Long Lost Relatives.net

Nebraska Genealogy Events - February 2012

2012-01-28T08:32:00.000-06:00

My Genealogy Events in Nebraska page has been updated as of January 27, 2012. Included in the new listing are classes at the Family History Library in Lincoln, Nebraska, as well as the Family History Expo in Kearney on September 7 - 8, 2012, and the fall conference sponsored by the Lincoln-Lancaster Genealogical Society and Southeast Community College on October 12 - 13, 2012 in Lincoln.

If you have a Nebraska genealogy event to add, please email me. I also invite you to hang out with the Nebraska Genea-Peeps group on Facebook, where we share information about Nebraska events and resources.

Date & Location	Description

January 28 – March 3, 2012 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Home Economics Building University of Nebraska-Lincoln East Campus 1650 N. 35^th St Room 121 Lincoln, NE	Climbing Your Family Tree: How To Get Started With Your Family History Osher Life Long Learning Institute (OLLI) Presented by Phyllis Erickson and Rayma Shrader Contact Judi Cook for more information.

February 3, 2012 Family History Center 11027 Martha St Omaha, NE	GO-PAF Meeting Program to be announced

February 12, 2012 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. Walt Branch Library 6701 S. 14^th St Lincoln, NE	Lincoln Lancaster County Genealogical Society monthly program: Ethnic Dances and Clues to Ancestry Presented by Eva Bachman and Folk Dancers Enjoy the fun and tradition of folk dances as you learn about clues to ethnic ancestry in music, lyrics, colors, clothing designs and portrayals of historic events.

February 15, 2012 7:00 p.m. Crown Pointe Retirement Center 2820 S. 80^th St Omaha, NE	Greater Omaha Genealogical Society meeting: George Custer’s 24 Hours in Omaha; presented by Jeff Barnes, author of The Great Plains Guide to Custer.

February 18, 2012 9:00 a.m. – Noon Mormon Trail Center 3215 State St Omaha, NE	Greater Omaha Genealogical Society free class: Vital Records for the Vital Events of Their Lives: Birth, Marriage and Death Records.

Family History Expos coming to Kearney, Nebraska

2012-01-28T07:32:00.000-06:00

The Midwest Family History Expo for 2012 will be held September 7 - 8, 2012 in Kearney, Nebraska.

Great Platte River Road Archway Museum, Kearney, NE
copyright 2003-2012 Susan Petersen

It will be at the Holiday Inn Convention Center, 110 South Second Avenue.

While visiting Kearney, be sure to include time to visit the Great Platte River Road Archway Museum - which just happens to be located ACROSS Interstate 80.

Early Bird Registration (by August 14) is only $39.

For more information, visit Family History Expos.

Hope to see you there!

Lincoln-Lancaster County Genealogical Society unveils new web site

2012-01-22T13:10:00.001-06:00

The Lincoln-Lancaster County Genealogical Society (LLCGS) web site has had a makeover this month!

Under the direction of webmaster Al Harlow, the new site was revealed in early January.

My favorite feature for searching my Lancaster county ancestors and other family members remains the outstanding database of marriages and cemetery information. Soon to be added will be the Naturalization database.

LLCGS also has a page on Facebook. Up-to-the-minute information about upcoming meetings and events is posted on the Society's Facebook page as well as on the web site.

This is a very active genealogy society and I'm very pleased that "we" are expanding our social media presence on the internet. As publicity chair for 2012, I'm looking forward to getting our information disseminated to the public and genealogists not only by traditional media, and now by Facebook, and soon, Google Plus and our society blog. It looks to be an exciting year.

Disclaimer: I serve as the publicity chair for LLCGS for 2012.

Follow the Stars of Who Do You Think You Are

2012-01-08T09:42:00.002-06:00

If you want to learn a little bit more about the subjects of Who Do You Think You Are (Season 3) and Finding Your Roots, here's some web sites and social networking locations where you can follow the celebrities.

Reba McEntire

Reba.com - official site
Facebook - official
Twitter - official @reba

Rob Lowe

Rob Lowe - official site
Twitter - official @roblowe
Facebook - official
Fan Club site - official

Helen Hunt

Twitter - official @HelenHunt

Rita Wilson

Twitter - official @ritawilson

Blair Underwood

Twitter - official @blairunderwood
Facebook - official page

Marisa Tomei

Twitter - official @marisatomei

Kevin Bacon

Twitter - official @kevinbacon

Kyra Sedgwick

Twitter - official @kyrasedgwick

Paula Deen

PaulaDeen.com - official site
Twitter - official @paula_deen
Facebook - official

Barbara Walters

Twitter - official @barbarajwalters
Facebook - official page
The View - ABC

Robert Downey, Jr.

Downey Unlimited - fan site
Internet Movie Database

Branford Marsalis

Branford Marsalis - official site
Facebook - official
Twitter - official record label @marsalismusic

John Legend

Twitter - official @johnlegend
JohnLegend.com - official site
Facebook - official
Google Plus - official

Martha Stewart

Facebook - official @marthastewart
MarthaStewart.com - official web site
Google Plus - official
Facebook - official

Rick Warren

RickWarren.com - official web site
Twitter - official @rickwarren
Facebook - official

Jason Sudeikis

Internet Movie Database

Jerome Bettis

Official Web Site
Facebook - official
Twitter - official

Martin Sheen

MartinSheen.net - unofficial
Internet Movie Database

Edie Falco

Internet Movie Database

Rashida Jones

RashidaJonesWeb - fan site
Internet Movie Database

If you have a link to add, please post in the Comments section below and I'll keep the links updated.

Other Ways to Honor Your Ancestors

2012-01-08T05:30:00.000-06:00

Many of us spend quite a bit of our family history research time tracking down obituaries, death certificates and walking through cemeteries. Perhaps your ancestors lived and died hundreds or thousands of miles away from where you live. Maybe they don't have a grave marker. There are other ways you can honor their memory without erecting a tombstone.

A few years ago, one of my favorite arts organizations, Friends of the Lied (supporters of the Lied Center for Performing Arts in Lincoln, Nebraska) sponsored a fundraising activity where patrons could purchase a commemorative brick which would then be placed on the grounds of the Lied Center. It was a tax deductible charitable contribution.

Maybe it was my ego, maybe I thought I would disappear into oblivion after my demise - whatever the reason at the time, I decided to contribute and purchased a brick. The inscription was just to denote the year of my graduation from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. It seemed appropriate since the Lied Center is housed on the University campus.

I've heard from a few genealogists who have done something similar to honor their parents, grandparents or other family member. It's especially nice if the location or organization is a good match for one of your ancestor's favorite interests or charities. And it helps out a worthwhile cause at the same time.

With some of the horror stories we keep reading about the destruction and vandalism of cemeteries, this might be an inexpensive way for families to still have something concrete (pardon the pun) that will honor their life.

If you have done something similar, I'd like to hear about it. Please leave a comment below.

Who Do You Think You Are Returns to NBC - Finding Your Roots on PBS

2012-01-07T07:44:00.002-06:00

For those who can't get enough of celebrities and genealogy, the coming weeks will be a blockbuster on your television screen.

NBC's Who Do You Think You Are returns for its third season on U.S. television on February 3, 2012. The popularity of the broadcast is evident since NBC has expanded the series about family history hunts to 12 episodes this season.

Among those featured:

Martin Sheen, actor, known for The West Wing, Apocalypse Now and hundreds of other stellar performances, and as being father of Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez
Marisa Tomei, actor, Oscar winner
Blair Underwood, actor, L.A. Law, most recently, The Event. I remember him from One Life to Live circa 1985.
Reba McEntire, former rodeo barrel racer turned country music superstar turned sit-com actor.
Rob Lowe, actor, also on The West Wing, member of the "Brat Pack" and author of the memoir, Stories I Only Tell My Friends
Helen Hunt, actor known for TV's Mad About You, went on to win the Oscar.
Rita Wilson, actor and producer known for "best friend" roles, driving force behind My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Oh, yeah, she's married to Tom Hanks.
Edie Falco, actor, The Sopranos, Nurse Jackie
Rashida Jones, actor, The Office, Parks and Recreation
Jerome Bettis, former NFL halfback with the Rams and the Steelers
Jason Sudeikis, known for Saturday Night Live, Horrible Bosses, 30 Rock
Paula Deen, celebrity chef

Martin Sheen with my friend and
fellow genealogy blogger, Jan Eloise Morris
Los Angeles, 1996
used with permission of Jan Eloise Morris

Reba McEntire
Omaha, Nebraska 1982
copyright Susan Petersen

Read the NBC Press Release

Finding Your Roots

Henry Louis Gates of the Faces of America series is back to host Finding Your Roots on PBS. The 10 part series premieres on PBS stations on March 25, 2012. Celebrities named for this program thus far include:

Kevin Bacon and wife (cousin?) Kyra Sedgwick, actors; he is probably best known for the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon 'game', his credits include Footloose, Apollo 13, A Few Good Men, Diner. Sedgwick is best known for The Closer.
Robert Downey, Jr., actor; I'm a bit prejudiced as, in my eyes, he's one of the most gifted actors of our time. Known most recently for Sherlock Holmes, Ally McBeal, Wonder Boys (one of my favorite films), Chaplin, and several stints in jail and rehab.
Branford Marsalis, musician - saxophonist; in addition to a remarkable solo career, he toured with Sting for two years and was musical director of The Tonight Show when Jay Leno first took over the late night spot.
John Legend, singer, songwriter, actor, recipient of nine Grammy awards.
Martha Stewart, television personality and magazine publisher, merchandiser of her own product line. Served five months in federal prison after lying to investigators about a stock sale.
Barbara Walters, longtime broadcaster and interviewer, her credits include The Today Show, 20/20, The Barbara Walters Special and The View. She was the first woman to co-anchor a network news show and her $1 million salary really pissed off Harry Reasoner, who never got over it. I noticed she was in a photograph as a guest at Paul McCartney's London wedding to Nancy Shevell last year; I later read that Barbara and Nancy are cousins. So I'm curious about that family relationship.
Rick Warren, evangelical minister and author of The Purpose Driven Life.

As the names of other subjects on Finding Your Roots are announced, they will be posted on this blog.

With at least 12 weeks of network genealogy programming coming up, it's going to make getting through winter a lot more fun!

2012 Genealogy Events in Nebraska

2012-01-06T13:45:00.000-06:00

Nebraska genealogists have a lot in store in 2012 with classes, workshops, meetings and conferences. The toughest decision for me is choosing between Beth Santore's workshop in Lincoln on gravestone symbolism and the Spring Conference of the Greater Omaha Genealogical Society. Both are scheduled for April 28 and I want to attend both!

If your Nebraska society has an event to add to this list, please email me. Hope to see you around the state this year!

Date & Location	Description
January 8, 2012 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Walt Branch Library 6701 S. 14^th St Lincoln, NE	Lincoln Lancaster County Genealogical Society Monthly Program -Exploring Our LLCGS Website Presented by Al Harlow Come see the unveiling of the new LLCGS web site. Informal gathering for members to share information between 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

January 15, 2012 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Walt Branch Library 6701 S. 14^th St Lincoln, NE	Lincoln Lancaster County Genealogical Society – education opportunity Providing Information for Surname Research – another Genealogical Tool, presented by LLCGS members. There will be an opportunity to post on the LLCGS web site the surnames you are researching, location where ancestors lived and the dates they were there.

January 18, 2012 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Great Room Chatelaine, 6201 Normal Blvd Lincoln, NE	Genealogy Discussion Group: The Best Genealogical Research Advice I Ever Got Presented by Lila Garner Opportunity to meet with new and experienced researchers and exchange questions, ideas and discoveries.

January 18, 2012 7:00 p.m. Crown Pointe Retirement Center 2820 S. 80^th St Omaha, NE	Greater Omaha Genealogical Society meeting Program to be announced.

January 21, 2012 9:00 a.m. – Noon Mormon Trail Center 3215 State St Omaha, NE	Greater Omaha Genealogical Society class: Tell Me About My Family: Getting Started With Family History – discussion of forms organization, first places to find the essentials to track a family, the whys and wherefores of a documented family history. Free class.

January 22, 2012 Walt Branch Library 6701 S. 14^th St Lincoln, NE	Lincoln City Libraries Learning More About DNA as a Genealogical Tool Using DVDs and other resources to learn more about scientific discoveries regarding DNA helpful in our genealogical research.

January 28 – March 3, 2012 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Home Economics Building University of Nebraska-Lincoln East Campus 1650 N. 35^th St Room 121 Lincoln, NE	Climbing Your Family Tree: How To Get Started With Your Family History Osher Life Long Learning Institute (OLLI) Presented by Phyllis Erickson and Rayma Shrader Contact Judi Cook for more information.

January 29, 2012 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. Walt Branch Library 6701 S. 14^th St Lincoln, NE	Features of the Lincoln Lancaster County Genealogical Society web site Learn about resources, practice locating information in databases, review records; make the web site work for you.

