Friday, February 29, 2008

Family History Journal - 02/29/08

This Leap Day was often fascinating and fun.

I was on the computer by 8:30 a.m. reading email and blogs via Bloglines. I posted "Descendants of Samuel and Mary Ann (Underhill) Vaux - Post 2." I did a bit of research to answer two queries received via the CVGS query form and then went to the library to look for obituaries. I found one of the three I needed. I had lunch at McDonald's and went for my two mile walk with George at the bayfront. I stopped back at the library for awhile to find the second obituary I needed. Then it was home...

I emailed the two queryists with the information I found, and started looking for children, their spouses and their children in the California records. I found quite a bit and used http://www.411.com/ to find addresses and phone numbers.

I posted the "'Researching slaves in the Family' CVGS Presentation" and then turned the computer over to Linda for awhile after 4 p.m. and I watched the news and read the paper. We went out to dinner at Trophy's in Eastlake for fish and chips. When we got back before 7 p.m., I read email and blogs again and was intrigued by the Sharon Sergeant team project that made the news today. I listened to DearMYRTLE's podcast (excellent!) and posted "Genealogy Research shined today" about Sharon's team's research. Then I read my politics sites and found an excellent series on global warming that I read and saved.

It's 10:20 p.m. now and I haven't done anything useful all day on my own research, but it's been an interesting and fun day (hey - I like watching newspaper microfilm roll by - as long as I don't get motion sickness). Tomorrow is our research trip to the FHC - I need to figure out what I'm going to search for!

Genealogy today was about 6.5 hours - 1.5 hours reading email and blogs on Bloglines, 1.5 hours at the library working on CVGS queries, 1.5 hours blogging, and 2.0 hours researching for the CVGS queries.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Family History Journal - 02/28/08

Today was a fairly full genealogy day...with breaks only for eating, napping and doing honey-dos.

I was on the computer by 8:30 a.m., reading my email and Bloglines. I posted the first in a series about "Descendants of Samuel and Mary Ann (Underhill) Vaux" from a genealogy report I made the other day. Then I posted "Ancestry's New Look and Search Capabilities" based on the Ancestry blog post and my own research. Then it was off to the San Diego Family History Center for the rest of the morning.

At the FHC, I transferred images from the Providence RI Probate Records and Oneida County (NY) Deeds that I found last week on microfilm to my flash drive using the Canon Microfilm Scanner system. I had to play around with the brightness and contrast on the scanner because the deeds were very little writing. Then it was on the FHC computers - several of them wouldn't let me access the Premium Databases. I didn't find much useful on WorldVitalRecords for the Munger, Doctor and Vaux surnames. I dropped my flyers on the counter and came home.

I was home by about 12:30 p.m., and after lunch I transferred the images from the flash drive to my hard drive and renamed the files appropriately. I decided to do another survey of the genealogy web sites with the most traffic, and wrote "Genealogy web site traffic" to document my findings. I did a bit more testing of the new Ancestry interface. Linda was home and needed to use the computer so I read the paper, took a nap, and watched TV before dinner.

At 6:30 p.m., I was back on reading email and blogs, and answered several emails from CVGS folks. I started in again on my pile of census data that needs to be input to my database, and worked that until about 9:30. I'm still not done - lots more to do!

Genealogy today was 9.5 hours - reading email and blogs was 1.5 hours, blogging (including the research time) was 2.5 hours, researching at the FHC was 2.0 hours, transferring data to my computer was 1.0 hour, testing Ancestry's interface was 0.5 hours, and working in my FTM database was 2.0 hours.

I need to start working on my presentation for 5 April and catch up on the RI probate records in addition to putting the Vaux family material in my database.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Family History Journal - 02/27/08

Almost all genealogy, all the time, with short time outs for food and necessities.

I was on the computer by 8:30 a.m., and printed out the fliers needed to distribute for the March programs and the 5 April seminar. I read my email and Bloglines, and posted three items on Genea-Musings - two of which I wrote earlier. At 9:40, I left for the copy shop and the CVGS meeting at noon. I was done at the copy shop by 10:15, then stopped by the post office box, then Office Depot to pick up supplies, McDonald's for lunch, and was at the library by 11:15. I went in the back door at 11:30 but the staff was in the conference room so I puttered about for awhile. Finally, at 11:50, we were able to go in and get set up. We had a nice crowd - about 45 in attendance for Margaret Lewis talk on "Researching Slaves in the Family." After the program, I dropped my fliers with the library staff and was home by 2:45.

After reading my email and Bloglines, I made some genealogy reports for my Samuel Vaux descendants and researched them a bit in online databases, and posted a summary report on the presentation in " 'Researching Slaves in the Family' Presentation Today" on the Genealogy Cafe.

After dinner, I was back on at 7 p.m. and sent an email to my CVGS colleagues about the Research Trip on Saturday, and then read the TGF chat scripts and commented on the TGF closed blog. Then I put the collected census data for several families into my FTM database.

Genealogy today totalled 10.0 hours - including 1.5 hours reading email and blogs, 1.0 hour blogging, 5.0 hours on CVGS activities, 1.0 hour on TGF activities, and 1.5 hours on feeding my FTM database.

Hooray - Blogger has fixed the spell check!

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Family History Journal - 02/24-26/08

We're back from our birthday bash for 3-year old Lolo at Disneyland. We drove up on Sunday morning and met Lolo and family at 9:15 at the hotel, then went to Disneyland. We were inside the gates by 10 a.m and it was raining, so we did indoors things. After Buzz Lightyear, Autopia, Dumbo, Pinocchio, Snow White, and Winnie the Pooh we had lunch, then Linda and I broke away and did Pirates of the Caribbean, the Columbia Riverboat and Thunder Mountain (never again!). We met up with the kids and went back to check in at the hotel, and take a short nap. We were in Downtown Disney by 5:30 for Lolo's birthday dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. It was fun, although Lolo's friend Abigail was scared of the thunder and lightning, which went off four times while we were there. The Elephants trumpeted and the Gorillas chattered, and we had a Volcano ice cream dessert with a candle.

