Karen's Gen Blog - Montgomery InGenWeb Project

Next were our two goofy dogs.  A farmer friend, Larry Smith, told us to come over and get a dog from his litter that they were all cute.  So, we four did.  (Jim, me, Jay & Suzie).  Well, they were cute, one white one who looked like a fire dog is the one Jim & Suzie picked out. Jay & I liked the shorter, dumpier, brown and black spotted one with the great personality. So, what did we do (DUMB) – brought ‘em both home.  They were a lot of fun, but we put ‘em in a dog house and they ran around all over.  Put ‘em on chains, they’d get off. Then a fenced in large yard.  Dug under.  The kicker was definitely a large fencer under the fence we didn’t think they’d ever get out of. In fact, when Jim would come home at night, they’d be there. When the kids and I got up for them to get on the bus, they were always there. Whew ! Fixed.  Then, the neighbor lady, Libby, told me our dogs were getting in their ducks. No way!  Yet, one day I think when the kids got off the bus or I went out to get the mail (probably not as I’d have known they weren’t in the pen as I walked out there) there they proudly displayed a large duck, split between ‘em.  None of us can remember exactly what happened to them but we think one died and the other one left.  

Herbie, our German Shephard I think I’ve written about before but he died from eating the rocks out of the driveway even though we fed him well. Poor baby.  I was going to college, running kids around, Jim working 65 hours/week and all of us trying to take care of our 3-acres and large house. Sadly, we just didn’t have time for him.  Mostly, he ate left overs, even some coneys, but then got this fettish for the rocks in our driveway and died.  I’ve always thought he died from loneliness, though.

My Pud story is quite a hoot.  We called him Pud because he looked like Butterscotch Pudding.  So, one day I pulled into the garage, got out to take in the groceries, then little little puddin’ weiner dog walked right in with me.  He stole our hearts.  Oh, my, he was so spoiled, riding in the front seat, mowing (eating) on special food, adored 100%.  So, he was with us for several months, maybe even a year or more then when I came home from grocery shopping, out he zipped again, never to be seen.  Guess I should write a story titled, “The Grocery Dog?”

Domino was an adorable, fluffy, black and white “dotted” kitten.  I was taking a bath one night when Jim came home, lit on the tub and sadly stated, “I’m so sorry, I just ran over the cat!”  Thinking he meant Felia our aged cat, I said, “Oh, honey it’s okay, her life time has been long and excellent.”  Then came, “No, Domino!”  Then I doubled the amount of water in the tub. Such an adorable kitten.  

So, that’s part II of the Pet session. Doubt you’ll hear anything about more so look forward to next week’s Blog! NOTE though:  For any hackers viewing this and thinking they’ve got full reign into my computer (like one not long ago – grrrr) I do not use any personal information for my logins.  EVER!  So, quit your hacking ☹ What a ridiculous thing to do anyway – get busy doing something good, instead!

PERFECT PETS - Part I (Bazzani as a kiddo)

This’ll be one long blog if I told you about every animal I’ve been close to, so instead we’ll just share a few I’ve not mentioned in other blogs.

We had Spitz dogs when I was a kid, and a whole gob of cats.  One cat, Blackie, I’ll tell ya’ a quick story on. She got scared once and went tearing down a cistern hole.  My brother, Garry, stuck his hand down  that huge, cement square and grabbed Blackie and wouldn’t let go.  Mom and I couldn’t get the heavy thing off and Larry and Dad weren’t home, so I ran and got a couple of our neighbor men who lifted it off carefully. The cat was biting and scratching Gar’s hand and arm to pieces, but we were all happy to get Blackie and Garry out alive. Blackie was already probably ten plus and when she died a couple of years later, Gar locked himself in the bathroom and cried for hours.  Dad finally lifted me up through the high bathroom window so I could unlock the door – I was glad ‘cause after several hours, I really had to potty!

