Birthplace Pedigree Fun

Yesterday on Facebook, my genealogy friend, J. Paul Hawthorne, posted a cool birthplace pedigree chart, using Microsoft Excel. I created one as well, and posted it on my Facebook timeline:

Click to enlarge

I created a blank pedigree chart in Excel which I uploaded to Google Docs. You can download it, edit it, create a screenshot from it, and post it to Facebook or your own blog. Here are the instructions:

1) Go to Google Docs to view the blank template.

2) Once the template is loaded, click on File, choose Download As, then choose Microsoft Excel (.xlsx).

3) Use Microsoft Excel to open the template after it is downloaded to your computer. If you don't have Excel, you can do several things:

• You can sign into (or create and then sign into) your own Google Account, and then use Google Docs to upload the template you just downloaded.
• You can use a free spreadsheet program, like OpenOffice's Calc. 

4) In Excel (or your spreadsheet program) use the bucket tool to fill each cell with your color choice, then edit the text.

5) Go to the View tab and uncheck Headings, Formula Bar, and Gridlines to make full use of your screen.

6) If you need to zoom out a little to capture the whole image in your screenshot, go to View, Zoom, and reduce the size (I used Custom to reduce to 80% on my laptop).

7) Hold down your FN (function) key and your PRTSC (PrintScreen) key to create a screen shot. Paste the image into Paint or any photo editing program on your computer and save as a .jpg or .png file.

8) Upload to Facebook or your blog.

9) Some ideas to use:

• Color the cells according the the state, provincial, or national flag colors of where the person was born.
• Make a chart to show where your ancestors died.
• Make a chart to show the causes of death for your ancestors (good medical info!).
• Show your ancestors' faith denominations (Methodist, Presbyterian, Catholic, etc.).

Have fun!

Kreativ Blogger Award

I'm very overdue in recognizing the two very creative bloggers who awarded me the Kreativ Blogger Award recently. Luckie Daniels of Our Georgia Roots and Polly Fitzgerald Kimmet of Pollyblog. On this Thanksgiving Day, I send them my gratitude and appreciation!

As part of this award, I'm supposed to tell seven as-yet-unrevealed things about myself and then pass it on to seven other bloggers. Both parts are difficult, since I've participated in so many memes on this blog, and many bloggers have already been given this award. But I am willing to give it a go!

Seven things about myself:

1. I am hard of hearing, especially in my right ear. My hearing loss is probably not enough to warrant hearing aids, and definitely not enough to qualify me for any disability benefits. It is not a volume issue, it is a loss in the range that allows you to hear consonants. Some of it is due to the many ear infections I had as a child, and the other is probably genetic (my son's hearing is bad enough that he does qualify to wear hearing aids; plus I had an ancestor who had three deaf children out of twelve). I rely a lot on reading lips to clarify meaning ("when" and "where" can sound an awful lot alike and can confuse meaning of a question), and am constantly irritated by people who hide their faces or talk "through their teeth" (don't enunciate).

2. I met my children's father while we were both working for The Salvation Army Family Services Department in Spokane. His brother was our supervisor, and I remember when I first met his brother, I thought "Midkiff" was an extremely weird last name. Thanksgiving always brings back lots of memories of people lined up for blocks around our office building to receive either a free boxed turkey dinner or vouchers for one from the local supermarket.

3. I have lived without running water and electricity for four or five years during my childhood in Alaska (very rainy climate), and without running water for five years during my teen years in Eastern Washington (very dry climate!).

4. I have also lived without television for years: first, because of living without either electricity or television service in Alaska; and secondly, when I was first married, we chose to live without a television for the first couple years of our marriage.

5. Unlike most women, I dislike shopping. When we first looked at this house we bought, our real estate agent tried to sell us on all its good points including, "It's close to the mall." Umm...yeah. This time of year makes me cringe, and I am appalled at the concept of Black Friday.

6. I homeschooled my children for three years. I enjoyed it immensely and when it was no longer fun for any of us, they ended up at public school. So did I...first as a volunteer, then eventually as a special education instructional assistant, because I had a background of working with the disabled.

7. For five years my children's father and I lived at a former Nike missile base, which had been converted to a private microfilm processing and records storage facility. There are many colorful stories from that time period of my life that I will have to someday share...in fictional form, so as to protect the not-so-innocent characters that we worked with.

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Now here are seven very creative and deserving genealogy blogs that combine genealogy with other crafting hobbies:

1. Crafts and Genealogy

2. Creative Genealogy

3. Ethnic Scrapbooking

4. Geneascraps

5. Preserving Heritage

6. Saturday's Child

7. Scrap Your Roots

Saturday Night Fun with #21

Every Saturday night, Randy Seaver posts a fun activity at his blog, Genea-Musings. Last night, he asked us, "Who's number 21 on your ahnentafel list?"

Number 21 on my ahnentafel is one of my paternal great-great-grandmothers, Mary E. "Mae" (McARTHUR) YORK RANDELL RICHMOND, (1875 - 1959). I've written quite a bit about Mae over the years. You can read my original AnceStory about her on my website here. Photographs of Mae appear here and here. After writing in October 2007 about the mystery of Mae's marriage to her first husband, my ancestor James L. YORK, I was able to write another post in March 2008 exclaiming my delight in finding their marriage date and place. And in May 2007, Mae appeared as a part of my series on finding my ancestors in the 1930 U.S. Federal Census. Way back in February 2006, I found her entry in the Gratiot County, Michigan Birth Records. I also wrote about how I was able to find her death and burial dates by contacting the sexton for the cemetery where she was buried.

My husband's number 21 is Rebecca Catherine (SNOOK) WESTABY. While I don't have an AnceStory about her, her obituaries appear on my website here. As part of a research log, I blogged about how I requested them through Random Acts of Genealogical Kindess in December 2006. In May 2007, we were able to locate and visit Rebecca's grave. I submitted a story about Rebecca's buttonhook for the 2nd Cabinet of Curiosities in December 2007. In February 2008, I posted a photo of Rebecca in an old general store for one of my early Wordless Wednesdays, followed by an explanation the next day. Another photo of Rebecca and her daughter Izma can be seen here.