I checked the Internet when we got back to the hotel, but the wireless wasn't working in the room so I went down to the business center and read email, Bloglines and posted on Genea-Musings.

On Monday morning, we were off by 9:15 a.m. and were there when the Park opened at 10. Buzz Lightyear (again), the Princess show (the girls waited for 20 minutes then decided they didn't want to be princesses after all - they wanted to ride things) and Toontown were experienced before lunch. After lunch, we took off and walked down Main Street, went to California Adventure and had an ice cream and experienced Soaring over California. Pretty cool. Then it was back to the hotel all pooped out and out for dinner and then to bed. I read email and posted on Genea-Musings after we got back - the wireless worked OK.

We slept in today, had breakfast and headed home. I posted a note on Genea-Musings before we left. We were home by 12:15 p.m. and had lunch, and Linda read and answered her email for about an hour. I read my email on the laptop and then glommed onto the computer when she went out. I read Bloglines and posted 3 items on Genea-Musings during the afternoon. Then I did more testing of the new Ancestry search interface and provided feedback on it.

After dinner, I worked on the CVGS handouts for tomorrow, then input a lot of the recently acquired census and other information on the Vaux cousins in both the Vaux and Master databases.

There wasn't much genealogy done on Sunday and Monday - just reading and posting previously prepared blog articles from the hotel. But we made a lot of family history - Lolo should remember sharing Disneyland rides with Grandpa and Grandma, and I will certainly remember them!

Genealogy today was a total of 8.0 hours - 1.0 hour reading email and Bloglines, 1.5 hours blogging, 1.5 hours testing the new Ancestry search and providing feedback, 2.0 hours doing CVGS stuff and 2.0 hours feeding my databases new information.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Family History Journal - 02/23/08

Today was all-genealogy almost all day - cool!

We had breakfast out at Carrows - Linda's swim club meets monthly. We were home before 9 a.m. I got on the computer and read my email and Bloglines, then I posted "Letters from home - Post 18" and "Names for your grandparents" on Genea-Musings. I need to "bank" some posts for the next three days, so I made five posts and will post them while we're at Disneyland. When I was done, it was almost noon, so I took a break for lunch and came right back to the computer.

I got into my genealogy database and into Ancestry.com and tried to find some of the "missing" cousins of Della and Austin Carringer. I succeeded a bit, and fleshed out 4 families. The big breakthrough was finding the Stantons in the Boulder Colorado cemetery listings - their genealogy society has done research on all the guests there! Birth, marriage and death dates/places, plus some biographical information. Before I knew it, it was almost 5 p.m., and I'd promised Linda that I would cut the front lawn. I did and then we had dinner and I read the paper.

I was back on the computer at 7 p.m., and answered several emails. We got 3 queries today! Then it was back to finding the distant cousins on Ancestry and WorldConnect and Google. I had a little success. Just as I was about to quit, another email came aksing for help on a man in Portsmouth OH. Huh, I'm Chula Vista CA! I checked Ancestry for census, book and newspaper info and found some and emailed it to my queryist. I may blog about that one next week. I need to post on the Chula Vista Genealogy Cafe blog one more item too...and send an email to the CVGS members about the Wednesday program.

Genealogy today was 10.5 hours - 1.5 hours reading and answering email and reading Bloglines, 3.5 hours blogging or writing bank posts, 1.0 hour on CVGS things, and 4.5 hours researching distant cousins.

We leave early Sunday morning for Disneyland to celebrate Lolo's 3rd birthday and enjoy Disneyland with her and her parents and their friends. It should be fun, even if it rains. We'll be back Tuesday so hold the fort here - I'll be back!

Friday, February 22, 2008

Family History Journal - 02/22/08

Happy George Birthington's Washday. Is that OS or NS on the calendar? Was he born in 1731 or 1732? If there were a birth record, I think it would say 11 February 1731/2. Then they added 11 days in 1752 to create the current calendar system and we celebrate GBW on 22 February.

I was on the computer by 7:30 a.m. and reading my email and Bloglines. I posted "Letters from home - Post 17" and then dug out all of the letters I have, since I'm running out of previously transcribed material. I found them! I took a break to get ready to go out later. I've been thinking about an issue so I posted "Writing narratives in genealogy software." Then I transcribed the last of the Smith family letters, and wrote up a post for Genea-Musings. I had to go out at 11 a.m. to the pharmacy, Costco and the church office.

I was back on the computer by 12:30 and decided to transcribe the Carringer family letters too. They are all from 1890 to 1898. I transcribed 5 of them, but by 4 p.m. I was tired and Linda needed to use the computer so I watched TV and read the paper. We went out to dinner at Panera Bread at 5:45 and were home by 7 p.m.

Back at the keyboard, I read my email and Bloglines, and remembered I have to edit the CVGS annual report. I did that and sent it to the board for review. I decided to watch videos on roots TV and noticed they had a bunch from the St. George Expo. I posted "RootsTelevision Videos at St. George" so that I had a summary of them. Then I got out all of the notes I've made the last week in the search for distant Vaux/Smith relatives and input the data into my database. It's all in the Vaux database, but I should put it into my Master database too - I have some of them, but not others. Tomorrow.... probably not! Another item for the to-do-sometime list - it's growing longer.

Genealogy today was 9.0 hours - 1.5 hours reading email and Bloglines, 1.5 hours blogging, 1.0 hour on CVGS work, 2.5 hours transcribing letters, 1.0 hour watching RootsTV, and 1.5 hours inputting data into FTM.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Family History Journal - 02/21/08

This was definitely a different genealogy day than most!

After reading my email and Bloglines, I posted "Letters from home - Post 16" and the Table of Contents for the January 2008 NEHGRecord. Then I packed up and went off to the FHC to visit the four microfilms that came in on Tuesday - I ordered them two weeks ago.

At the FHC, I got the four films, and put the Oneida County NY deeds (Vol. 11-12) on the reader. I found that the David Smith is not the one from RI, but the one from Plymouth CT who bought land in Camden NY - and not the father of Russell Smith who was in Western NY. Rats. There was one Russell Smith in Western NY on this film. Good. I ordered two more films of other deed volumes today. The next film was early Providence RI probate packets. I had 5 targets, and three of them had no papers filmed. The other two had just bonds. I need to order the will books I think. The next two films were deed indexes for Scituate RI and Glocester RI. I listed out entries for my Hawkins, Horton, Pray, Wade and White families, but didn't finish before I had to come home. All in all, a frustrating day at the FHC!

