T'was the Night Before Christmas - - And to All a Good Night

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This will be my last post at Worldwide Genealogy.  After 24 months, I am leaving the fold.  It has been a great experience sharing with the readers and sharing the posting with other very talented and creative genealogy bloggers.

I have shared with you my experience in ordering 3 memorial markers at one time, to be placed in 3 different cemeteries with 3 different set of rules.  It was a bit frustrating, but, it was so worth it in the end. (See posts:  The Lazy Hazy Days of Summer, Perfect for Remembering and Headstones; Sounds Easy - - Until - - Ordering Memorial Markers; The Headstones Have Arrived AND Do You Digitally Edit Documents?; Tidbits From My World:: Reflection's Dreams. Headstones. Fortunes. Critters. Scientific Fistic.)

I have shared with you a bit of how I try to blend my research and my love of Rving/traveling these beautiful United States.

I shared with you thoughts about my dreaded Christmas letter and I even suggested you “step away from that computer”.

I have tried to suggest ways for you to share your lives and thoughts in your data bases for future generations to learn from.

This, my last month, my post will appear just 9 days before the celebration of Christmas.  Of course I have some thoughts on preserving the holiday and traditions for your family.

Take lots of photos.  Of course you will.  Preserve them in your data base.  Of course you will.  Tell the stories.  Record the traditions, food, the fun and the poignant moments.  Of course you will.

Here are a couple of photos from my archives, from the season. They truly represent the poignant moments of the holiday season for our family.  One of our family holiday traditions. Man reading, “Twas the Night Before Christmas” to our sons. 

And, years later, Man reading the same to our Grandtwins. 

No matter what you may celebrate, Christmas, Hanukkah, Ramadan, Fiesta of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Boxing Day, Kwanzaa, Yule or otherwise, may the holidays be wonderful beyond all your dreams. Blessings and Peace to all.




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November, a Month of Thanksgiving and Gratefulness

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Today, Man and I are sitting out a significant rain event in Pinnacle North Carolina.  Sweet newer small campground in the shadow of Pilot Mountain.  We have been traveling and working rather hard for several weeks, so this rain event/rest is more than welcomed.

In the US, we celebrate Thanksgiving in late November.  They say this year, that you will not find a “large” turkey, there has been a avian bird flu that has reduced the availability of turkeys.  For many this will be traumatic, as family traditions are so deeply rooted in our souls.  I look at this as a possibility to change or make our own family traditions. Tradition is wonderful, but, it can change. Many years ago, when we had two sons (number three was not even a twinkle in his daddies’s eye yet), we changed our Christmas meal menu.  I set out guidelines that all food had to be prepared in the days leading up to Christmas and served cold.  Sound sad??  Not one bit. We prepared smoked turkeys, deviled eggs, potato salad, cheese and bread trays, fresh vegie trays, deserts to die for, usually what we have called the “Bowen cheesecake”.  We purchased fantastic honey spiral cut ham.  There was so much food we had left overs for days.  The “cold” meal could be set out and enjoyed during the day (yes, the potato salad would be put back in the frig, food poisoning was not part of the menu).  And, enjoyed it was.  So, yes, you can change up the family traditional meals, it is after all, all about the family anyway, the meal is just the accompaniment.

Now, all of that explained, do you record these sort of family “memories” in your family history?? Maybe even a photo of the “spread” or your lovely table settings.  I would give anything to see a representation of the table of my ancestors.

November is also a month of gratefulness that is played out on social media like Facebook with a daily meme of stating what you are thankful for.  Some of the entries are truly amazing and heartwarming. It is also a challenge to come up with a post every day. I did this several years ago, and ended up reproducing the month of posts on Reflections, Thankful November.

It is fun to go back and remember.  And, again, I shall ask, have you recorded memories and thankfulness on your blog or in your family history?

Man and I have no idea where we will spend the Thanksgiving day, somewhere on the road between North Carolina and Florida.  We are taking our time and visiting a few friends along the way.  No research stops are currently planned, but, hey, Man and I live for the day and our plans are written in dust and sea mist.  The wheels roll and we try to enjoy the trip(s) for what is offered.  Visits with family and friends are highly valued.  Even short family visits may produce some wonderful foder for your research.  Maybe a digital sound recording of your visit and the story telling that always happens.  I don’t have many interviews in my family history, but the ones I do have are, simply, amazing.

Happy Thanksgiving to all, eat well, and enjoy the family times. (Then go post some of the great memories to your data base.)




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October in the USA, Halloween and Family History Month

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October is Family History Month in the USA

Family history month.  Not genealogy month.

What does that mean to you?

