Sunday, March 28, 2010

Happy Blogiversary to Me!

Looks like I've been inflicting my thoughts on others via a blog for 2 YEARS! How did that happen?

My little blog has morphed over time into a main focus on genealogy (earlier posts were mostly observances on things happening in my life). And I would have to say, the coolest thing is when I feel like I've posted information that has helped someone else - that makes it all worth it!

However, based on my google analytics results, it looks like others are not just interested in genealogy when their search dumps them into my blog. It looks like lots of people are interested in....rubber pants.

Let me explain.

I was reviewing the search terms in my google analytics and found that after "random notes" (which is to be expected), the most often occuring search term was "rubber pants".

Apparently, this is all thanks to a posting I did back in January of 2009 talking about a foot brace I had to wear when I was a baby. One of the pictures I posted was of me laying there with a bottle, the foot brace on, and apparently (as my mother corrected me!) a PLASTIC diaper cover thingy over my cloth diaper. oy vey!

But in my text, I referred to it as "rubber pants", which I probably shouldn't refer to again because now more people will find my blog when searching for rubber pants. What exactly are they thinking they'll find? I doubt it's my picture, but nearly every single one of them clicks on the picture before leaving the blog.

So there is my service to humanity I guess!

Some other interesting search terms that have tricked people into seeing my blog because of strange references I've made in text:

1. turnip (? - well, I did post a picture once of a carved turnip)

2. monty python mr gumby (once I mentioned my brain hurting like Mr. Gumby the monty pyton character)

3. how accurate is urban dictionary (actually, very accurate in my opinion)

4. put her in charge (once I mentioned the little girl in Aliens, which is one of the best movies ever made EVER EVER)

5. he's standing on her foot (I posted a pic of my uncle and mom as children where's he's standing on her foot - but why would anyone do a search on this?)

6. postman's arse (?)

7. camelot richard harris eyeshadow (I'm so glad there's one other person in the world who noticed just how much eyeshadow he was wearing!!)


:-)

I have no one to blame but myself due to the tangents I go on sometimes!

Anyway, here's to a fun 2 years, and to many more! And also, a huge Thank You to everyone who reads my blog!!!!

Sunday, March 21, 2010

"Who are you?" said the Caterpillar.

My treasure trove of documents and photos from my grandparents has yielded up a mystery.

Yes, that's right, the dreaded un-identified old photo.

It's especially frustrating because these photos are likely from 2 family lines that have been difficult for me to find much information on (AKINS and KIRBY). My grandparents don't know or can't remember who these people might be.

So I'm asking for help here - can anyone recommend good resources (books or websites) to help me at least narrow down the timeframe for these photos?

My very uneducated guess is that I'm looking at the edwardian period here based on the soft hairstyles of the ladies, but really I have no idea, and I'd like to know where a good place is to start learning is!

Any suggestions are welcome!!!



Looking at the business name in the bottom right of the above photo, I did find a Johann Oberholtzer who was a photographer and lived in Waverly in the 1900 NY Federal census. A quick search did not yield him in the 1910, but he could be hidden around somewhere.


Looking at the bottom right of the above photo, I did see that the place was referred to as "Watkins" and not "Watkins Glen". Watkins Glen in Schuyler Co., NY changed its name from "Watkins" to "Watkins Glen" in 1926.


It seems that the above photo was hand-tinted (the rosy cheeks).


The gentleman in the front in the above photo just doesn't look like a guy from the Finger Lakes region of New York in the late 1800s or early 1900s. This seems like maybe a picture of first generation immigrants or a photo of family "back home". I just don't know though!!!

Any suggestions of where I can start researching how to date these photos?

4 Generations

Yesterday during a visit with my grandparents, I took an updated "4 generations" picture with my niece - a slightly uncooperative toddler!! :-)

That's the slightly uncooperative, but still adorable toddler next to her mom (my sister), then my mom, then my grandmother:


This photo from December of 1973 shows my great-grandmother, Cornelia Akins Mix Simpson next to my grandmother, then me, then my mom.



And finally, this photo taken about 1950 shows my mom, my grandmother, my great-grandmother Cornelia, and my great-great-grandmother, Hattie Kirby Akins Quick Robinson Allen (yep, she married several times).


One thing that always struck me about the photo was how Cornelia and Hattie's hands were in nearly identical positions.

Hattie, my great-great-grandmother, was born in Bennettsburg, Schuyler Co., NY in 1866. Think how different her childhood was from her adult years! She didn't pass away until 1963.