I got home by 1 p.m. and had lunch. I needed to do my homework for the TGF study tonight, so I reviewed the article again and listed the sources used, the methodology used and the format highlights as required. Linda came home in the middle of this so I helped her and she needed to get on the computer. So 1.5 hours later, I was back on and finished my homework at 5 p.m.

After dinner, I was on at 6:30 p.m. and couldn't contact Christy for the TGF chat - so I IMed Tina and somehow got connected to the group of 5. I'm not good with this high-tech stuff. The TGF study group chat went almost two hours and was pretty good. We discussed the article in much depth and delved into some what-ifs along the way. After that, I decided to check out the "New Ancestry" format that I was invited to participate in. Frustrating - slow, more complex, right now any way. I filled out some feedback forms. Then I wrote this post. I'm going to call it a night.

Genealogy today was 8.0 hours total - 1.0 hour reading email and Bloglines, 1.0 hour blogging, 2.0 hours researching at the FHC, 3.0 hours doing TGF study, and 1.0 hour doing new Ancestry evaluation.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Family History Journal - 02/20/08

This was almost a full genealogy day. I had a dentist appointment at 10 a.m., and had lunch at 11:15, but other than that ...

The genealogy day actually started at about 5:30 a.m. when I had a dream - I posted about it in "Dream On" on Genea-Musings later in the day.

I was on the computer by 8:30 a.m. reading my email and Bloglines. I quickly posted "Letters from home - Post 15", then printed some forms, and gathered my stuff together for the CVGS Computer Group meeting today at the library.

I dropped by the Post Office to get the CVGS mail after lunch, and was at the library before they opened. Good thing because Terry, a newbie who might join CVGS walked up and recognized my face from the newspaper article. The doors opened and we had about 15 for the computer group meeting. Three of us took Terry and Harry, another newbie, off to the Conference Room to talk about beginning genealogy - I posted about it here. I got home just before 3 pm., and was on the computer until 5 p.m. writing posts and reading.

After dinner, I answered some emails, read some more, and did more research on the Vaux collateral lines in Ancestry - tracked down the Clarence White family and the Roy Dyar family in the census records. I need to study the article for the TGF group chat on Thursday night, so will cut this short.

Genealogy today was 9.0 hours - 1.5 hours with email and Bloglines, 2.0 hours blogging, 3.0 hours on CVGS activities, 2.0 hours researching on Ancestry, and 0.5 hours on the TGF study.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Family History Journal - 02/19/08

I am almost back to "normal" in my genealogy and family history life. We struggled to get Lori and the boys off to the airport today - they got hung up trying to use the webcam with the boys dad in Iraq - we had video but no audio - very frustrating! Then it was hurry to find everything (toys, shoes, clothes, bathroom stuff, food), pack up, have a cereal lunch, and run to the airport. The boys were good all morning, though, which helped. On my way back from the airport, I stopped at Mount Hope Cemetery in San Diego to take some gravesite pictures for a queryist.

I finally got on the computer after 1 p.m., and read my email and Bloglines quickly. Then I posted "Letters from home - Post 14" and " 'Discovering Family History' Magazine Debuts" after downloading and reading the magazine. I posted on Randy's Busy Life for about an hour, then answered some emails, and came back and posted "Another WVR Survey" on Genea-Musings. I wanted to test out Windows Live Messenger for the TGF study group, so I IMed with Amy for awhile - it's easy to do, but I hadn't done it, and worked out some quirks.

After dinner, I was back on at 7:30 p.m., and decided to browse through Ancestry's Stories and Publications for some of my Samuel Vaux descendants. I found some newspaper articles that added several spouses names and some death dates. I looked up and it was almost 10 p.m. That was fun! I've waited five nights to do that!

Genealogy today was 6.0 hours - 1.0 hour reading email and Bloglines, 1.5 hours blogging, 0.5 hour reading DFH, 0.5 hour IMing, 0.5 hour at the cemetery, and 2.0 hours browsing through Ancestry.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Family History Journal - 02/18/08

I had a little more time to spend on genealogy and family history today, and I tried to use it wisely. Lori, Lucas and Logan are still here, but they went off to the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center at 10 a.m. and were back by 12:30 p.m. When they got home, Logan took a nap, but I played with Lucas while Lori took a nap. Logan got up at 2:30 or so and we went out in the back yard and chased bubbles, kicked the big blue ball around, played tag and Lucas hit some whiffle balls. Then we walked down the street and picked flowers for Lori and Grandma. Most of the good ones came from our garden, it seemed. Lucas captured two worms and I got to shepherd them around the block. Before dinner was a nightmare with lots of acting out and timeouts for both boys. Dinner was OK, and bath and story time went fine. Logan wanted me to rock him before bed and he fell asleep in my arms. Easy. Wonderful.

I enjoyed my 2.5 hours of genealogy time while they were gone, and grabbed 15 minutes here and there throughout the day. Then after Logan went down around 8, I was on the computer for another hour. I've read and answered email and read Bloglines (1.5 hours), blogged with posts on "Letters from home - Post 13," "Some Welcome Publicity for CVGS," and "The iGene Awards - Carnival of Genealogy #42" on Genea-Musings. I also put five more "Letters from home" posts together for the rest of the week. Blogging was about 2.0 hours total. So genealogy today was 3.5 hours total.

Lori and the boys go home tomorrow, and if the weather's OK I'll stop at a San Diego cemetery to take some pictures of a grave site on my way home. Hopefully, I can start back into doing some research the rest of the week before we go off to Disneyland on Sunday for two nights.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

My Family History Life - 02/17/08

I had a little more time to do genealogy work today, but most of the day was spent at church, and with my grandsons and daughter. They went to Sea World today and met my other daughter and her little girl for the day. The boys got home at about 2:30. I helped get Lucas settled down and nap (he ended in my arms for an hour, I dozed too), then we had dinner and a nice dessert to celebrate Logan's 2nd birthday (again). Bedtime was a hassle - I finally got Logan down after an hour of trying at 9:20.

