January 11 of the New Year and what has gotten done? Nothing and enough I suppose. I unpacked my Genealogy materials. I moved TWO months ago and just got the living room decorated not 5 days ago and that is it. Boxes still everywhere.. not much of anything done. I know why but I am not telling, I am goofing off too much, that is all I will say. :) Well, I hate moving and I view this move as temporary so effort is short though I like my country decor so finally did start to unpack. I suppose in the scheme of things 2 years is not 'that' temporary.
So.. tired of waiting for me to get anything productive done, I have started a Graveyard Rabbit Blog and have pinned papers up to a nifty bulletin board in my new apartment. Pinned up are applications to work on. Colonial Dames, DAR, Civil War Families of Tennessee. Filling out one should get them all nipped in the bud (or close) so plan of attack is the DAR, I had made two requests and months have gone by since I contacted the Colonial Dames and my local chapter has not made contact... So I think if I get the DAR done, most of the ground work is done for the Colonial Dames. It all works.
DAR List to make sure I have or to get documentation on:
My mother
John Duncan
Carrie Anne Baldwin
Hugh Wilson Baldwin
Hugh Lawson Baldwin
Elizabeth Luttrell
James Churchwell Luttrell
Richard Luttrell
Now, time to get busy! :)
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
The 99 Things + Genealogy List
I picked this up on the Nordic Blue blog. It kind of gives me goals!
Things you have already done or found: bold face type
Things you would like to do or find: italicize (color optional)
Things you haven’t done or found and don’t care to: plain type
The 99 Things + Genealogy List:
1. Belonged to a genealogical society. (in the process of making that happen)
2. Researched records onsite at a court house.
3. Transcribed records.
4. Uploaded tombstone pictures to Find-A-Grave.
5. Documented ancestors for four generations (self, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents) .
6. Joined Facebook.
7. Helped to clean up a run-down cemetery.
8. Joined the Genea-Bloggers Group on Facebook.
9. Attended a genealogy conference.
10. Lectured at a genealogy conference.
11. Spoke on a genealogy topic at a local genealogy society.
12. Have been the editor of a genealogy society newsletter.
13. Contributed to a genealogy society publication.
14. Served on the board or as an officer of a genealogy society.
15. Got lost on the way to a cemetery.
16. Talked to dead ancestors.
17. Researched outside the state in which I live.
18. Knocked on the door of an ancestral home and visited with the current occupants.
19. Cold called a distant relative.
20. Posted messages on a surname message board.
21. Uploaded a gedcom file to the internet.
22. Googled my name.
23. Performed a random act of genealogical kindness.
24. Researched a non-related family, just for the fun of it.
25. Been paid to do genealogical research.
26. Earn a living (majority of income) from genealogical research.
27. Wrote a letter (or email) to a previously unknown relative.
28. Contributed to one of the genealogy carnivals.
29. Responded to messages on a message board or forum.
30. Was injured while on a genealogy excursion.
31. Participated in a genealogy meme.
32. Created family history gift items (calendars, cookbooks, etc.).
33. Performed a record lookup for someone else.
34. Went on a genealogy seminar cruise.
35. Am convinced that a relative must have arrived here from outer space.
36. Found a disturbing family secret.
37. Told others about a disturbing family secret.
38. Combined genealogy with crafts (family picture quilt, scrapbooking).
39. Think genealogy is a passion not a hobby.
40. Assisted finding next of kin for a deceased person (Unclaimed Persons).
41. Taught someone else how to find their roots.
42. Lost valuable genealogy data due to a computer crash or hard drive failure.
43. Been overwhelmed by available genealogy technology.
44. Know a cousin of the 4th degree or higher.
45. Disproved a family myth through research.
46. Got a family member to let you copy photos.
47. Used a digital camera to “copy” photos or records.
48. Translated a record from a foreign language.
49. Found an immigrant ancestor’s passenger arrival record.
50. Looked at census records on microfilm, not on the computer.
51. Used microfiche.
52. Visited the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.
53. Visited more than one LDS Family History Center.
54. Visited a church or place of worship of one of your ancestors.
55. Taught a class in genealogy.
56. Traced ancestors back to the 18th Century.
57. Traced ancestors back to the 17th Century.
58. Traced ancestors back to the 16th Century.
59. Can name all of your great-great-grandparents.
60. Found an ancestor’s Social Security application.
61. Know how to determine a soundex code without the help of a computer.
62. Used Steve Morse’s One-Step searches.
63. Own a copy of Evidence Explained by Elizabeth Shown Mills.
64. Helped someone find an ancestor using records you had never used for your own research. 65. Visited the main National Archives building in Washington, DC.
