A User’s Guide

Navigating Our Family History: A User’s Guide

I use a variety of economical tools to publish our family history. While this ensures the data is secure, and accessible, I understand that jumping between different websites can be confusing. 

This guide explains how my files are structured, which tool to use for what purpose, and how to find your way back if you get lost.

1. The "Front Door": Your Starting Point

Where to go: [familyname].consultchris.us (e.g., lepley.consultchris.us)

Think of the ConsultChris Family Homepage as the directory or "front door" to all my research. I strongly advise you to start here and end here.

• What you will find:

  • Directories of names (Family Groups).

  • Links to maps, charts, and research reports.

  • Direct access to the Research Blog.

• Navigation Tip: If you ever feel lost deep in a photo album or external site, simply type the main address back into your browser to return to safety.

2. The News Center: Research Blog

Best for: Discovering "What's New" without digging through files.

Genealogy is a living, breathing project. The Research Blog is where I share the excitement of the hunt in real-time. This is the best place to visit if you want to know what I am working on right now.  

• What I post here:

  • Exciting Finds: A neat story, a rare news clipping, or a "breakthrough" discovery I just made.

  • Trip Reports: Photos and details from my recent "genealogy vacations" and archive visits.

  • Site Updates: Announcements when I refresh a report, add a new family line, or upload a new batch of documents.

• How to find and follow: Each family homepage has a link to their own Research Blog. To find it return to 1 above.  You can read the latest posts directly on the site, or subscribe to get these stories delivered to your email so you never miss a beat.

3. The "Couple Page": The Gateway

When you click on a name from the main directory, you are taken to a dedicated page for that specific couple. This page serves as a launchpad to all other platforms.

• The Main Photo: Clicking the main photo at the top of the page will take you directly into their Google Photo Album.

• The Direct Links: Below the photo, you will find customized links taking you directly to that person’s profile on external platforms (FamilySearch, Find A Grave, MacFamilyTree, etc.).

  • Note: Some sites (like Ancestry or Fold3) may require a login. If a link takes you to a login screen, sign in, and then come back and click the link again to go straight to the specific record.

4. The Visual Archive: Google Photo Albums

Best for: Browsing pictures easily on your phone or computer.

For each married couple, I have created a dedicated online album containing all relevant photos and documents.

• Pros: Very easy to swipe through. No login required.

• Cons: Photos lack context. You might see a court document next to a portrait with no explanation of what the document proves.

• Getting Back: Every album contains a text slide reminding you of the family homepage URL. Use this to return to the main directory to find other albums.

5. The Research Core: MacFamilyTree

Best for: Understanding the "Who, When, and Where" (Context).

This is a dedicated genealogy website where I publish my organized data. It is Browse Only—you cannot accidentally delete or change anything, and no login is required.

• Why use it? Unlike the photo albums, this site connects the dots. It links the photos to dates, events, and relationships, explaining why a document matters.

• Features: You can view interactive trees, download documents, and explore family facts without restriction.

6. The Cemetery: Find A Grave

Best for: Locating burial sites and viewing headstones.

This is a free, public website. I have organized our family graves into "Virtual Cemeteries" for each family group (e.g., Lepley, Borger). 

• What you can do:

  • View photos and transcriptions of headstones.

  • See GPS coordinates of specific graves.

  • Sort the list by name or by cemetery location.

7. The Workshop: FamilySearch

Best for: Collaboration and adding your own knowledge.

Think of FamilySearch as the "Wikipedia" of genealogy. There is only one profile per deceased person in the world, and everyone contributes to it.

• My Workflow: I use FamilySearch as my "sandbox." When I find new information, I save it there first. Once verified, I move it to my permanent MacFamilyTree records.

• For You: If you want to contribute stories, correct errors, or add photos yourself, this is the place to do it.

8. Printable Reports & Charts

Best for: Taking information offline or visiting locations.

I have created custom reports for each family group, available via the Lepley Homepage or the "Home" tab in MacFamilyTree.

• Popular Reports:

  • Cemetery Report: Essential for visits. Organized by State -> Cemetery -> Family Name (including plot numbers).

  • Descendant Poster: A visual tree useful for orienting yourself within the larger family lines.

  • Vital Records: Reports on veterans, causes of death, schools, etc.

• How to Print: When viewing a report, look for the "Pop-Out" button (usually in the top right corner) to open the file in a new window, then select "Print." 

Enjoyed this update? Don't miss the next one.