Genealogy today was all of 3.0 hours - 1.0 hour for reading email and Bloglines, and 2.0 hours for blogging. I posted "Letters from home - Post 12" this morning and "The Best of the Genea-Blogs, 10-16 February 2008" this afternoon on Genea-Musings, then posted about the two newspaper articles about me and CVGS on the Chula Vista Genealogy Cafe blog - here and here.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

My Family History Life - 02/16/08

We had the boys overnight, so I didn't get as much sleep as usual... Lucas slept the night, but Logan woke me up at 2 and then at 5:30 for good, so I was real cranky this afternoon. My wife, daughter and both boys said so. In my "ancient of days," I am upset by messiness and inefficiency - oh Lord, please grant me patience, and I want it now!

We got going this morning and went to the San Diego Zoo on a nice San Diego mid-winter day - blue skies, 65F, lots of happy people. The boys really liked the skyride. We watched the polar bears, ducks and swans, wild boars and giant pandas before having lunch. Then we rode the moving walkway up to the monkey mesa and watched the orangutans for half an hour. The big wooly guy came and sat next to the window right where we were - the boys thought he was real funny. We got home after 1 p.m., and all attempts at getting the boys to go down for a nap were futile. I really wanted one myself, which I finally got at 4 p.m. thanks to Linda, who took care of them while I was cranky and sleepy. We went out for a walk and threw whiffle balls around before visiting our elderly neighbors to show off the boys. Their mom came back from her overnight stay and baby shower at 6 p.m., and we went down to the pizza parlor for dinner.

Genealogy today? Not a whole lot! I managed to read email and Bloglines at times during the day, and posted "Letters from home - post 11" on Genea-Musings this morning (pre-written) and finally got on the computer tonight at 8 p.m. and posted "Genea-Musings Limericks - mine" (also pre-written, but heavily edited tonight). I spent a little time searching for "Best of" blog posts since I've been off my normal routine this week. Absolutely no real research!

My time today was all of 2.5 hours - 1.0 hour reading email and bloglines, and 1.5 hours blogging.

Friday, February 15, 2008

My Family History Life - 02/15/08

Well, genealogy work was non-existent today because my daughter and grandsons are here. We got our act together and went to Legoland today - it's an amusement park in Carlsbad CA designed for children - lots of displays made out of legos, plus quite a few rides for kids of all ages, even grandpas. Logan barely reached the 34 inch height limit to go on rides with somebody. Thank goodness, it was his 2nd birthday! We had fun riding airplanes, helicopters, boats and cars, and had a great ice cream cone after lunch.

We dropped Lori at the mall at 3 p.m. - she will spend the night and most of Saturday with her friends - one is having a baby shower. Traffic wasn't too bad - we traveled the 40 miles in under an hour. The boys napped in the car, and I got one too when Linda took them for a walk before dinner. So we have the boys overnight and tomorrow - hey, there's two of them and two of us, can't be too bad, right? Dinner went pretty well, and we had cake and ice cream to celebrate Logan's birthday. We'll do it again tomorrow too. Bath, story and bed time were drawn out, but they were pretty good for us tonight.

Genealogy today was just reading email and Bloglines (1.0 hour) and posting "Letters from home - Post 10" and "It's Academy Awards Time - the AGFH of course" I prepared these earlier and posted them when I could today (0.5 hours). So - total genealogy time was 1.5 hours... but we made lots of Family History today! I'm going to bed early.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

My Family History Life - 02/14/08

This was not a genealogy day, but it was a Family History day. You'll see what I mean!

I was on the computer at 8:45 a.m. reading email and Bloglines, and then I posted the "Letters from home - Post 9" on Genea-Musings. That was quickly followed by "A Valentine's Day Gift" about how I proposed to Linda in 1970.

I went shopping for flowers at 10:15 a.m., and found a nice dozen for a reasonable price. I had lunch and shopped at Costco, then went to the library for a half hour, and finally came home. I talked on the phone to a fellow who saw a brief article in the San Diego Union-Tribune about our CVGS program in two weeks. He wanted to contact our speaker.

I needed to get ready to pick up Lori and the boys at the airport at 3 p.m. I found one car seat and got it in my car, but the second one was in Linda's car. She came home about 2 and I put it in my car. Then it was off to the airport in the rain, and their plane was about 15 minutes late (others were 2 hours late!). We got wet getting back to the car, and then traffic was a mess - I stayed off the freeways - it took 45 minutes to get the 12 miles home. I played with the boys, then we brought in Chinese food for dinner, and the boys watched some TV and took their bath before bedtime. The hugs and kisses are great! See - family history, not genealogy!

It wasn't until 9:30 that I was able to get back on the computer and write my Carnival of Genealogy post, which i'll probably post tomorrow.

Genealogy today was limited to 3.0 hours - 1.0 hours reading email and Bloglines, and 2.0 hours blogging.

The next four days may be limited to reading and blogging also - we have things planned for the boys - we go to Legoland on Friday, and Linda and I have the boys by ourselves Friday night when Lori stays over with her friends and goes to a baby shower on Saturday.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

My Genealogy Life - 02/13/08

The genealogy day started out well and ended abruptly at 4 p.m. when we went out to dinner and a play, Hello Dolly, at Lamb's Players Theater in Coronado. It was great to get out - there were three other couples from church there and we had fun talking to them.

I was on my email and Bloglines at 8:30 a.m., and had "Letters from home - Post 8" on Genea-Musings in short order (since I had prepared it the other day). I downloaded Windows Live Messenger software so that I can take part in the TGF chat next week, and tested it out a bit. I went looking for my interview summary from October 2006, and finally found it in an MSWord document - I thought I had lost it in the computer crash a year ago. I printed that out so I would be ready to answer those questions in my phone interview. The reporter called at 10 a.m. and we talked for about 30 minutes - pretty much me rambling stream-of-thought genealogy - we'll see if he can make it coherent! I sent him a picture with me and my pedigree chart. Then I printed out some California Voter List pages, some will abstract pages and some deed index pages for show and tell at the CVGS Research Group, grabbed lunch, and went out.