Thanks, Randy, for this fun activity. It's nice to remember that I've researched and written so much about this generation!

Blog Caroling: I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

This is a repeat post from last year, when footnoteMaven started the tradition of blog caroling. It is just as relevant this year. To join in, visit her blog.

The footnoteMaven invited us genea-bloggers to go blog caroling. We've been posting favorite carols and sometimes a bit of history to go along with them. The Maven also posted a spectacular Choir of GeneaAngels graphic with links to our blog carols here.

Boy, it's hard picking out a favorite, since I love most Christmas carols, both religious and secular. Also, being a bit late to the game, some of my favorites were already picked. For instance, Craig at GeneaBlogie posted "Silent Night." I've always loved the legend of how the German pastor and church choir director created a song they could play accompanied by a guitar when their church organ was damaged by hungry mice. Additionally, this was the song that briefly stopped World War I...until December 26th, 1914, when indignant officers insisted that the war must go on.

Terry at Hill Country of Monroe County, Mississippi also blogged about another fave of mine, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." Although I knew the history behind this song, I forgot that it was written by Longfellow, one of my favorite poets. And then my Salvation Army background gets a boost when I think of "Silver Bells,"

inspired by the imagery of Salvation Army bellringers standing outside department stores during the Christmas season. [1]

What to pick? What to pick? At a school sing-along yesterday [17 December 2007], I was reminded of a very favorite Christmas song first introduced by Spokane native Bing Crosby in one of my favorite classic movies, Holiday Inn:

The sun is shining
The grass is green
The orange and palm trees sway.
I've never seen such a day
In Beverly Hills LA.
But it's December the 24th
And I am longing to be up North.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
Just like the ones I used to know.
Where the treetops glisten,
And children listen
To hear sleighbells in the snow.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
With every Christmas card I write.
May your days be merry and bright
And may all your Christmases be white. [2]

While Bing was born on the west side of the state, he grew up in Spokane and attended Gonzaga University until the siren call of the entertainment industry drew him to California. In fact, when I was pregnant with our son, we used to live across the street from his sister's home in what is now the City of Spokane Valley. I often wonder if, as Bing sang this song, he thought of snowy days in Spokane, sliding down the hill at Manito Park or skiing up at Mount Spokane?

[1] Wikipedia contributors, "Silver Bells," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Silver_Bells&oldid=178588830 (accessed December 19, 2007).

[2] Berlin, Irving. "White Christmas." Lyrics. White Christmas, single. Decca Records, 1942. Lyrics007, http://www.lyrics007.com/Bing%20Crosby%20Lyrics/White%20Christmas%20Lyrics.html (accessed 17 December 2007).

Forty Things About Me

I got tagged by a couple of people for this meme, and I didn't particularly want to play (reminds me of the MySpace surveys my daughter loves), but what the heck.

1. Do you like blue cheese? Not particularly.

2. Have you ever done something you regretted? Yes (sheesh, dumb question!), but that doesn't mean I live my life full of regrets.

3. Do you own a gun? Break into my house and find out. And yes, that is exactly the kind of answer someone with the last name of Midkiff would say.

4. What flavor of Kool Aid was your favorite? Never cared for it.

5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? No.

6. What do you think of hot dogs? 100% beef are fine. Onions and sauerkraut please.

7. Favorite Christmas movie? It's a Wonderful Life followed by Holiday Inn

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Coffee, black, not too strong, and the occasional hazelnut latte.

9. Can you do push ups? Yes, I can. The question ought to be: "Should I?" to which I would answer, "Not unless I want my orthopedic surgeon and physical therapist to kill me."

10. Favorite hobby? Crocheting and cross-stitch. Genealogy is my life, not a hobby.

11. Do you have A.D.D.? I do believe so. Maybe even on occasion it's ADHD.

12. What's one trait you hate about yourself? See number 16.

13. Middle name? Joy

14. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment? a) I really don't like these kinds of memes; b) I should get to bed; and c) I can't think of anything else.

15. Name 3 drinks you regularly have? a) tea (all kinds); b) Diet Pepsi; c) an occasional glass of wine

16. Current hate right now? I don't believe in hate.

17. Favorite place to be? Home.

18. How did you bring in the New Year? Noisemakers, party hats, and rum and cokes.

19. A place would you like to go? Only one? Hmmm...it's a toss up between Salt Lake City and Western Michigan, both which would yield me lots of genealogical rewards.

20. Name three people who will complete this: No clue

21. Do you have slippers? Yes, but I never wear them.

22. What shirt are you wearing? Dark blue "Willard Elementary 2002, est. 1908" with an American flag

23. Do you like sleeping on satin? Doesn't matter.

24. Can you whistle? Yes, and I can also whistle between my fingers quite loudly, a feat I used frequently when I was a camp counselor.

25. Would you be a pirate? Raping and pillaging are illegal.

26. What songs do you sing in the shower? Whatever's in my head at the moment.

27. Favorite girl's name(s)? Melissa, Melinda, Melody and Melanie. Unfortunately, I only had one daughter, so the last three never got used.

28. What's in your pocket right now? Lint and air

29. Last thing that made you laugh? Thomas' comment about liking his men ground up and in the freezer (it makes me laugh no matter how many times I've read it)!

30. Favorite bed sheets as a child? Peanuts by Charles Schultz

31. Worst injury ever? Rotator cuff tendons tore up by a bone spur (I'm currently recovering from surgery for this, if you haven't already heard).

32. Do you like where you live? My house, yes. My neighborhood, so-so.

33. How many TVs do you have in your house? Three, I think. Unless the old black and white one from my teen years is still in the basement, then it's four. I don't hardly ever watch TV.

