"Welcome to the Weekend Chat!" All Members Invited!! March 29th - 31st, 2024 [closed]

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"Welcome to the Weekend Chat!" All Members Invited!! March 29th - 31st, 2024 [closed]

1.5k views

New Members Saying Hello (our favorite!)

Research and Tips

"On this day..."

Movies & Music

Virtual vacations... Share your photos!

Members Checking in via "All About the Weekend Chat"

Click here if Interested in Hosting the Weekend Chat and earning a Guest Host Sticker?

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!

WikiTree profile: Pip Sheppard

closed with the note: Have a great week!

asked Mar 29 in The Tree House by Pip Sheppard G2G Astronaut (2.7m points)
closed Apr 2 by Pip Sheppard

Show 7 previous comments

Today Tuesday the 2nd April weather forecast.

Early spring storm expected to bring strong winds, rain and the potential for significant snow today through Thursday.

A Colorado low is expected to begin affecting the region today. Precipitation is expected to begin as rain transitioning to snow Wednesday afternoon across the higher terrain along the Niagara Escarpment northwest of the GTA. This is us

The transition to snow across the remainder of the area will occur Wednesday night. The higher terrain through the Oak Ridges Moraine and along the Niagara Escarpment northwest of the GTA is expected to have the highest probability for significant snowfall accumulation.

Strong easterly winds will develop tonight with wind gusts up to 70 km/h, possibly up to 80 km/h for the regions along the shores of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. The winds will ease on Wednesday.

Power outages will be possible. Travel may become hazardous due to accumulating snow and reduced visibility.

I will stay home, play with dead people and perhaps do some spring cleaning.

commented Apr 2 by M Ross G2G6 Pilot (735k points)

35 Answers

Page:

Answer 1 · 2024-03-29T13:28:40+0000

This Week: On this Holiday Weekend, Enjoy A blast from the Past:

Down On The Forum

Sung to the tune of Down on the Farm

Written by Jerry Laseter and Kerry Kurt Phillips
Recorded by American Country Artist Tim McGraw
Released in July 1994 and peaked at number 2 on the US Billboard Hot Country Singles
- Parody by Dave Draper

Here is the Music: Down On The Farm YouTube

Click on the link then come back here, the music should play, and try to sing along!
Or Open the link in a new window
Down on the Forum (pronounced “form")
12 seconds (of red necks talkin’) then…
Every Friday morning we kick up lots of dust
Posting ‘bout our lives and our pick up trucks
Got some music crankin’ way up loud
Got coffee brewed here, drinking it down
They’re posting bout EASTER. But don’t be alarmed
It’s just good ‘ole Wikipeeps getting down on the forum! (pronounced "form")
Ed’s been on a chatin’, ain’t seen his wife all week!
He’s posting up some pictures of a beautiful creek
Farmer Johnson’s daughter shows a pic of her Jeep
Man, she knows how to drive it if ya know what I mean
Old Dave’s (Draper) getting’ loud, but he don’t mean no harm
We’re just good ‘ole Wikipeeps getting down on the forum! (pronounced "form")
You can have a lot of fun when you click on in it.
But there’s a lot of things that’s posted, and there’s no limits!
Ain't no closing time, ain't no cover charge
Just good ‘ole Wikipeeps getting down on the forum! (pronounced "form")
Well, you can come as you are, there ain't no dress code
Just some Weekend Chat rules that you need to know
Don’t post no bull crap! Don’t post nothin’ mean!
Always say “Thank You!” Just say “”Kewl Beans!”
If the wife catches me, I might get just harmed!
We’re just good ‘ole Wikipeeps getting down on the forum!(pronounced "form")
You can have a lot of fun when you click on in it.
But there’s a lot of things that's posted, and there’s no limits!
Ain't no closing time, ain't no cover charge
Just good ‘ole Wikipeeps getting down on the forum! (pronounced "form")
Ain't no closing time, ain't no cover charge
Just good ‘ole Wikipeeps getting down on the forum! (pronounced "form")
Ah, let's get chattin' y'all
Come in: Say “Hey”

More Weekend Chat Parodies HERE!

