"Welcome to the Weekend Chat!" All Members Invited!! August 19th - 21st, 2022 [closed]

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CHANGE TO BEST ANSWER PROCESS:  After much discussion we have come to the conclusion that all answers in the Weekend Chat are of equal importance and weight.  So we are going to discontinue the Best Answer portion as it adds points and then takes them away from posters and is causing some hurt feelings.  So in the interest of everyone is equal and valued we will delete any best answers given which will deduct those points because it has been pointed out that to give everyone best answer is also not a viable option. 

Weekend Chat is for everyone. It's a place to catch up on what people are up to and to share what you've been doing.  New members can say hello, introduce themselves, ask questions, and meet each other.  Our seasoned members can share progress or successes from their projects, give tips and advice, or chime in on hot topics.

Post as many answers and comments as you wish. It doesn't hurt anyone to post a lot and enjoy the multitude of topics.

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Comments

Good morning, my fellow WikiChatterboxes. It’s time for another Weekend Chat! And greetings from Cathey’s Creek where the rain just keeps on coming. Never a hard rain, it’s just enough to keep things cool and bless all those weeds that I have to pull on a regular basis. My favorite chore! (NOT!) The rain also makes it rather humid around here, so that if I work outside for a couple of hours, I’m soaking wet when I’m done. I leave my sopping clothes on the back deck to dry and head for the shower.

On the Home Front: We have three scheduled appoints in the coming days. One is our gas company. They’ll do a site visit for the placement of a propane tank that will run our generator (which we have not gotten yet). Looks like we are going to need a 250-gallon tank. The area where it needs to go will probably mean it’ll be above ground.

Another appointment will be a chimney repair guy. We have a crack in the facia of our fireplace that needs repair. Plus, he’ll have to seal a crack between the bricks and the actual fireplace itself. If a spark were to fall down into the crack, there’s wood to feed it.

The final appointment is for my wife’s dentist. We usually schedule our appointments on the same day, but we got a call that they are short a couple of workers due to illness. I’m betting it’s COVID, but maybe not. Our county has seen a lessening of COVID cases, but I really wonder, since both of us got it and never reported it.

I have recovered… finally... from my recent bout with COVID but my wife is still suffering the aftereffects. She still has a cough (which often wakes her up at night) and has not regained her energy.

On the Genealogy Front: Today is my great-great-great-grandmother’s birthday. Nancy Avaline Shepherd would be 194 years old today. As was VERY typical among my Appalachian families, Nancy married her first cousin, James Shepherd. Now that I’ve noticed this (thank you Family Search for reminding me), I MUST get their biographies done.

Nancy’s ancestry includes one of my rather well-documented German families: Bender. The Bender descendants here in the US variously spelled their names Painter and Banther, so around here one has to recognize this to include them as collateral lines on WikiTree. I have to admit that I have not done very much with this family. Elizabeth Bender is my closest Bender ancestor, born about 1758. I haven’t gotten to her husband’s family yet either, and they are a mess.

All these fit nicely into the Appalachia Project, but it’s going to be a while before I get to them, maybe even a few years. Lately I have been adding descendants of one of my Owen cousins, and yes, they are also a mess. You’ve seen me mention here how the Owens and Galloways and McCalls intermarried with each other here in Transylvania. I keep stumbling across these intermarried families, and all I can see is just how much work needs to be done. It is all a little overwhelming.

There is so much still to accomplish here on WikiTree!!! I need some cousins to assist, but there are few working these lines. I do have to mention my cousin, Donnie Blackstone, for having laid some foundational work here, and that helps immensely.

Climate around the world is driving so many difficulties for many of us. I hope all of you are finding ways to flourish despite this. Be safe however you must.

Enjoy the Chat!

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Hi Pip, first, I am glad to know you are both recovering from Covid. Please know that I will include you and your wife on our Saturday AM healing intention group. Those aftereffects are troublesome, especially because Covid attacks the lungs.

Next, I am so glad to know that I am not the only one who thinks of and remembers ancestors birthdays...even if they are 300 years old! Where would we be without them.

And it sounds like you are really engaging in the Appalachia Project. I wonder where some of our projects would be without your energy! Oh...and charisma, cannot forget charisma.

BTW...before I forget! I'm reminded because of your proud Scots ancestry. I got an email out of the blue from a man who would be a cousin to my daughter. He saw my work on the Thom (Clan Thomas)/Gourlay ancestry on WikiTree and it turns out that he is a descendant of Robert Gourlay of Edinburgh, Scotland. He's adding to the tree!

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Good morning!  How nice that the weekend starts here on Friday  Thanks for hosting us, Pip.

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My husband has some German Painters in Appalachia, IIRC. Southwest Virginia, almost certainly within the limits of modern Botetourt County (as opposed to the much more expansive county of the time). I'll take a look and share a link if I'm right.

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My husband's Bender/Painter line culminates in [[Painter-2469|Catherine (Painter) Brugh (1794-1876)]]. She's not how we're connected but is how your closest connection to my husband is shown.

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I hope you both feel better soon. It's always a good idea to report these things. Especially if you're going to the dentist. Here in NH, masks are required in doctors' offices for obvious reasons. Hope you feel better soon!

Bender ancestors, huh? Hmm...Do I want to go with the Futurama reference or the Breakfast Club? Too many choices to make and you make it way too easy for me. =D

Thanks for hosting, man! =D

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There are 6 anniversaries today on my watch list, 4 birthdays and 2 deaths, none of them related to me, they are all the Robbie's relatives. The earliest b-day is 19 August 1656 in  Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland

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Carol, where are these Gourlays from? There are Gourlays in the Robbie's extended family. A Margaret Gourlay is paternal grandmother of husband of 1st cousin 3x removed.

