Weekly Planner: Favorites

In honor of Family History Month, the 24/7 Family History Circle site has listed a set of "challenges" to assist people in writing their own personal history.

The fourth topic is Favorites.

What is your favorite book and why?
I lean towards non-fiction books - perhaps because I am a Capricorn and such a realist. One book that I recently returned to, because it is so touching and so true and similar to my current situation, is Death in Slow Motion - My Mother's Descent into Alzheimer's by Eleanor Cooney.

What is your favorite movie and why?
Dolores Claiborne with Kathy Bates. My mother and I saw this movie in Washington, DC in 1995 when it was released. It is absolutely fascinating and the story of a powerful women who isn't willing to accept the life she's been dealt.

Where is your favorite place in the world and why?
I lived in San Francisco for close to 20 years. Despite its many problems, it is a fascinating and breathtaking city - probably the most European feeling city this country has. But now I always want to be around my friends and family especially here in Chicago.

What is your favorite time of day? Are you a morning person, an afternoon person, or a night owl?
I am a morning person for sure. But for someone with insomnia like me, the morning often starts at 2:00 am. And also, since I work for a global law firm and have to support users in different time zones, it seems I never sleep.

I like the tranquility of morning - right now I can hear the Canadian geese flying south for the winter and watch the sun coming up over Lake Michigan. Give me my 20 ounce coffee mug filled with life-giving caffeine and a computer and I am in heaven.

What is your favorite holiday?
It has to be Christmas which I know seems so cliche. I was born on Christmas Day and that probably has something to do with it.

Photo: My mother, Jacqueline Austin MacEntee, looking out over Ocean Beach, San Francisco in May, 1997.

Illness Part 2: How are Things Different Now?

If you've been reading this blog, you know that I look at my research and family history a little bit differently than most. Every day when I read the news or experience something, I try to link it to my ancestors and if they ever went through the same experience or how certain issues were dealt with 50, 100 or 200 years ago. My family history really serves as a bridge between me and my current experiences and those of my ancestors.

I'm finally over my cold, but as I made dinner tonite I had some new thoughts: what are the illnesses that we look at today and say "big deal" whereas our ancestors would have looked at them and hoped for a miracle? And also, what new illnesses do we see today that our ancestors could never have imagined?

One example is strept throat. Most of us have probably had it at one time and we know the standard treatment is a throat culture and then a prescription for anti-biotics. But 100 or more years ago, there were no anti-biotics with penicillin having been discovered in 1928. If the patient was not able to overcome the infection through his or her own immune system, then scarlet fever or rheumatic fever would set in leading to congestive heart failure or kidney failure. These were common maladies of the 19th century and along with typhoid fever the cause of death for many of my ancestors.

Today we take anti-biotics for granted to the point where the excessive use has spawned "super bugs" such as MERSA which is making its way around the schools in suburban Chicago these past few weeks. My ancestors would probably see MERSA as they saw typhoid fever: something that swept into a small town every few years and ran rampant among the population. I don't mean to seem so blase about it, but 100 years ago it was probably just seen as a fact of life for some people.

Finally, this is the issue that I've been trying to deal with lately: why do so many people these days gave food allergies? It seems that many children in developed nations have peanut or some form of nut allergy but children in undeveloped countries in Africa are known not to have these types of allergies? Again, it may very well trace back to antibiotics and their overuse. One theory is that children in developed countries are not exposed to dirt and germs at an early age and thus don't have systems challenged to fight toxins so the body turns on itself and targets certain food proteins like nuts, milk or eggs. I'm not sure I necessarily believe that, but what I do know is I've never read any newspaper account from 100 years ago of someone dying of a food allergy!

One hundred years later we think we know so much about illnesses and how to treat them. But the very treatments that cure the plagues of our ancestors could very well be the ones causing new illnesses for us today.

Photo: obituary of Wilhelmina Heidenreich Austin, wife of Ira John Austin my 2nd great-granduncle, from the Lowville Journal-Republican, January 31, 1907. She died of pneumonia barely a week after Ira John's parents, Ira H. Austin and Hannah Dence Austin, both died several days apart. [Note: I have confirmed Wilhelmina's maiden name as Heidenreich even though the obituary uses Heinreich.]

Christmas Already?

I know it isn't even Halloween yet, but for me when I was growing up Halloween wasn't a big deal. For two reasons: 1) up until I was 13 we lived in an apartment and kids just didn't go into apartment buildings to knock on doors; and 2) after that we moved to a rural area 3 miles out of town. So instead of giving out candy, we went trick-or-treating as small kids but the whole idea of dressing up wore off quickly. Besides, Halloween is really more of a modern tradition that grows and grows each year due to slick marketing from costumers and candy companies. I've also been saying that the decision to move the end of Daylight Saving Time a week later, after Halloween, was so kids would have more daylight to trick or treat. As long as the kids are safe, it's fine by me!

Jasia over at Creative Gene sent me an e-mail mentioning that she saw her first Christmas-themed sales ad in the Sunday paper. Ugh! I know I am going to sound like an old f*rt when I say this, but here goes: I remember when you didn't see any mention of Christmas, be it store decorations or window displays, until the day after Thanksgiving. I grew up in upstate New York, about 100 miles NW of New York City. A big part of the "Christmas Magic" was knowing that on that Friday, the whole city would be transformed into this glittering wonderland. Or at least, as a kid I thought so. And Thanksgiving was all about watching the Macy's parade and who showed up at the end? Right, Santa Claus.

These days (insert old f*rt comment here), I see Christmas items creep into Costco at the end of August. Store decorations go up before Halloween. It ain't fittin'. It just ain't fittin'.

I have to admit though, I did start making Christmas decorations back in September. This will be the first year since I moved from California that we'll have room for a large live tree. And a 9 footer takes lots of ornaments. So by time I ordered supplies, mapped out ideas and concepts and color schemes, I knew I had to start early. I will be putting up a new blog called A Catskill Christmas (after Halloween of course) with photos, plans for ornaments, etc. The idea is to not only replicate some of the stuff I grew up with, but to use all natural materials such as nuts, cinnamon sticks, dried orange slices, bay leaves, dried flowers and even old photographs. Stay tuned.

And as if I didn't have enough to do (you should know that my friends say that I make Martha Stewart look like a dirty hippie), I've bounced this idea off of Jasia and I think I'll follow through with it: A Genealogy Advent Calendar. I'm going to do some more research today, but starting December 1st, I'd like to do a post a day about some aspect of Christmas and my family history. Postings about traditions, food, funny stories, even sad stories, cookie recipes (yum!) and more. It would also be neat if there were other genealogy bloggers willing to do a Genealogy Menorah around the eight days of Hanukkah, or even a Genealogy Kinara (the candle holder used during Kwanzaa ceremonies) describing the seven days of Kwanzaa.

Photo: this was my fireplace decorated for Christmas in 1997, San Francisco. I made all those items (except the poinsettias of course). Geez, I must have been smoking some good crack then.

Family Deaths on Same Day or Close to Each Other

Apple of Apple's Tree made a comment on yesterday's post about illness that got me to thinking: are there any instances in my family history where family deaths occurred on the same day or very close to each other? So, I worked my way back and really didn't have to go too far.