Answer 2 · 2024-03-29T13:37:42+0000

Happy Easter Weekend from Europe!

Easy days off from work, playing around with some modern software. And connecting some new branches here in between. Loads of leads have been added in the last two years. Great to see how our joint effort really works.

Answer 3 · 2024-03-29T14:14:49+0000

Hi from southern Ontario,

Chez moi/at home: what's been happening? Last week’s snow has melted, crocuses and iris reticulata are blooming, my magnolia has buds, it is a star magnolia that blooms much earlier than the saucer magnolia. The forecast for today is mostly sun and temps of 7 C by lunchtime, I’m not sure I believe that right now the sky is mostly dark clouds, no sun and windy.

I picked up my new or more accurately refurbished glasses yesterday. I had new lenses put in existing frames cost saving about $700.

Starlings are very busy nest building in the stove exhaust vent, while sitting in the kitchen I can hear continual chirping. We have a cover over the outside outlet but sometime over the winter, part of it fell off, after the young leave the nest we will get a new cover, and also clean out the vent and remove all nest debris.

WikiTree and family history: sometimes we should steer away from rabbit holes. I have been updating profiles not edited since late 2020. One profile in particular needed a spouse profile. I knew who the spouse was and looked for sources on FS. That was the start of about 5 or more hours fixing, merging duplicate profiles on FS. It was one of those ‘all people with the same name must be the same person’ situations. One born in Sussex, England in 1813, one born in Yorkshire, England in 1810, another born in Yorkshire in 1821. Two of the three people emigrated to Canada in the 1830s-late 1840s, somehow, they managed to have children born about 6 months apart, some born in Canada, some born in Yorkshire. Plus children born several years before the parents’ marriage and some born after the death of the wife/mother.

The people in the 1800s had some unique talents!

What else: all accommodation is booked for our summer trip to the east coast! We will be staying in the centre of old Québec city, the only walled city in North America for 2 nights.

Answer 4 · 2024-03-29T14:31:23+0000

Top of the morning from ‘Little Dixie’. Yesterday, I spent 6 hours at the Museum talking to myself and the occasional spirit from the battlefield that happened by to thank me for keeping their memory alive and trying to set the record straight. Not one living person came by to increase their knowledge of the history of the Divided States of America.

Time to refocus; back to the border. About twenty years ago, I had a boss that was pretty much a ‘nerd’. I guess he was contagious. An avid reader who made obscure references that the ‘average’ person could not relate to. He was also a civil war buff that loved local history. He retired about 15 years ago after he learned of his cancer diagnosis. After a constant 6 year argument over ‘how’ I should do my job, that conversation came to an abrupt end and our friendship soon followed. We never discussed the civil war again, once he shared his diagnosis. That’s probably a good thing or I would be even a bigger nerd now than I am. Looking back, I told him I would never understood why I was in college before I heard about the border war, Order #11 and any significant information in regard to the Missouri Compromise and Kansas Nebraska Act. He said, ‘they’ don’t want you to know everything, that is for those who read. I’m pretty sure that is where I heard one of my favorite aphorisms from one of my favorite authors, I mean cousins, now that I have read a little more. “A man that doesn’t read is no better off than the man that can’t”. He followed that up with a but, ‘don’t believe everything you read’. When it comes to the border war, I think Mark Twain says it best: "It is easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled" and "I was educated once- it took me years to get over it." I have had to relearn history or at least rethink much of what I was taught. I have come to believe the proverbial line drawn in the sand was the Missouri-kansas border. In September 2011, on the 150th anniversary of the Sacking of Osceola, the Osceola Board of Aldermen passed a resolution asking the University of Kansas to no longer to use "Jayhawk" as its mascot and nickname. Further, the resolution asks Missouri residents to stop spelling Kansas or "KU" with a capital letter because "neither is a proper name or a proper place"

I guess that is why I chew one article at a time and try to digest it before going to the next. William Clark Quantrill was definitely in it to win it and in it for himself. With no military training or experience, he was destined to be a soldier in either army. Wanting fame and fortune, he sought opportunity from the war. He was from Ohio, he nor his family owned slaves. Much conflicting information surrounds his initial involvement and motivation for entering into the war. Organizing the Missouri bushwackers or Kansas redlegs, the bushwackers was easier of the two, and the probably most profitable.

