IYC 1985: Sunday, July 14th - Near Rapid City, SD to near Mukwonago, WI

Ate breakfast in Jacksonville, SD at an A&W after leaving camp at 3 AM. Had a time change after we left Rapid City. Went thru Minnesota, crossed the Mississippi [River] and ate dinner at LaCrosse, Wisconsin as we didn't stop for a formal lunch all day. Arrived  at Army Lake Camp near Mukwonago, Wisconsin at about 9:45 pm. Wasn't an exciting day but it was fun because we played games and listened to music & played Trivial Pursuit over the CB [between our three vehicles]. [The passengers in] Our van got goffy and put our pillowcases over our heads, sat all in the same seat, waved our feet at people, gave strange waves with the palms of our hands, scrunched our faces against the windows, hid in the seats and "talked with our hands" to passing cars. It really helped to pass the time. [Obviously, there weren't strict seat belt laws at that time!] Our van is really fun, because everybody is quick at rest and gas stops, we don't argue or quarrel and we all have a good time.

 Mark and Tanya

 Mark and Tanya, with Mike and Chris sleeping in the foreground

Good grief! I hope nobody thought we were KKK wannabes!

IYC 1985: Saturday, July 13th - Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, MT to near Rapid City, SD

Stopped at Custer's Last Stand at the Battle of the Little Big Horn [Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument].
 

 

 

 

 

"Know the power that is peace" --Black Elk
Written in Sioux and English

 Left Montana and cut across Wyoming into South Dakota. Stopped at Deadwood City, home of Calamity Jane, Wild Bill Hickock, Preacher Smith, Poker Alice and visited by Buffalo Bill Cody.

 Tanya and Eddie

 

Went to Mt. Rushmore.

 Tanya

 L to R: David, Chris, Kevin B. Dawn, Mark, Eddie...not sure if others to right of Eddie are part of our group. Notice we are at the Washington State flag.

 L to R: Tanya, Randi, Andrea, Dawn, Sharalyn

Stayed the night at Black Hills [Salvation] Army campground [near Rapid City] which had plumbing but no cabins. The ladies slept in the Olsenmobile, the girls in the vans, and the guys in the dining hall. During the day we had some switching around, but basically we're in the same traveling groups, with the exception of Chuck & Dawn who are riding in the other van.

IYC 1985: Friday, July 12th - Spokane, WA to Billings, MT

 

Getting ready (left to right): Bill D. (background), Todd, Mike D. (background), Larry Ruff, Maryanne Ruff, Mark, Ruth R, Linda

 The blue van and U-Haul, with the Olsenmobile in the background

 Mike O. with the white van and U-Haul

Left the corps [church] at 7:16 p.m. I'm riding in blue van with Bill [Dickinson] & Todd taking turns driving...Our group is Bill & Mary, Todd & Ruth, Chuck & Dawn, myself, Mike [Dickinson], Mark, David, Tanya & Chris. Dave took a turn riding in the Olsenmobile. Drove thru Idaho into Montana. Stopped in Missoula, Montana and saw Kathy Zimmerman [Char Hoogstad's sister who was working for The Salvation Army in the Missoula Corps.]. While there saw and drove by forest fire. Went over the Continental Divide. We are traveling all night & will eat breakfast in Billings, MT.

[Our delegation consisted of Majors Bill and Linda Nottle, Auxiliary Captains Bill and Mary Dickinson, Mike and Ruth Olsen, Dan and Char Hoogstad, Todd and Ruth (Nottle) Ruff, David Ruff, Mark Nottle, Mike Dickinson, Andrea Hoogstad, Chris Hoogstad, Sharalyn Murphy, Tanya Alexandrovich, Randi Anderson, Lisa Goodlake (who flew in and met us in St. Louis, MO), Kevin Bartlett, Kevin McLemore (from Great Falls, MT), Michelle Richardson, Eddie Hogan, Dawn Martin, and Churck Watson.  --Spokane Citadel Corps, Northwest Division, Western Territory, USA]

