Saturday, May 17, 2008

Because I Can

So, I'm writing this at 1:00 AM Saturday morning, mostly because I CAN. Not only can I write this post, but I can actually post it - to the Web - on my blog - on the weekend. Now, that might not seem like much to you, but since I started blogging online for the News-Messenger, I've had to wait patiently (okay, not so patiently) for the editor to have the time to post to my blog. This was a definite buzzkill, especially when I had three or four posts stacked up, circling out there in email land, waiting to land on my blog. 

However, the system did have its pluses, like attitude-drenched missives from a certain editor and the fact that I'm pretty sure he knew how to spell the word, "gardener" whereas, obviously, I do not. (Okay, I finally saw the error, but something like 24 hours later. I'm now using my Merriam-Webster to check the spelling of about every third word. But the good news - I can edit my own blog and fix the sucker.) 

I also now have RSS Feed. For those of you who don't know what RSS Feed is, don't worry, neither do I, or at least I don't understand what it is when it comes to the technology behind it. But what it means is that people, like you, can subscribe to any blog and if you have a reader, like say the Google Reader, anytime a new post is added to that blog, it will be shown in your reader.

Right now, this very instant, I subscribe to 49 different sites - most of them blogs. It sounds like a lot. Well, it is a lot, but the reader helps keep me on top of things. It's kind of like the secretary I've always wanted, but I don't have to buy it a Christmas present or give it a yearly bonus.

If you already have a Google account for Blogger or Gmail, you already have access to the Google Reader, it's just a matter of setting it up. If you don't have a Google account, and want to set one up along with the Google Reader, I have found a blog that covers the topic in a step-by-step manner with pictures! Just click on the hyperlink found on the phrase "a blog" and it will take you straight to the website where Meg of "Dipping Into The Blogpond" lays out all the details. 

Meg's an Aussie, but I don't think you'll mind crossing this international line. My suggestion, print out the blog post so you can follow it step-by-step. I subscribe to The News-Messenger's local news which is a handy, quick way for me to keep abreast of what's going on locally. I can easily pick and choose which articles interest me at a glance. 

Until Next Time ...

© 17 May 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 


Thursday, May 15, 2008

Thank You, Ninja Gardener

Back in the cold wintry days of January, I fantasized about the warm, flower filled days of May. Every year I eagerly await May with all the sunshine, the budding trees, and the fresh cut grass it brings – until it gets here. Then I’m like all “atchoo,” what was I thinking?

I suffer from allergies. Each year the doctor asks me what I’m allergic to, and each year I tell him, “I don’t know – everything?” This year my big mistake came in April, on an unusually warm day when a birthday party met outdoor cookout and a high pollen count met me.


My sinus cavities swelled up, leaving my eyes like little slits – all very attractive, I can assure you. This led to a raging sinus infection, which led to three doctor visits, the last of which was caused by a mysterious, non-itching rash that we think ( I say we meaning my buddy doc and I) may have been the result of antibiotics.


This in turn led to teeth problems, because my teeth were all like – “quit worrying about your sinuses – we’re here, we promise we’ll keep you busy worrying!”


So this past Monday I had oral surgery, and at a point when I was in never never land, you know the place where all those wonderful pain meds have worn off and it’s about an hour before you can safely take the next batch,, my husband turns and says to me, “Terry, have you been pulling weeds?”


Pulling weeds, indeed!


And then, a few minutes later he says, “I think somebody planted flowers.” We both look at each other, and the same name popped out of our mouths.







A very nice somebody, whom we shall call, Ninja Gardener, had paid a discreet visit to our house while we were away and had planted three perennials and several annual flowers for my benefit.





This was made all the sweeter because Ninja Gardener had sometime ago been blown by a very harsh, cold wind into what I will describe as a deep crevice in the cliff of life. He had managed, sometimes with the aid of others, and sometimes just through his own grit and determination to finally, finally, climb his way out and stand on solid ground.