To me, it means adding to my genealogy with "history" and other "fun things" I find along the way.

Like Maps.  Here are two Sanborn Fire Maps, of the same street, same addresses in Minneapolis, Minnesota, one from 1912, the second from 1942.  These two maps answered many questions we had on Man's great-grandparents.  Their address changed, but, so did the street addresses on the homes during this time period.  See 3114 and 3118.

1912:  

And, in 1942:  

Bibles.  Family bibles, sometimes the only record we can find for birth, marriage and death dates, if our ancestors lived in a locale that did not require civil registrations.  Sometimes those Bibles differ from the civil registrations.  No matter.  What great family history.

There are always newspaper articles to be found, obituaries and other wise.  

In 1940 Joseph and Minnie made a trip back to Georgia to visit relatives they had not seen in over 25 years.  A news article was found in the effects of Donald Eugene Bowen (Joseph and Minnie's only grandson) after his death in 1991 stating that Joseph and Minnie were celebrating their 50th. wedding anniversary.  The newspaper is not known:

     "Wed 50 Years

     Mr. and Mrs. Bowen Celebrating Here Today

     Mr. and Mrs. J. E. Bowen, who are visiting Mrs. Lela Akins at 342 Whitaker street, are celebrating their fiftieth wedding anniversary in Savannah today.

     Residents of Berkeley, Va., they are visiting Mrs. Akins, who is the sister of Mr. Bowen.   Mr. Bowen lived in this city several years before 1900 and has many relatives in Wayne County.

     Today Mr. and Mrs. Bowen went to Savannah Beach, stopping on the way at Fort Screven where Mr. Bowen's nephew, Rufus. L. Bowen, is stationed as a sergeant in the artillery.  They were driven to Tybee by Mrs. C. L. Dean, a niece.

     Mr. and Mrs. Bowen are renewing old friendships among Savannahians and are seeing relatives they have not seen in 25 years, they said today.  Mrs. Bowen is 68 and Mr. Bowen is 70."

Sometimes even the obituaries can be a bit controversial and maybe even a wee bit humorous.  We submit two obituaries for Joseph:

The first obituary was found in the Tuesday, August 31, 1948 issue of the Savannah Morning News, Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia:

    "Joseph Eugene Bowen

     Funeral services will be held tomorrow afternoon in Darien for Joseph Eugene Bowen, 81, who died in a local hospital Sunday after a long illness.

     Services will be conducted at 2 o'clock at the Darien Baptist Church by the Rev. William G. Studer.   Burial will be in St. Francis Cemetery, near Darien.  The body will be at Fox and Weeks Funeral Home until leaving for the service.

      Mr. Bowen is survived by one son, Hayden E. Bowen, Norfolk, Va.; a brother, Ashley Bowen, Jacksonville, Fla.; a grandson, Donald Bowen, Norfolk; and a great-grandson, Carol Bowen, Norfolk."

     

From the Norfolk Virginia-Pilot, published on August 31, 1948:

     "Joseph E. Bowen, 81, father of Hayden E. Bowen, of Norfolk, died Sunday in a hospital at Savannah, Ga., after a long illness.

     In addition to his son, he is survived by a brother, Ashley Bowen, of Jacksonville; a grandson, Donald Bowen, of Norfolk, and a great-granddaughter, Carol Bowen, of Norfolk.

     Funeral services will be conducted Wednesday at 2 p.m. at the Darien Baptist Church, Darien, Ga., by the Rev. William G. Studer.  Burial will be in St. Francis Cemetery.

     The body is at the Fox and Weeks Funeral Home, Savannah."

That Carol Bowen, once a great grandson and once a great granddaughter just happens to be yours truly.

How about artwork, a child's hand or your grandmother's last art project?

Notes on the history of towns, counties, even cemeteries can provide some interesting fodder for your family history:

For example, Great Bridge, Norfolk County, Virginia is now known as Chesapeake Virginia.  Just a small but mighty important fact in my research.  With the help of Uncle Google, I found the Wikipedia page on Great Bridge, which page led me to information on the Great Bridge High School, which my father attended.

One frustrating search ended up with me making the following notes:

Grindstone City was near Port Austin, Huron County, Michigan.  It is no longer found on many map programs.

Sometimes the "history" is a photo of a historical marker on the side of the road:

Your pets are part of your family history story too, for example this photo of our Bimbo, taken in Morocco, shows the kitty, but, it also shows so much about our living conditions while we lived there for about 16 months, courtesy of our Uncle Sam.  I wrote this caption to accompany the photo:

1971. Stove is Navy issue.  See bottom right of photo:  2 water jugs were filled at base for cooking and drinking. Kerosene was used for heating. Behind the bag of garbage, between the stove and cabinets is the propane bottle for the stove.  Why no garbage can?  Have no idea!

