December 10, 2010: WikiTree.com
WikiTree is announcing the new release of participation widgets that can be used on any website or blog. The WikiTree Widgets can be used to display a live update of your latest contributions, uploads, and edits to the worldwide wiki family tree.
The widgets were developed in collaboration with Thomas MacEntee and the GeneaBloggers community. A half dozen designs were selected to represent the community’s choices for content, layout, dimensions, and colors.
You can view the WikiTree Widgets, see live examples, view privacy details, and get directions for installing them on your blog or website at http://www.wikitree.com/articles/draft-widgets.html.
About WikiTree: WikiTree's mission is to create a rich worldwide family tree resource by striking the perfect balance between collaboration and privacy. It gives families a free and easy way to privately share information and organize their facts, memories, and photos. At the same time, it enables distant relatives and strangers to grow a worldwide family tree and create a valuable resource for future historians. WikiTree was started in 2008 by Chris Whitten, the creator of WikiAnswers - one of the top 50 websites in the US. Content on WikiTree is owned and edited by its contributors. Join the free community at http://www.WikiTree.com.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
NGS Videos Holiday Gift
In the past year NGS has been proud to offer our members a series of short video documentaries featuring notable genealogists. Starting with the interview by Helen F. M. Leary as our holiday gift in 2009, the series has continued throughout 2010 showing interviews with Elizabeth Shown Mills, David Rencher, Leslie Anderson, Laura DeGrazia, and others who have shared their experiences and insights into the work of the genealogist.
As the final feature for 2010 and our holiday offering to members we are releasing at the website today Thomas W. Jones, PhD, CG, CGL, FASG, FNGS, FUGA on “Becoming a Genealogist.” Listening to Tom is always rewarding, both instructive and entertaining. In this conversation he tells about the curiosity he felt as a child about who his ancestors were, reflects on how genealogists “get hooked,” and presents his view on the value to professionals of continuing their own personal research.
While you are at the website take a moment to enjoy others you may not yet have seen. Log in at http://www.ngsgenealogy.org, click on the Members Only tab, and then click on NGS Videos in the sidebar menu.
From all of us at NGS – we wish you a peaceful holiday season!
Mark Your Calendars - NGS Family History Conference, 11-14 May 2011, Charleston, South Carolina.
As the final feature for 2010 and our holiday offering to members we are releasing at the website today Thomas W. Jones, PhD, CG, CGL, FASG, FNGS, FUGA on “Becoming a Genealogist.” Listening to Tom is always rewarding, both instructive and entertaining. In this conversation he tells about the curiosity he felt as a child about who his ancestors were, reflects on how genealogists “get hooked,” and presents his view on the value to professionals of continuing their own personal research.
While you are at the website take a moment to enjoy others you may not yet have seen. Log in at http://www.ngsgenealogy.org, click on the Members Only tab, and then click on NGS Videos in the sidebar menu.
From all of us at NGS – we wish you a peaceful holiday season!
Mark Your Calendars - NGS Family History Conference, 11-14 May 2011, Charleston, South Carolina.
The COMPLETE 1911 Census Available Now on Genes Reunited
Leading family history website www.genesreunited.co.uk has published online the complete 1911 census for England and Wales, allowing its members to view the original householder schedules for the first time.
The 1911 census records are the most detailed of any census it includes places of birth, details of siblings, occupations, how many children have been born to the marriage, how many still alive at the time of the census and how many had died. It even allows our members to view the actual handwriting of their ancestors and in full colour.
At genesreunited.co.uk it is possible to search the complete 1841-1911 censuses as well as other historical records such as birth, marriage, death and military records. The 1911 census Enumerator Summary Books have already been available since May 2010.
Unlimited access to the 1911 census and all of the other records is included in a Platinum subscription, costing £64.95 for 6 months. Alternatively you can view the 1911 census on a pay-per view basis. It will cost 5 credits to view an individual transcription, 10 credits to view the household transcription and 30 credits to view the original household image (within these 30 credits you also get to view the Enumerator Summary Book).
Credits can be purchased at the following prices: £5.00 for 50 credits (credits will last for 30 days) or £17.95 for 200 credits (credits will last for 90 days)
Rhoda Breakell, Head of Genes Reunited, said: “We are extremely proud to be able to offer our members the complete 1911 census for England and Wales now. People will find this an invaluable resource for tracing their ancestors and finding out more about their family history than they knew before.”
The 1911 census records are the most detailed of any census it includes places of birth, details of siblings, occupations, how many children have been born to the marriage, how many still alive at the time of the census and how many had died. It even allows our members to view the actual handwriting of their ancestors and in full colour.
At genesreunited.co.uk it is possible to search the complete 1841-1911 censuses as well as other historical records such as birth, marriage, death and military records. The 1911 census Enumerator Summary Books have already been available since May 2010.
Unlimited access to the 1911 census and all of the other records is included in a Platinum subscription, costing £64.95 for 6 months. Alternatively you can view the 1911 census on a pay-per view basis. It will cost 5 credits to view an individual transcription, 10 credits to view the household transcription and 30 credits to view the original household image (within these 30 credits you also get to view the Enumerator Summary Book).
Credits can be purchased at the following prices: £5.00 for 50 credits (credits will last for 30 days) or £17.95 for 200 credits (credits will last for 90 days)
Rhoda Breakell, Head of Genes Reunited, said: “We are extremely proud to be able to offer our members the complete 1911 census for England and Wales now. People will find this an invaluable resource for tracing their ancestors and finding out more about their family history than they knew before.”
FamilySearch Wraps Up Genealogical Gifts for the Holiday Season
FamilySearch Wraps Up Genealogical Gifts for the Holiday Season
Nearly 4 million images added from 7 countries
Nearly four million new digital images are now available on Beta.FamilySearch.org. These collections include the first images from South Africa, as well as records from Brazil, Canada, Germany, Guatemala, the Netherlands, and the United States. About 1.7 million of these records are indexed.
See the chart below for the complete list of newly added or updated collections.
FamilySearch International is the largest genealogy organization in the world. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services to learn more about their family history. To help in this great pursuit, FamilySearch has been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide for over 100 years. FamilySearch is a nonprofit organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Patrons may access FamilySearch services and resources free online at FamilySearch.org or through over 4,600 family history centers in 132 countries, including the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Nearly 4 million images added from 7 countries
Nearly four million new digital images are now available on Beta.FamilySearch.org. These collections include the first images from South Africa, as well as records from Brazil, Canada, Germany, Guatemala, the Netherlands, and the United States. About 1.7 million of these records are indexed.
See the chart below for the complete list of newly added or updated collections.
| Project | Digital Images | Indexed Records | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brazil, Catholic Church Records | 100,110 | 0 | New images added to existing collection |
| Canada, Quebec Catholic Parish Registers, 1621-1900 | 85 | 79,936 | New records linked to images; most images already published |
| Germany, Hessen, Darmstadt City Records, 1627-1939 | 55,528 | 0 | New images |
| Guatemala, Civil Registration, 1877-1934 | 0 | 22,448 | New records added to existing collection |
| Netherlands, Civil Registration, 1792-1952 | 1,505,610 | 0 | Images added to existing collection |
| Netherlands, Zuid-Holland Province Civil Registration | 6,349 | 0 | New images |
| South Africa, Orange Free State, estate files, 1951-1973 | 79,466 | 15,879 | New records linked to images; multiple images per record |
| U.S., Maryland, Register of Wills Books, 1792-1983 | 62,763 | 0 | New images |
| U.S., Minnesota Territorial Census, 1857 | 342 | 156,888 | New records linked to images; most images already published |
| U.S., North Carolina, County Marriages, 1762-1979 | 39,836 | 45,204 | New records linked to images; partial collection, with more images to come |
| U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 | 2,040,944 | 1,371,394 | New records linked to images; includes the states of Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wisconsin |
FamilySearch International is the largest genealogy organization in the world. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services to learn more about their family history. To help in this great pursuit, FamilySearch has been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide for over 100 years. FamilySearch is a nonprofit organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Patrons may access FamilySearch services and resources free online at FamilySearch.org or through over 4,600 family history centers in 132 countries, including the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Fully Searchable Marriage Records Now Online at Findmypast.co.uk
Press release from Findmypast.co.uk, December 6:
‘FOR BETTER OR WORSE’ – I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU HOLLY OAKES!
o 95 million fully searchable wedding records from 1837 – 2005
o Eileen Dover, Holly Oakes and Mary Christmas all found in the records
o The real Romeo and Juliet married in 1971
Have you ever met a Mary Christmas, Moana Lott or Anita Bath? Many may see these names as amusing but some women who have met the man of their dreams have taken their partner’s name, becoming the Butt of many jokes. Findmypast.co.uk, a leading UK family history website, has launched an easier way to search the marriages of English and Welsh ancestors online. Over 95 million wedding records from 1837 to 2005 have been made fully searchable making it easier to find the exact record you’re looking for.
