Another Day With Donna ..... Genealogy - Family History Blog

Venezuela -Operation Smile

2011-11-27T18:17:00.001-10:00

I’ve returned from another Operation Smile Medical Mission – this time to Maturin, Venezuela. Four days was all the time I had to prepare for this trip, as I was asked to fill in for an Operating Room Nurse who had signed on with this mission, but had to cancel at the last minute. I flew down there from Honolulu, via LAX and Houston, to Caracas, then had to wait 11 hours in the Caracas domestic terminal to get a flight south to Maturin. We operated on 159 kids to repair their cleft lips and cleft palates at the local hospital. Some days I worked up to 14 hours to get the cases done. But it was all very much worth it to know what a change had happened in their lives. The people were very kind and happy to have us there. One day we were treated to an outing to see people of an outlying village doing their folk dances and songs. We also visited a “people-run” tomato ketchup processing plant. It was once owned by the Heinz company I’m told. The governor of the state hosted our farewell party.

Screening the children before the days of surgery

At the tomato ketchup processing plant

In the Operating Room

After the completion of the mission, I stayed a few days with four others and we traveled to the Orinoco River Delta to experience a bit of the swamp. There was a pet capybara at the camp, I think it’s about the largest rodent there is. At any rate, it was a baby, and cute, about the size of a medium dog. We ventured out for a walk in the swamp (with guide), that is, until both of my feet got stuck deep in the muck and I needed help to get out. Kind of eerie as the swamp water poured into my knee-high boots. I wouldn’t like to be a long-term swamp dweller, but it was interesting for two days. We stayed above the swampy ground on wooden planks in rooms with mosquito nets around the beds. We paddled around the river and saw the piranha others had caught nearby. Not a good place for swimming, or falling overboard from the dugout canoe.

Our lodge for the night in the Orinoco Swamp

Local natives in dugout canoe

Pouring out swamp water from my boot

From the Orinoco we traveled more hours by boat and car to the airport at Ciudad Bolivar to get an 8-seat plane to Canaima National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There was a beautiful lagoon at the base of several small wide waterfalls. The first thing we did is walk underneath, or behind, a long pounding waterfall, kind of like a small Niagara Falls (in my mind). It was very wet and at one point a big scary. Once we made it across, we had to return the same way.

The falls at Canaima

Heading under the Canaima falls

Donna looking and feeling like a drowned rat!

The next day we made our way four hours by motorized dugout canoe up the river, through rapids to a camp near the base of Angel Falls. It was a wet ride through the rapids and a bit scary at times, but the scenery was amazing as the clouds lifted to be able to see the high flat mountains. The highest around is from where Angel Falls drops 3,300 feet. Supposed to be the highest free falling waterfall in the world. This is the region that the creators of the animated movie “Up” visited to get an idea as the background for the movie.

At our base camp

We walked over an hour and a half to get a real view of the whole falls. There some of the group decided to swim in the cold pool at the bottom. Since it was getting late and a mist was falling, I started walking back to the river. I had been very careful not to get my sneakers very wet because I was to wear them on the plane going home the next couple days. But on the way down it started raining harder and harder. The sun set and it was getting darker and darker. I threw all caution to the wind and was grabbing every tree and hanging vine to steady myself as I high-tailed it down the rocky, root crossed trail. I was splashing through deep pools of standing water on the trail and not even thinking about snakes and spiders and other jungle animals. At the river our little group had to wait for the guide because we were already unsure of our route. Eventually everyone made it down and we took the boat downriver to our camp. It was Halloween night and we sat around the fire and told ghost stories! Our native guide told us a few of his ancestor stories. We retired to a set of hammocks strung under a roof. I slept with a mosquito-net hat on, and it wasn’t too bad, but the comfort of a hammock is highly overrated, as far as I’m concerned.

CARACAS, VENEZUELA

We made it back to the airport the next day and flew back to the city then by car another four hours to Maturin. The next day I flew to Caracas and got an afternoon tour of the city. The city has a reputation for crime, and there were places the driver wouldn’t go, but there was an impressive view from the top of a gondola ride to the see the panorama of Caracas. It was a long flight back home, but I was very happy to have had the opportunity to see such an interesting country, and meet the hospitable people in Venezuela.

Veteran's Day Salute - My Hague Family

2011-11-10T19:32:00.001-10:00

I wanted to list all my relations that have been in the US Military for this Veteran's Day, but alas, there are so many. I'll just show the photos of a few of my family with the Hague surname. Perhaps more next year. My great-great grandfather, James Hague, came to the USA in 1848 from England. His son, Joseph H. Hague was the first of our Hagues to be in the US military.

Joseph H. Hague b. 1841 in Dukinfield, Lancashire, England, was in the Union Army in the Civil War in 1864. Co. F. 47th Infantry Reg. Iowa. He was active in GAR activies for the rest of his life. He died at Des Moines, Iowa in 1922.

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My dad's uncle, William Henry Hague, Jr. was born in 1880 in Delaware Township, Polk Co., Iowa, on the family farm. He was in World War I. Unfortunately he was gassed or "shell shocked" and was never the same when he returned, but he had quite a knack getting the plow horses to behave, and he loved to walk everywhere, rather than ride a car. His brother (My dad's father, Alfred George Hague) was designated his guardian. "Uncle Billy" died in 1960 in Knoxville, Iowa.
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My dad's brother, Wallace Eugene Hague, was born in 1913 in Des Moines, Polk co., Iowa. He came to California with his family when he was young. He joined the Army Air Corps at the start of WWII. He remained in the Air Force for 30 years and was stationed in the Pacific and was a part of the Berlin Air Lift in WWII. He died in Oregon in 1983 after retiring to Gold Beach, OR.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

My dad, Alfred Vincent Hague, was born in 1909 in Des Moines, Iowa. He was not in the regular Air Force. His occupation with the telephone company was deemed critical to the war effort and so he joined the Civil Air Patrol out of Los Angeles, California. He was a private pilot and participated in Civil Air Patrol search and rescues, and later ham radio emergency relay activities in Hemet, California where he died in 1993
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My brother, Richard Vincent Hague was born in Los Angeles in 1941. He volunteered for the Air Force during the Vietnam War and served in Vietnam and Thailand. He was in the Air Police. After his military service he settled in Nevada where he was a criminoloist with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (CSI). He died there in 2006.
^^^^^^^^^^^

I'll add myself, Donna Marilyn Hague. I was born in 1945 in Los Angeles, on August 7th, between the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I spent 26 active duty years in the Army Nurse Corps specializing in Operating Room Nursing. For four years I was stationed at Landstuhl Army Regional Medical Center, in Germany. The years I served in the Army were between the Vietnam War and the Iraq War. I retired to Hawaii, one of my last duty stations (Tripler Army Medical Center).

Nine Eleven

2011-09-11T22:13:00.000-10:00

On this tenth anniversary of the Nine Eleven 2001, I've watched all the TV specials and remember that day while in Hartford, CT - doing genealogy research - watching the news in horror and disbelief. Two months later (Nov 14, 2001) I took a train from Boston into New York City and took some photos of ground zero. I've also visited the site at Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The lingering pain is too much for words.
But below are some of the photos I took ten years ago:

My place in Honolulu today 9/11/11

Did Wesley Stevens go down with the ship?

2011-08-18T13:54:00.007-10:00

Will wonders ever cease? I love researching this family: Descendants of Phineas Stevens.....

1. First, on Aug 16th a descendant of Wesley Stevens, my new 4th cousin-once removed, George of Wisconsin, connected with me through a comment made on this blog and we exchanged first e-mails. I’m waiting with bated breath to hear more from George.

2. Second, after listening to Webinars and reading blogs this week I was inspired to do more searching of newspapers. It was in the New York City newspaper “Weekly Herald” dated 18 Apr 1857 at http://www.genealogybank.com/ there listing deaths in California, I found that the cause of Mary Pember Stevens’ death at Shasta California was from consumption (tuberculosis). The news had been reported in California, brought south by ship and overland by train at Panama, then up north by ship to be published in New York City. [It turns out that “Shasta” is a ghost town turned into a California State Historic Park, located “ Six miles west of Redding a row of old, half-ruined, brick buildings remind passing motorists that Shasta City, the lusty "Queen City" of California's northern mining district, once stood on this site. These ruins and some of the nearby roads, cottages, and cemeteries are all silent but eloquent vestiges of the intense activity that was centered here during the California gold rush."]

Shasta California, Main Street - 1850's

3. And on Aug 18th I found at http://www.fultonhistory.com/ a copy of “The Buffalo Courier” from NY, dated Thur Oct 19, 1857. It was a notice put in the paper by Phineas Stevens who said his brother, Wesley Stevens, may have been on the ill-fated side-wheel steamship “ SS Central America” which sunk during a hurricane off the Carolina coast Sep 12, 1857 carrying 477 passengers, 101 crew and 1.5 million dollars in California gold. See below:

“INFORMATION WANTED -- Mr. Phineas Stevens, route agent on the Buffalo and Erie Railroad, says he fears that his brother, Wesley Stevens, was on board the ill-fated Central America, when she was lost. Among the list of those known to be on board, and supposed to be lost, was the name, “W.Stevens.” Mr. S. says that his brother always wrote his name “W. Stevens” that he had previously written that he should start for home about that time, and that his two children would accompany him. The children, one of whom is (tw?)o years of age, and the other six, if saved, would be too young to give any information as to the whereabouts of their relations. If this should catch the eye of any one who can give any information on the subject, they will confer a favor to Mr. Stevens, by imparting the same by letter to (him?) at Westfield, Chautauque county.”

SS Central America from a lithograph in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated

Newspaper, October 3, 1857 . The Captain,Wm Herndon,

went down with the ship and Herndon, Virginia, is named after him.

The loss of this gold help plunge the US into economic depression

(The Panic of 1857) The SS Central America

shipwreck was salvaged in 1987 and the gold recovered.

This newpaper notice agrees with other data that Wesley and Phineas Stevens of Westfield, NY were brothers, and that Wesley had two children, one born about 1855, and the other about 1851. In 1853 his wife Mary and one child had met him in Sacramento. I don’t know her route to California, but it was a one-way trip. Appropriately, the notice of Phineas doesn’t include mention of a wife (Mary died of consumption few months earlier, on 28 Feb 1857). I don’t know how or when Wesley and children returned to New York, but this is a clue that they had thought of going by ship from San Francisco, overland at Panama, and by ship to NY. Wesley Stevens initially sailed to California on the Clipper Bark Kremlin around Cape Horn joining the gold rush from New York to San Francisco in 1851. Five years later, and pondering the return to New York, it must have shaken Wesley to hear that the the SS Central America sank, a ship he might have sailed on from Panama back to New York.
But how should he return home?

I found out from Cousin George that another child had been born in Shasta, California, 21 Dec 1856, just two months before his wife died there. He must have been desperate to return to New York. How could he take an infant on the horrible journey, and which route should he take? He decided to "give away" his infant daughter, Mary/Maud Stevens to another family, and take the older children with him. I imagine he feared the worst, but probably booked a passage to Panama and traversed the isthmas by train, to continue up to New York on the same route as the ill-fated SS Central America. (It wasn’t until 1869 that the first transcontinental railroad would be completed, so despite the dangers, he may have still felt that going by ship was safer than overland.) Was overland cheaper or safer? I don’t know, but by sea the trip was faster.

It turns out that the sinking of the SS Central America was as big of news as the Titanic sinking years later. I continued to read the papers at genealogybank.com and it appears that one of the 425 lost souls was a Mr. Stevens described only as a young man who used to be partner in a store with Mr. Richard Carman, of Carmansville. [a village on Manhattan’s west side, NY City]. Not my Wesley Stevens. Phineas would learn that his brother was evidently still in California. If Wesley's son Daniel Phineas Stevens had drowned, my new 4th cousin, George, would not have been born! The next place I see Wesley is in the 1860 census, despite the misspellings, he was evidently living back in Chautauqua County, New York, with his two children, living with his niece and working as a clerk.
______________

1860 Census New York Chautauqua Co.; Clymer Twp;French Creek PO 2 Aug 1860

J. B. Murry 22 clerk b. VT [J. Bunday Murray-dw]

Olive M. " 23 b. NY; b.abt 1837; [Olive Marie Steward -dau of Wesley's sister Caroline Stevens Stewart-dw]

Wm Stevens 37 clerk b. NY [same age as Wesley – probably a typo-dw]

D.P. " 9 male child b. NY [could be Daniel Phineas Stevens-dw]

Caroline C. 5 female child b. NY [could be "Carrie" but should be born in California-dw]
________________

What next in this Stevens saga?

Breaking News - a Wesley Stevens connection!

2011-08-16T12:18:00.000-10:00

I just received a comment on my last post about Gold Rusher, Wesley Stevens. It was from George, a descendant of Wesley Stevens, and he's trying to contact me. I hope George will check out my e mail address in answer to his comment in the prior post, and also in my profile (new addition to it). He said Wesley had a son, name Daniel Stevens. So I can't wait to learn more. The power of the blog!! Hope to hear from you soon George! Aloha, Donna

Phineas, Enos, and Wesley Stevens - still tracking!

2011-07-31T14:58:00.143-10:00

At last, I've found the tombstone of my 4th great-grandfather, Phineas Stevens III (born 7 Nov 1785 in Nova Scotia). To make a short story long, I'll relate here what I've been up to in tracking down my elusive relations, descendants of the "Hero of Fort #4, Charlestown, NH" Capt. Phineas Stevens (who is Phineas Stevens I in my line). Since 1 June 2002 I've had a clue gleaned from the Chautauqua Co Genealogical Society at Fredonia, NY: Nineteenth Century Death Notices Extracted from 'Fredonia Censor by Lois Barris, 1994: Stevens, Phineas --died 27 Jul 1846 -- Obituary in FC 18 Aug 1846: "...In Rock Prairie Co., Wisc...short illn. ac 61. For many yrs res of Chaut. Co....Methodist." I couldn't figure out why Phineas III might die in Wisconsin when one daughter, Lucinda, and a son, Phineas IV (the Civil War Captain) lived in Chautauqua Co., NY. I must say, that "Rock Prairie Co, Wisc" confused me for a long time because there is a Rock County, a Rock and a La Prairie township in Rock County and a Prairie du Chien city in Crawford Co, but no Rock Prairie County, Wisc. Where did Phineas Stevens die? It doesn't take much to confuse me!

Through the years I found that a half-brother of Phineas III, named Wesley Stevens had married a Mary Pember who died when they lived in Marysville, CA during the gold rush era. From land records and census, I found the Pembers were Phineas's neighbors in Chautauqua Co since about 1820, and they were early members of the Blockville Methodist Episcopal Church together. I did find Pembers mentioned in Rock County, Wisc. histories, so I figured that indeed, Phineas III could have ventured to Wisconsin if his son's family had migrated there. Finally, while I was at the Southern California Genealogical Society (SCGS) Jamboree at Burbank, last June, I visited their library and looked at a book Family Maps of Rock Co., Wis by Gregory A. Boyd. There I found many Stevens in Rock Co, but only one, an Enos Stevens, in the same township and section as any Pembers This Enos bought land from 1844-1848 in Secction 15 and 32 in Johnstown Twp, Rock Co., Wisc. The city of Janesville is nearby. So I should zero in on Johnstown Township.

But who is Enos Stevens??? Enos is a common name in my Stevens line. One Enos Stevens, the well-to-do uncle of Phineas III, was doing great things at Barnet, Vermont, a town founded in large part by the Stevens family. That Enos had fled NY Long Island to Nova Scotia with Phineas II, his brother and fellow Loyalist, after the Revolution. The Stevens had children there (Phinas III was one) before returning to their Yankee homes in Vermont. But just who was the Enos Stevens buying land in Rock Co., Wisc. where my Phineas III is noted as dying? I pondered and minimally researched this for awhile.

The mystery of Enos Stevens was solved last night, when I decided to put my other studies aside and look further into Rock County.

I entered Enos Stevens at the seach rootsweb.com site and through the "web sites" choice I selected the Johnstown Center Cemetery link and read:

STEVENS, Enos --born?--- Died: ___. 20, 1851 Son of Phineas STEVENS; Aged 33 Years

STEVENS, Phineas ---born?-- Died: July 27, 1846 Aged 62 Years

Wow! Here is Phineas III and he has a son, Enos, who I never knew about! Eureka!

How easy it all is when you know where to search!

Phineas Stevens - the final resting place of my 4th gg-father 1785-1846 Johnstown Center Cemetery, Rock co. WI


Enos Stevens, son of Phineas III, 1818 - 1851 Johnstown Center Cemetery, Rock co. WI

But what about Phineas Steven III's brother Wesley and all the Pember in-laws? Well, I was delighted to find at the SCGS Library last June, in a Wisconsin book: Marriage-Janesville Gazette Index, that Wesley had married Mary Pember in Wisconsin, not New York. They were married 26 Nov 1846 in Rock Co., Wisc. I'm guessing Phineas III must have gone to Wisconsin with the Pembers and other Chautauqua Co. homesteaders, gotten married, then returned to New York! Or, since his father died in July 1846, Wesley may have traveled to Wisconsin to take care of his father, met his childhood friend, Mary Pember, married her and returned to Chautauqua Co., NY by the 1850 census! His step-mother, Sarah Knight Stevens, was also back in NY, or perhaps never left!

The Gold Rush had begun a couple years after Wesley married. The gold bug must have bitten him and they mortgaged their NY land in 1851 (which I discuss later) probably to get money for travel. Because of a book I found in 2002 at the Buffalo and Erie Co NY Public Library the Transcribed Journal of Wesley Stevens - 1852-1857 I knew that Wesley had sailed from New York around Cape Horn, to San Francisco and was a part of the Gold Rush. In this gem of a journal, Wesley noted: "Aug 26, 1852 - Landed at San Francisco August 26 making 155 days out. Took steamer for Sacramento at 5 o'clock in the afternoon. Arrived at the latter place the morning of the 3r. Took stage to Marysville. There got letters from Phineas. "

Yes!!! Letters from Phineas!! Another link to my Stevens family. In fact, Wesley Stevens' sister, Lucinda, had married John Howard Akins in Chautauqua Co., NY, and I have a letter written by Wesley's nephew, Perry Akin who had borrowed money in Jamestown, NY to go to the gold rush (loan documentation found in the Chautauqua Co., NY court records). In this 1853 letter from California, Perry Akin asks "i won to now wither Uncle Wesley Stevens came out hear or not." So the pieces are falling into place. I'm connecting the dots in the genealogy splatter-picture!

After almost two years alone, and much lamenting in his journal, Wesley Stevens was joyous to learn of his wife, Mary's, arrival in Sacramento (probably with a child) on Dec 2, 1853 he wrote in his journal "they arrived in Sacramento City." Wesley then left his place at Cache Creek, Yolo County, Calif., and set up housekeeping in a rented home in Sacramento at 8th and O Streets. The entries stop until his terrible entry: "My companion died Feb 28th ult (1857) happy in God. Am alone with my two children and a lonely time it is to." So Mary Pember Stevens had died. Who are the children? One is named Carrie Stevens, born in California, but the older child, probably born in Wisconsin or New York, is only surmised to be named George Stevens.

Confirming the journal entry, I found at google books, in the Portrait and Biographical Album of Rock County, Wisconsin, ACME Publishing Co. Chicago, 1889 that Mary's brother, Reuben T. Pember was an "ex-sheriff of Rock County, and a leading farmer residing on section 28, Johnstown Township, ... born on the 15th day of August, 1826. " His younger sister, Mary "who wedded Wesley Stevens, a merchant of Marysville, Cal., died in that city in 1858, leaving two children."

In a public auction notice I found at http://www.genealogybank.com/ Wesley and Mary Stevens took out a mortgage on land in Chautauqua Co on Oct 31st, 1851. Evidently this was to finance his sailing trip to San Francisco starting Feb 1, 1852. But just before Mary's death in California, their 21 acres of land and house in NY, goes to public auction for default of over $800. I know from Wesley's journal that he is often without money and food before Mary arrives in California. The journal doesn't give much more information on the last years in California. If their land "back home" was at public auction, I doubt if the picture was too rosy in California.

I am trying to learn more about Marysville, Calif. from 1854 to about 1864. I found a 1864-1865 tax record on Ancestry.com that indicates he had lived near Marysville: Annual: U.S. IRS Tax Assessment Lists, 1862-1918: "Stevens, Wesley -- Location: State Range --Occ: Ret Dealer [I think retail dealer] - No. in abstract: 234 - Tax Total: $10.00." I think the "State Range" is near Marysville; other locations on the same page are located near Marysville, including Long Bar, and Oregon C---.

