Blessed are the Relatives of a Genealogist

Blessed are the Relatives of a Genealogist for They will be Remembered.

I write a column in Randy Seaver's newsletter for Chula Vista Genealogical Society. My column is the Sunshine Corner. I regularly post the news of members. I send cards of "Get Well" "Thinking of You" and share my card list in the monthly newsletter. This month I am having a little more difficulty writing my column. I have written news of members passing and where people can send cards to the family. But this month is a little different;

Two of our board members need to place loved ones in permanent care. As I prepared to write my column;

I hesitated to mention that Susi's mother is being placed in hospice. Susi is traveling to see her mother. We know this will be a difficult trip for Susi. Losing your mom is one of those passages in life that no matters how old you are--- it is a hard one to reconcile.

and Virginia's sister (and the last of Virginia's childhood family) has dementia and is now in an assisted living facilities. Virginia explains how visiting her sister has been very entertaining. Her sister will explain how she has been cooking all day and the company expected. Crystal, Virginia's sister, is living in a "happy place".

It is a sad time for these two lovely ladies but Susi's Mother and Virginia's Sister are truly Blessed. They are Blessed because they will be Remembered. Photos of them will be saved. Stories will be written about their lives.

Recently several other genealogist have lost very close relatives. It is a true blessing to see these loved ones honored and respected by their family historian. Every month are so a blog or facebook post will honor them once again.

I will mention Susi is out of town visiting her ailing mother and Virginia has been enjoying visiting with her sister. But I love and cherish that these ladies are related to Susi and Virginia - their own genealogist.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Who's to Blame?

Saturday, October 16, 2010
Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Who's to Blame?
Hey geneaphiles - it's Saturday Night, time for more Genealogy Fun for all Genea-Musing readers.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (and we need more of you to do this, otherwise it may end...), is to:

1) Read Brenda Joyce Jerome's post Who or What Do You Blame? on the Western Kentucky Genealogy blog. She asks these questions:

* Can you identify person or event that started you on this search for family information?

* Did you pick up researching where a relative had left off?

* Did your interest stem from your child's school project on genealogy?

* If you have been researching many years, it may be hard to pinpoint one reason for this journey.

2) Write your responses on your own blog, in a comment to this blog post, or in a note or comment on Facebook.

I have probably told this story before but GENEALOGY has been a looming monster in my life for a very long time.

MY BLAME IS TWO SIDED FIRST IS MY MOTHER:

My first memories of genealogy related conversations were:

1. My mother's pride of telling me we were related to English Royalty. She reveal this relationship was by means of the Chapin lineage.

2. Grandma Hayley giving me a little note stating we were Chocotaw. In the note: she included addresses of cousins that were registered. She mentioned Grandpa Hayley did not want her to register when the time came to register.

3. Grandma Hayley telling me how very astonished she was when her mother, always known as Birdie, told her name was really Susan.

SECOND IS THIS BURNING QUESTION

4. 4. My father telling me we are unaware of where the surname HAYLEY originated because his grandfather left home at a young age.

5. My mother giving me Grandma Celia Hayley's Bible when she died.

6. My aunt of LDS faith was always discussing our genealogy.

7. Grandpa Reed gave me photos, names, and letters about 1978, when Grandma Reed became very ill.

8. I have a nephew interested and he keeps me encouraged to continue.

9. I have met some incredible new friends that makes genealogy more fun.

10. My education and occupation experience made genealogy a good fit for me.

11. I was given our DAR data in about 1982. I think that is the reason Grandpa Reed had the photos, names, and letters available because I know he supported several girls in the family to research their lineage.

12. In 1984 I gave my family genealogy books based on my mother's family and my brothers always asking me if I was continuing my genealogy research.


I was always too busy raising a large family, working full time, involved with community and church work. But here I am: Spending hours and hours researching my family.

I have found many "fellow family historians" and many have left ME notes in their writings. I just love when I see

MY NOTES FROM BEFORE MY TIME

I was just reading one today as I was transcribing some data; It stated "

Nothing further is known of this marriage......The family moved......and has been lost to our part of the Mooring family. The material collected here may not all ......but has been listed in hopes that it may produce leads to her descendants. "

This is not the first "note" to me that I have found!! I could go look up other "notes" to me. This was from a book written on the Moorings, I have seen similar "notes written to me" in books written about the Chapin and also the Dykes families. None of these lineages nor family histories are written by the same authors, about the same families, or from the same region of the country. But they all left "notes to me". I will be sure to write notes to future researchers in my books also. These authors knew I was going to their notes.

Do you think THEY COULD BE TO BLAME???

