Pack Your Bags: You’re Going on a Guilt Trip

Day 1 (Friday):  After going to a local public library for “intro to” family history research guides (and being unimpressed) I go to my own library. We’re one of the top 10 gene libraries in the country and so I knew I’d find what I need here even though I’d never been in the gene stacks before. I ask for the circulating collection (books you can take home) and the librarian directs me to some shelves and helps me pick out a few titles. Great. I go to check them out and watch uneasily as the librarian behind the counter has to do circ system voodoo to check them out to me:  THEY’RE ACTUALLY  NON-CIRCULATING, meaning, you can’t check them out after all. Out loud she tells the system not to be silly, I need these for my job, and she creates a due date.  Is she subtely asking if I need them for my job? Or does she really think I need them for my job? even though I don’t work in the genealogy collection. I make jokes to distract her from this dangerous line of consideration.

Next I take the books to Panera where I sit for two hours and read. I splurtz a little Diet Pepsi on one of the books and dry it with my sleeve. I feel guilty. I consider that it is a 2008 mass-produced trade paperback and not actually valuable. That doesn’t really help.

The books are so useful I finish one by Sunday afternoon and another by Monday night. These books are great. I decide I shall return both of them promptly. I take them to work with me on Tuesday. I actually work one building over from the library itself right now so I see if anyone is going over to the library who could drop them off for me. No one is. The thought of walking them over myself in the snow isn’t actually all that appealing. My good intentions are for naught, the books sit on my desk for two days. On Wednesday night I know that the next day I’ll be dropping Hubby off at the library and he can return them for me. Perfect! I take the books back home.

On Thursday morning I tell hubby I have two non-circulating books checked out, can he run them upstairs today? He says yes. An hour later I repeat that I have two non-circulating books checked out, can he return them? He says yes, a little irritably. Hubby, I married you and I love you, but I don’t trust you to return books on time any more than I trust me to return books on time. Returning books on time is not the forte of many librarians. What does that mean for you? It means return your books on time or we’re going to fine you and eventually revoke your borrowing privileges.

God, I hope the head of public services doesn’t see him with those. No one granted me a dispensation to check out these books, it was all a big misunderstanding on the part of the librarian behind the circ desk, and I actually don’t know her very well. Now I have lead her  into a life of rule breaking – and in libraries we are VERY SERIOUS about our rules. I might lose microfilm privileges. This must be handled very delicately.

I consider calling Hubby and asking him for a third time to return the books, this time with instructions to do it sneakily. I don’t. He does not find jimmying a circulation system so you can take a book to Panera to be a high crime and would not find the interruption amusing.  I hope nobody needs that Family Tree Maker manual today.

Family, ho!

My family history project has been slowed gently down by waiting for the software to arrive.   I consulted three genealogists about what software to buy and each told me they had a different favorite, or product they used personally. I downloaded two different try-out versions, watched several product videos, and then went with Family Tree Maker from Ancestry.com.  None of my sources picked Family Tree Maker for themselves but each said it was a good product to use. It has the functionality I need, the interface is sharp, the back-up from Ancestry.com is important to me.

In the meantime… I’ve had time to start reading. For one thing, I’m reading a manual to Family Tree Maker 2008 cover to cover. Wow. I am learning so much stuff. I’ve also efficiently read two standard “Intro to Gene” books and one other title on writing your family history. Reading efficiently means I read the table of contents carefully, read the chapters I want, and skim those I don’t think I really need. Of course, this can lead to more careful reading. Then I photocopy key pages or ideas I may need later- like a chapter on family interview techniques or the U.S. census schedules 1790-1920 so I know what was asked when – and I’ve started a binder of these materials.  I’m using EndNote to keep track of my “regular”  reading (historical but not genealogical research).

I don’t usually read reference or software guides cover-to-cover. I mean, that’s why there’s an index, right? But I’m getting a very “careful” feel for this project – careful as in I’m working carefully. I’m the type who figures things out as I go and only refers to the index or help sections when I  have to. It’s faster for me to figure something out for a second or third time than to learn it going in. (Tell that to Stonetree, where I go begging when I can’t figure out one thing or another on Facebook on my own.)