In a letter I have in my possession from another Akin relation, Rhoda Akin Davis of Bloomfield, PA, she wrote to her brother Marshall Akins 30 Jun 1864: " Uncle Wesley Stephens and wife just went from here he is married again. I like his wife very much."
So Wesley Stevens left California, by 1864 and has remarried to Suzanna Skidmore and settled just south of Chautauqua Co., NY in Corry, Erie Co., Pennsylvania. There in the 1870 US Census Wesley is listed as a grocer with his new wife, Susy, and one child, Fanny. However by 1880 his wife and three young children (ages 12, 8, and 3 yr) all born in Pennsylvania, are now living near the Akin family in Goodhue Co., Minnesota and yet Wesley is living with his widowed sister, Caroline Steward, and California-born daughter, Carrie Stevens. By 1900 Wesley is living alone in Pennsylvania. What happened to his 2nd marriage? Did they try homesteading in Minnesota and then Wesley had to leave his wife Suzanna and three children there and return to his sister and oldest daughter back East? More needs to be figured out. But the family of Phineas Stevens III is slowly getting sorted out. :-)

Let's Visit Ormand...or is it too late?

2011-06-25T04:50:00.001-10:00

Donna and Cousin Joyce Movius

While visiting my 95 year old cousin, Joyce (Stucky) Movius this week, she wanted to drive over from her Lake Elsinore home to call on her Eskew cousin, Ormand a few miles away in Minifee. He was living with his brother, Billy, or so we thought. This is an example of not checking in with your relatives who live nearby. Joyce began writing the directions to their house down for me and I thought to ask her to call ahead. When the number was answered by a woman of great suspicion, “It's the right number, but you have your wires crossed.” I went directly to the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) ( http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ )to investigate - after all Ormand would be 97. Sure enough, unfortunately, I found both Ormand and his brother had died within three months of each other this year (2011). But it was noted that Ormand had moved to Prescott, AZ a couple years ago, so we wouldn't have been able to visit him nearby, anyway. Joyce wondered if his daughter might live in Prescott and that's why Ormand was there? Joyce had known that his daughter had accompanied him to Louisiana a couple years ago, Ormand driving all the way. Yes, driving across the country at age 95!

How to find out more information on the daughter? It just didn't feel right, not to have been in touch better. I began to go through the sources that Thomas McEntee discussed at the Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree “They're Alive – Searching for Living People” . At http://news.google.com/archivesearch I only found an old newspaper clipping from a Redlands High School reunion; but from a regular http://www.google.com/ search I found,, in Prescott's Daily Courier news, a year-old engagement notice noting that the groom's great-grandfather was Ormand., and Ormand's daughter's name. At http://www.zabasearch.com/ I found that same first name and birthdate as found in http://www.whitepages.com/ in Prescott. ... So there was a new surname for the daughter, but also a phone number listed on white pages,

With characteristic great courage, I gave the phone to Joyce, and she made the “cold call.” What a pleasant surprise for us all when Joyce connected with Ormand's daughter. She said she didn't know much about his mother Gertie Akin's, side of the family, and was really interested in knowing more. Joyce was so pleased when they discussed the used basket bassinet that she had given Ormand for the birth of his children, and in turn, Ormand's daughter had used the same bassinet for her children, decorated in different colors for each birth. She was pleased to know the origins of that bassinet, once used with Joyce's family, now a family heirloom. Although Ormand's 75 year old daughter doesn't have a computer, I'll be able to send her some family history through the mail. ...A sad situation of learning of the passing of two cousins, made a bit easier by finding and talking to the next generation.

National Archives of the Pacific, Riverside County near Perris, California

2011-06-23T04:50:00.001-10:00

During my Southern California "roots quest trip" I visited the National Archives branch near Perris California. Kerry Bartels, who spoke at the Jamboree in Burbank was, indeed, at the Archives ready to greet all visitors. I went there to see what they had to offer, and do a little more poking around in the American war records. I visited there twice, once on the way to Palm Desert from La Mirada, a few days ago, then again when I had stopped at Lake Elsinore for a few days. The Archives is 15 miles from where I'm staying at my cousin Joyce Movius' place. She is an "Akins Cousin" and a bright 95 years old.

National Archives Center -Perris, Riverside County, California

The Archives moved a couple years ago from Laguna Niguel, California, to a large, new building off the Cajacol Parkway, outside of Perris. At the end of a cul-de-sac you drive to a locked gate, then you have to press a button to talk to the staff. Just say you're going to do family history and they lift the gate and you can park right by the front door. There were only a couple people there each time I visited, and no problem getting a nice flat screen / computer to work at. The printer was in the same room.

Although this Archives has original records relating to the area, such as California Indian records and Pacific Immigration, I was interested in the Revolutionary War records. They have the same microfilm, evidently, that Washington DC has for that, plus the free access to those records on Ancestry.com and Footnote.com. Plus you can print any of the images of these records for free. Since I have an Ancestry.com subscription, I decided to look up my six Revolutionary war veterans on http://www.footnote.com/ . I wasn't disappointed!

For each veteran, I searched three databases: the Revolutionary Pension Records, the Muster Rolls, and the Service Records. I found hefty pension applications for two of my "guys" - Daniel Squier of CT and Amasa Grout of NH. And I found various muster rolls, and/or pay records, for all of them.. The other veterans were Moses Comstock Eells of CT; Elisha Cheney of Newton MA; and Benjamin Eddy of the 5th MA Regiment. I didn't find anything on Ebenezer Blanding of the MA Militia, but I didn't have long to search. They close at 4:30 pm and I used every minute of the few hours I was there.

Muster Roll of Capt Phineas Stearns Company in the Detacment Commanded by Maj. Procter
This shows Elisha Cheney on the right column (top) as a Drummer .
He was from Newton MA, and in later life lived in Royalston, MA

The few hours I carved into my "visit of relatives" time frame to get to the Archives were very rewarding!

Norwalk Calif - site of many Los Angeles Records

2011-06-18T04:55:00.000-10:00

June 14 - I drove out to La Mirada after my time researching in downtown Los Angeles, Darlene Campbell my SCGS roommate at the Marriott, put me up at her place, and I went to "P
olly's" for a delicious dinner, with rhubarb pie!

Thursday June 15 - I continued my genealogical research trip in Norwalk, Calif. where L.A. County maintains it's records and archives for births, marriages, deaths and real property. I had been there a week ago for a day, ordering about 9 records, now came back for more searching of other marriages I'd forgotten about. I found great-aunt Fern's marriage to Flagstaff rancher, Carl Ferrell.in 1927. She had married Carl six months after her husband, Lee Ferrell, Carl's brother, died of a mastoid infection. Lee had worked for the Sheriff's department in Calixico and also had a transport kind of business. He hauled planks out in the desert by Yuma in the early days to make a roadway for vehicles across the sands in and out of Yuma... called "the old plank road." A long time ago, my mother showed me some of the discarded old planks along the modern highway out in the desert.

Then I went upstairs to room 2207 to look at microfilm for property records since 1958 in L.A. County. I found both my parents and grandfather's record noting the sale of their houses/property in 1974. It was easy to search, although because the public takes and puts back the microfilm it was not exactly in order... of course I stood there feeling the need to alphabetize the shelves of microfilms! But I only tidied up the films for four years.

For property records before 1958 you have to go back down to the basement lower level Room L001. I gave the guy a list and he pulled books or microfilms for those dates. After finding everything I could for my Blanding family, I gave the long list of Book and Page numbers to the clerk. He asked me what I was looking for.. I should have said ANYTHING about them and their property, but I mentioned deeds, and property description, etc. He said since only one item on the list had "deed" by it, I wouldn't be interested in any of the records they had in Norwalk, and I should go back to the downtown records office at 222 N. Hill St. I protested since it was already noon, and said I wanted to see the films for the records on my list. He reluctantly got them for me. But it's a lesson to just say I wanted them. As it turned out they were Indenture Deeds, Grant Deeds, and some other types of records, but I did want them all, to help me understand where each relative was in time. There will be further records at the land/maps and tax assessor's departments, downtown .... but that is for another day, or another trip!

I was very happy with the records I found, I paid for them back up in Rm 2207. The cost is $5 for the first page and $3 for each additional page of a single record. I'd asked to just copy one page, if the last page only had a line or two. But no, you have to buy the complete document, not just one page. The bill was $93 for 23 pages.

An interesting event took place in Rm 2207, that nice big place with all the microfilms, readers and computers... a woman, evidently mentally unbalanced... began yelling and complaining about not finding what she wanted. She seemed like a homeless person. She had been helped, but sat at the microfilm reader very angry. Security came, and she yelled about showing an ID. After she quieted down, I heard her say that she was going to shoot and kill every one of them, and that she had guns on her and she was going to kill everyone. Yikes! So security came back and escorted her out. Who says the microfilm room is boring?

After the day Darlene and I ate Mexican dinner at a little cafe and I spent some time showing off my new flip-pal scanner that I'd purchased at the Burbank SCGS Jamboree. It seemed to do a fine job of scanning some of my new documents, but I haven't downloaded them and stitched them together yet. Should be fine.

Thanks to Darlene for putting me up for two nights and the nice company. From Norwalk, my next mission will be in Riverside County, Calif.

Hall of Records - again

2011-06-14T20:40:00.000-10:00

Not having finished searching for old family divorce and probate records at the Los Angeles County Hall of Records, I had to head back to the Civic Center, downtown. This time it was old hat, although I narrowly avoided four cars stopped at the end of the on-ramp onto I-5 (no it wasn't at the red light - it was a fender bender I think). I parked at the $18/day lot and walked a bit further, but no problem. Included is what I wrote while waiting at the Microfilm Library in the basement today:

Why didn’t I remember my iPod??? I could have been listening to Genealogy Podcasts or Blog Talk Radio. But I forgot. At least I remembered my checkbook… I’m sitting in the hallway outside Room 111 the Microfilm Office in the basement of the Los Angeles County Hall of Records. It’s been two hours since I signed in… a continuation of yesterday when I waited three hours, got to the microfilm machine, copied one divorce case (Bagley), then they closed. So the four other divorces are to copy on the microfilm machine today. At great risk of not being present when my number was called, I took an hour and a half and went down the escalator to the Archives and looked through the old books for one more divorce (Ferrell) and three Probates. (Blanding, Pearce, Hook). These books give the dates and case file numbers. The file numbers are the important thing for the microfilm library… just the numbers -with prefix..

So after munching on a “power bar” left behind at the Jamboree, by my kind roommate, Darlene Campbell, I survived the morning-long wait. One can quickly see that the L.A. County microfilm office needs more staff and microfilm readers, and more space too. They are hard workers in this office, whereas the chit-chatting workers downstairs have plenty of time to talk about food and their lack of sleep. Today in the Archives they figured it was easier to just bring and pile up the books I would be asking for, rather than get them one at a time. For two of the probate cases I was seeking, I was given microfische to peruse. It took me awhile to figure out the plan on the microfisch reader, especially when the map guide on the machine was turned around in the opposite direction. For the two early probates to search I was sent to the Probate side of the Archives and a girl gave me two re-conditioned Probate books that were in good shape- one from 1924 (Pearce) and one from 1947 (Blanding).. (The old divorce books were huge and coming apart at the peg-style binding.) "

I eventually got onto a microfisch reader/copier and frantically copied two divorces -then my 30 minutes was up, but I'd pulled another number when I went down to the Archives, so she called my number in a few minutes. Luckily the Monday madness of people only lasted till about noon today. So I was allowed to happily (and feeling the neck pain) copy the rest of the divorces and the three Probates I'd found. At 4 pm I went back down the the Archives to pay the cashier - I wrote a check for 50cents a page - total was $121. Am I crazy? Maybe so. Now I'll have to scan the pages (242) and get rid of the paper copies. I haven't even read them yet.

From there I had a half hour so walked to the City Hall (walked all around it just to find the public entrance) where there was a airport-style security x-ray search (also happens at the court houses). I wanted to ask the City Hall people if they had a business license from my great-grandparents when they arrived in L.A. from Minnesota (via Georgia and Florida) about 1905. They built a big boarding house at E. 21st St between Alameda and Long Beach Blvd. The Tax and License people said they only had records from 1980s and sent me to the L.A. County Treasurer & Tax Collector (Business License) at 225 N. Hill St. But then they gave me a paper to go back to City Hall Tax Registration and Permit Office, 200 N. Main. I protested that they were the ones who sent me to them. They only keep records for 5 years, so I was sent to the "Unsecurities Office" or something like that, and then they sent me to the Business and Real Estate office. With one skinny minute before closing time at 5pm, I was told I should have come earlier (no kidding), and she gave me the phone number of the "Business Office" information clerk. She said that it would take special search to find that old of a record for a business license... 1905, and she would have to get the real estate people to try and find an assessment number. They would have come over to her office and talk about it. Sigh... I think I'll just go find the land  deeds in the Vital Records Hall in Norwalk.
     I bought an egg sandwich for the first meal of the day and sat outside of the building wolfing it down. Then on a whim, I drove over the freeway and drove around Olvera Street.... old Mexico. I remember visiting there several times growing up. Then I kept droving down Alameda to 21st street to see again the place that used to be where "Hotel Fern" was located. My mother's family boarding house. Now its covered with a warehouse and Prudential Lighting.    It was a nice drive, really. The streets in LA downtown are actually not too bad. With the cars mostly on the many nearby freeways, the city streets are not hard to navigate. I passed "Angeles Flight" a little tram way that goes up Bunker Hill between 3rd & 4th Streets. Someday I'll ride on that short rail again.
   I put my GPS directly aimed at the Southern California Genealogical Society Library. There was plenty of traffic, but got to the Library in Burbank at 7pm an it was open until 9pm so I got some quality time searching Rock County, Wisconsin. I found the marriage of Wesley Stevens, son of Phineas Stevens II,  to Mary Pember - they were both "from" Johnstown township. I thought they'd married back in Harmony, Chautauqua Co., NY where they were from. Heide, the president of the SCGS, was there and we had a nice chat about the Jamboree.
     With much accomplished today, I felt I'd made progress in getting the low-down on my family in L.A. The last time I was in City Hall was 1967 when I went there to get my marriage license. I have to give L.A. kudos for their bus and metro system... they seem very popular, the buses too.
        I'm leaving Burbank tomorrow, and will make my way to Norwalk again. Maybe I can drop by the SCGS in the morning.. they open at 10am.   That genealogy bug has bit me, with an added boost at the Jumboree.

Searching Records in Downtown Los Angeles

2011-06-13T19:42:00.003-10:00

The fabulous Jamboree of the Southern California Genealogical Society in Burbank, Calif. is over. I had a wonderful time attending lectures, looking at the exhibits, attending the day-long Family History Writers' Workshop, eating delicious food, and best of all -- meeting fellow Geneabloggers in person. They have speedily and beautifully written about the Jamboree, and I can only sigh, wishing I was so organized and disciplined as to write so soon and in such detail about the amazing past days.
Sooo.... I'll try to write more about the Jamboree later... Now, before I forget, I want to write about what happened today. I checked out of the Marriott Burbank and checked into the less costly Ramada Burbank. With much trepidation, I tried to plan my route to downtown L.A. - only about 12 miles away - but dreading the freeways and traffic of the Civic Center. Despite having a GPS, I sought out the nearest AAA office and used the GPS to drive there. After nearly an hour there pouring over maps and getting advice, I got into the car and disregarded everything but the GPS. I cannot look at maps or routes while driving the freeways. The GPS proved so wise and easily whisked me past Warner Bros. Studios, NBC, ABC, Disney Studios, Yahoo, Technicolor, and Griffith Park getting to I-5. Then it was past Dodger Stadium and into Chinatown on Hill St. I'd done alot of searching to find where the old divorce records are kept In about 20 minutes I was at Hill & Temple where the records were supposed to be - at the Los Angeles County Hall of Records (222 N. Hill St). There was a nearby and easily accessible Public Parking, so I parked and was dumbstruck when the price was $25 for the day. Then I wandered around trying to actually find the building. The "N" in 222 N. Hill St is the key, it means North so don't walk South!
Divorce record books are kept in the basement, along with Probates and Civil cases.

       There are boxes and more boxes lining the paint-peeling hallways, stuffed full of records. Thoughts of flooding and fires gave me the chills. Finally I got to the right counter and the clerk started pulling those BIG old record books - one at a time. I was looking at books from 1914 to 1930 . Then, for some reason, he got tired of doing that kind of "business" and ignored me completely. Luckily they have no feelings of needing to put the old books away, and after being ignored, I searched the books on the table from other earlier patrons, and discovered three more divorces of my grandparents! Yes, my mother 's parents each married four times. I also found my great-aunts' divorces - they married three times each.
    Next, I had to go up one basement level to Room 111 - the Microfilm Library. After waiting 2 1/2 hours, my number was called and the lady said I should have placed an X in the "machine" column because they will only copy up to two cases, and I'd have to  find and copy the microfilm images myself. She said it would have been alot faster! If only I'd known!! I can do my own microfilm copying - I know how!!   Some had been waiting four hours for a copy of one case.   I had only enough time until their 4:30 pm closing to copy the pages of the divorce of the Bagleys in 1938. My grandmother divorced for abandonment, desertion and non-support. No wonder no one ever talked about him. It costs 50 cents a page for non-certified documents. I copied 17 pages, and had to pay them exact change because they'd closed. Normally, one returns to the Archives Room (212) and can pay by check at the cashier, then return upstairs to pick up the copies. Quite a burdensome route for the physically disabled. I saw one man punch the walls and swear because he didn't have the cash and had to return tomorrow.    I'll have to return to the Hall of Records tomorrow to make more copies.  You only gets 30 minutes at the microfilm reader/copier, then you have to go back at the end of the line to wait. There are six machines.
   It only took 30 minutes to return to Burbank on I-5 from the Civic Center. The GPS did an amazing job, and I'm still amazed I survived the day. I hope to leave early enough from the Hall of Records tomorrow to have time to visit the SCGS Library in Burbank... they're open until 9 pm on Tuesdays, and I want to have plenty of time to look at their terrific research room.

SCGS Burbank Jamboree - Here I come!

2011-06-07T10:37:00.002-10:00

This post is for the technology challenged - no, you're not alone!!!

Time is getting close for the Southern California Genealogical Society’s Jamboree in Burbank, California. I’ll be heading that way soon and spend some time doing genealogical research in Los Angeles and visiting relatives in Southern California.

In the meantime, I’ve been undergoing some technological challenges just getting prepared for the trip. First I had to pull out my automobile GPS from it’s hiding place in the house, so I could take it in my rental car from LAX to find my way around Southern California. I hadn’t used it in over a year, so I had to figure out how to turn it on. I don’t have a AC adapter for it so I had to plug it into the cigarette lighter to charge, finally I got the idea that it had a battery inside, so I could charge it up in the car and bring it back into the house to enter the addresses of the places I’d be traveling to in California! Oh yeah, now I remember. That was pretty easy. But I need to pack the GPS, the cable, and the attacher-thing that sticks onto the windshield.

Then there was my cell phone, not a smart phone, just a regular cell phone. No big challenges there, but must remember the charging cable.

My Acer Netbook (purchased Nov 2008) will get it’s first researching trip baptism. It’s a little laptop computer without the CD/DVD drive. I’d taken it to Lanai Island last year and used a Verizon Broadband prepaid “aircard” which worked well. So I called Verizon to double check just how to do that and how to get the credit to connect to the internet. The answer: telephone Verizon wireless and pay for a month’s 5 GB usage (expires in 30 days) for $50 – or something like that - with a credit card... OK!

Not wanting to run out of batter power at the Conference, I ordered an additional battery for the Netbook (6 cell) for about $40 Friday before Memorial Day. I added the 2 day service so it would be sure to get here before I left for the Conference June 7th. By chance, on May 31st, I looked at my g-mail account (which I don’t usually look at or use) and there was a note from the battery company (“Go-go-Power”) saying that UPS or FedEx or whoever, didn’t have a 2 day shipment to Hawaii, so they refunded $12.50 and sent it USPS. I was got nervous that since it was saying it hadn’t shipped yet, it wouldn’t get to Hawaii before June 6th. That day, at my mailbox…. There was the battery!!!! Good work USPS!!!

Then, since I wanted to do some Geocaching with my grandson in Arizona, I had to pack my Geocaching Garmin GPS. Hadn’t used it in 6 months, but just threw in some newly checked or recharged batteries for it. Also hunted down the USB cord that connects it to the computer…of course.

I needed to pack my fancy “pedometer” for my week at Canyon Ranch for doing all my workouts and exercises and hikes. I threw in the instruction booklet, as I’ve never figured out how to use it!

