Our Extraordinary Ancestors
Jan Salsbery
17 February 2019 – Now the book is really, truly finished!
OUR EXTRAORDINARY ANCESTORS; The Ancestors of Clinton Wilbur Pearson and Bessie Adelaide White
It bothers me that it is not 100% perfect, but I made the decision to go to print. The imperfections are small details for the most part. This is my first book and it was many years in the making. I used Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) and discovered that “what you see” is not “what you get.” Details that looked perfect in the PDF file on my computer, were not perfect in print, or when viewed in the KDP preview pane. I had no idea how to remedy this and ultimately had to give up and just call it done.
The graphic artist I hired at Upwork to create my book cover, could not complete the task. He has created covers for Amazon Createspace, but not for KDP. So I used the KDP cover creator to do it myself. And it looks it.
Through the years, without fail, every time something was completed – say, I printed a family tree for a family member – immediately afterwards, I would make new discoveries, rendering the family tree out of date. It happened again. I uploaded my first completed book to KDP. Then I began the work to split it into two books – one for each grandparent. And I made new discoveries for my grandma Bessie’s family – 5 new family lines! They will be in the new book, titled Out of Belgium; The Ancestors of Bessie Adelaide White.
We are enjoying spending time with our grandchildren here. Our RV park is right on the river, and we have received great quantities of rain this winter. So far the river is not rising, and all is well. I hope your winter is going well. I remember my 4 years in Minneapolis as a young teenager, and I do not miss it.
17 January 2019 – My first book is finished! I feel like it has taken a lifetime, but I really didn’t develop the idea to actually publish a book, until after I retired in late 2013. I decided that I couldn’t create a book cover that I could be proud of, doing it myself. So I am now waiting for a cover to be created for me. I hope to use that wedding photo of my grandparents, but the scanned old photo may not be adequate. When ready, the book and cover files will be uploaded to Kindle Direct Publishing. If there are no problems with that process, the book will soon be “live” and for sale at Amazon. If you are on my list, you will receive an email when the book is available.
7 December 2018 – It is time for an update. I thought the book would be ready to publish by now. I WAS ready, so I went back to Amazon Createspace (CS) to complete my task. It was then that I discovered that big changes had occurred in the last few months while I was furiously editing and proofreading. Amazon Createspace is going away, and all of their Print on Demand (POD) publishing will be done by Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). That shouldn’t be a problem; BUT the book options have changed. The 8-1/2” x 11” book that I have formatted for CS, cannot be published by KDP. This was so upsetting; I looked for another POD publisher. After much searching and deliberating, I chose at this time to publish with KDP. This choice requires changing the dimensions of my book just slightly, BUT every page must be reformatted for the new dimensions.
I am hard at work, but I probably won’t meet my self-imposed Dec. 31 deadline. I do hope all is done in January. Stay tuned.
10 October 2018 – Major genealogical discoveries always happen at the most inopportune times! I can report that my father’s Y-DNA testing has finally paid off! We now KNOW that we are descended from Lawrence Pearson/Pierson who was born about 1620 at Pownall-Fee, Wilmslow Parish, County Cheshire, England. It is also very strongly inferred by the DNA that we come thru Lawrence’s son Thomas and likely thru Thomas’ son Enoch. That means we only must discover the three generations between Enoch and our Benjamin. This is very big, exciting news, as Benjamin has been a BRICK WALL for many, many years.
I wanted to keep this a secret and let my readers discover the findings when they read my book. But we have some excellent genealogists in the family and I am hoping some of you will join me in the hunt. Each early Pearson family has an abundance of Thomas’s, Enoch’s and Benjamin’s. Our Benjamin said he was born about 1818 in Adams County, Pennsylvania. If you find him, please share your information with me so this book will be complete when it goes to print.
1 October 2018 – I decided to start a blog to keep interested cousins informed of my book progress. Sometimes I wish I had begun a blog years ago, when I began compiling the soon-to-be published family history of my grandparents, Clinton W. Pearson and Bessie Adelaide White. I could have kept those who care, apprised of new genealogy discoveries and stories of Our Extraordinary Ancestors as they were found. Then again, if I had, everyone would be so tired of hearing from me and they would rightly be wondering if this book will EVER be finished. I really thought it would finally be ready to publish before the end of 2018. There is still that remote possibility. I always put LIFE before the book though, and Alex and I have just begun a new chapter in our lives that is in conflict with my writing plans. The timing is poor, and I am really struggling to complete the final touches to get this book out before 2019.
We just purchased an almost new motorhome and so begins our new life chapter. We are packing up our belongings, but I am NOT ready to discard everything I own. We are decluttering and putting the rest in storage for now. We plan to sell our home in California and live full-time in the RV. The tentative first-year plan is to spend 6 months in Grants Pass, Oregon and 6 months on the Oregon coast. However, we will be keeping our eyes open for that perfect piece of property that will someday be our new home.
While I am breaking my back every day packing, those are hours that are not devoted to the book. All I can manage lately is an hour or two here and there most days. The writing and layout is actually finished. I am now proofreading and completing last minute touches. And I still need to find a book cover. Then the completed book will be uploaded to Amazon Create Space, and listed for sale at Amazon. An email announcement will be sent to my contact list.
Some of my cousins are looking forward to the completed book, Our Extraordinary Ancestors, and I hope you won’t be disappointed. It really won’t be long now!
I’ll update this page whenever there are new discoveries, updates to publication or interesting travels.
Thanks for your patience.
Jan