February 3, 2012 Family History Center 11027 Martha St Omaha, NE	GO-PAF Meeting Program to be announced

February 12, 2012 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. Walt Branch Library 6701 S. 14^th St Lincoln, NE	Lincoln Lancaster County Genealogical Society monthly program: Ethnic Dances and Clues to Ancestry Presented by Eva Bachman and Folk Dancers Enjoy the fun and tradition of folk dances as you learn about clues to ethnic ancestry in music, lyrics, colors, clothing designs and portrayals of historic events.

February 15, 2012 7:00 p.m. Crown Pointe Retirement Center 2820 S. 80^th St Omaha, NE	Greater Omaha Genealogical Society meeting: George Custer’s 24 Hours in Omaha; presented by Jeff Barnes, author of The Great Plains Guide to Custer.

February 18, 2012 9:00 a.m. – Noon Mormon Trail Center 3215 State St Omaha, NE	Greater Omaha Genealogical Society free class: Vital Records for the Vital Events of Their Lives: Birth, Marriage and Death Records.

March 2, 2012 7:00 p.m. LDS Family History Center 11027 Martha St Omaha, NE	GO-PAF Meeting Program to be announced

March 11, 2012 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. Walt Branch Library 6701 S. 14^th St Lincoln, NE	Lincoln Lancaster County Genealogical Society Monthly program: Blogs as a Genealogical Tool Presented by Susan Petersen Learn how blogging can help with genealogical research.

March 17, 2012 9:00 a.m. – Noon Mormon Trail Center 3215 State St Omaha, NE	Greater Omaha Genealogical Society free class: Making Sense of the Census.

March 21, 2012 7:00 p.m. Crown Pointe Retirement Center 2820 S. 80^th St Omaha, NE	Greater Omaha Genealogical Society meeting: program to be announced

April 6, 2012 7:00 p.m. LDS Family History Center 11027 Martha St Omaha, NE	GO-PAF Meeting Program to be announced

April 10, 2012 7:15 p.m. Dick Administration Building Union College 3800 S. 48^th St Lincoln, NE	Lincoln Lancaster County Genealogical Society monthly program Tracing Custer’s Men: Finding Michael Madden and Other Survivors of the Battle of the Little Bighorn Presented by Douglas Scott

April 18, 2012 7:00 p.m. Crown Pointe Retirement Center 2820 S. 80^th St Omaha, NE	Greater Omaha Genealogical Society meeting: program to be announced

April 21, 2012 9:00 a.m. – Noon Mormon Trail Center 3215 State St Omaha, NE	Greater Omaha Genealogical Society free class: Searching the World’s Records Without Leaving Omaha

April 28, 2012 Sponsored by Southeast Community College Lincoln, Nebraska	Gravestone Symbolism by Beth Santore Lecture by Beth Santore of Grave Addiction; $40 fee includes continental breakfast, lecture, materials and tour of Wyuka Cemetery.

April 28, 2012 All day Omaha, NE	Greater Omaha Genealogical Society Spring Conference; speaker to be announced

May 4, 2012 7:00 p.m. LDS Family History Center 11027 Martha St Omaha, NE	GO-PAF Meeting Program to be announced

May 5-6, 2012 Mid-Town Holiday Inn Grand Island, Nebraska	Nebraska State Genealogical Society Conference

May 8, 2012 7:15 p.m. Dick Administration Building Union College 3800 S. 48^th St Lincoln, NE	Lincoln Lancaster County Genealogical Society monthly program: Genealogical Research Related to Cemeteries Presented by Gail Blankenau Pointers for genealogical research related to cemeteries encourage providing data and photos to help other genealogists.

May 16, 2012 7:00 p.m. Crown Pointe Retirement Center 2820 S. 80^th St Omaha, NE	Greater Omaha Genealogical Society meeting: program to be announced

May 19, 2012 9:00 a.m. – Noon Mormon Trail Center 3215 State St Omaha, NE	Greater Omaha Genealogical Society free class: Where’s the Dirt? An Overview of Land Records; Uncle Sam Wants You: Using Military Records

May 20, 2012 Homestead National Monument of America 8523 West State Highway 4 Beatrice, Nebraska	150th Anniversary of the Homestead Act The Homestead Story covers 270 million acres, is tied to 93 million Americans, spanned 123 years and is directly tied to the development of the largest agricultural superpower in the history of the World! Furthermore, this law attracted the imaginations of citizens of the world as it offered free land to most anyone willing to move to our Nation in search of an opportunity at the American Dream! May 20, 2012 our Nation will observe the 150th Anniversary, in what has been said is one of our most significant laws ever created in the history of the United States; the Homestead Act of 1862! A program marking this historic event will be held at Homestead National Monument of America. President Obama along with other dignitaries and special groups have been invited to attend this Anniversary.

June 1, 2012 7:00 p.m. LDS Family History Center 11027 Martha St Omaha, NE	GO-PAF Meeting Program to be announced

June 16, 2012 9:00 a.m. – Noon Mormon Trail Center 3215 State St Omaha, NE	Greater Omaha Genealogical Society free class: Finding Family on the Internet: Is It Accurate?; There’s More in the Courthouse than Vital Records


	List compiled and maintained by Susan Petersen, LongLostRelatives.net. To add or update your listing, please email me sooznebr@gmail.com

Open Discussion Weekend - What's Your Guilty Pleasure?

2011-12-26T12:18:00.003-06:00

Technically, it's still the weekend since today is the legal holiday for Christmas. I had been contemplating this topic for a few days, then I read Leah Kleylein's post, Let's Start Again, on her Random Notes blog.

Those of us in the genealogy blogging community spend much of our time writing about our own research, sharing our discoveries, reviewing new products and engage in stimulating discussion about our hobby/profession. But if you're like Leah or me, you may have taken a "walk on the dark side" - spending minutes, hours or days with other activities (or addictions) besides genealogy.

Sometimes, I just have to take a break from hanging out with the dead relatives. And those guilty pleasures have been drawing me away from genealogy the last four or five weeks. Well, let's face it, it all started with the arrival of my Kindle Fire, which I've already blogged about in my reviews of the product.

Apps and Games

The device has barely left my side since it arrived, but have I been using it primarly as an e-reader? Not quite. Rather than reading two or three books a week as I did on my old Kindle, I've only read about three books in the last month. What have I been doing instead? Checking out the Android Apps for the Kindle, downloading them, discarding many, keeping quite a few. Angry Birds was much too slow for me, but my time on Treasures of Montezuma borders on addiction.

Then there are the apps for magazine subscriptions - I've definitely been enjoying the tablet versions of Time, Vanity Fair, Consumer Reports and the Smithsonian. I've also been receiving my issues of Family Tree Magazine in digital format (Adobe pdf), which is easy enough to read on the Kindle.

Let's Rock and Roll!

I've also spent quite a lot of time over the past month converting my hundreds of music CDs to mp3 format - to archive on an external drive as well as backed up in the Amazon cloud. And that also means that I've spent quite a bit of time this past month downloading dozens of free Christmas tunes from Amazon. And filling in some of my Sixties music collection with some Greatest Hits collections from my era. And some Rat Pack tunes, and a few modern country as well. It's nice to pull up my cloud collection either on the Kindle or computer and be able to listen to the songs that have provided the soundtrack for my life. In other words, I just finished uploading the entire Beatles catalog to the cloud. Next up is a collection of about 100 Paul McCartney CDs to convert and upload.

Roku Madness

As though playing with the Kindle wasn't enough, about a week and a half ago I bought a Roku video streamer box. Wowee - I though that the DVR had revolutionized the way I consume TV and movies, but since getting the Roku, "regular" TV has not even been on. I already had subscriptions to Netflix and Amazon Prime for live video streaming. I will admit, trying to watch a movie on the Kindle Fire isn't that exciting. A coworker mentioned he had a Roku, so I looked into them and selected one that best met my "needs". Clearly, a Kindle Fire and a Roku were not "needs" of my pioneer ancestors!

In addition to Amazon and Netflix, the Roku offers more than 400 video channels, many of which are free. One of the free channels I like is the BYU channel which includes The Generations Project genealogy show. Hmm ... it seems like I'm trying to justify my guilty pleasures by associating their use to a genealogy application. I've also become addicted to the "24" TV series starring Kiefer Sutherland. I'd never watched it when it aired, so I'm starting with Season One. It's always intrigued me that a non-violent person such as myself happens to love crime shows.

Reality?

I also find myself frittering away my time with Gene Simmons Family Jewels, Celebrity Apprentice, Amazing Race and Survivor. And the alphabet crime shows such as NCIS and CSI.

So there you have it. I've come clean about my "dark side" away from genealogy. Do you have the courage to admit to your guilty pleasures? If so, please post in the comments section below.

LongLostRelatives.net is Two Today!

2011-12-13T05:51:00.001-06:00

It's really hard to believe that I've been blogging for two years! A lot has happened in my genealogy world since I made my first query-type post on LongLostRelatives.net. My first post was certainly intended to be cousin bait to find any descendants of my mother's first cousin, Evelyn Bellinger Gibbons. It took a while, but about a year and a half later, her great granddaughter posted a comment on that blog post. I will never underestimate the power of the internet.

I've blogged a little less in 2011 than in 2010, but logging 214 posts in 2011 shows I haven't really been slacking - I've just been busy mining new online resources to aid my family history research and I've managed to get to a few genealogy conferences this year.

The year in review:

This year I began giving some speeches/presentations about genealogy - primarily genealogy blogging. What's interesting is that this is something that I had been wanting to do, but hadn't really intended to get started for another year or so. The speaking engagements I had this year were all from people who approached me to speak - not from my soliciting any "gigs." I got started in March by speaking to a class of University of Nebraska-Lincoln teacher's college students. They were tasked with the assignment to do their own family history and learn how to create a lesson plan for their future students once they become teachers.
In July, I was asked to speak about genealogy blogging at the Land Records and Genealogy Symposium at the Homestead National Monument of America in Beatrice, Nebraska. My friend and fellow blogger, Thomas MacEntee, spoke at the conference about using social media for genealogy. Don't think that I wasn't a little bit nervous talking about genealogy blogging with the genealogy blogger ninja in the audience!
In August, I had a blast talking about blogging with a group at the Omaha Public Library. I even got to meet a potential cousin who is researching the Pecht family from the same county in Pennsylvania where I'm researching my Pecht line.
In January, I submitted my DNA sample to 23andme. While I received some correspondence from potential cousins in the early weeks of using the web site, I've been more than a little disappointed with the lack of response from people I've contacted. I don't understand why someone would register for the Family Finder and then not respond to inquiries to see if and how we are related. Perhaps the "aha moment" is still in my future.
I attended the Spring and Fall conferences of the Greater Omaha Genealogical Society, which were great fun. I'm enjoying those even more now that I'm getting to know a few more people.
In October, I was a table host for the Family History Fair sponsored by the Lincoln-Lancaster County Genealogical Society. I shared my experiences with blogging and demonstrated the Flip-Pal mobile scanner.
Also in October, I attended Gail Blankenau's workshop at the Cass County Historical Museum in Plattsmouth, Nebraska. As always, I learned a lot from Gail and even found some information on my Cass County kin!
I recently learned that I have been named the publicity chair of the Lincoln-Lancaster County Genealogical Society for 2012. I'm looking forward to some new challenges with this responsibility in the coming year.
In March, I attended a workshop on caring for family photographs at the Nebraska State Historical Society. It was great to meet up with my genealogy and Facebook friends Judy Shutts and Kathy Wait Myers.
In June, I started sharing some images from a tiny photo book that belonged to my grandmother, Sina Bellinger Kelly. This is an ongoing series on LongLostRelatives.net.
In July, I marked my 500th blog post.

It has definitely been quite a year; a year of new discoveries and new friendships. While others are faced with brick walls, I have been faced with the genealogy tsunami - so much information, paper and photographs that I am completely overwhelmed at assimilating, cataloging, archiving and sharing it all. But isn't that what makes genealogy great?

Around the Blogosphere - November 27

2011-11-27T11:27:00.001-06:00

It's been a while since my last Around the Blogosphere post, but with the holiday weekend, I've had time to catch up on my blog reading. The following are my selections of some of the best genealogy blog posts of the last two or three weeks.

Genealogy's Need for Curators by Thomas MacEntee on the Geneabloggers blog.

More on Organizational Systems and Genealogy by James Tanner at Genealogy's star. Also of note is Why You Have To Pay For Free Government Documents.

Why I Want to Remain an Amateur by Greta Koehl on Greta's Genealogy Blog.

My Views on Family History Have Changed by Elyse Doerflinger on Elyse's Genealogy Blog.

Family Discovery on eBay by Deb Ruth on Adventures in Genealogy. Deb also shared some great resources for maps.