Must take my buddy, my iPod!!!! Can’t be without it to hear all the genealogy podcasts (The Genealogy Guys, Genealogy Gems, Family Tree Magazine, and especially the new BlogTalkRadio shows of Thomas MacEntee) .. So I got my adapter plug, and after downloading the latest shows, added the iPod cable to the ziplock that goes in my Carry-on. In fact ALL my electronics and chargers go in my Carry-On.

Of course I might want to do family interviews, so I threw in my sweet little microphone (Belkin Tune Talk iPod Recorder) that goes on the end of my iPod. Also I have a one-battery iPod speaker that also can fit onto the iPod. So cute!!

Did I mention that on May 31st, Oceanic Times Warner Cable Company called asking me to bring in my old cable modem to my computer, and get a brand new, faster, better modem. I said “no, it will be too complicated.” She said, “Oh no, it’s like plugging in a lamp.” -- famous last words. So I made the exchange and found I couldn’t attach my PC computer to the one USB port (as I'd done) and still connect my Netbook to the one Ethernet Port - because they hadn’t give me the disc to download the USB port driver… “too complicated”… they said I should get a Router, then I could have wireless if I wanted, in addition to the cable. That sounded good (no extra service charge for "wireless"), so I went to Costco and bought their Router (the top of the line $119 new router by Cisco)….they only had the one model. Then I found out my Netbook could not connect to the cable or the wireless. I spent 90 minutes on the phone to “Sarah” at Costco’s Concierge Service to try to figure it out. Unfortunately she didn’t have a router at her home, or even internet, but she used the “trouble shooting manuel”. Well that didn’t work, but she tried. So my two IT savey neighbors came over, and after TWO days of work they got the Netbook to work with the cable (needed “automatic” checked for the IP address) and found out that the Netbook had a WEP encryption and the router was on the much more complex WPA2 encryption system… so it will never work, unless I downgrade the router to WEP, then that isn’t so good for the PC security… So I left it alone and am happy to just use cable on my Netbook with the Ethernet cable, and my PC can also use Ethernet cable because there are four Ethernet ports on the router. Does that make sense??

Not wanting to feel unchallenged, I went to the Navy Exchange and, after looking at cheaper modems and wringing my hands, I bought—of course—a new Sony DSC H70 Cybershot Camera. Oh the joy of figuring out a new camera. But I did need it, my old one doesn’t have a 10x optical zoom, or Panorama option (very cool). So I have to pack that battery charger, cable, extra battery, extra memory.

I don’t know, did I forget anything?? I’ll see when I get to Burbank. The last thing I added to my checked bag was my Hula Skirt…. We’ll have fun at the ice cream social for Geneabloggers at the Marriott on Friday night at the Jamboree. I’m ready for some fun!!!

Panama and Cartegena, Colombia

2011-05-24T13:23:00.001-10:00

Genealogy, blogs and webinars had to wait for yet another period of traveling. This time on a wonderful tour with Overseas Adventure Travel for a trip I planned a year ago. I've always wanted to go through the Panama Canal so this was it. A three week trip which took 24 in our group, on a small catamaran, through the locks with an overnight anchored in Gatun Lake in the middle of the Canal. I planned the trip so it would be at the end of the dry season and start of the rainy season so the price would be lowered, but still there would be a chance of no rain. And it paid off... we had no rain except a couple hours while swimming in a beautiful hotel pool at the Gamboa rainforest of Panama, and a few minutes in Cartegena. Anyway the weather was great. Just before I left Hawaii I finished reading "Path Between The Seas" by David McCullough on the history building of the canal, and I was glad I did.
To begin our tour, twelve of us (on a "pre-trip") flew from Panama City to Bocas del Toro for a few days on the beautiful Caribbean side at unspoiled white sand beaches and lots of snorkeling, kayaking, boating, beaching, eating and a horse ride to the beach. My favorite snorkeling spot, surprisingly, was around the mangrove roots - I saw something called "sea pearls" amongst the coral. Then we visited Panama City to see the Old Town ruins, the Colonial Town, and the modern city. I was especially interested in seeing the old sites of the Canal Zone and the U.S. Military installations. In 1989 I had orders to report to Gorgas Army Hospital for a few months, but the US invaded to oust Noriega and (luckily) my orders were cancelled. I vowed to get to Panama some day, and I finally made it!

The trip continued west (it seemed like north) on the Pacific side to Coronado beach, stopping on our way to visit the San Carlos elementary school and take some school supplies to the kids and watch their Panamanian dances. In groups of four or five we had lunch at the homes of the children. The Pacific side was not as gorgeous as the Caribbean, but we traveled inland to the volcanic region and to look at endangered frogs and other creatures of the forest. Back to Panama City and had a great view of the canal at Miraflores Locks. Then on to the fabled rainforests of Panama to stay at the gorgeous Gamboa Resort where we took an aerial tram ride above the tree tops, seeing some of the forest creatures. One day we visited the Embera Indian village and enjoyed a meal there and danced with them.

The big Royal wedding of William and Kate came on at 4 am Panama time, I was able to watch Kate walk up the church aisle and stand with William before Lucille and I had to leave the room to catch our bus to the train. We took the historic Panama Canal Railway north across the Isthmus to Colon then bussed up to Portobello to board our "Discovery" catamaran for the ride through the Panama Canal. We were four nights on this beautiful boat, and we enjoyed every minute of it. Going through the two sets of locks was a wonderful and educational experience. I spent a lot of time on the bridge with the Captain and the Canal Pilot asking questions and watching how the controller worked with the pilots to arrange the ships and boats to traverse the locks so they could get as many of them through the locks as possible. The locks run 24 hours a day.

After the Panama Canal we stayed a night off the little island in the Pacific called Toboga. The next day I saw a newspaper headline that Osama bin Laden had been killed. So we were glued to the television when possible. Just before our departure for Colombia, our guide, Deibys, took me to see where Gorgas Army Hospital had been, and I was happy to see the place that I had imagined for many years.

Five days in Cartegena, Colombia finished off our tour. Just ten of us continued on this "post-trip" and it was wonderful. Cartegena is a little gem - actually it is the center of sales of the Colombian emerald, so I had to purchase a small sample. There is a lot of history from the days of the Spanish hauling out the Inca gold, both in Panama and Cartegena. Also lots of pirate stories. The walled fortress city is a haven of wonderful restaurants and beautiful colonial architecture. The horse carriage ride was a highlight in seeing the city from a different perspective. One favorite place was where they had amazing ice cream desserts, called "Crepes & Waffles" restaurant.

We saw fishing villages, had dinner on the beach after a swim, poled through a mangrove swamp in dugout canoes and many other experiences, but the most unique and fun was the time we spent in the volcanic mud at Totumo.

What an unexpected treat for the six of us who braved the long, high stairs to the top of a huge "ant hill" looking mountain to lower ourselves in a bottomless pool of grey volcanic mud. It was like floating in a deep pool of chocolate pudding. There were "massagers" in the pool who gave us actual massages in that mud -- from head to toe. What an incredible experience we had there. Then we walked to the lagoon to be washed off and clothes washed out by the "washer women". The whole thing was a once in a lifetime amazing experience. The final day was spent on the tiny private island called "Pirate Island" a part of the cluster called Rosario Islands. Besides the great snorkeling and beach life, it was great fun going back to Cartegena on a very, very fast speedboat. About an hour's ride, but when we criss-crossed with another speedboat the ride through the wakes was like being in a washing machine! I was at the front of the boat with four Spainards, and we were laughing the whole way.

So that is all about my three week trip. Lucille and I flew back to Miami then on to Los Angeles. Lucille's daughter and niece, quite unexpectedly took us to dinner at C & O Italian Restaurant in Marina del Rey as it was Mother's Day. The restaurant was lots of fun, with everyone coerced into singing "When the Moon Hits Your Eye Like A Big Pizza Pie, That's Amore" -- a real Mother's Day experience! I stayed overnight in Los Angeles, then flew on home to Hawaii. I'll be returning to Los Angeles in June for the Southern California Genealogical Conference in Burbank combined with a couple weeks doing genealogical research, especially to get vital records, in Los Angeles.

Blog Talk Radio - Geneabloggers

2011-04-15T18:08:00.004-10:00

Blog Talk Radio is a new online radio show that began when Thomas MacEntee decided to cover the TV show “Who Do You Think You Are” live, when it started two months ago. It just finished it’s six episodes. So actually I guess it’s not that new, but I missed getting on the band wagon to listen to it earlier because of my travels to India, etc. Now I’m leaving for Panama on a regular tour, but have managed to listen to all his 2 hour shows which have been archived and are downloadable to my iPod at iTunes.com. I love listening to Thomas and his interaction with guest callers. The show lasts two hours, but the time flies by, especially when I’m on my fitness walk, or driving.

I have to make a new posting to my blog, as I haven’t gotten to it for awhile, you see it has now been mentioned on the internet radio!! I finally got to listen to the LIVE radio show at www.blogtalkradio.com/geneabloggers/ today (Friday April 15th) (which airs at 4 pm Hawaii Time, or 9 pm his Chicago time) – and I decided to call in and mention my great-grandfather, William Dowell Wallace. The reason being that the radio show is about the Civil War and Family History …. Thomas has a theme for each show, now that the WDYTYA series is over….. anyway he had some excellent guests tonight, but still solicits telephone calls from listeners or those lurking in the radio show “Chat Room.” So I actually telephoned in to Thomas and got on the air to mention that my great-grandfather enlisted from Madison Co., Iowa and that he got sick in early 1862. He was hospitalized in Corinth, Mississippi and remained to become a “nurse” in that hospital and in other places his company traveled. I told Thomas that in the two years I had traveled around the USA, I tried to visit as many Civil War sites as possible, and one of the most interesting and chilling times was to stand at the site of the Corinth, Mississippi hospital where my Civil War ancestor had been. He said he hoped that I took lots of photos. So then I had to mention my other blog at http://www.ancestortrackingdreamroadtrip.blogspot.com/ in which I am putting my two year travel journal onto the blog, slowly, one day at a time. It’s from 2001 and 2002. I’ve yet to blog about an actual ancestral site, but I will get there eventually. I have made posts about visiting Antietam and passed by one near Staunton, VA in the Shenandoah Valley.

In the past two weeks, I’ve been crazily busy doing online research about my Phineas Stevens ancestral line. I have three Phineas Stevens in a row: Capt Phineas Stevens in the French and Indian wars; his son Dr. Phineas Stevens – a Loyalist in the Revolution, and the grandson Phineas Stevens (III) a tanner in Jamestown, NY. Phineas III, had a daughter (my direct ancestor, Lucinda Stevens) and a son he named Phineas. So it was this Phineas IV who DID enlist in the Civil War and I’ve been tracking down his life. Phineas Stevens (IV) started out as a Lt from Westfield, NY and ended as a Capt after he moved to Fredonia, NY. I’d like to write more about this Civil War g-g-grand-uncle in another blog.

Thanks, Thomas MacEntee, for all the work you put into your free Webinars (see listings at http://www.geneawebinars.com/) and the free BlogTalkRadio, in addition to your devotion to the geneablogging community. Congratulations for getting the position as speaker on the upcoming Legacy Cruise off of New England this coming September. See http://www.geneabloggers.com/ for a glimpse into the world of genealogy blogging.

Dr. Phineas Stevens Research by google and e-mail

2011-03-30T15:19:00.002-10:00

I can't help myself! I've managed to squeeze in some family history research between these events this month: the tsunami, the baby shower I gave for my neighbor, my presentation of my trip to Haiti after the earthquake at the Adventurers' Club, feeding the feral cat while another neighbor is gone, undergoing nuclear medicine thyroid scans to check on my thyroid gland, showing another neighbor's visitor around Manoa Valley, dining with Canadian friends on the Marina, attending our Honolulu Co. Genealogy Society, keeping up with my 24 hr fitness class, walking 3.8 miles a day, volunteering at the Army Hospital, and MOST IMPORTANTLY - watching every Genealogy Webinar I can sign up for on my computer!
   So, the research I got carried away with first was for the family of Capt Phineas Stevens. I usually start my immersion research by clicking on a link on some new database that popped up in a blog or email, that I can't resist trying out. This time I was busy with the familiar http://www.books.google.com/ a search tactic I often use, but this time I was trying to sort out my Phineas Stevens family of MA, VT, NH, NY and finally WI from other Phineas Stevens families. Some of Capt Phineas Stevens sons became Revolutionary War Loyalists so they lived in Digby, Nova Scotia for awhile.
       Anyway, since I have three direct ancestors in a row named Phineas Stevens, I often try a search of that name.  Capt Phineas Stevens (1707-1756) had a son who was a medical doctor (Dr. Phineas Stevens 1744-1799).    In http://www.books.google/ I read in the History of  Barnet, Vermont by F.P. Wells, a chapter "The Journal of Samuel Stevens," (a son of Capt Phineas Stevens) which noted: "June 2, 1775 - Solomon Stevens went to Cambridge to College."   Now I am thinking that if one son of Capt Phineas Stevens (Solomon) went to Cambridge --meaning present Harvard at Cambridge, MA, I believe-- that probably the other sons did too. Maybe there would be some alumni list at Harvard Medical School showing "Phineas Stevens, MD."
        So a tactic I tried, which I am usually reluctant to do - was to send a personal e-mail to some one or some place to ask a question. I don't know why I don't do it more often, shy I guess.   I googled Harvard and found out that the medical school wasn't begun until 1782. But I sent an e-mail to the alumni association anyway for information about who I should ask regarding a pre-revolutinary war student or alumni lists. So the Office of Alumni Relations sent me an e-mail suggesting I contact the Countway Library of Medicine in Boston. I did, and Jack Eckert, a Librarian there, did some research and came up with a Phineas Stevens (1716-1755) who was a minister at Boscawen, with a son named Phineas (not my line), and a Samuel Stevens who apparently died in 1809 the same year he graduated (not sure who he is).  He also found a Phineas Stevens of Barnet, Vermont b. abt 1803 who attended DARTMOUTH MEDICAL SCHOOL in 1824, but did not graduate. Well, too late for MY Dr. Phineas Stevens but since my line founded and lived in Barnet, VT, they are most likely related. Although I haven't yet found the information I'm seeking, I was thrilled that the kind Librarian took the time to look after my question and send me an answer. Thank you to all the kind librarians out there.
    It was a bit of adventure for me to send off an e-mail request. Of course I know many who do it all the time with great results, so I pledge I will try to do it more often. With my many activities (see above) I tend to forget what I do from one day to the next... I find it hard to keep track of who I connect with on http://www.ancestry.com/ family trees. But I must keep organized so I keep track of my correspondence and reach out to others who may be willing to help me.    Such an important path of research should not be avoided!

1788 Signature of Phineas Stevens (a Loyalist doctor) on a Canada land document after he fled the United States and settled near Digby, Nova Scotia with his brothers Enos, and Simon Stevens. Photo taken when I took the ViaRail train from Edmonton to Halifax, Nova Scotia, then drove down to Digby to do research there.

All the brothers returned to Vermont and New Hampshire eventually. Dr. Phineas Stevens was the first doctor in Barnet, VT, and died there in 1799. His son, Phineas Stevens III, was born in Digby in 1785, married Fanny Grout (m. 1808 Barnet, VT) and settled near Jamestown, Chautauqua Co, NY by about 1815. After Fanny died in 1832 he remarried to Sarah Knight and I think they ended up in Wisconsin. I'd like to verify that it was this (my) Phineas Stevens, or not, who had been in the War of 1812 from VT or NY, and who died 27 Jul 1846 in Rock Co., WI.

Tsunami - Hawaii

2011-03-12T08:16:00.002-10:00

I took the Japanese Earthquake generated tsunami threat seriously at home in Oahu, Hawaii Friday, March 11th in the early morning. When I saw the TV warnings the night of March 10th I started think and moving things around at my house - we had five hours to prepare - and after watching the video of the tsunami in Japan, which were beyond horrible, I felt I had to take it seriously. Even a few inches of water could ruin so many of my photo albums, etc.

The warning sirens went off every hour starting about 9:30 pm or so. I was relieved to think that my computer files, including my genealogy in my computer was safe, as I have everything backed up on Mozy.com in the "cloud". However one look at my computer area will show that my bookcases with photo albums on the lowest shelf would surely be ruined with just 6 inches of water in the house - well at least I put up my computer onto the chair!! Chaos!

The car packed for sleeping

I relocated many of my "treasures" from the ground floor to the 2nd floor of my condo, then just before the tsunami was to hit I left with neighbors, in our cars, to a school about a mile up the road, to listen to the radio and wait it out.. ready to sleep in the car. It only took an hour or so to realize the surge was only one to three feet on Oahu, so we went back home and I slept till noon! So I didn't see any of the news about any damage to Hawaii or California. In fact I had to view at the news program that I taped while I was gone from 3 am to 4 am. Just this morning I've been reading the news of Hawaii as the events become known. Hundreds of boats were damaged or sunk and many piers/wharfs gone or damaged. One home floated away and a hotel I've stayed in had a foot of water in Kona on the Big Island (King Kamehameha Hotel)... Places on the Big Island got most the surge - some up to 9 feet I heard. So we dodged the bullet again in Hawaii, but unfortunately the Japanese are not so lucky. I walked over to Maunalua Bay, by my house, last evening and saw the water had been very high, even almost reaching the highway. The ocean surge went onto where our (Hui Nalu Canoe Club) outrigger canoes are stored, water went through them, but didn't float any away. I think since it was a low tide at 3 am, it wasn't as bad right here as it could have been So sad - thinking of Japan's tragedy.

My Trip to India

2011-02-20T12:36:00.000-10:00

I've returned from three weeks in India for Operation Smile - repairing cleft lip and cleft palates in children (and some adults) surgically.  I was about 24 hours in the air on three flights each way from Hawaii to India (the long way round) with about an added 10 hours in connections.  Basically 10 days in Guwahati, India in the far northeastern state of Assam, and a 7 day touring trip to Agra/Jaipur/Delhi, with four days travel.   Since the travel was so far to Guwahati, India I added a week at the end for my own sightseeing, and a few others joined me to see the Taj Mahal and the Amber Fort (among other sights).
The purpose, of course was helping children and others who had suffered from these facial deformities since birth. With ten operating tables we were able to repair 233 patients in the five days we did surgery. Other days were devoted to setting up and screening hundreds of patients. It was incredibly hard work for our surgical teams (plastic surgeons, anesthesiologists, Operating Room Nurses (me)) and the other volunteer members that are needed to make it a success, like pediatricians, recovery and floor nurses, speech therapist, dentist, medical records, photographers.
   The group of about 60 volunteers were from many countries besides USA, including Egypt, Ireland, Sweden, Honduras, Paraguay, Columbia, Peru, Spain, Australia and Canada. An international effort to aid desperately impoverished folks without a chance at the surgical care they need. Most we saw came from very distant tea plantations to the east. Assam state is north of Bangladesh, south of Nepal, and west of Burma.
       I'll include some of the photos from the Medical Mission below:

Outside the Hospital

Screening Interviews

Mother and daughter (with bilateral cleft lip)

Grandfather and son (with unilateral cleft lip)

In the OR for cleft lip revision with Donna

After lip revision

Looking at cleft palate

Repairing bilateral cleft lip in adult

Mother and baby in post-op and Donna

The Time Between Trips

2011-01-15T20:44:00.000-10:00

There are nearly three weeks between my stay in Arizona and my trip to India. And the time seems short. Before I left Arizona I was watching the Dr. Oz TV show, and the topic was identifying your thyroid and thyroid cancer. From that I suprisingly found a lump in m,y neck, so called ahead to Hawaii for a doctor's appointement. On Jan 10th, I was checked out and a thyroid nodule was found on ultrasound. After that I got a "Fine Needle Aspiration Biopsy" and two days later found the nodule was benign. So that was a relief and allowed me to return to thinking about packing for Operation Smile.

Sewing box of my great-grandmother Edith Elmira (Akins) Blanding

Franciscan ware tumbler

I took some photos of some of the "heirloom" dinnerware and sewing box I had given to my daughter, Alisa, some time ago, and we were able to use some of the Franciscan China for the Christmas dinner of 12 people. I think we should all take photos of our heirlooms because even if they are somehow lost, or not deemed worthy to be saved by the next generation, at least there is a photo of these possessions which have memories attached.
I have so many genealogy projects in mind and many that are barely started. But these have to be put on hold until I return in February. I'm ready to check out the software I just bought,called "Heritage Collector Suite" and see if it is a great way to organize and produce my family histories.

New Year's view of Yesteryears

2011-01-01T09:37:00.000-10:00

Last year at this time Miriam at Ancestories 2 (http://ancestories2.blogspot.com/) proposed questions for bloggers about New Year's Traditions. By the time I wrote something out, it was long past the first of the year (2010). I have surprisingly found what I was going to post - and will send it out for the 2011 New Year.... a little late but the memories of my traditions are the lasting.