It’s all in a name
The new fully searchable records have thrown up some interesting finds, proving that when taking a partner ‘for better or worse’; an embarrassing married name doesn’t put everyone off…
A selection of the married names found:
- Holly Oakes
- Eileen Dover
- Hazel Nut
- Queenie King
- Mona Lott
- Jean Pool
- Joy Rider
- Lily Pond
- Anita Bath
- Candy Barr
- Kerry Oakey
Findmypast.co.uk has introduced the revolutionary MarriageMatchTM, meaning the end of mystery marriages and endless searching of the records. It will find all the possible matches within the records even if only one name is known. Alternatively, if the first or last name of the spouse is known you get an even more accurate list of possible spouse matches.
Keeping up with the Mary Christmases
It seems that a large number of Marys have continued the Christmas theme with their name and married someone with the festive surname, Christmas. There are over 50 Mary Christmases in the records and the earliest recorded Mary Christmas married in 1837 losing the maiden name of Cannon in Alton, Hampshire.
Where for art thou…
Findmypast.co.uk has discovered a pair of real star-crossed lovers in the marriage records as, in 1971, a ‘Romeo’ married a ‘Juliet’ in Lambeth, London. The family history website has also found the marriage records of Oscar Fingal Wilde to Constance Lloyd in Kensington, London in 1884, Jude Law to Sadie Frost in Westminster, London in 1997 and Kate Winslet to Jim Threapleton, in Reading, Berkshire in 1998.
With this record I thee wed.
Findmypast.co.uk has discovered that the most popular county to be wed in is Lancashire, with 11.66 million records listed between 1837 and 2005, closely followed by London with 11.62 million.
The five most popular towns to be married in were:
Registration District | Number of records |
Birmingham, Warwickshire | 1,656,516 |
Manchester, Lancashire | 1,127,584 |
Sheffield, Yorkshire | 988,541 |
Leeds, Yorkshire | 980,207 |
Bristol, Somerset | 899,885 |
Debra Chatfield, Marketing Manager at findmypast.co.uk, said, “As the first company to publish birth, marriage and death records online, findmypast.co.uk has always been committed to making family history research more accessible. This brand new way of searching the marriage records is a major breakthrough in family history enabling people to find their ancestors’ marriages more quickly and easily than ever before by using our revolutionary new tool MarriageMatchTM. Thanks to initiatives like this, family history is more popular than ever and we hope that we can help even more people to start uncovering their family’s past.”
The sophisticated new search facility will match up your ancestors' records, providing you in many cases with one definite marriage match, or a list of up to four most likely possible matches, saving you time and money.
The launch of these records is part of a year long project that will see findmypast.co.uk digitise over a quarter of a billion records. The reindexed birth records were launched in July 2010 and the death records will follow early in 2011.
The records
Findmypast.co.uk is the only place you can search the 1837-2005 marriage records all in one place. The online family history website has reimaged and transcribed the full collection, allowing researchers to search directly for their ancestors, making it much quicker and easier than before to find one person.
Findmypast.co.uk was the first company in the world to put the complete Birth, Marriage and Death indexes (BMDs) for England and Wales online on 1 April 2003. Previously these were only available offline on microfiche or in registry books, at a selected number of locations. This landmark achievement was recognised in 2007, when findmypast.co.uk won the Queen’s Award for Innovation.
For more information log on to www.findmypast.co.uk
The marriage records can be searched for free for two weeks by going to www.findmypast.co.uk/marriages
Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories No. 11: Other Traditions
(Originally written in December 2007)
Did your family or friends also celebrate other traditions during the holidays such as Hanukkah or Kwanzaa? Did your immigrant ancestors have holiday traditions form their native country which they retained or perhaps abandoned?
If you haven't read them already, I invite you to read "Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories No. 6: Santa Claus" and "Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories No. 2: Holiday Foods" to see how our family incorporated the Festival of St. Nicholas into our holiday celebrations. Also, stay tuned for "Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories No. 18: Christmas Stockings."
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.
Other Traditions
Did your family or friends also celebrate other traditions during the holidays such as Hanukkah or Kwanzaa? Did your immigrant ancestors have holiday traditions form their native country which they retained or perhaps abandoned?
If you haven't read them already, I invite you to read "Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories No. 6: Santa Claus" and "Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories No. 2: Holiday Foods" to see how our family incorporated the Festival of St. Nicholas into our holiday celebrations. Also, stay tuned for "Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories No. 18: Christmas Stockings."
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.
A Visit with Craig Manson
Yesterday I had the pleasure of visiting with another of my favorite geneabloggers, Craig Manson of GeneaBlogie. He was in Spokane this week speaking at the Northwest Mining Association Convention and we got together for an afternoon of chatting and tea at Brambleberry Cottage and Tea Shoppe.
Craig was one of the first geneabloggers whose blogs I read back in the day when there were only about a dozen of us, and like many of the early geneabloggers, we formed a connection that was based around Jasia's Carnival of Genealogy. While I met him in person for the first time at Jamboree this past June, I did not have much of an opportunity at that time to really visit and get to know Craig better. So I was delighted when he e-mailed me early this fall to say he would be in the area, and could we get together?
We spent two hours at the teahouse enjoying pots and pots of hot, handblended teas and devouring the delicious sandwiches and desserts while talking genealogy, history, and some ancestral locations we have in common in Alaska, Michigan, and Texas. Craig's visit to Spokane marks the third one by a good geneablogger friend in less than three months! I've been so blessed to have these good folks visit, and look forward to visiting with them again in the future.
Craig was one of the first geneabloggers whose blogs I read back in the day when there were only about a dozen of us, and like many of the early geneabloggers, we formed a connection that was based around Jasia's Carnival of Genealogy. While I met him in person for the first time at Jamboree this past June, I did not have much of an opportunity at that time to really visit and get to know Craig better. So I was delighted when he e-mailed me early this fall to say he would be in the area, and could we get together?
We spent two hours at the teahouse enjoying pots and pots of hot, handblended teas and devouring the delicious sandwiches and desserts while talking genealogy, history, and some ancestral locations we have in common in Alaska, Michigan, and Texas. Craig's visit to Spokane marks the third one by a good geneablogger friend in less than three months! I've been so blessed to have these good folks visit, and look forward to visiting with them again in the future.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories No. 10: Christmas Gifts
(Originally written in December 2007)
I have been blessed to receive many special Christmas gifts from family members and friends over the years. The first Christmas that I remember was in 1970, when I was three-and-a-half years old, and we lived in Kake, Alaska. The gifts from family in Michigan had arrived after Christmas (packages always arrived on a slooooow boat from Seattle), and we didn't open them until after Dad returned on January 4th from a business trip for The Salvation Army. Reading Mom's thank-you letter to my Grandma and Grandpa DeVries helped bring back more memories:
I absolutely loved these books, and had them for years! Someplace for Sparky was about a little engine who was constantly told he was too small to do anything useful. He found a place where he was just right for the job, pulling the children's train at a fair. I'm sure my grandmother thought this was a great story for me, and it was, as I was always the tiniest child around (even as an adult, I'm still a "shorty" at 5' 1/4"!). The Magic Clothesbasket was about a boy named Paul who used his imagination to turn his mother's clothesbasket into a train, plane, boat, and a myriad of other things. In the end, his mother finds him fast asleep in the basket, tuckered out from his adventures. I don't have these Whitman Tell-A-Tale books anymore, but I remember them vividly!
