I LOVE This Book

I suppose given all the recent blogging about monetizing, I should say up front that I am categorically not getting anything from this endorsement!

I've used FTM since it first came out. I loved the ease of entry, the chart options, the interface with Ancestry. I haven't always gotten the upgrades, usually letting a couple go by before making another investment. But with the recent upgrades, I've gotten the feeling that I wasn't understanding the program, or getting the most out of it. I know, there is a help file, but those are sort of like reading the dictionary. Not much fun. And it sometimes takes forever to find the right search parameters for what you want. So, I decided to buy this book.

I went right to chapter 9 and the discussion on setting up the web search (and no, this is not how I read mysteries!). The first thing I read is that the reason for the "shaky leaves" that look so exciting on commercials is that FTM does an online search EVERY TIME THE INTERNET CONNECTION IS AVAILABLE. I didn't know this! Could this be one reason it takes too long to connect? I don't know, but I definitely don't like things going on behind my back, so I turned that off right away. Bye, bye, shaky leaves.

Then, I thought I probably ought to read the book in the order it was written. So, I start into chapter 1, and one of the first things I learn is how to enter all my husband's French-Canadian ancestors with their "dit" names, like "Charron dit Ducharme". FTM displays these in the people list as "dit Ducharme", and listing them under "dit" mixes a lot of families up. Lo and behold, here on page 8, I find that putting backslashes around the whole last name results in a correct sort, and the backslash doesn't show up in the tree or the printouts. Who knew?

Not to give away too much, let me say I am really enjoying this book. I was able to get it used from Amazon and it has a permanent place next to my keyboard.

While on the subject of learning new things, Julie Cahill Tarr, over at GenBlog is blogging tips on using the Ancestry Search ("Search Strategies: Ancestry - Part 2"). I have taken away a couple of very good tips to improve my searches (I confess to beng a very bad searcher). Be sure to check it out.

Rip Van Winkle

Well, now I know what Rip Van Winkle must have felt like, at least in a small way. Opening the blog vault today, I am confronted by how much I learned, the online friends I've made, and how much I've forgotten.

Can it really be more than a year since my last post? Time certainly does fly!

Why so long? Lots of reasons. Frustrations with my various brick walls is probably the biggest. I have reached that difficult time period in the 1700's on most of my lines (except for my Lithuanians...I haven't had the nerve to tackle them!). You know the time when public records are scarce, church records, at least for the Methodists, seem rarer, and newspaper obits are few and far between.

Not that I haven't been trying. I took the big step (for me) of hiring some wonderful local researchers in Indiana and Delaware, to try to find parents for my James M. DeHority and Susanna Huffman. I got lots of interesting information about the Dehortys of Delaware, but nothing new on James. Susanna seems to have been born in Tennessee in 1816, according to her obituary, but it looks like this will take a road trip to research further.

And I have looked at other lines online, but there is a lot of unsourced fantasy out there, you know?

But, enough whining! Rolling up my sleeves, I'm ready to wade in again. Maybe that should have been "putting on my boots"? I've spent the last couple of days catching up on favorite blogs and trying to remember how to make a basic post. I've decided to focus on the piles of research and photos that I have, organizing, categorizing, and looking for things I've missed. Reading through all those magazines, clipping and tossing. That will keep me busy for awhile.

Why now? I guess today has gotten me a bit nostalgic.



Charles Mauzy DeHority (1916-2003)
and
Irene Geraldine Douglas (1922-1999)
April 19, 1948


Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

Welcome 2010!

Well, here we are, another year…..another decade!….put to bed.

Trolling the web for inspiration, there are many sites that offer pithy quotes to inspire reflection. The ones I like most have a cynical chuckle in their telling:

Every New Year is the direct descendant, isn’t it, of a long line of proven criminals.
~Ogden Nash

That one seemed particularly apt for a genealogy blog. But, isn’t that the real truth? We are, after all, the sum of what we’ve said and done. Not what we meant to do, but what we really did.

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

You can always rely on a New Englander for practical advice, no nonsense, cut to the chase. I have no use for resolutions on New Year’s Day. They just seem doomed to failure from the outset. Taking life one day at a time is a small enough chunk to be manageable. I can’t set goals for the year….who knows what will happen? But I can look to this day.

