01 August 2013
30 July 2013
PLAT MAPS ARE AN OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN LOCAL HISTORY : KID GENEALOGY
I'm not sure how "Plat" maps got their name.
(If any of my readers know the answer to that, please leave a comment!)
Plat maps are maps that often feature the property lines of farms or rural areas, areas that may now be cities or suburbs. In a way they are like zoning maps today.
Plat maps have the names of the owners of that land on a specific year and can tell you so much about the early settlers of an area, and lead you to more information such as who got Land Grants, names to search for in early wills and land sales, etc.
Something that can be a fun early genealogy research lesson for kids is to find the Plat map for where you live now and see how many of the roads, lakes, and other geographical features bear the names of those early settlers say right before and after the Civil War.
I like the big old fashioned maps that have been replaced by digitalized editions on the internet as I find them far easier to read, but if you live far away from a library that houses the big maps this is a good option. Locally, you might find that a historical society or university library has a collection that you can use without being a member or student.
After the American Revolution, many soldiers who fought for little or no pay and lived were rewarded with land. These are called "Reparation Lands." Not exactly "40 acres and a mule" but something like that.
Looking at the same area before and after the Civil War is also an interesting history lesson.
(If any of my readers know the answer to that, please leave a comment!)
Plat maps are maps that often feature the property lines of farms or rural areas, areas that may now be cities or suburbs. In a way they are like zoning maps today.
Plat maps have the names of the owners of that land on a specific year and can tell you so much about the early settlers of an area, and lead you to more information such as who got Land Grants, names to search for in early wills and land sales, etc.
Something that can be a fun early genealogy research lesson for kids is to find the Plat map for where you live now and see how many of the roads, lakes, and other geographical features bear the names of those early settlers say right before and after the Civil War.
I like the big old fashioned maps that have been replaced by digitalized editions on the internet as I find them far easier to read, but if you live far away from a library that houses the big maps this is a good option. Locally, you might find that a historical society or university library has a collection that you can use without being a member or student.
After the American Revolution, many soldiers who fought for little or no pay and lived were rewarded with land. These are called "Reparation Lands." Not exactly "40 acres and a mule" but something like that.
Looking at the same area before and after the Civil War is also an interesting history lesson.
C 2013 Ancestry Worship - Genealogy
25 July 2013
A LOCAL HISTORICAL SUMMER VACATION! SPANISH AMERICAN HISTORY
I've been visiting historical sites. But I have to tell you that when I first moved to Southern California and met people who were born and raised here (people who seem to be in the minority) they told me that there was NO HISTORY HERE.
How could that be?
Hadn't they been taught some American History or some local history in school?
So I set out to learn the history of California, of the South West, and of my local area on my own. I toured adobe houses, missions, museums, and learned about what had been torn down via books. Now I revisit some of these places.
First there is the history of Spanish Mission building. There is also the history of Native American Tribes: California had so many natural resources that it was an area of diverse tribal cultures. Then there was the Rancherio period; Spanish Land Grants which were later divied up.
One of the most interesting things I learned was that during the Spanish Land Grant and Rancherio period, before there was that surge of immigration from the east coast west, a few explorers and adventurers made their way west. Most of these people were men, they were often Scottish, and when they MARRIED INTO SPANISH FAMILIES THEY BECAME CATHOLIC AND SPANISHIFIED THEIR SURNAMES.
Over the next couple posts, I urge you to learn your local history, especially as it becomes your family history at one point or another!
How could that be?
Hadn't they been taught some American History or some local history in school?
So I set out to learn the history of California, of the South West, and of my local area on my own. I toured adobe houses, missions, museums, and learned about what had been torn down via books. Now I revisit some of these places.
First there is the history of Spanish Mission building. There is also the history of Native American Tribes: California had so many natural resources that it was an area of diverse tribal cultures. Then there was the Rancherio period; Spanish Land Grants which were later divied up.