66. Visited the Library of Congress.
67. Have an ancestor who came over on the Mayflower.
68. Have an ancestor who fought in the Civil War.
69. Taken a photograph of an ancestor’s tombstone.
70. Became a member of the Association of Graveyard Rabbits.
71. Can read a church record in Latin.
72. Have an ancestor who changed their name.
73. Joined a Rootsweb mailing list.
74. Created a family website.
75. Have more than one "genealogy" blog.
76. Was overwhelmed by the amount of family information received from someone.
77. Have broken through at least one brick wall.
78. Visited the DAR Library in Washington D.C.
79. Borrowed a microfilm from the Family History Library through a local Family History Center.
80. Have done indexing for Family Search Indexing or another genealogy project.
81. Visited the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
82. Had an amazing serendipitous find of the "Psychic Roots" variety.
83. Have an ancestor who was a Patriot in the American Revolutionary War.
84. Have an ancestor who was a Loyalist in the American Revolutionary War.
85. Have both Patriot & Loyalist ancestors.
86. Have used Border Crossing records to locate an ancestor.
87. Use maps in my genealogy research.
88. Have a convict ancestor who was transported from the UK.
89. Found a bigamist amongst the ancestors.
90. Visited the National Archives in Kew.
91. Visited St. Catherine's House in London to find family records.
92. Found a cousin in Australia (or other foreign country).
93. Consistently cite my sources.
94. Visited a foreign country (i.e. one I don't live in) in search of ancestors.
95. Can locate any document in my research files within a few minutes.
96. Have an ancestor who was married four times (or more).
97. Made a rubbing of an ancestors gravestone.
98. Organized a family reunion.
99. Published a family history book (on one of my families).
100.Learned of the death of a fairly close relative through research.
101.Have done the genealogy happy dance.
102.Sustained an injury doing the genealogy happy dance.
103.Offended a family member with my research.
104.Reunited someone with precious family photos or artifacts.
Things you have already done or found: bold face type
Things you would like to do or find: italicize (color optional)
Things you haven’t done or found and don’t care to: plain type
The 99 Things + Genealogy List:
1. Belonged to a genealogical society. (in the process of making that happen)
2. Researched records onsite at a court house.
3. Transcribed records.
4. Uploaded tombstone pictures to Find-A-Grave.
5. Documented ancestors for four generations (self, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents) .
6. Joined Facebook.
7. Helped to clean up a run-down cemetery.
8. Joined the Genea-Bloggers Group on Facebook.
9. Attended a genealogy conference.
10. Lectured at a genealogy conference.
11. Spoke on a genealogy topic at a local genealogy society.
12. Have been the editor of a genealogy society newsletter.
13. Contributed to a genealogy society publication.
14. Served on the board or as an officer of a genealogy society.
15. Got lost on the way to a cemetery.
16. Talked to dead ancestors.
17. Researched outside the state in which I live.
18. Knocked on the door of an ancestral home and visited with the current occupants.
19. Cold called a distant relative.
20. Posted messages on a surname message board.
21. Uploaded a gedcom file to the internet.
22. Googled my name.
23. Performed a random act of genealogical kindness.
24. Researched a non-related family, just for the fun of it.
25. Been paid to do genealogical research.
26. Earn a living (majority of income) from genealogical research.
27. Wrote a letter (or email) to a previously unknown relative.
28. Contributed to one of the genealogy carnivals.
29. Responded to messages on a message board or forum.
30. Was injured while on a genealogy excursion.
31. Participated in a genealogy meme.
32. Created family history gift items (calendars, cookbooks, etc.).
33. Performed a record lookup for someone else.
34. Went on a genealogy seminar cruise.
35. Am convinced that a relative must have arrived here from outer space.
36. Found a disturbing family secret.
37. Told others about a disturbing family secret.
38. Combined genealogy with crafts (family picture quilt, scrapbooking).
39. Think genealogy is a passion not a hobby.
40. Assisted finding next of kin for a deceased person (Unclaimed Persons).
41. Taught someone else how to find their roots.
42. Lost valuable genealogy data due to a computer crash or hard drive failure.
43. Been overwhelmed by available genealogy technology.
44. Know a cousin of the 4th degree or higher.
45. Disproved a family myth through research.
46. Got a family member to let you copy photos.
47. Used a digital camera to “copy” photos or records.
48. Translated a record from a foreign language.
49. Found an immigrant ancestor’s passenger arrival record.
50. Looked at census records on microfilm, not on the computer.
51. Used microfiche.
52. Visited the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.
53. Visited more than one LDS Family History Center.
54. Visited a church or place of worship of one of your ancestors.
55. Taught a class in genealogy.
56. Traced ancestors back to the 18th Century.
57. Traced ancestors back to the 17th Century.
58. Traced ancestors back to the 16th Century.
59. Can name all of your great-great-grandparents.
60. Found an ancestor’s Social Security application.
61. Know how to determine a soundex code without the help of a computer.
62. Used Steve Morse’s One-Step searches.
63. Own a copy of Evidence Explained by Elizabeth Shown Mills.
64. Helped someone find an ancestor using records you had never used for your own research. 65. Visited the main National Archives building in Washington, DC.
