52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Week 7: Toys

I am of the Barbie Generation. My daughter had the better Barbie stuff when campers and houses came along. For us it was shiny vinyl black "closet" cases. I have mentioned this memory before but my Grandmother, Elizabeth Fender Duncan, totally rocked as a Grandmother and would indulge us, and insist, that we put on a Barbie fashion show for her. At Christmas Santa would bring us Barbie clothes. She made a few things for us and knit a few things for us and religiously on our trips to Ohio there would be a fashion show put on for the family to show off all the new clothing our Barbie's and Skippers had. My sister and I would be so excited and my Grandmother would have us describe the clothing and enunciate. She was a stickler for proper speech and would encourage us to be descriptive in our presentation of each outfit. She made it fun and it helped me in my College writing down the line. I look at a sentence and wonder if I have described enough. She would applaud and expect us to take our bows for our performance. I love that woman with all of my heart. I miss her so much, she was my safety zone.

The only other toy I can remember being "it" for me was hula hoops. I could do anything in one of those things during my young teen years. Walk to the mail box, run, just anything!

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Week 6: Radio and Television

Radio and Television.

I am a product of the 60's and 70's when it came to watching television. I loved the Brady Bunch and the Partridge Family. The Brady Bunch was a Friday night ritual in our house.  I loved Bobby Sherman just as much as Marcia did. Now that I am over 50 (barely) I can still be caught watching them if they happen to be on the TV when I surf by them. There, my most embarrassing secret. E V E R ! ! !

For radio, I am going to talk about old shows that I had never heard of until I was living in Germany and Armed Forces Radio was the only entertainment I had aside from my stereo that blew out Peter Frampton, Yes, Lynyrd Skynyrd, David Bowie, Genesis and Electric Light Orchestra. I was 17 and would have considered these shows from the "olden days" and they were for me. Fibber McGee and Molly was one, the other was the Twilight Zone. I did not grow up with radio programming really. My parents listened to the Beatles and Herb Albert and the Tijuana brass. They were a hip 1960's couple.  We didn't listen to radio "shows". Rock and Roll radio stations were the rage for me. Today I have internet radio and can listen to 80's and 90's Alternative and I am a happy camper. Still I look back on those radio shows with fondness. Once I got past the oldness of them I couldn't wait until the nights they came on to sit and listen and too, it gave me a taste of life with just radios and no television. Today I can appreciate that "step back".

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Week 5: Food

Page 2
 
Strange but true, there is a recipe in my family with unknown origin (to me) that is called "Page 2". It was on Page 2 of some handwritten cookbook/spiral notebook and called "Page 2". Crazy, I know!! It is a very 60's recipe and I believe that is were it dates from. I remember eating it when I was 8. It is something I wouldn't think of eating today and I remember I might have made it once or twice early in my career as a wife and mother.
 
It is a basic casserole type of recipe and goes like this:

Make a pot of mashed potatoes.
Brown ground beef and chopped onions; drain.
Add a can of green beans and a can of corn; stir.
Add two cans of Campbell's tomato soup; stir.
Salt and pepper.
Pour into a casserole.
Drop big spoonfuls of the mashed potatoes onto the mixture.
Sprinkle with paprika for color.
Bake until mixture is hot and bubbly. (probably 350 degrees, 30-40 minutes)

Voila.. Page 2.

It isn't bad, I remember liking it and when my cousin's came to visit us in Rochester from Akron, Ohio, my Mother said, "What should we have for dinner?" and my sister and I were all serious in jumping up and down crying out, "Page 2! Page 2!" like we were introducing our cousins to the bestest thing on the planet. I think it was just the excitement of the cousins coming to our place in the world and we wanted them to have what we thought were the best things in our life. Thinking about it makes me laugh now. For many years it was a star in our family. Probably because it was easy to make, no thinking and the leftovers were delish. My mother could whip it together and be done with it. Maybe I should make it again to see if it holds the same appeal as it did when I was a child. Maybe, I am not a fan of high sodium or canned vegetables and tomato soup goes with grilled cheese sandwiches! (another favorite food) I do remember it makes awesome leftovers! And I think I will poll my son and daughter and see if they remember it.

