Thursday, March 31, 2011
Carnival of Genealogy #104 Cars as Stars
The oldest car I remember was my grandparents LaSalle, don't know the year only that it was a light tan color. When ever I watched All in The Family and they sung "Gee my old LaSalle ran great" I knew they were singing about my grandfathers LaSalle. My parents car I first remember was a Studebaker Commander, it was big and a light green color. My sister left the back door open one day when mom was backing out of the garage and both the garage door and the car door took a beating. Soon after that my parents bought a two door 1954 Studebaker Champion, bright red. It was a small car and since pop was a mechanic at the Studebaker dealer he kept it in tip top shape. We had a large white German Shepard dog then and when Sandy was in the back seat his head would be out one window and his tail the window on the other side of the car. Mom said people would look at Sandy and nearly drive into her so she did not take Sandy a lot. Next car was a 1962 Ford Galaxie, our neighbor had a 1961 Ford Galaxie and really liked it, but the 1962 was a lot heavier than the 61 and also bigger, so getting it in the garage was a challenge and it was pretty underpowered for all the weight. My sister learned to drive in that car. They traded in the Galaxie on a 1964 Studebaker Commander, one of the last American made Studebakers. They made cars in Canada till 1966. This was the car I learned to drive in. A while later I bought my first car a Ford Falcon. I wrote about it for the 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy so I won't say more on that car. I traded the Falcon in for a 1963 Studebaker Lark. It was brown and had been special ordered with disc brakes and a special high speed rear end and overdrive, so it really went on the highway. Drove it all through college, this is probably the car I wished I had kept, but I traded it on a Dodge pickup and the Dodge on a Ford Ranchero which I drove for a lot of years. Today I have a Ford Escort station wagon.
Monday, March 28, 2011
52 Weeks to Personal Genealogy Sweets
Well like most kids I liked most anything sweet, cookies, cakes, pies, candy, and ice cream. Probably my favorite is ice cream. My grandma made great oatmeal raisin cookies, and pies of every kind and I liked them all. Mom made fudge in December every year, the fantasy fudge on the marshmallow cream label. As she got older I stirred it for her and I nearly always got to lick the pan after she was done.
When I was in my 20s I had a few fainting spells and mom said I needed to see the doctor to see why. Mom was a diabetic and it is inherited, so the doctor wanted a fasting blood sugar test. So I fasted for 12 hours and went in, they took a sample and a few minutes later came in with a cookie for me to eat, my blood sugar was 30, supposedly I should have passed out when it gets that low. So a few more blood tests and I am diagnosed with low blood sugar and put on a low sugar diet that includes eating 5 times a day, still on that diet today. So now I do not eat a lot of sweets, but still have my ice cream.
Since mom died I have made the fudge for Christmas, and have tried many recipes, but the one I liked the best is lemon fudge, very similar to the fantasy fudge mom made.
Lemon Fudge
The actual recipe was actually called Black Cherry Swirl Fudge, and I changed two items from the original recipe:
2 1/2 cups sugar
2/3 cup evaporated milk (small can)
1/2 cup butter or margarine (1 cube)
1 package (10 or 12 oz) white or vanilla baking chips
1 jar (7 ounces) marshmallow creme
2 envelopes unsweetened black cherry Kool Aid (I used lemon Kool Aid instead)
Line a 13x9x2 inch pan with foil and grease the foil with butter, (I used pam instead), set aside. In a heavy sauce pan combine the sugar, evaporated milk and butter. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Cook and stir for 4 minutes.
Remove from heat; stir in vanilla chips and marshmallow cream. The vanilla chips did not melt very well every time I used them so I stirred in the vanilla chips while still on the heat and when melted I turned off stove and stirred in the marshmallow creme. Next they want you to put a cup aside and then stir in the Kool Aid to the remaining fudge and then swirl the two together so you have ribbons of white and color. I just stirred the Kool Aid into all fudge and the poured it into the pan to cool. I first made this last Christmas and it was very lemony, and while I like lemony most people said it was too much lemon, so I tried it with only 1 package lemon Kool Aid, and that is still very good. What other Kool Aid flavors would make good fudge?
