Saturday, January 29, 2011

This Old Dog Learned New Tricks

The classes I attended at Arizona Family History Expo

I have been a sick this week so I have been resting instead of blogging. I did want to do a short high level review of the Expo. In a word it was great! I attended a class every hour and didn’t miss any. This was hard because I felt like I should stay in the Blog House a little but my main focus was to learn so I did. I did go to the Blog House about 3 times a day just to pop in.


I had a hard time deciding on classes before the expo, even the evening before I had two choices for most hours. So my final choice was let me do this one and off I went to class.

I printed out from the on-line syllabus the classes I was interested so I had a place to take notes. 

Friday’s Sessions:
Putting the Flesh on the Bones:
The story was fascinating and the presenter was very into his story, as he should be, it after all it is his family history story and it has opened many doors for him. It took me awhile to figure out his process he was using but I did and his handout had the information in it. By looking for the “Why” you find out more about the person and it might explain some of his actions.


Juicy Family History: 25 Ways to Write Compelling True Stories.
The presented M. Bridget Cook was very good, she was also the speak at the Friday night dinner. She has a way of drawing you in. She had some great ideas actually 25 of them to make a story more enjoyable. So keys words she used are Depth, Character, Choice, Legacy & Thrival. You’ll have to take her class to learn more.


Census Techniques and Strategies for Finding Elusive Ancestors.
This was a Family Search class and I felt that there was good material in the two Family Search classes I attended they lacked a little of the passion the private presenters had. Thought both presentation where based on their own results. It is hard to explain other than there was no fire in their eyes. And that is a personal opinion. Regardless I learned a few new tricks. I need to check out.


Easier Scanning for Great Results
One of the tricks I learn in class I used that night when I had to scan something. I still have to go back and try some more of the tips he taught. So many new things to learn and do and so little time.


Genetic Genealogy for Beginners: DNA is the “gene” in Genealogy.
It will take a couple of more classes on this before I fully understand it, but I do hope to do some testing one of these days. I have to save my pennies.


Friday Night Dinner: Speaker Excellent M. Bridget Cook, she spoke about her books and finding the miracle in everyone’s life. I am have read both of her books, well I am almost done reading the second one.


Saturday
How to Create an Awesome Family History Tour with Google Earth
Well we all know anything done by Lisa Louise Cooke is done very well. This was the premier of these new things you can do with Google Earth. I went right home and loaded Google Earth 6. I still have a lot to learn but I have started.


I Love Libraries! Using the Library for Your Genealogy.
An excellent class by Gena Philibert Ortega I learned a lot and took lots of notes. Now all I have to do is get organized to do my own library search.


When the Past meets the Present to Change the Future: Using Genograms
I had heard a previous lecture on Medical Genograms but this one had more depth and also included a social diagram beside just medical. I found this interesting and could see some of my own family dynamics in my head as well as some medical history. The speaker also had an activity handout which was fun to do.


The Value of Using Newspapers in Research.
This was the second Family Search presented lecture and it was the better of the two I attended. Lots of tips given I will dig out my notes to try them the next time I check out newspapers.


Photo Restoration Basics
This was helpful for me since I received Photoshop Elements for Christmas. Again, my to do list is very long and getting longer.
So that is my report in a nut shell. I would highly recommend going to an Expo near you or travel to one.  I need to go rest now, maybe latter I will add links. 


Blogger of Honor Prize
This cute little Dog Bone USB Hub was our little gift as a Blogger of Honor.

Thanks Family History Expo! 
 
 

Friday, January 28, 2011

Home: 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History

Week 4: Home. Describe the house in which you grew up. Was it big or small? What made it unique? Is it still there today?


Hosted by Geneabloggers and developed by Amy at We Tree.

My first one was 15-19 Parsons Blvd, Whitestone, Queens, New York.  My grandfather George Joseph Hartmann and my Dad also George Joseph Hartmann built the house.  I am not sure if that means they had sweat equity in the house or if they had it built. 

This the only picture I have that shows the most of the front of the house.  It had three bed rooms, one and a half baths, a finished basement, and an attic.  I learned how to roller skate in that basement, with key skates.