Then, we have 2 yorkie clowns and a kitten.  The kitten ended up being a "treat" for a very sweet little girl that Halloween. Yes, we adopted out the kitten.(This is my reference to Halloween in the title.  I know, I really stretched it this time!  LOL  Apologies for the quality of the image, if I ever find that photo again, I will re-scan it.  Another part of family history, learning new skills, adapting to newer technology, scanning photos.)

I have been known to include boats, cars, trucks, rv's in my family history. They are an important part of our family history.  

Yes, there is a story, and yes, Man survived, with not even one scratch.  It could have been much worse:

Houses and how they relate to our family history is another favorite of mine.  

One of our homes when we lived in Kenitra Morocoo.  There were glass shards on the top of that wall surrounding the yard.  To discourage "visitors".

This house, may be, maybe not, the home of Man's g-g-g grandfather in McHenry County Illinois.  It was in the same place as the home was shown on old plat maps.  I felt the foundation in the middle section looked kept up, but, old.  This story still could unfold:

The foundation of what I felt was the oldest part of the home.  Even though I was able to track down the current owner of the property, they were uncertain of the history of the home.  Boy, wouldn't I have loved to get into the house.  No such luck.

I also love to add unusual documents or resources to my family history, one such document was the Certificate of Special Rights of Citizenship I wrote about recently over at Reflections.  

October, a great month to expand and expound on your family history.  It's not just the census anymore.

*  All the images above will be found in my data base attached to the appropriate family or individual.  I currently have over 10.000 such images attached in my data base.  It's all about telling the story, the family history.

**  Happy Halloween, take photos, they are part of your family history as well.  Yes, even the pumpkins no matter how you decorate them.

BOO!

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Tidbits From My World:: Reflection's Dreams. Headstones. Fortunes. Critters. Scientific Fistic.

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Man and I are already dreaming of escaping for the winter - when our Heritage RV, Tana heads south. First, however, lets talk headstones, critters, fortunes and scientific fistic.  Yea, let's.

Last summer and earlier this year, I shared with you the experience of ordering three memorial markers at one time.  Three markers, three different cemeteries, three different set of rules.  One could say I live dangerously, err, an exciting life.  One could say, I might be just a little crazed.

But, all's well that ends well and Man and I are very pleased with the results.

And, so, I unveil a photo of the last of the three.  (To see the first two, see this post from June 2015.)

And, the memorial marker for Man's paternal grandparents.  Yes, he has two names.  Yes he is one of my most interesting research subjects.  He IS the reason I became addicted to family research. Good ole "Archie".

If you care to read my report on the day we went to the cemetery, it is here, on Reflections.  It was quite the day. Hopefully you will find some humor in it at my expense.

Now, about those fortunes, critters, and scientific fistic.  I spent a few hours this summer transcribing news articles. I have collected news articles here and there over a few years. I have more to transcribe. It is tedious work that transcribing. Tedious, but, also enjoyable. The articles add so much color to my data base. Stories, sometimes dark, sometimes humorous, sometimes sad.  Over the last few months, I have published some interesting ones over at Reflections.  And, here are the links.

One of Man's ancestors, a uncle of some generations removed, Aaron Lashbrook took me on a bit of a fortune hunt.  The hook, from 1892,  that caused me to search more, is here.    And, in 1902, the report of the failed hunt.

Oscar Lashbrook, son of our fortune hunter Aaron, was involved in a horse story.

Aaron has his own horse stories, here is one.  Believe it or not, Aaron was probably the subject of this dog story.

Orville Lashbrook, another of Man's kin, was a police officer in Kansas City, Missouri. Over the years I have found quite a few little tidbits that are interesting on Orville.  One post at Reflections covered vice squads, safes and opossums.  Really.  Tis here.

Next I found Orville testifying about, of all things, honey bees.

And, Aaron, our dear country veterinarian from Kansas, was also the subject of this piece, on scientific fistic.

Newspapers, do you research them??  Really you should.  I followed one Lashbrook young man from the first articles on the draft for World War I till he went off to war and returned home.  It was a fascinating, eye opening, experience for me.  One time I found a report of all the new cars sold in a month.  Yes, indeedy, a Lashbrook was listed.

And, there you have it, dreams, headstones, fortunes, critters and scientific fistic.

Till next month.  Come October, Man and I will, hopefully, be in the crazy packing and organizing extravaganza that goes on before we head south.  

Hope to see ya on the road, in a library, archives or a cemetery some time soon.




