Grandma & Grandpa

Today would have been my maternal grandparents sixtieth wedding anniversary. Unfortunately Grandma passed away just after their 45th and as I mentioned in my last post, Grandpa passed away this last Christmas (December 28th to be specific). They had an incredibly rich life though. They met in Germany where they were both working on a farm after the war. The married on May 18, 1952 at the Lutheran Church in Beedenbostel, Germany which is just outside of Gockenholz where the farm was. In 1953 the emigrated to Canada along with my grandmother's parents, three brothers and sister. The landed at Saint John, New Brunswick and took the train to Raymond, Alberta. There they all worked on a sugar beet farm for a few years to pay back the fees that the Lutheran Church had paid to sponsor them to come to Canada. From there they moved up to just outside of Edmonton and lived on a farm and then in town for the rest of their lives. They had five children. Two boys, two girls and fifteen years later, another boy. My mom was the youngest girl. Because my family moved from Alberta to BC when I was three I didn't have daily contact with my grandparents but we'd visit several times a year and often for a longer stretch during the summer so I did have a good relationship with them. It's hard to believe they're both gone now and that Grandma has been gone for half my life. I still miss her every day. I was given her wedding ring when she passed away. It's just a simple gold band with Grandpa's initials and the date of their wedding engraved inside (HB Mai 52) I wear it every single day and rarely take it off. Today means that it is at least sixty years old as well. It's a reminder of their quiet love and simple endurance. I treasure it more than anything and am honored to wear it.

What's up?

So, what have I been doing since I got home two weeks ago? Honestly? Not much. It's been great :) I worked briefly last Saturday and then did a six hour shift on the 16th. This week I'm scheduled for 24 hours (four, six hour shifts). I went to a bridal shower, I went to the beach with a friend and her two kids, and I went out for dinner with some school friends. The picture is Kinsey and Heather, who were in my French 102 class, Kinsey's roommate Kirsten and I. Other than that, I've just been hanging out in my air-conditioned basement suite scrapbooking a bit, reading, uploading photos and generally taking it easy.

I did do a bit more genealogy research and figured out that the James Madden on the cemetery marker that I found IS my great-great-great-grandfather. Note to self: don't rely on transcripts done by volunteers. Use your own eyes and you'll see that the date IS 1866 not 1886. Duh. Anyways, I also found a marriage record for James and Amarilla (his second wife) and that lists his parents names (my great-great-great-great-grandparents) which I can in turn cross reference with census records and finally link James to another large family of Maddens that I kept running into. Turns out it's his brother! So the search continues but it's fun.

I've also been watching a lot of movies. My List has "watch all the movies on the AFI Top 100 list" and I'm slowly working through it. I estimate that I have about 72 to go so it will take awhile.

Now it's actually feeling like summer. I know my big trip was "vacation" but now I am actually relaxing and recuperating. Which is good, because school starts again in eight weeks. Eeek!!!

Looking for my roots

So what do you do when you've just got back from a two week road trip and you don't have to go back to work for another week? Take another road trip!!!

One of the reasons on my very, very long list of Reasons to Move to Ontario was the fact that I know my family originated out here. This is going up my dad's paternal side of the tree. It's the oldest line I have on any of my branches that is still in Canada. Everyone else immigrated within the last 100 years. This one goes back to the mid 1850's and they're still in Ontario. My grandpa is Orville, his dad is Clarence, his dad is Milton and his dad is James. I was looking for James, my great-great-great-grandpa. I didn't find him, and I am in fact more confused than when I left but I DID find James' two wives and his second son Everett.

First, the other thing I found was a detailed history of Milton's wife Eliza Jane Post. It contains over seven thousand names (including my dad). It goes back to her great-great-grandpa Nehemiah Hubble who was a United Empire Loyalist who came from the US to Canada in 1788. It also goes seven generations back from HIM to 1567. I was shaking when I found that. So excited!

Of course that doesn't solve my issues with finding James. So, in the Hubble family history it lists Milton and Eliza Jane and lists Milton's parents as James and Rebecca. That matches what I had from dad's cousin Jean (I've talked about her before in

relation to genealogy). In fact, from her, I have pictures of James and Rebecca. I need to scan them. I'll try and do that. Anyway, so I've confirmed that James and Rebecca are Milton's parents. In the Trenton, ON library (where I took my roadtrip to for my research) they have cemetery listings and Rebecca and James are both listed. Making a long story short, I found the listing and the approximate of where the cemetery is and, after the library closed, I went for a drive.