Now, our first Spitz was Teddy. Although he was sweet and innocent with us, he was kind of a terror out and about, I do believe.  It was a sad day when he was up in the library yard and someone (we know who and are 99% sure it was on purpose) ran over him.  I later wrote a great story about my first love who was murdered by the boy next door.  At the end I reveal it was Teddy.  Got an A!  Afteer Teddy was killed, we had several Spits girl dogs, all named Sissy.

Speaking of all named the same - Mom liked birds (none of the rest of us did - NONE) and we had probably 10 or 12 - all named Corky and all looked the same, much like this one from kaytee.com

The oddest pet we had was Rollo.  My brothers bought him at one of those roadside joints in Florida. He was the tiniest cute thing and so fun.  Then he began to grow. And grow then beyond fun to torture.  At that point, our alligator took three of us to feed and a parent close by.  Larry held his huge body down, Garry got his mouth open, and I dropped in the hamburger.  Not long afterward, Rollo got out of his cage.  I left the house and went to gma’s for about a week with assurance Rollo was gone and I could come back.  I was leery for months to come.  Now, just where Rollo took off too I’ll never know but I’d be careful fishing on Little Raccoon Creek anywhere near Waveland if I were you!

Next week, we’ll have Part II, pets when I was an adult!  Don’t miss it!

Cranks ! Even in such a fun, loving, helpful, sharing kind of hobby, there are some!  Thank goodness there aren’t many, but sadly a few.  Luckily, the only one who comes to mind worked in a small, nearby city where I went to get a death certificate for my direct ancestor. This was in the early 1970s and I don’t know who works there now but no one could be so rude and unhelpful.  I gave her the book and page number where she could find the document.  She went in the back, gone a minute (literally) and said it wasn’t back there and charged me $10, ridiculous since the state was charging $3.  I requested to go look myself, explaining I answered the queries at the Montgomery County Health Office and knew what I was doing.  She laughed and murmured, “I doubt it!”  Seriously, she was unbelievable and I have no doubt she pocketed my $10 as she didn’t have me sign anything or give me a receipt.

When Ancestry got involved with making original records available, I finally got that record. Ironically,  it said little and actually had incorrect information but at least I got it! There are a few overall examples of not so much cranks as pure unhelpful.  I couldn’t count the number of times a librarian, county clerk or whoever would just point me in a direction with a, “There it is,” kind of comment.  

Yet, there are just as many experiences where a person would go out of their way to aide me in a genealogical request. I volunteered for a decade at the Crawfordsville library and worked there two decades and tried to be this type of helper.  Have yet many good friends I’ve met this way.  

So, if you meet one of those old grumpy grouches, hang in there as there are the good guys somewhere to help ya’ out!

How in the world do you share 50 years of your life? Well, or five or six or any number where genealogy is concerned? Well, I have a few ideas that might help you and perhaps you have some to share, too? The obvious is a book. I've done a few, with one really bad experience. Early on, I wrote a Barker Genealogy and sold it at cost at one or two of our reunions. Sadly, about 15 years later, the same Barker book (with a few obituaries added and a different cover and that person's name as author) showed up at a reunion I missed. It was for sale for quite a wad. One of my cousins, George, was furious. I was mad, too but it was too late. Yet, that's an idea. I have three or four fabulous books written by long-lost family members that I'm sure glad I purchased, especially my Durst and Darsts of America, one I've yet to find a mistake in the almost 600 page book. Some, like the VanCleave history is multi-volumed. Pre-internet, pre-e-mail, it was fun to share via letters. So much fun opening that mailbox out on 300 South and get 5-6 letters, full of new genealogical information. Nowadays, it's much easier to share. Although most of what I share on my three GenWeb pages (Montgomery, Putnam and Fountain) are not my family, it's someone's I'm sharing when I add 100 or so obituaries every month, death records, news items and the like. The several (the Indiana Genealogy one is great if you're interested - https://www.facebook.com/groups/10663889943/ such a sharing, giving, helpful bath of genealogists. The Crawfordsville and Montgomery County history page, along with the Ladoga and Waveland ones are especially nice for the area. Sadly, I've not had any luck at all and even said something about remembering our Veterans on Vets day once and got bombasted on one. Yet, some can be fabulous, do as you will. One of the ways I love to share is via a booklet with just direct ancestors. My daughter-in-law is adopted and I've found many cool directs for her and put it all together in a book. It's just an 8 ½ x 11 sheet with a life story about each, including the dates, etc and at least one picture of them (mainly found on Ancestry which is also one way to share but have mixed emotions on that) or the place they lived, or grave, then kind of decorate around it. I've done some of these for hire too - great Christmas or big birthday presents. This is getting way too long, but there are multiple ways to share, the key point here is: don't keep it to yourself ??

