myHERITAGE HAPPENS

The 89th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy asks us to compose a poem that tells of our family history. It can rhyme, not rhyme, be funny, serious, illustrated or not. It is however suppose to be appropriate as an introduction for a book or a video. There have been some significant changes in the Carnival of Genealogy and the entries accepted. Because there are so many genealogy blogs now, Jasia has limited the number of articles she will print to each edition of the COG. She has also would like to keep the COG "upscale." There are over 800 blogs and I can totally understand her decisions. I had fun writing this little ditty. I will enter it, and see what happens. Even if it doesn't make it into the the COG, I am able to share it with you here. Hope you enjoy! Introducing: My Family History If I may, let me introduce to you A bit of history and genealogy too. This book will explain what I have learned and why my passion continues to burn. From Norwegian desc

On January 22, 2010, while I was away on vacation, Lori from the Genealogy and Me blog awarded me with this most special award. Here is what she wrote: " Lori said... You have been so supportive of my "Genealogy and Me" blog that I wanted to thank you in a special way. Thanks to Robin at My Two Blessings (www.mytwoblessings.com/ I discovered the "A Blogger's Best Friend" award created by "Bandit" at the world from down here (http://theworldfromdownhere.blogspot.com/2009/04/drumroll-please.html) According to Bandit, the "A Blogger's Best Friend Award" shall be given to your most loyal blog readers. Thus, the award should be given to a follower of yours who takes the time to comment regularly on many of your posts. In addition his or her blog should be creative, funny and always entertaining. Upon receiving this award, pass it along to two fellow bloggers who fit this criteria." The following link will show you who else Lori has

I came home from vacation to find that I was awarded not once, but twice again the Happy 101 Award! What a surprise that was! I would like to thank Mavis from Georgia Black Crackers and Sheri from Family Twigs for making my welcome home such a delight! I am blushing....and feel so very honored. Thank you Mavis and Sheri! I was first given this award by Becky at Grace and Glory . You can see I already filled the requirements of this award at that time on my post here . Thanks for stopping by! Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts!

I have made my way back home after a wonderful two week vacation. Vacations are always so nice, but I do look forward to returning home. After about 10 days I start missing my family. This vacation was scheduled fairly close with the vacation to Costa Rica in November. Two and a half weeks in Costa Rica, getting ready for Christmas, packing up from Christmas and another two week vacation has sure made the last three months fly by! We had a wonderful cruise and a fantastic time in Cabo. We parasailed in Puerto Vallarta, toured and shopped in Mazatlan and "Zip Lined" in Cabo. We were entertained by many great shows on the cruise and ate to our hearts content, plus some. I was pampered with massages and pedicures, lounged in the sun, and enjoyed a "few" tropical drinks. I am absolutely amazed at how much I slept, how much sun I received and how awesome snorkeling was with the most beautiful fish I have ever seen. We spent the two weeks with many friends. There were fou

Fruit. Farmer's Market, San Jose, Costa Rica. November, 2009. Digital Image. Held by Cheryl. [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE] California. 2010

My grandsons feet at three months old. February 2007. Scanned image. Held my Cheryl [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE] California 2010 Title edited 1/24/10; left out the "d" in Wordless. Will blame it on rushing away for my two week vacation...

This morning I am flying out to board a ship for a Mexican Riviera Cruise! I am looking forward to the trip very much, vacations are always wonderful. There is a group of us going, mostly friends from one of the Harley Chapters I belong to. A couple of relatives are making the trip as well. The scheduled stops are Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo. When we dock in Cabo, my husband and I are leaving the ship and spending a week in Cabo with friends of ours who have a suite in one of the resorts. In fact it will be the same place we were at a year ago. So, since I will be cruising, I will not be posting to my blog, or Twittering, or playing with Facebook. I have been told the cost of using the internet on the ship is outrageous. I have debated about even bringing my laptop, but I just can't imagine not having it for two weeks. When in Cabo, I will have plenty of my own free time to play. Still, I do not plan to pay for internet service while in Cabo either. (But you never know, I co

Becky at Grace and Glory surprised me this morning with this Happy 101 Award. Thank you Becky! What a wonderful surprise! I appreciate you thinking of me! The responsibilities that go with this award are as follows. I am to list 10 things that make me happy. 1. My grandchildren, the prince and princess. 2. My children and son in law. 3. My husband and all he does for me. 4. Not having to work. 5. Genealogy. 6. Doing any of my several crafts. 7. My laptop. 8. All of my wonderful friends, online and offline. 9. All of my extended family. 10. Reading Now I am to choose 10 other bloggers to pass this award to, yes only 10. For this I will choose 1. Ginisology 2. Flipside 3. Genealogy and Me 4. Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories 5. Greta's Genealogy Blog 6. Apple's Tree 7. The Educated Genealogist 8. Tracing My Roots 9. Genealogy and Me 10. Twigs of Yore Please, if you haven't already checked out these blogs, do so! They are wonderful blogs. And, don't forget to leave a commen

