Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories No. 23: Christmas Sweetheart Memories

Christmas Sweetheart Memories

Do you have a special memory of a first Christmas present from a sweetheart? How did you spend your first Christmas together?

The first Christmas I spent with the man who is now my husband was Christmas 1986. We were not yet engaged, although we were pretty serious and had already discussed marriage. At the time, I had been living with his brother and sister-in-law for about a month, caring for their three young children while they worked evenings, cleaning offices. It was his brother's second job, as the income he received working for the social services department of The Salvation Army was not enough to support a growing family. I had met my future husband and his brother while working for the same department.

I don't remember exactly what day we first celebrated Christmas together. I think it was a few days before, because if memory serves me right, my future brother-in-law and his family were planning to go to Vancouver, Washington for Christmas to spend it with their parents. And I know that my parents had invited Norm to come up to Colville with me to meet them at Christmastime.

So our first celebration was at Norm's brother's home in Spokane, and he (Norm) bought me a boom box for Christmas. I don't at all remember what I got him. Our second celebration occurred at my parents' home, where he met them and my younger siblings. We were engaged near the end of the following January, and married in late May.


This post is a part of the "Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories" meme created in 2007 by Thomas and Jasia. You, too, can write your own Christmas memories, either for your personal journal or blog. Visit Geneabloggers to participate and to read others' posts on these topics.

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Eight More Washington State Newspapers Added to the Library of Congress' Chronicling America Webste

From the Washington State Library blog:

On Friday, December 18, more than 42,000 historic newspaper pages from 8 Washington newspapers were contributed by the Washington State Library to the Chronicling America web site, hosted by the Library of Congress...More pages from other newspapers around Washington State will be periodically uploaded throughout 2010 as part of WSL’s National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) grant.  Pages will also be loaded locally and included in the WSL’s existing Historic Newspapers in Washington collection.

Representation from Washington State Newspapers:

• Colfax Gazette 1900-1912
• Colville Examiner 1907-1922
• Commonwealth 1911-1914
• Leavenworth Echo 1904-1922
• Pullman Herald 1888-1893; 1907-1922
• Ranch 1902-1914
• Seattle Republican 1903-1913
• Washington Farmer 06-15-1914

I lived for five years in Colville, when I first moved to Washington State, and the newspaper now is called the Statesman-Examiner, after an obvious merge. I'm excited to see this collection, as I have an ancestor's brother that lived in this county in the early part of the 20th century, as well as a niece whose birth father's ancestors were pioneers in the area. If you have Washington State ancestors, you'll definitely want to check out these FREE resources!

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Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories No. 22: Christmas and Deceased Relatives

Christmas and Deceased Relatives

Did your family visit the cemetery at Christmas? How did your family honor deceased family members at Christmas?

We don't have many family buried in this area. My cousins, Chris and Carrie, and a few distant cousins of my husband are buried at the upper level of Greenwood Memorial Terrace. Notice the word "terrace." The road up to the top of the cemetery is narrow, windy, and in the winter, covered with snow and ice. In the warm months, traveling up it still makes me nervous as it's not quite wide enough for two vehicles, and I'm always a little anxious as to who might be flying down the hill. Suffice it to say, we don't visit the cemetery in the winter. I do enjoy going on Memorial Day weekend. I also drive by Holy Cross Cemetery frequently while doing errands, and during the holidays, one can see how beautifully decorated the graves are, especially with wreaths on tripods.

During the holidays, I often think of loved ones who've gone before us; my grandparents and cousins, especially. It's not a melancholy reflection, although I do miss them. Mostly, it's warm memories of times we spent together, or gifts that were sent to us from them across the miles while growing up.


This post is a part of the "Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories" meme created in 2007 by Thomas and Jasia. You, too, can write your own Christmas memories, either for your personal journal or blog. Visit Geneabloggers to participate and to read others' posts on these topics.

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The Carnivals Are in Town!