The Big Genealogy Blog Book by Amy Coffin on We Tree Genealogy - buy Amy's new book! Amy also shares her experiences in self publishing.

Kathleen Brandt writes about Mayflower research on A3 Genealogy.

Tips on Decoding Family Photos by Susan Farrell Bankhead on Susan's Genealogy Blog.

And perhaps the best news - Season 3 of Who Do You Think You Are premieres on NBC on February 3

Kindle Fire - Not Just for Books

2011-11-23T07:45:00.001-06:00

I've been exploring my Kindle Firefor a week now and continue to be amazed, amused and entertained by what it has to offer. I was already an enthusiastic user of the Kindle Keyboardand its amazing capacity for electronic and audio books. As much as I love books, movies and music, I've been looking to the future with a desire to downsize my massive collections of books, DVDs and CDs. The Kindle Fire became an obvious choice to help me in this process.

Since 1995, I've had a great deal of brand name loyalty to Amazon.com. The online retailer is the first place I ever visit when I am interested in a product and probably end up making my purchase from Amazon well over 90 percent of the time. I probably feel about Amazon the way other people feel about Apple. I've just never embraced Apple products, which may help explain my enthusiasm for the Kindle Fire. This post may come off sounding like a big promotion for Amazon, but it's difficult to write a review regarding the Kindle Fire without addressing the content and services available from this retailer.

Music in the Cloud

For me, as an Amazon consumer, the big selling point of the Kindle Fire is the access to my media content via the cloud. Earlier this year, Amazon introduced cloud storage for not only computer files, but for music files. Right now, I have about the equivalent of a large clothes closet crammed full of CDs and DVDs. I took advantage of the early promotions to get 20 gb of cloud storage for a year. With the promotions, I think this cost me about $5, and certainly it was no more than $10. Regular price for my plan is $20/year and music files do not count toward the 20 gb. Any mp3 music purchased from Amazon may be stored directly to the cloud drive - or downloaded to my computer at the time of purchase or later. So far, I have more than 2,000 songs stored on my Amazon cloud drive and I've barely started uploading all of my music.

Music is, and always has been, a big part of my life, so it's really nice to have my music collection available to play songs in the background on any computer, anywhere, with the Amazon Cloud Player. The Cloud Player is also available for Android devices.

Books

For the last year, I have absolutely loved being able to carry more than 300 ebooks on my Kindle Keyboard - right in my purse. There are thousands of free ebooks available on Amazon, Google Books and other online sources. It's great for transferring PDF files of those old county history books to a portable device. The Kindle Keyboard has been promoted for having "e-Ink" display - which comes close to resembling the printed page. There is no glare in direct sunlight. I've found it very comfortable to read books on the Kindle Keyboard. The Kindle Fire has a back lit display that more closely resembles a computer screen. So far, I've found reading on the Kindle Fire just as comfortable on my eyes as the Kindle Keyboard. In fact, the Kindle Fire would be my preference in a low-light situation. You could actually read a book in an unlit room with the Kindle Fire. Even with a portable light, it's extremely difficult to read the Kindle Keyboard in a dark environment.

Movies and Other Video Content

Just to give you an idea of the type of movie fan I am, over the years, I've managed to collect every film awarded the Best Picture Oscar. But I'm not a film snob, I can enjoy something like Vegas Vacation just as much as Citizen Kane.

More than a year ago, I started a 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime. Interesting marketing technique: pay $75/year to get Free shipping. Well, I purchase enough from Amazon.com that I liked the idea of getting my merchandise in two days as compared to 10 days when I selected the normal 'free' shipping method.

Perhaps knowing that the Kindle Fire was on its way, Amazon made an ingenious move by including online viewing of thousands of movies and television programs available at no additional charge to subscribers of Prime. I'm not saying that watching a movie on my laptop or the Kindle Fire can be compared to watching on my HD television. But for catching up on films I may have missed or re-watching some of my favorites, I find the streaming quality quite acceptable. The availability of this content for $75/year is a good selling point. This is $6.25/month average, compared to the Netflix online viewing subscription, which is advertised at $7.99, but with tax runs about $8.50.

Last weekend, I rented Larry Crowne, the new film with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. Rental from Amazon was $3.99 and streaming quality on the Kindle Fire was fine. Right now, the Beatles' first feature film, A Hard Day's Night, is playing on the Kindle Fire as I compose this blog post. This particular film is via my Netflix subscription, using the Netflix app for the Kindle Fire. Again, excellent video and audio quality. On most of the films I've sampled, the audio is much better if you use ear buds or other type of headphone device.

For most videos from Amazon, you may pay to rent a film or television show for 24 hour or 48 hour rental; some titles are available to purchase and download. Purchases may be downloaded to the Kindle Fire (or your computer), yet they remain stored in the Cloud on Amazon. You can easily move your media content back and forth between the Kindle Fire and the Cloud. I downloaded my purchased copy of All the President's Men to my Kindle Fire. Again, the quality is great. As I frequently have overnight travel for my "day job," I like this feature because much of the time, there's not much to interest me on motel room TV channels.

As mentioned in one of my earlier posts in this series, I've been able to watch Legacy Family tree webinars and other genealogy videos on the Kindle Fire. My friend, Jenna Mills of Desperately Seeking Surnames, told me that the iPad does not play any videos using Flash. So this may be one area where the Kindle Fire has a leg up on the iPad.

Applications

Applications for the Kindle Fire are designed for Android devices. There are thousands available, many for free, many for a low price. I've been playing around with these applications a lot this week (which probably explains why I've only read about 50 pages of book content!).

Being a news junkie, I've selected a few apps that access the mobile feeds from many news providers. My favorite is US Newspapers by Langtolang Inc. It comes with links to major providers already included, such as CNN, People, USA Today. I've added my local newspapers and other news providers as well. This one is Free.

A Radio app I like is called TuneIn radio. Not only does it include all of my local radio stations, but also any station in the world that has online streaming. So - I can transport myself to Nashville, L.A. London or Sydney with just a tap on my Kindle Fire. I can't imagine how giddy this would have made me when I was 13!

Many apps for social media are available. I've set up some that will notify me of incoming email in both Gmail and Yahoo Mail. With TweetCaster, I have finally embraced the power of Twitter. On a mobile device, this social networking tool finally makes sense to me in a way it never did using it online or even with Tweet Deck.

Weather, news, sports, music, games - there's dozens of apps to appeal to anyone's taste. I even tried out Angry Birds, but it just doesn't move fast enough for me!

I have also signed-up for trial subscriptions to Smithsonian and Vanity Fair magazines. The reading apps for these magazines provide the option of reading an article at a time by tapping on the table of contents, or you can scan through the pages just as if it were the printed magazine, complete with ads.

What I am hopefully optimistic about is that the genealogy companies will be developing apps for the Kindle Fire. Let's hope that Ancestry.com will be coming out with an app similar to what they have created for the iPad.

A few words about battery life

For casual web browsing, game playing, reading and listening to music, you can expect the Kindle Fire to go about eight hours. Turning off the WiFi while reading a book will add some time. I've found that a full recharge from about 10 percent battery life to 100 percent takes about four hours. You can continue to use the Kindle Fire while the device is being recharged. The AC adapter/wall charger that comes with the Kindle Fire may not provide a long enough cord in some settings.

Please note than live streaming a movie over WiFi runs down the internal rechargeable battery very quickly. But a fully charged device should easily last through a feature length film.

The Downside - maybe, maybe not

When making a purchasing decision, someone who has the need to be connected to the internet 24/7 may feel restricted by the Kindle Fire being a WiFi only device. This is not a deterrent to me. I will primarily be using the online connection while at home, over my own WiFi network. There is more than enough reading, music and game playing on the device to occupy me during those long periods in waiting rooms and other brief times when I'm just passing time. I can easily connect once I'm back in WiFi territory. My guess is that future versions of the Kindle Fire may come with wireless connectivity.

Related posts from LongLostRelatives.net:

Kindle Fire For Genealogy

Kindle Fire - Tablet or eReader? First Look

Kindle for Genealogy

Kindle for Genealogy Redux

Disclaimer: links to Amazon.com are via my affiliate relationship with the site.

Kindle Fire for Genealogy

2011-11-20T08:38:00.001-06:00

Yesterday's blog post was about my first experiences with the new Kindle Fire. Based on reader comments and the fact that this is, after all, a blog about genealogy, today's post will focus on genealogy uses for the Kindle Fire.

At this time, genealogy-specific apps do not appear to be available for the Kindle Fire. I expect that will change in the coming weeks. In the meantime, Kindle Fire users have access to all of their favorite web sites, such as Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, FindAGrave (and for me, about 300 more). The sites appear just as you are used to seeing them, just on a 7" screen. However, you can turn the device to landscape mode or use your fingers to make the type on the page appear larger. This technique does not work on mobile-enhanced pages. Bottom line is that once I have become accustomed to managing my viewing space, I am able to read any web site fairly easily.

The Home Screen of the Kindle Fire
Books, documents and apps apear
on a virtual bookshelf with most recent first.

Amazon is completely honest when they talk about ultra-fast web browsing with their "Silk" browser. Surfing the 'net is much faster than my laptop or netbook, which makes it my new device of choice for surfing and reading. As I mentioned yesterday, the mobile views allow me to scan through blog posts in Google Reader, Facebook, Twitter and check email in much less time than ever before.

Access to the internet also means that I have access to all of the files in my Dropbox folder whenever I have WiFi access.

As with the Kindle 3 that I've been using for more than a year, the Kindle Fire also serves as a large capacity USB drive. I'm able to transfer files to my Kindle Fire via drag and drop.

I recently created an Adobe PDF file of my ancestors from Family Tree Maker, so I dragged and dropped it into the documents folder of my Kindle Fire. It's nice to have some of those reports and other resources available if you're on a spur of the moment library or cemetery trip and don't have your mountain of paper with you.

You'll also see in the photo that I have the Kindle version of the Family Tree Sourcebook. More genealogy titles have become available for the Kindle in the past year, including books by Megan Smolenyak, George Morgan, and others. When I first got my Kindle 3 last year, only a handful of genealogy titles were available; now a search has more than 1,000 titles. Many of these are self-published eBooks and family histories. One of the first genealogy Kindle books I purchased was Approaching the Lectern: How to Become a Genealogy Speakerby Geneabloggers' Thomas MacEntee. And just this month, Amy Coffin of the We Tree genealogy blog published her excellent resource for bloggers, The Big Genealogy Blog Book. Even if you don't own a Kindle device, you can order and read these books right on your computer.

As a teller of family history stories, I always have in the back of my mind the publishing of a family history ebook. Just get the information "out there" and available to other family historians. With electronic publishing so easily available, anyone can publish their genealogy books with little overhead.

I've also test driven the Kindle with Legacy Family Tree webinars. The sound and video quality is great. The wealth of instructional genealogy videos available on YouTube is at your fingertips. Anything you've accessed on the web is readily available for viewing on the Kindle Fire.

Catch up on your genealogy reading
PDF files transfer easily to the Kindle.

Recently, I made use of an incredible sale at Family Tree magazine, where I purchased four years of digital issues on CD. The CDs arrived this week and I've placed the PDF files on my computer. With the simple drag and drop feature, I have now moved the magazines to my Kindle. What easier way to catch up on my genealogy reading than to have all of these back issues in my purse?

As I mentioned in last year's post, you can also use the Kindle to house those 800 page county histories that you find on Google books and other web sites. At 14.6 ounces, the Kindle weighs a lot less than those dusty old books. And without that "old-book" smell!

Speaking of the weight, the Kindle Fire weighs more than my Kindle 3 at 8.5 ounces. This was an adjustment, since my older model is very lightweight. Even though under a pound, I'm finding the Kindle Fire is becoming easier to hold. It's just something to get used to.

Will I be sending my Kindle 3 to the Technology Graveyard? Not anytime soon. In a future post, I will address the differences between the two devices and how there is still room for them both in my life.

Related posts from LongLostRelatives.net:

Kindle Fire - Tablet or eReader? First Look

Kindle for Genealogy

Kindle for Genealogy Redux

Disclaimer: links to Amazon.com are via my affiliate relationship with the site.

Kindle Fire - Tablet or eReader? - First Look

2011-11-19T06:53:00.001-06:00

If you've been wondering why I haven't been blogging for a few days, it's because there's a new love in my life - the Kindle Fire.Having been the owner and fan of the Kindle 3since it was introduced last year, it was with great anticipation that I counted down the days to the arrival of the new, much-hyped version of Amazon.com's tech baby.

My Kindle Fire arrived on Wednesday and I have experienced loss of sleep for several nights, information overload, the giddiness of a schoolgirl crush and absolutely no regrets about kicking it up a notch with my new eReader. Or is it a tablet? Or maybe an oversized smart phone without the phone?

Actually, it's all of the above. And more. Over the next few days, I will be blogging about my experiences with the Kindle Fire, making a side-by-side comparison to the Kindle 3 (now being called the Kindle Keyboard), sharing some of my favorite apps, and last, and by no means least, using the Kindle Fire for genealogy.

