Friday, December 5, 2008

If Wishes Were.....

christmas_tree

We all have certain presents we'd like to receive for Christmas but know that they'll probably never actually appear.

In 1986 I made slight detour coming home from business meetings in northern California and stopped in Angel's Camp, California to meet a long lost cousin. When I arrived, I found him teaching tennis to some youth on a tennis court, sweaty, a little winded and extremely busy.

The Diary

My cousin, Gerald Turner, had inherited two precious possessions from our common great grandfather. I asked to see David Lewis Drew's diary. He pointed toward his office and said go ahead look at them. The diary was small, about 4" x 6" and an inch thick. It was filled with entries from David's first year in California during the Gold Rush in Calaveras County. I took two photos of the pages with the little disposable camera I had purchased after my camera died two days earlier, hoping they would turn out and I'd at least have a sample of grandpa's writing. Neither of the photos were readable after the film was developed but the photo of the old secretary was ok.

I thanked Gerald for allowing me to see and handle them. During our closing remarks, I mentioned that I'd love have them if he ever decided to dispose of them and emphasized that the diary was especially precious in my opinion. He said that he'd like to see them stay in the family, shook hands and turned to greet the next tennis class that had just arrived.

Gerald died not too long afterward and I was called by his estate attorney asking if I wanted anything from his estate. I replied that I wanted the journal and would love to have the secretary. The phone was silent for a few moments and then he said that he was sorry, but that neither item was in the estate.

Where had they gone? He promised to look into it but was never able to find what happened to them. I had touched and briefly read pages in the diary. How I wish it would show up under the tree this Christmas. It is priceless to me but probably just junk to almost everyone else.

The Box of Records

While reading letters Gerald's sister, Hattie, had written to my mother, she mentioned that her mother had all of the genealogical records and documents that our great aunt, Julia Drew Tower had collected during her life including items given her by our Tirrill aunts in Stewartstown, New Hampshire.

They were stored in an old box in Hattie's mothers home. When she died the box disappeared. Hattie's letter listed the items in the box and I wished I could see and copy them. I'm sick that they were probably thrown away. Again, they were probably just trash to others, but would be like diamonds to me. I'd be ecstatic if the box and contents showed up under the tree this year. How I wish they would...

The Miracles

Walking down the hall to my office today, I stopped to look at all the large old photos of my ancestors hanging on the walls. I still can't believe that I have them.

When I was about seven, my mother took me with her to my grandfathers house. Her siblings were cleaning 'stuff' out of the old home and tearing down the old barn. The old trash wood from the barn and much of the 'stuff' from inside the home were tossed into a fire so it didn't have to be hauled off to a garbage dump.

Old magazines, clothing, stacks of family papers and other items were quickly dispatched before we arrived. My mother was disturbed that they had been destroyed before she had a chance to look through them for ancestral records and mementos from her youth. We wished we'd arrived earlier to intervene.

When were getting ready to leave, she suddenly had an idea. Maybe something was still left in the attic behind the trap door. Crawling up on the sink in the bathroom, I tipped the attic door open and crawled up into the dusty and dank attic space. I didn't have a flashlight, so I used my hands to feel around to find anything left there.

Mom's intuition was right. There were dusty old framed photos leaning against a rafter brace behind the door that you wouldn't see unless looking for them specifically. The photos were of my great grandparents and second great grandparents. Wow! I found treasure.

When lowering them down though the opening, I saw tears came to mom's eyes. She was delighted that they hadn't been burned. Eventually, she gave them to me, knowing how much I'd treasure them.

Ten years ago, my wife received a call from her great aunt saying that if she would come up to her home over the weekend she would give her some genealogy items that she would enjoy. Once again, good fortune came to our family. She received the same type of large old photos of her ancestors that I'd received years ago too.

Christmas came early when we received our respective ancestral photos. We couldn't imagine gifts of such magnificence. Treasure!

This holiday season, verbalize your own ancestral gift wishes. Some times, if wishes were .... they actually come true.

Start your list today. Dear Santa....... I want .....