The December Carnivals have arrived here in town! For those who are new to the term "blogging carnival," think of a magazine (carnival) whose articles (posts)--all on a theme--are written by many authors (bloggers) at their home blogs. The table of contents for this digital magazine appears at the host's blog.  Each month, there are at least half a dozen genealogy carnivals available to read, or to contribute to, if you're a blogger. I list each upcoming carnival at my Calendar of Events posts, written on the first of each month. You can refer to each month's Calendar as much as you want, for whenever a new carnival is published, I update the post.

The 7th Edition of the Canadian Genealogy Carnival has a Carousel (choose your own) theme. This carnival is always interesting even to those who may not have Canadian ancestors!

The 86th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy was a "two-fer"; in other words, it had two themes: The "Other" December Events, and Our Wish Lists for Genea-Santa. There were 17 submissions for the first theme and 22 for the second.

The 19th Edition of the Smile for the Camera Carnival has been published at Shades of the Departed. With "The Gift" being a theme, there were a record-breaking 62 submissions! Wow! My own story, Christmas Gifts, was also written for the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories, as were many other submissions.

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As for upcoming carnivals, be on the lookout later this week for the Festival of Postcards (theme: White). Jessica is extending the deadline for the the 25th Edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy (Christmas or Hanukkah Traditions) until December 28th, and submissions for the January 2010 Edition of the Graveyard Rabbits Carnival (Final Resting Place) are due December 25th.

Other holiday events include the Holiday 2009 Geneabloggers Cookbook (free) and the annual Blog Caroling Event hosted by the footnoteMaven. And Donna has republished "'Twas Just Days Before Christmas" to the amusement of all!

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Madness Monday: The Death Certificate of James W. BARBER

Way back in January, I wrote the post "Who Are Our Brickwall Ancestors, and Why Aren't We Blogging About Them Regularly?"  I decided to write about one brickwall ancestor per month. I started off with my first brickwall post on my 2nd-great-grandmother, Berber J. "Barbara" (DeJONG) VALK. But when it came time to write about the next one on my list (I'm writing about them in ahnentafel order), I realized my information about James W. BARBER wasn't very organized and I had a lot of loose ends. Throw in a major computer crash that wasn't repaired until four months later, a return to a busy school year, and a state genealogical conference, and I simply got nowhere. I realized the answer to my question: we aren't blogging about our brickwall ancestors, because we aren't organized, and we don't have/aren't taking the time to analyze the information we do have!

I've mentioned recently that I purchased a subscription to Michael John Neill's Casefile Clues, and like many of his subscribers, I've been inspired to reexamine my information to see if I can break down my brickwalls. James W. BARBER, my 3rd-great-grandfather, is one of my most frustrating brickwalls. He has a rather common name, and thus far, I've not been able to find names of parents or siblings for him. I first discover him in 1871 in Canada, married to his wife, Elizabeth COLE, with the first four of their eventual 10 children. I know he was born in England and was a Baptist, a laborer, and apparently never owned land. Rather than list all the information I have on James W. BARBER in one post, I decided to highlight each document I have, working backward in history. I have three death-related records: a death certificate, an obituary, and a tombstone photo with sketchy burial information. I am highlighting James's death certificate first.

Michigan Department of State, death certificate no. 6 (1912), James Barber [indexed as Barbor]; digital image, State of Michigan, Seeking Michigan (http://www.seekingmichigan.org : 2009).

(click on above image to enlarge)

When I first downloaded this death certificate from the Seeking Michigan website, I was not disappointed to see that there were no parents listed for James because a step-descendant of his had already looked up his death record in the Genesee County Death Records and discovered this information a few years prior. However, the death certificate has more details than the death record, such as informant's name and address, the attending physician's name, the duration of the contributing cause of death, the undertaker's name, and burial date and location. When I first looked at this certificate, the only "new" thing that hit me was a burial date, since again, the step-cousin had found James's grave in Mount Morris Cemetery. What forced me to reexamine this document again were two things: entering all the pertinent data, line by line, into my RootsMagic software (with everything cited according to Evidence Explained by Elizabeth Shown Mills), and preparing to write this post.

