Converting old 8mm films

I inherited some old 8mm family movies from my mothers side of the family and want to save them for future generations.  In the past I had converted a two minute film from my dad's side of the family from 1958 using some software and a scanner.  This film had my great grandfather, grandparents, parents and aunt and uncle.  It turned out so well I decided to tackle it again.  This time I had six rolls of film.

Since there were more rolls this time I decided to build some additional components to help me out.  I first built a pair of reel holders out of wood with bolts for spindles.  Next I needed a way to advance the film a precise number of frames for each scan.  The one I built moves the film ahead 16 frames for each scan (1 second).  I also needed a gate to keep the film straight and in the same place for each scan.  The gate was built using a plastic ruler and an old plastic CD case which I cut to form a path for the film with a separate piece to hold the film against the glass of the scanner but not block the light or interfere with the image.

More Rogers family located

I was searching through some old Oil City newspapers online when I came across an obituary.  The obituary was for my great uncle Bert Harry Rogers.  To my surprise I discovered that even though he passed away at 24 years of age of TB he had been married and had two sons!  All these years I had thought he was single when he passed away.
The search was on, if he had two sons I wondered if any information about them could be found.  My first search turned up that Bert's first son Bert Jr had passed way in California.  Then I managed to locate his second son, Don.  After some additional digging I was able to locate Don's son.  I managed to find an email address for Don's son and sent an email with some family details.

Next thing I know I had a response and he knew of my great grandfather Frank Rogers!  Next I was told that his father Don wanted to talk to me so I phoned and we spent more than an hour and a half on the phone.  It was great!  I've since spoken with Bert Jr's son, and Don's children.  The family is alive and well and we have new 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th cousins!