That family was from just south west of Glasgow.

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Happy 194th, Nancy!! Try and stay cool and dry Pip (I know not so easy in the South!) I often feel like the wiki-work will never be done, but it just gives me something to look forward to (and another to-do list to check off) as each profile, each piece gets a little better. Have a great weekend!

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Anne, Johann Leonhardt Bender is an ancestor of mine. Your husband and I are cousins!

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According to the current chart, 10th cousins, once removed. It says your common ancestors are Wendel and Margarethe Bender.

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Jennifer's Gourlay ancestors are from Edinburgh. Here is the profile for her several times GGF:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gourlay-1443

Answer 1

Happy Weekend Pip! I have been focusing on getting my maternal ancestors over to the Appalachian Project and realized while working on my Anniversaries that my paternal side also came from Appalachia. So many to sticker...So little time!

Comments

Ha! I know exactly what you mean, Pam! So many relatives, so little time.

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I thought it would just be my husband's family when I joined. Then I figured out how much of my family was in Appalachia. Haven't even gotten to his yet.

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Tons of genealogy to do, not enough hours in the day, right Anne? 

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Indeed. Having a hard time allocating attention to Appalachia and the WT Challenge this week.

Answer 2

Good morning Pip and the weekend chatters!

Weather:

• Currently, it is 75ºF and partly cloudy.
• The partly cloudy sky has now given way to a heavy rain.

Comments

Good morning to you, Tommy! Hope all is well with you in the Bayou State.

Answer 3

Mostly worked on genetic matches to myself and my wife this past week. Made some good discoveries and connections! Discovered a 1C1R and 2C and confirmed them. I've been working on doing DNA citations too.

Comments

Howdy, Eric! I have been slack on my DNA work. This is something I need to do better.

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Whew! Be prepared for a very large and deep rabbit hole! But I'm finding out that it is absolutely needed for genealogy and quite satisfying. But be ready for possible unexpected things too.

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Hi Eric, I think I have been looking for someone like you! I have uploaded my atDNA (from Ancestry, 23andme and My Heritage) and my full sequence MTDNA. The dilemma is that I cannot figure out what to do to have it 'load' (or whatever) onto other related profiles on WikiTree. I am so low tech that I don't even know how to explain this. I read that I can find other matches, but am not doing something correctly to see my DNA results connect with cousins. Can you help? My WT handle is Baldwin-3428.

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Hi Carol,

I'll send you a PM separately about this topic.

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Thank you for your help, Eric. Very much appreciated ☺️

Answer 4

Hello Fellow Wiki Tree People , I have 2 Doctor appointments, coming up Monday, is my Eye appt for my eye shot to keep my AMD stable , Tuesday is just my routine yearly Physical which both are usually no big deal 

On the Wiki Tree side of things, I am still involved in the Appalachia Project which you should check out you will be suprised on what areas are included which you can find out here  Counties of Appalachia  also found a orphan profile of a Notable been working on his family with help of our Project Leader Sandy Patak ,  William Allen Montgomery also still working on my late ex husband's ancestors Jasper Vaughn , working on the children, so I can improve his profile when I get that done, also when I can been working on my 4th great aunts children ,  Nancy Mourning Denton Moore also If you have a moment check out this page Write a Fighter Club a fellow Wiki Tree member , her grandfather worked for GM during WW2 , was involved in a program that you could write soldiers, he wrote 7 soldiers , she acquired the letters at her grandfathers passing and would like to return them to the soldiers families , she has researched these soldiers families, and was able to locate one of the soldiers, he is still living at 102 , with my help , he is kin to my daughter in law , he was originally from TN so the letters were returned to his family, the rest of the soldiers were from Michigan so if you would please check it out and feel free to share if you know of way to find these families let her know her profile link is on the space page , Thank you , and hope you all have a great Weekend !  

Comments

Ooo, I jumped on Moore, hoping that we'd connect through my Moores. To no avail. It is a rather common name, isn't it, Janine? The name Alexander pops up all over my Moore lines.

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Also forgot to mention , Kristina Wheeler has been working on several projects on Dekalb county, Tennessee, USA  which links are on her profile if you would like to check them out my children's fathers , had ancestors from Dekalb county so my children are part of her DNA project 

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Pip he is a brick wall , there are some who think they may know but not sure if they are correct , Nancy's brother , Jeremiah was my 4th great grandfather

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Hey Janine greetings from Lone Jack Mo. You know, the one-horse town (I mean mule) where Rooster Cogburn lost his eye in the Battle of Lone Jack. Any who, I read along till something catches my eye. This week-end you are the featured comment. Congrats! EYE too look forward to my next shot in the eye for ARWMD. My Dr assures me it's better than a sharp stick in the eye, which really confused me giving that s the exact phrase i would use to describe it. Next was Dr appointments. Stress test last week, EKG in three weeks, an appointment in Oct to get results from cardiologist. I guess chest pain is not cause for alarm even w/ documented family hx. Throw in a couple more Dr app., a burglary at my cabin last week-end and yet life is good. Lastly, your post on Appalachia. Not that I have time right now but will refer to this post in the future to tie my family to Appalachia as virtually all come from Va and Kentucky. I see Pip's comment (hey Pip) so I'm sure he will see this as well. I am particularly interested in any McIntosh, Dalton and Pierce connection that you may encounter. As in Susans A comment suggests, once the migration begins others tend to follow. Alfred Douglas Pierce from 1860 Ky is a brick wall right now however, I believe he will connect to Dalton or McIntosh somehow. Right now, I'm filling in blanks and connecting to those most noteworthy. Wiki-on everybody---kevin