One of the most interesting things I learned was that during the Spanish Land Grant and Rancherio period, before there was that surge of immigration from the east coast west, a few explorers and adventurers made their way west. Most of these people were men, they were often Scottish, and when they MARRIED INTO SPANISH FAMILIES THEY BECAME CATHOLIC AND SPANISHIFIED THEIR SURNAMES.
Over the next couple posts, I urge you to learn your local history, especially as it becomes your family history at one point or another!
04 July 2013
03 July 2013
GETTYSBURG NATIONAL PARK - 150th ANNIVERSARY LINK HERE!
This is the 150th anniversary of the Civil War battle of Gettysburg.
Here is the link to the park and the special celebrations: GETTYSBURG PA - CIVIL WAR - 150th ANNIVERSARY JULY 1-4 amazing events!
Here is the link to the park and the special celebrations: GETTYSBURG PA - CIVIL WAR - 150th ANNIVERSARY JULY 1-4 amazing events!
01 July 2013
23 June 2013
BODY MEMORY : DOGS HAVE IT and SO DO PEOPLE?
The other day I was trying to explain the notion of "Body Memory" to someone and I found myself talking about my dog.
The dog I'm the person of was a rescue animal. I got her at a county run animal shelter that is not a "no kill" shelter; most in big cities aren't. Just recently when renewing her license, I learned I was not her second owner, but her third. I still feel sure that her name has always been the same and that she was born in the home of her original owner, who may have been a backyard breeder. I also learned when I adopted her that she has at least one liter, but for all I know she may have given birth many times, and then was spayed.
My dog reacts emotionally, shaking, when her feet are on stainless steel. Doesn't matter if this is at the vets or in a sink, or anywhere else - the feel of it frightens her. I think she associates the feel with pain and loss.
When I first brought her home she always pulled her feet or paws away if I tried to touch them. Over many full body massages and months of learning to trust me and not exhibit signs of separation anxiety, she stopped pulling away and started waiting for me without crying. Now she lets me touch her feet and paws and I sometimes hold them in my hands. Again, I think she associates the feelings - physical and emotional - with pain.
I took my dog into the closest groomers, a store that also sells cute doggie items, and depending on what sort of barking she hears she will either, wag her tail and look up at me with excitement (small chirpy sounds) or shake with fear and even back away (the harsher barking of a larger dog) and this is very specific. Because she has exhibited fear, which is uncharacteristic for her overall friendly temperament, I don't want to leave her at a groomer and groom her myself. I recently took her to a benefit for the shelter and she peaceably sat near a massive Irish Wolf Hound and German Shepherds. All well behaved. The dogs at the groomers were further away, leashed, and also well behaved, but yet the VOCAL SOUND of dogs either made her think she was going to meet a long lost relative (maybe her mother) or an enemy!
My dog can't tell me what she's feeling or thinking in any moment, but it's clear she is reacting. Memories are inside her - maybe her mind which is part of the body, or her body itself as mind.
WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH HUMAN BEINGS?
I'm convinced that some people practice genealogy to gain a different perspective on themselves, by way of getting to know more about the people they are genetically related to, especially so if that person has always felt different, as if they were born into the wrong family. (At last you've found an eccentric sea captain a few generations back who seems to be the only other person in the family besides yourself who loved to sail!)
I'm also convinced that some people are very influenced by their past lives. (You sailed and were the sea captain yourself!)
Some people think that there is no such thing as past (or future) lives, as is the case for reincarnation, but that people do have BODY MEMORIES and these can be inherited. (You love to sale because you have the body memory of the sea captain!) A body memory might, as in the case of my dog, give you a reaction - positive or negative - that maybe makes no sense.
Say tuned for more on Body Memory in the future posts of ANCESTRY WORSHIP - GENEALOGY
C 2013 Ancestry Worship Genealogy
The dog I'm the person of was a rescue animal. I got her at a county run animal shelter that is not a "no kill" shelter; most in big cities aren't. Just recently when renewing her license, I learned I was not her second owner, but her third. I still feel sure that her name has always been the same and that she was born in the home of her original owner, who may have been a backyard breeder. I also learned when I adopted her that she has at least one liter, but for all I know she may have given birth many times, and then was spayed.