Do you remember the first time you were allowed to stay up and see in the New Year? How old were you? How did you and your typically spend New Year's Eve during your youth?
My brother was 4 years older than me, so whatever he did, I followed. When we were very young my father strung an microphone from our bedroom to the neighbor's living room to hear any commotion when we were supposed to be asleep....I was too young to remember, but that might have been on New Year's Eve, as well as other neighborhood gatherings. I mostly remember that New Year's was a neighborhood event, with my parents getting together with neighbors to play canasta or otherwise have a rollicking good time. The grown-ups would be in the living room (front room) and us kids would be in my brother's room. On New Year's Eve we had lots of snacks like peanuts,pretzels and candies. Sodas were generally not available, I got sick on them anyway - from the carbonation, I guess (memories of throwing up in the Alto Movie theater on Western Ave, Los Angeles, a couple times). Iced tea or cocoa were popular. My brother was the oldest of our "gang" in the neighborhood, and I was the youngest. The others were boys. So I usually got the brunt of any war or fight we were having. But I held my own. My brother knew how to play poker, so that's where I learned. We mostly played a game called "Rummy Royal" or listened to records while the adults partied. I remember we would jump on the bed bouncing around acting crazy to the song "Cocktails For Two" and anything Spike Jones did. The zanier, the better. Of course we blew little paper horns and whatever noise makers we had at midnight. When older, my brother got a little roulette wheel and we all bet our chips like Las Vegas regulars.

*How did you typically spend New Year's Day in your childhood and youth? Did you visit family and friends? Did your family host an Open House? Did you watch the Tournament of Roses Parade and Rose Bowl game or another favorite sport? Or did you go to your favorite ski resort?
We always, always watched the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena on television, and a couple times went to see it in person, leaving the house (near Century & Westerna Ave) early in the morning and wrapping ourselves in blankets. I loved to see the parade, and still do. Later, on 1 Jan 1988, my daughter was in the parade as a flag twirler in the color guard from Overland High School in Aurora, Colorado. It was wonderful to see her marching in the parade. My parents had moved from Los Angeles to Hemet, Calif. by this time, so we drove Pasadena from there. I recorded the parade on the television VCR and then took a photo of the television screen as we later replayed the video when she marched by - and I was able to uniquely capture that moment - or the three moments - that the camera caught her in action! I've recently transferred that videotape footage to DVD, although there is some flickering going on in the old tape. We often watched the Rose Bowl football game on TV, especially if any friends came over. We never left Los Angeles during the Christmas/ New Years holidays. Our relatives came to our house. We didn't have any big dinner or open house on New Year's day, unless someone came over to watch the Rose Bowl. I do remember our friends from Ventura came down and there was a lot of hooting and hollering when USC and UCLA played. I was so amazed that even the teenage girl of that family knew all about football. My father was always more interested in photography and electronics than football. Although in high school he was a football player.

Arizona Christmas 2010 & New Years

2010-12-30T20:08:00.002-10:00

It actually snowed today (it was somewhat like little flakes coming down - or maybe soft gentle sleet). I thought the high winds would blow in the window last night, but all was well in the morning. When the clouds parted this afternoon, snow was visible on the nearby Huachuca Mountains but nothing sticking here in Sierra Vista, Arizona, where I am spending the holidays with my daughter and family. It's nice that someone living in Hawaii (me) can see a little snow around Christmas. I really do feel sorry that so much of the country has had to endure floods and super snow. I was so glad that I wasn't stuck at an airport like so Christmas travelers.

The house here held 12 people for the days around Christmas We had a good time talking, eating and even managed to go geocaching and find three caches in town. Now that most of the family has returned to homes in Phoenix, New Mexico, and North Dakota, I've spent lots of time - finally - reading over 400 blogs that were in my Google Reader. My December was too busy to get to them, or to write on my own. At last I've read them all and have made lists of things to do in the genealogy realm and also in preparation for my trip to India in 25 days - for Operation Smile. I marvel that so many others have been able to find the time to write their own interesting blogs. I did manage to log in to the final 8 minutes of Miriam's Ancestories1 Scanfest for the December date,

I am determined to have my daughter and granddaughter listen to a CD I made of tape recordings my father, Vincent Hague, made in the 1950s. First was a recording of my brother, Dick, and I, singing and "playing" various toys, like a piano and winding a Jack-in-the-box crank to make "music." We called it the "Dickie and Donna Show" Later in 5th or 6th grade he recorded more of my piano "playing". Finally, when I was in the 7th grade, he came to my school, Horace Mann Jr. High School, Los Angeles, Calif, and recorded our school chorus from a microphone he suspended from the rafters in the large auditorium stage (I was a 2nd Soprano). In 1983, two years after the death of my mother, Dad found the old tapes and put them together as one, with a dedication and introduction to my daughter, Alisa (she was 11 years old). Now Alisa has long forgotten that wonderful gift my father made, so I've transferred it to CD and am determined to round up daughter and granddaughter long enough to listed to this 45 minute CD. Such a treasure to have. Not sure they appreciate it now.

I'll also try to get the family to settle down long enough to see the photos I took of granddaughter, Emily (16), and grandson, Braden (13) last summer when they spent a month with me in Hawaii. I put the photos on a CD for them, so the days together will not be forgotten .

Before Christmas we took their two dogs and two cats to the Sierra Vista Mall for the "Pets Meet Santa" photo night. It was a little dicey at first, but the animals settled down and we decided to all get in on the photo with Santa. I'm going to add that photo here when I'm able to get the image into my laptop (really an Acer Netbook).

     I have so many goals for 2011 that I haven't tried to list them. As far as genealogy and family history, I am chomping at the bit to correspond with a couple people I have connected with through my Hague and Rees family trees on www.ancestry.com. In addition I've recently connected with other distant cousins on other family lines and I want to share information with them.
     I wish everyone a very Happy New Year and I hope to meet other bloggers at the June genealogy conference at the Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree in Burbank next year (2011).

Hague English roots dug up

2010-11-26T16:46:00.013-10:00

St Michaels Parish Church at Mottram-In-Longdendale, Cheshire, England

Hurray!!! I've finally figured out where my great great grandfather and his family lived in England before their arrival in Rhode Island about 1848. A fellow genealogist, Donna Hague Blinn (surely a relation!!!) sent me a copy of a marriage certificate of a James Hague and Mary Ann Barker a while back, but I didn't think it was the correct marriage because my g-g-grandmother's name was Eliza Barker. Later I found two marriage listings pop up on https://beta.familysearch.org/ . That first one was dated 1830 with Mary Ann Barker, and another one in 1844 that was with James Hague -WIDOWER - and Eliza Barker. Then I found a death listing for a Mary Ann Hague in 1844 could possibly be James' first wife, and then it looks to me like he married Eliza Barker, MAYBE the sister of his first wife, because he needed a mother for his children. Does that make sense?? Well, it makes sense to me, but I'm still looking for more of the FACTS.

Marriage of James Hague and Mary Ann Barker 1830

James Hague of this Parith and Mary Ann Barker of this Parith were married in this ---?---- (county?)

by Banns with the Confent of .... (blank?) this thirteenth Day of September in the Year

One thoufand eight hundred and thirty. By me H.TL M.G. Vicar ??

This Marriage was folemized between us: James Hague/Hagae?

Her Mark: X of Mary Ann Barker

By the Prefence of : Haiit ..fuffoseh ?

James Cooper [James Cooper was also witness in preceeding certificate-dw]

No..... 19

1830 England, Cheshire Parish Registers, 1538-2000 (http://www.beta.familysearch.org/ )

name: James Hague

marriage date: 13 Sep 1830

marriage place: Mottram-in-Longdendale, Cheshire, England

principal's residence: Mottram-in-Longdendale, Cheshire, England

spouse's name: Mary Ann Barker

spouse's residence: , Mottram-in-Longdendale, Cheshire, England

digital folder number: 4019066

I was able to find the family of James Hague with wife Mary Ann in the 1841 England census on http://www.ancestry.com/ The clincher for that being the right census listing because the children matched the names of the children who came to Rhode Island seven years later with my gg-grandfather. Except there was an extra girl, Elizabeth Hague, who may have died before they immigrated. The census was from New Road, Dukinfield, Cheshire, England.

1841 English Census from Dukinfield, Cheshire, England - on New Road
James Hague (Hatter), Mary Ann, Ann, Elizabeth, Edwd, Joseph and Alice...
all from Cheshire except Mary Ann (wife)

Then, I decided to make a concerted effort to find the birth certificates from England. The General Records Office (GRO) in England only has records beginning in the 2nd quarter of 1837. So I have about 5 or 6 children who I can search for who were born after 1837. Two or three of the kids were born before 1837, then there were two who were born later in Rhode Island. I can try to find the Church Parish Records for before 1837, but that involves getting records from the Tameside County office, and they don't accept credit card payment like the GRO does. So that may take awhile. After five separate name requests to the GRO one finally hit pay dirt, and I received the birth certificate of Mary Ann Hague, born 8 Sep 1844 at New Road, Dukinfield, Cheshire, England. Father was James Hague and mother was Eliza (nee Barker). The occupation of James was "Hatter" - imagine that! I was very happy to receive a real record - the first - of my Hague family in England. Things are finally falling into place - at long last!!

Eighth of September 1844, at New Road, Dukinfield
Child: Mary Ann - girl
Father: James Hague
Mother: Eliza Hague, formerly Barker
Occupation of Father: Hatter
The "X" mark of Eliza Hague, mother, New Road
Registered Twenty Eighth of September 1844
Registration District: Ashton and Oldham, County of Chester

Back from Bolivia

2010-11-26T16:01:00.002-10:00

It's been over a month since I returned from Bolivia. There, with Operation Smile, we did 115 surgeries on kids with cleft lip or cleft palate. This was in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, in the low land, southern part. I enjoyed the challenge and was happy at the great success achieved by everyone's hard work there.

Since then I thought I'd settle back and enjoy living in Hawaii and doing some genealogy. Well, I was asked to fulfill a need with an mega-mission to Guwahati, India for two weeks in January/February 2011. At first I declined, but later changed my mind, as I know I can make a difference in so many lives. The plan is to do at least 250 kids by our team. I have never been to India, and have decided to extend a week on my own to see some of the sights around Delhi - like the Taj Mahal at Agra, and Juipur.

Thanksgiving was great, and I am looking forward to spending Christmas with my daughter, Alisa and all the family in Arizona.

Another Dorothy in an Old Photo

2010-10-02T09:06:00.000-10:00

Since I had such good luck with the last old photo identification "Ralph, Matt, Frank, Dorothy" I've found another picture, in another album of my great-grandparents Akins/Blanding. This one has the writing "Dorothy and Cousin Harry" on it. I looked for Dorothy Hatinger's first cousins on the Hatinger/Hattinger side via old census records. Although I did find one "Harry Hatinger" in Montcalm, Michigan, I'm not sure if the ages are right. In addition, I don't even know if this is Dorothy Hatinger - it doesn't look quite like the older Dorothy Hatinger from the other photo. I'll have to ponder this one a while longer! Any suggestions about what year this might have been taken?

Dorothy & Cousin Harry

How I Identified the People in the Old Photo -Akins? Blanding? Squier? Ells?

2010-10-01T23:19:00.002-10:00

Mystery People from my Great-Grandparents Album

Ralph --- Matt -- Frank -- Dorothy

I have had an old photograph, from my great-grandparents photo album, which has caused me many hours of fruitless searching and wondering. It shows four people, of probably three generations, who I didn't know how they were connected to my family. Since my Great-Grandmother, Edith Akins was from Minnesota and she married Frank Blanding in Minnesota, I figured it must have been taken when they went back to Minnesota in the 1920s or 1930s from their Los Angeles home (since 1905) for a visit. Luckily there were four names listing the people: "Ralph, Matt, Frank, Dorothy" But no last name! I looked all through my Akin, Squier, and Ells families, but couldn't put all the names into a logical family connection.

I recently made a connection with a Squier cousin, Cheryl, through Member Connect with the Family Trees on Ancestry.com. We have been exchanging copies of old photos with our e-mails so we can expand our Squier family portraits. We've also exchanged many other tid bits of family information. Anyway, I scanned off the entire photo album with many unknown photos during a recent online "Scanfest" that Miriam organizes, and had them all in a "album" folder so I wouldn't forget just where I had originally obtained the images. I attached many I thought might be a Squier connection to Cheryl so she could have a look. The next thing I did was look at that one photo with the tantalizing four names. I though "I wish I could search my index in Family Tree Maker by first name (given name), and when I looked around at the index in version 2011, I saw that option!!!!

I don't know if it was available in earlier versions (probably) but for some reason I never thought to try that kind of search. So I did search through all the Dorothys in my index, and lo and behold I found Dorothy Hatinger.. So I went to the Hatingers and found my Great-Grandfather's sister, Martha Blanding (Mattie), had married three times and her first husband was a Safford, with a son named Ralph, her third husband was a Hatinger and had a daughter, Dorothy! The Frank in the photo was her third husband, Frank Hatinger (Hattinger). What a relief to have those pictures go into the right places - with surnames - into my database. I also copied the photo and cropped each person for their thumbnail photo in Family Tree Maker.

I'll have to write Cheryl and tell her that the photo with "Ralph, Matt, Frank, Dorothy" weren't Squiers after all. And since they all lived in Montcalm County, Michigan (where Frank Blanding was from originally), I now know it wasn't Minnesota in the background.

I believe my great-grandfather took the photo, and in that case it was before 1926 when he died. Also the photo was taken before 1930 because that is when Frank Hatinger died - as evidenced by the photo I took of his tombstone when I drove around Michigan in 2002 (see my other blog http://www.ancestortrackingdreamroadtrip.blogspot.com/

I love genealogy!

My Great-Grandparents, Frank Blanding and wife Edith Akins

Getting ready for another trip

2010-09-07T23:09:00.002-10:00

I've just volunteered, and been accepted, for another Operation Smile medical mission - this time to Santa Cruz, Bolivia. I'll be going soon. Bolivia you ask? Yes, it's not on the regular tourist route, and there are security concerns, but I think it will be quite an experience. The mission hopes to complete over 100 cleft lip and cleft palate repairs during the time we're there doing surgeries. I'll be gone almost two weeks by the time air travel is added. It will be 24 to 36 hours duration for the flights from Honolulu. That's the part I'm not looking forward to.
In the meantime I've just received my new edition of Family Tree Maker 2011 for my genealogy database on my computer. I've installed it and am adding to my family tree - pictures today... The only difference I've noted so far is that it seems to be working slowly. Maybe it's my computer. I've been working on the Squier, Hague, and Akin lines lately.

End of Summer

2010-08-23T10:17:00.003-10:00

Summer's about over and I've stayed in Hawaii enjoying home for a change. My grandkids (Emily 16, Braden 13) were her all July and we had a busy and fun time. Emily was involved in "Project Hawaii" as a teen mentor for homeless/disadvantaged kids on the Big Island for two weeks, so I took Braden to the Big Island for a week as he'd never been there. Braden and I stayed two nights in Hilo and stayed busy doing geocaching, visiting the shores, the zoo, some caves and the Pacific Tsunami Museum. We drove out to Kalapana where earlier lava flows have covered houses and entered the ocean for many years. And we took a helicopter ride to see what was going on - we saw red flowing lava in spots. Three days after we left Big Island a new lava flow engulfed a house and covered more of the road. We had some rain but not as wet as it often is there. Then we stayed up in Volcano for three cold nights. The Halemaumau Crater of Kiluea Volcano is active and the huge red glow from the inner crater lights up the night sky at the Jaegger Museum lookout. I hadn't realized that the crater rim drive has been closed for two years, since the volcano had it's latest destructive explosion, and gases/smoke continue to spread over the rim.

Back on Oahu we went on the Atlantis submarine ride and went down about 111 feet off Waikiki. We hiked to the mountain tops, and did a little kayaking also. On day we went sailing in Kaneohe Bay and spotted the pirate ship "Queen Ann's Revenge" while they were filming "Pirates of the Caribbean -4 - On A Stranger Tide" or something like that. It was a big black ship, and looked intimidating! We didn't see Johnny Depp, however. Arrgh! So it's been busy, and I loved having the kids, now it's back to the normal things of life like genealogy, hiking, daily walks, and back to volunteering at the military hospital.

My new blog, which is mentioned in the last post, " Ancestor Tracking Dream Roadtrip" about my 2001 to 2002 roadtrip tracking my roots.

Just this week I've connected to distant cousins on the John L. Squier side and we've been able to compare old family photos. In fact, last night Cheryl sent me photos that have identities with them, which answers my years of wondering "who is in that old photo?" In addition we will be able to correct and add Squier information to what's already entered at the Akin Family Tree on ancestry.com

    I've initiated a new "thread" on the Ancestry.com "Hague" Message Board. I'm calling it "Hagues of Rhode Island" and hope that all Hagues with ancestors who came to Rhode Island will go to it and add information about their Rhode Island roots. I think that most of the Hagues there came from the Lancashire/Yorkshire, England area, after the time of the industrial revolution, and they brought their cotton/silk mill-worker skills to the mills in Rhode Island and Massachusetts in the mid to late 1800s.
   Below is my Hague family in Warwick, Bristol Co., Rhode Island, enumerated Aug 13, 1850.

   Above is the 1850 census of Warwick Co., Rhode Island. It was a real breakthrough in finding my Hague family in USA because the census taker wrote the last name as "Ache" - which, I assume, is how it sounded.    At any rate these are all the right children and parents. [By the way, it took me a long time to select three parts of the two pages of census images to paste them together into one image. Does anyone have a favorite was of making this happen - like a collage or something? I have photoshop and powerpoint, but generally use the free photo software from http://www.paint.net/.] I've never mastered the use of "layers."

Of sad note was the death of a highly esteemed Pacific Navigator, Mau Piailug, on July 12, at his home in Satawal, Micronesia. He taught the Hawaiians the skills of navigating in the vast Pacific without instruments. This enabled the replica of an ancient voyaging canoe, Hokule'a to traverse all corners of the Polynesian Triangle, and beyond, without any instrumentation/compass, etc. I was on one of the voyages in 1995 from Tahiti to the Marquesas. Last Thursday I paid tribute to Mau, with a presentation for the Adventurers Club of Honolulu. I honed my power-point skills and was able to use my little Acer Netbook to hook up to the digital projector at the meeting. I was happy that the presentation went well, and people learned much about the important man.

New Blog "Ancestor Tracking Dream Roadrip"

2010-08-03T13:05:00.003-10:00

I've added a new blog site called Ancestor Tracking Dream Trip - a re-creation of my 2001-2002 Vagabond Trip Journal. In those two years I drove around America (and up to Nova Scotia, and over to Wales and England) tracing my roots and seeing the sights along the way. Now, inspired by Randy Seaver's challenge on his blog "GeneaMusings" I've created the "ride along with me" type blog. The website is http://www.ancestortrackingdreamroadtrip.blogspot.com/ I start the journal May 2001 and will add days to this blog as I can, every few days, or so. I start at Fayetteville, NC and move up to New England where I spend quite a bit of time. Eventually I'll follow the migration west to New York, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, Indiana, Illinois, Colorado and many other places. Follow along by subscribing to this new blog on your blog reader. - Donna

Sample of my writing

2010-07-17T21:13:00.003-10:00

    I know, it's been quite while since I posted anything here, but I have lots of excuses, the main ones are visits by cousins from Des Moines, and currently a month-long visit by my two grandchildren. In fact we just came back from a little vacation to the Big Island - Hawaii. These family visits are terrific - and I love them all.
Getting back to writing about genealogy... Randy Seaver has blogged a Saturday Night Challenge at his blog called "Geneamusings" to find something previously written and go to a website http://iwl.me/ and paste the text into the waiting box. Then note which author they think my writing is like. Mine turned out to be like Stephanie Meyer, who wrote "Twilight." Well, I don't know about that, but it did get me to look back at something I'd written, so I chose a part of my old online journal which I wrote during a solo two-year trip in my conversion van, driving around the United States searching for my roots.
   Here is an excerpt from my "Vagabond Journal" which went on for two years. What a great experience that was!

