Tika & Grandma Kay

Tika was delighted and barked excitedly as we pulled into the driveway. She was going to visit Grandma Kay! Kay is our dog sitter and bless her heart she is a jewel and a gem and we know Tika will be further spoiled when we retrieve her.

So what genealogy is here? Easy and obvious. Don't most families have a "Grandma Kay" or "Uncle Bud" or some person that is not really blood-family but who is so much a part of your family and they are always included? And how do you deal with such person-connections in compiling your family history?

If I know of such a dear and good family friend, I always include information about them in the stories that I write up about the family. I would hope that you do too. Sometimes the "Grandma Kays" of this world are just as dear as Grandmother Kay.

Tika & Coke

Tika and I have an afternoon ritual. When I indulge and have my one can of Diet Pepsi per day, it's at the mid-afternoon time. Tika doesn't care much about Coke or Pepsi  but she does beg for the crackers, or chips or popcorn that I might have with my drink. I explain to Tika that taking a Pepsi or Coke break helps us thing! She doesn't comment one way or the other on that but just begs another tidbit.

John Stith Pemberton, 1831-1888, was a druggist, a doctor and a man having one great obsession. He wanted to invent the ultimate medicine and the perfect drink rolled into one. Coca leaves had been known and used for 2000 years in South America and were considered to be a stimulant, an aid to digestion, an aphrodisiac and a life-extender. So of course Pemberton decided to base his new drink around this plant. He tinkered with dozens of formulas before coming up with the one we now enjoy... and it's recipe is a closely guarded secret at the company's Atlanta headquarters.

Now I could tell you all about his research steps, his first companies, etc., but you can use Google and find more than you likely have time to read. In the reading, I learned that Pemberton's new drink really took off in popularity in 1886 when the city of Atlanta introduced prohibition; Coca-Cola became the ideal temperance drink! And you know how ubiquitous (my favorite word since 4th grade; means seemingly everywhere present) Coke is now. I prefer Pepsi; Tika perfers milk and preferably in a glass, please.

Which do you prefer Coke or Pepsi? Quoting from a Coke vs. Pepsi Wiki:    Taste:  Although when compared in double blind taste tests, the majority of people could not tell the difference in taste, people will swear they love one or the other. 

I prefer Pepsi; Tika perfers milk and preferably in a glass, please.

Tika & The Jar

It was a 22o day with snowy-ice on the ground and the wind blowing. What to do to entertain a bored dogger? Give her a JIF Chocolate Peanut Butter jar with barely a smidgen left in it! Tika worked and worked an hour to clean out this jar. Was fun to watch her..... and I'd never guessed her tongue was that long :-)

So what has this to do with genealogy today? Since we've had too many snowy-icy-windy days here, I've been tackling my various and many To-Do projects that litter my office. Many of them are 1-hour jobs (like Tika's jar) and I finally convinced myself that there was no reason why I was not making that hour of time and getting them done. I've taken those folders of notes for several cold-case-genealogy genealogy projects and written up the stories. I've taken the four shoe-boxes of old black-and-white photos that I culled from my Mom's photo albums and gotten them arranged by WHO and WHEN and decided WHAT to do with them. I sorted through three or four plastic tubs I'd labeled "Teaching" and tossed out the material that was no longer relevant or technologically out dated. As president of my local genealogical society (www.EWGSI.org ) I've gathered all the old minutes and other documenting and historical papers of interest regarding the history of my society and gotten them all arranged into ONE PLACE. And I've culled out my books....... books I really will read and books I never shall read (or read again). I loaded up bags for friends, for my family, for the EWGS Annual Book Auction and for the Friends of the Library group. Yahoo!

Now I do not mean to brag; far from it. These projects had been underfoot for way, way too long. I just hope to inspire you to DO IT.... to take the time.... or make the time.... to DO those projects. I'm sure you have un-done or un-finished projects sitting underfoot??  Especially the 1-hour ones. They will keep you happily occupied on a frosty-icy-snowy-winter day. Just like Tika and the jar.

Tika & Losing Friends

Tika gives me kisses and licks my hand as I sit and remember......

We know that we were born to die but that does not make the parting any easier. In the short recent time several friends have lost a parent, a daughter, or a friend. My genealogy society lost a good member. It's hard, darn hart, and what to say to these friends and relatives is just as hard.