Deaths that occur in the same family on or around the same date are good indicators of either a common illness such as measles, scarlet fever, cholera, typhoid fever. Or it could be an accident such as a fire or car accident. Or it could be a broken heart.

We've often heard of a husband and wife being together for many years and then dying within a day or a week or a month of each other. I've found two instances of this in my family history that I'd like to relate.

Ira H. Austin was my 3rd great-grandfather and was born in Denmark, Lewis County, New York in 1831. He ran a saddle-shop in Lowville, New York - I know this through a copy of an advertisement for the shop, print ads that ran in the Lowville Journal-Republican in the 1870s, and the D.G. DeBeers print of Lowville from 1875 (I used the great new Historic Land Ownership and Reference Atlases, 1507-2000 database on Ancestry).

Ira Austin married Hannah Dence on July 4, 1862 in Lowville. Hannah Dence is my ancestor that links me to the Pootman/Putman line going all the way back to 1661 in New York.

Ira and Hannah were married for almost 45 years when Hannah died on January 15, 1907. Ira followed three days later on January 18, 1907. In addition, their daughter Margaret Austin was married to George H. VanDeusen at the Austin home on January 14, 1907 in what the Lowville Journal-Republican called "a quiet affair." Ira Austin's obituary states ". . . passed away . . . the day following the funeral of his life companion."

The second instance of a husband and wife dying within a short period of each other is more recent. My great grand-aunt Elizabeth McGinnes McCrickert was married to John B. McCrickert. John died on December 15, 1955 and Beth, as she was known, followed six weeks later on January 23, 1956.

I think the best way to love anything is to realize that it might be lost.

Illness

While I sit here nursing a cold that started on Thursday, I was looking back through my family history and asked myself this question: were any of my ancestors affected by some of the great pandemics of the 20th century? These would include the Spanish Influenza pandemic of 1918/1919, the panic surrounding Polio in the 1950s and the AIDS crisis which began in the 1980s and still plagues us to this day.

After reviewing the data I have in hand, I have to say my family has been very fortunate. I can find no victims or people affected by these pandemics in my database of over 6,000 people. Of course, this doesn't mean there haven't been sufferers of these diseases in my family. With some maladies, especially AIDS, there is a stigma attached to the diagnosis. So very often the death certificate will read pneumonia or some other cause of death which can be directly attributed to AIDS.

This topic also got me to thinking about medical advances and the way we treat certain diseases and medical problems. One example: I had an accident back in 2001 where I fell and severed my quadricep tendon. It was actually worse than it sounds - the doctors had to put two holes in the knee and thread the tendon back through. The quadricep keeps the bottom part of the leg below the knee attached to the thigh. I will spare you the photos from the surgery.

I know that if this had happened 100 years ago, I basically would have been bed-ridden. And if there was a surgical attempt at fixing this, there were no anti-biotics to combat infection. I consider myself very lucky to live in a time where this and other medical issues can be dealt with.

One medical mystery that I am trying to deal with, and I'd love to hear from readers, concerns my great-great grandmother Bridget Farren McGinnes. I posted her picture from about 1900 in a previous post. I've come cross a photo that I date to approximately 20 years later, 1920, given the age of the young girl, Evelyn Mehl who was born in 1913. In the photo, Bridget Farren McGinnes is shown with what appears to be heavy bruising over and around her right eye. I don't think this is temporary since I can see it in later photos as well - photos from 1923 and 1925. It can't be a birth mark since it would have appeared in the 1900 photo. I am wondering if it is a burn or a result of something such as Bell's Palsy or another neurological disease?

Richard Henneberg and Frances Pressner

Ok, time for me to get down off my soap box, editorializing on topics such as DNA and LGBT, and present some more of my ancestors.

Today it is something from the Henneberg side of the family. My mother's mother was born Anna May Hennberg, in the Bronx, New York on May 1, 1912. Her parents were Richard Henneberg and Frances Pressner Henneberg, both born around 1888.

I am always trying to find out more about the Henneberg side of my mother's family. The photo: Richard Henneberg and Frances Pressner, circa 1910. This is one of my favorites thanks to Ray O'Brien who is my first cousin once removed. Ray got in touch with me through my Ancestry profile and we started corresponding. Next thing you know, I have all these other relatives I never knew about. And boy does Ray have great photos of the Hennebergs!

Weekly Planner: Five Questions about Family

In honor of Family History Month, the 24/7 Family History Circle site has listed a set of "challenges" to assist people in writing their own personal history.

The fourth topic is Family.

How has a member of your family influenced you?
The greatest influence has been my mother. She raised me and my younger brother under difficult and challenging circumstances in the 1970s: newly divorced, little or not credit, little or no job experience. Mom was resourceful and ambitious - she managed to find good, well paying jobs, buy a house and take care of several elderly family members.

How often did you see extended family (e.g., aunts, uncles, cousins), and what was it like when you all got together?
It seems like I saw aunts, uncles and cousins on my mother's side of the family weekly. It helped that we all lived within 100 miles of each other in New York and New Jersey. Also, my mother had 7 sisters and 4 brothers - and I had 41 first cousins on my mother's side. As in all big families, there were times when people didn't get along but for the most part, we always had fun and crazy times when we got together.

What kind of traditions did/does your family observe?
Were there special ways you celebrated birthdays? Holidays? We celebrating most of the standard Roman Catholic and American holidays such as Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas etc. Christmas was a challenge since it is also my birthday - but Mom always made sure I had separate birthday gifts wrapped in birthday paper and a party on Christmas night with birthday cake.

About 15 years ago Mom and her sisters started what they called the "Sisters Thing" - that's actually what they called it. All 8 of them would gather at a restaurant like Red Lobster or Olive Garden, be wacky enough to almost get thrown out, and then end up at someone's house playing cards and dice until 4:00 am. This happened every May (they usually went down to Wildwood, New Jersey) and every October.

Did your family have pets?
We has a cat that was more like a dog -Squeaky. He didn't meow, he squeaked. A blue point Himalayan that weighed almost 22 pounds!

What foods did you family enjoy? Was there a special dish that was always on the table at family get-togethers?
Well besides not having raisins in baked goods (see What DNA Can't Explain below), we had a great Jewish bakery in town, Katz's Bakery. I remember real bagels (boiled in sugar water first, then baked), bialys, real New York cheesecake, etc. The old Katz's Bakery is now the Liberty Museum & Arts Center.

Mom was a great cook - we had Piggies in a Blanket (a pickle wrapped in bacon then wrapped in a strip of steak and braised in a tomato beef broth), Lemon Meringue pie, and more but as time went on Mom loved it when I cooked since I was much more adventurous.

And although I never had them, Mom and her sister used to rave about Parlays, a candy made by Loft's in the Bronx. I guess they don't make them anymore, so I can't even describe what they are like.

Photo: Jacqueline Austin MacEntee holding me, Thomas MacEntee, age 3 months. March 1963.

How Safe Is Your Research?