1 July 2002   Monday          Niagara Falls, NY & Buffalo, NY
This was the day I’ve been dreading, my trip to the Court House in Buffalo – the traffic and parking were my concerns. After reserving two rooms at a local motel in Niagara Falls for 8 July (when I’ll try to rendezvous with daughter Alisa's family, and their dog), I drove all the way south to Buffalo on Hwy 62. It is nearly 30 miles of city driving, so there were many stoplights. I figured I’d try I-190 on the return north. I zeroed in on the Court House – or the “Erie County Hall” and parked at a place where I had to give them my keys. They said to be sure to return by 4:30pm or they would be gone, and my keys locked up. I went through Security to the Surrogate Court with the unhappy government workers who snapped and growled at me. I left them to find three files on the Eells family and went over to the County Clerk’s immense collection of deeds, maps, and mortgages. Through the maze of aisles and books I went down in the basement to the earliest records. From the Grantor and Grantee Indices I found many Eells and Stevens. I wrote down all the ones I was interested in then returned to the Surrogate Records.
    “Oh, you were the one that wrote the same case number twice” - and with that the lady fired off a list of rules for looking at the file and disappeared. You are allowed to request three files per day. I corrected the case number of one of my three requests and stood around wondering where to return the request slip for action. I saw no sign posted for returning the request slip, only “Don’t put anything on this counter” and “Advice $1; good advice $4” were among the signs. When I finally politely inquired where I could leave the request slip, the stressed man barked “Just wait, can’t you see we’re busy.” He was busy at his computer. I remembered back in Rochester, New York, four bored records clerks sitting around doing nothing but chit chatting, at the Surrogate Court. Buffalo looks like a lousy place to work, as the man obviously needed more clerks and they were too stressed. Anyway, much later he explained that they were preparing to move the records to “off site storage,” so it would take longer to get the files – he didn’t have any idea how it would work – and he’d appreciate it if I gave him, this afternoon, the request for the three file names I wanted, and wait till tomorrow to pick them up. No problem.

Peru & Ecuador were terrific!

2010-05-04T13:24:00.004-10:00

Peru Andes

Hi, I'm back from a three week tour with Overseas Adventure Travel to the heights of Peru including Cuzco and Machu Piccho, and the depths of Ecuador - the Galapagos Islands.. but also the trip included lots of high altitudes in Ecuador too, including up to 16,000 feet at the Chimborozo Volcano. Despite the very long flights getting there via Miami, I did survive it all. I had been worried about altitude sickness going to 11,000 feet in Peru, so took some Diamox and was fine with the couple days of some aclimatization. Then, even with the five days at sea level at the Galapagos, I was OK to go back up to high altitude at Quito and the volcanoes in Ecuador after that.

To describe the best parts is difficult as the entire experience was so iteresting and eventful. Maybe the icing on the cake was that I was able to speak/understand many of the people because my Spanish conversation ability increases with every trip I take south of the border.

I think I was most proud that I climbed a trail above the Machu Picchu ruins, part of the fabled Inca Trail to the ruins called Inti Punku.... an amazing and high vantage point which led us past many llamas grazing on the mountain side. Interesting that the discoverer of the Machu Picchu, in 1912, was Hiram Bingham, born in Hawaii, grandson of the missionaries.

I was surprised to get on the hotel elevator in Cuzco, Peru, and saw a doctor with "Operation Smile" on his lab coat. He is from Albuquerque, NM, and said that he was on a local mission (to repair cleft lips and palates) which only needs doctors and anesthesiologists. Maybe someday I'll go on an Op Smile mission in Peru or Ecuador. Also, in Quito, Ecuador, I looked up the Ecuadorian doctor, Eduardo, that I met and worked with when I went to Haiti for the disaster relief surgeries in February. He graciously showed me all over Quito and had our photo taken at the Equator.

I've taken tons of photos and have been going through them. Here are a few. Now to get back to genealogy!

Peru

Train to Machu Picchu

Llama at Machu Pichu

Donna at Machu Picchu

Peru

Peru potato baking

Ecuador: Eduardo and Donna at equator

Donna in Galapagos, Ecuador

Galapagos Tortoise

Ecuador, Chimborazo Volcano -- cold

Busy in Hawaii

2010-04-08T17:45:00.002-10:00

Now it's April and I'm preparing for another trip, this time to Machu Picchu in Peru and the Gallapagos Islands in Eduacor. I'll be going with a tour group "Overseas Adventure Travel" and so all the logistics, etc. are taken care of by the tour guides, etc. I'll also plan on going on another Operation Smile medical mission later in the year.
In the meantime I spent a week on the Hawaiian island of Kauai in March, just relaxing, catching up on e-mails and going on lots of geocaching hikes. A big spider jumped on my neck one day, and I was not pleased with that, but happy that it didn't bite. I took a photo of it with my GPS.

As near as I can figure by looking online, it is a "Garden Spider" found in the Pacific. It's body looked metallic silver and metallic gold to me. Wtih striped black and tan long legs... very big! ....shiver!

    I have not been ignoring my genealogy research. In fact my Akin cousin, Larry, often sends me little "Akin mysteries" that I should try to solve. I found a Hannah Akin in the new Ancestry.com release of the 1880 US Census of Defectives, Blind, etc. She was listed as Blind, but neither Larry nor I can figure out how she fits into our Chatauqua County, NY Akins.
              I did find this Hannah Akin born abt 1793 in NY, in the regular 1880 US census and she is living with her daughter, Betsey Moore b.1861 NY, and Betsey's daughter Pluma Hazard age 22 with her husband Dennis Hazard age 29 in Carroll, Chautauqua Co., NY. Then I found Pluma Hazard in the 1930 census with other Moores, evidently Betsey's brothers, i.e. Wm and John. (ie. Hannah Akin's grandchildren??) I can't place any of this family with my Joseph Akin family.   In the 1820 US census I did find a Hannah Akins in Ellicott, Chautauqua Co. --but no help really because the only information lists the ages in her household.   Who was Hannah's husband?.....an Akin from somewhere.
           And of course, I am totally mesmerized by watching the ancestor-searching show "Who Do You Think You Are" on NBC on Friday nights. And before that, the other genealogy/family history show called "Faces of America" on PBS. I just learned that WDYTYA has been renewed for another season - yea!!!!!

Tsunami - Hawaii

2010-02-27T10:44:00.001-10:00

Just waiting for the Chili earthquake generated Tsunami to arrive. It is to reach Hawaii in a half hour (Hilo at 11:05 am Hawaii Time). I've made preparations for safety and should be all right at my home on Oahu. Lots going on here as the sirens go off every hour and now at the half hour. People were up and to the stores after the 6am tsunami warning siren. Many boats have gone out to sea for their safety. The Marquesas / Tahiti reports the water was 6 or 7 ft high as the wave passed by them. Right now Hawaii is at a very low monthly tide, so 6 ft rise would not be too damaging. We'll see.....

News update: 2 pm - the Tsunami warning in Hawaii was canceled. Ocean surges were recorded at a maximum of three feet, so it was no problem in Hawaii.

Return from Haiti Earthquake Relief Mission

2010-02-20T15:21:00.003-10:00

Photo by Mark Beers

Donna and Susan at Operating Room Tent with Operation Smile...

doing surgeries in Haiti

I've returned from two weeks (Feb 1-14) in Haiti on a Disaster Relief mission with Operation Smile. The Jan 12th earthquake at Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, which killed an estimated 200,000 people, also injured an untold number. We worked from two tents near a town in Haiti called Fond Parisien, near the border with Dominican Republic. It is situated within the land of the "Love A Child" Orphanage. Tents were set up for about 230 patients who need medical care. Small tents were set up for the volunteers staying there. My particular tent was a one-person tent donated by REI. Several organizations have come together at this site to provide the best medical care for the Haitians as possible under almost impossible conditions. The weather was hot, but dry.

Twenty medical people were on my Operation Smile team (the 2nd Op Smile team to rotate there). I am an operating room nurse and spent most of my time in the two Operating Room tents that looked like little white plastic quonset huts. It was very hot (93 degrees) and humid in these tents, but we did about 60 life saving operation. Operation Smile usually does "Life Changing" operations of cleft lip and cleft palate repairs, but this was different. We did arm and leg amputations, skin grafts, wound debridements, internal and external fixations on fractures, and dressing changes under anesthesia. The wounds from the Jan 12th earthquake were mostly infected with pseudomonas which were treated with antibiotics, cleaning/changing dressings, and debridement. It was an experience

I can not explain in the right words. Better to share a couple excellent links that go to blogs about the Haiti experience:
www.operationsmile.org/haiti (Operation Smile)

http://hmcinhaiti.blogspot.com/ (Hershey Medical Center in Haiti)

Aloha, Donna

HAITI surgery relief operation

2010-02-01T15:51:00.001-10:00

I've gotten the word, I will leave Honolulu tonight for Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic to meet with other Operation Smile volunteers and we will go by road to Fond Parisien orphanage site across the border in Haiti. There we have a couple new operating rooms to take care of all kinds of surgical cases, including amputations, lacerations, broken bone, etc. etc. I'm a retired Army Operating Room nurse. There is a very good web site which has a blog from the volunteers at the camp. The website is http://OperationSmile.org/Haiti there are some good video clips of the orphanage and the operating rooms and tents, etc. Must go buy mosquito repellent! I'll return Feb 14th. Aloha, Donna

Greeting the New Year

2010-01-24T13:41:00.002-10:00

2010 is here and I am back at home after a month away. I was visiting my daughter and famiy in Arizona for three weeks, south of Tucson, and my nephews in Las Vegas for a week. Christmas and New Year's passed and shortly after I returned to Honolulu the Haiti Earthquake happened. The tradgedy sparked a inquiry from Operation Smile to me to see if I could rush to Haiti to work on the USNS Hospital Ship Comfort. I was asked because I'm an operating room nurse that has recently worked on a surgical mission on the Comfort (offshore Nicaragua last July). As it turned out the plans for Operation Smile shifted gears from doing life saving surgeries on the ship, to sending a small team in to do surgeries on land. Perhaps more assistance will be needed down the line. I've been riveted to the news programs about the situation in Haiti, and now with rescue and recovery teams leaving, I hope that the survivors will treated and sustained.

As far as genealogy goes, I have begun getting clients through Ancestry.com for conducting research. But of real enjoyment was talking to a cousin on my Joshua Wallace side and catching up with the family. It is so nice to have a not too distant cousin who enjoys doing genealogy and is interested in sharing information. I have Family Tree Maker and was going to print out an Outline Descendant Tree for her, but since I haven't used the 2010 version much, I had to "re-find" where this version has hidden that chart (it's under "Relationship Charts" on the Publish Tab). Then I figured I'd print off a few "Individual Reports", but discovered that these reports have headers that take up a lot of space, and I would have to use too many pages to print them out. So I copied the Person's Notes and pasted them to a Word document which seemed to be able to condense the information into far fewer pages than if I'd used Family Tree Maker (FTM) 2010. I feel like I am missing many of the FTM 2010 options, and I've signed on to a blog or two about using FTM 2010. Now I need time to get back genealogy!

In the meantime I have been busy getting quartzite natural stone squares laid in my small patio area, and also tracking down a mouse (a big one) that seems to like the powdered dehydration salts in foil packets that I brought back from Bangkok when I left the hospital there last May.

I'm looking forward to the visit of my Welsh "Rees" family cousins, Jan and Russ, coming this March and am really happy that I'll be able to show them around Hawaii. I originally met this line of my Rees-Pearce family through the internet about ten years ago and since then we've had visits back and forth. Several of the family are interested in the family history and of our common ancestors, Elias & Jennet Rees, of Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorgan, Wales.

Coming up, I hope to catch up with some of the genealogy blogs I subscribe to. I feel kind of cut off from the genealogy world when I don't read them. Thanks to all that made comments on my Pearce Genealogy Photo Book. I have plans to make other similar books.

Genealogy Photobook

2009-12-05T13:06:00.002-10:00

I have been busy with genealogy in spite of all the other activities. I painstakingly completed a 55 page photobook based on a 1970 interview I did with my grandfather, Leonard Pearce. I recorded it on a little reel-to-reel tape recorder back then, while waiting for Thanksgiving dinner. Thank heavens I did that because listening to it now I have a wealth of information that I'd totally forgotten at the time of the interview. I transcribed each word and printed it into the online book I created at www.shutterfly.com then added a variety of photos that I had on hand, and some from the internet, that illustrated what my grandfather was talking about. I think it makes a terrific way to present the story of my grandfather's life.

Then I just finished a 100-page photobook using my photos from my recent trip to Burma. I fixed up about 439 photos to squeeze in the maximum size book I could create at Shutterfly. It is a great relief to finish this, the last of three gift-certificate books that my daughter gave me two years ago for Christmas. The gift cards expire Dec 18th, 2009 so I was in a hurry to complete them all. The first one I finished just before Thanksgiving in 2008 and it was a photobook on my trip to Mongolia.

I intend to create, in the future, photobooks about the life stories of my parents and most recent ancestors. It's a big challenge, but I think it is a project from the heart and will last, even if my CDs and digital images pass into technological oblivion.

White Christmas - The Musical

2009-12-05T12:36:00.003-10:00

Just about every evening at 5:30 pm or 6 pm, I walk a couple miles around the neighborhood for exercise with four of my neighbors, or whoever can make it. We often have the right timing to see the magnificent sunsets around Diamond Head in the distance. One evening we received free tickets from another neighbor and all went to see the stage production at Diamond Head Theater called "White Christmas." It was a fun musical with 30 talented performers. It's based on the 1954 movie with Bing Crosby, Rosemary Cloney and Danny Kaye. We all sang Irving Berlin's White Christmas at the end and real flaky snow fell from the rafters. The newspaper said it was bubbles, but I don't believe so. The flat flakes were cold and dissolved on touching the skin. It was snow! It was snow! Here are photos of the Winter Walkers just back from White Christmas: (L to R) Diane, Margaret, Donna, / and in the bottom photo Linda on the right:

Hiking & Geocaching

2009-12-05T11:46:00.002-10:00

Feeling that I've been at the computer too much working on a couple photo books, I took advantage of a couple hikes with a group called "Solemates." The first was the day after Thanksgiving, scheduled to work off all the meal from the day before. There were big-time rains last night, so the trail would be muddy, and I felt a sniffle coming on, so I decided to just walk a short way to acquaint myself with the trailhead. The hike was called "Waimanalo Tunnel" so it was intriguing as to just what this tunnel was. I didn't get as far as the tunnel, but I think in must be a water drainage tunnel that is/was used in the drainage ditches to channel the rain water in the mountains. After a half hour with the small group I turned around and went back to drive around the Hawaiian homelands area of Waimanalo which is full of agriculture and nurseries. I also spotted the "Independent State of Hawaii" headquarters.

The next hike was up Hawaii Loa Ridge. To get to it one must pass through a security guard for the exclusive high class neighborhood. There are only 9 parking spots at the top where the trailhead is. The car-pooling group left ahead of schedule, but I saw them heading up the hill to the security guard. I followed, but the guard said --- and I was shocked -- that my driver's license had expired Aug 7th! Yikes! I hadn't thought of my driver's license expiring since --- hummmmm -- well, never. So although I was glad she spotted it rather than the police, I was missing my hike. I drove home and parked, then lawfully walked the short distance to where a satellite city hall is located and humbly said my license had expired. No, they didn't asked me how I got to the building, and they didn't scold me, they just took $29 and my photo and I was on my way with a new license. I returned to the security guard and she said, "Now, all the parking places were gone," but looking at my sorrowful face, she allowed me a temporary street pass and I had to walk further to get to the trailhead. No problem. I was an hour behind the group, so just took my time as they had to come back the same way they left. I decided to try to locate a geocache I thought was at the trailhead, but my GPS insisted it was a mile and a half away! Darn that new GPS it didn't appear to be working.! So then I sauntered out along the trail. What a beautiful trail it is. Here are some photos of it and the view.

I met the first ones coming back from the summit and walked back with friend Erika. There were a couple guys with their own GPS that I asked to check the location where we were, at the trailhead. It seems my GPS was accurate and the geocache treasure I'd been seeking was indeed 1.5 miles away! So I headed down the hill and off to another road that went up a hill. I eventually followed the coordinates to the tucked-away little park with trees and cactus overlooking the south shore between Diamond Head and Koko Head. Here I walked to the big rock that had been in the photo advertising the geocache. And there - under the rock was indeed the geocache. In a tupperware type box was an assortment of little treasures. I left a couple things and took a tiny book that the owner has sent on it's journey with a "Traveling Slug" - a registered number coin to enter online when found (and I'll enter it again when I leave it at another geocache.). The little book is for the finder to record his favorite author. It's interesting that I can figure out who the men finders were and who the teenagers were. My favorite author will be recorded as James Mitchner. Below are the photos of that cache. For information on geocaching as a free family sport go to http://www.geocaching.com/

November and Thanksgiving

2009-12-05T11:15:00.002-10:00

November went by in a blur but with bathroom remodeling, I'm happy to say that my new toilet works, there is beautiful tile on the floor, and there is a new cabinet on one side. It was done in time to stop worrying about it and turn my attention to a Thanksgiving filled with friends and food. Early Thanksgiving afternoon I went over to the Thompson's. Laura and I went to visit Ben Finney who was recuperating at the hospital. It was good to see his wife and meet his son. I drove Laura's car and it was quite interesting with a camera in the back so you could see where you were going in reverse, on a little monitor screen on the dashboard. Later I enjoyed a big Thanksgiving dinner hosted by Harriet Hoffman and her husband Bob. She cooked a big turkey which was nearly all eaten by the time the crowd departed for the evening. After everyone left, Harriet and I ended up talking about genealogy till midnight. Here are photos of the big dining table and the happy diners. Thanks for a great day!

Alfred Vincent Hague

2009-10-23T17:28:00.005-10:00

One hundred years ago today, on Oct 23, 1909, my father, Alfred Vincent Hague was born in Des Moines, Iowa. He died in 1993 in Hemet, California, and I miss him. He taught me so much. I'll try to add to this post and soon and write about him. Happy Birthday.

A boy in Des Moines, Iowa

A projectionist in High School - Jefferson High, Los Angeles

A pilot

A telephone Co. repairman/foreman

                                                                                Capt in the Civil Air Patrol


                                                        My Dad

October's Here

2009-10-03T20:36:00.000-10:00

I've been a bit out of commission with a few things happening. With half my bathroom remodeling finished, I have a few weeks before the vanity cabinet arrives and the workers come back so I'm catching up with some things. Although I'm now on my laptop instead of my PC (more on that later). So in this time before I get the new glass sliding doors installed I should have time to get things done? Rennovation week was a week of turning my attention to multiple trips to Home Depot, City Mill and Lowes. While they were chipping tiles upstairs I was busy transferring my 1995 videotapes of my adventures with the Polynesian Voyaging Society to DVD's. It seems I have so much to digitalize I'll never seen the end of it, even more than for genealogy. I received a letter asking for materials from the historic voyage I took on the recreated Hawaiian voyaging canoe, Hawai'i Loa, a trip from Tahiti to the Marquesas in 1995. Honolulu Community College has a grant to digitalize and put on line, for the benefit of everyone, especially the Hawaiian community, documents, photos, journals, etc. etc. of all the almost 35 years from the building of the Hokule'a voyaging canoe to the many years of voyages it and other canoes have taken in the Pacific. As a natural documenter, I have many things I'm happy to have preserved for the future. So that is keeping me busy.

I was happy to sign into the last genealogy "Scanfest" the other day, and although my PC was at "SuperGeeks" getting fixed, I enjoyed the conversation via my laptop -- actually a tiny Acer Netbook. Up until I decided to have my PC "tuned up" I was diligently scanning the old documents I'd kept in a fire safe box, and had not thought of digitalizing. I still have a little more to do --- let's see a 1915 North Dakota Mortgage of Marshall Akins and some probate documents from Polk County when James Hague died in the late 1800's. When I brought my PC home Thursday I went through a bit of anguish when strange things happened at start-up and then my SeaGate External Hard Drive -- which had been acting strangely anyway-- disappeared from being found on my PC. So in haste I have paid for a year's backup storage on www.Mozy.com and have been backing up my most important Surname files and photos -- 40 gigabytes worth -- for the last 26 hours.... Evidentlly I have about 6 more days of constant backing up before all the files are " up there" and safe. I've had my Family Tree Maker family tree stored online at Mozy for the last couple years... for free. You can store up to 2 GB for free on Mozy. Although I have most of my photos additionally on CDs, I think now is the time for me to have online backup. It costs about $4.95/month. To speed the upload of my 40 GB, I'm trying to use my laptop to do my e-mail, etc. I don't want to disturb the process... heaven forbid, that after 5 days, some wrong key got clicked and I canceled the upload!

Of particular concern to me lately (besides my grandchildren getting the flu at home in Arizona) is the terrible natural calamities in the Pacific: The typhoons and flooding in the Philippines, the Earthquakes in Indonesia, and the Earthquake and Tsunami in the Samoas. My friend, Lucille James is now in American Samoa as a Red Cross worker. She is also a nurse, and has had experience organizing shelters in Hawaii during flooding or possible hurricanes. I'm sure Lucille is going to have a very positive impact for the people who have lost their homes and family members.