34. Who is your loudest friend? Nuess (and all her friends will name her their loudest friend, hands down, too!...we love you, Nu-Nu!)

35. How many dogs do you have? See number 3.

36. Does someone have a crush on you? Oh, I'm sure someone, somewhere does. Not that I'm vain. Really.

37. What is your favorite book? That question is impossible to answer. I just love to read.

38. What is your favorite candy? Real German chocolate. I'm more of a pastry lover, though.

39. Favorite Sports Team? Not really a sports fan. But it is fun to go to the local hockey game: "Go! Chiefs!"

40. What song do you want played at your funeral? I'm not planning on attending, so it doesn't really matter. My favorite hymn always was "I Come to the Garden Alone," but having "Amazing Grace" played on real bagpipes would be fantastic!

Full of Gratitude

Julie Cahill Tarr of GenBlog challenged the Genea-Bloggers to post two things for which they're thankful. I'm a little late to the game, but I couldn't pass up the chance to express my gratitude over the events in the past week and a half.

First, I'm thankful to all those people in my life who have been so wonderfully kind and thoughtful to me lately. Going into surgery was a Big Deal, as it was my first surgery ever and my only real hospitalization other than being born and giving birth.

• *Thank you to Dr. Christopher Lang and his surgical team for doing major repair work on not one, but two, tendons (I just discovered this in my followup appointment yesterday!) as well as filing off that painful bone spur, leaving me with only four tiny incisions that are healing quite nicely. Thank you to Naomi, the intake nurse at Holy Family Hospital who was so warm and caring, and took the time to make sure I was comfortable and anxiety-free before surgery. Thank you to all the other staff at Spokane Orthopedics and Holy Family who made my medical experience a positive one.

• *Thank you to my children's father, who was a surprisingly good recovery nurse (lest this sounds like a back-handed compliment, if you but knew the Midkiff inability--it extends to his siblings and daughter--to withstand even the thought of blood or bodily fluids, you would understand my gratefulness for assistance with things like changing dressings, etc.)! Also, thanks to my children, Missy, for her willingness to run errands and fix meals, and Matt, for help with lots of household chores.

• *Thanks to Brenda (my daughter's boyfriend's mother) for taking me to the hospital early on surgery morning after my children's father had to work the night before, for the meals cooked and goodies baked (I swear my next surgery will have to be a tummy tuck!), and for taking my teens to their home now and again to give me some needed time to myself.

• *Thank you to my friend, neighbor, and walking partner Kristy for the delicious meal and thoughts and prayers.

• *Thanks to the staff at Garry Middle School for their cards, e-mails, phone calls, prayers, visits, and meals; special thanks to Diane, Monica, Kelleen, and Judy, as well as to Pat, my sub. It is wonderful to look forward to going back to work again. I miss you and the students!

• *Thank you to my children's father's family members and my own family members who also sent e-mails, phoned me, visited, sent prayers and thoughts my way, and sent yummy care packages!

• *Thanks to members of the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society and the Genea-Bloggers who have sent good wishes via e-mails and comments.

I feel blessed to have so many caring people in my life!

Secondly, I am grateful for quality medical care. We know the frightening and stressful experience of what it is like to live without medical insurance, and so we are doubly blessed that between my children's father's and my employers, we can now pick and choose the providers that are best suited for our family's needs. I'm also grateful that we live in a country where medical service is close by and of high quality. I feel very blessed that my employer allows me to accumulate sick leave and that because my children's father and I work opposite shifts, it has allowed us over the years to always have someone home when the kids are sick, without using up a lot of our own sick time. It is because of this that I am able to take off so much necessary time from work to fully recuperate.

Eight Musical Things about Me

I've been tagged by Thomas, Amy, and George to participate in the "Eight Things about Me" meme, and I thought I'd sort of copy Jasia (imitation being the most sincere form of flattery) and stick to one theme. My theme is musical instruments, ones I either mastered or attempted to learn.

1. Piano - I started lessons with some books my grandmother (I think) sent me when I was a girl in Alaska. The trouble was, we didn't have a piano at home to practice on. I would stay after school and use the school's piano. I quickly got bored, and never advanced learning beyond reading the treble clef (reinforced by the band instruments I later learned to play). Whenever I look at bass clef, it's like trying to read a foreign language or writing with my left hand: I can do it, but it takes too much concentration to be of any use. These days, I can pick out a tune with my right hand and accompany it with a few chords on my left (this also translates to playing the organ, of course). This is a skill I would like to someday improve.

2. Flutaphone - When we first got a music teacher for our Southeast Alaskan elementary school (someone who flew over from Ketchikan a few times a month), like most beginning band students, I learned to play the flutaphone. The fingering translates very nicely to a recorder, which has a much nicer sound to it than a flutaphone (sorry, Bill!).

3. Flute - I loved the idea of playing a flute; it has a nice, graceful sound to it, and being a girly-girl little girl, I of course, attempted to try it. Two problems: I got dizzy trying to make it create a sound, and my hands and fingers were too small to create the necessary fingerings (I still have the smallest hands of any adult that I know!).

4. Clarinet - so of course, the next instrument to try was the clarinet. I could reach the keys just fine and it was another natural segue from the flutaphone and recorder. I played clarinet in elementary school (5th - 7th grades) and then again in high school band (9th and 10th). I attended a small private school that did not have music classes in 8th grade.

5. Cornet - this was a huge switch for me. The cornet is nearly identical to the trumpet, but it has a shorter, more open bell and produces a mellower sound. This was my first introduction to the brass family, and it was done (where else?) in a Salvation Army band while I was in college. Not only did I practice on my own, I actually took trumpet lessons at Spokane Falls Community College to improve my technique on the cornet. Sometimes I would practice on the bugle at Camp Gifford (a trumpet-like instrument without valves; notes are created by a change in lip position, and so only certain tunes--like Reveille and Taps--can be played on it).