Today, one of my most favorite foods is basil pesto. I love it, it is easy to put together, I don't need a recipe, it just happens in my food processor and it freezes well. Sauté a bit of chicken, veggies on hand (broccoli, zucchini, anything like that), throw in some cooked pasta and stir in pesto until it looks like you want it to look when you eat it and eat! Mm. 

An old memory, Swenson's Drive In, in Akron Ohio. Once we got to Akron and settled in, my Mom was like a homing pigeon to Swenson's and we would drive there and park, the food brought to us on a tray and we would eat in the car. My sister and I thought it was such a novelty and my mother felt like she had come home. She was unhappy in her marriage to my biological father ("Dad" is reserved for my wonderful step-father who has passed away) and I think going home to Akron and something like that Drive-In food joint was a normalcy she needed and she enjoyed sharing it with my sister and I. I can say this now that I can think back and see her with an adult's perspective, this place helped her in some way. The familiar. Home.

Catch Up and Odds and Ends

State of my Desk Address:


My "Re-Do" project is officially behind me now. I have started a new database in Roots Magic 4 and gone file by file of every person I have a file for and built their information based on what I physically have in hand as evidence, and everything I have is sourced and cited. I do have one file with about 5 documents to transcribe but that is it. This job took me about 6 months longer than I wanted but I am easily distracted and go through periods of leaving the family history work sit. While I do have a lot of information and dates, they are based on my mother's cousins genealogy, a woman I have mentioned many times. She did an amazing amount of work over the years but it is in book form so I have to view this information as a reference. And, there are a couple of lines I am not sure I agree with. I am forever in her debt in drawing out my interest in my 20's. I remember her visit here back then, she held me rapt with all the family stories and literally gave me the genealogy bug. She sent me home that night with a chart and a big smile on my face. Thank you, Patsy!


Now with my work separated out, now is the challenge to see how I stand up as a genealogist as I now have to tackle a lot of work needing done. I have so many lines I want to work on right now, today, immediately! I am a very impatient person. I have had some very nice people contact me about people in my tree but with my re-do project I was trying very hard not to get too sidetracked. I suppose I ought to start with the lines that people have reached out to me about. Good plan! The Cowden's and Stockton's have been neglected. My ggg-grandfather Cowden fought in the Revolutionary War on the Loyalist side. I would like to find that information. The Briggs is a brick wall. The Hensley's are a brick wall. It is assumed my Bannister Hensley is the family line that goes back to Marjorie Bruce of Scotland. I don't necessarily believe this so need to do some work to prove his parentage. My Baldwin's it is said came from Connecticut and moved down through the south to Tennessee. I have a way back Huguenot I would like to prove or disprove. The Duncan's, this line is another possible Revolutionary War soldier. This is all just my mother's paternal line, I haven't even mentioned the Scottish side of my mothers maternal side. A LOT of work to be done there. See! The list goes on and on. I love chasing the story. So now with all the podcasts I have listened to, all the classes I have been taking, webinars I have been sitting on and all the awesome Genealogists I am exposed to every day by social media and blog reading its time to get into my "zone".


Other Stuff:


Who Do You Think You Are -


Three episodes in I would like to thank NBC for cutting way back on the annoying recaps. It was almost insulting to be retold the story when back from commercial like I couldn't remember anything through the half dozen or more commercials I patiently sat through! I feel like this year they realize people are intelligent. I really liked Vanessa Williams episode. Her interest in what was going on was obvious, she wanted to learn, and it seemed she wanted to figure things out. One big thing I came away with that was a lead. My Great Grandfather, David Washington Duncan, served on the Tennessee Legislature as well and when Vanessa was shown the certificate of election, I realized that David W. might have one in the archives too so I made that a to do item in RM4.


