Stuck in 1866....

So I'm still contemplating my penny.  I told my husband if it didn't have a hole in it, it might be worth $35.00.  But it has a hole in it, so it's probably worth .01 Cent.  But it is funny that I found it this past week.  The family line I am working on has a child born in 1866.  So I wonder what was life like for her?  Did her parents tell her about the Civil war when she got older?  Did she have grandparents who fought in the war.  What were the foods they ate, did they own horses and buggy's or oxen and carts?  This family also has a child born on the same day as I was born.  And one of their children marries a girl who immigrated from Ireland. 

After my last post I went to Amazon.com and looked up the "Irish Potato famine."  I found the name of the book I read.  It was " Journey to America: Fiona McGilrays story."  I am going to either order it to read again or see if I can find it at the Library.  I also want to read the book " Wildflower Girl."  By Marita Conlon-Mckenna.  It is also about the Irish Potato famine.
I'll let you know how I like the books.  Right now I'm reading the book " The House At Riverton."  It is another historical mystery book, with family secrets at the turn of every page.  Or at the turn of most pages.  I really am enjoying it.

I don't have much more to share.  If you are wondering how my family is doing, we are all doing well and are very busy.  My daughter is taking karate twice a week, and basketball one night a week.  My son is in chess club, and he also does boy scouts.  It seems every night of the week they need to be somewhere.  I continue to work about 30 hours a week.  My husband is very busy with his job.  He has nights where he works late, and then this morning he had to be in at 6 am.  My husband still misses the East and wishes we still lived there.  I think he is the odd man out.  The rest of us really love it here in the west.  I can only hope the house sells soon so we can look for a little house out here to call our own.  I am learning much about getting rid of things and not keeping things in such a small apartment.  Though I find it to be nice and cozy until about bed time when the kids start fighting.  They say love grows stronger in small houses.  So perhaps our family will end up very strong after living here awhile longer.  I'm also starting to learn about couponing.  Lots to learn on that front.  I need to save as much as possible if I want to get to Vermont this summer.  I am also trying very hard again this year not to use Credit cards.  The move did us in on the credit card front.  I refuse to use them any longer.  It is hard, but I guess at some point you have to learn to only buy what you can afford to pay for in cash.  I hope for a large tax return and my house to sell, and then this credit card struggle will be gone.  Until then life is a little on the scrimp and get by stage of life.  But we are better off than others so I can't complain.
G.G.

Finding an 1866 penny causes me to think of people from that time in my family tree.

Here is a photo of John Dineen.  He is Lewis Dineen's uncle.  He was also a railroad worker.  I believe he was a railroad engineer.  I hope to find my family history book for this family as I believe there are some good railroad stories that go with John.  Any ways John was born in 1862.  His parents were John Dineen and Margaret Donovan.  They came from Cork County Ireland.  Many of the Irish immigrants were coming to America due to the potato famine.  I remember a few years ago reading a children's book about the journey from Ireland to America during this time.  The boats were called "Coffin boats" because  more people died on them than survived.  The link attaches you to a write up about this time.
But I'm writing today because of a penny I found at work this weekend.  It was an Indian head penny dated 1866.  Someone at one point used it as a necklace as it has a hole in the top of it.  But I thought it was cool.  So I traded a regular penny for it.  It made me think about my ancestors.  Who was alive at this time and what were they doing?  One of them could have walked around with some of these pennies.  I tried to take a photo of the penny, but it didn't come out that great. 
What I found was that many of my husbands ancestors were arriving just a few years before this date, and that it is a few years after the civil war ended.  I'm not a great history person.  I learned a new word "Antebellum."  Which means before a war specifically the Civil war.  These people lived in a post bellum world.  I wonder what life was like for them and if their parents came to America on the "Coffin Boats."  I'll have to see if I can find the book I read and read it again.

Another ancestor whose family came to America during this time is John Brutcher.  His parents were John Brutcher and Mary Ann O'Hare.  A German father and Irish mother.  His family lived in Raritan, New Jersey.  They lived near the Raritan Woolen mills.  Until a few years ago the woolen mills were still around, but now they have been torn down and luxury apartments have taken their place.  Many people came to America for a better life, I'm not sure working in the woolen mills could be considered a better life.  But I'm sure it was better than starving.  As it seems that is what was happening to the Irish immigrants. Any ways the penny I found led me to thinking about who might have been alive when it was brand new, and just think about how many people may have held this penny over the years.  Some may have held onto it for years and then some how it ended up in my store.  Now I can hold onto it.  Have you ever found an old penny and thought about someone from your family line?
G.G.

