Lifetime Project

I am going through my work on an ancestral line for my book. It is amazing what I did in the seventies, eighties and nineties and again in the twenties. Very little duplicate research and very well organized notebooks. Back in the day I made a lot of paper copies. Pages and pages of reference materials with title pages and versos. Now that my finances are different I have purchased some of the books, even some of them gently used. This is a lifetime project, with much of the information now in electric format. Not sure where it will go in the future, but for now I am enjoying every moment of this.

Thank you!

My Christmas present of most importance came early this year. Every year probably for the rest of my life I will have an MRI done of my head. Today I got the results and there has been no changes since last year. Cleared for another year. This is my twelfth year of having this test done. My body has passed through twenty different conditions. Most of the time I think that I handle the stress pretty well, but the MRIs are the most challenging. I am grateful beyond words to be living and functioning in doing the things that I enjoy most. Thank you to all who show me compassion as I struggle. My faith, and especially at Christmas, is the foundation of my life.

Travels with George, a Fantastic Book

Today I returned three books to the St. Helens Public Library. The first was, New York, a historical fiction about New York. In glancing through it I decided it was not what I was looking for. The second book was, Encyclopedia of the American Revolution. It was suggested by Brenda who organizes the group, Geniel Genealogists, which meets by Zoom or at the library on the first Monday of each month at 6:30. I was happy to review it as a future reference. The third book was Travels with George by Nathaniel Philbrick, perhaps one of the best books I have ever read. The receipt shows that I saved $88.95 by borrowing the books. This book is about the travels of George Washington in his first year as President of the United States. There is even a mention of the stop he made in Holliston, Massachusetts where my ancestors lived for about 100 years. It is towards the back of the book and listed in the Index under the name of the huge rock formation found in the town. A serendipity moment occurred when I found the mention of the town in the text, with a picture of Mr. Philbrick standing on the rock.