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Hello Kevin, I looked up our connection we are 19 degrees , thru my Harris line, which is on my mother's paternal line thru her grandmother, on my mother's maternal line thou there is some Dalton's that married some Shockley's , not sure if they connect anywhere , Nancy Shockley Dalton  , My AMD is in my right eye, which vision that eye is blurry only reason getting the shot , every 8-12 weeks is try to make sure my left is not affected , I have wet in the right , dry in the left , also have other issues, I am a brain tumor and stroke survivor , so I do have other issues, Wiki Tree has become part of my routine to keep me going, positive , and I like being a part of it , and helping others , by the way probably been thru there before, I was born in San Diego California, when I was growing up our family went back east a few times , to visit relatives, my father was from Ohio and my mother , Tennessee,  but they knew people from all over so we would travel all over some summers, my father was a Mail Carrier in San Diego so he would get several weeks off , so I was very fortunate to be able to see alot different places growing up 

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Good luck with your Write a Fighter project Janine. I hope we are able to find some more families. What a treasure those letters would be to would-be genealogists in those families! Hope the shot is not too painful, it sounds awful.

Answer 5

Hi from southern Ontario, 

Chez moi/at home: what's happening here? Its still very dry, Thursday we had a forecast of torrential thunderstorms with lots of rain. What we got, when I left the heritage garden that the horticultural society maintains it was raining so hard it was difficult to see the car in front of me. One kilometre west I was stopped at a traffic light, I couldn’t see out of the back window of the car because of the rain, the front windshield was completely dry, I turned the wipers off. 

Another kilometre west torrential rain for about 2 minutes, at home about 2 kilometres north, drizzle for about 2 hours, the end result, a total of about 2 millimeters of rain. I had to water the garden again this morning. We have had about 24% of normal rain so far for August, and less than 50% of normal rainfall since May. 

Genealogy: I wandered around for 2 days working on my Jones family ancestors in Staffordshire England, there had always been a disconnect with one part of the family, the 2 youngest children both girls were born about 5+ years later than the youngest of the older siblings, and after a lot of time I discovered they were the children of a daughter of that branch, meaning they were grandchildren not children. Of course, everyone has the same names and they all lived in the same place. And there was misleading information on the 1911 census. The 2 sisters were living together listed as sisters, as was a visitor who was actually a 1C1R. 

It's all very complicated, one of the daughters married a man that was born in Paris, France. He was the son of an English expat he was a coachman and so was his father. The couple married in Lancashire, England and I cannot figure out why. The husband’s family name just does not appear in any records in Lancashire, her family were all in Staffordshire. Her cousin also married a man born in France from Paris. 

I am confused, it’s a real headbanger, the only possible way forward is ask on G2G and see if anyone else can find an answer. 

What else: We think we might have found a general contractor to do our renovations, they did a major reno on a daughters house several years ago, and I was very pleased with them, but they are booked up for all of 2022 and part way into 2023.  It isn't time sensitive unless some of the kitchen cabinets fall off the wall. 

I’m reading a novel called Ironbark, set in Australia in 1830s. I have read several historical novels set in the same time period and its beginning to feel familiar. 

Have a great weekend everyone!

Comments

Ha! M, this happens a lot where I live: pouring rain in one spot and a couple of miles away no rain.

 If you've found a good general contractor, and you are willing to wait, then that's what I'd go for. There have been times when I needed work done, and I got the one that could come earlier than the others. It wasn't always the best. If only we'd been more patient.

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Hi M, we had torrential 'monsoons' most of this week. They don't last long; however, they are very much as you describe at the start of your email. One has to be as careful driving in that sort of rain as in a blizzard!

Your genealogy quizzer is...quizzical! I have been stumped on my several times GGM's family who came from Cornwall. I have her father's line done for several generations, but her mother just sits there...all alone. For me a big part of the problem is her LNAB Williams. There's millions of them and finding the correct mother has been a challenge for 3 years now. Once I get this paper off my plate, maybe I will turn to G2G.

You have a great weekend and I wish you luck with your contractor and hope things work out well.

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Oh no, not a Major Reno [[Reno-500]]! That's a Custer joke.

Answer 6

¡Buenos días a todos from the Old Pueblo! It is 7:30am and 78F (25.6C) with and expected high of 87F (30.6C) and with a 77% chance of rain (welcome to the Southwest Sauna). We have had monsoons most of this past week. While the rain is needed badly, it has brought about an onslaught of ‘mosquito gnats.’ These buggers look like a cross between a gnat and a mosquito! And they bite! And they thumb their pointy proboscis at citronella, bleach and other odors that are supposed to work to keep them at bay. I was nearly weeping with the exterminator made his every other month visit this past Wednesday. I just stood there and repeated “kill, kill, kill.” These little critters are extremely hard to kill! I have ordered ‘mosquito dunks’ as recommended to put in water everywhere in my ward to try and keep these bugs from breeding. I have also resorted to hanging Black Flag Fly Paper near my computer and give a little cheer every time I see only of those little buggers get stuck. One less to stick me!