Truly, my grandmother’s kitchen brought to mind a pizza parlor, the smell of oregano drifted into the nostrils as one pondered the meal of the day. Almost every Sunday for probably 15 years, we went there for lunch after going to church in Rockville, then on to Clinton to eat. Often, we’d take friends with us, plus there might be relatives down from Chicago, or a half dozen she asked in after she went to church at the beautiful Catholic place of worship in Clinton. Seriously, it mattered not whether there were the 11 of us or 22 or 33 or beyond, she always had more than enough food. Always wondered if that was their meals for the rest of the week, the left-overs. Should have asked. Pretty sure my dad gave her money for the Sunday dinners, he was always helping them out. In fact, he began at age 10 feeding the family, but that’s another blog – don’t let me forget it. Anyway, there was Italian food – Antipasto, always – ugh, never liked it. Sometimes Bagna cauda, and believe me, stepping in the door, you knew that was some of the fare for the day (what an unbelievable fishy, stinky affair), and always one of two soups (tortellini or another one with tiny pieces of pasta and tasted a bit like chicken-noodle soup) then of course spaghetti, lasagna (not too often) or gnocchi - probably everyone's favorite. Always a big salad, sometimes applesauce or an apple salad. That was the Italian side. We however being very Americanized, also had the American stuff. Roasted potatoes with a Ham or Beef, and usually more things. I’m guesstimating but I’d say there were at least 20 items to eat. No one can imagine the laughter, stories, memories that were shared. Certainly, we never went away hungry. The table was huge (think it is long gone but I do have ONE chair from the set) and would hold all of us but if there was more and usually was then we’d have to go elsewhere. She had t.v. trays we’d flip out and eat in the living room or out on the front porch in the swings or chairs out there. Occasionally, if it was nice weather, she’d have a table set up outside which was always fun. Notice no mention of dessert? For one thing, we were too full, but more than that, my grandmother could not bake. Cook, unbelievably yes. Bake? Don’t go there. Ohhh, if I could only duplicate that Italian dinner just once I’d appreciate it so much more as she said, “Let’s eat!”

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Don’t suppose any of you have “pitch it” criteria? I don’t either but one definitely has to do that at times. I thought it was all pitched for me when we had the basement flood, but then I found a bunch of family folders I thought had been long gone. So, the first one I picked up was the DARST family and the first thing in it was a bunch of pages (probably 40 or more) of early marriages for Gallia County, Ohio with family names marked – for instance: Anderson Rife and Sophia Scott married 12-1-1842 by Alexander Logue, Marriage Vol. 1 p 404. So, was all set to pitch those as none of my directs are in it, just side bar folks, then hubs had the great idea that he’d scan it and we’d keep them that way in a file then pitch all this paper. Yeah, hubs !!! So, go through those files (if you even have any anymore like I do) and pitch away – I always, always keep my direct ancestor’s things, like I have a deed for my Isaac Darst in Meigs County, Ohio and nobody’s getting that (well, copies, I’d love to share). Put actual old items in acid free folders. So, if you don't have pitch it criteria, maybe this’ll help.