William ‘Bloody Bill’ Anderson William T. Anderson - Wikipedia lived up to his name. Anderson was quoted as being involved in the war, was about the money. Being from Missouri originally, his family moved to Kansas where they contracted to supply the union army with beef. Upon returning from delivering cattle to Fort Leavenworth, Anderson found his dad murdered and his uncle near death hanging from a tree. One version has him joining the union army and killing as many of the men responsible for his father as possible before fleeing to Missouri and joining the bushwackers before joining Quantrill. Another account has him riding with Quantrill two days later.His initial reception by the bushwackers was somewhat cold. He was perceived as brash and overconfident. Anderson was thought to be a thief and of poor character before the war. His father was accused of stealing horses. But, for the work that was to be done as a bushwacker, Anderson was very qualified and duly motivated. As the war trudged along, Anderson’s motivations only grew. He accepted his fate and knew his life would be short lived. The next best known (Infamous) guerilla was a slight, 16 year old farm boy who was said to always smile and be of pleasant disposition even when shooting, slashing or scalping his victims. Little doubt his moniker of ‘Head devil’ and scalper were accurate. Believe it or not, this information has been distorted as to his motivation and when he began such barbarism. Not a lot of information on him before the war except he was young, very young. His farm was looted and burned and little info is known of his family. Archibald Clement, Archie or Little Arch Archie Clement - Wikipedia was my 6c5r through my Dalton/Owen line making him kin through his mom to the Youngers. These personalities made vilification of the bushwackers easy. A friend of mine owns the old Clement farm. Back when he row cropped, he would occasionally roll a stone out of the ground from the Clements’ old foundation. This information is verified by several local history buffs from the area. Duncan Hanson, Jim White, Cindy Taylor and Carolyn Bartels, all authors of local history. A family cemetery is there but headstones are few and unreadable.

To be continued....

Answer 5 · 2024-03-29T14:33:06+0000

The raid on Lawrence is often described/distorted as the worst of all atrocities along the border. This action occurred during the war. The dozen or so Missouri towns that suffered the same fate were pre war and civilians. If not for the raid on Lawrence, more often referred to as the Lawrence Massacre, I believe most of the history of these men, and others, would have been largely forgotten or ignored. How better to cover up what motivated them, than by not talking about the men who sought revenge. I will bite and refer to Lawrence as a Massacre as 150-180 military aged men and boys were killed. The ‘official’ history states that they were all unarmed. This is incomprehensible. Why would a military town, a town of about 3,000 people, along the Kansas-Missouri border have no weapons yet, have 150-200 military aged men? Did women outnumber men 25 to one? If all civilians, why no military? Granted, many of those killed were green recruits and never saw a battle and some of the others may have been above the military age for conscription into the union army but, they wouldn’t have been if in the confederate army. By then, the war of attrition was in full swing and the north was simply going to outman and outgun the confederacy. By suspending the parole system, the confederate army was far more impacted than the union. Overcrowding and starvation among prisoners, on both sides of the war, reached epic proportion that paralleled concentration camps of WWII. For the inquiring mind, Wakarusa War - Wikipedia gives the history of Lawrence Ks (named after Amos A. Lawrence) an abolitionist who funded much of the border war from Massachusetts, ironically with money he made on commission from the distribution of cotton goods thereby, from slave labor. Also of interest, Beecher's Bibles - Wikipedia