The Salvation Army International Youth Congress 1985

Twenty-six years ago this month, I was blessed to be a part of an amazing trip from Spokane, Washington to Macomb, Illinois, home of Western Illinois University. As a part of the local youth group from The Salvation Army Corps (church), I had been saving money and participating in fundraisers for nearly a year in order to save up to attend the International Youth Congress. According to Wikipedia, it was "...the first worldwide Salvation Army youth gathering since 1950 and the first international Salvation Army conference to be held outside the United Kingdom." It commemorated the International Youth Year, which was proclaimed by the United Nations on January 1st, 1985.

Beyond the fact that we would be seeing the General of The Salvation Army, as well as other renown Christian leaders, mingling with Salvation Army youth from around the world, and attending Bible studies, plays, fireworks and laser shows to celebrate this event, the Spokane delegation was--unlike many of the youth attending who arrived by plane--taking a cross-country road trip halfway across the United States. Many of our group had never been out of the Northwest, further east than Western Montana. In sixteen days, we would travel through twelve states, visit several major U.S. cities, a national park, two national memorials, a national monument, a theme park, a cave, and hot springs, as well as pass a forest fire, go through a lightning storm, and endure the Midwest's heat and humidity. And...we had the time of our life!

Chaperoned by five married couples, we fifteen youth (including one young man from Great Falls, Montana) set out on 12 July 1985. One of the young ladies of the group was not able to travel to the Congress with us due to family plans; instead she flew to St. Louis, where we picked her up and she joined in the rest of our adventures.Traveling in two large vans and accompanied by one of the couples in their RV (dubbed "The OlsenMobile"), we often rode through the night, stopping here and there to sleep at a Salvation Army camp...or to pitch our tents in Yellowstone Park on the way home.

Join me over the next two-and-a-half-weeks as I transcribe entries from my diary kept along the way and share photos that I serendipitously had digitized just this past week, not realizing the incredible timing. If you are one of my fellow travelers, I hope you will post your comments and your own memories by clicking on the "# comments" link at the bottom of each of these posts (# will be replaced by a number representing however many comments will already be published). You can also share these posts with others by clicking on the "Email Post" icon at the bottom of each post, which looks like an envelope with an arrow.

I'm looking forward to this walk down memory lane, and hope you enjoy it as well, whether or not you were a part of that group or just a current reader of my blog.

Woman's Day Magazine is Giving Away an Ancestry.com World Deluxe One-Year Subscription

I receive Woman's Day magazine as well as their e-newsletter with special offers. Today I noticed they are offering the chance for a one-year's membership to Ancestry.com's World Deluxe subscription. This offer is available daily from July 5 through September 5, 2011 and you can fill out the online form here. You do not need to be a subscriber to Woman's Day magazine, nor do you need to subscribe to their e-newsletter (although they offer many great giveaways each week throughout the year!).

This Weekend Only: 4th of July Blowout!

From the Genealogical Publishing Company:

This Weekend Only!

Fourth of July Blowout!

This week our "Today Only" sale has been extended throughout the holiday weekend. To mark this year's July 4th celebration, we are discounting 13 of our best Revolutionary War books by 40% or more below the original retail price. From battles along the Upper Ohio to the Carolinas, from pension lists to bounty land grants and state service records, our Independence Day Sale has something to offer virtually anyone having an interest in the Revolutionary War and its genealogy. These sale prices will remain in effect until midnight EDT, July 4, 2011. Scroll down and see if you don't agree that our Independence Day Sale is simply too good to miss!

