2011 Goals - Final Report

As the end of the year approaches I realize I did pretty well in accomplishing my genealogy goals. Those goals and the final report in bold is listed below:

·      Produce a monograph of the Hardenbrook family 1830 – 1930.  I have so much interesting information written up on this family during these years it is time to share with others during research in Seneca and Cayuga County, NY. Almost done.  I am doing a read through to find any critical holes in the write-up and data, as well as making sure all citations are complete.

·      Produce a monograph of the Shepard family for my cousin.  I have sorted through the two suitcases.  I will scan photos, research this family, write up what I find and return the material to my cousin in an acid free archival box by Christmas 2011.  Done.  I produced a monograph and presented it to my aunt on Mother’s Day. I am glad I did as she died on July 27.

·      Continue to share genealogical research information through my blog. Done!

·      Develop the 1880-1889 Newtown Death Database from vital records book held at the town clerk’s office. (The 1890-1899 Newtown Death database was developed in 2010; an article has been submitted about the importance of this database to the February 2011 issue of Connecticut Ancestry).  Not accomplished.

·      Continue to search for descendants of Elizabeth Nunn Siebert. Worked on, but still no further success with this family.

·      Attend the NERGC Conference in April 2011. Done.

·      Provide Tompkins County Rootsweb (http://nytompki.org/) with transcribed material.  From the Shepard family suitcases I have retrieved a number of Ithaca Journals in which I have saved the obits and will transcribe for this site as I have done in the past. Done.

·      Keep a journal. Done.

Over the next few days I will evaluate my genealogy research and set new goals for 2012.  Happy searching!

Thankful Thursday - A Year of Transition

This year our Christmas letter began:

This has been an emotional and trying year that continues as such right up to the end.  We survived all Mother Nature threw at us – Record snow/ice dams in winter, record rainfall through spring and summer, a Microburst in June (power out for three days), Tropical Storm Irene (power out for five days), and then Nor’easter Alfred (power out eight-plus days).  We mourned the loss of our dear family members, Elaine Hill, Lee Agard, Beverly Agard, and Ray’s mom, Kathryn Maki.

Indeed it was a difficult year in many ways. And in June we decided to put our home on the market (at the worst possible economic time), and buy into a Del Webb community in Fredericksburg, Virginia.  In four months we had only three showings. It was a dismal outlook for the transition we had planned. But our guardian angel (and possibly the two St. Joseph statutes planted upside down) was looking out for us. On November 27 we accepted an offer on our house; exactly three weeks later we had packed up our three-bedroom home and arranged for movers to store our furniture until our new home at Celebrate Virginia was ready.

Although our stress level at times was over the top, we are so thankful. We are thankful our son invited us into his home for Christmas, and thankful for a sister-in-law who opened her home to us until our new home is built.

We are thankful Fredericksburg has an established genealogy club and we hope to become active members. We are excited to explore this historic area and find out what can be done here to assist genealogists.  We love to create databases!!

And we are thankful for our family and for our many friends in Upstate New York and Newtown, Connecticut. 

Sunday's Obituary - Edith Horton

Edith Horton (lf) and Margaret Puff Rawlerson

There has been some interest lately in Edith Horton who lived most of her life in Newfield, New York.

We would love to hear from family members of Edith's cousins.