When I was in my 20s I had a few fainting spells and mom said I needed to see the doctor to see why. Mom was a diabetic and it is inherited, so the doctor wanted a fasting blood sugar test. So I fasted for 12 hours and went in, they took a sample and a few minutes later came in with a cookie for me to eat, my blood sugar was 30, supposedly I should have passed out when it gets that low. So a few more blood tests and I am diagnosed with low blood sugar and put on a low sugar diet that includes eating 5 times a day, still on that diet today. So now I do not eat a lot of sweets, but still have my ice cream.
Since mom died I have made the fudge for Christmas, and have tried many recipes, but the one I liked the best is lemon fudge, very similar to the fantasy fudge mom made.
Lemon Fudge
The actual recipe was actually called Black Cherry Swirl Fudge, and I changed two items from the original recipe:
2 1/2 cups sugar
2/3 cup evaporated milk (small can)
1/2 cup butter or margarine (1 cube)
1 package (10 or 12 oz) white or vanilla baking chips
1 jar (7 ounces) marshmallow creme
2 envelopes unsweetened black cherry Kool Aid (I used lemon Kool Aid instead)
Line a 13x9x2 inch pan with foil and grease the foil with butter, (I used pam instead), set aside. In a heavy sauce pan combine the sugar, evaporated milk and butter. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Cook and stir for 4 minutes.
Remove from heat; stir in vanilla chips and marshmallow cream. The vanilla chips did not melt very well every time I used them so I stirred in the vanilla chips while still on the heat and when melted I turned off stove and stirred in the marshmallow creme. Next they want you to put a cup aside and then stir in the Kool Aid to the remaining fudge and then swirl the two together so you have ribbons of white and color. I just stirred the Kool Aid into all fudge and the poured it into the pan to cool. I first made this last Christmas and it was very lemony, and while I like lemony most people said it was too much lemon, so I tried it with only 1 package lemon Kool Aid, and that is still very good. What other Kool Aid flavors would make good fudge?
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Saturday Night Fun Popular Surnames
It's Saturday Night - time for more Genealogy Fun!
Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:
1) Go into your Genealogy Management Program (GMP; either software on your computer, or an online family tree) and figure out how to Count how many surnames you have in your family tree database.
2) Tell us which GMP you're using and how you did this task.
3) Tell us how many surnames, and if possible, which Surname has the most entries. If this excites you, tell us which surnames are in the top 5!
Well my Ancestor Quest has a lot of surnames, but by far my surname Hansen is the most popular in my database. Hard to believe it started in Denmark in 1862 first son of Hans Mikkelsen was Hans Jorgen Hansen in 1862 older brother of my grandfather Anton Hansen. Hans had 10 children and 5 of the brothers came to Minnesota and had a lot of children and grandchildren.
top 5 Surnames
Three are from my dads family
Hansen 152 from 1862 to now
Dillingham 76 from 1593 to 1961 (my grandmother she married Anton Hansen)
Names 33 from 1868-1998 (they married several Hansens and so a lot of double cousins)
Two from my moms family
Travis 36 1862-1984 (moms mother was a Travis)
Forsyth 35 1718-1905 (moms great grandfather was a Forsyth)
Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:
1) Go into your Genealogy Management Program (GMP; either software on your computer, or an online family tree) and figure out how to Count how many surnames you have in your family tree database.
2) Tell us which GMP you're using and how you did this task.
3) Tell us how many surnames, and if possible, which Surname has the most entries. If this excites you, tell us which surnames are in the top 5!
Well my Ancestor Quest has a lot of surnames, but by far my surname Hansen is the most popular in my database. Hard to believe it started in Denmark in 1862 first son of Hans Mikkelsen was Hans Jorgen Hansen in 1862 older brother of my grandfather Anton Hansen. Hans had 10 children and 5 of the brothers came to Minnesota and had a lot of children and grandchildren.
top 5 Surnames
Three are from my dads family
Hansen 152 from 1862 to now
Dillingham 76 from 1593 to 1961 (my grandmother she married Anton Hansen)
Names 33 from 1868-1998 (they married several Hansens and so a lot of double cousins)
Two from my moms family
Travis 36 1862-1984 (moms mother was a Travis)
Forsyth 35 1718-1905 (moms great grandfather was a Forsyth)
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Spokane Falls-Cheney County Seat
In November of 1880 there was an election to see where the county seat of Spokane county should be located, Spokane Falls or Cheney. Cheney won, but the people of Spokane Falls called for a recount and threw out some questionable ballots. Spokane Falls won the recount by 4 votes. On March 21, 1881 armed men from Cheney came to the courthouse and kidnapped the auditor and moved the records to Cheney where they stayed till 1886 when a new election was a landslide for Spokane Falls. Spokane Falls dropped the Falls in the 1890s to just become Spokane.