66. Visited the Library of Congress.
67. Have an ancestor who came over on the Mayflower.
68. Have an ancestor who fought in the Civil War.
69. Taken a photograph of an ancestor’s tombstone.
70. Became a member of the Association of Graveyard Rabbits.
71. Can read a church record in Latin.
72. Have an ancestor who changed their name.
73. Joined a Rootsweb mailing list.
74. Created a family website.
75. Have more than one "genealogy" blog.
76. Was overwhelmed by the amount of family information received from someone.
77. Have broken through at least one brick wall.
78. Visited the DAR Library in Washington D.C.
79. Borrowed a microfilm from the Family History Library through a local Family History Center.
80. Have done indexing for Family Search Indexing or another genealogy project.
81. Visited the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
82. Had an amazing serendipitous find of the "Psychic Roots" variety.
83. Have an ancestor who was a Patriot in the American Revolutionary War.
84. Have an ancestor who was a Loyalist in the American Revolutionary War.
85. Have both Patriot & Loyalist ancestors.
86. Have used Border Crossing records to locate an ancestor.
87. Use maps in my genealogy research.
88. Have a convict ancestor who was transported from the UK.
89. Found a bigamist amongst the ancestors.
90. Visited the National Archives in Kew.
91. Visited St. Catherine's House in London to find family records.
92. Found a cousin in Australia (or other foreign country).
93. Consistently cite my sources.
94. Visited a foreign country (i.e. one I don't live in) in search of ancestors.
95. Can locate any document in my research files within a few minutes.
96. Have an ancestor who was married four times (or more).
97. Made a rubbing of an ancestors gravestone.
98. Organized a family reunion.
99. Published a family history book (on one of my families).
100.Learned of the death of a fairly close relative through research.
101.Have done the genealogy happy dance.
102.Sustained an injury doing the genealogy happy dance.
103.Offended a family member with my research.
104.Reunited someone with precious family photos or artifacts.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
The Proximidade Award
And this just in.. I was given an award! I read a lot of blogs and can promise I will never be a famous blogger but I think it is a good way to track progress and put down feelings to memory when a brick wall is knocked down or when remembering someone makes you feel warm and loved.
These blogs invest and believe in PROXIMITY - nearness in space,
time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming. These
kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in
prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of
these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please
give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers,
who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into
the body of their award.
time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming. These
kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in
prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of
these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please
give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers,
who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into
the body of their award.
Now I must list 8 Blogs that I follow and pass out the awards!! And the winners are!:
Smokey Mountain Family Historian
100 Years in America
A Culinary Genealogy
A Light That Shines Again
Family Connections
Genealogy - Digging Up Dirt
Nordic Blue
Orations of OMcHodoy
Smokey Mountain Family Historian
100 Years in America
A Culinary Genealogy
A Light That Shines Again
Family Connections
Genealogy - Digging Up Dirt
Nordic Blue
Orations of OMcHodoy
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
New Years Resolutions
While I generally to not make resolutions.. a few things to accomplish in 2009:
DAR
Colonial Dames
Research - Start my Grandmother's Scotland line.
Consider working toward certification.
Get organized and stay organized?
Get involved with local historical society - focus - cemeteries.
NO Blog fade :(
It's a start.
DAR
Colonial Dames
Research - Start my Grandmother's Scotland line.
Consider working toward certification.
Get organized and stay organized?
Get involved with local historical society - focus - cemeteries.
NO Blog fade :(
It's a start.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Christmas Memories
This was our second Christmas without my father. My step-father actually but the man that was my father in all senses of the word since I was a troubled 14 year old teenager. This Christmas was so much harder than the first that he was missing from. My mother, sister and I seem to sigh a given moments when the pause is one that he would fill. I am older, an adult and know people die but in truth it plain sucks no matter how old you are. I find that the moments of sudden teariness over missing him do not lessen and they still come at the strangest times like thinking about nothing on the commute home. I miss you Bill.. you were the best father a girl could have.