I left for the post office at 11:40 a.m., and was at the library at noon. We had 10 people at the Research Group meeting with 3 interesting problems. I was home by 2:30 p.m. I posted "Colleen Fitzpatrick at CGSSD" and then sent the CVGS email list the "Genealogy News" of the month (prepared last night). Then I went on the Chula Vista Genealogy Cafe blog and posted the "Monthly Genealogy News - 13 Feb 2008" there, and wrote up my summary of the meeting in "Research Group Meeting notes" on both the Cafe and Genea-Musings.

That was it for the day - a total of 7.0 hours spent on genealogy, of which 1.0 was reading email and Bloglines, 1.5 hours was blogging, 2.5 hours was CVGS related, 1.0 hour was interview related, and 1.0 hour was TGF related.

We have Lori and her boys coming tomorrow afternoon, so my genealogy time will be limited through Monday - that's why I set up more Letters from Home the other day - I can edit and post in 10 minutes. I still have to do Limericks and the iGenes awards too - I'll probably work on them tomorrow.

I'm forgetting something ... ah, yes, it's V-Day tomorrow! Hmmm - what should I get my sweetie? I wonder if she wants a new pedigree chart? Or a framed picture of her great-grandparents? How about a 25 page genealogy report of the descendants of Torger Olsen? Just the romantic thing for the girl with a genealogist hubby! Maybe some flowers will work too. And a card. And a big hug and kiss. And the grandsons arriving at 4 p.m. It will be a full day!

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

My Genealogy Life - 02/12/08

This was an early wakeup day - I had to get my neighbor to the outpatient hospital by 6:15 a.m., but I was home by 7 and on the computer by 8 a.m.

After reading my email and Bloglines, I posted "Letters from home - Post 7" on Genea-Musings. I then posted the "Genealogy in the Information Age" musing about ESM's article - it really hit home, and I'm always impressed by the depth and breadth of her work. I had more work to do on the Vaux collateral lines, so I searched the census records until after noon, when I stopped for lunch.

After lunch, I created the next batch of "Letters from home" posts so that I have a stock through the weekend. Then I posted "Genea-musings Limericks - not mine" with limericks written by other more poetically gifted than I. I updated my database with some of the information gleaned yesterday and today about David and Leava Smith, and also the Loucks family line. The newspaper guy called and wants to do a phone interview on Wednesday with me. Linda needed the computer at 4, so I went in and watched the news and finished my spy novel.

After dinner, I was on the computer by 6:30 p.m. Tomorrow is our Research Group meeting, and so I researched and wrote up the Genealogy news for the last month - I'll post it on the CV Genealogy Cafe blog tomorrow and email it to my CVGS colleagues. Then I added the limericks sent by Terry and Bill to the limerick post, and spent about an hour trying to write limericks about myself - Linda says that I'm too logical and not very lyrical - she's probably right! She needed the computer again, so I went in and watched The Mormons on PBS, and then American Idol for awhile, and did the dishes.

Genealogy today was 11.0 hours, of which 1.5 hours was reading email and Bloglines, 3.0 hours was blogging, 1.0 hour was CVGS related, 1.0 hour was trying to write limericks, and 4.5 hours was researching collateral lines.

Monday, February 11, 2008

My Genealogy Life - 02/11/08

Time sure flies when you're having fun. Where did the day go?

I was on the computer by 8 a.m., reading my email and Bloglines. By the way, do you use Bloglines to read blogs? You should - I sample over 200 blogs a day in a short time period. I posted "Letters from home - Post 6" on Genea-Musings. Then I decided that I needed to find out more about David Devier Smith (1863-1920) - Della's brother who wrote some of the letters. In Post 6, he tells how he married to Leava, whose family was in Jefferson County, Colorado. I got my research book out and found his obituary and SD City Directory entries, so I went looking in the census for him. I couldn't find him anywhere in the 1900 census, but found him in 1910 and 1920 married to his second wife, Amy. I found Leava, his first wife, in 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930, and his daughters Eva (in 1910, 1920 and 1930) and Maybelle (in 1930). Whoa -it's noon time - Rush just signed off - lunch time, so I had my VegBeef soup.

I jumped in the car and shopped for a Valentines card (see, my life isn't 100% genealogy!), dropped some CVGS flyers at the Senior Center, and went to the library for the table talk. Dearl and John were there with Kathleen - she and John just discovered they are like 6th cousins on the Mallett surname, so they compared notes for two hours - I listened and kibitzed. I left at 3, stopped at the County Clerks office and picked up a death certificate for a queryist, and got home at about 3:30. Linda was doing her email, so I read the paper and watched TV a bit.

I got on the computer at 4 p.m., and read email and Bloglines, then found a neat site on PBS about The Frontier House, and posted "Essays about Homestead History." Then it was dinner time.

I was back on at 7 p.m. I answered some email, then watched two Roots TV videos. I checked the USGenWeb site for Red Willow County, Nebraska (where Davie Smith had his livery stable in the 1890 time period) and found a court action against DJ Smith, DJ Smith's probate file number, a Funeral Home record for DJ Smith, and Sanborn Maps for 1889 and 1897 showing Davie's livery stable. Cool.

So who was Leava? Who were her parents? She was born about 1867 in Missouri, parents were born in Kentucky. Before today, I thought that her parents were George and Mary Gibson of Andrew County, Missouri because the name, age and birthplaces fit, and the DJ Smith family was in Andrew County MO in the 1870-1880 time frame. But then I found a Leavy Smith, daughter of Nancy Smith in the 1880 census for Jefferson County, Colorado (remember the letter?) with kids William, Leavy and Alice; I think that this is probably the right family. I found the Zachariah and Nancy Smith family in Pineville, McDonald County, Missouri in 1860 and 1870, with a bunch of kids, including 5 year old Leva and 2 year old Alice in 1870. Then I looked on Rootsweb and found an Isaac and Nancy Smith family in Pineville with the same kids, even birth dates, so someone probably had a family Bible handy. The contributor was David Smith (who else would it be, eh?) Done for the night!