On this date nine years ago my mother passed away. Today I am filled with memories of her and her life. Although we didn't always see eye to eye, we were pretty close. I am the eldest of the children and she was always the toughest on me. Isn't that the way? As an adult I have grown to understand many situations I couldn't understand as a child. Mom always did the best she knew how, just as most mother's do, especially since none of us are given "classes" on how to be perfect parents. My mother didn't want us to follow in some of the same footsteps she had taken as a teenager. None of us did, so she must have done something right. She never explained her feelings to us so understanding her rhymes and reasons for what she would implement was near impossible. It was important to my mother to make sure the family gathered together for all birthdays Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. She had a fear that as we became adults we wouldn't spend time together

Picture of telephone taken at The National Museum in San Jose, Costa Rica, Nov. 2009. Digital image. Held by Cheryl [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE] California. 2010

William E. Hohimer was born March 1, 1846 in Benton Missouri. He passed away May 7, 1932. He is buried in Lawson Cemetery, in Yale, Payne, Oklahoma. This is my second great grandfather. Supposedly, the name Hohimer is altered from the German name Hochheim. My research doesn't go back to the name variations yet but then it hasn't gone back to Germany yet either. William was married twice. His first marriage was to Margaret Catherine Woodward. Together they had seven children. Margaret and three of their children died of typhoid fever. Margaret passed away in 1879. William then married Louvina Shouse with whom he had one more child. My line follows the children of William and Margaret. William had a fairly long life having lived until he the age of 86. He was a private in the 17th Kansas Infantry and received a pension . Watch for more about William! Thanks for stopping by! Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts!

Are you one to make homemade gifts? I made a few this past year. I used to make many each year, but life took over and there was never enough time, until now, a time called retirement! Although I haven't been as crafty as I would have liked this past year I did make a few things. The most important of those that I made were photo books. I put together one for my father early last year for his birthday. It focused on his ancestors and his life up until he met my mother. Each of my sisters received one for their birthdays also. My sisters loved them and they generated many questions. Now they are wanting the next volume, and wondering if I will be doing a photo book of my mother and her family. For Christmas I did a photo book of my granddaughter's first year. I had done the same for my grandsons first year. These also went over very well. I don't know what it is about these picture books, but I love them! I think it is the convenience, organization, color and simplicity of

Randy Seaver at GeneaMusings asked the genealogy blogging community what was their best genealogy moment in 2009. This question was posted for this weeks "Saturday Night Genealogy Fun." I have thought about it off and on all day long and have come to the conclusion that this hasn't been fun! Sorry, Randy, for me it was work! I suppose I just don't have one major element that pops out for me that I can say, "Ah ha, that is it! That was my best Genealogy moment for the year!" So, instead I thought of several genealogy moments I have had and chose one, the one I felt came the closest to that "Ah ha" moment. Back in August a second cousin found me, we made contact through Facebook. From that moment forward I have been gathering so much information on my WESTBY line. I have collected many pictures and stories thanks to this cousin who got me in contact with another cousin who has done genealogy for many years. I had very little on this line, but shared

Mary Elizabeth (Walters) Palmer was born February 20, 1945 in Merced, California. She lived a very short life as she died when she was only 42 years old. She was my husband's first wife and I worked with her for about a year, so I knew her as well. Liz, as she was known, lived in Arkansas at the time of her death. She was about to move back to California when she was murdered. She was brought back to Livermore, California to be buried. Services were held on June 2, 1987. Naturally, because she was a part of my husband's life and my life also, we both have history, emotions and sentiments regarding her life and her death. Unbelievably, it has almost been twenty three years since her services. My family still suffers when reminiscing about her. She however, suffers no more. Thanks for stopping by! Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts!

I have done mine, have you done yours? Computer data back up is what I am talking about! Nice way to start the new year, knowing all of your time consuming, hard work is protected! New year, new decade and I feel safe, my data is all backed up! That is a great feeling. Those who have lost data especially know what a great feeling this is. Thankfully, I have never lost my data and I hope I never experience anything so tragic, especially without a backup. But I have to tell you, I did panic for a minute or two. I have a couple of methods of back up I use. I use Carbonite online as one of my methods. A few months ago I received a new laptop. It took me a long time to transfer everything, what I wanted and how I wanted it, plus I needed to learn Windows Vista. It was all a bit trying for this non-electronic gal. Eventually, I got through the task. Today as I went to back up my files, I realized I hadn't seen Carbonite lately and couldn't remember seeing back ups with it or anyt

Thank goodness it popped in my head before it was to late! I was sitting here sewing the first outfit for my granddaughter, the princess. It is a pants set and I just finished sewing on the word "Love" across the front of the top. While doing this, it dawned on me that I haven't taken a picture of the princess in the dress I was christened in yet! I panicked as I thought of when I took the picture of my daughter in that dress. I believe she was about 6-8 months old. The princess is almost nine months old! I jumped up and ran to get the dress. I knew right where it was! Wow, I haven't looked at this in a long long time! It is actually a slip, and then a dress and then a coat! Three pieces. I didn't remember that. Nowhere on any of these garments do I see a size, but it looks like it will fit the princess still! I unfortunately don't ever remember seeing a photo of myself in this dress, but I do have the photo of my daughter in it. My goal this week will be to t