On the side of Frankford Road in Quinte West, Ontario - a road also known as Hwy 5 which seems to link to the original name of Concession Road 5, is a small cemetery. At one end is this gravestone. The inscription says: Rebecca A. McDonald, wife of James Madden, d. Aug. 16, 1863, aged 24 years, 1 mo. 4 days. My great-great-great grandma.

This confirms both Rebecca and James and the dates jive with everything else I've found. I also know that after Rebecca died James, who had a three year old Milton to care for, remarried. His second wife was Amarilla Scott and together they had a son named Everett. I don't know how long James lived after his marriage to Amarilla but I also know that after he died, she married a Daniel Phillips (confused yet?) LOL

After finding Rebecca's gravesite, I took a chance on finding another cemetery, the one that contained Amarilla's gravestone (as a side note, don't you love that name? Amarilla? Maybe it's just because I recently visited Green Gables in PEI but I love the sound of it.) So I knew there was another cemetery but I didn't know where. I knew it was in the general vicinity because the records said that a lot of families had people buried in both. Unfortunately it's hard to google cemeteries unless they have offices onsite. Anyway, I picked a direction and went for a drive, I came to a fork in the road and went down the one that was called "Ashley" (the cemetery I was looking for was originally the Ashley family plot, seemed like a safe bet). I drove through the little town of Foxboro (it's the Foxboro Cemetery...getting warmer) and sure enough, down a side road I saw monuments. Jackpot! This cemetery was larger than the last one but I had a general idea of where the monument I was looking for was located and it didn't take long to find it. It's an impressive marble structure. I'll spare you pictures of all four sides and just tell you who is there. The main name is Phillips. You've got Daniel Phillips, d. Oct 24, 1893, Amarilla Scott, wife of Daniel Phillips, d. Feb 20, 1916, aged 70 yr. 8 mo., Everett Madden d. 26 1888, aged 23 yr :( and James Madden d. June 6, 1886, aged 32 yr.

I'm confused though. The age for Everett jives with the census data I found listing him Daniel and Amarilla in the area in 1881. Who is the James that's listed her though? If it IS my James, then the math doesn't make sense. 1886 minus 32 years makes him born in 1854 which means he was six when Milton was born. Wrong. Is it another child? Is their math off? Is Amarilla buried with both her first and second husband? I don't know. So, as you can see, I have more searching to do.

After the high of linking back to Milton's wife's family so effortlessly, this other head scratcher is frustrating. By the time I finished my traipsing all over the countryside to cemeteries and then made my way back to Trenton, it was 8pm. It's a three hour drive back to Waterloo and I wanted to do some more work at the library so I found a cheap motel and stayed the night. Friday didn't turn up anything particularly useful although I do have an unverified record of James and Amarilla's marriage which lists the date as February 18, 1864 and lists him as being 30 years old. (This was just in a database, I need to find the actual record and see if I can confirm it somehow). If that is true, and it does make sense in relation to Milton's birthdate, then I'm a bit closer.

Friday I left Trenton around 1:30 and took the long way back. I'm developing a strong dislike for major highways, especially the 401 north of Toronto. I just drove it on my way back from Ottawa last weekend and I drove it to Trenton on Thursday so I wasn't excited about driving it again on Friday. Instead I drove the "old" highway, which winds through the towns along Lake Ontario. On the way I connected with Ashley, my roommate from Chicoutimi and made plans to have dinner at her place in Toronto. It was great to see her again, and not only because she's a fabulous cook and it meant I missed Toronto rush hour :) Her mom was in town so I got to meet her as well.

So, that's what I do when I have time off :) I love summer!!!

July 12 of 12

I kind off got off track with the Twelve of Twelve thing. I'm going to try and get back to it because they're bound to be interesting in the next little while! This is my last one at this job though.
The first shot is of my new stereo. Yes I didn't arrive at work until quarter after eight :P. My new stereo plays cd's, music from USB's (which is what I was listening to) and I have an auxilary connection as well. I had it installed just before Aaron and I left on our road trip and I'm loving it. Not loving the faceplate thing. That's annoying, but the rest of it is great.