Christmas this year has brought me back to my childhood. Every year we would go to Akron, Ohio, where my great uncle (George Fender - middle in picture), my grandmother (Elizabeth Dewar Spalding Fender Duncan - right in picture), and great aunt (Edna Fender Naehring - left in picture) were the central point of our family and lived (Uncle George ran away to Florida for a few years). Aunt Edna, was the provider of house for the party and three branches of the family would converge on Christmas Eve in the early evening. I remember we loved to go but my sister and I would worry about Santa not coming if we were not home sleeping by the time he got there. Not once did Santa ever forget us I am happy to report. The first Generation there would be Grandma Willie (Willie Clay Moore Fender). She was George, Elizabeth and Edna's step-mother, their mother died young. Grandma Willie was the sweetest woman and I remember she was mostly blind and could see things if right up to her nose and big however she was pretty quick with a dollar bill to stuff in your pocket and she could move fast when she had reason. I also remember she was the "southern style green bean" chef of the house. They were delicious. She lived with my grandmother until she could no longer live on her own. The second generation would be my grandmother and her siblings, the Third Generation was my mother, her cousins Carol and Bobby. George's children did not come to this gathering as they were older and had their own parties. The fourth generation would be myself, my sister and five cousins.
While it was like any other family party, I don't remember anything bad.. this was a family that truly loved to be together and this was a night looked forward to year after year. The highlights were when Uncle George and his wife Aunt Stevie would come, they had moved to Florida for a number of years and I remember going to visit them there. George Fender was one of the more charming men you would ever meet. He was full of life and had this smile that was intoxicating. This younger generation could never get enough of sitting on his lap and hugging him to death. There was something truly magical about him from a child's point of view.
Highlights of these Christmas Eve gatherings:
The year Uncle George could not make it due to bad weather. Guess who showed up to a riot of happy outcries and a reunion like no other.
My Aunt Edna singing Christmas Carrol's with that beautiful voice, she quieted the room and brought tears to eyes.
My grandmother at the age of 50 doing a Highland Fling with such a beauty that you could see the girl she once had been.
My Grandmother, Uncle George and Aunt Edna singing Scottish tunes when they drank a little too much Scotch. They all came to the US from Scotland as teenagers.
The year the power went out. Out on the highway a car hit a telephone pole and the entire area when black on a very snowy night. Candles lit, everything quiet, snow falling, Aunt Edna's kitchen shut down, she went to the piano and we all sung Christmas songs by candlelight and that year to me was the most special of them all.. nothing mattered but that we were together and the occasion was marked to forever live in my mind.
Can you tell how much I loved my Grandmother, my Great Uncle and my Great Aunt? They were three of the more important people in my life.. while we all moved on to our own family traditions after their generation took ill or passed on still all of us in this family still long for those Christmas Eve's at Aunt Edna's. May you each know how much you are missed and loved.
Merry Christmas.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Getting my mojo back...
After an extremely crappy day and over stuff that I should not let get to me... really... I sit here at 9 pm irritated that I did not get my research back on the ball today as that was the plan. I am super tired right now and I suppose that has much to do with my current mood but now I am wondering where to start. It has been weeks since my research box was packed up for the move. I am still not settled in but I figure a box will get unpacked or decided on when I darn well feel like dealing with it. I want some sort of normalcy back and research is part of my normalcy.
And so... I suppose it is a matter of opening a box and picking a person to start on because invariably that is not the person I am working on within an hour because I follow leads or thoughts or ideas and find within three hours I am on the tenth person past the person I started on that research session. Haha.
When you are working on projects daily, you kind of have a memory of what you have been doing and what you are trying to do but it has been so long I am sure I will feel disorganized for a bit of time... so, I suppose I will jump right in and find my way rather quickly.. I think it is the jump that is the part that is taking the effort.. it will all be better tomorrow.
Tonight maybe laying in bed with the tv on is the ticket... I think I will give myself the night off and stop being angry with myself for not getting anything done today.
And so... I suppose it is a matter of opening a box and picking a person to start on because invariably that is not the person I am working on within an hour because I follow leads or thoughts or ideas and find within three hours I am on the tenth person past the person I started on that research session. Haha.
When you are working on projects daily, you kind of have a memory of what you have been doing and what you are trying to do but it has been so long I am sure I will feel disorganized for a bit of time... so, I suppose I will jump right in and find my way rather quickly.. I think it is the jump that is the part that is taking the effort.. it will all be better tomorrow.