I’ve been watching the news about the wildfires in Los Angeles and San Diego, California and when I am not glued to the television, I have the live CNN feed up on my computer. Having lived in Northern California for almost 20 years, I can tell you first-hand what it is like to witness a tragedy like this.

In 1989, I was on the 38th floor of my office building in San Francisco when the Loma Prieta earthquake struck. I hid under my desk, said prayers to various deities (Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim – I wanted to cover all bases) but survived. The building had swayed three feet in each direction. After running down 38 flights of metal stairs, I convinced several workers to stay at my place out at the beach that night. I’ve never seen a city come more together than that night – you got to know your neighbors and you shared the unbroken bottles of your wine collection with strangers.

I also witnessed the Oakland Hills fires of 1991. At night I would go up to the roof of my apartment building and just see the orange flames whipping around. I’ll never forget how one friend realized something was wrong: about two hours after the fires started, he was walking in San Francisco and saw someone’s charred recipe card sitting on the sidewalk. Then another, and then another.

After having been through and witnessing these types of events, you make plans. Right after the quake I would ask friends “If you had 15 minutes to evacuate, what would you take with you?” Everyone says that the real things that matter are those that can’t be replaced such as photos, albums, legal documents, pets and loved ones. For me, it would include all my genealogy research. I think now, am I prepared for such an event?

I don’t like being an alarmist but it is in the realm of possibilities that my home could catch fire or be hit by a tornado (I am in Chicago after all). So I’ve done the following:

• I purchased a 250GB external drive. It is very small (about 8” by 5”) and can fit in a firebox or safe. It is also easy to unhook and take with me if I have to run out the door.


• I make backups on a regular schedule. Some external hard drives have a “one button” backup where you can designate what you want backed up.


• Hard drives do and, over time, probably will fail. This has happened to me several times, even with some workhorse laptops. Be prepared – make backups of your data!


• Consider uploading data to an online repository. There are various ways to do this such as a subscription site where you pay a monthly fee. Just make sure they have strict security and privacy policies. I also take advantage of the 5GB of storage space on my Hotmail account and space on my Gmail account.


• Scan all your photos (and label them with accurate file names and descriptions of course). This way if the actual photos are lost, you can send them off to places like Costco’s website to be reprinted.


• Keep items in a secure and in a dry place. When I was cleaning out my mother’s home in New York, items went into The Box – which was actually an 18 gallon Rubbermaid storage container with a tight fitting lid. Since the house had already suffered a major flood from the hot water heater, I knew the photos and items would be dry.

It is never fun to have to think about these and other disaster scenarios. But being prepared can make the difference between being able to pass your work on to others in your family. Just think of how many people in California are going through this ordeal right now. And besides thinking, also send them some good thoughts and some prayers.

Photo: rather than post a fire photo, I opted for one from my California days. This is Minyo, my male bichon frise with his favorite hedgehog toy!

Excited About Genealogy - But Your Family Says “So What?"

I’ve run into many situations in either corresponding with family members or meeting up on trips back to New York, where my enthusiasm about the family’s history and genealogy isn’t shared. I know I can’t be the only one who has experienced this. As I tried to think of several reasons why this is so, I realized it is all a matter of perspective and having the right lure.

For example, we have all seen bookworms who can easily navigate through a crowd with their faces absorbed in some tome. But if you were to ask them for a concise summary of the book and why it fascinates them, their words are hardly as clear as the written words. What fascinates you about the family history may not fascinate Aunt Mildred or Uncle Wally. I think it’s important to frame it not only in terms that they can understand, but in terms that reel them in.

I often get emails from relatives who either a) want to know what nationality they really are; b) want me to tell them how far the family tree goes back (and whether it really forks); or c) want me to prepare something about the family for their child’s “show and tell” – tomorrow!

Face it, much of genealogy can be cut and dry and boring: date born, date married, date died, etc. And even when I decide to pursue family history instead of genealogy, adding stories and pictures, it can still not be as interesting to some as it is to me.

So – get some good bait! Your cousins Luke and Bo are into cars – big time. So, why not gather information and photos on what types of automobiles your family owned. Mention the owners, the make, the model, and any interesting stories (such as using hand signals before the advent of blinkers or how much it cost to use a parking meter)!

For your military enthusiasts, gather images of draft cards from WWI and WWII, old photos of those who served, and written stories about being overseas and the adjustments of coming back home. Ancestry Press, on the Ancestry website, allows you to publish a book with pages about military info. This is a great gift idea for the holidays – get working now!

And finally – any financial whizzes in your family? Today is the 78th anniversary of Black Thursday, the Crash of ’29. Gather interviews and photos of family that lived through the Great Depression. Mention how life was before and after October 24, 1929 and how it impacted your family.

Dangling the family history bait takes some effort – and you just need to pick the right lure. And once other family members are “hooked,” you’ll be surprised at what they are able to contribute.

Weekly Planner: Five Questions about Home

In honor of Family History Month, the 24/7 Family History Circle site has listed a set of "challenges" to assist people in writing their own personal history.

The third topic is Home.

What was your room like when you were growing up? Did you share it or did you have your own room? What did it look like?
We lived in a large three-bedroom apartment in the village of Liberty, New York until I was 12 years old. This place was over a warehouse and the rent was only $80 a month. In 1976, my mother scraped everything together that she had and purchased her first and only home with two acres of land about three miles outside the village. The place was interesting because it was a Lustron Home.

Did you have a backyard? A garden? Did you grow fruits and/or vegetables?
We had two acres of land, one of which was fenced off for horses that our neighbor would bring over each day. He was happy to have some extra room for them to roam and we were happy with their lawn mowing capabilities.

Did you have a secret hiding place? Not physically. I hid in my books and in my schoolwork. What household chores were your responsibilities?
Wow. Well, I began cooking for the family at the age of nine. I was also helped out with house cleaning and some lawn duties.

In what room did your family gather most? Was it in the living room or around the kitchen table? What did you do there? Sing? Talk about the day? Watch T.V.? Tell stories?
The dining room table was the focal point, mostly when company came over, and it seems we always had company. There was always lots of food, or perhaps a pinochle or canasta game going on. Crazy aunts and uncles, lots of cousins to play with.

Photo: The house belonging to my great-grandparents John Ralph Austin and Therese McGinnes Austin in Grahamsville, New York. Circa 1944.

Weekly Planner: Five Questions about Fun and Games

In honor of Family History Month, the 24/7 Family History Circle site has listed a set of "challenges" to assist people in writing their own personal history.

The second topic is Fun and Games.

What was your favorite game when you were a child? Were you a board game enthusiast? A card shark? Or perhaps a kick-the-can kid?
I adored board games as a kid, being the geeky nerdy type. I loved Monopoly but I could never get my brother to play. One game I remember was Masterpiece - remember that one? It was some weird art auction game. This was fun for me and I would later go on to pursue a degree in Art History. Who knew?

Did you play any particular games with your family as a child? Easter egg hunts? Thanksgiving Day football games? Scavenger hunts? Charades?
Nothing really organized in such a manner. Our family was small with just my mother, my brother and me. But with 41 first cousins on my mother's side, all within 5-10 years of my age, we had no trouble playing games like Kick the Can, Hide and Go Seek, Red Light Green Light, and of course, House.

