To say I've been away for a while is rather an understatement. But sometimes life gets in the way. I've been doing genealogy - working here on the stuff on our families, but just not blogging about it.
Sometimes you just wonder if anyone out there is reading? Sometimes you wonder if there is anyone out there even paying attention? Is anyone really related? Am I doing something that really matters?
The interesting thing is - yes, I found out people are reading, people are related and they are leaving comments, even though I wasn't blogging. So I'm back. For how long? Can't say.
The past year has been a good year for genealogy. I hired a pro-genie to work on my Kreitzer line in Germany and he was very successful with his search. Perhaps I'll share that soon. My personal work on my data base is on going. Moving notes, changing things and researching.
The grandsons are all growing and wanting to spend time at grandma & grandpa's, not going to refuse them. The flower gardens here are so beautiful but they too want our time, and of course we have Mr. Brown Eyes, who does enjoy seeing me step out of this office now & then. Finally throw in my sewing and the start of my Etsy Shop - KarmelleHome. Lots of stuff handmade here in my home, on my sewing machine. Sewing has been another of my loves since I started at the age of 7 or so. My friend Michelle is also a partner in the Etsy Shop. Stop on in and take a visit. Maybe you'll find something you can't live without.
If you enjoy the blog, or have in the past, thanks for reading. If you find me because of something you see here, drop a note - I'd love to hear from you. Cousins are always a pleasure to hear from.
Happy Researching!
Karen
Showing posts with label Monday Musings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Monday Musings. Show all posts
03 July 2017
09 November 2015
Monday Musings
Being in the midst of this massive re-org project with all my digital files really is leading to some interesting finds. This weekend I found a paper that I had no idea existed. Pretty cool stuff, take a look...
I, Hester H. Hull, being duly sworn state that I am the widow of William D. Coleman who was a soldier in Co. F, 17th Regiment Ky. Vol. Calvary, and that after the death of the said William D. Coleman I married Marion F. Dunkerson in 1869, that I was divorced from the said Marion F. Dunkerson in 1899 according to certified copy of Court record hereto attached. In 1900 I married Alansun Hull who died in July 1909. Neither Marion F. Dunkerson nor Alanson Hull rendered any military or naval service.
I further state that I do not now own any real estate or personal property and have not disposed of any since January 26th, 1910. I do not have any income from any source and no means of support.
I further state that the said Alansun Hull, at the time of his death, did not leave me any property or real estate, did not carry any life insurance at the time of his death, and did not leave any will. I am now a widow and do not receive any pension from the United States.
/s/ Hester H. Hull
State of Missouri
County of Dunklin
Above statement subscribed and sworn to before me this 30th day of March, 1910.
My term expires Jan. 21st, 1912.
/s/ Cyrus Bray, Notary Republic
The woman who signed this is in fact Hester Teague, daughter of John P. Teague and Lucretia Dunkerson. She is a Metcalf descendant and a second cousin to Mr. Brown Eyes. I knew about her marriage to William D. Coleman, but only "suspected" the other marriages. What a great find! I guess that Review Review Review thing works even when its your digital images!
Happy Researching!
Karen
I, Hester H. Hull, being duly sworn state that I am the widow of William D. Coleman who was a soldier in Co. F, 17th Regiment Ky. Vol. Calvary, and that after the death of the said William D. Coleman I married Marion F. Dunkerson in 1869, that I was divorced from the said Marion F. Dunkerson in 1899 according to certified copy of Court record hereto attached. In 1900 I married Alansun Hull who died in July 1909. Neither Marion F. Dunkerson nor Alanson Hull rendered any military or naval service.
I further state that I do not now own any real estate or personal property and have not disposed of any since January 26th, 1910. I do not have any income from any source and no means of support.
I further state that the said Alansun Hull, at the time of his death, did not leave me any property or real estate, did not carry any life insurance at the time of his death, and did not leave any will. I am now a widow and do not receive any pension from the United States.
/s/ Hester H. Hull
State of Missouri
County of Dunklin
Above statement subscribed and sworn to before me this 30th day of March, 1910.
My term expires Jan. 21st, 1912.
/s/ Cyrus Bray, Notary Republic
The woman who signed this is in fact Hester Teague, daughter of John P. Teague and Lucretia Dunkerson. She is a Metcalf descendant and a second cousin to Mr. Brown Eyes. I knew about her marriage to William D. Coleman, but only "suspected" the other marriages. What a great find! I guess that Review Review Review thing works even when its your digital images!
Happy Researching!
Karen
18 May 2015
Monday Musings
Yes, I am back. It felt good to take some time off. While I was off alot has happened. First of all we added a new grandson to the pack - Joshua Luotonen was born January 29th. He's adorable and joins brothers, Jacob (18 months) and Jonathon (7 years). A full house for sure!
I just returned on Sunday morning from my first EVER genealogy conference. Man what an experience that was! The NGS conference in St. Charles, Missouri was a totally awesome experience. Listening to such awesome speakers as Elizabeth Shown Mills, Warren Bitner, Thomas Jones, and Judy Russell (the Legal Genealogist) and so many more was like a webinar on some serious steroids.
It felt good to hear them talk about their methodology, their knowledge - It inspired me to come home and just dive in with both feet, like I could solve all my brick walls NOW. And maybe I will solve some of them with the knowledge I gained there. The only way to explain it is like drinking at a fountain of knowledge and it just keeps flowing and flowing. At times I felt as though my brain was going to just fall out of my head... So much knowledge, so many awesome speakers & sessions and only 4 days to digest it all. OH MY!
