It's The Beginning of "That" Season . . .

Fall, almost winter but always "that" season comes to mind now even though it is only October. And of course the inevitable rush:

It is hard to imagine that as I write this there are less than 75 days before Christmas. The weather here is still in the 80s or so each day and the kids are still playing baseball in the fields behind our house.

I realize that there has been snow reported in different areas of the country, but for the most part the weather seems still summer/fall-like . . .

We are gearing up for the holidays so-to-speak. The discussion comes up as to whether this year our tree will be on top of a table or not . . . we're still working on that one. And then there is the dilemma of just how many decorations we will bring out of storage.

More on all of that as the weeks progress . . .


Dates from the Tree

Not that tree, the family tree:

Still a sizable amount of birthdays and there are
also eight couples celebrating wedding anniversaries.




Cousin Community

Growing up in the Chicago suburbs I do not really recall our family talking very much about our ancestors or other relatives all that much. I have mentioned this fact many times in previous posts and I realize that our family was not "all" that different from many others in that respect.

In watching shows like "Finding Your Roots" I see that almost every featured person on that show shares that same sentiment -- that parts of their family were never really talked about and thus the history has been hidden -- both the good and the not-so-good.

To the left is a map showing one route from the Hinsdale area to the Rockford, Illinois area. It is about an hour and a half drive -- probably longer in the 1940s and 1950s, but not that long.

This week while noodling around the net I uncovered the fact that we did in fact have a "cousin community" in Rockford. Who knew?


I have only been to Rockford a couple of times -- maybe -- and that was just passing through. But if I had known how many cousins lived there I might have stopped to visit a bit.

And, surprise surprise, it is the Gillett family again that shows up. Thomas Reuben Gillett, my Great Great Uncle (check out on the right) and his wife Sarah had seven children some of whom went north from Wisconsin and some of whom went south from Wisconsin and some stayed in Wisconsin.

Pretty much like families of today. But the children who went south wound up in Rockford, Illinois.

There are many many Gillett offspring still in the Rockford area -- and the historical and current newspapers have all kinds of stories and pictures of these Gillett families.

In future posts I'll share some of what I find in the papers -- but for now I have added some of these folks to the www.danhiles.com  website.

From the Photo Bin

It would be so nice if there were names on all the photos that I have accumulated, but that is far from the facts of life:

In the above photo collage there are two pictures of my mother, Ruth Bumgardner and two pictures of her brother Stewart Bumgardner each one with people that are not identified and are very likely relatives.

If anyone can identify them -- that would be terrific. The odds of that happening, well that is something else again.

And Lastly

The post-season Major League Baseball games continue to entertain -- as long as the team one is rooting for wins I suppose.

But the San Francisco Giants have scrambled once again to now be playing in the seven game National League Championship Series (best of 7 games) and they start today.

Click on the above and you can see how each team got to this level. The ALCS started yesterday with the Royals ahead in that series 1-0.

The National league starts today in St Louis with the SF Giants and the Cards. In most of these post season games there is a higher level of intensity and the viewing pleasure is "that" much greater.


And so that is a bit of our week. It is Saturday and that means burgers sloppy joe's for a change . . .

See you all in a few!