The Genealogy Search

This Saturday's assignment:  Go through photographs you have of your mother and share one of your favorites. Tell us shy it's one of your favorites.  Visit  http://www.geneamusings.com/2016/05/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-favorite.html  for the challenge. Mom and Spooky, cir 1968 Ah, my beautiful mother - allergic to cats but never without one by her side.  She always would take in a stray - anything she could do to save a cat.  We once saved a sick cat in Stonington Illinois and drove it back to Chicago, with the cat having diarrhea the whole way home.  The car smelled so bad!  Mom got her to the vet and "Ralph" (actually Ralphette) lived a loved and happy life with us.

Glenda and Harold Clark at the wedding of Lloyd and Lorraine Clark, Chicago, Illinois 1961

William Skibbe, World War II

A long time ago, when I was much younger, my mother gave me some sage advice.  She said keep company with the people you admire and want to be like.  It makes sense and perhaps that same advice should be used in our genealogy. I wanted to become a better genealogist.  I enrolled in Boston University, NGS courses, ProGen and the National Institute for Genealogical Studies.  I go to seminars, jamborees, conferences, SLIG and attend webinars.  I am picky about how, what, and with whom I study.  I pay for many of these opportunities and I want my dollars’ worth.  I talk to others about the events to find out if they are a worthwhile purchase.  I ran Boston University and National Institute through the BBB and read about them on the BCG Educational Preparation page http://www.bcgcertification.org/certification/educ.html .    I check out who is speaking and what subjects were being offered.  I strike up conversations with confer...

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun, the assignment from  Randy Seaver at  www.geneamusings.com  are: What four places did my ancestors live that are geographically the farthest from where I live today? What are the four most unusual given names in my family tree? What are the four most common given names in my family tree? Four places farthest from where I live today: Prussia [currently Poland] - Miottel family Germany - Schuck and Skibbe family England - Logue, Logsdon, and Durbin families  Virginia - Poundstone family (I think they are German but have not found the proof as of yet) Most unusual names in my family tree - not that they are so unusual:  Ora Pearl Poundstone- My Great Grandfather Ruby Pearl Poundstone - My Grandmother Johana Schuck - My Great Grandmother Mahala A. Adams - My Second Great Grandmother Four most common names: William John Richard Mary

Great Grandparents Mary Elizabeth Durbin Clark and husband Charles Henry Clark

It's never too late to join in!  Visit Dear Myrtle at   http://blog.dearmyrtle.com/p/finally-get-organized.html  to get organized! March has been a good month to get all of the tasks completed.  I purposely set aside a minimum of twenty minutes a day to work on my organization and it worked well for me. I shared some photos on my blog, shared memories with family, and attempted to extract some memories from my mother.  I think my family enjoys my sharing of photos on Facebook and the blog the most.  I think the nieces, nephews and my children enjoy pictures of their grandparents, aunts and uncles when they were growing up.  I am thinking about adding some video of some old home movies that we had digitized for all to enjoy. I spent some time photographing some family keepsakes and hope to share more information about them soon. I have entered the wives of my first four generations (and a few other wives not in my direct line).  I have been w...

Juliana, Amy, Anna, Nick Urman, Lloyd  and Lorraine Clark, and Gary Urman 2000

The second Saturday of the month of March is  Genealogy Day!   Celebrate by taking some time to find a new record, watch a webinar to learn new skills or take the time to catch up on your genealogy reading - books, magazines or blogs.   I am off to the Tucson Festival Books  http://tucsonfestivalofbooks.org/  to see what interesting books I can find.  Poundstone Family Tree - 1933 drawn by George C. Poundstone There are free webinars and YouTube videos to learn more about research, organization, or a specific type of records.  I found a a video on YouTube that takes a ride through Concordia Cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois where my Great Grandparents are buried.  I also found numerous videos on the Newberry Library in Chicago  - a place I am hoping to research at in August. Are you attending the FGS Conference in Illinois?  You may want to check out what materials are available at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Libr...

Robert Urman 1934

Dear Myrtle's Finally Get Organized To do list for the week is to share 1 family History Story per day. Visit  http://blog.dearmyrtle.com/2011/03/organization-checklist-tab.html  to join in the fun! Every summer my parents would take my brother and I to visit my grandparents.  They would leave us with them for our vacation - or their vacation which is much more likely the case.  I was always a little sad when our parents dropped us off, perhaps it was a reaction  to the Grandma and Grandpa with cousins cir 1970 almost hysterical laughter they had when they drove away..We had fun playing with our cousins, seeing family, and just been cared for by our grandparents. We did learn a few tricks.  Never let Grandpa know you were awake before Grandma got up.  If you did, he would make you eat his oatmeal which you could stand a spoon in.  He allowed no sugar, no milk, no butter, no nothing! Grandpa would come into the room and check to see i...

