Researching There When You Are Here...

Today as we drove south from Michigan I began to think about all the places along the way that I had researched. I was really quite surprised with the list and how much of my time has been spent researching there...

We left Michigan at about 9:30 this morning. Although I say we have no ancestors in the state we actually have some family members of ancestors who spent time over near Grand Rapids and up in the Traverse City area. Researching in Michigan on those parties was not real difficult as I used the resources at the library of Michigan, primarily birth/death & marriage records and the old newspapers in the newspaper collection. Those vital records are now on line at Family Search

After leaving Michigan we crossed into Ohio. I have more fun researching in Ohio. With friendly county clerks and an abundant supply of online records how can we loose? That same record site I mentioned for Michigan has Ohio death certificates thru 1953 that can be saved to your hard drive or printed and viewed. What an awesome resource. With studmuffins relatives being in Cuyahoga, Lorain & Medina counties and mine being in Montgomery, Preble, Darke & Miami Counties we've always had tons of Ohio research to do. Most of those counties being within driving range, its easy for us to make a weekend run and photograph headstones or spend a day at the library.

Took us a bit to get thru Ohio but after a while we finally got into Kentucky. I have no ancestors in the state of Kentucky but Studmuffin does. Primarily in Hopkins & Christian Counties - with a spattering of Daviess County as well. Ancestry has quite a bit of Kentucky resources and the state of Kentucky has done its own Vital Records project as well. So Kentucky death records are availble on line without you spending a dime!

Tennessee was up next - and again I have no ties to Tennessee but stufmuffin does. Claiborne and McMinn Counties are the primary area's of focus but a few other counties also have area's of interest as well. Tennessee has some records on line, some of the genweb pages are loaded, Ancestry also has some Tennessee stuff. Not alot outside those that I have found so far.

Georgia - the birth place of my father and his ancstors. The research here can be frustrating but rewarding. Finding info on the internet can really be a challenge. George death certificates are on line but only thru 1927, how I wish that number would change. The University of Georgia campus in Athens has an awesome newspaper collection and my semi yearly trips there for newspaper stuff has been a tremendous help. Cemetery photography here can be difficult with its own challenges. Probate courts also offer big challenges.

Florida - very minimal research here but what I have needed I have been able to find, some on line, some with the very helpful staff at the Manatee County public library. Florida has all its Civil war Confederate pensions on line - a great move for them and for those lucky enough to need them!

This is just the tip of the iceberg on our research journey's. I won't go into the coastal states and our research there in this blog, that's material for yet another day.

All in all I have to say, despite the obstacles that researching "there when you are here" (Michigan) seems to toss at us, we still seem to be able to find the things we want and need, it just takes a wee bit of extra work and sometimes thinking out of the box, but it is doable!
Happy researching!

Karen

On the road again...

[Image - sailing ship like the one the pilgrams traveled in docked at Plymouth Rock, May 2008]

This trip is a short one actually. I mean short compared to our last on the road again post.

Saturday (tomorrow), I am doing a three hour seminar in Crystal, Michigan from 2-5. First session is going to be on "Researching There When You Are Here" and then followed by "So Your Female Ancestor Has No Surname?"

I am writing this on Friday note because with the early hours Studmuffin has had at work, I am not sure really what our time frame will be like trying to get out the door on Saturday morning!

Monday, June 29th we really do hit the road again, this time driving south to Sarasota, Florida. We'll be doing a quick visit with family, some headstone photography and then picking up Studmuffin's oldest brother and bringing him back home with us. Seems he enjoys drywall work? We'll find out eh? We'll be returning the end of the week after a quick stop near St. Augustine for a quick visit with Studmuffin's youngest sister Jennifer and her family on Thursday evening.

July 9th, 10th and 11th we'll be on the road again, this time driving the 2010 Ford Fiesta as a promo we won from Ford Motor Company. I'll be blogging about our trip driving the Fiesta and introducing it to the people we meet along the way. Stay tuned for that one as we head west across Michigan and down into Indiana & Ohio to research while showing off the newest SMALL card on the Ford menu. You won't want to miss the pictures & blog on those travels!

August 13, 14 & 15th finds us in Traverse City for a speaking engagement and celebrating Studmuffin's birthday. Looking forward to this trip been a while since we've visited Traverse City!

If you find yourself in the vicinity of any of my talks, stop by and introduce yourself, I'd love to meet you!

But for now, its time to call it a night - busy time coming!

... just can't wait to get on the road again...

Happy researching!
Karen
[If you are a librarian or a genealogical or historical society and find you have room on your schedule contact me at karen[at]miprofgenie[dot]com I'd love to come and speak to your group! I have a variety of talks available. If I don't have one that works for you I can write one!]

Morris of Kanawha

The family of William Morris & Elizabeth Stepp

William Morris Sr. was the first person to die and leave a will to be probated in Kanawha County, (West) Virginia. Prior to settling in the Kanawha Valley region, the Morris family lived on Muddy Creek, near Alderson, Greenbriar County. History states that 52 year old William arrived with his wife, Elizabeth, ten children, four daughters-in-law, and two grandchildren; a party of 18 including 7 able bodied men.

No one is quite sure how he himself came to be in this country and there are several different versions of the story. All come to the same conclusion, which was that he came here, without knowledge of his parents, and after some help, decided to stay. Not a lot is known about his wife Elizabeth, and I have found no pictures of either of them, or the children they had.

William served in the service of his country, including but not limited to the Battle of Point Pleasant (Indian Wars). West Virginia - A History, written by Otis K.Rice, mentions William Morris in several places. On page 30, we read: "Shortly afterward, William Morris acquired the tomahawk rights (based on notching of trees along the boundary) of Kelly's widow, who, with the remainder of the family had returned to the Greenbrier settlements prior to the attack. With his large and prolific family, Morris established the first permanent settlements in the Kanawha valley." Rice agains mentions Mr. Morris on pages 49-50, "....Such seasoned frontier leaders as George Clendenin and William Morris, members of the house of delegates from Kanawha County, informed Governor Henry Lee that the defeat of the Indians had been so complete that one Militia Company could defend the Kanawha and Greenbrier settlements."