Revolutionary War Bounty Land Grants Awarded by State Governments The nine states that awarded bounty land created a patchwork of records, and it was therefore no easy task to create this master index. Typically, however, each entry in this index contains the name of the claimant, who is usually the veteran, the state of service, the rank held, the date of the record, and the acreage. Altogether about 35,000 names appear in the index, including duplicates. Was $50.00   Now $29.95

Virginia Soldiers of 1776. Compiled from Documents . . . in the Virginia Land Office. Three Volumes This work is based on bounty warrants, military certificates, exchange warrants, and land vouchers that establish absolute proof of Virginia Revolutionary War service and descent of bounty land. Annexed to these claims are certificates of heirship, wills, and powers of attorney, and dates of birth and death and place of residence of the Revolutionary soldier. Further information includes the number of the warrant, exact number of acres granted, and date issued. Was $150.00/set    Now $89.95/set

American Migrations 1765-1799. The lives, times, and families of colonial Americans who remained loyal to the British Crown before, during and after the Revolutionary War . . . This work is based on the records of the American Claims Commission, which was responsible for compensating Loyalists for loss of land and property as a result of action taken against them before, during, and after the Revolutionary War. In all, the author has transcribed 5,800 individual claims--the entire contents of the papers of the Claims Commission. Of the 15,000 individuals recorded in this work, some three-quarters took up residence outside the United States after 1783--hence the title of the work--but the remainder, including many who had been classed as Loyalists, became honorable citizens of the new Republic. Was $85.00    Now $49.95

Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army During the War of the Revolution, April 1775 to December 1783 This is the standard reference work on the officers of the Revolutionary War, containing an alphabetically arranged list, with service records, of 14,000 officers of the Continental Army, including many officers of the Militia and State Troops who served during the Revolution. The information given includes the soldier's rank, dates of service, when and where wounded, taken prisoner, exchanged, or killed, etc., with the name of the state in which service was rendered and a designation of company and command. Was $49.95    Now $29.95

West Virginians in the American Revolution The Revolutionary War soldiers identified in this work lived at one time or another in what is now the State of West Virginia, their military duties having been discharged in the service of other states. The data given for each soldier typically includes the name, age, date of birth, service record, date pension applied for and granted, place of residence, names of wife and children, and comrades-in-arms. Was $29.50    Now $17.50

Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland. Troops in the American Revolution, 1775-1783 This is the standard on the more than 20,000 Maryland troops in the Revolutionary War. The records drawn on for this compilation derive chiefly from muster rolls, payrolls, and Land Office records, thus rendering evidence of unassailable authority for Continental service in the American Revolution. The book generally includes full name, rank, dates of enlistment and discharge, and miscellaneous remarks such as whether wounded, killed, or missing. Was $60.00    Now $34.95

Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution. In Two Volumes Now available in two volumes, this paperback work ties up the whole elusive body of documents and printed sources related to the more than 20,000 rank and file South Carolina soldiers who made up the battle lines in an untold number of skirmishes with the British and the Tories. The information is arranged in paragraph form under the name of the soldier and includes some or all of the following details: dates of enlistment, service, battles, and skirmishes; names of commanding officers; names or designation of military unit; rank attained; notations indicating whether the soldier was wounded, killed or taken prisoner; source citations; and, in the case of data deriving from federal pension files or state annuity claims, dates and places of birth and death, names of wives and children, and places of residence before and after the War. Was $80.00    Now $47.95

Roster of Soldiers from North Carolina in the American Revolution The most complete military roster for the state, this monumental work contains the names of approximately 36,000 soldiers from North Carolina who served during the Revolution. Service records include such information as rank, company, date of enlistment or commission, period of service, combat experience, and whether captured, wounded, or killed. Was $52.50    Now $30.00

Revolutionary Soldiers in Alabama This alphabetical list of Alabama's Revolutionary War soldiers, with genealogical information such as age, place of residence, rank, line, and, in some cases, names of wives, dates of marriage, and names of children, is the premier sourcebook on its subject. Was $16.50    Now $9.50