I also remember my spirograph. It was an original 401 as shown in the link above, and I used it for many years. I especially loved having pens of different colors: black, blue, red, and green. Do you remember the smell of modeling clay (not Play-doh)? I sure do! It came in long tubes of various colors, and I enjoyed playing with it for quite a while.
I have many, wonderful memories of gifts I received in subsequent years. I can also remember playing with other gifts that I received in earlier years, but I don't actually remember opening them at the time. For instance, I remember dolls that I played with and loved for many years that I received as gifts at earlier Christmases. One of these was Mattel's Drowsy doll. In this link here, I had an African-American version of the second doll pictured. The reason I had a black baby and not a white one is that with her jet-black long hair and dark complexion, she looked more like the Native American babies I was in contact with than the Caucasian one did. I called her "Mimi" because she said, "I'm sleepy," and I thought she was saying, "I'm Mimi."
My favorite memories of giving have been the ones involving my own children. When they were little, we always tried to find toys that were both educational and fun, like Legos and Tinkertoys. We also picked out their favorite Disney or other classic children's movies on VHS. Now as teenagers, they enjoy gift certificates so that they can pick out their own gifts (my daughter especially likes clothes shopping); or as my son likes to do since his birthday is two weeks after Christmas, combine his Christmas and birthday certificates and money and buy himself something big (like a Ninendo Wii, etc.). The looks on their faces when they're opening their gifts or gift cards are always priceless!
[1] Letter from Faith (Valk) Robbins (P. O. Box 427, Kake, Alaska 99830) to Adrian and Ruth (Hoekstra) DeVries (464 Kenwood St., NE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49505) 6 January 1971; held in 2007 by Robbins, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Colville, Washington.
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.
Christmas Gifts
What were your favorite gifts, both to receive and to give?
What were your favorite gifts, both to receive and to give?
I have been blessed to receive many special Christmas gifts from family members and friends over the years. The first Christmas that I remember was in 1970, when I was three-and-a-half years old, and we lived in Kake, Alaska. The gifts from family in Michigan had arrived after Christmas (packages always arrived on a slooooow boat from Seattle), and we didn't open them until after Dad returned on January 4th from a business trip for The Salvation Army. Reading Mom's thank-you letter to my Grandma and Grandpa DeVries helped bring back more memories:
Miriam has had me read "Sparky" a few times already and is now working on her spirograph. She also liked the modeling clay and her 2 pretty nightgowns. She has not looked at "The Magic Clothesbasket." (not yet anyhow.) She also was excited over the pictures you sent and showed them to us several times. [1]
I absolutely loved these books, and had them for years! Someplace for Sparky was about a little engine who was constantly told he was too small to do anything useful. He found a place where he was just right for the job, pulling the children's train at a fair. I'm sure my grandmother thought this was a great story for me, and it was, as I was always the tiniest child around (even as an adult, I'm still a "shorty" at 5' 1/4"!). The Magic Clothesbasket was about a boy named Paul who used his imagination to turn his mother's clothesbasket into a train, plane, boat, and a myriad of other things. In the end, his mother finds him fast asleep in the basket, tuckered out from his adventures. I don't have these Whitman Tell-A-Tale books anymore, but I remember them vividly!
I also remember my spirograph. It was an original 401 as shown in the link above, and I used it for many years. I especially loved having pens of different colors: black, blue, red, and green. Do you remember the smell of modeling clay (not Play-doh)? I sure do! It came in long tubes of various colors, and I enjoyed playing with it for quite a while.
I have many, wonderful memories of gifts I received in subsequent years. I can also remember playing with other gifts that I received in earlier years, but I don't actually remember opening them at the time. For instance, I remember dolls that I played with and loved for many years that I received as gifts at earlier Christmases. One of these was Mattel's Drowsy doll. In this link here, I had an African-American version of the second doll pictured. The reason I had a black baby and not a white one is that with her jet-black long hair and dark complexion, she looked more like the Native American babies I was in contact with than the Caucasian one did. I called her "Mimi" because she said, "I'm sleepy," and I thought she was saying, "I'm Mimi."
My favorite memories of giving have been the ones involving my own children. When they were little, we always tried to find toys that were both educational and fun, like Legos and Tinkertoys. We also picked out their favorite Disney or other classic children's movies on VHS. Now as teenagers, they enjoy gift certificates so that they can pick out their own gifts (my daughter especially likes clothes shopping); or as my son likes to do since his birthday is two weeks after Christmas, combine his Christmas and birthday certificates and money and buy himself something big (like a Ninendo Wii, etc.). The looks on their faces when they're opening their gifts or gift cards are always priceless!
[1] Letter from Faith (Valk) Robbins (P. O. Box 427, Kake, Alaska 99830) to Adrian and Ruth (Hoekstra) DeVries (464 Kenwood St., NE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49505) 6 January 1971; held in 2007 by Robbins, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Colville, Washington.
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.
Thursday, December 09, 2010
Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories No. 9: Grab Bag
(Originally written in December 2007)
This is an all-time favorite photo of my children, Christmas or no. I believe it was taken in early December 1996, the first Christmas season in our current home. My son was nearly three, and my daughter was six years old. They'd been watching a favorite video when they both fell asleep. My daughter has graduated high school, is gainfully employed, engaged to her fiance', and has her own rented home. She is making her own adult Christmas memories now. My son is a junior in high school. I really miss the days when cuddling them could resolve most of their problems, and I look forward to the days when there will someday be little ones in the Midkiff home at Christmas time once again!
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.
Christmas Grab Bag
This is an all-time favorite photo of my children, Christmas or no. I believe it was taken in early December 1996, the first Christmas season in our current home. My son was nearly three, and my daughter was six years old. They'd been watching a favorite video when they both fell asleep. My daughter has graduated high school, is gainfully employed, engaged to her fiance', and has her own rented home. She is making her own adult Christmas memories now. My son is a junior in high school. I really miss the days when cuddling them could resolve most of their problems, and I look forward to the days when there will someday be little ones in the Midkiff home at Christmas time once again!
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.
Wednesday, December 08, 2010
Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories No. 8: Christmas Cookies
(Originally written in December 2007)
Did your family make Christmas Cookies? How did you help? Did you have a favorite cookie?
They were beautiful: large, soft sugar cookies, cut out in Christmas shapes such as bells, snowman, candy canes, and Santas. Well-frosted and covered with colored red or green sprinkles, they begged me to bite into them! Closing my eyes to savor the moment, I sank my teeth into the sweet holiday treat...and nearly gagged. Something was wrong, dreadfully so! The first sense of taste was all I could hope for, but it was overpowered by something...smoky, and sour, and nauseous: cigarette smoke. And not just any kind of cigarette; it must have been the strongest, unfiltered brand out there.
They were gifts, those cookies; Christmas gifts from the neighbors, whose last name, ironically, is an adjective for sugar, honey, and cookies (I'm refraining from writing it here; experience has taught me that the last people you'd expect to read your blog, do!). We rarely visited their home, because the interior always was clouded by a heavy pervasive fog of smoke. The cook of the house surely made those delicious-looking cookies while a cigarette hung from her lips. How disappointed I was!