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Review, Review, Review. Spending My Summer Looking at the Data Base And New Online Images

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Fact: I have long been a proponent of reviewing, over and over again.  I have written about it any number of times over on Reflections From the Fence.  Review is a powerful tool in your research. Rarely, do I start a review of one of the ancestors that I don’t find something new and sometimes it is a wake up call.

Fact: I do love internet research. It is a wonderful thing, even with some of the less than stellar indexing found on some of the more popular web sites most of us use.  Don’t get me wrong, I would still love to live closer to a few of my favorite sticks 'n bricks libraries, like the Family History library in Salt Lake City, or the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana, or the Mid-Continent Library near Kansas City, Missouri, or the Library of Virginia in Richmond Virginia.  OK, I would not mind being closer to the Library and Archives of Michigan, which is only about 90 miles, or the Statesboro Georgia  library.  Oh, the list could go on and on.  And, truthfully, my visiting the Mid-Continent, the Library of Virginia and Statesboro Georgia library never would have happened if it were not for my other affliction - - RVing.  But, I digress.  I love the sticks 'n bricks libraries and archives, but, not even as a serious RVer can I access these wonderful depositories enough to satisfy my genie addiction.  So, to the internet I go.  As frequently as I possibly can.  

Fact: There are a few new online collections that I have lost myself in, hours and hours, days, weeks. And, I still have much work to do.  One such collection contains new Virginia data bases over at Ancestry dot com.  Marriages. Deaths. Divorces.  I believe there are births too, nope, have not even looked at those.  Seriously, I cannot imagine how long I will be at the births.  I have been having a great time.

And, those little ”Suggested Records” that hint at other places to look for my ancestors.  They show up on the right side of the screen.  I look, I wander over there and find MORE neat stuff.

SOOO, the other day, or was that weeks ago?  I was wandering around looking for marriage records for Meredith Erskine Watkins.  He was married twice.  I find the marriages and the images.  Happy dancing internet style.  Then, before I have a good chance to study every line on those marriage certificates I glance over at the “Suggested Records” hints. 

I see a link to a data base named, “South Carolina Delayed Births, 1766-1900 and City of Charleston, South Carolina Births, 1877-1901".  Meredith born where?  South Carolina?  My facts on my data base show that he was born in North Carolina.  Well, isn’t this interesting?  Time for a bit of review and a look at this delayed birth registration. (Bless the Social Security Administration requiring birth certifications back in the 1930's and 40's.)

Where did this North Carolina birth place in my data base come from?  There is his obituary, which reads in part:

“Meredith Erskine Watkins , 90, of the 600 block of Dumville Ave., died Sept. 21, 1991, in a hospital.

Mr. Watkins was born in North Carolina. He was a retired lawyer...”

Next I started checking what census enumerations Meredith appeared in. In 1910, 1920, 1930 and 1940 he was living with his parents.  He did not marry until 1947.  I rechecked all the census reports, 1910 it is reported he was born in South Carolina. 1920, reported born in Virginia. 1930, reported born in South Carolina.   1940, I discover I do not have in my notes.  It took some serious digging to locate, however, I prevailed and finally found him on the 1940 over at  FamilySearch.  1940 reports he was born in South Carolina.  

OK, I will admit it, in the previous research, I never picked up on the birth in South Carolina information.  See, REVIEW!!!  It works every time. In review I also discover, that yes, both of his marriage records state he was born in South Carolina.  But remember those “Suggested Records” links drug me away from the marriage records.  It was not till I came back to them, that I discovered the actual city of his birth, Alcolu, Clarendon County, South Carolina, had been recorded on both marriage documents.  The current population of Alcolu appears to be less than 500, the town was originally a “company town”.  Yes, I did research the town. Seriously, I looked at that spelling and off I went, research tangent.  I discovered "The name Alcolu is derived from "AL" for Alderman, "CO" for Coldwell (a friend), and "LU" for Lula, the only daughter of the Aldermans at that time."  Nice bit of trivia for the data base.

I also edited Meredith’s Find A Grave memorial, which I maintain.

Yes, the internet research this summer has been wonderful.  I now have at least 150 new documents to review, and to do follow up research with.  

There is another story this summer, how Ida became Irene.  I think I shall save that story for another day.

It’s been a great summer.

* Delayed birth document was digitally enhanced and cropped for this presentation.

** Ancestry dot com is a service for which I pay.  They have not asked me to review or mention them in any blog posts I generate.  FamilySearch is a free service, which I use.  Please review my disclaimer, Disclaim THAT! Beholden to - - , over at my personal blog, Reflections From the Fence.
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7 Back to Basics, the Willy Nilly "S" Theme

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It's summertime here in the USA.  Which translates to busy, fun, vacations, friends visiting, grandkids and camp, mucho yard work (it has been quite wet here in SE Michigan, the weeds are growing, like, well, weeds.).