Jim Lane Bushwhackers, Jayhawks, and Red Legs: Missouri's Guerrilla War and Doc Jennison Charles R. Jennison - Wikipedia both called Lawrence home. During the ‘massacre’, Lane was able to escape into the corn fields and avert certain death. Jennison was not there. Approximately 80 buildings burned that day. Most were homes of known military men and a couple of buildings used to house printing presses used to disseminate abolitionist propaganda/information. Some reports read no Quantrill men killed to help reflect the report of unarmed men being murdered. Another report claimed as many as 40 Quantrill men killed while another report claimed one shot with an arrow. If 30-40 of the total killed that day were Quantrill men, that would make110-140 or 150 kansans dead, I hesitate to call anyone a civilian who was of military age on either side of the border in 1863. Bloody Bill was heard to claim 13-14 killed. Three other men claimed to have killed more. If this is halfway accurate, 4 of Quantrill’s men could have been responsible for about half of all those killed. An estimated 400-450 men rode to Lawrence that day which means the majority of the men only participated in the burning and looting. All reports are consistent that no women were killed or violated, Quantrill was known to have killed his own men for such transgressions. Even Bill Anderson’s men reacted negatively towards him, later in the war ,when Anderson killed a woman during a battle. A minimum of three probable motivations existed for this raid. https://martincitytelegraph.com/2017/08/25/the-collapse-of-a-womens-prison-154-years-ago-led-to-the-bloody-lawrence-massacre/

Collapse of the Union Women’s Prison in Kansas City

Sacking of Osceola - Wikipedia

and it was a staging area for raids into Missouri and the home of Jim Lane. Lawrence was also a known fencing operation to resell stolen property from Missouri.

In closing this week’s ” Rethinking History”- fun facts to know and forget, I have revisited the execution of Mary Surratt Mary Surratt - Wikipedia. Like the women in the prison collapse, was she guilty of any real crime or guilty by association? 5 of the 9 judges at her trial (military tribunal) (judicial branch, one of the checks and balance of power) recommended clemency so why/how did executive branch supersede this decision? I know that the three branches pertain to the operation of the government but, why the tribunal if their decision was to be ignored. I have to assume the judges were all Union men on the tribunal. These are the kind of questions that made me flunk history classes in high school and made me hesitate to ask in college.

Now for some genealogy. I checked and I am not related to Mary Surratt, I don’t want people to think I am biased. Having said that, her son John did marry my 4c4r Mary Hunter. Mary Surratt's mother? Susannah Key Scott, making Mary Surratt and Francis Scott Key 2c7r. Coincidentally, same as my connection to Francis. How unpatriotic can she be, right? My neighbor’s grandfather is a Surratt and is said to be a great grandson of John and Mary Surratt. Who said history should be boring?

Answer 6 · 2024-03-29T14:49:39+0000

My interests, in machinery, had me looking into the history of metal lathes, to familiarize myself with the dates and people involved. Upon finding a very early apprentice and noting his grandsons had ventured into marine vessels and automobiles, I investigated how I might be connected to these people, as well as, engine designers and some auto racing record holders, one of whom, I remembered as an English racer marrying an American heiress at Daytona, but try as I might could not find him on WikiTree......at that moment Kathy appeared at my elbow and inquired if I was lost, to which I responded, that I was winding my way out of the computer. Finally, I put in his wife's name and there he was, married to the granddaughter of the originator of the Watkins Company in Winona, MN., and how did I connect......Kathy's 7C6R. I tracked Kathy down and asked her why she didn't tell me......her immediate answer was......you didn't ask.

answered Mar 29 by John Thompson G2G6 Pilot (353k points)

Answer 7 · 2024-03-29T15:17:56+0000

Howdy folks! Greetings from a blustery central Oklahoma USA! Right now the wind is 15-25 mph, with gusts up to 40 mph expected this afternoon. Yesterday was perfect. Temps in the 70s, no wind, and sunny. I got all of the mowing done, and was too tired to till the garden. That will have to wait. It is time to plant, so we are getting excited about that!

We are celebrating Easter tomorrow with Brook's family and mine. We'll be having lunch at a restaurant in OKC with Brook's crew. Then my kids are coming over later in the afternoon. That means the grandgirl is coming over!! She has started walking, so we'll see how the Easter egg hunt in the front yard goes. I'll be cooking a couple of tri tips, sauteed mushrooms, and potatoes. Should be a lot of fun!!