Just another one of those little surprises when doing your research. I want to write back to them. Thank you for my leads and thinking of me......

My friend's great grandfather found RIP 71.5 years later.

Several months back while attending Randy Seaver's research meeting a fellow society member, our treasurer Jaye Wight, shared she wished she had data on her great grandfather. She mentioned no one knew what happened to him. He left his wife and children and not much was known about him. She mentioned how some day she would like to visit Hutchinson Kansas and browse the newspapers for data on a rumor. The rumor was that her great grandfather was ran over by a street sprinkler in Hutchinson, Kansas.

WOW WOW I was planning a trip to Hutchinson, Kansas. So we exchanged some information and I spent some time researching Jaye's great grandfather.

excerpt from Randy's blog posted 10/13/10

http://cvgencafe.blogspot.com/2010/10/cvgs-research-group-summary-13-october.html

* Jaye was grinning ear to ear as Ruth handed her a folder with the newspaper clippings found in Hutchinson, Kansas about Jaye's grandfather's death by a street cleaning truck in 1939. The accident was the result of teenage joy-riding. Ruth found several articles about the driver, including previous run-ins with the police, and his enlistment, service, capture and death in World War II. Ruth also found the obituary for Jaye's grandfather, which provided family information and a burial place

Now a little back ground of how I found this data and thank yous to the people that helped:




First we went to the Genealogy Section of the Hutchinson Kansas Public Library. If you look closely you will see Aunt Helen (or at least her back) in the upper right corner working at a microfiche reader. The section was busy, and library assistants were very cordial and helpful.



Off I went to County Records to follow up with the legal records of the case.




The case gets more interesting. I wanted to find out more about this young man that caused my friend's great grandfather's death. This is AMANDA! She and I both research what became of the young man that caused this fatal accident. She was very efficient and patient with the search.




So with Aunt Helen's help we continued to research newspaper articles about this young man.


I am then sent to the salt mines to retrieve court records from 1939.

See blogspot OFF TO THE SALT MINES posted Sept 19, 2010.


The troubled youth was sent to the Navy Services and dies in World War II. Everyone stated how this story is the making of so many novels.

In an indirect way, Jaye's grandfather did not die in vain. His death encouraged (forced) a young man to grow up, serve and protect his country, and contributed to the European Efforts in World War II.

May they both REST IN PEACE.

Now Jaye has information to share with the rest of the family. The town did give the elderly man a proper and decent burial, published the data in the newspaper so that
71 and a half years, we could find the burial spot of Jaye great grandfather.


Now there is a genealogy story!!

Looking back over the year; 2010

Fortunately or Unfortunately I am corporate trained. I am use to setting yearly, five year plans, budgets, development plans. Finding intervals to review, revisit and revise. And "visualizing" and "communicating" my projected outcomes, variances, unexpected outcomes, lessons learnt, low lights, highlights, high hitters, trends observed, accomplishments, failures, and surprises.

I am also keenly aware the end of the year is approaching fast. I try to have all Christmas shopping done by Halloween. Start my Christmas letter by the first week of November.

For fun I decided to look at my 2010 goals and see what I needed to do to accomplish my to do list.

http://genealogyisruthlesswithoutme.blogspot.com/2010/01/2010-goals.html

So the first of the year 2010, I resolved to

"group and delegate some of this stuff out. So my 2010 goal must be for me is to set up my "network team", review my people resources, define my location/interest parameters, clearly define projects, and better manage my history-----And accomplish that --that I can ------and stop chasing my own tail for data not-yet-ready-to be-discovered-by-me."

I also stated that I would let you know how it goes --- and how this approach is going to help me.........

So I review my list of accomplishments this year, revise items that can be focused on to meet goals set,

My network team: Added more people sources HIGHLIGHT

People Sources: Failed to establish good continual contact NEEDS ATTENTION

Location Parameters; Focused! Kansas, Tennessee HIGHLIGHT

Interest Parameters; Gained new interest parameters HIGHLIGHT

Clearly define projects; ok I clearly defined them in January but they keep changing. lol Book themes, and contents keep changing. I call this the natural progression of a project. You begin with a goal in mind but somehow the goal changes. But the Ruth Truth is I was suppose to start with the primary goal because I could not have clearly defined the resulting goal at the time, knowledge, information available at the time the goal was set.

HIGHLIGHT although I can not promise the book might mutate into something else.

Better manage my history; not much better NEEDS ATTENTION

Stop chasing my tail; YES--- I stopped obsessing about my brick walls. I relaxed and gained my pleasure of genealogy again. HIGHLIGHT

Here I also reviewed my genealogy to do list of January 2010 filled with brick walls, lost documentation, and depending on others for data!! The list looks about the same. No real accomplishments. I am just glad I did not focus on my list.