What were some fun places you visited as a child? Did your family go camping? Did you take family vacations? Was there a local destination that was a family favorite?
I grew up in a resort area of Upstate New York - the Borscht Belt - and it was a beautiful part of the country. And we really couldn't afford many vacations. There are three that I do remember - all driving trips: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; Washington, DC and Niagara Falls, New York.

What activities did you do with family members? Did Grandma teach you to sew? Who taught you to cook? Did you go fishing with Grandpa? An uncle? Who coached your baseball team?
When I didn't have my nose in a book, I was making sure that the house ran smoothly - cooking dinner, helping with the cleaning, etc. My mother taught me how to cook and I've started a tribute blog to this aspect of our lives together: And I Helped!

Did you enjoy watching professional sports? What was your favorite team? Do you have any special memories of sporting events?
Even as a kid I knew even watching professional sports was not for me - one of those early gay indicators I guess. Nowadays if I even feigned interest in any organized sports, they would take my Gay Card away from me.

Photo
Me around 1971. I was wearing my uniform from St. Patrick's Catholic School and luckily found just the right wig to go with it. I guess I knew even then - sometimes I'm surprised I wasn't born wearing a feather boa.

Weekly Planner: Five Questions about School

In honor of Family History Month, the 24/7 Family History Circle site has listed a set of "challenges" to assist people in writing their own personal history.

I want to thank Apple's Tree for the inspiration since I am new to blogging and looking for different aspects of working with family history. Please make a visit - it is a great site!

The first topic is School Memories. I realize that it is already the last half of October so I'll have to get through these and the other challenges pretty quickly!

I attended schools in the Liberty Central School district in Liberty, New York.

What was your favorite subject in school?
Probably what was originally called History and was called Social Studies when I attended. I have no idea what they call it now. Probably some PC term.

In what extra-curricular activities did you participate? Sports? Drama? Music? Academics?
I really didn't belong to any clubs in high school - I was pursuing an Academic course of study and very involved with Advanced Placement courses for Spanish and honors courses for English, Social Studies, Physics, and Calculus. See, I am functional as well as decorative.

Did you go on field trips, and if so, what was your most memorable field trip?

The best field trip was in my senior year and it was part of the honors Spanish course. We went to see the Pablo Picasso exhibit at the Modern Museum of Art in New York. This was one of the first blockbuster art shows after the King Tut exhibit in the mid 70's. MOMA was the location for Picasso's painting Guernica which is now located in Madrid at the Reina Sofia Museum.

What teacher influenced you the most?
Miss Marguerite Mauer. She was the Spanish teach for me in all of high school and she was much loved by everyone. She had been at LCS since the earth was warm and was the first teacher to bring Spanish as a high school subject to Sullivan County, New York. She was funny, full of bad jokes and puns ("Como esta usted, Senora De La Vaca? Muuuuuuuuuuuuy bien!") and really was the impetus for me to stick with Spanish as one of my majors in college.

Did you buy a lunch at school, or bring one from home? What kind of lunchbox? What was your favorite lunch?
I couldn't afford to buy lunch at school - that was for either the rich kids or it was free for the poor kids. Somehow I fell right in the middle and it was the brown bag crowd for me. I really didn't have a favorite lunch but right now I am wondering how in hell I could eat all those boloney sandwiches with mayonnaise that sat in my locker all morning and not get sick! Nowadays most mother's are hovering over their kids with some anti-bacterial wipe or something.

Photo
Me in 1968 - I think this was my first grade photo from St. Peter's Catholic school in Liberty, New York.

What DNA Can’t Explain In My Family Tree

The fact that modern technologies such as DNA testing can help us trace our roots is, in my opinion, a great advance in the field of genealogy. A side benefit of this field of science and programs such as African-American Lives is that more and more people become interested and involved in discovering their family history. Some experts feel that the current state of DNA testing as it relates to genealogy should be seen more for what it can’t do than what it can.

There are many mysteries in my family tree that may, some day, be solved by DNA testing, but I’m not sure I want that. Some mysteries should remain mysteries – those things that make us think about relatives we know or used to know, their quirks, their eccentricities. When you recognize these “traits,” if you can call them that, and how they seem to run in the family, they are what make my research engaging and the subjects seem so much more than a collection of birth dates, death dates and the like.

We’ve all heard from some relative the expression, “it runs in the family.” Traits such as hair color, hair type, eye color, height – or the lack thereof, etc. can all be traced using genetics and DNA testing I’m sure. But how do you test for some of these traits?

• Is there a gene shared among the aunts and uncles on your mother’s side to simply detest raisins in any baked good? To the point of revulsion or nausea? Is there a gene that signals the brain to equate cooked raisins with Mr. Yuk? Perhaps it is just environment and influence from the parents passed down from sibling to sibling. While this may not seem so bizarre, it is a great point of joking at my family reunions. We often split up at dessert time among the With Raisins and Without Raisins camps!

• How do you explain the trait among most of the women in your family, going all the way back to one of your great-grandmothers, to manage to survive and successfully raise a family when the men in their lives have abandoned them? Is there a gene for a poor choice of a male mate? Many of my modern-day female friends would swear there is such a gene and that they’ve inherited it. Or perhaps the trait speaks to a gene among these women that causes them to ignore what society tells them about needing a man to raise children, and forge on despite the odds being stacked against them?

• And how to do find a gene for eccentricity? I mean plain old, fall down laughing about, “what were they thinking?” wackiness among your relatives. How your great-grandmother decided to go blueberry picking one chilly summer morning wearing her full length fur coat? And how your great-grandfather got his shotgun because in the distance he thought he saw a bear? Or how your one uncle has a talent for swinging from 50 foot willow trees at every summer cookout – and this is without the help of adult beverages? It sure makes for good times when reminiscing with others.

I am sure that one day we’ll find out what causes these behaviors, and perhaps it will involve DNA and perhaps it won’t. But I wouldn’t want any test to solve these mysteries because they are so dear to me. They are part of what makes this collection of people my “family.”

Photo: my great-great-grandmother, Bridget Farren McGinnes, a strong woman, perhaps a raisin hater, and hopefully an eccentric. Circa 1900.

A Lull

Well, not much time to do anything today - not even think about a topic for the next blog article!

My day has been spent on a four hour troubleshooting call for work - one of those "well this has never happened before" from the vendor. Everything is resolved but now for the post-mortem and to figure out the "why."

I've got some thoughts mulling around in my head about the next article. Hopefully I'll find time tonite to either write or at least form an outline.

In the meantime, here is a photo to keep you entertained.
John Ralph Austin at Coney Island, New York around 1914

The Hidden - LGBT Family Members and Genealogy

The photo above was found in The Box earlier this year and must have come from either my great-grandmother (Therese McGinnis Austin) or my great aunt (Ethel McCrickert Hannan) when I cleaned out my mother’s house. On the back, it is marked in simple script: Joe and “Friend”. My guess is the date was around 1936 given the swimsuit style and the size of the photo.