Now, I know this will shock people but I did not know who Tim McGraw was. I am not a country music fan and I do not follow entertainment news of any kind unless the blurbs are thrust into my CNN rss feed that hits my Google Reader. Of the three episodes I liked his the least. He didn't seem invested like Vanessa and Rosie. I could see he was interested but the feeling I got was it was cool to him but not something he might do on his own, unlike the other two subjects. What I did not like about the episode came at the end. It was the Presley connection. Now that he got excited about. Again, I am not an Elvis fan, I grew up in a house were The Beatles and Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass was "it". Haha. I am passionate about my heritage and extremely proud of it. I am as proud of my Dundee, Scotland ancestors who slogged out their days in the Jute mills of the mid 1800's as I am of my lone Revolutionary War soldier and everyone in between. He was given his family history which was, to me, very interesting and exciting so when they pulled the Elvis card (for ratings?) it kind of made me say, "ugh!". It wasn't really unnecessary. When he went back to his Uncle to tell of what they found out, he sounded like that was the best part. This is just observation, I hope I don't sound too harsh. I realize they had a story to tell, I just felt the Presley on the boat connection was not needed.


Rosie O'Donnell's episode was by far the best in both seasons. She saw the work that goes into the search, she appreciated it and let everyone know throughout the episode that she appreciated the work and expertise that goes into research like this. They used a range of sources and I think going to these sources showed that this is not a quick or easy hobby or profession. Her story was interesting, she was willing to jump in and question and figure out. I feel WDYTYY is engaging the subjects more this season to be a part of the process. It was a very human story, very touching and it put her own life into a new perspective. Seeing the kind of life her family lived in the poor house in Ireland was very compelling. I have to admit that I do not know a lot about the potato famine of the time and now am intrigued to learn more about it.

 
This week I plan on jumping in on the Radio Chat that Thomas MacEntee is hosting. I subscribed to the show via iTunes and listened to the three prior shows today and wished I had been there. It was so cool listening to the voices that I see on FB and blogs that I follow! I promise not to become a rabid type fan girl! *smile*


Speaking of... a big thank you to Paula Hinkle and Thomas MacEntee for the Jamboree button on my blog.  I can't go, I can't afford to do much traveling but I would love to get to some of these major Genealogy events!  Gosh, everyone has so much fun!!  I will be there in spirit!

Enough catching up.. Until next time!


 

Burning Questions ~ I haz 'em

Below is a transcript that I found last year quite by accident and this site and all of the hard work of the site owner had opened up a brick wall for me. I have since dug in to find out more about my Edwards family. It goes slow, that big re-do project everyone is very tired of reading about and so on (this is part of the re-do project btw!!).. Grin. I do have a copy of the original document but shamelessly did not transcribe because it was already done. I ordered "Alleghany County Heritage" from The Alleghany County Historical-Genealogical Society this weekend so hoping I find a lot of information. Edwards was a prolific surname in Ashe and Alleghany Counties, North Carolina, and still is today. I would like to add these counties to my travel list. A travel list that I don't get to do much of. I am committed to burn up my vacation to Pennsic this year but plan on 2012 to be a somewhere else vacation. I wanted it to be Scotland, I won't be able to afford it by then so I will be doing some Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia travel plans. See how quick I slide off topic?

Two more books I would like to find, they have Edwards Family mentions:

History of the Davis fam. des. of John Davis, d. East Hampton, LI. By Albert H. Davis. New York, 1888.

The family of Granville H. Cox, 1822-1888, of early Ashe County, North Carolina, and Atchison County, Missouri

This document had a lot of information and one of the informants, Jane Duncan, is my great-great-great-grandmother. Within is her father, his father, their families. It was easy to source. I could attach it to a lot of places in my database!
 