Blog 22 – Get ya’ some Goals I made five goals when I began genealogy almost 50 years ago. #1 – Do my five generations which my grandmother said I couldn’t do on the Bazzani side because they were itinerant farmers and moved a lot. Done, back seven generations in the same little town to Domenico Angelo Bazzani and Luigia Tadolini. #2 – Get everyone possible out of the USA (well, okay the Bazzanis were pretty easy but some pretty doggone hard – Done – well, mostly done, I still need James McCracken and a few more, but have most of ‘em. #3 – Find a king or queen – well, this took about 35 years but finally … Done! I’ll never forget the night I found the first one and from that one, another 20 something and within the next week that many more. If you can hook up with the Tudor world, you’ve got it made as everything was well documented so they could marry off the kids to cousins to keep the rule in the family. Love it! #4 – Discover how Jim and I are cousins. This too took decades but once I found his Plantaganet, I discovered we are actually cousins in three ways, 21st cousins twice removed through Richard DeGrey, 21st cousins three times removed through Eleanor Plantaganet and 26th cousins through Henry, King of England. He got a kick out of sleeping with his cousin. #5 – Go back to Adam and Eve. Done but son Jay and I don’t count it because after about 800 AD the genealogies all say, “Mary begat Jonathan who begat Simon who begat Rebecca…” not even places, just names so we decided of course we do go back, but we’re happy with what we have for sure, not out in spacedom. All in all, I’m pretty pleased that it only took me four decades to complete just five measly goals ?? Currently, I mainly make genealogical goals for my GenWeb pages and FB pages, such as 100 obituaries / month on the Montgomery GenWeb site, and do OTD in Fountain History for the Fountain County, Genealogy FB page. I do need to go back and review my own genealogy and get busy doing ours again, because believe me, I spend so much time helping and doing others genealogies that I have little time for mine and that is not why I made those five goals !!

Blog 21– Flush-out the paper Of course, the big use of newspapers for genealogists is to find an obituary, but please know that they are much more. Granted, it’s not as easy to find articles about the ancestors as an obituary since the obit is going to be a short time after the death, but especially now with so many papers being digitized and indexed, it’s getting much easier. One of the most fun and interesting continuing articles I’ve ever read was one in our local newspaper in the 1950s called, “Let’s Meet the President,” and it was an overview of the presidents of various organizations in the county. Reading the articles, one found out about the person, how long in the club, when made president, reasons for the club, family members and the like. So, let’s just continue with dad and I’ll tell you about some of the other articles he popped up in. One was in 1954 in an article in the Waveland Independent, telling how he and others platted, marked, ordered and installed street signs in town. There were several articles about him as a carpet installer, mail carrier and when they built the new Post Office. Service articles were important – found a couple in the Clintonian, one in August of 1944 stating he was now stationed in Italy and had been in the service over two years. While in the CCC, there were five or six articles about his baseball playing. He was exceptional, but always said he wasn’t allowed to play on the Clinton HS team because he was a “WOP”. I thought that was so cruel, but imagine it might possibly have been that he worked for a local farmer with some power which could be some of it. Anyway, he played when he returned from the service on a local team and there were a few articles then, too. Then there are those you don’t want to see, like when he almost lost his life in a severe wreck on the route. Anyway, don’t just stop reading the newspaper for the obituaries. Continue on for the real good stuff !

