[dropcap]I [/dropcap]was lucky enough to receive a few Bier family treasures by my mother. One of them is the diary of her grandfather, James Landon “Landon” Bier. The diary spans from 20 Apr 1927 to 30 May 1927 chronicling his time in China and adventure in getting home to the United States.
I knew right away I had to make a digital copy and make a transcription. The diary is something Biers should read. Glancing through the diary I realized it would help his younger Bier descendants have more context. The descendants should understand the world events and his family events happening immediately before and after this time. I wanted them to appreciate each word he wrote and every event that took place.
This turned into me creating a basic timetable of his life. The more I added the harder it has been to stop. I keep adding census records, pictures, many newspaper clippings, and more. Remember all I needed to do was transcribe a diary or add events for the months prior and after London’s voyage.
An Excerpt
So I went from transcribing a diary, to a rough timeline, to a lifetime time line and the project is still evolving. Honestly, I do not know what I am doing but I can not stop. I might make a comprehensive list of facts for the timeline of Landon Bier. Perhaps I am writing one of the smallest genealogical books of a person ever written. Either way, it will have his diary included.
I even started a new Bier gedcom file that only include his immediate ancestors, wives, children and descendants born in his lifetime. I am doing the sources from scratch to make sure I am not missing and events or documentation. Any new discoveries I find I am adding to his Historylines.com timeline and into my Scrivener notebook for Landon.
How long will it take me to complete this project? No clue. I am working on several other projects. Digitizing my family history is on that list. Next I am reworking the Word Press and Family Tree section of the Kingealogy, including an updated version of TNG. In the following days I will blog about my other projects.