Genealogy wise I haven't found any earth shattering news this week. Just Ranger and Greeter duty.

Thanks Pip for being the host with the most, and I hope everyone who celebrates has a Happy Easter!

Until next time.....

John

Answer 8 · 2024-03-29T15:19:54+0000

Huh. This weekend chat ends just before "Abandon Internet Day". Whew. One of these days we'll have a Weekend chat on April Fool's Day and I will trick you all! HAHAHAHAHA! No I won't. ;)

Hails and horns, Wikipeeps!

I hope everyone had a great week. It's currently raining here in Salem. We've been getting a lot of cloudy weather. That's normal for this time of year.

On the genealogy front, I posted a blog about worship and how various Catholic churches in Haverhill merged to become the All Saints Church: https://allroadhaverhill.blogspot.com/2024/03/52-ancestors-week-13-worship.html

I wish I had a pic of Saint Rita's. But, my Google fu failed me. In fact, I thought I found one pic but then Malwarebites informed me of a potential virus. That...wouldn't have been a good prize.

I guess it was inevitable that the parishes all combined. Church attendance was low in the 1990s. So the Archdiosese decided to merge 'em together.

In other news, a Penta cousin told me he was going to be going to Italy for a few weeks and he asked me if I needed anything. I said pics would be good. He's going to Grottaminarda, the place where the Pentas came from. I am hoping that he finds something out.

I had help opening this profile: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/D%27Agosto-8

I noticed it was blacked out. I needed to connect him to his parents who were already on Wikitree. The way I am connected to him is kinda complicated. His sister Julia was married to a guy nameed Joseph Francesco Medaglia. Joseph's mother was a Gullo and was from San Pietro a Maida. My great-aunt has DNA matches from that couple.

No word from San Pietro, yet. But, it'll happen when it happens. =D

On the non genealogy front, we got stuff ready for Easter. Just some low key stuff. Lamb and an Italian dish called pizzagaina. It's basically a pie with ricotta cheese and bits of ham in it. That's the best way to describe it. No easter bread this year because the last time we had it the eggs were kinda gross.

I put some stuff on Ebay last weekend and man alive they're flying off the shelves. I put some old collectibles up and two lots are going for 150 bucks. That's....amazing. One person did try to stop the auction by asking me to close and relist so she could win. That was dishonest. I said "nope" and hadn't heard from her since. People online are weird.

Aside from that, I hope everyone has a great weekend! Stay dry out there!

Answer 9 · 2024-03-29T15:22:21+0000

Virtual Vacation!

Winter 2013 was miserable, too cold, too much snow. On the 1st of April we drove to South Carolina, over 2 days. The day 1 drive was gloomy with lots of cloud and snow. The next day we arrived in Beaufort to sun and warm weather. Three days later we were in Charleston, it was a memorable visit, it rained for the entire time we were there, and we had the unique experience of having our mini-van die most of the way to the top of a multi-storey parking garage.

To make the whole experience more memorable both of us had left our phones at the hotel. We walked around historic Charleston looking for a pay phone in pouring rain so we could call AAA, and ran out of coins, then begged at the tourist information centre to use their phone, the answer was no, eventually the person said they would call on our behalf. The description given of the person needing help and waiting outside the building was ' a Canadian wearing a hat'.

The AAA people were marvelous. They managed to find us with the description given, dragged the van down through the various levels of the parking garage, drove us back to the hotel, fixed the car and then picked us up 2 days later so we could get the car. Then we went to Fort Moultrie.

Fort Moultrie is a series of fortifications on Sullivan's Island, South Carolina, built to protect the city of Charleston, South Carolina. Fort Moultrie began as a Revolutionary War defense before being transformed into a secondary Confederate bastion during the Civil War.

You can see how cloudy it was. The low lying shape in the centre top of the picture is I believe Fort Sumpter.

The church in the background looks very interesting, we didn't have time to visit it. We had spent an extra day in Charleston due to the car repairs and needed to get going.

