Facebook Friday - Reuniting Families on FB

Is there a Facebook Friday?  Well, there is today!

I was multitasking and a story popped up on my Facebook (click to read the story) newsfeed, posted from Facebook itself.  A wonderful story about a family that was reunited with cousins in Italy through the social networking site.

I would retell the entire tale here, but I wanted to share the link.  Ain't technology grand?

Family Recipe Friday - Bunny Buns

 

Since Easter is just around the corner, I figured I'd share a recipe that my mom used to make each Easter when my sisters and I were little kids.  It's from the "Better Homes & Gardens Holiday Cook Book".  I managed to get a copy of it on eBay and look forward to making some of the other breads and treats that my mom used to make each year!

These bunny buns are so yummy and my kids love them!  I've only ever made the twist bunnies, but perhaps I'll make the curlicue bunnies this year as well so I can get a picture!

Bunny Buns

1 pkg active dry yeast                                                                       

1 tsp salt

¼ c. warm water (110 – 115 degrees (F))                           

5 ½ c flour

1 c milk                                                                                                      

2 eggs, beaten

1/3 c. sugar                                                                                              

¼ c. orange juice

½ c. shortening                                                                                      

2 tbsp orange peel, grated

In a small bowl, soften the yeast in the warm water.  Heat together the milk, sugar, salt, and shortening until the shortening melts.  Cool to lukewarm (110 to 115 degrees (F)), then stir in 2 cups of the flour.  Beat well.  Add the eggs; mix well.  Stir in the yeast mixture.  Add the orange juice, peel, and enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough.  Rest 10 minutes.

Knead dough 5 to 10 minutes.  cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled (about 2 hours).  Punch down.  Cover.  Let rest for 10 more minutes.

Shape into bunnies.  Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet.  Let bunnies rise in a warm place until almost doubled before baking.  Bake at 375 degrees (F) for 12 to 15 minutes.  Drizzle with a mixture of confectioners’ sugar and milk.  Makes about 20 bunnies.

TO FORM BUNNIES:

TWISTED BUNNIES:  For each, you’ll need a 14-inch strip of dough.  Wrap one end of the strip over the other to form a loop; now bring the end that’s underneath up over the top end, letting the tips extend to the side for ears.  Plat the tips of the eats to shape a point.  Roll a small ball of dough and place in the middle of the loop at the bottom of the bunny for the tail.

CURLICUE BUNNIES:  For each, you’ll need a 10-inch strip of dough for the body and a 5-inch strip for the head.  Make a loose swirl of the body strip.  Swirl the strip for the head and place close to the body (they’ll “grow” together as the dough rises).  For the ears, pinch off 1 ½ inch strips and roll between hands until smooth and cigar-shaped.  Let the point make the tip of the ear; snip off the opposite end and place the ear next to the head.  Pinch off a bit of dough and roll into a ball.  Place the ball next to the back-end of the bunny for the tail.

Wordless Wednesday - Coal Miner Tin Type Repair

Before

After

Another repair to an old tin type in my collection.  Doesn't look like too much work, but it was lots of little white dots to remove and an eye to repair.  The corners that were cut, well they aren't perfect.  You can tell that it's a repair when comparing it to the rocks in the corners of the first picture, but not too bad when see alone.

Need to dive into the instructions for my Serif Photo Plus X2 software again.  I figured out that I can adjust a portion of the photo by drawing a line separating where I want to adjust the image, but it only adjusts the bottom portion.  Sadly I was hoping to adjust the contrast to the TOP portion of the photo.  Oh well.  For now this is what I've got!

Tuesday's Tall Tales! - Discovering a Connection to a Basketball Legend, Part II

Excerpt from the 1930 US Census.  Charles Jr still at home with his widowed father and unmarried.

Hubie Brown.  Apparently he's a name that many basketball fans know.  I don't watch basketball.  It's a shame, I know...Final Four going on and all...a grandfather that was the basketball coach at the local Junior High...a baby sister that was a basketball phenom in elementary and middle school (very surprising considering she's shorter than me and I'm a giant 65-inches tall!), but when my cousin, gave me this article and told me that we were related to "The Great Hubie Brown", I kind of just looked at her and said, "Um, who?"  Of course, at that, my mom, who was sitting next to our cousin, just stared at me like she didn't recognize me as her own child...how could I not know who Hubie Brown was!?!

