This 'n That and 21.3%

This... I guess it's about time I checked in with y'all. Yep, I'm still alive and kicking but those Hoffman folk have taken over my research... I now have a pretty good idea of the meaning behind that ancestry.com slogan "You don't even have to know what you're looking for... you just have to start looking." Of course, it does help to have a few "clues" to start with. But in the past three months I've added nearly 500 descendants of John and Catharine (Coy) Hoffman to my Legacy database! And yes, they are sourced... but not necessarily in the "ESM" style.

It had been quite a while since I had gone looking for "more recent" relatives and I do love how ancestry.com gives those hints along the right side of the screen after you've found someone in a census or other record. Sometimes there are lots of those hints and other times not so many. Of course, you still need to be able to determine if the hints are really for the person for whom you are looking. But, my goodness, it's so much easier now than it was, oh, 20 years ago!

'n That... Research is on hold for now. I left Indiana last week to come to Huntsville, Alabama to help out my friend/distant cousin (3rd cousin once removed in the Joslin line) while she is recovering from cancer surgery. Recovery from the surgery has been very good but she's had a terribly painful flare-up of rheumatoid arthritis in her hands and shoulders. Then her left knee started swelling up and has been quite painful - that's been diagnosed as osteoarthritis. After visits to several doctors yesterday and today, medication has been prescribed that will, hopefully, ease the pain. After she recovers from the surgery she will have 5-6 more rounds of chemo to blast away the remaining cancer. So, if you'd care to add Babs to your prayer list, I'm sure she would appreciate it.

and 21.3%... I'm a little behind on blog reading but I saw Judy Russell's post More Lost Than Found and Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge and, though a little late, thought I'd see how I measure up. Like Judy, I've got far more ancestors missing than I've found, but overall, not too bad. Things look good for the first four generations, but starts dropping off at the fifth.

I'd be quite pleased if I could locate the six missing 3rd Great Grandparents, but they are back in the "old country" of Switzerland or Germany and I haven't a clue really, as to which little town from whence they came.

The missing 3rd Great Grandparents:

• Parents of Charles Wiseman (1815-1895) born Switzerland, died Switzerland County, Indiana
• Parents of Michael Fisher (abt 1800-1845) born Germany, died Carroll County, Ohio
• Parents of Christena Houck, wife of Michael Fisher, (abt 1805-after 1850) born Germany, died unknown

And, if I could find the elusive parents of Ruth Dyer, Sally Church, and Abigail Price they would surely fill in some of the empty spots!

Published under a Creative Commons License.
Becky Wiseman, "This 'n That and 21.3%," Kinexxions, posted August 21, 2012 (http://kinexxions.blogspot.com/2012/08/this-n-that-and-213.html : accessed [access date])

I've been Slacking Off...

Here it is, nearing the last week of April and it's hard to believe that I've only published three blog posts this month! You'd think with all the “extra” time I have now since I'm not traveling I'd get more accomplished. But that hasn't been the case. I have however, finally gotten to watch the entire Harry Potter series! I had never seen any of them. Now I understand why Elyse is all ga-ga over Mr. Potter! Last night I watched the first of the “Lord of the Rings” Trilogy, which I had also never seen. The books were read many, many years ago but amazingly I remembered some of what took place. So you see, I have accomplished something these past few weeks...

I've had several interesting “conversations” the last few weeks with a couple of Hoffman researchers. Some tend to agree with my theory and others say no, there were two men named Michael Hoffman who married women named Maria. But no one can come up with any concrete documentation either way, not even me – yet! It is going to take “on site” research to uncover documents that aren't online to help resolve that issue. The truth is, we may never know for sure. But I haven't given up...

Last Wednesday (April 18th) I finally broke down and purchased a new laptop with Windows 7, a 750gb hard drive, and 6gb of memory. An amazing little machine that only weighs a little more than 4 pounds. Considerably heavier than the netbook I've been using but Oh, so much faster at everything! Yes, I am aware that Windows 8 will be coming out later this summer or early this fall, but the netbook was getting painful to use as a “full-time” computer. It's little hard drive was nearly full and it's 1gb of memory was terribly slow. It has served me well these last 2 ½ years and will most likely still be used on research trips - after everything except genealogy stuff is removed.

Of course, getting the new laptop ready for use has been a time-consuming process, as well as more than a little frustrating at times. But I have finally gotten the basic software that I use installed and updated to Windows 7 and they all seem to be functioning properly.

All of my data files have been transferred too. I was totally amazed by the speed at which that was done! Of course, there was an issue with the program used for the backups, which took more than four hours to resolve, but it's working and backups now take a fraction of the time they took with the netbook.

Everything considered, I am very happy with the new laptop. I just have to get used to using a larger keyboard again - some really strange looking sentences have been typed in the last few days!

