WHAT DID THEY SNACK ON IN POMPAEII ? ARCHEOLOGY MAY INSPIRE YOUR NEW YEARS FEAST...

 that is if you like goat and snails.

This article explores what archeology is telling us.  The people who lived there before Vesuvius erupted did SNACK but they sure didn't have chips.

DAILY MAIL = 2000 YEARS AGO POMPEII SNACKED article by Ian Randall.  Great images of painted frescos.

A thermopolium was a snack bar.

"Painstaking excavations revealed a multi-sided serving counter with wide holes in its top surface that held deep vessels for hot foods much like might be seen in present day buffet and salad bars.

CHRISTMAS MAGIC SPELL

FOR ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE LOST YOUR BELOVED DOG THIS PAST YEAR

Beautiful video...  YOUTUBE NARRATED NDE PET STORIES

MERRY WOOF WOOF!

 

TILL WE MEET AGAIN IN THE NEW YEAR

Friends, I'm taking a little blogging break for the Holidays but promise you I will be back in the New Year.

This past year the big news was the release of the 1950 census. I'm still tangling with it a bit and love that it held some surprises.  What discoveries will we make in the coming months?  What mysteries will we solve?

In the New Year there will be a number of excellent books I'll be telling you about and recommending you read too. It's my hope that we will all maintain our sense of adventure about our research.

If you have any books or other materials that you would like me to know about, please use the Comments Feature to leave me a message.  I read all comments before publication and if you do NOT want me to publish your message to me, just say so and I will respect that.

I'm also open to some questions.  If you are blocked in some way, please leave as detailed a comment as you can explaining where you are in your research.

I'm always seeking resources that are new or that I don't know about. I'm sure that even as the big genealogy database companies load more and more on there is plenty more that one must find using older, pre-Internet methods.  I meet people who do not know that you can call an archive or even a library local to your ancestor's location to see what they may hold in special collections. If you are determined you seek it all.

Wishing you some Relaxation and Rejuvenation!

Christine

HOW THE COLONIAL AMERICANS KEPT WARM IN THE WINTER? HARDLY!

Loved this article!  NOVA PARKS PDF FILE On COLONIAL AMERICANS IN WINTER

It's part of the Carlyle Connection newsletter.

Items in the house frozen solid?  Closing the shutters?  As you contemplate a winter of unaffordible heating, consider...

that

"In addition to keeping active, people wore thick layers of woolen clothing and often slept in them along with flannel night shirts and caps on the coldest nights.  Most people, including the wealthy, went to bed in unheated bed chambers."

****

Wear your beanie cap to bed.  Most of the heat in your body goes out through your head!

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GARDEN RAILROAD SOCIETY - A NETWORK OF OUTDOOR TRAIN LAYOUT ENTHUSIASTS

Trains are so much part of American history.  Many of you may remember setting up a toy train under a Christmas tree, or perhaps having a more elaborate set up in the attic or basement of your home.  Well, I learned that there are also train enthusiasts who set up in their yards!  They also set up at some historical site events and public gardens.  They are the SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RAILROAD SOCIETY

http://www.socalgrs.org/  They network with train enthusiasts all over - other states - even cold weather places - and have conventions.  Just look at some of the photos here showing their work and you can see why having a model train set up in nature takes the hobby to a new level.  South Coast Botonical Garden,  the Santa Village in Mission Viejo -  and who knows, maybe your own special event in your own back yard.

HOBO'S ODDYSSEY by SAM HOBRECKER : ANCESTRY WORSHIP - GENEALOGY BOOK REVIEW

I highly recommend this memoir for those of you who are interest in The Great Depression, Prohibition, Organized Crime, trains and train travel, and well, hobos.  Transients who often grabbed a free ride, lived in 'jungles' (encampments), often went from one "gig" job after another, were called hobos. Author Sam Hobrecker's story is that of a teenager who followed the work.  After his mother died and his father remarried, Sam found his step-mother to be controlling and mean. He took off and learned to hop trains which proved to be death defying. Though he often went to a household or farm begging for work in exchange for food, he also did stints of hard labor with other men. This is a coming of age story also. There are some rather humorous parts of the story, but overall, you can feel what it was like to live with three days of hunger and take the risks. The part that I was not expecting is the third, when he finds himself involved with people who were criminals, mostly bootleggers, and attached to organized crime in Chicago.  He finds himself of service at a boardinghouse and farm on the outskirts of the city where the mobsters and their girlfriends take respite or hide-out.

Here is what it says on the back of the book. "Although I was the main actor, the true heroes of this tory are the American People.  Our common enemy was the time in which we lived.  The Great Depression.  Our only goal was survival.  My purpose in writing this book is to show future generations how we lived and survived with  grace and courage - a factual story too real to let die without being told.

I leave you with one dramatic excerpt from page 116:

By now it was almost dark and the rain was starting to fall.  The temperature was dropping fast and we were still climbing.  We close the door and lit a five-hour plumber's candle that I had in my coat pocket. Tearing off some of the heavy brown paper that lined the lower half of the boxcar, we made a pad from several layers and laid it on the floor. We then twisted a long strip around into a teepee, and also wrapped paper around like a blanket.

We sat cross-legged in the teepee with the candle between us. I am sure the lighted candle gave off a little heat, but its warm yellow glow was comforting. Looking upward I said, "I hope they made it up to the engine."  Ron (his temporary traveling companion) closed his eyes and shuddered.

Hours later we felt the couplings jam together as the head engine slacked off preparing to stop.  The screech of the steel brake shoes against the wheels indicated we had passed the summit and were heading down grade into lower altitudes.  It took both of us to pry the door open; it had frozen shut.  As the train came into a shuddering stop, we jumped from the car into a lighted rail yard.