He was the first permanent white settler in the Kanawha valley region. He and his family arrived in Kanawha in the spring of 1774. William Morris purchased the rights to the Walter Kellyproperty from the widow at Lewisburg and moved his family of 10 children to the valley. Kelly was killed by Shawnee indians. In the fall of 1774, Morris built a stockade and cabins within it. As the children of Walter Kelly became of age, William Morris provided each with a horse, saddle and bridle, although said heirs had no title to the land and no claim against Morris, but Kelly had cleared a small patch and tried to raise a crop and made some improvements thereon, and he paid this compensation.

The Morris family increased its holdings in the valley from Kanawha Falls to Campbells Creek. Simon Kenton and Daniel Boone were frequent visitors at the fort. The Morris settlement at the mouth of Kellys Creek was the end of the "Old State Road" from eastern Virginia.

William Morris built the White House Inn a quarter mile east of Fort Morris in 1792 and it became famous as a stage coach stop. [Blogger attempted to locate this Inn, but after locating & talking to several innkeepers online none of the houses appear to be the one mentioned as being built by William Morris] After the death of William, the inn was operated by Col. Henry Tompkins. His journal of distinguished visitors include Henry Clay, Rufus King, Thomas Benton, Andrew Jackson, J. C. Breckinridge and many others.

Issue of William Morris (1722-1792) & Elizabeth Stepp(1729-1795):

• Wm Morris Jr. aja Major Billy 1746-1802; marr Catherine Carroll 1751-1823
• Henry Morris 1747-1824 marr Mary Byrd 1747-1820
• Leonard Morris 1748-aft 1831 marr 1.)Margaret Price m2.)Margaret Likens 1771-1841
• John Morris 1751-1818 marr Margaret Droddy 1759-1818
• Joshua Morris 1752-aft 1824 marr Frances Simms 1757-1795
• Achilles Morris 1760-1821 marr Elizabeth Jarrett
• Frances Morris aka Franky 1760-1844 marr John Jones 1755-1838
• Levi Morris 1763-1834 marr Margaret Starke m2.) Margaret Jarrett
• Benjamin Morris 1770-1829 marr Nancy Jarrett 1769-1832
• Elizabeth Morris aka Betty 1772-1829 marr Michael See m2.) Thomas Cobb

I do have full dates and issue for the issue of William & Elizabeth, but space will not allow me to expound on that here. So if you are interested please email me karen[at]miprofgenie[dot]com and I'll be happy to swap info with you. Studmuffin is the 6th great grandson of Benjamin Morris and Nancy Jarrett.

[Images at top - left Kelly Historical Marker, right - William Morris memorial plaque Virginias Chapel, Kanawha, West Virginia - both in possession of blog owner. Please give acknowledgement if you choose to use.]

Happy researching!

Karen

Smoke & Mirrors

Sometimes what we see may or may not be what we thought it was.

Late yesterday we were traveling across town, eastbound on 14 mile road - as we approached Greenfield Road we saw a Jag pull up along our right side and pass us. This put them in the intersection of 14 & Greenfield about two car lengths ahead of us. As they passed into the intersection a much older car with three teenage girls in it proceeded to turn left - without the fast thinking response of the Jag driver the car of teenage girls would have T-boned the Jag, there were two passengers on that side. I shudder at the outcome.

After seeing this I saw the three girls raising their arms as in a cheer. Were they cheering the fact that they made the Jag take the evasive action or was this a cheer of joy at missing the accident & everyone being okay? Not being privy to the conversations in the cars one can only speculate. In talking with Studmuffin he voiced a different opinion than I as to the meaning of the "cheers".

This happens in genealogy as well. Well sort of. We see things and we interpret them as we see them rather then taking the time to research it and get the true facts. Take the census for example.

The 1870 census is a very good example of the point made. With the end of the civil war many children were left without fathers and sometimes even mothers, the children had to be somewhere right? With the end of the civil war the 1870 census is a prime time for researchers to be wary of census showing very large family units, many times with very large numbers of children. Some things to watch for, multiple children of the same age in the household, babies of very young age with big gaps between other children, mothers having children at very young ages and more.

Such is the case with many families, where sons went off to die in the civil war and wives left behind were either killed or died of starvation or disease often times leaving behind several children. If family were in the area and could take the children they were often farmed out, divided between those who could feed an extra mouth. So those children often ended up being enumerated in households with no explanation as to their origin. Only research would tell that those children were part of an extended family.

Even the 1860 census can show us this. Take for example the 1860 census for Littleberry Nix and his wife, which shows the following:

Littleberry NIX (60 M), Farmer, Real Estate Valued at $250;
Polly (55 F);
Patsey (40 F);
Axsey (30 F);
Larkin (21 M), Laborer, Idiotic;
William (15 M), Idiotic;
Malinda (35 F), Idiotic;
Julia (27 F), Idiotic;
Mary (23 F);
Green (12 M);
Mayers (10 M);
Safronia (9 F); and
John (2 M).

Without relationships being posted we really do not know who all the children in this census belong to. Its possible that some belonged to Littleberry's siblings or other family members, there are many options - but the fact remains that without research figuring out who all these chilren really belong to is an on going research project by the compiler of this data base & blog.

This census is not the only example of things like this. We find it in many census records where relationships were not given. The problem is that many "researchers" take what they see and assume things to be exactly as you see them. Problem is many times, this just is not the way it is. As a good researcher we need to use other records to prove or disprove the things that we find on the census and not just assume that what we see there is fact.


Making assumptions based on what we see, and not on facts is a dangerous practice that I see way too often in today's world of genealogists. We need to take the time to prove the things we find, not just believe everything that we stumble across.



[On a genealogical note is is believed that Littleberry Nix is one of the sons of John G Nix & his wife, Sarah. Littleberry was married to Mary. As of this writing the compiler has found 21 different children - given to this couple by various sources. It is my theory, still in proving stages, that all of the children are NOT theirs. If you connect to this line and have documentation or would like to discuss please email me karen[at]miprofgenie[dot]com and we can discuss the Nix lineage.]

Happy Birthday Mom!

I have to say that my mother in law, "boots" was one of the most impressive women I have ever met.


She's the red head to your left, the goofy looking couple next to her is my husband Mark & myself. The photo was taken Sept. 9, 1977 at our wedding reception.


When she & I first met it was not instant attraction. She had called me months earlier when I refused to see her son. Seems he was driving her crazy. Anyway to make a long story short, despite our differences we became friends.

A wee bit eccentric maybe, but she had a passion for her horses, all animals and her family.