How many of you belong to a (physical) group for genealogy? Certainly there are pros & cons to each and all. Mainly, I’ve had good experiences but a few bad, too. Let’s talk DAR first, one of the big ones of course. I loved DAR but towards the end of my what 20 years or so, many of the gals had died off so there were only 4-5 good workers, young enough to move left. I always got stuck with doing the dinners (two a year) and it was so expensive and so much work. The tradition was the fancy plates, and the whole 9-yards. Well, Barb Taylor and I bucked the system and did paper plates once, nice ones and with the theme (October – we had everything corn – it was so much fun – corn pudding, corn this & that) and most of the gals loved it (wondering why in the world we’d been so silly with it all anyway). Expense, not only for the dinners but the dues and just everything made it way too expensive for me. My plan was to stay in 50 years but alas that didn’t happen. I did have an accomplishment – I’m one of the few to ever have regent twice and that was another reason for quitting, they were urging me to take it a third time. Did love the ladies, just upsetting as they all passed away. The local genealogy club has had its ups and downs, as well. For several years in the 70s and 80s it was wow, spearheading and completing several awesome projects, including the 1864-78-98-1917 combined atlas and the most recent county genealogy/history (although my Crawfordsville: Athens of Indiana and a couple of other nifty books have been done) Family Histories of Montgomery County, but then inner grouches kind of ruined it all and for awhile there really wasn’t one but the current one is great, and are accomplishing much, especially in the cemeteries. State wise, I was the first secretary of the Indiana Genealogy Society and enjoyed helping to get it going strong, but again, the travel was so expensive. I belong to Indiana Pioneers and paid my dues for life otherwise, I’d probably have dropped that too. So, I guess I’d have to say it’s what you make it. Ask yourself, is the expense worth it? Is the time worthwhile? Do you enjoy the people? What projects are getting done or is it the same-‘ol-same-‘ol?

Although this is not the blog I wrote for this week (I have several ahead) I wanted to share with you today probably the coolest genealogical experience I’ve ever had. It began about 10 months ago when the grandson of a classmate of mine contacted me to see if I had any ideas for an historical musical about our county (Montgomery) that wasn’t well known. Although I had five suggestions, I laughingly told him if he’d choose this one, I’d help him write it as I had already done the research on the Montgomery County Poor Farm, made a findagrave listing of what I had discovered, and had fallen totally in love with the people I’d found. So, in agreement (being a history buff himself and not even knowing the concept of a poor farm) we got busy. When Preston and Karen take off, we’re not stop, and pretty much finished the play in a few months. Yes, I said play – I did not feel it was musical oriented although there is music in the play we finished (it is narrated by Joel, age 90, playing his guitar and mainly annoying the other residents). Well, last night (July 14th) we performed (my first and likely last time since I’m age 70 on-stage other than high school plays I did) Down On The Farm at the C’ville Legion and our cast was amazing (and about half of us were newbies). What an excitement to see and be a part of this type of history in the making! Although I’ve written thousands of things in my years, it is my first play and I want to thank Preston Dildine with all my heart for taking me on as a newby playwright! Thanks, also, to my beloved poor farmers making this unique piece of history possible and letting us tell your story! One of the most exciting parts is that even though we used the people who lived at the Montgomery County, Indiana Poor Farm, their story is universal.

Thanks for our Independence Day -- Guess the 4th of July coming up makes me think of all the patriotic ancestors who have gone before me. First, I want to say that my father, although the only one in his family born in America (just a few months after his parents and sister came to the USA), a WWII veteran was as patriotic as anyone could get. He taught us to stand up for our country, freedom, our church, beliefs and ourselves. Above all, stand up and respect the flag, the president and anyone in authority. There was a recent president I thought was the most horrid thing that our country had ever experienced, but he was our president and I would have stood for respect. Sadly, too many are disrespecting our president, our country, and our flag. That said, I do want to tell you about a couple of our ancestors who made it possible for Americans to do just that, because they fought for our freedom. One of those is my ancestor, John Phillipus Sowers. Born in Katzenback in the Palatinate area of Germany in 1734, he was sent to America by his parents when he was about to turn 14 and forced to serve in the service. He came to the Rowan County, NC area where I believe several other families from Katzenback settled. About 1756, he married Christina Faust and they parented 14 children. Many of their descendants came to the Fountain, Montgomery, Parke County area. Although a bit old to be in the actual fighting, he did guard German prisoners, quite helpful to the Americans as he could speak to them. In fact, he went beyond that as he took them home at night to feed them. Several stayed in America because of Phillip Sowers. To close out this blog, I’ll tell you about one of Jim’s direct ancestors, James Kelly. Another immigrant, Kelly was born in Scotland and was about the age of 25 when he joined up to fight in the Revolution from Monongalia County, West Virginia. He was at Valley Forge with Washington and designed and helped build the small huts that are seen in many famous pictures. While on a foraging expedition, he was lost from his group of five men and spent the night in a hollow log. The next morning when a group was sent out to find his body, he heard them talking about there was no way he could have survived, but he yelled out of the log, “I ain’t dead yet, but if you don’t get me out of here and near a fire soon, I will be!” When they got him back to camp, they discovered that his face and ears were so badly frozen that the fleshy portions had fallen off. A few years after the war, he fell in love with Catherine Stewart, a Scottish lass who a few years before had been sent to town to get supplies by her mother, but while there, was swept up and stolen, then sold into indenture in the new world. He purchased her, and they lived so happily thereafter, for over 50 years.