The article was still relatively new when my 2C1R, Nancy O'Donoghue nee Brown, handed it to me in the Knotty Pine restaurant in Hazleton, PA on our first meeting.  I had met Nancy online while researching and we realized we had a connection.  We promised to get together when I visited Pennsylvania next and we kept that promise, my mom, husband and child in tow.  Our genealogical relationship, while cut short by her death, was incredibly fruitful.  Researching a common surname is never easy and we made some excellent dents in our Hazleton "Brown" family.

We were never able to figure in how this Basketball Hall of Fame coach fit into our tree though.  It's not hard to do research on Hubie.  There's a lot out there, but when researching we need to make sure that we don't force a fit into our family tree for the sake of verifying a Tall Tale/Family Legend.  There was quite the write up on Hubie by Sports Illustrated back in 2007 so I started looking there.

The article verified that Hubie's parents were Charles Brown and Anna (no surname given, so perhaps the Hazleton, PA newspaper was correct with the "Brislin" surname), however according to Hubie and his wife he was an only child...I suppose the Hazleton Standard Speaker didn't only screw up on the section title to that article!  Actually, you can see that Charles had a sister name "Geneive" in the 1930 census.  Perhaps that is where the confusion lies!

There were only 3 Charles Browns in Hazleton, PA in the 1930 Census, and I've got two of them in my tree.  Charles Sr. is the son of Neal Brown Sr, my great-great grandfather.  Charles Sr married Annie Lugrand [sic] and had 9 children that I know of.  I've found them easily enough in the census records and Nancy's research had verified this.  Charles Jr is where Nancy and I assumed Hubie fit in, but we couldn't be sure.  We didn't have a wife listed for Charles Jr and as of the 1930 census, Charles, Jr was 28 and still living with a widowed Charles, Sr.  No marriage yet to Anna Brislin.

So do I just sit here and wait patiently for one more year until the 1940 census comes out to locate Hubie and verify that his Charles is my Charles Jr?  I don't have that kind of patience.  What I can do since I know that he was Catholic and was born in Hazleton, PA is contact my family church and request information on my Charles Jr since he would have most likely been married in there (Saint Gabriel's Roman Catholic Church).  I can also request a marriage certificate for Charles and Anna to find their parents' names, or look up some obits in the local newspaper when I return home during the summer, or request the New Jersey microfilm on interlibrary loan.  I'm not at a dead-end, I'm just swimming through mud right now.  Slow, but easy to stay afloat!

I suppose I could also simply write to Hubie Brown and ask if Neal Brown and Nancy McCoy are his ancestors.  From what I've read about him, he'd probably appreciate the brass it would take to send a letter like that to a stranger! While I've got the brass, it's not really my style.  I'll write if I find a link.  Not to say "hey" to a famous distant cousin.  Rather to ask..."So what about those ancestors of ours?  Got any intel for me?"  Now that's more my style.

So, have I busted this tall tale?  There's still work to do so we'll give it a Myth Buster's "Plausible" for the next few months.  Then we can change its status.  Right now though, To Be Continued...

Amanuensis Monday - Discovering a Connection to a Basketball Legend, Part I

Hazleton Standard-Speaker, 11MAY2004

 

"Hazleton Standard-Speaker, Tuesday, May 11, 2004

Commenrtary [sic]

Memphis coach Hubie Brown has local roots, Speaking of Sports [by] Ray Saul

When former Ebervale and Jeddo resident HUBIE BROWN was named head coach of the NBA Memphis Grizzlies by general manager JERRY WEST, the media types immediately pointed out that he would be the oldest coach in the league (he's now 70) and that he had been out of active coaching for 15 years.

All that aside, Brown last year took a franchise that perennially lost more than 50 games a season, including 60 or more four times, and quickly began to turn it around.

This season, under Brown, the Grizzlies finished 50-32 and made the NBA playoffs for the first time ever.  Vancouver was granted a franchise in 1995-96 and the club moved to Memphis in 2001-02 and retained the nickname.  The Grizzlies lost to the San Antonio Spurs in four straight, but won more games by far than any other Grizzly team.

In past years, Brown coached on the high school and college levels.  He coached the New York Knicks to the NBA playoffs twice and the Atlanta Hawks three times.

Brown's parents were CHARLES BROWN and ANNA BRISLIN BROWN.  The family moved to Elizabeth, N.J., when Charles found a job there.  Hubie lettered in basketball at Niagara and played with the Hazleton Hawks in the Eastern Pro League. 

