Hey all, I'm heading out to the Cook County Clerk satellite office in Rolling Meadows, IL today. I'm going to try to beat the system by going to request Julius Bolda's death certificate in person rather than sending in the request via snail mail. Cook County, like so many other county clerk's offices around the country, tends to have a pretty long turnaround time for records. Fortunately, they have more than one office. Though the main clerk's office is in downtown Chicago, not the easiest place in the world for me to access, there are also suburban offices in the North, Northwest, and in the South so no matter where in Chicagoland you are, there should be a clerk's office somewhat close to you. Rolling Meadows is the Northwest office and while it is definitely more accessible to me, it's still a good 35-40 minutes or so away. But, if they have the records there you can avoid the turnaround time of the snail mail method. The hitch here though is that the satellite offices do not have ALL of the records available to them. The last time I went down there I had a list of about four people for whom I needed death certificates and I was able to get all but one of them. The other one is only available from the downtown location. I'm hoping that won't be the case for Julius.
For those who need vital records from the Clerk's Office, Cook County offers one other option. www.cookcountygenealogy.com is the clerk's office genealogy portal site. From that address you can check for the record you need online and if it is available you can download it directly onto your computer. Millions of records have been uploaded to the site, but not all of them are currently available. Out of all of the records that I've ordered from Cook County, I think only about three or four were available for download through that site. So it is still a work in progress but it's worth a shot, especially if you do not live locally and can't access the satellite offices.
So keep me in your genealogical thoughts today guys, I need some good luck to get this record today! :)
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Passenger Lists and Naturalizations- I found him! I found him...maybe
Ok, in the last post I mentioned that I had just started working on the NGS HSC Lessons 12 and 13, Passenger Lists and Naturalization Records. While they are two separate assignments, and could be done for two different people, for me they kindof meshed into one lucky, and potentially big, find.
So I started out with the passenger list lesson and wanted to take the opportunity to poke around and try to find something new, rather than going with an earlier find I discovered a few years ago. Out of half a dozen 19th century immigrant lines that I know of right now, I only have one potential passenger list for one family group. So this is an area that I definitely needed some improvement and basically, more time to investigate and this lesson absolutely fit the bill. I started trying various name searches on ancestry for the surnames I was looking for in their immigration collection- Dellibac, Kleinert, and Bolda from my side and Norwodworski and a few others from my husband's side- and found some promising hits for Julius Bolda, my paternal grandma's grandfather. He first appears in the 1900 census enumeration living in Chicago, on Ward St, with his wife and family and giving an arrival date of 1892. Great, right? This should be no problem. Well, except there is no Julius Bolda who arrived from Germany in 1892. There is one who arrived in Baltimore in 1887 with a large family, including an older couple presumed to be his parents, and his age is compatible with Julius' estimated birth in 1869. However, the older couple and several of their children were found to have settled in Detroit, MI, not Chicago. It's close, true, but there is nothing in this passenger list to tell me that it's the same Julius. So I decided to search a little deeper.
In 1900 Julius is an alien; he is not naturalized. In 1910 however, he claims to have been naturalized. So, in theory, since he was living in Chicago between 1900 and 1910 and claimed to have been naturalized between those census years, there is a great chance that his naturalization papers went through the Cook County, IL court system. The federal government did not take over naturalizations until 1906 so there are a couple more years on the side of a local court. Fortunately, ancestry has recently updated their naturalization holdings and the place and period needed for a search for Julius are now available and here is what I found:
Julius Bolda, arrived in Baltimore in APRIL in 1892 and lived on WARD St. in Chicago. I put the important stuff in caps because I wanted to make sure I explained them. As for the month, this is one of the important points I read about in the lesson material for the course. When immigrants were asked later on when they arrived, they often got the years mistaken but the months correct, or at least the seasons, because while they may not have kept track of the passing of the years they would have been aware of the seasons, especially those with a farming background whose year would have revolved around the planting and harvesting of crops, which occurred seasonally. So here we see Julius says he arrived in April on his naturalization card and the passenger list we found, showing the Julius Bolda who arrived in Baltimore with the large family, also arrived in April, though 5 years earlier than claimed on the Soundex card. The other key point here is the address. The subject Julius lived on Ward St in Chicago in the 1900 and 1910 census enumerations that we had already confirmed as being the correct person. We also know that the subject Julius was naturalized between 1900 and 1910 so we have a good case.
