Wisteria

I’ve done presentations to various organizations over the years on the topic of identifying old photographs. I’ve been fortunate to have a nice collection of family photographs in various mediums used throughout the history of photography, so I’ve been able to share some good examples of most types of photos from different time periods. The one exception is the daguerreotype for which I have no personal examples of. I wonder if they were as popular down south as in the northern section of the country or was there another reason my ancestors didn’t seem to have ever sat for a daguerreotype? David Rudd Cycleback has a great website on how to date and identify old photographs at http://www.cycleback.com/photoguide/ . I’ve used that website several times for help in dating an old photograph and was directed back there again recently when I googled “kodak velox” for help in determining a date of an old snapshot I have of my grandfather’s cousin.    During my presentations, I oft...

I’ve known for a long time that I’m a morning person. I tend to be too cheerful for some as I flit around in the morning, but once I’m fully awake, I’m ready to face the day. My best ideas come in the morning, too. I know that’s a great time to tackle a creative project such as a twenty-page essay or report. The muse struck again this morning, though admittedly a little earlier than usual. As I write this, it’s 4:45 am and I was originally awake to wait for a teenager to finally make it home. To pass the time (and keep from worrying too much), I jumped on the internet.   I went to my newly-created blog to add some things. This blog is not that old. I created it at the beginning of September, but it’s something I’ve wanted to do for quite a while. I confessed to Donna Pointkouski how I’d been lurking   around her What's Past is Prologue blog for awhile and that she was my inspiration for starting mine in the first place. I knew about the Carnival of Genealogy from Donna’s blog...

I was always somewhat curious about the past even when I was younger. (I think it had to do with reading the Little House on the Prairie books and watching The Waltons on television.) When my grandmother died in 1989, several things happened as a result of that event that eventually launched me into what has been so far a never-ending journey into exploring my family history. We drove in from out of town for the funeral as did several other family members. We stayed at my grandparents’ house and I listened in on many of the conversations that occurred among family and friends that were gathered. Family history was mentioned and the next thing I knew, a photocopy of an old letter was pulled out of a dresser drawer. The original letter was written in 1969 by Zetta Daniels to Russell Vaughan and apparently copies had been made and passed around to various family members. Zetta chronicled the families of three Chaffin sisters of Halifax County, Virginia. Two sisters married Moorefield b...

It’s a real boon for genealogists researching their Netherlands roots to have so much great information listed on websites such as www.genlias.nl and www.treasor.nl . These sites have digitized thousands of vital statistics on the people of the Netherlands. Several naming customs have been helpful to know about in my experience researching my Netherlands roots as well. Netherlanders did not have surnames until 1811. They instead used a patronymic naming system, using their father’s given name as a second name. A variation of this is found in Scandinavian countries such as Peder Anderson and Brigit Pedersdatter which in essence says ‘this is Peter, Ander’s son and Brigit, Peder’s daughter.’ In the Netherlands, particularly in the provinces of Friesland and Groningen, they only used the father’s given name, with the addition of an ‘s’ on the end, and usually did not indicate the sex of the child by using the son or daughter suffix. For example, on the baptism register listing my an...

Lately I’ve had more time for genealogy-related activities (and my other hobbies which include miniatures and scrapbooking). That’s one of the reasons I decided to start this genealogy blog. Time flies when you’re having fun, or even just living life. I’ve been marveling at the fact that after twenty-two years, I still have a “thing” for genealogy. I’ve been doing it for so long that some of my research notes deserve a place in the family archives. Recently, I went back through my research notebook on the Smith family of Ontario, Canada and found my notes from when I took my then four-month-old daughter across the Canadian border. With me was her father and his grandmother, Mabel. Mabel was showing us local cemeteries in the area where her family members were buried. Mabel passed away about ten years after that, my daughter is now eighteen and her father and I have been separated and divorced for about eight years. We just never know what the future holds, I guess. I’m so glad I took ...

"Each moment is pregnant with new possibilities waiting to be born, alive with new beginnings, God’s secrets not yet heard, God’s dreams not yet fulfilled." I'm so excited! I did it! I finally stepped into the blogging world. I've had my eye on blogs and their potential for a number of years. In the last year, I kept coming back to the idea of doing a genealogy one of my own. Now that I've recently completed my graduate degree, I'm hoping to have the time to devote to this. I even made my first contact with a fellow blogger today. I stumbled across the blog godspace.wordpress.com by Christine Sine just this morning and thought her quote (above) on awakening creativity was perfect for my first post. She graciously allowed me to use it. Thanks, Christine. Having been working on my family history and others since 1989, I have lots of plans for this blog. From my father's southern roots to my mother's Dutch heritage, there's a plethora of possi...