When Tika and I have occasion to send a card to a grieving friend I always enclose a copy of this story:

I am standing on the seashore. A ship spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the ocean. I stand watching her until she fades on the horizon, and someone at my side says, "She is gone."   Gone where? The loss of sight is in me, not in her. Just at the moment when someone says, "She is gone," there are others who are watching her coming. Other voices take up the glad shout, "Here she comes!"  And that is dying. 

Somehow learning about all our ancestors' deaths isn't so painful; we really did not know them. I think I'll stick to ancestors.............. Tika too.

Tika & A Good Story

From the Hempstead Inquirer, Hempstead, L.I. Saturday, January 17, 1863

"A Dog On The Battle Field"

The following is related of a dog that belonged to one of the companies of the 8th Regiment Illinois Volunteers. He, at an early age, became a great favorite of the regiment…not on account of his beauty, for he is a homely little fellow, but be reason of the loving and kind disposition manifested toward all into whose society he was permitted to come.

When this regiment left Bird's Point on their expedition up the Tennessee, this  dog "Marshall" … for that is his name… left with them. Wherever the regiment moved… in pitching or in striking tents, on drill or in preparing meals, on a march or on board transports, from one point to another…Marshall was a constant attendant.

Marshall, after supper, would go the rounds of each company to see if everything was right, and would then come to his master's tent and quietly lie down for the night.

During the early part of the battle, at the siege of Fort Donelson, he seemed very much excited by what was passing around him, and would run from point to point, apparently in the deepest anxiety, as it to inquire what all the noise meant.

During the nights of Thursday and Friday, when the regiment slept on their arms, amid rain, snow and ice, this little creature could not sleep or be quiet, because those whom he loved were suffering. His sympathetic nature seemed in perfect accord with the feelings which, during the stirring scenes, filled every human breast.

On Saturday morning, when the battle was at its fiercest point…a time when grape, canister, shells, Minnie balls, and buckshot filled the air with their sharp, quick, hissing, whizzing, fearful sound, and when the ranks on both sides were terribly cut down, our little dog, either frightened by some passing cannon ball or by the bursting of a shell nearby, took himself during the day away from the scene. At a very late hour, when the firing ceased, Marshall made his appearance in great joy.

Going hastily the rounds of the regiment to see if all was well, he came back to his master's tent very uneasy and much troubled about something. Not finding any relief in his home tent, round the regiment he again ran, and returned as before, excited  and in trouble. But without any stay there, off he ran again, and this time to the battle-field. There he walked among the wounded, dying and dead, to find the object of his search.

Strangers, whether in other regiments or in the ranks of the enemy, received no attention from the dog, intent upon finding the object of his search.

In his faithful search for such among the many wounded and slain lying there, little Marshall found the body of Captain W., of Company I, wounded in the left side by the fragments of a bursting shell. It was a fearful wound, rendering the Captain completely helpless…unable even to move a limb, though not depriving him of life, or rendering him insensible to his condition.

Captain W. noticed the approach of the dog, just as the shades of evening was gathering around him. He thought if a harbinger of good…evidence of the coming of someone to removed him from that sad scene of agony and suffering, where, by a sad, oversight, he had lain from 10 A.M. until that time.

But the dog only came to keep vigil with him during that long, cold night.

Seemingly to comprehend the sufferings of the one whom he loved, this sympathetic little creature would caress the wounded Captain in very way he could…now lying down close beside him, now roused up again by the groans of the suffering soldier, and then in a most affectionate manner, lapping his hands as if we would soothe and comfort him in such an hour. In this way and in such a battle-field vigil, our faithful dog passed the night with the wounded Captain.

In the morning, when his master was removed to the hospital, and his wound was cared for, the little dog who had been his only companion during the past night, sought again the regiment, and resumed his accustomed quiet habits.

Such is the fidelity of a dog. 

Tika & Snow & ???

This is the view right now out my kitchen window..... there is about 10 inches of the fluffy white stuff down!  Tika spent about 30 minutes outside (watching Handy Man plow) and then decided it was better to be inside looking out at the snow!

"So what will we do with the rest of the day", she asks? I explain to her that I've been working to sync my personal Legacy file with the file I posted to Ancestry. "Good day to work on that!" she tells me. Not fully 100% sure how to do this; I've downloaded my file from Ancestry and have compared it to my own computer Legacy file. When I'm finished shall I delete the Ancestry file and then upload a new file from Legacy? And how to keep the two in sync?????  I turn to ask Tika but she's sound asleep. Ohwell.

