Orations of OMcHodoy

Why Bother Researching My Family Tree?

2011-07-30T10:47:00.000-07:00

My very first BLOG POST at The Oracle of OMcHodoy addressed the question of “Why Bother Blogging?”. The end result of that post was the following answer:

“While Internet databases provide me with the means to find information, message boards, email groups, personal web pages and blogs provide me with the means to connect with people”.

It’s now almost six years removed from that post and today I want to switch things around and answer the question, “Why Bother Researching Your Family History?”.

When I started researching names on the Internet (via Rootsweb, Ancestry.com, Genealogy.com, Google, etc) I was amazed at the mass of information available. As with many people, I was drawn in to Ancestry.com, with its wealth of digital images, indices, names and dates. I started by plugging in the name “John J. Doyle” in an effort to determine the relationship of the subject of a photograph to me. Before I knew it I wandered off the name of “John J. Doyle” and found the names “Edward Hodick”, “James O’Rourke” and “Dennis McHugh”. With every find I felt a surge of excitement. But I also felt so much more.

Fast forward five years. My research in this time period waxed and waned, with periods of utter joy at finding a genealogical gold mine and periods of utter disappointment at not even having time to research. My father had moved in with me, adding the new role of “Caregiver” to my resume. I changed jobs. Later, I dealt with the death of my father, and a move that was to lead to a second move in a matter of months. And I bought my first home. It may sound strange, but it was this latter process that provided me with the answer to the question, “Why Bother Researching Your Family Tree”.

There were many obstacles in front of me when I began my home search. The branch manager at my lending company was shot down and killed. A friend using the same company went through hell trying to close on her own home because of the sluggishness of the money-handlers. I had a spreadsheet of 20 homes to wade through, worried that I’d ultimately choose the wrong one. But alas, fate intervened.

After looking at my top five choices, I told my realtor to set up a walk-through of the 18^th house on my list, which had three major strikes against it: It was a little further west than I wanted to go, it was only a two-bedroom (I wanted at least a three-bedroom), and it had polybutylene pipes, which are known to burst without warning. In spite of these things, something screamed inside me to look at house number eighteen. My realtor met me there at about 6:00 one evening and unlocked the front door. I took one step inside and said ‘It’s mine”. I felt an instant connection to this house. After about 45 days of negotiating a very significant repair (the seller did re-pipe the house), I moved in.

The move-in occurred on 31 Jul 2010. To this day I have nary a doubt that I made the right choice in bumping house number eighteen up to house number six. From day one I’ve felt the presence of my parents in this home that they’ve never seen – that was built in the same year I moved to Tucson. The spiritual connection I feel to this house is what tells me that it was truly meant to be mine.

So how does that story provide me with the answer to the question “Why Bother Researching Your Family Tree”? Because for six years running I’ve had that same exact feeling of spiritual connection with every ancestor found.

And while I know that documented evidence is the standard in the field of genealogy, it still cannot compare to the standard of connection.

That Was Then, This Was ... Well, Then, Too

2011-07-11T21:03:00.000-07:00

I often think I had a charmed life as a child. Everything was as it should have been: Nice home on a nice-sized lot in a nice-clean neighborhood where everyone knew everyone and watched out for everyone else's kids. Summer days were "da-bomb", and could be straight out of an Erma Bombeck book (Rest in Peace, Erma). A typical late summer day might look like this:

8:00 a.m.: Up, eating breakfast and getting swim clothes together.
8:30 a.m. Waiting in the Farthings' driveway, waiting for a ride to Niagara Wheatfield High School pool for swim lessons.
9:00 - 12:00: At NW pool.
12:30: Back home to scarf down some breakfast.
1:00 Walking to the park at the end of the street for softball practice or game.
3:30 Back home to watch tv, play with the other neighborhood kids, or just hang out.
500: Eating dinner with the family
6:00 - Whenever: outside playing "Tag", "Spud", "Hide and Seek", "Search" or "Ghost in the Graveyard" with the neighborhood kids.

Unless it was Friday during summer, which would mean eliminating everything past 1:00 and substituting "packing for and driving to the weekend camping trip to Bedford Beach, Arrowhead, or Rainbow Lake (or, God Forbid, Mockingbird campground). With, of course, the Barry's, Hughey's, Sayers', Curry's, and anyone else who cared to join our caravan.

(Ray Barry firing up the Hibachi during one of our neighborhood camping trips. I think this was at Bedford Beach Campground in Western New York, a site we frequented for years). Photograph in the collection of Colleen McHugh.

Tonight as I was searching the Pennsylvania Digital Repository for my dad's uncle, John HODICK (1900-1978), I found the following article:

( Courtesy of Access Pennsylvania Digital Repository, http://www.accesspadr.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/wbsunind&CISOPTR=28135&REC=5)

In case it's hard to read, it describes my great-uncle's "well-handled" baseball game and standings of teams in his area of Northeastern Pennsylvania.

For some reason, I always find articles like this -- ones that describe life outside of the coal mines, railroads and other labor industries -- rather comforting. I've read so much about life in the coal mines and rail cars of NEPA and I've researched enough about how hard people had to work to earn a measly buck that I enjoy reading that my ancestors, too, had time for family, fun, games, and relaxation.

What Have I Been Up To?

2011-07-10T19:12:00.000-07:00

Besides working and continuing to settle into my house, I have, actually, squeezed in some research, too. A cousin of mine sent me a link to a databank of newspaper articles from all over Pennsylvania.

http://www.accesspadr.org/cdm4/search.php?CISOROOT=/wbsunind

This site has been a gold mine of information for me. I not only have learned names and dates of people on my tree (I even confirmed the family of my maternal great-grandmother from an obituary I'd found!), I have been given a few glimpses into the lives and personalities of some of my ancestors.Thanks, Pat for sharing this site with me!

After finding numerous articles, obituaries and advertisements containing many of my common surnames (Doyle, McHugh, O'Rourke, Kelly, Hodick, to name a few) I began wondering if I'd be able to find a comparable site for my Western New York research. Thanks to Charley Berry Grabowski, of "Apple's Tree", I was able to research the paper of my hometown, The Niagara Gazette. Articles from this newspaper were included in the databanks available at the site below:


http://www.fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html

In the months to come I'll share here some of the things I have learned through my ongoing searches of these newspapers. If anything rings a bell or strikes you as interesting, feel free to comment here!

Fire in the Hole?

2011-06-08T07:03:00.000-07:00

Many of you may know that there are large areas of Arizona that are on fire right now. There is one about an hour south of me that has been going strong for a month with the first signs of containment now upon us (Horseshoe 2 fire). The Murphy Fire to our south has burned over 50,000 acres. as well. The biggest fire right now is in Eastern Arizona in the White Mountains. This fire, known as the Wallow Fire, has burned over 230,000 acres in less than 2 weeks.

I was talking with my co-worker yesterday, knowing her family has a cabin in Greer, Az which is in the direct path of the Wallow Fire. I asked her if her family left any personal/sentimental items there such as photographs or collectibles. She stated that they do, but they weren't allowed to go up this past weekend to get anything so they're just hoping and praying their home will be okay. My prayers are with all the affected families and the firefighters who are battling the blazes throughout our state.

What would I grab in case of fire or evacuation order? Obviously my dog Izzie. Then I would grab the typical items: Photographs and albums, the few collectibles my dad got in England in 1974. I'd grab my hard drive and the laptop; the monitor and printer/scanner if I had time.

And of course, I'd grab one of the most amusing Christmas gifts I'd ever received:

Thanks, Cindy. But I have to admit, even after receiving this several years ago, I still sing the song every Christmas season!

These are the Faces of Genealogy

2011-06-05T08:38:00.000-07:00

The John J. and Jane Doyle family, ca 1910. Pittston, Luzerne County, PA. Photo contributed by

Michael Doyle.

** This post is in response to a poorly thought-out photograph posted by the LA Weekly in conjunction with an article on the upcoming Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree. I want the publication to see the true faces of genealogy.

Who Do You Think You Are? Debut

2011-02-04T20:03:00.000-08:00

NBC's second season of "Who Do You Think You Are?" made its debut tonight. I have to say, I think it was the best episode they've done. I guess it took a year to polish it up a bit. The subject of tonight's episode was Vanessa Williams.

The big reason I enjoyed this episode so much is because Vanessa Williams was so articulate in her research goals: She wanted to learn about her ancestors to see if any of them were pioneers in any sense. For example, Vanessa was the first African American Miss America, paving the way for others. She wanted to see if any of her ancestors had any remarkable "firsts". And sure enough, there were. She then was able to learn a little bit about her ancestors that taught her a lot about herself!

That is a goal I strive for in my research: Learning about my ancestors as people as opposed to just names and dates on a chart. There are so many ways we can learn about ancestors via research we are already doing: Census records, Military Draft Cards, Headstones. All of these genealogical treasures hold the key to learning about ourselves by learning about our ancestors.

I hope the rest of this season's shows match up to this season's debut!

Memories of an Expo-Goer

2011-01-29T18:58:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe it's been a week since the Az Family History Expo! I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I learned yet another new trick or three from Bruce Buzbee of RootsMagic. I surprised myself when I learned that I already have several of the 7 Habits of Highly Successful Genealogists that DearMyrtle presented. I am getting ready to really delve into the book "Shattered Silence" by Melissa G. Moore with M. Bridget Cook, received at the Friday Night Banquet with Bridget as our guest of honor. And finally, one week later, I found my camera cord so without further ado, I present to you: Memories of An Expo-Goer!

Day 2 Az Family History Expo

2011-01-22T09:23:00.000-08:00

Arizona Family History Expo Day 2 off to roaring start! I'm chatting with Amy Urman! I learn new tricks every time I attend a Bruce Buzbee class! Perhaps I can convince him to add a Genogram tool on RootsMagic this year? Raise your hand if you think this would be a great thing!

FH Expo in Az! Happening now!

2011-01-21T14:00:00.000-08:00

I am in the Blog House now. The Blog House at the Mesa Az Family History Expo! Lots of great people, recruting lots more! If you are here, check us out at the rear of the Exhibit Hall!

M. Bridget Cook at the Az Family History Expo!

2011-01-19T19:00:00.000-08:00

If you are going to the Arizona Family History Expo in Mesa this weekend (January 21-22, 2011) you are in for a treat. Teachers teaching you how to research. Researchers teaching you how to analyze your data. Professionals helping you tear down that brick wall. Products to help you gather data, store data, organize your data, and share your data. It is going to be GREAT!

But if you are going to the Friday Night banquet with M. Bridget Cook, you are in for a bonus treat! Bridget will teach you all about Handling and Healing the Skeletons in Your Genealogical Closet. We all have them. Some people run from them. Some people run towards them. Others don't even know they exist! But I believe we all have them.

I personally cannot wait for this event. M. Bridget is not only an expert on the topic (she's been on Oprah, Dr. Phil, Good Morning American, and 20/20), she delivers her information in an easy-flowing, educational yet entertaining manner. I am sure that the event will pass much quicker than we wish it to.

If you haven't signed up yet, there's still time! Simply CLICK HERE for your $33 ticket to the banquet. Your ticket includes a dinner, dessert , and a SIGNED copy of M. Bridget's book, Shattered Silence, the Untold Story of a Serial Killer’s Daughter! What are you waiting for? Sign up today, or at least before the Thursday, January 20th 10:00 a.m. MST deadline!

Genealogy Goals for 2011

2011-01-08T19:17:00.000-08:00

This time of year many of us Geneabloggers create our goals for the year in terms of our research. Mine are to first, dig back into my research and expand my Oracle of OMcHodoy blog to include instructional material for others wishing to do their research. I also aim to put some structure into my research process so I can get focused again.

I would be willing to bet that regardless of what your research goals are this year, you will find help in meeting those goals at the Arizona Family History Expo coming up in on January 21-22 at the Mesa Convention Center.

Do you plan on organizing your research? Nancy E. Loe, MA, MLS, Bruce Buzbee of RootsMagic and Geoff Rasmussen are three of the presenters who will teach you what you need to know.

Finally going to write that book and make it about your family history? Biff & Nancy Barnes are among those who can tell you how.

Want to focus in on your German Research? Baerbel Johnson is your source for this.

Want to turn the tables for a while and learn about the tax tables your ancestors used and how they may help you in? Leland Meitzler is your man!

Want to reflect on your genealogical growth? Dae Powell can help you there!

Perhaps you want to learn about your ancestors as people as well as their names, dates, and relationships. Well, then, I just may be able to help you there with three presentations on the role of culture in our research as well as using genograms in our research process.

I told you there was something for everyone at the Arizona Family History Expo!

New Year, New Goals

2011-01-03T19:23:00.000-08:00

Some people are sticklers for making New Year's Resolutions, others resolve not to resolve anything. Genealogists are the same, though I dare say more of us MAKE resolutions than don't. At least we make New Year's Resolutions for our Genealogy research, based on the number of us blogging about it. You can check out some of the resolutions HERE.

Have you made any resolutions? Do any of them include attending at least one Genealogy Conference this year? If so, you have come to the right place because I have TWO FREE TICKETS to give away to the Family History Expo in Mesa, Az on January 21 and 22!

How do you get a chance to win these tickets? I've made it even easier! Simply email omchodoy-at-yahoo.com a single statement identifying how attending the Mesa FH Expo will help you complete a genealogical New Year's Resolution! Hurry! Time is Running Out! The first two responses will win. Good Luck!

The World LOVES a FREEBIE

2010-12-28T21:10:00.000-08:00

The holidays are on their way out and a new year is on its way in! What better way to start a new year than by getting something for free????? Or should I say, what better way to start a new year than by some things for free????

January 21-22, 2011 marks the Arizona Family History Expo in Mesa, Arizona. I have several reasons to be happy about this: I get to share my experiences with researching my ancestors as people with others as a presenter! I will speak about the role of culture in our research and about the use of genograms in genealogical research.

The Az Family History Expo offers my three classes free to those who pay for either a day pass or a full Expo pass. It also offers 97 other topics! Yes, you heard me right, NINETY-SEVEN. That makes an even 100 workshops. There literally is something for everyone. And there's more: The exhibit hall presents the genealogy enthusiast, hobbyist, and professional with a plethora of tools, information and materials that make our task much more fun, and easier to boot!

Now another BIG reason for me to be excited about this year's Expo: I get to give away TICKETS to the Expo. Here is your chance to win TWO FREE TICKETS to this year's Family History Expo: Send me an email at omchodoy-at-yahoo-dot-com and answer one of the following questions:

1. What is currently your biggest brick wall in your genealogy research?
2. To date, what has been your biggest genealogical accomplishment? Describe how you did it!
3. What is/are your genealogical goal(s) for 2011?

The winner of the TWO FREE TICKETS to the 2011 Az Family History Expo will be decided based on a random drawing of all entries received before Wednesday January 5th!

Disclaimer: I am both a presenter and a Blogger of Honor at the 2011 Az Family History Expo. As such I receive compensation in the form of a paid entrance to both days of the conference. My promotion of the Expo is both expected and willingly provided; however what I post about it is entirely up to me and I do not receive any compensation for what I post. I promoted the Expo in 2010 without any expectation to do so, and anything I do post is a product of my own experience.

Advent Calendar: SHOPPING!

2010-12-19T18:46:00.000-08:00

One thing I've always hated about Christmas shopping, was trying to figure out what to get people. My parents were easy enough; they liked (or pretended to like) anything we bought them. My middle brother wasn't too difficult, either: I always managed to find a good sweater or shirt that suited his personality and color schemes. My oldest brother, however, well, that was a different story. I never knew what to get him. If I asked him what he wanted he'd either say "Nothing" or worse, "A bowling ball" or "Golf clubs", which was worse than him saying "Nothing" because they were items way too expensive for my cashier's wages.

As I grew older I learned that getting gifts that mean something to the recipient was the ultimate Christmas Shopping experience. Christmas 2009, I must admit, was the easiest year I've ever had in terms of deciding what to get. My dad had been living with me for three years, and he was getting to that point where reflection on the life he'd lived was a common topic of conversation.

One day I was searching Facebook for childhood friends, and cam upon a FB page for "Colonial Village Elementary School" where I went as a child. On that page was a link to the FB page for the Lewiston #2 Fire company, where my dad spent many years as a volunteer firefighter. As I was browsing the photos on that page I saw a T-Shirt for the station members that I thought dad would just love. So I FB messaged a member of the Fire Hall listed on the page. I asked if I could purchase a T-shirt for my father and explained that he had been a volunteer firefighter there and that the Fire Hall played a big part in my family's life when we'd lived in Niagara Falls. The response I received from the member and her husband was they'd try to see if any t-shirts were left and if so, they'd send one. They could promise a fire hall patch either way.

About a week and a half later a package came with a t-shirt and a patch. I wrote to the fire hall's contacts I'd written thanking them and asked how much to send them and where. I was told to offer it too my father as thanks for his service. Knowing the Fire Hall and it's members still hold on to the values of the Village in which I was raised was a great Christmas Present in itself.

I wrapped up the T-shirt and patch for Christmas. I also searched the Fire Hall's webpage and created a little booklet about the Lewiston # 2 Fire Department's history. I couldn't wait to give him his gifts! As another pleasant surprise, I was browsing Barnes and Noble that same week and stumbled, quite by accident, upon a coffee table book on Firefighters, published by the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. It is a fascinating book on the history of firefighting and some really great photographs.

As it turned out, Christmas 2009 was to be my father's final Christmas on this earth, as he'd fallen ill about a month later. He was so proud of his firefighter gifts! And, though I've always been excited to give gifts to others, no single Christmas drove home the Reason for the Season for me than Christmas 2009.

Thank you, Lewiston #2 for giving my father a gift he was truly proud of. (P.S.: I still have the t-shirt and wear it occasionally).

Advent Calendar: Charitable Work

2010-12-12T09:55:00.000-08:00

Growing up, we didn't do much volunteer work at Christmas time. We put more efforts into volunteer work throughout the year than we did at Christmas, mostly through the fire hall. I grew up on Garlow Road in Niagara Falls, NY. We lived in the Town of Lewiston and my father was a volunteer firefighter at Lewiston #2 Fire Department for many years. The entire station was volunteer based, and still is.

We also tried to help people out as the need arrived. The winter of 1977, our last in Niagara Falls before moving west to Tempe, Az, was especially trying. There was a huge blizzard that year that not only closed down the schools for weeks, it closed down the entire city. Advisories were released pretty much banning non-rescue persons from being on the streets. A family we'd known experienced a major pipe freeze and burst in their home, and we were able to take them in for a while. I remember how stressed my mother was, what with her own three children plus the two children I think it was, that the family had. But I also remember her saying that regardless of how stressful it was for us, it was more stressful for the displaced family.

The clinic where I work participates in the Toys for Tots (TFT) program every years as a distributor of gifts to families in need. We are only able to distribute to the families who use our clinic but we refer to community agencies for those we hear about that need the help but are not our families. It's such a worthy cause, and it's so simple in theory.

In recent times, however, the TFT program has really been hurting. Last year our clinic had 850 families signed up for the program, but the program was only able to provide a few hundred toys. Our clinic is fortunate to have a generous Board and a very generous philanthropic foundation, Square and Compass, to assist and we were able to provide for the needs of our families. My father purchased several toys last year and took them to the local fire station that serves as a collection site for Toys for Tots. I wish I had been there to see this; his telling of his "adventure" was precious and I know he was proud to be part of the program. And to drop them off at a fire station, well, that was just icing on the cake!

This year we have over 1,000 kids signed up, and our Board and foundations will once again assist in meeting the need. If you have similar programs near you, please sign up for either it or other similar programs to help elderly people have some surprises at Christmas.

