New Feature/New Page

I'm adding a new feature and a new page/tab to this blog.  I will also, eventually add it to my other blogs.  You can see the link to the new page at the top of the page menu, next to last item.

I'm currently taking medication that is causing symptoms that makes it difficult to travel any distance or any length of time because access to a public bathroom is necessary.

So, not easily discouraged, I've decided to identify public bathrooms in my area of research.

My area of research is most of New York State, parts of eastern and northern Pennsylvania and very northwestern New Jersey.

The information about bathrooms I'm familiar with appear on a page with D for definite and P for potential after the name and address.  The Ps are those I assume would be available but I haven't verified that they are.  These will, hopefully, change as I verify their availability.

It may seem odd, weird or silly but age and other causes make access to public bathrooms a necessity for some of us to be able to travel.

A woman's concern

 For some time I've had the inkling that many of my female ancestors had been baby-makers whether coincidentally or of their own choice.  As a single mother of a single child, I have my opinions about childbearing and the status of women.  I also have strong opinions about population numbers. I knew that many of my ancestors had many children.  I also knew that at least one of my ancestors died very shortly after her last baby was born.  I knew that one of my grandmothers had her last baby quite late in her life.

We now know that childbearing include risks to the mother, if not the fetus, that increase as the age of the mother increases although women still have babies into their late 30s and early 40s.  I was curious about the age of my female ancestors when they had their last baby.  This is what I found:

This is, of course, not all my female ancestors but those I was able to collect these facts.

Thinking about the various aspects of these facts can be interesting:  the time period of the last births, the ages of the mothers, the number of children these women had, how the age of the mothers might have affected their children.

My grandmother, Ida Mattice O'Dell, told me that her doctors didn't think she could carry a pregnancy to term because she was small, 4' 11", yet she had 7 children and didn't seem to feel that giving birth was difficult.

Note that Mary Hendrickson Hulse died shortly after giving birth to her last child; generally thought to have died in childbirth.

Note that Anna Hendrickson was 54 when she had her last child.  I can't imagine.

Note also that Mary Hogancamp Vandermark gave birth to 16 children.  I can't imagine.

The lives of many of our ancestors was quite different from ours and not that long ago.

This was an interesting exercise. 

The Status of the One Name Studies and the One Place Study - A Report

I'm either a member or coordinator of the following One Name Studies and One Place Study:

The Beismer Name Study and @ WikiTree

The Wormuth Name Study and @ WikiTree

The Swartwout Name Study and @ WikiTree

The Flower/Flowers Name Study and @ WikiTree

 The Butler Name Study @ WikiTree - There's a wealth of information there that I haven't begun to look at.

and

The Rockland, NY (Sullivan County) Place Study and @ WikiTree

Over the past few months, for various reasons, I haven't been working much on any aspect of my family history research, including these projects.

I'm the only member of the Beismer and Wormuth ONSs so work on both will be slow unless and until there are other researchers.  I was able to finally find the origins of my particular branch of those families which I attribute to the process of a One Name Study.  Still there is much to to in all these projects.

In addition, there is just the constant addition of family members, relatives, ancestors to my family tree, corrections and improvements to the profiles.  I love it.  It's what I wanted and planned to do in retirement; it's a very good way to spend my time.

Please comment when you read this post so I know if people are interesting and better, what you're interested in.  Thank you.

My Family History Research Resolutions for 2025

 1. There are quite a brick walls in my family tree; people where I’m stuck and can’t find much information and can’t get back to the previous generation.  I certainly can’t get past all of them but there are a few that have blocked me for a long time.  I will be working on those this year:

Harriet Barecolt Wormuth; Eleanor Debeck Wormuth; Joseph Odell; Ezra Oliver; and Catherine M. Odell.

2. WikiTree has standards.  When you create a profile there, the web site lets you know if you’ve made a mistake.  It also creates a list of “suggestions” that let you know that something in a profile is not quite up to standards.  These can be as simple as mis-formatting something to something serious, like entering a “unique” name, meaning that name is nowhere else in the database, like Barecolt.  The suggestions can sit there, you can try to fix them or someone else might fix one.  Once you’ve made a correction, you indicate that and it’s reviewed and either disappears, is altered, or remains until it’s fixed.  I will be working on as suggestions regularly this year.

3. That brings me to workload.  Family history is work and I had planned for it to be that before I retired.  It hasn’t quite worked out that way but, this year, I will create a schedule for regular research activities so I can get a little done on most of my projects throughout the year.

4. The schedule:  

• I have a lot of family photos, they’re mostly all over the place.  I need to scan and organize them I will try to scan at least 5 photos a day.

• Review all of my WikiTree profiles to be sure that I have at least birth, marriage and death information; parents; and children; and that my profiles each conform to a style that I have developed.

• Further define my research schedule with daily, weekly and monthly tasks.

That’s it.  It’s a lot but it’s mostly trying to be organized and routine so things get done and I know what’s been done and what still has to be done.

Wish me luck.

                                         

Happy 2025

This will be a post filled with opinions.

I'm at an age and, this past year, I've face a serious medical issue, both of which have caused me to look at my priorities and where I should focus my attention and activities.

Family history is one of my priorities.  My next post will be resolutions I am formulating to coordinate everything I'd like to accomplish in the coming year.  For now, in this post, I have some thoughts about family history, local history and the organizations involved.

Support Local History:  You can do that just by visiting your local historical society, if there is one.  Local historical and genealogical societies operate mostly with volunteers.  Volunteer, if you find something interesting.  Donate.  It doesn't have to be just money.  May you had an ancestor who was a local official or teacher or who participated in some local historical event or started a local business that was important in the community.  Maybe you have paraphernalia that you no longer want to store and can donate it to your historical society.  Do some family history; make some charts, copy some family photos and donate them to local organizations.

If you are a local historical or genealogical society, be separate from the official municipal operation.  While towns should support the local historical and genealogical organizations in various ways, they can be controlling and stifle the activities of those organizations.

If you are a town official, support local history and genealogical by naming a town historian; through a process of working with local organizations who will know best who that should be; it's NOT about politics.  A town can provide a space for a museum or historical society; even if it's a shared space.  A town an add a link to local organizations on their web sites.  Towns can be supportive by not dictating the activities of local organizations.

If your are a local library, collect information and published histories and genealogies of your community.  If you have meeting space, you can provide it, even part time, to local organizations.

Local history and genealogy belong to the citizens and residents of the local community; not to officials.

Local history and genealogy can provide details of larger historical events that make history, in general, more interesting and provides connection to our larger shared history.

Some historical societies become snooty, elitist.  It's a mistake.  Local history is not just about officials and the wealthy, it's about people, all people who had and have lived in the community.  Local history should celebrate the people of the community and the changes in the community over time.

Next time:  my resolutions and family history goals for this year; what I want to accomplish.  Still working on the list....