myHERITAGE HAPPENS 2012-2013

What can I say? Whose idea was it to get my own domain anyway? Why mine, of course! Seemed simple enough, as other's have bought their own domain names and I haven't heard any issues from them, why should I be any different? Well, let me tell you, I grew up with a phrase stuck to me that said "Always had to be different, doesn't do things the same as everyone else." Even when I was ill, I didn't get normal illnesses that other children got, I had to be different. I would be the one who ended up in the hospital with some surgery or something. I have been asked why I want to purchase my own domain name. Most people purchase a domain name as a branding of sorts, it belongs to only them. The domain name says "who they are" and generally will come along with a niche, something that the blogger may be known for, or specialize in. Maybe they blog about a certain nationalities heritage, maybe they blog about teaching children to become interested in genealo...

Last year I did a lot of scanning, as you may remember. I scanned a couple of photo albums which belonged to my grandmother, Thina. I fondly called the albums the "black album" and the "green album." This is one of the pictures from the "green album." This photo is of my great grandmother, Kari (Carrie)Jonson, and great grandfather, Halvor Westby. Kari (Carrie) was born July 25, 1864 in Trysil, Hedmark, Norway. Halvor was born December 6, 1861. He was also born in Trysil, Hedmark, Norway. Halvor and Kari married in Norway in 1883.  About March 18, 1891 Halvor came to America. His wife and their first four children followed Halvor to America about six months later, where the rest of twelve children were born. My grandmother, Thina, was the twelfth child. Eventually, Halvor and Kari became American citizens and migrated from Wisconsin to Minnesota where they stayed the rest of their lives.   For the "Those Places Thursday" theme, I ...

The California Genealogical Society (CGS) has announced this book, Raking The Ashes by Nancy Peterson, Second Edition, has been released! If you are researching San Francisco based ancestors, this book is a must have! It will assist you regarding the lost records in the 1906 earthquake and even assist you in working  around other areas where records may have been lost.  The first book was published in 2006, this, the second edition has been substantially updated and expanded. This book has been published by the California Genealogical Society and retails for $25.00. For further information please check out the  Raking The Ashes Website , the  California Genealogical Society , and /or the California Genealogical Society & Library Blog at California Ancestors.Com Thanks for stopping by!  Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts!  Copyright © 2011 By Cheryl Palmer All Rights Reserved

    Welcome to Week 4 of 31 Weeks to a Better Genealogy Blog!  If you are just joining, you can read the kickoff post at the host's site for this series,  Tonia's Roots!   Week 4’s topic is analyzing a top genealogy blog.  The purpose Welcome to Week 4 of 31 Weeks to a Better Genealogy Blog, kindly hosted by Tonia at here is simply to observe and learn from others.  You probably already read a lot of genealogy blogs (we are a pretty close community), so pick one that you admire, dig in, and think about some of the following: Content §                      What topics are they covering? §                      What topics are they ignoring? §                    ...

Welcome to Week 3 of 31 Weeks to a Better Genealogy Blog!  If you are just joining us, you can   read the kick-off post here  at Tonia's Root's   . Nevertheless, Darren Rowse of   Problogger   offers us: 11 Ways to Promote a Blog Post 1.                    Pitch to other bloggers :  ask another blogger to consider linking to your post.  This gives me the heebie-jeebies.  Tonia says," I really don’t like asking people to do things for me." Neither can I Tonia! 2.                   Social Messaging : use Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks to promote your post.  Darren says “the key is not to incessantly spam your followers and your friends with your link.” 3.                ...

Date: Abt. 1941~1943 Kari (Halvorsdatter) Westby Holding a great grandson. Thanks for stopping by! Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts!  Copyright © 2011 By Cheryl Palmer All Rights Reserved

Welcome to Week 2 of Tonia's Roots Challenge ~ 31 Weeks to a Better Genealogy Blog! If you are just joining us, you can  read the kick-off post here . For week 2, we are focusing on list posts.  You are probably familiar with list posts; they have been a part of successful blog-writing for a long time. I am going at this a little backwards maybe for this challenge, but this is how I'd like to do it! My mother always said I never did anything the normal way...but I think she was referring to when I was sick...but that is another story. The top ten items currently on my to do list, genealogically speaking, to hopefully accomplish this week: 10 . Print documents for my Westby family.  9 .  Take the stack of printed copies and load into archival safe pages.   8 .  Look through my CD's to see if I have a copy of the census records I accumulated as I can                ...