My second cup of coffee (you can tell it's the second because you can see the ring from the first cup, and this batch doesn't have milk in it because we're out at work)

The countdown Deb made for me :)

At lunch I had to go to Michaels for a frame for oen of my coworkers...I may or may not have walked down the scrapbooking aisle on my way to frames... ;)

Next stop was the TD Bank. Robert has to store some of his stuff in Alberta until he can go out and pick it up. He electronically transferred cash to me and I took it and deposited into my Aunt's account (she's getting the unit for him). Kind of round about but he's out of town so it was the least I could do to help him out.

In the afternoon my boss and I met with the auditor. My eyes were crossing from the numbers!!!

Beautiful roses at the library. They smelled like summer :)

Dinner at Restaurant 62 with a former coworker. It was yummy and I had fun filling her in on my plans. She's actually going to be in Ontario in October so we'll be able to meet up there as well.

The requisite self portrait taken on my balcony. It's a bit fuzzy but this is me!

This picture is slightly cheating. It was actually taken on Sunday as part of that batch at Aunty Phyllis's but I was processing them in the evening so I'm including it. It shows how far back this information goes!

I watched the original Toy Story while doing my data entry. There are some GREAT lines in that movie!

And a bonus self portrait. My sexy new sleep mask :P Don't laugh though, it really works!!!

Jackpot!

When I met with my great-aunt Phyllis in September 2008 we were talking about genealogy and she mentioned that she had copied out a bunch of birthdates and deaths for a cousin in England. The cousin had lost the paperwork though so Aunty Phyllis was rather disgusted and not interested in copying it out again. The thing is KNOWING she had this information has been driving me crazy. I’ve been out a few times since and we talked in general terms about this but I never really got hard dates.

Sunday Mom, Dad and I went out to visit again. This time I took my laptop (under the pretense of sharing pictures from the family reunion in June) and while she as Dad were talking, I also booted up my genealogy software. Aunty Phyllis tends to skip around a LOT when she’s talking so I just took notes. Some of my favourite comments were:

"They moved to Alberta because they got free land. They must have chosen it in the dark though because it was bad!"

When I asked why her dad had moved around so much she said he "had farms that got dried out but, if they hadn't moved around he would have never met my mom and we wouldn't be sitting her today."

At one point she was talking about her dad’s siblings and she started listing them off. During this time she referenced a “birthday book” that her dad had started. I stopped her and asked her directly if I could see it. Part of me was amazed that she actually got up and got it. OMFSM I felt like I was holding the dead sea scrolls or something! I’m not sure exactly how old the book is but it was started by my great-grandfather. He passed away in 1971 and since then it’s been maintained by Phyllis. She was good at noting new births and deaths when she thought of it. I tried to start entering the data straight into my software but when I realized how long that would take, I just whipped out my camera and started taking pictures. I took pictures of every page that had meaningful data on it. When I got home I transcribed it all into an Excel spreadsheet and I have over 160 names and dates!!! Not all of those people are family but many are and a large portion of the information goes back to the late 1800’s. The best part is right at the front. My great-grandfather wrote down his name and his wife’s name and their parents and grandparents on both sides.

It is said that most people can name their parents and grandparents. Some even know their great grand parents and fewer know their great-great grandparents. With this information I have the names of four of my great-great-great-grand-parents! That’s five generations back!!! Seeing this book has saved me literally hundreds of hours of research. I still can DO hundreds of hours of research but now I have somewhere to start. And it’s not some random rabbit trail. It’s hard evidence written in my great-grandfather’s hand.

Once I examine what I have (list it and enter the people I can) I’ll print off the family trees that I have and go back and visit Aunty Phyllis again. I’m running out of time though so I have to do this sooner rather than later.