Out of the box, it's pretty simple. Just the device and the AC adapter. And a small piece of cardboard with an instruction on where to locate the power on button and to glide your finger across the screen to activate the device.

Tapping as fast as I can

Okay, confession time. I don't have a smart phone, don't have an iPad or iPod touch, so this touch-screen technology is all new to me. When I first had to use a mouse with a computer, I resisted, "I'm a keyboard person!" I insisted. The first days of using the Kindle Fire was adjusting to "tapping" instead of clicking. I'm still perfecting my tapping skills.

My first obstacle was to log-in to my wireless router. How DO I enter my password?? I struggled with this for at least 45 minutes until, entirely by mistake, the touch keyboard appeared at the bottom of the screen. It would have saved me a lot of time had that little cardboard instruction sheet said to tap the bottom of the screen to activate the navigation menu and keyboard. Please do not assume I know these things! And I even consider myself a gadget geek.

I had to make some password changes on my wireless router, restarted the Kindle Fire, and finally had access to my WiFi network. Here's where I should mention that the Kindle Fire accesses the internet only by WiFi, unlike a smartphone and some iPads which require a paid plan (or so I'm told). This is no different from my Kindle 3.

Books, books and more books

A few apps were preloaded on the device, so I logged in to my Facebook account. I test drove a few familiar web sites, then began downloading my Kindle books from my Amazon library (Cloud) to my Kindle Fire (Device). Over the past year I've accumulated close to 400 books for my Kindle. No, that didn't cost me a small fortune. I'm a big fan of FREE. If you like free ebooks for your Kindle or Nook, I recommend subscribing to the Free eBook Deal blog - they provide daily links to free books to feed your hunger for reading. You can also follow them on Facebook.

So, with a few taps, I began the process of downloading my existing ebook collection from my Amazon library to my device. All of my online cloud content from Amazon is at my fingertips as long as I have WiFi access, but I can download my books and music at will. I can remove my content from my device and it's still stored in the cloud on Amazon.

This morning I used an app for Audible.com (now an Amazon company) to access my library of audio books. I've started downloading several of my audio books to my Kindle Fire. The app is extremely easy to use, although it took me a while to get account and password recognition - that may have just been due to my less than perfect skills on the tap-keyboard.

Social networking and blog reading

Facebook. Twitter. GooglePlus. Google Reader. All of these are part of my daily routine. And I get behind. Outrageously behind. Two days without checking the blogs I follow in Google Reader and I have 700-800 posts that have accumulated.

This is where the Kindle Fire is going to make my blog reading time much more efficient.

I maintain folders for different types of blogs that I read. My favorite "must read" bloggers are in my "A-MR Blogs" folder. When I have no time to read everything, this is the folder of blog posts that I always read.

In the mobile version of Google Reader, only 15 blog posts are displayed at a time. I can read the ones I select (I'm a headline/title reader, so if you don't grab my attention there, I move on). After perusing the 15 posts on my screen, I can mark them all as read and move on to the next 15. This has made my blog reading so much more efficient than on my PC. So, from now on, ALL of my blog reading in Google Reader will definitely be done on the Kindle Fire.

Facebook is pretty much the same as on my computer, except that I just get the news feeds and not the extraneous ads that appear on the right hand side of the screen. Nice! The icons to "tap" for notifications and messages are very small and difficult for me to "tap". This needs some refinement or perhaps the purchase of a stylus for me.

But when it comes to Twitter, this is where I see the real difference between the web and mobile. Those of you with smartphones are probably already aware of this. Using an app called TweetCaster, I now "get" why people like Twitter. Twitter is clearly intended for the mobile user and it's quick and easy to browse through tweets on the Kindle Fire. Tapping on the Kindle keyboard is still much too frustrating for me to do much tweeting from the device, but I'll certainly use it for reading tweets.

This is just a quick look at the new Kindle Fire. I'll be back with more about my experiences in the coming days.

Related posts from LongLostRelatives.net:

Kindle for Genealogy

Kindle for Genealogy Redux

Some days are better than others - today was a good one!

2011-11-13T17:45:00.001-06:00

Today started out with trying to determine the date of death of the brother of my great-grandmother, George Laymon. I hadn't really looked very hard before, so I thought I would try FindAGrave.com as a long shot. Lo and behold! There was a memorial for him and it included a photograph of his and his wife's tombstone.

At last! Not only a clue, but a date and a location! They were buried in Missouri. No wonder I wasn't having much luck finding them in Nebraska or Kansas.

The Missouri Digital Heritage database has become one of my favorite sites when researching family members from the Show Me state. Of particular value is the site's collection of images of death certificates from 1910-1960. This database has helped me solve more than one family history puzzle in the past.

Bingo! I found George's death certificate and that of his wife, Hattie. The information from the certificates added a few pieces of information to my research. I found it sad that when George's widow, Hattie, provided the information on George's death certificate, she didn't know the name of her mother-in-law. Why so sad? Because his mother, Eliza Ann Olmstead Laymon, had lived with the couple in the 1930s, as per the 1930 U.S. Census records.

These discoveries would have been more than enough, even for a good day. Since I was on the hunt for the Laymons, I started looking around the 'net for some Wyoming newspapers, since I knew that the Laymons, the Pechts and assorted inlaws had gone to Wyoming in the early 1900s to work the oil fields. I had gathered very little information about the families during the Wyoming period, circa 1906 - 1915.

A Google search took me to the Wyoming Newspaper Project and I found a gold mine in those oil fields! It was purely on a lark that I typed in "Pecht" in the search engine and got more than 200 hits! And what hits they were! Every one one of these newspaper pages referenced the families of my great-grandfather, LeRoy (Roy) Pecht and his brother Albert Blair (A.B.) Pecht. I had downloaded more than 80 newspaper pages with articles about various family members before I finally called it quits for the day. I'll be back to finish up later!

Roy and Clara Pecht family
a few years after they had lived in Wyoming
Back Row: Cecile Ann, Clyde Lester, Ruby Luella
Front Row: LeRoy, Mildred Ellen, Clara Rosella

Such discoveries that I found! There was a delightful story about my great grandmother and her niece "leaving footprints in the snow" as they went for the mail. Great grandfather Roy hauled a lot of lumber. The articles told me the exact day that my family arrived in Wyoming, when Roy began building the family's house, and later when they moved into A.B.'s old house.

The stories of their daily lives are rich in detail and still leave things open to speculation. But I look forward to gathering the remainder of the newspaper articles and then begin weaving together the story of the family's years in Wyoming.

Yes, it was a good day, indeed!

My 128 Ancestors and Still Searching - Surname List

2011-11-12T10:54:00.001-06:00

Recently I've been experimenting with some of the reports in the 2012 version of Family Tree Maker software. Something that I really like is how it synchronizes with my family tree database on Ancestry.com. I had never compiled a listing of my direct line ancestors and found this quite easy to do. From the research that I've done or gleaned from published family histories, my longest line goes back 15 generations.

Beginning with my grandparents and generation 3 (myself being generation 1), here's where I come from:

Generation 3:
Otto William Petersen and Ruby Luella Pecht
William Leroy Kelly and Sina Harriet Bellinger

Generation 4:
Jens Christian Petersen and Karoline Kristine Hansen
Leroy Pearl Pecht and Clara Rosella Laymon
Daniel Kelly and Mary Janice Welch
John William Bellinger and Harriet Emma Landon

Generation 5:
Peder Jeremiasen and Elsia Katrine Laursen
Soren Hansen and Kristine Veddum Nelson
John Crispin Pecht and Amanda Melvina Stover
John J Laymon and Eliza Ann Olmstead
William D Kelly and Mary Casey
Mark Welch and Sarah Conneally
John William Bellinger and Sarah Roughe
Daniel C Landon and Anne Jane McVoy

Generation 6:
Jeremias Poulsen and Mette Christendatter
Laust Laursen and Karen Poulsen
Nels Veddum and Marin Katrina ?
George Pecht/Peight and Rachel Hartsough
Samuel Stover and Elizabeth "Betsy" Kepler
James Laymon and Maria Sloan
Eben Andrews Olmstead and Anne Archibald
Kieran Kelly and ?
Welch and ?
John Conneally and ?
John William Bellinger and Anna Eva Clapsaddle
Samuel Landon and Margaret Schultz/Scholtz
James McVoy and Sarah Larvin

Generation 7:
Povel Madson and ?
John Hartsock and ?
Emanuel Stover and Susanna Price
Andrew Kepler and Anna Maria Kramer
Abraham Laymon and Elizabeth Goodpaster
George Sloan and Mary Storey
David Olmstead and ?
Johannes/John F Bellinger and Ernestina Harter
Andrew Clapsaddle and Maria Dygert
William Landon and Experience Cooke
Jacob Schultz/Scholtz and ?

Generation 8:
Andreas Bernhardt Kepler and Maria Elizabetha Lindamood
Daniel Kramer and Ann Maria Geise
David Olmstead and Rebecca Jackson
Frederick Peter Bellinger and Catherine Webber
Henry Harter and Catherine Piper
William Landon and Mercy Orange
Elisha Cooke and Rebecca Edgerton

Generation 9:
Silas Olmstead and Lydia Sloan
Daniel Jackson and ?
Philip Bellinger and ?
Nicholas Weber and Barbara ?
Daniel Landon and Dorothy Holdredge
William Cooke and Tabitha Hall

Generation 10:
James Olmstead and Hannah ?
Johannes Bellinger and Anna Maria Margaretha Kuhn
William Holdredge and Deborah Elliott
Jacob Cooke and Lydia Miller
Elisha Hall and Lydia ?

Generation 11:
Nathan Olmstead and Mercy ?
Deiterich Bellinger and Barbara Gessen
Hans Kuhn and Catharina ?
Jacob Cooke and Damaris Hopkins
John Hall and ?

Generation 12:
James Olmstead
Hans Bellinger and Anna ?
Michael Gessen and ?
Francis Cooke (Mayflower) and Hester Mahieu
Stephen Hopkins (Mayflower) and Elizabeth Fisher

Generation 13:
Richard Olmsted and ?
John Hopkins and Elizabeth Williams

Generation 14:
Richard Olmsted and ?

Generation 15:
James Olmsted and Jane Bristow

Generation 16:
James Olmsted and Alice Hawykins (or Sorrell)

A Pioneer Gone - William D Kelly - 2nd great grandfather

2011-10-31T06:07:00.001-05:00

A local Nebraska obituary for my great-great grandfather, William D. Kelly, had been elusive to me until last evening. To date, all I had discovered was a death notice in the St. Paul (MN) Pioneer Press, a city where he had lived thirty years before his death.

Unfortunately, the digital image leaves much to be desired, but I have transcribed it to my best ability at this time. I also referred to the St. Paul obituary as some of the language was similar. The St. Paul article gave his date of death as February 3, 1896, which, according to the Lincoln Evening News, would have been the date of his funeral.

His railroad contracting work was referred to as being west of the Mississippi in the Lincoln article. The St. Paul article stated his work was west of the Mississippi and south of Missouri.

In genealogy, one always has to keep looking.

Below is my transcription, with a few words still escaping me.

A PIONEER GONE.

William D. Kelly Dies at His Home Near Greenwood.

William D. Kelly died this morning at his home nearGreenwood at the age of sixty-two. The deceased was born in Ireland, and,coming to this country at an early age spent some of his life in the west. As a railroadcontractor he was very successful and took part in the construction of some of the principal lines west of the Mississippi. Though a --- adventurous man he was devoted tohis home. He was enterprising and progressive -- a typical -- Mr. Kelly’s healthhad been failing rapidly for several months and the end was not unexpected. Hedied fortified by the last rites of his church and surrounded by his children.His wife had gone before him several years since. Of his children, his daughters,Mrs. John Fitzgerald, Mrs. M. J. Langdon, Mrs. Ode Rector and his son Thomaslive in this city. His sons, Daniel, Michael, John and William Jr live on theirfarms near Greenwood. The funeral will be from the pro-cathedral at 10:30 a.m. onMonday.

Source: Lincoln Evening News, Lincoln, Nebraska

31 Jan 1896, page 1

Open Discussion Weekend - What Did You Do During Family History Month?

