Funeral Card Friday - Richard List

I was given a treasure trove of funeral cards from my mother-in-law.  About 200 in all.  The artwork on some of them can be truly gorgeous.  This card is for Richard List.  He was a truck driver and my husband's uncle.  He died in a truck crash three years before my husband was born.  My husband was named Richard in his honor.

52 WTBG, Week 45 - East Bell County Genealogical Society

I've been a member of the East Bell County Genealogical Society since June of this year.  I don't have family (that I know of) from Bell County or Texas for that matter, but I'd never had the opportunity to join a society before and figured it was time to do so.

I'm still feeling my way around as the new kid, but everyone has been extremely welcoming.  Many were surprised that I was driving the 30 minutes from Killeen to Temple for the meetings as there had been a society closer to Killeen.  It didn't really matter if there was a closer one...I knew where EBCGS was meeting and had paid my dues so I wasn't planning on going anywhere!

I didn't know what to expect at my first meetings, and felt a bit awkward sharing my recent research at monthly meetings...knowing it wasn't pertinent to anyone else in the room (little to no chance of connections or shared names), they were all as respectful listening to me as any other member.  What I was surprised and delighted to discover (and had been clueless about) was that we got a lovely presentation/class at each meeting!

My first meeting had a class on organizing your files.  While I didn't share the viewpoint of the gentleman giving the class I was able to glean some information to use in my own organization (color-coding my files, but I only intend on coding my 2 husband's grandparents and my 2...the gentleman giving the course went on coding and I wondered when he'd run out of colors! :) )

The second class was presented by a lady, Dr Patricia Rye, who spoke to us about the book she had just researched and written called, "My Father's War" (although I have not been able to find a copy of her book yet...I will have to ask about that at our next meeting!).  She also introduced us to another book, "The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of the Men  Who Risked All for the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II" (an exceptional tale and I do intend on purchasing/reading it...it's on my "wish list"!).  She found information on some of her father's air crew in the 2nd book so they tied in nicely for a brilliant story.

Our last meeting was on the SAR (Son's of the American Revolution) and the process of joining.  While I don't believe anyone in my immediate family has even the slightest possibility of joining the SAR or DAR, I did find the information useful.  If I ever need to submit an application for anyone else, I've got some excellent starting information.

I look forward to our next meeting!  You can check out the East Bell Count Genealogical Society's website (through Rootsweb) at: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~txebcgs/

The site gives you important information regarding joining EBCGS and what their preservation projects are, their library acquisitions, and much more!

I'm also a member of other local, state, national societies (The Greater Hazleton Historical Society, The Wisconsin Historical Society, The National Genealogical Society, etc) even though I'm too far away to attend most meetings.  These societies do so much and rely on your membership to do their good work.  If you haven't joined ones pertaining to your research, why not?

Treasure Chest Thursday - Veterans Are One of Our Greatest Treasures!

I want to take a moment to say thank you to everyone who has served honorably in our Armed Forces. Without our service members past and present our country would not be where it is today. We would not have gained our independence, we would not have unified a divided country, we would not have stopped the atrocities of 2 World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. There are many conflicts not mentioned which do not make light of the sacrifices that servicemen and women made in them. Sometimes the sacrifice was in time away from family and long hours. At times it was witnessing the horrors of those wars or even succumbing valiantly to them.

Not everyone serves their country as a Veteran does and not everyone can or should. You are unique, respected and given a burden that many would not be able to bear. Whether you served many months or many years in our Armed Forces makes no difference. You served. Thank you!

I'd like to now pay tribute to my family members who have served (I hope I didn't miss any!).

Wisdom Wednesday - So far so good

Starting on Monday I sat down at my office and dedicated my day to my job...genealogy.  It felt good to not be running around doing PTA and Cub Scout stuff.  Why didn't I do this sooner!

As I lay in bed on Sunday night mentally preparing myself for what I had plans of conquering first on Monday I realized that I wasn't happy with how my sources were cited.  Furthermore, I'm sure that they weren't 100% perfect.  What I mean is that I was sure there were some elements to some citations that were missing.  That's not how I want to start out.  So I decided to go through all of my sources and ensure that they were properly cited.  Sounds like an incredibly daunting task, but it really isn't too bad and this is why...

