Saturday Night Genealogy Fun

I know it’s Monday and Randy’s post is called SATURDAY Night Genealogy Fun, but hey, what’s to say that Monday nights can’t be fun as well?? Not only is it not Saturday, but instead of doing a bucket list, I’m going to do an already bucketed list. Back in 2010 I wrote a post titled, A Bucket List or a Bucketed List?  If you care to read the introduction to that post, I explain why I like the concept of the already bucketed list better. 

So, while I'm cheating in more ways than one, here is Randy's original instructions for us:

Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!): 

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, a status line or comment on Facebook, or a Google+ Stream post. 

Think big! Have fun! Life is short - do genealogy first!

Already Bucketed Genealogy List 

Trip to Scotland ~ May, 2007 
My father’s paternal line is 100% Scottish. Both of his paternal grandparents were born in Scotland although they met and married here in the US. For me trips to the ancestral homelands are not about research as much as seeing the places where my ancestors lived. I was able to visit churches they attended and see places they would have seen. Because it wasn’t just a genealogy trip we also visited castles and, of course, saw Loch Ness and did other tourist things – just basically soaking up the Scottish atmosphere.  I can see myself visiting there for a more extended time in the future.

Attend Jamboree ~ June, 2011 
After several years of watching Facebook post and tweets and blog postings by friends, and being

 green with envy, I finally got the opportunity to attend Jamboree in 2011. It was fabulous daah-lings! This was the first time that I got to meet a large number of people who previously were only my friends on Facebook. I felt like I’d know them forever. I was so busy that I only managed one blog post about it. The title, SCGS Jamboree 2011 ~ More Fun Than Christmas!, pretty much sums up my feelings.  I fully intend to go back some day but other things keep getting in the way. For instance this year my oldest niece felt it was more important for me to be at her wedding than to attend Jamboree. I can’t imagine why. But someday I WILL return so maybe this should go on my wish list as well as here.



Attend an FGS conference ~ 2011 in Springfield and 2013 in Ft. Wayne
I had such a fantastic time both years. I feel that FGS really offers things that are beyond just the basics so I learned a lot both years. Both times were also about meeting “old” friends that I’d just never actually met in person. Last year was extra special because I ended up going for the whole week so I could research at the Allen County Public library. I hitched a ride over with Susan Clark so it was genealogy from the minute I got in the car until we got home – wonderful!



Trip to Germany ~ June 2012
This trip was focused on my mother’s side of the family. Both her father and mother have German roots and both families came from the northern part of Germany. We spent time there in all the tiny little places that those ancestors called home.  On her mother's side the trail even led us into Denmark.  I was fortunate enough to have my mom, my sister and my youngest niece along so we also did tourist-y things in the south of Germany.  I'd go back in a heart beat.

Trip to Salt Lake City ~ January, 2013 & January, 2014 [and plans for January, 2015]
What genealogist doesn’t have at least one trip to SLC on their bucket list?? I had wanted to go for years and finally managed it by attending SLIG in 2013. After taking Paula Stuart-Warren’s great class I was hooked and came back the next year and am registered for this year as well. Learning and spending time in the library – a genealogy dream-come-true.

These are just a few of the highlights of my “already bucketed” list. This list could be so much longer.  In the end I managed to obeyed ONE of Randy’s parameters -  to list at least three things.

If I had to put things on a bucket/wish list here's what I'd add:

Trip to Switzerland ~ Oh wait, that’s on horizon this September! It’s a tour based around a particular Swiss surname in my family - Zaugg. [I’m sure friends and family are tired of the Zauggs at this point, but I’m trying to stay focused enough to sort out a few mysteries with them] My other Swiss ancestors were from the same area so it’s going to be awesome.

Attend an NGS conference ~ Fortunately for me the NGS people are thoughtfully conspiring to make this happen in 2015 by holding the conference in my own backyard – St. Charles, MO. I have my hotel reservations so it’s a go as far as I’m concerned.

