Halloween Time Trick

The day snuck up on us and we just made it to the store in time to deliver treats this evening. I have to say though that the volume of youngsters has somewhat diminished in the last few years probably due to the merchants in town who hand out goodies too. And that is a good thing!

And coupled this year with this day is the fact that "Daylight Saving Time" ends this weekend. All clocks to be moved back one hour . . . sometime after 2 A.M.

My thoughts go back to when as kids we would run throughout the neighborhood with usually a pillowcase to carry our loot. We ate plenty along the way as well and in those days they were not the "fun sizes" they were the "full sized versions" of our favorite sweets. So much for that.

We've learned so much since those days -- not only about the sweets but also about other dietary delights e.g. bacon, salami, slim Jims we always knew were bad for us, and so it goes.

I guess we can get a lot of kale into those pillowcases. Just love kale though and rutabagas too.


From Last Weekend

I actually had this prepared to include in last week's post but somehow in my haste it was omitted.

So a sort of belated birthday wish to my two brothers.

One on the 24th and one on the 25th mine is on the 23rd (of another month though)

Another milestone.




The Search Continues

Actually while I did have a variety of search activity,
none was conclusive enough to detail.

But the webinar this week at Family Tree Webinars was excellent and I expect that it will increase the quality of some of my searching.

But the process takes time to implement.

I have several applications where I could use the method proposed of "evidence".

I will be anxious to put this practice into action. 

Also, after the webinar Geoff Rasmussen gave a tour of the brand new Legacy website -- very impressive.




Something Reminiscent

I just found this picture causing my mind to wander way back in time.

One belongs to an actual relative and the other to the front cover of a well-known magazine -- but both could apply to my family and I'm sure to many other families as well.


What Goes on This Week

Well, at the moment the World Series is taking center stage in our planned viewing.

We enjoy the series and for that reason we were rooting for the Mets to win a game.


Since we are not necessarily tied to either team winning, we just like it when the most games are played for our enjoyment.

What I'm saying is that we would like the series to go 7 games.  We were so disappointed when the Cubs lost in 4 games last week -- no real enjoyment there partly for the fact that the Cubs lost but also because of the fewest games possible were played.

So, guess who we will be rooting for in today's game. And if that team wins and the series is all even, then the rooting might change . . . we like both teams though I have attended a game in Kansas City.

We are also looking forward to visitors from the Northwest next week!

And now, it is close to our nap time -- lunch comes first, though. 

That is a bit of our week, see you all "in a few"!

Comin' & Goin' Plus 3 Planets in a Triangle

Well, talk about highly publicized events that turned out to fizzle, one of which we are glad for . . .
This week we heard a lot about the hopes and dreams of the Chicago Cubs and that ultimately did not materialize and it's back to "there is always next year" . . .

The other event that fizzled and for which we are glad was Hurricane Patricia. While there were consequences, they were nowhere near the possible disasters that were predicted for the most intense storm ever . . . the problem is "there is always next week".

And the "Comin' " event is of course Halloween, which falls on Saturday of the coming week. In honor of that event, Jupiter, Mars & Venus are forming a triangle in the sky of which I am not sure of the significance . . .

Searching This Week

Again for some reason my searching involved the Gillett branch of the family.

Cyrus was the father of seven children including James Norris Gillett (former Governor of California) and this week's search involves a relative down the branch of his wife, Sarah.

I had not known of the name of "Witzel" as a relative of mine until this past week.

Roger is connected to Cyrus' wife Sarah by the confusing description of "2nd great grand nephew".


Roger was a medical doctor and is shown listed with his wife Norma Jean Meier.

And even though Roger and his wife are only related to me through a distant connection to the wife of my 3rd great uncle, I feel a "kinship" and empathize with their circumstances.

Roger and his wife were both in the medical field and were working in Alaska at the time of the plane crash.

It does not appear that the Doctor and his wife had any children of their own.

I have found other Witzel relatives and will be adding them to the tree.