If you've never done an NGS conference you should seriously consider it. One stop shopping in the exhibitor hall led to so many fabulous books and finds, discounts on software and so much more... Good thing I took an empty briefcase because I sure needed it when I went to return home.
I'm really geeked about everything I learned at NGS. I spent much of time in German research sessions and Civil war sessions, but couldn't resist mixing in a few sessions from Elizabeth Shown Mills. Her sessions were just fascinating.
We will be booking our hotel on Wednesday for NGS 2016, May 4-7 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Why don't you plan on joining us???
Happy Researching!
Karen
I just returned on Sunday morning from my first EVER genealogy conference. Man what an experience that was! The NGS conference in St. Charles, Missouri was a totally awesome experience. Listening to such awesome speakers as Elizabeth Shown Mills, Warren Bitner, Thomas Jones, and Judy Russell (the Legal Genealogist) and so many more was like a webinar on some serious steroids.
It felt good to hear them talk about their methodology, their knowledge - It inspired me to come home and just dive in with both feet, like I could solve all my brick walls NOW. And maybe I will solve some of them with the knowledge I gained there. The only way to explain it is like drinking at a fountain of knowledge and it just keeps flowing and flowing. At times I felt as though my brain was going to just fall out of my head... So much knowledge, so many awesome speakers & sessions and only 4 days to digest it all. OH MY!
If you've never done an NGS conference you should seriously consider it. One stop shopping in the exhibitor hall led to so many fabulous books and finds, discounts on software and so much more... Good thing I took an empty briefcase because I sure needed it when I went to return home.
I'm really geeked about everything I learned at NGS. I spent much of time in German research sessions and Civil war sessions, but couldn't resist mixing in a few sessions from Elizabeth Shown Mills. Her sessions were just fascinating.
We will be booking our hotel on Wednesday for NGS 2016, May 4-7 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Why don't you plan on joining us???
Happy Researching!
Karen
16 March 2015
Monday Musings
Happy Monday to everyone! Hope your weekend was great. The snow is melting here and temps are on the rise. Maybe winter is on the way out! One can hope eh?
Spent much of this past week working on linking and naming images. Seems as though that is a never ending process. I use it not just for genealogy but for recipes as well. Once I type them in to my recipe data base I link the scanned images to the recipes. Works great!
On the genealogy front, I'm cleaning up my digital files and image folders. Somehow, there's always a duplicate or two. So I'm getting rid of some, recropping some and some just linking.
Going to work on some genealogy this morning. Have more digital images that I want to take care of. Its nice not having tons of papers laying all over, but the number of images can at times be overwhelming. In the long run it will all be worth it when I am done.
The next major project is going thru every photo and making sure they are linked as they should be. I don't anticipate this taking more than 2 years or so, working an hour or two every day. But it will be worth it. Going to start with all the cemetery & headstone images first.
Oh well, keeps me out of trouble for the most part, and I know when I'm done it will be an awesome thing. I'm doing a wee bit of research here and there, mainly figuring out the "unknown's" in my file. I keep a file of the unknown's with the surnames I am working on. Basically in the area's where I know our lines are, I come across a headstone or a death certificate or obit and I try to figure them out and add them to my regular file. Love the challenge of figuring those out.
Maybe the luck of the Irish will be with me today while I work on some of those... one can only hope eh?
Happy Researching!
Karen
Spent much of this past week working on linking and naming images. Seems as though that is a never ending process. I use it not just for genealogy but for recipes as well. Once I type them in to my recipe data base I link the scanned images to the recipes. Works great!
On the genealogy front, I'm cleaning up my digital files and image folders. Somehow, there's always a duplicate or two. So I'm getting rid of some, recropping some and some just linking.
Going to work on some genealogy this morning. Have more digital images that I want to take care of. Its nice not having tons of papers laying all over, but the number of images can at times be overwhelming. In the long run it will all be worth it when I am done.
The next major project is going thru every photo and making sure they are linked as they should be. I don't anticipate this taking more than 2 years or so, working an hour or two every day. But it will be worth it. Going to start with all the cemetery & headstone images first.
Oh well, keeps me out of trouble for the most part, and I know when I'm done it will be an awesome thing. I'm doing a wee bit of research here and there, mainly figuring out the "unknown's" in my file. I keep a file of the unknown's with the surnames I am working on. Basically in the area's where I know our lines are, I come across a headstone or a death certificate or obit and I try to figure them out and add them to my regular file. Love the challenge of figuring those out.
Maybe the luck of the Irish will be with me today while I work on some of those... one can only hope eh?
Happy Researching!
Karen
09 March 2015
Monday Musings
Spent the weekend on identifying some Ligon's I found on the Georgia death records over at Family Search. I can't say it was easy - but I do love a good challenge.
Out of the eight I started with I have only one I still can't identify and add to my Ligon data base. Not bad for a weekend's work!
I've been working on re-organizing, cleaning, and rethinking how I do some things. I'm also STILL working on all the images I had scanned over the past year. I'm about half way thru, cropping, naming and linking them in my data base as I go.