Next Saturday I'll be attending the Indiana Genealogical Society Conference in Fort Wayne. I'm looking forward to meeting other Genea-bloggers who will be attending. And maybe learning a few new research tips and ideas as well.

For now... I'm back to reviewing and analyzing documents gathered during my recent visits to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. It's been going slower than anticipated, partially held up by additional research on the Hoffman family but the time spent on that “project” was well worth it...

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Family Tree Magazine 40 Best Genealogy Blogs

The nominees were announced for the Family Tree Magazine 2011 “40 Best Genealogy Blogs” earlier this week. My congratulations go out to all of the nominees...

Voting closes at midnight on Monday December 20th, so you still have a few days to make your selections. Five nominees are to be chosen in each of the eight categories: Everything, Cemeteries, Technology, Heritage Groups, Research Advice/How-to, Local/Regional Research, New Blogs, and My Family History. Family Tree Magazine will announce the results in their July 2011 issue.

Thomas MacEntee has a comprehensive list of the nominees, which includes the name of the person who writes the blog. Quite a few blogs that I'm not familiar with made the list. And quite a few that I thought should be there aren't. But that is the nature of lists and open nominations. You can't vote for kinexxions since I haven't been blogging about my genealogy this year (and, no, I didn't expect to be on the list) but you can cast your vote for those you deem worthy of the honor. So, Go Vote!

Help make it the biggest and best ever...

Jasia at Creative Gene has re-issued a call for submissions to the 100th Carnival of Genealogy.

If you have a genealogy blog, please read her post for submission guidelines and consider submitting a post.

Her goal is to have 100 contributions for this edition but only three have been received thus far. Only YOU can help her achieve the goal of 100 posts, which would double the previous record of number of posts in a COG - The Happy Dance. The Joy of Genealogy. hosted here at Kinexxions included 50 posts.

Come on folks, lets support Jasia in this venture and help make the 100th the biggest and best COG ever!

The deadline for contributing to the 100th COG is December 1st.

I'm working on my post - how about you?

One of the “Family Tree Magazine 40 Best”

This post is coming to you from “the lodge” at Chisos Basin in Big Bend National Park, courtesy of their free (Really. Really. Slow.) Wifi. The weather yesterday was absolutely gorgeous. Sunshine and blue skies and the temperature reached a high of 86 degrees, though it didn't feel that hot to me. Probably due to the nice breeze that was blowing all day long. Today, Mother Nature is not quite so kind. It is in the upper 20s and snowing! Fog rolled in during the night and the temperature plummeted. About 10:30 I made my way to the visitors center and joined about 25 other people milling about trying to decide what to do. The weather in the lower elevations isn't much better than it is here in the Chisos Basin.

I came to the lodge for a hot meal and found out that they have Wifi available! So I went back to the van and grabbed the netbook. But the battery is down to 15% with no outlet available so I don't have much time left... Upon checking my email I saw a note from Diane Haddad that mentioned that Family Tree Magazine had announced their selection of the 40 Best Genealogy Blogs. And Kinexxions made the list!!

It is indeed an honor to be among the other blogs included in the list. Thank you to Family Tree Magazine and especially to everyone who voted for kinexxions. In some respect I feel like an impostor. Blogging and Genealogy in particular, have taken a backseat to travel. Family History posts have recently been few and far between. That doesn't mean there aren't stories to be written or research yet to be done. Far from it. But at this point in time, they aren't a real high priority for me.

I am proud to be a member of the genealogy blogging “geneablogger” community. There are many, many blogs being written by some very creative and talented writers. This community is a group of people who are extremely generous with their research stories, tips, advice, and support for one another. And the community is growing – each new blogger adds something to the whole, making it better than it was before. I look forward to watching it grow.

Thank you and Congratulations to all of the other blogs that made the Family Tree Magazine Fab Forty!

It was out of control...

What was out of control? My blog label list in the sidebar, that's what! It was way too long, making scrolling through the first “page” of the blog tedious. There was also some duplication of similar labels. I had tried modifying the label list so that it would display differently, but somehow just never got it right.

So? I did some organizing. I've created several "categories" or "sections" along the sidebar breaking up the long label list and, hopefully, making it easier for my readers (you) to find things. Now, I realize that many of you (as I do) use a feed reader to read blogs so you seldom visit the actual blog. Therefore, this change won't matter to you. But I was thinking of some family members (there are several who actually do read my blog – yay!) or someone who arrived on the blog through a search query. Perhaps this change will make it easier for them to find a particular surname or topic. I sure hope so because it's taken me much of the last two days to add the sections and clean up that horribly messed up label list ;-) It's better than it was but it's still not quite how I want it to be, so there's some tweaking that needs to be done.

What's new in the sidebar?