All in all, time has been flying by.  But, I still try to sneak in a wee bit of research, scanning and input every evening, or at least on as many evenings as I can keep my ole tired eyes open.

So, I thought this month, I would do a quick review of seven of what I consider to be some of the basics of research and recording/input. (Of course, there could be many more basics, but for lack of space and time, sticking to seven.)

This approach assumes you are actually using a computer data base, but, if you are not, you can think out of the box and still use many of these seven.

1.)  Spelling don't count (and grammar not much either).   Names just do not get recorded every single time in the same way.  They are not always transcribed or extracted the same way either.  Lashbrook, the surname I have researched the most since 1991 has been found recorded just a few other ways (wink wink, note a bit of sarcasm? yes, you do).  Lashbrook, of course.  Lashbrooke is also prevalent.  I have found Ashbrook, and others, but, I do believe my all time favorite might be Sashfrsch.

2.)  Source everything.  Add a birthdate, or birthplace to the data base.  Source it and source it NOW.  If you cannot source it perfectly, by the book, do it a bit imperfectly, but, SOURCE IT NOW.  You can fix it, tweak it, or change it later.  But, if there is nothing there, kinda hard to fix.  Source everything.

3.)  So that's logical?  Really?  Before you willy nilly add a name or a date or children or parents, stop a moment, and determine, is it logical?  Did the father die 7 years before the child was born?? Is the mother 9 years old at the time she gave birth to child # 3??  Is it logical??

4.)  Sensus, ok, play on the "S" theme here, since spelling don't count.  (Sorry, early morning caffeine starved humor here.)  Census.  Have you found your ancestor and family on all available census enumerations?? Skipped 1910 (US)?  Why??  Go back and review all your notes, sources, documents.  Missing census, our sensus, err senses, (double sad humor/play on the theme and words here) tells us to fill in the blanks.

5.)  Share.  Yes, share.  Share with any family that will listen or engage.  Share with other researchers.  Share online.  You get to choose how to share online.  My current choice is via my blog. Some choose to use one of several different ways to post their tree online.  Study the ways, use what is within your current comfort zone.  Be open to review your choices, maybe change them. (OH, and remember, what I practice, only put online what you are happy to have "borrowed".  Once posted, it will be read, reviewed, borrowed and reused.  Sometimes without your even being aware.  If you don't want to find it on another web site in the future, if you don't want that specific photo or information shared willy nilly, simply do not post it online.)

6.)  Skipping generations.  DON'T DO IT!  Never ever skip generations, especially going "back" in time.  As reported previously on my personal blog, Reflections From the Fence:

Many many years ago a news article was written about an English gentleman, we shall call George. George researched for something like 20 years, personally interviewed over 2000 of his closest kin. Finally got around to interviewing his aunt (no times removed, just his aunt) and, the very first thing out of her mouth was,

"But George, you were adopted!"

As far as I know this is a true story, but, even if it is not, I think you get the lesson.

7.)  Selebrate (oh, there I go again, with that "S" theme)  OK, CELEBRATE.  Now and then, sit back, and Selebrate your skills, Survey the progress, acknowledge the "Sad" that you sometimes learn about those ancestors and their Suffering,  and please do Snicker and giggle a bit.

There you go, seven of my basics.

Enjoy the summer weather here in the Northern Hemisphere.  Before we know it, the leaves will be changing and it will be time to stay inside and devote more hours to our favorite addiction - - family research.





*Graphic courtesy of Clipartbest.com

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The Headstones Have Arrived AND Do You Digitally Edit Documents?

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Last summer I wrote about ordering 3 markers for Man's family, one for his great-grandmother, Charlotte and one for his great-grandfather, Carl (husband and wife, but, not buried side by side, not even buried in the same county).  Also ordered was a companion stone for his grandparents, the Stevens.  All three markers were delivered by November 2014, but, we had no opportunity to visit and photograph the new markers at that time.  This spring (almost summer) we are visiting where possible. We are happy to report that we have managed to obtain photos of Charlotte and Carl's stones.