Subscribe via Email

IMPORTANT: A New, Better Way to Follow the Family History Updates

As many of you know, I have been sharing our family history discoveries, photos, and stories via email updates for some time. It has been a joy to see how many of you—from close cousins to distant relatives—have taken an interest in the Lepley genealogy! However, as our audience has grown, I’ve become concerned about two things: your privacy and your inbox. Sending out large group emails always carries a risk of accidentally exposing email addresses to people you may not know. I also know that life gets busy, and not everyone wants a history lesson popping up in their notifications in the middle of a workday! Putting You in Control To fix this, I am moving away from sending group emails. Instead, I will be posting all updates right here on this blog. This allows me to share more photos and better formatting than email allows, but more importantly, it puts the control back in your hands. How to Subscribe (If You Want To!) If you want to make sure you never miss a story, you can subscribe to get updates sent to you automatically. Look for the "Subscribe via Email" box on the side of this page (or at the bottom if you are on a phone). Enter your email address and click clear. Check your email: You will receive a confirmation link. You must click this to activate the subscription. You choose the frequency: Once you subscribe, you can choose to receive every post as it happens, or a "Digest" version that summarizes the news. The "Quiet" Option If you prefer not to subscribe, that is perfectly fine! This website is public and searchable. You can simply bookmark this page and visit whenever you have a quiet moment and feel like catching up on family history. Thank you for being part of this journey to uncover our past. This change ensures that our family list remains private, secure, and spam-free for everyone.

Enjoyed this update? Don't miss the next one.

Subscribe via Email

Author’s Note: The following narrative is a work of historical fiction based on the life of Sergeant James R. Crooks (1840–1936). While the specific dialogue is imagined, the events described—from the surrender at Harper's Ferry to the tragic loss of his children—are grounded in primary historical records. To view the original military documents, photographs, and census records that inspired this story, please visit lepley.consultchris.us - James & Mary Crooks .

---

The Last Guard

A Fictionalized Memoir of Sgt James R. Crooks Based on the true events and records of the Lepley-Crooks family archive. 

Prologue: The Empty Chair

Van Wert, Ohio — 1935

My Dear Leah,

I am ninety-five years old, a fact my joints attest to with every turn of the weather. The newspaper boys call me the "Grand Old Man of the Regiment." When I sit rocking on this porch, the townsfolk see the white beard, the Sunday suit, and the gold star of the G.A.R. on my lapel. They tip their hats and offer a respectful word. Occasionally, a younger man—one of the boys who came back from the Great War with a limp or a haunted look—will catch my eye, and we share a nod. We know things the others do not.

I sit here in the window at 803 South Elm Street, holding your last letter. You tell me you are singing now, standing on stages in bright lights. It brings a warmth to this old chest.

Outside, the automobiles rattle down the Lincoln Highway. They move so fast, little one—shiny machines of steel and glass, rushing toward a future I will not see. Did you know I saw the very first one? It was John Lambert’s contraption, sputtering through the mud of Ohio City back in ’91. We laughed at it then. We said a horse would never run out of oats, but an engine would surely run out of gas.

Now, the horses are gone, and the world moves at the speed of a piston.

But when the house is quiet and the traffic fades, I am not thinking of machines. I am looking at this table. I planed this oak myself, Leah. I built it for my Mary, my grace-filled wife, and it was at this very wood that I fielded your endless questions.

"Pap, did you really see the ocean?" "Did you see any sea monsters?" "Pap, tell me again about when your war was won."

I can still feel the weight of you on my knee. "Pap, swing me again," you’d cry. And I would.

This table is worn smooth by years of meals, prayer meetings, and the tinkering of my own hands. But my favorite hours were spent right here, with Mary’s hand resting in mine, listening to you fill this house with the Lord’s songs—singing so beautiful it caused me to turn my head toward the window, lest you see the tear fall.

My Mary. My precious half. She has been gone one year now. The house is too quiet without her skirts rustling in the hall.

I look at the empty chairs. My father, Robert, has been gone since '84. My brother Josiah—my chaplain, my compass—left us forty years ago. Little Elizabeth, the sister I promised to protect, is gone too.

But the hardest silences are the ones that should have been filled with the laughter of my children. I buried my little Florence when she was just a babe. I buried your mother, Mary Eleanor, when she was in the bloom of her life, leaving you to us when you were barely walking. I have buried grandsons before they took their first steps. And my son... well, the darkness took him, and some shadows are too heavy to speak of, even now.

Yet, even with all the loss, my heart is not empty. I have lived a long life, Leah. My cup runneth over.

Of all the Crooks men, only Charles and I remain. He is far away in Maryland, preaching the Word. But you... you are the one we held close. When your father moved on, Mary and I took you in. We raised you not just as a grandchild, but as the daughter we lost twice.

Before my soul is free to rejoin with my Mary and with my Lord, and my earthly body retires in Woodland Cemetery, there is one last story I would share with my little songbird. It is a lesson I learned in the freezing mud of Tennessee and the shame of a Virginia valley.

It is a story of how to stand when everything around you is falling.

This is the first installment of a fictional short story of the life of a very real man, "JR" Crooks.  Visit Lepley-Crooks family archive for more.  Follow this blog for the next installment.

Enjoyed this update? Don't miss the next one.

Subscribe via Email