WHO DO I THINK I AM . . .

When I want to answer that question besides looking in the mirror (I see a version of my father . . .) I delve into one of the many trees I maintain on our family history and I daily visit and usually work on my website, the link to which appears on this page.

But looking ahead this week there is the Season Two Premiere coming up for a show that started last year and was very captivating in that it revealed the very interesting family history of several celebrities. Facts were revealed that even the celebrity was surprised in finding out. The show actually visits the geographic roots and gives insight into how the material was gathered and proven.

So -- look for this show on Friday nights for the next several weeks featuring well known personalities.

So it looks like a promising week. As I have said that part of my New Year's resolutions include "filing" the over 4000 bits of information gleaned over the last year I can report that I have "handled" about 1000 of those items. These are screen captures of items that I locate while searching the web and have just lumped them into one folder -- so now I have the task of looking at them and determining where in the scheme of my family that they belong.

Among the items I have found new "cousins" and clippings and photos of numerous family members over a broad expanse of time -- late 1800s to the current times. Now I am slowly adding what I find to the people to whom they belong. So some new pictures will appear in the website and on various trees. Much of what I have stashed is of the "documentation" category, and so that material is "filed" electronically in that family's folder.

As I look out my window it is a gray rather "blah" day so far not like most of the days in the past week or so. We have been so spoiled here in Northern California lately. But always in the world of genealogy it is sunny and there is so much going on -- besides the aforementioned program there are numerous new offerings on the web and new apps for mobile devices -- all unbelievable and unlike the world of genealogy just a few years ago.

Have a good week!

 

Summer in the City -- Healdsburg, that is . . .

There were a few signs of summer this week. The sun was out every day and the temperatures during the day hovered around 70 -- WOW! There are other signs of summer that we use as well . . . the sign to the left  is one that I purchased on an eBay auction several years ago. The sign below is one that is still offered for sale on eBay.
Hiles "Home Made" Ice Cream, I wish I knew where that originated and the story behind the product. When I purchased that sign the seller did not know the origin -- if anyone knows, please fill us in. Both of these signs point to summer fun, I suppose it is a bit premature though as a few years ago similar weather was followed by snow in some local areas . . .

The search for relatives continues. As I have previously mentioned I am behind by several thousand "tidbits" of info gleaned from the internet and other sources. The fun is in the hunt, but the resolution of a few weeks ago is to clean up some of the "found" items by identifying "cousins" and/or filing appropriately. I have added several new branches of HILES folks that a few weeks ago I did not really know about.

I eagerly look forward to delving into more of the "stuff" that will ultimately leaf out more of the tree. What typically happens though is when uncovering a new cousin I find many associated folks as well.

In the meantime, it is football playoff time and I will hopefully be watching the championship games. The first game is one that I am particularly interested in -- having been raised in the Chicago suburbs I like da Bears. But the Packers have been an exciting team as well. As for the other championship game, I tend towards the Steelers. So as usual it will be interesting to see the outcomes. While watching the games, during the "slower" periods I will be using my iPad to explore the net and work on "tree stuff".

And now that it is Saturday night I am continuing a tradition from my childhood with a slight twist and that is hamburgers . . . now we have "Slider Saturday Night". Growing up Saturday night usually meant that after our baths we would have hamburgers and potato chips and it was the one night that we could count on having "pop",  many times "Dad's Old Fashioned Root Beer". In the early days our entertainment was the "Barn Dance" on the radio, later it was "Perry Mason" and/or "Lawrence Welk" on TV.

So tonight my wife and I will enjoy our sliders -- I have found a recipe that pretty much tastes like the "White Castles" that I grew up with and so I make those along with some baked fries. We will enjoy that along with the "pop" of the day for us -- water. And we will watch some TV, maybe a movie too. We're old!

Have a good week!

Evening Sky from the deck a few days ago. . .

The last several days have provided us with a variety of beautiful views of the western skies. Both evening and morning skies have been exceptional.
The old saying "red sky at night . . ." has been pretty much holding true.

But -- I have a genealogy question -- who are the Loterbaughs and what are they doing in my tree . . .
Just this week I came across this family nestled among the branches of our tree. It seems that the first appearance of this surname in our tree came about with the marriage of Ida Mae Hiles to George W Loterbaugh and from that union came numerous other Loterbaughs . . . so who is Ida Mae Hiles. Ida Mae is a "half" first cousin. My 3rd Great Grandfather, John Hiles Jr was married twice, I descend from his first marriage and Ida descends from the second marriage. And thus it is if we HILES should actually meet a LOTERBAUGH it is very likely that we are cousins . . .

Ahh, the Internet . . . earlier this week I received a telephone call from a friend and co-worker that I had not spoken to for over thirty years. The friend had found my name and information on a site somewhere "on the net" and decided to check to see if I was the right person and of course it turns out that I was. We spent over an hour catching up on our lives since last speaking to one another back in the 70s -- surprisingly many of our experiences paralleled.

So -- now I return to the "search" among the branches. Each day finds me in a variety of tree limbs. Sometimes those limbs are so obscured that I set them aside so that at a later time I can determine their connection. Frequently, I get caught up in being the "hunter and gatherer" so much that I accumulate tons of material. That is the case now -- I have over four thousand pieces of material to examine and that is so far my "New Year's" resolution, i.e. to evaluate what I have already hunted and gathered, makes sense. I might though sneak a few new "hunts" into the routine based on the "alerts" that Google sends me almost daily . . .

Enjoy the week!

Recognizing Cousins . . . 69 years late

Another Cousin I did not know about growing up is Betty J Blair. She is the daughter of my Grandfather's sister, Bessie. I can not recall any family conversation about her or much about her family, a shame to be sure. While searching in old newspapers I came across this article telling about Betty being installed as the new Worthy Advisor for the Spirit Lake (Iowa) Assembly, Order of Rainbow for Girls in January 1942 -- some 69 years ago this week.

It seems in our family anyway, that not much was shared about the extended family members or at least to "us children". There is a whole branch of cousins probably still in Iowa that would be nice to be able to meet and or at least recognize in a fashion.

I often wonder how many times during my travels that maybe I have seen or maybe even talked with someone who was actually my cousin. It could happen.

Happy first week of the new year!