• A link in the upper right corner so you can send me an email ;-)
  
• Mom's Ancestors (Replaces the Index Posts that were listed. Separated Mom's and Dad's lines. Depending upon the number of posts, some links go to the Index Posts and some will display all posts with that label.)
• Dad's Ancestors (Links to posts with the selected surname label.)
• Collateral Lines/Related Families (Posts where the surname is mentioned. Families of siblings of my ancestors and other relatives - people connected in one way or another.)
• Resources and Research Tips (Links to posts with the listed labels)
• Other Topics (Links to posts with the listed labels)
• Favorite Family Photos (Links to specific posts, will occasionally change.)
• Selected Posts (Links to specific posts. The posts listed will change periodically.)
• Bits and Pieces of Personal History (More than you ever wanted to know about me.)
• The Journey – Where I've Been (Links to posts that use the various state labels)

You may have noticed that two sections (Collateral Lines and The Journey) are formatted differently than the other sections. That's because Blogger now allows the use of the labels gadget more than once! And, it has an option to use a list or a “cloud” to format the labels. That's nice. So now when I add a new state or surname in the label of a post I'll have to remember to edit that list and specify that the new label should be included. Only takes a second to do so it really shouldn't be a problem and I believe it will be worth the effort.

Wow! I've been nominated...

Thank you so much to everyone who nominated Kinexxions for the Family Tree Magazine 40 Best Genealogy Blogs (in the Personal/Family Category)! And congratulations go out to all of the other nominees.

The editorial staff of Family Tree Magazine will be selecting 40 blogs in the various categories for an article scheduled to be published in the May 2010 issue. Blogs were nominated by readers last month and the voting is now open (and will continue to November 5th) to determine the final 80 blogs that will make the cut.

Blogs were grouped into 10 different categories based on the purpose or intent of the blog: All-around, Personal/Family, Local/Regional, Cemetery, Photos/Heirlooms, Heritage, News/Resources, How-to, Genealogy Companies, and Genetic Genealogy. The Genealogy Insider has more information about the categories.


Caution, shameless plug coming. . . I realize that Kinexxions has been a bit preoccupied with some traveling and hasn't posted much content recently that is related to family history but if you'd care to vote for me I'm near the bottom of the list (hopefully that doesn't really mean anything ;-) in the Personal/Family category. And, hey, you can even vote more than once if you'd like to!

Update October 6th:
I've been informed by Bill West (thanks Bill!) that the list of blogs in each category changes each time you view the poll, so you'll just have to look for the blogs for which you want to vote. Also, the illustrious footnoteMaven (who has been nominated in two categories!) has created a list of links to each of the nominated blogs, which is quite helpful in reviewing the nominees prior to voting.

Check out my Blog Banner!

Deez at Cemetery Explorers has been a busy fellow lately creating banners for several blogs, notably Flipside and Heritage Happens (and probably others). And now I have a "real" banner too and am very pleased with it. What d'ya think?

(Though it is a little long right now, it will soon be resized to fit properly.)

Thank you, Deez!

The Puckerbrush Blog Award for Excellence

It is indeed an honor to have received this award from Denise Olsen at Family Matters, Gini at Ginisology, and Harriet at Genealogy Fun. Thank you, ladies, one and all.

Terry Thornton at Hill Country of Monroe County Mississippi created the Puckerbrush Blog Award for Excellence last month, saying:

In honor of our absent friend, Janice Brown, whose delightful blog Cow Hampshire continues to inspire through all her archived articles, is my attempt to recognize a few writers and their blogs ---those I consider the best in the blogging world and whose work has influenced me the most.

In a comment, Terry explained:

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.

So it is with the growth of blogs --- so many that it is impossible to read them all. But in the puckerbrush eventually a few plants/trees become dominant and influence all who view them through the thick surrounding puckerbrush.

And it is those outstanding blogs whose influence spreads beyond just the surrounding rabble of puckerbrush that I'm honoring.

Sadly, it has been over a year since Janice's last post and, as Bill West wrote recently, her blog has apparently been removed from the Internet. It's gone. All of those wonderful articles. Gone. We can only hope that Janice is alive and well and simply gave up on blogging. Godspeed, Janice, wherever you are now.

Most, if not all, of the blogs listed below have already received the award, some several times over, but I selected them in the true spirit of this award: because they have inspired me and influenced me, or in some way have helped me to become a better blogger. To me, they are the heart, the core, of the bloggers who write about their family history and they were all blogging before it became "the thing" to do. I value their online "friendship" and appreciate all of the moral support they have given to me and to so many others.