2011-10-29T07:08:00.002-05:00

As Family History Month comes to a close, it's a good time to reflect on what we did to further our family history research or make contributions to the genealogy community. Here's a summary of some of the things that I did during October:

Attended a day long workshop and research opportunity at the Cass County (Nebraska) Historical Society Museum in Plattsmouth. Part 1 Part 2
Participated in the Family History Fair sponsored by the Lincoln-Lancaster County (Nebraska) Genealogical Society. I shared information on genealogy blogging and demonstrated the Flip-Pal scanner.
Attended the Greater Omaha Genealogical Society fall conference featuring Paul Milner.
Actively promoted the Nebraska Genea-Peeps group on Facebook. Join us!
Got caught up on the last few episodes of Geneabloggers Radio.
Continued organizing my genealogy digital files in my Dropbox folder.
Honored my Irish heritage by attending a concert by Celtic Thunder.
Renewed my subscription to NewspaperArchive.com
Purchased and installed Family Tree Maker 2012 and synched my family tree with Ancestry.com
Bought a new desk chair for my genea-cave (with luck, it might get assembled this weekend!)
Discovered some images to go along with previously discovered records on FamilySearch.org
Discovered some cousins in the yearbook pages on Ancestry.com
Corresponded with some people with common relatives via Ancestry.com
Scanned family photos and documents
Visited the grave site of my 2nd great grandparents at Calvary Cemetery here in Lincoln. Sometimes I just have to go there for a few minutes to get centered and focused. It works.
Discovered confirmation of deaths in the newly posted Connecticut records database at Ancestry.com

What were the highlights of YOUR family history month? Feel free to share your comments below.

Nebraska Genealogy Events - November 2011

2011-10-29T06:36:00.000-05:00

Genealogy events - historical presentations - and other items of interest to the genealogist. Events are in Nebraska (or close by!).

Submit your Nebraska genealogy event to sooznebr@gmail.com

For recently added events, view these blog posts.

Date & Location	Description

On Exhibit through November 1, 2011 – January 28, 2012 Cass County Historical Society Museum 646 Main Street Plattsmouth, Nebraska	Grandma’s China Cabinet

November 3, 2011 6:00 pm auction 7:00 pm dinner Cass County Historical Society Museum 646 Main Street Plattsmouth, Nebraska	Cass County Historical Society Museum annual meeting. Program: General Ulysses S. Grant – portrayed by Dr. Tom King

November 4, 2011 7:00 p.m. LDS Family History Center 11027 Martha St Omaha, Nebraska	GO-PAF meeting Program to be announced

November 8, 2011 7:15 p.m. Lower Level Theater Dick Admin. Bldg. Union College Campus 3800 So. 48th St. Lincoln, Nebraska	Lincoln-Lancaster County Genealogical Society: “They Went West” Early U.S. Migration Routes by Water, Trails, and Rails. Did you ever find the ultimate book containing your family’s history – only to discover that your branch “went west” and there was no other information provided? Such is the case for many of our families that left eastern states to travel across this vast country to finally settle in the plains states. Phyllis Ericson will lead an exploration of the reasons for migration, the main routes used, and strategies for tracing the migrations of our ancestors.

November 8, 2011 12:00 noon Cass County Historical Society Museum 646 Main Street Plattsmouth, Nebraska	Brown Bag Series: Grandma’s China Cabinet; speaker: Douglas Duey It is always a surprise to see what Dr. Duey will bring from his personal collection. This program will most likely include some China and Porcelain and will tie in with the museum’s exhibit “Grandma’s China Cabinet.”

November 10, 2011 6:30 p.m. Southeast Community College Continuing Education Center 301 S. 68^th St Place Lincoln, Nebraska	Hands-On Genealogical Research Taught by Marcia Stewart See Page 24 of course catalog

November 16, 2011 7:00 p.m. Crown Pointe Retirement Center 2820 S. 80^th St Omaha, Nebraska	Greater Omaha Genealogical Society meeting Speaker: GOGS member Brenda Smith will talk about the first Omaha Police Chief, Webber Seavey.

November 17, 2011 12:00 Noon Nebraska History Museum 15^th and P Sts Lincoln, Nebraska	Nebraska State Historical Society Brown Bag Lecture Series: History of Nebraska Public Power Presenter: Don Schaufelberger

November 19, 2011 1:30 p.m. West Nebraska Family Research and History Center 1602 Avenue A Scottsbluff, NE	West Nebraska Family Research & History Center Forum Judy Leafdale ~ Immigration from Norway and the sailing ships they used.

November 30, 2011 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Dec 7. Southeast Community College Continuing Education Center 301 S. 68^th St Place Lincoln, Nebraska	Intermediate Genealogy Southeast Community College Taught by Marcia Stewart See Page 24 of course catalog

Minnie Welch Kelly's Autograph Book

2011-10-28T07:21:00.000-05:00

Here is a quick view of my great grandmother's autograph book, which is a glimpse of her journey from Waterbury, Connecticut to Greenwood, Nebraska. It includes scans of each page and my transcription of the document.Minnie Welch Kelly's autograph book - Subscriber Home Pages

Open Discussion Weekend - The Name's The Same

2011-10-23T10:55:00.000-05:00

I believe that all genealogists have experienced the frustration of discovering information about people who have the same name as our ancestors. At the time of the discovery of the document or newspaper article, we really aren't sure if this is our ancestor or cousin or not.

A couple years ago, I dismissed a huge cache of articles on NewspaperArchive.com because I mistakenly thought "this prominent person could not have possibly been a member of our family!" About six months later, I learned that this person was, indeed, related. I had to back track and rediscover those articles all over again. And with this particular subscription service, their contracts with the various newspaper database and image suppliers aren't always renewed. That means that a later search on this site may mean that the articles are no longer available.

Up for discussion and comment: What do you do with information you discover on someone who may or may not be related? Do you save a copy for further research? Do you dismiss it? If you keep the information, how do you track or file it? Do you use the information as a method of ruling out a possible event that is not connected to your research subject?

In a couple situations where people living in the same vicinity have the same name as one of my relatives, I have done the online census searches on Ancestry on "the other guy" as a means to rule out that it is "my guy." When some confusion may exist, I add a note to my guy's profile on Ancestry, along the lines of "My guy, the farmer, should not be confused with the other guy, who was a banker who lived in the neighboring town at the same time."

What is your research approach when the name's the same? Please share your insights in the Comments section below.

NOTE: Not two minutes after I originally posted this, I received an email from Ancestry.com with a link to this article: Which Guy Is Mine? Creating a Profile to Identify Your Ancestor.

Coming Around Full Circle - or - Life is Like a Box of Chocolates

2011-10-17T15:00:00.002-05:00

I always seem to be going back to my favorite source of family history information - old newspapers. I subscribe to at least four online databases that provide newspaper articles. A recent search on family surnames turned up something I haven't seen in, dare I admit it, 37 years?

What I discovered is an article that I wrote for the Omaha World Herald's Magazine of the Midlands. This Sunday supplement ceased publication several years ago, which is sad. The magazine's editor, Hollis Limprecht, was freelancer friendly and published several of my articles over the years. This was the first and was published February 24, 1974.

It should come as no surprise that the focus of the story is not only history, but history in Cass County, Nebraska, where many of my family roots are. When I visited Elmwood Public Schools on a work assignment, I was pretty excited to see the students getting excited about the history of their community. The inspirational teacher behind the local history project was Mary Skalak. Sadly, Mary died a year ago this month.

Below is what Hollis wrote about me in his preface to this issue of the magazine. Some things never change. I'm still interested in history. I'm still interested in Cass County, and I'm still writing about it.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Around the Blogosphere - October 16

2011-10-16T11:35:00.000-05:00

Here are several of my favorite blog posts from around the blogosphere this week. While some of these are not specific to genealogy, they do offer topics of relevance to genealogists.

9 Reasons to Publish an eBook by Ben Barden on Quick Blog Tips. If you are a blogger and aren't reading Ben's blog, you need to be.

Another post that focusing on writing has to do with NaNoWriMo - on The Ginger Jewish Genealogist. Do you think you can write a book in a month's time? That's what NaNoWriMo is about - and November is the month. Maybe your book doesn't have to be a novel, but about family history. The idea is to get it in gear and write!

Paula Stuart-Warren offers a perspective on Budget Choices in Life and in Family History on Paula's Genealogical Eclectica.

Dan Curtis is a professional personal historian and has a blog that genealogists and geneabloggers should subscribe to. This week he provided links to 20 articles about interviewing techniques. I always lament the fact that my college journalism coursework focused on reporting, writing and editing, but in four years, there was no mention or instruction on how to conduct an interview. It's certainly a lot more than writing out your questions ahead of time.

Randy Seaver is my genea-angel of the week with all of his posts about the new 2012 Family Tree Maker. While I haven't read every one all the way through (yet), I will - because, for a change, I want to avoid some mistakes by just clicking through a lot of buttons and not know what I'm doing. Randy provides a compendium to all of his articles about FTM 2012 in one post.

And - another Nebraska genealogist has joined the blogging world. Please visit Marcia Stewart's blog about her Turpin family on Turpin Traces. Marcia teaches beginning and intermediate genealogy classes at Southeast Community College here in Lincoln. And as a former student, I can tell you she is very good at it!

Paul Milner was a hit at the GOGS conference in Omaha

2011-10-16T08:02:00.000-05:00

Paul Milner
speaking in Omaha, Nebraska

Family History Month has been so jam packed with genealogy activities that I have been on the go all month - with even more coming up next weekend. Yesterday was the fall workshop sponsored by the Greater Omaha Genealogical Society (GOGS) on Scottish and British Family History Research.

The workshop presenter was Paul Milner, a professional genealogist and lecturer. He has specialized in British Isles genealogical research for more than 30 years.

I have no Scottish ancestors (that I'm aware of) and the ancestors from England go back to the Mayflower and have been pretty well researched already. As a result, I knew very little about research in these countries. Always an eager learner, I took away a lot of new information from his workshops. He did reference some Irish immigration, so that was definitely of interest and use for my research.

Milner discussed the Push-Pull influences - factors that were pushing people out of Scotland. Pull influences were what brought many Scots to America. It was no surprise that the Push influences were based on a poor economy, lack of housing and lack of food. Pull influences included the possibility of obtaining land, and letters from family encouraging the folks back home to join them in America.

Favorite "sound bites" from the workshop:

You cannot assume that if your emigrant was part of the migration [1725-27] that they automatically came from the north of Ireland.
Assumptions are fatal in genealogy.
Follow the minister if you can't find your ancestor - Quite often, the minister decided to move on and much of his congregation followed.

Just a few of Milner's recommended books and web sites:

Findmypask.co.uk - for outbound shipping lists
Ancestry.co.uk - for inbound UK shipping lists
Lostcousins
BillLawson.com
ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk
http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/
http://Freebmd.rootsweb.com
Tracing Your Scots Irish Ancestors by William Roulston
Tracing Your Scottish Ancestors by Ian Maxwell
Discover Scottish Church Records - Chris Paton
Phillmore Atlas and Index of Parish Records - Cecil Humphery-Smith

It was definitely an educational - and fun - day! I enjoyed reconnecting with several of the genealogists who I've met over the last couple years. I still haven't quite adjusted to people introducing themselves and telling me that they heard me speak somewhere. But I guess I can get used to that!

I definitely give Paul Milner five stars (out of five!) as a genealogy speaker!

Visit the Greater Omaha Genealogical Society on the web

More Nebraska Genealogy-Cemetery Events coming up!

2011-10-15T05:44:00.000-05:00

Ashland Cemetery Tour - October 15, 2011

The Ashland Historical Society will hold a cemetery walk on Sunday afternoon, October 16 at 2:00 p.m. Participants will meet at the Ashland Cemetery directory and will tour two cemeteries.

The event is free and open to the public.

Judi Schamp, a founding member of the Ashland Cemetery Directory and Improvement Committee, will discuss the history Saunders County's largest cemetery and lead the tour.

People will then carpool to Carr Cemetery; also known as Clear Creek Cemetery, which is two miles north of Ashland. Melanie O'Brien will discuss the history of the cemetery, which is the oldest in Saunders county.

Tour of Young Cemetery near Plattsmouth - October 15 and 16, 2011

"Ghosts of a Pioneer Cemetery Tour 2011" will be given at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. October 15 and 16 at Young Cemetery near Plattsmouth, Nebraska. This rain-or-shine walking tour takes about an hour. Tickets are $10 and must be purchased in advance at Antiques Off Main in Plattsmouth or by contacting Leigh Jean Koinzan at 402-296-2942 or lk11434@navix.net.

To get to Young Cemetery from the Omaha area, drive southbound on US Highway 75 south of Plattsmouth to Young Road. Look for the cemetery tour directional sign. Turn East onto Young Road. Go a short distance, again watching for the cemetery tour sign. Turn left onto Young Lane. You will see another sign. Parking is limited, so carpooling is recommended. Restroom facilities are not available.

Storytellers from OOPS (Omaha Organization for the Purpose of Storytelling) and other "ghost characters" dressed in period costumes will tell stories about the residents of this 1855 cemetery.

For more information visit www.plattsmouthconservancy.org.