Dear Myrtle's Finally Get Organized To do list for the week is to share 1 family History Story per day. Visit  http://blog.dearmyrtle.com/2011/03/organization-checklist-tab.html  to join in the fun! I have shared on Facebook the fact that two of my Great Grandmother's Johanna Schuck Miottel  and Stella Adams Poundstone both passed in the 1918 Flu epidemic. Today I wanted to share something my daughter Jessica Lynne Fay (1983-2015) did when she was little.  One day when we were living with Grandma and Grandpa Clark - Grandpa told her to pick up toys and she said no.  Grandpa said "You will pick up your toys!"  again she said no!  My dad said that she will not tell him no and she put her fists at her side and said "You, you bok wok! I'm mad".  Now we joke around when someone makes us mad we call them a bok wok! Jessica - Bok Wok age four

So I really thought I would not go to Jamboree - saving some funds for FGS in Springfield but I can't be good!  Budget be damned!  I have already picked my classes and I think I can room with some friends - Laurie and Bev - hint hint!   I told myself I wouldn't look at the classes, then I promised myself  I wouldn't go unless I had a roomie and now I have just proven I have no self control what so ever...... I should be ashamed...if I weren't so happy looking forward to going.   I blame Lise Harding with her Facebook posts highlighting the Jamboree for my downfall.  In years past I have served as her Jamboree slave happily serving as room monitor and registration packet pusher - this year no twisting the arm to volunteer - but those teasers!  I dare you to give the Jamboree 2016 website a view.  Visit the page at http://genealogyjamboree.com/index.html  to see if you get tempted to visit. The good news is that I will be able to see ...

You can join in by following Dear Mrytle’s “FINALLY Get Organized” at http://blog.dearmyrtle.com/p/finally-get-organized.htm   The trials and tribulations of February's organizational tasks..... It was going to be a great week - my cast was due to be taken off my broken ankle and life would be returning to normal.  I must confess the wheelchair has greatly reduced  my  ability to fully use my office.  The bad news - my ankle did not heal to the Doctor's satisfaction so back in a cast I went.   The February's organization started off easy enough, start working on your mother's maiden line and fill in collateral's.     RootsMagic made the tasks  easy - then my computer started randomly shutting down.  I managed to save my work to the cloud and a passport drive and spent about four hours on the phone getting "help" with my computer.  Needless to say there was no help, the computer was sent to Dell (i...

Otis Clark, Ruby Clark, Matt and Amy 

Clara Emma Miottel

FINALLY Get Organized – Down to the wire but January is complete! Checklists for Jan 17-23 rd and Jan 24 th-31st You can join in by following Dear Mrytle’s “FINALLY Get Organized” at http://blog.dearmyrtle.com/p/finally-get-organized.htm . I think the whole month of January would have been a bit easier if I had two functioning legs.  I have not mastered the art of the wheelchair - that has cost me some valuable time .  I knocked over my to file box and scattered my sorted papers; I have trapped myself in my office by blocking my way out with binders, boxes, and books.  Thankfully now everything has a place.  I am hoping to get at least one of my casts off in the next ten days.  I made it through /SLIG in a wheelchair I guess making it through some organization  shouldn't kill me but boy I would love the freedom of at least one good leg. þ      Transcribe every document you’ve collected on the first 4-four generati...

Lloyd Clark is the one seated with the cigarette, approximately 1952-1953

Organization the perfect start for the new year.  I am running behind but here is my update on my progress for the month of January thus far.  You can join in by following Dear Mrytle’s “FINALLY Get Organized” at http://blog.dearmyrtle.com/p/finally-get-organized.htm þ        Back up your data!  Luckily I have been backing up my data with Backblaze for the past few years, so this was an easy task.  I also have an external drive that I use and store in our safe.  Then of course I use DropBox.  Can you ever take too many precautions to protect your genealogy?  I would rather have overkill then the possibility of losing any of my information.  That happened to me once about 10 years ago when my research was held hostage by an external drive – never to be retrieved again.  þ       Decide on a genealogy software management program.  I am a RootsMagic girl.   ...

Leslie Carney - Deed Mapping Class      January 1st I fell.  I broke my right ankle and dislocated my left ankle.  After passing out from the pain my first thought was SLIG.  I had been waiting forever to go and I was faced with the possibility of waiting another year to attend.  However, my roommate for the event, Leslie Carney, volunteered to help me with all my special needs and the SLIG folks agreed to accommodate me.  Peg Ivanyo worked with the hotel to get me accommodations with a roll in shower and changed the buses to accommodate my wheelchair. Wheelchair bus access - picture by J. Paul Hawthorne  Sue Petersen worked with me to have an allergy free meal and kept my spirits up during the event.  Many, and I mean many, wonderful people helped me with doors, rolling my wheelchair, and assisting me during the week.  Good buddy and conference hubby J. Paul Hawthorne kept Leslie and I ent...