Again, it’s a shame that I don’t have more information about these two men, arms around each other, enjoying a day at the beach, probably Coney Island or Jones Beach in New York. In past posts I’ve bemoaned the fact that many of the photos in The Box are not labeled. And while this one is, it is not labeled in a way that helps me identify Joe or his “friend.” Remember: label pictures with full names, not “Auntie Em” or “Uncle Fester.” You may know the people but will the person who later comes across the photo know them?

Who were these men and are they somehow related to me? Were they just good friends or in a relationship? Perhaps the fact that they were in a relationship is indicated by the “quotes” around the word friend and the fact that I can’t get any information from family about them.

As I’ve discussed the plight of women in genealogy, a similar story can be drawn about our lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgendered (LGBT) family members and how, and if, they appear in our family histories. It really is up to the researcher to make sure these people have a voice and a place in the family tree.

My Perspective

I’m gay (in case you haven’t figured that out yet – and my family knows because they’ve seen how I walk) and have been with my partner for close to eight years now. We have registered our Domestic Partnership in Cook County, Illinois, a legal option afforded to all couples regardless of sex, in the same bureau that handles marriage licenses. I have also reflected this in my genealogy database using Family Tree Maker software. To me it is a no brainer – it seems natural to me in a family history to try and identify how your ancestors lived, worked, worshipped, and had relationships with other people. But the topic of including LGBT people in genealogy research opens up a Pandora’s Box of issues at the very root of what genealogy is or is not.

This posting is not some part of the “homosexual agenda” or because I feel like going on a rant today. This posting comes from my actual encounters with data and photos during the journey of tracing who I am and where I come from.

The Challenge

How do you handle the following relationships or situations when performing genealogy research?

• Same-sex Relationships
• Civil Unions or Gay Marriage
• Same-sex Divorce
• Gender Reassignment
• Genetic Parents vs. Responsible Parents

Genealogy or Family History?

Technically, genealogy is how one studies and traces a family pedigree by collecting information (names, dates, etc.) and establishing relationships between these people, all supported by documentation or evidence. Family history usually involves genealogy data but researchers tend to include more information such as oral and written interviews, photos, etc. in order to portray that person as a round character as opposed to a flat one.

There are many researchers who go by a strict interpretation of genealogy and refuse to track what they define as “non-traditional” (and in one case “aberrant”) relationships outside the perceived norm of man and wife. The various arguments made, all of which don’t hold water with me, include:

• Genealogy is meant to trace pedigree and blood lines only.
Oh really? Then perhaps it might be better for you to use a software program from the AKC and use the terms “stud” and “dam” instead of male and female.

• You should only document legal marriages.
Legal by whose definition? Inter-racial marriage was not legal in all 50 states of this country until 1967. Does this mean that the relationship between these two people should somehow be diminished or seen as “less than”?

• Genealogy only tracks relationships that produce children.
Is that so? So what do we do about “outside children” that the father has produced with that other family across town or across the country? What do we do about “childless marriage” such as a woman of non-child bearing age who marries late in life or for a second time? What do we do about a woman who is a surrogate mother for relatives or friends who can’t conceive a child?

Very often genealogy and family history are used interchangeably as is common these days. I guess if I had to delineate my work between one or the other it is developing my family history. The genealogy side of blood lines, dates, etc. has always bored me and in my mind doesn’t adequately represent that person or their relationships. But invariably when you draw lines, margins, and distinctions some people are inside and some people are left outside.

Same-Sex Relationships Have Always Existed – This Is Not New!

It’s a fact and just because a person doesn’t approve or agree, it won’t go away. What we see in modern society are 1) advances in technology that allow people to benefit from having children via surrogate mothers, artificial insemination, etc.; and 2) societies and governments willing to offer to all its citizens the same benefits of marriage that have historically been reserved only for the man and woman marriage.

And these “non-traditional” relationships have existed through history in different forms, forms often not talked about or hidden away. And in order to dispel any notions that, heaven forbid, these were sexual relationships between two people of the same gender, terms such as “Boston marriage” or “romantic friendship” were developed. While we may not yet have evidence that a couple such as Abraham Lincoln and Joshua Speed had a sexual relationship, such a relationship exists in the realm of possibilities and you have to wonder what, if any, evidence has been destroyed, hidden or altered.

The reality is we just know more now about these types of relationships and the motivations behind them than we did years ago. The same as what we know now about slavery, what we know now about indigenous peoples, what we know now about the environment.

Research Obstacles

As a researcher, many times you want to take data and information as it is for the sake of expediency as well as other researchers citing the same data and documentation. But researchers are also investigators and when I notice relationships or data that “just ain’t right” or “seems odd,” parts of me want to just stop and go down that sleuthing trail. Perhaps the birth certificate was forged or changed years after the birth to cover up a family secret? Perhaps that auto accident wasn’t just an auto accident. As Vera Donovan says in Dolores Claiborne: “Husbands die every day, Dolores. Why... one is probably dying right now while you're sitting here weeping. They die... and leave their wives their money. I should know, shouldn't I? Sometimes they're driving home from their mistress' apartment and their brakes suddenly fail.” I guess I just live up to my first name and the “doubting“ that always goes with it. I’m a skeptic through and through because it makes for better research.

Very often while conducting research or talking with living family members, I hear some “code words” or see some non-verbal language which raises a red flag that some more research is required and perhaps to not take the information at face value. Terms such as “outside family,” “Boston marriage,” or “she was odd,” don’t always pop up and aren’t generally used. But I will see terms like “friend,” “took care of each other,” “had a special friendship,” or “was very dear to him,” used. I look for hidden meanings, read between the lines and try to find out the exact nature of the relationship. Then I decide if it can be documented or warrants inclusion in my family history.

But It’s Uncomfortable!

Yes it is uncomfortable to discuss certain issues or relationships when building a family history. There have always been concerns about listing relationships which include children conceived outside the marriage, incest and even inter-racial marriage and same-sex relationships or gender reassignment. Just as there are some researchers concerned about ancestors who were slave owners or who beat or even killed their wives, children, husbands, sisters or brothers. This will never change.

But think of how uncomfortable it must have been for my ancestors who experienced these relationships or situations. I’d like to think that in the cases of same-sex relationships or gender issues that the person was not uncomfortable with their life and the essence of who they were. But they most probably were made uncomfortable by the society around them for whom they chose to love or how they expressed their true being. They didn’t have the ability to have voices back then, the way we do now. Oh sure, there were pioneering people such as Harry Hay and John Burnside, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon and others. But many didn’t have that opportunity or freedom. They deserve to have their voices and I intend to give that back to them through my research.

I include information on past slave owners in my family, for instance, in order to understand more about society norms at that time, what my ancestor did or didn’t do about slavery, etc. It is called history in context. I find slavery abhorrent, just as I do infanticide or domestic violence but it doesn’t give me the right to avoid including it or discussing it with family members. There are ways to include the information for future researchers that may not directly agitate or anger living relatives:

• Can your genealogy software keep certain items private or password protected, such as research notes?

• If not, can you reference a document in Microsoft Word or some other software that you can password protect?

• Add a note such as: “There are various conflicting facts concerning this person/relationship. Please contact [your name] at [your email address] for more information.”