 

My daughter and her family returned from Maui last Friday. She is back in the classroom and thrilled to be teaching 8^th grade language arts. She is teaching in a district that has diverse, primarily underserved students and she loves it because the parents are supportive of her and the students really want to learn. She was at another district about two years ago where the parents would harangue her because their child got a C (or D) and not an A and they wanted to know what she was going to do about it. Jennifer has quite a lip on her and her retorts go something like “...when your child hands in their assignment, then they will get a grade. Right now, their grade is F because they have not handed in any assignments. I could give them an F+, though.”

 

Night shift nursing and sleep outcomes paper status...well, I am editing...in between naps.

 

My appointment for this week was the eye doctor. I see an optometrist because they tend to be very good at refraction. It was a lively office and adjacent to store that sells frames and orders glasses. My new pair should arrive in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, the downside is that the optometrist referred me to an MD (yet another medical appointment) because of something called a large cup to disc ratio. I have had this for some 30 years and told by my neurologist that it is related to my multiple sclerosis diagnosis. An eye doctor (MD) ruled out glaucoma several years ago, about the time I had cataract surgery. This optometrist is worried about glaucoma (yet again). I will think about making an appointment. Right now, I have had enough with doctors and appointments to last the rest of my life.

 

I am continuing to work on the Baldwin profiles. I have added biographies and sources for all of the children belonging to Henry of Woburn. This week, I started working on his children’s children. I wish I had known when PM slots for these Baldwins had opened up as I would have liked to adopt several of them in my direct line. These profiles used to have two PMs that I had tried contacting for several years, but without success. Recently, when I turned my attention to improving these Baldwins, I found that they have new PMs, but the same old profiles many without biographies or inline sourcing. Oh, well...I am giving some thought to doing some sort of Baldwin one name study, but not until I finish that paper. Plus, I will be attending my niece’s wedding in September. She and her partner are marrying on the 10^th and they asked me to do a Pride talk during the ceremony. I have to write that talk before I even think about doing One Name Anything. I wanted to be maid of honor, or flower girl or best man-type. They appeased me by assigning a Pride talk. I am going to give a brief history of what our civilization would have been like without LGBTQ+ (e.g., imagine life without Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, or da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, or not being the champions without Freddy and Queen).

 

TODAY is the day Natural Grocers is selling a dozen free-range eggs for only 99 cents (limit two per customer)! I am off to get my eggs, then to Starbucks for my ‘geezer chino.’ I spent a pleasant 3 hours enjoying a geezer chino in the store yesterday while pencil editing the night nurse and sleep paper. Reliving it again today!

 

Thanks Pip for wrangling the Chatters. Wishing all of you a fun-filled, healthy and productive third weekend of August 2022.

Comments

Bugs... I hate bugs. Carol, it's a runny joke in my family about how freaked out I get about them. Where I lived before it was sand gnats. Flying jaws we called them. You'd smack them on your arm... face... legs... hair... and leave a smattering of blood. I played church softball back in the day, and participants would have to slather themselves with Skin So Soft so they would drown if they landed on you. Here, if the temp is just right, you can't work outside without getting swarmed by gnats.

Other bugs: wasps, bees, roaches. Well, anything that flies or crawls. I do try to avoid stepping on ants, though, except faire ants which, fortunately, we do not have many here.

My eye appointment is in September, and it's time for a new prescription. Been needing that for a while now.

Just keep you up to date. I'm planning to see Mike in October. It's $1200 there and back again because I can't take cabin anymore. I'll be flying business. I'll let you know the date.

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Pip, so great to have someone so being on the same wavelength over those darn bugs! We had torrential rains last night and all the treatment on Wednesday is likely washed away. The bug killer told me of a product called Mosquito Dunks. I have purchased them at Lowes and will give them a try. I just chop one up and put pieces at the base of all the plants in my meditation garden and the two plants in my home. Here is a line about how they work: Mosquito Dunks use chemical-free BTI to kill mosquitoes. Just float a Mosquito Dunk in standing water to kill mosquito larvae. The best-selling BTI product in the world is called Mosquito Dunks. Just place the handy donut-shaped Dunks in birdbaths, rainbarrels, ponds and anywhere that water collects.

My pesticide person recommended I chop them up given that they will be at the base of plants and when the drip system turns on, the dunk will stay wet and kill bugs, but not the plants.

I am so looking forward to seeing you in October. If need be, I will change all my plans just to see you! Are you bringing your wife? I would love to meet her. 

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We have almost no mosquitos this year, probably because of our extended drought, even the marsh at the end of our local trail is drying up.

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Hey Pip you're wrong about the bee's. Without them we probably wouldn't have birds. Without the birds and the bees, non of us would exist. If you could live inside a beehive one season you would wonder why there are not 8 wonders of the world w/ bees being #1 Glad to see you still rockin' in the A.C. By the way, your comment on contractors was spot-on, wait for a good one if you know one.   kevin

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Carol, I recommend getting a Katchy for indoors - it uses a UV light lure and a fan to pull small insects in to a hidden sticky pad.  Normally this time of year my legs are a mass of nocturnal mosquito bites, but with the Katchy running, this year I have none.

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Hi Nancy, I will look into this! My issue is the bites I get from mosquito gnats that fly around as I work in my office during the day and evening. This is a new idea for me. Thanks!

Answer 7

Currently 67°F in Rochester, Minnesota USA. Sun and clouds currently.

I'm getting ready to get back to school for Bioethics and Anatomy/Physiology! I'll be using my computer more often during the semester.