The following year, the event was repeated. And, I believe for the five years I lived in that neighborhood, it occurred every holiday season. I always took one hopeful bite. "Maybe this year..." I would silently pray, only to be let down once more. While we occasionally made Christmas cookies at home, we usually didn't make sugar cookies, so to be given them was a treat--a terribly dissatisfying tease, in this case. To this day, I can't look at a sugar cookie without thinking of those neighbors! Then I sink my teeth into a sweet, well-frosted cookie, ever so grateful that I'm not tasting nicotine!
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.
Christmas Cookies
Did your family make Christmas Cookies? How did you help? Did you have a favorite cookie?
They were beautiful: large, soft sugar cookies, cut out in Christmas shapes such as bells, snowman, candy canes, and Santas. Well-frosted and covered with colored red or green sprinkles, they begged me to bite into them! Closing my eyes to savor the moment, I sank my teeth into the sweet holiday treat...and nearly gagged. Something was wrong, dreadfully so! The first sense of taste was all I could hope for, but it was overpowered by something...smoky, and sour, and nauseous: cigarette smoke. And not just any kind of cigarette; it must have been the strongest, unfiltered brand out there.
They were gifts, those cookies; Christmas gifts from the neighbors, whose last name, ironically, is an adjective for sugar, honey, and cookies (I'm refraining from writing it here; experience has taught me that the last people you'd expect to read your blog, do!). We rarely visited their home, because the interior always was clouded by a heavy pervasive fog of smoke. The cook of the house surely made those delicious-looking cookies while a cigarette hung from her lips. How disappointed I was!
The following year, the event was repeated. And, I believe for the five years I lived in that neighborhood, it occurred every holiday season. I always took one hopeful bite. "Maybe this year..." I would silently pray, only to be let down once more. While we occasionally made Christmas cookies at home, we usually didn't make sugar cookies, so to be given them was a treat--a terribly dissatisfying tease, in this case. To this day, I can't look at a sugar cookie without thinking of those neighbors! Then I sink my teeth into a sweet, well-frosted cookie, ever so grateful that I'm not tasting nicotine!
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.
Tuesday, December 07, 2010
Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories No. 7: Holiday Parties
(Originally written in December 2007)
Our family did not have a holiday party every year; Christmas was a mainly a family affair. I believe my classroom always had a party (more on that upcoming in Advent Memories No. 16). Occasionally, my parents would invite someone over to share Christmas dinner, but it was not a "party," per se. We lived too far away from family to have regular holiday gatherings, too; in Advent Memories No. 13, I'll tell about a special Christmas with family in Michigan that we enjoyed one year.
When I moved away from my parents' home in Northeast Washington to the "big city" of Spokane in the fall of 1984 to attend college, work for my church, and live with my pastor's family, I attended several holiday parties each year. Our youth group of high school and college-age kids had a party, and a girlfriend and I somehow ended up as hostesses. We went out shopping and bought matching dresses. The mall we shopped at was a new big thing in town at that time. Originally, it had been a strip mall, and had only recently been enclosed. Now it sports three stories and is nearly surrounded by multi-level parking garages.
At work, we always had a whole-staff party, as well as a department staff party. I worked for The Salvation Army Kindergarten/Pre-school/Day Care, and we ladies would always go out for a nice luncheon. It seems to me we would exchange cards and/or little gifts (maybe we had a name exchange; I don't remember). Then the whole Salvation Army staff would get together as well. The only whole-staff party I can remember was probably in 1984. We had dinner at a nearby buffet house. Besides the Day Care staff, there were staff from Administration, the Community Center, the Thrift Store and Warehouse, the Booth Care Center (rehab), and Family Services. I remember seeing the Family Services staff, because there were these guys there with that weird last name--Midkiff. I had met one of them, Mike, down at the main building. He was the department head, but I didn't know any of the other staff from that department. One of them--the other Midkiff--had long, curly dark hair, but I really didn't notice him much. It wasn't until a year and a half later when I transferred to that department that Mike introduced his older brother, Norm, to me. The rest, as they say, is history. Twenty-five years later, Norm's long, curly hair has gone the way of memories and photographs, as he likes to say, and all of us have long moved on to other employers.
Now that I work for the local school district, there are several holiday parties thrown each year, some department, and always a whole-staff, party. The staff in my classroom likes to go to breakfast early one morning at a European breakfast house. Just like in my day care days, we bring little gifts and enjoy our time away from the students. The whole staff is usually invited to the principal's home, but I haven't attended so far.
The name tag is courtesy of Thomas at Destination: Austin Family. 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.
Holiday Parties
Did your family throw a holiday party each year? Do you remember attending any holiday parties?
Did your family throw a holiday party each year? Do you remember attending any holiday parties?
Our family did not have a holiday party every year; Christmas was a mainly a family affair. I believe my classroom always had a party (more on that upcoming in Advent Memories No. 16). Occasionally, my parents would invite someone over to share Christmas dinner, but it was not a "party," per se. We lived too far away from family to have regular holiday gatherings, too; in Advent Memories No. 13, I'll tell about a special Christmas with family in Michigan that we enjoyed one year.
When I moved away from my parents' home in Northeast Washington to the "big city" of Spokane in the fall of 1984 to attend college, work for my church, and live with my pastor's family, I attended several holiday parties each year. Our youth group of high school and college-age kids had a party, and a girlfriend and I somehow ended up as hostesses. We went out shopping and bought matching dresses. The mall we shopped at was a new big thing in town at that time. Originally, it had been a strip mall, and had only recently been enclosed. Now it sports three stories and is nearly surrounded by multi-level parking garages.
At work, we always had a whole-staff party, as well as a department staff party. I worked for The Salvation Army Kindergarten/Pre-school/Day Care, and we ladies would always go out for a nice luncheon. It seems to me we would exchange cards and/or little gifts (maybe we had a name exchange; I don't remember). Then the whole Salvation Army staff would get together as well. The only whole-staff party I can remember was probably in 1984. We had dinner at a nearby buffet house. Besides the Day Care staff, there were staff from Administration, the Community Center, the Thrift Store and Warehouse, the Booth Care Center (rehab), and Family Services. I remember seeing the Family Services staff, because there were these guys there with that weird last name--Midkiff. I had met one of them, Mike, down at the main building. He was the department head, but I didn't know any of the other staff from that department. One of them--the other Midkiff--had long, curly dark hair, but I really didn't notice him much. It wasn't until a year and a half later when I transferred to that department that Mike introduced his older brother, Norm, to me. The rest, as they say, is history. Twenty-five years later, Norm's long, curly hair has gone the way of memories and photographs, as he likes to say, and all of us have long moved on to other employers.
Now that I work for the local school district, there are several holiday parties thrown each year, some department, and always a whole-staff, party. The staff in my classroom likes to go to breakfast early one morning at a European breakfast house. Just like in my day care days, we bring little gifts and enjoy our time away from the students. The whole staff is usually invited to the principal's home, but I haven't attended so far.
The name tag is courtesy of Thomas at Destination: Austin Family. 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.
Monday, December 06, 2010
Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories No. 6: Santa Claus
(Originally written in December 2007)
I don't know if Thomas and Jasia knew this when they picked December 6th to be the day to write about Santa Claus, but today is St. Nicholas Day. The Dutch brought the feast of Sinterklaas (St. Nicholas) to America when they settled New Netherlands (modern-day New York state and New Jersey) in the 1600s. St. Nicholas Day was a day of feasting and gift giving for children and sweethearts, and little ones would put out their klompen (wooden shoes) by the hearth filled with hay for the saint's white horse, with hopes that morning would find them refilled with chocolates and little gifts. Naughty children could be expected to find a switch, instead, with a arning that if they were not good, Zwarte Pieter (Black Peter, the good saint's Moor servant) would whisk them away in his large sack, never to be seen or heard from again! Christmas Day was not celebrated as we know it now, but was a solemn, religious day. Over time, with help from Thomas Nast and whoever really wrote "A Visit of St. Nicholas" (a.k.a. "The Night Before Christmas"), the character of the personality we know as Santa Claus developed and evolved.