This doesn't include the several hundred scanned recipes that I am also typing into my cookbook software, where I have well over 100,000 recipes already typed in. I've been collecting recipes for well over 30 years. The newest have images attached as I've found them. Makes for a nice searchable file.
I inherited a new desk (few months ago) from my daughter. It was originally my late father in law's desk so its been around a while. But its HUGE. Lots of room, several drawers and did I say tons of desk top space. So I have room for my dual monitors and more! LOVE IT! One of the best things is the large "file" drawer on the right bottom. I've turned that into my space for the copies or papers & folders I am currently working on. As I am going thru folders in my file cabinet and I find things I want to focus on or look at again, I place them there and I can stay focused without having tons of stuff laying all over my desk. Important!
It's tax time so of course its been busy with tax clients coming & going alot! We've also got a new grandson (#5), Joshua Mark Luotonen who was born January 29th. What a cutie!
Time to get busy - the daily chores are done, time to get focused and get some stuff done.
What challenges are you working on in your genealogy??
Happy Researching!
Karen
Out of the eight I started with I have only one I still can't identify and add to my Ligon data base. Not bad for a weekend's work!
I've been working on re-organizing, cleaning, and rethinking how I do some things. I'm also STILL working on all the images I had scanned over the past year. I'm about half way thru, cropping, naming and linking them in my data base as I go.
This doesn't include the several hundred scanned recipes that I am also typing into my cookbook software, where I have well over 100,000 recipes already typed in. I've been collecting recipes for well over 30 years. The newest have images attached as I've found them. Makes for a nice searchable file.
I inherited a new desk (few months ago) from my daughter. It was originally my late father in law's desk so its been around a while. But its HUGE. Lots of room, several drawers and did I say tons of desk top space. So I have room for my dual monitors and more! LOVE IT! One of the best things is the large "file" drawer on the right bottom. I've turned that into my space for the copies or papers & folders I am currently working on. As I am going thru folders in my file cabinet and I find things I want to focus on or look at again, I place them there and I can stay focused without having tons of stuff laying all over my desk. Important!
It's tax time so of course its been busy with tax clients coming & going alot! We've also got a new grandson (#5), Joshua Mark Luotonen who was born January 29th. What a cutie!
Time to get busy - the daily chores are done, time to get focused and get some stuff done.
What challenges are you working on in your genealogy??
Happy Researching!
Karen
20 October 2014
Monday Musings
Here we are yet another Monday! It was a busy weekend here. We drove about two hours or so north of here and went to the Bala (Canada) Cranberry festival. It was all about the tasty cranberry! And they did indeed have it all. One of the highlights of the Cranberry Festival was seeing the Canadian Golden Helmets perform. The Golden Helmets is a precision motorcycle group made up of officers from different towns here in the province of Ontario. You can read more on them and see a pic here. Be sure to click on the photo, they are a fine looking group. They did a great job and we totally enjoyed watching them. We brought some cranberries, so I'll be putting those to good use.
Mr. Brown Eyes did a bunch of census work on Sunday. He enjoys doing that and I'm not going to argue with him. I love the thrill of the hunt, chasing our ancestors down but truthfully typing in the census stuff just bores me tears. Somehow after talking to others who do genealogy I'm not alone. I love finding them, learning what they offer up in the census but somehow I just can't get into that typing stuff on it the way MBE can. Thankfully he enjoys it and doesn't mind.
Today, after the small amount of housework is done I'm hoping to get some more images cropped, named & linked. I've figured out how to do editing in iPhoto. I must say I love it! It's simple and does the job without tons of techincal difficulty.
Speaking this Friday night at the Brighton District Library (Michigan). So we are going back to the states for a few days. Will be good to hopefully see the grandkids, family & friends. How much can we squeeze into a weekend? Dunno but going to find out eh?
Happy Researching!
Karen
Mr. Brown Eyes did a bunch of census work on Sunday. He enjoys doing that and I'm not going to argue with him. I love the thrill of the hunt, chasing our ancestors down but truthfully typing in the census stuff just bores me tears. Somehow after talking to others who do genealogy I'm not alone. I love finding them, learning what they offer up in the census but somehow I just can't get into that typing stuff on it the way MBE can. Thankfully he enjoys it and doesn't mind.
Today, after the small amount of housework is done I'm hoping to get some more images cropped, named & linked. I've figured out how to do editing in iPhoto. I must say I love it! It's simple and does the job without tons of techincal difficulty.
Speaking this Friday night at the Brighton District Library (Michigan). So we are going back to the states for a few days. Will be good to hopefully see the grandkids, family & friends. How much can we squeeze into a weekend? Dunno but going to find out eh?
Happy Researching!
Karen
13 October 2014
Monday Musings
I've been going over some of my lists - stuff that I need to focus on. I discussed my list making last week in my "Overwhelmed"series. So much I want to do and so little time to get it done. Seems like when you get one done you come up with another project another list that you just need to work on.
I was in Ft Wayne at the Allen County Public Library researching for a few days this past week. Can't say I broke down any major brick walls but I did find some things.
Today is Thanksgiving Day here in Canada. We are here while Mr. Brown Eyes is on a job assignment for Ford. In a very nice apartment here with very good wi-fi so the research and blogging can continue. Sure beats a hotel! Many of the comforts of home here, just on a smaller scale. Either way I'm just thankful that I have the opportunity to travel and be with him where ever it may be.
I'm planning on writing a few blog posts today, at least one focusing on how to make the lists with my genealogy software.
Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian readers!
Karen
I was in Ft Wayne at the Allen County Public Library researching for a few days this past week. Can't say I broke down any major brick walls but I did find some things.
Today is Thanksgiving Day here in Canada. We are here while Mr. Brown Eyes is on a job assignment for Ford. In a very nice apartment here with very good wi-fi so the research and blogging can continue. Sure beats a hotel! Many of the comforts of home here, just on a smaller scale. Either way I'm just thankful that I have the opportunity to travel and be with him where ever it may be.
I'm planning on writing a few blog posts today, at least one focusing on how to make the lists with my genealogy software.
Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian readers!
Karen
06 October 2014
Monday Musings
WOWSERS! Last week just flew by! I've got two more days on my series on how to not feel overwhelmed - both in genealogy and in your daily life. We still have "Make Lists" & "Say NO" to cover.
Last week was a good one, I got tons of stuff typed and edited and ready to be added to my data base. I'm working on a number of projects, which is really nothing new. Its just good to finally see it linked and added to the data base.
The youngest grandson decided to just stand up in the middle of his parents kitchen floor this past Saturday and start walking! I had just crossed over the border back into the states when the video popped up on my phone. So excited to watch that! Soon he'll be up and running with the other grandsons! They grow up so fast!
On the way home from our temp location in Burlington, Canada we stopped in a small place to eat. Nothing big, nothing fancy, but the place just stayed busy all the time we were there. Looking around I stumbled on a chalkboard drawing with some holly on it. In the middle of all the holly and stuff were the following words - 12 FRIDAYS TILL CHRISTMAS!
Happy Researching!
Karen
Last week was a good one, I got tons of stuff typed and edited and ready to be added to my data base. I'm working on a number of projects, which is really nothing new. Its just good to finally see it linked and added to the data base.
The youngest grandson decided to just stand up in the middle of his parents kitchen floor this past Saturday and start walking! I had just crossed over the border back into the states when the video popped up on my phone. So excited to watch that! Soon he'll be up and running with the other grandsons! They grow up so fast!
On the way home from our temp location in Burlington, Canada we stopped in a small place to eat. Nothing big, nothing fancy, but the place just stayed busy all the time we were there. Looking around I stumbled on a chalkboard drawing with some holly on it. In the middle of all the holly and stuff were the following words - 12 FRIDAYS TILL CHRISTMAS!
WHAT!?!?!?!?
Needless to say I was about blown off my chair. It can't be. Not that soon! Alas I'm afraid tis true.
Oh well, where has the year gone! I'm back to my typing blogs! Don't forget to watch for the last two blogs in the Overwhelmed series!Happy Researching!
Karen
22 September 2014
Monday Musings - As The World Turns
The leaves on the trees are starting to show their beautiful colors. Nothing more beautiful here in SE lower Michigan than fall. Beautiful colors everywhere you look. What does that mean for me? More time in my office and less time out in my flower gardens.
We returned from vacation and our daughter was in an auto accident. Pretty bad when you consider she was doing 15 when hit 1 the other driver running an out of order traffic light doing 50. But she is doing very well, baby Jacob bit his tongue but it hasn't stopped him smiling, and that unborn baby she is carrying, its fine too! We are blessed!
We have discovered that we are to have another grandson! Yep, that baby that was so well protected by his awesome mom by staying away from that exploding airbag is a bouncing beautiful baby boy! I am excited. We are blessed!
Hard to believe that Jacob will be a year old in the next week. He's into everything, he's so busy ALL. THE. TIME. He wears me out. I guess that's why 50 something women don't birth babies (usually?). He's just beautiful like all my grandsons are.
Genealogy? Family History? Those are all family history. Our family history and such an important part of our lives.
On the genealogy front, I've been cropping and naming images, I have about 1200. Its coming along quite nicely! Also working my friend Jim in Ft Wayne in publishing some cemetery records and the one family line that we share. Add to that the three new talks I'm working on and you've got alot of typing going on. I'm inspired by the blogs I read, so many productive women do so many great things. Such an opportunity to learn. I am in awe!
Enjoy your day!
We returned from vacation and our daughter was in an auto accident. Pretty bad when you consider she was doing 15 when hit 1 the other driver running an out of order traffic light doing 50. But she is doing very well, baby Jacob bit his tongue but it hasn't stopped him smiling, and that unborn baby she is carrying, its fine too! We are blessed!
We have discovered that we are to have another grandson! Yep, that baby that was so well protected by his awesome mom by staying away from that exploding airbag is a bouncing beautiful baby boy! I am excited. We are blessed!
Hard to believe that Jacob will be a year old in the next week. He's into everything, he's so busy ALL. THE. TIME. He wears me out. I guess that's why 50 something women don't birth babies (usually?). He's just beautiful like all my grandsons are.
Genealogy? Family History? Those are all family history. Our family history and such an important part of our lives.
On the genealogy front, I've been cropping and naming images, I have about 1200. Its coming along quite nicely! Also working my friend Jim in Ft Wayne in publishing some cemetery records and the one family line that we share. Add to that the three new talks I'm working on and you've got alot of typing going on. I'm inspired by the blogs I read, so many productive women do so many great things. Such an opportunity to learn. I am in awe!
Enjoy your day!