The Pension Roll of 1835. In Four Volumes The Pension Roll of 1835 is the most complete roll of Revolutionary War pensioners ever published. Compiled by the War Department under Senate resolutions of 1834-35 from lists of pensioners who had been enrolled under all previous acts of Congress, as well as from replacement records for those lists of pensioners that had been destroyed in fires at the War Department in 1801 and 1814, it contains the names and service records of approximately 60,700 soldiers, both regulars and militia. Was $250.00/set   Now $149.95/set

Frontier Retreat on the Upper Ohio, 1779-1781 This collection of original documents chronicles two critical years of the Revolutionary War along the western frontier of the United States. The central figure in the book is Col. Daniel Brodhead, the commandant at Fort Pitt. Most of the action described in the correspondence and other documents unfolds in the frontier communities of Fort Pitt, Fort Vincennes, Detroit, Wheeling, and other places in western Pennsylvania, southwestern Virginia, and Kentucky. Genealogists will find numerous references to the thousands of settlers who flocked into the region at this time, despite the threat of Indian reprisal. Was $45.00    Now $25.95

Some Tennessee Heroes of the Revolution Based on the Invalid Lists of 1806 and the Pension Lists of 1818, 1832, and 1840, this book supplies--in addition to name, age, service, residence, and source of information--the date of the pension application, date and place of birth, service record, names of all family members cited in the pension statement, and place or places of migration to, from, or within Tennessee. Was $20.00    Now $11.95

"Death Seem'd to Stare": The New Hampshire and Rhode Island Regiments at Valley Forge Joseph Boyle's informative Introduction to this work traces the service of the New Hampshire and Rhode Island regiments before and after they joined General Washington in November 1777. The core of the book consists of an alphabetical list in excess of 2,500 New Hampshire and Rhode Island soldiers abstracted from Revolutionary War muster and payrolls. Each patriot is identified by name, rank, date, and term of enlistment or commission, names of regiment and company, and a variety of supporting details, such as date of furlough or discharge, when wounded, when and where promoted, etc. Was $22.50    Now $12.95

June 2011 Scanfest

Today Only! Web Specials from Genealogical.com

From the Genealogical Publishing Company:

This week, for one day only, we are once again offering a 40% or more discount on three best-selling genealogical publications. Between now and 11:59 p.m. EDT on Friday, June 24, 2011, you can purchase Wayland F. Dunaway's The Scotch-Irish of Colonial Pennsylvania; George Elmore Reaman's The Trail of the Huguenots in Europe, the United States, South Africa and Canada; and our Family Archive CD Genealogies of Virginia Families from Tyler's Quarterly on our website at huge savings. Hurry--the sale only lasts one day, and is only available online at www.genealogical.com.

The Scotch-Irish of Colonial Pennsylvania The best history of the Scotch-Irish of colonial Pennsylvania ever written, Dunaway's classic is indispensable to the genealogist because it outlines the circumstances behind the settlement of Lowland Scots in Ulster, their life in that Province for two or three generations, and the reasons for their immigration to America, further tracing the important migratory movements of the Scotch-Irish from Northern Ireland to Pennsylvania, and from Pennsylvania down the foothills of the Appalachians through the Great Valley of Virginia to the Carolinas and Georgia. Was $25.00 Today Only $14.95 Learn More

The Trail of the Huguenots This is the story of the great exodus of the Huguenots from France at the end of the seventeenth century, and of their dispersal to places in Europe, the United States, Canada, and South Africa. It traces their migrations through Europe and across the Atlantic to Canada and the United States, providing startling insights into the origins of many of our earliest colonial settlers. Over half of the book is devoted to the Huguenots and their direct descendants in Canada and the United States, dealing with those who settled in North and South Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, and New England. Was $32.50 Today Only $18.95 Learn More

Genealogies of Virginia Families from Tyler's Quarterly This Family Archive CD contains images of the pages of all four volumes of Genealogies of Virginia Families from Tyler's Quarterly and the multi-volume Virginia Colonial Abstracts by Beverley Fleet. The four-volume collection from Tyler's Quarterly contains all 350 family history articles published in the magazine from its inception in 1919 until its demise in 1952. It further includes Bible records and wills, as well as a very important group of articles published under the title "Copies of Extant Wills from Counties Whose Records Have Been Destroyed." Was $39.99 Today Only $22.99 Learn More

Remember, these three outstanding works are on sale for One Day Only, and only at www.genealogical.com. The sale ends at 11:59 p.m. EDT Friday, June 24, 2011.