Check out those dirty knees!
In this picture you can see the side of the house and our mud room and the path to the back yard is this way.  We had a split level front yard and back yard.  How I wish I had more pictures of this house.  I always thought it was a large house but when I went back and saw the outside of it when I was 21 or so, I thought it looked very small. 


My Dad & Me
This picture shows the maple tree we had in front of the house and the view down the street.  I have no idea why my parents didn't take front on pictures of the house.  I know that I do.  We moved out of this house in June of 1959.  I have no idea how much my parents sold it for. 


This is the picture I found of my first house on Google Earth.





Mary, George & Donald 1959





Here we are the summer of 1959 in front of our new home in Fort Lauderdale Florida, guess what we are facing the house, so you can't see it. Now we have a palm tree instead of a maple.



 
 

September 1964

This picture shows more of the front of the house. This is when I was a Senior in High School. This house has three bedrooms and two baths. While I was in high school my Dad had the swapped the location of the kitchen and the dinning room and added on a Florida room.







 
 
 
 
In May of 2009 my hubby and I went back to Florida for a vacation.  We drove by the old Florida house.  So it is still there also.  This address is
5148 NE 4 Ave
Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Monday, January 24, 2011

Happy Blogiversary to Me!!


One year ago late in the night after attending the Family History Expo I started my blog.  I was trying to sleep and thinking about all the things I had learned and all the things I have had to do.  Since sleep was evading me, I got out of bed and started my blog.  I already had a quilting blog so it was easy for me to start.  It has been a great adventure.  You can read that first post here.

During the expo I had spoken to Thomas MacEntee of Geneabloggers and Lisa Louise Cooke of Genealogy Gems and they both encouraged me to start my blog.  I am grateful that I did listened to them.  They are both encouraging people.

Why am I grateful, I have learned a lot, I have started writing my personal history, I have made new friends and I learned from them.  I have shared with others thinks I have learned and even my cousin heard a story she didn't know about our family.  My blog has helped me grow as a Genealogist.  It gives me things to think about and a place to share my thoughts.  Some of my thoughts haven't been shared yet, but I need to save something for the next year.

I want to thank my 50 known followers and my unknown followers for your visits and your comments.  I actually have more followers on my Genealogy Blog than on my Quilting blog and it is a year older.  Thanks for all your comments and encouragement. 

Here is a snap shot of my stats since May when blogger started keeping them.  It is interesting to me to review the different tabs.
Well last year I was getting up late in the night to write a post this year I have to dash off to work.  

One small step for me and my ancestors! 

 

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Arizona Family Histroy Expo Saturday

Vendor's Mall from the Blog House
The Expo is over, it has been over since yesterday.  When I have some more time I will write a little about some of the classes I took.  Today I am trying to decide what new trick I learned I should use first.  This evening I did use one of the new tricks already.  I learned when scanning you should place the picture at the top of the scanner where the arrows are, it saves time when the final scan is done so moving part doesn't go over the full bed again.  Or at least that is what I understood.  I scanned a quilt block tonight. 

Tomorrow my Blog will be one year old and I need to be thinking about my Blogiversary post.  Tonight I am plan worn out and I am heading to bed early. 


Friday, January 21, 2011

Arizona Family Histroy Expo Friday

In a word it was a marvelous day!  It was lots of fun to meet the people I have meet on line and to meet them in person.  All the classes were good, some were wonderful.  I learned something at each one.  I will write more at another time.  Now I am going to post a couple of pictures and study the syllabus to decide what classes I am taking tomorrow. 


The Blog House
This is during the first hour of the Vendor Mall being open.  There were so many bloggers we had spread out to many tables. 


me in the Blog House

Shortly after this picture was taken I was off to my classes.  I learned lots of good stuff. 

 Friday Night Dinner



The day started with an excellant keynote speaker encouraging to learn and do new things.  It ended with an excellant talk given by M. Bridget Cook.  If you ever have the opportunity to here her speak, take it. 

Now I have to pick out my classes for tomorrow!!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Cars: 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History

My Front Plate
From Amy Coffin and hosted by Geneablogger.

What was your first car? Describe the make, model and color, but also any memories you have of the vehicle. You can also expand on this topic and describe the car(s) your parents drove and any childhood memories attached to it.