07 July 2014
Monday Musings
This weekend Mr. Brown Eyes and I returned from a week of researching and hanging out with friends in Ohio. We had a great time researching, chatting and porch sitting with some great friends from the Darke County area of Ohio.
As usual when you spend a week researching you return with lots of great information. We enjoyed some research time at the Montgomery County Records Center & Archives, Garst Research library and the Brethren Heritage Center.
One of the fabulous things that happened was that the Brethren Heritage Center had just gotten a donation of funeral home records and we were given the opportunity to go thru those. What a gold mine of information that was! We had great weather for our entire time away. As usual its great to go away but always so wonderful to return to our home here at Karma Gardens. (Yep, we named our property! Been pondering that for a while now.)
On the home front, we are to be grandparents again in January! Our daughter and her husband recently announced they are expecting baby #3. This will be grand baby #5 for us. Needless to say we are so excited.
The construction is now complete on the kitchen redo that we were working on. Its so nice having all that dust gone and the new kitchen up and functioning. We are so blessed to have been able to get that major project done.
The Michigan State Archives is sponsoring a two day genealogy seminar on July 18th & 19th (wow! Only two weeks away!). You can read more about it here. I do know that the lock-in is already full, but I'm sure there are plenty of good seats open for the rest of the seminar. I will be speaking there on Saturday the 19th.
I'll be spending lots of time typing over the next few weeks. How are you spending your summer?
Happy Researching!
Karen
As usual when you spend a week researching you return with lots of great information. We enjoyed some research time at the Montgomery County Records Center & Archives, Garst Research library and the Brethren Heritage Center.
One of the fabulous things that happened was that the Brethren Heritage Center had just gotten a donation of funeral home records and we were given the opportunity to go thru those. What a gold mine of information that was! We had great weather for our entire time away. As usual its great to go away but always so wonderful to return to our home here at Karma Gardens. (Yep, we named our property! Been pondering that for a while now.)
On the home front, we are to be grandparents again in January! Our daughter and her husband recently announced they are expecting baby #3. This will be grand baby #5 for us. Needless to say we are so excited.
The construction is now complete on the kitchen redo that we were working on. Its so nice having all that dust gone and the new kitchen up and functioning. We are so blessed to have been able to get that major project done.
The Michigan State Archives is sponsoring a two day genealogy seminar on July 18th & 19th (wow! Only two weeks away!). You can read more about it here. I do know that the lock-in is already full, but I'm sure there are plenty of good seats open for the rest of the seminar. I will be speaking there on Saturday the 19th.
I'll be spending lots of time typing over the next few weeks. How are you spending your summer?
Happy Researching!
Karen
05 May 2014
Monday Musings - Are There No Limitations Anywhere?
So here we are! Day three researching in Ft Wayne. I've already found quite a bit of stuff. Good stuff.
But I've got to ask - Are there no limitations anywhere? I remember growing up and when we were in school and went to the library, we were always told that people were reading or studying and that we were to be quiet. Fast forward XX years. Doesn't seem that way anymore.
It would seem that anything goes anymore. I will admit that I do my best "studying" when its at least semi-quiet. Granted you can't always get that. I do understand its not always possible. But in a library? Really?
It seems that some of the "offenders" are people who work here. One reason I sit where I sit is because I want to avoid alot of chatter. I want to be able to focus on what I am reading. On Saturday a lady managed to make her way into the area where I have set up camp. She was older and a little slow moving. She was SO LOUD, she sent her "son/nephew/grandson" to get a desk worker to help her. HUH? She walked right past the desk to get here... anyway the desk worker was even more loud. It was impossible to even hear yourself think. When I went to the desk to inquire about the racket, I was told "this isn't a hush hush library"... So let me get this straight, Its okay to be loud and noisy, doesn't matter at all? Seriously? I had headphones on and I could hear those two.
Now today, chatty Cathy and her co-worker who are typing in city directories have been chatting quite vocally now for over 45 minutes. Desk works go by and no one seems to care. Its almost like the library has taken on a coffee shop type atmosphere. I must say I'm disappointed. Cell phones going off, people holding conversations, desk workers who talk so loud you can hear them in adjoining rooms? REALLY? Maybe that's why alot of people stay home and research on line... they don't want to deal with these sort of things. I dunno... what do you think??
FYI - the desk worker did come and apologize for being overly loud. Apology accepted.
Happy (and noise diminished) Researching!
But I've got to ask - Are there no limitations anywhere? I remember growing up and when we were in school and went to the library, we were always told that people were reading or studying and that we were to be quiet. Fast forward XX years. Doesn't seem that way anymore.
It would seem that anything goes anymore. I will admit that I do my best "studying" when its at least semi-quiet. Granted you can't always get that. I do understand its not always possible. But in a library? Really?
It seems that some of the "offenders" are people who work here. One reason I sit where I sit is because I want to avoid alot of chatter. I want to be able to focus on what I am reading. On Saturday a lady managed to make her way into the area where I have set up camp. She was older and a little slow moving. She was SO LOUD, she sent her "son/nephew/grandson" to get a desk worker to help her. HUH? She walked right past the desk to get here... anyway the desk worker was even more loud. It was impossible to even hear yourself think. When I went to the desk to inquire about the racket, I was told "this isn't a hush hush library"... So let me get this straight, Its okay to be loud and noisy, doesn't matter at all? Seriously? I had headphones on and I could hear those two.
