"Welcome to the Weekend Chat!" All Members Invited!! June 2nd - 4th, 2023 [closed]

Question

New Members Saying Hello (our favorite!)

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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.

Enjoy yourselves and spread the love!

Comments

A G2G question. Is there any easy way to find answers that you haven't upvoted? To show some Wikitree Love I always try to upvote everyones answers on questions like the Weekend Chat and don't want to miss anyone.

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Sounds like a great genealogy week. I have wanted to visit King’s Mountain forever. My brother-in-law’s direct ancestor fought in that battle.

It is definitely fun to have another person to go cemetery hopping. Enjoy your visit with your brother. Y’all will make great memories.

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It seems like a good week for you!  No shoulder, GI or other physical problems and lots of good work got done.  Besides, you much more than "appear" competent, you actually are very competent.  And because you are good at some things, you probably will be good at many more, I think that's true.

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Darren, if you have upvoted, the up and down arrows are grayed out.

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That's cool, Donna. I wonder how many WikiTreers have ancestors who fought at Kings Mountain. Probably a lot.

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iF YOU WANT SOMETHING DONE GIVE IT TO A BUSY PERSON.   THE IDEA IS THAT BUSY PEOPLE ARE GENERALLY GOOD AT PRIORITIZING AND MOVING FORWARD,  i HAD A BOSS THAT TOLD ME THAT EVERYTIME HE GAVE ME ANOTHER PROJECT WITH AN UNREALISTIC DEADLINE.

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I always told my boss to give those assignments to people that had time to balance their checkbooks, do their nails, make personal phone calls, call in sick on Mondays or Fridays, make up for coming in late by leaving early and always take a long lunch break or take something off my plate.

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This week we had to do a detour as they closed the road we usually use. It was only for 3 days but as my son was still having problems and his car was at the garage we needed to make more journeys than usual.

This detour required us to go up the hill instead of down and then down the other side of the village churchyard on a road built for carts with only a few passing places and bends. Once we got behind 2 horses who kindly pulled to one side for us.

Hopefully, our visit to my family is going ahead this month so I need to contact a couple of uncles I want to do DNA tests for me. I have had the kits a while so hoping they will work okay.

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Thanks once again Pip

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You are most welcome, K!

Answer 1

On This Day:

1621: The Dutch West India Company is founded

1924: The novelist Franz Kafka dies

1998: In the Eschede train disaster die 101 persons

Comments

Hmm. I've got to do two tonight to catch up, so I'll go with Franz Kafka. Thanks, Professor!

Answer 2

Toodles, Pip. As we wend our way into winter here in New South Wales I'm spending more time building profiles. Chunking away at extending the extant tree, as well as popping in a few interesting Medieval profiles and non-related extended family of wives and husbands as I find data for them.

All this attention on family must have done something for my karma because my estranged daughter recently got in contact on Facebook for the first time in about 15 years.

Apart from that, not a lot to report. I go into hospital for a hernia op. on 30 August, but that's fairly trivial. It will be nice to be able to do more strenuous work again afterwards though, I have several cars that need some serious attention. :-)

Comments

Best of luck with your upcoming surgery. Glad your daughter reached out to you!

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Yeah, it's a nice feeling. It's her birthday today as well - 4th June.

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I'm so happy to hear about your daughter! May you enjoy a renewed relationship that is enriching for you both.

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Robert, I'm really glad to hear your daughter got in touch with you. Really, I cannot imagine those past 15 years.

Looks like I'll having my own operation in the not too distant future. Hope yours go well and that you make a quick recovery.

Answer 3

Hi from southern Ontario,

Chez moi/at home: what's happening here? The weather over the past few days has been exceptionally hot, 30-32C. The garden still needs a lot of work. It hasn’t rained for 3 weeks. 

After what seems like forever I have almost but not quite finished all the Plant Sale related paperwork. 

27 May was a perfect day for the Plant Sale, not too hot, not too cold, (sounds like a 3 bears story) lots of customers, lots of sales, about $8000 income, enough to keep the Hort Society solvent for another year. 