Western Nebraska Family History Month Event this Saturday

2011-10-13T18:00:00.002-05:00

Press release from the West Nebraska Family Research and History Center via Floyd Smith III

In recognition of National Family History Month, the West Nebraska Family Research & History Center at 1602 Ave A in Scottsbluff will be having two programs with discussion sessions on Saturday, October 15th. The first program will start at 9:30am and will be presented by Dennis Kramer of Dugan-Kramer Funeral Chapel. Mr. Kramer will discuss the benefits of writing your own obituary and tips on how to do it. Mr. Kramer will also address mortuary records and the information they contain. The second program will begin at 11:00am and will be presented by Janet Gifford and Ann Herbel. Their program will focus on DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) membership, the application process and the documentation required to apply for membership and research assistance options available for those interested in joining the DAR. A question and answer session will follow each program. The sessions are free and open to the public. Staff will available all day to answer your genealogy and local history questions. Questions about the schedule or the topics of discussion can be directed to 308-635-2400 or wnfrhc@wnfrhc.org.

Around the Blogosphere - October 10

2011-10-10T10:07:00.000-05:00

There have been so many great and informative genealogy blog posts recently - so many, in fact, that I've really had to just skim the surface in my blog reading. Truth is, I've read three books this week, so the blog reading took a bit of a back seat. However! Here are some of the blog posts that I enjoyed recently.

I enjoy reading about and seeing how other genealogists organize their work. While done out of necessity, Greta Koehl shared her story and photos of drying out some documents after having 26 inches of water in her basement. I think I would have just run away! See A Proper Place for Sentiment on Greta's Genealogy Blog.

Another peek in a genealogist's closet as provided by Michelle Goodrum of The Turning of Generations. Her post: Progress on the Archival Closet on Sorting Saturday.

Webcam for Seniors - this video is still making the rounds and has gone viral, and it is still funny with each viewing. This one was shared by Thomas MacEntee on Geneabloggers.

My friend, Diana Ritchie, of Random Relatives is working on her goal of 15 minutes of writing every day. Her goal was inspired by our other friend, Lisa Alzo, at the FGS conference this year. Read What I've Been Doing for 15 Minutes Every Day! Diana also wrote another great post called I Just Received a Letter From My Great-Great Grandfather.

Another of our mutual friends (thanks to the Family History Expo in Kansas City last year), Jenna Mills, has been on a long time search for her grandmother and great-grandmother, who have been elusive for quite some time. I've been following Jenna's progress and took an interest since they were in Amherst, Nebraska for a while. Jenna reports the latest update on her Desperately Seeking Surnames blog.

Archives.com posted an article that I enjoyed about U.S. Presidents in the Census. In the census, they were just like everybody else, except for their occupation: President of the U.S.

If you haven't seen this yet, you definitely need to check out Joan Miller's gynormous family tree on Luxegen Genealogy and Family History.

Paula Stuart-Warren has laid the groundwork for what could evolve into the next genealogy meme. With October being Family History Month, Paula makes some suggestions for activities we can all do to help further our research. Read Paula's blog post and come November 1, post on your blog what YOU did during Family History Month. I've done so much already that I had to relax and unwind a couple days before the next group of activities begin!

After seeing the photos of DearMYRTLE (Pat Richley-Erickson) wielding a pitchfork at the FGS conference, I could hardly wait to read the rest of the story. She shares it (and more photos) in Back Story: Get Off the Fence and Start Writing.

Being able to "meet" other genealogy bloggers whether in person or in the virtual world is always great fun. Barbara Poole of Life From the Roots met up with bloggers who were on the Legacy Family Tree cruise at the New England Historic Genealogical Society last week. She shared her experiences and photos in Meeting Bloggers I've Not Met Before.

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History: Favorite Teacher

2011-10-10T08:41:00.000-05:00

I'm not even real sure how the memory of my first teacher, Miss Bess Bowen, popped into my head this afternoon. She was my teacher in kindergarten, first and second grade in the 1950s in a small rural school. Three grades were in one room.

I credit Miss Bowen with my love of learning and being able to spell and write and do math. You've heard of the book, "All I Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten." In the case of Miss Bess Bowen, that was so true. She taught you, and she taught you well.

As a four year old starting in public school in the 1950s, I knew that Miss Bowen was a grandmotherly type, even though she had remained single all of her life. It was only by doing a little bit of online research that I learned that she was 72 years old when I first met her in kindergarten!

I admit to being a bit of a teacher's pet and recall her getting after my third/fourth grade teacher for not recognizing my intelligence and ability to the extent that Miss Bowen had! Ha! Well, that was how I felt at age eight. I had become very attached to Miss Bowen and it was hard for me to move on to a different (first year) teacher for third grade!

As I look over the census records showing Miss Bowen throughout her career, I recall such fond memories of her. The newspaper articles about her from the 1920s and 1930s tell of her work with her young pupils.

In 1916, she went home to Avoca, Iowa to spend the month of August with her parents and other family members. In 1922, she was awarded her teachers' certificate from the University of Nebraska.

In 1926, she and another delegate to the convention of the National Education Association left for Philadelphia before spending a week in Washington, D.C. and going on to New York City to take summer classes at Columbia University. By 1930, she was an officer in the state education association.

In 1937, her students gave some reviews concerning early pioneer life. The pony express, and the early school and home were compared with present day life. Oh! Wouldn't she enjoy sharing stories about our pioneer ancestors!

And in 1950, she served as a census enumerator! Why do I sense that her spirit is looking over my shoulder as I type this?!

Greenwood School, Greenwood, Nebraska - This school building housed grades K - 12 when Miss Bowen was my teacher. My Mom also attended this same school. My great-grandfather, Daniel Kelly, served on the school board (long before I was born!).

Miss Bowen kept in touch with me for many years after I was under her tutelage. She always wanted to know how my education was going. I remember reading in the newspaper that had she passed away - although I don't remember exactly when it was. To this day, when I look back over my education, I still feel that the foundation she provided during those first three years gave me what I needed to succeed in school and in life.

Do you have fond memories of a teacher from your past? If so, please leave a comment below.

note: references are from articles that appeared in the Lincoln Star, Lincoln, Nebraska, 1916 - 1950.

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History is a series of writing prompts sponsored by Geneabloggers and created by Amy Coffin of the We Tree genealogy blog. This blog post was first published on LongLostRelatives.net on June 11, 2010.

Nebraska Genea-Peeps Group on Facebook

2011-10-10T08:21:00.000-05:00

Are you a genealogist living in Nebraska? Do you research your Nebraska ancestors? If so, I'd like to invite you to join a Facebook group called Nebraska Genea-Peeps:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/144381855641807/

It's a group for genealogists living in or researching in Nebraska. You can ask questions, share research tips and Nebraska resources. At some point, we hope to plan some informal in-person get togethers, ride sharing to events or day-long research trips or do some cemetery hopping.

Recently, someone posted a request for help in finding an obituary for her grandfather, and within a few minutes, we discovered a source for the obituary, which she was able to order online.

We also post upcoming genealogy events. Come join in!

Who Do You Think You Are UK - Len Goodman of DWTS

2011-10-06T18:03:00.001-05:00

From the UK's version of Who Do You Think You Are - featuring Len Goodman of the US's Dancing With the Stars and the UK's Strictly Coming Dancing.

Family History Weekend at Homestead National Monument

2011-10-06T17:04:00.000-05:00

October is Family History Month. Homestead National Monument of America along with Family Search and the Nebraska State Genealogical Society will be hosting two genealogy workshops on October 15 and October 16, 2011 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the monument's Education Center. The purpose of this event is to encourage you to discover your family history. "Without passing down our family histories, all that has happened to bring us where we are today might be forgotten," says monument Superintendent Mark Engler.

Special guest Laureen Riedesel, Director of the Beatrice Public Library, will give a special introduction on October 15, 2011 at 2 p.m. and will be available afterwards to answer any questions. So bring your family histories, documents, and questions to the monument as these workshops will help guide you in your search.

These workshops are free and open to the public. There will be information booths and resources available to the participants on both days. Everybody is welcome, whether you are just beginning or have been doing family history for years; these workshops will benefit your research.

Source: Homestead National Monument of America, October 2011 e-newsletter

Wordless Wednesday (almost) - Family History Fair

2011-10-05T05:00:00.000-05:00

Family History Fair
Lincoln-Lancaster Genealogical Society
Lincoln, Nebraska - October 2, 2011
photo used with permission of Phyllis Erickson

Sunday's Family History Fair sponsored by the Lincoln-Lancaster County Genealogical Society was a huge success! More than 30 exhibits, vendors and demonstrations contributed to our knowledge of how to do our family history.

I shared information about genealogy blogging and showed folks how to use the Flip-Pal mobile scanner.

Thanks to LLCGS for inviting me to participate. I had a great time!

A Day at the Museum - Part 2

2011-10-02T10:53:00.001-05:00

Deciding that I shouldn't hog the microfilm reader at the Cass County Historical Society Museum yesterday, I moved on to the Portrait and Biographical Album of Otoe and Cass Counties, Nebraska. What is nice is that the Museum has a bound copy of a reprint of this book that was published by the Greater Omaha Genealogical Society in 1977. If a researcher wants any pages photocopied, the museum staff will get the fragile original out of its protective box and make the copies for you.

I didn't locate any biographies of my kin in the book, but I recognized plenty of names. So I marked the pages that had biographies of the names I recognized as the pioneers buried at Sheffer Pioneer Cemetery between Greenwood and Ashland, Nebraska. One of my acquaintances on FindAGrave is a descendant of these pioneers, so I thought I could share the information should he need it.

While the curator was making copies, she recognized one of the names since she had recently been doing some research on Civil War veterans buried in the county. She said she had his obituary and asked if I'd like a copy. Sure! Why not? Maybe my FindAGrave friend could use it. As I mentioned in Part 1, I didn't want to leave empty handed, and it didn't matter if what I found wasn't about my family!

I have gathered quite a bit of information about a court battle over moving the remains of Edward Cagney from the Fitzgerald plot in Calvary Cemetery in Lincoln, Nebraska to the cemetery in Plattsmouth, Nebraska. The case went to the Nebraska Supreme Court which decided his mother had the right to move the remains, which had been interred about 10 years. It's a fascinating story which I will write about in depth at a later time.

The Museum has fairly detailed lists of interments at the local cemeteries and all I had to offer was that it was probably in the Catholic cemetery. This turned out to be Holy Sepulchre. With help of the museum staff, these entries were located.

Cemetery Listings for Edward Cagney and his brother, John J. Cagney

Cemetery Listings to Catherine Fitzgerald Cagney McEntee
and her second husband, Charles McEntee
This also notes that Catherine's information is on the Cagney stone.

Cemetery Directory showing the location of the Cagney/McEntee Lot
Additional information discovered: Charles McEntee's parents, Michael and Bridget,
are also buried here. Confirmation of Bridget's maiden name as Edoff.

My next field trip to Plattsmouth will definitely include a visit to Holy Sepulchre cemetery to photograph these gravestones. No, they are not my direct line, but it certainly makes for an interesting family history story! And I love a good story.

Read Part 1 of A Day at the Museum.

A Day at the Museum - Part 1

2011-10-02T08:12:00.003-05:00

For many weeks I've been eagerly awaiting my visit to the Cass County Historical Society Museum in Plattsmouth, Nebraska. It has been a few decades since my last visit and after six years of staying busy with online research only, I was ready to get back into on-site research.

Both sides of my mother's family - the Kellys and the Bellingers - were early settlers and long time residents of Greenwood, Cass County, Nebraska. My great grand aunt, Mary Kelly, married John Fitzgerald, a railroad contractor, banker, millionaire and they lived in Plattsmouth, Greenwood and Lincoln.

I've been researching the Fitzgerald line of the family for a long time. Because of their 'celebrity' (for lack of a better word), I have more information than I really know what to do with. But it has proven time and time again how important it is to research siblings. From a newspaper article of Mary's recollections I learned of the wagon train journey that my ancestors made from St. Paul, Minnesota to the Dakotas and returning East along the Missouri River until the family settled in Omaha and Council Bluffs, and later, in Greenwood. Researching the Fitzgeralds has given me a wealth of information about my Kellys.

The October 1 workshop sponsored by the Cass County Historical Society Museum provided a unique opportunity that combined two excellent lectures on beginning genealogy by my new friend and genealogy buddy, Gail Blankenau, as well as time to research many of the resources available at the museum. Gail and I first met when we both spoke at the Land Records and Genealogy Symposium in Beatrice, Nebraska in July.

As always, Gail did an excellent job introducing genealogy to a group of relatively new genealogists. She asked how I could possibly learn anything from a beginner's class and I replied, "I've been a beginning genealogist for 30 years." Sorry - not an original line - I heard someone else say that once and thought it fits my situation. As genealogists, I believe we can always learn something new. And with eight pages of notes from Gail's lectures, I certainly did!

This has been a hectic week and I admit that I had not properly prepared for what research questions I sought answers for. But I had brought along my netbook and when it was time for research, I brought up my database on Family Tree Maker. I jotted down some significant dates that matched up with the newspapers available on microfilm at the Museum. I already knew that I would be returning for further research, but I sure wasn't going to go home empty handed.