There’s rumour of a second “birthday book”. That one is for her husbands family. He had 14 brothers and sisters though…I may wait on that one…

Ancestors in the Attic: Journey to Ortona

So almost a year after I received the initial enquiry, the episode of Ancestors in the Attic featuring my great uncle, Melville Madden, aired on History Channel in Canada on January 21, 2010. The whole family was waiting in anxious anticipation to see how it would turn out and exactly what the researchers turned up and we were all very happy with the results. You can view the 23 minute show at http://www.history.ca/video/default.aspx Select "Journey to Ortona" (Episode 44) Let me know what you think! (and be sure to watch for my name in the credits :D)

Attitude of Gratitude V2#15 - Polly

So, if you're paying close attention, you may have noticed my new little friend. She's purple and black and she moved in a few weeks ago. Remember my post about my new winter coat? Well the next thing on my list (and probably more important, but way harder to chose) was a laptop.

A few Sunday's ago I finally decided to stop debating and shopping and just buy. I was at my parents and Robert was in town. He brought his new girlfriend over to meet the family (more on that later) and after dinner I sat down at their computer and made them (Dad, Robert and his GF) help me chose the specs for a new laptop. I bought it from Dell Online and the only "non-essential" feature I got was a purple cover for it :D

It arrived on Wednesday, November 4th and it's perfect. Okay. I have a confession to make. I named it. Her. I called her Polly. I do call her Polly. I know it's probably lame and cheesy but I figure if people can name their cars (and guitars apparently) I can name my computer. Plus, it's way better to say "I'm at Starbucks with Polly" than "I'm at Starbucks with my computer". Lame maybe. Deal with it LOL

Anyways, that's another barrier to my move lifted. And it's fun to have a computer at home again! I don't have internet yet but I'm hoping to get it in the next month or so. For now, I just use live writer and then upload my blog posts. I've also downloaded some genealogy software so I'm filling that in.

Yep, I'm thankful for Polly :D

Attitude of Gratitude V2#11 - Peace

I went to the cenotaph for the Remembrance Day ceremonies today. They moved the cenotaph in our town a few years back and I haven’t been since. It’s in the plaza between City Hall and the main library now and it’s a great place because it’s large and perfect for parades and marches by the groups that participate. Seeing the air cadets marching first brought back memories of when Aaron and Robert were in Cadets. It was always the first big event of the year for them.

The ceremony was pretty standard. O Canada, a moment of silence. A bugler playing “Taps”, the roll call of the dead and the chilling “They do not answer sir”, including one name from the Afghanistan conflict. One of the cadets recited “In Flanders Fields” and the chaplain read a poem called “The Man We Didn’t Know”.

It was a great day for the ceremony. Clear with just a hint of fall in the air, but hardly any breeze. At 11:11 a squadron of planes flew over. One had been circling so I was waiting when I heard it coming again so low, I wasn’t expecting the group of them though. Very cool.

As a result of the genealogy work I’ve been doing lately, I can’t help but think of my ancestors who paid the ultimate sacrifice. “Great Uncle” Melville, who was killed in action in Italy at the age of twenty four and Cecil and Harold who escaped with their lives but always carried the horrors of war with them.

When the rifle corps gave a three gun salute the sound reverberated through the plaza and it gave us just a tiny touch of what it must have been like for these brave souls.

The wreath laying portion of the ceremony took the longest but it’s neat to see so many groups and individuals honouring the dead.

So today, on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, I am grateful for all those who fought for the freedom I enjoy each day and for the peace that,mostly, reigns, in our country.

I’m also reviewing some old school work right now and I cam across a poster I did as a project. It has peace symbols on two corners and an outline of a dove on the other two. Here are the words:

PEACE to me is…

Peace to me is no fighting with friends family or other countries,

Peace to me is sharing with good manners at all times,

Peace to me is quite dinners and a family reunion once in awhile,

Peace to me is getting along with friends and family,

Peace to me is a Dove with the twig in the mouth or the peace sign, Peace to me is a very good thing to have!

By Heidi, estimated age 8

Attitude of Gratitude V2#3 – Genealogy

(and it’s GeneAlogy, not GeneOlogy which is how I’ve been spelling it.)

Last night I attended a “Genealogy 101” or “Genealogy for Dummies” or “Where the Heck do I Start???” seminar at my local library. The session was taught by the president of our local genealogical society and it was EXACTLY what I needed. She started off by differentiating “Genealogy” from “Family History”. They are of course interconnected but Genealogy is records, dates and names (boring). Family history is “the narrative of the events in your ancestors’ lives, it denotes the telling of your family’s story. Family history is genealogy come alive.” I thought that was a really interesting point of view.