Thursday, December 4, 2008

The "Oh Be Loifules" (Oh Be Lovelies) - 6 Mar 1900

Charles Logie had a nickname for everyone and about every activity in his life. The week of 6 Mar 1900 found the Logie family celebrating life and spring with son Walter playing his mandolin to entertain the family.

One of the school teachers in American Fork had died and not all of her students, the "cherubs" in Charles colorful language, attended her funeral. Charles didn't understand why folks made such a big deal about funerals. He was the undertaker and made the coffins by hand, but that was only because of his skill as a carpenter and a secondary source of income for the family.

schoolNot only was his daughter a school teacher, but they rented a room to a spinster school teacher, Miss Gailbrath, hence he frequently mentions events related to education. He loved to tease about the attitudes of young school age children, calling them the "Oh Be Loifules" or "Oh Be Lovelies" in this letter.

Charles mentions his daughters, Rosa and Annie along with comments on his son-in-law and the fact that their family were currently entertaining stomach flu.

His purposeful misspellings and hacking of the English language continues in this letter, which is transcribed exactly as he wrote it:

American Fork Mar 6/00 (1900)

Dear School Marm,

your letter duly recd & found us celebrating Logies was day Sir Walter is quite a help on those festifites as he performs on the malodien & that takes a deal of trouble off my hands. we are having some nice weather now & I expects we will have to start gardening if Spring has come to Stay our Padogones declared last Monday visiting day & they all went to Salt Lake with the exception of Cora she seems to do as she pleases since the trustees had to give her her school back old lady G_th did not seem to like her trip. She had to pay full fare & She don't want any holidays any way. there was a great parade over A. Greens funeral yesterday & there was sixteen of her cherubs absent & that upset her bowels. conciderably don't see what people want to make such a fuss about a funeral. Some of the young teachers talk of going elsewere to teach next season the school system don't seem to get along verry harmouiusly Some haw this year to mitch umbug white liver & the Cat fish had got a professor to come from Provo to teach the oh be loifules music two hours a week. the trustees have put up a notice for the citizens to meet on the 27th to arringe for building more school houses but I think we had better get out of beph before get any further involved there is not much news to write about as I write so often I am sometimes puzeled to know what to tell you. Our Rosa is down today She says they have had a visits from de la Grip but they are geting some better now. Annie & family are well Dr. Lee amuses himself prospecting when he is not too tired poor soul the vaccination was a grand fiz Kind of Poppy @_> I am writing this before dinner for I have to go visiting some of the ward with old Jimie Crooks like old man Raley & Spratley used to do. you see we are all geting stured up with a long pole since we have become the Alpine Stick by the way I think those converts of yours are pretty hard cares for I don't know where they would find their Christains if we are not but there is an old saying there is none so blind as those that wont see. now I have scribled over the usual amount of paper so I will conclude for this time. we are well at home & hope you are the same

except our Kind love & be good to your self.

I am your Affect Father

Chas Logie

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

No Passport. No Reservations.

I stopped living on a jet nine years ago and don't miss the constant hassle of airports, hotels and lost hours from home and family. The only trips I really enjoyed were those that involved family history research or visiting Disney. Why Disney didn't build a large complex in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, I'll never know, but it certainly would have been perfectly sited in my opinion..... at least in the summer....

When you don't live near the location where many if not most of your ancestors lived for generations, short visits just don't afford enough time to visit all the libraries, vital record centers, ancestral homes and cemeteries you'd like to see.

Before your research trip, you plan out everything you want to see and put a star by the things you have to see and do.

Your schedule goes exactly as planned and so there is little time required in those areas of your research again. Right?

I suppose that there is a statistical probability that is true for someone at sometime, but I probably wouldn't believe it even with proof.

In my last post, I talked about losing myself in Google Books. I didn't mention how much time I Google Earthspend using Google Earth in my ancestral research.

It is too bad that Google doesn't offer frequent flyer miles, because I'd never have to pay for a flight again in my lifetime.

I don't accomplish everything on my list when I travel on family history research trips. I always find ancestral families that lived in the area I just visited AFTER I get home. I never find all of the cemeteries and ancestral homes that I planned to visit.

