FAMILY TREE MAGAZINE'S 2011 40 BEST GENEALOGY BLOG NOMINATIONS

  
Family Tree Magazine announced this past Monday that the
nomination process for this year's "40 Best Genealogy Blogs"
has begun. We have until November 30th, 2010 to submit
the names of our favorite geneablogs as nominees in one
of the following eight categories:

"Local/regional history and genealogy: blogs focusing
on research in a specific county, state or region. Most
library and archive blogs, as well as many local historical
and genealogical society blogs, would go here.

Heritage groups: Blogs focusing on the family history of
a specific ethnic, religious or national background (such
as African-American, Jewish, Polish, etc.)

Research advice and how-to: Blogs that primarily
explain how to research, analyze photos or perform
various family history tasks. The blogger offers tips,
strategies and examples; explains genealogical concepts;
and writes about how to use new resources.

Cemeteries: These blogs feature content primarily
about cemetery research and visiting cemeteries.
Many feature tombstone photos and transcriptions,
with information about those interred.

“My Family History”: Blogs about the blogger’s
own roots, including accounts of personal research,
their own family photos and heirlooms, stories,
recipes, etc.

“Everything” blogs: Blogs that cover it all—genealogy
news, research advice, opinions, local history, family
stories, etc.—go here.

New blogs: Was the blog you’re nominating launched
during the past year? Categorize it here, even if it would
also fit into another category.

Technology: Blogs focusing on genealogy websites,
software, DNA testing or other aspects of technology
as it relates to genealogy."

Go to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VWJZHKC 
for more information on the rules and to submit your
nominees! I've already started!

ABOUT THOSE ROAD TRIPS AND PICTURES

I've been posting a lot of pictures lately from the little roadtrips
I've taken on my days off from work and some folks might
wonder what connection they might have with genealogy or
my family history.

A little background first: up until recently I usually spent my
days off reading or on my computer. But after my health
problems earlier this year I resolved to get off my duff and
get out of my apartment and DO something. I also decided
I'd take along my digital camera to record anything I found
interesting along the way. So far, those trips have been to
some of the local land preservation areas.

When I am walking at someplace like World's End or
the Norris Reservation I find myself wondering if any of
my ancestors or relatives had lived nearby and walked
these trails or seen the views I see. Of course the skyline
would be much different; there were no skyscrapers
across Hingham Harbor in Boston. But there would have
been sailing vessels entering and leaving, and there
would have been farms with livestock in some of the
same spots they are today.

Because I live in one of the oldest areas of Massachusetts
I frequently drive by old houses with plaques on them that
tell when the house was built. I drove by some this past
Thursday dating back to the 1700's. Did any of my ancestors
know the people who lived in those houses? Could any of
them have actually visited them, or could they have even
been someone who'd lived there?  Marian Pierre-Louis
wrote a post at her Roots and Rambles blog about the
things she sees and notices driving through New England
which has given me even more to think about on my drives.

Eventually I'll be visiting the FHL, the NARA and other
places more closely connected to genealogy and I'll be
blogging about those trips. But while the weather is good
I plan to enjoy these woodland walks while wondering if
I'm following in my ancestors' footsteps. 
 

A SUNDAY ROADTRIP TO THE NORRIS RESERVATION

Sunday the Patriots were playing the Steelers in a night game
so I had a few hours to go out and get some fresh air. So I
drove down Rte 123 for twenty minutes to Norris Reservation
in Norwell. Despite the overcast of the afternoon it was a comparatively
mild day for November and it seemed the small dirt parking lot was
nearly full when I arrived.

I've never been to the Reservation before and was pleasantly surprised
by what I found in my brief visit. I entered through a carriage path
lined with large rhododendron plants and then crossed a wooden bridge
over a small waterfall from a pond on my left.

There were stone benches along the path and I spotted a picnic table
down next to the brook in the above picture.

Beyond bridge I followed Eleanor's Trail (which is named after Eleanor
Norris)through pines that towered over smaller colorful trees.While the
ground was covered with pine needles the footing was easier that at the
Tucker Reserve and without the wind of the past week it was a tranquil
scene. I encountered other walkers (some with dogs) but there was ample
room for us to pass each other comfortably.