In the end, Lucy Maud Montgomery’s cockeyed optimist, and fellow carrot-top, Anne Shirley said it best:

Isn't it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive--it's such an interesting world. It wouldn't be half so interesting if we know all about everything, would it? There'd be no scope for imagination then, would there?

Happy New Year everyone!

Festival of Postcards - Faces from the Box

This edition of the Festival of Postcards features all things white. I have scrambled through my treasures to find a submission, but, alas, nothing quite fits the bill.

BUT, since black and white postcards are acceptable, I submit these lovely ladies...two of my unknown "strangers in the box"...dressed in their winter finery. It seems at some time around the turn of the 20th century, it was popular to print pictures on postcards for easy mailing. I know, as I have a number of these mementos, lovely pictures on the front and a postcard on the back. Unfortunately, it is blank, never mailed, with no clue who these folks might be. Maybe they were residents of Elwood, Indiana, where my Hupp and DeHority ancestors lived. Maybe they are from somewhere else entirely. But here they are for your viewing enjoyment.

Blog Carol 2009

The footnoteMaven has called all Geneabloggers to join in for the annual caroling. Picking a favorite carol is difficult…Silent Night is great for a reflective evening, Deck the Halls gets the energy going for the shopping and decorating, cooking while Little Drummer Boy plays in the background. But the one below is one that I look forward to singing along with every year, not exactly a carol, more of a song, and a melancholy reminder to remember the less fortunate.

Mary's first Christmas

Pretty Paper
By: Willie Nelson

Pretty paper, pretty ribbons of blue
Wrap your presents to your darling from you
Pretty pencils to write “I love you”
Pretty paper, pretty ribbons of blue

Crowded street, busy feet hustle by him.
Downtown shoppers, Christmas is nigh.
There he sits all alone on the sidewalk
Hoping that you won’t pass him by.

Should you stop? Better not, much too busy .
You’re in a hurry, my how time does fly!
In the distance, the ringing of laughter,
And in the midst of the laughter he cries

Pretty paper, pretty ribbons of blue!
Wrap your presents to your darling from you.
Pretty pencils to write “I love you”
Pretty paper, pretty ribbons of blue.

Friday's Focus Family: the Hupps of Elwood

Above is a picture of the family of George Washington Hupp and Elizabeth Stokes Hupp, the source of whatever German genes I have. Based on what I know about birth and death dates, in the photo are:

Top row, left to right
Lola M. Hupp (my great grandmother, 1870-1951)
Albert A. Hupp (1878-1947)
Maude Hupp (1882- )
William A. Hupp (1868-1904)
Samuel S. Hupp (1871-1911)

Bottom row, left to right :
George Washington Hupp (1834-1923)
Isabelle Stokes Hupp (1843-1918)

George W. Hupp was born on December 3, 1834, in Shenandoah County, Virginia, near New Market, the son of Samuel A. Hupp and Mary Kipps. Isabelle Stokes was born on May 7, 1843, in Butler County, Ohio, to Jesse Stokes and Elizabeth Hineman. According to George’s obituary, he came as a young man to Indiana in 1859, moving to Elwood in 1862 where he lived the rest of his life. I think this picture must have been from around that time. He does look like a young man headed west looking for adventure.


George and Isabelle were married in 1867. He established the first tinning and plumbing company in Elwood, later opened a hardware store, and much later went into the insurance business. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Odd Fellows Lodge. His home, with much changing and addition, is the current Copher-Fesler-May Funeral Home in Elwood.

It seems the family, like all families had its share of happy and sad times. They apparently liked to travel to Hot Springs, Arkansas, as shown in this picture.



Five children are shown, but three died in infancy. And their son Samuel must have suffered from some type of depression, as a note in the family bible indicates that he committed suicide.

Isabelle’s obituary shows her to have been an active member of the community:

Mrs. Hupp was a lifelong member of the M.E. Church, a worker in its Aid and other societies and a Christian woman who found much for her hands to do and willingly contributed to every good cause. She will be missed in the community where she was so long known and so much beloved.