I don't ever remember sending a letter to Santa Claus. I do know that Santa never flew a sleigh pulled by eight tiny reindeer and one red-nosed one...I know, because I have seen what he really flies in! Since I don't know my aircraft makes and models real well, I'm going to venture to guess that what I've seen Santa arrive in at the city dock of our Southeast Alaskan village was a six-passenger Cessna 180 Skywagon fitted with floats. And he comes from Ketchikan, not the North Pole! Besides, everyone in Alaska knows North Pole is just a village near Fairbanks, and not near the North Pole at all!
Like I said, Santa would arrive from Ketchikan in the Cessna, and all of us schoolkids would have our noses glued to the windows on the bay-side of the classroom, watching him come up the hill. Then we would line up in our hats and coats and head for the ANB - ANS hall, about the distance of a block or so from the school (there were no blocks, or aved roads, for that matter, in Klawock at that time). The Alaskan Native Brotherhood and Alaskan Native Sisterhood is a fraternal organization. Non-natives could be invited to join, but could not vote. The organization's hall was used as gym for basketball tournaments, a funeral chapel for the three-day wakes, and community center for events such as school plays or Santa's visits.
Class by class, we gathered around Santa as he handed out little toys from his bag and gave us plastic netting stockings filled with nuts and oranges. I remember watching Santa have a little problem with his beard. It seemed to not quite stay in place. Interesting!
I don't know how many years Santa came to visit the schoolchildren of Klawock, but I do know that in the mid-1970s, my parents starting incorporating St. Nicholas Day as our main day of celebration. Dad ordered us klompen from the wooden shoe factory in Holland, Michigan, and we put those out and on the hearth of the woodstove that heated our home. St. Nicholas always enjoyed the sandwich I made for him, and his horse loved the sweet marsh grass that Dad had cut and cured the summer before. We were always well rewarded with chocolates, Dutch cheese, and gifts--often books about the Netherlands, or in my mom's case, a Delft Christmas plate to add to her collection.
I still have the two pair of klompen from my childhood, and my children--even as teenagers--enjoy placing them under the tree (we don't have a hearth) on the evening of December 5th, waiting to see what St. Nicholas brings.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, or St. Nicholas, or Sinterklaas. Whatever you call him, however you celebrate him, he is the Spirit of Giving that lives in all of us, if ever we let him.
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.
Santa Claus
Did you ever send a letter to Santa? Did you ever visit Santa and “make a list?” Do you still believe in Santa Claus?
I don't know if Thomas and Jasia knew this when they picked December 6th to be the day to write about Santa Claus, but today is St. Nicholas Day. The Dutch brought the feast of Sinterklaas (St. Nicholas) to America when they settled New Netherlands (modern-day New York state and New Jersey) in the 1600s. St. Nicholas Day was a day of feasting and gift giving for children and sweethearts, and little ones would put out their klompen (wooden shoes) by the hearth filled with hay for the saint's white horse, with hopes that morning would find them refilled with chocolates and little gifts. Naughty children could be expected to find a switch, instead, with a arning that if they were not good, Zwarte Pieter (Black Peter, the good saint's Moor servant) would whisk them away in his large sack, never to be seen or heard from again! Christmas Day was not celebrated as we know it now, but was a solemn, religious day. Over time, with help from Thomas Nast and whoever really wrote "A Visit of St. Nicholas" (a.k.a. "The Night Before Christmas"), the character of the personality we know as Santa Claus developed and evolved.
I don't ever remember sending a letter to Santa Claus. I do know that Santa never flew a sleigh pulled by eight tiny reindeer and one red-nosed one...I know, because I have seen what he really flies in! Since I don't know my aircraft makes and models real well, I'm going to venture to guess that what I've seen Santa arrive in at the city dock of our Southeast Alaskan village was a six-passenger Cessna 180 Skywagon fitted with floats. And he comes from Ketchikan, not the North Pole! Besides, everyone in Alaska knows North Pole is just a village near Fairbanks, and not near the North Pole at all!
Like I said, Santa would arrive from Ketchikan in the Cessna, and all of us schoolkids would have our noses glued to the windows on the bay-side of the classroom, watching him come up the hill. Then we would line up in our hats and coats and head for the ANB - ANS hall, about the distance of a block or so from the school (there were no blocks, or aved roads, for that matter, in Klawock at that time). The Alaskan Native Brotherhood and Alaskan Native Sisterhood is a fraternal organization. Non-natives could be invited to join, but could not vote. The organization's hall was used as gym for basketball tournaments, a funeral chapel for the three-day wakes, and community center for events such as school plays or Santa's visits.
Class by class, we gathered around Santa as he handed out little toys from his bag and gave us plastic netting stockings filled with nuts and oranges. I remember watching Santa have a little problem with his beard. It seemed to not quite stay in place. Interesting!
I don't know how many years Santa came to visit the schoolchildren of Klawock, but I do know that in the mid-1970s, my parents starting incorporating St. Nicholas Day as our main day of celebration. Dad ordered us klompen from the wooden shoe factory in Holland, Michigan, and we put those out and on the hearth of the woodstove that heated our home. St. Nicholas always enjoyed the sandwich I made for him, and his horse loved the sweet marsh grass that Dad had cut and cured the summer before. We were always well rewarded with chocolates, Dutch cheese, and gifts--often books about the Netherlands, or in my mom's case, a Delft Christmas plate to add to her collection.
I still have the two pair of klompen from my childhood, and my children--even as teenagers--enjoy placing them under the tree (we don't have a hearth) on the evening of December 5th, waiting to see what St. Nicholas brings.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, or St. Nicholas, or Sinterklaas. Whatever you call him, however you celebrate him, he is the Spirit of Giving that lives in all of us, if ever we let him.
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.
Sunday, December 05, 2010
Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories No. 5: Outdoor Decorations
(Originally written in December 2007)
Considering that the Southeast Alaskan neighborhood I grew up with did not have public electricity, the answers to those questions are "no"! There was a restaurant and lodge to the north of us that had its own generator. Our neighbors to the south that had a sporting goods rental and gift shop also had a small generator they used during the evening. In 1977, we finally got electricity to the neighborhood, but no one had outdoor Christmas lights.
In 1979, we moved to a log home up in the mountains of Eastern Washington. While we had electricity, our neighbors were "hid" by the ravines and hills around us. Outdoor lights were limited to a string here and there, from what I can remember.
Here in the city, there are quite a few neighborhoods that go "all out," and each year the city transit system has a tour where you can see all the best ones. We have our favorite neighborhoods that we visit during this season, in our family car. Our favorite years are those when there's been just enough snow to cover the lights strung on bushes, so that the colors glow through the snow. In one of these neighborhoods, we often see a covered sleigh pulled by draft horses touring around. One of these times, we'll have to try that!
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.
Outdoor Decorations
Did people in your neighborhood decorate with lights? Did some people really go “all out” when decorating?
Considering that the Southeast Alaskan neighborhood I grew up with did not have public electricity, the answers to those questions are "no"! There was a restaurant and lodge to the north of us that had its own generator. Our neighbors to the south that had a sporting goods rental and gift shop also had a small generator they used during the evening. In 1977, we finally got electricity to the neighborhood, but no one had outdoor Christmas lights.
In 1979, we moved to a log home up in the mountains of Eastern Washington. While we had electricity, our neighbors were "hid" by the ravines and hills around us. Outdoor lights were limited to a string here and there, from what I can remember.
