Back to the Rees and Hague roots

    In 2014 I was very happy to welcome Cris Lythe, my cousin through our common 2-great-grandfather, Elias Rees, of Carmarthenshire and Glamorgan, Wales.  She flew to Hawaii via Los Angeles from England and I hope she'll become a frequent flier to Honolulu!   We saw a few of the sights around Oahu and did a lot of talking.  My plans came together to travel, myself, to England in the fall to attend another cousin's (Judith Medlock) big birthday party and a gathering of the assorted cousins able to the following day in September.
    In preparation for the "reunion" with my wonderful Rees cousins, I prepared a book online at a site called Shutterfly.  It was a ton of work, but a real labor of love.  It was not difficult to do, but very time consuming.  Even then, I made errors which I'd like to correct for the future.  I passed out these soft covered photo-books to those families who had contributed so much to our common Rees history.  I started with Elias' grandparents' marriage then baptism records and then Elias' own marriage record and children's births.  Elias Rees and Jennet Morgans had five daughters.  They moved from Kilgwyn Mill, near Llangadog, Carmarthenshire for work in Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorgan, about 1837 (I need to double check the date).  Elias became the "Carpenter of Cyfarthfa Castle." Coal and Iron were king in those days.
    I devoted several pages to the backgrounds of each of the five daughters' descendants.  It was fun to gather this information and photos.  Family tree charts were included, along with maps of the early Rees farms and residences.  At the end of the book I included descriptions of those who'd served in the military (I'm sure I've left out many), and some who had recently died that contributed so much to the Rees genealogy.
   I spent three weeks in England and Wales, traveling from one gracious home of a cousin to another.  I really appreciate the kindness shown to me in every instance.
   One cousin, John McKee, lives near Manchester and this happens to be near where my Hague great-great grandfather, James Hague, was from.  Despite not being on the "Hague line,"  John took me to Dukinfield, Cheshire (Tameside District), to see the sites of my father's ancestors, and to get some government birth and marriage records in person.  We drove all around Ashton-Upon-Lyne, across the river from Dukinfield.  In the 1841 UK Census, James Hague is noted as a "tanner" - an occupation that I found very interesting, as the industrial revolution had created huge businesses and employment in the cotton mills.   We went to a "Hat Museum" which I found fascinating as it showed the history and intricacies of being a hatter and hat finisher from the cottage industries, to later days.  The original machinery of one of the last hat companies is in the museum.
     Before I went to England, I was contacted by a Hague cousin in Canada.  I do believe we had the same ancestors, via the father of my James Hague.  That would be Edward Hague of Dukinfield.  Very interesting that this family's first children were baptised as  (forgot the name) and I visited the cemetery at the site of the original church in Dukinfield, very near where the Hagues lived.  It is very exciting to find relations from this Hague/England link, and I hope to continue more sharing of the family ties.
   In Wales, cousin Jan and husband, Russ Clarke, drove me all over Carmarthenshire.  The brakes on their car got good use as I was always saying "Wait, stop, I need a photo of that!"  We knocked on a few doors and had gracious welcomes of old acquaintances.  Especially exciting was visiting the old mill which I believe Elias Rees had described in a notebook in 1838 as the place where he was from.  Being written in Welsh, and quite faded, it took "a village" to decipher the writing and decide that it was a particular mill a half mile from the "Dolgoy" farm where we believe Elias was either born or raised...  or his family worked there.   Also, next to that mill was the Bethlehem Church and Cemetery.  Tombstones of the Morgans family were abundant and still decipherable in that cemetery.  I think they are parents/relations to Elias Rees' wife, Jennet Morgans.  More research still needs to be done on Jennet.  The kind owners of the mill site gave us a tour of the home and renovated mill.  She said she thought she had old deeds to the ownership of the mill, which I hope she can find and share with me.  Was is a Rees mill, or Morgans?
    Upon my return home I did discover, in old newspapers, online, that James Hague was an active "Chartist." This was an unknown term to me until I found his arrest record in the paper, and that led to learning about this reform movement.  Perhaps that's why James decided to get out of England in 1848 and come to America (first Rhode Island, then settling near Des Moines, Iowa).
     My travels in 2014 left me little time to actually integrate and substantiate my research and information / photo gathering.  I expect to be home from March to May 2015 to do genealogy and tell the stories of my ancestors.
 

