Gene Notes

Some random and some not-so-random thoughts on family history.

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Wedding Wednesday - Boldt & Kibler

On July 31, 1895 in West Seneca, New York, Frederick Boldt married Mary Katherine Kibler. She was the daughter of Michael Kibler & Monica "Fanny" Krause. Sadly, the marriage did not last and they were divorced by 1905. They had one son, Edwin Michael Boldt who was raised by Mary Kibler Boldt's sister Frances Kibler who was married to Victor Irr. 

Copyright 2010-2013, ACK for Gene Notes

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Disenheritance!

You know, I am not even sure that is a word. But I do wish I had not inherited my mom's migraines. Today is the first day this week that I have not woken up with one and hopefully, I won't go to bed with one. It sure makes blogging, researching, reading, sleeping, watching TV, and just plain old living difficult at times.

I also inherited my dad's build. He in turn, inherited it from his grandmother Bowman and his mother. Because, really, my grandma Percival looked like my dad in drag. In her middle years, that is. So I guess my dad inherited his looks from the Webb side of the family - as his grandmother was Elizabeth Webb.

Sometimes I wish I could modify my genes!

Copyright 2010-2013, ACK for Gene Notes

Monday, July 29, 2013

Last Weekend I Made a Breakthrough!

I did it. I had a breakthrough. Something I had hoped to accomplish for about two years. Unfortunately, it wasn't genealogical, but in the nature of home improvement. I tiled my backsplash. By myself. And used a chop saw. Well, a compound miter saw, although there was no mitering involved.

And I can cross it off my to-do list. Its one of the things that has been niggling at me since I saw these tiles on D-I-Y Network's I Want That! Actually, I started Thursday evening, finished Friday evening and put it back together on Saturday, after I recuperated.

The photos below were taken with my phone. I post these only because I am too lazy to upload the ones in my camera!



Copyright 2010-2013, ACK for Gene Notes

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Sympathy Saturday - Walenty Klijewski

On July 27, 1855 in Szamotuly, Poznan, Poland, Walenty Klijewski died of phthisis. He was my DH's great-great-great grandfather. According to his death record he was born about 1798, which made him about 57 years old.


Copyright 2010-2013, ACK for Gene Notes

Friday, July 26, 2013

Freaked Out Friday! - Already?

I can't believe it is Friday already. Probably because I have been keeping so busy this week. I've been able to partially check off one of my to-do items that has been on my to-do list for a couple of years.

I'm about halfway through the backsplash installation in my kitchen. I am installing 3x6 subway tiles that are a peel and stick stainless look aluminum. I'm using a short grain and a long grain tile and placing them randomly. It looks fabulous so far and looks different from every aspect.  I think I will finish tomorrow if it goes like today did. Wahoo! Pictures will be forthcoming.

Copyright 2010-2013, ACK for Gene Notes

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Too-Too Thursday - WDYTYA? Too Over-the-Top!

I think Kelly Clarkson should take acting lessons. Her reactions to her family history were so over the top it was sickening. Was someone behind the camera egging her on? I mean, really, it was painful to watch.  I think I much prefer the UK version.  Or maybe it is that the UK celebrities are much more restrained!

Copyright 2010-2013, ACK for Gene Notes

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Wedding Wednesday - Meyer & Zimmeth

On July 24, 1922, in Detroit, Michigan, my maternal grandparents, Luetta or Louetta Meyer and Charles Zimmeth, were married. It was her first marriage, his second, his first wife died in 1914.

Together, they had three children, Jack, Kaye & Margie. Unfortunately, Luetta died an early and untimely death in 1931 at the age of 36 from tuberculosis.

This photo is the only one I have of my grandparents together, taken on their wedding day.



Copyright 2010-2013, ACK for Gene Notes

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Who Do You ThinkYou Are?

Here's hoping that WDYTYA doesn't introduce this year's celebrities as our most beloved. That phrase always makes me want to gag. Last year, I didn't know who half of them were!

This year, I got to watch a couple of the UK version - one with Alex Kingston (formerly of ER and a sometime guest on Dr. Who) and J. K. Rowling. Both were absolutely fascinating. Actually, the one with Jo Rowling made me cry. The one with Alex Kingston made me laugh, because she was able to laugh too!