My mom has done the research I’ll be basing my family history project on with her friend B. My first steps will be do to a survey of living family members, collecting dates of their own lives as well as family stories and family legends, and also do the data entry for the research my mother did as a place to learn about genealogical evidence as well as about my family.

My brain is working its way gently along the edges of a larger project.

20 and 150 Years Ago

Twenty years ago, when I was a junior in high school, I made this afghan. I made an afghan most every year from when I was about 13 until after I graduated from college. You might wonder about the initials. Yeah, I’ve changed my name a couple of times. Now I carry my mother’s maiden name – the family name I chose in college – and Hubby’s name. I’ve made sure to make the changes with clear legal paper chases. You never know when some ancestor will be tracing the history of great-great-great Aunt Snakelady. Did you know you can suppress your original birth certificate when you change your name? Wow. The Mormons would go nuts.

I also have the patchwork quilt my great-great grandmother Allie (Bursee) Quiggle (along the umbilical line as its called – my mother’s mother’s mother’s mother made it) when she was 17, for her hope chest. It’s too fragile to use, a hand-stitched patchwork quilt, but I have it carefully folded away. I consider it a family heirloom.

Perhaps one day I’ll box these two afghans together and send them along to a great-great niece. There are serious downsides to not having children and one of them is who you pass your family pieces to.

This the second post in my “family history” tags (see the right hand column if you’re at the blog site itself)  I’ll be chronicling my search for my family history and the project I’m working on as I go. I will be protecting the privacy of all living members of my family.

I [heart] Lima Beans

I love lima beans so much that a friend brought me a lima bean recipes. Here’s it is and it is truly outstanding:

Pennsylvania Dutch Beans

Many Pennsylvania Dutch dishes trace their origins to the 17th-century German immigrants who farmed the southest part of he state. this bean bake, with its tangy-sweet sour cream sauce, is one of them.

• 1 pound dried lima beans
• 4 cups water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
• 1 cup chopped yellow onion
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 tsp garlic
• 1/2 cup fat-free chicken broth
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon molasses
• 2 teaspoons dry mustard
• 1 cup light sour cream

Sort and wash beans; place in a large Dutch over. Cover with water to 2 inches above beans; bring to a boil. Cook 2 minutes; remove from heat. Cover and let stand 1 hour. Drain beans; return to pan. Add 4 cups water and 1 teaspoon salt; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 1 hour. Drain and set aside.

Saute onion in butter. Add garlic. Combine all remaining ingredients except sour cream until mixed, stir into beans. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Remove from oven, stir in sour cream. Serve immediately.

Yield: 10 servings (2/3 cup)

241 calories; 6 g fat; 8.5 g fiber. 5 pts per 2/3 cup

It’s not enough to have a bun, it’s got to be a WHITE bun

I am throwing myself off the cliff and getting in to genealogy. Genealogy is traditionally the domain of little old ladies (I work in a library, I would know, just trust me).

My mom did a bunch of research a few years ago and I went as far as to memorize my direct line back 6 generations but mostly I just enjoyed listening to the stories she uncovered – a great, great grandfather brought home dead on a cart after an accident on the railroad to his 2 little kids and pregnant wife who listed her occupation as “washerwoman” on the next census. We went to see the corner where they lived in Flint a hundred years ago only to find that the neighborhood had signs every block that said it was a drug area, no stopping, standing or cruising. Nice. Then we went down the road to my great, great, great grandfather’s farm on St. John’s Way (now St. John’s Industrial Parkway) and looked at the river where the family settled after coming down from Canada and where their youngest son drowned.

Everyone is dead, and viewing death certificates is a big part of genealogy, so you kind of have to get used to that part. Actually seeing the ground your family farmed or labored on, that’s the fun part. And seeing them pop up on censuses from two hundred years ago where they listed themselves as having “pas” (no) religion while their brother converted to Catholocism and signed his name in the book and the whole 9 yards and wondering how that played out at the Christmas dinner table, that’s the fun part, too.  Some types of family dynamics really don’t change much.

And I recently found someone with whom I share the same ancestor who was called to muster for the Revolutionary War. He lives in Canada and sent me a picture of him and his son. Our family has a family history message board even. We rock.

But genealogy is worse than… worse than… worse than, WORSE THAN TAX LAW.  It is hopelessly picky and pedantic. Hubby said it was the perfect hobby for me. He didn’t say it very nicely, either.