The awesome sight that met our eyes as we turned to look back at the train seemed unreal.  The train, almost a mile long, was now a glacial-like mound of glistening ice.  Ice, two or three inches thick, covered all exposed surfaces of the boxcars. We must have passed though a massive sleet storm as we crawled over the mountains pass. Cascades of curved icicles hung beneath the cars, extending to within inches of the rail bed, completely obliterating the sight of the wheels and understructure. The long wall of glistening ice standing silently beneath the lights of the rail yard seemed to belong to another world. The only evidence of reality was the half-opened door of the boxcar we had just jumped out of. 

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LOVE LETTERS, RINGS, WREATHS, SINGLE ROSES, and CURSES FOUND IN THE MUD

Excerpt from page 29:  Some people commit their troubles to the river in a more tangible way by physically throwing them in and letting the water take them away.  The more modern flotsam and jetsam that washes up on the foreshore can sometimes feel quite intrusive.  I have found prayers and curses, remembrance wreaths, single roses, love letters, torn-up photographs, and wedding and engagement rings.  They are all windows unto private moments and uncomfortable evidence of unhappiness.  In many ways, I dread these encounters.  They make me feel uneasy, as though I am riffling through  personal possessions or eavesdropping on a stranger's life. It is a very different feeling from finding an old object that belonged to someone long ago. There is a chance the owners of these objects are still alive and that they threw them into the river in the belief that the water would swallow their problems up and make them disappear for ever.  They thought they were throwing them into a private space; they didn't consider scavengers like me.

(Sometimes she throws such items back into the river.)

If you want to read about the 17th century pub tokens Lara Maiklem has found and how the pubs and owners of the tokens can be identified... apparently there is a lot on the internet about this!  Can you imagine having a pub owner ancestor and being able to own his token!)

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THANKS!

Thanks for reading ANCESTRY WORSHIP Genealogy.  

It's my labor of love, my way to share, but it's also real nice to know that 

people are reading and finding the information I present interesting and useful!

THANKSGIVING : TIME TO RECORD FAMILY MEMORIES

There is never a better time than NOW.  

If you can, record the interview.  

If interview is too intimidating a word, have instead a lovely chat.

Tell me about your childhood...

What is your earliest memory?

When did you start school?

Where did you go to school?

What  where your favorite subject(s)? Least favorite?

Teachers?

Did you like school?  

What games did you play?

When you were five, what did you want to do when you grew up?

Do you have any hobbies or interests that began in your childhood?

Tell me about your parents...

.....

MUDLARK BY LARA MAIKLEM : ANCESTRY WORSHIP BOOK REVIEW

This book was unexpectedly fascinating and satisfying so I'm recommending it for all of you who are interested in the history of England, London, the Thames River - or want to learn more about what mudlarking is all about.

Maiklem is a mudlark, a person who is obsessed with finding objects in the river mud as the Thames River's tides change and bits and pieces of history are embedded or washed ashore. Her knowledge must include a study of the river, it's history of changing route as well as what structures and events have occurred through time which influence where to look. There is so much treasure to find, especially as one hones their eye and their knowledge of the very antique, and as a citizen archeologist of sorts, Maiklem does find so much. Pipes, holy objects, hand made buttons, hairpins, and trading beads.  Bricks from Tudor buildings, a variety of bottles from wine and ale to witch.  Medieval weaponry, rings that can still be worn, and objects that Romans left behind.

And of course, besides the excitement of the find and the expert's declarations, what is most satisfying for Maiklem is that recognition that there is a person and a story attached to every item.  Some of these stories she must imagine but others, because of identifying information on the piece, can be attached to documented persons.  (And perhaps most touching is her find of shoes that still have the impressions of the person who once wore them - their toes.

Page 81 Excerpt:  That week and the following one were busy, so it was some time before I got round to sorting and cleaning what I'd found that day, and it wasn't until I'd taken everything out of my finds bag that I remembered the little black ring, which was caught in a gritty seam at the bottom. I turned it in my fingers and held it up to the light. With my glasses on I could see more clearly and, on the inside, I could make out some letters.  The style of the engraving made me think the ring could be quite old after all.  I felt a tinge of excitement and grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil.  Some letters were completely tarnished over, but I wrote down the ones I could read; "H-PE X I - IV - IN'.  It was like solving an anagram, with missing letters, which wasn't easy, but slowly I worked out what was missing and rearranged the words so that they made sense" 'I LIVE IN HOPE X." A posy ring!

A posy ring is a ring inscribed with a short sentimental expression, or 'posy,' from the Middle English word for poetry.  They became popular around the fourteenth century and were given by either partner at any stage of the relati0onship and the inscriptions, both French and English, were usually concerning love, friendship, and loyalty: God Made Us Two One', In They Breast My Heart Doth Rest', "Love Never Dies Where Virtue Lies.' ....

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PRINCESS WITH SHIELD - ARMORY

 

THE ANGEL LAILAH

 

EXCERPT Page 65

This is when I came across a beautiful teaching in the Babylonian Talmud that seemed to make perfect sense.  According to this medieval Jewish text, the angel Lailah lives in the womb and watches over the embryo until it is time to be born.  The angel teaches the unborn child everything there is to know about the mysteries of life and his or her own soul.  When the time comes for the child to be born, the angel Lailah puts her finger in front of her own mouth as if to say, "shhh," and then presses the upper lip of the child so all the memories are forgotten.  According to the mouth, the light touch on the child's lip leaves a small indentation above the lip called a philtrum, which is something we all have. I started to think that perhaps the angel Lailah just hadn't pressed quite hard enough on some children's lip's, and this is why they had come into their current life bearing soul memories.

PATRIOTISM IS VOTING

 

THE BOY WHO KNEW TOO MUCH by CATHY BYRD : ANCESTRY WORSHIP BOOK REVIEW

This is the rare story of reincarnation in the American and Christian context.  Author Cathy Byrd is the mother of a son who very young was obsessed with baseball.  He wanted to wear uniforms every day and play baseball constantly. The photo on the cover is her son, who became the first child to pitch the first ball for a game at Dodger's Stadium in Los Angeles, and became a honorary Dodger.