Advent Calendar: Christmas Collections

2010-12-09T18:57:00.000-08:00

Christmas brings so many memories, and for me, almost all of them are wonderful. The season is full of things I love: Food, Cookies, Decorations, Trees, Christmas Cards. Music, Snow (well, it used to be anyway). It is also a time for me to showcase my favorite collections. The best collection in my possession is my collection of these:

2009

I have about 35 nutcrackers. I started the collection several years ago when I found collectible "Nutcrackers Around the World" at the Robinson's May After-Christmas sales. I started with two: Ireland and German, which are shown in the photo below, the third and fourth from the right:

2010

What is/are your Christmas Collections? (I have another collection, which I'll save for a later Grab Bag from the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories).

It's a coming, It's a coming....

2010-12-09T18:34:00.000-08:00

This will be my third consecutive year attending the Arizona Family History Expo in Mesa. Last year was my first year as a presenter, and this year I've been invited to present again. I've also been given the opportunity to be a Blogger of Honor at this year's event. I'm thrilled to associate with the Geneablogging community, and this is an exciting opportunity.

Last year I facilitated a presentation entitled "When Past Meets Present to Change the Future: Using Genograms in Genealogical Research". This year, that same talk will be the third of my presentations. I chose to repeat it this year because it makes a very good "wrap-up" to my two new presentations, which is a two-parter entitled "Learn About YOU by Learning About Them: The Role of Culture in Genealogical Research". As you can tell, I like long titles!

In my professional life, I am a social worker. I work with children, teens and young adults who have complex health care needs and/or disabilities. I want to know more about people than their names, dates of birth and ages. I want to know who they are, what makes them able to manuever through this life, and what lessons they can teach me.

My genealogical goals are much the same: I want to know who my ancestors were as people: What did they look like? What were their interests? What traits might they have had that I share? These goals and my professional training lead me to the topics I wish to explore.

I hope to see many of you in Mesa next month. And to increase the chances of my seeing you there, I will have a few incentives to give a few people. Stay tuned!

Advent Calendar: Santa Claus

2010-12-06T20:21:00.000-08:00

I remember believing in Santa Claus. It was so magical! Unless I was going to sit on his lap, then it was terrifying. So terrifying that, in fact, I never sat on Santa's lap.Even when Santa turned out to be Grandpa, I wouldn't go. But I sure believed in him and I sure as heck did my best to please him.

One year on Christmas Eve we were heading home from Grandma and Grandpa McHugh's house. We were driving along the reservoir when all of a sudden I saw it: Santa's sleigh. We were close to home by the time I saw him, complete with Rudolph's glowing nose! I remember yelling at dad, who was driving: "Hurry! He's over our house and if we're not in bed before he goes down the chimney he'll pass us by!!".

Well, okay, so I don't remember saying those exact words, but that was the jist of my incessant screaming.

We got home, we went to bed, and we woke up to presents.

I presume the children of the helicopter pilot that was flying over our house the night before got their presents, too.

ADVENT Calendar Day 2: Holiday Food

2010-12-02T19:52:00.000-08:00

This is a repost from my December 2007 Advent Calendar posts at The Oracle Of OMcHodoy. Yesterday I messaged several of my cousins, including those on the Hodick/Kovaleski lines, asking if anyone knew of any foods or recipes from the grand and great-grandparents. My first cousin Sue remember Kanaidels (I'm usually a good speller, but not with German words!), but no recipe yet.

Oh how I wish I could remember what food Grandma (HODICK) McHUGH used to put out! I remember very little, however, other than the cookies. So I asked dad to help me out a little.

Christmas Eve was when we got together at Grandma and Grandpa McHUGH's house. My parents, two brothers and I would go, as well as my dad's sister, Aunt Norie and her husband, Joe and their two children Paul and Susan. And of course, Aunt Maryann was there, too.

To dad's recollection, Grandma always served Ham, Potatos, Sauerkraut and carrots as the main meal. The only part of this I remember is the Sauerkraut.

I also have a recollection of -- God help me on the spelling here -- Pfeffernuesse Cookies (thank you, Google): those soft-ish ginger type round cookies covered in powdered sugar(pictured above, courtesy of www.marions-kochbuch.de/rezept/1462.jpg). She also had peanut butter cookies and something dad thought was called something like Kalochi.

The only other food thing I remember about Christmas at Grandma McHugh's were the hard ribbon candies. She had those every year, in every corner of the house! Candy canes, too. Last year I saw a tin of those ribbon candies and just had to buy some for old times' sake.

Christmas dinner at the O'ROURKE's house, if I remember correctly, was traditional turkey dinner. Turkey, stuffing, potatos/gravy, the whole thing.

A few years ago some friends and I decided to have a Christmas Cookie exchange. I learned quickly that I do not know how to bake. I wound up tossing the sugar cookie I attempted to make and going to Target to get some Christmas Tins with cookies in them. For the recipe I had to bring with my cookies, I typed up the instructions for driving to Target to get the tins!

I have since learned how to make the Mexican Wedding Cake type cookies and those other cookies that have the Hershey Kiss in the middle. And this year I learned how to make pumpkin rolls!

Advent Calendar: The Christmas Tree Then and Now

2010-12-01T05:38:00.000-08:00

Nearly every year right after Thanksgiving, mom would put up the Christmas Tree while dad would put up the outside lights. When we were old enough, we were assigned to help mom. It was more than a little task of unfolding groups of branches (we had artificial trees as far back as I can remember):

You can see that the tree is loaded with ornaments, envelopes, garland, and icicles. But underneath the tree was the real treat: On the left side of the tree (as you look at it) were houses, a school, a library, and even an ice rink with skaters. On the right is a church and attendees. It was all connected by a walking path (made of dirt if there'd not yet been any snow and coffee if it had snowed) with mountain paper in the background. Most of the village buildings and the church, and the mountain paper belonged to my father's mother Mary HODICK when she was young. It was passed down to my father, and I believe then to my middle brother. It's very sad for me to say this, but I have no idea whatever happened to this village set.

Fast forward 35 + years (yikes) and I still spend the day(s) after Thanksgiving putting up the Christmas decorations. I usually start with the outside and work my way in. You can see dramatic differences between our tree then and my tree now:

It's still an artificial tree (with my lack of a green thumb I'd burn the house down with a dry tree within a week). Only now it's pre-lit so I don't have to struggle with strands of lights on the inside of the house like I do on the outside. But you will see only beaded garland on my tree, not tinsel garland. And you will never see icicles on my tree: Not only is tinsel and icicles a huge no-no when you have a destructive chewer dog like Izzie, I simply have no desire to keep picking up the icicles into the following JUNE! And not only are the majority of my ornaments on the upper portion of the tree (the lights make it look less obvious when they're turned on), there is nothing under the tree except the skirt -- WHICH, I'll have you know, I've not been able to have in the first four Christmases with Izzie! And I will not be able to put presents under my tree as long as I have my paper-loving dog living with me.

I hope it's a long stretch of time before I can put presents under the tree again!

There's One in Every Family

2010-11-28T14:53:00.000-08:00

Of course, one might ask, there's one what in every family? And my answer would be, there's one of everything in every family :). But for my re-entry into the world of blogging I am referring to there's one "black sheep" in every family. Here is mine. Or should I say, is this mine?

When I was in school we had to do one of those "trace your family tree" projects that many, if not most, children wind up doing as part of a school project. Only mine didn't come until I went back to college in my thirties! During the course of conversation with my father it'd come out that there were a couple of stories in his family about some serious lawbreakers. One was on my father's maternal line (HODICK) and one on his paternal line. The legend was that a Hodick had been arrested and later hanged in Kansas for stealing horses. The other was that a McHugh ancestor was involved in the Molly Maguires and as part of that activity had been arrested and later hanged.

Now I've found nothing to support the story that a Hodick had been hanged in Kansas for stealing horses. But I did find some references to a Peter McHugh having been involved with the Mollies and had taken part in the murder of Alexander Rae in 1869 (The Trial of the Molly Maguires: A Chronology; Northumberland County Area History: The Molly Maguires). It is unknown if Peter McHugh was an ancestor of ours, but there certainly are a couple of coincidences: Our McHughs were coal miners in NE Pennsylvania. Stories of our grandfather's and great-grandfather's involvement in the Mollies exist across branches of the McHugh line. Certainly circumstantial at best. But enough coincidences to claim a corner of our genealogical brains as research progresses.

As I read different accounts of the trial of Frederick Hester and his co-conspirators to include the above mentioned Peter McHugh I discovered many of my ancestral names surrounding the Northeast Pennsylvania Mollies: McHugh, Doyle, Kehoe and Donahue/Donahoe. The latter three surnames belong to my maternal lines. Perhaps I'm *lucky* and have multiple ones in my family?

Researching black sheep during one's genealogy research can be exciting, but it can also be very difficult. First, families often keep such black sheep a secret, making the process of gathering an oral family history touchy if not downright impossible. Second, you also have to deal with the occasional question of "Why would you want to claim such a character as one of yours?". As genealogists we have to remember that our goal is not to boost ourselves up because of an elite lineage, but to understand the history of our family. History is history.

This article was posted for the 100th issue of The Carnival of Genealogy. Congratulations to Jasia for an amazing feat and thank you for all you do for the geneablogging community.

Grandparents' Day 2010

2010-09-12T08:26:00.000-07:00

Today is Grandparents' Day in the United States. For me, this day has for far too long meant remembering my grandparents: My longest-surviving grandparent died in 1978, when I was 14 years old. I often find myself a little jealous of my 40-something-year-old friend whose grandmother is still alive with her mind pretty much intact. But the lack of living grandparents means not that I dwell in that jealousy, but that I celebrate the grandparents I knew as a child and the grand- and great-grandparents I never knew.

My paternal grandparents Mary (HODICK) and Joseph McHUGH ca 1925.

Followed by my paternal grandparents 40 years later.

Mary's parents, my great-grandparents Justina (NAHODIL) and Edward HODICK in 1918.

Edward and Justina ca 1950.

My maternal grandparents, Regina "Jean" (DOYLE) and James O'ROURKE, with my mother. Ca 1942.

James O'ROURKE, who died in 1963 before I was born.

My maternal grandmother's family ca 1910. Grandma Jean is believed to be the girl sitting on the matriarch's lap, my great-grandmother Jane/Jennie (McCUE). At far right is my great-grandfather, John J. DOYLE. The others in the photo include my grandmother's siblings Margaret and Blanche, along with some combination of their sons Thomas, Vincent, William, Joseph and James. Anna was likely not yet born.

Labeled as "Ma Doyle, and thought to my my mother's maternal grandmother, Jane/Jennie (McCUE) DOYLE.

My mother's paternal grandparents, Mary (KEARNS) and James O'ROURKE, along with daughters Margaret (Nelly), Mary (Mae) and Betty.

My mother's paternal great-grandparents Bridget (DONAHUE) and John KEARNS with their children Mary, Winifred, Genevieve, Lawrence, Jeremiah , John and Francis.

The Fruits of Their Labor

2010-09-05T22:21:00.000-07:00

Labor Day was first observed in the United States in the state of New York, in the city of New York, as a result of a movement put forth by the Central Labor Union. It was celebrated on Tuesday, 5 Sep 1882. The movement to make Labor Day a national observance initially took hold in 1885 and 1886 when municipalities began passing ordinances setting aside the first Monday in September to honor American workers. It wasn't until June 28, 1894 that Congress passed legislation making that day a holiday (U.S. Dept. of Labor).

Labor Day is important to me because my family has always been proud of our history in the American work force. Our ancestors were mostly laborers who worked hard. My paternal lines from Nanticoke, Luzerne County, PA were generally coal miners, though the military and hotel fields were also a part of the Hodick line. The McHugh line was made up of more coal miners.

My maternal lines were often listed in the U.S. Census records as coal miners; however railroading was also in the O'Rourke blood, including my mother's brother, Jimmy, who retired from the railroads. My maternal workers also hailed from Luzerne County, in Pittston.

My parents were also very hard workers. Dad held a variety of jobs throughout his life. In Niagara Falls he worked for several years at a company known as Carborundum, I believe as a draftsman. He's worked as a dispatcher, a beer truck driver, and as office personnel for a furniture company. As children, my brothers' and my favorite of dad's jobs was as a garbage man for Countryside Disposal. This was in the 1970's, in the days when garbage men rode on the backs of the trucks and manually emptied the trash cans into the truck. He came home with the coolest stuff: Binders and portfolios, office supplies, a dishwasher. My mother, I must say, was not the least bit pleased when he brought home a drum set!

My mother worked in business. In Niagara Falls I can only remember her working for J.D. Calato's, a company that made drumsticks for some pretty darn famous rock 'n rollers! Odd how she hated that drum but brought us home some drumsticks! My middle brother and I loved this job of hers because she brought home stamps from all over the world and Terry and I used to have stamp collections. In Arizona, my mother worked for a hospital, Diamonds (now Dillards), and mostly, for Greyhound Exposition Services as an office manager.

Saturday Night Genealogical Fun: Place Lines

2010-08-14T22:29:00.000-07:00

Randy Seaver of GeneaMusings, known for many things genealogical, has a fund topic for tonight's Saturday Night Genealogical Fun: Place Lines. This is much like a Time Line that shows where people were at any given time in history, only this time we'll pick someone on our tree to trace the places that were important to them over time.

I should choose myself since I certainly know most about where I was over time, and since I just added a new place for myself in history. But in order to refocus myself on my genealogy, I'm going to choose the Hodick family. Some will be speculation, some will be known.

Edward Hodick is believed to have been born in October of 1867. Oral family history told the tale of his birthplace as Bavaria. However, the 1900, 1910, 1920,and 1930 U.S. Census records identify Austria/Bohemia as his place of birth.

A passenger list for the ship Pennland in 1885 lists an Edward Hodick, age 18, traveling to "Tomhicker" Pennsylvania with a Franz and Anna Hodick and other Hodick children. It is believed but not proven that this Edward Hodick was my great-grandfather.

We do know that as of Census time in 1900, Edward Hodick and his wife Justina and their four children were living in Washington Township in Crawford County, KS. Edward's occupation was listed as coal miner. The family remained in Kansas at least until 1910, as this year's Census finds the family in Frontenac, also in Crawford County, KS. Interesting to note is the fact that Edward's occupation in this year was listed as a farmer; most other records indicate that Edward was a coal miner. Their oldest son, William, married a Clara and lived for a while in Frontenac. It is believed that at some point he made his way back to PA, then went off to California.

By 1918 the Edward Hodick family was living on Prospect St. in Nanticoke, Luzerne County, PA.

1920 finds Edward and family on Front Street in Nanticoke while in 1930 they were found on Center Street. At some point between these two census years, Edward owned a hotel business, possibly on Market Street.

At some point after 1930, the Hodick family, at least in some portion, migrated to Niagara Falls, NY.

To this date, members of the Hodick family remain in Northeastern PA. Their offspring from Mary, my grandmother, spread out from there to Arizona, Nevada, and Georgia.

Kansas ca. 1900-1915. Edward Hodick, believed to be third from left as you look at the picture.

The Hodick family in 1918, Nanticoke, Luzerne Cty, PA. Sitting in front: Sylvestina (Vesta), Edward Jr. Sitting in the middle of second row: Edward and Justina Hodick. Standing in back on either side, l-r: Mary (my grandmother) and Susan. Unidentified males: William, Joseph, Anthony, Thomas and John.

The Company Store

2010-05-16T19:26:00.000-07:00

(Photo credit: http://capt.clint.home.mindspring.com/breakers.html)

At the beginning of this series I'd posted a link to Tennessee Ernie Ford singing "Sixteen Tons", a song which laments the life of a coal miner. A mainstay in the song are the lyrics "I owe my soul to the company store". This refers to the lifestyle differences between the mere coal mine workers and the "esteemed" coal mine honchos.

Back in the heyday of coal mining, the mine owners didn't just own the mines, they owned the towns in which they were located. The miners lived in company owned homes, shopped at the company owned store, and, in many ways, were kept hostage by the company itself. Often the miners' pay went straight to the company to pay the rent and heating. Credits were given at the store, which took payment directly from the miners' wages.

Eckley Miner's Village is a prime example of a coal mining town, complete with the company store and a doctor's office. You can take a virtual tour of this popular Pennsylvania "attraction" on the website (the links to the videos were not working for me tonight, but I have seen them before so if a link doesn't work for you, try again later). Eckley is one of my "must-see" spots in PA if I ever make it there for my genealogy trip: My paternal grandmother and her family lived there after they'd returned to PA from Kansas in around 1915.

As we learned last week, miners' pay was generally dependent upon the amount of quality coal they brought in. If there was too much slate in the coal car of a miner, that miner's pay was docked. Given this and the practice of the coal company taking certain deductions from the miners' pay to cover their rent and food, it was really tough for someone to move up and move on; putting money aside was just not an easy thing to do even outside of the low wages to begin with.

But you better believe that if a miner wasn't pulling his weight, it was easy for the boss to get rid of him!

Why I Love the Internet

2010-05-13T21:11:00.000-07:00

My ancestors in the United States, at least those born prior to 1930, were relatively easy to find (sorry for the unintended pun). That is because until the 1930's or so, family members grew up to live near family members, thus limiting the number of different locations in which to look. After the 1930's, however, people started to stretch across the country. First we had relatives move from Luzerne County, PA to the Chicago area. Others migrated to Niagara County, NY. Over time the distances between relatives grew to Arizona, Nevada, and Georgia, and then to Houston and Virginia. With the time that has passed and the distance that has grown, keeping up with my immediate family was rather tough, let alone keeping up with cousins I'd known or meeting cousins I hadn't. This was a big country, after all.

Until the Internet came along. The Internet gives a whole new meaning to the song "It's a Small World After All". Since beginning my genealogical journey I have been able to reconnect with old friends and cousins. Through my Internet adventures here on my blogs, at RootsWeb.com, at Ancestry.com, and through Facebook, I have gained family connections that I hope make my ancestors proud, as second cousins and third cousins three times removed have managed to "meet" and become friends.

This evening I went to the post office to check my PO Box, which I took out after a recent move. As I was walking to my box I was suddenly struck with a blast of sadness as something there ... I don't even know what ... made me think of dad. I had to brush away a tear and I didn't quite know what set it off. But alas, it was short lived. I checked the box and found a key to one of the "package" bins. Inside the bin was a box from a second cousin in Pittston, PA, who found me through her and her son's research several years ago. She'd been reading my blog for quite some time (and I suspect often disappointed in the gaps between posts over the past year or two) and sent me an email about my recent series on the History of Anthracite Coal Mining in NE Pennsylvania. I keep meaning to respond but time seems to escape me.

Anyway, the item in the box that I found inside my the P.O. bin made my tear fade and my face and stomach roar with laughter:

Straigt from the culm bank in Hughestown, PA. Thanks, Joyce. You really made my day. And sorry I've been so negligent lately.

How the Earth was Won in the Coal Region

2010-05-02T15:10:00.000-07:00

The demand for clean coal in the 19th and early 20th centuries was great, and, as learned last week, the coal industry of Northeastern Pennsylvania reached far beyond the reaches of our shores to those of the U.K., Ireland, and Eastern Europe. Immigrants from these regions and more flocked to Pennsylvania to land a job in what is still today one of the more dangerous professions.

Coal mining is dangerous for many reasons. The bulk of the work was done underground in cold, dark, and dank conditions. It was not work for the claustrophobic. The use of explosives brought dangers of its own, plus the added dangers of the earth caving in, water flooding in, and trouble getting out for those caught inside at the time of the incident.

Coal mining was also not always a guarantee of pay. If you were one of the laborers in the mines, setting off explosives and loosening the coal, your pay was dependent upon the amount of coal you brought in, and penalties were steep if the quality was less than what the mine bosses wanted.

Technology wasn't always so complex, but it always made life a little bit easier, a little bit safer, and/or a little more profitable in the long run. The coal mining industry of the late 1800's and early 1900's benefitted from techonology in a way we would scoff at today, but miners underground credited with saving their lives.