6. Flugelhorn - yes, Virginia, there really is an instrument by that name. Another British-style brass instrument, it looks like a cross between an alto horn and a cornet and is held in a horizontal position like the cornet. However, the flugelhorn has a larger bell AND a larger mouthpiece, the latter making it much easier to produce sound without so much tension in the embouchure (cheek and lip muscles). It also has a fourth valve for alternate fingering ease. I absolutely loved playing the flugelhorn because not only was it easier than the cornet (whose high notes I could never quite attain), but many times the music written for it was a soft counter-melody that gave me a little glory as a "soloist" without the anxiety of putting me directly in the spotlight. I played this instrument with The Salvation Army Western Territorial Band in the 1987 Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade, a very high honor. The Pasadena High School Band and The Salvation Army Band are the only bands that have a standing invitation from the Tournament of Roses Parade. All others are accepted by special invitation only.

7. Altohorn - After I learned flugelhorn, if there was an altohorn player absent during band practice or a performance, I would occasionally substitute for them. This instument, held vertically, looks like a small tuba and is just a little larger than a flugelhorn. The Salvation Army Bands are based upon the British brass bands where the fingerings for the instruments (with the exception of the trombone) are identical for all the notes. This allows for easy switching and substituting when running short on players.

8. Autoharp - Someone donated a couple of instruments to The Salvation Army church my parents were pastoring in Southeast Alaska when I was a girl. Using music where the chords were already written in, I would strum the strings with my right hand while pushing down on the marked chord keys with my left. Oh, yes, a concertina was also donated, but other than playing around with it, I couldn't really utilize it during actual congregational singing.

There you have it: eight things about me. If you're reading this, consider yourself tagged!

It's All Randy's Fault!

This is what happens when you don't have time for blogging. A meme comes along, and everyone tags you for it, thinking you haven't been tagged yet. When you find a moment to participate, there isn't anyone left to tag! :-) Randy Seaver over at Genea-Musings started a Tag meme on Tuesday, and it has swept through the genea-blogger world. It's actually a fun one (i.e., I don't have to think to hard; therefore, I can write it quickly!). Thank you to Paula, Tim, Lisa, Denise, William, and Kathryn (and any one who tags me before I publish this) for tagging me!

Ten Years Ago, I Was:
1. a homeschooling, SAHM of an almost-8-year-old and a 4 1/2-year-old
2. younger and slimmer, but poorer :-)
3. living without a computer or the Internet (unbelievable, I know!)
4. looking at a much smaller family tree with many more blank spaces
5. driving a different station wagon, and being owned by a different cat

Five Places I Have Lived:
1. Kodiak, Alaska
2. Fairbanks, Alaska
3. Metlakatla, Alaska
4. Kake, Alaska
5. Klawock, Alaska

(and to complete the list, there's Colville, Washington and three communities within Spokane County, Washington)

Five Jobs I Have Had:
1. camp counselor
2. preschool teacher's aide
3. accounts payable bookkeeper
4. receptionist/secretary/switchboard operator
5. adult family home caregiver

Five Snacks I Enjoy:
1. diet Pepsi
2. tortilla chips with a dip of equal parts sour cream and La Victoria's Salsa Brava
3. Kit Kat bar
4. smoked almonds
5. pizza, sausage or Hawaiian

Five Things on Today's To-Do List:
1. finish packing
2. clean the cat's litterbox (oh, joy)
3. call in and renew hubby's prescription
4. make sure kids do their homework over the weekend (it never ends)
5. work on the checkbook (joy, again)

Since I'm writing this before I head out of town, I don't have time to hunt for those who haven't already been tagged. If you come across this and wish to participate, consider yourself tagged by me.

Getting to Know Me, Getting to Know AnceStories

With the advent of so many new genealogy blogs online, Terry Thornton of Hill Country of Monroe County has challenged all genea-bloggers (newbies and old hands) to introduce themselves and their blogs. Two months ago, I wrote a similar post, "What This Blog is All About," here.

My name is Miriam Robbins Midkiff, and I live in Spokane, Washington, USA, about 15 miles west of the Idaho border, the largest urban area between Seattle and Minneapolis. I've been married for 21 years, and we have two good-looking, intelligent, and compassionate high-school-age teens (one of each). By turns we are adored or ignored by our frisky middle-aged tabby, Tessa. I've been a special education paraeducator with my local school district for nine years, where I work with developmentally impaired teens at the middle-school level. I also teach online genealogy classes (basic and intermediate) through the local community college district and the county library district. I'm a member of the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society, am active on several committees--including co-authoring their blog--and teach and speak at both EWGS and other societies in the Inland Northwest. I'm a co-administrator at Facebook's Genea-Bloggers Group, and have several other blogs I (try to) maintain!

As you can see, genealogy is a huge part of my life. I began this blog as an outlet for the need to write about something--anything--on a regular basis. I can't not write! "AnceStories" was a word I coined when I created a website years ago to write the stories of my ancestors. I discovered blogging was a lot quicker and easier than creating web pages. Series are especially interesting for me to write, but I admit that I'm not always good at wrapping them up! Lately, I've been posting photos for Wordless Wednesday, a follow-up on the photo on Thursday, and then blogging about recent research on Friday Findings. The first day of every month, I post a Calendar of Events. I also will post press releases for genealogy-related companies, but rarely do reviews of products (non-fiction books seem to be my main exception to that rule). It's through this blog that I explain, announce, and invite others to participate with me in Scanfest.

My brightest article was originally submitted for a military-themed genealogy writing contest and was a first-prize winner: A Polar Bear in North Russia. It's about my great-grandfather's service in the U.S. Army in Russia, of all places. It's a little-known fact in American history that we sent troops there to fight against communist forces.

My breeziest ones were about Alice Teddy, the Rollerskating Bear. I got some surprising media attention for these!

