SNGF: Good Genealogy Luck

This week's challenge from Genea-Musings is:

"1) When have you had a dose of good genealogy luck? What document or resource did you find just by happenstance or chance? By being in the right place at the right time? By finding a family history treasure in your family's attic or basement? By finding a helpful document or reference without even looking for it?

2) Tell us about it in Comments to this post, in Comments on Facebook, or in a blog post of your own."

I got a bit of "genealogy luck" the other day when I was in Yreka. My mother and I went to the Siskiyou Co. Historical Society's Museum with the intention of just looking around and learning a little about the area. Genealogically, we had no reason to go there and hadn't planned on doing any research there. Then, by chance, my mother asked the docent if he knew anything about the town Klamathon. My Wellons family lived there when they first came to California in the 1890s. The town, along the border with Oregon, was a booming lumber town which burned down in 1903. My mother had remembered seeming pictures of the place when she went to the same museum years ago and wanted me to see them also. Well, the man led us to a back room and pulled out a binder and then flipped it open to Klamathon. While we were sitting there looking through the pictures I noticed just how big the back room was and saw a row of filing cabinets each one labeled "A-C," "D-F," etc. It piqued my interest so I asked the docent if they had anything on individual families and before I knew it he was handing me a folder which contained my Wellons family's "pioneer record" as well as a great story about the family's time in Kentucky. Then he started pulling out old issues of the Society's yearly publication, "The Siskiyou Pioneer" and before we knew it we were leaving with about a dozen photocopied pages and two books FULL of Wellons family information. Oh, and to top it off? We happened to notice later that on the backs of several of the Klamathon pictures was written "courtesy of John C. Wellons" or "donated by J. C. Wellons." This particular John C./J. C. Wellons was the brother of my great-grandmother! Then, as we were pulling out of the parking lot we happened to notice that the genealogical society for the area was right behind us (sadly they were closed at that time though we have a reason to go back now!).

All in all, it was a great genealogy day- and to think, we almost skipped the museum! This just goes to show, when you visit a local museum or historical society don't be afraid to ask if they have any genealogy records or information on local families! Talk about good genealogy luck!