And finally, I’ll steal from Randy’s list almost word for word ~ Attend every national and regional genealogy conference held during one calendar year. In the process, visit every major regional and national genealogy repository in the same year.

Wow, wouldn’t that be something! Maybe I’ll set aside a special fund and start saving so that when I retire this could be my first year’s activity. We’ll see. 

But regardless of whether I ever get to do that last item, I’m sure that each year my “already bucketed list” will keep growing with the things I’m fortunate enough to be able to do, the ancestral sites I’ll see and most of all the great genea-friends that I’ll meet.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun ~ What's Your Ancestor Score?

For once I'm actually going to be doing a SNGF ON a Saturday!!  So here is our "mission" from Randy Seaver over at Genea-Musings:

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (and I hope more of you do than participated in the last several SNGF challenges), is to: 

 1) Determine how complete your genealogy research is. For background, read Crista Cowan's post Family History All Done? What’s Your Number? and Kris Stewart's What Is Your Genealogy "Score?" For comparison purposes, keep the list to 10 or 11 generations with you as the first person. 
2) Create a table similar to Crista's second table, and fill it in however you can (you could create an Ahnentafel (Ancestor Name) list and count the number in each generation, or use some other method). Tell us how you calculated the numbers. 
3) Show us your table, and calculate your "Ancestral Score" - what is your percentage of known names to possible names (1,023 for 10 generations). 
4) For extra credit (or more SNGF), do more generations and add them to your chart. 
5) Post your table, and your "Ancestor Score," on your own blog, in a comment to this post, or in a Facebook Status post or Google+ Stream post. 

1.) I created an Ahnentafel report with my genealogy software (The Master Genealogist) and then counted the number of people in each generation.

2.) Here is my chart:

 

 3.) My "Ancestor Score" for 10 generations is:
       Number of known ancestral names = 145
       Number of possible ancestral names = 1,023
       10 generation Ancestral Name Number = 145/1,023 = 14.2%

I didn't go for any extra credit so that's it for me!  I will admit that my number would be much lower is I only included ancestors that I felt were well documented.  I had done a similar exercise earlier and my score was lower but about a year ago I was put in contact with someone who had extensive information on my Nissan line and that really made the number go up.

So, I am far from "done"  ~ but that's what make genealogy so much fun!

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun ~ On Monday, Oh My!

I know that I'm very late...and on top of that I'm going to "cheat"!

Here is our "mission" from Randy Seaver over at Genea-Musings: 

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible! music) is to: 
1) What gift that you received for Christmas is your favorite for genealogy purposes? Book, magazine, hardware, software, website subscription, research time, DNA test - what was it, and how will it affect your genealogy research? 
2) Tell us about it in a blog post on your own blog, in a comment to this blog post, or in a comment on Facebook or Google+ in response to this post. 
3) Come on, spill! And it's OK to respond to this in the days after Saturday too!

The gift I am going to talk about is not one that I received, it's one that I gave. It's actually a project that was started quite a long time ago.

When my nieces and nephew were young I would often tell stories about them to everyone at work.  They were, of course, the most amazing children in the world!  A good friend told me that I really needed to write these stories down.  I agreed, that sounded like a great idea and I kept saying that I would get around to it.  As time went by I just kept saying I would get around to it and finally my friend shamed me into it by writing some of the stories herself and e-mailing them to me.  I guess she has heard them a time or two!!  That got me started and very soon we had a nice little book.  Now this was in the mid-1990's and I didn't have a digital camera or any type of fancy way to make a book.  The "book" was just plain paper with a stiff orange paper cover.  It was certainly not fancy, but the kids loved it anyway and really liked listening to stories about themselves. 