Hattie's first husband, John Akins (Cornelia's father) died when Hattie was only 24 and she had two little one's 3 yrs old and 1 yr old. She married Joe Quick the next year (1891) but didn't have any other children. Her daughter Cornelia went on to marry William Mix and have many children, but her son Charley died at a relatively young age (abt. 39 yrs old). I posted previously a poem Hattie wrote when he died.

These are the families with the surnames that have been so mysterious for me - the Akins and Kirby families. Maybe this will be the year!!! :-)

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Treasure Trove of Scanning


This is a picture of the documents/loose photos my maternal grandparents were willing to temporarily part with so I could scan them. So far I've spent about 9+ hours on scanning and have just a dent!!!

I've been saving both pictures and old documents as TIF files and jpegs and trying to come up with meaningful names. Also, I created folders like "small cardboard box" and "small paper bag" and the scans of those contents are what goes in the folder so I can trace back where I originally found the document/photo.

So far some of what I've got is about 10 un-identified photos that seem to be to be from between 1890-1910 (AUGH!!!), I've got the deed to my great-grandmother's farm, and scans of the handwritten little notes my great-grandmother kept where she noted births and deaths of family members. A good start!

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Surname Saturday - IDE

Today's surname saturday post focuses on the name IDE.

There are many spelling variations for this (especially in older records), for instance:
HIDE
HYDE
IYDE
HYD

More on the possible origins of the name (if you are interested) can be found on Google Books:

New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial, Volume 4, by William Richard Cutter, pg 2127

The IDE family is where I first encountered the unusual given names of "Leafe" (a.k.a. Leaffee, Lefie, Leaf, Leafie) and "Squire" (a.k.a. Esquire).

And so, here's my IDE ahnentafel:


1. Leah KLEYLEIN - Me!

3. Deborah DOMELLE - my Mom!

7. Ann MIX - my Grandma! She was born in Tompkins County, NY and spent her childhood years there. After marrying my grandfather (William DOMELLE), they moved around a bit.

14. William Homer MIX, born 09 Dec 1876 in Village of Willseyville, Tioga Co., NY; died 06 Jul 1954 in, Ithaca, Tompkins Co., NY. He married Cornelia Elizabeth AKINS. William and Cornelia married in 1904 and had 10 children.

28. John Francis MIX, born 09 Mar 1830 in Tioga Co., NY; died 1906 in Tioga Co., NY. He married Mary Ellen COOK sometime around 1854. John and Mary had at least 6 children that I can account for.

56. Jonathan Collins MIX, born Bet. 1803 - 1804 in NY; died 14 Jan 1853 in Willseyville, Tioga Co., NY. He married Sally A. STEVENS probably around 1825 and they had 7 children that I know of. It looks like Jonathan was a blacksmith, as were 3 of his sons.

112. Collins MIX, born 20 Jan 1777 in Wallingford, CT; died 17 Jan 1852 in the Poor House, Owego, Tioga Co., NY. He married Leafe IDE on 28 Aug 1800 in Clarendon, Rutland Co., VT. Collins and Leafe had 3 living children that I know of.

226. Squire IDE, born 30 Jul 1751 in Rehoboth, Bristol Co., MA. He married Mary BOWEN 03 Jun 1773 in Rehoboth, MA. Squire fought in the Revolutionary War on behalf of Massachusetts in a few different companies. Squire and Mary married in 1773 and had 8 children that I know of, all born in Clarendon, Rutland Co., VT.

452. Timothy IDE, born 31 Mar 1719 in Rehoboth, Bristol Co., MA; died Bef. 04 Oct 1763 in Rehoboth, Bristol Co., MA. He married Esther BOZWORTH 17 Nov 1743 in Rehoboth, Bristol Co., MA. Timothy and Esther married in 1743 and had 8 children that I know of, all born in Rehoboth.

904. Lieutenant Timothy IDE, born 01 Oct 1688 in Rehoboth, Bristol Co., MA; died 26 Dec 1768 in Rehoboth, Bristol Co., MA. He married Mary Daggett 20 Dec 1716 in Rehoboth, Bristol Co., MA. Timothy and Mary married in 1716 and had 4 boys that I know of, all born in Rehoboth.

1808. Captain Timothy IDE, born 10 Oct 1660 in Rehoboth, Bristol County, Massachusetts; died 05 Apr 1735 in Rehoboth, Bristol Co., MA. He married Elizabeth COOPER 20 Oct 1687 in Rehoboth, Bristol Co., MA. Timothy and Elizabeth married in 1687 and had 8 children that I know of, all born in Rehoboth.