She covered all the steps of getting started, organizing, using pedigree charts and family group sheets and, my favourite part of the night, she reviewed a bunch of forms that are helpful to use such as timelines, research and correspondence logs. It was a wonderful session and I can’t wait to start doing my research in earnest.

I have decided that I will be using PAF (personal ancestral file) for software, at least to start and I’m excited to start tracking all of the information I have gathered to date.

So, back to the theme of this post. I am thankful for genealogy. Not just because I get to use charts and forms and organization (which I admit, has my geeky self really excited) but because I will (hopefully) get to know my ancestors and MY personal history. I know a little about each of the people on the charts but I’m looking forward to finding out more, to making history, come alive on a personal level, and to connecting with other family members and unrelated people who have the same interest. I’m hooked and I have hardly begun!

Member #524

I’m probably fooling myself by thinking I have time for this but I am excited to announce that I am the newest member of our local Genealogical Society. I attended a meeting back in January but then I never went back. The regular meetings are on the third Tuesday of each month which is awkward because my board meetings are typically scheduled that day too. Yesterday I went straight from work to the meeting and then I left the meeting early…which still meant I didn’t get home until after 8pm.

It’s only $20 for a one year membership in the Society and joining means I have access to their archives in the library whenever they are open. I’m hoping to take some time to review everything that I’ve collected over the past few years and start doing some digging to find more. I know that doing genealogy can be addictive but I still want to pursue it. Wish me luck!

Attitude of Gratitude #11

Today is Remembrance Day and I am thankful for all the soldiers who fought for my freedom. Mom and I went and joined Jean and her family (that's Jean and I on the left) at her father's gravesite. He was an engineer (Sapper) in the Canadian army in Italy during the second world war.

Cecil is my grandfather's older brother. There were two other boys in the family. Harold, who served as part of the forestry division in North Bay, Ontario and Meliville who died on December 24, 1943 in Ortona, Italy.

My grandpa wasn't enlisted. He told me one time that while they were on their way to school one day someone was using a slingshot and shooting rocks. One of them caught him in the eye and he never had proper vision from it. That was enough to allow him to not have to serve.

This was my first time visiting Uncle Cecil's grave. Today was a good day to visit. Jean and her husband, their five sons, and some of their grandchildren were there along with her brother in law and a few family friends. We were quite a group in the soggy graveyard. We had a moment of silence at 11:11 am and then we all placed our poppies by the grave.

Today I am thankful for those who served and those who lost loved ones.

Meeting Jean

So, speaking of extended family (see #3 in my "attitude of gratitude" post) Sunday night Mom, Dad and I went out to visit my dad's cousin Jean. I don't think I've met her before and my parents haven't seen her since her dad (my grandpa's brother) passed away. She and I have been communicating via email lately and she's the one who sent out copies of the geneology work she's done.

It was so great to actually sit down and review some of this information with her in person. Stats and facts are great but until you can relate them to something it's really hard to digest it all. Jean and her husband David are wonderful, warm, welcoming people who are full of stories. There's a 15 years between Jean and my dad so even though they know and are related to a lot of the same people, the relationships and stories are very different.

For example she was quite close to my great-grandma whereas my dad rarely talks about her. Having a reference point has inspired me to keep going on the work that Jean has already started. I did a little bit of internet searching last night but I need to organize my information before I move on. Little by little it will be accomplished.

The Search Begins

I mentioned in July that I had done some preliminary geneology work when I visited Grandpa. I've messed around with the info I collected a little bit (most Googling terms and stuff) but I haven't studied any of it yet.

In September I visited my dad's Aunty Phyllis (my great aunt) since then the "geneology ball" has really been rolling. I contacted my dad's cousin Jean and she sent out copies of all of her research. Charts, family group sheets, pictures, etc. It's mostly of my dad's, dad's side but it's fascinating.

We have plans to meet up with Jean on Sunday to go over some of it and then I'm hoping to start doing my own research.

I considered opening a separate blog to detail this journey but that's too complicated so I'm just going to keep it here and y'all can come on this adventure with me :) Stay tuned!