My dog reacts emotionally, shaking, when her feet are on stainless steel. Doesn't matter if this is at the vets or in a sink, or anywhere else - the feel of it frightens her. I think she associates the feel with pain and loss.
When I first brought her home she always pulled her feet or paws away if I tried to touch them. Over many full body massages and months of learning to trust me and not exhibit signs of separation anxiety, she stopped pulling away and started waiting for me without crying. Now she lets me touch her feet and paws and I sometimes hold them in my hands. Again, I think she associates the feelings - physical and emotional - with pain.
I took my dog into the closest groomers, a store that also sells cute doggie items, and depending on what sort of barking she hears she will either, wag her tail and look up at me with excitement (small chirpy sounds) or shake with fear and even back away (the harsher barking of a larger dog) and this is very specific. Because she has exhibited fear, which is uncharacteristic for her overall friendly temperament, I don't want to leave her at a groomer and groom her myself. I recently took her to a benefit for the shelter and she peaceably sat near a massive Irish Wolf Hound and German Shepherds. All well behaved. The dogs at the groomers were further away, leashed, and also well behaved, but yet the VOCAL SOUND of dogs either made her think she was going to meet a long lost relative (maybe her mother) or an enemy!
My dog can't tell me what she's feeling or thinking in any moment, but it's clear she is reacting. Memories are inside her - maybe her mind which is part of the body, or her body itself as mind.
WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH HUMAN BEINGS?
I'm convinced that some people practice genealogy to gain a different perspective on themselves, by way of getting to know more about the people they are genetically related to, especially so if that person has always felt different, as if they were born into the wrong family. (At last you've found an eccentric sea captain a few generations back who seems to be the only other person in the family besides yourself who loved to sail!)
I'm also convinced that some people are very influenced by their past lives. (You sailed and were the sea captain yourself!)
Some people think that there is no such thing as past (or future) lives, as is the case for reincarnation, but that people do have BODY MEMORIES and these can be inherited. (You love to sale because you have the body memory of the sea captain!) A body memory might, as in the case of my dog, give you a reaction - positive or negative - that maybe makes no sense.
Say tuned for more on Body Memory in the future posts of ANCESTRY WORSHIP - GENEALOGY
C 2013 Ancestry Worship Genealogy
21 June 2013
18 June 2013
UNITED STATES CENSUS PROVES MORE WHITES DYING THAN BEING BORN
NY TIMES : CENSUS BENCHMARK WHITE AMERICANS HAVE MORE DEATHS THAN BIRTHS article by SAM ROBERTS
EXCERPT: "The disparity was tiny — only about 12,000 — and was more than made up by a gain of 188,000 as a result of immigration from abroad. But the decrease for the year ending July 1, 2012, coupled with the fact that a majority of births in the United States are now to Hispanic, black and Asian mothers, is further evidence that white Americans will become a minority nationwide within about three decades."
COMMENT by ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEOLOGY
Something I realized long ago is that ON THIS PLANET White People ARE the minority!
That is if you are counting as White, only people who have no recent ( say 1/16the) DNA that is Hispanic, Black, Asian, Native American - and are simply European from way back, but then I remember a long time ago a Jewish Woman friend told me that Jewish people were a separate Race as well.
The question is WHAT WILL OUT CULTURE BE LIKE? WHAT VALUES WILL WE CHERISH?
EXCERPT: "The disparity was tiny — only about 12,000 — and was more than made up by a gain of 188,000 as a result of immigration from abroad. But the decrease for the year ending July 1, 2012, coupled with the fact that a majority of births in the United States are now to Hispanic, black and Asian mothers, is further evidence that white Americans will become a minority nationwide within about three decades."
COMMENT by ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEOLOGY
Something I realized long ago is that ON THIS PLANET White People ARE the minority!