She was born Dorothy J. Ligon in Detroit in 1936, oldest child of Robert G. Ligon & Dorothy Shanklin Ligon, and died Aug 10, 1979 in Sarasota, Florida. She is part of the Ligon family that traces its roots back to the great beginnings of this country in early Virginia. Her other family lines, Shanklin, Winstead, Eudaley, Morris, Northingington, Metcalf, Hurst & more, offer me probably more research opportunity than most people could ever want. The walls of the Virginia Historical Society have portraits of her ancestors that any genealogist would drool to have.

I miss her and even though she is not my "mom" she did influence the way I look at some things. Fiercely honest with her opinions, standing for things she believed in - those are things I will remember about her forever. I wish she could see her three great grandsons, what a great time she would have had teaching them to love animals as she did. I'll not ramble on, below are some photo's of her I thought I'd share!

The multi-photo collage is from her modeling portfolio - she did some modeling in the metro Detroit area - especially at the Auto Show.

Miss you mom! Happy Birthday from Mark, Karen, Eric, Nick, Carter, Mandi, Jonathon, Rob, Justin, Nate & Ashley. (I know we've really expanded since you left us!)








Dorothy Joyce Ligon Krugman Pallister 1936-1979

DAD

I'd like to introduce you to my dad! His name is Clarence C. Ansley. Been a long time since I've seen my dad, although he & I do have conversations quite a bit. No, I don't talk with him on the phone.

I came home from school one day in December of 1967 to hear that he had died earlier that day in a construction accident. I missed him then & I still miss him now. I think of him often, and I have photo's of him out in my home so that my grandsons can learn about the man I call dad!

So instead of writing tons of stuff about my dad, I think I'll just share some pictures of him and say, "Happy Father's Day, Dad!"

Brick Wall Thursday... McCune Family

John McCune – At times I think John was somehow linked to the McCune family who lived & are buried in Darke County, Ohio – but with a name like John/Jonathon it’s a tough one. His death certificate & marriage record were no help. His children were put in the Montgomery County, Ohio children’s home (I have copies of the papers) after his wife, Rebecca Tanreuther McCune dies May 30, 1894. I have no clue where Rebecca is buried, her death record says she was taken away by friends. Why weren’t John & her family the ones who took her away? Where was she taken?

Is the John McCann/McCune in the infirmary cemetery really MY John McCune? Most of all, who are John’s parents? Here’s my text file on John, Rebecca & their children. Tracking down the children (or at least the ones I could find) has been a challenge.

Its not like this is ancient stuff, John’s daughter, Edna is my great grandmother. She was indentured out and I have a quilt she made celebrating the birth of her oldest son, My grandfather. What tore this family apart? SO MANY SECRETS! At this point, just finding John’s parents & siblings would be awesome for me!


Descendants of Jonathon G. McCune


First Generation

1. Jonathon G. McCune was born in Mar 1853 in Ohio, died on 20 Dec 1925 in
Jefferson Township, Montgomery County, Ohio at age 72, and was buried on
22 Dec 1925 in Montgomery County Infirmary Cemetery, Jefferson Township,
Montgomery County, Ohio.

Birth Notes:
John's death certificate shows a birth date of 20 DEC 1855 in Ohio.

Burial Notes:
McCune, John, aged 70, died Dec.20,1925, of "Arterio Sclorosis", b. in OH, had
been admitted on 04-25-1925, was a widower,
County Infirmary Cemetery, Section 3, Row 4, Grave #1925-20
McCann, John, d. 20 Dec 1925, age 79

The only thing on the headstone is 1925 - 20. The other information was
obtained from the Infirmary death ledgers at the Archives.


Found a burial for a John McEwoen, on pg. 22 of Darke Co Cemetery Records.
Basic info shows John 1855-1920. He is listed with several others with the
same last name. No Rebecca.

* He appeared on the census on 1 Jun 1880 in Farmersville, Jackson
Township, Montgomery County, Ohio.
1880 Census shows John MCCUNE (W M 26 Married Ohio Ohio Ohio),
Blacksmith,
Rebecca (W F 21 Married Ohio Bavaria Maryland), Housekeeping, and
James, Son (W M 6/12 Ohio Ohio Ohio).
They lived on Walnut Street.

* He appeared on the census on 1 Jun 1900 in Dayton, Dayton Township,
Montgomery County, Ohio.
1900 Census shows John MCCUNE, Patient (W M MAR 1853 46 Married Ohio
Ohio Ohio), in the Apple Street Deaconess Hospital. (note: Rebecca his wife had died in 1894, so is this my John remarried or is this another John?)

* He appeared on the census on 1 Jun 1910 in Jackson Township, Montgomery
County, Ohio.
1910 Census shows Jonathon MCCUNE, Boarder (M W 56 Widowed Ohio
Massachusets Ohio), Farm Laborer, Working Out.
He is enumerated with Hiram KREITZER, Head (M W 55 M1 36 Ohio Ohio
Ohio), Farmer, General Farm,

* Death Certifict: #71705, 22 Dec 1925, Jefferson Township, Montgomery
County, Ohio.
John's death certificate does not tell us alot about his life. It
shows nothing about his parents or their birthplaces, those lines are
marked "unknown".

Jonathon married Rebecca Tanreuther, daughter of Frederich Tanreuther and
Margaret Montabaugh, on 5 Mar 1879 in Montgomery County, Ohio. Rebecca
was born on 31 Oct 1858 in Farmersville, Jackson Township, Montgomery
County, Ohio and died on 30 May 1894 in Montgomery County, Ohio at age 35. Her final resting place has yet to be discovered. It is believed she was buried on someone's farm, so she may never be found.

Marriage Notes:
Marriage record found in Book N, page 378, Montgomery County, Ohio.

* She appeared on the census on 1 Jun 1880 in Farmersville, Jackson
Township, Montgomery County, Ohio. 1880 Census shows Rebecca McCune,
Wife (W F 21 Married Ohio Bavaria Maryland), Housekeeping.

CHILDREN OF JOHN & REBECCA MCCUNE

+ 2 M i. James McCune was born on 11 Nov 1879 in Farmersville, Jackson
Township, Montgomery County, Ohio.

James married Minnie L. Smith (d. 3 Dec 1964) on 23 Sep 1905 in Hancock
County, Indiana.

+ 3 F ii. Gertrude McCune was born in Feb 1880 in Ohio, died on 12 Jun
1961 in Darke County, Ohio at age 81, and was buried in
Ansonia Cemetery, Darke County, Ohio*.

Gertrude married Charles R. Ireland (d. 8 Nov 1907).