Without further ado, my ten selections are:

I don't know if it is "legal" or not to give the award to the one who inspired it, but Cow Hampshire was one of the blogs that I read regularly when I first discovered blogging a little over 3 years ago. Janice's writing was outstanding and she has (had?) a marvelous sense of humor. Her Jib-Jab videos using the heads of genea-bloggers were a hoot and were instrumental in providing us fledgling bloggers with a sense of community. I'm very saddened to know that they no longer exist. So it is with a heavy heart that I "posthumously" give the Puckerbrush Award to Janice Brown at the now defunct Cow Hampshire!

At Creative Gene, Jasia has written some very poignant and touching stories of her family that tug at the old heart-strings. In addition, as everyone should know by now, she was also the creator of the Carnival of Genealogy which gives us all an opportunity to write about a topic that we might not ordinarily tackle. The COG was really the beginning of the genea-blogger community and is a great way for new bloggers to be discovered.

Miriam Robbins Midkiff at AnceStories: The Stories of My Ancestors has not only provided us with some wonderful, well-written, stories of her ancestors, but has also given us a boatload of great research tips - especially for file organization. I've never attended one of the monthly Scanfest sessions but they've been a hit with many genea-bloggers.

We all felt the disappointment and horror with Cheryl at Two Sides of the Ocean when her original blog somehow disappeared and she lost 18 months worth of posts. Cheryl plans to reconstruct as many of those posts as possible, but it will take a while. She is a master at integrating photographs and documents with her posts to make them visually appealing.

In addition to presenting some interesting family tales, Craig Manson at Geneablogie, is also our resident go-to legal guy. His interpretations of copyright and other issues pertinent to genealogy are highly regarded and greatly appreciated.

Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings writes about his family history but also provides detailed evaluations of software, opinions on news releases from the "corporate" world of genealogy, and is the instigator of the weekly "Saturday Night Genealogy Fun" challenge. I'm sure it's a challenge for Randy to come up with his challenges each week! I also look forward to his weekly "Best of the Genea-Blogs" posts. He almost always has several posts listed that I've missed.

I don't have any Polish ancestors, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying the posts written by Steven Danko at Steve’s Genealogy Blog. He does write about things other than his Polish roots, like his visits to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. And he's shown that he is more than a little talented behind the camera.

Tim Agazio at Genealogy Reviews Online often has a different take on genealogy issues. Different is good. And refreshing. But he hasn't been posting as often as he used to. Hope everything's okay with Tim.

Apple, over at Apple's Tree, has diligently been transcribing family letters that she discovered last year. Those letters, as well as the posts that Apple has written about her family, are a delight to read. They provide us with a glimpse into what life was like in the past.

When I first discovered Walking the Berkshires, written by Tim Abbott, I think I turned just a little green from envy. The treasure-trove of family documents and photographs that he has custody of is quite amazing. I especially loved reading his stories about Windrock, the family home.

Blog Feed Issues?

Anyone else out there having a "problem" with Feedburner and blog posts not showing up in a "reasonable" amount of time?

This was posted at 10:15 AM today (March 30, 2009)

It showed up in my Google Reader 12 hours later, at 10:43 PM (March 30, 2009), after I posted this at 10:28 PM on the 30th. The post from earlier today still hasn't shown up in Bloglines.

It's been happening for the past few days. Actually, it has been several times in the past month. I checked Feedburner Help Group and it is apparently affecting a lot of people and mostly blogs on Blogger.

Just wondering if other genea-bloggers are having the same problem...

Oh, My!

Last week I learned from Craig that there is no such thing as proof.

Today, I'm wondering if such a thing as a good source exists.

Now what? Time to give up on the research?

Or perhaps, April Fools' Day has come early this year?

(Be sure to read the comments, along with the posts...)

Three Women

The topic for the upcoming 68th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is "A Tribute to Women" which is in honor of March being National Women's History Month. Our instructions were to "Write a tribute to a woman on your family tree, a friend, a neighbor, or a historical female figure who has done something to impact your life. Or instead of writing, consider sharing a photo biography of one woman's life."

Some of you may consider this post a "cop out" and it may well be, but I've already written a bit about the women who have had an influence on my life, so I'm going to link to those articles. I hope you will take the time to check them out, and that you enjoy reading about them.

Of course, the woman that has had the greatest impact on my life is my Mother. For better or for worse, she is what she is. And I am what I am, to some extent, because of what she was. My mother is still living so I haven't really written about her life, but I did post a photo tribute to her on her 80th birthday. Mom raised us kids the best she knew how, but above all, she did it with love.

And the woman that influenced my mother and who also impacted my life tremendously is her mother. We don't always (actually we very seldom) understand some of the actions taken by others, but those actions have a cause and effect that ripples through the generations. I wrote Grandma's Story two years ago as part of the International Women's Day Challenge that year.