November 2021 Days of Gratitude 16-30

Day 16 a miracle in our lives occurred about four months ago. We experienced watching our very active daughter being brought to her knees by the Covd19 Virus. The horror of watching her via zoom as she passed through this nightmare was so wrought with emotion. She was alone and isolated in a hospital room. The medical staff were not sure she would survive. Her husband and four children all had mild cases. They could not go see her, but each sent an item for her to cling to as the struggle continued for several days. We all felt the prayers offered by family, friends and associates around the world. This horrendous virus impacted so many families. Those prayers were answered when she returned home a week later. We are so grateful she is with us and as active as ever. Her recovery is still happening a day at a time, but we see each day as another miracle. Day 17 after giving a lot of thought about what to write for yesterday I thought today about the many people who during the past year assisted me in the research for the book that I am writing. This book has been on my mind for a long time and the pandemic gave me the time to pursue that goal. I descend from the Tidd family who came to New England in 1637 and many of the family artifacts, photos, stories, etc. have been passed on to me. Over the years I worked with many fellow descendants to understand this wonderful family. This week I am compiling the list of books and other materials used in the process of discovery. From my own collection there are 50 books, from the Genealogical Forum of Oregon there are 30 books, from the local libraries 10 books and from my friend Janice there are 15 for New England and 24 for Virginia. I am very grateful for everyone who volunteers their time to assist me. My proof reader has been exceptionally helpful. A special thank you to my fellow contributors Bonnie, Maryetta and Holly. Now that I have reviewed the information found in 129 books, it is time to finish the writing! Day 18 and I am enjoying holiday commercials, music and yes, the sappy Hallmark Movies. Last year we spent ten days over the holidays in Wyoming and that certainly is something to be grateful for. This year feels very different. Like part of the spirit of Christmas is affected by the turmoil of having Covid19, the variants and the vaccines still haunting us. Most of my time is spent at home alone and while that is good for getting my work done, it is also very hard. The Internet and telephone help me stay connected. We still live in a wonderful world. So do whatever it takes to bring that spirit of happiness, joy and peace into your life and the lives of those around you. A smile, a hug, a kind comment. Simple things that can bring great rewards. Day 19 today I got out of the house and went to the store. I am grateful that there was an electric shopping cart, charged and ready to go. There is a sense of freedom when I use one. First I had my flu shot, which I made an appointment for the night before. I was the only person there, with no wait at all. Sat right in the chair and did not feel a thing. My friends reported seeing long lines of people waiting other places to get vaccinated. Then I shopped for about an hour, completed my shopping list and browsed through the Christmas things. That certainly lifted my spirits, along with the wonderful holiday music being played. To all the people who assisted me or offered to help, Thank You! Your kindness towards me was very much appreciated. Day 21 - I just noticed that yesterday I posted as Day 30, made a quick correction and we are back on track. Last night I was working hard to finish the list of books used for the major current family history project. Today was for relaxing and celebrating. Some very generous people helped me along this road of discovery. Here are the results. 156 Books viewed for a list of surnames - Tidd, Teed, Death, De Ath, Dodman, Mazry, Mazzy, Appleyard, etc., mostly in Virginia and some in New England. One friend has 112 Virginia books and 15 New England books, and 38 had important information. There were 29 books reviewed by a volunteer at the Genealogical Forum of Oregon and 11 had key information. This took a couple of months to accomplish. I am so grateful for everyone who assisted with this project. Now I am patiently waiting for the box of six books from GFO which should arrive on Monday. Miracles happen daily in our lives and I give thanks for those blessings in my life. Look for the miracles happening in your life. Day 20 and I am grateful for my mother who passed away in 2013. As her oldest child she spoiled me in many ways. When I look around our home there are many things which she gave to me. Her collections (of which I have a part) are impressive. She also would give to my sister and me items that matched what she had. After she died I discovered how smart she was as she worked to preserve the estate she had built with our father who passed away in 1988. As her personal representative I was grateful that she had prepared me for her passing. Our parents started from scratch, as did their parents, in providing a rich heritage for my three siblings and me. Watching her give testimony with regards to the family property three days prior to her passing she amazed me in how well she communicated important facts. She truly had unconditional love for each of her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Day 21 Tonight I am grateful to live near a Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The temples are calming, soothing, quiet, comforting places to visit. They offer the opportunity to reflect on the challenges we face and put them into perspective. I am grateful to have this blessing in our lives. When a new temple or remodeled one opens there are opportunities for people who are not members to have a tour. Otherwise these buildings are dedicated for the use of the membership. Unlike a church, which can be a place bustling with activity, in the temples they maintain an atmosphere of peace and reverence. Day 22 - Just watched Saints and Strangers part 1. An amazing show. Part 2 is tomorrow. We descend from Stephen Hopkins through Daniel Tidd and Sarah Jane Eldridge. He is nine generations out from Sarah and thirteen generations from me. The show really brings history to life. I am grateful for our ancestors and the sacrifices they made in coming to this country. The book Saints and Strangers is on my bookshelf and I need to read it again. We have ancestors from many countries who came in various time periods. What a blessing to have history to share with our descendants. Doing family history is so much more than names, dates and places. Day 23 a quiet day on the home front. Did some sorting through things and my office is looking better. I am grateful to have seven days in a week, even though sometimes I may struggle to know what day of the week it is. My handy calendars and pill sorter are great for keeping me on track. Then the cell phone tells me the time and what day it is. We are blessed with amazing tools to help us keep our lives in order. Day 24 Today I am thankful for life and the experiences that come from living. The good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly. Each one refines us and enables us to develop who we are meant to be. With age comes the joy of watching the young explore the possibilities before them. As we join with others over the next few days may we share all that life offers us. Savor the moments of our lives. Look for the blessings and be grateful for them. Day 25 Thanksgiving, and we are home again full of love and delicious food. Our daughter invited our family to their new home. We dined on turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing with sausage, deviled eggs, broccoli salad, sweet potatoes, yellow squash, asparagus, delicious rolls, cornbread with honey butter, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, a chocolate birthday cake for our newest daughter in-law, and a little spray whipped cream. I use the sampler system to try just a little of everything. The five of our children who live locally and their in-laws joined us. The two granddaughters were very involved in all of the preparations. They can certainly be proud of their efforts. One of the first events of the day was a live video with the four grandchildren in Wyoming. Each of them are so very precious to us. How very blessed we are! Day 26 I am not a black Friday shopper. Crowds are not my thing, especially if I can avoid them. Being at home is the time I enjoy the most. So the Friday after Thanksgiving you will probably find me at home putting away the decorations and starting to process the Christmas decorations. They have been accumulated over 40 years and some are from my parents and grandparents. They are the things that remind me of the special people in my life. I love twinkling lights, the smell of greenery, the sound of music and the laughter of my grandchildren. If they are combined that is the best blessing of all. Day 27 I am grateful to be able to worship at church with fellow members. This freedom of religion is a precious gift. No matter what your beliefs, living in the U.S. avails the choice of how, what, who, when and where to worship. We need to fully appreciate and protect that freedom. Day 28 We have not put up the tree yet. This is from a couple of years ago. Every ornament is significant to our family. My favorites are the metal ornaments with pictures of our family members in them. If you happen to have some extras like these I would love to have a few more as our family continues to expand. After 44 years of collecting it is still fun to add something new each year. The kids have taken a few to their homes. Day 29 This is for our grandchildren who love to build with Legos. I love it when they share pictures of what they build. Day 30 - Yep, this is the grand finale. Back to working on the project that I hope to complete this coming year. It is genealogy at its best. Over 400 years of family history. About thirteen generations of amazing information. This is my only line to come this early to New England. It is why my area of accreditation is in New England. They kept such beautiful records. The key is finding the records, some of which are still coming to life after hundreds of years being kept in archives. A heartfelt gratitude goes out to familysearch.org. They have been mining these records for over a century and making them freely accessible. Then they teamed up with ancestry.com and americanancestors.org to continue to seek out more records. Again familysearch.org does their part of the work with volunteers and missionaries. They are working around the world, around the clock to digitize records to protect them from being lost to future generations. If you want to help they are always looking for people willing to do indexing the records to further move the work forward. It is an amazing work and I am thankful to be a part of it!

