ANCESTOR APPROVED AWARD

I received this award from A Rootdigger and I really hope my ancestors would approve of my research into their lives. A Rootdigger has a few sites and is very interested in German ancestry.

Now I need to tell you about things about my ancestors that have surprised, humbled or enlightened me. Oh my what to choose? Here we go.

1. I was surprised to find out that my 11th Great Grandparents were the first official family to settle in New France. (Quebec) Louis Hebert and Marie Rollet both have statues erected in their honour in Quebec. 
2. I was really surprised when one of my sisters was sent a photo randomly from her sister in law of a trip she was on back in the 60's. There is my sister on her way to Nova Scotia and she is sitting on the edge of Louis Hebert's statue. This was 40 years before I did our family history and we had no idea we were related to him. 
3. I am humbled by the sacrifice of all my ancestors but most of all by my Metis ancestors who fought so bravely to try and save their land and their homes during the Louis Riel Rebellion.
4. I was humbled by my Grandmother who had given birth a minimum of 12 times. How did you survive something like that? How do you care for  them all? Feed them? Oh and the many that didn't survive. How do you bury so many like some of my ancestors had to do. 
5. I have been enlightened by all my ancestors. I had no interest in history before I started researching but now find many things to interest me about the past. A storm or drought from the past now has real meaning to me. 

I will have to end at 5 due to time constraints or I will never get this posted. I will pass this on to the following bloggers with no pressure to take part at all. I know how busy you all are.

• Lucie at Acadian Ancestral Home
• Tina at Campo Santo-holy ground
• Elizabeth at Little Bytes of Life

Now I know I am supposed to give this to more than 3 but honestly it looks to me as if all of you already have this award. As I have mentioned to these bloggers I know all of our ancestors would approve heartily of our research into their lives. 

A NEW CONUNDRUM FOR RESEARCHERS

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oskay/265900118/

Genealogists have always come up against brick walls. They hammer away brick by brick to find their elusive ancestors. To find that piece of information that will get them to that next step, next generation. 

So here is the conundrum for future researchers. You are looking at a family and there are two children in the family. They are 2 months apart in age. You start to question this because one surely must be adopted. You hunt and hunt for an explanation but sure enough the records show they are that close in age. You look for a sibling of the parents who may have died leaving their baby with their brother or sister. Nope. No luck. 

I  was just watching the news and they showed a family who had twin boys. One of these babies was born prematurely, the other was carried for 2 more months and was delivered then. They were born 63 days apart. 

Oh how we are going to pull our hair out over these puzzles. 

MOURNING JEWELRY

I was contacted by the wife of a distant cousin (Hi Chris) about a piece of  jewelry she received that had been in her mother's possession. It was called a mourning ring. There was a name inscribed inside of it with the deceased's death date and age. 

She looked all over her family tree and can find no connection to the name and we have both done research to try and find out who this woman was but we have found nothing. Zero. 

The custom was to bequeath these rings to your friends and loved ones after your death. They were often made with black stones and had the deceased's woven hair under a piece of crystal. Sometimes pearls were added to symbolize tears. 

They also put hair into brooches and necklaces and some created pieces that were all woven hair. Women sometimes had little containers on their dressing tables to hold the hair that they removed from their hair brushes. I think Cass at This Old House has one or told me about them?? I can't remember for sure.

All of these photos are from the Colonial Williamsburg site. They have an amazing site filled with history and genealogy info. I envy those of you who may have visited there.

 

This ring with the two colors of hair are engraved "George and Martha Washington" and are believed to hold their hair.

 

Sometimes engraved in these rings were the Latin intials  AET that refers age at death or OBT which refers to the date of death.

 

Do you have any of these heirlooms in your home? Can you share any information or history about them?


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BLOGGER'S BEST FRIEND AWARD

 Hummer @ Branching Out Through the Years has given me this award. What an honour. Really. What I like most about blogging is the sense of community. The fact that she felt I had been a good friend to her is so nice. 

 ADDENDUM: JAN. 27, 2010

Sandra @ I Never Knew My Father has also passed this award on to me. You ladies are so kind. Thank you Sandra. I am really glad I have made a bit of a difference in blogland. 

So meet 'Bandit' "A Blogger's Best Friend Award". Give this award to your most loyal blog readers. Thus, the award should be given to a follower of yours who takes the time to comment regularly on many of your posts. In addition his or her blog should be creative, funny and always entertaining. Upon receiving this award, pass it along to two fellow bloggers who fit this criteria. Wow. Like I said an honour.