Norris Reservation closes at sunset and with the overcast skies daylight
began to fade around 3:15 so I turned back at the halfway point and
headed back to my car. I'm going to try to return before snow starts
flying and make it all the way through to the banks of the North River,
and I certainly plan to go back next Spring when those rhododendrons
are in bloom!

You can learn more about the Norris Reservation and see more pictures
of it at http://www.thetrustees.org/places-to-visit/greater-boston/norris-reservation.html

A THURSDAY ROADTRIP TO TURKEY HILL

We'll be getting snow up here in New England soon so I'm
taking advantage of good weather on my two days a week
off while I can. Last Thursday a ride over to Hingham to
Turkey Hill and the Weir River Farm Reservation. It was
about a half an hour drive there and the last part of it was
up the winding Turkey Hill Lane past the New England
Friends Home to the top of the Hill.

My friend Curtis told me the view was great at the top of
the Hill and it sure was the case. I stopped first at the top
of the field above the Farm. A sign next to the path told
me that it had recently been woodlands but it was cleared
to help restore the habitat of vanishing New England
wildlife that flourished in the fields and meadows of farms.
Much of the farmland of the 19th century was reclaimed
by the trees and now 60% of Massachusetts is woodland.

I skipped visiting the barnyard and drove further up the Hill to the top.
You can see quite a distance out towards the Atlantic Ocean and across
towards the Boston skyline from there. And while the recent storm had
stripped much of the foliage from the trees, there was still splashes of
gold and yellow among the dark green of fir trees.

While it was a sunny day there was still a very brisk wind and I wanted
to make another stop before heading home, so I didn't go too far along
the trail down the Hill. I plan to return here (and to the other spots I've
visited recently) in the Spring when the weather is warmer and the
daylight is longer.

I got back into my car and drover further down Rte228 to Hull and
Nantasket Beach to watch the surf for awhile. That storm I mentioned
earlier was still affecting the ocean and I wasn't alone admiring the
view of waves breaking against the rocks below the seawall.

So that was my Thursday Road Trip, from open meadows and forests
to ocean waves less than an hour from my apartment!

You can read more about Turkey Hill and Weir River Farm at:
http://www.thetrustees.org/places-to-visit/greater-boston/weir-river-farm.html

PART OF THE PUZZLE SOLVED

Back in September I wrote a post about a lead I'd discovered
on FamilySearch Record Search to more information on my
3x great grandmother Lucy Stowe. Lucy was the wife of 
Wesley (Westley) Coburn but I'd never been able to
find evidence of who her parents were.

Then two weeks ago cousin Chris Dunham left a comment for
me which helped solve part of my genealogical puzzle:

"Lucy M. Stow and Wesley B. Coburn, both of Newry, married 
28 Feb. 1827 in Newry, according to town records.

Lucy was the daughter of Melvin and Ann V. Stowe. Melvin 
was the brother of Andrew Newell Stowe of Newry, both 
sons of Samuel and Abigail (Dana) Stowe of Sherborn, Mass.
(You'll find more on this family in Elizabeth Ellery Dana's  
The Dana family in America.) Melvin appears to have lived 
in Lisbon, Maine, in 1810, but removed to Newry by 1820.
He and his wife (whose maiden name I don't know) are buried 
in Sunday River Cemetery, Newry."

So thanks to Chris I now have two more family lines to investigate!

A SUNDAY ROADTRIP TO THE PEABODY ESSEX MUSEUM

Last Sunday my brother-in-law Peter and I took a trip up to
Salem to tour the Peabody Essex Museum. We'd seen the
commercial for the ‎"The Emperor's Private Paradise: 
Treasures from the Forbidden City" from China and made
plans to go see it. Sunday was a dark overcast day and there
was very little traffic as Peter drove us up through Boston
to Salem. Many of my ancestors lived in the towns we crossed
along the way, such as Lynn and Saugus, as well as in Salem
itself where the Ellingwoods and Woodburys hailed from. In
fact we passed by a colonial era house in Salem with a plaque
that said it was a Woodbury residence!