Over time, alternate fuel sources diminished the need for coal, and thus coal miners. But the field of coal mining is not dead, as we've been so tragically reminded these past few months and even years. Coal remains a valuable resource; thus there continues to be a need for miners willing to lay it on the line below the earth on which we trod.

Next up: The company store!

The Lure of .... Coal?

2010-04-24T20:02:00.000-07:00

This post is the first in a series that will focus on some aspect of Anthracite Coal Mining in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Today will be a basic history lesson into how this industry transformed the area that lured my ancestors to the New World.

Northeastern Pennsylvania (NEPA) is the number one producer of Anthracite coal in the Western Hemisphere (ExplorePAHistory.com). Anthracite coal is different from bituminous coal as the former is harder and more pure. Anthracite coal was "the" green thing of its day.

But NEPA didn't get it's fame from coal mining without other industries paving the way. In order to make this cleaner burning coal available, it had to be made accessible first to those who would mine and prepare it (and for some, get rich from it) and then to the consumers who would use it. This was accomplished first by the creation of canals that linked the mines to the rivers within the NEPA counties of Carbon, Schuykill, Luzerne and Lackawanna and then to cities in further reaches. The boom of the railroad also was vital to the popularity of anthracite coal,as the rails could reach beyond the scope of the waterways of the northeast region of the United States.

When it became apparent that anthracite coal would revolutionize the heating of America, the corporate honchos with the vision to take advantage of the area knew they would need a labor force that would expand their dream for miserable wages. Immigrants from Scotland, Ireland, England and Germany flocked to the region. After the Civil War, the need grew even more and miners from Poland and Lithuania were brought to the front lines of the Anthracite Coal Mining region. The 1880's brought an influx of miners from the regions of Slovak, Ukraine, Russia, Hungary, Greece, Serbia and Italy (from "Black Diamonds", www.pacoalhistory.com/history/migration.html).

It was during this time frame that my paternal ancestors appeared in the United States, in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, in the heart of the anthracite coal mining industry. Some came from Ireland, others from within the regions of Hungary and/or Czechoslavakia.

Orphan Photo of girls at a Coal Breaker, possibly from

the Truesdale Mines in PA.

(photo in the collection of Colleen E. McHugh, Tucson, Az)

Next in the series: How the coal was mined.

I Was Born Coal Miner's Granddaughter

2010-04-17T16:42:00.000-07:00

A few years ago I was talking to my father's first cousin Tom. We'd connected not through sharing a history together, having both lived in Niagara Falls, NY, where he still lives, but through the research I've been doing over the years. During this one particular phone conversation Tom had mentioned that he and his wife had gone to Luzerne Cty, PA from where my families hailed. He took a tour of a coal mine while he was there and was telling me how impressed he was with the history involved with coal mining. Several of our ancestors had died in mine accidents, and the tour he took gave him a good understanding of what our cousins and uncles had endured (not to mention their wives and children, who had their own burdens to share). Tom closed his conversation with me with one simple statement: "Colleen, we come from hardy stock".

For some odd reason I found myself rather humbled with the news of recent coal mine accidents in China and in West Virginia. I decided that it was high time some attention was paid to the job of coal miner, so I decided to embark on a little research. I am going to start some research into coal mining with a focus on Anthracite Coal from Northeastern Pennsylvania since that is where my family did their minng. I will include a little history, a little resources on the web, and hopefully a lot of pictures.

I invite my fellow geneabloggers and my relatives who may be reading this to submit to me any photos and/or stories about their families' experiences in the coal mines. If you submit a photo or story, please do so via my email (omchodoy-at-yahoo-dot-com) and include your name as you want it credited in the series, along with any known names in the photos or stories.

While we're waiting for this blog series to begin, I leave you with a musical hero of miners everywhere. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Tennessee Ernie Ford. Video available via www.youtube.com, user LordEgan.

In Living Color

2010-03-19T21:40:00.000-07:00

I, along with a large percentage of the genealogy community, have been glued to the television on Friday evenings since the beginning of the NBC series, Who Do You Think You Are? (WDYTYA). Each week a celebrity's search for his/her ancestors is featured. The first week they featured Sarah Jessica Parker, and last week it was Emmitt Smith's turn. Great episodes, though I have to admit to wanting to go re-watch Emmitt's since I missed part of it.

But I think that tonight's episode is going to be very hard to beat. Tonight they featured Lisa Kudrow. I'm not sure what made tonight's episode so personal to me, given that I have no known Jewish ancestors and no known link to the Holocaust. But I found myself riveted to the television like I haven't been in a very long time. Tonight's episode was more than a search for someone's family history, it was a search for someone's family story.

Yes, there were stories in the other episodes, and I imagine there will be stories in the episodes to come. But I made a connection with Lisa Kudrow tonight as I watched her travels. One of her comments, while she was in Illya, was to the effect of "This is where she walked, this is what she'd seen when she lived". I found myself brought back to the time, about five years ago, when I was first going through my family's old photographs, in sepia tone or black and white. By the time I finished sorting the photographs and scanning them into my computer I actually had to remind myself that, while the pictures were in black and white, life has always happened in color. I couldn't fathom what these people and places looked like in color.

Ever since this early genealogical time I have longed for the chance to go back to Pittston and Nanticoke in Luzerne County PA so I can see where my grandparents and great-grandparents lived, worked, walked, and played. In true, living color. Perhaps one day I'll get the chance to make that trip. Dare I even dream to go back to the places where my great-grandparents were born and raised? To learn about their lives in their countries and try to grasp the historical basis for their leaving their homelands? I guess maybe this is why Lisa Kudrow's story touched me so deeply ... it was a true search for the story of the people that made her Lisa.

The Women of OMcHodoy

2010-03-10T20:22:00.000-08:00

March is Women's History Month, and this month's edition of "Smile for the Camera" asks us to sing the praises of the unsung heroines of our ancestry. Without further ado, I present to you the women who made up OMcHodoy:

"O" is for "O'Rourke, as in my mother, Regina "Jean" Ann O'Rourke.

"Mc" is for "McHUGH", as in Noreen, Marianne, and AnnieMcHugh.

"Hod" is for "Hodick", as in Mary, Susan, Sylvestina and Justina Hodick.

"Doy" is for "Doyle" for Regina "Jean", Margaret, Mary Ann, Alice, Johanna and Anna Doyle.

WDYTYA?

2010-03-05T20:43:00.000-08:00

If you by chance happen to be on Facebook, and if by chance you happen to have the same friend list as I have, you might by chance be wondering what all the WDYTYA'ing is all about. Unless, of course, you happen to know that tonight was NBC's debut of their series, Who Do You Think You Are?, a documentary walking celebrities through their family trees. Tonight's debut episode featured Sarah Jessica Parker. Did you watch the show? If so, tell me what you thought.

I enjoyed this show much more than the PBS series, Faces of America if for one reason only: WDYTYA spent the entire episode on one person, whereas Faces of America bounces back and forth between several people in one episode. WDYTYA was much easier for me to follow. To be fair, though, I only saw 2 of the Faces of America shows.

Thomas at Destination: Austin Family posted his thoughts very succinctly on his blog. I shared many of his thoughts, so I won't repeat them all here. But I will repeat one thing that struck me as well as Thomas: The lack of narrative or explanation as to what goes into high-quality genealogical research.

I realize it was only an hour-long show and that they wanted to relay the story as it unfolded as opposed to how it unfolded, but just a quick statement here and there about the importance of the research process would have gone a long way. I hope this doesn't sound cruel, because I really enjoyed the show and can't wait for the next episode, but I think it was a bit irresponsible not to bring up the process by which the researchers determined that the John S. Hodge in the 1850 Census record was the John S. Hodge Sarah Jessica Parker wanted to find. I suspect this show, as well as Faces of America, will bring new enthusiasts to the world of genealogy and it's important that we teach the beginners how to analyze data right from the start. To do otherwise is akin to encouraging people to assume relationships based only on shared names on a historical document.

And we all know what happens when we assume things.

All the same, I enjoyed the show, can't wait for the next one, and recommend it to any genealogy enthusiast.

The Hardest Update

2010-02-17T20:15:00.000-08:00

Genealogists get so excited over things that "normal" people don't: An obituary. A death certificate. A tombstone. We can be an odd bunch.

We also get excited over the additions we get to make to our genealogy databases because of information we find in an obituary. On a death certificate, or on a tombstone. We do the genealogical happy dance. We post a status update on Facebook. We tweet. it's all good.

Except when it's not. Yesterday I had to make the most difficult change to my genealogy database that I ever had to make.

Dennis Joseph McHugh

17 Jan 1937 - 15 Feb 2010

Pictured in 1985 with Regina (Jean)(O'Rourke) McHugh

18 Jan 1938-13 Nov 1988

I Love You, Mom and Dad.

The Super Bowl of Saturday Night Genealogy Fun

2010-02-07T05:03:00.000-08:00

Thanks, Randy, for my favorite SNGF activities to date. I am one big NFL fan, and this was truly a blast! Here are the rules:
1) Tell us about your dream game of the Super Bowl of Genealogy!
* Where would it be played?
* What teams would play?
* Who would be the head coaches?
* Who would be the stars of the game?
* Who would win?
* Who are the cheerleaders?
* If you were playing in the game, what would be your dream play?

2) Who do you think will win the NFL Super Bowl Colts-Saints game on Sunday? Your score prediction, please!

3) Post your thoughts on your own blog, on a Facebook comment or Note, or as a comment on this blog post.

Welcome to the super-spectacular event of the year! What an exciting time for Pennsylvania, as the Nanticoke Miners take on the Pittston Roaders in the game of the year! It has been quite the ride for the DL & W Field to win the bid for the Super Bowl game; how exciting that the opponents would be Luzerne County’s very own rival teams? History has been made in Wilkes-Barre PA!

Coaching for the Nanticoke Miners we have a spirit: The spirit of Tennessee Ernie Ford. He is somewhat of a hero in these parts. Few people in the old mining towns of this area would tolerate a slight against the lamenter of the residents’ coal-mining ancestors. Though he may be a guest coach and a "spirit", he will be here for just this one game. These fans would storm Canton if they thought it would earn Mr. Williams a spot in the National Football League Hall of Fame.

Coaching for the DL & W Roaders we have Mr. Lehigh as he’s known. Just as Williams is revered by the Miners, Lehigh is an icon for the railroading town of Pittston. Yes, folks, this game is rich in fans, who are expecting their teams to play as hard as their ancestors worked. Losing this game means more than just losing a game; it means disappointing the spirits of miners and railroaders past.

Starring for the Nanticoke Miners is Chevalier de la Luzerne IV, at the quarterback position. He is single-handedly expected to bring this team to victory, given that the county which is home to both teams was named after his great-grandfather.

On the other side of the game, we have Alack Awanna who holds the record for the most receptions in the history of the game. He is doubly talented as a passer, as we are likely to see in the infamous Statue of Liberty play. Awanna’s skills as a catcher have made the passing game of the Roaders the talk of the town, and believe me folks, it’s hard to beat the Railroading Industry as the topic of talk in this town.

The game is likely to be close, but it is predicted that the Miners will walk away with the trophy, given that their cheerleaders, the Nanticoke Spokes, are the most zealous in the league. Adding to that dynamic is the half-time show, a star-studded spectacular honoring their famous one-time resident, Jerry Orbach.

Down south of Wilkes-Barre, another Super Bowl is about to be played, and given the propensity for big teams to win, I suspect this year will be an exception, and I predict one of the most exciting games ever as the Saints Go Marching On to a Win! I'll say 28-26.

Let's Go to Expo! Part 10!

2010-01-17T17:46:00.000-08:00

We are really getting close to THE date, so I'd best get moving on my series of speaker intros for the Mesa, Az FH Expo! We've got a U.S. representative for Genline, AB. which offers access to Swedish records, some higher-ups who provide family history training to priesthood leaders, the founder of Heritage Quest!!!, and an instructor for the National Institute for Genealogical Studies! And more to follow those!

Kathy Meade volunteers at the Swedish American Museum in Chicago. She has a degree in history and she'll be presenting the following:

1/22 @ 10:00 a.m. Beginning Swedish Genealogy

1/22 @ 11:30 a.m. Doing Swedish Research in a Computer World

We have a Duo in our midst: Lance McIntosh and Brent Summerhays! Both work at FamilySearch and both are active in training Family History Consultants. They will be providing such training in Mesa at the following times:

1/23 @ 1:00 Session One; 2:30 Session Two, and 4:00 Session Three.

Does Leland Meitzler need an introduction? Like so many other speakers, I don't think so. But he is the founder of Heritage Quest and he did serve as the Managing Editor of both Heritage Quest Magazine and Everton's Genealogical Helper. Are you ready for this entertaining instructor's speaking schedule?

1/22 @ 10:00 Organizing, Preserving, Accessing, and Sharing Your Genealogy Using Digital Documents and Pictures

1/22 @ 11:30 Using State and Territorial Censuses and Substitutes to Locate Your Family

1/23 @ 9:30 The Lay of the Land: Using Directories, Maps and Gazetteers

1/23 @ 11:00 Flames Over the Courthouse

I'm intending to attend several of his presentations and I honestly can't wait!

Lisa Alzo is a genealogy instructor for GenClass and the National Institute of Genealogical Studies. She's authored 9 books. And she is also presenting at the Mesa Expo and I'm going to be attending at least one of her presentations!

1/23 @ 2:30 Best Web Sites for East European Research

1/23 @ 4:00 Finding Your Elusive East European Ancestors

If I could do this as a podcast, I would, because if I did, you'd know exactly who is up next!

Lisa Louise Cook, of The Genealogy Gems, is back for more fun in the sun (well, it's slated to rain, but it'll be fun anyway). I am so excited to have her back, I can hardly type. Her speaking schedule, at one point, anyway, interferes with my own presentation and I hope there's at least a small audience left for me!

1/22 @ 10:00 Google: A Goldmine of Genealogy Gems I
1/22 @ 11:30 Google: A Goldmine of Genealogy Gems II
1/23 @ 1:00 Solving Family Tree Mysteries with Google Earth

Mark Tucker Thinks Genealogy so much he named his blog after the activity! He's a software architect and family history enthusiast all rolled up into one! His presentations are:

1/22 @ 11:00 Navigating Research with the Genealogical Proof Standard
1/23 @ 8:00 The Twittering Genealogist

If you prefer to learn more than your ancestors' names and dates and wish to learn about them as people who at some level influenced your life, then Marlo Schuldt has the presentation for you! Marlo is the President of LifeStory Productions, Inc. which produces software to assist in writing family histories! He is the one to talk to about learning how to gather information. You can hear him speak about his software:

1/23 @ 11:00 a.m. Heritage Collector Software Demonstration

Another expert at the Family History Writing process is Michael Booth, the Vice-President for Development at RootsMagic and the creator of Personal Historian. Come see what he has to say on the subject:

1/22 @ 4:30 Mapping Your Family History with Family Atlas
1/23 @ 2:30 Personal Historian: Bringing Life to Your Life Stories

What better place for a lecture on Mexican, Central and South American research than Mesa, Arizona? And what better person to present on topics of interest in this area than Patsy Huber? Patsy is a native Guatemalen, and she also is the resident expert at the Mesa Family History Center. I'm so excited to announce her speaking schedule:

1/23 @ 9:30 Helping Mexican, and Central and South American Researchers in Your FHC or Ward

1/23 @ 11:00 How to Do Mexican Research and Be Successful at It

The Guide to Ancestral Research in London is a book I would be very interested in, and the author is just the one to tell me all about it. Phillip Dunn, AG is speaking at the Mesa Expo as well! Just so happens he has much to teach about Scottish, Welsh and Irish research too!

1/22 @ 1:30 Finding Your English/Welsh Ancestors

1/22 @ 3:00 Finding your Scottish Ancestors – What Do You Need to Do?

1/22 @ 4:30 Finding Your Irish Ancestors – Are There Really Any Records?

We also have the Senior VP of Product at Footnote.com coming to Mesa! WOOHOO! He once worked at The Generations Network, too so we are getting our money's worth and more! So who is this man?

It's Roger Bell!

1/22 @ 4:30 Everything You Wanted to Know About Footnote.com

1/23 @ 2:30 How Best to Search and Browse Footnote.com Content

Sue Clark is an experience speaker and an experienced author and an experienced genealogist. She is also presenting on an issue near and dear to our ancestors' lives and to current generations' lives, as well: Immigration:

1/22 @ 1:30 Ellis Island and the Immigrant Experience

Just-a-lookat-a-dat-face! Dat is the face of Suzanne Russo Adams, AG who just happens to have expertise in Italian research! She is the Society Partnership Manager at Ancestry.com and will speak with us about the following:

1/23 @ 9:30 Simplifying Online Research with Ancestry.com Family Tree

1/23 @ 11:00 Immigration and Emigration Records Online

Timothy Cross is responsible. Yes, you heard me right. He is the one responsible for it all. At least for it all regarding the Family Tree portion of the new FamilySearch! He will tell us all about it:

1/22 @ 11:30 new.familysearch.org: What’s New and Upcoming. He will repeat this presentation on 1/23 @ 11:00!

Now loook at the next face very carefully. It is the face of someone who is incredibly helpful, tech-savvy, and so energetic it makes me dizzy.

Thomas MacEntee (muh-KENT-ee, I believe it's pronounced; I'm sure he'll correct me if I'm wrong). What better presenter to wrap up my series with? Thomas is the technology and social networking guru of Geneabloggers and just wait until you see his speaking schedule!

1/22 @ 1:30 Twitter – It’s Not Just “What I Had for Breakfast” Anymore

1/23 @ 8:00 Become a Genealogy Blog User

Now I've been blogging about genealogy for almost 5 years now, and I still can't wait to hear what Thomas has to say!

Let's Go to Expo! Part 9.

2010-01-16T17:00:00.000-08:00

What better way to celebrate two years of this blog than by posting another installment of Let's Go to Expo? WOOOHOOO! Here's what's coming up on January 22 & 23 in Mesa, Arizona!

This installment has some great names from great people, from the President of Incline Software to an author of some 11 genealogy training programs to the owner of Generation Maps to a guitar playing national speaker! Let's get going.

The President of Incline Software is Gaylon Findlay, who will speak at:

8:00 on 1/23: Ancestral Quest 12.1 - The Natural Upgrade for PAF and at

3:00 on 1/22: Synchronize PAF 5 or AQ Data with New FamilySearch Using Ancestral Quest, the Program from Which PAF 5 was Derived

The expert on training videos for Genealogy is Geoffrey Rasmussen, the creator of the Legacy Family Tree program!

Geoffrey will grace our eyes and ears with the following presentations:

1/22 @ 1:30: Organizing, Planning, Mapping, Charting and Sharing Using Legacy Family Tree

1:23 @ 8:00: Market Your Ancestors Using Message Boards, Mailing Lists, Blogs, and Social Networking Sites

1/23 @ 1:00: Legacy Family Tree: Tips & Tricks

1/23 @ 4:00: Timelines and Chronologies: Secrets of Genealogical Success

Who else could follow Geoffrey but The Chart Chick? Janet Hovorka, along with her husband, own and operate Generation Maps, and if you've never seen one of her charts then you have GOT to come to this Expo (well, you should be coming anyway). Janet will speak twice at this year's Mesa FH Expo:

1/22 at 3:00: Basic Research Practices in the Age of New FamilySearch

1/23 at 2:30: Certified Genealogy Software that Makes New FamilySearch Family Tree Easier

Can you imagine a better genealogy speaker than an expert in folklore? I can't! Jean Wilcox Hibben is a board-certified genealogist, President of the Corona Genealogical Society, and the Southern California chapter of APG! And MESA gets to hear her speak:

1/22 @ 1:30: Federal Census Records: Brick Wall Battering Rams, Part I

1/22 @ 3:00: Federal Census Records: Brick Wall Battering Rams, Part II

1/23 @ 1:00: To Zion in Song: The Westward Migration of the Mormons

Jim Greene is a FamilySearch Product Manager. He's a guru on technology and its uses in genealogy, having also worked for IBM and Novell. He will be presenting the following:

1/22 @ 10:00 a.m.: FamilySearch 2010 and Beyond

1/23 @ 8:00 a.m.: FamilySearch’s Research Wiki, Forums, and Blogs: Useful Tools to Connect and Collaborate with Others

Ever hear of John Vilburn? If you haven't, you probably have heard of his company: Ohana Software. He also developed PAF Insight and Family Insight. And if you still haven't heard of him, you will by the time this Expo is over. He is presenting:

1/22 @ 11:30 a.m.: FamilyInsight: The Rest of the Story

I hope to see as many of you there as possible.