It is one of the oldest still-standing forts along the Eastern Seaboard. The fort is a low-lying coastal structure bordering beaches on the southern tip of Sullivan's Island. The first fort was constructed of palmetto logs and sand. A second Fort Moultrie was built and lasted from 1798 until a hurricane destroyed it in 1804. The current fort was built of brick, and was constructed on Sullivan's Island by 1809. After the 1861 beginning of the Civil war federal troops left Fort Moultrie for the safety(?) of Fort Sumter. By February 1865 both Forts Moultrie and Sumter were in ruins. Over the next several years Fort Moultrie was expanded and additional defenses were built. It was also modified during WW 2.

Today the fort has been restored to show all the stages in its history from the site of the palmetto-log fort of 1776 to the camouflaged Harbor Entrance Control Post of World War 2. It is now a National Park. This is the parking lot with various cannon along the road in.

Answer 10 · 2024-03-29T15:57:59+0000

Finally beautiful weather after weeks of nothing but rain! Just in time for baseball season! Hubby is taking the older daughter to a game Sunday afternoon post-bunny and egg activities. We are lucky enough to have the farm team for the Orioles here, the Norfolk Tides. It is nice to go out to Harbor Park and watch them. It's right on the water, sometimes the tugboats come right up to the back of the ballpark and toot their horns after the national anthem plays.

     Grateful to have a bit of a break (no scouts while school is out, the kids have off for spring break starting this afternoon) so I will finally have time to prepare their awards for the big graduation/crossover ceremony. Each scout gets a ceremonial arrow with stripes painted to reflect all their advancements and achievements earned over the cub scout years.

     Genealogy has been mostly building out Appalachian family lines for some of our members (trying to help them get their 1K cc7 badge) and making profiles for the Vicksburg National Cemetery soldiers. I am glad the Civil War project is making Vicksburg a two month challenge because I didn't get as far as I wanted with it in March. The month just flew right on past me!

      May everyone have a blissful weekend full of family and friends.

Answer 11 · 2024-03-29T17:44:13+0000

Viernes Santo, Good Friday to you all.

Thunder yesterday, then sun. A priest came on short notice for the Tenebrae and foot washing ceremony (yes, my husband was one of the twelve men). Then word comes that the toilets are backed up. This must have kept several people from staying as long as they intended for the devotion after Mass.

Trying to figure out what our itinerary will be in Oregon later in April. We'll have almost a week. Time to start making phone calls, find out who I can talk to at the Linn County Historical Museum in Brownsville. I have charge of the Brownsville OPS. I plan to take lots of pictures for the OPS. Don't know what the museum is like now. Used to be in an old Southern Pacific caboose.

Daughter wants to go to the Oregon Dunes on the coast near Florence. That will be the sub-trip that the rest of the vacation revolves around. I have never been to that part of the coast. My grandfather taught school in little towns between Eugene and Florence.

This week I connected Franco Harris of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Not as easy as Cliff Branch, but easier than Walter Payton. Finding census records in 1900 and 1910 for a family whose surname was spelled in head-scratching ways was the breakthrough.

Today includes Stations of the Cross, the Mass of the Presanctified, and a trip to buy dog food (we are down to one can). Husband would like to bring Billy on vacation with us. If I can make daughter see how it would help the family, I think I can bring her around.

Have a blessed Easter, everyone.

Answer 12 · 2024-03-29T17:46:10+0000

Hi from Amersfoort, Nederland!

Travelling around my home-ccountry while the weather is most of the time fine, quite fresh and windy, but since our start last sunday we managed to leave our umbrellas closed.

Yesterday was our real family reunion day. My sister invited for her 80th birthday 80 guests, family and friends.

So we met my 2 sisters, my brother-in-law, their 6 children and our 3 children, the 10 grandchildren of my elder sister, and cousins from our fathers side, only one out of 10 cousins of mothers side(!).

My oldest younger cousin found a foto from 1965 with all 7 grandchildren of our paternal grandparents. That was at the 55th wedding day of my grandparents (I have still one year to go to reach 55 wedding years).

So we made a new foto with all 7, only 59 years later in the same setting.

Now our small family, all united in the Netherlands from Switzerland and China together will visit the windmills of Kinderdijk.