The street the Museum sits on has been closed to traffic and 
is paved in cobblestone and had few pedestrians on it, but
there were plenty of people inside the Museum itself. There
appeared to be an Asian cultural day going on with including
a Qi Gong presentation, lessons in painting and performances
by musicians on traditional instruments.We paid for our 
admission and bought tickets to also tour the Yin Yu 
Tang house at 11:15. We had an hour to kill before then
so Pete and I split up until then. I visited the first floor of
the newer wing, which included Korean and Chinese art
as well as a gallery holding logbooks, journals and 
dutybooks from the 19th century when ships from Salem
merchants sailed all over the world.

                    Stone demons guard the doorways between the Korean 
                                                          and Chinese exhibits.

                                                        A 19th century sail-canoe


I rendezvoused with Pete back at the food court where we
picked up the audioplayers for the house tour. The Yin Yu 
Tang house is an actual Chinese ancestral home that was 
presented to the Museum by the Chinese government back
in 1980. There is an uneven stone floor on the first floor
so caution is necessary, but there is an elevator up to the 
second floor so much of the house is accessible to everyone.
What sticks most in my mind was the small speaker located
over the door to the main room which piped Maoist government
announcements into the house which could not be turned off nor
the volume lowered! 

We ate lunch when we finished the house tour, then went up 
to the third floor afterward to see"The Emperor's Private
Paradise" which was beautiful. I would have liked to take some
pictures but they are not allowed. If you are in the Boston area   
before the exhibit ends on Jan9 2011, you might want to go see
it. (It will be in NYC's Metropolitan Museum of Art from Feb.
to May and the Milwaukee Art Museum from June to Sept.).
The plan was to go our separate ways and meet up back at the
foodcourt at 2:30, so I toured the Indian, Pacific and Native 
American exhibits, finishing up in the Early Americana section
where I began to run out of gas. I knew this was so when I
felt like I could curl up in one of the beds in a furniture exhibit.
So I took the elevator back downstairs and waited for Pete.
From there we headed into Boston to run a few errands.

It was a good trip and I didn't see the entire Museum so I'd
like to return someday. I highly recommend the Peabody 
Essex Museum for anyone looking for a relaxing way to spend
a day seeing beautiful things.

Thanks Pete for the trip!

                             The exterior of the  rear of the Yin Yu Tang house.
                                             Pictures inside are prohibited.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE: MY VETERAN ANCESTORS

As Veteran's Day draws to a close, I'd like to thank some of my
family and ancestors who have served our country: I've listed my
Revolutionary War ancestors before and these are others who
fought(and in some cases died) in other wars.



The Civil War:

My great great grandfather Asa Freeman Ellingwood
My great great granduncle Oscar Phipps Ellingwood

My great great granduncle Leonidas West
My great great granduncle Asa Atwood West
My great great granduncle Franklin Dunham (died)
My 1st cousin 3x removed Charles O. Ellingwood (died)
My 1st cousin 4x removed Henry O. Ellingwood (died)  

The Spanish-American War
My first cousin 2x removed Hollis J Ellingwood

World War I
My grandfather Floyd E West Sr.

World War II

My Dad Floyd E West Jr
My Uncle Edward F White, Jr.
My uncle Charles Barger
 
Operation Iraqi Freedom

My nephew Paul Skarinka


I thank them all for their service.

THE 99TH EDITION OF THE CARNIVAL OF GENEALOGY IS UP!

And I missed the deadline for posting for it! Arrgh! I've been so wrapped
up in researching my collateral line relatives lately my blogging has
been suffering. Anyway, the theme for the 99th CoG was religious rites
and there's a bunch of interesting  responses to it.