Genealogy today was 11.0 hours total - 1.5 hours reading email and Bloglines, 1.5 hours blogging, 2.0 hours at the library talking, 0.5 hour at the Clerks office on CVGS business, 0.5 hour watching videos, and 5.0 hours searching for Smiths in the records. I had fun today!

Sunday, February 10, 2008

My Genealogy Life - 02/10/08

We're almost to the middle of February., Things will start to get busy around here soon! We went to church this morning, I chaired my committee meeting, we had lunch at the Mission Fair, the youth group washed the cars, and we went shopping for Logan's birthday presents. We got home at 1:15 p.m.

I read my email and Bloglines when we got home, then posted "Letters from Home - Post 5" before I went in and took my first nap while watching the Pro Bowl. I woke up before halftime, so I came in and posted "The Best of the Genea-Blogs" and then went back to watch the end of the game, and had another shortie before the news and dinner.

After dinner, I answered a few emails, sent some publicity out on the CVGS seminar, posted on the Chula Vista Genealogy Cafe about the April 5th CVGS seminar, and then posted about my "Day at the mortuary" on Friday. I decided I'd better start in on the taxes, so I installed Turbotax and got the upgrades and started the 2007 return.

Genealogy today was only 4.0 hours - 1.0 hour reading email and Bloglines, 1.0 hour doing CVGS business, and 2.0 hours blogging.

Saturday, February 9, 2008

My Genealogy Life - 02/09/08

This was a different and frustrating genealogy day - not much researching going on, just reading, writing and listening.

I got on the computer and read my email at about 8:30 a.m., and posted "Letters from home - Post 4" on Genea-Musings. Then I read Bloglines and got ready to go out. I left at 9:45 and went to the FHC in Mission Valley. I got on the computer there, and they've messed up all of the links...I finally figured out where the Favorites were, and checked WorldVitalRecords - nope, not logged in. Godfrey Library - not logged in. Acestry - works fine. HQO - works fine. Footnote - logged in, OK, great. But then the images take so long to load and save to my flash drive, I got frustrated after everything froze up after I waited 5 minutes for an image to save. I complained to the desk about WVR and Godfrey and the guy said they just changed the operating systems this week and probably haven't put the right password in yet for those sites. Argggh. I spent a half hour reading the BIGRA newsletter and puttering about before going off to the SDGS meeting.

The SDGS meeting started at 12 noon, and Beth McCarty gave two presentations. I won one of the prizes even - a book I don't need, so will donate it to CVGS. I headed for home and was reading email at 3:15. Sleepy - I went and napped, read the paper, then came back to the computer at 5 p.m. and wrote up the first McCarty talk here. Then the dinner call came in and I watched TV for awhile. I was back at the computer at 6:30 and after reading email and Bloglines I posted the second McCarty talk summary here. Terry wants bloggers to write limericks related to blogging so I spent an hour or more trying to rhyme meaningless words... I'm tired and don't want to do anything more but read my spy book.

Genealogy today was 7.5 hours - 1.0 hour reading email and Bloglines, 1.5 hours blogging, 1.5 hour at the FHC not researching, 2.5 hours at the SDGS meeting, and 1.0 hour not writing genealogy limericks. Maybe I'll think of something in the shower tomorrow, or listening to the sermon.

Friday, February 8, 2008

Genealogy Journal - 02/08/08

This was another full genealogy day, but with some interruptions. It wasn't 13 hours straight through... Linda was feeling good today, so she went out shopping and to get her hair done.

I started, as always, with email and Bloglines at 8:30 AM, and then dug into my box of Carringer treasures to find the "missing letter" that has been bugging me for weeks. I finally found it, and scanned it so I don't have to handle the copy I have. Then I posted "Letters from home - Post 3" after digging out the copy I have and deciding that it was dated 1889, not 1888, as I had previously transcribed - it must have been put in the wrong envelope, which does say 1888. It makes sense now. I also found the original photograph I have of Ada Woodward, which I posted back in October 2006. Well, I looked on the back of the photo and there is the information I've needed for 16 months - who her parents were. So I posted an updated "Ada Woodward - Isn't She Beautiful?" Isn't she? I think that she is stunning. I wish I could find out if she lived long enough to marry and have children. My friend George called at 10:30 a.m. and I gathered my things and went to pick him up at 11 and we walked our two miles at the bayfront and talked about his work, our kids and grandkids, but not our wives. It was a beautiful hazy day - about 70 F with no wind.

After I dropped George off, I went to McDonald's for lunch (chicken nuggets, choc chip cookies, choc shake) and then went to the library to find two obituaries for a query that came in. I found both of them, but in the process one of the microfilms broke and I turned it in to be repaired. On the way home, I stopped at the Humphreys Funeral Home to see if they would unearth a file from 1958. They would, but for an exorbitant price. Oh well - my queryist will be disappointed. I was home by 1:30 PM.

After checking email and Bloglines, I posted "Is the LNU family in your database" from a Rootsweb Review article in 2003. I thought it was funny and useful so it certainly qualifies for Genea-Musings, eh? Then I wrote up my CVGS newsletter articles for the February issue and sent them off via email before going in at 3 p.m. to take a nap, read the paper watch the TV news and dinner. We had some excitement around 5:30 p.m. - a kid was on our back hillside and we rushed out and discovered our wall had been graffitied recently. So we called the police who came and took a report. Linda called all the neighbors and everybody is going to watch closely for awhile - there have been some strange things going on on the cul-de-sac.

I got back to the computer at 6:30 p.m., and input all of yesterdays information into my Vaux family database. Then I started in on the next set of Vaux descendants - using the census, SSDI, California birth, marriage and death indexes, California voter registrations, etc. I didn't find too much new data tonight. There are still many unknown (not UNK or LNU!) surnames of tsome of the spouses. I was able to noodle some of them out by using the various databases, especially spouses names. I quit before 10 p.m., too tired.