So, fast forward to the age of digital pictures and many wonderful ways to put those pictures in books.  The same friend happened to mention that now I could add pictures to the stories.  That seemed like it would be a nice, quick, little project - WRONG!  While I still had the original word file for the stories, as I started working on the project I wanted to expand and add more stories.  Also, as I would copy the stories into the new format and then try to find pictures to go with that story it took more time than I thought.  While I could often "see" the story as it had happened, that didn't mean we had a picture necessarily.

 Well, I worked feverishly up until December 9th and finally got it finished and submitted.  I was getting concerned as I had ordered it before the deadline stated on the website AND I paid for 2nd day shipping.  Even with that I didn't receive the books until December 24th.  I had ordered one for all three of the kids as well as my parents and sisters.  But all ended well and now we have a book that has a picture on the (hard) cover as well as many pictures inside.


The very best part for me - and maybe this was really MY present - was that we opened these books last, by design, and then sat around and read all the stories out loud.  The kids remembered so many other things as well. We all laughed and talked about stories that weren't in the book - so maybe I need to start thinking about volume two! It was a great end to Christmas morning this year.

As we were cleaning up the living room I heard Colton ask his sister if the book on the floor was hers.  Her answer?  "Oh no, mine is already in my suitcase so I can take it with me to Joe's (her fiancé) I'm going to make him read the WHOLE thing!"

 

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun ~ A Tad Late

I know that's I'm late to the party - and on top of that, I'm going to cheat! Several years ago we did a similar exercise for SNGF and I've mostly copied it here. I did do the extra credit pie chart for this go round.

So, here is our "mission" from Randy Seaver over at Genea-Musings:

1) List your 16 great-great-grandparents with their birth, death and marriage data (dates and places). [Hint - you might use an Ancestral Name List from your software for this.]

2) Determine the countries (or states) that these ancestors lived in at their birth and at their death.

3) For extra credit, go make a "Heritage Pie" chart for the country of origin (birth place) for these 16 ancestors. [Hint: you could use the chart generator from Kid Zone for this.] [Note: Thank you to Sheri Fenley for the "Heritage Pie" chart idea.]

4. Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a post on Facebook or google+.

 Here is mine - copied from my original post from August, 2009.

1. James Ritchie ~ born on 4 May 1844 at Blebo Craig, Kemback, Fife, Scotland. He married on 26 Jun 1868 in St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland. He died on 7 Oct 1891 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Ethnicity – Scottish.

2. Jane Swinton ~ born on 13 Aug 1846 in St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland. She died on 31 Dec 1912 in Strathmiglo, Fife, Scotland. Ethnicity – Scottish.

3. William Benzie ~ born on 18 Oct 1843 at Oyne, Scotland. He married on 20 Jun 1874 at Inverurie, Scotland. He died on 3 Mar 1922 at Inverurie, Scotland. Ethnicity – Scottish

4. Hellen Lumsden ~ born in 1849 in Udney, Scotland. She died on 16 Apr 1919 in Inverurie, Scotland. Ethnicity – Scottish

5. John Ulrick Saurer ~ born on 23 May 1823 in Berne, Switzerland. He died on 24 May 1899 at Apple Creek, Ohio. Ethnicity – Swiss-German.

6. Caroline Flory ~ born on 20 Mar 1844 in Wayne County, Ohio. She died on 16 May, 1884 in Apple Creek, Ohio. Ethnicity – Swiss-German.

7. Rudolph Graber ~ born on 13 Sep 1853 in Berne, Switzerland. He married on 15 Mar 1881 in Apple Creek, Ohio. He died on 5 Aug 1918 at Apple Creek, Ohio. Ethnicity – Swiss-German.

8. Emma Zaugg ~ born on 13 Sep 1860 at East Union Twp, Wayne County, Ohio. She died on 7 Sep 1919 at Apple Creek, Ohio. Ethnicity – Swiss-German.

9. Edwin S Quick ~ born circa 1855 in Maryland. Ethnicity – Unknown.

10. Susie H Hungerford ~ born 09 April 1867 in Prince Frederick, Maryland. She died 02 Jul 1937 in Baltimore, Maryland. Ethnicity – possibly English.