The next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is its 100th and Jasia
has a special request:

"Call for Submissions! As I mentioned in a previous post, I am asking
all who have participated in past editions of the COG to participate in the 
100th edition. It's a FAMILY REUNION! There will not be the usual
cap of 30 submissions for this edition. Instead there will be a floor of 100!
I will not attempt to write comments nor choose a featured author this 
time around. I'm asking all of you to help me out here and make my 
dream come true. I would like to have 100 or more submissions from 
my friends, my COG family members, for this 100th edition. It's a tall 
order, yes. It hasn't been done before and therein lies the challenge. 
Can it be done? Only your time and efforts will determine that. I know 
there are many more than 100 authors who have participated in the 
previous 99 editions of the COG. I need at least 100 of you to step 
up and write a blog post to submit to the COG to make my day, 
my week, my month, and my blogging career. I don't know how
many past participants are reading this edition so I'm hoping you'll 
help me get the word out. Please share this info on FaceBook, Twitter, 
GeneaBloggers, Second Life, your own blogs, mainstream media, the 
4 major TV networks, genealogy conferences, and wherever past 
COG participants may gather!

And the topic for the 100th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is... 
"There's one in every family!" Bring your stories of colorful 
characters, unique heirlooms, mouth-watering recipes, most dearly 
beloved pets, whatever! Interpret as you like. Every family has 
"special" individuals, you know, the ones with a green thumb, the
black sheep, the lone wolf, the blue-ribbon cook, the story-teller, 
the geek! I know you have treasured recipes and amazing heirlooms 
you've yet to share! Tell us about them and become a part of history 
in the 100th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy! The deadline for 
submissions is December 1st.

Submit your blog article to the 100th edition of the Carnival 

of Genealogy using our carnival submission form. Please use

a descriptive phrase in the title of any articles you plan to submit 

and/or write a brief description/introduction to your articles in 

the "comment" box of the blog carnival submission form. This 

will give readers an idea of what you've written about and 

hopefully interest them in clicking on your link. Past posts and 

future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page."

Alright, I'm in! Let's hit that 100!

WINTER WEEKEND RESEARCH GETAWAY AT THE NEHGS

I received the following press release from the NEHGS this

morning and thought  some of my readers might be 

interested in attending this event:

Winter Weekend Research Getaway - 

Effective Use of Technology

Thursday, January 27^th  -  Saturday January 29^th  

9:00AM- 5:00PM
New England Historic Genealogical Society
99 Newbury St.
Boston MA, 02116
www.AmericanAncestors.org

NEHGS Weekend Research Getaways combine personal, guided

research at the NEHGS Research Library with themed educational

lectures to create a unique experience for every participant. Personal 

consultations with NEHGS genealogists throughout the program 

allow visitors to explore their own genealogical projects, under the 

guiding hand of the nation’s leading family history experts. 

Our Winter Research Getaway, “Effective Use of Technology,”

offers a variety of lectures surrounding “best practices” in using 

technology including researching online, software, and other topics 

relevant to any genealogist.

For more information, visit our website at www.AmericanAncestors.org, 

or call Joshua Taylor at 617-226-1226.

A THURSDAY ROADTRIP TO WORLD'S END

The temperature today was a very unAutumn-like 76 so I went out to
enjoy the weather. After all, this is New England.; we're not likely to see
this warm a day again until next April! So I headed out in Ping the
Wonder Car down Rte 123 through Norwell, then up Rte 3A to
Hingham to World's End. World's End is a land preserve that has
winding paths designed by Frederick Olmstead. After World War II
it was among the locations considered for the location of the United
Nations. Well, we know how that turned out. Back in my younger days
I used to bring my kid brother out there to hike around the four hills
and enjoy the scenery. It's been awhile since the last time I'd been
there (so long in fact that I missed the turnoff for it twice) so that's
where I went today with my camera

As I said, the park consists of four hills, drumlins caused and left behind
by glaciers in the Ice Age. The eastern side looks out towards the town
of Hull and the Atlantic Ocean beyond, while the western faces Hingham
Harbor and the Boston skyline. Admission is $5.00 but the parking is free.
Quite a few other folks had the same idea as I and there were hikers,
joggers, and dog-walkers out enjoying the day and the view.

There was quite a stiff wind today, the remnants of the storms that had
swept through the Midwest yesterday. You can hear it in the video I took:

I spent an hour and a half walking about and taking pictures, although I
didn't go out to the furthest drumlin, which is actually named World's End.
It was nearly 3pm and I know how bad the traffic gets in the area in the
late afternoon. I left for home, driving back home on Rte 228 through
Hingham past houses built the 1700's. A short stop for some groceries
and I was home by 4:30pm.

