How about a date, please?

Do you have some of those old photos, you know the ones with no dates on them?  Don't we all have those stuck somewhere?  And wouldn't it be nice if a name was on them as well? How would you like to get some clues to figure out who it is and when it was taken?

First of all, you need to look at the photo.  I know you already saw it, but REALLY look at it.  Have someone else look at it too.  What is in the background?  Could it be a backdrop in a studio?  Could it be outside in the fall?  Are there any houses or automobiles? Could that be **** smethingtime period

Now look at the attire and hair style.  Look at the little things.  Are those full length gloves or a fur collar?  Are those buttoned boots, or tie boots.  Is that a hankie in his shirt pocket? 

Does she have bangs, curls, or a really tight bun? What kind of hat is he wearing?

Maybe if you can find the clues, and get a time frame, you can get some idea of who is in the photo. 

Here is one website that tells of the details of different time periods, and different clues. 


http://www.uvm.edu/landscape/dating/get_started.php

Take a peek at the information on this site and you may be amazed at some of the clues you may have missed before.  And you may learn something new about your family!  Have fun.

Does 'History repeat itself'?

"History  repeats itself."  At least that is what we are always told.  Well, as I am watching my youngest play with his cars this morning, I am reminded of one instance where it is true. 

When my oldest was about 4 years old, he knew the alphabet, could recite his colors, remembered our address and phone number , and could even read a few site words.   

So, one day we were at Frisch's restaurant, and it seemed like it was taking forever for our dinner to arrive. My son kept asking when his dinner would be brought out, because he was so hungry. 
So to buy some time, I told him, if he would just count to 15 our dinner would be on the table. My son took the challenge, and started to count. He could count to 150 or so, and he knew that it wouldn't take long to count to 15..  My husband looked at me in disbelief and wonderment, and asked how I was gonna make THAT happen.

So my son starts counting.... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18,, my husband smiled and chuckled as my son continued to count.  I believe he got to about 89 before dinner arrived.  He started eating, and was a happy child, with no clue that he had missed the number 15 completely.  My husband asked "How did you know he would skip over 15?".   I told him our son always skips  number 15.  I had heard him count to about  150 several times, and he always skipped 15, without a pause, or a second thought.  Right from 14 to 16 and he just knew that it was right! 

So, forward 18 years, and as I am watching my youngest, at the tender age of 4, count his cars on the floor this morning, I hear him say.......11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, right on up to 24.  I have to pause, smile, and laugh, as I think I have heard him miss 15 a few times before,  and now I do have confirmation.... History does repeat itself!  And I am loving it!

Welcome to my blog

Welcome to my blog.  I  hope to share my family and finds with you.  I made a goal to start a blog by May of 2012 and so I just started one, but didn't really say Hello!.   So here I am, waving and saying Hello!

My name is Tina Burkart Gibson.  I first became interested in family history or genealogy in the late 1970's.  I watched Roots by Alex Haley, and found it very interesting. I was only about 14 when I saw the movie, and it took a few years to really get into genealogy.  By then I had started a family, so my hobby once again took a back seat.   I have decided that I would like to work on my family tree on a daily basis, and I am working on that.

I live in Ohio as did all of my direct family lines.  We have a very heavy Ohio line.  Almost of my grandparents, great grandparents, and great great grandparents lived on Ohio at one time or another. 

I have 4 children and they keep me pretty busy, so my posts will be a little sporadic for awhile, but I hope to get in a routine and have more regular posts.

I especially love the personal side of history, the family stories, and their personalities. I hope to bring some of the personal side of genealogy to you through my blog.  I would like to write about other things as well, so who knows where this could lead, but I am game!  Are you?

Well, I just wanted to say Hello, and introduce myself.   I hope you enjoy some of my stories.  Thanks for reading!

You get to know them.... but do you really?

You really get to know your family when you research them... or do you really?

Let's start with my great  grandmother, Catherine 'Cassie'  ANDERSON.  She was from Scotland, she drank hot toddy, was about 5' 4", and had reddish hair.   She was born in 1889.  Her parents were John ANDERSON and Elizabeth ARMSTRONG.  She made the  trip  to the US when she was a young teen.  She traveled the ocean, aboard an immigration ship, all by herself. She got to see the Statue of Liberty and it must have made an impression, because she told the family about it.. What a grand statue that would be to see when you are just arriving in this new country. How overwhelmed, excited, and scared, she must have been at all once. She was still a teen, all alone, and and in a totally unknown place with unknown customs . Can you imagine going through the process at Ellis Island, all by yourself, at such a young age?  The local grocery store is scary enough!  A few years later she met and  married my great grandfather.  They had my Grandmother a few years after they met.  They lived in the same town almost 40 years. They had many people attend their funerals. They are buried next to each other in the local cemetery.   They have left some great memories for my Aunts and Uncles, and we have some wonderful photos of them.
 
