THE NEW FACE OF GENEALOGY.

Two big projects keep me busy and off-blog. I'm organizing and selling a huge stamp collection. And, I'm completing my mother's genealogy. Before she died, I promised her I would submit five generations with proofs, that she had worked years to complete, to the Mormon Genealogy Library. It is one of the largest in the world. However, the old days of submitting a pedigree book with hand or typewritten information, following your lineage for five generations, the only amount the library would accept, is no longer done that way.
 Meet Debra Newcum, left and Jean Oliver from the Family History Center at the Latter Day Saints Church in Murphys.  Debra is doing her Mission in the area for 18 months. Jean is head of the church's  Family History Center. I made an appointment with Debra over a month ago, choosing what I thought was an open spot in my calendar. I figured three days, it would be done. A vast new world awaited me. Genealogy is done on a computer and uploaded on-line. It is through their free program with multiple tools that can take you back to first recorded records. Jean, for instance,was able to trace her descendants to the 1600's. Debra had to go to Britain to physically get her records at great cost before this program was available. In the Mormon faith, when multiple marriages were encouraged to increase the clan and colonize, following a family tree is more complicated than most. I was blown away. I suspect I will be spending a year on my project.  I'll try to make it interesting enough to get you started on your family tree.

 I also recommend the PBS program, Finding Your Roots which is done with amazing insights into famous people who know nothing, or very little, about their descendants. Last week they found a first. A descendant that was burned at stake for being a witch. More interesting than fiction.


Getting my stamp collection organized for sale, I also considered a week at most.  I had forgotten how massive my collection is and how much work I'd left to be done. I kept buying stamps as I was raising kids and living a demanding life, thinking I'd get back to it "later".  Later is here and I'm stunned. There is much work involved, but I'm enjoying my stamp collection for the first time in years. I'd forgotten how much history there is surrounding stamps. And, how much family and friends seep through from simple handwriting, addresses and post marks on envelopes.
A local store is named "Stories In Stones".  There are stories in stamps and genealogy both. What an adventure I'm enjoying.

I must limit this entry because I have a tenant moving. Refurbishing it after  seven years of one occupant, driving to Oakland, considering paint, new counter tops, upgraded cabinets and so on. Decisions to be made and attended to. Life is never static. Ciao

LEARNING CURVE

Meeting a cousin, Bob Moore, his poosslq, Leslie Nolan,  (or her poosslq depending on your point of view) and Leslie’s mother, Marilyn. at a coffee shop yesterday was so much fun, I forgot to take pictures. We talked about family members current, as in my sister suffering from brain cancer showing an improvement after a scary malaise from the radiation, to Bob’s wedding, so many years ago, how his brother Jim, met his wife, to other cousins, aunts, uncles and surprising stories in our family genealogy. Grandma Moore had her fist baby at age 15?  Did Uncle Leonard really take the first tank across the bridge at Remoggin, during WWII?
We don’t know all the answers, but aging gives a great perspective of the past. And I KNOW you are wondering about that poosslq word.
I worked the census for many years and during the 1970′s that word was used to describe …persons of opposite sex sharing living quarters.
Isn’t that a hoot?  Now we accept the normalcy of significant other. As, in my significant other, Jim Jaillet.
Later, I cooked a turkey breast so we could enjoy one of the best part’s of the feast, turkey sandwiches.  I must thank the Earl of Sandwich for that great repast.
Note:  working on a new computer after wirelessly loading every thing from my motor home computer and my home computer, to this one. It took forty-eight hours. Glitches are in store. It will take time to work them out but…I made the page.
ciao

ABRAHAM LINCOLN NATIONAL BIRTHPLACE PARK

Abraham Lincoln was born in Hardin County, Kentucky  on Feb. 12th, 1809, which is near Hodgenville, Kentucky. The National Park that commemorates his birthplace has a huge monument, cabins of the type he lived in, and a great film about the family.  Lincoln often credited his mother with his inspiration but his father, Thomas Lincoln, pictured above, must have been a strong influence on Lincoln. Thomas, as a 10 year old boy, watched his father die at the hand of an indian arrow and stayed with the body while his brother kept shooting until the war party left. Thomas learned hard lessons, and survived a hardscrabble life and worked at farming, carpentry and any job he could find to help out at home.

The typical cabins of the time on the site which we viewed through the pouring rain.

Typical fencing of the time as well.

The film emphasized that Thomas Lincoln worked hard, built up a bank account, could apply for community service and take on responsibility. He was then allowed to buy land and established himself before marrying Nancy Hanks. The family grew to include children thus Abraham Lincoln does not remember his birthplace home, but the Knob Creek area home northeast of Hogdenville where he lived from about 3 years to 7 years old in the crumbling cabin pictured below. It might have known fancy furnishings like the replica above.

The film explains that the Lincolns were upper middle-class and not poor.