11. William Eickelberg ~ born on 24 Mar 1863 in Mecklenburg Strelitz, Germany. He married on 1 Jan 1884 in Charleston, West Virginia. He died on 11 Dec 1934 in Denver, Colorado. Ethnicity – German.

12. Nellie Auflick ~ born on 29 Apr 1864 at Minersville, Ohio. She died on 27 Sep 1940 in Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio and is buried in Denver, Colorado. Ethnicity – English.

13. Henry Evans ~ unknown

14. Alma ~ unknown

15. August Heinrich Nissen ~ born abt 1850 in Schleswig Holstein, Germany. He died 06 Apr 1914, Broomfield, Colorado. Ethnicity – German.

16. Anna Elizabeth Parkson born abt 1856 in Ohio, Died 11 May 1900 in Broomfield, Colorado. Ethnicity – German.

This was a very interesting exercise! My ethnicity is 25% Scottish, 25% Swiss-German, 18.75% German (or 43.75% Germanic), 12.5% English and 18.75% anybody's guess.

And here is my extra credit pie chart:

This was fun ~ thanks Sheri & Randy!!

SNGF ~ Sunday Morning Style

I just love Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogical Fun "challenges"! They have so often opened my eyes to things that I need to research further or holes in my documentation. They make me look at my database from a totally different perspective!

So this week Randy offers us "Ahnentafel Roulette"

Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!):

1) How old is your father now, or how old would he be if he had lived? Divide this number by 4 and round the number off to a whole number. This is your "roulette number."

2) Use your pedigree charts or your family tree genealogy software program to find the person with that number in your ahnentafel. Who is that person?

3) Tell us three facts about that person with the "roulette number."

4) Write about it in a blog post on your own blog, in a Facebook note or comment, or as a comment on this blog post.

5) If you do not have a person's name for your "roulette number" then spin the wheel again - pick your mother, or yourself, a favorite aunt or cousin, or even your children!

I'm going to cheat a little bit on this one ~ so, my answers are as follows:

1.) My father is currently 74, which would make my number 18.5. Rather than rounding up and just using 19, I'm going to use BOTH 18 and 19.

2.) My #18 is William Benzie and my #19 is his wife Helen Lumsden. I decided to use both because I have this wonderful picture of them together.

3.) Three facts. William and Helen were married on June 20, 1874. They had 8 children born between 1872 and 1892. [Of those 8, the 5 who lived to adulthood all emigrated from Scotland to either the United States or Canada.]

William and Helen lived in Inverurie, Scotland and are buried there. Helen died on April 16, 1919 and William on March 3, 1922. When I went to Scotland I visited their grave and took this picture [with my Dad standing along side.]


William worked at the corn mill at Port Elphinstone where he was a "meal mill corn drier" according to one census listing.

Helen had a child out of wedlock before she and William married. I have not yet been able to trace what happened to that child but it don't believe William was her father as no father was listed. Helen herself was born out of wedlock and her marriage certificate lists a James Lumsden as the "reputed father."

So, that's what I have for my spin of the roulette wheel!

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun

Randy Seaver has posted his Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge over at Genea-Musings. While I'm still at the TMG Land Cruise, I just couldn't pass up SNGF! So, here is my list:

* Jacqulin Ann (Quick) Ritchie (living), my mother, born in Colorado, currently living in St. Louis, Missouri.

* Donald John Ritchie (living), my father, born in Ohio, currently living in St. Louis, Missouri.

* Jack H Quick (1911 - 1999), my mother's father, who was born in Denver and lived in Colorado until he was an adult and then lived in various places in Kansas and Texas before finally settling in Ohio.

* Ruth Penrose (Evans) Quick (1912 -????), my mother's mother, who was born in Colorado and I believe lived in Colorado most of her life. I have been told that she came to see my mother shortly after my birth so technically I “met” her but she and my mother did not remain in touch after that.

