Here is it Friday, and I have just posted my entry for last weekend!
The week has been largely spent on my genealogy project. Attila’s family history hales partially from Finland. Researching his family history has been interesting, I do not speak Finnish! But I have found some lovely people in Finland who are guiding me through the process, bless them.
Some members of the family came to Canada from Finland, some emigrated to the United States. Attila knew very little about his Finnish family history, as his Dad, who passed away last February, would not speak of it. From the small bits of information that Attila could remember, I managed to find his Grandmother’s grave, the location of the farm where his Father grew up, in Canada. With the help of our Finnish friends we now know where Attila’s Grandparents were born, the names and birth dates of his Great Aunts and Uncles, and the names of his Great Grandfather and Great Grandmother. Not too shabby!
At present I am making efforts to find related people in Canada, in hopes that they have some pictures, or other memorabilia, of Attila’s Grandmother, who passed away before he was born.
This has all been keeping me busy.
On Wednesday I took a drive over the camp, on my own. I managed to visit the dump store, and got a kettle and a pot lid that will come in handy at the camp. Although I have sworn not to bring any more books into the house, I could not resist the copy of Jack London’s “Call of the Wild”, and “Black Beauty”. I think I will read them again, it has been over forty years since I visited those stories!
After leaving the dump store I visited the local library, and was surprised to find a picture of my Great Grandparents in the lobby. The picture was taken at their farm, near our camp, and my Great Uncle Percy is sitting on a horse. I had not seen that picture before. So many family treasures are hidden away with various relatives; we only get to see them, or even know about them, by chance! There is also a beautiful framed photograph of my Granny and Grandpa’s house in the lobby. I managed to sign up for a library card, and log into the internet to check my email.
Then I headed to Granny and Grandpa’s house, and sat in the sun on the verandah, eating my lunch. It was so very peaceful! I enjoyed the bees, and the hummingbirds, there have always been hummingbirds around my Granny’s verandah.
I also managed to visit the local museum, as it was the first time I was in the area when it was open. There were lots of old pictures there, with lots of my relatives in them!
The rest of the week has been quiet, very quiet. The sun shines, the weather is cool and pleasant, a wonderful combination. I spend most of my time alone, as is usual. Attila continues to work very long hours, and through his lunch hour as well. He seems well rested this week though, which is a blessing.
We decided to watch a television series, “The 100”. They should have called it “teenage bloodbath”, with a bit of mindless sex, “Jesus and the multitudes moments”, and maudlin heroics mixed in for good measure. Can you tell I was not impressed?
I don’t think anyone who has lived through violent conflicts would find this entertaining. I find it obscene that people, who feel they are beyond the reach of such things, safe and secure in their North American communities, watch this manufactured glorification of humanities lowest qualities. Anyway, that is just my opinion. Obviously others do not feel as I do, the show is running for a second season. I will not be watching the second season.
I just looked up at the clock, 11:45 a.m., and realized that I have forgotten to eat today! I sat down to spend just a few minutes on the computer, and was swept away when I discovered the information sent from Finland! I guess I had better take care of the present, and prepare myself a lunch!
Worldly Distractions
Weather
24°C
Date: 12:00 PM EDT Friday 1 August 2014
Condition: Sunny
Pressure: 101.9 kPa
Visibility: 16 km
Temperature: 23.6°C
Dewpoint: 15.2°C
Humidity: 59%
Wind: SW 15 km/h
Humidex: 28
Quote
“The past with its pleasures, its rewards, its foolishness, it punishments, is there for each of us forever, and it should be.”
Lillian Hellman
1905 – 1984
A couple of years ago I got a bee in my bonnet and decided to track down my family. I was very lucky to begin with that I grew up with an extended family, great aunts and uncles, even a great grandmother, and I had information on all of them, so I was able to put information into a family tree generator on ancestry.com. With that information I was able to start following the suggestions on ancestry to compare with the information I had.
I was amazed by how much info was available, and some of it was even images of old microfiche of records. I could see my great great great grandfather’s signature on some Canadian scrip documents!
Even though I’m an American the majority of my family crossed over from Canada around the 1900s. They lived in the Montana and North Dakota area, and the border was fluid. By that I mean that it hadn’t been defined well at that point. But also at the same time there was basically no security there either. So my great aunt was born in Canada and just one year later her sister, my grandmother, was born in the US.
Through my research on my family I was not only found by a cousin I’d never met but I was also found my the widower of my half sister! There’s no doubt that finding out about my family has enriched my life a number of ways.
Family research has been an important part of my life since 1995, when I bought a local history book written by a distant cousin, and couldn’t figure out which Robinson’s were my family and which were not. My solution? I transcribed the entire book into a genealogical database, then the entire 1871 census for the area… then I knew. In those days transcribing the 1871 census meant many, many hours in the library in front of the microfiche machine. That got me started and there is no end in sight yet!