The address pretty much tells us that the Julius on the naturalization card is the correct Julius. If that's the case, then we can then say that the Julius on the card is probably also the same Julius from the Baltimore passenger list who arrived in APRIL 1887. If this turns out to be true, then we now have the names of several of Julius' siblings as well as his potential parents, Franz and Veronica as seen here:
One way we can try to confirm whether Franz and Veronica were his parents is to order his death certificate. He died in Cook County, IL in 1915 and the form should ask who his parents were. Of course, we have to keep in mind that the informant, whoever that person was, may not have known who his parents were. However, even if the informant didn't know, all is not lost. Considering the size of his family, there is the slight possibility that the informant on his death record could be a sibling who could then be identifiable from the passenger list or census enumerations for Franz and Veronica in MI. I have to say though, I have a sneaking suspicion that the informant for Julius was probably his wife, Marie (Ptak) Bolda, who lived until the 1940s. There's no telling if she knew the names of Julius' parents so it's going to be a gamble. If she didn't, I do have one other option but it's not going to be a fun one. Julius was Catholic so there may be a baptismal record for him somewhere but I would need to order his naturalization papers and hope that he gave his hometown, or at the very least the area from which he came. As far as I can tell so far, his ship, the Donau, left Germany from Bremen which doesn't tell me a thing about where he came from. Getting confirmation of his parentage this way is not going to be easy at all so I'm just going to have to keep my fingers crossed that Marie knew the names of her in-laws. That or that one of Julius' siblings came into town for the funeral and helped out with the informant information.
So I started out with the passenger list lesson and wanted to take the opportunity to poke around and try to find something new, rather than going with an earlier find I discovered a few years ago. Out of half a dozen 19th century immigrant lines that I know of right now, I only have one potential passenger list for one family group. So this is an area that I definitely needed some improvement and basically, more time to investigate and this lesson absolutely fit the bill. I started trying various name searches on ancestry for the surnames I was looking for in their immigration collection- Dellibac, Kleinert, and Bolda from my side and Norwodworski and a few others from my husband's side- and found some promising hits for Julius Bolda, my paternal grandma's grandfather. He first appears in the 1900 census enumeration living in Chicago, on Ward St, with his wife and family and giving an arrival date of 1892. Great, right? This should be no problem. Well, except there is no Julius Bolda who arrived from Germany in 1892. There is one who arrived in Baltimore in 1887 with a large family, including an older couple presumed to be his parents, and his age is compatible with Julius' estimated birth in 1869. However, the older couple and several of their children were found to have settled in Detroit, MI, not Chicago. It's close, true, but there is nothing in this passenger list to tell me that it's the same Julius. So I decided to search a little deeper.
In 1900 Julius is an alien; he is not naturalized. In 1910 however, he claims to have been naturalized. So, in theory, since he was living in Chicago between 1900 and 1910 and claimed to have been naturalized between those census years, there is a great chance that his naturalization papers went through the Cook County, IL court system. The federal government did not take over naturalizations until 1906 so there are a couple more years on the side of a local court. Fortunately, ancestry has recently updated their naturalization holdings and the place and period needed for a search for Julius are now available and here is what I found:
Julius Bolda, arrived in Baltimore in APRIL in 1892 and lived on WARD St. in Chicago. I put the important stuff in caps because I wanted to make sure I explained them. As for the month, this is one of the important points I read about in the lesson material for the course. When immigrants were asked later on when they arrived, they often got the years mistaken but the months correct, or at least the seasons, because while they may not have kept track of the passing of the years they would have been aware of the seasons, especially those with a farming background whose year would have revolved around the planting and harvesting of crops, which occurred seasonally. So here we see Julius says he arrived in April on his naturalization card and the passenger list we found, showing the Julius Bolda who arrived in Baltimore with the large family, also arrived in April, though 5 years earlier than claimed on the Soundex card. The other key point here is the address. The subject Julius lived on Ward St in Chicago in the 1900 and 1910 census enumerations that we had already confirmed as being the correct person. We also know that the subject Julius was naturalized between 1900 and 1910 so we have a good case.