About 4 years ago I took an online course on genealogy.  "Family History Studies: Genealogy I" through Monterey Peninsula College and Karen Clifford was the instructor.  Even though I had been doing genealogy for about 6 years, after talking with a friend who had taken Karen's course I had decided to start with the basics.  Jenn (my friend) told me that there was plenty to learn about organizing your materials and that it was worth starting at the beginning.  It was great advice.  I loved Karen's course.  I would have loved to have taken the remaining courses, but my infant turned into a toddler and it just wasn't in the cards at the time.

When I took the course I began using the Personal Ancestral File (PAF) genealogy program that you can download from FamilySearch.org for free.  I was planning on using it just for ease in the course, but I actually found that I rather liked it and have been using it ever since.  For a free program it's incredibly good.  But I digress...back to fixing my sourcing/citations.  When I was in the course a suggestion was made (please forgive me if I get this one wrong, Karen) that in the "Notes" section for each person to include the following areas:

-Sources
-History (could be of the region, family, any background information)
-Notes
-Facts
-Traditions (family legend that has not been verified with facts yet)
-To Do

I thought this was brilliant.  Still do actually.  The problem I noticed was that it takes a lot of paper printing reports out if you have those headings complete with ALL the sources in each person's notes!  Plus, if you go to print out a Family Group Record and have cited a census for several of the family members, it prints out under every person in that FGR (because it's been transcribed into the notes!).  Not necessary.  I was killing trees like crazy.  I love sources.  I don't just stop at a birth certificate.  I want everything I can find regarding the event.  Mistakes can be made and you want to be accurate!

In addition to taking up space when you print, it's potentially problematic when you have to go back and make a correction to the citation.  You have to figure out which people have, say, the "1920 US Federal Census for the Thomas Brown household" and fix each one.  Talk about a headache!  So what I decided to do was to take the source/citation information and transcription (yes I transcribed each source...I'm a bit anal that way) and transferred it to the area meant for citations.

In the citation area it had fields for:
-Source Title
-Author
-Publication information
-Repository
-Call number
-The actual text (great for my transcriptions)
-Comments

It would then show you a sample footnote at the bottom AND you could attach the image of the source to the citation itself.  Drawback - if your source had 2 pages to it (say your family continued onto the next page in a census) you can only attach one picture.  If you had to change the citation, however, you change it in that one place and it's fixed for everyone linked to the citation.  Awesome.

What was less awesome is the 36 pages of people that I have to adjust citations on.  I will persevere though.  In the past 2 days working 3 to 4 hours each day, I've gotten through 8 pages.  It'll be well worth it knowing that it's done properly.  It needs to be done properly.

The bright side is that I'm catching that glitch and fixing it now.  I had started reentering my entire tree into the PAF program when I took Karen's course.  I didn't transfer the gedcom file from my old program because I knew there were flaws in my old tree and after learning the right way to do things, I realized that the best way to make sure my conclusions were sound was to start over...no matter how huge a task it seemed, I knew it was the right thing to do.  I hadn't finished reentering even half of the tree when Danny became a toddler so the task could have been greater.  I prefer looking at that bright side!

So I figure in another week to week and a half I'll be back at the actual research and data entry for my family tree.  I've got a busy couple of weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, but won't be deterred from my job.  All in all, so far so good!

(Please allow me to beg forgiveness that this "Wisdom Wednesday" and the series I will be including on Wisdom Wednesday isn't based in the past. It's any wisdom and experience I'm gaining as I travel down the road to accreditation. There are certainly tidbits of wisdom to be gleaned by anyone else that may choose to take the same path!)

Tombstone Tuesday - Neil Brown and Nancy McCoy

I looked for the tombstone of Neil and Nancy Brown for at least five years...probably more. They all start blurring together after awhile. Tombstones I'm trying to find, that is. Not ancestors. I'm pretty good at keeping them straight. Now ask me in 30 or 40 more years and it may be another story!

I had frequently written to Saint Gabriel's Roman Catholic Church in Hazleton for information since I began doing genealogy back in 2000. They were always extremely helpful in getting me copies of baptism and marriage records and I always ensured that I enclosed a donation to the church when requesting information! After all, Saint Gabriel's is my family's church. My ancestors have been parishioners since it opened and I was the last person in my family baptized there...until my littlest was born, but that's another story.