Not all my articles are about bears! My most beautiful article was "One Woman: Barbara Dorothy Valk, Missionary to Central Africa, which I wrote for the 20th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy and Women's History Month 2007. In researching and interviewing relatives for background for this mini-biography, I was rewarded by discovering she was so much more than the elderly spinster aunt of my mother that I recalled meeting only twice.

I enjoy receiving comments from my readers, and try to follow up on them regularly. Lately, now that school has started, and being hampered by a shoulder injury, I'm neither blogging nor following up on comments as much as I would like. Please know that I read all comments before publishing them, as well as any e-mails I receive; I appreciate your patience as it takes longer to respond these days. The best way to get to know me within the framework of this blog is to become a regular reader by bookmarking this blog or subscribing via e-mail or a feed reader (see upper right-hand margin to enable any of those features). Visiting my profile will also tell you a bit about what motivates me to write. While I mainly write for my own pleasure and to record my family's history, it always encourages me when I receive "fan e-mail," too! Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to get to know me and AnceStories a little better!

The Family Heirloom Meme is Posted

Julie Cahill Tarr of GenBlog created a Family Heirloom meme. She wanted to know which family heirlooms people would save in the event of a disaster. Eleven genea-bloggers participated (including Julie herself), and she has posted the results here. Even if you weren't able to participate, given the many natural disasters we've seen lately, it is a good thing to do some planning and set those plans into motion.

This and That

This past week I took a break from blogging, and simply enjoyed being a reader instead. One of the things I like about Google Reader is that, unlike a lot of my Google applications, I can access it at work during my break or lunchtime (the public school's browser filters are naturally very strong, since we're really only supposed to be accessing the Internet for educational purposes). For those of you whose blog feed is set to display only the title or the first paragraph of your post, it can be a bit frustrating not to be able to read the whole thing. If the title or first paragraph truly piques my interest, then I star it and try to remember to come back to them later when I'm at home. Otherwise, they never get read. Hmm...something to consider when you set up your RSS feeds.

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COG poster courtesy of the footnoteMaven

One of the things I enjoyed as a blog reader instead of a blog writer this week was perusing the 55th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy published by Jasia at Creative Gene on Thursday. The theme was "Show and Tell" and 49 bloggers posted 50 articles about their favorite heirlooms, documents, photos, or significant ancestors in this most-participated edition ever! My submission was about my 4th-great-grandmother's cross stitch sampler. Kudos once again to Jasia for an interesting and pleasurable COG, especially as she labored over it while mourning the recent loss of her dear canine friend, Caesar. Jasia is considering some changes to the COG, as it is experiencing some explosive growth in popularity. The 56th Edition's topic will be: 10 essential books in my genealogy library. It will be hosted by Lori Thorton at Smoky Mountain Family Historian. The deadline for submissions will be September 15th, and you can submit your blog article using this carnival submission form.

Speaking of carnivals, I've updated my "September Is..." post with not only carnival deadlines, but deadlines for other genea-blogging events this month. Check it out.

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The Grand Rapids [Michigan] Historical Commission contacted me after coming across my mother's guest post about her school years at Hall Street Elementary. They sought permission to publish my mother's photograph of the school, as they did not have any of the entire front of the structure that they could use on their website (permission has been granted).

And speaking of mom's guests posts, you may recall her mentioning her best friend Beth, with whom she ended up drifting away during their high school years since they had no classes together. Earlier this summer, Beth came across mom's posts and contacted me. When my parents visited Michigan in July, Mom and Beth had a reunion! You never know what will happen when you start a family history and genealogy blog!

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Jessica Oswalt from Jessica's Genejournal awarded me the "I Love Your Blog" Award. Thanks, Jessica! UPDATE: Thank you also to Sheri Fenley of The Educated Genealogist and Thomas MacEntee of Destination: Austin Family for also awarding me this honor! UPDATES #2 and 3: I'm honored that two three more bloggers also picked me for this award: A. Spence of Spence-Lowry Family History, Travis LeMaster of TJL Genes: Preserving Our Family History and Jeanna of RootsReading.com. The rules are to give this award to seven other blogs (with links) and let them know that you have picked them. Also, link back to the person who gave you this award. I am picking seven new-to-me blogs that I have enjoyed recently and hope you will add them to your list of great reads as well:

Amy's Genealogy, etc. Blog
Exploring My Ancestors
Find Your Folks
GeneaDiva's History, Genealogy and "Stuff"
Genealogy Help and Hints
Granite in My Blood
Historical Town Maps Blog

These are just 7 of the currently-214 genealogy-related blogs on my Google Reader list!

* * *

Speaking of great reads, fellow Michigan ancestry blogger and shirt-tail relative Cheryl (her cousin TK is a distant cousin of mine!) has a new URL for her Two Sides of the Ocean blog here after Blogger ate her old one. :-( Be sure to update your feeds or bookmarks, or if this is a new blog to you, check it out!

Tagged...Again...and Again!

Carol Wilkerson of iPentimento in Your Reader got this whole BFF (Blogging Friends Forever) meme rolling through the genea-blogosphere, when she tagged me the other day. I like these memes, because I discover new-to-me blogs. But it was only logical that sooner or later, people were going to start tagging those who'd been tagged earlier. It gets difficult to find someone who hasn't been tagged!

Recently, both Amy of Amy's Genealogy Blog, etc. and Jeanna of RootsReading.com tagged me as a BFF. Thanks, ladies! Both are new-to-me blogging buddies whose blogs have recently been added to my blogroll. I hope my readers take the time to go visit Amy and Jeanna.

UPDATE: Thank you also to Donna of What's Past is Prologue for tagging me along with the other authors of the Facebook® Bootcamp for Genea-Bloggers blog.

UPDATE II: Another thank you to Virginia of Valeehill Genealogy Blog, who tagged me in a note over at Facebook.