WikiTree and other family history: I have been working through the suggestions for some of the 130 orphaned profiles I adopted 2 weeks ago, though not much got done. 

What else: one of my English cousins on my mother’s side, though all of my cousins are English, found some old family photos in their dad’s my uncle's archives, my uncle  died in 2005, the cousin sent some to me, one of me and my next youngest sister Angela, taken about 1957 with our grandmother and another of my sister and grandmother. He promises to scan and send any other photos that are discovered. 

When I can find the time, I’ll post them on WT. 

Just a short post as I still have Plant Sale paperwork to finish!

Comments

Hope to see those photos soon. How exciting for a treasure like this to pop up.

Answer 4

Good  morning from Tucson/Oro Valley.  We have consistently warm temps during the day (90's pushing 100) and still cool at night.  This week I've been working on reducing my watchlist from 6,200 to under 5,000.  Have more to go to get there but I've become friends with the Bulk Removal tool.  More work on Cam's family, though I've been finding it's hard to document the most recent generation.  Ironically I have an easier time pre1950 with census, draft registrations, and good BMD records available.

Next week is going to be a little limited because we are shipping off furniture to my son, setting up a hose system for the pots in the yard to be watered while we are gone, and then our first of the summer trips.  Cam and I will babysit my granddaughters in Cali while my daughter and her husband go to their college reunion.  I try to do something like this once a year to invest in their marriage and also in my relationship with the girls.  Then we are going to reward ourselves with the rest of the following week in Carmel.  Cool air and relaxation!

Comments

"I've become friends with the Bulk Removal tool." The best way to lower that count, by far, Cindy! But, even after using it, I have to go back and get all the in-laws that didn't get orphaned.

My brother out there "inherited" an irrigation system (in ground). He says it's not working, but everything is looking good in his yard, so he's not going to repair ir.

Answer 5

Got a lot done in the garden last weekend and Monday then nothing in the garden or genealogically since. It's been kind of a lost week for me. The coming week is looking up.

Comments

Weather get in the way, Doug, or just stuff in general?

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Some other stuff but the weather hasn't helped. We got 1" of rain today and about that the past couple days . Our annual rainfall is usually about 10-11" in normal years. It's been less than that the past few.

The other issues were due to injuries in a car crash while I was stopped at a light followed by a few nights in the hospital. On the mend but the 3 broken ribs means no digging for 4-6 weeks.

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Dang, Doug! I hope you make a quick recovery! I am so sorry to hear this.

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This shows that no matter how careful you are, not everyone else is.  The driver was "elderly" and saw the stopped cars but told the police that she didn't know why she didn't stop.  Not sure what elderly means but probably older than me.

Answer 6

Hello from Wichita. Today is cool and partially cloudy, with scattered thunderstorms.  I am getting ready for my trip to Fort Wayne and the International German Genealogy conference next week. This is the fourth one I have attended (Minneapolis, Sacramento, Virtual) and am looking forward to learning more.  I have not been to the Allen County Public Library before, and I am looking forward to spending some time researching there. Off to do more prep work!

Comments

Michelle, we were NOT expecting thunderstorms last night, but got them anyway. Today we were warned that we'd have some, and got none. I don't get it!

Answer 7

I'm so excited! I just found my great-grandma browsing on the 1931 Census of Canada! Yeah!!

Comments

I just looked up my FIL family in Long Branch/ Etobicoke, Ontario, and then just had to look at the  Etobicoke Historical Society website.

Now I know why pics of my FIL and his sister at what we assumed was their house in the mid 1920s looked like they were at a cottage with almost beach like views.

The area was originally a summer destination for people in Toronto, and had sand and beach's.

One more mystery solved.

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Congratulations, Judi! That's wonderful!

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Oooo, Judi! I just hard that the 1931 had come out. What a cool find already. You must have known where to look (geographically speaking), as I have heard it's not indexed yet.

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I used their 1921 Census of Canada location as a guide.

Answer 8

HAPPY JUNE EVERYONE!  I am looking for getaway suggestions.  I live just SW of St. Louis, MO   close to hwy44, 270 and 55    want to do driving distance so I can take my disability scooter with me.  We like museums and learning.   Not a beach or forest person because of my mobility issue.   open time table.