3616. Nicholas IDE, born Bet. 1620 - 1624 in Ide(?), Devon, England; died 18 Oct 1690 in Rehoboth, Bristol Co., MA. He married Martha BLISS 16 May 1647 in Springfield, Hampden Co., MA. Nicholas and Martha married in 1647 and had 10 children that I know of, all born in Rehoboth.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Paternal Surname Cloud

A few days ago I did a surname cloud for my maternal surnames because I really liked Alana's blog post on how she created a surname cloud.

Below is my second attempt using Word It Out - this time I did my paternal surnames. My dad does the genealogy research on his side of the family so I'm really not familiar with a bunch of these names. What is interesting though is how many of them DON'T match my maternal surnames. These families were mainly in the Maryland/Minnesota areas and apparently there was just no mixing with New England/Indiana. So there. You stay on your side and I'll stay on mine. :-)


Also, because I love studying the English language, I noticed how my Dad's English surnames are so different from my New England English surnames - the sound, the structure, what other word pieces the surnames are composed of. That's due to the fact that the English who settled Maryland were very different stock than the English who settled Massachusetts/Connecticut/etc. Back to that never-the-twain-shall-meet-thing again.

Another cool thing I noticed in this set of unfamiliar surnames is one called: "Waugh". I particularly like this one as it is also the noise I make every time I manage to slip up or down the stairs in my socks.

funny pictures of cats with captions
see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Maternal Surname Cloud

I really liked Alana's blog post on how she created a surname cloud, so I thought I'd try one out for myself!

First time around I made a guess at which surnames would have a greater weight than others. Then my OCD kicked in and I went to my ahnentafel report and actually counted how many times each surname popped up in my direct lines. I know, it's a disease.

So below are the results from Word It Out - this is from my maternal line and I went back 13 generations. This was actually a pretty good exercise to remind me of family lines that I don't pay as much attention to, but which have a significant presence.


Wordless Wednesday - 10 March 2010

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Sentimental Sunday - Life in a Pile of Papers

Today is Sentimental Sunday and it was particularly appropriate as yesterday I was allowed to take bags of loose papers and photos from my grandparents so that I could scan them. I was SO excited!!!!

I sat this morning and did a run through where I went through everything one time and looked at it so I could get an idea of what was in there so I could plot out a scanning strategy. It was the usual frustrating pile of photos with blank backs! People!!! Go write on the back of your photos right now! Right now!!! :-)

There were some deeds to property sold to my great-grandfather. There were letters to my great-aunt from her son. There were funeral books as well as a big pile of birth anouncements. School photos, black and white photos of some cows (?), polaroids of a family visit in the 90s, 2 sets of negatives. Envelopes with little notes written on the back of them. Letters between my twin great-aunts. U-haul rental agreements.

The miscellanea of life.

And it made me kind of sad - entire lives reduced to a little pile of paper.

Does that ever happen to anyone else? Sometimes I think the whole genealogy research thing gives me a little too much of a 30,000 foot view of life, hmm? I know that a few generations from now, there will be another genealogist in my family, looking back on all of us alive now, and we'll be little piles of paper, the occasional IDENTIFIED photo, and names in a census.

It's not that this is a surprise to me, I've done genealogy for many many years now, I know what it's all about, and one of the things I love most is turning the data in front of me into a real person. Yes, sometimes my imagination is probably way far from the truth, but hey, I try.

And so, here's a few happy photos that remind me of the fun I have doing this whole genealogy "thing". Feel free to play an appropriately sappy song in your head as you look at them! :-D







Surname Saturday - MIX

Or, Surname Sunday since I'm a day late. But hey, I had a busy day yesterday visiting my grandparents - my grandmother (Ann MIX DOMELLE who is mentioned below) turned 90 years old yesterday. My grandparents very kindly agreed to let me cart away a boatload of loose papers and photos so I could scan them (and then return them of course). I simply cannot wait to sit and go through those papers, what a treat!!!!

Anyway, on to the surname of the moment! It's MIX, sometimes spelled as MEEKS. It's one of your purebred Puritan New England names, going all the way back to the first Thomas Mix that came over from England in the early 1600s, around the time that Winthrop's Fleet arrived. He was one of the earliest settlers in the newly created town of New Haven in what would be the state of Connecticut. I only have his birthplace as "London" and haven't been able to prove for sure his parentage back in England.