November 2021 Days of Gratitude 1-15

November 2021 Days of Gratitude Day 1 of Gratitude. I am so thankful for our family. Having children and grandchildren to share our lives with is wonderful. Each one is so unique. They help to lift me up when I am feeling down. They distract me from my worries and concerns. I treasure every minute that we get to spend together. This is my tenth year posting and my family is always the first post. Thank you for all that you do for me. Day 2 - Gratitude is such a wonderful gift. When we reach out to each other and they reach out to us we come to know pure love. We bring out the best in each other when we serve in love. If you are needing more love find someone else who you can give love to. Let us be patient, kind and focused on making each day better for those around us and in turn the days will be better for us. Day 3 for this day I am grateful to be alive. We often do not take the time to appreciate each day and the challenges that they bring. After all the amazing things that I have experienced in sixty-seven years it is a miracle to have survived. Moving forward every day brings new discoveries and renewed confidence in those around me. Enjoy the journey and know that there are many who will see us through to the end. Day 4 - I am thankful for the simple things in life. The cactus and orchid are amazing to watch. I enjoy sharing them with others. In our backyard the birds have once again discovered the bird feeders. The hummingbirds are back and an assortment of smaller birds. They love the flowers and several were using the bird bath this morning. I like to see the changing weather, rain, sunshine, clouds, and soon enough snow. Being at home more allows me to appreciate all of nature’s beauty while being warm and cozy indoors. Day 5 of gratitude my focus is on quiet moments to catch up on the order of life. It is great to have a day at home when you can sort, clean, and declutter. It feels so good to put order to paperwork, computer files, calendars and all the things that make our lives run more smoothly. Maybe this has to do with the change of time tomorrow night. So grateful for an extra hour of sleep. Day 6 last night I worked on my own family history. While I am a mixture of English, German, French, Danish, Norwegian and some unknowns, all in all it is interesting. My English line includes some Mayflower people and other early New England inhabitants. I am grateful for those people who came in the early 1600s and settled in the primitive areas of Massachusetts. They were humble and hardworking people who survived the many obstacles thrown in their way. Now they are linked to me on the Family Tree found at familysearch.org. Day 7 and I am grateful for my family. I have been blessed with a wonderful husband and six great children. They have enhanced my life in so many ways. The most beautiful part to me is how they support each other. They know that they can call on their siblings for advice, a listening ear, encouragement, and love as needed. They have been taught to work hard, contribute to society and serve others. That service truly begins at home with our family. Day 8 and we are one week closer to Thanksgiving. Being Veteran's Day Week I spent some time looking at military records for my Revolutionary War ancestor Daniel Tidd and his five brothers who served, two of whom died at Valley Forge. Then I looked at records for my Civil War ancestors, one who died in the war, Samuel Reed, and one who only filled out a draft registration, Daniel Tidd, but did not serve. There may be more, but so far this is what I have discovered. They all served with a strong conviction in the cause that they fought for. Then there are the parents or spouses who sent them off to fight not knowing if they would ever see them again. With pride we honor them and are grateful for the service that they gave. Day 9 today I am grateful for wonderful friends. Many of my friends do not do facebook. Sometimes I am connected to their children and enjoy knowing the highlights of their lives. Several of my friends have endured terrible health trials and have supported me in mine. How grateful I am for their unconditional love and caring ways. Day 10 I am so very grateful for our grandchildren. So far we have six, three boys and three girls. They are like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day. Today was a day to slow down and recover some from a busy week. These days give me time to pause and reflect on all of our many blessings. Each of the six are so unique. They are loving, caring, thoughtful, patient especially with me, considerate of others and generous to everyone. Their parents have taught them well. I treasure the earlier years when we spent more time together. I am thankful for the Internet and easy phone or video access for the moments we share on a regular basis. Day 11 - Veterans Day - At one time I thought we did not have many military veterans in our family. The more I discover about the actual individuals I realize we have veterans from most of the various conflicts and types of service. Some of their stories are posted on my blog, gophergenealogy@blogspot.com. I am very grateful for the service of all military personal who have given of themselves to preserve the freedoms that we enjoy in this country. For the Marines who are 246 years old today, those in our family are some of the best. Day 12 I went to the eye doctor today trying to determine what is causing changes in my vision. I am very grateful for the medical staff and their focused medical training. While I am fighting T2D (among other things) my brother has fought T1D for over forty years, and our grandfather died from T1D when I was age two. Our other grandmother had T2D. While it is all around us, knowledge for treating it is improving every day. So grateful for wonderful medical staff who have joined us in the fight. Staying positive is critical to survival. Get tested, know the facts and enjoy every day in every way possible. Be supportive, give encouragement, offer support and know that we are all survivors of something. Thankful to join with my family and friends as we gather for the holidays. Day 13 of gratitude I am thankful for modern transportation. It is so nice to travel in a cold/warm car and sometimes in an airplane. With the physical challenges I have these modes of travel are so important. The greatest blessings are those who drive the vehicles. I hope that I can drive for a long time, but I do realize that the day will come when I will not be able to. My handicap parking tag is critical for being able to walk short distances. The electric shopping carts make it so I can go shopping. Today we drove to our daughter and son-in-law’s home in Portland. It was a nice gathering of people - family, friends and new acquaintances. Day 14 - Today is my Dad's birthday. Even though he has been gone for thirty-three years I often reflect on the great influence he had on our lives. He would be 87 today. He had a love for his ancestors and pride in their accomplishments. When I was given family artifacts, especially furniture, he refinished them for me. While he worked as a warehouseman, he had many skills that were mostly self-taught. He grew up in the era of make do with what they had, fix what they could and treasure what they were given. During the tough times he only had one pair of shoes and hand-me-down clothes. He worked very hard to provide for our family and left our mother well cared for after he was gone. What we inherited from them has great meaning to the four of us their children. Those are blessings that will impact us and future generations. Day 15 – Monday and another gratitude thought. I am grateful for my blog readers. GopherGenealogy.blogspot.com passed 231,749 views. Writing is a wonderful way to share the joy of family history and life in general. I am grateful for the free web sites that are available to post on and the tools we have today that were not available not so long ago. I encourage everyone to write something on a regular basis to help preserve the precious memories of your family, friends and acquaintances. Share some of those thoughts as you gather with others during the coming weeks. More to come!