The third woman in this chain is grandma's mother, my great-grandmother, Maude Wise Brubaker Yontz. A woman of small stature, whose life and actions influenced her children and their children. I was five years old when she passed away so I don't remember her at all, but she has come to life for me through the stories that my aunts have told me and through the photographs that have been passed down to me. It goes without saying (but I'm going to say it anyway) that I'd love to be able to spend a day with her, to get answers to all the questions I have about her and her family.

Sometimes You Have to Say No More!

As rabbits naturally have a tendency to do, the Graveyard Rabbit is producing new blogs at an astounding rate! Just in case you haven't heard, Terry Thornton has started a new venture and has invited fellow genea-bloggers to join The Association of Graveyard Rabbits.

I wish Terry and all of the other bloggers joining him great success with their blogs and will be supporting them from the sidelines. It is with some degree of regret and envy, that, for a variety of personal reasons, I will not be joining Terry and the other bloggers in this project. I believe the Graveyard Rabbit is an admirable project and that only good things can come of it.

Perhaps I'm just not good at time management, but the primary reason for not participating is, quite simply, a matter of time. There are only so many hours in a day and so much that I want and need to accomplish that I just don't feel that I can add another obligation to the list.

In addition to not taking on any new projects until my current list has been whittled down a bit, I have recently cut back on active participation in my local genealogy society. For a little over five years I was editor of their quarterly publication, was chairperson of the First Families and Pioneer Families programs, was chairperson of the Publications Committee, and was the go-to person for questions regarding computer problems and the internet. For the most part, those positions are being handed over to someone else.

I have also chosen to not participate so much in Facebook. I'll still add friends and join other Blog Networks when requested, but I am no longer accepting "gifts" or invitations to most of the other "applications" available in Facebook.

Also, I will be selective about the memes and challenges in which I choose to participate. I applaud those who dream up the memes and those who participate in them, but choices, sometimes difficult must be made if I am to accomplish my goals. Distractions are good, in moderation, but it seems that lately there have been too many temptations pulling me away from my goals. So please, do not be offended if I choose not to respond to a meme or challenge, it's not personal, by any means.

I wish you all well in your endeavors, whatever they may be.

So, What was in that Box?

Well, it's been nearly 5 weeks since Denise Levenick issued a Treasure Hunt! A Challenge for Genea Bloggers so I should have had plenty of time to open and explore the contents of the box! But, as always it seems, time has gotten away from me and the box was still sitting in the same spot, unopened. Until last night.

I didn't really expect to find any valuable treasures within, but I'll admit I was a little surprised. It's been a little over two years since the box was packed up, and memory can be a funny thing. Just get my mother and her four siblings together telling family stories and you'll get five different versions of the same event! But I digress. Back to the box.

After cutting the tape and pulling out the crumpled newspaper that was used as a filler, the discoveries began. On top, several magazines, from the 1960s and 70s, in very good condition by the way, especially considering that they would have traveled with me to every duty station while I was in the Navy.

• Kennedy And His Family in Pictures by the editors of Look. No date on the cover but one of the inside pages has a copyright date of 1963. It probably came out the week after his funeral. I was a sophomore in high school. Inside the pages was a "First Day Cover" envelope issued by the post office on May 29, 1964.
• Flying Saucers was another special edition by the editors of Look, copyright 1967.
• Apollo 11: On the Moon was a Look special edition that came out in late 1969. Sunday, July 20th, 1969 10:56:20 P.M. Neil Armstrong declared "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." My youngest brother was graduating from Navy Basic Training at Great Lakes that weekend. Mom, my sister and I were there to visit him and spent some time glued to the television screen in the motel room.
• There is life on the Moon. . . was a publication of Pace magazine in August 1969 and includes essays from Arthur C. Clarke, Wernher von Braun, Ray Bradbury and eight other scientists and science fiction writers. It was billed as a "down-to-earth" look at space.
• Prizewinning Pictures from Life's photography contest was published on December 25, 1970. I was stationed at Norfolk, Virginia and pilfered this copy from the station library, where I was working at the time. I was hoping to get into the Navy's photography school.

Next up was a mess of cards, letters, photographs, and travel pamphlets. Just tossed in the box haphazardly. Most of the cards and letters are still in their envelopes. Birthday cards (predominantly that 50th milestone), along with notes from cousins and aunts. I haven't sorted through them yet to determine whether I want or need to keep them. They will temporarily go into another box for sorting at a later date. With the travel pamphlets were post cards and souvenir brochures, all from our trip to Mississippi and Louisiana the end of June and into July of 2003. Pascagoula, New Orleans, Monroe, Shiloh Battlefield in Tennessee.

Beneath that mess was a sheet of cardboard. At first I thought I had reached the bottom of the box but then realized I'd only gotten halfway down. Lifting the cardboard revealed, what else, but another box! Measuring 9x12 and 4" deep.