In Search of Peter Bowlby... How the wrong name lead to finding information.

Here is a photo of Lewis Bowlby on a trolley that used to go from Bound Brook New Jersey to Raritan New Jersey.  Lewis worked on the railroads.  His father was Peter Bowlby.  

Peter was a Carpenter. He lived most of his life in Hampton, Hunterdon New Jersey.  He was the last person on the pedigree chart given to me by my mother-in-law.  One thing that we knew about the Bowlby family is that the first Bowlby Ancestor came to New Jersey from England.  So if you are looking for a Bowlby you can start in New Jersey.  But the problem begins when you can't find how to connect to that first Bowlby.  People way back had lots of children who had lots of children.  I know that they liked having lots of children, but I sometimes feel very sorry for those women.  Two children in modern times is enough for me, I can't imagine all the work 7 to 9 children would be back in the days without all the technology we have.
I would try and try to figure out how to connect Peter to the other Bowlby's but always had a hard time.
When we went to visit the cemetery we thought he might be buried at we had no luck.  But one tomb stone got my attention.

I liked the name Ebenezer.  Perhaps it's because my mom had a favorite Easter bunny decoration named Ebenezer.  So I thought perhaps they were related.  I went home and began searching for Ebenezer Bowlby's.  Although I was totally on the wrong track, by doing a Google search for Ebenezer Bowlby I found a Bowlby family website.  I found out that Peter's father had a brother named Ebenezer.  And by finding that I found Peter's family, and connected him to all the other Bowlby's who lived in the New Jersey area.  The frustrating thing is I still have yet to find where Peter is buried. 

Here is a photo of Peter's Brother William Bowlby.  So when you are looking for an ancestor, sometimes you need to look at other people with the same last name to see if you can find a connection.  Sometimes it works.  Everyday people add new information and photo's.  I just found some interesting photo's of one of Peter Bowlby's Children's husband and children.  It seems that some of his children unfortunately died young.  Peter lived to be 91 years old.
Here is a Bowlby website if you are searching for a Bowlby in your family line.  http://www.bowlbyfamily.org/  Good luck in your family search.  I continue to be busy!
I'm also waiting for snow. It is very warm out here lately. 
G.G.

I went starving and left filled....

Part of Family history work for me is taking the names of my Ancestors to my churches Temple and doing work for them.  Yesterday as I was about half way to the temple I realized that I had forgotten to eat breakfast.  Not an unusual thing for me, but usually once I realize it I'm at home and can get something to eat.  I could have turned around and gone home but I felt the need to go to the Temple.  So I went in with a growling stomach and the worry that it would continue to growl while I was doing my Temple work. 
The first wonderful thing was there was a waiting line of 45 minutes for the work I wanted to do.  So I spent this time reading in the Bible.  I opened to where there was a marker and read Psalms 147.  "Praise ye the Lord: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely."  I  really enjoyed this moment of quiet and reading the beautiful Psalms.  I really like this qoute because I love to sing hymns of praise at church and at home.  One of my goals this year is to find more uplifting music to play while I'm at home to bring the spirit in to my house.
Then as I was doing my work, I pondered on the names of those I was doing work for.  The thought came to me that these people are such distant relatives that should I really even be worrying about doing this.  And such a sweet answer came to me.  I learned that these people although distantly related were ones who had no one else looking for them and it was good that I did this work.
As I left the Temple I felt so filled with the Spirit. The thought came to me that I had entered the Temple starving and yet I left filled.  Not physically filled but spiritually filled.  I can't wait to go back tomorrow.  I'm so thankful for the Lords work and his Temples. Good luck in your search.
G.G.

Family History: The blessing of a name

My baby turns 12 soon.  Thinking back reminds me of how we came upon her name.  She is Gabrielle Marie.  But we call her Elle, not Gabby.  That was the one thing my husband and I both wanted too.  We did not want our daughter called Gabby.  And you know she is not Gabby.  Elle is more appropriate for this beautiful girl.  Although we all love this name for her it wasn't the name that we were originally going to give her.  We were going to name her......