You can read the previous posts here: The Lazy Hazy Days of Summer, Perfect for Remembering and Headstones and here:  Sounds Easy - - Until - - Ordering Memorial Markers

Carl is buried mid state in Clare, Clare County, Michigan.  I could see no time frame that we would be able to visit there, and even though I had requested a photo on the web site, Find A Grave, months ago, the request had not been fulfilled.  I had a "brain storm" of sorts and turned to social media, posting on Facebook that if anyone would be traveling through mid Michigan and had it in their hearts to stop and take a photo, I would be so thankful.  Within minutes, and I mean minutes, FB friend Pam Warren (who is a Genealogy Blogger, at Granny's Genealogy) wrote privately and volunteered, stating she had her hubby were driving through Clare that very weekend.  Talk about a sense of timing on my part.  I had no idea.  What a true delight.  I had quite a bit of information, including a scanned copy of the lay out of the cemetery and where Carl's burial spot was, so, I forwarded that information to her right away.  I was able to include the image of what the stone was supposed to look like.  And, true to her promise in just a few days I had this lovely image of Carl's marker.  She has granted me permission to use the photo, thank you Pam, for being a good friend, and the photo.

Charlotte is buried about a hour or so from our stick built home, so one day when we were going to be about half way there doing errands, we went to the cemetery (prior to errands, but, of course) and visited her grave site and the new marker.  We visited other family markers while there.  We checked on Man's parent's stone which had "tilted" a bit, he had requested the cemetery level the marker.  He was very pleased to see it was indeed, leveled.  To say we were delighted with the new marker on Charlotte's grave is an understatement.  What a sense of closure I felt.  I had wanted these graves marked for years and now they were.

I maintain the memorials for both Carl and Charlotte, they can be found here, Carl and Charlotte.

We will personally visit the grave sites of the Stevens' in the coming weeks, with camera in hand. I am very excited about seeing the stone.

Elsewhere in my genie life:

I have been down the genie research shiny hole. Many years of Commonwealth of Virginia marriages , divorces , deaths and some birth information have been added to Ancestry dot com.   Truth is, I have not even looked at the birth information, but, one of my research buddies/angels says there is a lot of delayed info there. At some time I will visit that data base.  The marriage and death data bases have images of the actual certificates. (Note:  Recent years do NOT have certificate images online, only the indexed information is available, some images were not released due to regulations covering recent events and privacy.)  I have roots so deep in Virginia I frequently say, "you cannot dig me out".  I have been having a wonderful time digging around in the data bases.

So, the question arises, do you digitally edit documents that you find online??  Here is an example of one from the death data base, frankly, it is well digitized, clear and quite easy to read.

In it's original downloaded size it is 1.21 MB of data.  I link documents to my data base, building a "life story" via documents and photos, when I can obtain them.  I love building the life stories this way.  However, I don't care to have that large a document linked, that is a lot of storage.

So, I digitally edit and reduce the storage size.  Trim off the black sides, enhance.  And, look what I found when I did, a white box in the middle of the document:

Social security numbers have been edited out of the documents/data base.  I won't comment further on the whys and wherefores.  I just thought it was interesting what happened when I edited the downloaded document.

Have you ever edited a document to find a surprise hidden?

Happy researching, I am going back to the shiny hole of Virginia records.  Yee ha!




* The required disclaimer, I have not been asked by Ancestry.com to review or even to use their pay web site.  I pay my fees, I use, I take my chances.  I have a more full and detailed disclaimer page on my own blog, Reflections From the Fence, you can find the disclaimers, here.

Reflections Returns to Home Base, Tidbits From My World

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Man and I have returned to our home base, aka, the stick built.  We have been here almost two weeks.  The map above shows our 6 months away. I cannot say we stayed away from snow and cold this year, because we visited places that had mucho snow, sometimes 3 to 4 feet, and one of our last stops in Glenwood Springs Colorado was a bit longer than we envisioned as, well, we got snowed in. Not much snow at the campground, but, we could not get over the 11,000 foot pass to Denver for several days due to snow and ice.  We towed Tana about 5200 miles over the six months.  We put 9600 on the truck, Jolly.

Since our return, we have cut the acreage twice and felled two dead trees.  There are enough weeds to keep me, mmm, "entertained" for a while.  We have not finished moving out of Tana and back into the stick built.

I know I have been chattering all spring about "stepping" away from the computer.  I hear other bloggers/genealogists mentioning that as well.  Seems there are a number of us that are feeling "burnout".  For me, I am doing my best to walk away for several hours, here, there, but, every day, just walking away.  Of course, I usually have my iToys in tow.  I know, I know.  One device at a time.  First the computer, then, the iPad, next the iPhone.

And, I have been chattering about doing some serious catching up on input and organization.  To that effect, I have been tossing stuff in trash cans daily.  You know, stuff, like old shoes, old clothes, old stuff.  No, I cannot face doing this all in one massive tossing marathon, but, I can toss something every day.  I will admit, I am looking for the largest stuff possible to toss first, making a few holes.  Seeing that "holes" are the goal, tossing the large stuff first makes me feel like I have done something wonderful and urges me on to find more big stuff to toss.  (Why is it I hear Man's doubting snorts in the background?)