I know I had asked about Neil and Nancy (nee McCoy) Brown's tombstones before, but never got any information back. That's most likely my fault because when I would send in a request for information I made sure that I asked for several things so I wasn't constantly inundating them. It may have gotten over-looked. My worst fear was that there were no records.

Each year I try to make pilgrimage home to Pennsylvania with the kids. Time for Grandma and Papa to see the boys. Time for me to see them and two of my three sisters. I certainly can't pass up that time to do some research too! I just try not to overwhelm my little guys with traipsing around cemeteries. They don't appreciate it...yet!

So with a bit of perseverance, this summer was THE summer. Saint Gabriel's website finally had an email address! Score! I could start spamming, er, requesting information from them with greater ease and speed! I had a lovely conversation in several emails with the sweet lady that is the secretary for the parish. She not only found my ancestors' grave, but gave me directions and hooked me up with the caretaker to take me straight to it!

It was the genealogical highlight of my trip! I finally had a birth and death year for both Neil and Nancy! Strangely enough I had walked passed their tombstone before and never noticed it. It's sunken almost completely into the ground. It's only a matter of time before it's completely gone.

A bonus to my research...the wonderful lady helping me also helped me find his son's tombstone...and I never asked for it! His son's tombstone only had "The Neil Brown Family" written on it. I prefer tombstones that give me a bit more, but you know, I was actually happy to know who was there! I already knew when Neil Jr and his wife Bridget died but now I know where to lay flowers on those annual pilgrimages!

Military Monday - Lester Kuehl

Lester Kuehl was the son of John Kuehl and Dora Hermann. He was killed in action in France in 1944 and was originally interred in the military cemetery at LeChene-Guerin, France. Lester was finally brought home to Kewaskum, WI more than 4 years after his death in 1948. He is my mother-in-law's uncle. She vividly remembers being at the funeral in 1948 and the honor guard at the funeral firing their volleys in honor of her Uncle Lester. It was a sad day and the gun shots frightened her. She was 9 years old at the time of the funeral.

Rest in peace and thank you for serving our country, Uncle Lester. You should have been with us much longer than you were. All gave some, some gave all.

Sunday Supper - Patrick Cayemberg's Beef Tenderloin

I really do have the most thoughtful in-laws in the world! Dad always loved cooking and baking and was never hesitant in sharing a recipe. So for my first Sunday Supper (and for many more) I will share the recipes that Dad loved to make and we all loved to eat! Love and miss you, Dad!

We looked forward to Dad making this when we'd go to visit in Green Bay, or when Mom and Dad would come to visit us. Whenever tenderloin would go on sale in Green Bay, Dad would grab some for us, trim it and Mom would zip-pack it and freeze it. They'd bring it down with them when they'd visit...enough to make and enough to leave behind for us to make later on.

Beef Tenderloin

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp dried thyme
2 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 tbsp fresh cracked black pepper
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 beef tenderloin
1 head garlic, peeled and sliced into chips

Mix together the olive oil, salt, thyme, melted butter, pepper, and soy sauce. Set aside.

Place in a roasting pan 1 whole beef tenderloin, cleaned and trimmed of excess fat and silver skin. Tuck the tail under the meat to ensure even temperature throughout. Cut small slits into the tenderloin all over and insert a chip of garlic. Pour the rub over the tenderloin and rub all over meat with hands for about 5 minutes to evenly coat. Let rest for 20 minutes, then repeat the process of rubbing the meat.

Place in the oven with a meat thermometer inserted. Cook at 425 degrees (F) until thermometer reads 120 degrees for rare, 125-130 degrees for medium rare or 135-140 degrees for medium. Remember that once you take the tenderloin out of the oven the internal temperature will continue to rise about 5 degrees.

It is important to let the meat rest for 15 minutes before slicing; this allows the temperature to rise those 5 degrees and lets the juices settle inside the meat instead of on the cutting board. Serve with a simple au jus made from the juices, a bit of water, beef stock and your favorite seasonings.

(I know that Dad clipped this recipe from somewhere, but I don't know where exactly, so sorry, but I can't give proper credit to the source.)