Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Sandusky County Kin Hunters at the Hayes President Library

I’m popular. Well, okay, not so much popular as I am in demand. Family, work, and my dirty house are all crying for extra chunks of time. And if you haven’t noticed, there is an exciting presidential race in full swing. (I think I have whiplash from trying to follow all the charges and countercharges that are floating around the Internet and TV – talk about silly season.)

So, I’m going to be dialing it back a bit on my blogging – unless of course, someone discovers how to add more hours in a day. Seriously – anyone - more hours? 

Carnival of Genealogy 

Jasia has posted a whopping 50 entries from 49 geneabloggers at the 55th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. There is a lot of great reading (and a fair amount of picture viewing) on the subject of “Show and Tell.” 

Sandusky County Kin Hunters 

A little birdie (okay, not a birdie but Dave Golden) tells me that this Sunday’s Kin Hunters meeting will be held at the Hayes Presidential Library this Sunday at 2:00 PM. Head Librarian, Becky Hill, will be presenting the program that is free and open to anyone interested in family history. For further information, you can contact Dave at 419-502-7620 

Well, that’s all from my corner of the world. Until Next Time – Happy Ancestral Digging! 

PS Special thanks to Randy Seaver for including my post One Year and 199 Posts Ago, in his Best of the Genea-Blogs- 31 August - 6 September 2008.

© 10 September 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

Thursday, September 4, 2008

One Year and 199 Posts Later

One year and 199 posts ago, I wrote my first blog post. It was scary. And it was exciting. I had no idea what I was getting into, but I plunged ahead wholeheartedly. As I wrote on the blog’s two-month anniversary, “It probably will come as no surprise to anyone that I was not exactly blog literate when I undertook this task. I had an idea, a chance to pitch it, and finally the thumbs up to try it.”

 As I did then, I will again thank all of you who have stopped by to read a post or two. Your support has meant a great deal to me. I have discovered a few things in the year that I have been blogging. 

 1. I discovered that I probably should have paid more attention in English class. 
 2. I discovered that a girl, who could never keep a diary for more than two weeks, could indeed blog for a whole year. 
 3. I discovered that spell check is a girl’s best friend. 
 4. I discovered that spell check isn’t idiot proof (me being the aforesaid idiot.) 
 5. I discovered that geneabloggers, though diverse and unique, are of one voice in their mission to support and encourage other geneabloggers. I can’t think of another group where ego is so checked at the door. These people genuinely celebrate each other’s success. 
 6. I discovered that writing apparently has some healthful benefits. Since November, I have been off my high blood pressure medication. While the doctor is sure I have taken his advice to meditate (yeah right), I think whining aloud is the ticket to better health. 
 7. I discovered that I’m not as smart as I think I am. I could have saved myself that very public discovery by just listening to my family. They have been giving me that same message for years. 
 8. I discovered that I have my own voice, however warped it may be. 
 9. I discovered that some of my writing is not written for you, dear reader. Nor is it written for me. Rather it is written for those who are yet to be. I often think of a time 25 years or maybe 50 years from now, when a relative or a descendent discovers my words, and feels the same excitement that I feel when I read the words of my ancestors. (Note to self: Eighty-six the post with the picture of my foot. Don’t want the great grandchildren to worry about mental instability running through their gene pool.) 
 10. In writing posts about my own family’s history, I discovered that each of our lives is just a brief flicker on a long, flowing timeline. This is it folks, This is your one shot to get it right, to find the joy, and to give yourself permission when you fail, to get up the next morning and take your shot at getting it right all over again. 
 11. And finally, I discovered me. And while that only has relevance to those nearest and dearest, for me it has been an interesting journey. 

 I have no idea where I go from here. I know that for now, you can find me slicing and dicing pieces of my life and my family’s history like some mad chef - serving it up for your reading pleasure here at the Desktop Genealogist Unplugged Blog. 

 Until Next Time – Happy Ancestral Digging!

© 4 September 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Almost Wordless Wednesday - I knew he loved me when ...

He agreed to wear a matching pink tie for our wedding ceremony.



© 3 Sept 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

Monday, September 1, 2008

Our Family Treasure

For 102 years, various members of my family have been responsible for keeping the documents that my great grandparents Leo and Emma Schrader brought with them when they immigrated in 1906. Without these items, much of our family’s history would have been lost. Many records belonging to those areas east of the Oder-Neisse line, where my family originated, were destroyed during World War II and its aftermath. It is doubtful that we would have been able to reconstruct this information without these originals. Below is the marriage certificate of Leo and Emma in Muttrin, on April 5, 1904


The next item, which I had to have translated, was written by the minister of Budow’s church. It was needed to prove the details of Leo’s birth. It gives Leo’s parents as Wilhelm Schröder and Caroline Quetschke. (Quetschke, I am told is an uncommon German name.)

Below is the Kirchliches Zeugnis or Christian Certificate that shows, the birth, baptism, marriage and confirmation of Leo, Emma, Willi and Max.


These are pictures of an unknown German family. The woman bares a family resemblance, so my guess is that she is related to either Leo or Emma.

One of several papers relating to Leo’s military service.

The definition of an heirloom is something that has been in the family for generations. These papers are my family’s heirlooms.

This post written for the 55th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. 

Note: German family names РSchr̦der, Gleffe, Quetschke, Hingst Related German family names РTuschy, Kollat, von Malottki

© 1 September 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

Friday, August 29, 2008

It's A Girl!