Now if I can just figure out which channel TLC is on our cable!

Copyright 2010-2013, ACK for Gene Notes

Monday, July 22, 2013

Monday Moanin' - Checking Out Research Suggestions

From time to time, I have blogged about Dr. Herbert Davidson Percival. We was my great grandfather, John "Henry" Percival's brother. Born about 1859 in Lexington, Missouri and died probably before 1901, possibly in Hawaii.

One of the things I liked about Legacy Family Tree is the ability for the program to make research recommendations. Believe me, with Dr. Herbert Percival, I need all the help I can get. Well, Legacy made a page full of recommendations. Some of them are a little off the wall, but I had not thought to check Philippine Insurrection records.  There are a couple of recommendations that I know do not exist for the location - such as 1876 Missouri census - Lafayette county was not filmed or was destroyed - or maybe wasn't taken. I do know I had searched for that for my Missouri lines.

So, just maybe, one of these suggestions will lead to something!

Copyright 2010-2013, ACK for Gene Notes

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Sympathy Saturday - Edna Chinn Sykes

MRS. EDNA CHINN SYKES KILLED IN LOS ANGELES.

Daughter of Late Claude Chinn is murdered by Jealous Suitor.

Los Angeles, Cal., July 21 (1914). -- Mrs. Edna Chinn Sykes, a native of Lexington, KY and later Norcross, Ga., was killed here yesterday by Charles H. Haag, a contractor, who broke in the room where she was asleep. Haag then killed himself.

Haag has been paying attention to Mrs. Sykes, her friends say, who had brought suit for divorce from William Sykes.  Mrs. Sykes' friends say that Haag had learned that she was receiving $150 alimony and in a fit of jealousy fearing that she might return to her husband, killed her and then himself.

Disposition of her five-year-old son will not be determined until advice is received from his father, who it is believed is in Atlanta, Georgia.

-----

Mrs. Edna Chinn Sykes, who was shot and killed yesterday at Los Angeles by Charles Haag, was a daughter of the late Claude Chinn, formerly County Clerk of Fayette County, and was born and reared in Lexington.  She was married several years ago to William Sykes, whose home is now in Atlanta.

About two years ago, Mrs. Sykes went to California to be with her mother, Mrs. Chinn, whose health was not good.  Mrs. Sykes has one brother, Joseph Chinn who is in business in Indianapolis, and a sister who is the wife of W. B. Anderson, of this city, a gauger in the Internal Revenue service here. Mrs. Anderson is now in Indianapolis with her brother.


[Blogger's note:  The murder of Edna Sykes was previously written about in my Thriller Thursday blog.  Edna was buried in Section O lot 130 in Lexington Cemetery, Lexington, Kentucky near her parents and grandfather.


Copyright 2010-2013, ACK for Gene Notes

Friday, July 19, 2013

The Weather and Other Odd Things

Whether the weather will wither us is the question. It has been quite a week. Playing hooky on Tuesday kept us from utilizing the good, albeit hot, weather to clean out our spa. Wednesday looked like an option, but Older Daughter's cat, Luna, decided to eat her sofa. This necessitated a trip to the vet and emergency surgery for a blockage on Wednesday. Luna is doing fine, but it sure shook us all up. Luna and her sister, Tonks, visited us for about 6 weeks last year and while Tonks really warmed up to us, Luna, the shy one, pretty much kept her distance except when she was really desperate for human interaction. We hope she is on the mend.

So Thursday ended up being clean the spa day. Usually I like to get an early start on it. Especially when it is 90+ degrees. Due to a quick thunderstorm yesterday morning, it was after lunch by the time we got rolling. Believe me, the hour and a half it took to empty and refill and clean everything was something else. DH and I are still recuperating!

Our huntress cat, Mouse, is busy chasing bugs, imaginary and otherwise. And wondering why all bugs don't look like red dots! 

Today is also a special day. It is Younger Daughter's birthday. She is XX years old!  Happy Birthday!