Here in the city, there are quite a few neighborhoods that go "all out," and each year the city transit system has a tour where you can see all the best ones. We have our favorite neighborhoods that we visit during this season, in our family car. Our favorite years are those when there's been just enough snow to cover the lights strung on bushes, so that the colors glow through the snow. In one of these neighborhoods, we often see a covered sleigh pulled by draft horses touring around. One of these times, we'll have to try that!
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.
Saturday, December 04, 2010
Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories No. 4: Christmas Cards
(Originally written in December 2007)
Christmas Cards
Did your family send them? Did your family display the ones they received? Do you still send Christmas cards?
During the last four weeks, I've been going through the letters my mom wrote her parents in Western Michigan from Alaska during the years 1966 - 1978, and have just started 1977. There are many December letters tucked inside Christmas cards during those years, although I don't specifically remember Mom sitting down with a stack of them to sign and mail off. It may be that she purchased just a few to mail to family and friends, or perhaps she was able to buy them by the box. I do know from what she wrote in those letters that it was hard to buy holiday cards of any kind in Southeast Alaska. My mother's greeting to her parents on Easter or Mother's or Father's Day, for instance, usually consisted of the weekly letter with best wishes for the family member(s) and an explanation that no store on the island sold greeting cards.
Once we moved to Eastern Washington in 1979, I do remember our family sending off greeting cards. Sometimes Dad would get a neighbor to take a nice group photo of our family with his camera and get some Christmas photo cards printed up. We would dress up for these photos, most of the time. Mom would tuck newsy notes or letters in with both the greeting cards and the photo cards.
I think cards were taped along the beams of our house in Alaska, which had a cathedral ceiling, but I'm not sure if I'm remembering that correctly. In our home in Eastern Washington, the cards were always--and still are--taped around the doorway and pass-through between the dining area and kitchen.
After my husband and I married, I started sending out Christmas cards to friends and family members, and after our children were born, I added photos and a Christmas letter. I haven't done a Christmas letter every year, but I did most years. They're fun to go back and read, because I always hit the highlights of the past 12 months. The past few years, with postage so expensive and with most people in my e-mail address book having color printers, I've just e-mailed my Christmas letter and scanned photos of our family, while mailing "hard copies" to family and friends without Internet access. This year has been so busy that I am probably going to forgo the cards altogether and just mail and e-mail the Christmas letters. I figure at the rate I'm going, people are going to be lucky to even hear from us!
The cards we receive are placed in a green Christmas wooden basket on our coffee table in the living room. After Christmas is over, I go through and save the photos and Christmas letters. Most of the cards, unless unique or extra special, get their covers reused as gift tags for next year's Christmas, or passed on to non-profit organizations that recycle them.
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.
Friday, December 03, 2010
Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories No. 3: Christmas Tree Ornaments
Christmas Tree Ornaments
Did your family have heirloom or cherished ornaments? Did you ever string popcorn and cranberries? Did your family make ornaments?
Growing up, I don't remember any particular heirloom or cherished ornaments. I do remember stringing popcorn once or twice, and I know we made paper chains and ornaments for our classroom tree at school.
However, I do have many cherished ornaments on my tree today. Many were made by my dad's older sister, who presented me with a box of them on May 2, 1987, at my wedding shower. Tucked in the box was a note:
Dear Miriam,
These things have a very special meaning. I have been making them through the years and would have given them at a shower like this for Chris' wife-to-be. Please know that love was made into each one. I want to share that special love with you & Norm.
Love,
Aunt Louise
Chris was my aunt's oldest child, a cousin just three months younger than me, who died unexpectedly in his sleep in his dorm room at Gonzaga University on December 15, 1985. Naturally, these ornaments are very special, and I always think of Chris when I set up my tree, as well as his younger sister Carrie, who was in the hospital with brain cancer the day of my bridal shower. She passed away shortly afterward on May 14, 1987, just 12 days before my wedding. She was to have been my maid of honor. The slide show below shows just a few of the beautiful handmade ornaments:
My aunt has continued to make ornaments over the years, and they've joined the box of originals to make quite a collection. One of my favorites was the doll see below, made from a napkin and tablecloth set that belong to my great-grandmother, Marie (LEWIS) ROBBINS. Marie had purchased the linens from Lillie's Department Store in Coopersville, Michigan and embroidered the corners and edges herself. Aunt Louise had inherited the set, but it had become damaged while in storage. She salvaged the materials and created these cloth doll ornaments, and gave one of each to me, my sister, and our girl cousins. So it is doubly sentimental to me.
I also have many ornaments that bring me very happy memories; clever crafty ornaments given by my mother's sister-in-law; still others by students and co-workers, more family members and friends. Some of my favorites are the six from when I worked at my children's elementary school. The principal always decorated the tree in the foyer with a fantastic theme rivaling anything you could see in a magazine. One year it was gingerbread men, another a sports theme, still another everything nautical. Each staff member would have a matching ornament with his or her name on it and the year as a keepsake. Our principal always started the new theme with his wife's school's tree (she was also an elementary school principal); then the following year, our school would get the decorations. The next two years, the decorations would go to two other schools; so everything was recycled and enjoyed by many students, staff and families around the district.
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.
Thursday, December 02, 2010
Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories No. 2: Holiday Foods
Holiday Foods
Did your family have any traditional dishes for the holidays? Was there one dish that you thought was unusual?
A couple of traditional holiday sweets we had while I was growing up were banket (bun-KET) and olie bollen (OH-lee BOH-len), traditional Dutch desserts. Banket is similar to Danish kringle in that it is a rolled pastry log with sweetened almond paste filling, cut into small slices. Every year we would hope my grandfather wasn't too tired from his working his long hours at the post office in Grand Rapids, Michigan, so that he could make banket and send it to us in Southeast Alaska, and later in Northeast Washington. He would wrap it in foil and freeze it, then send it in our packages of Christmas gifts. (See recipe and photos here.)
Olie bollen literally means "oily balls" or "fat balls" and they are what we know as donut holes. I buy these, both plain and with powdered sugar, almost every year for my family at my local supermarket and often bring them to class on St. Nicholas Day, while I tell my students about our Dutch traditions.
For Christmas dinner, Mom would always make a big traditional meal, usually with whatever meat we had raised on our farm. We had a variety of poultry to choose from: chicken, duck, or goose. We also had rabbit, ham, or chevon (goat meat). Along with the main meat dish, there would be mashed potatoes and gravy, home-grown cooked vegetables, cranberry jelly, and pickles and black olives. Dad's favorite dessert was mince-meat pie, and I think one year, we had homemade mince-meat after we had butchered a hog. I also remember homemade apple pie with slices of cheese.
When we have Christmas at my house, I don't usually go all out with a large, sit-down dinner. My kitchen is pretty small, and it's hard to crowd a dozen people around my dining room table, even with all the leaves out, so I'll often have a buffet instead. Depending on the time when we open gifts, sometimes it will be a brunch with crackers, meats, cheeses, and the like. At other times, I'll have plates of sub sandwiches with side dishes. Always, we have several desserts to choose from.
When we go over to my brother-in-law's place, we'll sometimes have a traditional meal, especially if it's Christmas Eve. If we meet between Christmas and New Year's, we often have a comfortable dinner of homemade stew, rolls, and a salad, followed by dessert. My brother-in-law, like my husband, is a pretty good cook, and usually makes the stew.
New Year's Eve is normally spent at home, just the four of us. All evening, we graze on any leftover goodies that may have survived Christmas Day. Sparkling cider is bought for the kids, and we may have a good bottle of wine, such as Mogen David's blackberry wine mixed with a little Sprite. Lately, our drink of choice to see in the New Year has been rum and Cokes, or actually, rum and Diet Rite, as we don't want too much sugar and caffeine before bed. Except for a few hot summer evenings when a cold beer is refreshing, we don't imbibe much in alcohol, so it is a nice treat.
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.