I am attempting to catch up on my travel blog posts over at Reflections From the Fence.  I am almost 2 years behind.  Isn't that sad?  As I blog I delete bad photos, and move the photos reviewed to a archival area on the hard drive.  Keeping up the daily backups and twice monthly backups to my external hard drives is paramount and something I do keep up to date. Organization, with a dose of madness tossed in to keep it real.

In between moving, tossing, organizing, blogging, and stepping away from the computer, I have managed to find two new cousins, we all descend from 2 lines in early Pennsylvania and Virginia. We have been sharing.  While sharing, I discovered some, ok, a number more than just some, of missing files on my computer.  (Refer to last sentence of the paragraph above, "Organization, with a dose of madness tossed in to keep it real.")  Books I had scanned about 2 years ago, MIA.  No where to be found.  After some quiet wailing and whining to myself, I checked one of the backup external hard drives and there they all were.  See, backups saved me a serious and painful do-over.  Did you hear my sighs of relief??  They were long and loud sighs.

Above:  just one small corner of the office.  If I can manage to clean up this corner, before fall, I will be dancing joyfully.  In that pile I see genealogy, and taxes and filing and "cleanup in aisle 4 please".  I can guarantee that this is just the tip of the iceberg.  Approaching like the "tossing stuff" project, do a little every day, or twice a day, or something.  Anything is better than nothing. (Again, I hear Man's snorting in the background.  Hmmmph.)

Last summer I spent considerable time arranging for markers to be placed on 3 graves of Man's ancestors.  I hope to personally visit two of these grave sites in the next month or so and obtain photos.  Descendants of two are so pleased that there are now new beautiful markers on their ancestor's graves.  Received a warm and loving thank you note from one of the descendants the other day.  She is thrilled.  Another descendant wrote when she saw mock-up photos that she was crying with joy.  Yes, all that work was worth it.  The money spent was worth it.  I feel closure, my heart is at peace.

What are your plans for the upcoming summer?  Research, organizing, tossing stuff, or just stepping away from the computer?  Whatever you plan, don't forget to include lots of visits and hugs with family, they are after all the basis of our research, why we do what we love so much. And, oh, take lots of photos!




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I Got Work To Do - - Scans, Etc.

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How bout you?

I have not been participating in the "Do-over" memes. Maybe I should have. 

Truth is, Man and I have been traveling rather hard. 1,225 miles on Tana since we left Needles California on February 26, 2015. We have put on many more miles just driving around in Jolly the truck.

We have visited Route 66, Hoover Dam, Valley of Fire, St. George Utah, Zion, Bryce, Page Arizona where the Slot canyons and Lake Powell are. Monument Valley, Capital Reef, Moab and heading through Colorado as I type while we are rolling along. Love my iPad and the ability to write and share while rolling.

Man gazing at the stunning scenery of Monument Valley, Utah.

That said, standing in the shower this morn, my mind wandering here and there I thought of all the work and fun stuff genealogical I have to play with.

Evernote files to review. 

OneNote files to review. 

(Yes, she admits, a bit ashamedly, she uses both, Evernote and OneNote.)

Mega.  And I mean mega numbers of files to review. Digital fun galore. Not linked. Not reviewed. 

Work to do.  

I got work to do, scans, etc.

That is a name of a file on my hard drive, really it is.  See, here is a screen shot, showing the file and the 31 sub directories and the 4,524 files I have to play with.

Yes, I am a bit embarrassed to show that huge number, I mean, really, 5.51  gigs??  Of data. Unprocessed data.  Is yours that bad??

Oh, and, there is more, because, nope, it is not all filed here.  It should be, but, it is not.  I need to organize that hard drive some more too.

But for now, it awaits, as I am continuing the "step away from that computer" mode I suggested back in March.

Yes, indeed, when we get back to the stick built in SE Michigan, 

I Got Work To Do, Scans, etc.

Till then, happy researching, travel safe.




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Are You Doing Thorough Back Ups of ALL of Your Work?

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So, you have a blog, you have web sites, and you back them up, right??  Well, good.

And, you have a data base for your family research, and you back it up.  And, you have your images and documents linked to your data base, you have those files backed up. Well good.

And, you have mega files and photos and scans on your hard drive waiting for work to be done, it’s heaven having all those files.  Really it is.  You have them backed up, right??  Well, good.