Copyright 2010-2013, ACK for Gene Notes

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Too-Too Thursday - Maybe Playing Hooky Wasn't a Great Idea

I mentioned Tuesday that DH and I were going to play Hooky and take a day off to run errands. What were we thinking? It was in the 90s and by the time we got home (before then, actually) we were worn out from the heat. I even crossed a couple places off the list because I was darn tired of being in the car.

Our errands involved Franklin, Lebanon and Nashville. Our damn navigation system still wants to route us onto I-440, which was only built to drive everyone crazy. Lunch was great at Old Chicago in Cool Springs. Mouse the cat was thrilled to see us return. Her separation anxiety is something else.

Now there is stuff to do around the house and Younger Daughters birthday party on Saturday!

Copyright 2010-2013, ACK for Gene Notes

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Double Post - Happy Birthday Dad

This is a second post for the day, since today would have been my dad's 88th birthday. Unfortunately, he died March 12, 2003 when he was 77. But as always, I think of him on his birthday and other special days.

Copyright 2010-2013, ACK for Gene Notes

Wedding Wednesday - Vivion and Chrisman

On July 17, 1842 in Lafayette County, Missouri, Mr. Flavel Vivion (or Vivian) and Miss Catherine Chrisman were married. Flavel was a first cousin six times removed. I don't know Catherine's ancestors, but suspect she may descend from the Chrisman line from Virginia, a lot of them ended up in Missouri. Also, it's possible this was a second marriage for Catherine as she was about 41 when she married Flavel. It was his second marriage.



Copyright 2010-2013, ACK for Gene Notes

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Truant Tuesday

Well, I can't claim truancy, since I've long graduated from school, but DH and I are playing hookey today, hopefully accomplishing some long-postponed errands.  It seems like I will try anything to hold off on genealogy.

I do get the newsletters from Legacy Family Tree and must say I am intrigued by the improvements they are making to their program. Version 8 will be out before you know it and hopefully it looks like it will be more compatible with my RootsMagic. Which will make entering shared facts a lot easier, and I hope, all my existing shared facts will actually transfer correctly. That is one of the major things keeping me from switching. And since Families app works so well with Legacy, and RootsMagic's app is so freakin' lame, maybe that is a good thing.

In the meantime, DH and I are going to enjoy the nice sunny weather for the day!

Copyright 2010-2013, ACK for Gene Notes

Monday, July 15, 2013

Monday Oddities - Birthday Gals

On July 15, 1831, Penelope Ellen "Ellen" Chinn was born in Fayette county, Kentucky to Dr. Joseph Graves Chinn and Barbara Garland Graves.  Seven years later, on July 15, 1838, they had another daughter, Susan Anna or Susanna Chinn.  After the birth of Dr. and Mrs. Chinn's youngest son, Claudius or Claud, the family moved to Lexington, Missouri. Ellen married Dr. Franklin Cooley and Susanna married Isaac Shelby "Shelby" Kirtley. The children mentioned were just 3 of the eleven children that I can verify. Rumors are there were twelve. My great-great grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Chinn was the eldest of the children of Dr. & Mrs. Chinn.

I always find it interesting when birthdays are close together. I have two sisters with birthdays 4 days apart ( and 17 years.) I share my birthday with a second cousin in Missouri. My mother and I celebrated our birthdays two days apart.

This is just one of the interesting things I find when I research!

Copyright 2010-2013, ACK for Gene Notes

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Sympathy Saturday - Elvira Percival Bush

Elvira Percival Bush was the daughter of Philip Bush and Vicy Tousey. It looks like she was named after a sister of Vicy, Elvira Percival Tousey. There is also an Elvira Percival, daughter of Jabez Percival and Elizabeth Stearns, so it does link these families.

Elvira P. Bush was born July 9, 1827 in Woodford county, Kentucky and died July 13, 1839, probably in Burlington, Kentucky.  Her Find-a-Grave Memorial can be found here. Elvira was my second cousin, four times removed.


Copyright 2010-2013, ACK for Gene Notes

Friday, July 12, 2013

Freaked Out Friday

We've been having a lot of rain lately. I forget what our yearly total is, somewhere above 30 inches, but we've been getting sudden thunderstorms and stray showers. When one does venture outside, you get hit with heat and humidity that drenches you in 30 seconds.

