Veteran's Day- Enjoying The Experience of My Father

I know it has been way too long since I have been on here and I am determined to correct that, but today is not about me. It's about that father of mine. He served in the navy during World War II aboard what he calls one of the "tin cans", the destroyers that served in the Pacific at the end of the war.

I love to hear his stories, from the times when they would earn ice cream whenever one of the pilots would miss their landing on the air craft carrier so they would hurry to bring them aboard. When he was first crossing in a smaller boat to get to his ship the person who had their medical records dropped them into the ocean and he was afraid that he would have to take all his shots again. (He didn't). When he first arrived on the ship he didn't actually report to duty so for 4 months he did not have a daily job.

 When the captain found out he was awarded by being tied down in the top of the basket up in the air (for the life of me I can't remember the correct name). He did spot a torpedo, so the engines were turned off, the ship was made to lean the other way to slip by it, and then the guys at the back torpedoed it. He other adventure up there was the typhoon that came along. The captain had to send up 2 men to work to get Dad down. There are other stories that he doesn't speak of, but he does speak heatedly about the fact that when the Japanese came aboard the USS Missouri for the ceremony, the Japanese also came aboard ships across Japan to sign records of surrender, including the USS Remey. Dad has pictures of the event. It really bothers him that that is not written anywhere, history books or in Navy publications.

This is him aboard the USS Remey. Years later they were able to realize the loss of hearing he had suffered through all his life and that was continuing to diminish was related to one of the times when he needed to rush to the guns and was unable to put his gear on because of the situation. He was working one of the guns that was just below when the larger one fired and his ear immediately began to ring and lose hearing.

Today I will be going with to a Veteran's Day breakfast aboard LST 325 which was on the beaches on June 6, 1944. Our city built many of them at a riverfront that worked around the clock. Amazing the contributions by all, and I look forward to hearing the stories from others, and learning new ones from my father.

Happy Veteran's Day to All!!

Tuesday Tip- Don't Overlook Name Variations

While I have been off the page completing some goals of mine around my home and with my genealogy, there has been some changes in the blogging world as well. Instead of one daily theme, now there are several for each day of the week, and their explanation is at Geneabloggers. I am sure in the coming weeks I will utilize several of them, but for today, writing about one of the items I keep in my research binder whether I am working at a repository or at home is the most appropriate.

I keep a list of all the surnames that play a role in my family in my binder in alphabetical order. I also write a brief note next to some of the surnames to remind myself of their place in my family. Believe it or not, once there are 1,000 people in your database, some names get lost in the confusion.

This may seem easy enough, but do not stop there. I include all the spelling variations that I have encountered over time for each surname as well. This I consider to be critical because it can become too easy to overlook an important record otherwise. Here are some of the examples for my ancestors:

Raley- Raily, Railey, Reily, Reilly, Ryley, Reyley, Reighley, Riley

Cozart- Cozad, Cossart, Cossairt, Cozort, Cassat

Cannan- Canan, Cannon, Canon

Eckardt- Ekert, Echardt, Eckart, Eckhart, Echart, Echert

McDonald- McDonell, McDonalds

Munsey- Munsy, Muncey, Muncy

Schnacke- Schnake, Shnacke

This is a very small list, but examples for some of my surnames,and the list grows on a regular basis, which keeps the detective in me on my toes.

Good hunting!

New Site For Maryland/Kentucky Cousins

I was very excited today to open my email and find that a new site has been developed for those of us who have Maryland ancestors that were part of the migration to Kentucky in 1785 and beyond.

Christopher and Leslie Hielig and Chug Roberts have launched http://www.md2ky.com/ and I have to say that I am very excited about the site already. They have sections for Books, Family Sites and Sources, Genral Genealogy Resources, and MD and KY Resources.

They have already posted some very interesting articles and always direct you to other sites for further information. Anyone with ancestors in Southern Maryland or were part of the migration to the Kentucky counties of Marion, Nelson and Washington should add this to their reader. They are also very open to adding information from those of who have information to share that would benefot all of us.