Serendipty Moments While Sorting and Processing Pioneer Diaries

I was working on a sorting project for the Scappoose historical society. Someone brought me another bag of materials from the Watts house museum collections. For them I create notebooks with page protectors as I sort. This bag had papers with some information on relatives or ancestors of the people who built the house. It had several copies of pioneer diaries. I finished it last night. Then this afternoon came a package in the mail from the California Historical Society who I contacted about pioneer diaries for the Watts family in their collections. For the final step I will review the diaries to see if they are the same, but already I see new items. Feels like serendipity when things randomly show up when I need to work on them next!

Seeing Our History in Pictures and Momentos

I made individual photo albums for each of our six children. Recently I transferred the photos from the magnectic/sticky albums, scanned them all and gave them to the kids with a flash drive. Still have three to complete. I also went through all of their school things that I kept and did the same. They are delighted to have them, I am happy to have those done and now I have more room in my office. I also have family albums covering the same time periods. When Costco had the print your photos get a second set free that was great. I still have five paper boxes to go through and four boxes for my middle son. Covid did me the favor of providing me many hours at home. I now see my children lives more clearly and the grandchildren see their parents history. Actually on the flash drives are the collections of all the children. So they have their own and all of their siblings. Our mother did the same for the four of us and I borrowed each of the others and scanned their albums. When I did my parent’s albums each of us choose our favorites and then I gave each one a complete set of the favorites. We had a nice gathering and enjoyed tagging our favorites. We started with forty albums and I condensed them to ten albums.

Family Tree Addition

David our youngest son and Shelby were married today. It was amazing to observe them as they made this commitment in front of family and friends. Watching online was wonderful and I really appreciate her sister for creating the live video feed. With restrictions on gathering there was a limited number who could attend in person. For the ceremony they were required to wear masks. Even with masks on their happiness shown right through! Thank you for this awesome event. We are thrilled for both of you.

Happy Ten Year Blogiversary – GopherGenealogy.blogspot.com- 24 April 2021

Happy Ten Year Blogiversary – GopherGenealogy.blogspot.com- 24 April 2021 What an amazing ten years it has been. I am not a frequent writer, but there always seem to be plenty of viewers. So far this year I have written ten posts. It appears that changes are coming in notifications for followers so you can friend me on facebook until I figure out the new blog delivery system. For now here are some stats showing the amazing progress and support of family, friends and viewers. 