With the microfilm of the 1896 Greenwood Gazette in place, I was hopeful of finding an obituary or death notice of my great great grandfather, William D. Kelly, the Irish immigrant. It was not to be found. But I'm going to look again when I have more time available. To date, I found an obituary for him in the St. Paul Minnesota Daily Globe. I was hoping to find something in the newspaper of the locale where he was living when he died.

Next on my priority list was to find a newspaper article about the marriage of my grandparents. Here's what I found on page 1 of the Greenwood Gazette, October 9, 1913:

By the Journal we see that Wm. Kelly and Miss Lina [sic] Bellinger are to live as one ... We wish the young people long life and happiness

Grandmother's name was Sina, but at least I found a newspaper article.

Read Part 2: Browsing through the Portrait and Biographical Album of Otoe and Cass Counties, Nebraska - and what I found in the cemetery records.

Related web sites:

Cass County Historical Society Museum

Cass County Historical Society on RootsWeb

Gail Blankenau, APG

Gail Blankenau, Genealogical Speaker's Guild

Family History Fair - Lincoln NE - October 2, 2011

2011-10-01T06:29:00.001-05:00

The Lincoln-Lancaster County Genealogical Society will host its Family History Fair on October 2, 2011 to celebrate Family History Month.

Location: College View Seventh Day Adventist Church, 48th and Prescott, Lincoln, Nebraska. Enter via 48th and Lowell. Allow extra time to navigate construction in the area.

Updated Agenda:

2:00-2:30 HeritageRoom Presentation by Phyllis Ericson

Ideas for finishing andsharing your genealogy and “Honoring Your Ancestors”. She will have exhibits in the Heritage Room.

2:30 - 4:00 Visit theexhibits listed below in Fellowship Hall

3:30 Opportunity to visit LLCGS Library at UnionCollege

Exhibits, Demonstrations:

1. LLCGSprograms, classes, membership info and forms

2. EthnicFoods to taste provided by LLCGS members

3. LLCGSLibrary duplicate items for sale, free forms to pick up and information aboutlibrary listings online

4. CindyCochran “How I Went from Oklahoma to Friesland” (steps to find answers whendoing research)

5. DaveCochran Ask Dave for a free search on Ancestry or “Find a Grave” using hisiPad.

6. LincolnCity Libraries info about genealogy resources

7. NebraskaLibrary Commission info about using Heritage Quest and the Nebraska MemoriesProject

8. NebraskaState Historical Society programs, resources, membership info

9. RichardDouglass LLCGS speaker with publications for family reunions, ideas for photos,Picasa, etc.

10. Marcia Stewart info about SCC genealogyclasses, handouts with ancestor timeline forms and 1940 census forms and DVDpresentation about Federation of Gen. Societies.

11. NESGS Ne State Gen. Society- Rosalee Swartzprograms, resources and Beatrice Library information

12. Family History Center resources and classes

13. Ron and Linda Kroon genealogy books andneedlework

14. Susan Petersen info about her blog “Long LostRelatives” and demonstration of aFlip-Pal scanner

15. May Museum and Eastern NE Gen Society,Fremont NE information about resources

16. Teresa Sullivan and “Indexers” demonstrationof use of portable scanners, Plexiglas, computers and cameras to make digitalcopies.

17. Denton Historical Society info about programsand projects

18. Bob Stewart interesting collections relatedto our heritage and family history

19. European Food Store,Lincoln samples of European foods available for purchase here in Lincoln. Itemscan be purchased at the Fair.

20. Ideal Grocery samplesand lists of ethnic foods available in Lincoln for holidays and all year long

21. Lila Garner Gen.publications and a novel by “Lyla” Garner

22. Dewaine Alcorn DNA DVD and information

23. Germans from RussiaAHSGR resources and programs

24. Otoe County Historical Society resources andprograms

25. Wayne Casper Computer Education Center –Landing

26. Codicils in Wills toPreserve Genealogical Collections

27. Judy Shutts – Voices inTime, recording family histories

28. GOGS Greater Omaha Gen. Soc.Info about programs and October Conference

29. Gage County, SewardCounty, Stanton County gen. info

30. John Belz, historicalLincoln articles

Visit the LLCGS web site

Genealogy Events in Nebraska - October 2011

2011-09-25T08:06:00.001-05:00

October is Family History Month and there is no shortage of genealogy and history activities to participate in.

I am looking forward to the Genealogy workshop and research opportunities at the Cass County Historical Society and Museum in Plattsmouth next Saturday, October 1. Gail Blankenau will be doing two sessions.

The next day, October 2, is the Family History Fair sponsored by the Lincoln-Lancaster County Genealogical Society. More than 25 exhibitors and society members will be sharing tips and resources for genealogists. I'll be sharing information about genealogy blogging and how easy it is to get started sharing family history information by blogging. I'm also going to bring along my Flip-Pal scanner for those who haven't seen this handy little device yet.

October 15 will be the fall conference for the Greater Omaha Genealogical Society. Paul Milner will be the featured speaker, discussing English and Scottish ancestry.

Other upcoming events for Nebraska genealogists are included on this page. Please email me if you have events to add to the list.

Just Added for October:
October 22, 2011
4:00 p.m.
Gravestone Witching Workshop
Memorial Park Cemetery
W. J and W. 14th Sts
McCook, Nebraska

Date & Location	Description

September 30, 2011 6:30 p.m. W. Dale Clark Library 215 S. 15th St. Omaha, Nebraska	Third annual Genealogy Lock-in presented by Greater Omaha Genealogical Society. During this after-hours event, library staff and society members will be available to help participants open the doors into their families' pasts by discovering genealogical treasures in the library's collection.

October 1, 2011 10:00 a.m. Cass County Historical Society Museum 646 Main St Plattsmouth, Nebraska	Genealogy Workshop with Gail Blakenau Genealogy 101 and Genealogy 102 Research opportunities at the Museum – newspapers on microfilm, family history files, scrapbooks and history books. Gail and the museum staff will be able to help you. $20 for Cass County Museum Members (includes lunch – Subway sandwiches); $35 for non members 402-296-4770 ccohsm@windstream.net http://www.nebraskamuseums.org/casscountymuseum.htm

October 2, 2011 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. College View Seventh Day Adventist Church 48^th & Prescott Lincoln, Nebraska	Lincoln-Lancaster County Genealogical Society: Family History Month Fair Organizing and preserving our work was a topic receiving many votes on our survey. We'll collect favorite techniques and display them at a fair for genealogists to exchange ideas during Family History Month.

October 6, 2011 6:30 p.m. Thursdays through Oct 20. Southeast Community College Continuing Education Center 301 S. 68^th St Place Lincoln, Nebraska	Beginning Genealogy Southeast Community College Taught by Marcia Stewart See Page 24 of course catalog

October 6, 2011 7:30 p.m. Thursday evenings through November 17 Lefler Middle School 1100 South 48th Street Lincoln, NE	History of Lincoln, taught by Jim McKee From 1854 – World War II. Southeast Community College Continuing education – see page 28 of catalog

October 7, 2011 LDS Family History Center 11027 Martha St Omaha, Nebraska	GO-PAF meeting Program to be announced

October 11, 2011 12:00 noon Cass County Historical Society Museum 646 Main Street Plattsmouth, Nebraska	Brown Bag Series: The Cass County Militia; speaker: Harlan Seyfer The locally raised militia was created in August 1862, by several Cass County citizens who later rose to prominence in the territory and state. After it was officially recognized by the territorial government, the militia only existed for a few weeks. Mr. Seyfer will explain the reasons for the militia and its demise.

October 12, 2011 7:30 p.m. Wednesday evenings through November 9 Lefler Middle School 1100 South 48th Street Lincoln, NE	Lincoln’s Suburbs, taught by Jim McKee From 1854 – World War II. Southeast Community College Continuing education – see page 28 of catalog

October 15, 2011 Nebraska Methodist College N. 87^th and Burt Sts Omaha, Nebraska	Greater Omaha Genealogical Society Fall Workshop Featuring Paul Milner Topics: Scottish Emigration to North America: Before, During and After the Rebellions Learn the reasons for emigration from Scotland to the U.S. and Canada and how it was influenced by events on both sides of the Atlantic. Learn where the emigrants settled, what records they created, and what tools are available for tracing your Scottish ancestors. Finding Your Scottish Ancestors The Big Five We will examine available indexes, how to access and interpret the five primary records groups for Scottish research: civil registration, census, church records, probate, and land records. These are the primary records you need when searching for anyone from the Fifteenth to the Twentieth Century. Finding Your English Ancestors:The Big Four We will examine available indexes, and how to access and interpret the four primary records groups for English research: civil registration, census, church records and probate. These are the primary records you need when searching for anyone from the Fifteenth to the Twentieth Century. Buried Treasures: What’s in the English Parish Chest The English parish was both an ecclesiastical and a civil jurisdiction. Both jurisdictions created informative records and kept them in the Parish Chest. This presentation will examine the breadth and wealth of information that can be found, going well beyond the baptism, marriage and burial registers.

October 19, 2011 7:00 p.m. Crown Pointe Retirement Center 2820 S. 80^th St Omaha, Nebraska	Greater Omaha Genealogical Society meeting Early Residents in Omaha-Council Bluffs (1800-1835) and their Descendants. Speaker: Kira Gale

October 20, 2011 12:00 Noon Nebraska History Museum 15^th and P Sts Lincoln, Nebraska	Nebraska State Historical Society Brown Bag Lecture Series– George Norris Presenter: Linda Hein

October 23, 2011 2:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Departing from general Crook House, followed by appetizers, wine and ghost stories. $40	Tombstone Tour of Omaha Cemeteries: Forest Lawn, Prospect Hill and Holy Sepulchre Sponsored by Douglas County Historical Society This popular tour sold out early last year, so sign up now if you want to attend.

October 25, 2011 12:00 noon Cass County Historical Society Museum 646 Main Street Plattsmouth, Nebraska	Brown Bag Series: The Battle of Whitestone Hill; Speaker: Dean Podoll The Battle of Whitestone Hill took place in September of 1863 in southeastern North Dakota. The 2^nd Nebraska Calvary, under the leadership of Co. Robert Furnas, fought in that battle.

On Exhibit through October 30, 2011 Cass County Historical Society Museum 646 Main Street Plattsmouth, Nebraska	The Civil War and Cass County; Farm Life and Harvest; Remembering the Kass Kounty King Korn Karnival, Photographs and Memorabilia; Floods of our Past

Sunday's Obituary - Harry Bellinger

2011-09-18T09:01:00.000-05:00

Today's obituary is of Harry Miller Bellinger, the brother of my grandmother Sina Bellinger Kelly.

H. M. Bellinger,
Pitcher at 47,
Succumbs at 51

Harry M. Bellinger, 51, known in Omaha amateur baseball circles as a crack pitcher at the age of 47, when he withdrew from competition, died Saturday noon at his home, 1515 William street. He had been ill a week with a form of smallpox.

He was a locomotive engineer with the Union Pacific railroad. Besides being a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers he belonged to the Izaak Walton league.

Surviving are his wife, Alvina; a daughter, Mrs. Clifton Gibbons; his father, J. W. Bellinger, and sister, Mrs. William Kelly, both of Greenwood, Neb.; a brother, Clifford of Gretna, and two grandchildren. Funeral services will be held today at 2:30 p.m. at the Heafey & Heafey mortuary. Burial will be in West Lawn cemetery, with the railroad brotherhood conducting services.

Source: Omaha World Herald, Omaha, Nebraska; 7 Feb 1932, page 1

Harry Bellinger

Harry Bellinger
Pitcher for the Greenwood, Nebraska
baseball team

Harry Bellinger
Locomotive Engineer

Family History Fair - Lincoln Nebraska October 2, 2011

2011-09-15T16:31:00.000-05:00

If you're in the vicinity of Lincoln, Nebraska on October 2, 2011 make plans to attend the Family History Fair sponsored by the Lincoln-Lancaster County Genealogical Society.

Society members and vendors will be there to provide genealogy help, information on technology, publishing your family history, ethnic food and much more!

The event will take place on Sunday, October 2, 2011 from 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. in Heritage Hall, Lower Level, College View Church, 48th and Prescott, Lincoln, Nebraska.

I will be on hand to discuss the benefits of using an online blog to share family history stories and share examples of many of the popular genealogy blogs on the internet. I will probably also bring along my Flip-Pal scanner for those who haven't seen one up close.

It looks like it's shaping up to be a fun and informative afternoon!

Meme Time Again: Tech Savvy Genealogist

2011-09-15T16:06:00.000-05:00

Another fun meme is going around about genealogy and technology. This one was originated by Jill Ball of Geniaus.

The Tech Savvy Genealogists' Meme

The list should be annotated in the following manner:

Things you have already done or found: bold face type
Things you would like to do or find: italicize (color optional)
Things you haven’t done or found and don’t care to: plain type

Feel free to add extra comments in brackets after each item!