Tonight maybe laying in bed with the tv on is the ticket... I think I will give myself the night off and stop being angry with myself for not getting anything done today.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Small Hitch in the Getalong called "Moving"
Research has been scattered at best because I moved from one town to another. This will save me 90 minutes of driving today. Puts my daughter closer to her college, puts me closer to work and just makes everything so much easier. Too, I must make a small confession, one that I wonder if other Genealogists ever experience this. For a lot of years I had wondered and looked for George W Duncan and finding his death information sort of affected me in a way I was not prepared. I felt elated that I found him and sad that he died so young. I almost dare to say that for a couple of days I was depressed about him and maybe in mourning over finally finding how he ended up? Silly but he had been such a focus for me. I am hardly done researching him but he was a brick wall and now the wall is crumbling.
The town my daughter and I have moved from is small, very small. It is in apple country in western NY state, bordered by Lake Ontario on the north town line. Maybe about 6000 people. One grade school, one middle school, and one high school. One very small grocery store, two gas stations and one traffic light at the village four corners. I stayed there to keep my daughter in the same school district until she graduated. She has done every grade in that school system. Patiently I have waited for this to happen, her graduation would free me to move off to do and live where I want to. Never did I feel it would be so hard to move from that little town. I know I have lived there for 16 years but I was never a huge part of the community. I never considered it a permanent place but maybe time did that for me.. made it a home that I did not realize that it had become.
So the last drive from my old town to my new (and I am sure I will be back there on occasion for things.. like apples!!!) I passed by odd things that made me sad that would not be part of my routine anymore. Funny how that happened. There is this cute house that I would have bought if it ever went up for sale and it never did so the owners feel the same way about it that I do obviously, haha. Well every morning the lady of the house would be sitting at the kitchen counter drinking her coffee and reading her paper. The road in relation to that spot in her kitchen was vi sable and so every day I would drive by and see her sitting there. Oddly, when she wasn't sitting there I wondered if she was sick or had the day off (no, I am not a stalker). Without realizing it this had become a small routine. So I started to pay attention. I did the same with the tiny cemetery that sits out in the middle of nowhere. It is next to a farm house so obviously the old farmstead family cemetery. It needs work, there are tombstones at such an odd angle I am amazed they are off the ground at all. I wonder who takes care of it, if anyone has recorded that cemetery. Maybe I will get back there and find out some day.
So there seemed to be a lot of little things in my daily drive that made me realize I would miss my long home that I didn't think I would miss.. Now I start anew, I am going to join the historical society here and looking at the application I will volunteer to be a greeter and to do cemetery work. It should be fun.
Here is to new adventure. :) Now to get organized and get back to research work but first.....
Has anyone seen my coffee cups!!!! I need coffee really bad....
The town my daughter and I have moved from is small, very small. It is in apple country in western NY state, bordered by Lake Ontario on the north town line. Maybe about 6000 people. One grade school, one middle school, and one high school. One very small grocery store, two gas stations and one traffic light at the village four corners. I stayed there to keep my daughter in the same school district until she graduated. She has done every grade in that school system. Patiently I have waited for this to happen, her graduation would free me to move off to do and live where I want to. Never did I feel it would be so hard to move from that little town. I know I have lived there for 16 years but I was never a huge part of the community. I never considered it a permanent place but maybe time did that for me.. made it a home that I did not realize that it had become.
So the last drive from my old town to my new (and I am sure I will be back there on occasion for things.. like apples!!!) I passed by odd things that made me sad that would not be part of my routine anymore. Funny how that happened. There is this cute house that I would have bought if it ever went up for sale and it never did so the owners feel the same way about it that I do obviously, haha. Well every morning the lady of the house would be sitting at the kitchen counter drinking her coffee and reading her paper. The road in relation to that spot in her kitchen was vi sable and so every day I would drive by and see her sitting there. Oddly, when she wasn't sitting there I wondered if she was sick or had the day off (no, I am not a stalker). Without realizing it this had become a small routine. So I started to pay attention. I did the same with the tiny cemetery that sits out in the middle of nowhere. It is next to a farm house so obviously the old farmstead family cemetery. It needs work, there are tombstones at such an odd angle I am amazed they are off the ground at all. I wonder who takes care of it, if anyone has recorded that cemetery. Maybe I will get back there and find out some day.
So there seemed to be a lot of little things in my daily drive that made me realize I would miss my long home that I didn't think I would miss.. Now I start anew, I am going to join the historical society here and looking at the application I will volunteer to be a greeter and to do cemetery work. It should be fun.
Here is to new adventure. :) Now to get organized and get back to research work but first.....
Has anyone seen my coffee cups!!!! I need coffee really bad....
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