The address pretty much tells us that the Julius on the naturalization card is the correct Julius. If that's the case, then we can then say that the Julius on the card is probably also the same Julius from the Baltimore passenger list who arrived in APRIL 1887. If this turns out to be true, then we now have the names of several of Julius' siblings as well as his potential parents, Franz and Veronica as seen here:
One way we can try to confirm whether Franz and Veronica were his parents is to order his death certificate. He died in Cook County, IL in 1915 and the form should ask who his parents were. Of course, we have to keep in mind that the informant, whoever that person was, may not have known who his parents were. However, even if the informant didn't know, all is not lost. Considering the size of his family, there is the slight possibility that the informant on his death record could be a sibling who could then be identifiable from the passenger list or census enumerations for Franz and Veronica in MI. I have to say though, I have a sneaking suspicion that the informant for Julius was probably his wife, Marie (Ptak) Bolda, who lived until the 1940s. There's no telling if she knew the names of Julius' parents so it's going to be a gamble. If she didn't, I do have one other option but it's not going to be a fun one. Julius was Catholic so there may be a baptismal record for him somewhere but I would need to order his naturalization papers and hope that he gave his hometown, or at the very least the area from which he came. As far as I can tell so far, his ship, the Donau, left Germany from Bremen which doesn't tell me a thing about where he came from. Getting confirmation of his parentage this way is not going to be easy at all so I'm just going to have to keep my fingers crossed that Marie knew the names of her in-laws. That or that one of Julius' siblings came into town for the funeral and helped out with the informant information.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
ProGen 3 is now finished...NGS HSC CD 3 here I come
Well, yesterday was the last day for my peer group and I in ProGen 3. We are now finished with the course. Our last topic was on marketing strategies and business record keeping. We spent some time talking about what has worked for those with running businesses and those who are not currently "in business" yet got to ask some questions. We also spent some time talking about filing systems which was pretty eye-opening. I have to admit, I'm not much of a stickler with the filing. Oh, I have the file folders, and most are labeled, but they're scattered around the house rather than in one primary location. Next to the desktop computer, next to the netbook and printer, on the coffee table under the good reading light...you get the picture. It's not my fault though, really. I use my "files" everyday, whether it's for the ProGen assignments or the NGS HSC assignments, or just for my own project at the time. Ok, I could put them back in the file box or at least keep them all together, but what fun would that be? Besides, I like to be able to sit down, see a file and start getting back into it.
Speaking of the NGS HSC, I've gotten caught up on that now too. I finished up CD 2 with lesson 11 which was on migration. For the first assignment in that section, I had to print out/copy a few maps charting the migration of a family through three generations. I found some wonderful maps at David Rumsey's site, as usual, and was able to chart the Bromagem movement from Monongalia County, VA (now WV) to Montgomery Co., (and later, thanks to county boundary changes, Bath County) KY, to Greene County, OH, to Darke County, OH, to bordering Indiana counties including Randolph, Jay, Wells, and Blackford. I had to look at possible paths to and from each of the locations which was really interesting, to sit in front of maps that were pretty near contemporary to the subject I was tracking, and try to figure out how they would have gotten from one place to another. I found that the Ohio River was probably a major player for the Bromagems because they could pick it up outside Pittsburgh (Monongalia County is currently considered part of the Pittsburgh metro area) and take it into central Kentucky, near where they briefly settled. Then they could hop on the Little Miami River to head up to Chillicothe, OH and from there pick up a short road to the Greene County, OH area. If you still aren't familiar with David Rumsey's map site, at http://www.davidrumsey.com/, you need to head over there, bookmark it, and return as much as possible. The maps on the site are absolutely beautiful, plus pretty essential tools for the family historian.
