ArleneEakle.com - Home     arlene@arleneeakle.com

Give family history for Christmas--personal, intimate, unique, touching—a once in a lifetime gift.

Last year I prepared a special Christmas Gift for my dad. And I wish you could have seen the look of surprise and then joy that spread across my father's face as he unwrapped his gift--a family history with excerpts from the diaries of his great-grandfather, Thomas Jeremy, written in his own hand.
Thomas Jeremy's Writing
Thomas Jeremy describes leaving Wales to come to America. And how his sister Sarah clung to his arm, tears in her eyes. She gathered her little ones under her shawl to protect them from the sting of the cold sea spray, as Thomas reassured her: "My darling Sarah, you can come in the Fall. The crossing will be safer and far more comfortable then." Sarah closed her eyes and held on all the tighter. "My heart will break," he thought to himself, "if any barrier stops me from sending for Sarah and her children."
Thomas wrote his diary in English, not Welsh, because he knew his posterity would grow up among people who spoke English, not Welsh. What a special treat! And how my Dad's eyes glistened with unshed tears of joy--never will I forget the expression that illuminated his face that Christmas day.
My Dad's touching response set me thinking...
How many fathers or daughters or grandmothers or grandsons would love to receive such a gift? Would yours?
You can have this same awesome, spine-tingling experience I did. With an acid-free Heritage Binder chock full of family history facts and stories, maps showing where the family lived and what migration trail they followed, monumental inscriptions from their tombstones, copies of their original marriage certificates, and entries from their military service and pension records--with information often written in their own handwriting!
Did you know, that unless he was exempt or he lived in another country, your great-grandfather served in the Civil War for one side or the other--or perhaps he became an "enlightened Yankee" switching sides in the middle of the War to ensure that his wife and children did not perish from starvation. And his enlistment papers provide a full physical description, including the color of his eyes!
Even newly arrived Irish immigrants, fleeing the aftermath of the Great Famine, served in special regiments. Even German teens, who left their homeland to avoid being drafted for service in the local rebellions that swept across Europe in the middle of the nineteenth century, served. They served to get citizenship two years early, and for veterans' benefits when they applied for Western mining lands just opening up under the Homestead Act.
Even civilians served: making and repairing uniforms (tailors), constructing ships and submarines in coastal bayous with rented and leased slave labor (sail makers and machinists), forging weapons and those round iron balls used in cannons--the kind that left craters in the bunkers and tore whole limbs from young bodies (iron forgers), harvesting salt-peter for gunpowder and fuses.
It is ancestors like your great-grandfather and his brothers who put real meaning into the American flag and those patriotic stirrings that swell your breast until you think your whole being will burst!
Did you know that Grant's Army suffered 2,000 casualties each and every day--even when no major battle was fought. That’s why even brave men were “sick in hospital” or “deserted” on morning reports. Did you know that more than twice as many men died of disease than died of battle wounds?
Did you know that the American Red Cross was born because your ancestor and mine required nursing and food--mothers and sisters and wives at home were expected to feed and clothe their own men once they had been taken to a hospital or prison? And when the food became scarce, it was this new American Red Cross who filled the slack with donations collected throughout the nation.
Neither did I--until I began to trace the military service of great-grandfathers for clients, just like yourself, who wanted to know about the lives of these men. With tears in their eyes, these clients, thanked me again and again, just like my dad did.
You and your Family can Have all the Fun of Discovery--
I, personally, would love to help you share, within your own family, these same heart-tugging feelings. Hire me! Let my skills, my wide research experience, my 96% success rate create for you a priceless Genealogy Christmas Gift. A once in a lifetime gift!
You can have all the fun of discovery--every single pulse-racing discovery. You, too, can visualize what it was like "to be shot at." Shot at point-blank range! Because you get copies of all the original documents, the maps, the letters, and the casualty reports. Every single, eye-popping little detail is included for you to pour over with your family, in writing, and on audio-tape--a special bonus for those family members who have difficulty reading. And we can supply additional packages for all those family members who want their own "book" and tape for a nominal cost.
Hire me! You can entrust your genealogy Christmas Gift to me. I have been in the genealogy business in Salt Lake City UT since 1972; and now in Tremonton UT since 1986. If I receive your order by July 31st, I guarantee your family history package will arrive right after Thanksgiving--enough time for you to determine how many extra copies you want. And enough time to stage a truly magnificent Christmas bash with all your relatives present--they need time too, to put your party on their holiday calendar.
Your genealogist,
Arlene H. Eakle, PhD
P.S. For the do-it-yourself genealogy buffs on your list, I can recommend the perfect genealogy research companion: Family History for Fun and Profit.. This step-by-step, easy-to-follow kit will delight even the most discriminating genealogists in your family --and you can save yourself the anguish of trying to remember if the towels you bought match the color of Aunt Lucy's bathroom. Note: My letter is written in 14-point type--the same size as Family History for Fun and Profit. Carol Callard, former Genealogy Librarian, Library of Michigan, bought it "just because I can read it without my glasses!"
P.P.S. And that is not all--Order by July 31st and get a gorgeous, gold-foil stamped family tree chart, suitable for framing, with hand-calligraphy--as an extra, "shameless bribe" for your prompt order.
Click here to open “My Genealogy Christmas Gift, No Risk Acceptance Form.” so you can enclose it with your genealogy information and mail it to my attention by July 31st. See Contacts page or footer for address.