Gertrude next married George W. Miller (d. 11 May 1947) about 1912 in
Ohio.

+ 4 M iii. Otto J. McCune was born on 18 Jun 1884 in Dayton, Dayton
Township, Montgomery County, Ohio.

+ 5 F iv. Edna Martha McCune was born on 8 Apr 1888 in Greenville,
Greenville Township, Darke County, Ohio, died on 16 Dec 1970
in Grand View Hospital, Miamisburg, Miami Township,
Montgomery County, Ohio at age 82, and was buried on 18 Dec
1970 in Springboro Cemetery, Clearcreek Township, Warren
County, Ohio*.

Edna married Elwood William Phillips (d. 15 Feb 1963) on 23 Dec 1908 in
Miamisburg, Miami Township, Montgomery County, Ohio. Elwood & Edna are my great grandparents!

+ 6 M v. Jonathon F. McCune was born on 16 Oct 1889.

If this surname is in your file and you find connections to this family I would LOVE to hear from you! Thanks for looking in...

Note:Images posted here today are of the Montgomery County, Ohio infirmary Cemetery. The headstone image is that of 1925-20, supposedly that of John McCune.

Tough Times & Libraries

As many of you know the state of Michigan is in serious shape right now. Lay off's and budget cuts are the norm, finances are askew all over.

For some reason the budget cuts always seem to aim straight at libraries - the arts. In Michigan once again the budget cuts are aimed straight at the libraries - especially the Library of Michigan.



It seems our <> gracious govenor herself just can't seem to find anything or anywhere else to cut so she immediately turns her attention to our library. Courthouses and city governments all over are raising the prices of vital records - all in the name of cutting deficits.

Newsflash - there are alot of other places to raise revenue than gunning for the general population that happens to enjoy libraries & the arts. How about if I make a few suggestions?

Hang in there on this one - stay with me. I despise drunks. People who can not go to a sporting event, or concert without getting knock down blasted out of their minds DRUNK. Every concert - every sporting event, I always encounter drunks. People who don't know their limits. So why not a higher tax on alcohol? Let them pay. My going to the library doesn't lead to any casualties or accidents, its nothing to anyone. Lets increase the tax on alcohol, especially alcohol served at sporting events & concerts. I'm not talking pennies, I'm talking quarters and more....

This next one won't be popular either, but sports are a major thing here. Are those sports teams giving back financially to the community? Or is all about how much money can one bank account hold? How about a percentage of every seat ticket sold goes to the state? Okay so some of our sports teams aren't doing well, but still, if you put 30,000 people in tiger stadium and 15,000 of them have a beer, and you charge an extra buck for each cup... hello!!!!

Yeah I know Michigan people are out of work, out of benefits, on unemployment, but they still find the money to go to their sporting events & concerts and get wasted, so why not let them pay a bit more so that the libraries can stop cutting services, perhaps stay open a little more? Some of the biggest names in music play here and they play to full houses, and boy do the people suck down the beer there too! So add another buck on the tab. The drunks will never notice.

Is our society really so dumb to believe that its more important to support sports events than to keep our libraries open? Why is it that the government in this state just can't to keep its hands off our libraries? Our country seriously needs to wake up and take a good hard look at how our libraries rank in importance in this country. Kids can't read, kids can't write, half of them don't even know the capital of the state they live in. But lets take more money from our libraries and our schools. Yeah that will get us ahead.

Granted the library of Michigan's main focus is Genealogy, not something that every single person is doing. BUT look at the Allen County public library in Ft Wayne. Maybe Ms. Granholm should take a drive down and see how to make the library profitable. Library of Michigan has that potential but only if we manage to somehow keep it open thru this crisis.


If you have used the Library of Michigan in the past, or hope to use it in the future I strongly urge you to join others in this fight to save our library. Write your politicians let them know how you stand - voice your support for saving the library - write Jennifer Granholm and let her know you're tired of this! Take a stand. Because if you don't - and alot of you won't - the library will be gone and then you know what they say...

You never miss a good thing until its gone!

Images from the library of Michigan, Lansing, Michigan

Scanner Meltdown

Today is the first full day since the return from our vacation that I am actually going to be home all alone. To some people this may sound boring and possibly crazy - but ME? I'm looking forward to it.

I brought home all these obits and death certificates from our vacation research trip - and now I can finally seriously sit here at my desk and make some major inroads into getting the information into my computer file.

The scanner is on & warming up, the stacks of obits etc are piled neatly awaiting their turn on the scanner. What awesome information will these papers yeild? Children's names? Residences? Perhaps a maiden name I've yet to discover?

Although the weather man is promising yet another beautiful day here in the metro Detroit area, I doubt seriously I will pay much attention or that you will find me out on the patio. I've been waiting for this day for quite some time.

Yep, home body me, loves to go, but loves to come back to my home & my life. Its time to see... is it possible to scan so much my scanner goes into a melt down? Stay tuned to tomorrow's episode to see.... Oh, if you see smoke coming from my office window, its not the house on fire its the scanner...

Happy researching!
Karen

FINALLY!

Its arrived! NO, not a new grandbaby, although with three grandsons a little granddaughter would be most welcome. No, not a new house or car, quite happy with what I have actually. But I think it has finally arrived - what is "IT" you ask... quite simply put - SUMMER!

Today has been absolutely beautiful here in the metro Detroit area. Not too hot, not too humid, just a beautiful day. I ran some errands this morning, after all groceries are a vital part of living, then came home, grabbed the new file from the desk top and my laptop and headed out to the patio.

Heading out to the patio, the comfy swivel chairs and the big shady umbrella, thinking, wow!, I can type to my hearts desire. The birds are chirping, slight breeze, umbrella keeps the sun off me. I've got my caffeine free diet coke, my stack of obits to type and I'm already to go...

After a bit I find myself dozing, the eyelids are heavy, drooping -- oh wait, I came out to type right? Its just so comfy I find myself saying, just a few minutes of the eyelids closed, just a few and then I'll do data entry... I just need a few minutes...

Growing up next door to my "Northern" grandparents, I remember my grandfather & grandmother both working diligently at SOMETHING until at least dinner time (5pm). No catnaps unless it was Sunday afternoon and then you could bet you'd find grandpa stretched out on the bed snoozin' away. Grandma would type letters or sew. Sometimes after dinner you'd find my grandfather sitting in a lawn chair out by the carport smoking.