Let's Go to Expo! Part 8

2010-01-11T19:35:00.000-08:00

I wish I could bring my dog to the Family History Expo in Mesa, Az January 22-23. He'd probably learn so much from Dolores A. (Dee) Semon. See, Dolores has 34 years experience in German and Polish research, including Pommerania! Yes, you got it: My dog is part Pomeranian! Then again, she also is experienced in research in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and my great-grandfather Edward HODICK may well have been born in Bohemia! Dolores speaks 8 languages and published a book in Weurttemburg. As if that wasn't enough, she is the Public Relations secretary, E-News Editor, and Research Chair for Federation of Eastern European Family History Societies (FEEFHS). WOW! Her speaking schedule is as follows:

1/22 @ 3:00 Beginning Polish Research
1/22 @ 4:30 I Stil Can't Find My Place Name

Who is a native of Georgia, is a cultural historian, and is a principal investigator for DNA Consultants in Phoenix? And who has co-authored "When Scotland Was Jewish: DNA Evidence, Archaelogy, and Public Records"? And who has a new book on the horizon entitled "Star, Crescent and Cross: Jews and Muslims in Colonial America"?

Why, it's Donald Yates, of course! I'm amazed at the speaker tally at this year's expo! Donald will be presenting the following:

1/22 @ 10:00 Ancestral Tracing With an Autosomal DNA Test: Conceptions and Misconceptions.

Duff Wilson has 15 years of software design with Ancestry.com and holds the title of Senior Product Manager for Family Tree Maker. He's skilled at creating programs for the novice and the expert alike. He is a graduate of Utah State University and we are lucky to have him in Mesa this year:

1/22 @ 1:30 p.m. Getting the Most out of Family Tree Maker

Happy 101

2010-01-10T19:15:00.000-08:00

Cindy Bergeron Scherwinski of In My Life is apparently enjoying my Let's Go To Expo posts enough to present me with the honor of the Happy 101 Award. My task is to identify 10 things that make me happy and award 10 others this award.

What makes me happy:

1. Knowing that I was raised in the perfect family in the perfect neighborhood in the perfect house. Perfect is in the eye of the beholder, and some days the perfection of my happy childhood, flaws and all, hits me like a welcomed brick. Today was one of those days.

2. My dog, Izzie. And the memories of the dogs that had come before him: Mandy and Skipper.

3. Cousin Connections. Call me sensitive or call me sentimental. There is something extra special about re-connecting with cousins long lost. And the exhilerating feel of connecting with a cousin never known is indescribeable. Every time I find a cousin, or one finds me, I am overcome with wonderment about what our common ancestor must be thinking now!

4. Friends. You know, the people you can yell at, cuss at, laugh with, cry with, and just hang out with and know that the bond between you will never be broken.

5. My career. I usually love being a social worker. It allows me to use my creativity to further the lives of others. And in the process, of my own life.

6. My car. Okay, this is rather materialistic, but I don't care. I love my car. (Knocking on wood as I type this, as I firmly believe that every time you say something good about a car it hears you and it breaks down).

7. Tucson winters. Most of the year I miss the lush green grass of my home in Western New York. And I miss WATER. Big, blue, bodies of water that were not created by man (or woman). But this past week , with high temps in the low 70's, proves that you just can't beat Tucson winters.

8. Professional Football. I'm going to be a bit melancholy in a few weekends' time....

9. The Internet. It allows me to have fun and make those cousin connections that in turn help me make more spiritual connections with ancestors long gone.

10. Mayonaisse and lettuce sandwiches. Okay, I know it sounds awful, and you're wondering why my parents would ever have allowed me to eat such things, but every once in a while I just have to have two pieces of white bread with mayonnaise (not miracle whip) and leaves of iceberg lettuce on them. Goes back to the happy childhood thing again. Comfort food, if you will.

Now the 10 blogs I pass it on to:

1. Conversations wth Ancestors Past
2. I Dream of Genea(logy)
3. Passing it On
4. Twig Talk
5. Apple's Tree
6. Destination Austin Family
7. DearMyrtle
8. footnoteMaven
9. ThinkGenealogy
10.GeneaMusings

Let's Go to Expo! Part 7

2010-01-05T18:40:00.000-08:00

A couple of days and one post closer to the 2010 Family History Expo in Mesa, Az on January 22 & 23! Let's get the show on the road!

David Dilts is accredited for genealogical research for the areas of LDS Research and German Research. He's a Senior Reference Consultant in U.S. Reference at the Family History Library. Attendees have 4 opportunities to hear hhim speak:

1/22 @ 4:30 Evaluating Genealogical Evidence

1/23 @ 1:00 Revolutionary War Research

1/23 @ 2:30 Civil War Research

1/23 @ 4:00 World War I and World War II: U.S. Military Records

I'm not even sure how to introduce the next presenter. Oh, wait, yes I do! Having met her in person at last year's conference, I can tell you she is as kind in real life as she is on the Internet.

DearMYRTLE, Ol' MYRT, Pat Richley, it all adds up to knowledge. Her books include Dear MYRTLE's Joy of Genealogy (2006), and The Everything Online Genealogy Book (2000). Her blogs include DearMYRTLE's Genalogy Blog and Teach Genealogy At the FH Expo in Mesa, she will present on a topic near and dear to her heart (and especially to ours. You can attend her presentations at the following times:

1/22 @ 11:30 FINALLY Get Organized!
1/23 @ 9:30 Getting from an Index to the Original Document

I was kind of hoping she'd present on Second Life, since I just haven't been able to grasp it. Perhaps I can corner her for a tutorial...

Let's Go to Expo! Part 6

2010-01-03T18:00:00.000-08:00

So just what is FamilySearch doing to prevent the loss of genealogical records across the globe? Just how are they digitalizing all those documents and articles and records? How are they goiong to make it easier, quicker, and cheaper to access these records? And why are you looking to me to provide the answers to these quesions?

You should be looking to Bryce Roper at the 2010 Family History Expo in Mesa, Az! He is going to tell us all about RecordSearch and FamilySearch and their efforts to bring the past into the twenty-first century! You can hear his answers at the following times:

1/22 @ 1:30 Powerful Tips and Tricks for FamilySearch Record Search Coming

1/23 @ 9:30 Armchair Research: Easy Access to the World's Records.

And just why is Bryce going to be the one to answer those questions? Because Bryce is the Product Manager for FamilySearch, that's why! He's held many positions in the technology/marketing field and he knows his products!

The next presenter, if you read this blog with any regularity, is someone you should know whether you're going to be at the Mesa FH Expo or not: I'ts ME!

I am not a professional genealogist, nor am I teacher of genealogy (yet). I don't even have any degrees in history, Family Studies, or Sociology (but I come close on the last two!). My educational and professional backgrounds are in Social Work. I have worked in several areas of Social Work, from schools to behavioral health and now, medical. One thing that has come in handy in all my postions AND in my genealogy research is the use of Genograms. If you attend my presentation, you will gain an understanding of what a Genogram is and how it can help you gain a better understanding of your ancestors. And of yourself!

1/23 @ 1:00 When the Past Meets the Present to Change the Future: Using Genograms in Genealogical Research.

Genealogical Research methods have changed dramatically over the past few years; it's even different today than it was last year. Curtis Tirrell will spend some time at the Family History Expo in Mesa telling us not what we need to know about the past, but what we need to know about the future:

1/22 @ 10:00 AppTime

Let's Go to Expo! Part 5

2010-01-02T19:45:00.000-08:00

When I was a junior in high school, I took a class called Advanced Health. This class was one in which the students...16 max...had to apply and be accepted to take. Each student was responsible for creating, planning and carrying out a lesson plan. One student in my class chose the topic "Death and Dying". One of our "guest" speakers was the teacher, Ms. Dorothy Arenz. Ms. Arenz told us tales of her adventures walking through cemeteries as she traveled. One of the activities in this lesson was a visit to a local cemetery. It was a rather peaceful field trip, truth be known.

I might just be ripe for another lecture on cemeteries, and I will get my chance on Saturday, January 23, 2010 at the Mesa Family History Expo!

Betsy Frith Gotsponer, MLS, is a professional librarian in Yuma, Az. She is also a genealogy teacher at Arizona Western College. She will present the following:

1/23 @ 4:00 Cemeteries I Have Walked.

I hope that you will be able to attend this lecture and gain some new knowledge on the value of cemetery research.

Billy Dubois Edgington holds a B.A. degree in History. She's contributed to "Genealogical Helper", co-authored a book entitled "Vital Information from the Guion Miller Roll" and authored a book entitled "African-Cherokee Connections". She has over 40 years experience in genealogy research and will strut her stuff at the January Expo:

1/23 @ 4:00 Wagon Trains and Indian Fights.

When she talks about family members who'd disappeared into the West, she could be referring to ME! I'm going to have a tough time deciding which presentation to attend, Betsy's or Billy's!

Bruce Buzbee probably needs no introduction, but in case he does, here it is! Bruce is the founder and president of RootsMagic, Inc., a premier genealogy software company. He authored my database program, RootsMagic 4 and Family Reunion Organizer. You can also add original creator of Family Origins. He is the webmaster of Family-Reunion.com. He is presenting the following:

1/22 @ 3:00 What's New in RootsMagic4

1/23 @ 9:30 The New FamilySearch Made Easy with RootsMagic4

Let's Go to Expo! Part 4

2009-12-29T18:34:00.000-08:00

Are you ready for the 4th installment for the Let's Go to Expo! series? I hope so because we have two amazing women in store for you today. Imparting her knowledge of New England and New York research, Arlene Eakle, Ph.D., will be speaking on four occasions at the 2010 Mesa Family History Expo.

1/22/09 @ 1:30: Virginia Genealogy Part I: Virginia Jurisdictions and Genealogical Research: A Preliminary Checklist.

1/22/09 @ 3:00: Virginia Genealogy, Part II: What is New and What Research Strategies Work

1/23/09 @ 8:00 New York Research Part I

1/23/09 @ 9:30 New York Research Part II

Aside from being a professional genealogist for over 30 yers, Arlene is "merely" the President and Founder of The Genealogical Institute. She specializes in New York, the Southern U.S., the British Aisles, Switzerland and parts of Germany. Attendees are sure to learn much from Arlene!

Baerbell Johnson, AG, is an International Reference Consultant at the Family History Library. I can attest to her knowledge and expertise, having had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with her at the 2008 FH Expo in Mesa. I had a question for DearMyrtle, actually and she pulled in Baerbell to give me some tips on passenger ships and ports of departure/entry to include Austria and St. Kitt's. Baerbell will also grace us with her presence and knowledge at the 2010 Mesa Expo:

1/22 @ 10:00 German Genealogy on the Internet - An Overview and German Town Genealogies and Parish Register Indexes on the Internet.

1/22 @ 11:30 Avoiding Mistakes in German Research

1/22 @ 1:00 Occupations in German Research.

1/23 @ 8:00 Finding Your Italian Ancestors

Let's Go to Expo! Part 3

2009-12-27T17:38:00.000-08:00

The Internet is a great thing, but it can be scary, too. Lots of things can go wrong, such as phishing and hacking and identity theft. Genealogists are not exempt from these dangers. Fortunately, we have Andrew Pomeroy.

Andrew is a partner at Limited Edition Publishers, who specialize in family histories and color-accurate photo books. He is educated in business/marketing/technology, and he promises to help genealogists stay safe. At least, he promises to help genealogists attending his lecture at the 2010 Mesa Family History Expo in Mesa, Az! His speaking schedule is as follows:

1/22/10 @ 4:30: Internet Safety for Genealogists and Everyone Else
1/23/10 @ 11:00: Connecting Families Through Facebook

Many, if not most, of you know that the Geneabloggers have grown from a small group of people navigating through each others' blogs to communicate to an approaching-1,000 member strong group on Facebook as well as each others' blogs. Well, Anna Fechter, who has a B.S. degree in Sociology, can help family historians find and grow communities on the Internet!

Anna is the Community Operations Manager at Ancestry.com, and she is responsible for the day-to-day operations of Rootsweb, The Learning Center, and The World Archives Project. Community is her thing, and if you want it to be your thing, too, plan on attending her presentation:

1/23/10 @ 1:00: Tapping into the Ancestry.com and RootsWeb Community.

I'd love to go to this presentation, except, well, er, uh....I'm presenting at the same time! I'll tell you about my topic a little later! I'm glad there will be a syllabus available of all presentations, because everyone will want to know all about everyone else's subjects!

Let's Go to Expo! Part 2

2009-12-26T08:14:00.000-08:00

Today I will focus on two presenters for the 2010 Family History Expo in Mesa, Az., since I missed a few days for the Holiday.
Alice Volkert is on the board of the Southern California Chapter of the Association for Professional Genealogists. She focuses on general United States research and New England. She is also associated with the Family History Center in Orange, California. She is presenting on two topics at the Mesa Expo:

1. 1/23/10 @ 11:00: Digital Photography. Alice will discuss why the digital camera is one the most valuable tools for genealogical research.

2. 1/23/10 @ 2:30: Naming Patterns in Colonial New England. I suspect Alice has some tricky stories and tricks up her sleeve as she delves through the mysterious patterns (or lack thereof) of naming children in this early geographic area!

Anastasia Tyler is the Genealogy Research Manager for the Conferences and PR team at Ancestry.com. She is currently working on her accreditation on English Research, after having graduated from Brigham Young. She'll be presenting on two different occasions:

1. 1/22/10 @ 10:00: Getting the Most out of your Ancestry.com subscription

2. 1/22/10 @ 11:30: Best strategies for Searching Ancestry.com

Ancestry.com is constantly adding more data to their bases (sorry, couldn't help add a little twister there). Anastasia will tell you how to make the most of the site!

Let's Go to Expo!

2009-12-23T18:47:00.000-08:00

It'a ONE MONTH until the Mesa Family History Expo! The event will occur at the Mesa Convention Center in Mesa, Az on January 22 and 23, 2010. The details can be found HERE. Since it is going to be the event of the year for all of Arizona, I thought I'd do some spotlighting. Over the next month you will get to "meet", right here at this blog, the people who will be making it all happen. I will introduce you to the presenters at this year's Expo. By the time all is said and done, you will surely want to be there in person to see it in 3-d!

I notice that the opening speech for this year is being held in one of the ballrooms at the Mesa Convention Center. At the first Mesa Family History Expo in November of 2008, the speech was held outside. The weather was a tad bit cool in the morning but warmed up by the time the speech began. The 2nd Expo here is in January, and though it IS Arizona we're talking about, the weather is likely to be less predictable.

The keynote speaker for this event is Tim Sullivan, the CEO of Ancestry.com. He is highly educated, having received an MBA from Harvard Business School and accomplished the honor of Morehead Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His topic for the opening ceremony? "Digital Expectations: Preserving Yesterday's Records for Today's Researchers". Attendees will get a look inside the process by which technology allows Ancestry.com and other organizations to do what they do for researchers around the world.

It's sure to be a HOT event in every sense of the word (and if you're coming from Buffalo or the Upper Peninsula, it's likely to be hot outside even if it's cold to us Arizonans!).

The Annual Carol-A-Long

2009-12-16T19:22:00.000-08:00

Yep, it's that time of the year again: footnoteMaven's Blog Caroling. My first year's presentation was of a childhood favorite (whether it be December or July!), The Little Drummer Boy. Last year I included a video from a dog-blogger who'd created a video of dogs lip-synching to "Do They Know It's Christmas".

This year I chose a piece performed by one of my favorite groups, Celtic Woman. The voices of these women (and men, too) melt my heart, and the accompaniment fills the room with energy. I had the pleasure of seeing this ensemble perform a couple years ago and I was so impressed with every tune. I hope you enjoy this song and video. I present to you "Christmas Pipes".

Christmas Pipes

Words and music by Brendan Graham]

Christmas pipes, Christmas pipes
Calling us calling on Christmas night
Call us from far, call us from near
Oh play me your Christmas pipes

Christmas bells, Christmas bells
Over the hills and over the dells
Ringing out bright, ringing out clear
Oh ring me your Christmas bells

Christmas strings, Christmas strings
Playing the peace that Christmas brings
Fiddle and bow, gentle and low
Oh play me your Christmas strings

(1st verse)

O Holy night
The stars are brightly shining
It is the night

Christmas choir, Christmas choir
Christmas carols 'round Christmas fire
Holy night, angels on high
Round up your Christmas choir

Christmas band, Christmas band
You're waiting for me with your Christmas band
Cymbal and drum, rattle and hum
March out your Christmas band

Good to be home to your Christmas pipes

Success At Last!

2009-12-13T18:08:00.000-08:00

Oh my gosh! What a HUGE success story THIS is! I can hardly contain myself.

As a child, I remember the holiday spread that my dad's mother, Mary (HODICK) McHUGH would put out. Not just the Christmas Eve dinner, but the cookies and the candies (remember ribbon candy?) and just about anything you could ever dream of putting into your mouth! Alas, I was more of a tomboy when I was a kid, hence, neither grandmothers nor mother could get me into the kitchen to learn how to do the things that they did. To this day, if I have any regrets, it is that I did not partake in culinary endeavors with my elders when I had the chance.

Well, to follow up last year's GeneaBlogger Cookbook, Thomas MacEntee put together a version for 2009 with a focus on Holiday Treats. It can be found HERE. I didn't have an entry for this year, since I really didn't have anything to contribute to a holiday-themed cookbook. But I DID have use for the recipes found within the pages of this year's edition! We're having a cookie exchange at work tomorrow, an event which terrifies me given my lack of baking ability. I once tried a simple sugar cookie and it was disastrous!

So I spent the afternood baking. Yes, you heard me, baking. I used one cookie recipe from a Taste of Home recipe magazine (I love that magazine!), and I must say it was quite easy!
I've seen these coookies called many things, but this book called them "Nutty Orange Snowballs". I usually see them called Sandies, and they are a Christmas favorite of mine. This year, for the first time since Grandma (HODICK) McHUGH died in 1976, I get homemade Sandies!

Then I tried a cookie recipe from the GeneaBlogger Winter 2009 Cookbook desccribed above. I chose Lynn Palermo's (The Armchair Genealogist) recipe for Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. It was shocking enough to have ONE cookie come out right, but to have TWO in ONE DAY? It is nothing short of a Miracle! I truly felt my Grandmas' presence today!

So, Lynn, do they look right? They sure taste good!

Had She Been Born Today...

2009-12-13T09:42:00.000-08:00

My loyal readers might be a bit tired of my posts about Aunt Marianne, dad's oldest surviving sibling who was born in 1930 with Down Syndrome. But they will also know that I often ponder how her life might have been had she been born today. This morning I saw a video of a young woman in New Zealand whow was born wtih DS about 31years ago. Her accomplishments are amazing, albeit still quite unusual in modern times. But I hope that she is an inspiration to future generations of children and young adults born with this very special condit ion.