Last Saturday, I went to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, WI with a small group from the Co-Cathedral. The Shrine is beautiful! I was able to walk around to the different places to reflect and pray.

I'm taking a hiatus from genealogy to focus on work and school.

Speaking of the Appalachia Project, I'll be studying a Bioethics textbook by the philosopher, Lewis Vaughn. His roots are Appalachian. I read his autobiography and I related to his life events. If anyone has heard of his works, feel free to comment. I was beaming with joy that he mentioned Thomas Aquinas in the text!

Comments

Eileen, my prof mentions Aquinas quite often, but then I'm lost. There's one theologian I have not read! Of course, my prof got his degree in medieval philosophy/theology, so I'm getting to know lots more than I anticipated for this course.

Hove you seen all the books by Lewis Vaughn?!? Egad, it would take me forever to get through all of that.

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Hi Eileen, my sincere best wishes on your academic endeavors. The courses you are focusing on are right up my alley! 

Your trip to the Shrine sounds lovely! In Mexico, she is the Virgen de Guadalupe and her feast day is December 12th. She is celebrated throughout the country on that day, as well as at our San Xavier Mission in Tucson and a little town nestled within Tempe, Arizona called Guadalupe and settled by the Pasqua Yaqui around 1900. I lived down the street from their cemetery and it came alive on Day of the Dead. 

I wish you every success in your academics!

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Oh no, Pip. I've just read his autobiography and the Bioethics textbook. If I majored in Philosophy, I might read more Vaughn. He's interesting to read!

Carol, I need to go the San Xavier Mission at some point. I'm craving authentic Mexican food from Tucson!

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You should join Pip in Tucson in October and we can all go to San Xavier! I can no longer have Mexican (or most other food) because of my deceased exopancreas. I can enjoy watching, though, while I drink horchata or jamaica!

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I'll go when I'm not in school or dealing with craziness in Rochester. October is pretty busy this year!!

Answer 8

I'm apparently not yet as awake as I'd thought! I thought I was posting an answer, but it hit the comments section - ah, well ...  Perhaps I need more coffee (yes!)

I'm really enjoying the Appalachia Project group. The stickering process is turning up a woeful lot of profiles I'd forgotten about - being distracted by other rabbits and shiny things which led down other rabbit holes promising other troves.  So, it's going slowly.  I did get some very promising suggestions for keeping to-do lists of such profiles in the future, but I can only wish there was some retroactive way to add all these older abandonments!  (Where's H.G. Wells when you need him?  Calling Dr. Who!  I want a time machine - and a lottery win - so I can go back and give myself a secretary!)

Other than that, I've been musing about patterns I seem to see developing as I work on multiple related profiles in the same communities or groups, back in the rural mid-19th century.  I, like so many of us today, grew up in an urban environment where nuclear families and individuals operate independently.  A decision to move?  It's up to the parents or the adult individual.  What I'm seeing among 19th-century farmers, though, is that they seem to move in kin-groups: siblings, parents and adult children (or adult children and parents), cousins, in-laws.  One group will start it off, then another group, often related in some way, will follow.  I don't know yet whether this pattern is localized, my current evidence being dominated by the rather in-grown situation in Hart County at that period.  I think I may be seeing it elsewhere, in Connecticut and New York, later in Indiana, but haven't done the research to know whether that's actually the case.

The weather here north of Los Angeles has improved somewhat.  We've still had daily highs around 100ºF, but the humidity has backed off considerably - we're now dealing with ovens rather than saunas.  What we really need is a little rain to dampen things down before the expected fires get going.

Comments

Kim group movements. Yes, I’ve seen this repeatedly on my families. Some to Texas for what ever reason, possibly for land. Others went to the Pacific Northwest for logging. One large group left near where o grew to for the Cape Girardeau area in Missouri. I think that was land, too. 

I think you’ll have to move here for the rain, Susan! 

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I couldn't take the bugs, Pip!  We have enough of them here, even in the midst of this drought!

On kin groups:  Something else I've begun to notice is that other kinds of recruitment efforts in the 19th Century (and, I presume, earlier) seem to start with kin groups and end up with kin-group clumps, at least in the early stages.  I think it may be a matter of trust:  In one of these closely knit communities, you think you know your kin well enough to think you know when they've gone off the deep end with some notion; how do you judge, when it's just a neighbor or even a stranger telling you you should do something or think some other way?  If the stranger is, in fact, kin, however distant - well, they come vouched for, in some sense, simply because they're kin, don't they?

As I slowly work my way through the roster of a volunteer cavalry regiment, recruited in 1862, largely in Hart County, Kentucky, I'm finding more and more of the recruits were related to one another in some way.  I picture this big party of Hart County men - brothers, cousins, in-laws, even at least one father and son - all deciding that the bonus of $27 for a year's work was worth it, trooping off to enlist. In a way, it's the same thing as trusting kin to have your back when you set off on a trek to a new place.  I once participated in a study for the US Army about group cohesion in small units - it became pretty obvious that the soldiers functioned better as soldiers and weathered the stresses of combat better when they knew one another well, as opposed to a situation in which they were strangers to one another.

Answer 9

Hails and horns Wikipeeps!

I hope everyone is doing good. Things are settling down here a bit. Of course we have a hot weekend ahead of us. That's okay. I got the a/c going and I have a blog to share: https://allroadhaverhill.blogspot.com/2022/08/52-ancestors-week-33-service.html

This one is all about the service my great-grandfathers had in the world wars. I was tempted to go deep into the information. But, I didn't have much on my great-grandfather Giuseppe Carrabs's service. It's got to be around here somewhere. I do have some great stuff about Alfred Hamel, though.