  85 followers 

 404 posts 

 129 comments 

All Time Views 210327 

Today 58 Yesterday 19 

This Month 1021 

Last Month 6416 

 8 Pages 

Daniel Tidd Article

Portland, OR WWII Article

ICAPGen 2010 Tidd Rev. War

Adril Gates – War of 1812

Ole A. Brown Article

Law On Village by Tony King

Lectures

French-Canadian GFO 

Top Referrers – Last seven days 

www.google.com 19 

l.facebook.com

2 m.facebook.com

2 duckduckgo.com

1 Other 240 

 Top Referrers – All Time 

www.google.com 9,395 

gophergenealogy.blogspot.com 3,446 

www.bing.com 884 

networkedblogs.com 645 

www.inboundlinks.win 616 

geneabloggerstribe.com 451 

www.geneamusings.com 416 

m.facebook.com 375 

gophergenealogy.blogspot.fr 363 

Other 193,736 

 Audience - Pageviews by Browsers – Last seven days 

Chrome 146 

Safari 77 

Firefox 30 

MSIE 7 

Mobile 2

BingPreview 1 

GSA 1 

 Audience - Pageviews by Browsers – All Time 

Chrome 90,409 

Firefox 60,030 

MSIE 36,570 

Safari 15,548 

Opera 2,758 

Mobile Safari 730 

BingPreview 638 

Konqueror 489 

Mobile 419 

GSA 366 

OS;FBSV 291 

HeadlessChrome241 

Chromeframe 133 

CriOS 132 

SamsungBrowser121 

Maxthon 117 

Silk 108 

Dragon 69 

Iron 35 

Other 2,736 

 Pageviews by Operating Systems – Last seven days 

Windows 168 

Macintosh 71 

Linux 7 

iPhone 7 

Android 6

iPad 4 

compatible 1 

 Pageviews by Operating Systems – All Time 

Windows 111,642 

Macintosh 73,529 

Linux 13,008 

iPhone 3,366 

Android 3,147 

iPad 2,776 

Unix 1,381 

X11 526 

compatible 243 

BlackBerry 86 

Windows NT 6.1 80 

iPod 50 

Unknown 24 

Android 9 13 

Android 5.1.1 12 

Nokia 11 

Android 6.0.1 6 

MSIE 9.0 6 hp-tablet 6 

Other 709 

Last seven days 

United States 153 

Germany 69 

Canada 11 

Indonesia 6 

Netherlands 6 

Russia 6 

Sweden 3 

Belgium 2 

France 1 

Other 7 

 All Time 

United States 113,158 

Sweden 18,932 

Russia 17,413 

Germany 9,120 

France 6,433 

Netherlands 5,729 

Ukraine 5,165 

Canada 3,383 

Romania 1,743 

United Kingdom1.69K 

Indonesia 1.09K 

United Arab Emirates 1.01K 

Unknown Region 926 

Poland 775 

Philippines 753 

Turkey 698 

Spain 576 

Latvia 568 

Turkmenistan 435 

Other 29,251 

 Gopher Genealogy by Susan LeBlanc provides information about research, lectures, published articles and book reviews, and Serendipity Moments that are the results of searching for ancestors both personally and for clients. The objective of the blog is for others to receive insight and inspiration in doing their family history research. It is an evolving method of communication and input from reviewers is welcome.

Surviving Lock Down

A year ago today I signed up for Zoom and attended the first of many group meetings. As the time went on I attended many more such meetings with many different types of groups. With things advancing quickly with restrictions it was so nice to have a means of communicating and learning. The Genealogy community found a whole new method of interacting as almost all in person events were cancelled. Our local Genealogical Forum of Oregon went virtual, with general meetings, seminars and a week-long virtual Open House that included eighteen free presentations. The sixteen Special Interest groups provide a wide range of learning opportunities and I attended ten of them, some on a monthly basis and all for free and some with handouts. As the year progressed the GFO volunteers worked hard to provide virtual access to records and websites for the use of their members. The more recent attendance has grown into the hundreds. Familysearch, Ancestry and My Heritage sponsored the RootsTech Virtual Conference and it had attendance in the millions. Instead of racing down hallways, paying for airfare, motels and other expenses we met the challenges of planning our time around the classes, presentations, virtual vendors hall and so much more. By the time this occurred in February people had adapted to learning online. The truly adventurous attended presentations throughout the United States and around the World. My favorite was a presentation on the customs of food and drink of old England with the group from Lincolnshire, England. The most challenging part of the process was calendaring the events so that I did not double book a reservation or forget about watching those for which I had a reservation. So, what is your take on the massive growth of online virtual learning opportunities and the formats for attending them? Do you have a favorite presentation format? While Zoom was the new kid on the block, with some learning curves involved it is my favorite. It is especially great with children and older adults. The biggest blessing of the entire year was being able to communicate with family, friends and neighbors in a virtual format. What it did for our genealogy work was truly amazing.