All in all, a nice afternoon, and I plan to return to World's End again
soon.

A SUNDAY ROADTRIP TO NEW YORK CITY PART2

We decided to eat when we reached Ellis island so we headed into the
cafe and bought lunch. I had a turkey burger with french fries and we
found a seat outside on the patio. The food was good, and the portions
were generous so the meal was well worth the price. But there were 
a lot of pigeons hanging about the tables looking for food and when one
tourist obliged with her leftover kettle chips we had a ringside seat to the
pigeon version of "King of the Hill". Other than that, it was a pleasant
meal.

We went inside afterwards and picked up our audio players and started
our tour. The Ellis Island tour consists of 20 stops numbered 1 to 20.
Each stop has additional information audios starting with number 100 if
you want to learn more about the subjects the exhibits cover. It starts in
the large hall where the immigrants sat waiting to be questioned by
immigration officials. The audios include the memories of immigrants
who came through Ellis island and combined with the displays in each
room they provide a moving experience for the listener.

I won't go into a description of the tour here, but I think it's something
every American with immigrant ancestors should see. My Irish and
German ancestors entered America through Castle Garden in the years
before Ellis Island but I'm sure there were similiarities in the process at
both places. Seeing Ellis Island gave me a greater appreciation for what
my McFarland and Offinger relatives went through to enter this country.

 It took us a little over an hour to finish the tour and we decided to forego
the additional exhibits on the second and third floor because we wanted
to visit the World Trade Center site on the way out of NYC. We returned
the audio players and boarded the next ferry back to Battery Park where
there were a lot of people out enjoying the great weather and a large
number of street artists.We retrieved the car from the garage and headed
up West Broadway which took us right past the WTC. It's a sobering
site and I wondered how long it would take before the construction there
is finally completed.

Cheryl navigated us through the busy street without a hitch and after a
brief delay on Roosevelt Blvd. we were back on I-95. We stopped at a
Crackerbarrel in Connecticut for dinner and there was a brief (successful)
hunt for an open Dunkin Donuts in the wilds of Coventry, Rhode Island,
but we were back here in Abington by 11:05 pm!  It had been a long but
very enjoyable day.

Thanks again to Cheryl for the pleasure of her company and for helping 
make some good memories!

A SUNDAY ROADTRIP TO NEW YORK CITY PART1

Back in August my sister and I had to cancel a weekend trip to New
York City, but last week Cheryl suggested we try a one day run down
this past weekend. So Saturday night I went to bed early and got up
Sunday Cheryl picked me up at 5 and we were on our way down to
visit Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.

We made fairly good time and were at Battery Park before 10am. We
found a parking garage across the street with all day parking for under
twenty dollars and then made our way over to buy tickets. We chose
the self guided audio tours with monument access up to the base of
the statue and then went to join the line to board a boat. It was a
warm sunny day and while the line was long it moved along quickly.
As we waited our turn we could hear many foreign languages being
spoken by the tourists around us. I was struck by the irony that a
century ago there were equally large crowds of immigrants waiting on
Ellis Island to board boats to take them where we now stood!

As we stood there I noticed the monuments to the Merchant Marines .
I noticed that the figures are leaning over to grab at a hand coming out
of the water and as the waves rose and fell I could see the head of the
drowning figure emerge.

It took about a half hour to reach the building where we all had to have
an airport style security check. It's sad to think it's come to this but I
know it had to be done. Afterward we boarded our boat and we were
on our way to Liberty Island and the Statue of Liberty.We sat outside
on the second level and had a great view of everything. My only concern
was that my camera batteries were dying, but I optimistically hoped the
gift shop on the island would have some. That hope was squashed when
we arrived. My camera takes AAA batteries and all they had were AA's!
But we picked up our guide audio players and headed over to the
Statue itself. After another security scan we moved on inside.

Now while I'm walking better nowadays I haven't climbed many stairs
for a long time. I'd brought my cane with me, and luckily there is a small
elevator that takes you up to the mezzanine. There's an extensive display
on the construction of the Statue and even replicas of it's face and a foot
that you can pose with.