Don’t believe everything you read. For the longest time, I truly believed (as I thought it made sense) an article I read about the Smiths in upper New York. The information said that there were so many of that name in the 16 and 1700s that they started giving them place names to go along with their occupations. My direct ancestor was Wait Smith, because he weighed things coming in from the port. Another was Bull Smith, because he owned cattle, Rock Smith as they lived in a rocky area. Of course Black Smiths are obvious as they were blacksmiths. Now, I did have a bit of trouble swallowing the Blue Smiths, though as they “got their name from a blue cloth coat worn by their ancestor,” however, it did explain that a blue coat was then an extremely uncommon color. The Tangier Smiths were said to have gotten their name from Colonel William Smith who had been the English Governor of Tangier, in the reign of Charles the II. So, the article continued to explain all the Smith names of the NY upper area, and I thought it made perfect sense, until I discovered my immigrant Smith’s grandmother was a Waite, a family named passed down for many generations. So, do be careful about believing everything you read will you?

Recently, a fellow who was born here but has lived most of his life away from Montgomery County made me one happy, one super happy lady! He sent me PDF files in Alphabetical Order of all of the WWI draftees. I had several of these typed on my GenWeb page (maybe 400 or so but with an obituary or something else, not in any order and a pittance of the total) but he has completed the 5,000+ cards . There were three waves of the draft and he has them color-coordinated as to when the man registered. Such information is the Serial # of the registrant, Order #, name, address, age, birthdate, whether a citizen, occupation, employer, and place of employment, whether married, nearest relative and relationship, address, and a description – height (rarely an actual one but tall, medium, short); build (as per the height) eye color and hair color. And, whether there are any disabilities. There was a bit of a variance on the three forms, but overall that is what was included. So, if you’ve been searching say the Sayler name, check it out as there are seven of them who were between the ages specified, two of whom, although I’d done quite a bit of searching the name I did not have in my database. These do not specify whether the person registering went to the war, but it is especially awesome to find the occupations and middle names, as well as specific birthdates and places. I love them. What an awesome search tool. Check ‘em out !! If for no other reason, just to familiarize yourself with a bit of America’s history !!!

Here’s the URL – look for Draft Cards -- http://www.ingenweb.org/inmontgomery/mil/ww1/

Note: I've been working on upping the original cards as well so you can get your ancestors' actual signature but not having very good luck with those ... bear with me - I'll figure it out

Note 2: Lots of awesome WWI items on that page :) http://www.ingenweb.org/inmontgomery/mil/ww1/