Tika's Ready for 2013

Just like she's pulling and eagerly forging ahead on our snowy walks (and we have 8" of the white stuff), Tika is a great example to me of what I should do in 2013. First, make a clear and reasonable New Year's Resolution...... and I have:  I will throw something away every day. This might be cleaning a drawer or closet but it might also mean cleaning off my desk or cleaning out a file. Be inspired by Tika's example: eagerly forge on ahead and just DO IT.

Tika Likes Christmas Grandmas & Family History

Tika did not enjoy the 80-mile ride on Christmas to be with family. Notice the WHITE road, WHITE hills, WHITE sky and WHITE snow blowing sideways??  But once there, she was quite excited to see us two grandmas sharing family history stuff............

What a grand day for talking about, for asking about and for sharing family history! Rosemary and I share kids (her son married my daughter and we now share four grand-boys and two new grand-ds-in-law.) Rosemary had brought a nice stuffed box of genealogy papers and here she is asking me if I think the young woman in the one photo is the same as the older woman in another. (I did.) What a fun day we had with genealogy-yakking, good food, great company, present opening and Christmas cookie painting!   Tika happily and contentedly slept all the way home.

Maybe you might should arrange a similar rendezvous for New Year's Day upcoming???? Tika says "YES!"

Tika & Wind In The Pines & MyHeritage

These are Ponderosa Pines and they can grow 50-feet tall. On a clear, sunny blue day the pines in our yard are wonderful, majestic and beautiful. BUT today, in a howling wind, these enormous-gigantic trees are twirling, dancing and swaying in the wind...... in a cold, snow-driven wind. It's not a nice day. Tika says "I'm staying put!"

But, I said to her, "You cannot just sleep all day." And she said, "Let's explore MyHeritage and Mocavo today!"   Such a smart little dogger. And so we will!

Tika & The Map

Tika often wonders why I collect old license plates. I try to explain to her that Handy Man makes roofs for birdhouses from these old metal plates. I've collected many from states where I've visited and from where my ancestors lived and the license-plate-roofed birdhouses line my fence.

In a gift catalog I spied this wonderful map made from license plates from all 50 states! It only cost over $1000 dollars so Tika will not be getting this for me for Christmas but it surely is neat-neat-neat. Have you ever seen anything like this? For real? 

 

Tika & the "Elephants"

This is how Tika keeps watch for elephants who dare to enter our yard.... and she'll loudly bark when she even thinks she sees one.......... quite a dog, eh? 

I wish she would bark like that when an "elephant" of a mistake appears in my family history researching. Or at least would she alert me when an "elephant" of an erroneous online posting appears. Case in point:  Handy Man has a Smith line which I thought went back into Viriginia. Doing a search in the Family Trees at Ancestry.com, I found his line traced clear back to John Smith who married Pocahontas. Wow. But............

Good grief. Every student of U.S. history should know that John Rolfe married Pocahontas, NOT NOT NOT John Smith. Yet, there it is bold as sunshine, posted on Ancestry.com for all to find.

Does that discredit Ancestry? Not at all. Does it cast shadows on the person posting that mistaken lineage correction? Greatly so! And how will it affect you, the researcher? You can accept what you find or reject what you find........... or better yet, do your own research to confirm or reject what you find, even on Ancestry.com.   

Or teach your dogger to bark and alert you to the presence of elephants in your family tree. Good luck! 

Tika & Thanksgiving

For Tika, Thanksgiving is not a joyful time. She'll get hauled 80 miles and then have to interact and be forced to be nice to her cousin dogs........ Dolly, Cody, Bently, and OneSpot. And now Dozer!

 And this was taken last July! Dozer (short for Bulldozer) is close to 100 pounds by now. 

Tika better remember her small size and keep her distance but you know doxies. She keeps telling me "WHY???" And "you better make it worth my while!"  Doxies!!

Tika & The Doctor

We have had snow! Some four inches in the last 24 hours! Tika loves it..... but does not want to stay outside in it for very long. Good thing for I need her help to finish up a project. For EWGS (www.EWGSI.org) I'm finishing up my project to learn what I could about Dr. John George Gundlach, a Union Navy Civil War veteran buried in Spokane's Greenwood Cemetery. 