• When someone does contact you and wants to discuss the issue, determine that person’s need to know, how they might react to the information, and what they intend to do with the data.

Responsibility of the Researcher

As researchers we’ve all encountered or uncovered situations or information that can make other family members uncomfortable: old love letters written to a woman that wasn’t your grandfather’s wife; photos of people that “just aren’t talked about;” and birth certificates or death certificates that just don’t match up to family stories or previous research.

• Avoid judgmental or moralistic terms such as “aberrant”, “tranny”, “alternative lifestyle,” or even archaic terms like “Uranian”. Do some research on sites such as Wikipedia on same-sex relationships, gender identity disorder, etc. and you’ll find that the common terminology includes terms such as lesbian, gay, transgender, gender reassignment, domestic partnership, etc. And please don’t use POSSLQ because that’s just wrong.

• Just stick to the facts ma’am. That means if you receive information about Joe and “Friend” try to find out, in a tactful, non-judgmental way, if friend is really code for lover, partner, or if in fact this was a war or college buddy.

• Don’t attempt to excise facts to protect people nor should you try to make unsubstantiated family secrets become facts.

• What do you want to leave to other family members or researchers in the form of your work? Do you want it based on honest facts and documented research? Or data that has gone through your personal filter of views and values?

To Judge or Not To Judge?

This entire topic of how to recognize same-sex relationships in genealogy and family history research has been raging for years. A typical discussion will often start with a basic “how to” question about a specific software on a message board and then snowball into a petty, judgmental, holier-than-thou discussion about such topic being a sign of the End Times or how this country is going to hell in a hand basket. Dick Eastman, of Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter presents some interesting facts about same-sex relationships and the children of same-sex partners.

The Role of Genealogy Software

I guess I was lucky when I chose Family Tree Maker as my software to track my research. In a brief check of currently used programs including Legacy, Roots Magic, Family Tree Maker, The Master Genealogist and others, some programs allow you to either note specific relationship types such as Partnership, Civil Union etc. or create your own custom relationship tags and indicators. And some software programs have a policy of not offering anything besides the man marries woman relationship.

Family Origins
You can create your own “fact types” besides pre-defined fact types.

Family Tree Maker
You can select from several relationship types including Partner. But instead of marriage, the fact appears in the Individual View as “meeting.” You can also create your own customized relationship facts such as Domestic Partnership.

The Master Genealogist
Program allows customization of marriage facts.

Legacy
You can specify your own words for Spouse and Marriage such as Partners and Domestic Partnership.
Also see Denise L. Moss-Fritch’s site on how to alter Legacy for gender changes.

Roots Magic
You cannot use other relationship types or customize for same-sex relationships. On the Roots Magic message boards there has been quite a heated discussion using terms such as “aberrant relationships” and discussing whether people trace genealogy (as in genes) or family history.

Personal Ancestral File
Program does not recognize same-sex relationships or allow customization of marriage facts.

Off-Topic: Blood Test for Alzheimer's Disease

I heard the news yesterday that a new blood test was being developed at Stanford University in California that could help detect the probability of developing Alzheimer's Disease within two to six years.

While the results are still preliminary and the next step is to open up the testing to a larger test population, it has had a 91% accuracy so far.

Some of you know that my mother, Jacqueline Austin MacEntee, was diagnosed with dementia, one of the early indicators of Alzheimer's Disease in 2000 at the age of 58. I can relate to you what I and my family had to endure just to get Mom diagnosed.

The diagnosis currently starts with a visit to a doctor for basic tests (blood, liver, cholesterol, heart, etc.) and then being sent to a specialist for neurological testing such as an MRI. Once everything is cleared as to possible causes, comes a visit to a gerontologist and a test consisting of about 30 questions. Questions are basic (the current day or year, the current president, etc.) and some are more complex (reading a small story and then relating what the story was about or who the main character was). This is usually when the diagnosis is positive as to Alzheimer's Disease.

And so it begins. You know it eventually has to end, and how it ends, but it just seems like it never ends.

You notice a marked change in behavior and instances where Mom just isn't herself. Many times you call and ask her what she did over the weekend or what movie she saw and she can't remember. Then it becomes the lack of remembering simple things like how to drive from point A to point B in a small town where Mom has lived for over 40 years. But you also rejoice when your mother utters her disgust about Bush and the others in his administration who've hijacked our democracy. Part of you says "it's just the Alzheimer's" while part of you says it is clarity and another part of you hopes that all the years of discussing your own views have influenced her.

The disease progresses to affect employment and the means of earning a living and surviving financially. You deal with the chief at the village police office where she works as a dispatcher and clerk when he tells her that she has "psychological problems." She loses the second job at a local restaurant because she can no longer handle the bookkeeping responsibilities. You step in to get Mom out on early retirement via Social Security and still you need to fight, hire an attorney, and attend hearings, meetings, etc. But you feel good that you are able to get Mom out on retirement early so that she can enjoy the few good years she has left enjoying movies, shopping, etc.

And the denial, the denial, the denial -- from both Mom, me and the rest of the family -- that this is really happening. Much of the denial is the realization that by watching Mom and the deterioration of her condition, you could be looking in a mirror held up to your face so that you know your own mortality. Even worse, that you come to the realization that this could be you. "There but for the grace of God . ."

You drag your partner into the mess, the person you want to spend the rest of your life with, the person who may very well be doing all this for you one day. But you know that he'd gladly make the sacrifices just as you would for him or for his parents.

Then there are the financial scammers that come out of the woodwork. Her "financial advisor" at New York Life who talked her into an annuity that only made money for the advisor. And then the same advisor selling Mom expensive health books and vitamins as a treatment for the disease. I know - I cleaned out the house, saw the books, and have the receipts.

And as the months progress into years, the gerontologist's test is given at least yearly and the number of correct answers dwindles from 22 to 20 to 17.

You decide to take the car away after several instances of U-turns through the grassy median of a 4-lane highway. You notice unexplained dents and dings to the car or even to the house or garage. You have to fight and get a letter from the doctor to give to DMV in order to take the car away.

If you are smart or lucky or both, you find a good elder law attorney and you do this early when Mom can adequately communicate her wishes. Wishes such as "do not resuscitate," funeral and burial, will, assets, care, etc. The power of attorney kicks in and you have so much more responsibility than just making sure Mom is comfortable. But you know you and your family are lucky, and smart, because you did this early. You didn't wait to find out that investments were sucked dry by scammers who sell home improvements or driveway repaving or annuities. Boy were you lucky.

While you sort through the tangled financial web of the past five years, you try to arrange for in-home care for Mom, knowing that having the familiar around her is the best thing. You arrange for adult day care at the local hospital where on a given day she is probably the youngest one there and most definitely the most ambulatory. You bring in local women who specialize in elder care to stay with her the other 16 hours of the day and also to transport her to day care and doctors' appointments. You want to keep her in the home she bought 25 years ago, as a divorced parent with two boys and little credit. You know she deserves this and you and the rest of the family make sacrifices so this will happen.