My "southern" grandparents seemed to live a life just the opposite - just about any time we went to visit you'd find one or both of them sitting on the front porch, they would chat with each other and if someone happened to walk by, well then they would start up a chat with them as well. Both my "southern" grandparents outlived my "northern" grandparents..... not by one or two years but by 15+ years.

Yet, both grandfather's farmed, neither had what I would call an easy life - so my question is, "is it really a bad thing to take time out and just sit on the porch... aka the patio and cat nap now and then?" Such a beautiful day, yet I'm sure I could find something to wash or something to clean.... gee I only wish I could say I felt guilty - but I don't....

Maybe tomorrow will be more productive - for now - I think another catnap is in order....

Distracted... Well yeah just a bit....

I don't usually blog twice in a day but after a trip on several of the local freeways to go to lunch etc., I am convinced I need to vent on this one. And yes, I am aware that this is a GENEALOGY BLOG... but considering the stupidity of the drivers I observed today, any member of YOUR family tree could have his death date entered just by taking the chance of driving on a local freeway. Take a drive and COUNT the people who are actually paying attention to driving. Trust me, going the 12 miles from my house I found exactly FIVE drivers who were driving. Nothing else, just driving! Amazing eh? Yeah I thought so too!

Do ANY of you clueless drivers out there have ANY idea what the missle you are driving weighs?

Do you have a CLUE about how dangerous it is when you drive distracted? Next time you think you are going to drive & text, talk on the phone, dig in your consol, eat your McDonalds, drink, read or whatever, ask a friend to drive behind you with a video camera. You'll scare the crap out of yourself.

I saw all those things, PLUS an arse in a mercedes who must have drank his lunch, as he was not doing any of those things, but still could not keep it between the lines. 696 east bound to 1-75 north is bad enough without loosers like this on the road, regardless of how much his car cost.

The idea that loosers who text, chat, read, do makeup and all the rest of the idiot tasks behind the wheel is okay is NUTS!

As for local law enforcement, if talking on the cell phone & texting are banned in your communities then why IS NO ONE ENFORCING IT?

The weight of an SUV makes for a large missle aimed right at anyone on the freeway! Yeah Cuba with its Nuclear tests is scary but so is driving on the freeway with these idiots driving large missles, often with no one paying any attention as to who they are aimed at!

Its time for local law enforcement to step up and start writing tickets for these issues. After all, almost every community that 696 & I-75 run through could use the revenue. What the heck are they waiting for? Opportunity knocks, or wait - maybe its texting........????

Generational - Phillips Family

The photograph above is of the William Harrison Phillips family. Front row, William H. Phillips, his wife, Sarah Jane Early Phillips, daughters, Mariba Phillips, Elva Phillips. Back row, sons, Charles Phillips, Elwood Phillips (in the hat - my great grandfather), and Earl Phillips.

A bit about the line. This Phillips line has its known beginnings in the area of Rockingham County, Virginia. I say known beginnings because we have not yet discovered the father of James Phillips, the progenitor of this line as we know it.

James Phillips has been difficult to track to say the least, and there is much more work to be done on him. For now what we know is that he was born ca 1780 in Virginia. Not positive on the exact place. I believe he may have been married more than once, but his first wife if he had one is unknown to me. The wife our line descends from is Nancy Alford, daughter of Thomas Alford & Elizabeth Melling. Nancy was born 11 AUG 1801 and is deceased before 1870. James Phillips is deceased it seems bef 1860. No death date or headstone has been found for either James or Nancy.

James & Nancy Alford Phillips are the parents of six children that I am aware of as of this writing. The children were: Robert, Margaret, Mary, Eliza, William and Franklin. Of these six Robert is my ancestor. He & his wife are my 3rd great grandparents.

Robert Phillips (1827-1909) married Parmelia Hess (1829-1916)in April of 1851 in Rockingham County, Virginia. Parmelia is the daughter of John Hess & his wife, Mary Bloss. Robert & Parmelia lie in Springboro Cemetery, Warren County, Ohio as do many of their descendants.

Robert & Parmelia Phillips migrated in 1855 from Virginia to Ohio on the wagon train that was chronicled in a diary kept by another member of the family. We have copies of that journal in our files. The family of Robert & Parmelia included six children to wit: Margaret (1852-1935), Sarah (1854-1854), Emma (1855-1937), William H.(1858-1929), Charles E.(1862-1940), and Euphemia (1865-1879).

Of these six children, William H. is my ancestor. He is pictured in the top photo on this page with his wife, Sarah Jane Early, daughter of David Early & his wife, Elizabeth Gebhart. William & Sarah Jane married 25 MAR 1879, Montgomery County, Ohio. They too are buried in Springboro Cemetery.


William & Sarah Jane Early Phillips were the parents of ten children, of which only five are in the photo at the top of this blog. Their children were Elva, David, Mariba, Elwood, Robert, Clarence, John, Clinton, Charles & Earl. Of these ten, Elwood is my great grandfather.

Elwood Phillips married Edna McCune 23 DEC 1908 in Montgomery County, Ohio. Elwood & Edna were the parents of eight children, of which two are still living. Their children were Raymond, Mabel, Alberta, Goldie, Helen, Mary, Hazel and Elwood Jr.



Photo above shows the happy couple (Elwood & Edna)on their wedding day. The shirt Elwood wore for his wedding is still in the possession of one of his descendants. With the exception of Raymond, the remaining children of Elwood & Edna stayed in the Montgomery County, Ohio and all are deceased but two. Many of their desecendants still remain in that area.

Elwood & Edna's son, Raymond W. was my grandfather. He married Pauline Kreitzer in Union County, Indiana on 11 NOV 1933. Ray & Pauline took their five children and moved to Florida ca 1955. Those five children include Phyllis, Richard, Carolyn, Herman & Gary, all of whom are living and enjoying life in South Florida.

If you find a connection in your tree to this PHILLIPS line, I'd love to hear from you. I've got full dates and places as well as documention on this entire line and I'd love to share it with anyone who might find a connection to the line.

Happy researching!
Karen

Raising The Bar...

Yesterday I was surfing the internet, and spending a bit of time on Ancestry.com and it struck me over & over again.... just how many name collectors there are vs how many real genealogists there really are out there.

If this seems like an odd statement to you then let me clarify. I classify a name collector as one who gathers tons of names & dates, and really doesn't know the "history" at all of the family. One who gladly will dump anyone's Gedcom into their file just to see the numbers climb on the data base without regard to quality of sourcing or documentation.