Scanfest is Coming!

The June 2011 Scanfest will take place here at AnceStories this coming Sunday, June 26th, from 11 AM to 2 PM, Pacific Daylight Time. 
 
What is Scanfest? It's a time when geneabloggers, family historians, and family archivists meet online here at this blog to chat while they scan their precious family document and photos. Why? Because, quite honestly, scanning is time-consuming and boring!

Scanfest is a great time to "meet" other genealogists, ask questions about scanning and preservation, and get the kick in the pants we all need on starting those massive scanning projects that just seem too overwhelming to begin.

To get started, you need to know the basics about scanning:

1. Don't use commercial glass cleaners (i.e. Windex) or paper towels to clean your scanner's glass plate. Use a soft, clean cloth, preferably microfiber. If you must use a liquid, use water sprayed directly onto the cloth  and make sure to let the plate dry thoroughly before placing photos or documents on it.

2. Wear cotton gloves (available at many art and/or photography supply shops) when handling photos and old documents.

3. Don't slide the photos around on the glass plate. Place them exactly where you want them. Photos should NEVER be scanned by a scanner that feeds the document through the machine, but ALWAYS on a flat-bed scanner.

4. Set your scanner to scan at no smaller than 300 dpi (dots per inch). Many experts recommend 600 dpi for photographs.

5. Photographs should ALWAYS be scanned and saved as .tif files. Use "Save As" to reformat the .tif file to a .jpg file for restoration and touchups, emailing, or uploading to an online photo album. ALWAYS retain the original scan as a .tif file.

6. Documents can be scanned as .pdf files or .tif files.

7. When you are done scanning your photos, don't put them back in those nasty "magnetic" photo albums. Place them in archival safe albums or boxes found at websites such as Archival Products or Archival Suppliers. Do NOT store any newsprint (articles, obituaries, etc.) with the photos. The acid from the newspaper will eventually destroy the photograph.

Now about the chatting part of Scanfest:

We will be using Cover It Live, a live blogging format that you access right here at AnceStories.

On Sunday at 11 AM, PDT, come right here to AnceStories and you'll see the CoverItLive live blog/forum in the top post. It's not really a "chat room," per se, it's more like a live forum and anyone visiting this site can read and see what is happening in the forum.

You will not need to download any software.

Up to 25 individuals can be invited to be Producers. Producers are participants who have the extra capability of sharing photos, links, and other media within the forum (great for sharing the photos you're scanning!). You must have Internet Explorer 6.0+ or Firefox 2.0+ to be a Producer.

We can also have up to 25 other Participants who can comment freely in our conversation, but will not be able to share media. You can have any kind of browser to be a Participant, except AOL. Those who normally access the Internet with AOL may wish to download Firefox or Explorer ahead of time to be able to participate on CoverItLive.

In addition, any other readers of this blog can drop on by and view/read what is happening at Scanfest. If the 25 Participant spaces are full, those readers will not be able to comment, unless someone else drops out.

Confused? Have questions? Go to CoverItLive and check out 6. Try It Now to see live blogs in action or 7. Demos to see videos demonstrating how to use CIT (especially the ones titled "How do my readers watch my Live Blog?" and "Adding Panelists and Producers").