Still on the horizon is a visit by my nephew, Joe Hague, from Las Vegas on the 12th, and then the tenting of my building and fumigation with deadly gas on the 21st. Luckily Joe hadn't planned to be here on the 21st!

Back to genealogy, as always, I discovered that new on www.labs.familysearch.org are the 1865 New York census images - available for browsing. I don't think I've looked at them before, so was happy to find a few of my families in Chautauqua County.
That's about it for now. Aloha.

New Genealogy Service

2009-09-05T18:35:00.001-10:00

I have just initiated a new blog to advertise my new Genealogical Research service called "Family History Discovered"   in fact, that is the name of the blog site: http://www.familyhistorydiscovered.blogspot.com/
Of course, with my own family, I do genealogy for love, not for money!   But there are many people who are curious and not able to do their own research. And I have so much to do and so little time! We shall see what happens next.

In the meantime I am sticking around home for awhile, no trips for a few months. There are some repairs needed on my condo that I must attend to. One little item I'm not looking forward to is that my whole, six-unit, building is going to be tented by the exterminators. Of course all the people and pets will be evacuated before the poison gas goes in. I'm going to try to herd any resident geckos to the outside before any tenting occurs.

I've been very consumed with my new Family Tree Maker 2010 software. I have not been able to import my entire database of 12,000 people into it....yet. It is very frustrating, and I've tried and tried even spending hours on the telephone with the service representatives at FamilyTreeMaker/Ancestry. So, I'll be content using Family Tree Maker 16 .... which I like very much ... for awhile yet.

In the meantime Larry Akin has corraled me into co-editing the David Akin of Newport R.I. member family tree on http://www.ancestry.com/.   It is a really big family tree, but he has painstakingly cared for every bit of the data in it and we work to try to provide the correct sources for all the information. Just learning all the ins and outs of creating and mainting a family tree, online, is time consuming. I have my own very small Member family trees on ancestry.com for the Rees family and the Hague family. I'd like to create one for each of the surnames that are closest to me.

I've also trying to find time to scan my important historic documents, and to photograph my family heirlooms. It seems that I have quite a few things around the house that could be considered heirlooms, like vases, books, ceramic figures and such, the history of which would be lost if I didn't document it. I'm photographing each item then annotating and printing each item, six photos to a page. I'm just using regular printing paper instead of photo paper, as the photos are more for a catalogue type collection.   I think I once heard that an heirloom was over 50 years old... hmm then all my childhood toys would qualify.... not that I have any around.

Another Birthday

2009-08-11T17:21:00.004-10:00

Another candle on the birthday cake on August 7th. I've been busy doing genealogy and catching up on medical appointments, so my birthday was a good time to have some fun. I started out with the fitness class (not so much FUN) but then one of my friends from the class took me to the new "YogurtLand" in Hawaii Kai. This is a great place!! You fill up a bowl, yourself, of any or all of the many soft serve non-fat yogurt flavors, then you add any toppings you want. At the end you pay by the weight of the bowl. Very nice for someone who wants to experiences lots of the flavors (like me!). After savoring all of that I went out "Geo-Caching" - at first alone. The first was supposed to be at the base of Koko Crater where the train tracks go up to the top. I searched all over the area with my GPS, but couldn't find the cache. Even got a big scratch on my hand from the dead tree's branch. Then I got a call on my cell phone and talked to daughter, Alisa, and grandkids Emily and Braden. Braden even sang Happy Birthday to me. A bit later, with another friend, Lucille, we searched around the road leading to Paiko Lagoon and found a second cache. Then on down the highway to find another cache at a park amongst the roots of a Chinese Banyon tree. Finally we were stumped at the last geocache as it was a puzzle cache and we didn't know what the puzzle was to solve. Later at home I lamented online and I received a few hints so that I could solve the puzzle. At any rate, back at home we watched Lucille's pictures of her recent trip to Tahiti to see the solar eclipse and snorkle. Finally we went to the nearby Greek Marina restaurant to have a greek gyro meal outdoors at the Koko Marina. It was a nice birthday.

Operation Smile - in US Navy Hospital Ship Comfort

2009-07-14T15:30:00.014-10:00

I've returned from my 2nd medical mission with the non-profit group "Operation Smile" - again in Nicaragua, but this time we did the operations on board the United States Hospital Ship Comfort, anchored offshore from Corinto, in the Pacific ocean. We operated on 58 kids on the ship.
I'll be working on this blog, but in the meantime thought I'd send up a few photos.

Back from Asia, and still alive

2009-06-13T21:40:00.009-10:00

I've been on a tour of Vietnam, Thailand and Burma in the last 34 days so haven't been able to add entries into this site. See my photo in front of "Bride on the River Kwai" in Thailand. So many memorable moments on this trip. In Thailand I especially like the elephant ride through the jungle and river, then the bamboom raft down the river. In Vietnam I especially enjoyed the overnight stay on a traditional boat at Ha Long Bay off shore from Hanoi. Interesting was the CuChi Tunnels used during the Vietnam War.

Unfortunately, on the last day of the trip, when we had just flown back into Bangkok, Thailand from Burma, I suffered a bowel strangulation from adhesions and rushed to the hospital when I realized the abdominal pain was more than I could stand on the 16 hour plane trip. At the Vibhavadi Hospital in Bangkok, it was at first thought I had gastritis, but after going into shock at the CT Scan, I was admitted to ICU and into the Operating Room. Dr. Naratip removed two feet of my small intestine, and sewed the ends back together. After three days in ICU with the terrific Thai nurses, my daughter, Alisa, joined me in my ward room for the next seven days of recuperation. Then my travel insurance paid for a plane ticket with doctored order "reclining ability" and I returned to Hawaii in Business class! It was definitely needed. Alisa was in the section behind me, but on the same flights. I am very grateful to my daughter for coming to Bangkok to take such good care of me. And without her "Blackberry" cell phone with internet capability, we might still be in Bangkok. Finally after over 6 weeks I was back home in Hawaii.

I'm grateful to be alive and so happy to be home again. Thanks to Beth for helping me out for the first few days I was back. As planned before my Asia trip, my two grandchildren, Emily (15) and Braden(12) arrived to visit me in Honolulu for three weeks. See photo of Emily, me, Beth, and Braden. They have been taking good care of me, and we have done lots of the fun Hawaii activities including beach time (including surfing lessons at Waikiki for the kids), Kualoa Ranch activities, Hanauma Bay snorkeling (I sat under a palm tree), and tomorrow they are going to have a Dolphin Encounter at Sea Life Park. Finally Braden and I will visit the USS Missouri ship. They return home June 19th.

See photo of Alisa and me on May 30th with Koko Head in the background, and Photo of Emily, myself, friend Beth, and grandson Braden on June 1st.

At the end of June I'll again go on a volunteer medical mission with "Operation Smile" to repair cleft lips and Cleft palates in Nicaragua. It will last 10 days, and our operations will be aboard the USNS Comfort, a U.S. Navy hospital ship. I'm looking forward to the unique experience of operating and living aboard the ship for 5 days.

March 31, 2009

2009-03-31T11:38:00.013-10:00

If these pages are sparce it's not because I've been asleep for months, on the contrary, I've been traveling and having a hard time trying to catch up.

Since January when I finished up a nice Christmas vacation in Sierra Vista, Arizona with my daughter's family, I focused on preparations for my first "Operation Smile" medical trip to Managua, Nicaragua. As an operating room nurse, I have been looking forward to going to developing countries and doing what I could to change people's lives for the better. In February I was honored to be able to go with this volunteer organization and be apart of fixing the cleft lips and cleft palates of 91 children. It was a very challenging experience, but very rewarding. I plan to go on another of these missions in July - again to Nicaragua...this time operating in the USNS Comfort, and US Navy Hospital Ship that will be anchored off shore on the Pacific side.

At the moment I'm preparing for a trip with "Overseas Adventure Travel" to Thailand, Vietnam and Burma. I've secured the required visas, and will get my malaria pills soon.

In addition I'm trying to fit in some genealogy moments, and also get out to the gym and to pursue my outdoor fun tracking down "GeoCaches" at this end of Hawaii. See photo where I'm finding the "SubMariner's" geocache and photo of Lucille finding geocache "Tunnel Vision" in the lava ledges.

I'll post some photos below of the Operation Smile experience:

Hague Happy Dance

2009-01-18T13:03:00.013-10:00

Since I missed the deadline for the Winter Photo Essay, I'll jump right into the Feb 1st Carnival of Genealogy topic of "The Happy Dance." For those non-genealogists it means to write about "The Joy of Genealogy. Almost everyone has experienced it. Tell us about the first time, or the last time, or the best time. What event, what document, what special find has caused you to stand up and cheer, to go crazy with joy?"

The big Happy Dance I did a couple years ago was to find the first US Census that my Hague ancestor was in after his immigration from England to Rhode Island. James Hague and wife Eliza Barker came from the area of Ashton-Under-Lyne around Manchester, England, but I'm not sure exactly when. I have not found the family on immigration records, but I imagine he landed in Rhode Island. He later moved to Polk Co., Iowa in time for the 1870 US Census. My great-grandfather, William Hague, was born in RI in June 1850, so I knew they'd landed by then. I've yet to find the family in any English census. See photo of the first Hague born in USA, William Hague and wife Mary Ann Williams and their children near Des Moines, Iowa about 1908.

The pre-happy dance came about when I found my great-great grandfather, James "HAUGE", and family in Bristol, Bristol Co., RI in the 1860 census. The misspelling was not that unusual, and the six children's names matched. They were working in the factories - probably cotton mills. That find led me on to more attempts to locate them in 1850. I heard a podcast explaining the problem with the Ancestry Search engine is that you have to have the first three letters entered before you can add wild-cards * for covering possibly mi spelled letters.

Since I'd tried every misspelling, soundex tricks, and wild-cards, I figure I'd just work systematically to change the first letter of the search...ie. A-ague, B-ague, C-ague or Aag*, Bag*, Cag* etc. On 6 Feb 2007 using an exact choice for soundex, I typed in " aague," ...... there appeared James Ache in the census choices.... And it was my James Hague family!!!!.... obviously pronounced to the census taker without the "H" as they probably sounded like with the Lancashire accent (or so I hear). Oh Happy Day!! Oh Happy Dance!

1850-US Census WarwickTwp, Kent Co., Rhode Island [The ages were a little off but it's my family!]
James Ache 40 M b. England Laborer
Eliza " 40 F b. England
Ann " 18 F b. England
Edward " 13 M b. England
John " 15 M b. England
Joseph " 13 M b. England
Alice " 11 F b. England
Mary A. " 5 F b. England
Anna " 4 F b. England
William " 2 M b. Rhode Island

Another Hague Happpy Dance was just two years ago while visiting cousins in Des Moines. I asked sisters Mary and Oral May Wilson to draw what they remembered of the Hague homestead house from the original 1870 site in Delaware Township, Polk County, Iowa. Mary gave up with her sketch, and next thing I knew she went downstairs at her house, and returned with a drawing in a picture frame. My grandfather, Alfred George Hague had drawn the Hague homestead for her one day, many years ago as he remembered it in 1905. And there it was!!! I was able to get a copy of it and now can really imagine the way it was when my dad, and his dad stayed with Grandpa William and Grandma Mary Ann (Williams) Hague on the farm. See the house sketch and the home, outbuildings and barn as it looked in 1905.

Costume Customs - Fern Blanding Bullock photos

2009-01-16T20:43:00.014-10:00

The new "10th Edition Smile For The Camera - A Carnival of Images" is taking place, and this is my entry into the carnival to "Show us that picture that you found with your family collection or purchased that shows the costumes of the rich to the not so rich, from the civil war to the psychedelic sixties."

I love the photos of my Great Aunt Fern Edna Blanding. She was born 22 Sep 1889 in Skyberg, Goodhue Co., Minnesota, spent some early years in Madison Lake, Blue Earth Co., Minn, on to Sibley, Georgia by 1900, a couple years around Palm Beach, Florida where her father help construct one of the Breakers Hotels. Then on to Los Angeles, California by about 1905. These photos were taken in Los Angeles around 1910 I would imagine.

These photos are of Aunt Fern. The first in a big feathery hat for a glamor pose. Nicely dressed for the studio photo. The next photo shows her in a Salvation Army uniform. I don't know exactly how long or what she did in the Salvation Army, but last year while visiting a distant cousin in Lake Elsinor, CA, I saw another photo that showed Aunt Fern and her sister, Pearl, both in Salvation Army uniforms.

Aunt Fern never had any children of her own, but she did have four husbands! She was an excellent seamstress. When my mother was a little girl she made 352 dresses for her one year! I remember that nearly every dress I had growing up until about 7th grade, was made for me, by the loving hands of Aunt Fern. She was married in 1928 to Fred George Bullock at Whisky Slough, California. She died 13 April 1962 and is buried at Montecito Memorial Park, Colton, CA.

I think hats were a big part of looking nice in those early days. Another photo of Fern Blanding in a hat. These days a big hat like this is seldom seen, and perhaps only at the Kentucky Derby or on a member of the Red Hat Society. It must be a fun thing to wear such a big hat even though Fern was not cracking a hint of a smile in the photo to the left.

Cheney Genealogy

2009-01-13T15:34:00.004-10:00

As I wrap up my family visit in Arizona, I though I'd write up a little more of the research I've been doing. Today I made my final visit to the local Sierra Vista Family History Center, and got through the rows of books in the areas that I was interested. There were a lot of genealogy society newsletters/pamphlets that could use lots of time to look at, but I was satisfied with my four periods of browsing. Also I decided to look up what Stevens information they had on microfilm, just to remember what it was like to hook it all up. Well, the Stevens family was not about my Phineas Stevens family, and I remembered how much easier it is to find info if digitalized and on the internet (I imagine all of this will be on FamilySearch.com in the future.)

I had more luck with the Cheney family because they were involved in the US Revolution, and there are more things online and in the FHS than Stevens. That would be because although Phineas Stevens II was in the Revolutionary War, he was a Loyalist, and went up to Nova Scotia for a spell after the war. Oh, I did find one bit of info that I had before, but it is nice seeing the source: "Phenas Stevans obtained a marriage license in New York (City) to marry Mary Woodward on 3 April 1782. This was a reference to a marriage bond in Vol XXV, Page 112 as issued by Secretary of the Province of New York. The book "New York Marriages - Previous to 1784" published by Genealogical Publishing Co., 1984. My task is to try to find anything I can about this Mary Woodward's family. New York City is a big place.

My Joseph Cheney was born 9 Apr 1682 in Newbury, Essex Co., MA. he married Sarah Wiswall of the early Wiswall and Jackson families of Newton, Middlesex Co., MA. I've visited Newton in the past and really enjoyed knowing these families were founders of the town. Joseph and Sarah had a son, Elisha Cheney. I'm trying to determine if this Elisha, born about 1749, was the same one who was a private in the Revolution in the "Drums & Fifer" section of Capt. Jeremiah Wiswall's company, which marched on the Lexington Alarm from Newton on April 19, 1777. My Elisha later moved up to Royalston, Worcester Co., MA and had three wifes, Elizabeth Eddy, Sarah Stone, and Abigail (Nabby) Bowker. I found an Elisha Cheney in the 1800 Census at Royalston. This was an interesting guy who ran a tavern there and lived next to his Eddy in-laws before he moved down to Worcester city and died, in 1806. There are several Elisha and Ebenezer Cheneys in Worcester County, MA in the 1800's and I'd like to figure out how they connect. There is one Elisha Cheney in the 1850 census at Athol, near Royalston, who is listed as a pauper. Is this the grandson of the Revolutionary drum and fifer, Elisha Cheney b. abt 1849?

I revisited www.books.google.com and was amazed at the wealth of historic books that have been scanned there and available for download, including Pope's "Cheney Genealogy." I highly recomment this site for researching. Also, in www.ancestry.com I found references in "Massachusetts Marriages, 1633-1850" "U.S. Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783, "American Genealogical-Biographical Index (AGBI)," Record of Deaths In Worcester, From 1717 to 1825," and "Masssachusetts Town Birth Records."

And so it goes. So many questions and a trickle of answers. I'm glad to say that "Apple" read my last blog about the Akin family in Western New York and we've shared some distant family connection information (see her comment on last blog) --- more to follow, after I get back home tomorrow.

Jan in Ariz-Genealogy Akin-Stevens

2009-01-11T15:25:00.006-10:00

Fitting in some time between the kids and grandkids, I've been able to vist a Family History Center for the first time in a long time. 15 years ago was in Honolulu, and this months it's been in Sierra Vista, Arizona. I love browsing through all the good books and that has been my priority, as I usually do a lot of research on Ancestry.com and other internet sources. I found a good booklet of "10,000 Vital Records of Western New York 1809-1850" by Fred Q. Bowman, 1985. This listed several Akin and Stevens family relations. This booklet has marriages and death notices from five areas in Western NY. I was mostly interested in the Jamestown Journal, of Chautauqua Co., and the Wayne Sentinal (Palmyra Register) of Palmyra, Wayne Co., NY.
I found
-Akin, Lucinda, 34, wife of John H. died 1/31/1843 in Carroll, Chautauqua Co., NY - [I didn't know the exact day of death before.]
- Akin, Grace, 38, wife of Elijah, died 1/12/1835 in the Jamestown Journal.
-Akin, George, 22, formerly of Auburn, NY, died 7/14/1835 in Natchez, Mississippi. (in the Wayne Sentinel).
- Moore, Joseph K. married 12/12/1834 Betsey Akin in Carroll, Chaut Co.; Rev Peck (listed 1/7/1835)
- Morey, Freeland married 1/8/1844 Lucy Akin in Bust, Chaut. Co.; E. W. Parker, Esq. (listed 1/26/1844)
-Hall, Samuel E. of Sugargrove, PA married 2/10/1841 Mary Akin of Carroll, Chaut. Co., NY in Sugargrove, PA; M. Wilson, Esq. (listed 2/24/1841)
-Lacy, Samuel S. married 1/2/1844 Mary A. Akin, both of Chili, Monroe Co., NY, in Chili; Rev Billington. (listed 1/10/1844)
-Stevens, Phineas, Jr. 21, married 11/7/1817 Rhoda Glover, 35 in Phelps (in the Geneva Gazette - Geneva, Ontario Co., NY) [I don't know if he is related to "my" Phineas Stevens family?]
-Stevens, Gilbert, 12, son of Phineas, died in Canadaigua, NY -(listed 12/26/1827)
-Stevens, Walter of Richmond, Ontario County, married Lucy Osgood in Almond, Alleg. Co., NY (listed11/38/1827)
-Stevens, Walter, about 30, son of Daniel, was accidentally killed by a rifle shot by Cabot Barlow while deer hunting in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin - The parties were formerly from Chautauqua Co., NY (listed 6/30/1842)
-Stevens, Ebenezer (Maj Gen) 71, died 9/2/1823 in Rockaway, L.I., NY where he had gone for benefit of his health (LTC in Rev. War) (Listed in Geneva Gazette, Ontario Co., NY 8/17/1843)
-Stephens, Asa, 22 died 8/4/1843 in Ripley (Chautauqua Co.) (listed 8/17/1843).
- Stephens, Walter married 12/9/1834 Matilda Tew, both of Jamestown (listed 12/10/1834).

As my Akin cohort, Robert Akin, pointed out - according to the 1830 census, there was Edward, Elijah, Howard, James, Joseph, and William Akin living in Chautauqua County. It is somewhat easy to elimate some of these head of households as the father of Betsey, Lucy or Mary Akin (above) of Chautauqua County, but it doesn't exactly confirm who belongs to which family.

Here's what Robert found about Mary Akin listed above:

From a record of a letter I long ago sent him (that I found at the Fenton Library, in Jamestown, NY). It was from Mrs. Pamela Spanogle dated 12/1985, Subject: Correction to Fredonia Censor Gleanings. This letter identifies the Mary Akin that married Samuel Erastus Hall, Jr. as the widow of Aura Cronk Akin (1815-1839) s/o James Akin, II. Her maiden name was Wheeler.

He then found Freeland and Lura Morey in the census records. In 1850, he is called Freeland Masey, and they are on p. 21 of the Busti census. This record indicates that Lura was born abt 1824 . He found Freeland and Lura in the 1860 census for Busti, p. 37. He is listed as Frelan Mory. In 1870, Lura is living alone with Deloss, their son, in Busti - census p. 28. He did not find them in the 1880 census. The son is called Carlos in 1850, Dallas in 1860, and Deloss in 1870. He could not find him in 1880,either. Apparently Lura Akin, b. abt 1824, is the d/o Edward and Lura (Wilcox) Akin. The only little problem is that Edward and Laura seem to have this Lura b. 1824 and then later another daughter, named Laura, b. 1845. Why two daughter's named so similarly? Could this Laura be a granddaughter?