That is if you are counting as White, only people who have no recent ( say 1/16the) DNA that is Hispanic, Black, Asian, Native American - and are simply European from way back, but then I remember a long time ago a Jewish Woman friend told me that Jewish people were a separate Race as well.
The question is WHAT WILL OUT CULTURE BE LIKE? WHAT VALUES WILL WE CHERISH?
16 June 2013
13 June 2013
PARIS JACKSON'S DNA : THE CONTROVERSIAL JACKSONS AND FAMILY
You don't have to be a fan of Michael Jackson to be enthralled with the Jackson family drama, and most recently in the news, another law suit by the Jacksons and another law suit to the Jacksons, and the suicide attempt of Paris Jackson, Micheal's daughter by Debbie Rowe.
Some people think that they spin all their personal business just to make more and more money, becoming more famous for being famous than for talent!
I want to see what the best lawyers can do for rich people in the courts of this nation. So every day I checked in to see what was happening in the trial.
Then came the news that daughter Paris had tried to commit suicide.
So much speculation why.
Paris is coming into her adulthood with great advantages and disadvantages. She is high profile, like it or not. I suspect she doesn't like it so much. For me this brings in questions of Fate versus Self Creation and, of course, reincarnation - spiritual stuff.
Also there's speculation on her relationship with her birth mother, then the legal wife of Micheal Jackson, who may have treated Ms. Rowe as a surrogate, and the true parental heritage of the children, with more than one man having admitted to donating sperm to Michael Jackson's cold storage long ago.
Can the Jacksons and Rowe keep this private business or will AEG's lawyers try to use that information to make the Jackson children to appear to have less right to any winnings?
I read a number of web sites that prove and disprove this heritage with photo comparisons. I came across one that was very convincing that Micheal is the genetic father of all three children. This site showed that the media lightened photos of the children's skin color and then provided photos of many famous people who had at least one self-identifying Black parent who looked White. Let's just say that Michael had very distinctive feet which all three seem to have inherited. Feet!
DNA...
Where do I stand on all this?
I don't think who the kids parents are genetically has anything to do with who their legal parents are - it's if they had been adopted - and it should have NO BEARING WHATSOEVER on them being more or less deserving of any money won in the suit. So I see no need for it to be brought up.
This is not a trial over parentage or heredity but about if Micheal Jackson was responsible for his own addiction and death or his doctor was and who was behind the doctor - Jackson or the company that was paying him for a final tour.
Debbie Rowe also fascinates me, especially because she breeds dogs and horses on her ranch, which she bought after selling her Beverly Hills house, and has been out of the children's lives by Michael's command, for many years. She strikes me as a Fertility Goddess, an Earth Mother, one who accepted she would not raise the children or be in their lives too much. Over the years Debbie has rallied when her concern over the children was tweaked by other law suits. I suspect Micheal was not just the Love of Her Life but also a Big Heartbreak.
What teenager heading towards womanhood would not want to know her birth mother, especially because grandma Katherine is a senior senior citizen, sorry, just too old to be dealing with teenagers! Are you like me, kind of rooting for Debbie here, hoping that she can be and do more?
C 2013 Ancestry Worship Genealogy All Rights Reserved including Internet and International Rights
Some people think that they spin all their personal business just to make more and more money, becoming more famous for being famous than for talent!
I want to see what the best lawyers can do for rich people in the courts of this nation. So every day I checked in to see what was happening in the trial.
Then came the news that daughter Paris had tried to commit suicide.
So much speculation why.
Paris is coming into her adulthood with great advantages and disadvantages. She is high profile, like it or not. I suspect she doesn't like it so much. For me this brings in questions of Fate versus Self Creation and, of course, reincarnation - spiritual stuff.
Also there's speculation on her relationship with her birth mother, then the legal wife of Micheal Jackson, who may have treated Ms. Rowe as a surrogate, and the true parental heritage of the children, with more than one man having admitted to donating sperm to Michael Jackson's cold storage long ago.