Well I don't post a lot on here so there isn't much for my followers to leave comments on.

I will start with Josette @ My Grama's Soul and then Lucie @ Lucie's Legacy. I hope you ladies accept blog awards because you certainly do deserve them.

HAPPY 101 AWARD

Either everyone has run out of blog friends to give these to or I am a very lucky blogger. I was given this award by three different people yesterday.

Bill West @ West in New England , Frances @ Branching Out Through The Years and Becky @ Grace and Glory . No technically Bill and Frances gave me the award on my other site Family Trees May Contain Nuts but I will be lazy and write one post to put on both my sites.

As it usually goes with these awards we are required to tell something of ourselves and to pass them on to others. This list is 10 things that make me happy. I will skip over the obvious ones of  family and friends and try to come up with some different ones.

1. I am happy when the dog does not pee on the floor in front of company.
2. I am happy when I am not stopped by a train while on my way to coffee group. This is a bone of contention in our community. I mean I am talking my first cup of coffee for the day here. Move it.
   
3. I am happy when my husband remembers to call after a day of snowmobiling in the mountains to tell me they made it back to the cabin safely. Maybe I should be more worried about getting a phone call in the morning after all these guys have been back at the cabin for the night to make sure they survive the evening festivities. 
4. I am happy that my sisters can sing just as well as I do. Read this any way you like.
5. I am happy when I hear a basketball bouncing either on pavement or in a gym. I don't get that nearly enough anymore.
6. I am happy it doesn't snow often here in the Vancouver area. We are not supposed to get much snow here but last year was a doozy, snowing every day for over a month. So far this year we are good. Abnormally high temperatures here yesterday.
7. I am happy that I have tall people in my house to reach things for me. Second shelf is too high for me. Of course if these tall people would put things where I can reach them I wouldn't need their help. Hey...it occurs to me that all the alcohol is in the cupboard above the fridge. What's up with that?
   
8. I am happy that I am such a good driver because everyone else out there drives like an idiot. 
9. I am happy that I have so many unfinished projects in my life because I will have to live forever to get them done. 
10. I am happy that my family and friends actually know how crazy weird I am and they still love me. I know this because they all emailed me a warning when the government announced they were going to lock up all the crazy weird people in the city. "Run little buddy, run" was what they all said.

Now I am supposed to pass this on to 10 people. Yikes. So many of you don't post awards. Let me think. I try not to tag the same people over and over again. I will have to stop my list at 8 today. If you prefer not to join in just know that you were thought of.

• Sandy @ 521 Lake Street 
• Gail @ At The Farm 
• Joanne @ Cornish Beach Brummie 
• Ali @ Fifty & Fabulous 
• Lucy @ My Secrets for Happiness 
• Roly @ Wheelboy
• Gardening in a Sandbox  
• Foley @ Foley's Follies
  

Hey don't go yet...did you leave me a note?

RESEARCHING OUTSIDE OF THE BOX

Percy English

1897-1959

Some time ago while researching my husband's side of the family I had pretty much exhausted all the avenues to find more family members. Most of his ancestors did not have surviving children. He did have some half siblings though significantly older than him, from his father Percy. I was in contact with one of their sons in particular who told me of the many family items he had and was going to share with us.

MANITOBA RECORDS

I came across this site last night and it just goes to show you that you need to revisit your research over and over again. You never know what will show up. (http://www.shsb.mb.ca/paysriel/outils/frs-outlnk-voyageurs.html)

The site is in French but I read enough French to know that I have to get written permission to use the pictures on my site. You can copy them for personal use without permission however. 
I saved about a dozen photos of my ancestors starting with my grandfather Ziphirin Champagne. This is a different photo that I already had.

There were other photos of my great grand aunts and uncles. Many slightly distant cousins a few times removed. And also a group photo with the Metis Council. There were 4 or 5 of my family in that picture but the quality of the complete picture is very poor so I really can't see their faces. 
If you have family from Manitoba you should have a look on this site to see what they have in their archives. The following is the translation from that site:

This project was carried out thanks to l' financial aid of the government of Canada, by l' intermediary of the Public records of Canada and the Canadian Council of the files and l' Association manitobaine of the files like l' financial aid of Culture, Inheritance and Manitoba Tourism