Almanac Inspired Blog Post

The Family Curator is hosting a almanac inspired blog post based on weekly themes for April.

This week's theme is Baseball. Our family history around baseball is very slim. We were NY Yankee fans, but I don't remember Dad taking me to a ball game or my brothers. The only baseball fun we did celebrate were eating hot dogs. We liked them grilled, steamed with brown mustard and relish or kraut. I still enjoy a good hot dog. Sometimes Richard & I go this fun place in Tempe, AZ called Ted's. They also have excellent onion rings.

I have been to two or three baseball games, one when I first moved here to AZ, during spring training. I didn't find it very interesting. In 2005 I went to another game with one of my co-workers Linda. She was a big baseball nut, she even kept score, I wanted to visit, eat and watch some action, not much action in baseball game.

Almost Wordless Wednesday

This a group pictures in Nantucket Island, Mass, in the side yard of Grandparents Corkish home at 3 Cottage Ct.
Left to Right: Mildred Swann Corkish, Alfred Corish, Annette Corkish Hartmann, George J. Hartmann Jr.
Front Row: Donald, George and 10 year old Me.

My 10 Blog Nominations

This has been fun and hard. So many of my favorite blogs have already received this award. I guess a lot of people like the same ones I do, we all have such good taste. I wanted to share the wealth so I went through all my favorites and my followers, see I check your blogs also. I found my 10 nominees. It was fun to revisit some of these sites. I have to be honest I don't have the time to follow everyone everyday even with google reader.

Tina Gen Wish List
TK Before My Time
Gini Ginisology
Cindy Everything's Relative
Amanda A Tale of Two Ancestors
Diana Random Relatives
Apple Apple's Tree
Lucie Acadian Ancestral Home
Bill West in New England
Kathleen You Are where You Come From

So now I'm going to leave a comment on all of these blogs.

Have a great day!

PS I just left all my tags you are it comments and more than half of my nominees had been already nominated. I didn't find that out until I saw the comments left just before mine. We all have such good taste in blogs! There are some really excellent blogs out there. All our Ancestor should be proud!

Ancestor Approved Award

Imagine my Surprise when I was in a boring meeting at work today and I check my home email on my blackberry and found a comment was posted on my blog. So I sneak on to my blog and I'm surprised again there is a second post. First Leah and then Cheryl both nominated me for the Ancestor Approved Award.
As recipient of this Ancestor Approved Award I must list ten things learned about my ancestors that have surprised, humbled, or enlightened me. The recipient then passes the award to ten other bloggers that are doing their Ancestors proud!

Here are my top ten things I have learned:
These are not in any particular order.

#1) Today before work I found some more information out about my Mom's (my second mother)parents. They are also the only grandparents I know. The surprise I learned is they had outlived my Mom, her Dad by 5 years to the ripe old age of 94, her mom by 9 years and made it all the way to 95. I don't remember hearing from my Dad when they had died. I know they didn't make it to the funeral, they lived in Nantucket Mass. and Mom died and was buried in Fort Lauderdale FL. In 1965 you didn't travel like we do today. They must have felt so helpless and so far away.

#2)Surprised that my great grandpa Joseph died of pneumonia secondary to exhaustion at the age of 69 in 1915. That's only 7 years older than I am now, so it hit close to home. Now a days he probably be treated and live longer.

#3)Humbled by my immigrant ancestors who traveled long voyages in cramped quarters, lived in poor conditions, such as tenements, did any kind of jobs to earn a living, wanted to be Americans, learned the language, told their kids they could have a better life. Pass on a good work ethic, believed there was no free lunch and if you wanted something you had to work for it, get an education, make something of yourself. This is evident by my father who was a second generation American had earned a college degree. The Tenement Museum looks very interesting.

#4) Humbled by my Grandmother Minnie Elizabeth who was a widow at the young age of 40, who had three children at home the youngest age 9 and worked to provide for her family.

#5) Humbled by my Great Grandfather Joseph who was a widower and at the age of 54 on the 1900 census had five kids at home, the youngest was 6 and the oldest was 17. That is hard on a man, I know because I saw how hard it was on my Dad when his wife died and he had 4 young kids at home from 16 to 6.