Mary Irene.  Mary after my mother and my grandmother Millers mother, and Irene after my mothers mother and and my grandmother.  But my mother seemed to not want us to call her Mary, or perhaps she was just being modest. I also wanted to name her Mary because my mother is my best friend. I always wanted to have a little girl so I could have a best friend type relationship like I have with my mom with her.  My husband does not think this will happen. I can still hope.  My mother is just a wonderful person who has always inspired me to be the best I could be, and to work hard.
  It just so happened that I got a movie called Rigoletto while I was pregnant and in it there is a beautiful fairy princess who is a wonderful singer named Princess Gabriella.  And from that point on my little baby was going to be Princess Gabriella.  Well Princess Gabrielle.  Because her Nana (my wonderful mother-in-law)  Was a beautiful singing princess.  So I thought perhaps I'd get a beautiful singer too.  She can sing OK, but nothing like her Nana.  But she is a beautiful princess to me.  Perhaps a little spoiled too. She takes after me and is very good at sports.  She is taking Karate right now and soon will be playing basketball too. 

Her middle name I wanted to be Mary for my mom, but Mary doesn't go to well with Gabrielle and so we changed it a little to be Marie.  Gabrielle Marie... 
Have you wondered where you got your name or what it means.  I often tell my daughter where her name has come from and why.  Then I tell her do you know what your name means?  There are many baby websites that allow you to look up the meaning of your name.  Her name means "The Lord is my strength."  I think looking back I might have stuck with Mary.  I'm not sure what Mary means.  But I know this the Lord is strong.  My daughter has a strong will.  She is not one to cross.   

Here she is with her grandmother when she was eight.  This was a special day for her it was her baptism day.  She was so happy that all her family came for this special day.

Here are the two beautiful princesses too.  Elle and her Nana.  This was at her first fashion show with her Nana.  She definitely got her blue eyes from her Nana's family.  So in the theme of names I've dedicated this page to my daughter and how she got her name.  If she was a boy we were going to name her Calvin John.  Although I think I might have gotten my husband to do John Calvin instead.  When I get closer to my son's name I'll tell you about how he got his name.  Hope this post makes you think about your name and who you may be named after, or perhaps makes you think about what your name means and if perhaps that has been a part of who you are.  Good luck on your family history search.
G.G.

There is meaning in names when searching your family tree.

This is a picture of a "Lightening Splitter House"  Isn't it a cool structure!  My great grandparents lived in this house and owned a huge amount of farm land.  My Great Grandfathers name was "Benjamin Randall Eastman."  He was the ancestor who taught me the meaning of names when searching for family members.

Here is a photo of Ben with his oxen. I love all the farm photo's that I have found. Once our family went to the Shelburne museum in Massachusetts and saw some oxen.  It is a very interesting place to visit if you want to see how people farmed in the old days.   One thing I learned from Benjamin is that names get passed down through generations.  He is named after his maternal grandfather Benjamin Sargent. And his middle name is from his uncle Randall Sargent.
I also learned that sometime on census records a child will be listed by their middle name instead of their first name.  Many of the census records from when he was young and living in Ohio were under the name Randall.  This at first frustrated me, until I realized that it was a key to finding other relatives. Many of my Husbands Bowlby cousins have the middle name Dineen.  As I learned more about his family I saw how the family preserved Lewis Bowlby's wifes maiden name.  You can read more about them in one of my previous posts.

I learned that in the old day's children were named after other family members.  That middle names can be used as first names, and that many middle names are the mothers maiden name or another surname from the family line.  As you learn these things, you realize just how important a name can be in your search.  This is Benjamin's son who they called Benny.  And he then had a son named Ben.  This young Ben Eastman actually gave me much of my Eastman and Sargent family information and showed us the cemeteries where my great grandparents were buried.  I find the Eastman family very interesting because they moved from New Hampshire to Clear Field Ohio and then back to Massachusetts.  Perhaps that is where I get my itch to move from.

On a non-family history note I am looking for ways to keep hydrated out here in the desert.  So my tip of the day is to take shorter showers and not hot showers.  Oh how this makes me sad.  I love hot showers.  But my skin is not liking it.  So if you are feeling a bit dry due to winter weather try this tip.  I'm going to start today.
G.G.

What Web sites should I use to search for my family?

Here is a photo of my Grandmother Irene Boyd Eastman.  She always thought she was part Native American.  She loved anything Native American.  She loved to be outside, loved to have a dog.  She grew up moving between Windham Vermont, and Colrain Massachusetts.  I think that she lived a very rough life.  She lived with her sisters and Father during her childhood in the logging camps in Vermont.  I don't think she knew much about her family.  I think she thought she was Native American because of her dark black hair, which I always remember her wearing long and straight.  It never turned grey.  I don't have black hair but I hope I get that gene that keeps your hair from turning grey.

