Thursday, May 31, 2012

Treasure Chest Thursday :: Work Badge

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence


Man's mother's work badge, sometime in the early to mid 1940's.  It is almost 2 inches in diameter.  The outer ring is metal, inner ring is a heavy paper, and the 3rd layer down is, of course, the photo.  Screw Machine Products was on Fort Street, near Outer Drive, Lincoln Park, Wayne County, Michigan.


Don't ya just love the back, the clasps to hold it together, the pin??  Ya, we do too!



.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Wedding Wednesday :: Jumps a Moving Train, Gets To The Chapel on Time

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence




From the March 17, 1897 issue of the Michigan Messenger published at Adrian, Lenawee County, Michigan:

From FamilySearch, and waaahoooo, the bride's name and more:

Michigan, Marriages, 1868-1925
groom's name: Edward E. Hinds
groom's race:
groom's age: 31 years
groom's birth date: 1866
groom's birthplace: Michigan
bride's name: Mary A. Michaels
bride's race:
bride's age: 29 years
bride's birth date: 1868
bride's birthplace: Ohio
marriage type:
marriage date: 28 Feb 1897
marriage place: Clayton, Lenawee, Michigan
groom's father: Wm. Hinds
groom's mother: Jerusha Kamp
bride's father: Isaac Michaels
bride's mother: Rachael Mineer
groom's marital status:
groom's previous wife:
bride's marital status:
bride's previous husband:
film number: 2342507
frame number:
digital folder number: 4207941
image number: 499
reference number: v 3 p 64 rn 50

And, from the marriage record, it appears that they did indeed marry, note, only part of the record is shown here:


Next stop, find out what a bachelor tax is all about, here are two links, In Ye Olden Days: The Bachelor Tax and John McCurdy who wrote,  Citizen Bachelors: Manhood and the Creation of the United States.  So, I wonder, really a bachelor tax in 1897??  or is the staff of the newspaper taking a bit of liberty and poking some fun at our Edward??  What cha think??




*Source for the graphic long lost, my apologies to the artist and the web site.
.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Tuesday's Tip :: Here We Are, HERE!

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Tip of the day.  Don't give up and be creative with your search terms.  OK, be SUPER creative with your search terms.

I figured David and Ida HALTERMAN (spelled with an "A" after that "H") were going to be MIA on the 1940 census.  They lived on the farm in Virginia for years!  Have them there for the 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930 census enumerations.  They lived on the same farm basically until they died, he in 1965 and she in 1963.

Virginia was one of the early states that showed up on the FamilySearch index.  I found others I was looking for, just not David and Ida.

I tried a lot of search terms trying to find them, first names, last name only, searched for her, searched for him, searched for one of them with the other name included.  They were not to be found.

Last night, after a LONG weekend of printing the book, ya, that book, I finally finished the first print.  I have more to do, but, I was tired of THE book and decided to reward myself with some genie snooping.  With no goal in mind, just casual snooping, I found some fun things, and posted on Facebook, "Still cannot find David and Ida in the 1940. I still believe I never will."

And, then, because I either felt challenged or David and Ida were screaming, "HERE WE ARE, HERE", I did another search.

This time I searched only Ida, but, put in the county name and the enumeration district name, BAM, there they were.

Not indexed as HALterman, but as, HOLterman, see:

head David Holterman M 64 West Virginia
wife Ida Holterman F 65 West Virginia
daughter Sarah Holterman F 37 Virginia

Of course, I looked at the image, I see the A, not the O, I looked up and down the entire page, what do you think, A or O?  You will note they got David, Ida and Sarah correct, and they all have that A thing going on.


The original full page of this image can be seen here.  Tough call, eh??  I agree.

So, be creative, and remember, "spelling don't count" in genie!  And, snicker, not in indexing either!




*FamilySearch, Facebook and any other web site I may mention here on Reflections have their own copyright issues, I use them, I chat about them, in case of pay sites, I may or may not use them, I may or may not endorse them.  I do not earn any $$ from said mentions, not even a pat on the back from said sites.  That is my disclaimer for the day.
.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Happy Memorial Day :: 2012

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence



Top left:  Donald Eugene Bowen, World War II Veteran.

Top right:  Flag presented to the family of Arthur Norman Stevens, Jr. at his funeral.

Bottom right:  Arthur Norman Stevens, Jr., World War II Veteran.

Middle:  Fort Pulaski, Georgia flag.



* Watering can graphic courtesy of Webweaver.nu
.

Friday, May 25, 2012

118th Carnival Of Genealogy :: Reading!

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Its that time again, Carnival of Genealogy, the 118th, and the subject this time is Reading.