There are other possibilities to nail down the Betsey Akin from the newspapers. More work here to be done. Here is the website of Robert Larry Akin:

http://www.akinfamilyhistory.com/

The jury is still out on the Phineas Stevens relation of mine to the Stevens/Stephens mentioned above. I will continue with other findings at the Family History Center next time.

New Year's Memories - Traditions

2008-12-31T17:08:00.005-10:00

New Years traditions - from the questions by Miriam at http://ancestories2.blogspot.com/

Do you remember the first time you were allowed to stay up and see in the New Year? How old were you? How did you and your typically spend New Year's Eve during your youth?

I grew up in Los Angeles. My brother was 4 years older than me, so whatever he did, I followed. When we were very young my father strung a microphone/intercom from my bedroom to the neighbor's living room to hear any commotion when we were supposed to be asleep. I'm sure it was more than two tin cans and a string. This was in the late 1940's. I mostly remember that New Year's was a neighborhood event, with my parents getting together with neighbors to play canasta once in a while and usually on New Year's for several years when we were growing up. The grown-ups would sit in the living room (front room) and the kids would be in my brother's room. We had lots of snacks like peanuts and pretzels. Sodas were generally not available, I got sick on them anyway. My brother was the oldest of our "gang" in the neighborhood, and I was the youngest. The others were boys. So I usually got the brunt of any war or fight we were having. But I held my own. My brother knew how to play poker, so that's where I learned, at about age six. We mostly played a game called "Rummy Royal" or listened to records, 78s I think. I remember we would jump on the bed bouncing around acting crazy to the song "Cocktails For Two" and anything "Spike Jones and His City Slickers" did. . (see e-Bay pic at right) The zanier, the better. Of course we blew little paper horns and used whatever noise makers we had at midnight. Nobody used fireworks, I don't think they were even thought of. However one year, when I was visiting at the house in Los Angeles with my baby daughter in about 1971, someone fired a gun in the air and the bullet came down through the roof and ceiling into the bedroom where we slept.

*How did you typically spend New Year's Day in your childhood and youth? Did you visit family and friends? Did your family host an Open House? Did you watch the Tournament of Roses Parade and Rose Bowl game or another favorite sport?

We always, always watched the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena on television, and a couple times went to see it in person. We didn't have any big dinner or open house on New Year's day, that I recall. We often watched the Rose Bowl football game on TV, after the parade, especially if any friends came over. I loved to see the Rose Parade, and still do. Later, on 1 Jan 1988, my daughter was in the parade as a flag twirler in the color guard from Overland High School in Aurora, Colorado. It was wonderful to see her marching in the parade. We drove up there early from Hemet as we were staying at my Dad's new home in Hemet, CA. I videotaped the parade and then took a photo of the television screen as we later replayed the video, and put it on pause, when she marched by. That way I was able to uniquely capture that moment that she made her television debut! But it was so great to see all in person! (see photo of 2009 Rose Parade from TV)

2008 Wrap Up

2008-12-30T05:40:00.004-10:00

To wrap up the year 2008 I see lots of accomplishments, activities and achievements, but I also see lots more to do. I especially wanted to visit some Spanish speaking countries this year – which I did, going to San Salvador, Guatemala, a bit of Honduras and Belize, following the route of the Maya. I also wanted to spend lots of time with my daughter’s and grandchildren, which I also did – a month in July/August and now 3 weeks over Christmas 2008-New Year’s 2009. In the meantime I was able to qualify for Operation Smile and have a medical mission, lined up for Managua, Nicaragua for Feb 4th 2009, for plastic surgery of cleft lip/palate children.

This Christmas, in Sierra Vista, Arizona has been very festive and full of kids and families. We traveled up to Phoenix for two days to visit my son-in-law’s family. While the Pacific Northwest was struggling under snow, and Hawaii was struggling without power and enjoying Obama's visit, I had a holiday with good weather and snow on the mountain peaks.

Now I'm learning about “Geocaching” with my grandson, Braden. We followed the latitude and longitude clues found at http://www.geocaching.com/ for around this zip code area, and used my old GPS to zero in on the hidden cache around the Sierra Vista, AZ, and outlying areas. We found three “caches” and a couple of the bigger ones had little trinket treasures that the finder could chose from and take, and leave one of your own, if you want. While looking for the geocache we discovered that there is a nice nature path along a dry wash, and even stumbled on

a burned out trestle that once crossed the creek. Then we found a little park by the Whetstone Fire Station and discovered a hidden cache nearby. Finally we followed a clue coordinates to “A Starry Night” and discovered that there is an observatory on the campus of the Univ of Arizona, South. I didn’t even know there was a University campus there. So it looks like my fondness for “volksmarching” long ago in Germany is now becoming a fondness for geocaching in the USA.

On Christmas Eve, Scott, my son-in-law who is in the Army, rode his motorcycle in the escort of the 11th Signal Brigade's arrival from their deployment to Iraq, from the Ft Huachuca airport to their big family home-comings. There were 50-60 motorcyclists, many veterans with flags fllying, escorting the 5 busload of soldiers and another bus of airmen. Very nice to see them come home without any injuries or losses. The picture here shows Scott on the far right.

Of course, Genealogy is a prime endeavor, and I do work on that about every day. I’ve just realized, that my distant cousin via the Joshua Wallace family, may also be connected to me by the early Plumb family of Connecticut. Here's the generation where we may connect:

Descendants of John Plumb
1 John Plumb b: 24 Nov 1646 CT, Milford d: Mar 1727/28
.. +Elizabeth* Norton b: Abt. 1645 CT, Bramford m: 24 Nov 1668 d: Father: John* Norton; Mother: Dorothy*
... 2 Elizabeth Plumb b: 01 Nov 1669
....... +Samuel Hickock b: m: 1690;
... 2 John Plumb b: 29 Jul 1671 d: Abt. 17 Aug 1716;
....... +Rachel Bunnel
... 2 Mary Plumb b: 15 May 1673
....... +Joseph Kerby m: 17 Oct 1704
... 2 Sarah* Plumb b: 05 Apr 1675 Of CT, Milford, New Haven Co d: 17 Aug 1712;
....... +Joseph* Kellogg b: Mar 1677/78 CT, Norwalk m: 25 Nov 1702 CT, Norwalk, Fairfield; d: Bef. 21 Jan 1720/21 Father: Daniel* Kellogg Mother: Bridget* Bouton;
.........3 Rachel* Kellogg b: 15 Jul 1710 d: 24 Dec 1793;
............. +William* Reed b: 16 Nov 1708 m: 28 Nov 1729 d: 02 Aug 1793 CT, New Canaan; Father: John2* Reed Mother: Elizabeth* Tuttle
... 2 Hannah Plumb b: 15 Apr 1677
....... +Unknown Bunnel
2 Dorothy Plumb b: 23 Mar 1678/79
....... +Samuel Prindle b: m: 01 Jan 1698/99
... 2 Josiah Plumb b: 06 Feb 1680/81 d: Bef. 1719
... 2 Joseph Plumb b: 1683 d: 27 May 1742
....... +Elizabeth Bailey b: m: 05 Dec 1709 d:
... *2nd Wife of Joseph Plumb:
....... +Thankful Gaylord b: m: Aft. 1709 d:
... 2 Ruth Plumb b: 29 Nov 1685 d:
....... +Hezekiah Bunnell b: m: 03 Jul 1706 d:
... *2nd Husband of Ruth Plumb
....... +John Wheeler b: m: Aft. 1706 d:
... 2 Robert Plumb b: 19 Apr 1691 d: 30 Nov 1699

In 2001 when I was driving around America on my Vagabond “roots discovery” trip, I spent a bit of time in New Haven, Wethersford, Milford, and New Canaan, Connecticut. These were areas that the Plumb and Kellogg families lived after 1635. I think Wethersford , CT is best know now for a witch trial.

A sad note is that my first cousin (on the Hague-Wallace side), Carol's daughter-in-law, Kerry Putman, died Dec 7th, after a Thanksgiving holiday of riding a "quad" in the desert around Las Vegas where she and her husband lived. She was bruised after a collision accident, but no broken bones. She died a week later from a pulmonary embolism. A great loss to the family.

2009 will be here soon, I hope to keep more of a log at this blog. It should be a good year.

Stocking Stuffer

2008-12-15T10:10:00.008-10:00

Christmas is coming -

Stocking Stuffers Picture

(I've placed this entry at the top of my blog for easy viewing.)
In preparation for Christmas, and in response to "Smile For the Camera" - a Blog Carnival for genealogy, with a subject of "Stocking Stuffer" - I've found a photograph to submit for this December's Blog Carnival. My "Stocking Stuffer" photo is ME in a Christmas Stocking. It was my first Christmas and my parents hung a big stocking with me as the stuffer. My brother, Richard Hague, is standing next to me (Donna) in front of our fireplace, in Los Angeles, California. He's probably thinking that this was not what he had asked Santa for! The year was 1945. I hope the hook was sturdy, but I guess it was, as I don't remember becoming unstuffed if it gave way. I'm wearing a pink crochet top that my great-grandmother, Edith (Akins) Blanding probably made for me when I was born. Previous editions of "Smile For The Camera" can be found at the "FootnoteMaven's website: http://www.shadesofthedeparted.com/

PS. Seven years later, after I grew too big for the stocking, we put the cat, Smokey, in the stocking. He later let us know he didn't like being a stuffing!

The Carnival's In Town by footnoteMaven Dec 14, 2008

Here's an update of the results of the "Carnival" entries by "footnoteMaven" at

http://www.shadesofthedeparted.com/2008/12/carnivals-in-town.html

8th EDITION

Smile For The Camera ~ A Carnival of Images

This was a "Joy To The World" sort of Carnival. One of the most thoughtful, kind, and generous Carnivals yet. Each of the participants thought long and hard about what they would share and who they would share it with. Their choices were what you would expect from this great group of GeneaBloggers. I try not to comment on the submissions until the Carnival's In Town, to keep my impressions fresh, but it was so hard not to comment this time.

So, open the cover and browse the 8th Edition of Smile For The Camera's album of Stocking Stuffers and Enjoy This Holiday Season!

— ¤ — ¤ —

There could not be a more perfect start to this carnival than the "Stocking Stuffer" photograph that Donna Wendt posted at Another Day With Donna. When she said, "I've put a stocking stuffer photo on my blog," Donna meant it! So we start the Album with a photograph you just must see! Smile, you're at the carnival.

I Remember Christmas

2008-12-02T22:09:00.021-10:00

I REMEMBER CHRISTMAS

IN LOS ANGELES...

Donna (Hague) Wendt

Randy Seaver posted these questions on his geneamusings blog at http://www.geneamusings.com/2008/12/this-weeks-advent-calendar-of-genea.html and I found his answers very entertaining. Evidently they originated at Tom J. McEntee’s blog last year at http://destinationaustinfamily.blogspot.com/tionaustinfamily.blogspot.com/ (see December 2007 link called "Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories." I believe Jasia also helped originate the tradition. Here, for posterity, are some of the same questions, but with my own responses:

Did you ever send a letter to Santa Claus?

Yes, I wrote letters to Santa when young. Don’t know what ever happened to them, or if I got what I requested. When we got older, we’d write a “wish list” for our parents to peruse. In 1948 Dad set up a photo op of my brother, Dick, and I posting a big letter to Santa at the corner mail box.

Did you ever visit Santa and "make a list?"

I used to visit Santa at the Department stores like Broadway or May Co. on Crenshaw Blvd. I liked Santa and figured I’d trust him if I got a present. I remember one Christmas we all went to the Masonic Children’s Christmas Party in Los Angeles. We both got nice presents. Dad belonged to the Masonic Lodge for many years. In fact, Grandpa Pearce belonged to the Masons, too, but neither were active for long, I guess.

Do you still believe in Santa Claus? When did you find out "the truth" about Santa Claus?

I definitely believed in Santa when young. He would come to our house and give us presents on Christmas Eve. As I got a little older I wondered where Uncle Wally disappeared to one Christmas Eve, and he said he had to go to the store, so missed Santa’s visit. I always wanted to go out and see the reindeer. Then the next year I saw that Santa’s shoes were wingtip just like my Dad’s. In fact he had a Masonic ring, like Dad. Santa's face was a bad mask, but if you want to believe, you don't worry about the small stuff. At one point I asked my grandmother, Minnie (Wallace) Hague, if Santa were real. She said his spirit is real and he lives in our hearts. That was enough to confuse me and keep me thinking positively for a long while… a good answer so not to be too disappointed.

Snow in Los Angeles?

I do remember seeing snow on the mountains surrounding Los Angeles. Maybe twice before I went away to college in 1963. It had to be a very clear day, and cold. No haze, or smog. It was beautiful and everyone would go outside to the front and look towards the mountains. Los Angeles residents used to have incinerators in their backyards and burn all their trash (put garbage out front in a little metal garbage bucket, and put the grass and other trash in some kind of a trash can for the trash pickup). Clear into the 1950’s the butcher at the markets (such as Von’s Market on Western Ave near Manchester) would pay the housewives for bringing in their old cooking grease in a tin can. This originated during the war, II think.

Did people in your neighborhood decorate with lights?

Yes, but probably not in the early 1950s. I can’t remember any. Later, we did put up house lights and a porch decoration… or Dad did. We made a Christmas Photo card one year showing all four of us assisting with the job. Dad used a tripod. That was probably about 1960. Other neighbors had Christmas lighting, but I don’t think any really went “all out.” In the 1950’s Dad used to drive us to Exposition Park by the Coliseum in Los Angeles where there were beautiful lights and decorated trees. The cars drove slowly down the long drive and circled around for the drive back past the trees… as I remember. That was a big pre-Christmas treat. (sometimes we’d go to the Coliseum for the 4^th of July to see the fireworks, and everyone would light a match at the end.. very impressive.)

Did your family send Christmas Cards?

Yes, and my Dad always created them. Since about 1940 he took a photo and made a Christmas card out of it. He had a dark room in the garage for his photo developing and printing – always black and white. By the time I was born the card was on hard paper stock with crinkle cut edges. When I got older I used to help with the production, especially rinsing all the cards in the bathtub to remove the chemicals and then putting the cards (with some degree of moisture probably) in a card press that we would screw down tight with wing nuts. They came out of the press all flat and ready for us to stuff the envelopes that my mother addressed in her beautiful handwriting.

Did your family display the ones they received?

Yes, We usually had the cards in a basket of some sort on the coffee table in the front room. One basket was made out of the cards that were crocheted together to form a basket. Maybe Aunt Fern made it. She sewed all my clothes until after I went to Jr. High School. A few times we put the cards on the louvers on the doors between the Living Room and the Dining room. I think that was my idea. For a Christmas Card photo we taped the cards on the dining room drapes and moved the dining table out of the way. I loved the Christmas cards and before any were ever thrown away I would collect the prettiest ones and make other things of them, like place mats, or most commonly, littler gift enclosure cards for the next Christmas. I still save as many of the pretty cards as I can.

Do you still send Christmas cards?

Yes. But since I joined the Army in 1974, I’ve made a “Christmas Letter.” I would type a page and get some copies made. I remember looking hard for a copy machine when stationed in Germany, and putting in the correct coins to get a copy. I used green paper every year at first. The length of the letters increased as I used the letters as a way for me to remember what I did during each year. Then I’d add photos at the end. Finally with my computer the Christmas letters became long extravaganzas, with photos and clip art everywhere. One or two times I was too busy for the letter and doubled up on the years in the next letter. I never like to start writing the letter, but I’m always happy with the finished product and know I’ve got a record of the past year. Sometimes I folded the letter and put a stamp and addressed it, and other times I folded the letter and put it in an envelope. I hand address each one (haven’t figured out the Avery labels from the computer) put on a nice stamp and try to hand write a little bit at the bottom of the letter to each person. I try to not leave too much writing room.

Did your family have any traditional dishes for the holidays?

We always had turkey or ham. Since we also often had Thanksgiving at our house (unless we were up at the farm (grandparents - Senkers) we might alternate. It seems we probably also had Easter at our house, and that would be ham. Mom set up the dining room table, with a nice white linen tablecloth, and Mom’s Franciscan China with the rose pattern. We’d have a flower arrangement before the meal from the flowers from our yard. Usual guests every year were Grandpa Pearce, Aunt Pearl and Uncle Pat, Aunt Fern and Uncle Fred, and Grandma Hague (Minnie). The only extra friends I remember were once or twice Mr. Mackown a roomer at Grandma’s boarding house downtown; Bob Andrich from across the street once; and Bobby Ledesma, a boyfriend (and jockey) in Sr year High School once. One year, at least, Uncle Wally and Aunt Sue with Barbara and Janice were over; also Patti, Carol and Aunt LaVerne. Here is a photo of dinner in the dining room with Dad dishing out the turkey, Mom in the front, Dick at left, and Grandparents Senker on the right. Anyway, besides the turkey we always had delicious hot butterflake rolls, mashed potatoes (I loved the homemade lumps), and a vegetable such as frozen peas or perhaps green beans. Maybe even a green bean casserole with crispy onion rings from a can. I know cranberry sauce from a can was always on the table, along with black olives. I always would put the black olives on my fingers to eat them. I don’t know if we had sweat potatoes, I never liked them then. In fact I never liked or ate turkey because I hated turkeys ever since they jumped on my bare back when I was about 4 years old at the farm. I ran away from the turkeys even though my Dad was on the barn roof with Papa Roy yelling –“Don’t run away!” I didn’t eat turkey until I went to college. We always had pumpkin pie for desert. Usually with honey from the farm hives, and walnuts on top, also from the farm. The walnuts went into a glass nut grinder and you turned it upside down and turned the key to grind up the nuts. We also had vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. My father loved mince meat pie, so we probably had that too. He loved the mince meat pies that his Aunt Rose (Wallace) Johnson, in Oakland, would make (she added brandy).

Although not at such a sophisticated meal as Christmas dinner, but when my brother, Dick, and I ate with the Stewarts, in/from Ventura, we would have a lot of fun. We would toss the olives or peas into each other’s milk glasses. Dick and I and Linda and Ronnie. The grown-ups would eat in the dining room and we ate in the kitchen at their house, as I remember it. We’d have so much fun with the Stewarts. Mom and Dad went to school (Jefferson High) with Irma and George Stewart. Irma was with my mother starting in grammar school (Irma Baust). We also would have dinners with their other school friends, Eleanor (Land) and Jay Miller when we stayed at their house in Fresno (on the way to the farm by Red Bluff). The Millers had two girls (Eleanor Jean and Edwina) who were older than Dick and not so much hard-play fun. I was always the youngest of all.

Did you have a real tree, or was it artificial? How big was the tree? Who decorated the tree?

We always had a real tree, usually a Douglas fir. And always green. Maybe it was partially flocked a time or two. My Dad always fixed it up so it looked perfect in the house. It usually was just the right height so the top to the tree was just low enough so the glass topper could be placed on the top without touching the ceiling. Dad would drill holes in the trunk of the tree and stick extra branches in the holes to “fill out the tree.” It stood in a base of water in a metal tree stand which had to be tended to every day. It would be glorious to see the tree at night from the street with all it’s lights at the big bay window. Mom had a tree skirt to go around it and provided a pretty place to put the presents. We would all go to the Christmas tree lot and select the tree, then bring it home on top of the car. One year Dad used a photo of Dick and I selecting a Christmas tree on Manchester Ave, for our Christmas card picture. We didn't buy the white tree in the photo, but it looked better for the picture. Mom had all the Christmas decorations in a big box or two that had to be retrieved from the attic. The lights and wrapping paper and other decorations were up there. I loved it when Dad got the ladder open in the big hallway closet and popped the top to get into the attic. I loved walking around in the low attic space. After we got everything down to the living room, we'd eagerly wait to see if all the glass ornaments were still intact inside the big boxes. Each was carefully wrapped in white tissue paper and Mom would hand them to us one at a time to place carefully on the tree. We had special ornaments, and a few were specifically either mine or Dick’s. We looked forward to each of the decorations from year to year. We had bubble lights, and lead tinsel and small diameter silvery garlands. We all helped decorate the tree which usually went up a week or two before Christmas. We didn’t have the mini-lights, they were the size of the night lights today. Before putting the light strings on the tree – a very exact science calculated by my Dad, we would have to track down which light in the string was dead, so it could be replaced and the whole light would then turn bright. We didn’t routinely use popcorn and cranberries, but at least one year I wanted to string them so we had that as additional garlands. We also had a nicely decorated mantle over the fireplace. It often had white cotton felt type stuff laid out and little things on top. Mom decorated the glass hurricane lamps to look like Santa Clauses on each end. After all the presents of Christmas Eve were opened we hung the empty stockings for Santa to fill during the night. We always were excited to see the bulging socks in the morning. The milk and cookies we left would be mostly eaten, and the carrot for the reindeer would have a bite out of it.