Yet, here I go, off the cliff into white bun land. My first stop: the rule books.

Awe man, now we look ridiculous

A month or so ago hubby asks me to call around and find a roof rake. He is in charge of home maintenance purchases. I had never heard of a roof rake but hell, fuses scared me until 2008 so I’m not one to bet on.  I did as requested and the first two places I called were sold out.  In my mind this meant that roof rakes must be a. valuable to home maintenance efforts and b. totally common household resources and c. between their scarcity and hubby’s request we should find one immediately. I kept at it and we obtained a roof rake.

Today, another family dinner canceled due to snow, Hubby says he wants to roof rake. Now, in my mind, the roof rake was part of our on-going gutter care efforts. If you’ll recall, we replaced the gutters with the roof. And then Hubby put on gutter guards to keep the gutters from getting full of leaves. I figured we’d use the roof rake to clean off the gutters – y’know, keep the weight of the snow from damaging the gutters, keep the ice off.

No. A roof rake actually rakes a roof. And interestingly enough, the only parts of the roof that get raked are the parts you can reach from the ground. And now the roof looks absolutely ridiculous. Like a shaved cat.

I began complaining the minute we started. “The house is going to look ridiculous!” I said. A few minutes later I said it again. I said it all the way around the house. I added that I had never seen another house look like this. And that houses with snow on the roofs looked pretty.

At the end of the roof raking I said, “Why are we doing this?”

“Eh, it’s something to do,” replies he.

Me and My Grandma

My Grandma

My grandma died holding my mother’s hand last Sunday, January 4th. Her death was not unexpected, and it was peaceful.  I’m good with words, but when it comes to my grandma all the words I know don’t seem to be enough to say what I mean, and what I feel for her. Words don’t feel big enough to hold her the way she held me.

Below is part of my Uncle Norm’s eulogy for her and it places us in the greater context of our family history:

Elaine S. H. is survived by her husband of 41 years, 5 children,
9 grandchildren and 2 great-grand-children.

She was the descendant of teachers of life:

Great-great-grandfather Quiggle, born ~1830, fought in Civil War,
honorably discharged from a Michigan regiment. My grandmother’s
ability to produce those discharge papers got me 2 semesters of
scholarships at the University of Michigan, when I needed it.

His, son, Great-grand-father Henry Quiggle, was a captain of
ships on the Great Lakes. We kids have very fond memories of
him. My special memory is of being taught nautical knot tricks
on the stairs of the family home. He held several patents,
including a sailboat that folded into 2 suitcases.

His daughter, grand-mother Lucy Mabel Quiggle, was born in
1900 and died in 1969. She married Loren Darvel Jackson,
who was a wonderful grandfather to us, and a real character.
Lucy taught me to cook (its not a science/measurement, but an art)
and to sew – I still have a great whip-stitch for mending things.

During the Depression, Grandpa Loren broke down at the dinner table,
saying that the barber-shop he owned hadn’t made enough to heat the
place that day, let alone feed the family. He decided to give folks
haircuts on credit – pay what you can, when you can. For folks
going on job interviews he provided free shave and haircut. He
was paid in everything from eggs, to chickens, to sacks of beans.
His customers were exceptionally loyal and he retired in 1955 to
Florida after selling his prosperous barber-shop. Grandpa Loren
fell out of a tree on his 85th birthday, while trimming it,
injuring his ego, but nothing else.

Elaine was born May 3, 1921 and in 1941 married Francis
William S. and they had three children: Norm, Diane and
Tom.

In 1955 the family moved from Detroit to Hillsdale, Michigan,
where Dad was the Superintendent of Allied #4. Mom and Dad
were both Deacon’s in the First Presbyterian Church there.
Mom was on the Standing Committee on Christian Education.

On June 18, 1961 Dad died of a cerebral aneurysm. Mom got
all three kids through college.

In 1967 Mom married Jack in Hillsdale, gaining an instant
family: Greg and Steve. These kids all graduated college.

In 1996 Mom and Jack moved to Phoenix and Scottsdale, AZ.

In 2004, after a mild stroke and recovery, Mom and Jack moved to
Ann Arbor, MI.

On Jan 4, 2009 Mom died easily while holding her daughter’s hand.

We are the legacy of all these people’s love and teaching,
especially Elaine’s.