Something I already knew that bears mentioning is that the James's birth year and age are very likely incorrect on this document. Most of the documents I have found during his lifetime point to a birth year of 1841, and the 1900 U.S. Federal Census does confirm he was born in the month of July. So who gave out this incorrect information? Alex BARBER, the informant, was the youngest child of James and his wife, Elizabeth COLE. I find it surprising that he was the informant for several reasons: he didn't live in the community where James died; there were several other siblings who lived closer to the community where James died; and I have found through my genealogical experience that usually the spouse or one of the oldest children is normally the informant. Since Alexander was the youngest of nine surviving children, and one of the ones that lived furthest away from his father's place of death, I find it unusual that he was the informant. In my mind, it also explains the incorrect birth year and age listed for James.As a youngest child, he may not have been as familiar with the family information or known other older relatives that would have fixed a timeline of birth order and years into his mind the way the older children may have. Of course, this is merely conjecture, but it does provide a possibility as to the reason the birth information is incorrect.

Upon reanalyzing this document, I saw that the cause of James's death (injuries to the spine resulting from a fall from a building) had presented itself three years prior. That means when the 1910 U.S. Federal Census had been taken, he was disabled or in the process of being disabled, although a quick peek of that record gives no hint of this. It does help explain why he was enumerated in Montrose Township in 1910, but died in Mount Morris Township in 1912. Likely, he was being cared for by his eldest child, Lavinia, who is the only child in the obituary who is listed living in this location. It is also interesting that no residential information is listed on this death certificate. It would seem, too, that such an accident would perhaps warrant a newspaper article, so one idea is to try to find an account of this in a local paper to see if it yields further clues to other family relationships.

Next, I looked at the name of the attending physician. At first I thought it was P. H. CALLOW, but when running the surname through the search engine at Ancestry's 1910 U.S. Federal Census, I discovered it was actually F. H. CALLOW. Dr. Francis H. CALLOW and his wife Sarah E, lived in Montrose Village in Genesee Township in 1910; Dr. CALLOW had been born in England, just like James. Coincidence? Possibly. Did James and/or his wife Elizabeth seek out Dr. CALLOW because they preferred another expatriate to attend him? Did their families know each other in England? Or was it merely coincidence? It might be worth it to trace Dr. CALLOW's roots to see if they parallel the BARBER family's.

The next name I looked at was the undertaker's. I'm still stumped. It appears to be M. C. D'.... or DU...?  The next letter could be an "f", a "p", or an "r". I ran two searches at Ancestry: one for a keyword of "undertaker" in the 1910 U.S. Federal Census for Genesee County, Michigan, which yielded no results; and one for all listings in Mount Morris Township in Genesee County, Michigan, which yielded 1,131 results. I then ran through the list of results until I came to surnames beginning with D, and forenames beginning with M or C and found nothing that looked close to this surname. Despairing of having to expand my search to all of Genesee County, I looked at James's wife Elizabeth's death certificate to see if it yielded the same undertaker. It didn't; hers was from Lansing and appears to be T. R. PALIWA. So regretfully, I expanded my search to all of Genesee County, yielding 64,631 results and ran through the extremely long list until I came to the surnames beginning with D. I looked at 58 pages of  indexed D surnames with no luck. Perhaps one of my readers can figure out this surname! My hope is to locate the funeral home and see if there are more records on James located there. [Update: Read the comments to see how a reader helped successfully decipher the undertaker's name, and stay tuned for more information on where this clue led!]

So this death certificate has yielded three research possibilites: a newspaper article regarding James's fall; tracing Dr. CALLOW's roots to find a possible connection; and attempting to decipher the undertaker's name in order to trace funeral home records.

Next time, I'll highlight James's obituary.