John Gundlach was born in 1849 and grew up around Baltimore Harbor in Maryland. He was not able to join up (due to his age) until 1864 when, finally, his mother signed for him. He served from 1864 to 1869 and was 19 when he was discharged from the Union Navy. I'm guessing he observed medics or corpsmen or doctors (whatever they were called then) on board his several ships and determined that medicine and helping others was what he wanted to do with his life. 

In 1883, he became a licensed Allopathic Doctor from the Homeopathic Medical College of Missouri at St.Louis. By this time he was married to Sophia and had Alpha, Helen and Georgiana. Thanks to Google Images for a picture of this college. 

Alpha was his uncle's name and Uncle Alpha Gundlach was a dentist in Spokane. Soon John and Sophia moved their family to Spokane was he is listed in the City Directories as a doctor and on the census as a physician.  Dr. John Gundlach died here in Spokane in 1910.

The real point of this story, Tika wanted me to stress, is that I knew very little about John George Gundlach except some of the high points of his life. I wanted to know what his young life as a sailor might have been so I Googled "Civil War Union Navy" and found several pages of helpful background material. I had not a clue as to what homeopathic medicine was or an Allopathic Doctor. Again thanks to Google, I learned that Allopathic medicine was practiced by homeopathic doctors employing natural herbs and simple home remedies to effect cures. 

Tika reminds us all that there is so much background material that we can find on the Internet about our ancestors........ you just have to come in out of the snow and go Googling. 

Tika's Adventure

Tika, Handy Man and I went on a mini adventure over the weekend..... we went to a cemetery!  I had heard that our local Greenwood Cemetery is the site of recurring and nationally-known paranormal activity........... these marks on the sandstone of the old Elks mausoleum are thought to be scratched by ghosts........... what do you think?

I don't know much about ghosts but I do know that I regard cemeteries as interesting places to visit, to walk about in and to learn about. Our Greenwood Cemetery welcomed its first burial in about 1890 so by "eastern standards" it is quite young. Nonetheless, to me it is full of stories just waiting to be explored. 

Tika thinks so too. She strained at her leash, bounding from one spot, one tombstone to another (she is a girl dog and does not piddle on them) telling me "This one! No, this one!! Tell the story of this one!!" 

We will, Tika, I promise.

Tika & The Avocado

Tika and I have a friend living in Miami who often sends us a box of HUGE avocados from the tree in her back yard. I'm sure these #3 monsters have a specific name but when I asked Tika, she said she had not a clue. After we enjoyed the last one, we decided to see if we could sprout one.......... you see how big it is by how it fills up a normal drinking glass. Think here in Spokane (Zone 5, -20 degrees) that we will ever see it grow to produce fruit?

This wonderful avocado got me to thinking........... first I was thinking about hubby's ancestors who lived in Georgia and other points south. Did they enjoy these huge avocados? Or is this a modern hybrid? Which caused me to wonder further....... how many "regional" foods do we know of that were NOT available to our ancestors? 

For instance, peanuts are synonymous with The South but did our pre-Civil War ancestors grow peanuts? What about peaches? Pears? Onions? We know they did not eat tomatoes, believing them to be poisonous.  Did they regularly eat meat from animals that we would avoid today? Like opossum? Squirrel? Anybody have any ideas about this??

(And no wonder English is so difficult to learn!  The plural of avocado is avocados,  no "e."  The plural of tomato is tomatoes, with the "e."  Go figure. Tika just says try barking and woofing all you want to say!) 

Tika and Fall Days

This is how Tika, and her big sister Dolly, prefer to spend their fall days...... snoozing in the sun through the windows........ with even their bone ignored..... doing not much of anything. 

While that's okay, it's not very productive and I choose not to follow Tika's example! I'm happy for these inevitable fall days with "outside" no longer calling to me, to work on my several genealogy projects. Mostly I need to begin my cleaning off my desk...... there are piles everywhere and piles on top of piles. Would be fun for you and me to compare lists: who has the most unfinished projects? Maybe we should trade projects :-) 

I have gathered into a box the story of my Dad's Air Force career and this waits to be scanned in for sharing. I want to write our obituaries and ideas reside in a folder. I want to take all my genealogy T-shirts and cut off the logo and create a sort of vest or jacket to wear to conferences; that's in a pile on the floor (complete with pattern). I want to write up some stories for our local society publication, our Digital Digest  ( www.ewgsi.org  ).