She, like many parents whose children start talking strangely about having been an adult, dismissed her son's obsessions and communications.  Bit by bit the story unfolds and part of that story is how she as a Christian was admonished by friends and finally sought out a Christian minister that she could trust to talk about it with.

For those of us who think there is something to reincarnation and do not think there should be a conflict with Christianity, my opinion is that is too sad. 

The only way to 'prove' something that is part of a belief that millions of not-Christian people have on this is to listen, take notes, do research, and see how much an innocent child reports is correct. Byrd does a convincing job of this.

Her son remembers a life as baseball great Lou Gehrig (1903 -1941) who died young of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a neuromuscular disease that became familiar to Americans as 'Lou Gehrig's Disease." 

(According to Carol Bowman (not part of this book) most of the children who report past lives in the West seem to have died deaths that were not peaceful. In Gehrig's case, his death was untimely because he was relatively young and had much more to do. 

Just to make things more interesting, there is a possibly that Cathy Byrd is also the incarnation of Lou's mother. She learns by researching out to people who knew Lou and his mother that no one told Lou the truth that he was going to die.

Thumbs up on this one!

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Book Review - all rights reserved.

I SEE DEAD PEOPLE : INTERVIEWS WITH DYING PEOPLE

I'm hooked on TED Talks....

ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY BLOGSPOT

ENTERING INTO THE HOLIDAYS

Ancestry Worship - Genealogy

MAUSOLEUM

 image from Graphics Fairy

With the cost of funerals and burials rising, 

I wonder how many people can afford to build expensive mausoleums like this.

A TOUR OF THE ALTHORP ESTATE GRAVEYARD (PRINCESS DIANA SPENCER's FAMILY) : IS THE ISLAND REALLY HER GRAVE?

 I had no idea there was a possibility that Princess Diana, the mother of Prince William and Prince Harry, may not be buried on the island on her family estate.  But while watching videos after the death of Queen Elizabeth II I found this video.  I had thought about how her grave might not be water resistant, though there are probably ways to make it so.  Well, take the tour because there is a church, Saint Mary;s, first built in about 1200  I don't have a problem with the Memorial because it's carved wood rather than real marble. Nineteen generations of the Spencer family buried in their private chapel area....

Dead Good Walks is the poster.

A MODERN OBITUARY FOR AN UNMARRIED CHILDLESS MAN : CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF A NMNK

The unmarried and childless are often enough forgotten on genealogy charts and in family histories, despite the fact that it is also often those persons who were available to other family members when needed for child care, parental care, and financial help too. The Never Married No Kids person, without the obligation towards a spouse or offspring, is sometimes the person who is gets an education or moves away and has time to develop a career when others in the family have joined the status quo of married with children and the work-a-day world. 

I make every effort to include NMNK people in my charts and stories. Perhaps the brother of grandma is not one's genetic line but perhaps he was the one who cared for her when their parents died.  Great Aunt may have been called a spinster in her time and maybe she was lesbian or had been raped as a girl and had no interest in men. Or maybe cousin Honor was mentally slow but she was very much part of the family. Whatever the case, it was Great Aunt who hosted the Thanksgiving Family Reunions and always had some advice for a niece or nephew. We really do need to celebrate their lives too.

I recently came across an obituary in a sea of Covid-related obituaries of a young man and rejoiced in the wording of this tome.  It is so far distanced from the usual obituary that is either matter of fact or dripping in religious sentimentality and wording.

I'm changing the names and some of the details here but goes:

*****

SMITH, David John

David John Smith, 54, actor, traveler, educator, of Los Angeles, passed away Monday, January 3rd, 2022.  He was graduate of Valley College and UCLA.  He went on to earn an MFA in Theatre at the University if Michigan and later in life earned a Masters in Education.  Acting was his love from a very early age.  He performed on stage from the time he was in kindergarten and moved into film in adulthood. David began teaching in Los Angeles and took great joy in teaching children and taking part in shaping their lives for the future.  David loved his fur babies and will be reunited with his puggies,  Pretty, Spot, and Rover and many other furry friends he had through the years.  David leaves behind his parents,  John and Mary Smith, his sister, Nancy Jones, and his nephew Jack all of Detroit, Michigan, his dear friends Matty Johnson, Annie Mayer, Larry Larson, and Derik Shapiro, his kitty, Samson, and many close friends all over the world. A memorial service will be held at a later date.

*****

The original obit included a nice photo of the man who had recently passed away.

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SOLDIER FROM BATTLE OF WATERLOO SKELETON FOUND WITH TEETH : PROPER BURIALS

YAHOO: SOLDIER WITH TEETH : WATERLOO   In this article we learn that many a soldier's grave was looted and teeth were even sold as dentures.  Horses were buried too.  Perhaps the most important aspect of this archaeological dig is the discovery of proper burials. 

Excerpt:  The new findings cast doubts over historical claims that victims who died being treated at the hospital were unceremoniously dumped after the battle, along with some 500 limbs amputated during the fighting, and wounded animals.

PRAGMATIC MARRIAGE and DEATH

Pragmatic marriage - matchmaking or introductions - and no contraception.  Children dead from diseases now conquered through vaccinations and antibiotics - Fragile beings.  Or because their mother was malnourished during her pregnancy.  Or had too many children close together to actually recover between births.  Or they wore born without a father to support the family. Or their mother had no milk.

Today we talk Grieving.  We say it takes time to heal.  We have psychotherapy.  Then?

They had religion -informed world views. Children born as replacements (but not reincarnated) for previously born children who died. It seems to me that our ancestors had a whole lot to grieve as intimate family members, wives and husbands, parents, siblings, as well as friends and people they surrounded themselves died.  Reminding them that they too would and that life had many risks.

They often remarried - pragmatically  and quickly- as they might have the first time around in youth - and there were blended families due to death rather than divorce (which we think is another form of death.)  A woman without a husband needed another one quickly.