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Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories No. 21: Christmas Music

Christmas Music

What songs did your family listen to during Christmas? Did you ever go caroling? Did you have a favorite song?

There was a while there when our family did not have electricity on our little farm in Alaska. But before, when we lived in town, and after, when we did have electricity on the farm and later when we moved to Washington, we often would listen to a set of records that I believe came from Reader's Digest. There were a number of boxed sets of various types of music that my parents had purchased, and one of them was all Christmas music. Between listening to those records, frequent church attendance, and involvement in school music programs (choir and band), I was very familiar with the songs of Christmas.

When I moved to Spokane to attend college, I was very involved with The Salvation Army, and learned to play brass instruments (I had played clarinet in school). As a band, we would go caroling in quartets or quintets to the various kettle stands around town, both outside and inside malls and shopping centers. We would play a few numbers before moving on to the next location. This always helped to bring in more donations, and it was just plain fun!

I can't think of a song that's an absolute favorite. I love all Christmas songs, and many are dear to my heart (I did blog about "White Christmas" here). I do have to say that as a choir and band member for many years in both school and church groups that I always enjoyed singing or playing "The Hallelujah Chorus," even though it technically is not a Christmas carol. It is traditionally played at many Christmas concerts, and has a powerful effect on both the audience and the performers.


This post is a part of the "Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories" meme created in 2007 by Thomas and Jasia. You, too, can write your own Christmas memories, either for your personal journal or blog. Visit Geneabloggers to participate and to read others' posts on these topics.

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Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories No. 20: Christmas Church Services

Christmas Church Services

Did your family attend religious services during the Christmas season? What were the customs and traditions involved?

This is a beautiful nativity set I purchased a few years ago.
I've always wanted a nice one with all the traditional "players,"
and this was just perfect!

Because my parents were ministers for many years, every Christmas of my childhood was connected with church, and I grew up knowing the "reason for the season."

My very earliest Christmas church memory was of when I was not quite three years old, Christmas 1969. My mother wrote to her parents:

The Christmas program was held this morning at the Annette Protestant Chapel [at Annette Coast Guard Base in Southeast Alaska]. Miriam was one of 3 little angels and the smallest one; as she went out after singing her song, her halo and wings fell off! Bryan and I had a hard time to keep from laughing.

We angels had a song to sing and I used to remember what it was, but can't now for the life of me! I want to say it was "Angels We Have Heard On High," but I know that is not right. Too bad Mom didn't write down what it was!

As I got older, I loved to be in Christmas pageants that were held almost every year at The Salvation Army church I grew up in, and liked playing the part of Mary or the Angel.

One of the things we did after my brother was born was to have a birthday cake at home for the Baby Jesus as part of our Christmas celebration. Part of the reason of celebrating St. Nicholas Day was to have the emphasis on gifts be on a different day than the spiritual celebration.

For awhile we attended a Presbyterian church and we always had advent candles lit, another tradition I enjoy.

After we moved to Washington and I was a teen, we often attended Midnight Mass with our neighbor. I've always loved going to church around Christmas!


This post is a part of the "Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories" meme created in 2007 by Thomas and Jasia. You, too, can write your own Christmas memories, either for your personal journal or blog. Visit Geneabloggers to participate and to read others' posts on these topics.

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Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories No. 19: Christmas Shopping

Christmas Shopping

How did your family handle Christmas Shopping? Did anyone finish early or did anyone start on Christmas Eve?

Most of the Christmas shopping done when I was a girl was via Sears, Roebucks & Co., Montgomery Wards, or occasionally, Jafco. We always got catalogs for those companies, and my favorite were the Christmas Wish Books. I loved all the dolls and accessories: clothes and bottles, strollers and carriages, cribs, high chairs, clothes.

I suppose that my dad probably bought Mom her Christmas gifts whenever he had to go out of town on business trips for The Salvation Army.

When we moved to Washington, we still used catalogs a lot. In addition to the others, we also had J.C. Penney. Both Sears and Penney had stores in Colville, although the Sears store was more of a delivery and pickup location for the larger store in Spokane.