Vaccine Recovery 2021

 

Vaccine Recovery 2021

Before I had the two Covid vaccine shots I worked hard to finish up projects and organize my office. The first shot was okay with some discomfort mostly to my hands and feet related to my neuropathy. The second shot has thrown me a curve ball. After two phone visits with my doctor I gave up and had an office visit. It turns out that my sciatica has been activated and generating a lot of pain. My hands and feet continue to be aggravated. Nine days of discomfort with lots of sympathy from the doctor. She ordered pain patches, rest and patience. Now I look around my office with little energy to consider doing much. Even the 677 page book on the History of Woburn is a challenge. The next 830 page book on The History of Lexington is not due to arrive for another month.  I am working very slowly on probate documents from 1696 and it is a struggle. Anyone want to give a try at transcribing it?

Roots Tech 2021 Friday Day 2

For Day 2 I tried to listen to all of the Key Note speakers I missed the day before. There were 24 Key Note speakers and 8 Heritage Highlights which I saw only the second one. My favorite speaker was Sharon Leslie Morgan. Then I added to my Playlist for future viewing in the coming year. Of the 1,000+ sessions within eight different tracks there is quite a variety available. Some are a series of sessions. I choose 127 sessions, which means viewing two or three a week. They do vary in length. It is highly recommended that the overall list be examined prior to such an event. One thing about a virtual conference with so many new components is there is little time during the actual event for organizing. There were not really any structured breaks, so knowing the overall schedule one wants to follow is important. 

I spent a lot of time working in Relative Finder. What I loved about the Relative Finder was finding that I match with Pat Richley-Erickson , Peggy Clemens Lauritzen, David E. Rencher, Thomas MacEntee, Judy G. Russell, Karen Stanbary, CG, Thomas Jay Kemp, Tom Jones, Randy (CA),  Ce Ce Moore and over 46,000 others of the one million plus who attended this historic conference. Surely one of the miracles of this pandemic. This group all connect with me and the Tidd family. Another large group of matches are eleven for the Rounds and Strong families. Many of us hope this feature is available in the future!

Roots Tech 2021 Saturday Day 3

It was certainly a great conference. The last session with Elder and Sister Holland was the best. What a sweet couple and their special family. The entire conference was wonderful. From the Main Stage to the Song Contest excitement filled this experience. There were 1500 songs submitted and one could view the musicians and participate in voting. The Graphics, the staging for the interviews, great transitioning were all key to the flow of the conference. The total number of registrants was over one million and from 226 countries. Be sure to check out the Expo Hall, Discovery and Activity Pages. The Guide Me section is extremely helpful and if you have questions use the Help button.  

To the coordinators and everyone who worked so hard at creating this first class experience, Thank you so very much!

 

Roots Tech Wednesday 24 February 2021

Roots Tech Wednesday 24 February 2021 and Thursday 25 February 2021

Just spent two hours at Roots Tech and did not even get to the exhibit hall! The first keynote speaker was great, but there were Internet difficulties with reception problems. Then I moved on to the view some of the pages. On the first page it shows there are 501,203 participants and a map of the 226 places they are globally from. In the Connections portion there are 267,803 people with a total of 55,838,115 matches having been made. There is a map showing where matches are concentrated. The best surprise was when my youngest daughter showed up as my closest match. I have a total of 300 matches, one close relative, two 3rd cousins, twelve 4th cousins, some 5th cousins and the rest 6th and beyond. There is a map showing all of them being from the United States. Then I just kind of looked over the website and took a tour of the Family History Library to see how things have changed there. I will try later to view the keynote speaker. My final stop was the Song Contest where I listened to twelve artists in three categories perform their songs. They are very talented. I look forward to seeing who the winner is. I submitted three, one for each category. Now to get some rest so I will be ready for a full day tomorrow.

Post 400 - Organization a Lifetime Project

 Organization is a lifetime project requiring timely updates! The gophers have been very helpful. I have accomplished a lot in the past year.

In the lateral files are all of my personal family history notebooks. There are 15 totes in total. There are 5 boxes from my mother's estate. They are all sorted and labeled. The totes include 4 of my mother's, 2 of her mother's, 1 for the Tidd family, 1 for all of my other ancestors, 1 for the Watt's family, 1 for the Strong family books, 1 for clients, 1 for office decorations. There are 3 for miscellaneous things of mine. There are also six boxes of miscellaneous stuff from other ancestors. After working intently on the Tidd family book this past year I need to go through that tote and sort all of the materials for them, of which there are a few research notebooks as well as the main family notebook. Its a long and winding road. What Covid-19 has taught me is that being at home is a very good thing as long as I get out occasionally. Going down memory lane can be very therapeutic.

This is post 400. This year celebrating ten years of writing on gophergenealogy.blogspot.com

Susan Waters The gophers are the two stuffed animals sitting on my printer. They encourage me, motivate me, and like to travel when that is an option. Many genealogists have such able staff in their home offices.

