The Ancestry of Michael Ronald Spieth

This family tree and photo album is dedicated to my parents, Walter Ronald Spieth and Harriet Marie Williams. It began as an attempt to put labels on many of those old photos in the basement, organize them into proper timelines and fill in some of the gaps between them. It grew into something much larger. When my great-aunt Irene Stratton died in September of 2012 at the age of 103, the end of the road seemed closer. After all of my preaching about interviewing old folks in your family before it’s too late, I turned my attention to my own family only to find myself too late. My father passed away in October 2013, and my mother joined him in June 2014. They had given me a wealth of knowledge, but there is so much more that I will never know. In 2013 I started preparing documents for printing. It was a gift for my family, but that family seems much smaller now. Dad never got to see the “final” project. Mom did, but chemotherapy was taking a toll on her memory. She could vividly remember events from decades ago as if they were yesterday—but the events of yesterday itself often eluded her. Hopefully I’ve been able to set some of her memories (and those of others) on firmer and more permanent ground. Feel free to take any pictures and memories here for yourself.

Welcome to my new web site. Comments are appreciated.