So, on a crappy day, in what was becoming a crappy month, my Ninja Gardner friend not only managed to bring beautiful sunlight into my day, he also managed to let me know that not only was he walking on solid ground, but that he found the ground to have it’s own beauty and charm. .By planting those flowers, those plants he had shared this found beauty with me.


Thank you, Ninja Gardener, I am both humbled and honored by you gift.

© 15 May 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 


Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Desktop GenealogistCivil War Pension Index - Free! Free! Free!-

Just a quick note. I saw this reported by Kimberly Powell at her About.genealogy. She reported that you no longer have to register to have access to Family Search Labs. One of the new databases - Civil War Pension Index. I checked, the index is said to be 90% complete. Right now this is a free and open website, so go on over and check out all the lovely goodies this site has to offer. You will be pleasantly surprised! Great heads up Kimberly!

Until Next Time!

Note: This post first appeared on Desktop Genealogist May 14, 2008.

© 14 May 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

Look What the Newspaper Fairy Left

Like an excited kid on Christmas, I wake up, rub my eyes and look to see what the Newspaper Fairy has left under the tree for me. 

Today, as you may know, is the BIG DAY! The new website is going LIVE! I get online and hmm, The News-Messenger website looks the same. I click on the link to the Beta website, and yup, there’s the new version, but no NEW news as of yet. There I am at the bottom of the page, a little smack talk beside my picture, and I think, NOW WHAT? 

I believe the plan is for me to add my piece about why I love The Library of Virginia, but woman's prerogative, I’m putting this post out there first – loving LVA can wait. As I understand it, I get to type my own posts now directly into the site. The editor, Vince, then looks it over with a “jaundiced eye” – his words, not mine. (Note, I’m not sure what a jaundiced eye is but I think it probably relates to his misspent youth, maybe some liquor, and other things too scary to contemplate.) 

If it meets with Vince’s approval, he then presses a button, and presto I am posted. I bet Vince is snickering to himself and thinking, “now let’s see how little Miss Desktop likes all those links she is so fond of adding!” The thing that has me scared silly is that anybody and everybody can have their own blogs now on the News-Messenger. I keep thinking about all those potential rebuttal blogs. You know, my husband, for example could post a blog called “Terry’s Husband Strikes Back,” or my mom could go with, “Ham This, Kiddo!” Then there is my dad, my bosses, siblings, nephews, children, friends, strangers, and a whole slew of people who may have some unfair axe to grind with me. I tell you it gives me the shakes just thinking about it. But the good news is that you, the reader, can have your own blog. 

All you need to do is create your own account (you have to create one anyway to comment), open up the blog tab, fill in a couple blanks and you too can be on your way to the fun filled world of blogging. From what I can tell it works similar to Blogger, with of course the added difference of Vince having to press a button before it will post. (I’m sure he will look at your blog with his “good” eye – he still likes you.) Vince is an all right guy, who pretty much believes in freedom of speech, within reason. That you are reading this post is proof of that. (See Vince, I had a reason for poking you in the eye with a stick.)

If you do set up your own blog, drop me a link in the comment section, so I can come on over and leave my own little snarky comment on your blog. (Would you expect anything less from me?) We all say we want change, but most of the time we sit around and complain about change when it happens. Here’s your chance to embrace something new – I know I am. Besides, I love the fact that Vince has posted his picture online. I needed a new center for my dartboard. 

Until Next Time …. 

Note: This post first appeared at Desktop Genealogist May 14, 2008

© 14 May 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

Friday, May 9, 2008

Momma's Smile


If you know my mother, then you know her smile — “the smile.” It's always there warm, welcoming ready to greet friend, family or soon to be former stranger. My siblings and I were often recipient's of “the smile.” It was a great way to grow up — with momma's smile and my dad's own brand of humor — is it any wonder there's always laughter when we all get together?

So here's to you mom, Happy Mother's Day!