Comments

If the civil war is of interest, let me invite you to the western part of your state. Multiple battlefield's, museum/historical societies, cemeteries and Southern Hospitality north of the Mason-Dixon line. Check out the Lone Jack Historical Society website for some ideas.

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one of my 2x great grandfathers fought at Pilot Knob and Springfield.  Been to Springfield several times. Lone Jack sounds interesting and maybe then jet up to archives close to KC.  Need to work around husband's work schedule.  sisterinlaw lives in Weston

Answer 9

On this day:

1941: The last German Emperor Wilhelm II. dies in Dutch exile

1944: During the Battle of Anzio, Rome is liberated of the German occupation

1970: Tonga declares its independence of the United Kingdom

Comments

Anzio also tonight, Professor. THanks!

Answer 10

Hi everyone

So what has been happening in my life for the last few days?

The weather side of things: It has been the usual crazy weather. Raining the one day, cold the next day, warm the next few days. And the wind has been it's usual ever-present constant thorn in my side.

On the family tree side: I've been looking at some other family tree sites (since traveling to all the places my long-time dead relatives is not possible) and I've discovered something about those sites: They were useless to me. Geneanet and familysearch still have value. And, obviously, Wikitree. I also discovered that I have about 1000 cousins all over the world. I joined a roots Tech thingy the other day.

On the personal side of things: Well, it has been in interesting past few days. I might have epilepsy, but not with the usual symptoms. For the past few weeks/months, I've been thinking I've been getting panic attacks. Then I told my psychologist that, after an attack, I can smell things a lot more strongly. He then spoke to a psychiatrist who said that I might have epilepsy. With my luck, I'll probably have both. I'll have to go to my neurologist, be tested and see where to go from there. But that's for another episode of "The Buttrum Show."

Comments

Oh, my. I hope they are able to sort out your medical issues. It's scary not knowing. Best wishes for answers soon.

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Keren, I really hope this turns out to be something less than they think. Keep us posted!

Answer 11

Hi from Interlaken in the mountans of Switzerland.

The weather is fine. Sun and nice warm - not too hot - and in the afternoon some summer-thunder.

The family: It is now 2 weeks that we had our first family reunion since the wedding of our son 2014 in Australia. All 3 'children' (52, 51, 48) with 2 partners from different parts of the world united. Sydney, Peking, Davos, Zürich and Interlaken together for 2 days in Interlaken!

The tree is growing step by step. Since I came back to WikiTree 4 months ago after a short WikiTree-activity in November 2011. I enjoy to work on loose ends. I search Dutch (I am 100% Dutch) and Swiss (my wife 100% Swiss)  people in WikiTree and check them with my local database and could add quite a few times missing links between the generations.

I do enjoy working with WikiTree, my only problem: it is a pity  when wrong data of PPP profiles are blocked, and to get through with corrections one needs to be very patient. But to be patient is a good thing anyway.

Comments

Welcome back to WikiTree! Glad you were able to get your family together, and hopeful you have the patience to continue to improve our tree.

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Yep, working with PPP profiles can be challenging, requiring lots of patience. Hang in there, Klaas, Your contributions to the health of our Tree are important.

Answer 12

Since my post on Friday it has been interesting. One of my granddaughters has been using my car because hers broke down. Another granddaughter is without a car as well because her hubby's car broke down, they hoped to borrow mine but it is already being used. The granddaughter had to take her one year old to the emergency room because of a reaction to some food but she had no car. I made her sister loan my car for that. The next day we went up to pick up medication for the one year old because the daddy was at work again and mommy had no car. Just to make things interesting yet another granddaughter went to the emergency room at the same time as her niece for a totally different reason. All the girls are fine but the little one can no longer drink milk due to an allergy. Lets just say WikiTree was not on my to do list this weekend.

Comments

When it rains it pours!  I know this pain!   So when things settle down, check your profile page.  Some of your pictures are not displaying.  This happened to me as half of my pictures went missing for no reason!