To me, a real genealogist would want sources, want to know where did this come from? Just how good is this information?

We all have a couple of date entries where we have no places, I'll give you a couple - but when every entry in your file is nothing but a date with no place, how much history are you doing? I mean, this is Family HISTORY research.

In my surfing & wandering yesterday, especially on the Ancestry entries there were entire entry's with nothing but dates and names. And forget a source! To me sourcing is real info, the name of a newspaper along with dates; the name & dates of a probate record or land record; a death certificate number with real places included, now that is sourcing. Most I found had no source or ... so & so's gedcom.... as a source. What the heck good does that do for you? When they change their email address what do you have left?

Personally I would like to issue a challenge to the online genealogical community - its time to raise the bar - raise the standard for what we consider to be real family history research, real sourcing, real facts with dates & places... When did it become acceptable to accept such work as genealogy research? My history teacher had a high bar for her reports & papers, and although at the time, I absolutely despised her requirements, I'm so glad I took her challenge and stepped up to the plate, and learned how to research. I learned how to source and what I didn't learn from her I learned from EVIDENCE!.

With all the happenings in today's society where parents don't live together, babies from multiple relationships being in the same household, it seems to me that we need to make sure that the history we as genealogists record regarding our FAMILY history is even more important. So lets raise the bar, raise the standards and do REAL family history research. We'll leave the name collecting to the census takers.

[Image of Casper & Mary Heidenrich Dute family, Lorain County, Ohio, ca 1890; Anna Dute Krugman, 1865-1933, greatgrandmother to studmuffin, is pictured second from left. ]

Residence

I've spent the past few days digging around in our flower gardens. We bought this house two & half years ago. The idea of having our "dream house" - a place where we could plant flowers and landscaping, tear out walls, paint or wallpaper and then be able to live with it, enjoy them for as long as we wanted just really worked for us.

Prior to owning this house we rented for quite a while. We had sold our house in Florida, the state of my birth, in order to move here so Mark could be close to his father. Anyway, in renting I put in flower beds - and beautiful plants, just to have to hear later that the tenant after me dug them up in order to make a sandbox for her kids to play in. Luckily I did bring some of the plants with me, but when I think of trading beautiful flowers for a sandbox.. well you can imagine my thoughts.

Having a "residence" of my own, an address that is mine, ALL MINE, is really a good thing. Or at least I think so. Of course I share it with studmuffin but that's a good thing too!

For the past few years I've been using the fact type RESIDENCE in my genealogy software as well. Alot of people put the information for residence in their notes and that's fine too! I like it as a fact and here's how I see it.

When I find an obituary that gives a, "...lives in blah blah..." or when I see a census that has a street name in the margin, I record those along with the date that it stated that person was there. For the one found in the obituary it would be the date of the obituary, for the census it would be the census date.

By establishing this residence, it makes it easier for me to tie them to some place. When I am searching for death location and I see one that matches to that location, It immediately narrows down the search field for me. It helps to know that address for locating nearby cemeteries where they might have chosen to be buried. It at least gives me a starting point.

City directories can be used to follow up and confirm the residence. Several years ago I was looking for John & Anna Dute Krugman in Lorain County, Ohio. After many trips thru the census looking for them, I finally took a second look at their group sheet and there was the word "RESIDENCE"... I had an address!

By searching for them by address on the census (still a lot of work) I managed to find them. They were enumerated as Kauffman rather than Krugman but there they were - all the children and right where they had always been. Without that Residence I think I might still be searching for them!

I've found this RESIDENCE fact to be a good thing many times over. I've even added "RESIDENCE" to my living relatives. On the personal side, I've added RESIDENCE to my parents and to myself & Studmuffin. To our Residence fact I've added all the homes I've lived in with my parents & with studmuffin, and attached photo's of the homes as well. Seeing as some of those homes are no longer standing having those photo's is a very good thing!

We sure are enjoying our residence here in Michigan. Now if all that green in flower beds would just start to get some color.... top photo is a peony from our front flower bed. Its a beautiful thing...

Read All About it....

I've been here this morning working on typing in some of the obituaries I pulled on our recent research trip/vacation. As I am working on this stuff I keep thinking about the accuracy of the newspapers.



I remember one time my grandmother telling me that it was important to read, especially the newspaper, because you "can learn so much" from there. Well I do read alot - but not so much to learn, and not so much the newspaper. Maybe my genealogy exposure to the newspapers has taught me that not everything in print is truth?



Errors & confusion seem to abound, especially in newspapers. Some things I have found -

• Persons listed as living who have died previously


• children left out yet we know are living


• confusion over dates - conflicting date info


• two papers - different info on same story, both newspapers

These are just a few of the issues I have found with newspaper research. Granted some of the info that is incorrect was reported by the persons responsible for reporting it to the newspaper.

Newspapers can be a great source for genealogical information. The social columns & social pages are full of relationships & "gossip" about who was doing what when. Great color to add to your ancestors genealogy file. I know alot about the women my grandfather dated before he married my grandmother, seems he was quite the man about town. Seeing my grandfather in those social pages/columns paints my grandfather in a much different light than the grandfather I knew. Traveling, dating, parties and more. All show me the young side of a man I called grandfather.

Family gatherings, weddings, funerals and more can be found in the social pages of yesteryear. Some of these things are things that we can find no where else, so our reliance upon them for dates & details is rather strong. And as good as they may be we still should use them with a limited amount of caution knowing that this information was provided by outside parties who may or may not have links to the family.

My great grandfather's illness and slow death were chronicled in the local newspapers. Both of them followed his slow demise, posting weekly updates on how he was doing. But when it came time to post his obituary they couldn't agree on the date or place he died.

This weekend when I wasn't out in the beautiful sunshine gardening I was working in all the items - mostly obituaries that I pulled on this recent trip. Time & time again I found inconsistancies in the date & place of death. Many times I saw, "...died yesterday..." when in fact the death date occured several days before, not yesterday as stated.

So, I encourage you to use the newspaper, for its social pages, news items, and obituaries. All things where details can be gotten that maybe we can't find elsewhere. BUT I encourage you to go there with "eyes wide open", knowing that there are errors, mispellings, and bad dates. Knowing that there are issues that if you allow them to, can take you off track or lead you to believe things are true that really aren't.

Source your material, back it up with further documentation, and read it with "eyes wide open"...