I totally do not remember this box! It may have been packed up when we sold the farm house in 1997, but I'm thinking it may have been earlier, back when I quit my job in Fort Wayne in 1986 and put all my belongings in storage for a year. Regardless, these are my treasures, rediscovered!

• My birth certificate, issued in 1969 to prove my age for joining the Navy. Why is it a treasure? It includes my mother's maiden name. Current birth certificates issued by the state of Indiana no longer have that, they just have the mother's first name.
• Several "at a glance" calendars from 1972, 1978, 1979. With sparse notes but enough to jog the old memory about certain events.
• Letters. Letters that I thought had been lost. In a way, I guess they were. Being boxed up for 10 or maybe 20 years. Most appear to be from my time in Japan (May 1977-May 1979) and through school (Indiana State 1979-1982). From family, and from friends long relegated to the back recesses of my mind. I opened several, but they are all going back into the box for now. I'm just not sure I'm ready for the flood of emotions they are bringing back. Long lost, found again. These letters won't be making it into the pages of this blog!

Personal treasures partially revealed, to be put back for yet another day. I can only wonder what will happen to them after I'm gone. Who will be the one to re-discover them then and what will they think? The question becomes, for me, is this: Do I really want someone else to find some of the letters? Taken out of the context of my life their true meaning is lost. And, as with most discoveries more questions will arise than will be answered.

So, there you have it. Are my treasures valuable? Intrinsically, yes. Monetarily, no. But as a family researcher, where does their real value lie?

5x5 + 2x5 = more than you really want to know

Apple and Donna have both tagged me in the latest meme that was started by Randy. We're supposed to tell five things about ourselves in five categories and then tag five bloggers.

10 Years Ago I...

1. was getting settled into my new house
2. was spending more money than I had coming in (on stuff for the house, mostly)
3. took some classes at Ivy Tech, Fort Wayne
4. traveled to Kalona, Iowa for the Phend Family Reunion
5. played in the water sprinkler with my nephew

5 Things on Today's To-Do List... first four completed, fifth is ongoing

1. go for a walk
2. have lunch with a friend
3. lookup several obituaries on microfilm at the library
4. visit my mother and run some errands for her
5. continue scanning genea-documents (none done today)

5 Snacks I Enjoy...

1. Apples
2. Craisins
3. Corn Chips
4. Dark Chocolate Peanut M&M's
5. Cashews

5 Places I Have Lived... (all courtesy of the U.S. Navy)

1. Norfolk, Virginia
2. Bainbridge, Maryland
3. Keflavik, Iceland
4. Port Hueneme, California
5. Yokosuka, Japan

5 Jobs I Have Had...

• Dishwasher in a Restaurant
• Factory Worker
• Office Clerk
• Photographer
• Systems Analyst

And, I saw that Donna added a sixth category, 5 places I’ve been that I want to return to:

1. Iceland (to traverse the Ring Road that goes around the country)
2. Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado
3. The Grand Canyon, Arizona
4. Traverse City, Michigan
5. Washington, D. C.

Since Donna broke the rules, I'm going to add a 7th category. . . 5 places I've never been to that I want to explore:

• Alaska
• Peru (specifically Macchu Picchu)
• Australia
• New Zealand
• Switzerland

And, finally, 5 bloggers I'm tagging:

1. Taylorstales at Taylorstales-Genealogy
2. Denise at Moultrie Creek
3. Chery at Nordic Blue
4. T. K. at Before My Time
5. Sheri Bush at TwigTalk

A Visit to Pisgah Marsh

We had our first frost Friday night and Saturday was a beautiful fall day, though a little chilly in the morning. After running some errands I decided to play hooky!

Pisgah Marsh is located in the northwest corner of Whitley County, not far from the Noble and Kosciusko county lines. It is a Wildlife Diversity Area owned by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. The road used to go through to the other side. The area flooded so often that eventually the water just never went away. I've visited before but this time I had my camera with me. And I had the place all to my self!


Left: Dire warnings near the entrance. Right: On the boardwalk. The trees pretty much hide the view of the marsh to the west. All you could hear were the sounds of the leaves rustling in the breeze, little unseen animals scurrying in the underbrush, and the birds. Didn't see any eagles though.


Left: Pisgah Lake, at the north end of the boardwalk. The water is only a few feet deep. Some geese were landing and taking off but didn't stick around long. It was very peaceful. Right: Some berries along the shores of the lake.


Left: More berries. Right: Looking to the northwest. A preview of the colors to come.


After spending some time on the boardwalk I ventured down the road. Left: The view to the north. The boardwalk is in those trees on the right. The sign says "State Refuge. Do Not Enter. No Trespassing, Hunting, or Fishing." Like, I'm going to go in there! Right: The view from the road, looking south. The water is covered with what I call green slime. There were fish in it, I heard some jumping, and saw the ripples they left in the water.

