Saturday, September 5, 2009

79th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy Posted!

The 79th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy has been posted! You can read it here. The topic for the next edition will be on
"Family Fun! Research an event your ancestor may have attended. Did your
ancestor live within a few blocks of the parade route for the annual Fourth of
July parade in the town where they lived? If your family lived in a rural area,
perhaps they attended a county or state fair. If they lived in a big city,
perhaps they attended a play or movie opening. Was there an amusement park or
traveling carnival near the area your family was from, one they might have
visited? Were there fireworks displays in the town your family was from? How
much do you know about the types of entertainment your ancestors might have
enjoyed? Check into it then write it up! This "fun" edition of the Carnival of
Genealogy will be hosted by Jasia on the Creative Gene blog. The deadline
for submissions is September 15th."


Enjoy!

15th Edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture Posted!

The 15th edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture has been posted! You can read it here. The topic for the next edition will be on Irish portraits, and you can read more about it here. Enjoy!

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Don't Forget!

I just want to remind everyone that entries for this upcoming edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy are due the 19th. The topic for this edition will be a carousel, and can be submitted here.

Also, I need someone to host the October edition. (I don't have anyone for December, but I might host that edition.) If you are interested in hosting the October edition please contact me at jess_history at yahoo dot com as soon as possible. Thanks!

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

A Family Reunion From A Child's Perspective ...

For this upcoming edition of the Carnival of Genealogy, I am supposed to write about family reunions. I have only been to one family reunion so far in my life, and as I do not know about any other family reunions in my family before my time, I'll write about the one I attended.

I was eight years old when I attended the reunion with my mom, brother and paternal grandparents, and in addition to my immediate family, my great-uncle and great-aunt also attended the reunion. They, of course, drove separate from us. The reunion was in Pennsylvania, and my grandfather drove the van we had at the time. (I don't know where exactly it was in Pennsylvania except that it was pretty close to the border with New York.) My dad did not accompany us to reunion because he had to work. I do remember the drive to the reunion, but I don't remember if I saw any road signs. All I knew was that the family reunion was on my grandma's side of the family.

The hotel where the reunion was held (and where we stayed) had, from what I remember, an Irish theme. I can't remember the name, but I can still recall what the place looked like. (Of course, I also took pictures, so that is probably why I remember so much about the place.) Outside of the family members I mentioned above, I did not know anyone else there at the reunion, and I don't really recall interacting with the other people at the reunion. What I do remember was that the reunion was in late October, and was primarily a weekend event. I might have had to miss a day or two of school, but the reunion wasn't very long. Towards the end of the reunion, there was a little trick-or-treat event set up for the children, and I remember wearing the costume I had that year for Halloween. Unfortunately, my brother and I missed most of the event, but our mom took pictures of us in our costumes.

Since I really did not know anyone, I think I hung around my family most of the time, although I do remember wandering around a little bit. (Unfortunately, I don't remember everything.) I did leave the hotel a couple of times, but only with other family members. One of the outings from the hotel was with my grandparents, and I remember we drove across the boarder into New York to buy lotto tickets. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at a park (probably a state park) and walked through the park. I think we originally stopped to see a waterfall, because I remember walking to the waterfall in the park. Unfortunately, I don't remember the name of the park or the waterfall. At one time I did have some information on the park and the waterfall, but the information was thrown out years ago before I had a chance to really look at it.

The second outing that I remember was to a restaurant, and the restaurant was in an old, white house. I don't remember the food at the place, but I do remember the Halloween decorations that were set up behind the building since I took many pictures of them. (I think I drove my mom nuts with all the pictures I took, but mostly I remember being fascinated with the decorations. Of course, as a kid, I was into Halloween, so it was hard for me to ignore.)

Outside of the events above, I don't remember too much more. I do remember that there was a group picture taken of everyone because my grandma held up a copy of the Livonia Observer, so that the picture would end up in the newspaper. The picture was eventually printed in the newspaper, but it wasn't put into the newspaper until some months later. (A classmate happened to see the picture and mentioned it to the class. At the time, we were supposed to pick articles out of the newspaper, and she happened to notice my name in the picture. Of course, I didn't know until then that the picture had been printed.) After it was printed, I cut-out the image, and I still have it in a scrapbook.

Before the reunion ended, I think every family member received a mug and plastic cup with the name and year of the reunion because we brought home a few of them. Of course, I don't know for sure, the mugs are probably the only mementos (besides the photographs) my family still has from the reunion. (My grandma did receive some information on her family, but I wasn't with her at the time so I can't say when during the reunion she received it.)

So, as you can see, most of my memories of the family reunion are random. Of course, I was really young at the time, so I did not know what was going on other than what I saw or heard. As for whether or not I would ever attend another family reunion, I probably would since I had a fairly positive experience with the one I attended. I just only wished I understood better what was going on at the time.

Google Analytics Report For August 2009

Another month has gone by, and that means that it is time for another Google Analytics report! Here are the results for August 2009:

The top ten countries, in number of visits, are:
  1. United States - 244 visits
  2. Canada - 25 visits
  3. United Kingdom - 15 visits
  4. Netherlands - 6 visits
  5. Australia - 5 visits
  6. Germany - 5 visits
  7. Philippines - 3 visits
  8. India - 3 visits
  9. Argentina - 3 visits
  10. Belgium - 3 visits

The top ten states in the United States, in number of visits, are:

  1. Indiana - 29 visits
  2. California - 27 visits
  3. Texas - 24 visits
  4. Michigan - 18 visits
  5. Illinois - 18 visits
  6. Ohio - 14 visits
  7. New York - 14 visits
  8. Virginia - 8 visits
  9. Wisconsin - 8 visits
  10. Pennsylvania - 8 visits

The top ten articles, in number of views, are:

  1. An Award! - 24 views
  2. Classes Have Begun! - 20 views
  3. Breakthroughs and Roadblocks In Researching My German Ancestors ... - 19 views
  4. 16th Edition of the Smile For the Camera Carnival Posted! - 18 views
  5. My New Year's Resolutions - Eight Months Later - 17 views
  6. 22nd Edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy Posted! -15 views
  7. 14th Edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture Posted! - 13 views
  8. An Early Irish History Book ... - 12 views
  9. Tombstone Maker Website - 11 views
  10. 77th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy Posted! - 11 views

Well, that is it for this month's report. To my readers, I just want to say, "Thank you for reading!" Enjoy!

Sunday, August 30, 2009

And Another Late Saturday Night Fun Entry ...

(I'm late again in posting my response to another Saturday Night Fun entry, but I still want to participate. Thus, I am still posting this entry even after a few weeks have gone by. - September 19, 2009)

For this Saturday Night Fun entry, Randy is asking other genealogy bloggers to post the number of ancestors they have met, and I've decided to post all of the ancestors I have met in my life so far. I won't be posting the names of the ancestors I have met because most of them are still alive. So, here are the ancestors I have met:

I have met my parents and all four of my grandparents. As I stated above, I am not posting their names because in all but one case, they are still alive.

I have also met two of my great-grandmothers, even though I don't remember them. (Both of my great-grandmothers died when I was a young child.) One of my great-grandmothers was from my father's side of the family, and the other great-grandmother was from my mother's side of the family.

So, I've met eight of my ancestors, even though I don't remember two of them.