The second "find" this week also involves Cyrus Foss Gillett, a grandson of his which turns out to be a 2nd cousin 2 x removed of mine:

What caught my attention as I looked at the tree was first that I did not know anything about many of the siblings of the former governor including the above. Oscar Greve Gillett was only 33 when he died and he apparently followed his older brother James to Eureka, California.

But another interesting fact that I discovered was that Oscar Greve Gillett had a son whom he named Oscar Ellery Gillett.

And that son and his wife Isabella both lived less than a hour from where I live now and they both are buried in a cemetery in Santa Rosa which is 15 - 20 minutes away from Healdsburg.

We plan to drive over and pay our respects. I did not find any children from the marriage.

And so goes the search -- I did get a  note from another cousin this week that I'll post next week.

Coming this Week

Well right now the series is tied -- 0-0 that is a surprise . . .

The above is a glimpse at the two pennant winning teams this week. We watched both series and enjoyed most of it . . .

We will be watching on TV starting on Tuesday night. We hear that the "street price" for any tickets are approaching $2000 per . . . so that squelches any plans to attend in person.

That was a bit of our week. See you all "in a few"!

Fallish Feeling -- Pretty Good

Pretty good,  it rained for a short bit this morning -- but only for a very limited amount. But how nice to hear the sound of those raindrops . . .

Pretty good for Gail too -- who is recuperating nicely from gall bladder surgery yesterday . . . in previous days having your gall bladder out meant several days of in-the-hospital care and often a lengthy recovery period as I witnessed my own mother going through years ago.

In the above collage, Gail is shown yesterday about ten minutes before we left for the hospital. She is proudly standing by the flowers that she just planted the day before.

So for Gail, it was leaving at 10:30 A.M. and arriving home at 6:00 P.M. All went smoothly and today is the time for many naps and resting and eating moderately. She feels "pretty good" . . .

Other News of the Week

We enjoyed watching the first of the Democratic debates. There was Hillary & Bernie and three others . . . and that really was the feeling we had.

How the other three can remain viable candidates,  I'm not sure. Apparently there might have been a difference if Joe Biden had announced and shown up, but then again maybe not.

The other news of the week was the Cubbies and their win to keep their drive towards the World Series alive. Catcher Kyle Schwarber lofted a huge home run over the scoreboard to help their winning.  Kyle is local to us here in Sonoma County and only a few months ago apparently was hitting home runs the likes of which are not normally seen around these parts . . .

We look forward to today's game between the Cubs and the Mets.


Speaking of Campaigning . . .

Here are a couple of  HILES candidates in different races.

I do not know if they are related but if they win and move on maybe I'll do more research to see if and how . . .

I'm sure that there are other HILES candidates and when I spot them I'll be showcasing them
as well.

Searching the Lemon Tree More

Last post, if you recall I revealed the horrible death of Stella Lemon who was the wife of Percy Lee Lemon who turns out to be my 4th cousin 1x removed.

The "Angel of Death" poisoned her while she was in the hospital and she died as a result of that poisoning.

The story led me to do more research on the "Lemon" tree.

The search led me to discover Willard Rueben Lemon, a 2nd cousin 3x removed.

The searching about Willard was very difficult because he apparently went by many variations of his name for a variety of reasons.

He even took the last name "Leonard" for awhile and at various times disappeared from whatever family he was living around at the time.

But I think we can piece together some semblance of his story.

It was reported that he served in the Army during the Civil War and that after the war while serving at Fort Riley, he deserted and disappeared from the Army & his family.

Eventually, things caught up with him, but he was all over the country, mostly in the West.

Willard can be seen in the chart to the left and he is the brother of Percy Lemon's grandfather.


So to Percy, he was a Great Uncle.


The picture I found of him was in the find-a-grave memorial and it must have been from a newspaper clipping.


What is fascinating is that I even found a picture of him at all, given how elusive he was . . .

To the right would be the Family Group Sheet
for Willard and family.

He married Nellie Maria Myers and had three children -- and if you notice all of them have the last name of "Leonard".