#6) Learned that my work ethic, stubbornest, worry wart behaviors and diligent natural come from a long line of people with the same characteristics.

#7) Wished I had know these people and the stories that went with them. Which means I need to share my stories with the next generation.

#8) Wished I had gotten into Genealogy when I was younger and still had some family around but I must admit I like doing so much research on the computer.

#9) I'm enlightened by the kind, supportive, encouraging genealogist I have meet at Family History Expo in Mesa and on line.

#10) Surprised at how addicting Genealogy and social networking are.

I am also suppose to pass this award on to 10 other bloggers. I'm going to have to do a little research on that to try and find a blog that hasn't received it yet. Just to share the wealth a little. So watch for a second post.

Just a coincidence!

I had to chuckle to my self when I went into New Family Search this morning and saw the name of this tab. I have not been to this site in years. I made up the name for my quilting blog, based on my first and middle name initials and added quilter. I have used that for years on my webshots album. So when I decided to start my Genealogy blog I started with me and added ancestors.

OK so maybe it is only something I can appreciate. I do like the look of mine better in all small letters.

What I did find is I have lots of updating to do. My poor pedigree chart on the site shows how little I knew about doing Genealogy when I submitted my four generation sheets ages ago. I guess the good thing is I have learned to be more accurate and precise. I guess I'll be updating stuff on the site.

Wordless Wednesday

Isn't this a great picture???
Emma Maria Hartmann
This is my Aunt Em at her First Holy Communion June of 1927.

Fearless Females Favorite Female

Today I'm posting about my favorite female in my family tree. I'm getting my ideas from Lisa's blog

This is my Aunt Em, my Dad's sister. This picture was taken at my Dad's & Mom's wedding day in 1949. I feel like I have known her forever, of course I have. She was one of the aunts I sent my time with in-between mothers, while Dad was at work. When I was older and before we moved to Florida she also took me to the Zoo, the movies, Radio City Music Hall in NYC to see the Rockettes and the Museum of Natural History. I'm sure we did lots of other fun things but I have forgotten them.

When I was 15 my parents sent me to New York to visit my aunts, I spent a week with each one. Aunt Em lived in Long Island City, Astoria, Queens and my Aunt Bea in Massapequa, Long Island, New York.

I flew to New York to see Aunt Em when I was 20. That was a great trip for me. We wrote to each many times a year. When she moved to Florida I went to visit her up in Cocoa Beach.



Here she is celebrating her 80th Birthday with two of her sons, Joseph & Thomas. She was working in a medical office still at this age. She finally quit when they went to a computer system to make appointments a year or so later.


This is the note she wrote on the back of her picture, her handwriting at 80 was the same as when she was younger. My husband gets a kick out of her, because shortly after we were married she sent me a letter and she was always very formal and addressed the envelope Mrs. Richard B. instead of Mary B. He still teases me about that. My husband is very traditional, me I'm a little more modern, after all I do have a hyphenated last name.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

A Family Story!

Today in 1959 was the day my Dad proposed to my Mom or so the story goes. The details that are missing are where did he ask? Did they go to dinner first? Did he have the ring on that day? Did he have flowers? How did Mom feel? I mean here was a man who was a widower with a 13 month old. How did Dad feel? He said he would love both of his wives forever. How did all the family feel? I think everyone was happy and pleased with the match. My aunts told they they loved my Mom as if she was a sister.

It was a very short dating time five weeks at the longest. I don't know how long Mom cared for my Mother in the hospital but they probably became friends there. I not sure if friends is the right word. In the late 40's patients went to the hospital to die. Even Mom was in the hospital for almost 4 weeks before she died and that was in the mid 60's.

I know from my past dating experiences I would not have felt I knew a man well enough to marry after 5 weeks of knowing him, They married in June of 1959. I guess when you know it's right you do it.

All I remember is Dad would say, "Oh it's St. Patrick's Day this is the day I proposed to your Mom." I wish I knew more.

Mom never said much about it either.

I guess the lesson here for me is to tell my kids more about my courtship with their Dad.