The second assignment for this section was a pretty big one. I had to choose an ancestor and one census year in which he/she appears. Then compile a spreadsheet with at least 100 of that person's neighbors in that year and do the same for the next census year. So overall, you have a spreadsheet covering two census enumerations with at least 200 total included. Then, you go over both statistics looking for similarities, anything that can help you to group the people and figure how your subject fit into the mix when historical context is mixed with the social background you've just compiled. If your subject moved between the two census years, then you need to find out more, such as what was going on in that particular geographic location that may have contributed to a move. Was it religious? Social? Was there a conflict going on at the time? I chose to follow Emsley McMasters, the Methodist living in the North Carolina Quaker Belt during the Civil War. Obviously I had already discovered that the Quaker Belt area was struggling with some serious, violent and unstable internal warfare during the Civil War, as if being a country at war wasn't bad enough. So I knew that his move was likely to provide a safer and more stable home for his large family (there were 8 children living under his roof at the time of the 1860 census). Indiana would have provided the land but his destination in particular, Parke County, would have provided a strong North Carolina community as well as a community with an established Quaker contingent, so the values would presumably have been similar to what he, and subsequently, his children would have grown up with. It was also accessible to him from the very well traveled Wilderness Road which he could pick up outside Salisbury, NC and take west into Kentucky, where he could pick up the Ohio River and from there, the Wabash River, which runs along Indiana's western border and have several waterways branching off of it in the Parke County area.
All of this information was to be recorded in a report to complete lesson 11. I ordered the final CD of the course last week and it's already arrived so I've been taking a look at the workload and figuring out what needs to be ordered. The lessons this time cover, immigration, naturalization, military records, evidence analysis and kinship, and writing the biography of an ancestor. I did start poking around on ancestry a bit for the immigration and naturalization lessons and I think I got lucky. I'll post about that next...
Speaking of the NGS HSC, I've gotten caught up on that now too. I finished up CD 2 with lesson 11 which was on migration. For the first assignment in that section, I had to print out/copy a few maps charting the migration of a family through three generations. I found some wonderful maps at David Rumsey's site, as usual, and was able to chart the Bromagem movement from Monongalia County, VA (now WV) to Montgomery Co., (and later, thanks to county boundary changes, Bath County) KY, to Greene County, OH, to Darke County, OH, to bordering Indiana counties including Randolph, Jay, Wells, and Blackford. I had to look at possible paths to and from each of the locations which was really interesting, to sit in front of maps that were pretty near contemporary to the subject I was tracking, and try to figure out how they would have gotten from one place to another. I found that the Ohio River was probably a major player for the Bromagems because they could pick it up outside Pittsburgh (Monongalia County is currently considered part of the Pittsburgh metro area) and take it into central Kentucky, near where they briefly settled. Then they could hop on the Little Miami River to head up to Chillicothe, OH and from there pick up a short road to the Greene County, OH area. If you still aren't familiar with David Rumsey's map site, at http://www.davidrumsey.com/, you need to head over there, bookmark it, and return as much as possible. The maps on the site are absolutely beautiful, plus pretty essential tools for the family historian.
The second assignment for this section was a pretty big one. I had to choose an ancestor and one census year in which he/she appears. Then compile a spreadsheet with at least 100 of that person's neighbors in that year and do the same for the next census year. So overall, you have a spreadsheet covering two census enumerations with at least 200 total included. Then, you go over both statistics looking for similarities, anything that can help you to group the people and figure how your subject fit into the mix when historical context is mixed with the social background you've just compiled. If your subject moved between the two census years, then you need to find out more, such as what was going on in that particular geographic location that may have contributed to a move. Was it religious? Social? Was there a conflict going on at the time? I chose to follow Emsley McMasters, the Methodist living in the North Carolina Quaker Belt during the Civil War. Obviously I had already discovered that the Quaker Belt area was struggling with some serious, violent and unstable internal warfare during the Civil War, as if being a country at war wasn't bad enough. So I knew that his move was likely to provide a safer and more stable home for his large family (there were 8 children living under his roof at the time of the 1860 census). Indiana would have provided the land but his destination in particular, Parke County, would have provided a strong North Carolina community as well as a community with an established Quaker contingent, so the values would presumably have been similar to what he, and subsequently, his children would have grown up with. It was also accessible to him from the very well traveled Wilderness Road which he could pick up outside Salisbury, NC and take west into Kentucky, where he could pick up the Ohio River and from there, the Wabash River, which runs along Indiana's western border and have several waterways branching off of it in the Parke County area.