Dear Genea-Santa:

2009-12-05T21:34:00.000-08:00

I haven't been a very good blogger this year. I've slacked off on more than one occasion. So much so that I've missed out on many activities. But I promise, I will do better. There is one thing that would surely help me:

The distinguished looking man in the back there is my great-grandfather James O'ROURKE, and he is pictured here with his wife Mary (KEARNS) and daughters Mary (Mae), Betty, and Margaret (Nellie). James and Mary had two other children, James (my grandfather) and Lucille, who was special, from what I hear.

I know quite a bit about Mary's family: She was the daughter of John and Bridget (DONAHUE) KEARNS. She was one of seven children (with siblings Winifred, Genevieve, Lawrence, Jeremiah, John, and Francis), and her parents were Lawrence and Mary (KEHOE) DONAHUE.

Mary, aka Mae, married James JORDAN, an ophthalmologist who fixed my big brother's eyes when he was a wee one, and his descendants now are well known in Pittson, PA and surrounding areas for their work on people's eyes. Betty married George ROCHE, and Margaret, aka Nellie, married Frank McCARTHY.

But I know nothing about my great-grandfather James O'ROURKE's family. So Santa, won't you please give me the energy I need to order vital records in hopes of finding out who James' parents were? I have James' years as 1876-1944; at least that's what is on his headstone, of which I have a photo thanks to my cousin, Pat Sharpe-Dunn. If you give me some help with this, I promise to be a better blogger.

Well, I promise to be a better blogger anyway, but I still would love some help!

We Look Like Who?

2009-11-29T13:58:00.000-08:00

Randy of GeneaMusings posteed yet another activity for his fellow geneabloggers to do. He asked participants to head over to MyHeritage.com and click on the "Celebrities and Fun" tab. There visitors can upload a photograph and it will tell them which celebrities they most resemble. Here are the results for my entries:

I had entered three different photos, and Anjelica Huston was on each result, though this is the only one on which she didn't appear as the highest match. Others that resulted from the other two pictures (all three taken within the past year) were Victoria Principle and Thiessen (I can't remember her first name).

Wondering how others in my family would turn out, I put in a picture of my mother and father. Dad's first:

Then Mom.

Since I'd always been told I look like mom, I expected some of our celebity-look-alikes to match, but they didn't. She would be THRILLED to see Jackie O on her match list!

Perhaps Grandma (HODICK) McHugh will share some of my matches:

Nope. Grandpa McHugh?

Nope again. How about Grandma or Grandpa ORourke?

(Check out Cary Grant under my grandpa! COOL!).

Since none of us share a single celebrity look-alike, I am left with no choice but to conclude that we were all adopted!

I tried to see who Izzie looked like, but alas, the face recognition tool couldn't find his face!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2009-11-28T17:49:00.000-08:00

I can't remember a year when we didn't decorate for Christmas. Growing up in western NY state, where White Christmases were the norm, it was easy to get into the spirit. Dad would decorate the outside of the house with big, bulb lights and a homemade gigantic star that was placed in the middle of the porch railing. Mom would take care of the inside, for the most part. She did have some help with the tree and the platform underneath:

Most of the houses and trees, and the brick paper and the mountain paper in the background belonged to my paternal grandmother, Mary HODICK when she was growing up, so the set was spectacular. I'm not sure, though, whatever happened to the set once us kids all grew up.

As an adult, I carry on the tradition of decorating for the holidays. I don't have any family heirlooms, and the oldest thing I have is ... well, probably a nutcracker of some sort (I have 37). Tonight I finished my annual tradition of decorating the weekend after Thanksgiving. It sure looks a lot different from my childhood home in NY, and certainly has progressed from Grandma McHugh's aluminum tree and color wheel!

Shoo-be-doo-be-doo ... be-doo

2009-11-01T09:29:00.001-08:00

Some people strive to be singers and start out as Backup Singers. Genealogists strive to have backed-up data (soured and cited) and know the first step is to have Backup Data.

Today is Data Back Up Day. It is one thing to have a wealth of data of any type; it is quite another to lose all that data because of a system failure, natural disaster, or other catastrophic event affecting your computer. Potential loss of data can be avoided simply by having a back-up of your computer. It isn't enough, either, to back up your computer once and forget about it. Any new data introduced since the backup would still be lost. Now I don't know about you, but if I lost the new data I have on my computer since January 1, 2009 I would be lost. I might even be discouraged enough to just give up. So backups should be done often. My workplace backs up daily. I would be well-behooved to do so monthly. Geneabloggers is the guru of such knowledge, and he says to do so monthly and reminds us Geneabloggers to do so on the first of every month. So it's high time I listen to the almighty techno-guru!

The last back up I have is on a thumb drive. I don't even quite know where the drive is right now. So what good does it do?

So I am considering my options. I could back up using my CD/DVD drives. But that would be rather burdensome, and CD and DVD discs don't last forever, and they would add to my clutter.

I'm considering online storage sites, but have two problems: I don't know any reliable ones that are either free or cheap. I'd hate to spend money on "renting" storage space. Ultimately, my goal is to get an external hard drive. But, even though they are more affordable, I don't have extra money to spare at the moment, and I don't have the patience to learn how to use one. Maybe Santa will be good to me!

While I'm waiting for the external hard drive, which option should I choose? Any suggestions for trustworthy, reliable online storage sites? What concerns/precautions do I need to implement to protect sensitive data? Should I back up sensitive data on CD's/DVD's and only put less sensitive data on an online site? Input, please!

Save the Date

2009-10-18T15:30:00.001-07:00

January 22-23, 2010 at the Mesa Convention Center. This is the date of the 2nd Annual Mesa Arizona Family History Expo. I attended last year's Expo and had a fabulous time! I will definitely be there for this next one, too.

This year I will have the honor of being a presenter for this Expo! My topic is "When the Past Meets the Present to Change the Future: Using Geneograms in Genealogical Research". It will be held on Saturday, 23 Jan 2010 at 1:00 p.m. in the room Palo Verde II. The presentation will be part lecture, part hands-on activity so attendees can learn by doing! I hope to see you there!

Congratulations Marianne

2009-09-20T14:17:00.000-07:00

The time has finally arrived. The post that brought Marianne McHugh to the attention of the publishers and writers of "Encyclopedia of American Disability History" has come full circle.

This volume is now available at Amazon.com, and in this volume you will find an article on "Daily Life" of people with disabilities. In this article you will find my father's oldest surviving sibling, Marianne McHugh:

Thanks aplenty go out to Penny L. Richards, who "found" Marianne on the March 9, 2008 edition of the Carnival of Genealogy and passed my article on. Thanks also to Susan Burch, the editor of this encyclopedia for her enthusiasm for the project and for using Marianne's photograph.

Ancestral Roulette

2009-09-19T19:34:00.001-07:00

Randy Seaver has done it again. He's created another Saturday Night Fun activity to spur us on in our research. The instructions are:

1) How old is your father now, or how old would he be if he had lived? Divide this number by 4 and round the number off to a whole number. This is your "roulette number."

2) Use your pedigree charts or your family tree genealogy software program to find the person with that number in your ahnentafel. Who is that person?

3) Tell us three facts about that person with the "roulette number."

4) Write about it in a blog post on your own blog, in a Facebook note or comment, or as a comment on this blog post.

5) If you do not have a person's name for your "roulette number" then spin the wheel again - pick your mother, or yourself, a favorite aunt or cousin, or even your children!

Well, I started with my father, who is 72, making my roulette # 18 which is empty. My mother, if alive, would be 71 which also made my roulette # 18. So I chose my aunt, Marianne McHugh, instead, since she has probably had the most influence on my professional life. Marianne, as you will recall, was my father's oldest surviving sister/sibling and she was born with Down Syndrome in 1930. If Marianne was alive today, she'd by 79 years old. Using the calculation described above, this gives me the roulette number of 20. The person with that number on my ahnentafel is John Kearns.

John Kearns was my second great-grandfather on my mother's paternal line. Three known or speculated facts about John Kearns:

1. He was born about 1855 (1880 Census).

2. He married Mary Donahue.

3. He was a coal miner residing in Pittston, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.

(photo courtesy of Pat Sharpe Dunn)

John and Bridget's daughter, Mary, married my mother's grandfather, James O'Rourke (1876-1944).

You've Probably Seen this by Now

2009-07-25T07:47:00.001-07:00

But THIS is the way to start a new branch!

The 75th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy: Justice and Independence

2009-06-28T08:54:00.000-07:00

(artwork courtesy of the footnoteMaven)

This edition of the Carnival of Genealogy celebrates our country’s struggles and glories of Justice and Independence. These concepts have been at the core of our nation’s philosophy since its formation and geneabloggers have not gone without recognizing this fact. Below you will find a summary of those who’ve chosen to celebrate Justice and Independence in their search for genealogical answers. And as usual, footnoteMaven provided us with a unique banner to celebrate the occasion! Thanks fM!

Dorene from Ohio celebrates Justice in her post, F. D. Parish, Sandusky Lawyer and Abolitionist. Dorene states: "F. D. Parish actively helped fugitive slaves find freedom during the time of the Underground Railroad in pre- Civil War Erie County, Ohio. While F. D. Parish is not my ancestor, he helped seek justice for future residents of the United States and Canada." You can find Dorene's Graveyard Rabbit blog at http://graveyardrabbitofsanduskybay.blogspot.com/.

Midge Frazel, author of Granite in My Blood (http://granite-in-my-blood.blogspot.com/), writes that "Finding the graves of those who served in our American Revolution is a passion for many gravestone hunters. But, finding out what they did for their country can prove to be difficult. Take Cap's Peter Brown for example...". Yes, I am going to make you click HERE to read the rest!

T. Casteel regales us with the participation of an ancestor, Captain Edmund du Chastel in Queen Anne's War in the 1700's. This post gives a little family history, a little American History, a little European history and a lesson in war-naming. You can find this post at the above link to the blog Tangles Trees at http://tangledtrees.blogspot.com/.

Jasia provides us with a much-needed reminder to remember those who fought for Justice throughout the world in her post, Lest We Forget. Jasia writes: "I don't have a long line of ancestors who fought for independence here in America. But watching a recent WWII re-enactment of D-Day brought my Uncle Edward to mind. Photos and reflections of that day are presented here." Jasia's blog, which needs no introduction, is located at http://creativegene.blogspot.com/.

Karen Packard Rhodes tells the story of her fourth great-grandfather Richards Packard. She tells a great story and provides us with a "short bio of my fourth great-grandfather Richards Packard, a soldier in the American Revolution". You can read more of Karen's writings at her blog Karen About Genealogy, http://karenaboutgenealogy.blogspot.com/.

John Newmark has many stories to tell relating to this topic and summarizes the thought processes that went into his decision to incorporate music for the COG. His post, Deuteronomy 16:20 ,describes how, "In the end, raised on the music of Peter, Paul and Mary, I had to write about Deuteronomy, Chapter 16, Verse 20." You can read this and many more thought-provoking posts at his blog, Transylvania Dutch, http://transylvaniandutch.blogspot.com/.

Jean B. Duncan of Forget Me Knots: My Ancestors and My Ghosts (http://.jeanbduncan.blogspot.com/) writes, in her post "Harry Buzzell's WWI Story, Part 1",: "Time to start thinking about and getting ready for the 4th of July. Harry Buzzell, my grandfather's brother, automatically comes to mind as he is the one in our family who made the ultimate sacrifice in 1918 during World War I in France. His story was captured in his own words in 60 letters that he wrote home from 1914 to 1918. I've written about him before some and even presented a speech once. But now I want to look at it again and thought that I would create a series about him in anticipation of the upcoming holiday weekend."

Earline Bradt offers a different perspective for geneabloggers in her post "Justice and Independence - The Loyalists' Viewpoint" at her blog Ancestral Notes (http://ancestralnotes.ebradt.org/ ). She "...discovered that "Justice" depended entirely on your political and religious affiliation, it was not handed out to all Americans, only those who supported the newly formed government. The Loyalists, while being citizens of America, suffered terrible injustices in search of their independence. "

Linda Hughes Hiser of Flipside (http://lindasflipside.blogspot.com/ ) isn't kidding around with her sharing the story of Purcell Houston, her fourth great-grandfather. Her post, "Carnival of Genealogy, 75th Edition—Purnell Houston in the American Revolution" is a fascinating read.

Amanda tells the story of a great-uncle who died in Normandy and pondered what he and the other men who landed there thought at her post "Freedom Isn't Free". You'll find it at her blog at http://www.ataleoftwoancestors.blogspot.com/.

Dawn Watson of "Genealogical Research: A Hobby or an Obsession?" (http://www.genealogical.wordpress.com/) tells a fascinating story of the Little Lulu's crew on her post, "The Crew of the Little Lulu". She introduces us to "My grandfather, Thad J. Watson, Sr., was a crew member of the Little Lulu, a B-24 Liberator which was shot down on August 24, 1944". It is a great story!

Debra Osborne Spindle posts a really neat photograph along with her entry, "Uncle Sam Wants You". You'll find it at her attractive blog, All My Ancestors (http://allmyancestors.com/blog/).

I normally don't think it's appropos for the host to choose a favorite post, but I've been known to break a rule or two every once in a while. And to choose footnoteMaven's submission to the 75th Carnival of Genealogy as my favorite is saying a lot, because there are so many great posts here to choose from! What did she write to capture my fascination again? Check out her post, "The Visual Chronicles of One Who Fought" and see for yourself! She posted some exciting possessions at her blog, "Shades of the Departed" (http://www.shadesofthedeparted.com/).

Bill West, of West in New England (http://www.westinnewengland.blogspot.com/) wonders what our Revolutionary War veterans would think about today's celebrations in his post "West in New England: INDEPENDENCE DAY". Bill writes, "Studying my colonial ancestors who fought for independence has heightened my interest in the history of our nation as well!" As always, it's worth a read.

Cathy Palm traces the descendants of her Col. Miles Powell in her post Col. Miles Powell, Who Participated In This Country's Struggle For Independence. You'll find the story of Colonel Powell at her blog, Detour Through History at http://www.detourthroughhistory.blogspot.com/.

Jessica Oswalt focused on her European ancestors' fights for justice in her post "Justice and Independence: Ancestral Experiences ...". In this post at her blog "Jessica's Genejournal" (http://www.jessicagenejournal.blogspot.com/), the author takes "a look at a couple of my ancestors' experiences with independence movements and justice, or the opposite. ". Nice post that is certain to make the footnoteMaven proud!

“From Austin to Visscher - no matter what the surname – men in my family have been serving this country to ensure justice, choices and freedoms since it was founded. For that and for them I am grateful.” So writes Thomas MacEntee, who eloquently offers his gratitude for his relatives and everyone else who gave their lives for current and future generations. You can find his post, "Justice, Choices, and Freedom" at his "Destination Austin Family" blog at http://www.destinationaustinfamily.blogspot.com/".

Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings has two entries: one, an impressive list of his ancestors from the Revolutionary War at his post "My Revolutionary Roots". Complete with citations, of course! His second is entitled "Isaac Buck - Revolutionary Soldier" and can be found HERE.

My own submission, "Fighting for Justice and Celebrating Independence" has a little bit of everything all wrapped up in one slideshow, brought to you by Flickr and Paul McCartney! There's no link here for the exact post since the music won't play on the single-post page. But never fear, you can find te post and the blog, The Oracle of OMcHodoy, at http://www.omchodoy.blogspot.com/ .

Thanks to those who participated in this holiday edition of The Carnival of Genealogy!

Now it's time for a Call for Submissions! The topic for the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is: How I spent my summer vacation... a favorite summer memory from your youth. Tell us what summers were like when you were a wee tad pole. Did you vacation with family? Go to a youth camp? Hang out at the local park? Watch fireworks? Catch fireflies? Share those lazy, hazy, crazy, days of summers past with us! Deadline for submissions is July 14, 2009.

Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy using the carnival submission form. Please use a descriptive phrase in the title of any articles you plan to submit and/or write a brief description/introduction to your articles in the "comment" box of the blogcarnival submission form. This will give readers an idea of what you've written about and hopefully interest them in clicking on your link. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Who is OMcHodoy?

2009-06-27T12:24:00.001-07:00

OMcHodoy is a true pedigree name: A little bit of each grandparent that touched my life in some way.

O'ROURKE, represented by the top photo on the right sidebar, was my mother's maiden name, though I never met the man who gave it to her. James O'ROURKE died before I was born (1902-1963). Shown in the photo are my great-grandfather James O'ROURKE (1976-1944), his wife, Mary (KEARNS) and daughters Margaret "Nellie"(marrid McCARTHY), Mary "Mae"(married JORDAN), and Betty (married ROCHE). There were also two others in this line, a daughter Lucille and, of course, a son James.

McHugh is my surname, and obviously has great meaning to me. In the second picture on the sidebar my paternal grandparents, Mary (HODICK) and Joseph McHUGH hang out.

HODICK was my father's maternal line. The photo is a copy of a 1918 portrait sent to me by my cousin, Tom HODICK. My grandmother Mary is the girl on the left with the bow in her hair. The others in the picture are (not necesarrily in order): Joseph, Anthony, William, John, Susan, Thomas, Sylvestina, Edward Jr, and the parents, Edward and Justina (NAHADIL) HODICK.

And DOYLE was my mother's maternal line, and gave me one of the biggest influences of my life: My grandmother Regina "Jean" DOYLE (1905-1979). The woman pictured is either her mother Jane (McCUE) DOYLE or possibly Johanna (DOYLE) HORAN, my great-grandparents' daughter.

Now that you know "Who" OMcHodoy is, a little bit about "Why". Orations of OMcHodoy was borne out of my original blog, The Oracle of OMcHodoy. I started that blog at the urging of a friend of mine who'd created her blog, "Waiting for Lauren Elizabeth" when she and her husband began the process of adopting a girl from China. It turned out to be a good way to chronicle my research, flaws and all. I learned as I went and my feaux-pa were there in plain sight for the world to see. After "GeneaBloggers" began to take off and I began participating in the Carnival of Genealogy, I decided to split my focus: The Oracle of OMcHodoy would remain focused on my research efforts, while Orations of OMcHodoy would focus on stories, lore, carnivals and other geneablogger activities.

And speaking of Carnivals, the 75th edition of "The Carnival of Genealogy" will be held right here at Orations. The theme is "Justice and Independence". Here is a breakdown of the type of posts you might see here on July 4, 2009:

1). Stories of participants' ancestor(s) who fought for freedom.

2). Stories about how Independence Day was celebrated by participants' ancestors.

3). Lyrics of songs that exemplify how Justice and Independence have worked in the lives of participants' ancestors and/or family, including photos!

It's not to late to write a post on this topic and submit it for the COG. Deadline is July 1. Click HERE to submit your blog post (In the description, please type in a short blurb about your post to be included in the roundup for this edition!).

All Truths are Marching On!

2009-06-21T08:36:00.001-07:00

It was Bill West, of West in New England, who challenged geneabloggers to put their work to music! Here are the rules:

1. Set the names of your ancestors to the music of any song. It can be any number of names, any song. Just remember to mention what song you are using so we can all sing along as we read!

2. Publish your efforts on your blog and send Bill the link (Email:BillWest48@gmail.com). If you don't have a blog then leave them as a comment for Bill on his blog.

3. Deadline is June 30th. He'll publish the final list on his blog on the 4th of July!

I had fun with this one, as I do with most challenges (not sure about Randy's last one, though!). Since Bill will post the participants' entries on July 4, I chose "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" as the tune for my lyrics!

The Battle Hymn of The Hodicks, O'Rourkes and Doyles

Mine eyes have read the stories
Of many an ancestor
There were shopkeepers and railroaders
And coal miners galore
Oh, they kept this country moving
And they even kept it warm
Their truths are marching on!