However, in putting the information in RM4 and doing my sourcing, the questions started to arise. The document is created in 1892 with a witnessed post script in 1954. The deed was registered in 1925. That is a long span of time. Why such a long time.

And.. The big question.

What required my ggg-grandmother and her two sisters to give this information and why is it all posted in a deed book? I think I will have to figure out why this proceeding happened. William Edwards died in 1869, so why was this done in 1892? I don't know much about deeds and land and all that but I find it odd that this document exists. I am grateful for it, it is a great genealogical find! But I want to know the why of it all, I always do! It is probably a very simple reason.

Here is the transcript with the website credit to the real transcriber:

Alleghany County, NC, Deed Book 33, pp.524-525
 
COPY
Edwards William Descendants
State of North Carolina, Alleghany County
 
Interlineations by Transcriber

This day Sarah CHOATE and Nancy FENDER and Jane E. DUNCAN comes before me and each in one form of law makes oath. Mrs. CHOATE that she was born January 13th, 1809, Mrs. FENDER 16th of April 1815, Mrs. DUNCAN, September 4th, 1817, in North Carolina.
  
That their fathers name was William EDWARDS and was born in Orange County, North Carolina, October 15th, 1776, and that his wife's maiden name was Nancy CARTER, and that the names of his brothers and sisters were Starling EDWARDS, David EDWARDS, Elizabeth EDWARDS, who married Henry BREWER, Polly EDWARDS who married Syl or Cil BREWER, Susan EDWARDS who married Charles TOLIVER, Sally EDWARDS who married Jacob CROUSE.

That their Grandfather's name on their father's side was William EDWARDS [actually their grandfather was David EDWARDS] and that he lived in Orange County, North Carolina [true], and that he died about 1779, according to their information, and that their said grandfather came from England and settled in Virginia, prior to his coming and settling in North Carolina, and that their said grandfather had two brothers, if no more, to wit: Thomas EDWARDS and Robert EDWARDS [not true], and he their said grandfather had a sister by the name of Frankie EDWARDS, but neither one knows who she married. That their grandfather's brother Robert EDWARDS, after coming to America and staying awhile, returned to England [not true], according to the information that they received from their father, and the reports and traditions of the family, when they were little girls, and that their said grandfather married Elizabeth or Betsy MORRIS [probably true], and that he either married her in Virginia or at least she came from Virginia.

That the brothers and sisters names of affiants were Thomas EDWARDS, Nathaniel EDWARDS, David EDWARDS, Johnathan EDWARDS, Joshua EDWARDS, and the three affiants. That after the death of their said grandfather his widow then married Richard WILLIAMS and Sarah CHOAT makes oath than when she was a child or little girl she often heard the lessee of the property of Robert EDWARDS, the brother of her grandfather, speak of and that he leased it, or in some way left it, and returned to England, and soon after he thus returned to England that he died: and that the said property of said Robert EDWARDS, was in the state of New York on in the vicinity therof.

That their uncle Starling EDWARDS children were Peggy who married RIGGINS, Rhoda who married Amos HOWELL, Betsy married Henry WOODIE, Sally married Wm. WOODIE, Rachel married a LAWRENCE, Lucy married a RHOUTS or FOUTS, and that his boys names were John EDWARDS, William EDWARDS and Clisby EDWARDS.

Their uncle David's childrens names were William EDWARDS, Henry or Hal EDWARDS, Morris EDWARDS, S.O. EDWARDS, and Phoebe who married A.B. COX, Sally who married Hutch BURTON, Mahala who married Henry RICHARDSON, Betsy who married Jesse CONLEY, Thursy who married Noah WARD.
 
They do not know who the children of Elizabeth, Polly or Susan were, but the children of their aunt Sallie CROUSE, Candace who married John WOODRUFF, David CROUSE, Jacob CROUSE, John CROUSE, Charles CROUSE, William CROUSE, Sally who married Martin GAMBILL, Betsy, James ANDERS, Margaret married Lorenza ANDERS, Frankie married Richard CHEEK.
 