Seeking Hidden Treasures

Denise at The Family Curator has issued a Treasure Hunt! A Challenge for Genea Bloggers. The premise of this two-part challenge is that we must select a destination (i.e. a box of "stuff"), make a plan (map and timeline), post the plan by September 30th, then tackle the project, and before October 20th, share our once-buried treasure with a second post.

The Destination: The box shown below. It is one of 30 or so unopened boxes in my garage. It was two years ago that I moved from a house to an apartment. Many of the boxes contain books, there just isn't enough room for them in the apartment. Anyway, this box measures 13" high, 16" wide, and 13" deep.

The Map: To be honest, I don't think there will be any genealogical treasures within, but it is labeled "Cards, Letters, Misc" and the lord only knows what is included in miscellaneous! So, I'll sort through everything to see what I have and determine whether it should be kept or if it should be discarded. I can only hope that it will contain something worthy of sharing!

The Timeline: Hopefully, I'll get to this next week, but obviously will get it done before the October 20th deadline. How's that for commitment? The biggest step was moving it from the garage into the apartment. It is sitting in a spot where I'll see it every day so I won't forget about the project.

I wonder, were they happy?

Recently I scanned some miscellaneous documents for a project for my local genealogy society. Among them was this one. . .

"July 29 / 95

Mr. Wm. H. Magley will please give to Charles O Hess the propper papers to make him self and Miss L. E. Jones happy.

Yours truly
Ed Jones"

Wm. H. Magley was the Whitley County Clerk of Courts in 1895. That's the office that issued marriage licenses. Recorded in Book 5, page 343: Charles Oscar Hess married Ella Jones on August 1, 1895.

According to the transcribed records, Charles was 24 years old and the son of Peter S. Hess. His mother's maiden name was Creager. Ella was 17 years old and the daughter of Edmond Jones. Her mother's maiden name was given as Diller.

A check of the cemetery transcriptions showed that they are buried in Adams Cemetery, Troy Township, Whitley County. Their names are recorded on the same stone. Charles Oscar (1871-1927) and Lucy Ella Hess (1876-1967).

I don't understand.

Why are so many people "shocked" over the announcement by FamilySearch that images to the records being indexed may not necessarily be free to the general public? The INDEXES will always be free, although access to the images may not be.

All you have to do is read the original announcement FamilySearch to Provide Access to World's Genealogical Records. The key paragraph, which clearly states that there MAY be a charge for viewing document images outside FamilySearch facilities:

Working with the records custodians, FamilySearch can leverage its extensive microfilm and growing digital image collection to create digital images for affiliate genealogical websites at a fraction of the cost. The affiliate genealogy organization will create indices of the digital images and then publish the images and the indices on its own website, the archive's website, or a jointly published site. A copy of the index will also be made available for free on the popular FamilySearch website, which will help drive traffic to record images on the custodians' or affiliates' sites. Full, free access to both the indices and images will be provided to family history centers, FamilySearch managed facilities, and the archives. If the record custodian seeks revenue to sustain operations, a small fee may be required to access images outside FamilySearch managed facilities or the archive.

So why the shock factor? I imagine, the real consternation on the part of many FamilySearch indexers likely comes from the fact that the census images are part of an agreement FamilySearch made with Ancestry.com (whom many perceive to be the evil monster of the genealogical record world). The feeling is that the work being done on a volunteer basis is being turned over to the enemy!

Reality Check. The only way the records we need for our research will ever be put online is through collaboration. No entity can do it all on their own. Not FamilySearch. Not Ancestry. Not Footnote. Not the National Archives. Collaboration is the only way. Dick Eastman recently wrote an article about the costs associated with putting records online. I wholeheartedly agree with him on this point.

If you can't afford a subscription or to pay the fees that may be charged by other archive facilities, then simply head to your nearest FamilySearch Library/Center where you can view the images for free. Except, of course, for the price of gas to get you there...

Live Long And Prosper...

Well, I'm not sure about the prosper part, but based upon the longevity of my Ancestors, and barring any unforeseen accidents, I think I can expect to live a few more years ;-)

Of the 8626 relatives entered in my databases, 305 of them are Ancestors. I must admit that some of them haven't been "proven" sufficiently, yet. However, of those 305, a little more than half, 160, have birth and death dates (some don't have full dates, just years). Of those 160 Ancestors, the Average Lifespan is 71 years.

The following statistics for Age at Death are based on those 160 Ancestors for whom I have birth and death information.

• Under 30 = 2 (1%)
• 30-39 = 3 (2%)
• 40-49 = 9 (5.5%)
• 50-59 = 18 (11%)
• 60-69 = 29 (18%)
• 70-79 = 52 (32.5%)
• 80-89 = 40 (25%)
• 90-99 = 8 (5%)

As you can see, there are no centenarians amongst my Ancestors although several come close.