Chorus:
Glory, Glory Hallelujah!
Glory, Glory Hallelujah!
Glory, Glory Hallelujah!
Their truths are marching on!

Yes they worked hard for a living
Just to keep everyone fed
And they went to work each morning
Staying out ‘til almost bed
Coming home to eat and sleep so
They can do it all again
Their truths are marching on!

Glory, Glory Hallelujah!
Glory, Glory Hallelujah!
Glory, Glory Hallelujah!
Their truths are marching on!

I wish that I knew more about
The fam’ from which I’m bred
But the ones that knew the answers
They have all so long been dead
So I blog and then I research
And I ask the few who're left
For truths that once marched on!

Glory, Glory Hallelujah!
Glory, Glory Hallelujah!
Glory, Glory Hallelujah!
Their truths are marching on!

Saturday Night Geneablogger Fun

2009-06-20T18:40:00.000-07:00

It is time for another "Seaver Saturday" activity! Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings posted yet another challenge to geneabloggers. I'm truly having a hard time participating in this one, and judging by his first four comments, I'm not the only one! The idea is to go to http://www.deathclock.com/ and answer a few questions about yourself and let it determine your death date. I truly do not wish to know! So I'll try it with other people ;).

I plugged in my mother's information (she'd died in 1988). Only for her I chose "non-smoker" since she did smoke, and died at the age of 50. I entered her BMI as <25 (she was tiny), and her mode as pessimistic, which she could be at times. Her time apparently expired on Sunday 9 Jan 1994. A bit shy of 6 years after her true death date. Changing her mode to "Optimistic" would have her death date in 20 years, at 6 May 2029 at 91 years of age. Putting her mode at "Normal" put her death date at 1 Apr 2017 (79 years). Claiming her as a smoker, which she was, and "normal" mode would have put her death date at 18 Jan 2013, her 75th birthday. Changing this window's "mode" status as "pessimistic" and it brings her death date (24 Nov 1990) to within 2 years and 11 days of her actual date of death: 13 Nov 1988.

Okay. So I still don't have the guts to put in my information, so I'll use dad instead (bwahahahaha).

When I plug in my father's information, it states something like "You've already expired". His death date was supposed to be Thursday, 12 Jul 2007. He's still alive, so take THAT, Death Clock.

Well that was a confidence builder, so here goes!

Entering my information, my death date will be 18 Jan 2018 (54 years old), or 1 Feb 2025 (61 years of age), depending on which result you choose. See, I wanted to double check the date after I'd closed the window so just hit "enter" again to see what it was and it came up with a different answer. Only bought me 7 years, but a different answer just the same! Bringing my BMI down to 24 (yeah, right) would put my death date at 23 Jan 2019; still only 55 years old! Changing my "Mode" from pessimistic (Murphy is my friend) to "Normal" puts my death date at 22 Mar 2043 (79 years), and changing it to "Optimistic" brings it to a final age of 103 with a death date of 1 May 2067!

So basically what I need to do is keep going to the gym, eat less, and stop being friends with Murphy!

The Puckerbrush Award

2009-06-14T20:04:00.000-07:00

Of all the awards I've received, this one has got to have the funniest name. It is also one that means a lot to me, because the award is named for the author of Cow Hampshire, Janice Brown. Janice has been MIA for a while now, and the Geneabloggers are certainly on the losing end of her absence. We all hope for the best for Janice. It appears her blog is also MIA, so I will quote the meaning of "Puckerbrush" as published on many sites, per Janice's own words:

Janice's definition of the puckerbrush is as follows: "On any land allowed to go fallow and left untended, a wild assortment of wild plants grow – in some areas, this wild growth results in such a thicket of plants that it is almost impossible to push your way through the growth."

I will follow in the footsteps of many, and carry on the tradition Janice set forth by identifying 10 blogs that have influenced me. Many if not all of these have already received this award. Thank you to Judith Richards Shubert for presenting the award to me.

Miriam Robbins Midkiff of Ancestories: The Stories of my Ancestors.

Thomas MacEntee of Destination: Austin Family

Lisa of A Light That Shines Again and Small-Leaved Shamrock. I'm not convinced that Lisa and I don't have a connection in our McCue lines of Northeast Pennsylvania! Alas, I know just about nothing of this line of mine, so time will tell!

Charlene of Apple's Tree. I love reading about her research and family, but I also love reading about her home, as it reminds me of the Village that I grew up in.

Jasia of Creative Gene.

Denise Olson of Moultrie Creek.

Lori Thornton of Smoky Mountain Family Historian

Terry Thornton of Hill Country of Monroe County who is taking a bit of a break. Best wishes, Terry.

Bill West of West in New England

And of course, Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings.

Thanks to all the bloggers who've influenced me and for all my readers that stick with me, even during posting lulls.

You Can't Go Home Again

2009-05-28T20:09:00.000-07:00

Or can you? I was doing a Google Search on "1963 Obituaries Niagara Falls NY" in search of my maternal Grandfather James O'Rourke's date of death. I do not know when he died, just that he died the year before I was born (yes, I did just give away my age). As often happens when I research, I took a detour and clicked on my hometown newspaper to read the headlines, to see if any names I knew made the news.

I did not find the obituaries I was seeking, but did find an interesting article about an upcoming Niagara Falls Event "Niagara Homecoming 'Citybration". The event aims at bringing former residents home for at least a 4-day weekend if not to relocate "home". It is complete with tours, wine tastings, and job fairs. It is scheduled for the weekend of June 25.

From the article I learned that the Mayor of Niagara Falls, NY is Paul Dyster. I'd be willing to bet that he is a descendant of or collateral descendant of Melvin B. Dyster M.D., who was my and my brothers' pediatrician. Interesting. Also interesting was that the majority of Niagaran place names in the article are places/names I'd never heard of, making it obvious that places, as well as people, change.

One thing about Niagara Falls that will never change is the fact that it was the place of my birth and the site of a very happy childhood. I truly wish I could go to the "Citybration" next month. This city famous for such wonderful notions as honeymooners and such horror story truths as The Love Canal will always be "My Hometown".

(photo credit: http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/00/12/4b/fa/niagara-falls.jpg)

Saturday Night Fun: Bumper Stickers

2009-05-23T19:37:00.000-07:00

Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings has another great edition of Saturday Night Fun going! Finally I have time to actually participate! Here are the rules:

1) Make up a/some Bumper Sticker(s) that describes your genealogy addicti.., er, passion in 12 words or less. You could recite some of your favorite tag lines like those found here or here. Or you could be very creative and make up your own!

2) Post them to your blog or to comments on this post.

3) Extra credit if you make them look like a real bumper sticker!

I had some fun with this one! If my house wasn't such a disaster area I'd make more, but here are the ones I came up with:

I hope I made footnoteMaven proud with that one! Finally, the motto on my genealogy blogs fits this bill quite nicely:

Award Time

2009-05-13T06:58:00.000-07:00

Wow. Kathryn Doyle of The California Genealogical Society and Library Blog honored me with the One Lovely Blog Award! It's so nice to know that people still read my blogs even when I'm unable to post as often as I'd like. Including time to respond to her award :/. However, sometimes it really is better late than never, so Kathryn, I thank you and bequeath this award to the following:

Dana Huff at Our Family History
Brian at Zalewski Famiily Genealogy
Bob Franks at Itawamba History Review: The Itawamba Historical Society Web Log

Enjoy and thanks, Kathryn!

As If...

2009-04-27T16:19:00.001-07:00

overhauling my genealogy database wasn't enough, (see The Oracle of OMcHodoy), my printer unit, which was also a scanner and copier, broke. Which translated into a new machine which translated into learning how to use that. Last night I downloaded a free trial of Photoshop Elements by Adobe and I spent part of this afternoon playing around with it. As if I had time to take on another major project.

Well, actually, I kind of do have time to take on another project, at least for now. I'm finishing up my last few days off work so I thought I'd try out this new photo editing program on a free trial basis. It will be a while before I can actually buy it if I decide to, but at least I'll have an idea on how use-able it is. After about 90 minutes of fussing with it, I think it's a great program. It doesn't look too incredibly user-friendly, but there is a lot you can do with it.

I do not like how it organizes photos it imports from your hard drive. It's rather Picasa-like and if you follow me at Facebook at all, you now know I hate Picasa's organization style. I do not, for the most part, like the "auto-fix" feature; it tends to change the original coloring of the photos as opposed to fine tune it. However, you'll see below a dramatic difference the auto-fix feature made on one photo, so it's not always bad.

Perhaps in a few months I'll splurge and buy this program. For now, I'll enjoy the 30 day trial and fight the impulse to buy now. Below, then are a few quick edits I'd made to two photos, the first using only the auto-fix feature on Adobe Photoshop Elements and the second using a touch of the "touch-up" tool and paintbrush.

When it Rains...

2009-04-25T16:47:00.000-07:00

It pours. I've been a bit off-kilter the past few weeks. Seems like everything goes at once. My body, the microwave, the printer/scanner. At least I can say they've all been fixed. I think.

This morning I did something I shouldn't have and purchased a new four-in-one printer/scanner/copier/fax. I'd done a little research and asked around a bit and finally decided on a Lexmark 9575, mainly because it was on sale for a really, really good price and had more features than the HP I was looking at. But nothing in life, I have learned, is easy. Well, setting up the unit was very easy, but getting it to actually print, well, not so much.

However, after having to damp-clean the brand new black cartridge (after wasting ink on three machine-cleanings and three alignment attempts), the print seems fixed. Now I get to play around a bit with the scanning feature so I can be prepared for tomorrow's Scanfest.

I scanned some images from my collection; three to be exact. It is automatically set to scan at 300 dpi (which can be changed) and once the scan is complete it offers the opportunity for some minor editing, which is good since I want three individual images, not one conglomerate. So I scan the tree images on the same scan and hit "Crop". I crop one of the photos and save.

YAYAY. Well, not quite. I can't find my way back to the scan image to crop the other two images. Not an option to be found. Nor can I find and automatically saved copy of the overall scan. I never needed that on the HP but it was always there. Now I need it with the Lexmark and can't find it! But I haven't given up yet.

I proceeded to rescan the images, this time trying to crop all three images at once. No go. Soon as I click on image number two to crop that one, the field to crop in image number one disappears. So I do what any intelligent woman would do: I open the user's guide and search for "Scan Multiple Images". There is such an option, so I read the instructions and find that on the "Simple Scan" Screen (not the default screen to which the program opens) you can select "Multiple Photos". So I did and repeated the editing process above to crop.

Only I still can't crop more than one of the images at a time and once I crop one I cannot get back to the screen that has all the images to crop the next one. I will have to explore this more after dinner.

In the meantime, here is a comparison for me and for you (for me as I haven't looked at the two images side-by-side yet either). The photo on the left is the image I have from my old HP scanner. The image on the right is the same image from the new Lexmark scanner.

The bottom image is the same photo scanned on the Lexmark unit with "Sepia" added on the advanced editing screen. The first one, scanned from the HP, is the coloring of the actual photo, and, oddly, was scanned at a dpi of 200 since I didn't know when I originally scanned it that I could change that. The Lexmark scans at a default of 300 dpi. I'm not liking that scanned image off the Lexmark has different coloring than the original.

I haven't played around much with the editing on the second scan, and there are settings available to change the saturation, so maybe that will help. Just seems to me that the image should be scanned and portrayed as is and leave the editing to the person doing the scanning.

Does anyone in Blogville own this unit? Any ideas? I hope to play around with it a lot tomorrow, as I may be able to exchange it if I don't like it.

Blogging Prompt #13: Expertise

2009-04-06T21:10:00.000-07:00

Several bloggers take advantage of common subjects to post about, known as a Blogging Prompt. This 13th edition asks one to talk about an area of expertise one might have. Well, my area is quite unique, I must say.

It's been said (by someone, I'm sure) that everyone is an expert on something. As luck and Murphy would have it, my area of expertise is on such an important topic as dog poop.

You heard me right. Dog poop.

When I adopted Izzie almost three years ago, he wound up being sick. On his second day home with me, he was pooping blood. I won't describe the rest of the poop's appearance; suffice it to say it wasn't what I expected to see even coming out the other end of this cutie pie. Over the course of the next six months we (me and his vet and the internist vet at the Specialty Center) poked, prodded and scoped my poor baby from both ends and determined that he had Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). We tried to manage it with diet. As many a child had said in a sick kind of game, "Diarrhea Diarrhea....". We tried managing it with low doses of metronidazole (basically, flagyl), which helped his poop. But he was still tossing food out his mouth, so we added prednisone. Two and a half years later, he's stable on the two meds and a Royal Canin hypoallergenic diet.

So, if any of you genealogists have any questions about dog poop, I urge you to ask me. Go ahead, make my day!

I'm B-A-A-A-A-C-C-K!

2009-04-05T20:01:00.000-07:00

What better time to get back to blogging than a Randy Seaver Saturday Night Fun post? Okay, I know it's Sunday night, but I spent all day yesterday raking up the thatch in my back yard and all day today chasing down the perfect frame for my dog Izzie's portrait (Can be seen HERE). Not to mention that I had to re-arrange several photographs to accommodate Izzie's! So I'm exhausted, and quite sore from the raking to be honest. So I'm a day late.

Randy challenged GeneaBloggers to show off their genealogy working space. I challenged our group to do that quite some time ago, with the following results from my space:

I was very proud of my cleaning results.

Now, lest you think my work space is always so pristine, here's what it looks like today:
I am usually snacking when I'm at my computer. Tonight it's popcorn and water. My scanner is also used as a shelf for papers and light-weighted objects. Probably not a good idea. The door to the tower cabinet won't close because it was easier to plug in the speaker to the front USB port than the back so I can switch it with my Skype headset if need be. I forget I have that. To the left is a plastic storage unit for paper, scrapbook stuff that is wasting away (if I ever do scrapbook, it's digital anyway), and a gazillion USB & other computer related cords I no longer know to what they belong!

I love the windows in this room for aesthetic reasons and for a pleasant work environment. They look out onto the street. I had to put a towel over the top crescent-shaped window because it gets blasting hot in here when the sun hits it. It's too expensive to get custom drapes or shades for a rented house so a towel matching my color scheme suffices. Atop the TV is the outer packaging from one of the frames I bought today. Why is it there, you ask? To keep Izzie away from it. He loves cardboard.
And here's my beloved bookcase, of which I wish I'd purchased another. On the top shelf are my genealogy related magazines, my research binders, and my maternal digital scrapbook. Why the card table resting against the bottom? To keep Izzie away from the bottom two shelves that he can reach. He loves books.

Inside these closed closet doors is a filing cabinet, some winter clothes I just put away, lots of old textbooks, a piano/keyboard, and "stuff" to keep out of sight. Why the closed doors, given there are some genealogy-related things in there? To keep Izzie away from it. He loves "stuff".

Finally, you might ask why there was no chair in front of the computer desk? You got it: To keep Izzie away from the desk when I'm not sitting at it. He loves popcorn. And pencils. And paper...

Dear Arizona Legislature

2009-02-24T19:55:00.000-08:00

I would like you to Meet Marianne McHugh.

Marianne was born 29 Nov 1930 in Nanticoke, Luzerne County, PA. She was the oldest surviving child of Joseph Dennis McHugh and Mary (Hodick) McHugh. She was born with Down Syndrome in a time when children born with Down Syndrome were quite often put in institutions to live their lives with little contact with the outside world. There wasn’t much hope for children born with Down Syndrome.

Marianne’s parents were told to lock her up, she’d never accomplish anything. They refused. They kept her home and raised her as their own. She didn’t go to school; that sort of thing didn’t happen to children with Down Syndrome in the 1930’s. But if there was a family gathering, she was there. Even if it was at the local park, or a store, or a restaurant. If the family was there, Marianne was too. If her younger brother and sister had friends over, they stopped to say hi to Marianne too. She was loved by everyone in the family-- a favorite of her elders and her peers alike. Marianne McHugh had a pretty good life for someone with Down Syndrome born in 1930.

Marianne McHugh died 28 April 1978 in West Seneca, Erie County, New York. She was 48 years old. A very good life span for someone with Down Syndrome born in 1930.

Marianne was my father’s oldest sister.

Though there are many ancestors I wish I’d known, she is the one I wish I’d known better. I was thirteen years old when she died. But I have thought of her many times since, especially in my adult years as I work with children with special needs. I often wonder what kind of life she would have had, had she been born in my era and not her own. She would have gone to school. She might have participated in Special Olympics. She might even have been able to live independently with supports to assist when needed. Children and adults with Down Syndrome today have so much more working for them than Marianne ever had.

Until 31 Jan 2009. That is the day that, with Jan Brewer at the helm, the Arizona Congress set people with Developmental Disabilities back with SB1001, which contain the following budget cuts to this population (From an email from the Arizona Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities [http://www.azgcdd.org/text.asp?REF=default.asp]):

Suspend Non-Residential State-Only Services
93 percent of the children and adults receiving state-only services - more than 4,000 individuals - will lose all of their services such as therapies, habilitation, employment supports, after school and summer programs, attendant care, respite and transportation.

Reduce Provider Rates
Effective March 1, the Department will reduce rates for 850 agency and 3,500 independent providers of home and community-based (HCBS), institutional, and acute services by 10 percent. Since fiscal year 2005, HCBS rates have increased by about 22 percent. In addition, the Department will to address group-home capacity issues and lower enhanced rates for specialized habilitation-communication, specialized habilitation-music, community protection, behavioral health, and day treatment and training.

To summarize, effective March 1, over 4,000 individuals with developmental disabilities will lose physical, speech and occupational therapy – therapies that help them overcome problems that they did not ask for, but that their disorders gave to them. Therapies that help them live as much like you and me as possible; something Marianne could never have aspired to, thanks to her being born in 1930.

Thank you, Congress, for wiping out 79 years of progress for people with developmental disabilities.

Colleen McHugh, LMSW

Note to my blogging friends and readers: Yes, I did send this to my legislators.

Kreativ-ity

2009-02-19T18:50:00.000-08:00

Judy at Genealogy Traces awarded me the Kreativ Blogger Award! I'm always thrilled when people enjoy what I write, even when I'm not as consistent as I'd like to be!

Now I'm to nominate 7 blogs, linking them here and commenting on their blogs to let them know. Unfortunately my computer's so slow these days it takes a long time to do 7 so let's see if I can find a few new blogs tonight!

1. Apple's Tree (Okay, so this one's not new, but I oft forget to tell those whose work I enjoy that I enjoy their work. So tonight it's Apple's turn!)

2. Gayle Gresham at Colorado Reflections

3. Andrea Christman at Family Tales

4. Laura, a new blogger at Root Seek.

Keep up the great writing and researching!

I Interrupt This Program

2009-02-16T17:50:00.000-08:00

I have a special announcement for all of my geneablogging friends, my non-blogging friends, my readers and anyone else who stumbles across this post. Most of you are aware that I am fanatical about my dog, Izzie. So fanatical, in fact, that he has his own blog. I’m a fan of dogs, and hate to see any animal suffering.

The economy of late has been, as we all know, rather tight lately. People are losing their jobs, their homes, and quite possibly, losing weight as they struggle to keep food on their tables. Thankfully, there are food programs to assist with the latter for many families.

The same is not always true of our pets. Dogs and cats are being abandoned or surrendered at alarming rates. Often, it’s foreclosures that do the pets in. Often, it’s simply the cost of providing for them. A 2007-08 survey by the American Pet Products Manufacturing Association estimated basic annual expenses for dog ownership run $1,425, and cat ownership $990. (Maryland Newsline Business, http://www.newsline.umd.edu/business/specialreports/foreclosures/foreclosurepets102408.htm).
Many, if not most, animal shelters try to provide struggling families with emergency supplies of food if it means the difference between one more pet "in custody" and maintaining a pet’s home. But many, if not most, animal shelters use donated food to feed the pets in their care and cannot meet every need for every family.