I also need to do a deep dive into a satchel my aunt Linda gave me. Fun!

On the non genealogy front, we went to my family friend Marina's wake on Tuesday and that went okay. I saw some friends from way back and we talked a bit. It was great seeing all the people there talking and reminiscing about her. She'd have liked that. I also dedicated a comic to her too.

I saw the Sensational She-Hulk on Disney Plus and that show was AMAZING! Go and watch it! I insist! I hope Lisa has at least!

Speaking of comic characters, I went to the mall to check out this new shop that opened. It had so many comics and some collectibles like toys from the '90s. It was so weird seeing them because they were probably sold at the same mall thirty years ago when Kay-Bee was in business. I wonder if they were in a warehouse or in the mall's subbasement. =D Nah. They probably weren't.

They also had some antique looking helmets. I thought those were odd. Dunno if they were legit or collectibles. Still cool. As for comics, they had comics from the 1970s to the 1990s. That was sweet. I'll have to go again for another deep dive!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Comments

Sorry for your loss Chris, but glad you were able to share some memories. That, to me, is where the healing starts, in remembering and honoring the person.

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Thanks, Erin! =D

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Chris, we loved She-Hulk!  So much fun, especially with the Byrne-era 4th wall stuff.  Even better than that, though, was Sandman.  So amazing.  We're about to watch the bonus episode that just got released, and then finally wrap up Westworld season 4.

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Lis, it's a great time to be a comic fan! It really is! What I don't like are those people who complain about She-Hulk being a copy of Deadpool or copying the Hulk.

Deadpool came out a decade after She-Hulk and didn't start breaking the fourth wall until 1997. Shulkie first appeared in 1980 and didn't break the fourth wall until 1989. Fans gotta read their history.

I gotta check out Sandman. I hear good things! So much good stuff and it's better if you avoid social media and just enjoy!

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Enjoyed your blog, Chris. The last photo shows what I have seen in so many soldiers' photos, that look. Cool collection of medals there.

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You know what I really want to do? Take these old, old photos and draw them by hand. They'd come out pretty cool. It is a great photo to be sure. It's from my great-aunt's collection!

Answer 10

Short and sweet this week. We have both been sick, going on 4 days now, so nothing to report this week.

Comments

Hope you feel better soon

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I am really sorry to hear this, Dale. Not Covid, I hope. Tiredness and a little cough has returned for me this weekend.

Answer 11

Good Morning (at least still morning here in the northwest)!

News from home in Texas: Yesterday, the Dallas area got a downpour of much needed rain - thank goodness as our yard and shrubbery was suffering terribly. Our daughter called last night and said more rain is expected next week - about 5 to 7 inches. Temps will be much lower also. Greatly needed relief!

Work is ongoing here on the boat, both varnishing and cleaning. We are prepping to go to the Krogen rally in Port Ludlow on September 8th with a For Sale sign attached. Positive thoughts appreciated!

On the medical front, I had my blood pressure med changed yesterday from the results of a blood test last week. Kidney function was off so now I will be on a channel blocker. Fingers crossed this will take care of the problem.

I have still been working on adding family-extended family and categorizing them for cemeteries. Being a little tired of that, I added a few to the line of one of my cousins and found a gentleman buried in two different cemeteries. Finally, I found a very brief obituary that said where his service was held and it was at one of the cemeteries so I notified the FindAGrave memorial manager and heard back from him right away thanking me. That was rewarding since so many times there is no reply or change on the memorials!

Hope to "see" you all next week - take care and stay well!

Comments

Ginny, I saw on the news that Dallas (and much of Texas) are expecting a LOT of rain. Hope the ground isn't too hard to absorb some of it.

I will be praying for you, both on the sale of the boat and for the new meds you're taking. You hang in there!

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Thanks for your thoughts and prayers, Pip! Yes, this rain is supposed to wipe out the drought in most of our area but, of course, the damage has been done. That's okay, I am happy that our plants and grass will get the moisture they need even if it is all at once!!

Answer 12

Virtual Vacation! 

Today we are going to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan State. We stopped here in late September 2010 on our way home from Yellowstone. The dunes are on the east shore of Lake Michigan west of Traverse City. I took these photos. 

This is the Big Dune facing west onto Lake Michigan, it is 450 feet down to the water, and far too steep for most people to even think about going down, not visible in the this photo are lots of sharp edged rocks.

Miles of sand beach, bluffs that tower 450’ above Lake Michigan, the park was created primarily for its many marvellous natural features, including forests, beaches, dune formations, and ancient glacial phenomena. There is a campground, walking trails through the woods, a great beach for kids further along the lake. And I think there is now some sort of dune buggy climb up part of the dunes, not at all good for the dunes, though I'm sure many people would love it. 

We went to see the dunes and a walk through the woods. We didn’t have enough time to explore the rest of the park as we still had a 7 hour drive home. 

There are boardwalks and lookouts and there is sand everywhere, more recent photos than these seem to show a lot more vegetation on the west face of the huge dune. You can see a long way out into the lake from some of the lookouts.

Part of the trail along the top

One of the lookouts

View from another lookout

That part of Michigan is definitely worth a return visit and it's only a 7 hour drive. 

Comments

This is a welcome vacation!  I'd love to stand at one of those lookouts and feel the breezes. Relaxing.

