I'll be on the road this weekend on my way to Charleston, SC for the NGS conference. My first genealogy conference!
I've never been to Charleston before so it truly will be an adventure! I'm excited that I'll be seeing two friends from my college days as I drive out and will be seeing a dear friend from Army days (and fellow blogger), Jenn Woods from Climbing My Family Tree at the conference! Lots of stuff to look forward to, but my boys are very sad to see momma go. This will really be the first time I've been away without them in years. It'll be nice to have time to myself, but there's been lots of extra hugs and kisses given to me this evening and it does make it harder to go. They asked for me to wake them up before I get int he car so I can give final hugs and kisses...not caring at all that it will be 5:00am.
Thank goodness for cell phones. I'm sure they'll start enjoying time with daddy shortly after I leave. I just hope that daddy has the stamina to play single dad for the next 9 days!
I'll be back to blogging come Sunday night or Monday morning so everyone have a beautiful weekend!
Deborah from Help! The Faerie Folk Hid My Ancestors! had a wonderful post that brought tears to my eyes (I'm squishy like that) back at the beginning of April. What can I say...I'm a sucker for a "feel-good" story! I meant to post this so much earlier but I was distracted by shiny objects. Nevertheless it's timeless. Head on over and check it out!
To continue on with last week's post, I created an "inputable" 1790 census form. Why 1790 after last week's 1900 form? Well, honestly it's the end of the school year so everything with my boys is coming to a head at once and the earlier censuses are a bit less complex. I figured that I'd start from the beginning and continue on.
A bit of a disclaimer...none of my ancestors were in the United States for the first 3 or 4 censuses. We are all relatively new (no D.A.R. applications here!). My father's side came over during the very late 19th century and my mom's came during the Potato Famine or just after. So I suppose my point is, I haven't used the earliest censuses much. I created the form to be as close to the original census as possible, but with the earlier censuses they were not on pre-printed forms.
In the 1790 census (and others I would expect, although I won't find out until I create and/or use the forms!) the census takers were "assistants to the Marshal" and wrote their headings/instructions out at the top of the forms themselves. In fact in some of the forms you will come across there are no instructions so you may be unable to complete the top portion of the form apart from the page number (partly due to the fact that not all of the 1790 censuses are still in existence).
I checked out several different locales in the 1790 census and some were enumerated in different years so at the top portion you will see that the sheet is "subscribed by me this _____ day of_____ Domini 1790/91/92" to cover the years that your census may have been enumerated. Just delete the numbers that don't apply!
If you see any improvements that could be made on the form, or if you've come across another 1790 form that has something this one does not, please send me the link and I will do my best to adjust the spreadsheet! Again, the cells are locked with the exception of the ones you would be looking to input data into so the form doesn't get erased, so type away and save to your heart's content!
Let me know if there are any problems viewing and/or downloading the file so I can repair it for others to use (the download works from my computers at home and I'm still feeling my way around Google Docs). If you prefer I can also email the from to you. As with the last form when you view it in Google Docs it has more pages than it will when you download it. This one looks like a three page form with the first page being essentially blank, but when you download it, it will be a one page form. Go figure!
It is perhaps fitting that shortly after posting my "Military Monday" tribute I received a text message from a dear friend telling me to turn on the news because Osama bin Laden was killed in an operation ordered by President Obama and carried out by our brave U.S. Special Forces.
It is perhaps not appropriate to hold the death of someone, of anyone, in such a joyful light, but after almost 10 years of world-wide sorrow and pain caused by a truly evil person it is certainly a natural reaction.
My 5 year old son, Daniel, emerged from his peaceful sleep to ask for a glass of water as I began typing this. I could not help but hold him a little tighter knowing that the world is a better place tonight for us all and I teared up like the squishy, emotional momma that I am.
I have seen comments posted on Facebook and around news sites politicising and or insulting our President for this, and all I can say is shame on everyone that says such things! Regardless of who is in office and whether you support him or not, our nation had a tremendous night in the war on terror. A night that we will be able to tell our children and grandchildren about. A moment that we will most likely remember for the rest of our lives. Why fill it with such hatred? Such animosity? Instead, just say,
"To all of the people who lost their lives on September 11, 2001 and to all of our servicemen and women who lost their lives to bring to justice the mastermind behind their murders, I pay you homage. We will never forget."
God bless our wonderful nation this night and always.
May our Soldiers come home soon. ***I was contacted by a friend/family member of Carson J. Ramsey's and was informed that he had been promoted to Specialist (SPC) before he was Killed In Action. It is unfortunate that this was not caught prior to it being placed on the memorial and I'm sure he is not the only one with incorrect information, but I also agree with Nichole that this brave Soldier should be remembered properly. There is a big different between the ranks of Private and Specialist. May we all keep these brave men and women that served our country in our hearts, minds, and may we never forget their sacrifice.
On April 29th, 2000, just 11 short years ago, my husband and I were married at Nellis Chapel on Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii. We actually married 7 months earlier in a civil ceremony, but needed to make it right with the Catholic Church (and I think our families appreciated it too!).
My husband and I were both in the Army. He was from Wisconsin and I was from Pennsylvania, so the question was, where would we have the wedding? Going to either place seemed to slight the other family (in our opinions) so we decided to have the church ceremony on Hawaii where we were living. After all, it was a chance for our families to come out to the islands and enjoy themselves!
It was a wonderful time having family out there, especially all at once! My aunt and uncle, retired Army officers, actually lived on Oahu and were generous enough to have the rehearsal dinner at their beautiful home. This was particularly challenging for my aunt who broke her feet stepping on a dog-toy as she came down a short set of stairs in her home just days before the wedding! In fact, it was the day my mother arrived at the airport. When we told her why her sister wasn't there to greet her she thought we were joking! The photographer was a friend of my aunt's and she did a great job hiding her feet under the train of my gown!
The hubby and I with our parents
It was a simple wedding. We had a mass, but no limos or anything fancy like that. When we arrived at the church there were old fashioned WWII era military vehicles set up along "General's Row" just down from the chapel. You could actually see many of them from the front of the church. Most of us took a quick glance to see them before heading into the church.
During mass Father Olczyk jokingly said that if we heard the sounds of bombing during the ceremony to not be worried. Hollywood was there and would be filming scenes for a movie that day. Which movie was being filmed outside the chapel that we were being married in on our wedding day?...Pearl Harbor, starring Ben Affleck (although he wasn't there...just camera crews)!
I walked down the aisle to "All I Ask Of You" from Phantom of the Opera and had both my mother and father give me away. Leis were given to the mother of the bride and groom, and instead of a veil, I had one of the wonderful ladies at the Honolulu Airport (Martha) that we had been buying all our leis from to make a head-leis for me to use instead of a traditional veil. I loved it (and it only cost me $20.00)!
We looked around at various places to have the reception and everything was so expensive and formal. Formal isn't exactly what Hawaii was all about either, so we opted to rent a small pavillion at Bellows AFB beach at Waimanalo. We bought a keg and grilled...now that's the way to have a reception. Even our priest, Fr. Olczyk showed up with some Green Bay Packer's gear on. As it turned out he was originally from Wisconsin like my hubby and was my priest when I was stationed in San Antonio. Such a small world!
The families of the bride and groom
During the homily in mass Fr Olczyk kept talking about having babies, so much so that after mass many of the guys from my unit asked if I was pregnant. Ironically, I would be one month later!
Happy Anniversary to the best husband a woman can ask for...oh and good luck to William and Kate! It's a great date for a wedding!