Tucson is lucky. There are a couple of food programs to assist with feeding pets when families are struggling. I am lucky, as well, to have an opportunity to help feed Tucson’s pets. The Hermitage Cat Shelter in Tucson has been around for over 30 years, and one of their programs is called Food For People’s Pets. Its aim is to provide some relief to families who struggle to feed their pets (cats and dogs), in hopes that the families will be able to keep the pets as opposed to surrendering, or worse, abandoning, them. This program is in need of some re-vamping, and I hope to work with the shelter’s staff to do just that.

There is now a blog dedicated to the Food For People’s Pets program. I hope to make it a place for people to learn about pet nutrition, the prevalence of animal hunger, solutions to the problem, events of the program, and spotlights of the program sponsors. While hunger in animals will be addressed, it will be done so in a respectful, family-friendly manner; no “shock and awe” tactics such as graphic photographs will be used.

Please, bookmark the blog at http://www.feedingpeoplespets.blogspot.com/ and visit often. It’s just getting off the ground, but I want to make it a true showcase for the good that people’s donations do. I also, admittedly, hope to make it an accessible way to donate to the program. Towards this end there is a link on the blog page to the “Network For Good” badge that is assigned to The Hermitage Cat Shelter. From this badge, one can designate donations to the Food For People’s Pets program. I also have this link on my other blogs and here, so please, if you can, donate $5 to the program. Or donate a bag of pet food to a program in your area if you have one. I would be crushed if I had to surrender Izzie for lack of food, and I hate to think of something so simple being so far out of reach for pet owners everywhere.

Thanks for listening. I now return you to your regular programming.

The ONvelope, Please!

2009-02-14T18:30:00.000-08:00

The 66th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is the annual iGene Awards! This is where I get to choose my best posts in the following categories of Best Documentary, Best Biography, Best Comedy, Best Screen Play and Best Picture.

I'll start with the Best Documentary. I chose an article I posted in early November that recognized not one of my family, but a friend of mine's family. In "A New Branch Sprouted" I announced the proclamation of Nan Qi Qing of Guandong Province, China as the daughter of Joe and Donna of Chandler Arizona. I chose this article because the announcement was the culmination of almost three years of waiting for these parents. Today I'm pleased to announce that Lauren Elizabeth has been home almost one month, and though the first few days with Joe and Donna in China were incredibly rough for her, she is already a blossoming 22 month old, beautiful toddler.

Best Biography: This was by and far the easiest choice: A Tribute To Women, posted on 09 March 2008 in honor of National Women's History Month. This post not only was my favorite post honoring my father's oldest sister, Marianne, who had Down Syndrome, it apparently was a favorite of a new follower, the blog of the Disability Studies Program at Temple University. A poster there had found Marianne's post and passed it on to an Ohio State professor who in turn asked for permission to reprint Marianne's photo in an upcoming online encyclopedia on the History of Disability in America for Facts On File. Marianne is most deserving of the honor. In fact, the encyclopedia is due for release next month...

Best Comedy: Blog Takeover, which featured Izzie posting his own ancestry. "Who-Cuddn't Luv-a-that FACE?"

Best Screenplay: "So Many Ancestors". It would be so cool to see a film on my meeting the four ancestors I'd chosen for the COG of January 28, 2008. I would get Janeane Garofalo to portray me. I loved her in The Truth About Cats and Dogs. She'd have to dye her hair a bit lighter though. For Margaret Doyle I'd have Helen Hunt. Helen's character in Castaway knew what it's like to literally lose a loved one, and so I'd want her to play Margaret (who is nowhere to be found in the 1880 U.S. Census) as a chance to turn the tables and portray the one that GOT lost. Along those same lines, I'd choose William Petersen of CSI to portray my great-grandfather James O'Rourke. Since William's character Gil is used to solving mysteries, perhaps he'd be good as the mysterious one instead, and the culmination of his performance would be the revelation of who James' parents were since I can't figure it out! Besides, Ann Donahue is one of the creators of CSI. Maybe she'll turn out to be connected through my maternal Donahue line. For my great-grandmother Mary Griffin, I'd get Betty White simply because she cracks me up. Finally, for my paternal great-grandmother (on my dad's maternal side) I'd ask Camryn Mannheim. I think she's a great actress, and she kind of has Justina's smirky grin :).
(photo of Camryn courtesy of http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005179/)

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for: Best Picture.

Well, what did you expect? I couldn't come up with just one photograph for footnoteMaven's 4th edition of Smile for the Camera. Did you expect me to come up with just one for the iGene Awards?

Though if I was forced to I would probably choose the photo I use for this blog's header, since it is probably the oldest photograph I have of the Doyle family (Thanks, Mike for sending it to me!).

The Geneablogger Cookbook

2009-02-09T05:13:00.000-08:00

The Geneablogger cookbook is HERE! Thirty Five recipes from Eighteen geneabloggers! Wow. What a feat. It is available via download at THIS SITE! It is in .pdf format so you will need the Acrobat Reader to view it. You can choose to print it up yourself, copy it to disc and have a copy place print and bind it, or use an online service such as lulu.com to upload it, print it, bind it, and ship it.

This wound up being a bigger project than I had imagined, and I enlisted the help of a few geneabloggers to assist. Special thanks to Julie Cahill Tar, footnoteMaven, and Thomas MacEntee for their assistance with editing, graphic design, and technical guru.

I hope you enjoy the submissions, the photos, the stories, and of course, the recipes. I can tell you I've already tried one and it was delicious.

One Shy of 666

2009-02-01T12:30:00.000-08:00

Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings posed another Saturday Night Fun challenge for all geneabloggers. It's been a while since I partook in this activity, and though it's not Sunday, the alliterative theme can still work. Randy asked us to open our "My Pictures" folder, and open the 6th folder continuously until we run out of folders and have a series of photographs. We are then to choose the 6th photograph and post it with any known details. As luck would have it, my photo is one I think is a virgin post for me: I don't think I've posted it before! And it's an old photograph, too!

I so wish this photo was better in quality. I'm not sure, but I think the man in the front passenger seat is my father's maternal grandfather Edward HODICK. The other subjects are pretty blurred, and I can't recognize them just yet. However, my working presumption is that the man in the passenger seat (front) is Edward HODICK and the driver is his son John. I'm going to further presume that the boy in the back (passenger side) is Edward HODICK Jr., since he was quite a bit younger than most of his siblings. I do not know who the woman beside this boy is and certainly cannot make out the man in the driver's side rear seat.

Whooooooo..... Are You .... OOOhhhh Oooh...

2009-01-08T19:15:00.000-08:00

The 9th edition of Smile for the Camera, hosted by the footnoteMaven, asks participants to post a picture from their collection showing someone whose identity they're trying to figure out.

The above is the picture that is in question. I've posted it before to inquire if the woman on the right was the same person as the bride in this picture:

Here's a picture of the two women closer up, side-by-side:

It was then posed if one (or both if the above people are the same person) was the same person as this one:

This woman is known to be my paternal great-grandmother on my dad's maternal line, Justina HODICK. The consensus of the above ponderings, after posting here and at work, was that
Is Justina, but that is not (though it does appear the second woman has a cleft lip, which would be odd since I am a social worker for the Cleft Lip/Palate team at work).

The battle within does not stop here, as I realized that similarities abound among these women's husbands, too.

This is Justina's husband, Edward HODICK, my great-grandfather.
This is a closer picture of the groom in wedding portrait above. I'm not very good, to be honest, at comparing people (I'm always saying "hey that looks like...." and everyone laughs at me!). I do notice some difference in the eyes of these men, and the hairline. But I really wonder if the second unknown man was perhaps my great-grandfather Edward HODICK's brother. Or perhaps his bride was Justina's sister!

So tell me, people, WHO ARE YOU?

Edward and Justina Hodick, ca. late 1940's.

Wow.

2009-01-08T04:58:00.000-08:00

On August 8, 2005, my friends Donna and Joe applied to adopt a child from China. On September 9, 2005 Donna started her blog, Waiting for Lauren Elizabeth, to track their progress. What was originally thought to be a 12 month or so wait turned out to be nearly three years!

At 8:20 a.m. this morning, Donna and Joe will depart from Phoenix, Az to China to pick up their baby girl.Wow.

The Proximidade Award

2009-01-04T15:44:00.000-08:00

I've been remiss in responding to Julie Cahill Tarr's awarding of the Proximidade Award to me, and now I've been awarded again! WOOHOO! Thanks Julie and also to Conversations with Ancestors Past! I'm supposed to tag 8 more bloggers, but I've been fortunate enough to be given the award at my Oracle of OMcHodoy blog so consider it done :).

From This to This and Back!

2009-01-03T18:33:00.001-08:00

15 months ago:

8 days ago:

Today:

Ahhhhhhhhhhh!

The R.I.P.PERS Graveyard Rabbit

2009-01-03T08:59:00.000-08:00

Well, I've finally done it! I've been wanting to create a blog for the Association of Graveyard Rabbits for a while now, but didn't really have any ideas that would or might prove read-worthy. I think I found an idea that will work, so I created "The R.I.P.PERS" blog at http://www.gyrippers.blogspot.com/. Go have a look, take a stab at the kick-off quiz (pun not really intended), and come back often

99 Things

2009-01-03T05:40:00.000-08:00

Julie at GenBlog and Sheri at The Educated Genealogist partook in a new meme called "99 Things About Me". Instructions: From the list below, code the following activities as such: BOLD the activities you've already done; Color the ones you want to do in RED; Leave the ones you don't want to do in plain font.

Since my regular font is bold, I put the ones I've already done in GREEN.

Here's My List:

1. started your own blog
2. slept under the stars
3. played in a band
4. visited hawaii
5. watched a meteor shower
6. given more than you can afford to charity
7. been to disneyland
8. climbed a mountain
9. held a praying mantis
10. sang a solo
11. bungee jumped
12. visited paris
13. watched a lightning storm at sea
14. taught yourself an art from scratch
15. adopted a child
16. had food poisoning
17. walked to the top of the statue of liberty
18. grown your own vegetables
19. seen the mona lisa in france
20. slept on an overnight train
21. had a pillow fight
22. hitch hiked
23. taken a sick day when you are not ill
24. built a snow fort
25. held a lamb
26. gone skinny dipping
27. run a marathon
28. ridden a gondola in venice
29. seen a total eclipse
30. watched a sunrise or sunset
31. hit a home run
32. been on a cruise
33. seen niagara falls in person
34. visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. seen an amish community
36. taught yourself a new language
37. had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. seen the leaning tower of pisa in person
39. gone rock climbing
40. seen michelangelo's david in person
41. sung karaoke
42. seen old faithful geyser erupt
43. bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant
44. visited africa
45. walked on a beach by moonlight
46. been transported in an ambulance
47. had your portrait painted
48. gone deep sea fishing
49. seen the sistine chapel in person
50. been to the top of the eiffel in paris
51. gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. kissed in the rain
53. played in the mud
54. gone to a drive in theater
55. been in a movie
56. visited the great wall of china
57. started a business
58. taken a martial arts class
59. visited russia
60. served at a soup kitchen
61. sold girl scout cookies
62. gone whale watching
63. gotten flowers for no reason
64. donated blood
65. gone skydiving
66. visited a nazi concentration camp
67. bounced a cheque
68. flown in a helicopter
69. saved a favorite childhood toy
70. visited the lincoln memorial
71. eaten caviar
72. pieced a quilt
73. stood in times square
74. toured the everglades
75. been fired from a job
76. seen the changing of the guard in london
77. broken a bone
78. been on a speeding motorcycle
79. seen the grand canyon in person (hiked down it to boot!)
80. published a book
81. visited the vatican
82. bought a brand new car
83. walked in jerusalem
84. had your picture in the paper
85. read the entire bible
86. visited the white house
87. killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. had chickenpox
89. saved someone’s life
90. sat on a jury
91. met someone famous
92. joined a book club
93. lost a loved one
94. had a baby
95. see the alamo in person
96. swum in the great salt lake.
97. been involved in a lawsuit
98. owned a cell phone
99. been stung by a bee

15 Months DO Make a Difference!

2008-12-26T19:59:00.000-08:00

Back in September of 2007, I challenged my fellow geneabloggers to show what their workspaces looked like. It's now 15 months later and I just have one question: Just how did I manage to go from this:

To this:

Guess what's on my "To-Do" list this last week of 2008?

A Site for Sore Eyes

2008-12-11T19:07:00.000-08:00

Ever get in the mood to browse new genealogy blogs? I do, though I don't often have time to do it much now. I used to use Google and just type in "Genealogy Blog" and browse. Or browse the geneabloggers' on Facebooks. Which are both good sources. Tonight I found a new source. Well, it's been around for a bit, I guess, but I was re-introduced to it tonight.

I was checking out my Feedjit widget to see where people were coming from to read my blog. I think it's fascinating to see where people come from and, when they come from a search engine, what search terms they used that brought them to my site. One came from the blogfinder from Genealogue.com. That site is written by Chris Dunham, and he is an absolute riot. He has a fantastic site called Genealogy Blog Finder that not only lists genealogy blogs, but categorizes them. Looking for instructional genealogy blogs? They're there. Looking for blogs on specific geographical regions? They're there. Surnames? Yes. Technology? Of course! Photography? Yep.

Head on over to www.blogfinder.genealogue.com and you'll be amazed, too. And check out the "Who's Blogging Where?" Map while you're ... there.

Forty Things About Me (And then about YOU).

2008-12-09T18:02:00.000-08:00

Forty things about me and then about you when you do it yourself. (honestly, I'm not sure what this last part means unless it's just saying that you need to post this to a blog or facebook site after you read it?). At any rate, I posted it here so as to avoid forwarding it via email, so if any of my readers that don't blog or facebook wish to participate, answer the questions and email me the answers!

1. Do you like blue cheese? ICK~!!
2. Have you ever done something you regretted? Um, well, yes.
3. Do you own a gun? Nope.
4. What flavor of Kool Aid was your favorite? Grape.
5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? Depends on what I'm there for.
6. What do you think of hot dogs? Yum!.
7. Favorite Christmas movie? It's a Wonderful Life.
8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Hot Cocoa or decaf Coffee (yeah, counterintuitive, I know)
9. Can you do push ups? Maybe a couple of the "girly" kind.
10. Favorite hobby? Genealogy
11. Do you have A.D.D.? More like ADHD without hte ADD.
12. What's one trait you hate about yourself? Too high strung sometimes.
13. Middle name? Erin
14. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment? Izzie, Be Quiet. Izzie Be Quiet. IZZIE, SHUT UP!
15. Name 3 drinks you regularly have? Water, Caffeine Free Coke, Hot Cocoa.
16. Current hate right now? Not being heard.
17. Favorite place to be? Home.
18. How did you bring in the New Year? What New Year?
19. A place would you like to go? Ireland, aboard a ship!
20. Name three people who will complete this: Probably no one.
21. Do you have slippers? No. Izzie ate them!
22. What shirt are you wearing? Beige turtleneck with brown sweater.
23. Do you like sleeping on satin? No. Satin is so overrated it's sickening.
24. Can you whistle? A little.
25. Would you be a pirate? I'm too honest to be a pirate.
26. What songs do you sing in the shower? Whatever tune is stuck in my head with lyrics I made up about Izzie.
27. Favorite girl's name(s)? Brenna
28. What's in your pocket right now? Lint.
29. Last thing that made you laugh? An email from my boss.
30. Favorite bed sheets as a child? I don't remember any of my sheets. I do remember one Christmas when I begged for a month for a new pillow!
31. Worst injury ever? Split big toe open while swimming. Made worse by the fact that I was warned there was glass in that spot in the pool five minutes before it happened.
32. Do you like where you live? Right now? Yes. In the middle of summer? Hell no.
33. How many TVs do you have in your house? Four.
34. Who is your loudest friend? Izzie.
35. How many dogs do you have? One living, two in spirit (Mandy and Skipper).
36. Does someone have a crush on you? I wish.
37. What is your favorite book? Hmmmmm. I should be a good Christian and say the Bible.
38. What is your favorite candy? Three Musketeers.
39. Favorite Sports Team? Buffalo Bills. Don't even ask me WHY!
40. What song do you want played at your funeral? Go Rest High by Vince Gill.

Do They Know It's Christmas?

2008-12-03T17:58:00.000-08:00

Many of you know that I have a special blog set up for my dog, Izzie. I started this blog the day I brought Izzie home from the shelter. I'm not really sure why; part of me thought that adoption would make a good children's book and perhaps I could use Iz as the main character in the book. It turned out to be one, a creative outlet for me, and two, another method to connect with other dog lovers. Not too long after that, I'd found an online community of dog-bloggers known as Dogs With Blogs (DWB). I'd found that I was just 1 of over 600 dog-bloggers (now over 1,000!).

Anyway, it's quite a community with lots of funny blogs, educational blogs, and daily life blogs. Much like the GeneaBlogger community. Members share their laughter, tears, and joys of raising dogs and reaching out to others. One member, Pappy, created a video of a group of the dogs in the DWB community lip-synching to the song, Do They Know It's Christmas, by Band-Aid. I think it's a cute way to spread a message that reaches beyond the holidays. Since footnoteMaven is recruiting carolers, I present this video.

It's Christmastime
There's no need to be afraid
At Christmastime, we let in light and we banish shade
And in our world of plenty we can spread a smile of joy
Throw your arms around the world at Christmastime
But say a prayer Pray for the other ones
At Christmastime it's hard, but when you're having fun
There's a world outside your window
And it's a world of dread and fear
Where the only water flowing is the bitter sting of tears
And the Christmas bells that ring there are the clangingchimes of doom
Well tonight thank God it's them instead of you
And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmastime
The greatest gift they'll get this year is life(Oooh)
Where nothing ever grows
No rain nor rivers flow
Do they know it's Christmastime at all?
(Here's to you) raise a glass for everyone
(Here's to them) underneath that burning sun
Do they know it's Christmastime at all?
Feed the worldFeed the world
Feed the world
Let them know it's Christmastime again
Feed the world
Let them know it's Christmastime againr
epeat then fade

(Bob Geldof & Midge Ure)

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T05:48:00.000-08:00

I'm a little late joing Julie Cahill Tarr's Thanksgiving Meme, but it's never really too late to be thankful. I'm thankful for many things, including the continued health and safety of my family.

I'm also thankful for my job, as I was fortunate enough to survive a 33% workforce reduction last month. I'm thankful for our CEO who, when it became apparent in March that we were facing a potential reduction or even extinction, built in a generous severance package for anyone laid off and a retention package for those who waited out the storm and survived the transition. This type of thing is basically unheard of in the human services field, so it goes a long way that she worked so hard to take care of her employees.

I'm thankful for Izzie, my dog who rescued me more than I did him. I'm thankful that he's out of the puppy mill that calls itself a rescue organization, and I'm thankful for the other dogs who have been lucky enough to find homes.

On a more materialistic note, I'm thankful that my couch finally arrived last night so I don't have to make the furniture store one of my stops in my morning shopping trip!

In addition to being thankful, I'm also sending Thanksgiving wishes to all those who have lost their jobs, both at my aagency and around the country. I'm sending wishes to all families that are hurting in any way, that healing may come. I'm sending wishes to all animals living in shelters or worse, puppy mills and abusive/neglectful homes. And I'm sending wishes to all my geneablogger friends, whose hearts are generous and spirits are kind.

8 Things to Know about OMcHodoy

2008-11-23T15:18:00.000-08:00

I've been tagged by Apple to share 8 things about me and then tag 8 people to respond with their own post. Actually, she tagged my Oracle blog, but I'm responding here :).

Here are the Tag Rules:
1. Each player starts with eight random fact/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
3. A the end of your blog post, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their name.
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged and to read your blog.