Now today, chatty Cathy and her co-worker who are typing in city directories have been chatting quite vocally now for over 45 minutes. Desk works go by and no one seems to care. Its almost like the library has taken on a coffee shop type atmosphere. I must say I'm disappointed. Cell phones going off, people holding conversations, desk workers who talk so loud you can hear them in adjoining rooms? REALLY? Maybe that's why alot of people stay home and research on line... they don't want to deal with these sort of things. I dunno... what do you think??
FYI - the desk worker did come and apologize for being overly loud. Apology accepted.
Happy (and noise diminished) Researching!
13 January 2014
Monday Musings
Been a crazy weekend here, the son has been home from Texas for a few days, so I got almost nothing done at home genealogy or house wise. He left and went back today. With an early morning meeting at Ford this morning I totally forgot to get a blog up.
Hoping that this week gets more productive - still have all my "thumb" drives to get through, but to me family comes first - don't get to see my "little" boy every day. So hoping that the rest of the week gets more productive than this weekend.
Now, home and chillin' out, maybe I'll work on a few posts before I have to start dinner!
Hoping that this week gets more productive - still have all my "thumb" drives to get through, but to me family comes first - don't get to see my "little" boy every day. So hoping that the rest of the week gets more productive than this weekend.
Now, home and chillin' out, maybe I'll work on a few posts before I have to start dinner!
16 December 2013
Monday Musings
The past few weeks have just flown by. I haven't done much genealogy, mostly I've been focused on removing all the papers from my office/desk area. Going paperless is quite a chore. I've made great headway and I'm happy to report that I've removed all the papers that are genealogy related. I've got a few that aren't but those too will disappear in time.
I've scanned all those copies to my flash/thumb drives and I've began the task of transcribing, editing and linking them all to the persons/families in my data base. Boy what a chore that is going to be! But I know when its done I'll be thrilled.
I've written here before about my move from PC to Mac. I still had my PC, mainly as a crutch and partly because I still had a file or two I wanted to get off. It had been giving me "error" messages about a hard drive failure, which of course I didn't pay a lot of attention to. Well it did crash. To the point, AFTER it crashed I figured out that I had two files on there that I had not yet moved. Luckily my techy son took care of that this weekend while he was here.
NOW, I have both of those files and I'm a happy camper. I've been tracing the family of auto pioneer Henry Ford for many years, and that data base was one that was on the crashed PC, happily it now resides on my Mac! Whew!
The shopping is done, the holiday parties are winding down (one more to go!) and now I can focus a bit on just chilling and getting some genealogy stuff done.
How about you?
I've scanned all those copies to my flash/thumb drives and I've began the task of transcribing, editing and linking them all to the persons/families in my data base. Boy what a chore that is going to be! But I know when its done I'll be thrilled.
I've written here before about my move from PC to Mac. I still had my PC, mainly as a crutch and partly because I still had a file or two I wanted to get off. It had been giving me "error" messages about a hard drive failure, which of course I didn't pay a lot of attention to. Well it did crash. To the point, AFTER it crashed I figured out that I had two files on there that I had not yet moved. Luckily my techy son took care of that this weekend while he was here.
NOW, I have both of those files and I'm a happy camper. I've been tracing the family of auto pioneer Henry Ford for many years, and that data base was one that was on the crashed PC, happily it now resides on my Mac! Whew!
The shopping is done, the holiday parties are winding down (one more to go!) and now I can focus a bit on just chilling and getting some genealogy stuff done.
How about you?
04 November 2013
Monday Musings
Between speaking, my mom's emergency run to the hospital and the birth of the grandson, it seems like the past few weeks just flew by.
Pretty much resolved myself to staying in Parallels for my genealogy software, not crazy about it, but like that option more than I like the other options.
Working on my OTT File today. I descend from Johann Micheal Ott who was born ca1725 in Freckenfeld, Germany. When we were in Germany last year I had the opportunity to visit the village and church where the family worshiped. What a feeling that was.
Not really looking to add to my OTT file right now, just going thru and making changes, cleaning up names, surnames, dates and such. Sort of something you need to do now and then.
How are you spending your Monday?
Pretty much resolved myself to staying in Parallels for my genealogy software, not crazy about it, but like that option more than I like the other options.
Working on my OTT File today. I descend from Johann Micheal Ott who was born ca1725 in Freckenfeld, Germany. When we were in Germany last year I had the opportunity to visit the village and church where the family worshiped. What a feeling that was.
Not really looking to add to my OTT file right now, just going thru and making changes, cleaning up names, surnames, dates and such. Sort of something you need to do now and then.
How are you spending your Monday?
07 October 2013
Monday Musings
It's been a crazy few weeks here hence the lack of blogs. Thanks for your patience. I've redone my email accounts, opened some new, got rid of some old, but the contact information here stayed the same. Thankfully I've got a very techy son who saves my backside when I get in over my head on computer stuff.
We've added another branch to our family tree. Jacob Michael Luotonen weighed in at 8 pounds 2 ounces when he joined us on Saturday morning, September 28th, 2013. He's adorable, looks just like his awesome mom! Needless to say grandma can't stop smiling at the thought. Holding him brings back so many memories of the three older grandsons when they were that size and of course our two kids when they were just infants. Congrats to our daughter, Amanda and her husband, David on a job well done!