One of the Harley runs we have been on a few times has been to New Cuyama. Haven't heard of it you say? Neither had I! It is in Santa Barbara County in the Cuyama Valley. If it weren't for me riding a Harley, there are many places I never would have seen, let alone heard of. "Cuyama" was named after an Indian word for "clams."  New Cuyama was established in 1951. That makes it 60 years old now. I suppose I should have taken that into consideration whenever we were there as the Cuyama Buckhorn (restaurant, bar and motel) where we used to stay seemed especially old. In fact the whole town seems especially old, it really was a dying town.  These pictures were taken in 2003. I looked online to see if I could find any information regarding the history of the Cuyama Buckhorn and what I found is that it is now closed down! I am really not surprised, but it is kind of sad to me. The Buckhorn is closed down. So final. This Harley destination is never to be ag...

Thanks for stopping by!  Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts!  Copyright © 2011 By Cheryl Palmer All Rights Reserved

I am joining Tonia's Roots ! She asks: "join me as I spend the next 31 weeks putting into practice tips and tricks from  ProBlogger, Darren Rowse. This program is based on Darren’s highly popular challenge “31 Days to Build a Better Blog,” which he has made available as an e-book.  31 days does not work for my schedule (especially in the summer), so I’m switching it to a weekly challenge." Week one's topic and action item is to write an elevator pitch for your blog, a short introduction to your blog that can be expressed in the space of an elevator ride.  My Elevator Pitch: my Heritage Happens, a family history blog, is my little niche in the world where I can sort, learn, share, discuss, and analyze my family's legacy, putting two and two together so to speak. At times, I may share a bit of what "will become" my heritage, which in turn, leaves "purposeful" documentation for my ancestors. With more than ten years of personal genealogy under...

Recently a great dialogue developed between a Facebook friend and myself. I hadn't realized she lived in the city where one of my great grandmothers was born, or so I thought... Allow me share a bit of background ~ Several years ago I was given contact information from my (step) aunt, for one of my mother's cousins whom I had never met. She shared his researched family tree chart with me, which I promptly entered into my genealogy program. After this, I wanted to know what other bits of treasure my cousin might have to share. He lived only a few hours from me so it wasn't long before a date was set when I could meet him and his wife. They lived in the most unique, wonderful house I have ever seen, which was very intriguing on it's own. My cousin's (first cousin once removed) wife was very sweet and included me in their lunch plans. I may not have given her much choice about that though as I was at their home for several hours. At that time my cousin wasn't ...

Wishing you all a safe and sane Independence Day! Disneyland, Anaheim, California. October 3, 2011. Digital image held by Cheryl [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE]California. 2011 Thanks for stopping by!  Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts!  Copyright © 2011 By Cheryl Palmer All Rights Reserved

Alcatraz On Bart, coming home from a great day in San Francisco I saw Randy Seaver's "Saturday Night Genealogy Fun" mission for this evening and I couldn't help but think I needed to do a post on this, plus I knew I had the time when I got home to do so. Here is his SNGF challenge for tonight. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to: Knowing that a “Bucket List” is a wish list of things to do before death: 1) What is on your Genealogy Bucket List? What research locations do you want to visit? Are there genea-people that you want to meet and share with? What do you want to accomplish with your genealogy research? List a minimum of three items – more if you want! 2) Tell us about it in a blog post of your own (please give me a link in Comments), a comment to this post in Comments, or a status line or comment on Facebook. Think big! Have fun! Life is short – do genealogy first! I look at a bucket list as places I want to go...

Here it is, the last day of Jamboree 2011. What classes did I take today?  My first class was with Lou Szucs ~ "Court Records: Mirror of a Nation" , sponsored by Ancestry.com. I was excited because I had never heard Lou Szucs speak before. I wasn't disappointed either. My attention was totally mesmerized when I saw on the screen that she suddenly was talking about the probate of William Fleming from Kilkenny, Ireland. Then I saw the name James Fleming, and I know it was awhile until I actually heard her next words. My mind was racing like crazy. I have a William Fleming from Kilkenny, Ireland and a grandfather whose was named James Fleming! She mentioned that a lot of the research on this family was complete, but it certainly isn't on my end! I waited when the session was over to speak with Lou. Once I did, I found out it wasn't the same line, drats . But hey, you never know, right? Next I took ~ "What Could Have Happened: Creating and Proving a Hypothesis ...

I have been so busy watching grandchildren and dogs, messing with my blog and dealing with issues on Facebook. It has taken me until last night to get caught up on blog posts from the two long weekends away this month. I wasn't able to comment on every post I read by any means, but I did try to make a few comments along the way. I am glad to be caught up again at least with my Google Reader.  Now, I am behind on Jamboree posts. This has taken a bit of time also as I have tried to crop most of the photos I am sharing from this event. There were a few photos also that I sent to people involved for permission to print. I do have a few of photos that I would never post as they are either, really bad pictures, not good shots of the individuals involved, OR are pictures that happened at Jamboree and STAY at Jamboree. A few of these I have gone on to send to the appropriate individuals so they can at least see and have their own copy to keep if they so choose.  I do have plenty...