My Favorite Technology for Genealogy

I love the internet.  Google, FamilySearch.org, Ancestry, Heritage, GenealogyBank, and a multitude of other site out there.
Digitalizing my family tree has been great. I have been experimenting with RootsMagic, Legacy, and Ancestral Quest to find which works best for me since PAF will not be moving forward.  I have it backed up by DropBox and I have uploaded it on Ancestry and Pedigree Resource file.  The latter I don't think I would have if I had realized it was going to be used other than reaching out with research.  I guess I have to say I mostly use my laptop. 
Oh, and yes, I love digital Scrapbooking. I never scrapbooked before because of the materials and space it took.   Now, with Corel Photo Elements and Paint.net , I am able to create scrapbook pages quite economically.

As you know, I recently received my Kindle, and have already found many free old genealogy research books that I can download, such as Chicago City Directories on Google.  It makes it easier to browse through.

click to make larger and hit back to return

I used Google Maps, PDF download of the Directories, and Paint.net to create a page that pinpoints where the Hero's great great grandfather lived in Chicago in 1855-1856.




  At the Library I have to say being able to scan and print from film is a great change from the old days of having to remove the film, take to a scan printer and print. 

All I have shared is probably way outdated already, but some of us are slow or financially handicapped to buy the flip scanners etc.. I do have a digital camera I am trying to get better at.
With that I will stop before I look anymore foolish.

Wordless Wednesday

Fay High School seniors 1946

My mother and her twin in Fay Oklahoma.

Sentimental Sunday... The Hero and Easter Tradition.

Tonight, I went to dinner with the Hero's family to celebrate his twin's and oldest sister's birthdays. It was lonely there without him.  Even his mom had to choke back tears when she hugged me good bye and said "I wish the Hero could have been here." 
While we were visiting, I listened to my niece describing how her family's Easter Sunday was laid out.  It brought many years of Easter moments to mind. 
The Hero loved family.  It was his mother's tradition, when her children were older, to celebrate the oldest sister's birthday which is this week, with the twins birthday, which was the first of May, on Easter Sunday, because the whole family came to her house for Easter dinner.  We would get up, then let the children look for the hidden colored eggs for 30 minutes.  We then rushed to get everyone dressed (6 children and 2 adults) for church. Easter Sunday services were important for the Hero.  He loved the message of the atonement, and Christ's resurrection.  After church, we made the 2 hour drive to Grandmother's house.  At Grandmother's there was another round of Easter egg hunting and children playing while the adults prepared the dinner.  It was a time of visiting and getting to know one another.  It saddened the Hero when his mother went into and assisted living facility and the family gatherings became fewer and fewer.  The younger generation is now spread out across the US and making their own traditions now.  They all remember going to Grandmother's on Easter and the hidden prize of a plastic Easter egg filled with change for each.
We always had a family picture taken.

1983

 

My Kindle Arrived... Thanks DearMyrtle!

Some of you may or may not know. DearMyrtle had a Kindle give away at their website.  (Jumping up and down) I won!  That was last Friday.

This afternoon my daughter called me at the Family History Center and said... "Mom!  Your Kindle arrived! May I look at it?"  I said, "Well, okay.  It will be another 5 hours before I get home....don't fiddle with it!"
She didn't, but the minute I walked in the house she was at my door with the box.  What excitement we were given!...
Thank you DearMyrtle for the opportunity for entering your drawing.  I never in a million years thought I would win something so nice.  Here are some pictures. 

It has my name on it now!... Thanks again!

Sentimental Sunday... The Hero Learned to be Humble Early

One of the Hero's favorite story subjects was the car he and his twin brother shared.  Their mom nicknamed it "Flattery"  on the premiss that  “Flattery will get you nowhere!”  According to both men, the car was always breaking down.  This story in particular was about the Hero and his brother planning to be "cool".  

Only those from the 50's and 60's will understand cruising the drive ins.  I told you before about Prince's Drive In in Houston.  It was a regular thing for young men to cruise a specific area that they lived in checking out the girls and hopefully being checked out by the girls. This evening, there was a girl the Hero wanted to impress. They started cruising nonchalantly around where the girl in question was parked.  They were cool in Flattery, their 1951 Chevy 4 door sedan, black, with black interior. All systems were go, the Hero was driving, arm on the window seal, leaned back, cool.  Sputter, Sputter... Oh no! the engine went sput. They found themselves at a standstill, they had to get out and push the car to the side.  Not cool, but a great character maker.  The brothers could look back at the time and see it as a learning experience.  The car did not make the man.  It did help mold him however. ; )

I found a picture similar to Flattery, I fixed it to reflect the 4 door Black sedan.

A side note... The Hero's mom is so excited.  She is going to be a model in a fashion show at her assisted living facility.  I am so excited for her 91 and moving closer to 92 in just 2.5 months.  Now this is living.

Sentimental Sunday... The Hero Had His Limits

Hero and I having a noise maker fight

This is a story on my notorious habit of teasing.  The second year of our marriage, the Hero had figured out that I was a terrible tease. I would tickle, hide and jump out, spar with him, etc.  The Hero would remind me that he was tired and I should stop.  One time in the kitchen, I snuck up behind him at the end of an otherwise tiring day for the Hero.  I grabbed his waist and started tickling him.  He totally reacted.  He turned around and whack, he hit me on the shoulder with the small cast iron skillet in his hand.  Surprised with wide open mouth I said "You hit me!"  Just as surprised, he replied "Yes, I told you to stop. You didn't." After the shock was over, we made up. It never happened again, however I will admit that there were times a key word, frying pan, would be a warning.  I was a naughty girl, the story was retold through the years.
What brought this story to you was Little Miss Sunshine came in laughing saying "Have you see Rapunzel?"  'No'  "I so thought of dad when I was watching the movie and Rapunzel hit the thief with the frying pan. Later, he said, 'a frying pan, who knew?'  It immediately sent me off in a thought of dad." 
Stories when told become memories that can be brought forth with the right trigger.  Keep your stories alive. Tell them to your family so they can be retold.

Sentimental Sunday... The Hero Had a Spiritual Side

This is General Conference of our church The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  It was a favorite time of the Hero's.  As I was watching the meetings today, a memory the Hero told me came to mind. 

When he was in his mid teens, he began to question whether or not God existed.  He remembered vividly sitting in his back yard mentally questioning whether or not what he had been taught in his catechism classes were valid or just more traditions.  He was hurting inside and wanted an answer.  He said he threw back his head looking up at the cloudy sky and said "If you are there, give me a sign."  At that very moment, he said, the clouds opened and he could see a big star.  Then the clouds covered it up.  It made an impression on him, but at the time, he chose to consider it a coincidence, and continued in his agnostic ways until he met the right girl.(Moi) 

I have to tell you that when he told me the story I was having a Fievel/Tanya moment of the rendition of "Somewhere Out There".  When I was in my early teens; well, through all my teen years, I would climb up on our garage roof and sit, looking at the stars and talk with the Lord about whether there would ever be someone for me.  ; ) Patience is a virtue, I always tell you my grandchildren, and it worked for me.  My Hero could have been seeking his answers looking at the sky at the same time I was seeking consolation looking at the sky.  I like to think that anyway.  At the end, he had no doubts that God existed and looked forward to seeing Him.

I wish you all, family and friends, a wonderful Sentimental Sunday.  It is all good.