The scanning and re-organization project is ongoing. I think I finally have every loose paper from my summer research trips scanned to my flash/thumb drives. Now the fun begins as I start to transcribe and clean up those images to link in my data base.
Speaking of databases, I've joined the Heredis for Mac beta test that is going on. So far things look great, but my "test" file still has some issues I'm not thrilled with. Heredis is a European Genealogy software that has recently come on to the US genealogy software scene. It has great potential and I'm enjoying the experience thus far.
Mom has arrived from Florida for a few months. Its always great having her here to enjoy the holidays with us. The grandsons think she's awesome and since she's the shortest one in the family at only 5'1 the oldest grandson thinks she's great - he's finally taller than one of the adults!
It's Monday, time to get busy! How about you? What have you been working on?
Happy Researching!
Karen
We've added another branch to our family tree. Jacob Michael Luotonen weighed in at 8 pounds 2 ounces when he joined us on Saturday morning, September 28th, 2013. He's adorable, looks just like his awesome mom! Needless to say grandma can't stop smiling at the thought. Holding him brings back so many memories of the three older grandsons when they were that size and of course our two kids when they were just infants. Congrats to our daughter, Amanda and her husband, David on a job well done!
The scanning and re-organization project is ongoing. I think I finally have every loose paper from my summer research trips scanned to my flash/thumb drives. Now the fun begins as I start to transcribe and clean up those images to link in my data base.
Speaking of databases, I've joined the Heredis for Mac beta test that is going on. So far things look great, but my "test" file still has some issues I'm not thrilled with. Heredis is a European Genealogy software that has recently come on to the US genealogy software scene. It has great potential and I'm enjoying the experience thus far.
Mom has arrived from Florida for a few months. Its always great having her here to enjoy the holidays with us. The grandsons think she's awesome and since she's the shortest one in the family at only 5'1 the oldest grandson thinks she's great - he's finally taller than one of the adults!
It's Monday, time to get busy! How about you? What have you been working on?
Happy Researching!
Karen
02 September 2013
Monday Musings
Can't believe its the "official" end of summer today? Where did time go? Oh well with the onset of cooler temps and more fall/winter type weather more the research day trips seem to fall by the way. I personally get far more data entry done when its snowing outside than when its beautiful & sunny.
This week's goal is get the marriage records that I pulled two weeks ago from Medina County, Ohio all transcribed and in the computer, then make sure all my images from those same records are cropped and linked.
What's on your schedule for this week?
This week's goal is get the marriage records that I pulled two weeks ago from Medina County, Ohio all transcribed and in the computer, then make sure all my images from those same records are cropped and linked.
What's on your schedule for this week?
29 July 2013
Monday Musings...
Wow, Monday again so soon? This was a busy weekend here. Our son was in from Texas and we got to spend some time with him. We all got together for dinner at his house on Sunday night. We had a great time. There were times when the son & daughter were younger, I never thought I'd see the day when they could get along. Happily it appears that time indeed does make things better. To see the two of them together now you'd never know they almost killed each other a couple of times when they were younger.
We spent the day in Ft Wayne on Saturday researching at the Allen County Public library. What an awesome place. I can't get enough of it. I've decided I'm probably going to drop in at the library on the last day of next month's big conference there. Mr. Brown Eyes wants to play bridge that day so It would be a good time for me to go. Are you going? Would be great to meet some of the people I see on line all the time. Should be interesting!
The switch to Reunion is not going well. In fact I was so discouraged that I've gone back to Legacy in Parallels. I know alot of people love Reunion but to be honest it just didn't work out for me. First of all, with almost 70,000 people transferring in, the amount of work required to fix my file was just astronomical. When you consider that EVERY obituary, land deed, tax record, will, occupation and death certificate came in as a strange fact and was misplaced... that in itself was just over whelming. Not that everyone in my file had ALL those things, but still even if 500 people had all those things, the corrections required number into the thousands. Don't forget to toss in all the images that were linked and are now unlinked and need relinking. Its just not feasible.
I did keep excellent records so everything that I had added to Reunion has now been added to my Legacy file. Maybe some day I'll pick it back up - maybe I'll find another software that will not cause me to make THOUSANDS of corrections to make the file useable. Until then, its going to be back to Legacy.
Have you ever made a change in your software and decided it just wasn't worth it?
We spent the day in Ft Wayne on Saturday researching at the Allen County Public library. What an awesome place. I can't get enough of it. I've decided I'm probably going to drop in at the library on the last day of next month's big conference there. Mr. Brown Eyes wants to play bridge that day so It would be a good time for me to go. Are you going? Would be great to meet some of the people I see on line all the time. Should be interesting!
The switch to Reunion is not going well. In fact I was so discouraged that I've gone back to Legacy in Parallels. I know alot of people love Reunion but to be honest it just didn't work out for me. First of all, with almost 70,000 people transferring in, the amount of work required to fix my file was just astronomical. When you consider that EVERY obituary, land deed, tax record, will, occupation and death certificate came in as a strange fact and was misplaced... that in itself was just over whelming. Not that everyone in my file had ALL those things, but still even if 500 people had all those things, the corrections required number into the thousands. Don't forget to toss in all the images that were linked and are now unlinked and need relinking. Its just not feasible.
I did keep excellent records so everything that I had added to Reunion has now been added to my Legacy file. Maybe some day I'll pick it back up - maybe I'll find another software that will not cause me to make THOUSANDS of corrections to make the file useable. Until then, its going to be back to Legacy.