• Great-Grandmother: Nancy Jane (Lavering) Shuder - - 99y 30d (03 Dec 1854 - 02 Jan 1954)
• Grandfather: Rolland Victor Phend - - 97y 11m 30d (19 Jun 1893 - 18 Jun 1991)
• 5th Great-Grandmother: Margaret (Ellis) Sisley - - 96y 2m (13 Dec 1773 - 13 Feb 1870)

The Amazing Alexanders

This line on my Dad's side of the family had a father and son who both lived into their 93rd year. I don't have a date of birth, or even a year, for my 4th Great-Grandfather William Alexander but I suspect he was in his late 20s or early 30s when he was killed on August 27, 1777 on the 2nd day of battle at "Landing Head of Elk" in Maryland. He was serving as a 1st Lieutenant of the 7th Battalion of the Maryland Regulars. I've often wondered whether William ever saw his youngest son or if he knew of his birth. I would like to think that he did since the battle in which he was killed was fought in Cecil County where his son William Washington Alexander was born on February 17, 1777.

While his father may have died young, William Washington Alexander was long-lived, dying at Marysville, Ohio on February 16, 1871 at the age of 93 years 11 months and 30 days. William Washington's first child, also named William (of course!), didn't live quite as long as his father but did spend 93 years 4 months and 18 days on this earth! William was born November 20, 1805 in Erie County, Pennsylvania and died April 7, 1899 in Kosciusko County, Indiana. William had 13 children by 3 wives, his last child was born in 1868 when William was 63 years old. So he gets the award for being the oldest ancestor who fathered a child. He also gets the award for being the ancestor who fathered the most children (three) after the age of 60!

When William was not quite 60 years old, his 10th child Amanda Mineva was born on September 25, 1860. Amanda was my great-grandmother. She passed away on June 2, 1950 at the age of 89 years 8 months and 8 days. Amanda's husband, Samuel Bray Wiseman, was 88 years 5 months and 24 days old when he passed away. Samuel's parents lived fairly long lives: his father was 79 when he died and his mother was 84. That longevity didn't get passed down to Sam and Amanda's children though. My grandfather Charles Wiseman died at age 56, his brother Smith died at 70, sister Goldie was 83 when she died, and little Ray was taken away by diphtheria when he was only 7 years old.

The Phenomenal Phends

And in Mom's lines there was also a father and son combination that lived into their 90s. Her father, Rolland Victor Phend died the day before his 98th birthday, and his father, Henry Phend, was 92 years 8 months and 3 days old when he passed away. His wife, Susie Yarian, was 84 when she died. Mom's mother, Hazlette Brubaker, was 82 when she died; her parents died when in their mid-70s.

Some Old Mothers
There is no easy way to find out how old a woman was when she gave birth to her last child other than looking at each person in the database. A quick look in the database for my mother's family turned up 10 Ancestors who gave birth after the age of 40. I was amazed, especially given the time period in which they lived. Although I didn't check my Dad's database, I'm pretty sure there are a couple women there that could be included as well. Following are a few words about several of these "over 40" child bearers.

Oldest when married. Susanna Kübli (1785-1856), 3rd Great-Grandmother, was 39 years old when she married Johannes B'hend (aka John Phend) in Switzerland. Five years later, at age 44, she gave birth to her only known child, Jacob Phend. She lived to be 71 years old.

Youngest when married. Sophia Hazlett (1794-1864), 4th Great-Grandmother, was 16 when she married James Dunfee. She would give birth to at least 10 children in the next 29 years, the last child was born when she was 45 years old.

A Sad Story. At age 24, Johanna Whitcomb (1674-1717) married Peter Joslin. They are my 8th Great-Grandparents. She would have 9 children but died from complications of childbirth at the age of 43. Peter would marry twice more but had no more children. He passed away in his 93rd year. Johanna was Peter's second wife. His first wife, Sarah Howe died July 18, 1692 along with their four children during an Indian attack on their farm in Lancaster, Massachusetts Bay Colony.

But, the Joslin men picked them well. Peter and Johanna's son John Joslin (1710-1789) married Lucy Wilder (1715- ?) when she was 17 years old. She would have 14 children in 24 years, giving birth to the last one at age 43. It is not known when Lucy died. John and Lucy's son Joseph Joslin (1743-1829) was married in 1763 to 22 year old Sarah Tarbell (1741-1810). She would give birth to 12 children in a 20 year period the last one being born when she was 45 years old. Sarah died in her 68th year. Joseph was 86 years old when he died.

Note: Written for the 52nd edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. I hope you've enjoyed this little journey through my family files.