So, the marriage and family building came during the period of time that Willard used the last name of Leonard.

I would not be surprised to find other "Willard" families or at least wives.


And now -- what makes this story so compelling and unbelievably uncanny is the circumstances surrounding the death of Willard.

Above are two of the many newspaper articles that I found relating to Willard. It turns out that Stella who was poisoned while in the hospital was the second Lemon to suffer that fate.

Willard, as it is explained in the articles, along with maybe seven other men, were given a particular medicine while in the hospital and he and the others all died from that substance.

It all happened at the Los Angeles County Hospital during the first week of March, 1914.

In the coming weeks,  I may find additional interesting facts "from the Lemon tree".


And Lastly

Last post also I mentioned a property for sale in Hiles, Wisconsin that I thought amazingly low priced for the real estate involved.

This week I spotted an extremely similar appearing property both structure and amount of land -- except that this property is in Sonoma County California:

As you can see in the above, the properties ARE very similar -- but given the mileage between the locations the value is extremely different.


That is a bit of our week. It is Saturday -- but given the circumstances it looks to be soup and either more soup or possibly some poached fish . . . see you all "in a few".

Badge of Browness

Well, it says:  "We've done our part"! And that is so true. We've only watered on the two days specified by our city AND only after 8 pm in the evening. The drought has certainly impacted the way our neighborhood appears.

It is sad to see flowers and shrubs wilting from the sun and heat. The lawns are spotted with a patchwork of brown and look like something out of the desert. Yet there are exceptions and how they "made it" is curious.

The neighborhood does in fact still have some lush green appearing lawns -- but some of those are converted to imitation lawns. Others, I am not sure how they have remained so green.

Some of our hopes rest on El Nino and the water that that will bring. But the cycle is here and to expect to keep large expanses of green lawn is probably folly.

We will have to rethink the lawn issues in the coming months.

Weekly News

Two events come to mind as News of the Week:

They are as seemingly unrelated to one another as I can imagine -- except that the one ought to be what should be happening instead of what is taking place.

The foremost event this week is the ever obvious human migration taking place and the unbelievable circumstances that millions of people find themselves taking part in . . .

Instead of these folks busying themselves in sporting events they are having to concentrate on just being able to survive. Maybe one day they and their families will be able to focus on a sporting event as we in our country are doing.

The MLB postseason games have started and unbelievably the Cubs, Chicago Cubs, are a part of the games -- so far.  We'll see if "the curse" of years ago will continue or be dissolved.

Webinars This Week

This week's Legacy Family Tree Webinar was delivered by Thomas MacEntee and was excellent.

The topic was "out there" to be sure, but a topic that will become more and more important as time goes on.

The future of "wearable" technology as it pertains to family history is mind-boggling.

There are and will be things like smart watches, smart clothing, advanced smart eye-wear and all day cameras that could record most everyday happenings 24/7.  The data from all these devices would certainly "speak" about  someone's life and be a record for future genealogists to put detail into the lives of their ancestors.  Privacy issues are being worked on . . .

The Search This Week

This week -- thanks to a cousin giving me a "heads-up" about another distant cousin, I dug into the story a bit and am still currently trying to determine the exact relationship but it ranges from 4th cousin to 18th cousin.

No matter though, it is a peek into the lives of a Hiles related cousin.

Percy Lee Lemon and his wife Stella, nee Anderson.

Percy and Stella lived in Ohio and it probably is a good thing that Percy was not around when his wife died in 1987.

Percy had passed away in 1980 and was spared the unbelievable news concerning his wife.

I vaguely remember reading the following story back in the late 1980s and you might too:

I had no idea that one of the "Angel of Death's" victims was related to me. In 1987 I did a bit of traveling for business and I happened to be in Ohio a few times around that time. That probably is where I first read about the story.

In any case, I was sickened by the story and still am to this day even though the story and events thankfully get pushed into my subconsciousness but will probably come out again if I am ever again hospitalized . . .

There are a couple of more newspaper articles and I will be putting them into the HILES website in the coming weeks.