The Tale of Two Betsy's

[Image is our friend and possible cousin, Michael Reck who is pondering whether or not he is related to studmuffin. Until we resolve the issue of the two Betsy's, Michael is left in a state of uncertainity.]


There's something to be said for having a name that the rest of the world doesn't share. I mean, think about it, if your name happens to be Betsy or Elizabeth, and your surname happens to be HURST, you might be surprised to know that there are so many of those that its almost impossible to differentiate between them. And no, age is not even a good stat to use. We all know that no woman EVER lies about her age right?

And so it is with the tale of the two Betsy's.

One the one hand we have John & his wife, Mary Hurst. Parents of at least 14 children, the eldest being Eliza Ann aka Betsy, born ca 1824 in Claiborne County, Tennessee.

Enter stage - George R. Fletcher, born ca 1819 in Lee County, Virginia. And he's married to... (insert drum roll here) Yep, you got it! He's married to one Betsy Hurst. Okay as if the name isn't enough to make things confusing, lets toss in she was born Apr 8, 1824, yep, right again, Claiborne County, Tennessee. Or so her census shows. George & Betsy were married 19 NOV 1840 in Claiborne County, Tennessee.

To some people that would be enough. But not yet. I recently spent some time at the Tennessee State Library & Archives, searching for ANYTHING that might say, these two women are one in the same. But it was not meant to be. Her marriage record did not name parents names. I searched for but did not find a will for either of her parents. I have her on every census that is available for her and no parents ever show up in the Fletcher household.

I wrote to the library in Wise County, Texas, where Betsy Hurst Fletcher dies, 24 AUG 1899, thinking maybe an obituary would resolve the issue. Nope, no obituary found. Get a death certificate you say... nope, Texas did not begin keeping "official" records until 1903.

So for now the tale of two Betsy's remains unresolved. For my friend Michael - this keeps him from answering one of his most pondered questions, "Am I related to Studmuffin or not?"....

So for now.. the tale of two Betsy's goes on, no answers, only questions. One of hundreds hanging around in my files ... just waiting for someone to come along with the proof that we've been waiting for.....

D-I-V-O-R-C-E....

Remember the old Tammy Wynette song, Our D-I-V-O-R-C-E .... and the song goes on to describe how their divorce becomes final blah blah blah... With our son going thru a divorce and the court mediation that took place yesterday (one step closer), it made me start wondering just how divorce has "progressed" thru the years.

In doing some preliminary research on the subject from a genealogical standpoint, we've come a long way! At one time the only cause for divorce was simply adultry. Sadly it caused many good names to be ruined under the pretense that they had committed adultry, when in fact it was the spouse that wanted out. When it was the woman who wanted out she had to also prove extreme cruelty. Before 1715 only five divorces were granted in the entire British kingdom. Today they say that one in three marriages ends in divorce.

If you were a member of the Church of England an annulment was another way out. Children from an annuled marriage were considered illegitimate and could not inherit from either parent. Boy what a mess that could make eh?

It appears to me from my research that divorce laws & practices varied from state to state depending mainly upon the religious influence found in the state. Even today, divorce rules vary from state to state.

Researching your ancestors divorce can be a profitable experience if you take the time to check all aspects and keep a few things in mind.

• Rules for each state are different


• Different states record divorces in different "court" departments, if you are not sure which one check them all


• Remember that at the time of your ancestors divorce its possible that if that state was "difficult" your ancestor may have traveled to a state known for being "easy".


• Local newspapers often publish legal notices of divorces and divorces granted.


• After the civil war, running west was often a great way to get out of bad marriage


• During many periods of our country's history, divorce had a stigma attached, so many times when a divorce took place, some divorced parties on census records used " widowed" instead of divorced.

Here in Michigan divorce records from 1867-1969 are indexed at the state library, summaries for 1897-1922 are also found there. To get the full history on the divorce you would have take the basic information in the index and go to the county involved to get the full record.

In order to research your ancestors divorce keep in mind that what you see as the cause may not have been the real reasons behind the split. Remember that many times RULES are what caused the reason to be what you see, not reality. Keep in mind desertion may be easier than divorce in some states.

Lastly, divorce is never easy, whether it be today or a hundred years ago. Drawing conclusions about our ancestors based on what we see in the divorce records of yesteryear may not paint an accurate picture of the persons we are researching. Take a few minutes and research the divorce laws in the state where you are working - it will not only make the research a bit easier but it also may help you see your ancestor in a different light.

Watching my son & his soon to be ex-wife labor thru this process has not been easy but it has been a learning experience for me. If it were up to me, it was a process I could have done without learning - but this is 2009 and we can't always have things the way we want them. Things happen, people change and life goes on. And soon, possibly late 2009 Tammy will again sing her song.... this time for a young couple who started out with big dreams 9 years ago and ended up singing Tammy's song instead.....

Headstone Wednesday...

The headstone today is that of Capt. Thomas Edgar. This photo was taken several years ago on a trip down to West Virginia. Thomas & his wife, Ann Nancy Mathews are my husbands 6th great grandparents.

A bit about Captain Thomas & his family. Thomas & Ann Nancy were married 21 MAR 1783 in Greenbriar County, (West) Virginia. Thomas was the son of George Edgar (bef 1731-1765) and his wife, Elizabeth Rutherford. Ann Nancy Mathews was the daughter of Archer Mathews (ca1742-1786)& his wife, Letitia McClanhan.

Thomas Edgar was born in Bedford County, Virginia, on the 27th day of September, 1750. Just when he came to Greenbrier County is not clear to me, but I do know he was there as early as 1780. He then filled the very important office of County surveyor. In those days a county surveyor was appointed by the president and professors of the College of William and Mary, but each one was usually recommended by the County Court of the County.

The following appears in the record book of Greenbrier County:
At Court of Quarter Session begun and held for the County of Greenbrier August 17, 1784; Thomas Edgar comes into court and resignes his office of surveyor of the county; whereupon the court recommended, according to law, Alexander Welch to the Honorable the presdient and Professors of the College of William and Mary as a proper person for such office."

The formation of Greenbrier County shows, the county was formed in 1778, and it seems that Thomas Edgar was the first Surveyor of Greenbrier County. One of his notable acts as such Surveyor occured under an Act of the Legislature of Virginia, passed in 1782, which ordered Capt. Edgar to survey a forty-acre square for a town out of the heart of Savannah, and call it "Lewisburg."