And speaking of my blogroll, if you actually visit my blog site and don't just read AnceStories from a feed reader such as Google Reader or Bloglines, you'll see about a quarter of way down the page, in the right-hand margin, a list of 10 posts that have recently been published by my genea-blogging friends. You see, currently, I have 163 blogs added to the Genealogy folder of my Google Reader account! That's too long of a list to post on my blog, and unless someone's blog has an intriguing title, it's doubtful my readers would click on a link. Thus I've fixed my setting to show the latest posts with a clip that will motivate my readers to click on the link to read more.

There are a number of ways to find new genealogy blogs. Laura Womack wrote "Methods for Finding Genealogy Blogs" at Life at the Home20. I have also discovered that when I view my Google Reader and click on "Discover" above my blogroll, it gives me suggestions for finding more blogs, genealogy and otherwise. It does this by comparing my interests with the feeds of users similar to me. Try it out!

This and That

Scanfest
WOW! Thanks to the great publicity over at facebook's Genea-Bloggers Group, we had the Best Scanfest Ever. We had three records broken! The first was a total attendance of 20, which means that in all, 20 Scanfesters participated at some point between 11 AM and 2 PM, PDT, but not all at the same time. The second was the highest number of Scanfesters in the chat conversation at once, at 18. The third record was the highest number of first-time Scanfesters in attendance: 11! My only regret was that I did not get as much scanned as anticipated because my hard drive was filling up (I've since been working on remedying that problem by deleting unnecessary files and programs). So who were our participants? Besides your humble hostess, we had Colleen, Diana, Diane, Elizabeth, footnoteMaven, George, George, Jasia, Kathryn, Kathryn, Kathy, Laura, Lori, Lorine, Michelle, Randy, Renee, Sheri, and Thomas! Too bad Craig couldn't make it! Thanks to Diane, Thomas, Randy, Kathy, and George for your announcements or follow-up posts on Scanfest, too.

Online Photo Storage
Speaking of scanning, Lee at the Footnote Blog shares how you can store your photos online for free at Footnote...and do a whole lot more with them, too!

Find A Grave now has 25 million grave records in the non-famous side of their website! Take a look...you might find an ancestor or two.

Facebook
The Facebook craze has hit the genealogy community, thanks to Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak's Unclaimed Persons project. A side effect of this is a new Facebook group, the Genea-Bloggers, started by Thomas MacEntee of Destination: Austin Family. This group is for those who either blog about genealogy, or are fans of genealogy blogs. Genealogy bloggers have been learning more about each other in this terrific social networking community, and thanks to Thomas' great administrative skills, we're kept up-to-date on all sorts of blogging and other events, such as carnivals and Scanfest. Thomas recently started the Facebook® Bootcamp for Genea-Bloggers blog to help out those genea-bloggers learn how to navigate and use Facebook. I encourage you to join Facebook (a social networking site, similar to MySpace, but a little more "grown up") and add me as your Friend (contact) by searching for "Miriam Robbins Midkiff." (Don't be afraid to challenge me to a round or two of Scramble!) Besides adding genealogy community contacts, I've added real-life friends, family members, members of my local genealogical society and acquaintances from church and schools I've attended. I also recently searched for and found some cousins I've been out of touch with for years.

And if you're already a member of the Genea-Bloggers Group, stay tuned to the FB for GB blog to hear of an exciting new event coming in August!

An Award

Fellow Washington State genea-blogger Carol Wilkerson of iPentimento honored me with a BFF (Blogging Friends Forever) Award. The rules for passing on the award are:

1. Only five people are allowed to receive this award
2. Four of them must followers of your blog.
3. One has to be new to your blog and live in another part of the world.
4. You must link back to who ever gave you the award.

I hereby pass this on to Jasia, footnoteMaven, Apple, Renee, and Diane (the newbie to my blog, who technically doesn't live that far away - British Columbia - but it is another country, after all!)

Photos of Ancestors' Ports of Emigration
My primary heritages are Dutch and Frisian, and thus I've been a fan of Henk van Kampen's Trace Your Dutch Roots. Lately, he's been featuring photographs of Dutch ports. Do you have Mayflower ancestors? Take a look at the Delfshaven pictures. Did your ancestors (Dutch or not) traverse the Atlantic on one of the Holland-American Line ships? See the Wilhelminakade.

North Frisian Resource
The Frisians are an ethnic minority who live in present-day Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany, whose language, customs, and ethnicity are more closely related to the English than the Germanic peoples of the countries wherein they reside. I blog often about my Frisian ancestors from the Netherlands, and if you're a fan of Michael John Neill's RootDig, you'll hear about his Ostfrisians (West Frisians from Germany). Recently, Jennifer of Our Future Rooted in Our Past blogged about the North Frisian Emigrant - Archive of the Nordfriisk Institute in Denmark. Thanks for sharing this great resource, Jennifer!

Family Ties
My parents returned home in the wee hours of this morning after a trip back to Michigan to visit my paternal grandmother, who was diagnosed about a year or so ago with Alzheimer's. As well, they enjoyed visiting the families of their respective brothers and one of Dad's sisters. I was relieved to hear that Grandma recognized Dad and Mom and that they had an enjoyable time together. My parents have made similar trips in the past to say their last goodbyes to their parents. Grandma is my last biological grandparent, although my mother's step-mother is still in good health. They also got to see one of the newest members of the family. I know this was a bittersweet time for the folks...a part of the circle of life.

Internet Genealogy
And finally! I received the latest issue of Internet Genealogy magazine today (I think I was the last person on the planet to do so!). One of the many reasons I love this publication is that I see so many familiar names, sites, and blogs mentioned. footnoteMaven's Shades of the Departed blog was featured in the Net Notes column by Donna Pointkouski. If you're interested in the photography side of genealogy (and who isn't?), be sure to read this article, then drop by Maven's blog.