Once we were done there we went up to the base of the statue to take
in the view. Again, I took an elevator which didn't take me all the way
up but got me close enough so I only had to climb four flights of stairs
up the rest of the way. It was worth it. The view was spectacular. I
coaxed more pictures out of my camera and then we headed back
down to the ground. By now it was nearly 1pm and we wanted to visit
Ellis Island next so we returned our audio players and moved out
to the dock to wait for the next boat.to arrive.

ANOTHER MAINE SONG FROM NICK HUMPHREY

Last week singer-songwriter  Nick Humphrey shared with us his song
"The Wangan Camp"  which is based on the poem of the same name by
Holman Day.

Today Nick emailed me a link to another of his great songs, which has
meaning both in regards to Maine and to his wife's family history.

Check it out at and enjoy it at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpLf6tVYjPw

WHY I STOPPED USING FOUNTAIN PENS

This afternoon I needed a pen to write something down and a co-worker
handed me one. When I pulled the cap off, I was surprised to see it was
a fountain pen, and a disposable one at that!  This brought back
memories which, lucky readers, I shall now share with you.

I was born at the end of one era and the beginning of another. They
were still using ink pens and inkwells in when I started school, and I
recall being an "ink monitor" for my classroom one week at the Frank V
Thompson School in Dorchester, Ma. This meant I checked the inkwell
at each desk and used a watering can full of ink to top off each one. But
by the time I graduated from high school the age of the ballpoint pen had
dawned.

Now fountain pens did go gently into that good night. Somebody invented
the ink cartridge, a portable inkwell that fit right inside the pen. And for
my graduation, somebody gave me one as part of a "pen and pencil" set,
and so the stage was set for one of the most embarassing incidents of my
college years.

It happened in Prof. Rothstein's History of Western Civilization1 class. I
was sitting in the front row of class with my Bridgewater State College 5
subject notebook open and pen at hand, ready to take notes during the
class. As the Professor started to speak and I wrote a topic header at
the top of the page. I noticed that the ink in my fountain pen had run dry.
No problem. I had a refill with me. I reached into my shirt pocket, got it
out, opened the pen, removed the empty cartridge, loaded the new cartridge
and......

I don't know how it happened. All I knew was that somehow I'd done
something that was causing the pen to link ink at a rapid rate all over the
notebook. I stared at it for a few seconds, then rippend an empty page
from the back of the notebook and tried to blot up the ink. By now I had
ink on my hands and a frantic look at my friend sitting next to me failed
to produce a kleenex. So I closed the notebook with the leaking pen still
inside it.

Now while all this was going on, Professor Rothstein was trying to give
his lecture but I was sitting right in front of him with my leaking pen and
notebook and as he watched the disaster he spoke slower and slower.
By this time the spreading ink was getting closer to the edge of the desk.
And so Prof. Rothstein stopped speaking, stood up and walked around
the back of his desk, and out of a deskdrawer he brought out a box of
Kleenex. He walked back around the desk, handed me the Kleenex,
and then went on with the lecture.

I had a nice wad of inkblue Kleenex sitting on my desktop by lecture's
end. Afterwards I washed my hands in the restroom and bought some
ballpoint pens at the Student Union before my next class later that
afternoon. I never again used a cartridge fountain pen to take notes in
class.

And that my friends, is the story of the stain on my college career!

THE HOUSE THAT STOOD HERE.

The house that stood here
was big and white, and nearly a century old.
It had a  big kitchen, a walk-through bathroom,
And a small cold pantry where we kept the feral kittens.

There was an old barn beside it with a rotten floor,
And every night, except in winter,
Swallows flew in and out at twilight
Swooping and darting about, catching bugs.

There was an arbor with a grapevine
That we sat under in the summertime
And a lawn so big
It had to be cut in stages.

This is where we were living when I woke
My sister in the morning with a rocket ship's roar.
And this is where we were living when she
Married my friend from high school.

I forget how long we lived there.
Was it two years? Three?
Then we moved away from there
And thirty years later, the house is gone.

A housing development sits there now.
New houses with new memories.
But the houses don't make the memories.
It's the people inside them that do.