[Signed] Sarah CHOAT, Nancy FENDER, Jane E. DUNCAN
Attest: W.C. FIELDS, J.F. WARDEN

Sworn to before me and subscribed before me at Sparta in Alleghany County, North Carolina, this March 24th, 1892. Given under my hand and official seal of office, at office in Sparta in said County and State, this March 24th, A.D. 1892. W.E. COX, Clerk.
 
Subscribed and sworn to before me, this May 15, 1925. A.F. REEVES, Clerk Superior Court.

Filed for registration May 15, 1925. Registered May 23, 1925. L.E. EDWARDS, Register of Deeds..

[The following is written in the margin of the deed book] Correction: David EDWARDS, Sr., was the son of John EDWARDS and was a soldier in Continental Army. He married Elizabeth MORRIS. David EDWARDS, Jr., was the son of David EDWARDS, Sr. He married Elizabeth ANDREWS and settled near Zion Church. This May 20, 1954. [Signed] Geo. W. EDWARDS. Witness: Ernest E. EDWARDS, Register of Deeds.

Pasted from <http://moonzstuff.com/edwards/william1776.html>

Margaret Anderson Update

Yes, I know Duncan's, I promised you Saturday morning. I lied, Margaret is wanting my attention today and she is not taking no for an answer!
 
So, I found the document, and didn't find the document, that is helping with a time line:

-Affair with George Valentine.
-Produced daughter Elizabeth c. 1847. (illegitimate)
-Married William Nicoll 6/28/1851.
-David Nicoll born c 1852.
-I am assuming William Nicoll died between their marriage and 1855 when John Anderson was born, she is a widow on his birth registration.
-John Anderson born 1855. (illegitimate).

The document I found is the marriage record for William Nicoll and Margaret Anderson in Brechin, where she was born. Date 6/28/1851. Unfortunately I have the search and the record number but when I went to look at the record it was not the correct record. I reported it to ScotlandsPeople so hopefully I will get a hold of the actual record at some point.

Additional searches found nothing. I searched for:
 
David Nicoll's birth record.
 
William Nicoll's death record but I don't know enough about him to know if any of the search finds are him and the deaths are recorded in a book not really giving next of kin information.

Re the 1861 Census, I searched David Nicholl, David Anderson, John Anderson, John Nicoll, Margaret Nicoll, Margaret Anderson. I just can not find this census.
 

Margaret Anderson afterward Nicoll

My plans to get serious on my redo of my database were hijacked by things that were more fun. I sat down this morning to work on plugging in my Duncan's of Tennessee into my database… read, finally… to drift back to Scotland to my maternal Grandmother's line. I collect clues, put them aside and then promptly forget and then out of nowhere a switch goes off and it is like a gate at a horse race opening, I am off, on it, going to move that brick wall along and out of my way! This was one of those days. Sorry Duncan clan, Saturday morning Is for you, I promise!!
 
Margaret Anderson, I have posted about her before. Mystery, her son, my great-great-grandfather, John Anderson whose birth record says he is illegitimate. I had a message through Ancestry about a year ago from a nice gentleman that suggested we share the same Margaret Anderson and to take a look at a site he had with the information he had on her. Seriously, it has taken me almost a year to follow up? I have too many lines I am trying to work on, lol. My family history could and would be my full time job if not that I need to eat and pay rent, alas, work once again in the way of my hobbies! It's a crime I tell you! So I finally looked and then slid into ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk to poke around. The thing about Margaret is John's birth certificate. John is her third child, she states she is widowed. So is Anderson her surname or married name? Usually the Scottish records show for example: Elizabeth Dewar Anderson M.S. Spalding. I can not find John's death record which might have more clues. Without the 1911 census I can't pin point him being alive or dead and searching 30 years of John Anderson death records would be hugely expensive, the search comes up with like 94 John Andersons!