Were they so different than us?  Did they always have to carry on and get to it?

Villagers in Europe were often quite genetically related.  

Children on farms worked young.

Girls were left uneducated more than boys.  Even well-to-do families thought education - reading and writing - though educating a girl was handicapping her, making her a less desirable and dependent wife.

This was socially acceptable.

I think of the brides of pre-contraception and modern medicine days as especially brave.  They all knew that pregnancy and childbirth could kill them. 

As I try to understand my ancestors, I'm glad for the choices that modern medicine has given us.

And that be it them or me, life is short.

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USC SHOAH FOUNDATION DATABASES INCLUDE GENOCIDE TESTIMONIALS BEYOND THE HOLOCAUST

SHOAH FOUNDATION USC - LINK TO TESTIMONIALS   Cambodia, Guatemala, Armenia, Syria - man's inhumanity to man.  Shouldn't we be working on LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF?

There are hundreds of "access points" - usually at colleges - to this site for the full collection.

Is it possible that you or a family member should be recording a testimonial?

JAPANESE AMERICAN NATIONAL MUSEUM HONORS JAPANESE AMERICANS INCARCERATED IN WORLD WAR II - SPECIAL BOOK PROJECT

LA TIMES - JAPANESE AMERICAN INTERNMENT BOOK MEMORIAL PROJECT 

Excerpt:  The book weights 25 pounds and is more than 1,000 pages long.  It is roughly the size of the Gutenberg Bible.

Instead the word of God, it contains names - 125, 284 names. ...

All 125, 284 names have never been collected in one place.  WIth 75 incarnation sites - some, like Manzanar and Heart Mountain, well-known, others forgotten --- records are scattered.  ...

JANM : JAPANESE AMERICAN NATIONAL MUSEUM

DEDUCTIVE REASONING in GENEALOGY - NARROWING DOWN THE AGE OF DEATH TO FIND THE RECORD

Now that I've had my big breakthrough in my Polish line research, I've easily gone back a few generations but records I focused upon and would like very much remain missing or undiscovered. They are yet to be indexed for sure.  I've not found that the death records have much to offer in identifying who the dead person was married to. The death records seem to be the least indexed as well.

TO FOCUS and potentially reduce the time spent on looking for records page by page here is what I do.

I look at the marriages of the children.  If there have been two - three - four - marriages, I look at the marriages of the children from those marriages too because in these records there is a notation about each partner's heritage.  If possible start with the first married child and work forward in time.  If it says the parent is p.d. (parent deceased) you'll know that at the date of that wedding, that parent is dead.  Or both are.

ie. Jan's marriage  1835 parents both alive

     Marianna's marriage 1838 note that her father is diseased

      Sophia's marriage 1843 note that both parents are deceased.  

Therefore I know that I need to look from 1838 to 1835 for the death of these children's father.  And from 1843 to 1838 for the death of these children's mother.

Ancestry Worship - Genealogy

COLLECTING THE FINAL WORDS THAT DYING PEOPLE SAY...

FINAL WORDS PROJECT  Lisa Smartt and Dr. Raymond Moody...

You can share...

CHERBOURG PASSENGER LISTS and MUCH ELSE at GJENVICK- GJONVIK ARCHIVES

GG ARCHIVES - CHERBOURG PASSENDER LISTS   The last port the Titanic stopped at before it's fateful journey across the Atlantic was Cherbourg,

GG archives presents these French passenger lists as well as much much more.  

I don't usually like to link to sites with ads, and this one has them, but it's an impressive collection.

Ads will pop up.  You'll have to be careful that you don't enter an ancestor's name into the ad for a search for living humans or search for singles to date. I find the distractions difficult but...

If you find what you needed I suggest it's reasonable to support the site with a contribution.  It's been up a long time and the owner is an educated person who has an interesting collection to share.

You may also find Antwerp Belgium 1892-1939

Belfast Ireland 1923-1939

Boston 1887-1939

Boulogne sur Mer 1899-1933

Montreal, Naples.... and more...

ROADSIDE FLOWERS

 

SAN FRANCISCO 1906 : COLORIZED FILM

So glad women no longer have to wear those trip and fall hazard long skirts!  This film and the previously posted one re New York could be about TRANSPORTATION OPTIONS - trolley cars, horse drawn carriages and carts, bicycles... but notice how chaotic it is.... People sauntering near trolley cars.... horses passing between trolley's. 

I have newspaper articles on ancestors who were almost hit by trolley cars and now I know why.

STEAMSHIP TICKET PRICES DURING THE GREAT DEPRESSION : MAIDEN VOYAGES

THE GREAT DEPRESSION

EXCERPT:

Before the Depression the transatlantic liners had been plying their trade across the ocean with nearly full capacity in both directions.  It was a boom time for the travel industry and women passengers of all classes benefitted from the more comfortable conditions on board and the comparatively cheap fares for long-distance ocean voyages, while their seafaring sisters enjoyed ample employment in physically demanding but remunerative jobs afloat. But as the crisis deepened wealthier passengers canceled their plans for leisure and visits, communicating with their commercial contacts overseas by letter or telegram rather than in person.  Cut-throat competition drove ticket prices down by 20 percent as companies struggled to fill their ships.  Cunard cut its third-class transatlantic return ticket price from 20 pounds to 16 pounds per person, which meant that a 6,400 mile round trip from Britain to America now cost approximately one and a half pennies per mile. (Page 184)

(Note that some women employees on the ships stayed employed simply because it was less expensive that living off board and most accepted that their tips were paltry.)

This book is just so good and I've excerpted so much.  It goes into the World War II era.