Donna Potter Phillips of the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society has two articles. One is "E.W.G.S. at 75: Thriving' and Survivin'" and highlights the many ways our terrific society has kept up with the times and has stayed growing and vibrant in an age when we're seeing a demise of many societies. Her "Cold Case Research: Genealogy Style" reminds me of the Campbell House and Unclaimed Persons projects, and explains how doing family tree research on strangers from history is not only fun, but educational! If you're stuck or tired of your own family lines, why don't you and some genealogy friends or fellow society members do a similar project?

And that's a wrap!

Poem in Your Pocket Day

Nothing to do with genealogy, but this is a great memory my siblings and I share: my dad reading to us from The Family Book of Best Loved Poems, edited by David L. George. Published in New York City by Doubleday & Company in 1952. This book was originally owned by my Hoekstra great-grandparents, and it made its way to our home in Alaska after they passed away. Our favorite poem was The Duel by Eugene Field, and I know we all had it memorized!

THE DUEL

The gingham dog and the calico cat
Side by side on the table sat;
'Twas half-past twelve, and (what do you think?)
Nor one nor t'other had slept a wink!
The old Dutch clock and the Chinese plate
Appeared to know as sure as fate
There was going to be a terrible spat.
(I wasn't there; I simply state
What was told me by the Chinese plate!)

The gingham dog went "bow-wow-ow!"
And the calico cat replied "mee-ow!"
The air was littered, an hour or so,
With bits of gingham and calico,
While the old Dutch clock in the chimney-place
Up with its hands before its face,
For it always dreaded a family row!
(Now mind: I'm only telling you
What the old Dutch clock declares is true!)

The Chinese plate looked very blue,
And wailed, "Oh dear! what shall we do?"
But the gingham dog and the calico cat
Wallowed this way and tumbled that,
Employing every tooth and claw
In the awfullest way you ever saw--
And, oh! how the gingham and calico flew!
(Don't fancy I exaggerate!
I got my news from the Chinese plate!)

Next morning where the two had sat,
They found no trace of dog or cat;
And some folks think unto this day
That burglars sole that pair away!
But the truth about the cat and pup
Is this: They ate each other up!
Now what do you really think of that!
(The old Dutch clock it told me so,
And that is how I come to know.)

--Eugene Field

The AnceStories Limerick

Blame it on Terry (sigh).

Have you heard of that gal from Spokane,
Who blogs whenever she can?
Writing down her family histories,
And solving a few mysteries,
She chats once a month while she scans.

OK, admit it, how many of you out there thought Spokane rhymed with cane?

I'm Addicted to Blogging

82%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Hat tip to Tim at Genealogy Reviews Online.

What I Missed from GeneaBlogger Land

Sheesh! Things move along quite quickly in GeneaBlogger Land! Last week when my Internet was out, I took my laptop to the local public library after work every day to check my e-mail, pay online bills, prepare my syllabuses for online classes I'm teaching, and skim through my Google Reader at my favorite geneabloggers' posts. Since I only had an hour and a half each day to do all that, I didn't get to linger for long at any one blog. Saturday after teaching my computer class on Footnote.com to members of the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society, I just came home and "played," trying to catch up on some of the reading I've missed. If you've been busy or offline for a while as well, here's what happened in the last week (and the last month, during which I've been too busy to make comments):

• *Chris Dunham returned after over three weeks' hiatus at The Genealogue, and is as funny as ever!

• *Several new blogs have been created. I'll post more about these later this week.

• *Jasia won a free genetic testing at Blaine Bettinger's The Genetic Genealogist! Congratulations! She's been blogging about it at Creative Gene.

• *Speaking of returning bloggers, David of OakvilleBlackWalnut has been posting like fury since late December.

• *Donna Pointkowski at What's Past is Prologue has started a new meme, "Where was your family 200 years ago?" which follows Lisa's meme of "Where was your family in 1908?" at 100 Years in America.

• *Kimberly Powell at About.com's Genealogy listed "10 Genealogy Blogs Worth Reading." I'm honored to be included in the links at "And the Rest...."

• *Denise Olsen of Family Matters challenges us to post lists of local or family history blogs we use in our research. I'll be posting mine later this week.

• *Joe Beine has posted more vital records links on his blog, Genealogy Roots Blog, here.

• *WorldVitalRecords.com has changed its name to FamilyLink.com to better reflect its mission.

• *The 40th Carnival of Genealogy has been posted! Topic: Living-relative connections.

• *The Cabinet of Curiosities Carnival #3 has been posted!

(Takes deep breath.) Whew! We're busy writers! I think I've caught my readers up on everything!

Where Was Your Family in 1908

Lisa, of numerous genealogy blogs, has offered a challenge on her 100 Years in America blog to the genea-blogging community to write a post about where one's family was one hundred years ago. I took a look at my RootsMagic database and saw that seven of my eight great-grandparents had already been born, all 16 of my great-great-grandparents were alive, 15 of my 32 third-great-grandparents and one of my 64 fourth-great-grandparents were known to be living. That is, there may be more 3rd- or 4th-great-grandparents who were alive at that time, but I haven't found their death dates, and I'm also doubtful that they were alive then.

In my children's father's family, he had both grandparents and all eight of his great-grandparents living in 1908. Twelve of his 16 great-great-grandparents were still alive. Three of his 32 third-great-grandparents were known to be living, with the possibility of two or three more (again, I'm missing death dates for some in this generation).

Rather than bore you to tears about where each and everyone of them were that year, I will tell you about two significant family events that occurred in 1908 in my family trees (I haven't found any in my children's father's family). But first, to put it in perspective, in 1908 the main headline was that William H. Taft and James S. Sherman were elected president and vice president. Wilbur Wright delivered a flying machine to the War Department, less than five years after he and his brother Orville successfully flew an airplane. New York City prohibited smoking in public by women. The NAACP was founded. In health news, the Red Cross issued their first Christmas seals, and disposable plastic cups were introduced. The electric iron and toaster were patented. The U.S. began construction of the Panama Canal, often called the "Big Ditch." Henry Ford introduced the Model T.