Blog 14 – for June 5th Never thought I’d be the admin for a Facebook page but here I am doing two. Love the surnames listing and have contacted a couple of people from it. I’m the third boss (never, ever want to be the big one) on the Indiana GenWeb and as such, I got the Indiana Genealogy FB page from these two wonderful ladies (Sheri and Shani) and enjoy it so much. The page was in perfect order. Such super stories and helpful folks. The other one, the Fountain County, Indiana Genealogy FB page I began because I had waited and waited for the Fountain County Rootsweb listserve to become available and when it did I didn’t see it and so it was nabbed by a man who seems to nab at will. First thing I put on the listserve was the same thing I’d added for 15 years each month – the things I’d put up on the Fountain County INGenWeb page but he sent me a note back and said that was inappropriate. WHAT? So, I began the FB page so that I can put that up on there. It is going great guns. Another one I’m on that has helped immensely is the Northern Italian FB page. I recently began a Surname listing on it that is getting quite a bit of response, so that is nifty. Some kind of historical/fun pages I belong to are my hometown (Waveland) page, the Crawfordsville page where I put an OTD (On This Day) of Montgomery County up each day that seems to get read pretty well, and various other FB pages (oh a Lectin Free that’s me since we’ve been doing the Plant Paradox eating plan) that are fun, or helpful or both. FB is a different way of doing genealogy but it is so much more fun than writing a letter, waiting for days upon end for an answer – perhaps it’s that instant gratification world we live in today? -- Oh, guess what – just today I joined the Meigs County, Ohio and Lancaster County PA FB pages so watch out – world, I’m coming through! -- Note: this was written a couple of weeks ago but did want to say that I guess ALL of the FB pages aren't so perfect after all. Had a bad experience and got off of the Lancaster page :( Oh, well, on a whole :)

Blog 13 – for May 30th, 2018 I admin the Indiana Genealogy Facebook page and love to ask questions to get people involved. It’s so much fun. Recently, I queried what was inherited from an ancestor. One gal said the way they cross their legs, which got me to thinking beyond what I said getting only a few hours of sleep I got from my dad who got it from his mom who got it from her dad. One said, “Hadn't thought about it till Laura's comment, but abilities and interests do seem to be inherited.” A real trait in my father-in-law, husband and son, Jay, is how they kind of raise their eyebrows oddly when perplexed or frustrated. I love it! When talking to a history buff friend, he said his family handed down family stories like the olden days and he is now working on proving some of those. My father was an amazing carpenter only I have no clue who he takes after. That’s the bad part of being the only one born in America in his family – no one to ask and I just didn’t think about it when my grandparents or even dad was alive. He was super smart too and I do know that his mother was brilliant. My grandson has my widows peak but not sure who had that before me, and sadly, he also has my sinus troubles, which both my parents had. Sorry, Dane! Daughter, Suzie, gets her arthritic hands from her dad, and his mother and I remember a couple of her Kritz aunt and uncles having that too, whereas her mother did not so it must be from the paternal side. Very knotty and curvy early on (Suzie’s began at about age 40 as did her dad’s). On another side of the family is twins, the Barker side. One family reunion, there were 13 sets of twins and one of my directs had three sets of twins plus another child, seven children under the age of 7. She died at age 34. Go figure! This is just a slight notation of a few things. I probably really should write a part of my autobiography about these traits as there are so many, many more! Now, I wonder what trait I got from Eve – heehee!

This blog may be lengthier than my norm, but hopefully, a good read about my Eleanor of Aquitaine. Quite the woman of her time, Eleanor was one of the richest women in Western Europe in the High Middle Ages. Loving the Arts, she was patron of Wace, Gernart de’Vintadorn and other literary greats of the times; yet, she also was extremely successful on the battlefield. (no experience on the battlefield, but do love the literary aspect of Eleanor). Her father, William X died and she became a ward of King Louis VII of France, who chose her for his son’s mate, King Louis VII in France.

She did not want the marriage. In the 15 years of wedded unbliss, she produced only two daughters so Louis VII desiring a son, agreed to an annulment. Immediately thereafter, two dukes made unsuccessful attempts at kidnapping and marrying her for her land and beauty. She bequested her third cousin Henry to come marry her who had turned Eleanor’s daughter down because they were too closely related. Henry became King of England 25 October 1154 with Eleanor as his Queen. Five sons (take that, Louie) and three daughters blessed their royal household. Henry liked to hop beds, though Eleanor ignored it and even raised Geoffrey of York, one of the illegitimates at her castle.