My First Car 1969 Javelin

Here is my first car in all it's glory.  This was a 1969 AMC Javelin.  I ordered it new and picked the color out.  It was a new fancy metallic rust color.  It is the only brand new car I have ever own, after this one I purchased at the end of the year or a one year old used car.  I think I paid $3000 for this car new.  I paid cash because I had inherited some money from my Mother Edith's Uncle Vic which had been sitting in an account until was 21 years old. 

I had learned to drive in a week.  My Mom (Annette) had started to teach me how to drive, a stick shift, a 3 on the column and I had done well driving with her, she was calm and patient.  After she became ill with cancer my driving lessons with her stopped.  My Dad took over and patience was not one of his strong suits.  He would scream at me and heaven forbid I grind a first gear.  He would yell, "Are you going to grind me another pound of baloney." He alternated between that and "If you ruin my car you will buy be another one."  That is enough to strike fear into a 16 year old girl.  Plus he said he would never buy an automatic car.  I wanted an automatic.  So I didn't finish learning how to drive with my Dad.  Just before I turned 21 I took driving lessons from a driving school, I had my lesson with in a week and shortly there after I had my car. 


Sitting on Fort Lauderdale Beach

This is the car I took my first road trip on with two friends.  We drove from Fort Lauderdale Florida to Canada.  We made stops in Washington DC, New York City, Boston, Cape Cod, Prince Edward Island & Quebec City.  We got lost in Washington DC, when around traffic circle more than once in Boston.  We saw my Aunt Em in Long Island City, New York had a $5 Lobster Dinner in a church on Prince Edward Island.  Oh was that good. 
The car no air conditioning and I thought about getting air added but that wasn't as good as factory air, so I never did.  I had an accident with it when I was working at Mount Sinai Hospital on Miami Beach, Florida.  I was stopped in front of the old nursing dorms, a car was stopped in front of me letting someone cross the street.  I looked up in the window and saw the car coming behind me too fast, I braced myself for the impact.  She was waving at a guy and not paying attention.  And you got I was the baloney in car sandwich.  The frame was bent.  

I did drive a stick shift when I was around forty a four on the floor, it was a silver Sunbeam.  The salesman had to teach me how to get it into reverse.  

The other car with great memories was the 1957 Chevy Impala, or at less I thought it was an Impala, it might have been just a sedan, but it was a four door, two tone and had fins!!  When we moved to Florida my Dad drove us all the way from Whitestone, New York in that car, a pregnant wife and three kids in the back.  That was before interstates and air conditioning.  We three kids had to take turns sitting in the middle and I can remember, he is touching me routine going on alot. 


1957 Chevy ours was two tone, rust and white

My Dad's left arm was so tan from hanging it out the window.  And when you sat by the window you got tired of the air on our face.  I wish I could remember how how it took us to drive to Florida.  It seemed forever.  We had a flat tire one day and my Dad had to take everything out of the trunk to change the tire.  Including his favorite pots an pans which were Guardian ware. Which I now see are collectibles. 

Guardian Ware
This last two pictures were taken off the web from some site, that I forgot to get the names of. 



Monday, January 17, 2011

Winter Memories – 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History

From Amy Coffin and hosted by Geneablogger.

Week 2: Winter. What was winter like where and when you grew up? Describe not only the climate, but how the season influenced your activities, food choices, etc.
February 1950 in front of 15-19 Parsons Blvd

I lived into Whitestone, Queens, New York until I was 11.  I can remember snow pants, rubber galoshes, red sleds, mitten with strings on them so you won't lose them, walking to school in the middle of the road when the snow was deep and the roads weren't cleared yet.  Snow angels, snowmen.  It didn't snow every winter so when it did we enjoyed it.  I have no other pictures of winter, or us playing in the snow.

Those snow pants were a drag when you went to school and had to take them off to sit in school, but they were nice to have on when you were walking to and from school. 

Some of my favorite items I used in winter were Ermine mittens, muffler and scarf.  I am sure it wasn't the real thing but I just loved them, they were soft and cozy.  I can remember sitting in my bed and just petting them.  One day my dad took me fishing off a pier in winter when I was about 6 or 7.  One of my mittens fall off right into the water.  I can remember reaching for the mitten and my Dad grabbing me by my coat so I won't fall in.  He was not very happy with me, I bet I scared hm half to death.  I have no idea why we went fishing in the winter.  I was very sad I lost my mitten. 