And, you are active in Social Media and you have backups of that as well, right??  Well, good.

And, you have some nice extensive biographies on some of your Find A Grave memorials, and you have those backed up too, right??  

NOOOOOOOO??

Yea, really, you need to back up your Find A Grave Memorials, if you care about the work you did creating those memorials.

Here is how I know.

Last month, I got caught up in a mess with Find A Grave over old memorials transferred to me by a disgruntled “graver”.  The Find A Grave staff decided to restore thousands of memorials that had been deleted by this disgruntled “graver”.    Trouble is the “graver” had transferred just a very few of their memorials to me before they deleted those other thousands and left Find A Grave.

Now, the details really just don’t matter much, but, when Find A Grave restored those thousands of memorials, they over wrote and took over the few memorials I had received.

Trouble was, I had spent several days writing long biographic stories for those memorials.

Lots of time was spent, lots of energy.  I was happy with the work.

I did NOT save copies of the work, anywhere.  I mean, WHY??  They were on Find A Grave, I had care of the memorials, and all was well with the world.

Until.

Short of it, after much angst, the memorials were returned to my care.  Short of it, the biographical stories were gone.  Find A Grave, apologized but, could not restore the biographies.

And, several days worth of work, gone, zap, poof.  Yes, days, as in 10 hour days.

Lesson: back up everything you do.  Back up your data bases, your images, your documents, your scanned photos, your stories, even the ones on Find A Grave.

Back it all up.  And, oh, ya, more than one backup.  You probably have that routine down, you have files in the “cloud” and additional backups on other media.  External hard drives are inexpensive these days and are small too.  Many of us have more than one external hard drive, and many of us store at least one of those hard drives off site. Translated that means, you have a full set of data backups stored in a safety deposit box, or one of your children stores a hard drive at their home, or maybe you take a backup drive to your place of employment.  (Oh, and make sure you update that off site hard drive at regular intervals.  Once a decade is not considered a regular interval in my book.)

I personally have 3 external hard drives, one is used for a full set of data backups made on the 1st of the month, the second is used for a full set of data backups made on the 15th.  The third hard drive is used for overwriting files on a daily basis.  If I change a file during the day, I overwrite it on that hard drive.  I take that hard drive with me everywhere.  Yes, everywhere.  It goes into a small case and into my back pack and when I leave the stick built or Tana, it goes with me.  That hard drive has been on a uncounted number of shopping trips and even a hike or two through some of our beautiful National Parks.

So, are you doing thorough back ups of your work?  Of ALL your work?

* Both photos on this post are of my every day backup hard drive.   First one is in the little travel case I found for it, actually a case for a GPS unit.  The second photo shows the hard drive, cord in the "travel" mode.

** Yours truly and hubby have been traveling steady for several weeks now.  I was woefully behind in many things genealogical, including reading this blog.  After I wrote this and posted and scheduled, I took a few minutes to read the posts from the last several weeks.  It seems that several of your contributors are thinking about similar subjects.  I just found that quite interesting, and thought I would share.

Now, carry on, and preserve your work.  Good luck.

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STEP AWAY FROM THAT COMPUTER!

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You read that right.  I said,

 STEP AWAY FROM THAT COMPUTER!!

This month many family researchers are gathering in Salt Lake City for research and learning.

This month, many are snow bound.  They will spend many hours at the computer researching the bountiful data bases online, free and otherwise.

Over the winter, many will go to school or attend webinars having to do with their research and research skills.

Many are participating in "do overs" on their data bases.

And, I am telling you

STEP AWAY FROM THAT COMPUTER!!

Seriously, do you ever walk away?  (Yes, I know you are in an exceptionally deep research hole, shiny and new and WOW, that is one interesting little tidbit, what else can you find?  I get it, I was there last night!)

Do you ever stop to re-group?  Do you ever review something you found a few weeks/months ago?

Stepping away, even if just to go do the dishes and run a load of laundry (why is it those chores never ever stop or just go away?) will give you a chance to re-group and review.

Stepping away to go take a walk or a hike, or UGH, clean that snow from the walk and driveway, will give you some much needed exercise for the body and some much needed rest for your brain.

This winter, because of some boondocking (RVing with no hookups, self reliant camping) and rallies, I have been away from the computer for longer than I usually am.  I am quite surprised at how wonderful I feel when I come back to the computer.  It is becoming increasingly apparent that the more I have walked away, the more productive I have become when I return.

Imagine that.  More productive.  What a great thing.

JUST

STEP AWAY FROM THAT COMPUTER!!

Enjoy a sunset. 

When you come back, here's hoping you are refreshed and ready to crack that brick wall.

Good luck!




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