I'm still here.  We have moved into a smaller home in an "Over 55" gated community.  Trying to downsize from 2200 sq. ft. to 1700 isn't easy.  I'm happy we moved closer to the library.  I'm still doing help sessions there.   I'm trying to spent more time on my genealogy but life seems to get in the way.  I have not forgotten that I want to do our common ancestors.

Genealogy Interrupted

I had so many plans for this space.  My husband and I are related 19 times through our early New England ancestors and I was going to do a series on this topic - but life got in the way.  We have been living in our  nice home in Florida since 1997.  It has now been declared totaled by our insurance company for a sinkhole.  I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy.  We are still in the decision making mode about what comes next. 

Thank you to the Innovators

I am trying to keep up with all the new ways of doing genealogy.  I go to conferences when convenient, I read books on DNA and Social Networking, I try to make sense of the proper way to write my sources, I read about 10 blogs religiously and another 20 occasionally, listen to webinars, and because I am involved with helping beginners, I need to know all these new things.  Unfortunately, I have very little time to go back to some of my early research and fill in what needs to be done.  This is frustrating to me.  I guess I just cannot be a Randy Seaver,  Judy Russell , Thomas MacEntee and Pat Richley-Erickson.  When do they ever have time for themselves?  Thank you all for your innovative work.  We need your expertise to counteract  the toxic genealogy that happened on the internet over the last 20+ years.  Instead of complaining about the name gatherers, you are working very hard to show the way genealogy needs to be done. 

Genea-Musings: Saturday Night Genealogy Fun (SNGF) - The Date Your Father Was Born

Genea-Musings: Saturday Night Genealogy Fun (SNGF) - The Date Your Father Was Born

Genea-musing's Saturday Night Fun.  My father was born on Tuesday, October 31, 1905 in Jersey City, NJ.  Teddy Roosevelt was president and a 1st class stamp cost 2 cents.  On this day in 1846, the Donner Party was trapped in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  In 1941, Mount Rushmore was declared completed.

Other people born on Oct. 31: Chaing Kai-sheck, Dan Rather and John Keats.  My father seems to be the most important thing that happened on this day in 1905.  Halloween seems to be a day when the world doesn't want to irritate the spirits or they are trying to figure out what to wear to the Halloween party.
I used infoplease.com

Researching in Massachusetts

I am looking forward to some quality Massachusetts time.  Since I have been involved helping other people with their research, I haven't had much time for my own.   I have so much work that I did in the beginning that needs updating.  My husband & I will be attending Judy Russell's visit to Worcester at Holy Cross for the Massachusetts Genealogical Council and we will try to get in 2 days at NEHGS.  I will spend most of my time in the manuscript room.  The rest of the time will be family time with our 2 beautiful great granddaughters ages 3 and 1.

Joseph Bartlett Maynard and family, 1860

I just love these old photos.  This one was probably an ambrotype taken about 1860,  which was copied and reprinted as a tintype.  I love that the tintype was put back in the casing for the ambrotype.  This is the Joseph Bartlett Maynard family of Leverett, Franklin, Massachusetts.  Joseph and his wife, Mary Glazier Maynard eventually had 10 children.  I can date the photo by the children as well as the clothes and hair styles.  The 3 boys were born in 1844, 1845 and 1848.  Then they had girls born in 1850, 1852, 1855 and 1858.  The youngest is about 2  and she was born in May, 1858.  The 8th child, a boy, was born in Oct. 1860.   The young girl in the back behind her father and baby sister is my great grandmother.  She doesn't look like she was very happy at having to stay still for the photographer.

Willis E. Learned 1852-1943

Checking for your ancestors on Genealogy Bank can turn up some very unusual items.  My paternal great grandfather, Willis Learned, was born in Watertown, MA in 1852, married to Mary Louise Decker in NYC in 1873 and they lived in Westfield, NJ.  Mary died in 1924 and Willis lived with his son and daughter-in-law - also in Westfield.  I knew that at some point they moved to Florida and were there for the 1930 census.  I had vaguely heard that Willis had been involved in some shady land deals in Florida but I don't know the details about that.  Now to my surprise, I found an article in the Tampa Tribune in April, 1927 citing NEW YORK, March 31 that stated:

 "The alleged sale of Epsom Salts, chewing gum and soap as fat reducing remedies has resulted in the indictment of Willis E. Learned of Westfield, N.J. and Earl F. Callan, on charges of using the mails to defraud.
    The "Learned Enterprises" Assistant United States Attorney Webster told the federal grand jury, made an annual profit of $500,000 through the national sale of spurious patent medicines supposed to possess almost magical reducing powers.  The chewing gum was described the the United States attorney as "only something to chew on" and the soap as "just a good soap."

I guess he was just a hustler at heart.