DOES NOT NEED ATTENTION

--- these items can stay on my before-I-die-list-if-it-is-meant-to-be but I no longer want these items to haunt me or cause me to lose my JOY for genealogy again. ERGO

brick walls, lost documentation RIP

So to complete my third quarter report for genealogy goals --- I access my focus should be establishing better relationships with "cousins" and clearing report folders of history on genealogy.

Great 2.5 month focus. Because I want to start the new year with a "clean, organized house" and what better time than the holidays to reconnect and contact family and friends.


Happy Holidays All; Ruth

Working on Mining Genealogy History in Kansas Presentation.

I am currently working on Mining Genealogy History in Kansas Presentation. The presentation will not be given until the end of January 2011 in Chula Vista, California. I am starting now on my presentation because I want to get my ideals, outline done while everything is still fresh in my brain. There are many incidents of the Kansas genealogy research trip to share about the step by step process of how, why and what I discovered for my genealogy research.

One of the correlations I hope to compare in my presentation as how Genealogy enhanced my understanding of "The story of my Family". And The Story of my Family enhanced and provided clues to my genealogy study.

This correlation of Family History and Genealogy has been a major theme in The Chula Vista Genealogical Society teaching program in 2010. The program started this year leaning heavily on the recent television series "Who Do You Think You Are?"

Susi Pentico began the program with an April 2010 presentation with "The Laundry Basket Methodology". Whereas you just look around a relatives home and ask questions of family photos, furniture handed down from a previous generation, etc. The concept is you gather these photos, knick knacks, trophies in a laundry basket and then ask questions of the items.

The program continued with a full day of Jean Hibben's presentations; "Where do We go from Here?". At these presentations Jean explained taking the data and moving to recording the data electronically, "This is not Your Grandma's Genealogy: Making the Move from Paper to Electronic Record Keeping*
" and then some more tips of verifying and validating "the family Stories" with Graveyard Gumshoe: Lessons Written in Stone and Deliveries in the Rear! Getting Family History Information through the Back Door

Building on this theme; The Kansas Trip will show excellent examples of family history and genealogy interweaving.
An example of this was the social section of the town newspaper. Evidently my great grandmother and her daughters were quite the "ladies" of Hutchinson, Kansas. Anytime these ladies went on a trip or entertained company, there was a mention in the city newspaper. This was a great find and lots of fun to read. Besides being entertaining, these newspaper articles included clues to family information not previously known. An example of this was; I knew Cecil Melinda had a sister Bertie Elizabeth and a brother Hugh Napolean, but the newspaper mentioned a sister visiting Cecil by the name of Laura Mangle. AH HAH a new bit of information!!! A new sister to research...... my goodness -- this will never never end.......

Old Photos

Everyone is collecting old photos. It is so exciting for me when a researcher exclaims "I received a box of old photos from a cousin". Or "while helping my mom clean a back room, I found a box of old photos."

Now I did not want to title my blog

How To Date Old Photographs

Because there are dozens of articles with that title; A recent article at
http://www.onegreatfamily.com/Home.aspx?PID=10000&CID=102&HID=221 (see article below)
does a very good job at introducing the idea but I think there can be some tips added to the article.

Chula Vista Genealogical Society President Gary Brock advices when obtaining a very large box of mixed photos, first make piles of like-photos.

Photos with the same Portrait Studio name, City, etc.

Photos enclosed in cardboard folders with the name of the studio possibly printed on the folder.

Prints with the same edging, some of the 30s-50s photos have scalloped edges.

Group like-scalloping with like- scalloping.

Weight and color of photo. Not only dating the photo as explained in the article. But sorting like-paper weight/color, can help you sort part of the country, family members etc.

Look for Commercial names on objects. I have a photo of a cowboy in one of those long overcoats, cowboy hat, boots and spurs, I am trying to identify who he is. There is a horse drawn wagon in the photo. The wagon has a commercial name painted along the side of the wagon. My plan is to look up that commercial name, find out what years, location, type of business was conducted with their wagons. With this data I will try to narrow my research to families leaving in the area during the time of that commercial companies business.

The cowboy photo was found along with photos from the Reed/Chapin lineage. A baby picture of John Paul Reed was amongst the photos.




Article from onegreatfamily
How To Date Old Family Photographs

Basic Techniques Of Dating Pictures
Great-Grandma's family collection of antique pictures can be a treasure trove for you, the genealogy researcher, especially if you can establish when an antique picture was taken.
Dating a photograph can help you identify the subject(s) (in early photography the subjects were referred to as sitters) and can provide additional information as you piece together your family tree.