A DAY TO CELEBRATE AMERICAN LABOR

 

 

Ancestry Worship - Genealogy

GELLEY GIRLS IMPORTED TO BE DOMESTICS IN CANADA : MAIDEN VOYAGES

 

EXCERPTS: Conditions in third class transatlantic ships had continued to improve markedly during the early 1920's, and now bore little resemblance to the horrors of the notorious steerage class before the Great War.  On the Zeeland, hot seawater baths were available with special soap that would lather in brine. The women could clean themselves and wash their clothes.  On one occasion an impatient chief steward tried to speed up the process by making two girls share the same bath. Edith insisted each woman should bathe alone, in privacy, and her argument prevailed.  Her tussles on behalf of her charges, who were looked down on by some of the crew as racially inferior, often  made her unpopular.  When she insisted that the third class women and children were moved to better quarters in the Zeeland, to minimizes the likelihood of them getting seasick, she encountered hostility from some of the crew, though she won her case...  (page 122)

Quote from Edith (page 123)

We had many Jews - all types -traveling as emigrants from Europe.  The looked as if a terror was behind them, running away with a real sense of fear... all the tragedies of the world seemed to be in their melancholy eyes.  They also seemed to have an awful fear of the sea on this, the first time they had ever seen the ocean, or  experienced what it could do when in the the mood.  How terrible it was for those poor, ground-down peasant types, and the persecuted Jews, to be storm-buffeted on a rolling ship, knowing little of what they might expect, only that it was a land of opportunity that awaited them - a strange land, a better life. Others had gone before and written home to say so....

Many of Edith's adult female charges had been recruited in their hone countries to be domestics, and were known as Gelley Girls, after the Commissioner of the Canadian Immigrations who had invented the assisted places scheme.  However, some would try to escape their escorts before their intended destination, having arranged clandestinely to meet a boyfriend or a family member.  They didn't get far...

*****

Edith also safeguarded unaccompanied children from possible sexual predators on board ships.  She would sometimes encounter very young girls who were being sent alone to a distant relative in the far country, and who had been laced, with the relevant photograph, on the passport of some unrelated male.  The man accompanying them was usually form the same home town or village, and of course this arrangement might be entirely innocent.  However, Edith would step in if she discovered that any young girl or boy had been booked into the same cabin as an unrelated adult male....

Picture Brides were another intriguing feature of Edith's shipboard life.  These were European born women who had consented to marry men already living in Canada or the USA without ever having met them. These women took life-changing decisions after answering a newspaper advert, then exchanging letters and photos, arranging their marriages by post... (page 125)

The Canadian immigration system was well organized' having interviewed each woman and noted her details, Edith would giver her a colour-coded piece of ribbon which showed her eventual destination: red for Manitoba or Saskatchewan, blue for Ontario, white for the maritime provinces.  The women proudly wore these ribbons like badges of honor, or campaign medals, pinned to their clothes....  They were grouped according to their ribbon colors  and then taken to their various destination all over Canada by so-called 'train girls.

(Page 126)

THE ROLE OF A CONDUCTRESS : MAIDEN VOYAGES

Edith Sowerbutt was one of a small but influential group of women who traveled the North Atlantic as a conductresses,  She started working for the Red Star Line, which was owned by White Star, in 1925, and continued in that role for six years, when assisted immigration to Canada ceased and she was made redundant, although that was not the end of her maritime career.  (page 118)

She had a great deal of practical experience of intercontinental travel, as well as fellow feeling for people who were prepared to travel to better their lives.  Edith was also a natural champion of those who were discriminated against on the grounds or race, class, or gender. Her innate sense of justice made her a formidable advocate on behalf of the passengers in her care, and she was delighted to be taken on as a conductress by Red Star in 1925  (page 119)

While Edith was available to unaccompanied women in all classes, her primary role was looking after the interest of those in third class, and processing their immigration applications.  She would introduce herself to each one, explain that she had a list of official questions, and record the answers by hand, then type up the details later.  On each voyage Edith complied detailed lists of all unaccompanied women immigrants across all three classes for the Canadian authorities.  To extract this information from each woman was often a race against time, because third class passengers were housed in the least stable section of the ship, and were therefore prone to seasickness....

(on the open Atlantic which was rougher) Edith relied on the services of interpreters, and was particularly fond of a remarkable character called Terps, an Orthodox Jew who spoke fourteen languages.  (page 120)

USEFULNESS OF EARLY STATISTICAL UNITED STATES FEDERAL CENSUS RECORDS

With the 1950 census in hand, we may wonder how the early census records can be helpful to our research.   

Just to refresh, in 1776 Independence was Declared. Then there was the Revolutionary War.  Before a first President, George Washington, who was a military war General, was installed it was April 30th, 1789. He was an eight year, two term president.  The first Federal United States Census was 1790.

The earliest census are, but for the name of the head of household, usually a male and a husband, and the rest rather statistical. If you haven't seen these the questions are about how many males and females are in the household and what their age categories are. So we can't expect the names of every member of a household until 1850.

First if you do have ancestors on the 1850 you can reasonably related to at least some the family members ten years back based on the statistics, sometimes more.  You can also go forwards to see if people are named, depending on if they are alive and so on.

However, perhaps the most important aspect of finding the state and county and town or place of residence of a family member is because of how that relates to court records. Before there were civil record requirements (Vital Records) people pretty much kept a record of when people in the family were born or died in a Bible or such.  So, the older census are still helpful for locating them.  Our early colonial ancestors moved a lot, usually as the family expanded for the purchase of land to farm or ranch. If we know where they were, we can then attempt to find records of land purchases and sales, wills, and so on.

As a note, we would also like to find them on maps.

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BACK TO SCHOOL!

 

US IMMIGRATION ACT OF 1924 : MAIDEN VOYAGES

Note : This excerpt is about what was happening after the US Immigration Act of 1924 that was more restrictive than that of 1921. The government felt that America was overloading with the unskilled laborers that had come in previous decades.