All of this information was to be recorded in a report to complete lesson 11. I ordered the final CD of the course last week and it's already arrived so I've been taking a look at the workload and figuring out what needs to be ordered. The lessons this time cover, immigration, naturalization, military records, evidence analysis and kinship, and writing the biography of an ancestor. I did start poking around on ancestry a bit for the immigration and naturalization lessons and I think I got lucky. I'll post about that next...
Friday, September 17, 2010
Still juggling, and adding more to the plate
Well, I'm still working on getting caught up after my Dad's passing last month. I've got 4 assignments to finish up, 2 for the NGS HSC and 2 for ProGen, my NGSQ group meets next week to discuss a great article by Stephanie Evans (which I'll try to post about soon), I'm getting indexed entries and photos from the project in Parke County, IN and now I've just agreed to be a coordinator for a future ProGen group. Yikes!
The two NGS HSC assignments I'm finishing are Lessons 7 and 11. Lesson 7 is on Church and Cemetery records and I had to order an FHL film to view the records of St Martin's Episcopal Church in Marcus Hook, Delaware County, PA then do an inventory of what was on the roll. It was definitely interesting reading, however there was an issue with the film notes from the familysearch website not matching what was supposed to be on the roll. But for the most part, I did get to see the hand-written entries naming the first vestrymen for the congregation in 1724 and various early 19th century entries for baptisms, marriages, and burials. Cool stuff there. The second part of this lesson was to make a cemetery map. This was one of the assignments I worked on back in June when I took my research trip to Parke County. I did a map for the Linebarger Cemetery which is just outside Rockville, IN. I had some weather and time issues however, so the map is not yet complete as far as getting all of the names and transcriptions but I hope to be able to finish it up in the spring.
Lesson 11, the second lesson I'm trying to get finished up, is the migration lesson. The first assignment is to print out an outline map or other map which you can then use to track the movements of a family group. I'll have to fill everyone in on this more later since I'm still in the middle of doing this but I'm using the movements of my Bromagem family for this one, showing their earliest known beginnings in Monongalia County, VA (now WV), then to Scott County, KY, and finally over to Greene and Darke Counties in OH and Randolph and Jay Counties in IN. The map is supposed to show the possible routes used to get to these locations as well and that is actually the part I'm researching now so I'll get back to that topic here once I'm finished with the assignment.
For ProGen, I'm working on the final 2 assignments of the group- the proof summary and the marketing plan. Initially I had thought to do the proof summary on the proving the parentage of Lillian Bromagen Stevens but once I got it all down, it ended up looking more like a case study than a proof summary. What that pretty much means is that there was no conflicting or indirect evidence. It all pretty much fell into place. The only real conflicting issue is the maiden name for her mother, which I've spoken about here in the past and which is an ongoing work-in-progress for me. So instead, I think I'm revisiting a different Bromagen issue for this assignment. I'll be going back over the work I did to prove that Lida Van Wormer was actually Eliza Jane Bromagen, sister of Lillian and eldest child of James Bromagen and Mary Jane Braden/Hawkins. Again, more on that when I know for sure which way I'm going :)
So that's the sum up for now. I'll have more details coming soon.
The two NGS HSC assignments I'm finishing are Lessons 7 and 11. Lesson 7 is on Church and Cemetery records and I had to order an FHL film to view the records of St Martin's Episcopal Church in Marcus Hook, Delaware County, PA then do an inventory of what was on the roll. It was definitely interesting reading, however there was an issue with the film notes from the familysearch website not matching what was supposed to be on the roll. But for the most part, I did get to see the hand-written entries naming the first vestrymen for the congregation in 1724 and various early 19th century entries for baptisms, marriages, and burials. Cool stuff there. The second part of this lesson was to make a cemetery map. This was one of the assignments I worked on back in June when I took my research trip to Parke County. I did a map for the Linebarger Cemetery which is just outside Rockville, IN. I had some weather and time issues however, so the map is not yet complete as far as getting all of the names and transcriptions but I hope to be able to finish it up in the spring.