Today, 20 years ago I made it to obtain the Swiss nationality next to my Dutch citizenship which I could keep. So I have a double 'Heimat' - still feeling a Dutchman but also being an active member of the Swiss society.

No time for genealogy left over. Just for 10 days committed to the living relatives.

Answer 13 · 2024-03-29T18:03:33+0000

Checking in from Bloomington, Illinois, USA 65F Sunny Great Day!

Home Front: Almost 4 weeks no work from 2 part time jobs!

Genealogy Front: Spent 24/7 on WikiTree because of the "Home Front"

Currently at 2866 contributions for March, 67367 Total (remember I was stuck on 66,666 last week, which was sooooo unholy, whew, I moved on!

Joined the Newt Team as a coach, (old news from last week) However I have polished my Cheet Sheat to help the "Newts" get up to speed.

All may share: If you do not use WikiTree Sourcer, or don't know how to use it fully, I have a complete picture tutorial with set up instructions, a video on how to find people in Find-A-Grave by Amy Crow, among other things.

It took a long time to put this "Cheat Sheet together, so I want to share it with all. Suggestions welcome for improvement. Private message me, thanks!

Here is the link: Dave's Cheat Sheet for the 2024 Connect-A-Thon

Bonus Material: It took over an hour of Photo Shop time to remove the photographer's name that crossed the entire middle of this picture. This is my wife and me with 9 of the grandkids. We were waiting for the other two (3 year olds) to stop crying when the one sitting on my lap pinched me (right between the legs) just as the photographer snapped the photo! (Yeah, it hurt, for a while!)

Have a SAFE & Great Weekend!

Answer 14 · 2024-03-29T18:08:24+0000

Hello from Medford Oregon:

Today the sunshine is out for a while.

So far everyone in the household is improving healthwise. Have had some excitement over the last couple of weeks with my veteran friend and his family across the road. His wife went in a couple of weeks ago with covid. She came home but now has stomach issues, and is unable to eat so sent to the hospital by ambulance again.

I put flags out in their yard for the Holidays. Gary is a veteran. They are both in the late 80's.

This month has been hard to get much sourcing done. I am aiming for 50 at present and then maybe get the 100.

Some good challenges going on and helping as I can.

Working on a special project with a couple others and had a time for chat and had o cancel, I got one of the bad migraines. Presently they appear they are brought on from the stress of caregiving three in my family. However Danny is improving just slower than he hoped.

Happy Easter to all the celebrate it. Friends are getting together tonight to do a pre-easter celebration dinner.

Answer 15 · 2024-03-29T19:53:02+0000

Hello again from North East England, my 4th update. Thank you Pip for hosting us all, every week.

Last weekend I made my first freespace page, and announced it in G2G and it was very well received. I basically stole it from the fabulous Olympics project, to provide an index of football managers who should have Wikitree profiles. The few that already do are now easy to find in one place, and there's a list of all the other UK international managers, League winners and cup winners who can be researched. I've made new profiles for three Scottish managers already - including Sir Matt Busby of Manchester United - using this page (fully connected, of course), and I've found connecting pathways for the first manager to win the English League, William Sudell of Preston, and George Ramsay who won 6 titles with Aston Villa. The long and tedious part is building all the intermediate profiles, which I'll get round to eventually unless some kind soul does me a big favour!

I'm not putting links in for all those people, just use my index page!

Anyway I realised this approach is actually a lot more informative and helpful than just making a new category. I think in many cases an index page is a better way to "sort" people in categories than creating ever more niche subcategories. It can also be used as a checklist for who already has a profile and a prompt who needs to be researched or connected.

So I made three more freespace pages, without any announcement this time. One is an index of football clubs with their most famous managers and players. The second is a dedicated page for one specific football club - because I'm a big Newcastle fan but also as a template to encourage other people to make pages for the clubs they love. And the third was for football people that aren't associated with clubs - the referees, administrators, agents and broadcasters.

The index pages show up in football-related categories. The club page I've only linked from the Football Club index page, because I don't want the index buried in amongst dozens of club pages. We'll see how long that lasts...