Time Goes By

I've not had too much time to devote to my internet research at FindMyPast.co.uk , BUT I did have the great pleasure to host my cousins from Wales in April.  We found each other through the internet in 2000 after I posted the names found in the bible of my grandfather.  It showed the family of Elias Rees of Merthry Tydfil, Glamorgan, Wales.  His granddaughter, Jane, came to America in 1881 and married her intended shortly after her arrival in Des Moines, Iowa, where their son, my grandfather, Leonard PearceL was born.  Other descendants of Elias Rees contacted me after seeing the names on Rootsweb, and we all got together a couple times in Wales and England.  One cousin, Judith, and her teenage triplets visited me a couple years ago and it was such fun.  Recently, Jan and Russ, were finally able to make it to my home in Hawaii and see how their American cousin lives.  I kept them very busy seeing all the sights and doing all sorts of fun things.  We recalled the days we had spent driving around Wales visiting the sites where Elias Rees was  born and lived.  We spent time in the Carmarthenshire archives and held family reunions.  At one reunion I managed to sing the Welsh National Anthem with them, in Welsh.  I hope I can return to the beautiful country of Wales and learn more about my family and the history of the places they lived so many years ago.  In the meantime I am going to work harder to get more answers from my online genealogy subscriptions.

Find My Past – I’m Tryin’

I’m finally making the big move – the one where I pay for a subscription to www.FindMyPast.co.uk .  It is an expensive proposition to search on this site, that is, to view the transcriptions and images of genealogical records.  I’m especially interested in the British Parish Records.  In 2007 I opted for the 6.95 pound limited search (like 10 records), but that didn’t last long, so this time I want the 69.95 pound subscription for six months.  Woo is me though, I’m all fired up to start my Hague, Rees, Pearce, Barker, Walters, Williams research, but my charge on Visa didn’t go through.  It had to go through the Visa Verification process, something new for me, which asked me for a User Name and Password.  Where would I have gotten that????  It wasn’t the one for FindMyPast.  So I wrote an email to the FMP customer service, but they don’t work on the weekends.  Isn’t it always night when you want to contact businesses and they are closed?  Living in Hawaii and trying to contact England is a time zone nightmare (so to speak).

   In the morning I received an automated telephone call from Visa Verification asking if I’d tried to make a purchase.  I punched in the key for Yes on the phone, answered a few more questions, and it said I was cleared to make the purchase and to contact the vendor.    Well, by that time it was Friday night in England… so now I’ll have to wait until next week to jump into Find My Past… .I emailed them again to question if I should attempt another subscription purchase, or would the first try still work.  I think I’ll try telephoning them with Skype late Sunday night, my time.  So confusing, for something simple.  I never seem to have much luck making purchases online to England.

   I tried to make a credit card purchase for a record at the Tameside area records (Lancashire, England) but, at least a year ago, they weren’t set up for credit cards, and that office was the only ones that had the particular Hague birth records I was wanting.   They only accept Sterling cheques or International Reply Coupons through obtained through the post office, and it is ridiculously expensive.  Civil Registration in England and Wales began on July 1^st, 1837, and I’m looking for birth records of Ann, Elizabeth, Edward and John Hague – all born around Dukinfield, Cheshire between 1831 and 1837.   Luckily I have a Rees cousin near Manchester who has volunteered to go to the Tameside office and get the records if found, so I plan to do that when I get myself organized.

It's a lot easier for the children born after Civil Registration started as those are available from the GRO website and they take credit card payments online. This (above) is one I received for Mary Ann Hague who was born 8 Sep 1844.

Veteran's Day Salute - My Hague Family

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.

 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  

  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.
^^^^^^^

 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
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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).

Arizona Christmas 2010 & New Years

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

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





End of Summer

     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.

Alfred Vincent Hague

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

Hague Happy Dance

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.

20 June 2008

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.

Wed Feb 27 2008

The month of February gets shorter every year. I successfully completed the first half of my movies from my 2006 Mongolia trip. I used Roxio Easy Media Creator software and had a difficult time creating it. I included video, photographs, narration, background music, native music, graphics / subtitles. It was a lot to ask my 2004 PC computer with only 1 GB ram to handle the movie of 1 hr and 15 minute length. After many hang-ups/crashes I kind of learned to "save" every few minutes and endure the wait. I took a great many days to research the history of Mongolia since the time of Gengis Khan, and presented it in a condense 15 minutes at the start of the movie. I did all this work in order to make the presentation at our Honolulu Adventurers' Club at the Waialae Country Club (see photo at right). Sixty-five people attended the evening which included a $20-$25 dinner. So I was happy the movie, in the form of a DVD, was able to run on the DVD player and projector and used the house sound system. Sooo now that that's done I thought about doing the last have i.e. editing down the last 3 hours of raw videotape, etc. and I bought a new video editing software called Sony Vegas Movie Studio. Well, that's a whole 'nother can of worms to learn, but I think it will work. I'm going to give myself a break from video editing for a month or so.

After Feb 7th I had time to work a few days at Honolulu Hale, the City Hall, to televise the City Council Meetings. I've continued to work out diligently at the gym, and have finally seen the scale move in a downward direction! One day at the gym I saw Dog The Bounty Hunter's son and asked him if it were true that the series was going back on A & E. He was very polite and nice, and said that it was true and they were expecting the film crew in a week. So I'll be glad to see it back on TV.