You decide that while you've enjoyed living in California for the past 20 years, you can't handle all the tasks and responsibilities from so far away. The telephone, e-mail and the internet only work up to a point. You move to Chicago so you are at least a short two hour flight away, with three flights to New York each hour from O'Hare. You feel blessed because your employer in California believes in you and your work and the sacrifices you are making so much that they let you work from home in Chicago since they don't have an office there. You thank Heller Ehrman LLP and all your work family from California to London for being so supportive.

You get so caught up in the politics of family, and the squabbling and the pettiness that you decide to walk away altogether. You decide it isn't that you aren't up to the responsibility but that you don't know why family has to make it all so complicated - especially those who are selfish and want this to be about them and not about Mom. A simple Thanksgiving day phone call turns into a yelling match with your aunt who doesn't know how to handle Mom or why she has been accused of stealing a book or moving furniture. You decide you need a break so you don't call for close to six months and you drop out. And you feel guilty, as you should. And every time you are willing to put it behind you and focus on what Mom needs now because you are back in the mix, someone is there to remind you of how you walked away.

And besides bleeding tears, you bleed money. Your mother's money. The money she worked so hard for at the phone company before she went out on retirement due to a bad back. The money she earned working for the state at the police station. The SSI money. You run credit reports and find out there are over 100 credit cards in her name, many from stores like Macy's (where she had six accounts!) with clerks who say "would you like to save 15% today by opening a Macy's account?" knowing that Mom already had other Macy's accounts but the $5 commission was all that mattered. You close all the accounts, cash out IRAs and that damned annuity at a loss. You end up paying federal and state income tax as if Mom earned over $100,000 that year all because you had to cash in the investments for her care. But you also know that this is the best thing to do in this moment because it means months of in-home care, and safety and security. That's why we save for rainy days and right now it is pouring.

And the number of correct answers, at least on that test, becomes 15, then 12, then 10. For the rest of the process there are no correct answers, there are no touchstones because you've never been this way before. Oh how you don't want to be here right now but oh how you do because it's all about Mom.

Besides untangling finances, you have to untangle agreements and understandings that Mom entered into with other family members but had not the mental capacity nor the right to enter into. You deal with the house in Florida and you deal with Mom's home. You deal with the Grahamsville property that Mom inherited from her great-grandmother (Therese McGinnes Austin) for all her years of sacrifice and care. You realize that Mom entered into a purchase agreement with a family member who has since rented the property out but that person can't prove their payments to Mom or for taxes. You know that property meant so much to Mom as a kid but you also know the best thing is to let it go and realize that she was taken advantage of and to just deal with it. You deal, you deal, you deal. Until you think all the cards are dealt.

You fight with other family members who either think they know how to care for an Alzheimer's patient or want to keep denying that their sister has the disease. Because there's a small chance, given that the oldest sister already died from Alzheimer's, that you are next on the list to get it. But you also find other supportive family members who are glad to pitch in and actually make so many sacrifices for your mother when you know they already have their hands full.

Then comes the time to talk to Mom about finding a "facility" for her long-term care when either the finances or patience runs out, or both. You dread the discussion you have to have on Mother's Day, of all days, but you find she takes it well. Then you wonder if she really understands that a facility means a nursing home. You wonder if she is clear enough to figure it out over the next few weeks and retreat back into the denial stage. You have visions of that scene in the Exorcist when the priest puts his mother in an inner city nursing home yelling "Demi, why you do this to me? I'm afraid Demi." But you realize that when you see her a month later that she's lost over 20 lbs, she's eating better, she has lots of activities. She is safe, she is happy, she is living in the moment.

Next you have to clean out the house you grew up in and you don't know where to start. You make six trips in one year, buying boxes when you step off the plane to Newark. Working long hours sorting through every scrap of paper, every wadded up tissue in a sweater or pants pocket because it might contain something of value, every book some of which would have a gold bracelet as a bookmark. You remember that Mom took care of your great-grandmother and your great-aunt (Ethel McCrickert Hannan) in that same house and realize that their possessions are still there. You get angry when you find all the crap and junk she's been sold, be it greeting cards ("Why are there 100 of the same Thanksgiving card from a Hallmark store? I know I won't ever live to see 100 Thanksgivings!"), or the wrapping paper that people sell for their kid's school, or the needless health books, vitamins, and other quackery and the expensive overpriced dolls from China which are probably decorated with lead paint. And you hope that however crappy or tacky or useless, these things brought her joy and made her happy, even if for a moment.

You sort, you throw away. You become cold, efficient, without feeling as you decide not to pause and look at a photo album - you just toss it in The Box. You donate clothing to thrift stores, you sell antique items that no one wants and that you can't send home to Chicago. Your aunt has a great idea to donate most of the 100+ dolls to a shelter for battered women and children. And when you are back home, you enjoy The Box and all its photos, diaries, etc. later in the year - it is the beginning of this project and other genealogy projects. You feel lucky to have photos from your ancestors and to begin to know who you are.

You have lots of help from family members that you can never thank enough. You didn't do it alone although you feel lonely and have a deep sense of loss most of the time. You thank your Uncle Jerry for all the help from the beginning - for attending hearings, meetings, taking care of finances, arranging in-home care and the nursing home. All of this was not possible without him and without Nan's support. You thank your Uncle Lem and Aunt Judy for helping clean out the house. You thank your Aunt Joan for providing a year of room and board to Mom despite the aggravation and the problems. You thank Beth for making the trip from Delhi and visiting. You thank all your other relatives who make visits at the nursing home, visits Mom won't remember five minutes later, but visits that you know make her happy despite the visitor being saddened by what they see or wanting to cry. And you thank all her friends, even the ones who no longer keep in touch because it is just too uncomfortable.

You keep in touch with family and friends who call and want an update on Mom. Or you get updates from them when they go for a visit at the nursing home. While you notice the deterioration in her condition on each visit, you hear from relatives that she has an ankle brace due to a fall, or this problem or that problem. And still you know you've done the best thing for Mom.

The time you get to spend with Mom becomes shorter and shorter - not because you don't want to visit, but because her attention span doesn't enable her to focus on any one thing for more than 30 seconds. You call the nurses’ station to talk to her and after a short conversation, you realize she put the phone on the counter and walked away. Not because there was something more interesting, but because she can't focus.

And the list of correct answers to that test are now in the single digits. You know what the future holds and you dread it. You don't want to go through the first time Mom doesn't know who you are, but you know it will happen. You already see the difficulty she has in eating, getting on and off an elevator (she won't get on because she thinks you are getting off to visit her), or getting in and out of a car. You know what the next steps are because just like this article, you've read them in some blog or book or news article or website. You know Mom will suddenly stop talking, stop walking, stop eating, stop breathing.

But you will always know that you are your mother's son. And that she knew that too.

I've decided that I can either be bitter or I can be better. And bitter won't change my mother's condition - just mine. I choose better and the way I can do that is to:

a) talk about my mother's experience with people like writing this article;

b) mention the bad times as well as the good times, the negative as well as the positive but focus more on the positive - the negative is there as a reminder but not something to regret for it can't be changed;

c) not regret the journey of Alzheimer's for me, for Mom and for the others involved - for a journey has lessons;

d) understand that I did and do the most that is possible for my mother's care given the circumstances, finances and that I was lucky to have other family members involved; and

e) honor my mother and the way she raised me by not forgetting her sacrifices and her love, her challenges and her gifts, her mistakes and her accomplishments.