I always envied the two girls that appeared on the front of the Jafco Christmas catalogs; they were the granddaughters of the CEO, and it always looked like they got everything they wanted for Christmas!

Today, I'm not a big shopper. I don't like malls and crowded stores. My kids can attest that I get very crabby if I have to shop for long (I don't even like grocery shopping!). I try to do a lot of online shopping, and then get in and out of stores with a pre-made list ahead of time. Still, it seems like every year there's always one or two items we end up having to purchase on Christmas Eve!


This post is a part of the "Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories" meme created in 2007 by Thomas and Jasia. You, too, can write your own Christmas memories, either for your personal journal or blog. Visit Geneabloggers to participate and to read others' posts on these topics.

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News from the Washington State Library: Vashion Island Heritage Digital Collection

From the Washington State Library's blog:

NEW DIGITAL COLLECTION – VASHON ISLAND HERITAGE

The Washington Rural Heritage initiative is pleased to announce the publication of our latest collection, Vashon Island Heritage, www.washingtonruralheritage.org/vashon. A project of the Vashon Library (King County Library System) and the Vashon-Maury Island Heritage Association, the collection documents life on the island from the late 1800s through the 1960s.


Read more about the project, and quickly link to some of our favorite items, on the WSL blog: www.sos.wa.gov/quicklinks/vashon.

Seven new digital collections are currently slated for publication in 2010, and a new Washington Rural Heritage grant cycle will be announced this spring. To learn more about participation in the initiative, contact Evan Robb, Project Manager, evan.robb@sos.wa.gov (360) 704-5228, or visit www.sos.wa.gov/quicklinks/WRH.

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Snowpocalypse - Remembering December 17, 2008 and Other Winter Tales

You may remember the news a year ago, when the storm of the century hit Washington State and 24 inches of snow fell on Spokane in 24 hours. The following week, our city received as much snow in seven days as it normally does in a single season (six feet). Our city was shut down: no school, no city bus routes, no flights; in fact, our state was shut down for at least a day or two. It was a somber time, as we realized that weather could completely isolate a thriving community of half a million people. Our holiday plans were delayed and our children, like many in this area, didn't receive their gifts until after Christmas was over, due to shipping delays, or the inability of delivery trucks to maneuver the city.

The winter continued with a ferocity as snow continued to pile up through the next month. We received a record amount of snowfall and our city's budget was strained as the previous winter, we had received what was at that point, a record amount of snowfall in one week as well. Roofs started to collapse. There were 95 reported of failures in Spokane County and neighboring Kootenai County, Idaho, with 68 being primary structures. One elderly woman was killed when the roof of her home collapsed, but fortunately no one was killed or seriously injured when a major supermarket's roof collapsed during busy evening shopping hours. Snowblowers, snow shovels, roof rakes, and ice melt couldn't be bought for love nor money. Whenever a shipment of shovels or roof rakes came into a hardware store, lines formed for several blocks until they were sold out. One hardware store sold over 2,000 roof rakes alone that season.

But although it was a difficult and serious time, Spokane city and area rural residents did what we've been doing for ages, through Ice Storm 1996, Snow Storm 2008, and Snowpocalypse 2008-9: we pitched in and got to work. Neighbors helped neighbors by checking on each other, shoveling, notifying each other whenever they ran errands to see if they needed something picked up, shoveling, helping disabled neighbors get dug out, shoveling, sharing sand and ice melt, shoveling, raking off each other's roofs, shoveling, and did I mention shoveling?

I wrote several posts highlighting our family's experiences last winter, and have shared the links below. I'm also sharing a link to my geneablogging friend and fellow Washingtonian, the footnoteMaven, as she shared her own winter story from across the state:

Our Week of Wintry Weather

(the snowstorm of January 2008; who knew the year would be bookended by record storms?)

