Spontaneous Research And the RV, Bring On The Serendipity

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[Man and I are still in East Tampa.  The weather in almost all of the US has been frightful and brutal and at the end of January and then February, there happened to be bad storms. We paid the rent to stay right where we are.  We hope to be rolling April 1st.]

I thought this month I would share with you what a wonderful thing spontaneity can be when you travel in a RV and research your family history.

I started research in 1991. It was about a year before I discovered a family book, “Lashbrooke, Lashbrooks, and Lashbrook (of the United States)”; compiled by Mary K. Gritt Lashbrook, (Utica, Kentucky: McDowell Publications, 1986).  In Mary’s book I found 12 pages at the end of the book.  Those 12 pages outlined the Lashbrook line of Man’s ancestors.  Mary could not connect those 12 pages of ancestors to her fine work.  However, instead of ignoring the line, she included it in her work as “unconnected”.  Bless Mary.

I spent the better part of the next years, lots of years, researching those 12 pages, chasing those Lashbrooks from Devon England to Seattle Washington with many locations in between.

I also chased the brides.  Sometimes successfully, others, well, not so.  One bride, Amanda Houghton (and any other spelling that you can dream up) married one Aaron D. Lashbrook.

I chased Aaron from England to Canada to New York State to Illinois and Wisconsin, through several western states, and finally into Oklahoma and Kansas. I "knew" from family tradition that he was buried at “Parker” cemetery near Arkansas City, Cowley County, Kansas.  I searched for that Parker cemetery.  I could not locate it.  I had a bag of tricks for locating cemeteries, but, somehow, Parker evaded me.

This was in the early days of the fine web site, Find A Grave.  I never found the Parker cemetery listed there, nor Aaron.  And, surely NOT Amanda.  It appears, by the way, that the Parker cemetery was added to Find A Grave around August of 2004, date based on addition of photos and a number of memorials.

It also happened to be a time when Kansas records were rather hard to gather from the internet.  Yes, young researchers, there WAS a time when it could be hard or next to impossible to surf in, grab our ancestor’s birth, death or marriage record and surf out, digital copies firmly saved to our computer hard drives.

And, there was the rub.  I had no death date for Amanda. I had no idea where she died or where, and surely had no idea of where she was buried.  Other researchers that I shared and collaborated with had no idea where or when she died either.  I could not rest till I found Amanda.  It became a mission to find out when and where Amanda died, and where she was buried.

Fast forward to the spring of 2004.  Man and I had spent time in Donna Texas for some of the winter months.  We were headed north, back to our SE Michigan home.  Our general route was north to Oklahoma City, then Kansas City, Missouri where I would do some research, on, of course, the Lashbrook clan.

As we drove north, at some point, I realized that Arkansas City Kansas was just not that far off our path.  Man and I discussed this situation, where I said something akin to, “OOO, I really need to go to Arkansas City”.  And, so, we located a campground and we stopped at Arkansas City.

What followed was what I called then, “a grand Lashbrook research trip”.  After setting up camp, we went back to the campground office where I asked the owner, who claimed to be a 6th generation local, “is there a Parker cemetery near here?”.  Before I could exhale he was on the phone, chatting with a local gal, giving me directions to THE Parker Cemetery.  He had this local gal meet me there, and less than 30 minutes later, I was looking at Amanda Lashbrook’s headstone:

The next three days were a whirlwind.  I visited several courthouses, cemeteries, libraries, archives.  I took at least 70 photos of headstones.  I extended my information on the descendants of Aaron and Amanda several generations.  I found marriages, divorces, obituaries, land records, stories, even some newspaper articles with photos.  I learned about the 1893 Land Rush and the local stories about hopeful future land owners camping out for up to one year before, waiting for the opportunity.

At a cemetery there we found the caretaker who took us into the Mausoleum where Aaron and Amanda’s son Charles Clinton Lashbrook and his bride Maud McLaury Lashbrook are interred.  Charles and Maud’s son Charles Arthur and Maud’s parents, C.B. and Virginia McLaury are also interred in the Mausoleum. This is the inside of that mausoleum, the Lashbrook clan are interred to the right of the lovely windows.