Note this post first published online, May 9, 2008, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

© 9 May 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 


Thursday, May 8, 2008

The Year of the Great Bean Soup Dilemma


When you are number seven in a tribe of nine children, there are CONSEQUENCES. Consequences like big brothers who think it's funny to tell their little sister in graphic detail exactly where ham comes from - from a pig, from a pig's, well, butt to be exact. And when you are six, and a teensy bit headstrong and definitely repulsed by the image of ham coming from — well, a pig's butt, then you do what any reasonable child would do under the circumstances — you refuse to eat ham, ever. No exceptions.

Now normally, this ban on ham eating would not be a problem, unless of course, you happen to be going to a rural school in Arkansas in the late 1930's, and they happen to serve a lot of bean soup with ham for lunch. They served the soup so often that it was noticed that the little Ohio transplant wouldn't touch the stuff.

Cajoling wouldn't change her stance, nor reasoning (the beans and soup TOUCHED the ham — you just can't reason something like that away!) and finally, when all else failed, threats were made.

And not just any threats, they made the big threat — “We're going to write a note home to your mother!” And when the little girl still refused to eat the soup, the school followed through and sent a note home detailing the child's refusal to eat.

To say that her mother was unhappy about receiving the missive from school is to understate the response by a couple of miles. As my mother put it, she caught holy heck from her mother.

But even this didn't change my mother's mind on eating the soup. Finally, everybody just gave up trying to get her to eat it. Curious, I asked her, what did you eat instead? Mom said she didn't know what she ate on those days when bean soup was on the menu, but she knew what she didn't eat — bean soup with ham.

So in a little country school in Arkansas, where some of the children went to school barefoot, and where all the first-, second- and third-graders were taught in the same one-room building, my mother learned a couple of lessons.

She learned that listening to the big third graders reading out of their more advanced readers made her a better reader, which turned out to be a huge advantage when she went back to Ohio to finish her education.

She learned at the ripe old age of six, when it was important, she had the power to say no and to make the no stick.

And she learned that a person could live a full life without eating bean soup with ham.

And that my friends is the answer to the Carnival of Genealogy's question, “Mom, how'd you get so smart?”

Until Next Time!

Disclaimer: No pigs were harmed in the writing of this post. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the writer's own thoughts on the subject of pork and or ham. In fact, they no longer reflect the author's mother's feelings on the subject of pork and or ham. In do course, and as a cognizant request, please do not send any brochures from the “Council on Pork,” nor from the “Save the Pigs” foundation. Really, we are just a normal everyday family - normal, normal, normal.

Note this post first published online, May 8, 2008, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

© 8 May 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 


Tuesday, May 6, 2008

The Berlin Connection

Last week I spoke about the homeland of my Great Grandparents. I spoke in generalities. Today I indulge in some specifics. 

As a child, my sister and I would be play a game we made up called, “Berlin Wall.” I was eight when the wall between East and West Berlin was built. Television shows, quick to see the compelling drama that stories centered on this subject would have, proved to be ample fodder for our young minds. It never occurred to me or my younger sister that for some of our relatives, this was not make-believe drama, bur rather a fact of every day life. At the time, we didn't know that our grandmother had aunts, uncles and cousins she had never met living in Berlin and East Germany.

In a November post, I wrote about a box that my younger sister had “inherited” that contained precious clues to our German relatives. 

“The box went from my great-grandparents' house to their eldest son, William. Upon William's death, his widow, Louise, gave the box to my parents. Because the papers in the box were all in German, my parents gave the box to my sister, who had taken two years of high school German. My sister dutifully stored the box of German papers on a shelf in the closet. And there the box sat half-forgotten gathering dust.” 

Among the items in the box was a letter written from Leo's sister Minna. The letter, written in 1907 has not been translated, but the address is easy to read — the letter came from Berlin. It was signed Paul und Minna, and the reason I know she was Leo's sister is because of another item that was also in the box. 