Dale and David are 23rd cousins once removed

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David, from what I can see the only difference is that some of the pictures can only be seen by the trusted list. I hope to do some edits on my biography soon and add even more images that will back up some facts I have outlined. I actually found a lot more documents that I forgot I saved recently.

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Yep, I think you are right!  When my pictures went missing, some were locked and my wife could see them, I could see them, but nobody else could.  I only noticed it when, at work, I was trying to show a co-worker my profile page. I didn't log into WikiTree on the work computer, just viewed the site as anyone would.  So I created yet another free space page, re-uploaded my pictures(saved under a different name) so these pictures didn't pick up a locked status!   Picture display understanding has been one of my hardest things to learn on WikiTree.

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I am glad to hear everyone is ok. not the kind of "excitement" one hopes for.

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Looks like Byers Taxi Service is going to have to branch out into Byers Car Lot. Gee, what a mess! Bet it kept you hopping, Dale.

Answer 13

This morning we made a sightseeing tour through the Oslo-Fjord. We found two seats where a German couple was sitting. "Where are you from?" They are from Bavaria. Then we chatted a bit and after a while mum said she's actually from Serbia. The man answered: "I was born there, my parents and grandparents were Danube Swabians." His mother had to flee and obviously either lost or didn't take his birth certificate. In Germany she went to a notary and made an declaration in lieu of an oath saying: "This is my son, his father is ... " From that moment on, everybody accepted this decleration as his birth certificate. But now, he wants to marry a second time and the registrar says: "I need the birth certificate from Serbia or at least a confirmation that there is no birth certificate there."
The Serbian consulate near them said they can't help, the German embassy in Serbia said they can't help, but they gave him at least a phone number. But as he doesn't know Serbian and they don't know English there was no way to communicate. Mum is now writing a letter to them (really with pen and paper), we will meet them later this evening that he signs this letter. Tomorrow morning the two will continue their trip to Bergen and then be on a cruise for two weeks.

Sometimes there are these moments when you know you are on the correct place at the correct time.

Comments

How lucky you were able to help!

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Wow. That is one story, Jelena.

Answer 14

Hello everyone! How is it already Sunday afternoon? Where has the weekend gone? Here are my highlights:

This past week we had a few days here in Ottawa with record breaking high temperatures of up to 34°C (93°F). Thankfully that heat wave is gone and we are back to daytime highs in the 20-24°C.

One of my two indoor cats got out for over 36 hrs until my next door neighbours found Sailor on their window ledge talking to their cats and trying to get in their house. He is thankfully back home.

On the genealogy front, I managed to help connect a couple of the Canadian notables for June. The hardest one to connect was from Newfoundland & Labrador as that province didn’t join Canada until 1949, plus most of their records are not on-line.

Keep safe!

Comments

So glad your kitty made it back! Silly little adventurer. That had to be scary. I have one cat who would be ok on his own outdoors, the other has no, uh, "street-smarts" and we try to keep him inside. Luckily he is too nervous and scared to venture near the front door.

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Yep, the weekend is gone and the coming week will be a busy one around here. I cannot keep up with the time... comes with age.

I don't get it, Liza. (93° in Ottawa and we have just broken 80° today. How is that possible?!?

Answer 15

Currently, it's 21˚ C and overcast in Fort Erie. Tonight's predicted low is 11˚ C, and tomorrow'spredicted high is 24˚ C.

I started to develop a cold about Wednesday, and I've been sneezing and blowing my nose so much that it drives me crazy. (Not that that's a particularly long trip.)

But I did manage to get the light of my life and the delight of my eyes to a garden shop. We of course came home with more than originally planned, but having learned that carnations are perrenials, and being able to buy them already grown in pots, you couldn't ask us to resist that, now could you. (Okay, you could, but we'd just ignore you.)