 EXCERPT:  The U.S. Immigration Act of 1924 was even more restrictive than that of 1921.  The total number of European immigrants now allowed in annually was slashed to 161,5000 in any one year.  By comparison, in 1913. 1.141 million European immigrants had been admitted to the U.S.  In addition, visas were now required, and those were issued by US Consular offices in the countries of origin.  Any shipping line bringing in an immigrant without a visa, or surplus to the annual quota allowed to that country, could face a punitive $1000 penalty.  Immigration figures plummeted though some nations were still favored over others: British and Irish-born immigrants were allowed a generous proportion of the annual European allocation, and anglophones with valuable skills, such as British-born servants or nurses, were actively encouraged to emigrate to the North American continent.  (page 76)

Would-be immigrants could be deported if they showed signs of physical  or mental illness, but less well known is the discrimination against the illiterate.  Adults arriving at Ellis Island were required to read out loud forty words of a printed language - any language -; a wide variety of texts were supplied - to prove they were literate. This discrimination policy often split up families, and it particularly effected women from remote and traditional communities in eastern Europe, who were less likely to have been taught to read  (page 78)

IS THIS YOUR YEAR TO JOIN A HISTORICAL REENACTMENT GROUP? EXPERIENCING YESTERDAY TODAY

I love going to a historical site and finding volunteers or docents dressed in appropriate fashions, well educated on their topic, and ready to take people on a tour.  That's 'living history' or experiencing yesterday today.

 THE GRAND ENCAMPMENT.  https://thegrandencampment.com/  specializes in military re-enactment.

They do battle reenactments, have vintage vehicles and aircraft, and dance at the victory canteen to a 1940's era Big Band orchestra.  Over 500 people participate as actors and behind the scenes.  Let them entertain you and educate you.  The entrance fee is very reasonable; $10 for adults, $5 for children, group rates, and they have military. vet, and first responder discounts...

Coming up in mid October is one near Riverside, that's Southern California.

NEW WOMEN'S WORK ON THE BIG STEAMSHIPS : MAIDEN VOYAGES

 

EXCERPT: By the 1890s there was a boom in passenger shipping, and the major ports of Britain became the embarkation points for emigrants from all over Europe as well as the British Isles.  In 1893 large transatlantic liners started to leave from Southhampton as well as from Liverpool, which had previously been the main embarkation port for North America.  The White Star and Cunard shipping lines joined P & O in setting up offices and infrastructure in Southhampton, which was just a hour from London by train.  With the growth in the numbers of female passengers, gender-specific roles such as bathing attendants, nursery nurses, laundry attendants and masseuses we also created aboard the big ships.  The shipping companies received applications for women's roles board the ocean going ships far beyond the number of positions available.  The jobs were physically demanding, and those taking them would be living away form home - often in cramped, communal quarters - but, in an era of limited job opportunities for women, the idea of going to sea and earning an independent living was appealing to many.  (page 16)

A note:  Married women and women with children also took jobs on the steamships.

MAIDEN VOYAGES by SIAN EVANS : ANCESTRY WORSHIP - GENEALOGY BLOGSPOT BOOK REVIEW

 Excellent!

This book by Sian Evans is a must read if you're interested in what it was for women to work or travel on steamships. Following the careers of a few of the women who worked on these ships as well as celebrities who were passengers on them, we almost wish we could travel back in time and experience a historical voyage. There is much to learn here for anyone interested in writing a family history book that you can spice up with some research about the conditions of travel in the great steamship era, the 1890s through the World War II era.

When it came to accommodations, women and men employees were to lodge apart on board, when it came to women and children passengers traveling alone, male crew might keep an eye out for their safety, but it was female crew, stewardesses, who there for them, staving off sea sickness, even helping deliver babies.

In this book, you learn about the Unsinkable Violet Jessop who, in a career on ships of over four decades, survived three maritime disasters! One of them being the Lusitania. Another heroine of the seas was Edith Sowerbutt who among many other tasks, interviewed women who were traveling alone with the help of a translator.

You'll read about the people in steerage as well as the buyers traveling back and forth to Europe and the rich who were on board for adventures. Tallulah Bankhead, Thelma Furness and her twin Gloria Vanderbilt, and Spanish war journalist, Martha Gellhorn, and many more are mentioned. Ships like the Queen Mary, the Zeeland, the Aquitania, and the Lusitania... The health inspections and the card sharks and con artists.... Since shipboard romances took place, the blackmailers...

Although an easy and delightful read, I think some the information presented in Maiden Voyages is important and I've decided to do some excerpting over the next few weeks to give you a feel for the book and entice you to buy a copy since this is definitely a book for my own collection.

Quite an accomplishment for author Sina Evans, I've never come across anything like it.

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BOOKS! BOOKS! MORE BOOKS!

Hello My Readers,

Over the last few months I've been reading so very many books.  The libraries in my area opened up slowly and for a while it seemed like I was one of the few people who had returned to using the library. (Yes, we are still masking.) In fact a good number of books on my list are available only in e-books. Luckily, ordering books in from other branches is possible because I dislike reading e-books.  I spend a couple hours a day on a computer as is. I feel paper books are easier on my eye-sight and easier to fall asleep with too.

I started looking at what was on the Newly Purchased book shelves and I have to say that I have found some wonderful books that are history and genealogy oriented. I'll be excerpting parts of these books that I found especially illuminating or useful in the next several months and into the New Year of 2023.

I've always found that researching the history that our ancestors lived through is a great way to learn history overall, though often specific to their time and place. Some of the books I will be sharing with you concern Colonial American history. Others fall into the category of spiritual books, concerning a favorite subject of mine, which is reincarnation.

I'm fascinated with the notions that we might reincarnate into the same family groups, even have the same 'soul mate' spouse in more than one lifetime. I also like the idea that we might take some skill, talent, or expertise that we spent a lot of time on in this life into the next.  (I should be a very advanced genealogist by then!)

Hoping you're keeping cool!

Christine

COLORIZED FILM OF NEW YORK IN 1911 - Love it!

 

Certainly helps one imagine what it might be for immigrants who were coming off those steamships into America for the first time, though they usually got on a train ASAP to get to their final destination.