November in Hawaii

2008-11-17T22:41:00.003-10:00

On the genealogy research scene, I've been slacking, because I had to study for my Pediatric Advanced Life Support Certification. Well, I took the class and test this weekend, and I am elated to say that I did pass, and hopefully I'll be able to now qualify to volunteer for Operation Smile - a medical mission to do cleft lip and cleft palate repairs in children around the world. We'll see what evolves next year. The photo on the right shows me attempting an Intra-Ossceous access (instead of IV access in a vein)... this is the new thing. You twist a needle into the shin bone marrow to put fluids through in an emergency. I hear the medics in the war are currently using a battery powered "E-Z I-O" drill to gain quick access for resuscitative fluids in the wounded....amazing!

But, even with the studying, you can't keep a genealogist completely away from the the fun, so I did some searching around to clarify some geography quandaries on the Akin family in Minnesota for my distant cousin, Robert Akin and his wonderful website http://www.akinfamilyhistory.com/. One question was about a note that said Verna Adeline Erie, wife of Thomas Garrit Akin, was born in Faribault, Minnesota. Did that mean Faribault County or Faribault (City), Rice County? Hmmm, I guess this is an example of poor foresight of the Minnesotan name makers with this and other city/county mismatches, such as Blue Earth (city) in Faribault County, verses Blue Earth County just to the north. I looked up the Erie family and found Verna Erie in the 1920 census at Faribault, Rice County, so that's where we figure Verna was from. I think the lesson here is to always identify both the county in addition to the city. If it is a township, then so state it. If you're not sure, then state the possible confusion in added notes.

I've been listening to the many Genealogy podcasts on my iPod at the gym, and I'm eager to try out some of the new websites or new features of my favorite websites. Anything happening with Ancestry.com is always of interest to me. I've watched two of their free webinars on my computer when they were offered. The next one is about the new edition of Family Tree Maker software version 2009. I'm not sure if I'll get the new version. I'm still with version 2006 and like it fine, but I'll see what's being offered.

November is here, Christmas is coming - Stocking Stuffers Picture

2008-11-17T16:40:00.012-10:00

In preparation for Christmas, and in response to "Smile For the Camera" - a Blog Carnival for genealogy, with a subject of "Stocking Stuffer" - I've found a photograph to submit for this December's Blog Carnival. My "Stocking Stuffer" photo is ME in a Christmas Stocking. It was my first Christmas and my parents hung a big stocking with me as the stuffer. My brother, Richard Hague, is standing next to me (Donna) in front of our fireplace, in Los Angeles, California. He's probably thinking that this was not what he had asked Santa for! The year was 1945. I hope the hook was sturdy, but I guess it was, as I don't remember becoming unstuffed if it gave way. I'm wearing a pink crochet top that my great-grandmother, Edith (Akins) Blanding probably made for me when I was born. Previous editions of "Smile For The Camera" can be found at the "FootnoteMaven's website: http://www.shadesofthedeparted.com/

Back from Train Trip in Canada

2008-10-17T14:43:00.011-10:00

I've been gone six weeks on a big train trip from west to east in Canada and east to west in northern USA. I've got plenty of wonderful stories and thousands of great photos... Now I need time to sort everything all out! (see photo of Bonnie (left) and me (right) on their horses south of Calgary. Look at the million dollar view of the Rockies from their place.

I did a little genealogy on this trip - found the land that my ancestor, Phineas Stevens II was granted from England after the Revolutionary War (he was a Loyalist)... dated 1784.... at Sissiboo, on St. Mary's Bay, south of Digby, Nova Scotia, Canada. (He was the son of Captain Phineas Stevens commander of Ft Number 4 in what is now Charlestown, New Hampshire, who died near Ft Beausejeur, Chignecto - Bay of Fundy area, Canada in 1755/6. ) Look at the map I found at the Admiral Digby Museum in Digby of the land grant (1784) to Phineas Stevens and his brother Enos Stevens, Weymouth was the eventual townsite. This is all on the south end of Nova Scotia, above Yarmouth. What a thrill to find the actual land they occpied after the Revolution. With this map I was able to walk on the land and see the same views they saw over 200 years ago. We talked to some current residents of the area and I am encouraged to dig further into the lives of these ancestors.

In the mean time I am immersed in studying for the PALS Pediatric Advanced Life Support test coming up in November. I'm taking the test to be able to try to volunteer as an operating room nurse on foreign medical missions. We'll see if I can eventually conquer this difficult (for me) subject matter.

I'm glad to be back in Hawaii where it is warm, and I'll never forget the wonderful adventure Bonnie (my old college roommate) and I had on ViaRail and Amtrak.
More later......

7 Aug 2008 - Arizona

2008-08-08T12:30:00.005-10:00

On my birthday, August 7th, I am back at the computer and find the time to describe my last two weeks in Arizona with my family. It took a GMC pickup and a Dodge Aspen to transport us all to the Sprucedale Guest Ranch, near Alpine, in the White Mountains of eastern Arizona. I drove the pickup and Emily (age 14) rode with me, acting as navigator and photographer. Daughter, Alisa, son-in-law Scott, and grandkids Heather and Braden were in the Aspen. We left Sierra Vista, AZ once we got ourselves packed, and headed north to the I-10 east. Around Willcox (home of Rex Allen, cowboy star), we turned north to Safford. At this point the lunch bell rang, and we stopped at Arbys, then the real treat was a dessert stop at Dairy Queen for their July special flavor: Girl Scout Chocolate Thin Mint Blizzard. How double delicious!. Heading east we reached Hwy 191, the Coronado Trail, which took us to the old mining towns of Clifton, Morenci and Metcalf. We were amazed at how huge the Morenci copper mine was. They say it's the biggest in America, I believe the Phelps-Dodge Company owns it. Clifton reminded me of old Bisbee. The highway north, paralleling the New Mexico border, is famous for it's many twists and turns. I was expecting worse, but because the road surface was very good, it wasn't so bad, however Alisa opted to take another route home (via the New Mexico side). We saw a few stranded cattle along the road, and hundreds of acres of forest that had burned a couple years ago.

After 6 1/2 hours we arrived at Road 26, just north of Hannagan Meadows. For the next 12 miles, west, we were on a gravel/dirt road and past some beautiful ranch homes and exceptional mountain meadows. Just before the ranch we drove through the meadow where the Ranch horses were loose to graze. There were several foals that we would later meet. Sprucedale has been a guest ranch owned by the Wiltbank family since 1941. This week there would be 32 guests, and more than half were children. Every day we rode horses on outstanding mountain/meadow trails, able to get out of the "line" and enjoy an actual ride. Meals were home-cooked and delicious in the dining room. Activities included foal leading, cow milking, kittens & puppies, horseshoes, vollyball, football, rodeo events, dances, a cookout, a evening bonfire, and hay wagon ride. We knew this time of year is the "monsoon season" in Arizona, but we were caught off-guard a couple times with the suddenness and intensity of the storms. It even hailed one afternoon. But these rains passed quickly and except for the mud in the rodeo arena, quickly forgotten. One day I took an "historic drive" with "Big Emer" Wiltbank in his Suburban with three other guests, and we saw a great deal of the historic country/ mountains/ lakes and into the Apache Reservation. When we got to the site of the former logging camp "Maverick" it poured rain, but we got a good idea of where our guest cabins were originally built on the Apache Reservation, and later moved to Sprucedale when the logging contract ended many years ago. The last day included a gymkhana of pole-bending and keyhole racing. I competed in both, and did OK, with only minor stresses on my right wrist and shoulder (I'm not 14 anymore!).

Saturday, July 26, we went separate ways, with Braden, age 11, and I driving north on Hwy 191, and the rest of the family heading back home. Braden and I were going to Flagstaff to participate in the Elderhostel Intergenerational Program: Rails, Ropes and Rafts. But we had one day to kill, so I decided that a detour to Canyon de Chelly National Monument would be interesting. Leaving Sprucedale we encountered horses crossing the Highway at the first town, Alpine. Of course I stopped an took photos... we were the only vehicle heading north at the time. Then we passed Nutrioso (means beaver & bear in Spanish), Eager, Springerville and St. Johns. We got caught up in the Rodeo parade at St. Johns as we ventured into the old Mormon ranching town to get gas. Finally we reached Sanders at I-40 and I was able to get a brief cell-phone signal on Verizon. We called Alisa and they were just about to Morenci on the way home. We continued north on Hwy 191 to Ganado and the Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site. It was a great surprise to visit this original trading post now on the Navajo Reservation. It was a step-back in time to enter the trading post built in 1883 and J. L. Hubbell's home. President Teddy Roosevelt was once a guest there. I spied an oil painting on the wall of the home, by Louis Akin, and ever seeking genealogical connections, I looked him up where I got home. Alas, he stems from a completely different Akin family than mine, as near as I can figure out. Just north about 30 minutes we reached Chinle, AZ and the entrance to Canyon de Chelly National Monument. We checked into the Thunderbird Lodge and with directions from the National Park Service visitor's center, we drove along the 19-mile south rim of the canyon and stopped at the beautiful overlooks. before sundown.

Sunday, July 27, 2008 Braden and I were up early to get breakfast at the lodge and take the Thunderbird morning truck tour into the Canyon floor. One must have a Navajo with you to enter the Canyon except at one particular trail to White House ruins. The canyon walls are up to 1,000 feet high and includes 2,000 prehistoric sites and 12 major Anasazi ruins. We enjoyed the open truck ride, especially when it criss-crossed through the river going up the canyon. But our schedule was tight, and after the tour we headed for a fast lunch and were off towards Flagstaff. I decided to try local Navajo Reservation Road 15 as the fastest route to Flagstaff. It turned out fine, and very scenic, but the Navajo Nation doesn't seem to post many roadsigns, so I relied on my map. We drove through Burnside, Cornfield, Sunrise Springs, Greasewood, Indian Wells, and Dilkon before returning to I-40 and a fast track to Flagstaff, and our La Quinta Hotel. Remarkably we arrived just exactly on time, at 3 pm, Arizona time (the Navajo Nation goes on federal time (day-light savings)). Just in time to check into our room and attend the Elderhostel registration. There were 37 of us, and mostly grandchildren, who would be here this week, and we all walked to dinner at the nearby Sizzler Restaurant.

This week was filled with so many wonderful and adventurous events and happenings, that I'd best just list them: Mon: Ropes Challenge Course (more later), Forest survival workshop, and Raptor presentation at the Flagstaff Arboretum. Tue: Bus to the Glen Canyon Dam; 3/4 mile walk to the Horseshoe Bend overlook; drive down 2-mile tunnel to the Colorado River to take rafts for floating down 25 miles to Lee's Ferry; dinner at Cameron Trading Post. Wed: Geology presentation at the University of Northern Arizona and freetime which Braden and I filled with a visit to the Pioneer Museum, and the Museum of Northern Arizona, finishing at the University of Northern Arizona Library - to search the Special Collections for my Ferrell/Blanding family neighbors when they lived in the Cliffs district northeast of Flagstaff (more later). Thur: Bus to Williams, AZ, then old train to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon National Park. We hiked down Bright Angel Trail a for a ways and visited the historic buildings and sights on the rim. A great treat was double scoops of ice cream. There was a horseback train robbery on the train ride back to Williams, and singing cowboys. A great trip. Fri: our last day was the morning a Walnut Canyon National Monument just east of Flagstaff. There are more Anasazi cliff dwelling ruins in this beautiful canyon. All too soon our time ended and we headed back to Sierra Vista. Unfortunately, I would later learn that I'd forgotten to take the clothes hanging in the closet at La Quinta. When I later called them, they had put it all in a bag at the lost and found and we arranged to have it sent UPS to my home in Hawaii. Pheww!

To go back to the bit of genealogy research I was able to do. My great Aunt Fern Blanding married Lee R. Ferrell around 1914, but he died about three years later, so then she married his brother, Carl E. Ferrell, around 1917 and moved to a ranch near Flagstaff. They are located on the 1920 US Census at Cliffs Precinct, Coconino County, Arizona. My mom said that Uncle Carl was a big lumberman who, together with my grandfather, Leonard Pearce, and Aunt Fern, bought some property to raise potatoes and probably hay, etc. Looking at Carl's WWI Draft Registration card he shows he was at "Black Bill Park" a meadow area originally purchased by Black Bill ( H.Conrad West) when the land was a possible railroad track site to get to Grand Canyon. Braden and I visited the UNA Library to look up their neighbors that were there when my mom visited them in about 1920. Using the UNA computers I printed out the census pages and found the neighbors, the Harlow Jaeger family, Floyd & Daisy Copeland, and the Bert Doyle family. Braden searched the photo archives card cataloge and found an 1894 original photo of Bert Doyle standing on the steps of the Flagstaff city hall. We had to have white gloves, etc. to view the photos of him and also author, Zane Grey. I think Bert Doyle may have help guide Zane Grey around Flagstaff (Al Doyle was noted as the guide). Anyway I ordered a copy of that photo for $15 and should get it in the mail.

The long trip back south to Sierra Vista was a bit eventful. North of Phoenix there was a two-motorcycle accident which blocked Interstate-10. We sat at a standstill for 10 or 15 minutes then went about 5 mph merging into one-lane for the next five miles until we passed the scene. While stopped the digital thermometer readout on the truck rear-view mirror showed 122 degrees F. It was very hot and we were wondering how interesting it would be to have raw eggs and see them fry on the pavement. Between Phoenix and Tucson we narrowly avoided a terrific thunderstorm and sandstorm that passed across the highway just before us. We came upon two wrecks on either side of the highway who had been blown off. One car was totally upside down. At last we arrived back in Sierra Vista at sundown and had a nice reunion with the rest of the family.

18 July 2008

2008-07-18T05:26:00.003-10:00

Now in Sierra Vista, Arizona - south of Tucson, near the Mexican border. It is not all that hot here, despite the scorching highs in Phoenix. Sierra Vista is at a higher altitude and now the rainy afternoon monsoon season has started, keeping the area comparatively cool. I'm visiting my daughter, Alisa, and her family here. We've taken the dogs to the community dog park, seen "Kit Kittredge, American Girl' and "Journey to the Center of the Earth" at the theaters, taken the dogs to the San Pedro River to walk and play in the stream, done some shopping and eaten out for daughter, Alisa's, birthday dinner.

After a big birthday pool party July 19th, Saturday, we will leave Sunday for a week at the Sprucedale Guest Ranch in the Eastern part of Arizona in the White Mountains. Horse back riding, fishing, cow milking and campfire entertainment are on the agenda. Plus we're going to take along some board games to play in our cabins in the evening. With three kids and three adults we're sure to keep entertained.

I had to buy a new camera yesterday, my trusty Sony cybershot using convenient rechargeable AA batteries has been dropped too many times. I thought I'd have to buy one while in Guatemala, but I found that a few knocks and squeezes usually restored it's connections so I could use it OK. But it's just not reliable for the quick photo. So, I bought the Sony Cybershot W150. It's small, and I think it does about everything my old camera did, and more. I'll add a couple new photos here later.

20 June 2008

2008-06-20T09:46:00.011-10:00

The last week in May, before I left for Central America, I spent a week in Los Angeles and Southern California doing some genealogy. I visited the former homes and schools of mine my parents, my grandparents, great aunts, and great-grandparents. These were from the Hague, Wallace, Blanding and Akins families.

After my first day driving all over L.A, I stayed with long-time school friend Carolyn and her husband (see photo of Carolyn & Leonard at table), in Palm Desert.

Then I drove over through Hemet to Lake Elsinore and stayed with 3rd cousin Joyce Stucky Movius of our Akin lineage. (see photos of her family members).

Donna-Joyce-Georgette with Akin Heritage book I gave Joyce

Joyce in 4-generation photos

I was overjoyed when Joyce gave me an old water and mold-damaged tin-type photo album that had belonged to Howard Nelson Akins. (see photo of old tin-type). So I am going to take special care and fix up the scanned old tin-type images . Few have names, I'll try to preserve and identify them all. I had inherited a little box of a few of Howard's papers, etc. when he died in 1954. I was a child, but very impressed with the "old things" including mention of his father, Marshall J. Akins serving in the Civil War -36th Reg, Wis Vol. - I think this is what started my early interest in genealogy. Marshall Akins was born in 1844 at Busti, Chautauqua County, New York.

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Finally, I drove to Fullerton to visit cousin Patti and her family. We had a big dessert night and her sister Carol and family came over. These are my Dad's nieces and of the Hague / Wallace lineage. See photo of some of the clan around the table.

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I drove back to Los Angeles and took even more photos of old family homes. Google maps helped out. Here is a photo of a Blanding family home from the 1920's or 1930's on Long Beach Ave. The train tracks are in front of it. It used to be painted white and was called "The White House."

From LAX I flew to Central America with Overseas Adventure Tours. In a group of 16, we visited Mayan ruins in El Salvador, Honduras (Copan), Guatemala (Tikal), and Belize (Lumanai). It was a good experience and all things went very well.

Marching through May

2008-05-20T17:01:00.004-10:00

May has already been filled with many projects and activities. I've had good success corresponding with my Rees cousins in Wales relating to a descendant of Mary Rees, a daughter of Elizabeth Rees & William Rees. We are just trying to find out which of two possible Mary Rees that fit the parents and birth year she is. In our line Elias Rees (b. 1805) & Jennet Morgans are the great-grandparents; Elizabeth Rees is their daughter, and Mary would be the granddaughter. We'll see what more can be found.
We were all very excited to see pictures of Elias Ree's carpenter's ruler and carpenter's apprentice wooden puzzle piece. Wonderful pieces to think were once in the hands of our illustrious ancestor (see photos -from Elias Rees descendant, Marcus Tiddy).
I'm busy preparing a booklet of the recent "Akins Family" for a cousin, Joyce, in California. We both have David Akins & Sarah Minerva Ells as ancestors. I'll be visiting her soon so we can compare each other's old Akin photographs and try to identify them. I'm eagerly awaiting Joyce's stories of old, and I hope to record them using a recording attachment for my iPod.
Lots to do and learn.

April 2008

2008-04-11T10:51:00.004-10:00

Things are busy, as usual... But these last few weeks are filled with my efforts in trying to save photos and papers that were in a house that completely was destroyed by fire. I've learned a lot about preservation, and know that it is an important and time consuming project. The photo on the right was in a plastic enclosed album and the fire hose water just dissolved the whole top half of this 1920's photograph. Luckily most of the wet photos are more recent and came out fine, unless mold started. These particular old photos must have undergone a little different processing and were not quite so stable.

In the meantime I've had to make new airline reservations to replace the ones on ATA Airlines that just went bankrupt. I'll get credit from the credit card company, and there was time to make new reservations, although at a $200 increase in the choice of flights available. I'm going to Southern California, then to Central American on an Overseas Adventure Tour. I've also been busy making reservations for flights on my upcoming trips to Canada and Arizona for this year.

I enjoy using my "Gizmo5" software (similar to Skype) that I can use to telephone from my computer to "land line" telephones around the world. I call my cousins in England/Wales, and friend in Canada and am charged just 2 cents per minute. So we talk for an hour at a time.

In the United States I use my cell phone and the Verizon plan to call anywhere in America. I gathered the courage to keep trying to contact my mother's cousin at Lake Elsinore, California, and tried her phone number, but it wasn't a valid number. Finally after searching the internet, I thought I'd try a different area code that seemed to be popping up, and lo and behold, Joyce answered the phone on the first try with the new area code. It was great! I have been wanting to visit her and compare old Akins family photographs. As luck would have it, Joyce was having a gathering of some of her family, and I got to talk to them and get their e-mail addresses, etc. Now, when I go to Southern California for a week, I know I'll be able to find the Akins family. I've been emailing her nephew, Gary, and he tells me that Joyce is a good story teller, so I must get my iPod recording attachment ready for the visit. Addie & Edith Akins in photo above. They were sisters. Edith Akins Blanding was my great-grandmother. Addie Akins Stucky was Joyce's grandmother... from Skyberg, Goodhue Co., Minnesota.

Monday, March 31, 2008

2008-03-31T12:16:00.003-10:00

I'm trying to get at least one posting on this blog each month, and looks like this is the last day. I'm immersed in a project of helping friends rescue their photos and important papers today. Their house burned down last Thursday and the rubble will be bulldozed today. Such an immense and sad task.
Will add more later. Donna