After all this, would I want to take a blood test, or any test, that would help predict whether or not I was to have Alzheimer's Disease? You're damned right I would. Not only would it help progress the research that has already been done, but it would help me prepare for the future. And I could live life and every day as if it were important and my last. I wouldn't make someone else go through that dark twisting tunnel of care unguided and with those feelings of helplessness. Knowledge is power and power, be it the power of health, finances or love, can help you conquer all adversities.

Would you take the test?

[This is the first off-topic topic that I've posted but in way it does relate to genealogy in that some forms of Alzheimer's Disease is hereditary or genetic (I believe the percentage is 15%)]

Frustrating Search - Searching Newspaper Archives for Genealogy Data

Don't you hate it when you are trying to find information on a known event and the Internet just doesn't seem to cooperate?

I have been trying to document a tragic incident that happened in 1925 to Anna T. McPhillps, the wife of my great-granduncle Maurice I. Austin. From the story that I heard through the family, Anna died in the mid 1920's after being struck by a car that ran up on the sidewalk and pinned her against a building.

I was able to find the New York Times obituary for Anna Austin listed on Sunday, May 10, 1925 using Google's new News Archive feature. I love this part of Google especially since it listed the first line of the obituary ("Anna Austin, suddenly on May 8, wife of Maurice I. Austin" . . .) whereas using the New York Times' website does not reveal any information. NYT wants $4.95 to download the article (their archives are now free but only from 1857 up to 1923). I'm not sure it is worth close to five bucks especially since most of the info is probably already listed in the Google News Archive search.

I have a subscription to the Ancestry website which has many newspaper archives including those on Newspaper Archives (more about this last site in a minute). I thought for sure I would be able to find the article for free. After four hours of searching I gave up.

A warning about Newspaper Archives: I was almost ready to sign up for a month of the service at $16.50 a month (they sell other packages such as one full year for $99 or $8.25 a month) to see if I could find the obituary and other articles I need. Just as I had entered all my info and my credit card details, I thought "better check the cancellation policy." It's a good thing I did! The charge becomes an instantly renewable charge on a monthly basis, meaning that they will continue to charge your card until you tell them otherwise. That is standard practice on many web services but here's the kicker: once you email them the cancellation, you still need to download a form and fax it back to them! What a pain in the tuchas if you ask me (by the way, tuchas is Spanish for "innuendo"). I find it odd that they will easily take your credit card info when you sign up, but then you need to go through hoops to cancel. Don't bother with Newspaper Archives - there have to be other ways of getting this info. One would be to sign up for an Ancestry subscription since it uses Newspaper Archives data or use free websites. I'll write more about free resources especially for upstate New York research in a later post.

The photo: Anna McPhillips Austin, taken around 1923. This is one of my favorite photos from my family.

Updated Genealogy Database is Available!

Well I am psyched because I finally found a GEDCOM to HTML program that I like! For those of you who don't understand the geekspeak: most genealogy software (I use Family Tree Maker) allows you to export the data out to a GEDCOM file which can be exchanged with most other people to use in their own genealogy software.

Once you have a GEDCOM file, the only way to post the information to a website is to use a program that can take all the data and build an index with linked webpages. These are called "GEDCOM to HTML" programs and the one I found (for free) is Ged2Web.

What I like about the results is how "clean" the look is. The last program I was using (which shall remain nameless), created way too many files, too many maps and other bells and whistles - and on top of that, created incorrect info! For example, there is a map that shows your ancestors distributed across the country and the world. So, up comes Jamaica! Now I know for a fact that not one of my 6300 +people in the database were born in Jamaica - and then I figured it out. My grandfather, Alfred Joseph Austin, was born in Jamaica, Queens, NY. How stupid is that?

Check out the new data: HERE

This post's photo is of Alfred Joseph Austin and his father, John Ralph Austin taken around 1935.

The Grahamsville House

I mentioned "Grandma" and "Grandpa" Austin's house in Grahamsville, NY in the last post. Those of you who remember that special place know what I mean. My great-grandparents, John Ralph Austin and Therese McGinnes Austin, bought the house and surrounding 33 acres around 1944 or 1945 (I have copies of the sale agreement - I just need to find it to confirm the date!). They were living in the city at that time and knowing that retirement was near, wanted a place in "the country."

The picture above was taken about 1973 or 1974 - perhaps it was even May 1975 when my great-grandparents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary.

This is where my mother, Jacqueline Austin MacEntee spent her summers and couldn't wait to escape from The City (at that time it was Jersey City, NJ). She and her 11 other siblings spent many wonderful fun-filled summers there. Here's what she remembers of those summers:

- playing in the "Doll House" which was actually an old out building across the road
- the double-seater outhouse and having to go in the middle of the night
- the old chicken coop
- the barn and the tractor
- Grandma's garden and how she used to can everything at the end of the summer
- playing with her brothers and sisters
- waking up "Uncle Mal" (Malcolm Austin) with pots of water!

I spent quite a bit of time there as well and my best memories are from about 1975 to 1978. There were some summers when I would spend several weeks there. Here's what I remember about those summers:

- when I painted the back sunroom one summer - a light Hawaiian blue color
- the hammock out by the big rock
- the Morning Glories and Chinese Lanterns that Grandma used to grow
- the "Memorial Day Bush" (we never figured out the real name - it used to bloom around May 30th)
- blueberry picking
- the stone fences full of snakes
- the butternut tree in the back
- the old barn, the chicken coop and the doll house
- no television but lots of conversation
- big dinners with 12 or 13 family members
- the stories Grandma would tell about having no electricity, no telephone and only a wood stove in the kitchen when they moved in

After Grandpa died in April 1976, Grandma would start spending the cold winters in either Ft. Myers, FL with her niece, Ethel McCrickert Hannan or in the San Francisco Bay Area with her middle son Gregory Austin.

As Grandma got older, she spent more and more time at our home, especially if she returned for the winter in April and it wasn't warm enough yet to be in that big drafty old house.

Unfortunately, the house burned down sometime around 1980 - I'm trying to remember and find any news articles that I can about the fire. There wasn't much that could be recovered. One cherished item that we still have is Grandma's old rocking chair from the living room. And fortunately, many of the old photos you see here on the blog were already at our house where she was staying.

Scanning Photographs

Busy day today - I finally got around to scanning over 50 photographs that I had select from The Box on Sunday. Thank God for my new Dell XPS 210 desktop - my old laptop would have shut itself down after the third or fourth scan!

A great mixture of photos from 1910 all the way up to 1991. Mostly pictures of the McCrickert, Austins and MacEntee families.

The photo above this post was taken in 1947 at the Grahamsville, NY house owned by my great-grandparents John Ralph Austin
and Therese McGinnes Austin, who are shown in front of the house.

Now that they are scanned and labeled, I need to start dropping them into the database.