It is whale season in Hawaii and I walked out to the nearby Makapu'u Lighthouse with Lucille, to get some exercise, sun and see the whales that were off shore. It was a beautiful day, and so clear we could see Moloka'i and Lana'i. There were many whales, and their blows and tail fins were quite visible from our lofty viewpoint. At one point a baby whale was seen to be apparently learning how to breech. At the left is a photo I took early in the month just at sunrise, being able to look eastward across the Ka'iwi Channel to the island of Moloka'i and seeing also Lana'i. The closest Oahu is to Moloka'i is 26 miles.

I attended the preview at the Honolulu Academy of Arts of "The Dragon's Gift" arts and dances of the country of Bhutan (see photo of masked dancer on left). It was very enjoyable and beautiful. I haven't been to Bhutan, but it has similarities to Tibet. Unfortunately I slipped a tiny bit on my shoes and strained the muscles or ligaments on the outside of my right foot. That was enough to side-line me from walking or going to the gym for 48 hours as I let it heal. I had to miss a much anticipated shoreline "hike" up on North Shore near Turtle Bay to Kahuku, but I didn't want to chance the rough terrain. The foot is doing well.

I've gotten back to my genealogy and really enjoy searching around on the internet, especially ancestry.com. I've talked to cousins Dorothy and Don, in Iowa, about our Hague family and have been able to collaborate quite a bit.

Speaking of talking, a fantastic resource that has been around a while, but I just finally got gumption enough to try, is telephoning over the internet. I think it's called VOIP. I downloaded a program from the internet called Gizmo Project. It is really terrific to use. I put up $10 credit at the website and can use that credit to telephone around the world. Because I have my Rees cousins in England and Wales I have used it. At 2 cents per minute we can talk an hour for almost less than mailing a letter. I love the GizmoProject. I use a headset that plugs into the USB slot and can talk without needing my hands or worrying about bending over the microphone that came with my computer. I've also called my friend Bonnie in Nanton, Canada.

I watched a video on RootswebTV.com that GenealogyGuys.com created and wrote a little feedback to them saying how much I liked it "Down Under: Florida" about a story they researched from a tombstone in Florida (see photo at right). I asked about what the technicalities were in its production. I was quite surprised, when listening to their podcast, that they mention receiving the comments from "Donna in Hawaii" and talked about 20 minutes about their video creation. I was so absorbed by the whole discussion - and hearing my name every few minutes - that I sped up on the elliptical machine to 70 rpms and expended an all time high number of calories -- and almost effortlessly. It was a good distraction!

A neighbor had a big moving sale and I ended up with four rugs, one big Indich rug and three little rugs. That then prompted a surge of house cleaning, but not before a fun afternoon in Manoa Valley: I was invited to "High Tea" with my Army friend Julia Maguire's sister, Emely, and her daughter, Karin, at the Salvation Army's Wailoi Tea Room in Manoa Valley. We had a delectable selection of scones, breads, sandwiches, and deserts, plus a big selection of fresh teapot brewed teas. Our photo is on the right.

Sep 22, 2007

I've been very busy these last three week since I've been back home in Hawaii, after being on the mainland for two months. What I've HAD to do is organize and pack efficiently for my month-long trip to China/Tibet and Cambodia - I leave tomorrow, Sunday, Sept 23, 2007. But what I try to do whenever I can sneak it in, is to work on genealogy and especially compile, sort, annotate and look at, all the family photos and research I did while I was in Indiana and Iowa. It is so great to see the pieces of the genealogy puzzle fall into place. Also I am trying to get promised pictures back to the family members I met while I was in Iowa. It's quite a job. Here is a photo of Hague descendants: Mary, OralMay Wilson; me; Jim (& Gladys) Wilson; Bill Wilson in Des Moines.

I took probably 3,000 digital photos of my time in Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Indiana and Iowa. Many were of the scenery in Arizona and Utah, and many were of my daughter's family and brother's family in the West. But when I arrived at Allen Co. Library in Indiana, I began taking digital photos of the books, pictures and microfilm available for research there - and later at the various libraries and historical societies in Iowa. Then there were the photos of my extended Hague family from Des Moines, farm sites of my Hague, Wallace and Pearce homesteads and especially the big family reunion there. I'm grateful for the hospitality of my Hague cousins, Don and Dorothy Wilson in West Des Moines, and of course, my daughter and family in Sierra Vista, AZ.