Anybody wanna trade projects??? And Tika is no help at all, snoozing in the sun.

Tika & Mountains

Tika knows that Mt. Spokane dominates the skyline northeast of the city of Spokane; in fact she's been in car rides up there to take fall walks. She does not realize (nor care) that Mt. Spokane has an elevation of 5880 feet .  Thinking of mountains, I was reading to her the other day about Mt. Everest..... in 1856 the Great Trigonometric Survey of British India established the height of Everest at 29,002 feet. The name came in 1865, given in honor of Sir George Everest, the first surveyor general of India. Remember those trivia facts for Thanksgiving dinner!

And what does this have to do with genealogy, my Tika is asking? Maps and mountains are important to your family history. Picture or plot your family on a topographical map..... where was the nearest church of their denomination? where was the nearest county courthouse?  and did they live near a large stream or a river...and how did they get across? how many miles did they have to go in their horse and buggy or on foot?

Point is, our ancestors may have lived in Jefferson County but may have attended church or tended to their official business in Madison county because it was easier to get to. Such imaginary lines as county lines meant little to them. Ditto for newspaper coverage. It was the custom of oldtime newspapers to fill their pages with local gossip (national or world news was hard to come by). The local newspaper might have been the Madison County Journal but would have included the doings of Jefferson County's residents because Jefferson County was in their readership area.

Tika says, "well, alrighty. Can we go for a walk now?"  

Tika & Treats

Even a sunny sleeping dog will wake up for a homemade peanut butter doggie treat made by Maureen!  She again says Woof-Woof-Thank You!!

And today's genealogy message? Wanna know how to "awaken" your family to all the family history you've found..... especially your children and grandchildren? Find and offer them a "treat"....... an ancestor story that really will pop their eyes open. And (sad to say) if you look, really look, you will find such a story.

Quote:  "Ever found an ancestor hanging on the family tree?"

Tika & A Good Friend

Maureen is one of Tika's best supporters and friends. She lives in Chelan, Washington, and I was just to that beautiful area and great little genealogy society last Saturday. Maureen makes special little Peanut Butter Doggie Treats and sells them at the local farmers' market. They're put into these  white bags which her 99-year-old mother stamps with doggie designs. Of course I had to post a photo of one of Tika's best friends........... and Tika says "the treats are yummy and thank you very, very much." 

And the genealogy connection here? Maureen is either the 3rd or 4th generation in her family to live in this area; her pioneering family is written up in all the local history books. And two weeks ago when I was in Kelowna, BC, I chatted with a new friend that was 14th generation Canadian she proudly told me. And I guess my happy point here is this: in probably any local area there are folks who know the local and family history there because their family lived it! So it's vitally important that if you need local help, contact the societies in that area and ask for their help. They are the ones who know. 

Needing help in the Chelan or Douglas counties are of central Washington? Contact the Chelan Valley Genealogical Society!

 

Tika & Civil War Ancestors

Tika quite enjoys sitting on my lap and listening to stories. And lately, I've been full of Civil War stories. Our local genealogical society  ( www.EWGSI.org ) has been awash with Civil War stuff. We just had our third annual Walking with Ancestors in a local cemetery.... we chose one where many Civil War veterans rest.... and it was a resounding success. I portrayed the great-great niece of Dr. John Gundlach, who died in 1905 here in Spokane and who served as a teenager in the Union Navy during the Civil War.

Our Society is also wrapping up a year-long writing contest for members, "My Civil War Ancestor." We've had a goodly number of submissions and it will be a judged contest with a years' subscription to Ancestry.com as the prize. Those stories will eventually be published in our Society's Digital Digest (on our website but under Members Only).

And there have been Civil War related stories in our local paper, The Spokesman Review. www.thespokesmanreview.com .

John Caskey gave a very informative presentation to the members of the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society a few months ago wherein he detailed all the varied and various reasons why Civil War vets came west and so many of them ended up in Washington state. A primary reason was land.

"Not my ancestors!" sniffed Tika. "I come from Idaho, remember..... and maybe far-back from Germany." Ah, Little Tika........