Record Setting Celebrations

 It really was a record setting day for me. This week should be a record setting week. Counting down for views on my blog gophergenealogy.blogspot.com. It will be ten years in April and it is amazing to say we are at 199316 views as of this morning. Only need 684 to go!!!

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Shared with Your friends

This week is record setting for me in doing genealogy work. My six week community school class is finished. Got great news from Poland for a client. Provided back up PAF for friends visiting from Utah. Put a wrap on the next issue of the Bulletin for GFO as the current issue editor. Lunch out with our group that inlcudes a Catholic, a Quaker and a Mormon, acutally discussing religion and research being done for one of their families. A quick trip to another friend's home to exchange genealogy books and materials. The newly organized office is wonderful to work in as I pursue more projects. And this is only Tuesday!

Organizing Family Collections 2021

 I just had a 2016 post show up in my feed. It is just six months after our move and it lists my projects that need to be worked on. Here is what I have accomplished and what I have yet to do. This year I made more headway than in all the other four years before that combined. Something about staying home and having hours to work on these tasks. Looking forward to accomplishing the rest soon!

Projects Completed:

2'X2' stack of papers from multiple ancestral families sorted

resulted in four totes: our ancestors research, Tidd family research, Client research and Watts family research.

Fifteen boxes of children's school work and other items sorted

Ten totes of my mother's things sorted

Postcard collections sorted and put into notebooks

Forty albums of my mother's pictures condensed into ten albums and shared with siblings

Projects to complete:

Five boxes of children's school work and other items sorted

Five boxes of my mother's things to sort

Eight boxes of family keepsakes to sort

Five boxes of family pictures from 1992 to sort and put into albums

Ten picture albums to be redone from magnetic albums

Writing the annual family newsletter

We will see where I am by the end of 2021.

Oregon Research Resources

 

Oregon Research Resources

 

Oregon History Timeline

https://www.ereferencedesk.com/resources/state-history-timeline/oregon.html

 

Oregon State Archives

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_State_Archives

 

Oregon State Archives – Oregon Historical Records Index

https://genealogy.state.or.us/

 

Oregon State Archives – Early Oregonian Search

https://secure.sos.state.or.us/prs/processLogin.do

 

Oregon-California Trail Association

http://www.octa-trails.org

 

OCTA Paper Trail

https://www.paper-trail.org/Search

 

Oregon State Genealogy-Government Resources

https://sos.oregon.gov/blue-book/Pages/facts/topics/genealogy-government.aspx

 

Oregon Historical Society – Research and Library

https://www.ohs.org/

 

The Oregon Encyclopedia – Oregon Historical Society

https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/lucier_etienne_1793_1853_/

 

ORGenWeb

https://www.orgenweb.org/

 

Familysearch.org - Oregon, United States Genealogy, Migration Routes, online catalog

https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Oregon,_United_States_Genealogy

https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Oregon_Trail

 

Genealogical Forum of Oregon – online catalog

https://gfo.org/

 

Oregon History and Genealogy

http://www.oregongenealogy.com/

 

Oregon Genealogical Society

https://oregongs.org/

 

Oregon State Library

https://library.oregonstate.edu/

 

University of Oregon Knight Library

https://library.uoregon.edu/

Cyndi’s List United States – Oregon

https://www.cyndislist.com/us/or/

 

Legends of America

https://www.legendsofamerica.com/north-west-company/

 

Champoeg Meetings

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champoeg_Meetings

 

Oregon Trail

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Trail

 

Oregon Trail Historic Routes

https://oregoncf.org/Templates/media/files/grants/RFP_with_OHT_Map.pdf

 

Hawaiian passenger lists

https://www.germanroots.com/miscports/hawaii.html

 

Jason Lee, Protestant Christian Minister for Methodist Episcopal Church

https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/lee_jason/#.YBM8nTFKiUk

St. Paul Mission Historical Society, collections of digitized records

http://spmhs.com/

https://spmhs.pastperfectonline.com/

 

The Early History of the Catholic Church in Oregon by Msgr. Patrick S. Brennan

https://monsignorpat.com/early-catholic-church-in-oregon.html

 

Catholic Sentinel Archives

https://catholicsentinel.org/Content/About-Us/Archives/15/81

 

Catholic Church records of the Pacific Northwest: compiled by Harriet Duncan Munnick

https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000631128

 

George Brown French Prarie Historian, donated his collection to GFO

https://catholicsentinel.org/Content/Social/Social/Article/George-Brown/-2/-2/37654

 

Msgr. Wilfred P. Schoenberg – The Historian of the Catholic Church in the Oregon Country

https://www.amazon.com/History-Catholic-Pacific-Northwest-1743-1983/dp/0912405252

 

Catholic Pioneers of the Oregon Country

https://www.jstor.org/stable/25011498?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

 