What to do? Research trips are expensive. Talking momma into one more 'exciting' week browsing through dusty archives in the basements of a government buildings with walls covered by the requisite green tile is a tall order, even though she loves genealogy too.

There is at least a partial solution to my dilemma. I book the next flight on Google Earth and fly back to discover the cemeteries and buildings that I wish I'd found or known about when I was there in person.

Then I start creating pin markers for each of the locations with descriptive names and save them with descriptive file names. Soon, migration patterns emerge. They help me better plan my next research trip to the library or ancestral location.

I create multiple files that cover a variety of topics. One is completely comprised of cemeteries pins only. Another is comprised of the locations where my ancestors lived. By using different colored pins for each family, I can easily separate them into my various lineal families.

One file is based entirely on occupations and historical events. They help me understand why many of my ancestors were constantly on the move westward, often homesteading or claiming bounty land grants for military service. Yet another file shows me where the principal ports were located on the coast of New England and the number and color of pins tell me whether the ships based there were whalers, merchant or military ships.

With these maps, I have a quick visual reference that opens new vistas of contemplation regarding my ancestral quest. By zooming in, around and across the various pins, I see arenas of exploration that I haven't considered before.

Animating the burial location file allows me to visually observe migration patterns that aren't necessarily linear. Reading the burial locations in my database doesn't necessarily equate to envisioning the migration path moving west, then north, then south and even back east again. Why did they do that? Hmmmmm. It is time to rethink my research plan yet again.

I animate some of the files to help teach our grandchildren about their ancestors. They are young, but watching the flight from ancestral home to ancestral home around the world is second nature in their view of the world. They expect to have tools and presentations like this and hence pick up the meaning of what they are seeing almost immediately.

Within minutes, I have to surrender the mouse so they can run the show, explore the program and as if by osmosis, learn the interface and tools in Google Earth so they can start adding additional data points that I've overlooked or haven't considered.

The virtual world is theirs but I'm not ready to give up my seat in it. Neither should you. If you aren't using Google Earth in your own ancestral quest, download the free application today and get with it. It is easy to use and of course even if you get hung up a little, just ask your kids or grandkids to help and they'll have you up and flying in short order.

While writing this posting, Dan Lynch left a comment on my last posting about Google Books. He has written an excellent book called "Google Your Family Tree" that would be an wonderful addition to your library and research skills. Perhaps Santa will bring you a copy if you ask for it.

Post a note and let us know how you use Google Earth in your own ancestral quest. I'll bet there are hundreds of ideas that you've found that will benefit the entire family history community.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Dear School Marm - 19 Feb 1900

Charles Joseph Gordon Logie started writing letters to his unmarried school teacher daughter in 1900 offering advice, relaying stories from home and sending his love.

He was born in Chelsea, England in 1829 and moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia as a young man. He became a skilled mariner and carpenter while living there.

Logie Charles Joseph GordonFriedlander Rosa ClaraHis sweetheart, Rosa Clara Friedlander was born on the Isle of Guernsey. They married in Sydney and after their first child was born, decided to move to Utah in America.

During the voyage to America, their ship, Julia Ann, sank in the South Pacific where they survived on a tiny atoll for months. That is a story for another day and will eventually be posted here as their story unfolds.

As the son of a British government official, Charles had a classic British education. However, his sense of humor often precluded him from exhibiting it.

Enjoy his humor, English cadence, lack of punctuation and purposefully misspelled words that were used to tease and endear himself to his daughter. I've transcribed the letters exactly as he wrote them.

The first letter in this series follows....