But.. I digress, a habit of mine. This information on the site was extremely helpful. The thing is, I can not find any of her event records, or couldn't. The information given to me from this site was hugely helpful. She and George Valentine had a daughter in c. 1847, Elizabeth. I found her death certificate that states her as illegitimate but her father is listed as George Valentine. Interestingly, her death certificate doesn't list her with a maiden surname but her married name, Milne, and her father is listed so I wonder what name she used growing up. I expect Anderson. I suppose I could hunt down her marriage record to kill that curiosity. I have not looked into George, I don't know if he was married or not. So Elizabeth is one of the two children before John. Being 1847 when she was born and 1855 when John was born, I am assuming Elizabeth is the first born, the second in between them I am also assuming is a girl since John has the name of Margaret's father. George Valentine was listed as Elizabeth's father, John's birth record had no father mentioned. So was George his father too? And who is the mystery man, William Cameron, stated as John's father on his marriage record? Later, she married William Nicoll. Her son David is how I found her on the 1891 census. William died before the 1871 census. Margaret was a widow on that. She had a lot of addresses and different jobs, I can not imagine she had an easy life especially when she was with men she was not married to.
 
So after tracking down her children who are not of my family line, I do have her birth and death records! I can't find a thing that has to do with her and William Nicoll. I do have her birth record. Her maiden surname IS Anderson. All this led me to her death certificate, finally. Her parents are John Anderson and Helen Gibb.
 
It is the 1861 Census I think will have the most information for me regarding the before William Nicoll period. I can not find it to save my life. Searching it in ScotlandsPeople is not working out. The 1871 Census has her a widow with David Nicoll (18) and a younger son John Nicoll (15) with her. And yikes, a second son named John?? I can't find 1881. 1891 Census she is living with David, he is a widower with 6 children, 5 boys, of course, one named John! Haha.

((Oh wow!  I was just proof reading this post and realized that second boy John is my John!  He was born in 1855.  ~One of my more duh and dense moments here for the world to see, haha.~  Now I am more confused.  David is older than John and he is a Nicoll?  Or… She and William never had children and David is the third illegitimate child but he used Nicoll whereas John kept his name Anderson, I have census' for him… gads, now I need David's birth record!  I am on the hunt again!))

 
John Anderson Birth Record:
John Anderson, (present), Male, 1855 June Third, 4h 0m A.M.
Greystone, Parish of Monikie, Forfarshire
(Illegitimate)
Margaret Anderson, Widow, Her 3rd Child, 29 years, Brechin
Margaret Anderson, her X mark, mother
John Sturrock, Witness
James Cowper Witness
1855, July 13th At Monikie
(Signed) W.M. Alexander, Registar

His Marriage Record:
1879 on the Twenty Seventh day of June at Laurel Bank, Dundee
After Banns, according to the forms of the Free Church of Scotland
(signed) John Anderson, Railway Pointsman, Bachelor; 24, Victoria Street Carnoustie
(signed) Elizabeth Spalding, Jute Winder, Spinster; 23, 24 Dallfield Walk
William Cameron, Ploughman; Margaret Anderson afterwards Nicoll
James Spalding, Yarn Bleacher (deceased); Elizabeth Spalding, M.S. Dewar (Deceased)
(signed) James Ewing, Officiating Minister
(Signed) William Lindsay Johnson, Witness; (Signed) Maria Spalding, Witness
1879 June 30 at Dundee; Dav(?) Scott, Registar

Elizabeth Anderson/Valentine Milne death:
Elizabeth Milne married to Charles Milne, General Laborer
(Illegitimate)
1909 June first 3 h 0 m A.M., 4 Stonewell Road, Dundee
F; 62 years
George Valentine, Carter (deceased)
Margaret Anderson afterwards married to William Nicoll, Ploughman (deceased)
Cancer of the liver, about 6 months, as best by James H W ? MD
(cant read name), daughter, present
1909 June 1st at Dundee
Jas Murray, Registrar