Oregon Catholic Historical Society

https://catholicsentinel.org/Content/News/Local/Article/Society-members-seek-to-preserve-Oregon-s-wealth-of-Catholic-history/2/35/1742

 

The Oregon Indian reservations have websites that include some historical info:

Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde - Grand Ronde Tribal History Curriculum

https://www.grandronde.org/history-culture/culture/curriculum/

 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA33xEMg9mbqQFEHKsyocT3YRdmzzlneX

 

Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation

https://ctuir.org/about/history-culture/

 

Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs

https://warmsprings-nsn.gov/history/

 

Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians

http://www.ctsi.nsn.us/

http://www.ctsi.nsn.us/chinook-indian-tribe-siletz-heritage/our-history/part-i

Cultural areas of pre-Columbian North America [Alfred Kroeber]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States

 

Iroquois

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois

 

 

 

Thank you to Gerry and Connie Lenzen for many of the links to Catholic and the Oregon Indian Reservation information.

The Tidd Family Old Violin - Family Treasures

 

To those who can truly appreciate a fantastic find:

I just had to share this. After 20+ years of research and gathering family relics the highlight came last night. My Aunt by marriage called yesterday (10 August 1999) and said she had an old violin she would like to pass on to me. I had read of the Old Violin of Daniel Tidd of 1824 of Holliston, Mass. and Independence, Iowa, but never did I ever dream that I would see it. It was the thrill of a true genealogist to be given possession of such a treasure. My Aunt had been given it by my grandmother Zella Straw Olsen, whose mother was Lucy Tidd Straw, whose father was Daniel Tidd. "He bought it in 1842 on the island of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean when he was an eighteen year old sailor on the whaling ship the Endeavor. He bought it from another sailor for $8.00 and who said he had stolen it from a Negro. Daniel played it his entire life until passing on in 1913. He brought it with him when he came to Independence in 1860. His son Herbert H. Tidd inherited it. It was cracked so it was sent to be repaired in 1917 to Greeley, Colorado to Geo. Fisk. Herb Tidd played it for several years before he gave it to the family of Abby Tidd Darling of Greeley in 1937. Cora Darling Bliss sent it to my grandmother in 1955." My grandmother in turn passed it on to my Aunt who played the violin. I am not sure why she choose to pass it on to me when she has children of her own, but I am very grateful she did. It is in a handmade wood case with the trademark G&B. The violin has initials carved into the side that are difficult to make out. It is battered and scared like in the story of the old violin. I know nothing of violins, but I know it will always be one of our family treasures.

Susan LeBlanc, Oregon

Story of the Old Violin

 

            These words were given by Herbert H. Tidd when he brought the violin to Greeley, Colo. to be given to Donald E. Bliss.

            Summer of 1937

            Father sailed on a whaling ship, the “Endeavor” in 1842 from New Bedford, Mass. They were three months reaching Madagaskar Island in the Indian Ocean.

            He was a lad of 18 years.

            He had left home unknown to his parents and sisters at Holliston, Mass. When they went to his room they found these words on the chest- “Gone to Sea”.

            While in the Island he made a bargain with another sailor giving him the sum of $8.00 for this violin. This sailor said he had stolen the violin form a Negro.

Father owned and played on it until his death in 1913. I used it for a number of years in orchestra, the Allerton Orchestra of Independence, Iowa.

            When on the return trip to New Bedford, Mass. in 1845 they stopped at the historic Island of St. Helena in the Southern Atlantic visiting the building in which Napoleon lived during his exile.

            After that return Father ran on ships sailing between Boston and Caracas, Venezuela.

            His trade was that of a shoe maker while at home.

            In 1860 he came to Iowa – brought the violin with him.

            At the time the violin being cracked and became quite unusable. It was about 1917 that it was sent to Geo. Fisk, Greeley, Colo. violin maker. He did a good job of repairing it.

            Happy memories of seeing and hearing Uncle Daniel play on his violin will remain long with his friends and relatives.

 

C.D.B.

(Cora Darling Bliss)

December 21 to 31. Ten Amazing Days

 We have been home a week. Ten days in Wyoming and going from 65' above sea level to over 6500' sea level and now back to 65' has done wonders for me. Not to mention the weather being near zero degrees most of the time we were there. It is pleasant to be back in Oregon. We loved seeing our daughter and her family after over two years apart. Every moment together was amazing. Our wonderful children gave us the gift of plane fare, then they had our carpets cleaned and celebrated at our house without us. Flying was amazing and the airline employees were wonderful. We did learn some new tricks with the Covid restrictions. People for the most part were courteous and helpful. Everyone wore their masks and kept their social distance. After weighing the risks of going and even wondering after we went if we should have gone, I feel we made the right choice. Now we are back to staying home. It is tough and we are very grateful for telephones and internet connections. Making it through day by day is certainly challenging.