The MIX family moved on to help found the town of Wallingford, Connecticut, and then my line moved to Vermont for a short while, and then finally settled in Tioga County, New York after those lands started becoming settled post-Revolutionary War. There are also a lot of MIX families just over the border in Pennsylvania, in Bradford County and in the northern county of Cameron in PA.

Tom Mix, the silent film star, is of the MIX families from Cameron County in PA.

The given name of "Thomas" was definitely a favorite of the family - in the 1600s and 1700s it recurs enough times to be really annoying to the genealogy researcher trying to sort them all out 300 years later. :-)

And so, here's my MIX ahnentafel:


1. Leah KLEYLEIN - Me!

3. Deborah DOMELLE - my Mom!

7. Ann MIX - my Grandma! She was born in Tompkins County, NY and spent her childhood years there. After marrying my grandfather (William DOMELLE), they moved around a bit.

14. William Homer MIX, born 09 Dec 1876 in Village of Willseyville, Tioga Co., NY; died 06 Jul 1954 in, Ithaca, Tompkins Co., NY. He married Cornelia Elizabeth AKINS, whose surname is mentioned in a previous posting. William and Cornelia married in 1904 and had 10 children. In federal census records, William is listed as doing carpentry and farm labor.

28. John Francis MIX, born 09 Mar 1830 in Tioga Co., NY; died 1906 in Tioga Co., NY. He married Mary Ellen COOK sometime around 1854. It looks like John, or sometimes "Frank" spent his entire life in Tioga County working mainly as a Laborer (according to census records). John and Mary had at least 6 children that I can account for.

56. Jonathan Collins MIX, born Bet. 1803 - 1804 in NY; died 14 Jan 1853 in Willseyville, Tioga Co., NY. He married Sally A. STEVENS probably around 1825 and they had 7 children that I know of. It looks like Jonathan was a blacksmith, as were 3 of his sons.

112. Collins MIX, born 20 Jan 1777 in Wallingford, CT; died 17 Jan 1852 in the Poor House, Owego, Tioga Co., NY. He married Leafe IDE on 28 Aug 1800 in Clarendon, Rutland Co., VT. Collins and Leafe had 3 living children that I know of. Although Collins was born in Connecticut, by the age of 23, he was in the 1800 federal census in Vermont where he met his future wife. They then made the move to New York. Collins did in fact pass away in the Poor House at Owego, he was listed as "intemperate" which in 19th century speech could have meant a variety of things.

224. Thomas MIX, born 12 Aug 1745 in Wallingford, CT. He married Lois COLLINS 11 Dec 1766 in Wallingford, CT and then had 2 living sons that I know of. This Thomas Mix, as far as I can tell, is the one that was in the Revolutionary War, in the 4th Connecticut Regiment. It also looks like this Thomas moved to Vermont as well as his son Collins as there is a deed from 1795 that names Thomas as a resident of Danby, Rutland Co., VT.

448. Thomas MIX, born 27 Nov 1709 in Wallingford, CT; died 1794 in Wallingford, CT. He married Ruth MANROSS 05 Apr 1736 in Wallingford, CT. From what I can tell, they spent all their lives in Wallingford and had 6 children.

896. Thomas MIX, born 25 Mar 1678 in Wallingford, CT; died 1735 in Wallingford, CT. He married Deborah Royce 21 Mar 1704/05 in Wallingford, CT. From what I can tell, they spent all their lives in Wallingford and had 11 children.

1792. Daniel MIX, born 08 Sep 1653 in New Haven, CT; died 1720 in Wallingford, CT. He married Ruth Rockwell 02 May 1678 in Wallingford, CT. Daniel was one of the original proprietors of Wallingford. He and Ruth had 6 children.

3584. Thomas MIX, born in London, England; died 1691 in New Haven, CT. He married Rebecca Turner 1649 in New Haven, Connecticut. Thomas and Rebecca had 11 children and apparently were a bit feisty for Puritans. I have court records where they were reprimanded for, uh, "fornication" which they lied about "in a gross and heinous manner". :-) That happened in 1649. Coincidentally, they were married in 1649. Also, they had their first son John in 1649. Hmm.

Thanks to the fabulous Google Books, you can go read the records yourself in Charles J. Hoadly's Records of the Colony and Plantation of New Haven, pg 469, last paragraph.

Thomas and Rebecca had headstones in the famous Grove Street Cemetery of New Haven (moved there from the original burying ground on the green) although they may be worn flat by this time. I couldn't locate anything legible for them when I visited recently, but I did find many generations of later MIX's.


And that my friends, is the end of my records for the MIX family!