Genealogy today was 9.0 hours - of which reading email and Bloglines was 1.5 hours, blogging was 1.0 hour, doing CVGS queries was 1.5 hours, doing CVGS newsletter articles was 1.0 hour, researching the Vaux family was 4.0 hours, including the letter and photo exercises.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Genealogy Journal - 02/07/08

This was a real good genealogy day - I did quite a bit of productive work and had a little fun too. The day started late because I had to take our friend Marg to the clinic for a blood test - she called at 8:20 needing a ride, and I was home by 9:30, so it didn't take very long and it really helped her out. Linda is getting better, but still stayed home. She cooked chicken soup today and we had it for lunch and dinner!

My genealogy day started at 9:30 AM with reading email and Bloglines, then I posted "Letters from home - Post 2" on Genea-Musings, which I prepared last night. I had to check my computer files and database to see which RI probate records I haven't transcribed yet - I found at least 4 of them. I transcribed 5 pages (great handwriting!) for Ruth (Hawkins) (Wade) Hopkins who died in Glocester RI in 1789. She had a very complete inventory of personal items - it might be interesting to put it on the blog to show what possessions a widow woman had in 1789. Then it was lunch time.

After lunch, I puttered for quite a while, checking out some colonial history web sites. I found an early American/UK music site and blogged about it in "Music from before our time." That was fun. I answered some emails, including a few hanging on from my Ancestry databases and several CVGS queries. I have two queries to work on tomorrow. Then it was nap, news and dinner time.

I came back to the computer at 7 PM, and found the article about the Iceland third-cousin marriages, so I posted "Want to have lots of children, marry a third cousin." I decided to search for more distant cousins, so I printed off two Vaux family lines in which I have people into the 1920 time frame. I searched the census, SSDI, CA death index, and WorldConnect for several families, and found several new families. There were several persons who have died since 2000, including two who have obituaries in Ancestry's Obituary Index. I should be able to find living distant cousins in several of these lines once I look in the People Finder sites. Now I need to update my database!

Genealogy today was 9.0 hours - 1.5 hours reading email and blogs, 1.0 hours blogging, 2.5 hours transcribing probate records, 2.0 hours reading colonial history web sites, 1.0 hour doing CVGS work, and 2.0 hours searching for Vaux cousins on Ancestry.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Genealogy Journal - 02/06/08

This was a busy genealogy day for me, with little other activity other than grocery shopping on the way home from the library. Linda is still sick with bronchitis (and we hope its not pneumonia) but is up and about a bit more. She ate a normal lunch and dinner today, but still has lots of congestion, but not much coughing, which is good.

I was on the computer by 8:30 AM, and read my email and Bloglines. After some preparation, I posted "The Elusive Russell Smith - Post 6" on Genea-Musings, updating my progress in Oneida County NY records. I prepared a draft of the 2007 CVGS annual report for the board meeting today, and got my papers together for the meeting. At 11 AM, I had lunch, and went off to the post office and then the library for the Board meeting at 12 noon. We were done by 1:30, and I went into the library to check on some books. I got waylaid by a friend from church, who said he was interested in starting genealogy research on his family, so we talked for about 15 minutes. I left, got gas and went to the grocery store, and finally got home at 3 PM.

After checking email and Bloglines, I posted "Beth McCarty at SDGS Meeting on 2/9" so as to inform my San Diego readers about an education opportunity. I sent some emails out about CVGS issues and events, and came in to watch TV at about 4:30, followed by dinner prepared by my Linda.

I was back on the computer at 6 PM, and decided to post about the family letters from the late 1800's. I wrote the first post "Letters from home - snapshots of time - Post 1" to introduce the series. Then I made draft posts for the first 5 letters, and I'll post one each day for awhile. I posted some jokes and a quiz on Randy's Busy Life too in order to empty out my email a bit. Then I discovered that Bill West had published his Genealogy on Parade! post and I read them for a bit, then posted "The Genealogy Parade is Here."

At 8:30, I decided I'd had enough and went in to read my book, do the dishes and watch African-American Lives II on PBS from 9 to 11 PM. I'm ambivalent about the presentation. I love seeing the documents and the history, and identify with the descendants in their reactions to the good news, and the weaving of the personal stories with historical context is very well done. I am surprised by the sense of victimhood expressed by the intelligent and talented descendants, and by Gates, throughout the show. I really don't understand, I think, and I guess I never will.

Genealogy today was 8.5 hours - including 1.5 hours doing email and Bloglines, 3.0 hours doing CVGS work, 2.0 hours blogging, and 2 hours watching genealogy on TV.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Genealogy Journal - 02/05/08

I had some genealogy fun today, but had to help my Linda a bit. She is still sick, and getting cranky (I don't blame her).

After reading my email and Bloglines, I found that the 41st Carnival of genealogy has been posted by Jasia. so I posted a note on Genea-Musings about it. Then I got ready to go off to the Family History Center. Linda needed some honey-dos done, so I didn't get off until 10:30. While I was there, I put the Oneida County NY will abstracts for Smith on my flash drive, and then ordered four more films - 3 with RI records and a volume of the Oneida County NY deeds that have both David Smith and Russell Smith entries.

On the way home, I stopped at Panera and Subway and picked up sandwiches for our lunches the next two days. I was home by 1 PM, got Linda set up, ate lunch myself, and worked a bit on finding my elusive Vaux/Woodward/Munger/Doctor cousins in the 1900-1930 census records, plus other resources (SSDI, WW1 Draft Reg, etc). I input what I found into my database. Then I searched for the Della Carringer letters I transcribed back in 1995 - I found all of them except the one I wanted - I can't recall if I transcribed it or not. Drat. It was getting late, so I wrote "Searching for Distant Living Cousins is Hard" on Genea-Musings.

Then it was time to go to dinner with our neighbors, the Saxes. We went to Daphne's, and I brought a meal home for Linda. I watched the election returns for awhile, but got depressed. I remembered that I have to get my flyer done for the CVGS 5 April seminar, so I put that together and printed off copies for the Board meeting on Wednesday.

Genealogy today totaled 8.0 hours - 1.0 hour reading email and Bloglines, 1.5 hours blogging, 1.0 hours at the FHC, 2.5 hours researching, and 2.0 hours doing CVGS work.