Jasia, of Creative Gene, our host, asks:

"Do you come from a family of readers? What kinds of reading material was typically found around your house when you were growing up... fiction books, comic books, poetry, the Bible, magazines, cookbooks, prayer books??? What do you like to read now? Do you give books as gifts? Are you a fan of eBooks? The lazy, hazy days of summer are right around the corner and many of us will be reaching for a good book to read on the hammock or on the beach. What do you recommend?"

I have to say that I, as well as my three sons, daughter-in-laws and the grandtwins all seem to be a family of readers.  Man does most of his reading on the net.  I have one son who has in the past read the classics, his mom has not.  And, the grandtwins, they read ALL the time.  I am surprised there are any books in their local library they have NOT read.  Heavens, when they come to visit, we have had to take them to our library and check out 6 to 10 books for a one week visit.

I don't have strong recollections of what kind of books were around my home as a child, except for encyclopedia type collections and school books.  There must have been more, but, the memory has faded - -

Remember Little Golden Books?
Some of our boys favorites!

I enjoy reading research stuff, but when I am whooped I have to  confess - - I read trash novels, some call them bodice rippers.  Yea, something with little plot, no redeeming qualities, something that I don't have to think about, and most importantly, something that hopefully WILL put me to sleep!   And, yes, I now do trash novel e-books, free downloads rock!

Do we give books as gifts?  We have always given books to the children of the family, starting from the time they were 6 months old, even younger, when they received cloth books.  As they got a bit older, they received those really thick paged books, the ones that withstood teething.  After that, our boys graduated to Little Golden Books like the one shown here.  And, as they got older still, we have encouraged visits to the library rather than finance their reading addictions, those grandtwins can go through $50.00 to $100.00 worth of new books in less than a week!

The next question deals with recommendations of books to read.  Since most of the books I read for "fun?" are nothing I would recommend, lets chat about books I do recommend, research books (but of course - LOL).  You know the ones we pull off the shelves at our favorite research libraries all across the nation, like these from the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana.  Shelves and shelves, book after book, hundreds, thousands of them.  Wonderful books, books filled with facts and a now and then a few inaccuracies.  A life line to our research.


Have you ever given much thought to how those books got there, aside from the fact that someone had to shelve them, someone had to donate them or the library had to purchase them.  How did they actually come into being??

I just happen to have a bit of experience with this (just a bit LOL), so, let me share with you that all those weighty research tomes  come into being due to the love and dedication of those that did the research, who then compiled or wrote them, edited them, and finally at some point published them.  Hundreds and in some cases thousands of hours go into each and every one of those books.  Think about that for a moment longer, each book you see in the photo above was the product of many hours, dedication, usually a hunk of ca$h, sweat, tears, maybe a few bug bites, sun burn, possibly a few frozen toes and noses and ALWAYS very tired feet by a lot of people that care immensely about what they are doing.

Printing the book from he*$, page
 by page checking formatting as I go.
Those of you that follow me on Facebook or Google+ have probably grown tired of my chattering on and on lately about my current project - formatting a book. It has taken on a life and name of it's own, not a nice name, the formatting project/book from he*$.   It seems, somehow, that just about every book I get involved with has issues.  Formatting issues, additional research that just has to be done and no one else is available at that time to do the research, issues, one after another.

I end up spending hours fixing the messes, the issues, fighting computer foul ups, and this week, a huge mess when Man and I decided to bring a printer downstairs for me to work with.  Short story, the printer was leaking ink and before we realized how bad it was, we had ink spots on about 25 feet of our carpet in the upstairs bedroom and hallway.  If you have never had the pleasure of cleaning up that kind of a mess, believe me, you do not want to go there.  I know, it is really not the BOOKS fault, it just felt that way!  LOL

And, so, why the tails of woe?  Why am I whining and wailing, and crying and sharing my pain with everyone?  Well, for one thing, it does help me to vent.  Thank you all so much for letting me bend your ear about my woeful stories.  And, maybe just a little bit wicked on my part, the other thing is, I hope that my sharing my experiences will help others appreciate what they are using during their research.

I sit in libraries and watch researchers with a stack of books, lovingly compiled by someone or a group of someones.  The researchers open them, glance through the index, and depending on what they find, they search the pages that look interesting, or simply flip the book over and grab the next one.  I get it, time is of the essence and there is a HUGE stack of books waiting your attention. Keep it moving, hurry, bring another stack of books, start flipping through those indexes again,  no names, next book.  Move, flip, discard, hurry.