Have you ever made a change in your software and decided it just wasn't worth it?
15 July 2013
Monday Musings
Happy Monday! It was a great weekend! We spent this past Friday & Saturday at the Michigan State Archives enjoying their summer two day conference.
As always there were many great speakers to enjoy, covering a wide range of topics.
I spent some time on Friday at the Michigan State Library gathering some newspaper items off microfilm from their great newspaper collection.
The lock-in on Friday was a first for the Archives, but we had a full house and the staff was awesome! We did manage to get a prison record for one person in our data base who we knew did some time in the "big house"! Great seeing the alias' that he used as well as confirming what family lore had said.
Ended the two day trip late Saturday afternoon with dinner out with some good friends. All in all a very productive two days!
How was your weekend?
As always there were many great speakers to enjoy, covering a wide range of topics.
I spent some time on Friday at the Michigan State Library gathering some newspaper items off microfilm from their great newspaper collection.
The lock-in on Friday was a first for the Archives, but we had a full house and the staff was awesome! We did manage to get a prison record for one person in our data base who we knew did some time in the "big house"! Great seeing the alias' that he used as well as confirming what family lore had said.
Ended the two day trip late Saturday afternoon with dinner out with some good friends. All in all a very productive two days!
How was your weekend?
03 June 2013
Monday Musings....
Happy Monday! This past weekend we took a road trip over to Medina County, Ohio for some research. They remodeled their library a few years ago and it was SOOOOOO worth it!
I was working on a list of people that I had not been able to locate an obituary on. Sometimes if you can't find an actual obituary you can find more information in the social pages or elsewhere in the paper. I had about 20 pages of people (4 listings per page) that I was searching for.
Wish I could say I found all that I went in search for, BUT I did locate about 23 or 24 that had write ups in the social pages about funeral's or something. It wasn't a waste, we had a great lunch at a little place near the library, sat outside, enjoyed the sunshine and just chilled together.
Our next big research road trip will be the first week of July when we are headed to Montgomery County Ohio & the surrounding counties for a week of research & fun hanging out with some of our Ohio research friends!
The electricians are here preparing the brackets & wiring for the solar going on our roof. Trying to type up the things I found on Saturday but the footsteps, the drills and the hammers is quite distracting. We'll see how I do!
Happy Researching!
I was working on a list of people that I had not been able to locate an obituary on. Sometimes if you can't find an actual obituary you can find more information in the social pages or elsewhere in the paper. I had about 20 pages of people (4 listings per page) that I was searching for.
Wish I could say I found all that I went in search for, BUT I did locate about 23 or 24 that had write ups in the social pages about funeral's or something. It wasn't a waste, we had a great lunch at a little place near the library, sat outside, enjoyed the sunshine and just chilled together.
Our next big research road trip will be the first week of July when we are headed to Montgomery County Ohio & the surrounding counties for a week of research & fun hanging out with some of our Ohio research friends!
The electricians are here preparing the brackets & wiring for the solar going on our roof. Trying to type up the things I found on Saturday but the footsteps, the drills and the hammers is quite distracting. We'll see how I do!
Happy Researching!
06 May 2013
Monday Musings...
Well, after 9 days on the road, I'm back home. We got back and promptly stepped back into the routine we call life.
Gotten used to my new Mac, it helped taking it on the road. I had a chance to use it when we were in Salt Lake City researching. More on the research there along with the findings just as soon as I get a chance to get those pages scanned. It was awesome to say the least.
After many gedcoms and much pondering, thinking and rethinking I've decided that I'm going to do what I need to do to make REUNION genealogy software work for me.
I've loaded my latest gedcom and I've started to correct the sources. I also figured out that anything that I had in my notes and made bold now has a series of characters both in front and behind. Luckily I didn't do that very often. I'm spoiled by Legacy allowing me to search for females either by their birth surname or their married surname. I haven't quite figured out how to make that happen (if at all) in Reunion.
So yes, I do have some work to do, but I really think it will be fine in the long run. If I decide to give up I've always got Legacy sitting over in Parallels. Lets hope not!
On the brightest side, we find out today (if baby cooperates) what the gender of the new grandbaby is... Did I mention I bought a pink t-shirt on our trip just for the new granddaughter errrr grandbaby?
Happy Researching!
Gotten used to my new Mac, it helped taking it on the road. I had a chance to use it when we were in Salt Lake City researching. More on the research there along with the findings just as soon as I get a chance to get those pages scanned. It was awesome to say the least.
After many gedcoms and much pondering, thinking and rethinking I've decided that I'm going to do what I need to do to make REUNION genealogy software work for me.
I've loaded my latest gedcom and I've started to correct the sources. I also figured out that anything that I had in my notes and made bold now has a series of characters both in front and behind. Luckily I didn't do that very often. I'm spoiled by Legacy allowing me to search for females either by their birth surname or their married surname. I haven't quite figured out how to make that happen (if at all) in Reunion.
So yes, I do have some work to do, but I really think it will be fine in the long run. If I decide to give up I've always got Legacy sitting over in Parallels. Lets hope not!
On the brightest side, we find out today (if baby cooperates) what the gender of the new grandbaby is... Did I mention I bought a pink t-shirt on our trip just for the new granddaughter errrr grandbaby?
Happy Researching!
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