myHERITAGE HAPPENS

Week #7: Share your holiday traditions. How did you spend the 4th of July? Did the fire truck ever come to your house on Thanksgiving? Share your memories of all holidays, not just the December ones. Thanks to We Tree ( http://wetree.blogspot.com/2009/01/jump-start-your-genealogy-blog-52-ideas.html ) for the inspiration! Other holidays when I was young, besides Christmas, seem pretty far from my mind, other than Easter. On Easter we would go to my grandparents house. Us three girls, dressed in pretty dresses, would look for Easter eggs in their backyard. Oh how the times of dressing up have changed! It was fun, I loved their backyard, there was always something to do. It had a wonderful pond and the ping pong table under a great patio. We would play croquet and jump on a pogo stick. After finding all of our eggs, we would want the adults to hide them again and again. If I remember correctly, I think we had ham for dinner, but regardless, we always had a wonderful meal that my grandmoth

Tablecloth. July 1980. Pleasanton, Ca. Scanned photo. Privately held by Msteri, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE] California. 2009

Betty Sanchez headstone. October 27, 2008. Hayward, California. Digital Image. Privately held by Msteri, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE] California. 2009 Betty Sanchez b. 1906 d. 1993 This doesn't give much information does it? This is my grandmother. I will be applying for a delayed birth certificate for her, which I hope to get out this week. Her life was always very private, we never heard anything about her past. I have her S/S application which states she was born in Rugby, Pierce, North Dakota. We always celebrated her birthday on August 18th and I know she passed on December 30, 1993. This was my maternal grandmother. She had one daughter and one son, each by different marriages. Growing up I was aware that she had been married three times. Once to my mother's father, once to her son's father and once to the man she was married to when she passed. Since she has passed, I have found another marriage, and there possibly may be one more from what I have been told. M

Steve Danko and I have taken some online courses together and I have met him once. Today he was interviewed on KUSF 90.3FM, in San Francisco. He was interviewed by Zbyszek Stanczyk who is the host of Studio Poland, this particular radio station. I had the pleasure of listening to his interview. They spoke of Polish genealogy and Steve's blog, Steve's Genealogy Blog . Beginning genealogy was discussed for the newbies as well as information on Polish specific research. The interview was reminiscent of information that I have been previously privy to regarding his research in the past few years. It reminded me of some of the photos he has shared with our class group. I understand that 2:00pm pacific standard time when the interview posted, was unfortunately the only time we would have been able to hear this. That is just for this interview though. Watch for more from Steve! The interview was very interesting and informative. If you have Polish ancestry, and even if you don't (

I want to thank DianaR at Random Relatives for this wonderful award! I feel so honored! It was such a surprise, it made my day! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! The instructions for the Kreativ Blogger Award are: 1. Copy the award to your site. 2. Link to the person from whom you received the award. 3. Nominate 7 other bloggers. (how to choose only 7!!) 4. Link to those sites on your blog. 5. Leave a message on the blogs you nominate. My nominees for this award are: 1. Apple at Apple's Tree 2. Gini at Ginisology 3. Amanda at A Tale of Two Ancestors 4. JoLyn at Uphill Both Ways 5. Janet at Janet The Researcher 6. Amy at Amy's Genealogy, Etc. Blog 7. Wendy at All My Branches Genealogy It WAS tough to choose only seven!!! Again, many thanks to DianaR for making my day! Thanks for stopping by! Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts! Msteri

Week #6: Let readers in to your kitchen. Discuss your family’s favorite foods. What was a typical Sunday dinner in your childhood house? What did grandma make that had you coming back for more? Were there any dishes that the dog wouldn’t even eat? Thanks to We Tree ( http://wetree.blogspot.com/2009/01/jump-start-your-genealogy-blog-52-ideas.html ) for the inspiration! Hum. As much as I love food, there weren't many dishes that pop out at me as being favorites. We didn't have "typical" Sunday dinners. My first recollections are of my sister and what she would do to get out of eating her vegetables! I can remember her having to sit at the table by herself as a young girl until she finished her food. Even having to sit in the laundry room with her food. I felt so sad for her having to stay there. She would have been about six to eight years old at the time. It seemed like an eternity she sat there. Several years later, as a young teenager I remember her always taking her