There are some basic techniques to begin the process of dating an antique picture:

What is the print made of? Is the image printed on metal, glass, card stock, or paper? Daguerreotype (early tintypes) and ambrotypes (printed on glass) were often mounted in double wooden frames that opened like a book. These were the most common types of early photographs and date back to around 1839. By 1870, almost all antique pictures were printed on heavy paper or card stock. The heavier stock was much more common in early photographs; by the 1930s even studio portraits were printed on thin paper.

Is the antique picture printed in black and white or color? Some images were being hand-tinted as early as the 1850s. Although color still photography was introduced in 1906, it was an expensive process that only professionals could afford to use. Color antique pictures did not become common for home use until the late 1950's and early 1960's.

How are the people in the photograph posed? Very early antique pictures showed people in rigid poses and usually without smiles, partly because exposure times could be as long as twenty seconds. Many portrait photographers even used braces to help sitters stay in position during the process. Candid pictures and then snapshots became more common in the 1920s.

How are the sitters dressed? The straight tunic dresses and bobbed hair of the 1920's are easy to distinguish from the cinched waists and luxuriant chignons of the late 1890's.

What other objects are visible in the antique picture? A Model T car is absolute proof that the picture was not taken before 1908. Furniture, toys, brands names, logos - all these things can provide clues, and thus, invaluable assistance in identifying previously unidentified photographs.

Additional information on dating family antique pictures is available from a list of links.
Tracing a family resemblance through the generations with antique pictures can give you a warm sense of connection to your family's past.

Store your pictures and other media on line- it's a safe place to keep your treasures

Italian Genealogy Chat hosted by Debra Clifford. Next week Hank Jones!

Deano; Tonight I attended an ITALIAN genealogy chat TODAY 8-9PM EDT. 10/6/10
Location:chat room, top blue tab...
Time:8:00PM Wednesday, October 6th


It was held in Ancestorville and truly not a bad trip at all. Having just finished a 22 day genealogy trip, this trip was a lot cheaper and I get to sleep in my own bed tonight@!!!

The chat was Hosted by: Debra Clifford the historian for Ancestorville (I am still having problems with relating to virtual towns, farms and such as being real)

The Pathway to Ancestorville is through the website of
Ancestorville Genealogy

The Italian chat this evening 8-9PM EDT, followed Ancestorville's theme this week on all things Italy, including some of the ancestor's Italian food recipes?! ..mmm! facebook announced changes today that Debra is hoping will be positive for their little town..Debra always has the welcome mat out to new members, to post their brick walls and genealogy links.

Dean; I attended tonight listening for data on your family interested in Italian immigrants from the late 1880 to 1920s. While listening to the chats; it was interesting to hear names of ships I have done research on involving your family. I will post your families surnames on the links and hopefully we can make a link.

Next week: Debra Clifford is hosting a "chat" about;
Wednesday, October 13
Ancestorville Book Club: PSYCHIC ROOTS by Henry Z. Jones
Where: chat link on top blue tab
When: Wednesday, October 13 from 9:00 pm to 10:00 pm

Hank Jones, myself and fellow CVGS Genealogist Jaye Wight

Everyone is invited to these chats and they are well attended.

Also you might want to visit Debra's town because calling it an attic would just not be accurate enough.

Website:http://ancestorville.com
http://vintageposterworks.comCompany Overview:Debra Clifford is an antiques dealer who buys historical material, manuscripts, antique documents, ephemera and paper, family bibles, etc. Her biggest passion and interest is early 19th c. photography. Ancestorville is her passion, and this facebook page is a business page dedicated to combining genealogy antiques, American history, sharing, and ephemera. She also owns Vintage Poster Works at: http://www.vintageposterworks.com

Ancestorville has 13,567 surnames and over 5,000 identified lost family photos photographs and antique vintage ephemera for sale, as well as the ability to purchase scans of the material.

ABOUT DEBRA:
http://www.ancestorville.com/pages/about-us

CONTACT DEBRA
http://www.ancestorville.com/pages/contact-us
or leave a voice mail message anytime at:
Phone (845) 704 7506

Twitter: http://twitter.com/DebraClifford
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SEE ALL ANCESTORS:
http://www.ancestorville.com/collections/all
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (read less)
Debra Clifford is an antiques dealer who buys historical material, manuscripts, antique documents, ephemera and paper, family bibles, etc. Her biggest passion and interest is early 19th c. photography. Ancestorville is her passion, and this facebook page is a business page dedicated to combining genealogy antiques, American history, sharing, and ephemera. She also owns Vintage Poster Works at: http://www.vintageposterworks.com

Ancestorville has 13,567 surnames and over 5,000 identified lost... (read more)Mission:Reunions! Genealogy, Family History, town hall forum, history sharing in general, combining antique and vintage photo knowledge with genealogy. Teaching and sharing together. Helping others with genealogy work...