I was at work in 1984 when we got the news that Walter Mondale had named Geraldine Ferraro as his VP pick. I was so excited I quickly called home to tell to my eleven-year-old daughter the news. It didn’t make much of an impact on her, because she only vaguely remembers the event. But I can still recall the palpitating excitement that Mondale’s choice created. 

It was the first time I carried a presidential bumper sticker on my car. It was the first time I voted Democratic and the first time I watched every nuanced element of election night coverage.

Of course, as Andrea Mitchell of MSNBC put it earlier today, the Mondale/Ferraro ticket lost in a stunning landslide. Who would have thought it would take another 24 years before we had our first serious female presidential contender? Who would have thought it would be another 24 years before we had our next female VP candidate? And who, in their wildest dreams, thought it would be the Republicans doing the honors? As Gomer Pyle use to say, GOLLLLLEEEE! 

I don’t know much about Sarah Palin. I don’t know if she has the chops to go along with the great cheekbones, when it comes to the VP slot. And I certainly don’t know if John McCain has just made the dumbest choice next to Bush senior’s selection of Dan Quayle. What I do know is that come Election Day, no matter which party wins, history will be made. Oh, and today, it was my daughter calling me when the rumors started flying, wanting to know what I thought of the whole idea. We both agreed, no matter how we vote in November, it will be a thrill seeing a female name on the Presidential ballot. To Geraldine, Hillary and Sarah – thanks for doing the heavy lifting.

© 29 August 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Oops, there goes another chunck of my heart

I decided that this summer, instead of having my favorite four-year old every Friday that I would switch off and on with his eight-year-old sister, Little Miss Freckles. 

LMF and I have a stormy history. Once, when she was about eighteen months old her Dad, my stepson, brought her over for a visit, and LMF was NOT amused. She pulled her hat down over her face and refused all overtures to coax her out. Finally, exhausted from her very loud and persuasive protest, she fell asleep in the middle of the family room floor, her hat still pulled down over her eyes. 

 Now, I’m usually a hit with young children. I have no problem talking in funny voices, making funny faces, and in general acting the complete fool, all in an effort to raise a smile on a child’s face. Nine times out of ten it works, but not with my granddaughter. 

 I soon learned that if I met her on her turf, she would throw me a bone or two of acknowledgement. But get her in unfamiliar territory – read my house, the results were not stellar. So, over the years I have given her a wide berth. But she had been asking to spend some time with Grandma Terry, and I thought that this summer would be the perfect opportunity. 

 Of course, I was a little nervous, in the way you are nervous, when the flashing lights of a police card pull you over. Like a rolodex, your mind spins through all the possibilities, none of them good. So I googled queries like “activities for eight year olds.” I asked others for advice, and finally panicked, I chose several items off Amazon.com (my go to place) and had them sent two day delivery, damn the expense! 

 Over the summer, we have played several games of Putt-Putt, tried out the cheap crochet set that I had bought (and found out why it was so cheap.) and played a few school inspired computer games. We’ve eaten lunch at a variety of eateries and once, fixing her lunch, I learned that while my hot chicken sandwiches were good, she readily assured me, the school’s were even better. Sigh. 

 She taught grandpa and me a new card game, she and I played hangmen (she’s quite good) and we sang some songs, and told a few stories. Only once, did I hear the dreaded words, “I’m bored,” which lasted all of two seconds until we started a game of hangman. 

 We discovered that the game, Guess Who, might be great to play, but it was way too much work for busy women like us. By far, her favorite activity was Klutz’s “The Fabulous Book of Paper Dolls,” by Julie Collings. 

 For those of you who have never heard of these paper dolls, let me tell you they are cute and imaginative. There are six different punch-out dolls, and you can make them male or female, simply by the hairstyle and clothing you choose. The clothes are two-sided and because you stick them on with two-sided reusable tape, you have a variety clothing options. They also come with six different scenes that you can use as a backdrop to your play. Below is our birthday party/picnic scene that LMF and I created.

  We decided that because we often LOVED both sides of the two-sided outfits, Grandma needed to order a second book. One Friday, LMF and I almost attacked the mailman as we waited impatiently for the second book to arrive. Thank goodness, it came that day. Note to postman, sorry if we were a little over zealous that day. (He’s probably requested hazard pay for having to deliver to my house.) 

 Below we used the same background to create our “Halloween Party.”

 
I learned many things by spending Fridays with my granddaughter. She LOOOVES chocolate milk and she, OH, MY GOSH, LOOOVES Hannah Montana. She never tired of explaining the complexities of the Hannah Montana plot line, which turned out to be a blessing since for some reason my 55-year-old brain could not keep the whole Miley/Hannah thing straight from week to week. 

 She has a thing for older men – don’t worry kiddo, I’m not mentioning names. She thinks the reason that Papa Al likes her so much is because she calls him, “Evil” and “Loser” (with the traditional “L” sign to the forehead.) She is thoughtful of her siblings, because when we went to the Cookie Lady, she insisted we get extra cookies to take home for them. 

 I knew that our relationship had taken a turn for the better when she told me one Friday, she wished it would storm really hard, so her parents wouldn’t be able to pick her up. Sometimes I wonder how I have any heart left. Too many people are walking off with big chunks of it, including a special eight-year old who spent Fridays with Grandma Terry this summer.

© 26  August 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

Terry

Terry

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