So here are my 8 facts:

1. Most already know this. but I'm so obsessed with my dog that he has his own blog!
2. I'm a die hard Buffalo Bills fan, even if they have blown it for another year!
3. Along that same line, I LOVE the NFL. I know more about the game than many men, and watch the games on Sundays and Monday. If I had to do it all again, I think my life goal would be to be the first female commentator in the MNF booth. Girls didn't aspire to that type of career when I was young.
4. My motto is "From Niagara Falls, NY to Tucson, AZ: From where hell freezes over to where it's hotter than hell".
5. I'm a very fussy eater, and I rarely try new things.
6. Along that same line, one of my life's goals is to get through life without ever cooking a turkey. I will do a turkey breast, but am terrified to try the full bird.
7. I insist that my horrible penmanship is physiological in nature, and no amount of "practice" will help.
8. I am practical to a fault. I don't care if you use the right fork for the salad or if you don't put out spoons when there's nothing on the menu to require one. I can't stand inefficiency, which has gotten me in trouble more than once in my career!

Okay, now to get busy tagging!

1. Cat at Diggin' Up Dirt (hope she reads this, I couldn't comment on her blog as I locked myself out of WLM)
2. Elyse at Elyse's Genealogy Blog.
3. Julie at GenBlog
4. Judith at Genealogy Traces

Okay, I'm horrible at tagging, so I'm cutting the work in half! If you wish to participate, consider yourself tagged!

Confessions of A First-Time Conference-Goer

2008-11-16T17:14:00.000-08:00

Goodness, am I tired! But I've had one of the best week-ends I've had in a long time. I took a little road trip. I saw some long-time friends. I became better acquainted with a few online acquaintances I'd met once before. I met some people IRL (In Real Life) with whom I'd been blogging for a couple of years now. I learned a lot. I gained some much-needed motivation. I got great advice. And it all happened in 4 days of beautiful, 80° weather!

This weekend I drove the 115 miles to Mesa, Arizona from Tucson to attend the 2008 Family History Expo, put on by none other than FamilyHistoryExpos.com. This was my first ever genealogy conference/expo, and I'd say it was a smashing success. In this post I chronicle the adventures of a first-time genealogical conference-goer. At the end I get to tell you the biggest shock of the entire trip!

On Thursday November 13, at approximately 10:00 a.m., I dropped off Izzie at my friends' home, as they would dog-sit while I was gone. This was the tough part, as I am admittedly a bit obsessed about my dog! From there, I hopped on I-10 west-bound and headed to the East Valley of the Greater Phoenix Area. I hadn't actually been north/west of Tucson in about a year and a half, and I was pleasantly surprised by the widening of I-1o to Marana, and only a bit dimayed at the construction towards Picacho Peak to widen that portion. Traffic slowed just a little so no real time lost.

Upon arrival in the Valley, I stopped at the store to pick up some flowers for a visit to the cemetery. I wound up choosing cattails, of all things! See, we had cattails in Western New York where I grew up, and to me they represent very happy times. Unfortunately, in the 30 years that I've lived in Central or Southern Arizona I'd forgotten about the MESS these things make! Let's just say my car is now a mess! Anyway, after picking up the cattails, I headed to the Queen of Heaven cemetery in Mesa to visit the grave of the most influential person of my life:This date, November 13, 2008, marks the 20th anniversary of my mother's death. I cannot believe it's been this long already. Somedays the sadness is as strong now as it was then. Funny, though: On this day, visiting her gravesite, I wasn't sad at all. Well, I wasn't sad at all until I actually LOOKED at the headstone and realized they didn't put her dates of birth and death on it! FOR SHAME, dad, FOR SHAME!

I spent the rest of Thursday window shopping at the Superstition Springs mall and then having dinner with my hosts, friends from Tucson who'd moved to east Mesa almost 2 years ago.

Friday morning I arrived at the Mesa Convention Center, where the keynote address was held outside. Take a look at what kind of weather greeted us:

Most were wearing short-sleeves. It was colder inside the buildings than it was outside!

After the opening, there was time to visit some of the vendors. They had a little game going where visitors got a stamp or signature on their vendor cards as they visited the booths, and at the end of the conference, one was drawn for a grand prize! (I didn't win).

I was able to see many new services, products, and companies. I can't wait until all the emails start coming in! {koff}.

The first workshop I attended was hosted by W. Todd Knowles and it was entitled:

Well, the title didn't come up so clearly here, but it was entitled "Basic Irish Research". On the second picture, the presenter is in the white shirt in front of the screen. This was a very good workshop.

The biggest complaint I had about the Expo was that most of the rooms were set up with connected chairs in rows: No tables. Now, you all don't know this, since you only see my typing. But I am notorious for my horrific handwriting. And it's horrific when I have a table to write on. It's worse when I don't:

After each lecture it was back to the exhibit hall to visit more vendors!

Photoloom is a photo sharing site of sorts that I just may have to sign up for! Below is what I thought was one of the most clever booths I'd seen. I loved the sign to the left. In case you can't click to enlarge and read it, it says "How will she know about Grandpa...When he is no longer around?".

I also attended workshops on Immigration, where I got to meet Kathryn Lake Hogan of Loooking 4 Ancestorshttp://looking4ancestors.blogspot.com/. She lectured on finding the point of entry of immigrant ancestors.

Unfotunately, I did not get a picture of Kathryn, but I did get to chat with her a bit at the presentation of another Geneablogger,

Janet Hovorka of The Chart Chick and of Generation Maps.
I'm amazed at what Janet can do with a chart!

I also got to meet Lisa Louise Cook of The Genealogy Gems Podcast and Dick Eastman of Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter (eogn).

Don't worry; I'm not finished yet! I was also fortunate enough to meet DearMyrtle. Yes, folks, DearMyrtle in person. Not only did I meet her, I had a chance to sit down with her for a little brick wall chat. I even managed to test her patience, I think! See, I was explaining that I was trying to find a passenger list that would show who I believe is my great-grandfather Edward HODICK arriving in St. Kitt's. I have a list that shows him on the ship Pennland in 1885 (some information added today as I didn't have it with me. Another feaux-pas!). However, I was trying to find a source on St. Kitt's end to see if I could find him on a ship TO that port. As I was chatting with Myrt, a FHL consultant, Baerbel Johnson, walked by and Myrt nabbed her to assist. As Baerbel started speaking, Myrt grabbed some paper and wrote down the email address of a woman from the next booth over who stated she had a friend who was the ultimate source on St. Kitt's. DearMyrtle then handed me the paper so I could write down the suggestions Baerbel had for me, including checking Census records for naturalization dates and any other information on immigration, seeking marriage records, etc. The problem here was, I wasn't writing anything down! I was so busy listening I just couldn't tear my eyes and ears from the consultant (having worked with deaf people for many years, eye contact has become vital in my own communication). DearMyrtle, being the dear that she is, grabbed the paper from me and began writing for me! I was eventually able to multi-task and take over the note-taking, but it must have appeared rather haphazard for me to not be taking notes! Below is a shot of DearMyrtle hard at work!

The last picture, below, is one of David "Dae" Powell of GenTrek fame. With Dae are myself and fellow GenTrekkers Kathy and Joyce, who I'd joined a few years back for a research session at the Mesa Family History Library.

Well, that about sums up my Expo Experience. I know it was a long post, but I hope you enjoyed reading about my adventure.

Oh, and just what was the big shock I'd received at the Expo?

The difference in pronunciation of the word "Genealogy". Webster and I pronounce it "Jeannie-alogy" while most people at the conference pronounced it "Jennie-alogy".

You say Jennie, I say Jeannie (then again, my mother went by the name Jean or Jeannie!).

A New Branch Sprouted

2008-11-05T18:13:00.000-08:00

Genealogists are a lot like parents in reverse:

Parents are ecstatic to learn they're becoming parents, and they are ecstatic when the new life is born and they get to see the face of their child for the very first time.

Genealogists are ecstatic to learn the identity of that long-dead woman in the weird clothes from the photograph ca. 1895. They are ecstatic when they find a long-lost dead ancestor and they can finally say from what country they hailed.

Tonight, I share an ecstatic post announcing the pronouncement of Nan Qi Qing of the city of Maoming in the province of Guandong in southeast China as the new daughter of Joe and Donna of Arizona, to be reanamed Lauren Elizabeth. Joe and Donna have waited a long, long time for this day, and I urge you to hop on over to their newly christened site, Loving Lauren, and set your eyes on the most precious thing to touch my eyes since I laid eyes on Izzie ;).

Congratulations, Donna and Joe. Here's to one more generation to add to your family tree.

To The Admins of It's Our Tree.Com

2008-10-29T19:24:00.000-07:00

Dear Sir or Madam:

Someone should really tell your public relations/marketing people to change your emails. I mean, it's nice that they've been short, sweet and to the point, but seriously, do you really expect people to read these emails? Was it your intention to make your marketing emails look like spam? If it was, CONGRATULATIONS! You've succeeded!

Come on, now, you must have received those truly spam emails from Jamaica and other countries. You know the ones that ask recipients to send them cash to free their leaders from oppression? Or to build their economies? Do you realize that your marketing emails look just like these spam mails? And do you realize what most sensible people do with those spam emails?

They block them! Yup. I know this for a fact, because it's exactly what I do with them. And I'm so incredibly average that I know all about what average people do: They block spam emails.

So what do you think I did with your emails that look just like those spammers trying to get me to send money to their banks? Yup, that's right. I blocked your address.

Of course, I didn't realize your site is a legitimate genealogy site until I saw your site discussed on my favorite genealogy blogs. How would I know your emails were legit when they look just like the spam emails I get from other countries asking for money?

Okay, I think I've made my point. Change your marketing techniques. It can only help your cause.

The Underground Cemetery: Fact or Fiction?

2008-10-19T18:44:00.000-07:00

The 58th edition of The Carnival Of Genealogy is posted! This edition asked participants to relate a story that represents the eeriness of Halloween without revealing it's status as fact or fiction.

My own entry can be found HERE. The story surrounded these two women:

Let's start with the women's identities, which my story stated were my paternal grandmother's aunts. Well, this could be true, but fact is I have no idea who these women are! I do suspect they are from the HODICK or NAHADIL lines, but I can't prove it. I do also suspect that, if they are relatives of my father's mother, they are at the cousin level, not the aunt level.

So what about the underground cemetery story, stating that the bodies were buried 12 feet underground and the plaque buried six feet above the coffins? That would be weird, wouldn't it?

Were the women dared to go in there to prove there weren't ghosts in the shack? Heck I dunno, but what little we can see of the building looks crickety enough to withstand such a story, doesn't it?

So what was the "hoooo hoooo" the women reportedly heard?

That was the howl of laughter the women heard in their premonition about this FICTIONAL story!

Thanks to my fans for partaking in this fun activity! Head on over to the COG now to read about other genea-bloggers' tales of Halloween!

Getting to Know Me

2008-10-15T19:46:00.001-07:00

Sheri at the Educated Genealogist tagged me for the newest Meme going around Genea-blogger land. I'm to answer the following prompts (5 answers each) and tag 5 bloggers.

***10 Years Ago I........

1. Had FINALLY finished my Bachelor's degree.
2. Was as broke as I am now with a Master's degree.
3. Was tired.
4. Was working my life away.
5. Was terrified to touch a computer.

***5 Things on Today's To-Do List......
1. Write a blog post of Blog Action Day (running out of time here!)
2. Work on my special project I can't talk about (did this).
3. Work (did this).
4. Play with the dog (did this, though not as much as I'd have liked)
5. Watch the Presidential Debate (just finished).

***5 Snacks I Enjoy........

1. Potato Chips and Dip
2. Tortilla Chips and homemade salsa
3. Ice Cream
4. Potato Chips and Ketchup
5. Watermelon.

***5 Places I Have Lived......

1. Garlow Road in Niagara Falls, NY
2. College Ave. in Tempe, Az
3. Libra Drive in Tempe, Az
4. Speedway Blvd. in Tucson Az
5. Oracle Road in Tucson Az

***5 Jobs I Have Had.....

1. Courtesy Clerk at ABCO (let go after grand opening)
2. Counter Person at Godfather's Pizza (walked out at 10 p.m. on New Years Eve)
3. Cashier at Target (quit after 4 years to move to Tucson)
4. "Teaching Parent" at residential school for deaf students (quit after 12 years after graduating)
5. Social Worker (still plugging away)

Now the hard part, tagging 5 others!

1. Cat at "Diggin' Up Dirt"
2. Dru at "Find Your Folks"
3. Julie at "GenBlog"
4. Cindy at "In My Life"
5. Let's see if I can offer Donna a distraction as she's this close to getting her baby, and get her to do this tag "Waiting For Lauren Elizabeth"

The Underground Cemetery?

2008-10-12T20:12:00.000-07:00

These two women, aunts of my father's mother, Mary HODICK, are laughing in this picture. The story is told that the shack they are leaning against was built on a buried cemetery. That's right. A buried cemetery.

Now doesn't that sound like a no-brainer? A buried cemetery, according to gramma, was kind of like the underground. Oh stop laughing, this is how gramma explained it. You know how they refer to secret maneuverings of secret organizations as The Underground? Gramma said this was the same concept, only it was an underground, or secret, cemetery holding the remains of black sheep ancestors of the residents of Nanticoke, Luzerne County, PA. No one wanted to admit to a sense of family or loyalty to someone the town abhorred, yet they firmly believed it was an abomination to not have a Christian burial.

So they secretly held funerals and services for those loved ones who'd gone far astray, and the black sheep were buried twelve feet below the ground with a flat cement-like plaque that was also buried beneath six feet of earth. To you and me it'd look like an empty lot with a shack. To my grandmother's family, however, it was a place of mourning for the truly lost souls.

So why are these women laughing, you might ask? Because they had been dared to go into that shack up there as a way to prove there were no ghosts in there. Grandma said they'd gone in, but only got in far enough to close the door behind them. It was pitch black in there except for one thing: a virtually sheer, glowing image of a woman that looked just like Helen, the woman on the right in the picture. They bolted out only to find their brothers at the door laughing at their prank of reflecting a worn-out night-gown in front of a mirror, so it made the image -- now with a head from the women inside -- look like Helen.

Helen and her sister Tina yelled and screamed at their brothers until they ran away. Once they were gone, they couldn't stand up straight, their knees were shaking so badly. Once they collected themselves, they burst into laughter themselves.

Until a "hoooo hooooo" sound echoed from within the shack, sending Helen and Tina chasing after their brothers!

This post was submitted as an entry to the Halloween 2008 Carnival of Genealogy.

GeneaBlogger Yearbook

2008-10-02T05:00:00.000-07:00

Wow! What fun this has been! The challenge I put forth for the genea-bloggers for this event was to go to Yearbook Yourself and upload a photo of yourself to the site to have it create a lifespan yearbook, if you will. There are some pretty interesting and funny photos in here! Heck, there were some of mine that I liked better than my current day style! Here's a look at the Geneablogger Yearbook!

Kathryn Lake Hogan of Looking 4 Ancestors created her styles for the Yearbook, too! Check it out to see if you'll roll over laughing like her boys did.

Midge Frazel of Granite in My Blood thinks GeneaBloggers "Take the Cake" when it comes to crazies! She even took it a step further and dolled up the photo a bit at her site!

Julie Cahill Tarr of GenBlog put together quite the collection at her site. You've got to see this classic yearbook layout! Is Marsha Brady in the house? :).

Linda Stienstra posted a photo at Facebook that best aligned her with the year of her graduation! Gotta admire a gal not afraid to announce her age! Course, I'd be willing to bet Geneabloggers as a whole aren't "age-shy"!

Jennifer Jones Regan employed a similar tactic and posted two photos at Facebook. One was almost the year she graduated and the other another Marsha Brady flashback!

Ben Sayer, our resident Mac guru and author of the blog MacGenealogist.com, also participated in this nostalgic event! Check out his look HERE.

SheriFenley of The Educated Genealogist joined the Marsha Brady bandwagon and then some! See her great photos HERE.

You have to see Thomas MacEntee's entry on Destination Austin Family. Just how does a geneablogger come to be? Check it out and you will see (hey, I'm a poet and don't know it!).

And what collection wouldn't be complete without the GeneaDiva? She doesn't fail us here, so go over THERE and take a gander at how she put Olivia Newton-John to the test!

Marsha! Marsha! Marsha! Oh wait, THIS PHOTO of Paula Hinkel for some reason brought to mind JAN Brady! Remember Jan's wig? Paint it black!

Now HERE is an entry that took a rather unique turn. Richard Cheek of The Cheek That Doth Not Fade included a real photo of himself in the same year as one of his Yearbook Yourself photos! What a great post, and I can't wait until the weekend when I'll have time to add his blog to my blogrolls!

Many thanks to all those who participated in this activity and to those who read about the experience. It was a fun way to break up the week! If you created a Yearbook Yourself photo or post and it isn't listed here it's likely because I didn't know of it (and hopefullyl not because I missed it!). Post a link under "Comments" for others to enjoy!

Marianne Gets Her Due

2008-09-23T19:25:00.000-07:00

Back in March, I participated in a Carnival of Genealogy topic of "Tribute to Women". I posted about my dad's sister, Marianne (1930-1978), who had Down Syndrome. Well, someone from Temple University's Disabilities Studies BLOG read the Carnival at Creative Gene and posted a comment. From there things have been very exciting for Marianne.

I'll make a long story short, but the post on the Tribute to Women Carnival caught the attention of a professor who was working with an organization called Facts on File. They are working on publishing a three-volume encyclopedia on the History of Disability in America and hoped to use one of the photos I'd posted on my blog in their work! They were impressed, apparently, with the manner in which she was raised as part of the family and even often the center of attention. Today I granted them permission to use the photo in their project (to be published around June 2009), provided that I maintain the rights to the photograph, a condition to which they agreed.

It is my hope that the encyclopedia will help educate America to the value of people with disabilities and raise awareness to the inequities that they have faced and continue to face. I'm so proud that Marianne will be part of that endeavor. While this is not the photo they chose for the section including Marianne, it is representative of the fact that it is I who should be saluting her.

The World Is NOT Black and White

2008-09-16T20:45:00.000-07:00

Whenever I browse through old photographs I find myself needing a reality check, as I struggle to remember that only the pictures were in black and white, not the people and scenery themselves!

The pictures on the top are from the DOYLE lines. On the left is a photo from the earlier part of 1900. We believe the young girl sitting on the lap of the mother is my maternal grandmother, Regina DOYLE. On the right are my great-grandfather John Doyle's sisters Margaret, MaryAnn (Mame), Alice and Johanna. Thanks to my cousins who sent me these photos.

We don't know who is in the photo on the bottom right. I suspect it might be my father's dad and his sister, Annie. Only because the man looks like my grandfather and the woman does not look like my grandmother. I could be terribly far from the truth, however. The photo on the bottom right, I believe, are four of the HODICK men, which were William, Anthony, Thomas, Frank and Edward. If this is accurate I would bet that it's William that is missing, as the stories I've heard depict him as a lone wolf of sorts.

Addendum to Stylin'!

2008-09-14T16:01:00.000-07:00

I stole an idea from my friend, Donna of Waiting for Lauren Elizabeth and yearbooked myself and my mother. It is a fun site, though I had a hard time finding decent headshots that were looking straight ahead and didn't have bangs (I haven't been without bangs since first grade). Bangs makes some of the results look rather funky. But here goes!

First, my shots.
1960. 1966.
1968. 1976.
1980. 1990.

And finally, 1996.

Mom's turn! She was only about 10 or so in the photo I uploaded.
1968. 1974.
1990. 1996.
So, geneabloggers and others, I challenge you. And yes, they do have a male "prototype" to use! If you try it out and post it, send me your link by September 30 and I'll do a run-down of participants. I guess it's my turn to do a collection of articles! http://www.yearbookyourself.com/.