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Saturday, November 2, 2013

Sunny Days & Cool Evenings

It actually got down into the 30s a few of the nights this past week -- but the days still claim the low 70s for now anyway. I enjoyed the way the week started for me i.e. I received a couple of tips regarding early family members -- from a distant cousin -- and that lead to many others that kept me quite busy updating my trees.

But I'll get to the genealogy in a bit. The neighborhood and our yard is still showing a lot of colors even though they are tending to be fallish . . .


In the front we were amazed at the roses still blooming and our succulent hanging plant continues to thrive and add branches. This week of course marked the end of the month and for October that meant Halloween.

For the twelve years that we lived in our prior home -- not one trick-or-treater came to our door, part of that was by design (we shut off the lights . . .) but also because we were far back from the street and without lights it would not be a good investment in time and effort to trudge the driveway.

Moving here -- our third Halloween -- we though for sure we'd get a lot of knocks on the door and we purchased candy supplies in line with that thinking. But I think we had about ten knocks at the door with usually two or three kids in a group -- so not that many kids.


Dino loved going to the door to see who was coming to visit and he pretty much sat just looking out and waiting -- he never barks and the kids who did come all wanted to pet him. We decided not to put a costume on him this year, probably a good choice.

The candy will find a good home when Gail begins work again in the coming few months. We used to polish it off ourselves but have so far behaved with respect to that.

Our feeling, after the last two years is that there must be a shift in the way parents are helping their little ones celebrate Halloween -- most likely by attending "events" at churches or towns rather than door-to-door.

Birth & Other Dates from our Tree

Each week we have a fair amount of celebrating going on with respect to our fellow tree members. The following chart shows those who were born on last week's days and some who were married during that time as well.


The last name on the list belongs to one of our folks who entered the Army during the Civil War on November 1, 1861 . . .

Baseball -- World Series Style

For us, we enjoy the MLB post season play the most of the entire season. We watched all the play-off games and were actually sorry to see them end. We get to renew our memories of who plays on what teams and got acquainted with brand new players. (And we hate to see Tim McCarver retire)

Of course the big news this week -- the Boston Red Sox won the series in the sixth game -- because of the way we feel we would have rather seen a winner in the seventh game . . .


So the 2013 World Champions are the Red Sox beating the St Louis Cardinals. And of course the talk was all about the fact that Boston had not won a series at home (Fenway Park) since 1918.

The 1918 World Series (some controversy about that series) was won at Fenway Park on the sixth game played against (my favorite team growing up) the Chicago Cubs.

Above is the newspaper from September of 1918 announcing that win -- I always find it interesting to read those old newspaper accounts AND to scan the other articles and ads. The old Chicago Cubs logo is on the right side of the collage.

It's Webinar Day(s)

Besides enjoying baseball this week -- I got a double dose of webinars this week with one on Wednesday and then one again on Friday. Both were excellent and rewarding.


The webinar on Wednesday was about how we can enhance our family story by utilizing the information from various Court Records. It was very professionally presented with a ton of good ideas and "how-to's" for us to utilize.

On Friday morning the webinar also used "hands-on" demonstrations on using the features of Ancestry's trees to our advantage. Even though I have been an Ancestry member (almost since they began) I learned some things that will help as I go about my daily visits to Ancestry.com.

I really do appreciate having these webinars to view and they put a framework to my week.

From and About Folks in Our Tree

One of the most exciting things to have happen as I go about looking for the clues about our ancestors is when I receive a bit of information about someone that leads to another "bit" and so on. That was the case this week when on Monday I received some facts about the family of Jackson Hiles.

Now Jackson is "back there" as far as our line is known. He is the brother of Daniel Hiles, my Great Great Grandfather -- so that makes him a Great Great GrandUncle.



Above you can actually "see" pictures of Jackson & his wife Elizabeth -- which is truly amazing to me. At the start of this week I only had sketch information regarding him. And so when one cousin sent me information about Jackson I was thrilled but then even more so when out of the clear blue I received pictures . . . and from a different cousin.

They are the earliest pictures I have of my direct line -- I sure would like to receive pictures of Daniel Hiles and even his father John Jr. Someone has pictures most likely and maybe, just maybe I'll (we'll) be fortunate to receive them.

Then I also obtained a picture of one of Jackson's daughters -- Charity Faith Hiles (and her husband Hiram Emmanual Mohler) -- so all in all a very nice genealogical week.

It is funny how these "finds" come sporadically but enough to keep my interest strong and eager.

A More Personal Pic

Nearly 60 years ago my family was just moving into a new house in Hinsdale, Illinois. The finishing touches were being put on the house that my father had picked out for us along with most of the others in the new subdivision of GolfView Hills.


Above is a picture of me and my brother Jon along with "Chico" a very high-strung Cocker-Spanial that we had for awhile -- til he bit almost everyone in the neighborhood.

The picture shows us sitting on the slab that would become the carport and eventually an enclosed room that we called the "jalousie" porch because of the type of windows.

A few years ago when visiting in that area I went to check on the house and found that it was "gone" and a whole new house built in it's place . . . 524 W 58th St. . . at least I have a few pics.

Lastly -- Way Back

Well not that far back -- it is that time of the year when we hear "wow, last week at this time it was only . . ."
and can you believe that it is sooo dark and we haven't eaten dinner as yet.  Tonight is that night:


It seems to sneak up on us every year and this is no exception. The fun part is trying to get all the electronic clocks to synchronize so that the same time is flashing throughout the house . . . we'll do it one at a time.

That was a peek into our week -- hope yours was eventful as well -- see you in a few!

Saturday night -- that means burgers . . .


















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