* Nelle (Eickelberg) Nissen Quick Heflin (1885 - 1970), my great-grandmother (mother of Jack, grandmother of Jacqulin), who was born in Indiana as the family was making the trek out to Colorado. She lived the remainder of her life in Colorado although she did travel quite a bit. I can remember Ga-Ga visiting us in Ohio and I can also remember a trip out to Colorado when we stayed in her cabin in the mountains above Denver.

* Lela Mabel (Saurer) Ritchie (1913 - 1991), my grandmother (mother of my father, Don). She was born in Wayne County, Ohio and lived there until she married. She lived in Cleveland for about 9 years and then the family moved back to Apple Creek, Ohio (in Wayne County) where she lived the remainder of her life.

*David Washington Ritchie (1908 - 2000), my grandfather (father of my father, Don). He was born in Cleveland, Ohio and lived there until the family moved to Apple Creek, Ohio (in Wayne County) where he lived the remainder of his life.

* John Frederick Saurer (1873 - 1962), my great-grandfather (father of Lela, grandfather of Don), He was born in Wayne County, Ohio and lived there all of his life. I can remember as a very young child visiting Grandpa Saurer in the nursing home.

*Ella Rosa (Graber) Saurer (1883 - 1963) my great-grandmother (mother of Lela, grandmother of Don.) She was born in Wayne County, Ohio and lived there all of her life. I can remember going over to visit her and the pump in the summer kitchen of her house.

*Mary (Benzie) Ritchie (1876 - 1961) my great-grandmother (mother of David, grandmother of Don.) She was born in Inverurie, Scotland and lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts upon coming to the United States. She and Thomas Ritchie were married in Cambridge and soon thereafter moved to Cleveland, Ohio. They retired to a farm near Ravenna, Ohio. I don’t remember her, but I definitely remember going to that farm to visit. There were DOGS there! I remember the dogs ;-)

So, that's 10 for me. I have pictures of everyone on of them, but since I am not at home I have to put this post up totally naked!

Saturday Day Night Genealogy Fun - On Sunday Morning

Once again I am late to the party, but Randy's challenge this week is one that I really want to answer. Over at Genea-Musings, Randy asks:

• What is your UGG - your "Ultimate Genealogy Goal" for the genealogy research that you wish to leave to your heirs, descendants and the genealogy community?
• How long do you think you have have left to fulfill this ultimate goal?
• Are you prioritizing your time adequately in order to achieve this goal?
• If not, what should you do to achieve the goal?
• Will you do what you need to do?

Wow - that's a lot of important things to consider. So, taking a deep breath I'll start at the top.

What is your UGG - your "Ultimate Genealogy Goal" for the genealogy research that you wish to leave to your heirs, descendants and the genealogy community?

I have to admit that I've never thought about my "UGG". That might be why I have an as yet undocumented by the medical profession condition know as GADD - Genealogical Attention Deficit Disorder. This condition is marked by the tendency to flit from one "shiny object" to another - one minute ordering a copy of an English wedding certificate because, hey, I just got an e-mail from Ancestry telling me how and the next minute wandering over to the Maryland Archives site because, really, I MUST figure out what I know and don't know about my QUICK line, and then being seduced by a new link someone tweeted about Scotland...well, you get the picture.

I have always enjoyed pictures and stories about "long ago". It just seemed natural to focus on stories about my family. Genealogy is about the thrill of finding that next elusive piece of a fascinating puzzle. That's just for me and for now however. In thinking about what I wish to leave behind I realized that the main thing, or my UGG, would be to have shared my knowledge in such a way that (1) my nieces and nephew are interested and at least conversant with their family history and (2) all the important one-of-a-kind items I have are treasured and passed down with full knowledge about where they came from.

How long do you think you have have left to fulfill this ultimate goal?