THE SECOND GREAT AMERICAN LOCAL POEM AND SONG GENEALOGY CHALLENGE!

It's time for the Second Great American Local Poem And Song
Genealogy Challenge! As you can see, I've added music to
this year's event.


In the mid to late 19th century every region of America boasted one
or more poets whose works reflected local history and folklore.
Chances are that our ancestors had read some of those poems during
the course of their lives.


It is also very likely they had heard or sung a song that dealt with
some aspect of their life, whether it was their job or something in the
area they lived in.


So, my challenge to my readers is this:

1. Find a poem by a local poet, famous or obscure, from the region
one of your ancestors lived in. It can be about an historical event, a
legend, a person, or even about some place (like a river)or a local
animal.Or if you prefer, post the lyrics of a song or a link to a video
of someone performing the song.


2. Post the poem or song to your blog (remembering to cite the source
where you found it.)

3.Tell us how the subject of the poem or song relates to your ancestor's
home or life.

4.Submit your post's link here to me by November 18th and I'll publish
all the entries on Thanksgiving Day, November 25th!

Last year we had a good selection of poetry and I'm hoping this year's
edition will be just as great. I'd dedicating it to the memory of Terry
Thornton, a fellow lover of local poetry and folklore.So if you
have a humorous poem or song, that will be entered under the "Willy
Puckerbrush" division. (Willy was Terry's alias for some humorous
posts and comments).

If you aren't sure about poems or poets from your ancestor's area, try
searching for them on Google and Wikipedia using the name of the
area and "poems" or "poets" or "poetry" as search words. Also, if
your ancestors were immigrants, you may use poems or songs from
the land of their birth.


So there you have it. There's over a month until the deadline so there's
plenty of time for a Google search for poems and songs. I'm looking
forward to seeing what the geneablogging community comes up with
this year!

"THE WANGAN CAMP SONG " BY NICK HUMPHREY

A few weeks back I shared a poem by Maine poet Holman Day,
entitled "The Wangan Camp" which was about a company store
in a lumber camp.

Well, today, I received an email from songwriter/musician Nick
Humphrey who wrote a song a few years ago based on the poem.
Here's a link to Youtube to a video of Nick performing the song.
I enjoyed it, and I think you will too!

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYaBZXJacAw

A SUNDAY GENEALOGY EXCURSION OF SORTS 2

Having failed last Sunday in my quest to find the gravestone of my
distant cousin James C Gurney, I returned to Mt Pleasant Cemetery
in Rockland determined to succeed today. It was another perfect
Autumn Sunday afternoon; a cloudless blue sky, temperatures in
the 60's and more trees whose leaves were turning from green to
orange and gold. When I drove Ping the Wondercar  into the
Cemetery, the only other living beings there were a lady walking
her dog slowly along the road.

I had much better luck this week than last. I'd noticed a large
grave monument with the name "Paine" facing the road as I
pulled to a stop. I knew that James Gurney's daughter Clara
had married George Paine, and I reasoned that if this stone was
theirs, the Gurneys should be buried nearby their daughter. I got
out of the car and noticed that the gravestone was surrounded
by a cement curbing. I walked around the other side of the stone,
and there engraved on that side was the name Gurney.

This is what was engraved on the Gurney side:

 GURNEY
James Calvin Gurney
November 3 1831-February 8 1912

His Wife
Rebecca J. Foster
May 13 1831-December 13  1909

Their Daughter
Myra E Gurney
July 26 1850-March 22 1872

On the other side, it reads:
PAINE
George L Paine
September 20 1856-February 10 1922

His Wife
Clara A Paine
September 2 1857-October 25 1933

James L Paine
November 28 1880-September 5 1963   

There's grave markers in the ground by the stone on the
Gurney side. They read to the left of the step, left to right:
Mother
Father
Myra

To the right, the first two stones are covered but the third
one is "JLP" so the first two must be for George and Clara.

So, having found what I came for, I took my pictures to
send off to cousin Chris Dunham. I spent a few minutes just looking
around, took a few pictures of the foliage, and then headed on out
for my next stop, the laundrymat