 The problem is, I am not sure if I know who she is.  When looking for records of her, we find no official record of her prior to the birth of my grandmother. As a matter of fact, we can't even find her in 1910.  She told us, she was already here by then.    No one else seems to be searching for her either.  After having several wonderful  researchers help me with some Scottish records, we only find one possible record of her parents being married, but the wife passed away before Cassie was born, and they had no child named Catherine or Cassie.  That's not them.  We also cannot find a birth record for a Catherine Anderson on or near  her birthdate with her parents names.  To complicate things even further, we have no record of our Catherine Anderson coming to America. Hmmm..Well, let's get her marriage record.  Nope,  after checking several websites, and writing to several counties, I also find no marriage record for Cassie.

So, let me get this straight....

We have my great grandmother born in Scotland, but no record.  We have her coming to America, but no record.  She is supposed to be in the U.S. in 1910, but no record.  She gets married, but no record.  

Hmmm, I am beginning to wonder if we know her at all....

But even though I may not know who she is... she is still a gem in my book.

Grandma's memory box

I had wanted to give a wonderful gift to my Grandma Burkart, but what do you give to someone who says "Don't buy me anything?  I think I have found the perfect gift.....

So, here is what I gave my Grandma a year before she passed away.   I had read in a magazine somewhere about the memory box or jar.

You find a pretty box or jar, and some pretty paper if you want. You make a list of memories for that special someone to read, and write them on paper spaced enough that you can cut them apart. Cut them apart, fold them up, and put them in the box or jar.

Wrap it up pretty and give it to them, with a note that they are supposed to read one a day.  The idea is for them to read one daily, and be able to make them smile at least once a day.  

My Grandma told me a few months later, that she had read them all (in one sitting) and just loved the gift. It brought back memories of when we would spend time with her and Grandpa.

I wrote things like:
I remember the Christmas that we went looking for a tree.
I remember going to summer camp when you were nurse and picking blueberries.
I loved going to pick apples off the trees at the apple farm.
I remember walking across the train tracks that were over a gorge with Grandpa.
Thank you for instilling the love of nature and books in me.
You and I made the most wonderful cinnamon bread together.

 You can add a little more sentiment or detail to some of them, but I wanted to give a few ideas.

Funny thing was, after she had passed away and we went to her apartment, I saw the little pink stationary box that I have given her with all my notes. I had left the stationary in it, and put the notes under the little cardboard insert that goes under the paper. As I went to grab the box, 2 cousins said... We already looked in there, there is nothing but a notepad..... I knew better, so looked under the notepad and sure enough there were the notes I had written to her. She had kept that box out in the open on her bookshelf so she could see it and read them again. Let me tell you, my Grandma had 9 kids, 26 grandkids, and numerous great greatkids. She had way too many nik-naks to be leaving everything out. So this was special to her.

As I reread the notes that night, I wept..especially at the one that said - Thank you for picking such a great man to be my grandpa !! (He had passed away 16 years earlier and she missed him terribly at this point). 

 I keep the box with the other things that I cherish from my Grandma.. What a great gift she had given  to me too, through all those memories.... Thank you  Grandma. I love you....


~~~~~
I called this Genburk's Gems because my family and ancestors are Gems, real people with real stories to be treasured. Whether they are famous, hard working farmers, or just someone tryng to live a decent life, they are who made America what it is today. And so did YOUR family.......

Do you honor all the Veterans?

     Do you honor all the veterans or just a few?   I'm talking about  the men and women who fought for our country, our freedom, and our safety.    All of the veterans that have fought for our right to live a peaceful life, to live in a country where we can come and go as we please, feel relatively safe, and have freedom of speech. 

     Have you forgotten about why we have Memorial Day?  No, it's not all about that extra day off of work, and that wonderful picnic with your family.  It is about taking a few moments to Thank all of the men and women who fought for the America we have today. 

     How long have we celebrated Memorial Day, you ask?  Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868 by General John Logan, who was the national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic.  It was  first observed on May 30, 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.

      But it is not just about the Civil War, it is about all of the conflicts in this country.   It is about us honoring all the veterans who gave their all,  their all for their family, my family and your family. Many of them lost a lot in the fight for our country.  They may have lost their home, their family, their future, their health and many, many lost their lives.  But they did take that chance, and they fought.  They fought for this land we call, The United States of America, and we should be proud of that.  So let us honor them all this weekend.  Let us honor all the men and women that  have served in this country, the ones who fought a lot for us, the ones gave a lot for us, and the ones that lost a lot for you and I. 

     Will you join me in honoring  all the veterans weekend for Memorial Day?  I will be taking my children to our local cemetery and saying Thank you to the men and women who served our country.

     If you aren't at a cemetery this weekend, and would like to take a moment to thank them, then you can join in the  "National Moment of Remembrance".  It is a  resolution which was passed in 2000 and asks that at 3 p.m., your local time, "To voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to 'Taps."

    I am eternally grateful,  for all  the Americans that sacrificed for their family, and for our families, and I hope you are too.  I will be honoring them this weekend......

Will you join me in honoring  the veterans?

(You can learn more about Memorial Day at  http://www.usmemorialday.org/backgrnd.html)
 
~~~~~
I called this Genburk's Gems because my family and ancestors are Gems, real people with real stories to be treasured.  Whether they are famous, hard working farmers, or just someone tryng to live a decent life, they are who made America what it is today. And so did YOUR family.......