It's really great weather to stay in and work on ones genealogy. At this point, I am trying to slog through all these records on my desk while contemplating a genealogy software change. I am suffering from analysis paralysis and hate to give up my old RootsMagic. I've used the program since version 1 and its predecessor, Family Origins, which I absolutely loved. RM still has some great features, but no android version (yet) and the iPad/iPod/iPhone version is lame.

I do have all my stuff in Legacy, and therefore have it also in Families, the android version. Families is a more powerful  app than the lame RootsMagic app, and neither have everything I want. I would really love for one of them to have a to-do list that is sorted by repository. That is how I work. I may have mentioned it a few zillion times.

I want to get everything organized and entered and then I will look at Legacy a little harder, especially since version 8.0 will be out soon.

For now? I'll continue to play with what I have and sort through the pros and cons.

Copyright 2010-2013, ACK for Gene Notes

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Too-Too Thursday: The Bounty of My Garden, Revisited

I commented the other day on my garden, and how I was waiting for those tomatoes to ripen. Well, I went to check on them the other day and they were GONE! Grrrr.

Sometimes when I research on Ancestry.com or elsewhere, I will find a record and then when I go back to retrieve it or just look at it again, it's gone. I have much the same reaction.

In this world when you can search records via phone, tablet, laptop and/or desktop, you might have a favorite place you use to save records. I have, but don't really care to save records on my tablet. So to find a whole database gone or a record not found aggravates me no end. Maybe just as much as the "snatcher" who lifted my tomatoes.

Copyright 2010-2013, ACK for Gene Notes

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Wedding Wednesday - Percival & Fuller

My great-great-great-great-great grandparents, Timothy Percival and Mary Fuller, were married on July 10, 1753 in East Haddam, Connecticut. Connecticut was just one of their homes over the course of their marriage. Their final home was in Boone County, Kentucky.


Copyright 2010-2013, ACK for Gene Notes

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

The Bounty of My Garden

I am starting to haul in cucumbers.  Unfortunately, the tomatoes are lagging a bit. All the wet weather and gray skies have them lagging behind.  I wracked my brain until I came up with an idea for dinner.

One of the things I miss about Michigan is the good Polish cooking. Polish restaurants are sadly lacking here. So for dinner the other day, we had potato and cheese pierogi (Mrs. T's); smoked sausage (Eckrich) and sliced cucumbers in sour cream with a touch of dill. Oh man. I don't think I've had that dish since we moved here almost 6 years ago. DH's mother used to make it occasionally, and everyone enjoyed it.

At times when I make Polish dishes we used to enjoy at his parent's house, I wish my mother had passed on the German dishes she learned from her Aunt Rose. Certainly, she never made any for us, because dad didn't care for German food.

It's funny how certain dishes bring back memories. Butter pecan ice cream to my daughters reminds them of their Grandma dishing out ice cream cones. Twizzlers remind one of my daughters of my mother. Noodles bring to mind my husband's father who would eat macaroni noodles with anything. When I think of strawberry shortcake, I think of my dad.

Makes me wonder what I can plan for dinner tonight!



Copyright 2010-2013, ACK for Gene Notes

Monday, July 8, 2013

Monday Moanin' - A Head Start

 I got a head start on today's blog, which I actually started on July 4th. Holidays tend to confuse me.  Thursday seemed like Sunday, so I figured, "What the heck!" and started writing Monday's post a few days ahead of time.

I spent some of soggy Independence day playing with my new Nook HD+ tablet. I am still familiarizing myself with some of its peculiarities. Let's face it, all tablets are peculiar unto themselves! I had tried out my DH's iPad, but quite frankly, hated it. So far, the Nook HD+ is a good fit, and I like using it.

The other thing I started was organizing my desk. I have an absolute ton of work to do and almost no rhyme or reason to how it sat on my desk. Now I can actually see parts of my desktop! At least I have power to do this. With the rain we've had so far this month (4.51 inches as of July 4th) I think we are going to expect some outages. The trees around here are sodden, which usually means trees down. DH and I pray that doesn't happen here.

I guess I have put some of this filing off too long, as I have a huge pile of it waiting for me, as well as some sources to look up.