Serendipity, special people that helped us, and the spontaneous decision to make a bit of a detour resulted in a great research experience and gave me the information to build and add to one of the Lashbrook tree twigs.

If you believe in the magic of family research, you might feel that Amanda was ready to be found, wanted to be found, that she guided us to her final resting place.  Once we arrived in Arkansas City she was not going to wait any longer, 30 minutes, just 30 minutes.

Amanda was found.

Rest in Peace Amanda.


 

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Hook. Line. Sinker. Reel ‘em in!

I’ll come clean right off, I am addicted to my techy toys.  I do have an ongoing love/hate relationship with them, no matter - - I.  AM.  ADDICTED.

Traveling the way we do, living the life of a nomad for months on end, my addiction to my techy toys continues, and (hopefully) enhances our life style.  My techy tool chest contains, my lap top, my internet connection device (an air card), my digital camera(s), iPhone, iPad, scanners (flat bed and sheet scanner too), printer, I even have a projector for the computer.

Since the iPad came into my life, I use the lap top as some would use a desk top, meaning it rarely gets used out of the stick built home or the RV (Tana).  The iPad is my go to town, in the truck, rolling again, toy of choice. I use it to stay in touch, email, social media, I can surf the web.  I have a war chest of apps that are specific to our nomadic life, there are apps for everything (of course there are, as we all giggle).  Campgrounds, national parks, weather, and navigation.  I use my iPad every time we leave home or the campground.  I depend on my navigation app.  Really depend on it!

Ah, but, we are a genealogy/researching blog, so, how does this relate?

Easy, and it is called FAMILIES.  The app for iToys and Android.  There are different versions, no, they do not cross platforms, if you change from the iToy to the Android system, you will need to repurchase for your new device.  There it is, up in the right hand top corner - - Families, the app.

Families is an app developed to work with the computer data base Legacy.  Now, for transparency, there are quite a few genealogy/family history apps that will take your data from Legacy (or RootsMagic and/or other data bases you may use).  I have tried some of them.  The data base transferred and was useable in several of the apps I tried.  However, for me, and this is HUGE for me, many of the other apps did not treat multimedia well.  Many times I only had access to one image per person in my data base.  Some people in my data base have a lot more than one image.  I love to tell stories and a person’s life story by images.  Yep, I am addicted to images too.

Families allows me to have the majority of my images and multimedia files available on my iPad.  There are a few, very few, files that have not transferred, I believe these are due to the size of those files.  I have a list to review, and I will, eventually (so much to do, so little time, how wonderful is that?)

Families will allow you to input on your iPad and then transfer back to Legacy on your computer.  I don’t do that, I only do input on my computer. I made a rule for myself many years ago to do input only on one device or one computer, no matter how many devices held copies of my data base..  I’ll fess up, keeping them in sync is not my strong point.  Yes, I know about Dropbox and other great cloud capabilities.  I just personally feel safer with this rule in place and following it always.  It is what works for me.

So, how do I use Families?

Families is great for spur of the moment research, like when I am miles from home and realize I am very near the cemetery where ggggguncle John is buried and I have no photo of his headstone, or I just want to pay a visit. I can use the data base to help refresh my memory on the specifics.  I try to have maps of cemeteries attached to the data base. Oh, has this been a boon.  I don’t know why, but, so many of the rural cemeteries, I seem to lose connectivity - wink wink.  I don’t need an internet connection to show me where the cemetery is, IF I have a map attached as multimedia.

I use Families for spur of the moment library research.  Say I find myself in a small town where ancestors lived and died and I desire their obituaries, Families has the information.  I can walk into a library, pull up my family tree on the app and reference what data I do have on the family, checking and rechecking as I pull microfilm, find obituaries and make copies (sometimes I even make those copies WITH the iPad).

Yes I do research this way. Our nomadic life style has a way of providing some wonderful surprising opportunities for research. We broke down in Seaside Oregon last year.  During our unplanned extended stay there I was able to visit the local cemetery, photograph a number of headstones and go to the local library and find 6 obituaries.  Research on the fly, err, roll.

Below an obituary, Walter Stuart, I found and captured with the iPad while we were broken down in Seaside Oregon last summer.