Only two things in the box were placed there after World War II. One was a German bible that my great grandmother Emma had carried with her every week as she walked to Sunday church service at St. Paul's in Clyde. The bible was added to the box after her death in 1952. The other was a copy of a funeral notice for Minna von Malottki, who died May 31, 1958.

Among other things we learn from the notice is that she outlived her husband by a year and a half, her survivors include a daughter Kathe Corsten and her husband Dr. Walter Corsten. Also surviving are Kathe's two children, Manfred and Wolfgang Corsten, a daughter-in-law Charlotte von Malottki and presumably Charlotte's two children, Victoria and Sylvia von Malottki. No son is mentioned, but Charlotte is listed with a maiden name of Karl indicating that there was probably a son who predeceased Minna. 

Part of the opening lines “unsere über alles geliebte Mutter, Schwiegermutter, Oma, Schwester und Schwägerin,“ refer to Minna as being a mother, a mother-in-law, grandmother, sister and sister-in-law . This leads to speculation that perhaps some of those siblings who remained in Germany were still alive. 

Leo, my great grandfather, came to the United States in 1906. Another sister, Hulda Kollat, emigrated in 1904 along with her husband Carl and her children. Carl Kollat acted as a sponsor for Leo and Emma. It is known that another brother, Franz, had died before my great grandfather was born, but two sisters, Ida and Emma, are unaccounted for as well as two brothers Carl and Paul. I suspect that either Ida or Emma was married to a Tuschy because in 1910 a letter arrived from Budow. The letterhead read, “Albert Tuschy, Gastwirt.” Gastwirt means innkeeper. 

The greeting in the letter is “Lieber Onkel und Tante!” or Dear Uncle and Aunt. I have not found any more information on Albert or the Tuschy connection to the Schröder family. Minna's funeral notice gives the place for the burial service as the chapel at Wilmendorfer Cemetery. Wilmendorfer was in the British Sector of Berlin. It is quite likely that Minna was living in the British Sector. Of course, she died before the Berlin Wall was erected in 1961, but she would have been living in Berlin in 1948 when the Soviets decided they wanted the Allied Forces out of Berlin. 

As I wrote last week, after the war, Berlin was divided into four occupied zones. The Eastern section of the city was under Soviet occupation, while the western portions of the city were under either France, American or British rule. The problem was that Berlin itself was situated in what was to become the German Democratic Republic, more commonly known as East Germany, which was entirely under the control of the Soviet Union. The Soviets decided the best way to get rid of the Allied Forces was to impose a blockade so that no Allied trucks could go into or out of Berlin. The effect of this blockade would be to keep food and fuel getting to the American, French and British troops in Berlin. It would also keep 2 million Berliners from getting these same items. 

Because Berlin's two airports were in the British and American sectors, and because in 1945 a 20-mile wide strip of free air corridor had been agreed upon by all parties INCLUDING the Soviets, the British and American forces launched the Berlin Airlift to supply the troops and the people of Berlin. It seemed at first an almost impossible task, but with ingenuity and the help of the West Berliners themselves, the operation was a success. The Airlift lasted from June 1948 until September 1949. Approximately 2.3 million tons of goods were delivered in that time. A very interesting account of the Berlin Airlift is here http://www.spiritoffreedom.org/airlift.html. Be sure to read the paragraph labeled, “OPERATION LITTLE VITTLES” which tells the story of one Air Force Pilot's efforts to go the extra mile for the children of Berlin. 

Minna's funeral notice was sent to Hulda's family and someone from the family copied the notice and sent it to Leo. It is the only tangible proof we have that a member of Leo's family survived the war. The upside of being a genea-blogger is that I can put my unsolved riddles out here on the Internet. You never know — someone out there may Google the Tuschy or von Malottki name and find this post. Stranger things have happened.

Until Next Time! 

Note this post first published online, May 6, 2008, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

© 6 May 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 



Terry

Terry

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