Monday, February 4, 2008

Genealogy Journal - 02/04/08

This was not a genealogy day ... Linda is sick with a cough and congestion, so we went to the doctor this morning - he gave her pills to fight pneumonia and osme cough meds. We grocery shopped afterward and were home by 11. At 12:45 PM, I left to pick up a friend up Clairemont to take her to the doctor in Chula Vista (18 miles away) at 2 PM, then took her afterward to a friend's home in CV, and I was back home by 3 PM. Linda was on the computer, so I watched TV and took my nap, then read the paper and made dinner for us (a friend dropped off some Olive Garden soup and rolls for Linda).

Genealogy today was limited to reading email and Bloglines (1.0 hour total); blogging (1.0 hour total) on the Best of the Genea-Blogs for last week and My Genealogy Elevator Speech on Genea-Musings; doing some CVGS work - posting the Genealogy Days in CV for February (0.5 hours); and doing a little family research on the Munger/Woodward/Vaux families in Kansas (0.5 hours) - a total of 3.0 hours. I'm a little burned out...tomorrow will be a better genealogy day without as many "honey-dos" as today.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Genealogy Journal - 02/03/08

Like most of middle-class America, I went to church, had a nap, read the paper, and watched the Super Bowl game late this afternoon and evening. Linda was sick, so I went out for food twice - once for lunch and once for dinner for her. It rained all day here, so I was glad to stay in the warm house and try not to cough myself too much.

I was neutral about the game - I usually like to see the underdog win, but Junior Seau is a former Charger without a ring...it was a great game with the Giants winning 17-14 with last minute heroics. 'Nuff said!

Genealogy today was limited to reading my email and Bloglines, and posting "The Super Bowl of Genealogy" on Genea-Musings, plus putting together the weekly "Best of the Genea-Blogs" post, which I'll put up tomorrow morning (still looking for an article that I know I read!). In toto - about 2.5 hours of genealogy today.

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Genealogy Journal - 02/02/08

This was a different genealogy day - a CVGS road trip and then a lot of census browsing. I read my email at 7:30 AM, then said goodbye to Lolo and her mom at 7:45 (they had just gotten up) and went to my Men's Bible Study breakfast at 8. Then I went to the CV parking garage and picked up my 3 CVGS colleagues, and we went to the San Diego Public Library in downtown SD by 9:45 AM. We stayed there until after 1 PM. I posted about the trip in "Visit to San Diego Public Library today."

When I got home around 2 PM, I read my email and Bloglines. Then I took the Blog Addiction test and tried to put the HTML on my blog with partial success. I puttered around for awhile, but was tired so I went in for a nap.

After dinner, I came back to the computer by 6 PM, and decided to check out the JibJab dance routine that Janice Brown put on her Cow Hampshire blog. It was funny, and I had Linda watch it too. I posted "Genealogy Fun on Saturday Night" to cover the blog addiction and dance video, plus the census stuff I worked on last night. Thinking I'd better do something useful, I decided to chase down Ella S. Stanton from the 1929 Della's Journal Christmas Card list. I knew she was a Carringer-side cousin, but didn't know the relationship. So I chased her from 1930 (Boulder CO) back to 1900 (Boulder CO, with mother Eliza Robinson in the household) and then as a child Sarah E. in Louisa County IA (daughter of Eliza (Carringer) Robinson) in 1880 and 1870. I looked for Eliza's husband's name in 1860, but I couldn't find them as a couple anywhere. I think he was William Robinson but am unsure. Eliza Carringer was a daughter of Henry and Sarah (Feather) Carringer, my 3rd great-grandparents. This is the Feather mitochondrial DNA line so I need to keep looking for female descendants of Ella (Robinson) Stanton! See, there is method to my madness.

Genealogy today was 8.0 hours - 3.5 hours devoted to the CVGS road trip, 1.0 hour reading email and Bloglines, 1.5 hour blogging, and 2.0 hours in the census looking for Ella's ancestry.

I just realized that I've been journaling my genealogy efforts for over three months. My "audience" has grown all the way up to an average of 11 visits a day ... thanks for reading - it was lonely here for awhile. I hit 21 visits on Thursday for some reason.

Friday, February 1, 2008

Genealogy Journal - 02/01/08

This was another stay-at-home all-day genealogy-fest once it started. Lolo and her mom are here for two nights, so I had breakfast and cartoon duty this morning until 9:30 when they left for shopping. We went out to Panera at 5:15 PM for dinner and got back at 6:45 PM, but most of the remaining time I was on the computer doing either genealogy, reading news and politics or goofing off.

At 9:30, I read my email and Bloglines. I realized that it might be useful to tell San Diego folks that the FHC will be closed on Saturday so I posted that news. Then I visited the Genealogy.com tutorial site and posted Tracing Immigrant Origins. I almost went to the FHC to order more films, but I didn't. I went into the LDS FHLC and printed off many pages of RI town land record listings so that I can order more films in the future. Then I got bogged down with several of my Rhode Island families - trying to add spouses and dates/places to some of the siblings of my Kenyon ancestors. I was into Google, the LDS databases, Rootsweb WorldConnect and Ancestry's One World Tree quite a bit. Not much of anything new was found. Par for the course.

I decided to fill out the Family Tree Magazine online survey (link sent in the email newsletter) about Genealogy Video Workshops, and I posted about it here, including my answers and opinions. Then it was back into the Kenyon data in my database - inserting the sparse information that I found. I spent an enjoyable hour looking for funny names in the 1930 census also.

After I got home from dinner, I helped with Lolo a bit - we played Sesame Street games on the 'puter for awhile before her bath and bedtime. Rather than search fruitlessly for my Kenyons, I decided to try to find some of the people mentioned in Della Carringer's Christmas card list for 1929. I found George Munger and his daughter Amy (Munger) Doctor in Kansas in the 1900 to 1930 census records, and updated my database with the added information. There are still many families on the Christmas Card list to find.

Genealogy today was 9.0 hours total - 1.5 hours reading email and Bloglines, 1.5 hours blogging, 2.5 hours working on the Kenyon families, 1.0 hour looking for funny names (think of it as therapy), and 2.5 hours chasing Mungers and Doctors in the census records.