There is a larger story on History Link on the Cheney-Spokane Falls county seat dispute.
They also talk about getting away through a gorge, and today the Spokane Library sits on the fill that Spokane used to fill in that gorge that was there in 1880.
There is a larger story on History Link on the Cheney-Spokane Falls county seat dispute.
They also talk about getting away through a gorge, and today the Spokane Library sits on the fill that Spokane used to fill in that gorge that was there in 1880.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
52 Weeks to Personal Genealogy Movies
Week #12 – Movies
Week 12: Movies. Did (or do you still) see many movies? Describe your favorites. Where did you see these films? Is the theater still there, or is there something else in its place?
When I was real young my parents took us to the movies almost every weekend, we went to the Auto-Vue Drive Inn on North Division. My sister Jacque And I would be in the back seat and they brought pillows and blankets for us. The drive in also had a bunch of swings, teeter totter's and monkey bars for us kids to tire us out before the movie started. It worked I seldom remember seeing much of any movie before I went to sleep. As I got older and we got a TV, I watched a lot of movies on TV, and seldom went to a movie theater. I do remember going to the Fox to see a Disney movie before it shut down.
The Auto-Vue drive inn was bulldozed years ago and now there is a Lowe's Home Center there now.
The Fox closed years ago and was close to being torn down when the Spokane Symphony bought it and with a lot of donations and a little state money they completely restored it to its 1931 Art Deco beauty. The Symphony had played there years ago and the acoustics were so wonderful they had to restore it, and today it is the Martin Woldson Theater at the Fox.
Week 12: Movies. Did (or do you still) see many movies? Describe your favorites. Where did you see these films? Is the theater still there, or is there something else in its place?
When I was real young my parents took us to the movies almost every weekend, we went to the Auto-Vue Drive Inn on North Division. My sister Jacque And I would be in the back seat and they brought pillows and blankets for us. The drive in also had a bunch of swings, teeter totter's and monkey bars for us kids to tire us out before the movie started. It worked I seldom remember seeing much of any movie before I went to sleep. As I got older and we got a TV, I watched a lot of movies on TV, and seldom went to a movie theater. I do remember going to the Fox to see a Disney movie before it shut down.
The Auto-Vue drive inn was bulldozed years ago and now there is a Lowe's Home Center there now.
The Fox closed years ago and was close to being torn down when the Spokane Symphony bought it and with a lot of donations and a little state money they completely restored it to its 1931 Art Deco beauty. The Symphony had played there years ago and the acoustics were so wonderful they had to restore it, and today it is the Martin Woldson Theater at the Fox.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Saturday Night Fun New Blogs
Hey, genea-blog readers, it's Saturday Night - time for more Genealogy Fun!
Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:
1) Go to the Geneabloggers website - www.geneabloggers.com - and look for the post New Genealogy Blogs March 12, 2011.
2) Pick out at least five blogs from this list that interest you.
3) If you like them, add them to your blog reader (whether Google Reader, Bloglines, your Favorites or Bookmarks, whatever).
4) Tell us which ones you subscribed to in a blog post or a comment on this post. Also tell us how many genealogy blogs are in your blog reader.
Well each week I try to pick one or two new blogs from the new blogs Thomas posts, so the one I picked this week was Potter Profiles, while I am not related to the Potters, the author of the blog is a friend Donna Potter Phillips.
I now have 235 blogs in my Google Reader, probably 35 or so not genealogy blogs, but the rest all genealogy.
Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:
1) Go to the Geneabloggers website - www.geneabloggers.com - and look for the post New Genealogy Blogs March 12, 2011.
2) Pick out at least five blogs from this list that interest you.
3) If you like them, add them to your blog reader (whether Google Reader, Bloglines, your Favorites or Bookmarks, whatever).