Eleanor and Henry lived apart for some time, but in mid July 1174, after returning to England from Portiers, Eleanor’s literary castle, she disappeared (for encouraging their sons to revolt against their father), and was imprisoned for the next 16 years in various locations, released only for special occasions when Henry need to appear normal, all the time keeping some of his affairs behind closed doors, while flaunting one particular one with Rosamond Clifford whom was reported as his one true love.

Eleanor refused to give him such, so keeping in mind, Eleanor was imprisoned, Henry nurtured the rumors that Eleanor had poisoned Rosamond. Henry died 6 July 1189, and Eleanor was finally released. Because of the inner fighting of sons and grandsons, she took the veil of a nun and outlived all her children but the youngest, John.

Oddly, she was buried with a son and Henry in the Fontevraud Abbey. Noted to be the most beautiful of the royals women for centuries, overall, Eleanor was extroverted, lively, intelligent, strong-willed, and loved her Lord. Sounds like me, don’t ya’ think?

Karen's Genealogy Blog 11 – for May 13th, 2018

Karen's Genealogy Blog 10 – May 4, 2018

When we changed the Fountain County Indiana GenWeb site to a new program, hubs grabbed the WPA births and deaths as jpgs for quickness.  Didn’t really think that if they weren’t typed, they’d not be searchable.  Found that out too late, so in late December 2020 we decided to retype and actually rework the WPA births.  At the end of July 2021, we finally finished them.  We worked almost every day on them (great covid project since we had to stay home anyway) most often 10-12 hours on them.  Now, they are basically finished although I decided it would be a good idea to go back one more time and smooth things out.

The two main goals were to type it in better order (example: J. Smith; John Smith; JL Smith – all same father, so we would make them all John L. Smith) and to find names for all the “blank” babies – there were so many.  Definitely a mistake, we didn’t keep track of how many named and the ONLY one I had the original list from and the completed list was the Y’s so here is an overview of those so you can kind of get the feel of the project.  Keep in mind, these were based on the WPA listings of the Fountain County Births but now is MUCH improved and way beyond the original.

There were 89 original WPA births for Fountain County.  We added 27 other children proven born in Fountain County within the 1882-1920 time frame of the WPA records.  There were 23 unnamed babies – we found names for 15 of those (note: often the reason they were unnamed is they passed at birth – if we could find that out, we noted that).  We fixed much parental information – examples: mother Myrna Borgart was Myrta Bogart; --- mother --- Bannon was Christina; father Ed was John Edgar).  

When we added births, we gave two proofs (most were from Death Records, Marriages, Social Security Applications, WWI & WWII draft papers, and FindAGrave) if at all possible – rarely could we only find one.  

Spellings and consistency were other goals, too.  I do an OTD (On This Day) for the Fountain County Genealogy Facebook page so this made it perfect to include many of these folks in the OTDs.  

Jim Zach, my hubby of 53 years has been amazing.  He did all the retyping of the project (plus did the Death Records on his own with a tiny bit of help from me) and some of the research.  I did the majority of that, but he would try to find things on his own before I took the search into Ancestry and other genealogical search areas.  

It was a rewarding and fun project on a whole, but so sad in other aspects, such as when the babies would pass (so many had no burial places which REALLY bothered us – unmarked graves in the backyards??).  One gal had 9 children in the 1900 census but only two living.  That was so sad and there were many examples similar.

After completing the project, I'm still not satisfied with it so now, we're going back over it, smoothing it out and making one last effort to name those little ones and/or discover what happened to 'em!

Mostly, we found the little ones grew-up, became mothers, nurses, teachers, military personnel (Generals, Lts, lots of Sgts we found), doctors, businessmen.  Many left; many stayed, and we were proud of them all!  

Fun way to get to know the community, people, and area – definitely a worthy project !!!