I for one am looking forward to future installments.

Sentimental Sunday- Teaching About Roots

I have shared some of the journey of our recent exploration of all things history, and there is more to tell, and today I want to share one of the best visual reminders of the way I was able to show my daughter the connection of our history and ourselves.  

One day we went to Annapolis. The historic area on this very hot mid-July day was absolutely teeming with activity around the harbor. There was hardly a place to park, which is a really fun adventure when you are in

Annapolis Harbor District

the car with a teenager at the wheel who is driving a van in circles and getting very frustrated in the process. (Does your teenagers refuse to listen to the subtle sugggestion that if she would only slow down and pause a moment now and then instead of going in a circle incessantly, we just might get into one of the open spaces before it filled again? After that, I had no intention of going on a harbor cruise).

The view out over the harbor was absolutely gorgeous that day, and I wish we would have had the time to really stay there and explore all that the area had to offer, but we were on our way to Baltimore by dark and I couldn't take enough time for that, but I will remember the view all the days of my life. 

However the view was not the real reason I had insisted that we get off the road and stop here despite pleas from my mother and daughter. (I will tell you why tomorrow--it is definitely a Madness Monday story). They soon understood the method to my madness, or is that the madness to my method?

Kunte Kinte is why we stopped here.

According to the Kunta Kinte Heritage Festival, Kunta Kinte is one of the slaves who arrived at Annapolis aboard The Lord Ligonier ship in 1767, and is the ancestor Alex Haley so completely described in his book, "Roots" that was adapted and later became one of the biggest television events of my lifetime.

Two hours every night for 6 nights, this miniseries gripped my generation and is often credited with an explosion in genealogy. I can remember coming home from school every day and could hardly wait until the show started as my entire family sat around the television and watched. As much as it was the story of Alex Haley, it was more the story of a time in our country that I truly didn't understand at my young age at the time. I would be emotionally drained every night and full of very hard questions for my parents that night, and even more for my teachers the next day.

So here we were at Annapolis to honor Kunta Kinte and all the others who came aboard those ships. I know now in my own genealogy pursuits that I had ancestors who owned slaves and today was the day to share some of that with my daughter, and my mother as we marveled at this point and imagined what it must have been like to arrive here at this harbor aboard those ships more than 200 years ago.

Kunta Kinte- Alex Haley Memorial

In the middle of all the shops and the cars and the horns from the boats coming in and out of the harbor sits this simple, yet moving statue. Alex Haley is reading a book to 3 children of diverse backgrounds. The sign next to them says:

To commemorate the arrival in this harbor of

Kunta Kinte. Immortalized by Alex Haley

in Roots, and all others who came

to these shores in bondage and who by their toil,

character, and ceaseless struggle for freedom

have helped to make these United States.

When Ancestry Owns The World

I write this with some frustration, ok, with alot of frustration at Ancestry today, and here is why:

Today I get 2 emails from Ancestry, one to inform me that Family Tree Maker 2011  is now available for me to pre-order, and the second was to inform me that Ancestry.com  is now the proud parents of another organization, ProGenealogist, Inc.  (I apologize for not including the links about both, but my linking skills must be frustrated as well because I couldn't get my linking to work).

Now I do understand that many of you reading this will find no problem with either event, but it just comes at the wrong time for me. Per the Ancestry.com store Family Tree Maker 2011 comes with "more than 100 new enhancemets" including Smart Stories, improvements to their charting and reporting, additions to their timelines, and a way to rate your citation sources. Those all sound great and being a user of the 2010 software I see places where improvements would benefit my research, but it  was the statement that Family Tree Maker 2011 is going to be even more integrated with Ancestry.com that hit my gut a little hard.