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Beautiful! Thanks for sharing

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Road and Lake Trip!! 9 hrs and 33 minutes from Rochester, Minnesota!

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Eileen, if you wanted to add somewhere else to a potential road trip, there's a place called Pictured Rocks National LakeShore about 4 hours north on the northern Peninsula. It's another place on my travel bucket list.  

https://www.nps.gov/piro/index.htm

Plus visiting Mackinac Island on the way there or back would create a nice week or 10 day long trip.

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Definitely.

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Hi M, now you are getting close to my home state. I was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and have traveled to this Michigan neck of the woods. It is very beautiful...other worldly appearance. Your photos do this VV justice, as always. And Mackinac Island is an excellent suggestion. It was the site for the gentle film Somewhere in Time (maybe 30-ish years old) with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. A perfect location for this film. 

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M. your photos each week are a good reminder for me to seek out the beauty everywhere I go.

Answer 13

Hello, good morning from cloudy and rainy Everett, Washington. Yesterday was heat and high humidity; last night the fever broke and it rained and today is much cooler.

This weekend is the Emerald City ComiCon. I wished bon voyage and a fun time to my son as he departed wearing a Deadpool costume with his friend. Did I mention how grateful I am to friend for driving into downtown Seattle? Son and friend were there yesterday as well. Son bought a beautifully rendered pencil drawing of Godzilla.

Tomorrow is daughter's turn. She asked me to let her sleep as long as possible this morning so she can be as relaxed as she can be. My job today is to keep her relaxed. We are going to have a photo print made so that Brendan Fraser can autograph it tomorrow. At age 6 daughter was enamored of the Mummy (2001) film. The photo is of her on her 6th birthday hugging her O'Connell doll (name of Fraser's character in the film).

Another anxiety is about how much cash to bring. You can never bring too much cash to these events, alas. Cash only for parking, cash only for autographs, maybe also for food, who knows. Also, it's Friday (we're traditional Catholics) so her food options are limited. The friend who took our son is taking her tomorrow as well, and he's VERY GOOD about finding her what she needs. He's more "chill"  than I am about her anxiety.

Looks like the person who contacted me about her father being the son of an unmarried union is indeed a fifth cousin. I was able to help her fill in a lot of family history. She had no brothers, so Y-DNA not an option, but Ancestry yielded another cousin whose line I was able to identify.

I am having fun being the Team Leader for Linn County, Oregon. I started a One Place Study for Brownsville, Oregon. It is a place to post a lot of the folklore, stories and jokes my Dad collected in the 1950s. I spent Wednesday night adding 153 stickers to profiles for the One Place Study. It will take a while to find all that I want to post there.

My Dad's profile biography seems to be a magnet for his former students. I was contacted yesterday by a granddaughter who is writing a biography of her father and wants a photo of my Dad doing his field work. I remember the photo exactly (it once was framed in his bedroom) but haven't seen it since Dad died and all his stuff was packed away. That is a project for husband and I to go through boxes of stuff.

Seems that every time I start pawing through boxes of family "stuff", I find something that just HAS to get up onto WikiTree. Photos of one grandmother and two great-grandmothers, for starters. As Pip said, we have so little time.

Thank you, Pip, for hosting. Thank you, WikiTree and WikiTreers, for being here.

Comments

Brendan Fraser was GREAT in The Mummy! I loved that movie. Were y'all able to get the autograph?

I know exactly what you mean about going through boxes and finding stuff. I have all these little treasures that I only see every few years or so that will bring back a memory, usually of my maternal grandparents that I dearly loved.

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No, unfortunately she didn't get the autograph. It was necessary to get a reservation, and the autograph session was sold out. But she had fun, and attended the panel with Fraser and the other actors. Fraser kept praising his stunt man in that film, and those in the know got a big laugh (he did his own stunts).

When son returned home yesterday, the zipper on his Deadpool costume was broken. I resorted to the seam ripper to take the zipper apart so he could get out of it. Next time he'll have a better costume.

Answer 14

On this day:

1692: Four men and a woman are executed after the Salem witch trials

1919: Afghanistan gets its independence from the United Kingdom

1946: The US-President Bill Clinton is born. Happy Birthday!

Comments

Per the syllabus, I visited Afghanistan once again, and learned even more about that country. Thanks, Professor!

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I'll go with Salem in memory of the. Innocent souls who died.

Answer 15

Hello Pip, and fellow chatters!
It's a very comfortable 82^o here today with a slightly humid feel to the air.  It shouldn't get too much warmer this weekend and later into the week. Before I know it, the air will be too crisp for words!

If you are the praying type, I'd appreciate some prayers for my daughter, Ashleigh.  She's in the hospital fighting sepsis and it's tough right now.  The doctors think that they have the right antibiotic to fight the infection now, Ashleigh is allergic to most of the common antibiotics.  

In happier news, this year is a year of birthday milestones for another of my daughters and her family, especially this month of August.  My daughter turned 50, her husband will do the same in September.  Her eldest daughter turned 30 in March, and the other two daughters turned 16 and 21 earlier this month.  It's been a busy, love-filled, and expensive August!

As to genealogy, well, whenever I hit on one course of action, like checking my Watchlist to see where I can add some updates, I get side-tracked by all of the "shiny objects" out there on the edges.  Sound familiar?
 

That's it for now.

Comments

Oh no! I hope they can find the right meds for your daughter. Sending healing hugs.

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For you and yours.