I've been going to the 24hr Fitness gym every day for 1.5 hours in an effort to take off some of the extra pounds I gained while living-it-up with family. Last Saturday I was at the gym, upstairs where the weights and machines are. I was happy to see a local celebrity working out - "Dog, The Bounty Hunter" Duane Chapman and his son Duane Lee. They live in the area and are on their third season on TV station A & E with the show. I like it because of all the local shots they do of Hawaii. He and his wife, Beth, are real characters, but I think they do good work. I said "Hi, Dog" to him when he walked by, and he stopped to say thanks, so I told him to "Keep up the good work."

Then after a half hour upstairs I went down to do my 2 miles on the elliptical trainer. Who should come out to work out on the treadmill in front of me, but Daniel Dae Kim (left), the Korean husband character "Jin" on the popular TV series "Lost" which is filmed in Hawaii. He certainly is in good shape! He ran on the treadmill for 20 minutes and while I was at the drinking fountain he came up to take a drink beside me. I didn't talk to him. He lives around here, as does the Josh Holloway (right), the guy who plays "Sawyer" on "Lost." It seems that was THE day to be at the gym.

NOW - I am all packed for China. I managed to get everything in a medium sized roller suitcase, and a wheeled backpack. The luggage limitation for internal China flights are very small - 11 pounds for a carry-on and 44 pounds for one checked suitcase. Lucille James is going to be my travel companion and I'll be very happy to have a friend to travel with. We'll meet at Honolulu Airport tomorrow at about 6:30 a.m. and fly out to Shanghai via Japan tomorrow. Thank heavens the Typhoon Wipha that passed by Shanghai a couple days ago has gone and I guess I'll hear what damage was done to the area west of that Chinese city. We'll be in Shanghai four days on the pre-trip extension and Cambodia for the post-trip extension. If anyone wants to see the itinerary for my trip you can go to www.oattravel.com and click on Imperial China, Tibet & the Yangtze River then "View & Print Itinerary."

So, until next month --- aloha!

Sep 5, 07

Hello! I'm back home in Honolulu after being on the mainland for two months.


So much happened during the time I was in Indiana and Iowa
(Aug 11-Sept 4). It was all about family and genealogy. I'll put a few photos here and maybe write more later. One is of the 40 family members that came to the big "Hague/Rynearson/Wilson" family Reunion in Des Moines. Another is of Dorothy Rynearson and I with Sharon Carlisle Moore and her son Kirby Moore. I hadn't seen Sharon since I was 7 years old at my grandfather, Alfred G. Hague's house in Des Moines. Her brother, Chester, taught me to open my eyes underwater that summer.

The drawing is a photo of an original sketch my grandfather, Alfred G. Hague made for his niece, Grace Wilson many years ago. It is his idea of the Hague homestead of 1885. It shows the original house and barn. The barn burned and another was built to the left of the corn crib. But now all the buildings you see are gone. The place is just cornfields, an interchange to I-35 from Des Moines to Minneapolis, and part of the Ankeny, Iowa Airport. Gladys Keeling, a descendant lives on the remaining acres in a small house built about in the 1920's. I really prize seeing this sketch as I'm fascinated with the Hague Homestead, and the fact that my grandfather drew it. My father, Alfred Vincent Hague, spent many summers in his youth at this Hague Homestead which was established about 1861 near Berwick, Iowa - just north of Des Moines in Polk county. Wilson for allowing me to get pictures of this sketch and many Thanks to Grace's daughters, Mary and OralMayother old family photos.

I borrowed my cousin, Don's, pick-up truck (thanks Don!!) and drove up to Boone, Iowa for three days. There I met up with my Pearce cousin, Jeanie Ewing McDougall from LeMars, Iowa. We went to the Boone Co. Courthouse and found the deed books that recorded our great-grandparents purchase and later sale of two town lots in Angus, Iowa. (see picture) John and Jane Pearce, newly immigrated from Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, built a house and raised six kids in this coal-mining boomtown. The left in 1900 when the boom was over to continue coal mining in Colorado Springs. The property records clerk at the Court House was amazingly helpful and we were very happy to know John Pearce had saved enough money to pay $200 for the lots. We drove to where Angus once was, and located the exact property where they had lived. It was a real step back in time.

I was especially happy to find a picture of the school where our grandparents, Leonard and Margaret Pearce must have attended in Angus before 1900. Like everything else in the town, the school is long gone. See Picture. It was a two-story, four room school for all ages. We visited the Boone County Historical Society and an evening meeting of the Boone County Genealogical Society. While at the society a blaring horn went off - an alarm meaning a tornado had been spotted. It was very dark outside, but hadn't started raining. With lightening and thunder all around we sped back to our motel. They told us where the "shelter" was and gave us bottled water. Just as we got inside the sky opened up and a very heavy rainy downfall engulfed the area. The front moved on west, without much incident, but the thunder, lightening, rains and winds provided enough excitement for the trip.