I cannot imagine how much more they can be connected. I already get the infamous "shaky leaf" on my family members whenever I open FTM 2010 and when I want to look for some records I have the choice between connecting into Ancestry since I have a subscription, and going onto the internet. Now the description tells me that I will be even more connected to Ancestry and other members.

I have  been trying to decide lately whether I want to stay with Family Tree Maker or go to one of the other programs, such as RootsMagic and Legacy, but I just can't decide. I am pleased that FTM is improving their product and I am sure I am going to like most of them if I decide to purchase the software.

I just wish that Ancestry would surprise me and send an email that says something like this:

"Great news!!! You have been a great customer for the past several years, and since we have taken so much of your money, we thought we would send you some upgrades to your Family Tree Maker program.....just because.  By the way, we, Ancestry.com, will keep our evergrowing domination of the internet world off your program in the process, allowing you to decide when you need our help."

Now---for the other issue, acquiring ProGenealogists, Inc. For those of you who do not know, Ancestry has a service known as ExpertConnect which allows researchers around the country to provide client work ranging from answering  questions, picking up records at repositories, to very intensive research of multiple generations of the clients family. ExpertConnect has been up and running for over a year and I like the process overall, but now I question what role acquiring this company and the researchers that have worked for them is going to have on those who are providing services on ExpertConnect.

I know that not every single record that exists for my ancestors is connected into Ancestry. There are courthouses, libraries, relatives with photos and Bibles, and friends that can tell all kinds of stories about their relationships with my relatives.

I am just wondering when we can expext the announcement that Ancestry has taken over the Family History Library, or the National Archives.

Treasure Chest Thursday- The Star Spangled Banner

This is not the usual entry for Treasure Thursday, but I think the story below will explain it all.

One of the locations we went to on our trip this recently held a special place in our heart for several reasons, but the most important is due to the patriotism of my father. He loves America, and wears a pin every day of his life that is of the flag. He actually wears two- one is a lapel pin, the other a large button, and I do not know what I would do if I ever saw him without them.

He also holds a great respect for our national anthem, and not only stands with respect, but with hand over his heart, will sing every word when so many around struggle to remember the song or cannot follow the tune for various reasons. I have learned that if I start the song at a lower key I can sing the higher notes at the end. Besides, whose daughter can stand next to their patriotic father and not follow suit?

Given this, when I was researching for this trip and learned that Fort Mchenry was in Baltimore and right in our pathway on this trip, how could I miss putting it on our agenda?

Fort McHenry is actually built in the shape of a star at a point on the edge of the Baltimore Harbor in the Chesapeake Bay several years before it played such a role for Francis Scott Key.

Francis Scott Key was a lawyer and was in the Baltimore Harbor aboard a ship while the British were bombarding Fort McHenry in 1814 for over 24 hours. The smoke in the air was so thick that no one witnessing the battle had any idea who had actually won the battle for hours until dawn came and the flag of this newly developed country was flying over the fort. This inspired Francis Scott key to write what would become our National Anthem.

After watching a slide presentation that explained in further detail the story, the anthem began to play as curtains opened at the vistor center, showing the flag flying over the fort. It was an emotional moment for us, both in knowing what that battle meant to America, but more what as I thought of my father, the man who wears the flag proudly every day of his life.

Sometimes the treasure is in our hearts. This day it was for all of us.

Shame on Me!!! (But What Else Would We Expect)

I don't know what made me go back and look, and I almost wish I had not now...........

I missed my own One Year Anniversary.. (bummer).


I actually started this blog with a very perky welcome to the world on July 1, 2009. July 1st-- i didn't even miss it by a few days, but more than a month. I will blame the darn health problems this spring and summer that were miserable, but next summer I am putting on a bright pointy hat, blowing up some balloons, and singing til the face in the moon starts to crack under the strain.

For now, thank you to all of you over this year who have stopped by to take a look, leave a comment, encourage me, or give me help with the technological side of blogging. I have more to learn from you, so don't go anywhere---I would be lost without you crazy people!!

Kim