My muffler was very similar to the one in the picture only small for a little girl.

Arizona Family Histroy Expo

The Family History Expo is getting closer, I only have to wake up four more times and it will be here! 

Have I decided what classes I will be attending?  NO, I am suppose to be doing that now, but instead I am updating my blogs.  Well that is important also.  The agenda has 16 pages of classes. The program is 44 pages and the Syllabus is 381 pages!  I better start deciding. 

I must not forget to charge my camera battery so I can take pictures.  I have to check out the vendors and see if I need to ask any question of them.  I have to make plans to meet my friends at lunch.  I sure hope the one restaurant across the street has some extra help on hand. 

Look what I found on page 28 of the program.  I will be in good company with a lot of great bloggers.


See you there! 


Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Genealogy Fun

On Saturday the 8th, I had my two great nieces here visiting with me.  Heather the younger one came to learn how to sew a binding on a quilt.  While we were looking of pictures from Thanksgiving on my computer. I started showing her some of my family pictures of my grandparents and parents.  Later her older sister Amy came to pick her up and I was showing her my scrapbook pages I am making of my mother's life.  It was fun sharing these stories with these fun and charming young ladies.  They were interested and very encouraging.  It was very natural and fun to share family stories with them.  Amy even suggested I should make a calendar and use my old family pictures on my calendar.  What a clever girl!

The funnest part of the whole day was as I was showing them pictures of my parents I noticed writing on the back of a black and white copy of my parents wedding picture.  It said "Our Wedding Day October, 9, 1945".  Well it wasn't my father's writing and I realized with a shock that it was my mother's handwriting. 


I have owned this picture for awhile and I can't ever remember seeing the writing before.  So it was a thrill for me to realize that this was my mother's writing.  The only sample of her writing that I have.  It kind of boggles my mind that I never realized that before, then again I have never been this interested in my family history.  I am so glad I saw the back of the picture and realized the small treasure I found.


Friday, January 7, 2011

Less than two weeks...


           And I still can not decide what presentations I want to go to. 


Lisa Louise Cooke is the Keynote speaker, that will be a great opening.  Each hour I still have four or more presentations I want to go to.  How is a person to decide??  The rate I am going I going to have to assign numbers to each lecture I want to go to and draw a number from a hat!

I hope to see you there!!



I also just noticed that my blog will be a year old in 16 days, guess when I started it. 


Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Week #1 – New Year’s Memories

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History by Amy Coffin is a series of weekly blogging prompts (one for each week of 2011) that invite genealogists and others to record memories and insights about their own lives for future descendants. You do not have to be a blogger to participate. If you do not have a genealogy blog, write down your memories on your computer, or simply record them on paper and keep them with your files.

I have thought about this prompt since it has been announced.  I have no memories of my parents going out for New Year's.  With my Mom being a nurse and my Dad a fireman I think going out on New Year's Eve would have been a crazy idea.  I think they were of the mind set, it is better to be home and safe and away from those crazy drunk drivers.

I know for myself I worked a lot of New Year's Eves, I was a nurse and I worked mostly 3 to 11:30 PM.  Some of them that I didn't work on or went out late left me with a feeling of disappointment.  Everyone is always making such a big deal about going out on New Year's Eve that it is so much fun and exciting.  Well it isn't that much fun if you don't have a special someone and I really don't like drunks.

One New Year's Day I broke up with a boy friend. He had been my first adult love. We had been going out for almost a year and a half. He had encouraged me to go to school to obtain my RN, I was a LPN when we meet. I believe it was the January before I graduated in May, so about 1972. Something that happened on New Year's Eve just made me feel I don't want to be with him any longer. He isn't growing, I was and it was time to move on, and so I did. I guess I felt like it was a good way to start the New Year. Every couple of years or so we would visit by phone. He hadn't changed, I had graduated with my RN, moved to Miami then graduated with my BSN. Eventually I joined the LDS church, went on a mission. We lost touch with each other. I hope where every he is life has been good for him.

On a few New Year's Eve I went to the Miami Florida Orange Bowl Parade with a group of friends.  Now that was fun!  We get there early to find a place on the sidewall put up our chairs and have a sandwich while waiting for the parade.  I know I have pictures some place of some floats but I can't find them now. 