4) Tell us which ones you subscribed to in a blog post or a comment on this post. Also tell us how many genealogy blogs are in your blog reader.
Well each week I try to pick one or two new blogs from the new blogs Thomas posts, so the one I picked this week was Potter Profiles, while I am not related to the Potters, the author of the blog is a friend Donna Potter Phillips.
I now have 235 blogs in my Google Reader, probably 35 or so not genealogy blogs, but the rest all genealogy.
52 Weeks to Personal Genealogy Illness & Injury
Week #11 – Illness & Injury
Week 11: Illness and Injury. Describe your childhood illnesses or injuries. Who took care of you? Did you recuperate in your own bed, on the couch in front of the television, or somewhere else?
Well I had all the childhood illnesses, chicken pox, measles, mumps, and the flu, and I got them all before I started school because I had an older sister that caught all the diseases at school and brought them home to me, so mom got to nurse two sick kids at once. By the time I started school I was immune to these diseases and so I was one of 5 or 6 kids to have perfect attendance in grade school. Usually I was in my own bed when I was sick, but as I got better got to lay on the couch, don't remember being able to watch TV much when I was sick.
A couple of days before midterms in my first year in college I got a real bad pain in my abdomen, and soon I was having my appendix removed, so missed midterm exams, but my bandage allowed me to make up the exams.
Week 11: Illness and Injury. Describe your childhood illnesses or injuries. Who took care of you? Did you recuperate in your own bed, on the couch in front of the television, or somewhere else?
Well I had all the childhood illnesses, chicken pox, measles, mumps, and the flu, and I got them all before I started school because I had an older sister that caught all the diseases at school and brought them home to me, so mom got to nurse two sick kids at once. By the time I started school I was immune to these diseases and so I was one of 5 or 6 kids to have perfect attendance in grade school. Usually I was in my own bed when I was sick, but as I got better got to lay on the couch, don't remember being able to watch TV much when I was sick.
A couple of days before midterms in my first year in college I got a real bad pain in my abdomen, and soon I was having my appendix removed, so missed midterm exams, but my bandage allowed me to make up the exams.
Monday, March 7, 2011
52 Weeks to Personal Genealogy Disasters, continued
In the previous post I was asked to post a picture of the T-shirt I got before Mount St. Helens blew on May 18, 1980. If you remember that time Mount St. Helens was just blowing some steam and some earth quakes. Note it just has a year, not the month and day of the big blow.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
52 Weeks to Personal Genealogy Disasters
Week 10: Disasters. Did you experience any natural disasters in your lifetime? Tell us about them. If not, then discuss these events that happened to parents, grandparents or others in your family.
This is mostly copied from an article I did on May 18, 2010 for the 30 year anniversary of the eruption of Mount St. Helens which blew on May 18, 1980.
I was in North Idaho just about 35 miles northeast of Spokane at Twin Lakes. I was pushing the dock into the lake when I noticed a black cloud coming over the hill on the west and I assumed it was a thunderstorm, but a few minutes later our neighbor came by and said Mount St. Helens blew its top and the ash was heading our way. We only got a slight dusting there at the lake, most of the ash went further south so we continued on with what we were doing and went in to watch TV, and Spokane was closing down from all the ash. Soon we got a phone call from my sister, she had went to a lodge meeting in Wenatchee and after leaving the meeting went south to I90 and they had I90 closed there as there was about 3 inches of ash there and some still coming. Most of the others from that meeting came across US 2 to Spokane and they did not get any ash till they came into Spokane. My sister stayed the night in her car at George, Washington in the parking lot of Martha Inn, but the next morning they opened I90 and she wrapped toilet paper around her air cleaner and headed for Spokane. She stopped at every town and had the air cleaner blown out and put on new layers of toilet paper, so her car came through with out any engine problems, but the air conditioner spit out ash for a couple of years after that and the heater stopped working also. The dealer fixed the heater, but then the air conditioner would not work, so they fixed the air conditioner and the the heater stopped working again. Note to anyone that encounters a similar ash clouds, turn the Air Conditioner off and put the heater in recycle setting. It does not bring in air from outside that way and so the ash will not plug up the heater or air conditioner.