Please see top blue tab for all info at Aville: CHAT, TOWN HALL, EVENTS, LINKS, PHOTOS, VIDEOS.

CHAT ROOM:
http://www.facebook.com/Ancestorville?v=app_100626246643948
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OUR TOWN HALL FORUM
http://ancestorville.vanillaforums.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Products:19th c. Ephemera, Antique Paper, Genealogy: CDV photographs, cabinet card photos, rewards of merit, antique documents, deeds, family bibles, dry mount photos, RPPC real photo postcards, letters, diaries.

A list of all of our Articles to read:
http://www.ancestorville.com/blogs/articles
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
19TH c. VICTORIAN NICKNAMES:
FEMALE:
http://www.ancestorville.com/blogs/articles/1610592-victorian-nicknames-girls
MALE:
http://www.ancestorville.com/blogs/articles/1610582-victorian-nicknames-boys

~~~~~~~~~~ARTICLES TO READ~~~~~~~~~~~

ANTIQUE ADVERTISING TRADE CARDS
http://www.ancestorville.com/blogs/articles/1619312-advertising-trading-cards
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AMBROTYPE PHOTOS
http://www.ancestorville.com/blogs/articles/1619242-ambrotype-photographs
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ANCESTRAL MIGRATION
http://www.ancestorville.com/blogs/articles/1619222-ancestral-migration
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CABINET CARD PHOTOS
http://www.ancestorville.com/blogs/articles/1618812-cabinet-card-photos
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CDV CARTE DE VISITE PHOTOS
http://www.ancestorville.com/blogs/articles/1618562-carte-de-visite-photographs
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EPHEMERA: WHAT WE SELL PAGE 1
http://www.ancestorville.com/blogs/articles/1618312-what-we-sell-at-ancestorville
------------
EPHEMERA: WHAT WE SELL PAGE 2
http://www.ancestorville.com/blogs/articles/1616402-what-we-sell-at-ancestorville-page-2
------------
RPPC REAL PHOTO POSTCARDS
http://www.ancestorville.com/blogs/articles/1616302-real-photo-postcards
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VICTORIAN REWARDS OF MERITS
http://www.ancestorville.com/blogs/articles/1616272-rewards-of-merit
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VINTAGE SNAPSHOT PHOTOS
http://www.ancestorville.com/blogs/articles/1614652-snapshot-photographs
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STEREOVIEW PHOTOS
http://www.ancestorville.com/blogs/articles/1610882-stereoview-photographs
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TINTYPE PHOTOS
http://www.ancestorville.com/blogs/articles/1610612-tintype-photographs
----------------
VICTORIAN CALLING CARDS
http://www.ancestorville.com/blogs/articles/1610602-victorian-calling-cards
----------------
AND:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FACEBOOK CHAT ROOM:
http://www.facebook.com/Ancestorville?v=app_100626246643948
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ancestorville town hall meeting!
OUR FORUM
http://ancestorville.vanillaforums.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Facebook Page:http://www.facebook.com/Ancestorville

The difference in Family History and Genealogy

In this blog I will explain what I surmised to be the difference in family history and genealogy. This definitions come from the words themselves. Genealogy; "Gene" and study of; "ology". Therefore this is the study of genetics, ergo the charts being labeled as "pedigree charts". More the DNA composition of a person that makes you uniquely you--- in genetics.

Then the "family history" the word "Family" and the word hi "STORY". George Geder recently observed that he had difficulties with genealogy software explaining "family histories", Multiple marriages, step brothers and sisters, same sex marriages etc. There are also those numerous GOD parents, and "Aunts" and "Uncles" who were just close friends and at every holiday gathering. And of course our beloved pets, houses we lived in, influential and essential teachers and church families who again made us uniquely us --- environmentally.


Car racing is a part of my Family History, I am finding writing about the races and my families participation in auto racing to be good family attention bait. One nephew already printed and framed my blog on Wild Bill.

Interesting observation -- someone mentioned my write ups on this subject as "excellent work on family history". So I reflected what could be the difference between genealogy and family history?

And this what I concluded (for the time being, until I change my mind.

Family History is stories of your family. Genealogy follows the "genes" of that family. Therefore whereas Car Racing can and is categorized a "Family History" the fact that my father's IRISH gene of being a little (cough cough) hard headed and contrite is the Genealogy of the sharing of these "WILD BILL" newspaper clippings.