Lesson 11, the second lesson I'm trying to get finished up, is the migration lesson. The first assignment is to print out an outline map or other map which you can then use to track the movements of a family group. I'll have to fill everyone in on this more later since I'm still in the middle of doing this but I'm using the movements of my Bromagem family for this one, showing their earliest known beginnings in Monongalia County, VA (now WV), then to Scott County, KY, and finally over to Greene and Darke Counties in OH and Randolph and Jay Counties in IN. The map is supposed to show the possible routes used to get to these locations as well and that is actually the part I'm researching now so I'll get back to that topic here once I'm finished with the assignment.
For ProGen, I'm working on the final 2 assignments of the group- the proof summary and the marketing plan. Initially I had thought to do the proof summary on the proving the parentage of Lillian Bromagen Stevens but once I got it all down, it ended up looking more like a case study than a proof summary. What that pretty much means is that there was no conflicting or indirect evidence. It all pretty much fell into place. The only real conflicting issue is the maiden name for her mother, which I've spoken about here in the past and which is an ongoing work-in-progress for me. So instead, I think I'm revisiting a different Bromagen issue for this assignment. I'll be going back over the work I did to prove that Lida Van Wormer was actually Eliza Jane Bromagen, sister of Lillian and eldest child of James Bromagen and Mary Jane Braden/Hawkins. Again, more on that when I know for sure which way I'm going :)
So that's the sum up for now. I'll have more details coming soon.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Getting back to business...Indexing Project Begins
Well, admittedly I've gotten VERY behind on my various projects this month. My Dad was in the hospital then hospice before passing away on the 13th and so I haven't done much of anything this month. But something big did happen genealogy-wise that I wanted to share. I started working on getting an indexing project in Parke County, IN started and we've now had two volunteers go in and index and/or photograph probate packets there.
Currently, we have around 700 photos to index as well as an additional number of packets that have been indexed. We started with the earliest records which generally begin in 1833 though there are several pages referring to earlier cases. So we're just getting started. Right now we're looking for volunteers who can go on-site to get the records indexed and/or photographed but now that the info is starting to come in, we're also going to be needing some volunteers to do the typing. Right now we're thinking that once the information is entered into the database, we'll post it on the Parke County GenWeb site which is managed by one of our volunteers. We're not sure yet if the site is capable of holding the massive amount of info, and especially photos, but at least for now that's what we're thinking and if it turns out we need additional space or need to look elsewhere for a home for the info we'll cross that bridge when we get to it :)
So if you live in IN or were planning a visit and may have some time to spare to help index a few packets, please let me know. Or maybe you're not local to the area but would still like to help with the keying-in, drop me an email as well.
This is going to be a HUGE project and we could use all of the hands we can get.
Currently, we have around 700 photos to index as well as an additional number of packets that have been indexed. We started with the earliest records which generally begin in 1833 though there are several pages referring to earlier cases. So we're just getting started. Right now we're looking for volunteers who can go on-site to get the records indexed and/or photographed but now that the info is starting to come in, we're also going to be needing some volunteers to do the typing. Right now we're thinking that once the information is entered into the database, we'll post it on the Parke County GenWeb site which is managed by one of our volunteers. We're not sure yet if the site is capable of holding the massive amount of info, and especially photos, but at least for now that's what we're thinking and if it turns out we need additional space or need to look elsewhere for a home for the info we'll cross that bridge when we get to it :)
So if you live in IN or were planning a visit and may have some time to spare to help index a few packets, please let me know. Or maybe you're not local to the area but would still like to help with the keying-in, drop me an email as well.
This is going to be a HUGE project and we could use all of the hands we can get.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
David Gilkison 1948-2010
My Dad passed away last week after a long, hard battle with colon cancer. He was originally diagnosed in 2001, recovered, and had just a couple of years free of the disease before it came back with a vengeance. He couldn't shake it after its return and even ended up losing one of his kidneys because of it. This last bout was really bad and he had to take aggressive chemo treatments and radiation and nothing was making much of a difference, but he just kept taking more and more hoping that there would be a change. He really fought hard but it was time for his body to rest and for him to have some peace.