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Thank you, Robin.

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Thank you Erin

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I'll pray for Ashleigh. That is very difficult to deal with an allergy to most antibiotics.

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Joining you in prayer for Ashleigh.

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Candyce. we will be praying at St. pat's this morning for Ashleigh!

As to shiny objects, since I joined WikiTree about four years ago, I have gone off the rails and onto paths that took me away from my original goal. This has happened so many times that I think there must be 10 - 20 family groups that were never finished.

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Hi Candice, I've added your daughter and you to our weekly healing intention list.

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I am adding my prayers for Ashleigh's recovery. I sympathize about the antibiotics as I am also allergic to some but fortunately there are others that I can take. I do hope the doctors have found the right ones for her. Please keep us posted.

Answer 16

Good evening from Germany,

some parts of Germany are after months of drought are now drowning in rain. It will be interesting to see how much rain we will get tomorrow. My favourite meteorologist says it'll be many thunderstorms and rain afterwards. I nearly don't care as any form of water is welcome by me.

Personally, we really didn't do much this week after we brought my cousins to the airport last Sunday. The good thing is that we had enough leftovers so that we nearly didn't have to cook at all.

Genealogy-wise, I worked quite a bit on WikiTree. If I want to keep my streak of 1000 contributions per month,  I still have to do quite a bit, but I'm coming there. Working on my watchlist, I am able to add new profiles and then orphan those profiles, since I constantly have to make my watchlist smaller. Oh well, at least new profiles are new chances to find new ancestors.

Stay safe, keep your distance and have a great week!

Comments

Jelena, I've seen the news reports about the horrible conditions in Europe, fire and drought, then high winds and pouring rain. When I see these, I think of you, hoping that you are safe.

Answer 17

Howdy folks! Greetings from Central Oklahoma!

It's 92F today which is 14F cooler than it was Tuesday, The NWS says it's not likely that we'll see anymore 100+ temps this year, but I'll believe it when I see it. We are still in bad need of rain, and there doesn't seem to be any relief in sight. 

Last week Brook was sick, now it's my turn. Fever, body aches, head full of snot, coughing and all the other fun stuff. Both of our COVID tests were negative, even if they were positive, all you can do is ride it out. I was supposed to cook some pork butts for an event this weekend, and I had to cancel. I hate being sick. 

I have done nothing genealogy wise, unfortunately. We'll see what next week brings. 

Thanks for hosting, Pip! I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

Until next time.....

John

Comments

You hit 106 last Tuesday?!? It was 82 and muggy here yesterday, and I thought THAT was hot. Worked outside and the sweat just poured. Wish we could send yo some rain. It rained all night last night and is drizzling this morning.

I really hope it's not Covid! I heard that the rapid tests won't pick up the new strains. In any case, I am wishing both of you a speedy recovery!

Answer 18

Happy weekend, everyone!  Been a while since I posted here; I've just been busy with summer stuff and not doing much genealogy.  Still poking around with Robertsons.  Meanwhile, I did some bits of house maintenance, started some course prep, and escaped to the beach for a few days.  Two weeks until the semester starts, so I need to wrap up summer projects and get my classes ready.  But this is my kid's birthday weekend (new voter!), so we're going to take a break and celebrate a bit.

Comments

Yep, I was thinking about you, Lisa, when I saw the new students at the local college unloading vehicles the other day. Glad you got away to the beach. I really miss that environment. Maybe when I take a trip to see my daughter in South Carolina we can take some time to hit the beach.

Here's to a great semester for you and your students!

Answer 19

Kathy commented last night that she, our son-in-law and daughter came to the conclusion that daily 'Starbucks' might eat into the planned farm kitchen renovation budget so they might limit 'Starbucks', again, to only Mondays and Fridays......we all know how that turned out last time.......Monday or Friday every day.

Comments

John, the only time I get to a Starbucks is when I go to one of the local groceries here. We have two in town, but one is not easily accessible. That last time I went, they were out of my favorite coffee, so I passed on it. Gotta have a Starbucks while shopping.

Kitchen renovations: I love them, I hate them. Been there three times, each in a different house.

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Kathy rewards our daughter's commute with a Starbucks and our daughter returns the favor for all the chores Kathy performs......our son-in-law must have been feeling guilty as he just arrived with Starbucks as Kathy was reheating a leftover......Friday again......I hear laughter.............

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You hear laughter from me this morning, John! 

Answer 20

Hello everyone! It’s kind of quiet around here. Local plum tomatoes are now available by the case so it is time to start making and canning plain tomatoes, regular spaghetti sauce, and my roasted tomato & garlic sauce. Soon time to can some jalapeños too. I don’t can a lot but I love doing it. I need to get a pressure canner at some point. I also dug up the potatoes and onions I had growing in my tiny suburban townhouse backyard. First year trying both and it worked well enough that I try again next year. I’ve also gotten one zucchini so far plus lots of tomatoes (many different varieties) that are slowly ripening.

Genealogy: I’m finding that I have too many options of things I want to work on within WikiTree that I’m having a hard time lately picking. Those rabbit holes can be very deep. I just want everyone added! Lol!

Comments

Liza, I remember all too well when the tomato crop came in. My mom canned for days, mostly for soups and stews. She was a master at it. Zucchini was one veggie that we did not grow when I was young, but my wife turned me onto them several years ago. I'm thinking about planting some next year in our small patch. The only thing we had come up this year was the rhubarb that my stepdad planted years ago.

So many people to add, so little time.