And, personally having spent hundreds of hours stomping cemeteries, sitting in dusty dark courthouse basement rooms pulling huge heavy old deed books down off the shelves, formatting, fighting with my computer, fighting with the home printer, fighting with the company that publishes these magnificent pieces of work, carting them home in the back of my car, standing in line at the post office mailing them, I have to admit to watch someone rather callously flipping all those books over and not appearing to give much thought to the fact other than, nope, none of my family in that book, well, it stings a bit.

A trunk  full of books fresh from the publisher/printer, ready for you and you and - -
Are you ready to research yet??  Oh, yea, me too!
So, now that you have read my tails of woe, my hope is that the next time you are in a research library with a cart full of wonderful fact filled research books you will pause just a moment, think about the hundreds of people and the thousands of hours they dedicated to bring you those records.

I admit that when I am doing some research, using books from some far off locality that I will hit the index, look up any names that fit my research parameters and hurry along to the next book.  However, probably because of my experiences, these days, I pause for just a few moments, acknowledge the people and the work involved in bringing me such wonderful resources, thanking them, and I quietly and respectfully lay the book aside.

Thank you for your blood, sweat and tears, thank you for this wonderful resource.

They won't hear the thanks, but, I know I gave them.

So, to answer the last question of this challenge, what do I recommend for your summer reading, why research books, of course, my favorite reading material.

With thanks.




* The disclaimer, Facebook, Google+, Little Golden Books own their copyrights. I did not receive any remuneration of any type, kind or amount to mention them in this or any other post I write here at Reflections.

** Oh, and I can almost guarantee, that if you are printing a book and the deadline is looming you will either crash the computer, run out of ink or jam the printer.  No kidding, it is guaranteed!  IT. WILL. HAPPEN.  You read it here!  And, yes, I did say that.
.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Dorian Richard Prochnow, RIP

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Early this morning, we learned of the passing of Man's cousin's husband, Dorian Richard Prochnow.  He died from the evil cancer, but was surrounded by his family at the time of his passing.

Above, Dorian and his loving wife, Sandra, in Alaska in 2009.
Photo courtesy of Sandra.
 
Dorian loved his family, and the out of doors, including fishing at Roosevelt Lake. He worked for many summers in Alaska driving big rigs and Sandra joined him there many times.  Dorian and Sandra lived a interesting, but, never easy life.  Through the ups and downs, and believe me, there were many, their love of each other and of family and God always mattered the most.

There is no doubt Dorian will be greatly missed by his family.  Rest in peace, Dorian.




.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Tombstone Tuesday, Soldiers Cemetery, Fort King George, Darien, Georgia

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

During our trek northward towards the stick built in SE Michigan, Man and I stopped over near Savannah Georgia.  While there we did some sightseeing, relaxing and a bit of family research.  One of our (my) stops was to revisit Darien, McIntosh County, Georgia where my great-grandparents lived for many years, and where they are both reportedly buried.  While there we investigated and shortly visited Fort King George.  There is a small cemetery there, named, simply, "Soliders Cemetery".




All stones had the same inscription.



.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Oh, Danny Boy, Really, Ya Gonna Get Married?

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

One of my little joys (side benefit of the formatting project from &^#$) is that I get to read some really neat ole news articles, and I never know what I will find.  I will confess that in my desire to be done with this project that sometimes I skip reading many of the pages.  However, now and then, there will be a short article that I read while cleaning the streaks, dots, marks  and messes.  I found one this AM. This was published in the December 1, 1897 issue of the Michigan Messenger, published at Adrian, Lenawee County, Michigan.

I thought it was rather, mmm, humorous.  Now, we have to consider that this IS a news report, and I am not sure that in 1897 the reporting was all serious, or factual, and well, we do sell papers with a bit of controversy, right??  I mean, Dan, really, making love to 42 women in 1897?  So, I decided to do just a bit of research, I did not want to spend a lot of time on it, but, ya, I was driven to go have a quick look.  So, over to FamilySearch.org I went and I found:

"Michigan, Marriages, 1822-1995"
groom's name: Daniel W. Whitman
groom's birth date:
groom's birthplace:
groom's age:
bride's name: Sophia Rich
bride's birth date:
bride's birthplace:
bride's age:
marriage date: 29 Nov 1897
marriage place: Lenawee, Michigan
groom's father's name: Daniel Whitman
groom's mother's name: Rebecca Butterfield
bride's father's name: Wm. Rich
bride's mother's name: Sarah
groom's race:
groom's marital status:
groom's previous wife's name:
bride's race:
bride's marital status:
bride's previous husband's name:
indexing project (batch) number: M01819-4
system origin: Michigan-ODM
source film number: 2342507

AND:

"Michigan, Marriages, 1868-1925"
groom's name: Daniel W. Whitman
groom's race:
groom's age: 68 years
groom's birth date: 1829
groom's birthplace: Pennsylvania
bride's name: Sophia Rich
bride's race:
bride's age: 19 years
bride's birth date: 1878
bride's birthplace: Michigan
marriage type: License
marriage date: 29 Nov 1897
marriage place: Lenawee, Michigan
groom's father: Daniel Whitman
groom's mother: Rebecca Butterfield
bride's father: Wm. Rich
bride's mother: Sarah
groom's marital status:
groom's previous wife:
bride's marital status:
bride's previous husband:
film number: 2342507
frame number:
digital folder number: 4207941
image number: 474
reference number: v 3 p 103 rn 396

Now, this second data base comes with images, and yes, I did open the image, despite the fact that I have been having serious connectivity issues, I clicked and then I walked away while it loaded.  And, when I came back, it was so worth the time spent.

(Note:  screen captures of only the specific portion of the page that applies, the full page of records can be viewed here.  I did overlap the captures a bit.)


License returned not used
Sophia, did you call off the wedding?   Or is this a case where the marriage took place and the recording procedure went amuck?

I did not discover Daniel on the 1900 census, I did find a possible on the 1910, noting 1910 said he was single and he was not living in Lenawee County.

I discovered Daniel's fate, at SeekingMichigan, note it says he is a widower:


Not being able to stop my research, I charged over to Find a Grave, and there is a very respectful memorial there with quite a bit of family information and a photo of his headstone.

I have done no further research on Sophia cause I have to get back to the formatting this book.  My break is over.



.

Friday, May 18, 2012

Fun, err, Frustrating Finds Friday, Geo-caching Style

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Recently while in Saline Michigan for a wonderful lunch with Son # 1, his significant other and the grand twins, we decided to give them a demonstration of our newbie (that = inexperienced and still learning) geocaching skills.

The cache was marked medium difficulty, there was a nice history of the area in the directions, but, no specific hints.  It was TOUGH.  We looked, we re-read all the info given on the web site (several times, slowly, out loud for all to hear), we walked around some more with the GPS unit.

Just as we were about to give up (some of us needed to find a potty, seriously!) when Man just had to have one more go at it.  He followed that GPS once more and then, convinced he was onto something, he snooped around, kinda stood on his head, stretched, and ta da, there it was, a rock disguising the goods, err, the cache.


The cacher that placed this one went to a bunch of work, he/she drilled out a hole for the little micro cache holder in the rock (yes drilled a hole in the rock!).  He/she even placed a magnet at the bottom of the hole (one end of that little red cache holder is magnetized).  The hinge was actually screwed into the rock (really, I can only imagine).  The hinge flipped back over the hole.  Can we say creative?  Ya!

Note, that when the rock was found, the hinge was not facing up, eh??  All you could see was a   r*o*c*k.

Let me tell you, it is almost as hard taking out the little roll of paper inside that cache container, signing our user name and re-rolling it, as it was finding it.  Well, not quite, but almost!

Hopefully we can hone up those hunting skills a bit before school ends, we plan to have them out here for several visits over the summer vacation.   There are LOTS of caches out here for us to hunt up, hope the grand twins are up to it, haha, hope the grandparents are up to it!




.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Treasure Chest Thursday :: Leaves of a Different Kind

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

As we continue to sort through Man's Mother's goodies, we continue to turn up some interesting tidbits, like

Lather Leaves:



There are 23 leaves in this packet, at least one was used.  I did a short Google search, sure did not find much. The image results I found during my search showed different covers, obviously aimed at different markets (one was for fishermen).  I checked Google Books, and could only look at a snippet view.  I looked at that snippet and it seemed to indicate a possible patent number, so next I went on a patent search with that number and with a word search of "lather leaves" and even added in the year (1943).  So far, I am still searching.

If you know anything more about Lather Leaves, I would love hearing from you.



.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Jacksonville Florida Zoo and Gardens, Jacksonville, Florida

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence


On a particularly warm sunny day we decided  to visit the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens.  I was a bit concerned about the temps, but, the foliage kept us comfy and we enjoyed the visit.  I have been posting some photos of the creatures and critters over at Reflection's Flora and Fauna, so, guess where you need to visit?? Yep, Flora and Fauna.  Don't forget to check the Blog Archive list.

This guy will meet you before you even pay your entry fee - -


As a bit of a teaser for the photos already on Flora and Fauna and the ones to come as I have time, what would a zoo in the deep south be without an American Alligator?





.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Reflecting On 1955

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence









* Photos from the 1955 Cardinal Echo, Melvindale High School, Melvindale, Wayne County, Michigan.
.