He was born in the South suburbs of Chicago and I really can't imagine him living anywhere else, despite the fact that he always said he wanted to retire in California, probably around San Francisco. His mother was the granddaughter of German immigrants and his father came from a long line of Indiana and Kentucky farmers. They divorced when he was very young. He graduated from high school and went into the Navy during Vietnam and managed to come back home. He married my Mom and worked as a truck driver. I always thought he was kindof an anomaly in that profession because he was a whiz with money (I was the only 1st grader with shares in a couple of stocks!) and loved art and art history. He would have been a great art history professor or stock trader I think, he was that interested in the subjects and that good. Not really the kind of jobs that you usually think truck drivers could do, but that was Dad. He was also passionate about his two favorite hobbies-photography and golf. The history buff in him turned his interest towards the works of Ansel Adams and hickory-shafted golf clubs rather than the more modern styles, though he did have interest in the changing faces of his hobbies too.
I'll definitely miss the way he encouraged me, sometimes more like pushing :) and he always seemed to care what was happening with me and what I was up to, just like a Dad should. It's still hard to think that the time has come to say goodbye, but I'm glad that he's finally got some rest and peace.
Here's probably my favorite picture of Dad with his own dad, my Grandpa
He was born in the South suburbs of Chicago and I really can't imagine him living anywhere else, despite the fact that he always said he wanted to retire in California, probably around San Francisco. His mother was the granddaughter of German immigrants and his father came from a long line of Indiana and Kentucky farmers. They divorced when he was very young. He graduated from high school and went into the Navy during Vietnam and managed to come back home. He married my Mom and worked as a truck driver. I always thought he was kindof an anomaly in that profession because he was a whiz with money (I was the only 1st grader with shares in a couple of stocks!) and loved art and art history. He would have been a great art history professor or stock trader I think, he was that interested in the subjects and that good. Not really the kind of jobs that you usually think truck drivers could do, but that was Dad. He was also passionate about his two favorite hobbies-photography and golf. The history buff in him turned his interest towards the works of Ansel Adams and hickory-shafted golf clubs rather than the more modern styles, though he did have interest in the changing faces of his hobbies too.
I'll definitely miss the way he encouraged me, sometimes more like pushing :) and he always seemed to care what was happening with me and what I was up to, just like a Dad should. It's still hard to think that the time has come to say goodbye, but I'm glad that he's finally got some rest and peace.
Here's probably my favorite picture of Dad with his own dad, my Grandpa
Friday, August 6, 2010
Interesting tidbit
I'm not sure if you all have seen the news around the gene-boards about the Tuttle farm in Dover, NH going up for sale, but if not you can find the story here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100801/ap_on_bi_ge/us_old_family_farm_5
Most people are taking an interest in the story because of the fact that the farm has been held by the same family, the Tuttle's, for 378 years (or at least that's what they're claiming). My interest is more personal. My immigrant Stevens ancestor settled in Dover in the 18th century and his neighbors were the Tuttle's, and I've got a few deeds between he and various members of the Tuttle family at the time. As I read the news article, it sounds like the family started out with a much smaller plot of land and over time, added to their holdings so I'm guessing by now the land they hold encompasses my ancestors old plot as well. It's kindof funny to think that the descendants of his neighbors are now selling his old land along with their own, hundreds of years after his initial purchase.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100801/ap_on_bi_ge/us_old_family_farm_5
Most people are taking an interest in the story because of the fact that the farm has been held by the same family, the Tuttle's, for 378 years (or at least that's what they're claiming). My interest is more personal. My immigrant Stevens ancestor settled in Dover in the 18th century and his neighbors were the Tuttle's, and I've got a few deeds between he and various members of the Tuttle family at the time. As I read the news article, it sounds like the family started out with a much smaller plot of land and over time, added to their holdings so I'm guessing by now the land they hold encompasses my ancestors old plot as well. It's kindof funny to think that the descendants of his neighbors are now selling his old land along with their own, hundreds of years after his initial purchase.
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