WILL YOUR DNA BE USED TO MAKE BIOWEAPON THAT CAN KILL YOU or THE PEOPLE OF YOUR ETHNICITY

MSN - DAILY MAIL - HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE WARNS DNA BIOWEAPONS 

A frightening and important thing to know.  Your DNA submitted for medical testing or genealogy might end up being used against you.

Excerpt: The congressman said the development of the weapons is worrisome given the popularity of DNA testing services, where people willingly share their genetic mapping with businesses to gain insight on their genealogy and health.

'You can't have a discussion about this without talking about privacy and protection of commercial data because of expectations of privacy have degraded over the last 20 years.' the Democratic lawmaker said.

*

 

Ancestry Worship - Genealogy

ADOPTION SEARCH : CHECK THE SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR YOUR STATE #7

This is part of a series of posts about ADOPTiON

Adoption information differs from state to state, county to county, and so what's important is to know which state the adoption was finalized in. That will be the county that has your birth certificate. Some states, such as California, have their own option for sibling or other contact.  For instance California has a Mutual Consent Program that's like an adoption registry.

Here's a link that will take you to information good through 2019.

CHILDWELFARE GOVE : PDF PUBLICATION ON STATES ADOPTION and SEARCH POLICIES

AMERICAN ADOPTION CONGRESS - Information of every state's policies

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Adoption Strategies - AWG  is the label on this series.  To bring up the entire series, click on the label below OR use the word ADOPTION to search for all posts with information on that subject!

BOUNTY LAND WARRANTS (ALSO KNOWN AS REPARATION LAND GRANTS) #2 GEORGE WASHINGTON FARMER and LAND SPECULATOR : LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

This wonderful article from the United States Library of Congress in the George Washington papers collection tells about his interest in acquiring land but also in seeing that his soldiers got theirs.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS : WASHINGTON AS LAND SPECULATOR

He had over 52,000 acres by 1800. Wouldn't it be a thrill to trace LAND OWNERSHIP in your family and find out that at some point George Washington owned it?  Well, if your ancestors were in the Ohio Valley or Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, Kentucky, or Virginia there is a chance.

Excerpt: Washington's lifelong interest in land speculation is illustrated in the fight over bounty lands promised to the veterans of the Virginia Regiment who fought with him in the French and Indian War. In this episode, Washington acted on behalf of his fellow veterans as well as vigorously, sometimes aggressively, in staking out his own land claims.

This post is part of a series.  To pull up the series, click on the tag Help - Land Grants - AWG

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BOUNTY LAND WARRANTS (ALSO KNOWN AS REPARATION LAND GRANTS) FOR REVOLUTIONARY WAR SERVICE - THE WAR OF 1812 and THE MEXICAN - AMERICAN WAR #1

THIS POST IS CATEGORIZED WITH HOMESTEAD ACT LAND GRANTS.

Another way to acquire land that would be yours to settle on when you had little to no money in the United States was to serve in the War, usually as a soldier although other forms of service to your country were consider.  Bounty Land Grants were awarded for three wars.

The Revolutionary, The War of 1812, and the Mexican - American War.

The story goes that General George Washington did not have enough money to pay soldiers.  From our American History study, we know that many a poor person signed up and there was not enough money to even uniform all these soldiers.  We learn of the men who almost froze to death waiting orders. So an agreement was, if a soldier survived and the war was won, then that soldier would be given land in exchange for his service.

NATIONAL ARCHIVES (NARA) in Washington, DC is the holder of these documents.  They can be requested on NATF form 85 which is called Military Pension/Bounty Land Warrant Applications. NATIONAL ARVHIVES GOV _ APPLICATION FOR BOUNTY LAND WARRANTS

As with other early American documents, the soldier would need to provide proof of his service and that sometimes meant written testimonials.

Widows could apply if their husband had not while he was alive.

In September of 1776, the new country's Congress put through the agreement officially and applications could be made through about 1858 - there was an extension to 1863.

Of course, you have to lean on other documents that prove the ancestor was in service of the United States before you fill out that form. 

The National Archives of the United States is the keeper of our American History documents, and from it the various genealogy databases get their information.  Don't discount going to the source, especially if you do not wish to pay for special databases.  It's always worth going to your local public library to see what electronic resources they have for free and sometimes they do have genealogy databases - at least "library editions" - loaded for your use.

The National Archives site can be intimidating.  It is thorough though and if you register as a user you can email experts for some advice.

This post is part of a series.  To pull up the series, click on the tag Help - Homestead Act - AWG

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NATIONAL ARCHIVES MAP ROOM

The National Archives of the United States, in regard to the 1950 census, has posted a number of videos that are basic mini classes to help you understand that census.  You can ask the archivists at the map room, they may be able to help you research using their historical maps to help you locate other places in time.

Excerpt:

A census enumeration district was an area that could be covered by a single enumerator, or census taker, in one census period. Enumeration districts varied in size from several city blocks in densely populated urban areas to an entire county in sparsely populated rural areas. This presentation will focus on locating and using census enumeration district maps, with an emphasis on maps from the 1950 census.

STURDY

 

THE HOMESTEAD ACT OF 1862 PROVIDED 160 ACRES OF LAND #2 FINDING DOCUMENTS OF YOUR ANCESTORS APPLICATION and ACHIEVEMENT OF LAND

The NATIONAL ARCHIVES of the United States (NARA) holds documents on the Homestead Act. There were at least 2 million claims on land through the Homestead Act in the many years it existed.  You may want to read this article from the NATIONAL PARK SERVICE.

NPS - NATIONAL PARK SERVICE UNITED STATES

The United States General Land Office was the holder of the paper documents and these documents were on paper.

NATIONAL ARCHIVES records of the BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT  Register with the National Archives so you can communicate with archivists there.

While we can easily imagine homesteaders in North Dakota, Missouri, or Arizona, let's look at that list...  People homesteaded in cities like San Francisco and Chicago too.