Friday, May 11, 2012

Census, 1940 and a 1910!

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

I spent a few minutes the last few days looking at the census indexing at FamilySearch.org.  It was announced just this week that 6 states have been fully indexed and are searchable.  One such state was VIRGINIA!  Oh, ya, I can work in Virginia for a VERY long time.  But, since I am short on time, story of my life it seems, I went for the two most important ancestors on my "hit" list at this moment.  My dad and his parents AND my great grandparents.

So, how did I do??  Well, mixed, but, of course.

Let's start with the great-grandparents. The ones with the farm and the cemetery I visited last month. The ones where I have found them on the 1900, 1920 and 1930 census, but had never found them on the 1910, despite line by line searches and mega index searches (including the WPA project index).  Yes, disappointing, but hey, not everyone is enumerated each and every census year.  I had accepted that they just were missed.  Sighing, but accepting.

I had done a line by line of the 1940 of several ED's where I thought they should be.  Nope, as reported I did not find them.  So, now that Virginia is indexed at FamilySearch.org, I go searching the indexes.  So far, I have not found them in the index, but, guess what I did find??  No kidding - - the 1910!  Well color me tickled.


The search for them on the 1940 will continue.

Now, my dad and his parents.  First try early on the morning of the release, I did not find them.  But, later in the day I did!  They were living I believe in an area around Norfolk Virginia known as Fentress.  I am still working on that.

My grandfather was 44 years old and had finished 1 year of high school.  His occupation data was spot on, he was working at the lumber mill.  My grandmother was 36 years, and here was a bit of a surprise for me, she had only finished 7 years of schooling.  She worked most of her life, in women's clothing, retail.  She was working as a buyer in 1940, spot on again.  Later in life she owned several of her own businesses, very successfully, until the last was taken out by fire during a hurricane.  But, I never dreamed she only had a 7th grade education.  Well, spunk and determination will take you far, eh, gramma?? My dad was 13 years old, had finished 6 years of education and was enumerated as working as a carpenter in a building construction business.  MMMM, not sure bout that folks, as the fellow that was enumerated next on that page was 59 years old, had a wife and two youngsters to provide for, and no employment was shown.  I think this is a case of the enumerator entering data on the wrong line.  Of course, there is no one to ask.

So, 1 found, 1 still MIA.  Not bad for the few minutes I do have for researching lately.  One step at a time, one census find at a time.  I am smiling!


Now, back to that indexing project.  Six states are now fully indexed and searchable at FamilySearch.org, they are:  Delaware, Colorado, Kansas, Oregon, Virginia, and New Hampshire.  Sit down to read this number:  in just over one month, about 30 % of the census, some 45 million records have been indexed by 100,000 volunteers!  WOWSERS!  There are whispered rumors that if these wonderful indexers keep up at this rate that the entire 1940 could be done by mid summer??  There is a really nice graph of the progress.  Really have a lookie see, save the URL and visit again in a week or so, see how fast those numbers are going up!  Amazing effort, and to me, it just shows the dedication and enthusiasm we genie types have for our sport!  Of course, we all know how enthusiastic we are, but this just proves it to anyone who doubted it!

Thanks to all the indexers and arbitrators.  Job well done!  WOOT!



* The disclaimer, I am am Ambassador for the1940census project,  writing this blog may or may not enter me into a contest.  Just so ya know.
.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Fernandino Beach, Florida

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

A day trip to Fernandino Beach, because, well, because it was there.   A pretty downtown area:


It was spring break time, people were visiting, parking Jolly was going to be difficult at best (there are times when we have parking issues with this big green giant of a truck), so we opted to just drive around, and snap a few photos.


OK, I would have loved to stop and get a better photo of this and investigate any story, isn't it marvelous?  Tile work supreme.


I love staircases, fences, plants, curves, balconies, this has it all, I just sigh at the beauty:


So, off we go to "discover" the beach.  And, we found a parking spot!  And, a dog friendly beach, see how the fur kids did over at Reflection's Flora and Fauna.  That Gallagher, he loves the ladies, err, people.  After their walk, we sat on a bench for a while, just enjoying the moments, Gallagher and Cappy did too!


Cappy, almost seems like he is saying, "nothing like a little surf and sea spray in your face, ahhhhhh".


We knew there was a lighthouse nearby, so, next we went in search of that. Found!  Amelia Island Lighthouse.  Unfortunately, the gates were all locked, but, I still got a pretty good photo (where there is a will there is a way, shoot right over or through the fencing).


An enjoyable day out, especially that dog friendly beach part!  Good memories were made.




.