Given that I am 50 and my almost 75 year old parents are just getting ready to leave to go hiking in Yellowstone (again) I'm going to be very conservative and say that I have at least 25 good years. My concern though would be if I got hit by the proverbial bus tomorrow - then what??

Are you prioritizing your time adequately in order to achieve this goal?

Nope, certainly not at this point.

If not, what should you do to achieve the goal?

Once I realized what my goal was, it was much easier to figure out how to achieve it! Oddly enough the main thing I should be doing it not trying to move back just one more generation in any given line. The main thing I should be doing is presenting my family history is a way that would capture the attention of my nieces and nephew. I know that they enjoy the stories and to that end I've worked, rather sporadically, on two books through Ancestry.com's My Canvas application - one for my father's family and one for my mother's. I have so many pictures to include and I know that the kids would have fun reading the stories.

While these are not the rigorously sourced and documented genealogies that many people want to (or have!) produced, these family stories are what I believe would capture the interest of the next generation. Now all that does not mean that I don't always try to adequately source my information. It just means that if I truly want to pass this along to another generation within my family I need something beyond that.

Will you do what you need to do?

I hope so. Now that, with Randy's help, I am more clear in my thinking about what I want to do. Also, this year was my first year to really concentrate on my genealogy. Oh, don't get me wrong, I've played at it for years and years (and years!) But this year was to be the starting point of my serious genealogy pursuit. And let me tell you - it has been eye-opening! There is just SO much information out there that I've been like a kid in a candy store just "GADDing" from one thing to the next.

The good new is that it is only mid-August. If I put together a plan to make finishing at least one of my "family story books" by Christmas a top priority, I'll bet I can do it!

Saturday Night Fun ~ Genealogy Style

Once again Randy Seaver has given us our Saturday Night Genealogy Fun assignment:

• List your 16 great-grandparents in pedigree chart order. List their birth and death years and places.
• Figure out the dominant ethnicity or nationality of each of them.
• Calculate your ancestral ethnicity or nationality by adding them up for the 16 - 6.25% for each (obviously, this is approximate).

I have a couple of holes in my sixteen, but I am going to go ahead and use this list anyway. I only have 2 that are totally unidentified and 1 with rather shaky birth and no death information.

1. James Ritchie ~ born on 4 May 1844 at Blebo Craig, Kemback, Fife, Scotland. He married on 26 Jun 1868 in St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland. He died on 7 Oct 1891 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Ethnicity – Scottish.

2. Jane Swinton ~ born on 13 Aug 1846 in St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland. She died on 31 Dec 1912 in Strathmiglo, Fife, Scotland. Ethnicity – Scottish.

3. William Benzie ~ born on 18 Oct 1843 at Oyne, Scotland. He married on 20 Jun 1874 at Inverurie, Scotland. He died on 3 Mar 1922 at Inverurie, Scotland. Ethnicity – Scottish

4. Hellen Lumsden ~ born in 1849 in Udney, Scotland. She died on 16 Apr 1919 inInverurie, Scotland. Ethnicity – Scottish

5. John Ulrick Saurer ~ born on 23 May 1823 in Berne, Switzerland. He died on 24 May 1899 at Apple Creek, Ohio. Ethnicity – Swiss-German.

6. Caroline Flory ~ born on 20 Mar 1844 in Wayne County, Ohio. She died on 16 May, 1884 in Apple Creek, Ohio. Ethnicity – Swiss-German.

7. Rudolph Graber ~ born on 13 Sep 1853 in Berne, Switzerland. He married on 15 Mar 1881 in Apple Creek, Ohio. He died on 5 Aug 1918 at Apple Creek, Ohio. Ethnicity – Swiss-German.

8. Emma Zaugg ~ born on 13 Sep 1860 at East Union Twp, Wayne County, Ohio. She died on 7 Sep 1919 at Apple Creek, Ohio. Ethnicity – Swiss-German.