If you would like to be a Producer, please e-mail me no later than Saturday, June 25th at 4 PM, PDT and I'll send you an invitation. Preference will given to previous Scanfesters. You must set up an account (free!) ahead of time to be a Producer. This account will be good for all future Scanfests. You can do some practices ahead of time by going to My Account and clicking on the link under Practice your live blogging. Again, you must have IE 6.0+ or Firefox 2.0+ to be a Panelist.

As a Producer, Participant or simply a reader, if you would like an e-mail reminder for Scanfest, fill out the form below and choose the time frame for which you would like to be reminded (if you're reading this through Google Reader, Bloglines, or some other RSS feed reader, you will need to go to my blog and view this post there to see and utilize the form).

It really is easier than it sounds, and I'm looking forward to seeing you all there and getting some scanning done!

May 2011 Scanfest

News from Google News Archive and Chronicling America

Have you visited my Online Historical Newspapers website, or its corresponding blog? I created it to help genealogists and other researchers find digitized newspapers for their locations of research. Here's some news that highlights two major digitization projects:

 Google News Archive is ending their newspaper digitization project:

We work closely with newspaper partners on a number of initiatives, and as part of the Google News Archives digitization program we collaborated to make older newspapers accessible and searchable online. These have included publications like the London Advertiser in 1895, L’Ami du Lecteur at the turn of the century, and the Milwaukee Sentinel from 1910 to 1995.

Users can continue to search digitized newspapers at http://news.google.com/archivesearch, but we don’t plan to introduce any further features or functionality to the Google News Archives and we are no longer accepting new microfilm or digital files for processing. [Hat tip to John D. Reid of Anglo-Celtic Connections]

A link to browse individual historical titles is at http://news.google.com/newspapers, and from there you can search the individual newspaper. I will continue to add these titles to my Online Historical Newspapers website. It does take time, and I am currently nearly finished with the titles beginning with the letter A.

---

Meanwhile, the Library of Congress' Chronicling America project continues in full swing:

Last week, the Library of Congress updated the Chronicling America Web site with more than 230,000 additional newspaper pages in various titles. The site now provides access to more than 3.7 million searchable newspaper pages from 506 newspaper titles, published in 22 states and the District of Columbia between 1860 and 1922.

These titles are also being added and updated on my site. Keeps me busy!

Book Review: A Better Place

I was excited to recently be given an opportunity to review A Better Place: Death and Burial in Nineteenth-Century Ontario by Susan Smart. Ontario is an ancestral location for at least half a dozen of my family lines and I looked forward to learning more about how death and burial practices probably took place in their lives. I was not disappointed.

The first part of the book, "Death and Burial," explains in nine chapters the attitudes toward death and the evolution of burial customs over time from the pioneer days through the Victorian age. How cemeteries and funeral homes were established is detailed. Also explained are different practices according to religion and origins of modern funeral customs. Excerpts from local histories, etiquette books and letters of the period, and photographs and advertisements from local newspapers are all used to enhance and illustrate each chapter.

In "Part II: Genealogical Implications," each of the nine chapters from Part I is revisited, with a listing of resources (hard copy and electronic) which correspond. For example, the first chapter in both parts is titled "Death and Attitudes." In Part I, this chapter explains the attitudes nineteenth-century people in Ontario had toward death as found in local histories. In Part II, this chapter lists where to find local histories and other related sources in libraries and on the Internet. Smart describes when resources may be difficult to find and offers tips and suggestions. She states when record keeping began for various sources and gives pointers for alternatives before record keeping was required.

All notes are cited and a helpful fourteen-page bibliography is also provided. This title is an excellent reference work that is beneficial for any genealogist with Ontario roots. A Better Place: Death and Burial in Nineteenth-Century Ontario by Susan Smart was published in 2011 by the Ontario Genealogical Society/Dundurn Press and is 235 pages. It is available in for $14.82 (US) at Amazon.

Disclosure: I received a free book from Dundurn Press for review.  As an Amazon Associate, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price when readers purchase a title through the Amazon link above, although this title is available at other websites and various bookstores.