Wednesday, December 01, 2010
The Strange Tale of Uzza Robbins; or His One Hanging, Two Murders, Three Exhumations, and Four Burials
Uzza Robbins was a blacksmith with an even blacker temper. His McKean County, Pennsylvania neighbors avoided him as much as possible, only engaging him in conversation over necessary smithy business. When he walked down the streets of Port Allegheny, even children gave him a wide berth. There were whispers throughout the community that the death of Uzza's adult son in the mid-1840s was perhaps not the result of an epileptic fit, as Uzza claimed.
Born in 1792 in either Vermont or New York, Uzza had a number of children, one of whom being my 3rd-great-grandmother, Marinda. He moved frequently, quite possibly the result of not getting along well with his neighbors: in 1820, he was residing in Chenango, Broome County, New York. In 1830, he was in Lawsville, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. By 1840, he was in Sweden Township, Potter County, Pennsylvania. And by 1849, he had set up a blacksmith shop along what now is the Grand Army of the Republic Highway (State Highway 6) just southeast of Port Allegheny in McKean County.
View Larger Map
Uzza's blacksmith shop stood somewhere along this stretch of highway (not necessary at Point A)
In the summer of 1849, Uzza apparently was at odds with his second wife, Wealthy Briggs, widow of Johnathan Clark. She and her daughter went berry picking and while they were out, Uzza prepared some peas, laced with arsenic. After the women returned and ate their meal, they both fell ill. Wealthy died in terrible agony, but although the daughter was extremely ill, she recovered and was able to report the incident. Uzza was arrested on 7 August 1849 and held in the jail in Smethport, the county seat.
Since the old courthouse building was considered unsafe, court was held in the Methodist church. O.J. Hamlin, Isaac Benson, and N.W. Goodrich were the prosecutors, while S. P. Johnson, C. B. Curtis, C. W. Ellis and L. D. Wetmore, were Uzza's defense attorneys. Since it would be the first execution in McKean County, many wanted to see the old man swing. While a good effort was made for leniency, alas, it was to no avail. Uzza was convicted on 19 January 1850 and sentenced to be hung.
When the 1850 U.S. Federal Census was taken on June 1st, Uzza was enumerated with Waterman J. Davis and his wife Helen (also found as Ellen in later censuses) in Keating Township, McKean County. It's likely that Helen/Ellen was another daughter of his, for who else would take in an asthmatic bad-tempered convict sentenced to hang, except family?
At some point before Uzza's death, a young man named Perry Barrows, who was interested in phrenology, came to Uzza and offered payment for his skull after his execution. (Phrenology was a pseudoscience, popular in the early to mid-1800s, that taught that the physical size, shape, and features of a person's brain affected their personality, intelligence, and mental competence.) Needless to say, Uzza refused Barrow's offer.
On 30 August 1850, Uzza was hung in Smethport. His body was buried in a cemetery that was located on the south side of Water Street between Fulton and State Streets. The grave was located at the southwest corner of a barn which belonged to the Baptist parsonage on Water Street. During the night, the grave was opened, the head cut off the body, and was carried away for supposed examination.
The next day, someone noticed that Uzza's grave had been disturbed and his body was exhumed (again) with the result that a party of young men went looking for Barrows to see if they could recover Uzza's head. Barrows worked for J.C. King, a wagon maker in Smethport, and it was at the wagon shop that Miles Irons, one of the young men in the search party, uncovered the head buried in a pile of shavings under a work bench. And as a reporter for the Port Allegany Reporter later quipped, "Barrows having a good pair of legs walked off between the next two days and he is evidently walking yet as he has not been heard from since." Uzza's head was reunited with his body, which was buried for a third time.
Ezra Bard was sheriff at the time that Uzza had been executed, and he swore out a warrant to have Uzza's son's remains disinterred for examination. R. E. Bellows, one of the jurors in Uzza's trial, removed the body of the son. The examination revealed that the son's skull was fractured at the right temple, consistent with a blow from a heavy object, such as a blacksmith's hammer.
---
On 17 October 1905, John Grigsby was excavating in the rear of S. S. Fry's barn in Smethport near the corner of Fulton and Water Streets, when he uncovered a coffin. Upon opening it, he found the skeleton of a man. There was little doubt that the remains belonged to Uzza Robbins, the first man hung for murder in McKean County 55 years earlier. The use of that particular tract of land as a cemetery had been discontinued around 1865. The Port Allegany Reporter ran an article three days later about the discovery: "After the burial of Robbins it is alleged that the body was taken up and the head severed from the trunk by the employees of medical men who wished to examine the murderer's brain, and that the head was afterward reinterred with the body. The condition of the skeleton bears out this statement, as the skull lay tilted back, at one side of the coffin, appeared to have been entirely detached from the remainder of the skeleton, which lay in the ordinary position. The coffin and bones are in remarkable good condition considering the many years they have lain in the ground. Now let the Historical Society attend to this."
---
A question remains: Where was he buried the fourth time...was he reburied at the original location, or taken to the current cemetery?
It's obvious that a story like this in one's family tree would either get embellished over time, or be hidden from future generations out of shame. In this case, it was the latter. I never knew about this fascinating, gory tale of my ancestor until the day I googled Uzza Robbins' name, which I knew from his daughter Marinda's death certificate. A link to the Painted Hills Genealogical Society reconnected the truth from the past to the generations of the present. The 1850 U.S. Federal Census confirmed the story, with the label "C [for convict] Murder" on the same line as Uzza's name.
I tell this story not to dishonor my ancestor or my family, but to reveal the truth of our family history so that we can understand our past, and understand the actions of the family members that had to deal with the impact of this tragedy and service of justice. It explains why--with other tragedies taking place--my Robbins family left Pennsylvania for Michigan after the Civil War. It also clarifies why it's been so difficult untangle the Robbins family tree: to find the names of Marinda's siblings, and to determine if Marinda was related to her husband, Joseph Robbins. It also accounts for why Marinda and Joseph's second son was enumerated as Uzza Robbins in the 1850 U.S. Federal Census, but why he never used that name at any other time for the rest of his life, preferring instead to go by Joseph Benson Robbins.
Every family has One...a Black Sheep Ancestor, a Tangled Family Line, or a Complex Tale of Tragedy and Black Comedy. In my case, they came together in my 4th-great-grandfather, Uzza Robbins, who was executed by one hanging, committed two murders, was exhumed three times and buried four. He was definitely the One I thought about when Jasia challenged us to write on the theme "There's One in Every Family" for the 100th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy.
Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories No. 1: The Christmas Tree
The Christmas Tree
Did you have a real tree or was it artificial? How big was the tree? Who decorated the tree?
I lived in the woods of Southeast Alaska and Northeast Washington for most of my childhood... yet we had an artificial tree for most of those years!
We must have had real trees when I was very little, but I never remember decorating them or seeing them set up. I do have vague memories of seeing a tree in our living room in Kake, Alaska and again in our mobile home in Klawock, Alaska; they would have been real. Sometime in the mid-1970s after my parents built their house about a mile outside of Klawock, they got a small artificial tree and decorated it with red and white velveteen-covered doves, roses and ribbons. Since we did not have electricity out on this farm, we did not have lights on the tree. It was a family joke that we lived in one of the largest forests in the nation, yet we had an artificial Christmas tree. It did make sense because most of the trees around our home were very tall, and it was wasteful to cut down small trees for Christmas that could have instead grown up to be good for lumber, firewood, or shade. I think we kids always helped decorate the tree.