"Feby 19/ 1900 American Phork

Dear School Marm,

We us & company reveived your interesting letter last Sunday & were glad to hear that you are well & seem to be having an all round time. well I was a young fellow my self once & I have hardley got over it yet I some times have arguments with our Pedagous about some nonsence or the other about the pup its staying too long in the passageways. some times She finds some of Forbes children in the bed room when they should be out & then again he comes noseing around & Ketches some of her darlings breaking the rules then she teachers seem to be having pecular times since Cora came back you see Cora has the laugh on all the rest of them for she would not be vaccinated & she came back to her school with flying colors & after a three weeks rest got her full pay with the exception of ten dollars that the trustees had no right to deprive her of & now the She teachers don't have any particular use for & don't want any connection with the buggar next door. well so much for school. we are having quite a rain today had to stay in side & look out. I was trying to get Walter to write to you & he said that he would pretty soon he said to ask you if you ever saw any thing of Ramsey that used to work in Mercur. Bob & Rosa was down last Saturday to do some tradeing and among other things they bought a lot of vaccine & Bob is going to do the Stabing act so I expect they will all be stumping round with teir arms in slings for a change Perry was down a whle ago & he was in a big hurrey to be operated on & probeerbly he will join Bobs medicul socierty. by the way you have not given any satisfactory account as to what has become of that Telescope that belongs to our worthy School marm it is among the posibilities that She may want it some of these days Mother says where did you find your new box the mctionanie dude don't know of any thing new even thing is verry dul out here Dunkleys folks talk of Shuting up their Store the people don't paternize them & some how their boys don't seem to want to help them. Mrs Dunkley is quite worried about their affairs. I believe Earl Started out with some more boys for Sun Shine today & Walter says he don't know what they will find & do over there. now I will have to quit don't expose yourself more than necessary & keep your feet dry. we are well & hope this will find you OK & with

Kind Love I am your affect old Father

Chas Logie

Oh yes the dame is bakeing pies pies today aint they good you bet."

I'll post a new letter each week along with associated source documents and photos to help put the 'flesh, humor and smell of fresh baked bread' on the usual skeleton of 'dates and places' that we typically see in most of our family lineage books.




Charles Logie's Letters

In 1900, my 2nd great grandfather, Charles Joseph Gordon Logie wrote a series of letters to his daughter, Beatrice, who was a school teacher in Brigham Canyon, Utah.

Like many old letters, they provide a snapshot in time about his family, important events, proclivities and opinions that convey that delicious family history detail that we all crave.

The letters came to me over circuitous routes and are very precious to me.

Other family records were inherited or collected by myself over many decades and almost unimaginable (even to me) hours of research.

Old lineage records will be added as time goes on but for now I'll post grandpa Logie's letters in the same chronological order that they were written.

I love his wry sense of humor, his never ending allegiance to the Queen and fact that he almost circled the world by the time he was thirty.

Along with his wife and baby daughter Charles survived being shipwrecked in the South Pacific. He was a carpenter, an undertaker, a curfew enforcer and a tease. I especially like the tease facet of his personality.

Many of my ancestors had similarly fascinating lives and those details along with those of uncles, aunts, cousins and friends will eventually find their way to this site.

Being a lineage keeper isn't something you are elected to do. It is something you are born to do.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Lost In Google Books

I've delved into Google Books since the first day they appeared on the web. Knowing that the collection grows continually, I set aside time every month to cruise the byways of the site looking for new attractions and new rare book shops. Window shopping never fails to result in a 'sale' during these excursions. I find titles and subjects related to my genealogy research that I would never know about without this great research tool.gbooks

Much of this long Thanksgiving weekend was spent reading the books on one monitor while I entered data in my database on a second monitor.

Yes, there were plenty of normal holiday busyness activities that could have occupied my time, but while others were out running into each other trying to find bargains, I enjoyed the greatest bargain around ... reading the pages of books I couldn't afford and probably wouldn't travel to find. No bumping. No traffic. No co$t.

Life is good.

I've added over 2,000 additional sources to my data in the past two days from the Massachusetts vital records books on Google. I've added over 500 new cousins names and information from historical records this weekend too. My family history knowledgebase has expanded measurably.

If you haven't taken the time to make your own tour through the site for a while, put it on your schedule. You may want to ask 'Santa' for some uninterrupted time to enjoy your own Google Books journey.

However you arrange for time to make your visit, don't hesitate to make it happen.

Just go to books.google.com to start your journey with a keyword search. Stretch your smile muscles and kiss the hours goodbye.

I find a comfortable pair of P.J.'s to be the best attire for my own forays into Google Books Land. I think you'll find a similar attire works best for you too.

Thanks Google! Merry Christmas to all the elves toiling away in your notoriously wonderful facilities who bring so much joy to so many.