Lastly This Week

I spotted this Real Estate listing from Trulia up in Hiles, Wisconsin.

Can you imagine -- a home on 30 acres for sale for $39, 900 . . .

That is way below the price of the new Tesla which I believe is being offered at about twice that amount, base price . . .

Okay so it is a bit of a "fixer" but there probably is a lot of "charm" potential.

30 Acres . . . that sounds so amazing in itself.

And coupled with the news in "The Forest Republican" yesterday, we can see that the
community is "thinking ahead".

It almost begs at least a "look-see" which would entail a trip to Hiles, Wisconsin.

I might have a difficult time convincing those around me to make that trip, just saying.

So that is a bit of our week. We will continue to watch as many of the post-season baseball games as
reasonably possible.

We will also include a few NFL games on our agenda as well.

It is Saturday, so it most likely is "dogs and burgers" for the remaining two meals today . . .

See you all "in a few"!

Festival of October

It is that time of fall where in our neck of the woods activities involving the crop du jour take place. We are not sure for us what those activities will be, we will take one step at a time. First the fruit has to finish maturing and then the harvest activities and then the crush and so on . . .

In the collage above, the left photo shows the fruit in the early stage of development and on the right can be seen the maturing of the fruit into the beautiful shades of reddish purple.

The middle photo shows Dino in a couple of reclining poses as he enjoys the rays of October. It has been mostly sunny around these parts this week, just not sooo hot as a couple of weeks ago. Still hot enough though to put the a/c on most days . . .

The News this Week

The Pope has returned home and regular season baseball is about done for this year.

Unfortunately, two major events happening this week have crowded our TV news shows.

We've driven through Umpqua -- what a shame that this small town has the type of event that will forever link it to so many other towns and cities in the last few years.

And for Joaquin, it is doing what hurricanes do -- destruct, destroy and bring despair to those around the path.

It almost seems that neither of these two events will be"going away" anytime soon.



Webinars This Week & Upcoming

So, to escape for a bit I attended a very well done webinar -- "Using Periodicals to Find Your Ancestors". This took place on Wednesday. Techniques and practices were discussed on what, where and how . . .

Also announced and put up for viewing (by subscribing members) a series of webinars all about researching in the state of Ohio. We have tons of relatives in Ohio so these webinars should be quite useful in researching there.

Lastly a quick view of two upcoming webinars that promise to be excellent as well.

The Researching This Week

This week again I found myself involved in the "Gilletts" . Growing up, we did not talk too much about the Gillett family, unfortunately.

This week goes from GILLETT to WHITE to EADS. How is that possible. Well, in the collage above Gertrude Ellen Gillett is featured. She married a Charles White who then had a daughter who married an Eads.

It is interesting to note that Gertude's father was Walter Scott Gillett who happened to work at the prison at San Quentin California. The picture of Gertrude is one of her standing in front of the school on the San Quentin grounds.

Suffice it to say, the above is another example of filling in some of the detail of family members.

From the Shoebox

Back in July of 1930 my mother received this letter from a young man named Ellis.

It is postmarked "Fort Sheridan" which is a U.S. Army post by Chicago.

I have to assume that Ellis was a soldier there as was my father at that time as well.

Ellis and my mother must have been dating for a bit and I have included the last page of his letter to her on the left.

The answer that he is looking for must not have come because my mother & father married 5 months later.

I sure wish that I could ask more questions . . .


The address above is before the streets were renamed in Chicago. 2521 Smalley Ct. became 2521 N Bernard St. I will be examining the 1930 Federal Census to see if I can spot the soldier named Ellis at Fort Sheridan that was sending letters to my mother . . .

And Lastly

This will be a fun week in a way, i.e. the regular baseball season is over for San Francisco Giants on Sunday and the playoff games begin Tuesday. If all goes to the limits, it will be November before baseball is done this year!

For us fans of NFL in San Francisco, it almost seems like that season could be over too . . . we hope that isn't the case.

It is Saturday, dogs & burgers are in order!  See you all in a few!