The monument on the site has 56 steps, one for every year he lived, and no elevator, so we didn't venture in. It holds a replica of the house before it completely disintegrated.

We moved on to Hogdenville which has a Lincoln Museum. It is housed in this beautiful old building with tin ceilings and wonderful old hardwood. A perfect setting for everything Lincoln.

The Museum has life-sized dioramas of Lincoln that I didn't care for, but there are some very nice old documents like this one of the death-bed. Wrinkled and crinkled and probably from an old magazine or perhaps a picture. Plus, under glass and difficult to photograph.

A collection of cards from his centennial celebration.

A collection of political memorabilia.

The museum has copies of many, many pictures of Lincoln, because photography was popular then. Through the pictures we watch him age.

A statesman with maturity.

And the ravages of the responsibility of the Civil War.

There were many paintings here. Some copies of old paintings, and other current, modern efforts to capture the man. This tender scene with his son Todd is my favorite.

And this modern painting of Lincoln with blue eyes. Is their authentic information that suggests his eyes were blue?  I don't know. It surprised me because I always thought of Lincoln as a brown-eyed man with his craggy looks and seropis personality and dark hair.

There are other items in the museum that reflected the times, furnishings like this yarn winder, clothing, quilts and other nice things. A good museum to visit.

We then moved on to a third site, where the Knob Creek farm was located. The rebuilt cabins stands where the dilapidated old structure was located. The visitors center here was closed. It was still raining and we didn't stay long. It was here that Lincoln as a boy would see slave traders making their way along the river.

The Lincoln's were Baptists and the differences over slavery split the Baptist Church between slave protectors and those who found the practice abhorrent.

The Thomas Lincoln family were firmly sided with non-slavery. You don't find the vast history of the man without reading a good book. My self-educated father was a serious Lincoln scholar and I've admired this president above all others most of my life.
The Lincoln family moved on over serious land issues with the Kentucky territory, first to Illinois and later Indiana. I was also impressed with this area of Kentucky on Highway 31E, of all the historic monuments, parks, and things to see. We are moving through it quickly and can't see it all. But, it is well worth taking a trip on the back roads. Besides, we are staying at a Moose Club. I dutifully changed my clothes to items I don't care about getting smoked up only to discover our first club from Brownsville, Texas to Hodgenville Kentucky without cigarette smoke.

And, I couldn't let this photo from the visitors center go by without mentioning Lincoln Logs. My brothers, sister and I grew up playing with them.

HORSESHOE BALLET

Cortez, Colorado is a colorful, small, Western town. There is something very comfortable about this town. Maybe it reminds me of the 1940′s and 50′s small town America of my youth.  We stopped a the Cortez Culture Center and that ended our exploration of town.
The building is an interesting one, very Western. Both sides have beautiful murals. Inside is mostly local crafts for sale and a bit of history in exhibits.

I took a picture of these painted skulls and then I spotted the Shamon’s Medicine Stick on the right. I bought it. The prices here are quite reasonable compared to many other places we’ve stopped along the way. I don’t know why we didn’t take a decent picture of it. I guess I got excited and we got it  wrapped and headed for a mailing center down town. Unfortunately, the mailing center wouldn’t take it because it was two big.  The center uses Fed Ex and UPS and neither will take a package that size. Hmmmm!  We managed to fit it in the Bronco.

And, when we got back to the motorhome, it was a difficult decision about where and how to store it without damage until the motorhome arrives in Murphys in Oct. 2013.  We unloaded and reconfigured a storage area in the back of the motor home.  I would have to say my usually, congenial partner was much less enthusiastic about this purchase than me.

We are parked at the American Legion and decided to have a fast food dinner and watch the horseshoe games scheduled there on Thursday nights.

It turned into a horseshoe ballet.

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The body language, the facial expressions.  Hey, this is better than watching the pros.

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Some of these gestures are suggestive of another expression.  Truth to tell, I was trying to get a picture of a horseshoe in the air and failed. But the ballet was interesting.

Also interesting was this pick the players carry.  It is used to dig the horseshoes out of the sand. We have a pit at home, but I’d never seen one of these.

Nor had I seen these handy drink holders the players like next to their seating outside the protective fence.  Horseshoes is obviously a serious pursuit here.

We probably enjoyed the game as much as the players.

We shared a table for drinks and dinner with Mama and Baby Baier,  a mother and daughter related to the famous wrestler, Max Baer. The change in spelling is mine, because I have a friend in California who is a cousin to Max Baer and that is the way they spell it. I haven’t checked with Louis Santucci to find out why that branch of the family spells the name without the I.


Jim claims Baby Baier may be small but she has the grip of an oil driller. He also decided to give her a hand-to-hand transfusion of 20 pounds he’d like to be rid of and she’d like to have.  Oh, well.  I guess you had to be there.
We left the American Legion and returned to the Cultural Center for a Native American Dance. I’ll get to that tomorrow since we are packing up to move to Mesa Verde today.