Anyway I'm quite happy with the set-up, hopefully other people who love football and genealogy (not huge crossover appeal, admittedly) will pick up the baton and run with it.

I haven't totally abandoned my TV people, I added Z Cars star Frank Windsor today and I'm still digging into his TV partner Stratford Johns, who was born in South Africa. My current modest goal is to try and ensure that all the TV programmes that have categories at least have their lead actors profiled and connected, if possible.

When I first found all the categories I was a bit bemused that there were so many shows I hadn't heard of. But that doesn't mean they weren't popular in their day. There's a TV channel here in the UK I keep finding myself drawn to called Talking Pictures TV which mostly has old films from the 30s and 40s, but occasionally shows old TV dramas from the 1950s and 60s too. And many of them are the mystery shows from the categories! I've now seen bits of Gideon's Way and Public Eye and I've seen The Plane Makers listed too. I'm quite chuffed that I recognised a young Ray Brooks (living) as one of the actors in the episode of Gideon's Way I saw.

There are still categories that need filling up. Wycliffe - 1 entry and it's not Jack Shepherd (living). The Strauss Family - 1 entry. Robin of Sherwood - 1 entry. That show is from the 1980s, most of the lead cast - Michael Praed, Jason Connery, Ray Winstone, Clive Mantle - are still alive. Gimme Gimme Gimme - 1 entry - is even more recent! There are a couple of others still with 1 entry too, even after all the actors I've IMDB blitzed.

I'm sure (for the older shows anyway) lots of the actors who appeared in them have profiles, it's just they have not been categorised. I'll keep nibbling at the edges and they'll fill up over time.

I built and connected a profile for Ronald Searle, the cartoonist behind the original St Trinian's cartoons (long before they became movies). He had quite an interesting life. I recommend you read his Wikipedia page, whoever wrote the Wikitree biography did a terrible job!

I also connected up Frankie Howerd, the Up Pompeii and Carry On actor (and St Trinian's for that matter).

But no, mainly football managers this week.

Have a happy Easter everyone!

Answer 16 · 2024-03-30T03:07:39+0000

Greetings from Texas! Weather has been nice but today was super windy. We will be in the 80'sF on Sunday with clouds so it will feel "muggy".

We just got our hot water supply restored late yesterday after 3 weeks of working around the absence of any hot water. I have memories of my grandparent's house - boiling kettle on the stove for scalding the dishes in the sink and, let's not forget the #3 tub and hauling the water to fill it for baths! We were not reduced to quite that level here but I did heat water to rinse the dishes. Fortunately, our clubhouse has showers so we took advantage of those.

I am not feeling well and had to visit the doctor today but I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Easter! We will be having dinner at our elder daugter's on Sunday and I will take the required potato salad - one of my favorites!

Have a lovely weekend!

Answer 17 · 2024-03-30T04:44:50+0000

Well it is a cool cloudy day here in Christchurch, New Zealand on Easter Saturday. People are doing their usual crazy shopping as shops were shut yesterday (Good Friday) and will be shut tomorrow as well (Easter Sunday).

Got all my Global Project countries up and running now and starting to ask for people to join. Did my first two countries of would-you-like-to-join-the-fiji-project and Would-you-like-to-join-the-kiribati-project . Still have Singapore, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palua, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu to create G2G posts for them.

Answer 18 · 2024-03-30T04:59:36+0000

Autumn in my home city of Melbourne, Victoria is a wonderful time....especially today (Saturday). There are blus skies as far as the eye can see. Happy WikiTree'ing peoples.

sláinte is táinte

Answer 19 · 2024-03-30T09:44:57+0000

On this day:

1746: The Spanish painter Francisco Goya is born

1853: The Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh is born

1964: The American singer Tracy Chapman is born. Happy Birthday!

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"Welcome to the Weekend Chat!" All Members Invited!! March 29th - 31st, 2024 [closed]

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35 Answers

This Week: On this Holiday Weekend, Enjoy A blast from the Past:

Down On The Forum

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