9. Edwin S Quick ~ born circa 1855 in Maryland. Ethnicity – Unknown.

10. Susie H Hungerford ~ born 09 April 1867 in Prince Frederick, Maryland. She died 02 Jul 1937 in Baltimore, Maryland. Ethnicity – possibly English.

11. William Eickelberg ~ born on 24 Mar 1863 in Mecklenburg Strelitz, Germany. He married on 1 Jan 1884 in Charleston, West Virginia. He died on 11 Dec 1934 in Denver, Colorado. Ethnicity – German.

12. Nellie Auflick ~ born on 29 Apr 1864 at Minersville, Ohio. She died on 27 Sep 1940 in Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio and is buried in Denver, Colorado. Ethnicity – English.

13. Henry Evans ~ unknown

14. Alma ~ unknown

15. August Heinrich Nissen ~ born abt 1850 in Schleswig Holstein, Germany. He died 06 Apr 1914, Broomfield, Colorado. Ethnicity – German.

16. Anna Elizabeth Parkson born abt 1856 in Ohio, Died 11 May 1900 in Broomfield, Colorado. Ethnicity – German.

This was a very interesting exercise! My ethnicity is 25% Scottish, 25% Swiss-German & 18.75% German (or 43.75% Germanic), 12.5% English and 18.75% anybody's guess.

It was also interesting for me to note that 8 of my great-great-grandparents where not born in this country, 4 were born in this country to immigrant parents and there is only one that I believe had parents born in this country - Susie H Hungerford*. (and then my 3 with almost no information)

*Of course, I just TODAY found this name and I will admit right now that I do not yet have good documentation for this line. I was just so excited when I saw the death certificate because it sure appears to be the person I am looking for. This is all part of my wild rush to put together pieces of my Baltimore ancestors so I will have a productive trip there at the end of the month.

Thanks Randy for this idea!!

Saturday Evening Time Travel

Randy Seaver, at Genea-Musings wants to take us Time Traveling and asks us to, "Decide what year and what place you would love to visit as a time traveller. Who would you like to see in their environment? If you could ask them one question, what would it be?"

These questions made me ponder so many possibilities in my family history.

I would so love to go to Canada in 1891 to find out why my great-great-grandmother, Jane [SWINTON] RITCHIE left her children with her brother-in-law, Alexander and herself returned to Scotland. Actually, I'd like to figure out WHEN she returned to Scotland!

Or possibly I would want to go to Germany, in 1866 when it really wasn't "Germany" yet as we know it today but rather to the duchy of Mecklenburg-Stelitz and find out exactly what it was that prompted William EICKELBERG to bring his young family to Pomeroy, Ohio - to a country that was just emerging from a civil war. Did they know people there? Where were they between their arrival and when I can first find them in the 1880 census? And most of all, WHO is the young girl, Anna, listed in 1880 as a granddaughter at 1yr old who I can never find again?

But no, the winner of the Time Travel contest has to be this:

The year is 1909 and the place is Broomfield, Colorado. I would like to see what life was like out on a farm for a young girl of 18, Anna Gertrude NISSEN. Without her mother, who had died when she was 9, did she have any female to share whispered confidences with when her father wasn't around? Did she long to go into the big city of Denver? Most importantly, Who else knew that she was going to run off with Herbert EVANS to Shoshone, Idaho to be married?

So, great-grandmother, Gertrude, my question to you is, "Who was this Herbert EVANS?" I think he might have been the same Herbert Evans, a 20 years old boarder and a railroad laborer in the 1900 census of Weld Co, Colorado. That would make him about 10/11 years older than Gertrude, which fits with other facts I've found.

I'm breaking Randy's rules a little bit, but I don't want to ask ONE question. I want the whole story of this romance that ended with a pregnant Gertrude and her 2 year old son, Harold, returning from Portland, Oregon to her father's home in Broomfield, Colorado where her daughter, my grandmother, Ruth Penrose EVANS was born on 29 Sept 1912.