His sister Genevieve married JOHN HOOPER.  Daughter CAROL (HOOPER) lives in Hazleton and her brother, JOHN HOOPER, lives in Cape Cod and Florida.  Several cousins also live in the Hazleton area.

Because of the success of the team, the Grizzlies had an average attendance of 15,188 this season."

Absolutely love the misspelling of "commentary"!  In an article that is supposed to bring "fame" to a small town, the small town screws up the section title!  So very Hazleton!

So what's the connection?  Is there a connection or is this another family tall-tale?  Let's see what tomorrow's "Tuesday's Tale Tales" brings!

Sunday's Obituary - Nicholas Thill and Daughter-in-Law Die Same Day

How very unusual...and no date of publication (handwritten "Nov 1964").

"Double Rites At Lomira Are Planned

Nicholas Thill, 94, Daughter-In-Law Die Same Day

Double funeral services for Nicholas Thill, 94, a resident of the county home, and his daughter-in-law, Mrs. Anna Thill, 66, of Lomira, both of whom died Monday, have been scheduled for Friday morning at the Kletzer Funeral home, Lomira, and St. Martin's Catholic church, Ashford.

Mr. Thill, who died Monday afternoon at the county home, was born Nov. 9, 1870, in the Town of Ashford, a son of Nick and Mary Threweler Thill.  He married Anna Steinmetz, who preceded him in death.

Brief Illness

Mrs. Thill, who died Monday night at St. Agnes hospital after a brief illness, was born Feb 28, 1898, a daughter of Paul and Mary Miller Wolf.  She was married to Joe Thill, son of Nicholas, on Sept. 28, 1921, at Holy Hill church.

Services for the two will be held at 9:30 a.m. Friday at the Kletzer Funeral home, followed by 10 a.m. rites at St. Martin's church, the Rev. Joseph Conley officiating.  Burial will be in the church cemetery.  Friends may call at the funeral home after 3 p.m. Thursday.

Survivors Listed

Surviving Mr Thill are three sons, Joe and Paul of Lomira and Lawrence of Kiel; four daughters, Mrs. Julie Schaefer, city, and Mrs. Dorothy Murphy, Mrs. Rosella Whalen, and Mrs. Anna Eilbes, all of Milwaukee; 32 grandchildren; 67 great-grandchildren; one brother, Henry, Marathon City; and one sister, Mrs. Margaret Mand, Oshkosh.

In addition to his wife, three sons and a daughter preceded him in death.

Surviving Mrs. Thill are the widower; two sisters, Mrs. Alice Schraufnagel, Marshall, and Mrs. Peter Biesbier, Milwaukee; four brothers, Tony Wolf of Rio, Herbert of Barton, Roman, Beaver Dam, and Art of Randolph; and several nieces and nephews."

I always enjoy transcribing these clippings!  Lots of great genealogical information out there for someone (and most likely for my tree as well, but no connection yet...lots of names I recognize though!).  Made sure I checked on FindAGrave to see if this grave was on there.  A little information for Nicholas and Anna was, but no pictures.  Requested...hopefully someone can get a picture when all that snow melts!

Have fun tending those roots!

Treasure Chest Thursday - A New Family Heirloom

Memory bracelet

It's special when you know that you have something new that it will be worth passing on to your children and grandchildren.  That it will be cherished forever.  Your engagement and/or wedding rings, a baptism gown for your children, etc.  The other week when my mother-in-law and nephew were visiting they brought me a new family heirloom.  One that makes me sad sometimes, but also one that I cherish deeply and I know my children will as well.

It's a bracelet that was made from some of the flowers that were sent when my father-in-law's passed away.  It hasn't been a year yet since we lost dad, and even writing about it brings tears to my eyes, but wearing this bracelet is a beautiful reminder of someone very dear to my heart. 

Keeping mementos of someone that you lost is, I'm sure, as old as time.  People used to take pictures of the dearly departed (and in some cultures still do).  Now, there is jewelry like the bracelet my sisters/mother-in-law and I have, there are pieces of jewelry that can be made with a bit of ash, and some people keep a lock of hair.

We got our bracelets from A Lacy Creation and to be sure it will be passed on for generations, although I'm sure the sentiment will feel somewhat different in decades to come.  While it can still be a sad memento for me, it reminds me of someone I love...for my descendants, it will no doubt be representative of someone dear to them, they were blessed, as we were, to have known.