Sunset. January 22, 2009 in Cabo, Mexico. Digital Image by Msteri. Privately held by Msteri {ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE] California. 2009 Thanks for stopping by! Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts! Msteri

For some time now I have wanted to meet with a genealogy library docent. Being a working woman had made it difficult for me to do this at the times offered. Now though since I am not working, it finally happened! Last week I met with a docent and found it very interesting. The library had moved it's genealogy section as it re-vamped the area. I had questions from the class I had taken, on how to research in the library. The docent was very helpful. I pointed out the class questions I had and he forged forward into my own research without me even realizing what had happened. Why waste time on someone else's family? I could learn to use the library with my own questions about my personal genealogy. We reviewed the genealogy area and I was curious about the map section and where it was in the library. As it turned out, we ended up using the maps for my research. The docent guided me in a couple areas of my research by sharing some computer links with me that I was unaware of and

One evening last week I was able to attend my local genealogy meeting, which is rare for me as I am usually babysitting my grandson. There are a few meetings that for one reason or another I am extremely interested in and I will elicit my husband to take over the babysitting duties so I can attend. This meeting was one of those meetings. Lisa Louise Cooke from Genealogy Gems Podcast was the speaker for the evening. I had some contact with her a year or so ago via her blog. There were a couple situations where I felt I could possibly meet her, but I never thought I was going to meet her at one of our regular meetings AND she would be the speaker! She did a wonderful presentation. She gave us the background as to how she eventually came to podcasting. She spoke about her podcasts and informed her audience how to listen to them. A Podcast, for those who may be unaware, is like listening to a radio show on your computer or IPOD. I have listened to several of her podcasts and they are alway

Week #5: Talk about your genealogy adventures while on vacation. Doesn’t everyone plan a little genealogy visit during vacation? Take your readers along for the ride. Thanks to We Tree ( http://wetree.blogspot.com/2009/01/jump-start-your-genealogy-blog-52-ideas.html ) for the inspiration! This is from a journal I wrote in when I took my first vacation which involved genealogy. It covers 3 days, the genealogy part of the trip. It is a bit long, but you can read it in "Parts" if you wish, "Part 1, " "Part 2," and " Part 3." Enjoy! Pennsylvania - October 2007 Journal-Part One Sat. Oct 13th We flew in to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Oct. 13th. It was an uneventful, nice flight. We rented a car and drove a couple hours north to the time-share we were staying at in Bushkill Falls. It was a tri level place, a little on the older side, 3 bedrooms and three bathrooms. Served our purpose just fine, even if it was a little large for just the two of us. Tim

Whales. January 29, 2009. Cabo Mexico. Digital Images. Privately held by Msteri [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE] California. 2009

Linda Harding headstone. October 27, 2007. Rowlands Pennsylvania. Digital Image. Privately held by Msteri, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE] California. 2009 Tombstone reads- Linda Harding wife of James P. Watson Jan. 20, 1899 Feb. 21 1976 Linda was my grandfathers sister. I never met her. In fact I never knew about her until I started this wonderful hobby of genealogy. I have many questions, one of which is, I wonder if she ever came to California to visit? What a shame if she did and I never met her. Thanks for stopping by! Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts! Msteri

Having read chapters three and four of this book by Daniel M. Lynch, I thought it was time to give you another update. Have you bought this book yet? If not I highly recommend that you do! Chapter three covers advance searching in Google. I learned so many more search techniques and commands. Well, I read about them, and now I think I need to make a cheat sheet in order to practice and remember all of them! I had never used the advanced search before so this was very interesting and productive information. I haven't played with all of the options yet, but plan to do so before moving on in the book. I recommend you read the book from beginning to end and not jump around in the book, as I know some people do. The reason for this is because the book builds on what you know and you will have a better understanding and reasoning of putting together great queries. You will find some commands you can use with Google, but not with the advanced search option. Also, find out some special sea

(Notes from a study group I attended) Naturalization and District numbers changed between 1933 and 1943. As of the date of the study group there hasn't been a concrete list found which actually describes the changes that were made. Some district headquarters moved from one city to another. There may also have been boundary changes. These boundary changes may have had an impact on the "boundaries and jurisdiction" descriptions. The amount of districts grew during these years also. Not available are the descriptions of the new districts and there boundaries regarding districts 24 through 29, although some may seem evident. At jewishgen.org there is a list of the district numbers during these years. It lists the district number, INS Naturalization Offices and the District Boundaries and Jurisdictions. The list should be used to take the district number on a manifest to find the general geographic area in the United States. The link to this page is here . (This study group fo