We never had a traditional meal on the Eve or New Year's Day in my home as a kid and I don't have one now.  I often thought of doing it but never think of it around New Year's. 

My husband and I stay home ad we can barely stay up until midnight.  Traditionally on New Year's Day I take the Christmas Tree down and put all the decorations away. 

My kids would say I am boring, so be it!


Sunday, January 2, 2011

Winners

I used my favorite on line Randon Number Generator to pick the two lucky winners of the registration fee to the Arizona Family History Expo.  I had four contestants. 

1st Winner Carma Lee




2nd Winner Kathy
 So I'll be emailing these two gals and forwarding their information on to Amy Coffin who the winners are.  I'll see you both there!  Kathy you can't tell me you don't win anything any more.  Sorry Carol & Julie that you didn't win, I hope to see you there anyway.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun

Randy Seaver has Saturday Night Genealogy Fun post every Saturday night.  This is my first entry. Tonight's topic is:
Decide which of your (many?) genealogy research adventures was your "very best" (your definition).

When I was thinking about this earlier today I thought my best adventure was when I found my grandfather and his father on the 1900 Federal Census. 

Now I think it really is meeting my cousins in England and having my cousin send me a picture of my Maternal Great Grandmother.  I wrote about Mary Ann Holmes Chaplin earlier this year.  I can only tell you that I felt a strong bond to this great grandmother and I was deeply touched to see her picture.  As a matter of fact it still make my eyes tear up thinking about it.   


Happy New Year! Genealogy Goals!

To all my blogging & genealogy friends!  As well as a BIG THANK YOU for all your support and encouragement!

As I ponder the idea of having Genealogy goals for 2011 I thought I would start with reviewing my goals for 2010.  Mindful that I was new to being a serious genealogist.  These were the goals I wrote on my very first post on this blog.  I set the goals to help be keep focused. 
  • Sunday afternoon work on cleaning up the information I now have. 
    • Started but I see this really as an on going project.  Information constantly needs to be reevaluated for accuracy.
  • Thursdays take the British Isle training class for 8 weeks.
    • Took most of the weeks but had conflict some of the weeks but never took all of them.
  • After class go to the MRFHL one night a week.
    • Did this for about half the year.
  • Blog and check out blogs to learn new stuff.
    • This was one I do very well and I have learned a lot and made new friends.
  • Join a message board and a mailing list.
    • Did this and even received a helpful tip from one person that did give me results.

Here are some of the things I did that also increased my growth and knowledge that were not goals. 
  • Joined a local Genealogy Society and attend the meetings
  • Joined a National Genealogy Society and read their publications
  • Subscribed to Family Tree Magazine
  • Subscribed to Ancestry.com
  • Started Indexing on Family Search
  • Took many free Webinars
  • Read three or four Genealogy Books
  • Meet three distant cousins and reconnected with a first cousin.
  • Meet other Genealogist via Facebook
  • I am one of the Geneabloggers.
  • Used post suggestion to tell my family History Stories.   
Well as I look at those goals and activies I see that I have grown a lot and accomplished a lot, or I feel like I have anyway.  So for this year I want to continue many of those successful activities and add a few more. 

  1. I want to learn more about Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness and ask for an act and return an act.
  2. I want to learn more about Wiki Tree
  3. Some of my more specific goals include:
  4. Find the marriage certificate of Joseph Hartmann to Susanne
  5. Find the Nationalization papers of Joseph Hartmann
  6. Find death certificate of Susanne Hartmann
  7. Find the graves of Joseph & Susanne Hartmann
  8. Find the graves of William and Minnie Chaplin
  9. Find the grave of Bertram Chaplin
  10. Find the grave Herbert Chaplin
  11. Find the grave of Edith Hartmann
  12. Make a nice Pedigree chart for my brothers with the new information I have.
  13. Finish my mother's life story
  14. Do more of the activities suggested by Amy at We Tree to be a better genealogist.  And to check out and do some of the past activities also.  
  15. Continue going to MRFHL at least twice a month
  16. Continue Indexing
I hope I haven't over filled my plate for the New Year.  But I do have 365 days to do these activities.  I only have to do them one at a time.  They will more likely get done if they are written down and on my radar.

So to all of you have a Happy, Healthy New Year and may your challenges  have good solutions.  

One small step for me and my ancestors