Using their location or address on what is a farmstead or acreage, from a census after 1862, we can send an e-mail for more information about these Federal records.

If you're wondering if these paper records are being digitalized, the answer is YES.  It's a huge project taken on by NATIONAL PARK SERVICE - HOMESTEAD RECORDS DIGITALIZATION PROJECT   (Nebraska records are competed.) 

WHAT CAN YOU LEARN FROM THESE RECORDS?

Excerpt: Alaska, Arizona, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Wyoming, and Utah are searchable up to 1908 at Homestead National Historical Park at no charge. (some pay-for genealogy databases are charging for these as part of special collections.)

HOMESTEAD CASE FILES ARE TREASURE TROVES OF HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL INFORMATION.  WITHIN THEM CAN OFTEN BE FOUND INFORMATION ABOUT A HOMESTEADER'S DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH, THE NAMES OF CHILDREN THAT LIVED ON THE HOMESTEAD, NATURALIZATION INFORMATION ABOUT IMMIGRANT HOMESTEADERS, NOTATIONS REGARDING MILITARY SERVICE... THE TYPES OF CROPS PLANTED...HOMES AND OTHER BUILDINGS - AND more!

Very exciting!

This post is part of a series.  To pull up the series, click on the tag Help - Homestead Act - AWG

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NATIVE AMERICANS and THE HOMESTEAD ACT

Though Native Americans were displaced by Homestead Act land holders and often headed back to reservations, in genealogy we are thorough and never assume, so don't assume that people of Native American heritage did not also apply for land grants or that they all lived on "Indian Reservations."

THE HOMESTEAD ACT OF 1862 PROVIDED 160 ACRES OF LAND #1 THE HISTORY OF LAND GRANTS FOR HOMESTEADING

You've probably heard "40 acres and a mule" is an ideal family farmstead, but consider that 160 acres of land provided that the family might be able to divide that up as children grew to maturity and another generation or two could live there. But then what?  For a small filing fee, even a freed slave could apply to homestead land.  An immigrant who was not yet an American citizen could apply and get land.  And, though women's liberation (Feminism) was the cause of few, you could apply as a woman. If there's a chance that one of your American ancestors claimed land and that can be a very interesting thing to add to your family history research project.

THE HOMESTEAD ACT of 1862 REMAINED IN PLACE FOR THE NEXT 124 YEARS and 270 million acres were claimed and settled, which turns out to be about 10% of the United States. (You could still homestead in Alaska for another decade.)

Most of the land was "unsettled" such as in the prairie lands, though today we know that notions that "nobody" lived in these places is often not correct because Native American did live there.

New settlers had to live on the land they wanted for a continuous five years and improve it.  For some this was living off the land and living in an underground house until an above ground house could be built. Cutting down trees or tilling soil could be considered an improvement.

Today I think of the modern Tiny House movement because families back in the day often lived in a house that was basically one room. Today, we seriously question if displacing people so that gentrification can take place is socially responsible behavior.

HISTORY COM - Homestead Act Basics

NATIONAL ARCHIVES GOV - HOMESTEAD ACT including some documents

Next post I'll tell you how to find these documents.

This post is part of a series.  To pull up the series, click on the tag Help - Land Grants- AWG

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CELEBRATE THE FOURTH

 

THE HOUSE I LIVE IN : FRANK SINATRA

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE in GERMAN

Gettysburg EDU : DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE IN GERMAN  Very Interesting Article!

THE WAR OF 1812 DVD : ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY FILM REVIEW

Watching this film, I realized that I knew a lot about the American Revolution and the Civil War but near nothing about the War of 1812, when the British tried to take back some or all of the 30-year-old United States. The British were most interested in the seaports and the Mississippi River, which they could use to link their territory in Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.

Here are some of the highlights of this film from History Channel.

DOLLY MADISON - WASHINGTON D.C.

Dolly Madison, the First Lady, was beloved by Americans.  Her outgoing nature was a balance to that of her husband, President James Madison, who was more intellectual. She was the last hold out in the White House when the British troops were advancing on Washington. She'd been warned to leave but she and a servant remained. She ordered that servant to break the frame of the painting of George Washington, roll up the canvas, and take it with them! When the troops got to the White House they found a gourmet meal left out for them. They feasted, they looted, and took all that had been left, including the love letters between Dolly and the President. Then the British threw lit torches through the windows and the White House burned to the ground. 

Oddly, a hurricane struck Washington D.C. soon after and if that were not enough a tornado struck.  This weather scared the British troops away and some people think God was behind it.

BALTMORE - SAVING THE HARBOR

In order to prevent the British from getting near the city by harbor, citizens sunk a row of merchant boats to block the harbor. It worked.  The British had to go around another way. American troops quickly built an earthen fort. From the water the British used the most powerful weapon technology provided at the time which was 500-pound cannon balls. They were firing these cannon balls into the fort from their ships. The fort contained a massive amount of gun powder and one of these balls made it right to the place in the fort where the gun powder was stored. 

By some miracle that particular cannon ball was a dud, and the fort didn't blow up!

THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER WAS WRITTEN by FRANCIS SCOTT KEY

I thought this song was written for the American Revolution, but the fact is the songwriter began to write the song while watching the battle for Baltimore from a British ship in the harbor where he was held captive. Two massive American flags that could be seen from that far were waving.  The flags had been commissioned and handsewn by women. He wrote the first two lines aboard. When he was released, he wrote the rest. It was set to a popular beer drinking song and published in small papers around the country.

NEW ORLEANS - THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS

Because communications in those days was so slow, troops didn't know that there had actually been a truce signed in Belgium.  So the Battle of New Orleans went on anyway. Here is where Andew Jackson, a southern frontier boy who'd been orphaned, triumphed.  The heroic leader of an assembly of troops, some standard army, some volunteers from as far away as Kentucky, and one troop that included the pirate Jean LaFitte and other outlaws, fought their hardest. The United States lost about 13 souls - the British 2000.

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