. Looking at one family member on Ancestry.com, I found that one person had her listed as being married to her husband and his grandfather (with the same name). That one wasn't too hard to figure out because the grandfather died before she was born. Geez!

I've been wanting to do the DNA thing too. I'll probably get around to it in a few months. It would be interesting to see if I really am 1/32 Cherokee as the family stories say. I used to say my little fingers were Cherokee. We'll see if I can still make that claim.