Copyright 2010-2013, ACK for Gene Notes

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Sympathy Saturday - Catherine Eisenmann Zimmeth

Catherine Eisenmann, daughter of George and Catherine Eisenmann was born in Alsace-Lorraine about March 1830. She married Michael  Zimmeth/Simmet July 26, 1853 in Lancaster, New York. She died, July 6, 1904 in Lancaster and is probably buried in St. Mary's cemetery in Lancaster.



Copyright 2010-2013, ACK for Gene Notes

Friday, July 5, 2013

From My Parents, I Inherited ...

My mother was nearsighted. Dad was farsighted.  I inherited the nearsightedness from mom. Twelve years ago, I chose to do something about it and excitedly underwent Lasik surgery. Here I am 12 years later, still enjoying the benefits of the eye surgery. The only downside is the necessity of wearing readers.

A couple years ago, DH and I went to get our eyes checked. We chose a place that took our existing vision insurance. It was the worst exam I ever underwent in my entire life. And the upshot was, the doctor said I needed glasses. I didn't believe him, and refused to get new glasses. At that time, I was reading with 2.00 strength reading glasses. Ironically, DH got probably the best pair of glasses ever.

A couple weeks ago, DH and I went to get our eyes checked again. After the last experience, I was really reluctant. But, since I am diabetic, thought it best to get them checked. Vindication. The eye doctor said my eyes were fine, she could hardly see the flaps from the lasik surgery, and said it appeared the 2.00 readers were fine. I did opt to get some prescription progressive with transition  lenses so that I could stop swapping out glasses. My old bifocal HD readers are so scratched I can hardly read with them any more.

What did I get from dad? Stubbornness. I knew I wasn't going back to that first eye doctor, who just wanted to get whatever he could out of my insurance. Procrastination. Because I kept putting off finding another eye doctor.

What did you inherit?

Copyright 2010-2013, ACK for Gene Notes

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Wedding Wednesday-Simmet and Lambert

July 3, 1906 in North Shade Township, Michigan, William Edward Simmet was married to Mabel Lambert.



[Somewhere along the way, the Zimmeth name translated to Simmet for this branch of the family. William was the son of Frank Zimmeth or Simmet and Lena Helwig, both from Lancaster, New York. Frank was a nephew of my great-grandfather, August Zimmeth. August's oldest brother was Michael Zimmeth, William's grandfather.]

Copyright 2010-2013, ACK for Gene Notes

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Correspondence

I did something yesterday that I had been putting off for a while. I wrote a letter. Well, I typed it, because by the time I get to the second paragraph, no one should have to read my writing.  But it is going in the mail box in the morning.

There aren't too many people that I actually write to anymore. Most of my friends and relatives are online. Even my dear Aunt Shirley, who is 91 years young writes email!

In some respects, I think it is sad that I even print out a letter. Would I have had as much fun transcribing all the letters my ancestors wrote, if they had been typewritten? Probably not. And thus, I probably won't leave any letters for my descendants to decipher when I am gone. Unless my kids start saving all my emails!

Copyright 2010-2013, ACK for Gene Notes

Monday, July 1, 2013

Monday Moanin' Or Am I Hallucinatin'?

Last week when I was performing my daily search of new or updated databases, I could swear I saw some listed by the day of the week, such as Tuesday, June 25, 2013.  Usually it's in the format of  25 Jun 2013. Last night it was displayed as 6/25/2013. STOP IT FAMILY SEARCH! And gawd, I hope I am not the only one who saw that!

Last night when I was trying to work in my office, Mouse the cat was single-pawedly trying to destroy what semblance of order existed on my desktop. I kicked her out and closed the door securely, only to have her show up a few minutes later with her toy-on-a-stick that we refer to as Panda-Rat. It's hard to ignore her little paw snaking under the door, but I managed for a few minutes anyway, while trying work.

My DH let a firefly into the house last night and Mouse, of course, started chasing after it. I brought out the fly-swatter and she thought that was a toy.  We still haven't chased down the dang firefly and I really hope Mouse doesn't catch it and eat it.

It is turning out to be a busy week this week, with a holiday thrown in with it. Maybe I'll schedule some office organizing time - data entry work?

Copyright 2010-2013, ACK for Gene Notes