Can the Jacksons and Rowe keep this private business or will AEG's lawyers try to use that information to make the Jackson children to appear to have less right to any winnings?
I read a number of web sites that prove and disprove this heritage with photo comparisons. I came across one that was very convincing that Micheal is the genetic father of all three children. This site showed that the media lightened photos of the children's skin color and then provided photos of many famous people who had at least one self-identifying Black parent who looked White. Let's just say that Michael had very distinctive feet which all three seem to have inherited. Feet!
DNA...
Where do I stand on all this?
I don't think who the kids parents are genetically has anything to do with who their legal parents are - it's if they had been adopted - and it should have NO BEARING WHATSOEVER on them being more or less deserving of any money won in the suit. So I see no need for it to be brought up.
This is not a trial over parentage or heredity but about if Micheal Jackson was responsible for his own addiction and death or his doctor was and who was behind the doctor - Jackson or the company that was paying him for a final tour.
Debbie Rowe also fascinates me, especially because she breeds dogs and horses on her ranch, which she bought after selling her Beverly Hills house, and has been out of the children's lives by Michael's command, for many years. She strikes me as a Fertility Goddess, an Earth Mother, one who accepted she would not raise the children or be in their lives too much. Over the years Debbie has rallied when her concern over the children was tweaked by other law suits. I suspect Micheal was not just the Love of Her Life but also a Big Heartbreak.
What teenager heading towards womanhood would not want to know her birth mother, especially because grandma Katherine is a senior senior citizen, sorry, just too old to be dealing with teenagers! Are you like me, kind of rooting for Debbie here, hoping that she can be and do more?
C 2013 Ancestry Worship Genealogy All Rights Reserved including Internet and International Rights
09 June 2013
NATIONAL ARCHIVES NATIVE AMERICAN RESEARCH - LINKS!
NARA NATIVE AMERICANS LINK
I noticed that my post on proving Native American ancestry has been getting a lot of hits, so I thought I would post this helpful link which leads to lots and lots of other informative links including Dawes Rolls and Guion-Miller Roll as well as Census Enumeration of Pueblo Indians, 1790-1939.
THESE ARE SPECIAL COUNTS OF NATIVE AMERICANS separate from the NATIONAL CENSUS or STATE CENSUS.
So... What if you think you have Native American ancestry but no known member of your family is "card carrying" members of a tribe with reservation rights?
I may have said it before, but it's worth repeating. Census records are the backbone of American genealogy but everything you read on them may not be right and when it comes to "color" or race or ethnicity, what you see written down may be the word of the reporting individual (hopefully a family member but sometimes a neighbor) or the opinion of the census taker.
I've seen someone called Black or Negro when living in the American South who was called White in Chicago. I've seen large farm families who proved to have a Native American ancestor with one child called Black and the rest called White - and across the street another farm where they were all listed as Indian.
We can learn about the niche specific attitudes about race and color and ethnicity from this though, can't we?
I noticed that my post on proving Native American ancestry has been getting a lot of hits, so I thought I would post this helpful link which leads to lots and lots of other informative links including Dawes Rolls and Guion-Miller Roll as well as Census Enumeration of Pueblo Indians, 1790-1939.
THESE ARE SPECIAL COUNTS OF NATIVE AMERICANS separate from the NATIONAL CENSUS or STATE CENSUS.
So... What if you think you have Native American ancestry but no known member of your family is "card carrying" members of a tribe with reservation rights?
I may have said it before, but it's worth repeating. Census records are the backbone of American genealogy but everything you read on them may not be right and when it comes to "color" or race or ethnicity, what you see written down may be the word of the reporting individual (hopefully a family member but sometimes a neighbor) or the opinion of the census taker.
I've seen someone called Black or Negro when living in the American South who was called White in Chicago. I've seen large farm families who proved to have a Native American ancestor with one child called Black and the rest called White - and across the street another farm where they were all listed as Indian.
We can learn about the niche specific attitudes about race and color and ethnicity from this though, can't we?
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