About

April 2010
The Mill on Halfway Brook, book 1 in the series I’ve called, Memoirs of Eldred, New York, 1800–1950, is now available.

As I have time, I am starting to work on book 2 in the series. Echo Hill and Mountain Grove will be about the many boarding houses in the area. Echo Hill was the Leavenworth boarding house and Mountain Grove was the Austin one.

The Mill on Halfway Brook takes place from 1800 to 1880. Echo Hill and Mountain Grove takes place from 1880 to 1935, or that is the plan at this time.

For more information on and excerpts from The Mill on Halfway Brook, see my website: http://halfwaybrook.com/

September 2009
Austin/Leavenworth book update. The book was over 600 pages, so I am going to have three books.

The first book has 13 chapters and an appendix and (thanks to Cynthia) an index. The book starts with an introduction to the town of Lumberland which was created in 1798. The story will start when my great great grandfather James Eldred and his family enter the town at the end of 1815.

Book one is getting closer to being published, but is probably still at least two months off. We are also remodeling our house, so working on that has priority.

I am pretty excited about this book. Many people have shared information and photos for this book, and I am anxious to complete it.

Thanks for stopping by.

Louise

June 2009
Austin/Leavenworth book update. I am putting the book together now and have 600 pages worth of material. The book will start in 1815 and end in 1950 with information and photos of family members in the Appendix for the years 1951 to 2008. I’m not sure when it will be ready to be published, hopefully in 2 to 3 months. I still have quite a bit of editing to do.

There’s still time to get me photos of your Austin or Leavenworth family. See my email addresses at the end of this About page.

Thanks for stopping by. I always enjoy hearing from friends or relatives.

Louise

January 6, 2008

Happy New Year!! Mine is off to a busy start. I have been working as often as I can scanning photos and gathering material for my book about my Austin/Leavenworth Grandparents. I’m excited about it, but it will be a bit until this book will be done. I post some of the photos I have once-in-awhile.

Hope your New Year is off to a good start.

September 1, 2007
Hello!

My name is Louise Smith and this site is to update friends and relatives on my latest family book projects. I also post photos and information that I hope relatives and friends find interesting.

I would love to hear from you. And please if you have questions…or answers, feel free to email me.

Surnames on my mom’s side: Briggs, Crabtree, Higginson, Sharp, Giggey.
Surnames on my dad’s side: Austin, Leavenworth, Eldred, Myers, Van Pelt, Laserlier.

My Family Book Projects:
(All the books are available to read in pdf’s on the right hand side of this site thanks to my tech person.)

Grandma Jennie Austin’s Ledger: The scans of the recipes and poems from her ledger.

Grandma and Me: This book is about my Grandma Amanda Myrtie Crabtree Briggs born in 1891, in Nebraska, and the stories she told her children and grandchildren. http://www.lulu.com/content/494949

Aida Austin’s 1881 Diary: Aida was my great aunt and this is the diary she kept the year she turned 20. Note 4/3/2010. I hope to do an updated version in the near future.

Special thanks to my son Andrew for setting up this site and doing the technical stuff I’ll never understand how to do. And special thanks to my husband Gary for his expertise in book design.

Contact information:
weezy (at) halfwaybrook.com
weezy (at) weezy.info
austinsmithbooks (at) gmail.com