She had also been to a meeting the week before at Pasco, Washington and at that time Mount St. Helens had been burping steam and a lot of earthquakes but no big eruptions. They were selling Mount St. Helens T-shirts that had animals and people running from an eruption, so I have that T-Shirt today.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Saturday Night Fun Genealogy Fun
It's Saturday Night - time for Genealogy Fun!
Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:
1) When was the last time you had Genealogy Fun? It could be research, conferences, a society meeting, or just talking with friends about your research, a favorite trip, etc.
Well I guess it was today, played hooky from work and so it was nice to have fun for a day. Went to Road to Spokane Bing Crosby's Family History, a program of the Washington State Heritage Center, sponcered by Gonzaga School of Business, Foley Center Library, Ancestry.com and the office of the Washington Secretary of State.
Below is some of the exhibitors booths, Spokane Public Library, Washington State Genealogical Society
Spokane County Library booth
Eastern Washington Genealogical Society booth
Bing Crosby grew up here in Spokane and went to Gonzaga high school and started Gonzaga law school before he dropped out to go to Hollywood. There were two presentations on Bing's ancestors. They told how Bing got his nickname of Bing, it was from the Spokesman Review newspaper insert called Bingville Bugle with character Bingo, but he dropped the o. Last was a short talk by Bing's nephew Howard Crosby then lunch. After lunch was a couple more sessions, one a computer lab sponsored by Ancestry.com, and the second was researching your home and community. You can see more pictures on the EWGS Blog. They also gave us a CD of all the presentations so if you missed one you can still see the presentation that you missed.
Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:
1) When was the last time you had Genealogy Fun? It could be research, conferences, a society meeting, or just talking with friends about your research, a favorite trip, etc.
Well I guess it was today, played hooky from work and so it was nice to have fun for a day. Went to Road to Spokane Bing Crosby's Family History, a program of the Washington State Heritage Center, sponcered by Gonzaga School of Business, Foley Center Library, Ancestry.com and the office of the Washington Secretary of State.
Below is some of the exhibitors booths, Spokane Public Library, Washington State Genealogical Society
Spokane County Library booth
Eastern Washington Genealogical Society booth
Bing Crosby grew up here in Spokane and went to Gonzaga high school and started Gonzaga law school before he dropped out to go to Hollywood. There were two presentations on Bing's ancestors. They told how Bing got his nickname of Bing, it was from the Spokesman Review newspaper insert called Bingville Bugle with character Bingo, but he dropped the o. Last was a short talk by Bing's nephew Howard Crosby then lunch. After lunch was a couple more sessions, one a computer lab sponsored by Ancestry.com, and the second was researching your home and community. You can see more pictures on the EWGS Blog. They also gave us a CD of all the presentations so if you missed one you can still see the presentation that you missed.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Fearless Females Grandparents Marriage
March 4 — Do you have marriage records for your grandparents or great-grandparents? Write a post about where they were married and when. Any family stories about the wedding day? Post a photo too if you have one.
These are copies of the newspaper articles on my maternal grandparents wedding, I did the paternal grandparents marriage certificate last year
These are copies of the newspaper articles on my maternal grandparents wedding, I did the paternal grandparents marriage certificate last year
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Fearless Females Vada Belle (Hert) Kelly
March 2 — Post a photo of one of your female ancestors. Who is in the photo? When was it taken? Why did you select this photo?
Vada Belle was the daughter of Joseph Hert and Sadie Selsor. On 3 March 1889 she married Robert Forsyth Kelly, son of Thomas Kelly and Margaret Josephine Forsyth.
Vada was one of my first brick walls, in the Kelly bible her maiden name is Hirt and I wandered around a lot trying to find a Vada Belle Hirt, but this brick wall came down when Missouri put their early death certificates online.
I think this photo was taken about 1900, and on the back is written Vada Belle Kelly and it looks like my grandfathers handwriting.
Vada Belle was the daughter of Joseph Hert and Sadie Selsor. On 3 March 1889 she married Robert Forsyth Kelly, son of Thomas Kelly and Margaret Josephine Forsyth.
Vada was one of my first brick walls, in the Kelly bible her maiden name is Hirt and I wandered around a lot trying to find a Vada Belle Hirt, but this brick wall came down when Missouri put their early death certificates online.
I think this photo was taken about 1900, and on the back is written Vada Belle Kelly and it looks like my grandfathers handwriting.