The Weather Outside is Frightful

Snowpocalypse 2008

A Hot Head Will Not Melt the Snow, But it Can Get You Booked

(official police report received via e-mail; a story of the exception to Spokane's neighborliness)

A Quiet Day

(an unforgettable Christmas)

How Cold Was It?

(a story of winter survival by the footnoteMaven)

(footage from one of our local television stations - KREM 2)

This winter is looking a lot milder, thank goodness. No matter what the future holds, we and our children will always remember the winters of 2007-8 and 2008-9, and I'm sure they'll live on in family history lore!

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Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories No. 18: Christmas Stockings

Christmas Stockings

Did you have one? Where did you hang it? What did you get in it?

While I may have had a stocking when I was very little, I don't remember it. When I was in early elementary school, my parents started having us celebrate the Dutch tradition of putting out our klompen, wooden shoes, on St. Nicholas Eve, December 5th. In the morning, there would be candy and small gifts. I have continued this tradition with my own children. They use my old klompen. St. Nicholas ordered these from the wooden shoe factory in Holland, Michigan, and all of our family got them. We got several pair over the years. Some pair we received were plain, unvarnished ones, and they all have been worn out and discarded, as we would actually use them for walking around in the muddy barnyard. That was the original purpose of wooden shoes; the decorative ones are generally only used for St. Nicholas Day.

One year, St. Nicholas brought my brother and I Raggedy Andy and Ann dolls. He must have been about 18 months old, and I would have been almost 9. I think that a lot of the children's books I have about the Netherlands as well as fiction books by Dutch authors were brought by the good saint, too. When I was a teenager, St. Nicholas brought me a makeup kit, and another time he brought me a favorite aerobic dance album. For years, he brought Mom a delft Christmas plate, always featuring a handpainted Dutch church on it. One year, he brought my family a beautiful chiming wall clock with a delft face and brass hands, complete with weights and pendulum. We always felt so proud of our Dutch heritage on St. Nicholas Day!


This post is a part of the "Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories" meme created in 2007 by Thomas and Jasia. You, too, can write your own Christmas memories, either for your personal journal or blog. Visit Geneabloggers to participate and to read others' posts on these topics.

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Fun Stuff for Genealogists

Are you still looking for that perfect gift for your favorite genealogist? Or some stocking stuffers? Maybe you'd like to fill out your wish list to give to your significant other before they go shopping for you.  It's not too late to order all sorts of genealogical goodies from Fun Stuff for Genealogists (http://www.funstuffforgenealogists.com)!

To view their online catalog, go to the link above and click on the yellow Catalog button. My favorite product is the "Cite Your Sources" sticky notes (look under the Organize Yourself tab in the left-hand menu). Any Scanfesters out there still looking for cotton gloves to handle old documents and photos? Fun Stuff for Genealogists has them for the best price I've yet seen - $3.00 a pair (check out the Archival Preservation and Storage tab)!

Whatever your genealogical need or product, Fun Stuff for Genealogists is the resource for you!

[Disclosure: I have not been compensated monetarily in any way for this review.]

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Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories No. 17: Grab Bag

For my Grab Bag post today, I would like to focus on the Spirit of Christmas Present, not the Spirit of Christmas Past. And by Christmas Present, I mean Christmas presents!

The best gift that anyone can give me this year is to make sure that someone in need has a wonderful holiday. I want to thank all those who generously have given to my Online Red Kettle here on my blog and at Facebook. The image below shows how full my kettle is. My original goal was $500, and you can see how your donations have helped in achieving that goal:

I also appreciate all those who have adopted a needy child and/or senior citizen in their community by purchasing something from their list of needs and wants.

It's never too late to help! I will continue to request donations and adoptions through Christmas Eve. The season of giving is 24/7/365!

This post is a part of the "Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories" meme created in 2007 by Thomas and Jasia. You, too, can write your own Christmas memories, either for your personal journal or blog. Visit Geneabloggers to participate and to read others' posts on these topics.

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