Captain Edgar did survey a forty acre square and the square was divided into half acre lots and sold. The orinal trustees of the town of Lewisburg, of which Thomas Edgar was one, were ordered to withhold the title to a lot until the purchaser had built a cabin fifteen feet square, with a stone chimney. It is said that Captain Matthew Arbuckle bought one of these lots and built his cabin as a nucleus for the town.

Thomas Edgar lived four miles from the Town of Lewisburg on the lands upon which the City of Ronceverte now stands. In the record of Greenbrier County Court as of February 17th, 1797, the following item appear thereon:
"Thomas Edgar requests the the County Surveyor to re-survey his lands whereon he now lives at St. Lawrence."

Thomas Edgar continued to be a very leading citizen, in every aspect of the word, of the county of Greenbrier until his death, which occurred on the 15th day of July, 1822.





Thomas & Ann were the parents of eight children to wit:

Elizabeth Edgar (1786-1865)marr John G. Brown (bur Ohio Co.,Ky)
Letitia Edgar (1788-1834) marr James Withrow (bur Lewisburg, Greenbriar Co. WVA)
Sarah Sally Edgar (1790-1872)marr Capt Eddin Morris (bur Christian Co., Ky)
Mary Edgar (1792-1819) marr Arthur Walkup
Lewis Edgar (1795-1796)
Thomas Edgar Jr. (1797-1842) marr Eliza Byrnside (bur Adams Co., Miss)
Archer Mathews Edgar (1799-1863) marr Nancy Howe Pearis (bur Greenbriar, WVA)
Ann Nancy Edgar (1803-1870)marr twice, Sampson Mathews, Wm McClintic (bur place unk)

If you are a descendant of this Edgar family I'd love to hear from you. I'm always willing to trade info with anyone who is willing to do same.

[Images today - top- headstone of Capt. Thomas Edgar, over half buried; Headstone of Ann Nancy Mathews Edgar, photo of person believed to be Ann Nancy Mathews Edgar]

Genealogy Software & You!

Did you ever spend money on something and then later ask yourself why you bothered? Or maybe you bought it and no matter what you did, it just didn't live up to your expectations?

I've talked with quite a few people lately who feel that way about their genealogy software. Yep, sad but true!

When I do my genealogy talks questions always arise about which software to use. I tell my students that they need to try all that interest them and then make a decision based on what works for them. Here are my thoughts on picking a piece of software to use for your genealogy information.

1.) Determine what is important to you. For me it was sourcing & notes. I felt strongly that the software I chose had to support sourcing in a way that worked for me. Allowed me to "ibid" when I needed it, as well as the ability to "memorize" my source for multiple uses. I also needed unlimited note fields with the capability to use BOLD, italics or even different fonts or characters. If the software I was looking at did not fill those two requirements they were immediately off the list.

2.) I needed a piece of software that worked well on my computer & didn't limit the data base size. If your computer is older it may not have the "size" needed to accomendate the software you are considering. It may slow down or even cause your computer to freeze up.

3.) Photo capacity - As badly as I needed unlimited amounts of notes, sources and databases, I also needed the capacity for unlimited photo's. Unlike some people I scan everything from death certificates, estate files, military pensions and more, and then link them to the individual. No transcription errors when the click of a keystroke takes me to view the actual image.

4.) User friendly was important too! There are some great programs out there, but a few them almost offer TOO many choices. So many choices its overwhelming. Others don't offer enough. Finding something that works for you is important.

The nice thing about the software today, is that with almost all the software makers being online, they offer trial downloads of their programs. You can imput your data see if you like the program, play with it for a limited amount of time, and then if you like it, pay them and receive a "key" which will unlock the full version of the sofware. With all these companies offering the free trials you can see for yourself how the software works.

Keep in mind that not all software is created equal - and sometimes the trial version is not as "full" as the paid version. Usually the things that are not in the trial version but do appear in the full version are noted in the software.

For many years, I used one piece of software, and I used it exclusively. I did try one or two others, but came to the conclusion they just didn't work for me. The things that mattered to me just weren't kicking in the sofware. So I used the one I used since I started genealogy so long ago. Recently, after much thought and discussion with the husband, I made the change to a new piece of software. It offers all the things I was looking for and more.

It wasn't easy changing software after so many years, but when the software I bought & paid for no longer worked to my needs, what choices does one have? It was a challenge to learn new software, and yes, it did slow down the resaerch process for a short time, but in my opinion it was worth it.

I'd like to encourage you to challenge your software. Make your list of priorities and then make sure that your software is working for you. If its not working for you, then I suggest you stop and take a good hard look at your software & see exactly what it is that just doesn't do the job. Go looking and figure out exactly what the other software is doing that yours won't. Download the trial and see if it works better for you.

Step outside your comfort zone - after all who wants to pay for something that doesn't work like its supposed to....

Spring Cleaning...

I remember as a kid my mom saying it was time to do the spring cleaning. I know lots of people who still do "spring cleaning". As I was doing some cleaning today - seeing as its after Memorial Day I don't think you could call mine "Spring" cleaning, but non the less I was cleaning.

Yeah I know sounds strange, but, here I am ALL alone in this house, have the windows open, its a beautiful day. Slight breeze, lots of bird chatter outside in the flower gardens... what's a girl to do but contemplate????

I've been researching for quite a while now, well over 19 or 20 years. Pretty good size data base. Every now and then I try to look at the way I've done things, whether its sourcing or the way I do my notes or citations. I try to evaluate the way I chose to do things. Maybe all my citations are scatterbrained, maybe I don't give enough info or some thing along those lines. Is it possible that I didn't pay really good attention and suddenly I find myself with abbreviations in my place list?

We could go on & on with the list of things we need to "spring clean" in our data bases I'm sure. How about our filing cabinets & file folders? Maybe we need to clean up the office - do some filing, put some papers in acid free sleeves. Perhaps our stack of "stuff to scan" needs to be taken care of. Are all our old photo's in acid free albums?

Its important to spring clean our genealogy files & data bases, sometimes I might venture to say even more so than spring cleaning our houses. If our descendants inherit a house with dirty screens its no biggie, but inheriting a genealogy file that is disorganized and unkept really encourages them to just pitch it all. By leaving behind an organized, well documented file, those who come after you & have the task of deciding to keep or pitch just may decide this is something they can deal with.

So as I've heard said once or twice in my life, Spring Cleaning... It's a good thing!