However, the most useful purpose for Families for me is the ability to pull up the data base and the thousands of images I have attached. You want cousin bate. This. Is. It. You want a way to quietly HOOK the next generation. This. Is. It. Pull up gggrampas multimedia events and show them photos of gggrampa as a baby. Hook. Line. Sinker. This. Is. It.  My hubs, aka Man, knows I have the data bases and images on the iToys and he will lead a family discussion right back to Families and the iToys.  Many times we have been enjoying a discussion with cousins or grandchildren and we find ourselves pulling out the iToys and “showing” images.  The iPad size is perfect. Pass it around. The images look soooo good.

Hook.  The family, father and parents, mother and parents, child.  A glimpse of the multimedia, one photo of each.

Line. Looking at the individual, the facts and a image icon row.

Sinker. Open the image line row and here are SOME of the photos for Lorena.  I have more for her than will fit on the screen (what a shame, eh??)

Reel em in!  This. Is. It. Just one of the photos in Lorena's multimedia collection.  Even those with very little interest in "research" LOVE photos!  Everyone LOVES photos!

The last time I showed off Families to extended family I had the undivided attention of some young teens.  They were fascinated by the photos I showed them of their mom and grandmother.  They were equally as fascinated by the notes I could share with them, stories, if you will, of their heritage.

Yep, I set the hook, line and sinker and I reeled them in.  It was so much fun!

How do you use your techy toys and apps?  Do you reel em in?  Tell us how you do - -




* The required disclaimers:  I am a patron of both Legacy and Families.  I paid for my copies.  Neither has asked me to review their products.  I will receive nothing in return for my review.  I did recently win a copy of Legacy 8 and the downloadable PDF book file from a Legacy Webinar.  I ran a contest on Reflections and gave the free copy away, as I had already paid for my upgrade to Legacy 8.

** This post came about as an offshoot of several social media discussions I have participated in.

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Rolling Out To You, From Somewhere in the USA

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Hi, I am Carol.  I come to you from Tampa Florida this month. Next month, I have no idea where I may be writing from.  See, we own a “stick built” home in SE Michigan, but, we also own a rolling home, a RV.

I am excited to be here as a participant in this new experiment of world wide blogging.  The RVing part of my soul keeps me stepping out of my comfort zone, this experiment feels the same in my world of blogging, step away from your comfort zone, try something new, push the limits.

I believe I was born with some serious nomad blood running through my veins.  I love the life of a Rver.  I also love, passionately, family research.  Real love and joy happen when I can marry the two.  And, I try to do that, as often as I can.  I even started a group on Facebook for those who love Genealogy and Rving, The group has the original sounding name of, GeneaRVing.

I have been researching since 1991.  I have been a volunteer for many years, in a Family History Center for some years, and in the local genealogy club for over 10 years, maybe closer to 15.  I taught genealogy in a campground in southern Texas for 3 years.  I strongly believe in giving it back, or paying it forward with volunteerism.

I have compiled and published two family histories, several more are in the works.  I really must finish one or two or - - -

My main blog, Reflections From the Fence is almost 5 years old.  The name came from the quirk I have of studying certain situations for a very long time, sitting on the fence, reflecting, having a difficult time deciding which side of the fence I care to visit.  Or, which side of a discussion I favor.

Reflections is a mix of family history, RVing travel logs and photos, some ideas on technology, living in a RV. Here and there a I may toss in a dash of yorkies.  Seems I reflect on much, and I really tend to mix it up.  I even keep myself wondering where I will go next or chat about next.  As a twist on the name, it truly has become a “reflection” of who I am and what I love.

Man (the hubby) and I have been traveling rather heavily since his retirement in January of 2001.  It has been our dream for over 35 years to travel the USA this way, for as long as we can.  We consider ourselves “extreme longtimers”.  The first several years I was able to convince him we just HAD to travel to Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia, the bases of my heritage, deep bases.  I can tell you that YES you can travel and live in a RV and research.  It is wonderful to visit the homes of our ancestors and make discoveries about them and their lives, to walk among them.

My office in Tana (our 5th wheel, the trailer), iPad, monitor, laptop, let the research continue - -

Welcome to Worldwide Genealogy, come back and visit soon.  Let’s travel this together, shall we?


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