Finding information about my grandmother is what helped me learn about the different web sites to use when researching family history.  The first website that I used was Ancestry.com.  I like this website and use it often.  But there are many other websites out there to use.  Ancestry.com helped me with my grandmother as I was able to get a letter made to  request her original social security application.  When I received this information I had both her parents names and the town she was born in.   Then I hit a brick wall.  No matter what I put in I could find no more information.  She never told her children much about her childhood, so there was not much to go by. 
One day in desperation I googled her name and the town she was born in. It was my lucky break.  Someone had published online a history of her Boyd family all the way back to the 1700's.  I found out that her family line came from Scotland.   I'm not sure if that is where her black hair comes from as there are a few unknown fathers in her family line.  I've always wanted to have a DNA test done to see if their is any Native American blood in our family lines.

From this one search into my past I learned to find people in your family line you need to look outside the box.  Use the different web sites, but also just do google searches of names.  There are many free sites out there that you can look through.  Of course once you find information you need to do research to make sure it is correct, but it may be the break in your family search brick wall.  From this one search we were able to find a small cemetery out in the woods of Vermont where all my great grandparents on my grandmothers family side were buried.  There was a house in a neighboring town that was owned by one of her uncles that had been turned into a bank.  It was fun to find and share with my mother. 

Here is my grandmothers great grandmother's tomb stone.  It was fun to search and find this little cemetery in the woods.  My parents did a lot of site seeing and camping in this area after we found this information.  So as you begin your search remember to think outside of the normal websites you will be surprised at what you find.  Just the other week I hit a wall with one of the family names I was searching.  I googled the name and found a town write up about one of the people I was researching and with it they named the persons grandparents.  My wall was opened and I was able to find more information on the family that I had been struggling to find.  If you are looking for Boyd family members check out the "CLAN BOYD"  website.  It may help you.  It surely helped me years ago.  I love reading about all the Scottish Ancestors that I have and seeing photo's of the castles they lived in.

Some day I hope to go to Scotland, and see all these places in my family history.  That would be so cool.  Have a good weekend, and good luck in your search.

G.G.

Where do I begin with my Family History?

Many people ask me 'where should I begin when I do family history."  The answer is you begin with yourself.  My church likes every member to find their first 5 generations.  Yourself, your parents, your grandparents, your great grandparents and your great-great grandparents.  You also want to add your siblings, your cousins, your aunts and uncles and so on.  Of course you also want to add in some stories about each person too.  When you start with yourself.  Keep a journal of your life, what things are important to you, where you work, and what your beliefs are.  I used to be really good at this.  I would make a scrapbook for every year.  I've kind of fallen off that in the past two years.  One of my goals this year is to make a scrapbook of this year and the things we do.  I'm not going to go back and do the last two years.  This blog has been record enough for me.  And I call those two years "The Lost Years."  I think in the scrapbook I start this year I'll do a page for each of those two years and note that to me they were "Lost".
Many people I meet out here in Utah, who are members of my church have this to say about family history "my great aunt or uncle did all the work."  I guess that could be true, but I still think it is important that you study what is done.  Don't let your great aunt or uncle be the only one who really knows your family.  Learn about your family, where they came from, what stories are told about different members and perhaps the different time periods they lived in.  In my church we believe that we will live in families in Heaven.  That we will all be connected, if that is true, and I beleive it is, you should start learning about all these people who came before you.  Think of questions you might ask them when you meet them.  I have many ancestors who came from Scotland.  I love to learn about Scotland, and see photo's of it.  My big dream would be to some day go to Scotland.  I've been thinking I'd like to learn a little Galelic.  I'd like to hear some words in this language.   
So perhaps this year I'll share some of what I learn about Scotland as I continue on this Journey of a year of Family History.  I hope I inspire someone to start learning about their family.

Another part of Family History that is very important in my church is Temple worship.  I'm so glad to have moved to Utah where there are so many temples to go to.  And I don't have to travel or spend a lot of money to get there.  I have been trying to go to my Temple twice a week.  The interesting thing about Temple worship is you start with yourself.  Then you continue to go for your ancestors.  I have found I'm such a babe in the woods with Temple worship.  I've a lot to learn.  I have finnished reading a book on Temple worship that I'm now reading through again.  I hope to share qoutes from this book with you.  If you are a member of my church and want a good book to read this is the title
" House of Glory finding personal meaning in the Temple." By S. Micheal Wilcox.   This book has not only opened my eyes to understanding Temple worship, but it has shown me also how to look more differently at the world too.  It is teaching me to think and ask questions more often.  I like this one quote "It is the meaning of things that count in life..."  sometimes I think I go through the day without really stopping and thinking about what things mean around me.  I want to become more aware of things this year.  Both physically and spiritually.
Have a good day.
G.G.