USS Barnes Cruise Book

USS Barnes 1943-45

One of the more exciting things for me in researching family history is when I come across new documents that are not already part of the collection passed down in our family. One of the first I came across a few months ago is a cruise book for the USS Barnes, the carrier my grandfather, John Livingstone, served on during World War II. I likely would not have found this anytime soon if it weren't for the internet - it is held at the Navy Department Library in Washington, D.C., but its pages have been scanned to make it available at Ancestry.com.

Cruise books were a common publication produced after a deployment, similar to a school yearbook, and included photos of the crew and information about the ship's time at sea. This one in particular is about 80 pages and includes candid photos that document everything from the ship's commissioning ceremony to sailors relaxing on-board, group portraits of every department, as well as information like the ship's log. I was able to see that the dates when the ship returned to San Diego, where my grandmother lived while my grandfather was at sea. The best part of discovering this book, though, was the photo of the engineering department, with my grandfather seated right in front (below, second from the left)!

Engineering Department

Ship's Log

Highlights of the USS Barnes

The Beginning

Jack and Peggy Livingstone

Everything must have a beginning, and so this is mine. What started as casual curiosity about my family tree has grown into an ambitious project that will span years to come, and may never be fully complete! This is primarily a blog to document my progress as I research my own ancestors and digitize hundreds of photographs and papers that have been entrusted to me. I am also researching the genealogy of other members of my family, so my posts will probably touch on those topics as well.

There a few primary tools worth mentioning that I use regularly. For organizing my family tree I use Ancestry.com as well as the Family Tree Maker software published by the same company. I scan photos on an Epson Perfection V750-M Pro, and use Photoshop for editing the images - but I'll reserve anything more technical than that for future posts!

Pictured here are my maternal grandparents, Jack and Peggy Livingstone, who passed away in 2001 and 1996 respectively. I was fortunate to know them for many years and have countless fond memories of them, but I wish my interest in family history had developed while they were still living. I will always regret the missed opportunities to ask them about their past and their own memories. Happily, there are many letters and other first-person accounts among the materials I have access to, and of course there is a wealth of information available online. Piecing together the past is certainly a puzzle and a challenge, but one I look forward to meeting head on!