I was poking through my old Amazon orders this week, looking for something I wanted to order again, and came across an order for the Authors Card Game, which was used to have at the summer cottage when I was growing up. It's basically "Go Fish", except that, instead of using normal playing cards, each card represents one of four books by one of 13 famous authors. Playing that game on rainy days instilled the idea in me that there are certain books that you can't consider yourself to be educated if you haven't read them. (So, Pip, if you're out of books on your "to read" list, there might be some ideas there.) More recently, I've learned that there are similar card games for American Authors, Scientists, Explorers, and more. I've long thought that it would be fun to get several of them. But it was only after joining WikiTree that the thought occurred to me that taking one of those games and making sure that each person listed, has a profile on WikiTree that has sources, a biography, and an image, and is connected to the main tree, might make for a fun mini-project.

What with it being a new month, it's time for me to switch the surnames I'm working on. I made interesting progress with McNairs this month: I added a profile for the father of our "brick wall" McNair ancestor, and then realised that his grandfather was already on WikiTree. So adding and linking that one profile moved that lines "brick wall" back six generations! (W00t!)

Comments

(Argh...this was supposed to be a comment on Pip's post. I switched it, but now it's attached in the wrong place. Sorry...)

Hey Cousin Pip, what a great tribute to your cousin Chester. Sad that he died so young, but it's good that the remains of those soldiers could be reinterred stateside.

King's Mountain. I need to get there too, someday. Not sure if any of my Armistead or Breedlove ancestors fought there...or maybe a Bradley or an Anderson? They were mostly still in Virginia. Will have to dig a little deeper.

It's true! Busy people are the first to jump in when help is needed. Glad you're taking it easy on that shoulder...

Thanks for hosting!

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(Ditto on discussion of King's Mountain...)

Ha! Possibly my 4th great-grandfather John Bradley, with the NC militia. His pension record is a bit vague. More research needed...

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Oh, no, Greg... I already have WAY too many books, including a stack of "to-reads" sitting by my desk and others scattered around the house with bookmarks in them.

Like y'all, whenever we go to a garden center, we end up with more than we originally planned. Most of our is just potting plants, flowers and such, not actual food. No spot to have a garden here at this house.

Congrats on discovering that the brickwall wasn't one after all.

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D, I went and looked at your John Bradley, thinking there might be a connection to my Bradleys, but no.

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I have also posted the month-end report for Wests.

Answer 16

Greetings to all from the mosquito-infested western UP of Michigan. Been dry (extreme fire danger), so not sure why we have clouds of the little boogers! For three nights we zapped as many in the living room as we encountered outside. T thinks he found their entry point, a space around the pipe from the water heater, and applied metal tape, which seems to have helped. It no longer feels like King Theoden under siege at Helm's Deep...;) (If only the bug zapper racquet worked on Orcs, but that'd be a little too close for comfort! Give me a sturdy bow and arrows anytime!)

We are fried. All day Thursday setting up for a garage sale, two days of utter boredom with intermittent visits from only a handful of neighbors, and an exhausting day of packing everything up. We advertised in the paper, had nice stuff, and made a whopping 60 bucks (after paying for the ad). Being 20 miles from town doesn't help either. My arthritic left ankle is still screaming at me, so I spent the better part of 2 days wearing a cam boot and trying not to trip over stuff.

So, keeping this brief. Hitting the hay with a couple Tylenol...just wanted to say hey and hope y'all have a good week...D

Comments

D, I've heard about those mosquitoes up there where you love, the ones that are large enough to carry off cattle. No such ones here, thankfully. We actually rarely see any.

When yard sales happen around here, people show up an hour early while setting up is still going on. Can't keep them away. The last one we had we netted about $250. We'd have been happy with less, just to get rid of all that junk.

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LOL, Pip, I put "no early birds" in the ad, but got 2 guys anyway a little after 9, one of whom bought $9.50 worth of random stuff. The rest of the day and Sunday were mostly deadsville! You never know.

The skeeters and our long winters are what deter many incomers, who would otherwise build McMansions, drive up the tax base, stress the Great Lakes watershed, clog our county roads, and demand a Starbucks and Ikea on every other corner, forgetting why they left Wherever H**lhole in the first place. If the skeeters don't get 'em, just wait for the blackflies! Beautiful place to visit (just don't forget to go home)...;P

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Hahaha! Yeah, that thing... people moving in... same here.