In business, the Du Pont Company began production of plastics (hmm...maybe that's where those disposable cups came from!) and William Durant founded the General Motors Company. If you read the latest novels in 1908, you would have been sure to pick up The Last of the Plainsman by Zane Grey and Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maude Montgomery. The Christian Science Monitor began publication, and the Ashcan School of painters exhibited in New York City. Your favorite music probably would have been "Shine On, Harvest Moon," "Cuddle Up a Little Closer," or "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," all written that year. Isadora Duncan set new standards in dance with her original performances and the National Board of Censorship formed to police the film industry.

Ladies, you would have dressed in sheath gowns and fish-net stockings and worn boned collars to be in the latest style. Sports fans would have cheered the Chicago Cubs to victory over the Detroit Tigers in the World Series. Figure skating became a new sport after arriving from Europe. George Schuster won the New York-to-Paris motorcar race (how does that work?), and Jack Johnson became the first African-American heavyweight boxing champion. If you lived in San Francisco, you would have enjoyed "Mutt and Jeff" comics for the first time in the Examiner. And the steerage rate from Genoa, Italy to New York City was $12.00.

All these facts were taken from the 1908 pages of the Family History Logbook: A Timeline Journal from 1900 to 2000, with year-by-year historical milestones to record your family's most important experiences by Reinhard Klein, published 1996 by Betterway Books (now F+W Publications). My sister-in-law bought this for me for a Christmas or birthday gift about five years ago. On the 1908 pages, I logged the following:

Archie Louis KELLER is born February 3rd. He is the future second husband of Mary Jane BARBER, Miriam's paternal great-grandmother.

John W. LEWIS, Sr., Miriam's paternal ancestor, dies February 13th in the village of Whitehall, Muskegon County at the age of 68. A Civil War Veteran, he is buried at Oakhurst Cemetery, Whitehall Township.

There were not a lot of main events that happened to our direct ancestors that year. Other years have more events recorded.

If you like putting your family into historical context, I recommend reading "The Year Was..." feature at Ancestry's 24-7 Family History Circle blog. Since my Family History Logbook covers the twentieth century in depth, I have been copying and pasting the entries from the nineteenth century into Word documents and keeping them in a folder on my computer for reference.

Blog Caroling: I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

The footnoteMaven invited us genea-bloggers to go blog caroling. We've been posting favorite carols and sometimes a bit of history to go along with them. The Maven also posted a spectacular Choir of GeneaAngels graphic with links to our blog carols here.

Boy, it's hard picking out a favorite, since I love most Christmas carols, both religious and secular. Also, being a bit late to the game, some of my favorites were already picked. For instance, Craig at GeneaBlogie posted "Silent Night." I've always loved the legend of how the German pastor and church choir director created a song they could play accompanied by a guitar when their church organ was damaged by hungry mice. Additionally, this was the song that briefly stopped World War I...until December 26th, 1914, when indignant officers insisted that the war must go on.

Terry at Hill Country of Monroe County, Mississippi also blogged about another fave of mine, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." Although I knew the history behind this song, I forgot that it was written by Longfellow, one of my favorite poets. And then my Salvation Army background gets a boost when I think of "Silver Bells,"

inspired by the imagery of Salvation Army bellringers standing outside department stores during the Christmas season. [1]

What to pick? What to pick? At a school sing-along yesterday, I was reminded of a very favorite Christmas song first introduced by Spokane native Bing Crosby in one of my favorite classic movies, Holiday Inn:

The sun is shining
The grass is green
The orange and palm trees sway.
I've never seen such a day
In Beverly Hills LA.
But it's December the 24th
And I am longing to be up North.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
Just like the ones I used to know.
Where the treetops glisten,
And children listen
To hear sleighbells in the snow.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
With every Christmas card I write.
May your days be merry and bright
And may all your Christmases be white. [2]

While Bing was born on the west side of the state, he grew up in Spokane and attended Gonzaga University until the siren call of the entertainment industry drew him to California. In fact, when I was pregnant with our son, we used to live across the street from his sister's home in what is now the City of Spokane Valley. I often wonder if, as Bing sang this song, he thought of snowy days in Spokane, sliding down the hill at Manito Park or skiing up at Mount Spokane?

[1] Wikipedia contributors, "Silver Bells," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Silver_Bells&oldid=178588830 (accessed December 19, 2007).

[2] Berlin, Irving. "White Christmas." Lyrics. White Christmas, single. Decca Records, 1942. Lyrics007, http://www.lyrics007.com/Bing%20Crosby%20Lyrics/White%20Christmas%20Lyrics.html (accessed 17 December 2007).

Meme: Where Were You During the Censuses? Part 2

Finding out where family members were living during the census years is intriguing to me, and I thought I'd query my husband as to his whereabouts during those years. He's ten years older than I, so his first appearance was in the 1960 census; that is, if his parents participated in them. I've no reason to think they didn't, so he should appear in every census taken during his lifetime:

• *1960 - Norm would have been 3, living with his parents (father: 26; mother: 27) and younger brother, age 9 months in Outlook, Yakima County, Washington.
• *1970 - the family, which by then included his 36-year-old dad, his 37-year-old mother, his almost 11-year-old brother, a six-year-old sister, and another brother, 4 1/2, lived in the Fruit Valley neighborhood of Vancouver, Clark County, Washington. Norm was 13. The following year, the family moved to the same neighborhood--but not the same house--where his parents live today.
  
• *1980 - He was attending college and living in an apartment near the courthouse in Vancouver.
• *from 1990 through 2005, the census data is the same as mine.

I think I'll go e-mail my parents and ask them about their census year residences (1950 and 1960) before they were married and started a family.