The first year I were married (1987), we had a real Charlie Brown Christmas tree. My ex-husband worked for The Salvation Army Family Services department, and a bunch of Christmas trees had been donated to give to needy families. He brought the last one home on Christmas Eve after the department had closed for the holiday. That tree was so bad, no needy family had even wanted it! It stood about three feet tall, and there was no bad side to place against the wall...every side was the bad side! I only had a handful of decorations, but I did the best I could to fix it up! It had kind of been an impromptu thing, as my ex-husband really wasn't into celebrating Christmas at that time, and only brought it home after I had protested, "We have to have a tree!" The funny thing is that later he loved Christmas, and was always anxious for us to have the tree up! I usually do most of the setting up and decorations, although my daughter will help out every now and again. We got a five-foot artificial tree in 1988 and had that one for many years before it bit the dust. It was replaced by a slightly larger (six-foot) artificial fir tree that is just right for our tiny living room, yet still big enough to hold the steadily-growing collection of ornaments that have accumulated over 20 years!
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.
Did you have a real tree or was it artificial? How big was the tree? Who decorated the tree?
I lived in the woods of Southeast Alaska and Northeast Washington for most of my childhood... yet we had an artificial tree for most of those years!
We must have had real trees when I was very little, but I never remember decorating them or seeing them set up. I do have vague memories of seeing a tree in our living room in Kake, Alaska and again in our mobile home in Klawock, Alaska; they would have been real. Sometime in the mid-1970s after my parents built their house about a mile outside of Klawock, they got a small artificial tree and decorated it with red and white velveteen-covered doves, roses and ribbons. Since we did not have electricity out on this farm, we did not have lights on the tree. It was a family joke that we lived in one of the largest forests in the nation, yet we had an artificial Christmas tree. It did make sense because most of the trees around our home were very tall, and it was wasteful to cut down small trees for Christmas that could have instead grown up to be good for lumber, firewood, or shade. I think we kids always helped decorate the tree.
The first year I were married (1987), we had a real Charlie Brown Christmas tree. My ex-husband worked for The Salvation Army Family Services department, and a bunch of Christmas trees had been donated to give to needy families. He brought the last one home on Christmas Eve after the department had closed for the holiday. That tree was so bad, no needy family had even wanted it! It stood about three feet tall, and there was no bad side to place against the wall...every side was the bad side! I only had a handful of decorations, but I did the best I could to fix it up! It had kind of been an impromptu thing, as my ex-husband really wasn't into celebrating Christmas at that time, and only brought it home after I had protested, "We have to have a tree!" The funny thing is that later he loved Christmas, and was always anxious for us to have the tree up! I usually do most of the setting up and decorations, although my daughter will help out every now and again. We got a five-foot artificial tree in 1988 and had that one for many years before it bit the dust. It was replaced by a slightly larger (six-foot) artificial fir tree that is just right for our tiny living room, yet still big enough to hold the steadily-growing collection of ornaments that have accumulated over 20 years!
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.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Friday, November 26, 2010
Holiday Weekend Genealogy Deals
Several genealogy companies and individuals are offering holiday deals this weekend:
One Year of Casefile Clues for $14 - Last Day Offered
"In honor of Michael's 7 newly discovered Mayflower ancestors, we're offering Casefile Clues Thursday and Friday for $14 for a year of 52 issues. Here's a little about Casefile Clues and here's a little more."
More info, including how to get sample copies, here.
New England Historic Genealogical Society - The Bookstore at NEHGS is here to help with your holiday gift giving for the genealogist in your life - even if that's YOU! We've bundled some of our most popular titles and slashed the prices just in time for the holiday season. Find the perfect stocking stuffer with our list of gift ideas for under $15.
Order online, through the mail or over the phone. Supplies are limited, so start shopping today!
Click on the link below to start saving!
www.americanancestors.org/special-holiday-discounts-2010/
Offer ends December 31, 2010
FamilyTree.com (brought to you by FamilyTreeMagazine) - Skip the Lines-Shop Online! Save 20% on your order!
Enter offer code SFT133 when you check out before November 29.
Be Sure to check out our Holiday Gift Section While You Shop!
* Offer code SFT133 expires November 29, 2010 at 11:59 pm EST. Offer not valid on VIP program enrollment or renewal, subscriptions, or products that ship directly from the manufacturer.
Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy Black Friday Deal - The Utah Genealogical Association would like to offer a Black Friday/Cyber Monday deal!! Beginning today, Friday, November 26th, through Tuesday, November 30th:
Registrants for the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy will also receive free UGA membership ($35 value) and the UGA member discount ($40 discount) for a total value of $75/off the current price!! Classes are filling fast and will fill even faster with this deal. Register at www.ugagenealogy.com.
Remember, the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy will be January 10-14, 2011 at the Salt Lake Radisson. Instructors are the best in the nation and cover topics from advanced methodology to writing a family narrative, to technology. We are also offering location-specific courses in French and Irish research this year. Don't wait, we're not sure when they will be offered again.
Questions? Contact Christy Fillerup at christy.fillerup@gmail.com
Coupon code for this deal: SLIG2011
$100 Off a Y-DNA Kit from Genetreee - We're going all out this year for our Holiday Special!
Y-46 tests for only $79.95! (That's a savings of $100.) A DNA test kit makes an extraordinary gift that won't be forgotten! Valid now through the Monday after Thanksgiving (Nov 18-29, 2010). Order at www.genetree.com.
WorldVitalRecords/Historic Map Works Black Friday Sleep-In Special
Get a World Collection Subscription to WorldVitalRecords.com PLUS 10% off any order at Historic Map Works for only $59.95. Save up to $50!
For more info, click here.
One Year of Casefile Clues for $14 - Last Day Offered
"In honor of Michael's 7 newly discovered Mayflower ancestors, we're offering Casefile Clues Thursday and Friday for $14 for a year of 52 issues. Here's a little about Casefile Clues and here's a little more."
More info, including how to get sample copies, here.
New England Historic Genealogical Society - The Bookstore at NEHGS is here to help with your holiday gift giving for the genealogist in your life - even if that's YOU! We've bundled some of our most popular titles and slashed the prices just in time for the holiday season. Find the perfect stocking stuffer with our list of gift ideas for under $15.
Order online, through the mail or over the phone. Supplies are limited, so start shopping today!
Click on the link below to start saving!
www.americanancestors.org/special-holiday-discounts-2010/
Offer ends December 31, 2010
FamilyTree.com (brought to you by FamilyTreeMagazine) - Skip the Lines-Shop Online! Save 20% on your order!
Enter offer code SFT133 when you check out before November 29.
Be Sure to check out our Holiday Gift Section While You Shop!
* Offer code SFT133 expires November 29, 2010 at 11:59 pm EST. Offer not valid on VIP program enrollment or renewal, subscriptions, or products that ship directly from the manufacturer.
Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy Black Friday Deal - The Utah Genealogical Association would like to offer a Black Friday/Cyber Monday deal!! Beginning today, Friday, November 26th, through Tuesday, November 30th:
Registrants for the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy will also receive free UGA membership ($35 value) and the UGA member discount ($40 discount) for a total value of $75/off the current price!! Classes are filling fast and will fill even faster with this deal. Register at www.ugagenealogy.com.
Remember, the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy will be January 10-14, 2011 at the Salt Lake Radisson. Instructors are the best in the nation and cover topics from advanced methodology to writing a family narrative, to technology. We are also offering location-specific courses in French and Irish research this year. Don't wait, we're not sure when they will be offered again.
Questions? Contact Christy Fillerup at christy.fillerup@gmail.com
Coupon code for this deal: SLIG2011
$100 Off a Y-DNA Kit from Genetreee - We're going all out this year for our Holiday Special!
Y-46 tests for only $79.95! (That's a savings of $100.) A DNA test kit makes an extraordinary gift that won't be forgotten! Valid now through the Monday after Thanksgiving (Nov 18-29, 2010). Order at www.genetree.com.
WorldVitalRecords/Historic Map Works Black Friday Sleep-In Special
Get a World Collection Subscription to WorldVitalRecords.com PLUS 10% off any order at Historic Map Works for only $59.95. Save up to $50!
For more info, click here.
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