Here's my responses!

Which of these apply to you?

Own an Android or Windows tablet or an iPad
Use a tablet or iPad for genealogy related purposes
Have used Skype for genealogy purposes - have used Skype for non-genealogy purposes.
Have used a camera to capture images in a library/archives/ancestor's home
Use a genealogy software program on your computer to manage your family tree
Have a Twitter account
Tweet daily
Have a genealogy blog - duh! you're reading it!
Have more then one genealogy blog - see Nothing But Tombstones
Have lectured/presented to a genealogy group on a technology topic - genealogy blogging!
Currently an active member of Genealogy Wise.
Have a Facebook Account
Have connected with genealogists via Facebook
Maintain a genealogy related Facebook Page - recently started the Nebraska Genea-Peeps group
Maintain a blog or website for a genealogy society
Have submitted text corrections online to Ancestry, Trove or a similar site
Have registered a domain name - Many!
Post regularly to Google+
Have a blog listed on Geneabloggers
Have transcribed/indexed records for FamilySearch or a similar project
Own a Flip-Pal or hand-held scanner
Can code a webpage in .html - that's how a lot of this web stuff started - writing code
Own a smartphone - I plan to hold out as long as possible
Have a personal subscription to one or more paid genealogy databases
Use a digital voice recorder to record genealogy lectures
Have contributed to a genealogy blog carnival
Use Chrome as a Web browser
Have participated in a genealogy webinar
Have taken a DNA test for genealogy purposes - 23andMe.com
Have a personal genealogy website
Have found mention of an ancestor in an online newspaper archive - HUNDREDS
Have tweeted during a genealogy lecture
Have scanned your hardcopy genealogy files
Use an RSS Reader to follow genealogy news and blogs
Have uploaded a gedcom file to a site like Geni, MyHeritage or Ancestry (WikiTree at http://www.wikitree.com)
Own a netbook
Use a computer/tablet/smartphone to take genealogy lecture notes
Have a profile on LinkedIn that mentions your genealogy habit
Have developed a genealogy software program, app or widget
Have listened to a genealogy podcast online
Have downloaded genealogy podcasts for later listening
Backup your files to a portable hard drive
Have a copy of your genealogy files stored offsite
Know about Rootstech
Have listened to a Blogtalk radio session about genealogy
Use Dropbox, SugarSync or other service to save documents in the cloud
Schedule regular email backups
Have contriibuted to the FamilySearch Research Wiki
Have scanned and tagged your genealogy photographs
Have published a genealogy book in an online/digital format

I suppose it's safe to say that I am a genea-techno-geek, eh?

Around the Blogosphere - September 11, 2011

2011-09-11T08:53:00.000-05:00

I am still outrageously behind in reading everyone's blog posts from the past week, but I have managed to select a few for inclusion in Around the Blogosphere.

Since so many folks attended FGS in Springfield, Illinois this week, I kept up on those activities via blogs, tweets and postings on Facebook. Rather than single out any of these posts, I suggest you take a look at the blog roll and tweets from the conference that are available on Geneabloggers.com

The best photos to capture the event were posted by Linda McCauley. My favorites were Abe Lincoln listening intently to Thomas MacEntee, and Dear Myrtle wielding a pitchfork. I hope someone shares the story about that! I think Abe really wants to get his hands on some geneablogger beads!

Good blog reading this week came from:

Labor Day Isn't a Good Day For Me - Debi Austen's beautiful tribute to her father on Who Knew?

Deb Ruth shared how she made use of her electricity-deficit time in When the Lights Go Out on Adventures in Genealogy.

Beatles fans will get the reference in Everyone Knew Her as Nancy, but her name was Agnes by Jean on Bluegrass and Buckeye Roots.

It's a short list this week, but as I get through my Google Reader, perhaps more of this week's posts will show up in next week's list.

September 11 - 10 years later

2011-09-11T08:22:00.000-05:00

There's nothing more that I can add to what I wrote one year ago today. Take time to remember and reflect.

September 11 - Time to Remember

Meme: 99 (Plus) Genealogy Things

2011-09-11T07:59:00.000-05:00

A meme is going around Geneabloggers' circles about 99 (or more) genealogy things you've done, not done or have no desire to do. It's been goingviral lately and I thought I would join the party. The latest version wascreated by Becky at the Kinexxions blog.

Rules are simple:

The list should be annotated in the followingmanner:

Things you have already done or found: bold face type
Things you would like to do or find: italicize (color optional)
Things you haven’t done or found and don’t care to: plain type

Here's mine, with some variations of my own:

1. Belong to a genealogical society. Several!

2. Researched records onsite at a court house. I'm still finding information online and in my own personal family archives. Once I get through that, maybe I'll have time to do the "real" research.

3. Transcribed records.

4. Uploaded tombstone pictures to Find-A-Grave. And have takensome volunteer photos. And I'm always willing to transfer memorials to people who are more closely related to a subject.

5. Documented ancestors for four generations (self, parents,grandparents, great-grandparents). And beyond.

6. Joined Facebook. And Twitter. And Google Plus. AndLinkedIn.

7. Helped to clean up a run-down cemetery.

8. Joined the Geneabloggers Group on Facebook. And more. And created a group for Nebraska researchers - the Nebraska Genea-Peeps.

9. Attended a genealogy conference. Several.

10. Lectured at a genealogy conference. My first big speaking gig was at the 2011 Land Records and Genealogy conference sponsored by Homestead National Monument of America and Southeast Community College. What an honor to be invited.

11. Spoke on a genealogy topic at a local genealogy society. I've been invited, so this will occur in the coming months. Shameless plug: SusanPetersen.net

12. Been the editor of a genealogy society newsletter.

13. Contributed to a genealogy society publication.

14. Served on the board or as an officer of a genealogy society. When I know I am able to make the time commitment I'd love to.

15. Got lost on the way to a cemetery. You haven't?

16. Talked to dead ancestors. I get along much better with them than with living relatives.

17. Researched outside the state in which I live.

18. Knocked on the door of an ancestral home and visited with thecurrent occupants. Actually, the first time, a group of us were invited. A few years later, my cousins and I dropped in unannounced and the current owners were very gracious.

19. Cold called a distant relative. Not a call, but I believe I should write to the first cousin whose baby book I have. There's been no contact with our family since he was two years old. I do have his address and phone number. But not a lot of nerve.

20. Posted messages on a surname message board.

21. Uploaded a gedcom file to the internet.

22. Googled my name. You haven't?

23. Performed a random act of genealogical kindness. Among the most rewarding aspects of genealogy.

24. Researched a non-related family, just for the fun of it. I work on the trees of friends when I get stumped on my own.

25. Have been paid to do genealogical research. No way. No how. I have enough to stay busy the rest of my life doing my own research.

26. Earn a living (majority of income) from genealogical research. No way. No how. I have enough to stay busy the rest of my life doing my own research.

27. Wrote a letter (or email) to a previously unknown relative.

28. Contributed to one of the genealogy carnivals.

29. Responded to messages on a message board or forum.

30. Was injured while on a genealogy excursion. Not exactly on my bucket list.

31. Participated in a genealogy meme.

32. Created family history gift items (calendars, cookbooks, etc.).

33. Performed a record lookup for someone else.

34. Went on a genealogy seminar cruise. An inland trip is more to my liking.

35. Am convinced that a relative must have arrived here from outerspace. No, but sometimes I think that I might have.

36. Found a disturbing family secret. Others may think so. I'm not too easily shocked.

37. Told others about a disturbing family secret. What would you do if an ancestor killed his daughter and then committed suicide?

38. Combined genealogy with crafts (family picture quilt,scrapbooking).

39. Think genealogy is a passion not a hobby.

40. Assisted finding next of kin for a deceased person (UnclaimedPersons).

41. Taught someone else how to find their roots.

42. Lost valuable genealogy data due to a computer crash or harddrive failure. Nope. This was the year I discovered cloud storage. Thank you, Dropbox. Plus, I upload as much as possible to my tree on Ancestry.com.

43. Been overwhelmed by available genealogy technology. Not so much overwhelmed, but amazed.

44. Know a cousin of the 4th degree or higher. Does knowing them online count?

45. Disproved a family myth through research. A family history that was published 40+ years ago stated that my murderous ancestor "drowned while trying to save his daughter from drowning and they both died." Finding some newspaper articles from the time of the event (1851) contradicted that myth.

46. Got a family member to let you copy photos. And now wondering why I didn't label them with names. Hindsight is 20/20.

47. Used a digital camera to “copy” photos or records.

48. Translated a record from a foreign language. This may be pushing it. Used Google translate feature on some Danish records.

49. Found an immigrant ancestor’s passenger arrival record. Who would have believed that the Danish immigrants would be the first (and so far, only) ones I would find. They changed the family surname every generation until they arrived in America.

50. Looked at census records on microfilm, not on the computer. And still have the printouts.

51. Used microfiche.

52. Visited the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.

53. Visited more than one LDS Family History Center.

54. Visited a church or place of worship of one of your ancestors.

55. Taught a class in genealogy. I love seeing the instant someone gets hooked on this hobby.

56. Traced ancestors back to the 18th Century.

57. Traced ancestors back to the 17th Century. Hmm. well, I've connected my kin to a published family history. I'm not sure that counts.

58. Traced ancestors back to the 16th Century.

59. Can name all of your great-great-grandparents.

60. Found an ancestor’s Social Security application.

61. Know how to determine a soundex code without the help of acomputer. Well, I read an article about this once.

62. Used Steve Morse’s One-Step searches.

63. Own a copy of Evidence Explained by Elizabeth Shown Mills. Bought this even before I ever heard of Elizabeth Shown Mills.

64. Helped someone find an ancestor using records you had never usedfor your own research.

65. Visited the main National Archives building in Washington, DC.

66. Visited the Library of Congress. On vacation, not to do research.

67. Have an ancestor who came over on the Mayflower. Francis Cooke and Stephen Hopkins.

68. Have an ancestor who fought in the Civil War. John Laymon

69. Taken a photograph of an ancestor’s tombstone. Duh! Of course. And there's a lot who don't have tombstones.

70. Became a member of the Association of Graveyard Rabbits.

71. Can read a church record in Latin. Et tu, Brute. No thanks.

72. Have an ancestor who changed their name.

73. Joined a Rootsweb mailing list. I'm moderator of the Cass County, Nebraska list.

74. Created a family website.

75. Have more than one "genealogy" blog. Like genealogy, blogging is addictive.

76. Was overwhelmed by the amount of family information receivedfrom someone. Overwhelmed by what I found in my own boxes of Stuff.

77. Have broken through at least one brick wall.

78. Visited the DAR Library in Washington D.C.

79. Borrowed a microfilm from the Family History Library through alocal Family History Center.

80. Have done indexing for Family Search Indexing or anothergenealogy project.

81. Visited the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center in FortWayne, Indiana.

82. Had an amazing serendipitous find of the "PsychicRoots" variety. All the time.

83. Have an ancestor who was a Patriot in the American RevolutionaryWar. John Bellinger.

84. Have an ancestor who was a Loyalist in the AmericanRevolutionary War.

85. Have both Patriot & Loyalist ancestors.

86. Have used Border Crossing records to locate an ancestor.

87. Use maps in my genealogy research.

88. Have a convict ancestor who was transported from the UK.

89. Found a bigamist amongst the ancestors.

93. Consistently cite my sources. I can do better.

94. Visited a foreign country (i.e. one I don't live in) in searchof ancestors.

95. Can locate any document in my research files within a fewminutes. If it's been digitized, yes.

96. Have an ancestor who was married four times (or more).

97. Made a rubbing of an ancestors gravestone.

98. Organized a family reunion.

99. Published a family history book (on one of my families). Really want to publish a book on four generations of the Kelly family in America, but I haven't found all of the collateral lines yet.

100. Learned of the death of a fairly close relative through research. It is very, very weird to learn of a family death via my Google Reader. It's happened a few times now.

101. Have done the genealogy happy dance.

102. Sustained an injury doing the genealogy happy dance. Let's hope not.

103. Offended a family member with my research. Possibly, I don't know for sure. A cousin once asked that I not include her first husband (and the father of her children) in the family tree.

104. Reunited someone with precious family photos or artifacts.

So, how did I score? 62. More than I expected when I started this exercise.

Labor Day - Jobs of our Ancestors - Dan Kelly: Stock Breeder

2011-09-05T10:22:00.000-05:00

With my heritage primarily in Nebraska, it is not surprising that my ancestors were farmers and raised livestock. My great grandfather, Daniel Kelly, was a large scale stock breeder near Greenwood, Nebraska. He made many trips to Omaha to sell his stock at the Omaha stockyards.

He also had a butcher shop in Greenwood.

Daniel Kelly, Stockman

Daniel Kelly
Butcher Shop