The next edition of DearMYRTLE'S "Get Organized" is out for February! I have been anxiously waiting for this month's plan. February's checklist is a little shorter, 12 pages, and Dear Myrtle says that is because this is a shorter month! The excerpts she shares on her site are regarding "RSS" and "Taking care of family photos." Remember, you can download her plan and it is free! (DearMYRTLE suggests you view the plan from the site though as there are links to connect with) So, be sure to get on over to DearMyrtle and check it out how we can get more organized this month! Thanks for stopping by! Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts! Msteri

I think I have two more blogging prompts to do in order to be caught up. Here is Week Four's prompt! Week #4: Take a genealogy day trip and blog about it. Discover the local history and genealogy in your area. Take a trip to a cemetery or other historic location. Describe the day, what you learned, where you went, how it looked, how it sounded. Armchair genealogists will love the mini travelogue. Thanks to We Tree ( http://wetree.blogspot.com/2009/01/jump-start-your-genealogy-blog-52-ideas.html ) for the inspiration! Although I chose a rainy day to do this, I enjoyed my excursion today. I chose to visit a cemetery that is close to my home. I had been at this cemetery once before, but it was only to speak to someone regarding information needed for an associate business in another town. Today I visited as a stranger, because inquiring minds wanted to know! I walked the whole cemetery, after I had completed a two mile walk earlier this morning. This particular cemetery is on a main s

Playa Grande. January 29, 2009. Cabo, Mexico. Digital image by Msteri. Privately held by Msteri [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE] California. 2009

Yes, I know, I am behind! I am going to catch up on these prompts, so bear with me! Week three's blogging prompt is~ "Tombstone Tuesday, Wordless Wednesday, etc. Many genealogy bloggers post photos of grave stones on Tombstone Tuesday or a photo worth 1,000 silent words on Wordless Wednesday. Participate in these informal events or invent your own." Thanks to We Tree ( http://wetree.blogspot.com/2009/01/jump-start-your-genealogy-blog-52-ideas.html ) for the inspiration! I have participated in Tombstone Tuesday and Wordless Wednesday in the past! These are wonderful ideas for bloggers to do posts on! Although I haven't been participating as of late, you can expect to see more coming soon! I am not sure if I will participate in them every week, but I will participate again as you will see. Sometimes I have difficulty finding a picture I want to share with you, and sometimes I may have other ideas I want to blog about, but I will participate in each of these events again

Many thanks goes out to Barbara Poole for writing another great article to post to my blog! Now that I am unemployed I will be taking some of her advice! What timing for this article Barbara, thank you! Please read and enjoy, you too may find some of the suggestions she offers may be helpful for you! Are some of you trying to cut back on spending? There are many hints of how to do that in the papers, magazines and on TV. But how do we cut back on our genealogy needs? Many of us, who own computers probably subscribe to one or two expensive genealogy databases, such as http://www.ancestry.com/ or the New England Historical Genealogical Society at http://www.newenglandancestors.org/ . These subscriptions cost $75 and up per year. If you want to drop your subscription, it doesn’t mean it has to be permanent. A short break from one of them could be a nice change for you. Several ideas on how to scale down are addressed below. Many local libraries offer the two above subscriptions for the p

I have to say that when I came home from vacation and found a comment on my blog from Daniel M. Lynch, the author of "Google your Family Tree," I was more than surprised! I was honored that he took the time to leave a comment on my blog! He commented about me taking his book on my vacation. The comment is posted after this article "New Items Going with Me On Vacation." Now, how special is that? I have to say it made my day! Thank you Mr. Lynch for your comment and for making my day! I wasn't able to read as much of the book as I would have liked while I was on vacation, but then I was on vacation! I did read the first couple of chapters out of fourteen and thought I would share my thoughts thus far. The Dedication, Acknowledgements and Introduction were great reading! The dedication had me thinking of my grandson and wondering what the computer world will be like when he is my age. The Acknowledgements Mr. Lynch listed were interestings as several of the names a