Books, Bones and Beyond: On the Road Again

Genealogy tip for the day: “On the Road Again”

Remember that old song, “On the Road Again” by Willie Nelson? That’s a good ole’ country song and probably now the phrases are going through your head!!

Rare are the families or people that never travel beyond 20 miles from home, today. Although, I have run across a few. From the beginnings of time, people move or maybe I should say roam or migrate. How else did peoples get from A to B, or to C, D, and E … etc. down through the centuries?

People move all the time. When it comes to researching your family this is one factor that can make it hard to pin them down. The censuses can help to a point. But folks move between censuses, sometimes often. Case in point is my own family. We lived in one town for the 2000 census and another town, and state come the 2010. But in between we lived in a third location.

Then sometimes folks get missed all together, because of moving. They’ve already left one place by the time the census taker comes around. And the census taker has come and gone before your family reached its new destination.

So how do you track them down??? What are some ways you can find where they lived without using the census? Have you had this problem?

Here are some clues:

Where were the children born?

Where did other life events take place, such as marriage, education, someone’s death, maybe divorce?

What were the job trends during that time?

Where did other family members live? Or work?

Are there city directories, or agricultural directories? (The latter are sometimes called rural or farm directories.)

What was happening in our history at the moment? Was it the Industrial Revolution? People moved to where there was work, flooding into cities at times, especially from 1800 to the early 1900’s.

People who lived on farms didn’t move much and when they did it was a big undertaking to sell all their animals and land and move to another location. On the other hand renters moved a lot as did city dwellers. The censuses can help to some degree to tell you if they owned real estate or rented. Unfortunately this is not available for every census, so this clue is provided for a very narrow window of time.

Try googling for libraries where you are researching, then contact them to see what they may have on the local area.

Try your own local library for the same kind of information, as well.

Try the random act of kindness website and see if you can find someone who lives in the area of your research, to do some leg work for you.

Try locating genealogical or historical societies in the area of interest. It could be you may find someone you could hire to do some leg work for you.

And maybe all of this discussion has stirred up an idea of your own. Give any and all of them a try. This may be highly productive for you on one ancestor and not so much for another. A lot of it depends on the records you can find.

Sometimes it just takes sitting down with a paper and pencil and brainstorming your mind for ideas – that “thinking outside of the box” exercise. You might be surprised what you come up with.

“History is who we are; Genealogy is who I am” sg

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RETURN OF THE KING

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Wendell Holmes

Today in History

March 24

1208		King John of England opposes Innocent III on his nomination for archbishop of Canterbury.
1603		Queen Elizabeth I dies which will bring into power James VI of Scotland.
1663		Charles II of England awards lands known as Carolina in North America to eight members of the nobility who assisted in his restoration.
1664		In London, Roger Williams is granted a charter to colonize Rhode Island.
1720		The banking houses of Paris close in the wake of financial crisis.
1721		In Germany, the supremely talented Johann Sebastian Bach publishes the Six Brandenburg Concertos.
1765		Britain passes the Quartering Act, requiring the colonies to house 10,000 British troops in public and private buildings.
1862		Abolitionist Wendell Phillips speaks to a crowd about emancipation in Cincinnati, Ohio and is pelted by eggs.
1900		Mayor Van Wyck of New York breaks ground for the New York subway tunnel that will link Manhattan and Brooklyn.
1904		Vice Admiral Togo sinks seven Russian ships as the Japanese strengthen their blockade of Port Arthur.
1927		Chinese Communists seize Nanking and break with Chiang Kai-shek over the Nationalist goals.
1938		The United States asks that all powers help refugees fleeing from the Nazis.
1944		The Gestapo rounds up innocent Italians in Rome and shoot them to death in reprisal for a bomb attack that killed 33 German policemen.
1947		Congress proposes limiting the presidency to two terms.
1951		General Douglas MacArthur threatens the Chinese with an extension of the Korean War if the proposed truce is not accepted.
1954		Great Britain opens trade talks with Hungary.
1955		Tennessee Williams' play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof opens at the Morosco Theatre in New York City.
1958		Elvis Presley trades in his guitar for a rifle and Army fatigues.
1965		The Freedom Marchers, citizens for civil rights, reach Montgomery, Alabama.
1967		Viet Cong ambush a truck convoy in South Vietnam damaging 82 of the 121 trucks.
1972		Great Britain imposes direct rule over Northern Ireland.
1985		Thousands demonstrate in Madrid against the NATO presence in Spain.
1989		The Exxon Valdez oil tanker spills 240,000 barrels of oil in Alaska's Prince William Sound.
1999		NATO planes, including stealth aircraft, attack Serbian forces in Kosovo.
Born on March 24
1755		Rufus King, framer of the U.S. Constitution.
1834		William Morris, English craftsman, poet and socialist.
1855		Andrew Mellon, U.S. financier and philanthropist.
1874		Harry Houdini, magician, escape artist.
1886		Edward Weston, photographer.
1893		George Sisler, baseball player.
1895		Arthur Murray, American dancer who founded dance schools.
1902		Thomas E. Dewey, New York governor.
1903 1912		Adolf Butenandt, biochemist. Dorothy Irene Height (see today’s Google Doodle)
1919		Lawrence Ferlinghetti, 'beat' poet.
1926		Dario Fo, Italian actor and playwright.
1941		Joseph H. Taylor, Jr., radio astronomer and physicist.

Dorothy Irene Height

Word for the Day

Popular wisdom says it's not the cards that you hold, but how you play them that makes the difference. Or as I like to say, it's not the tiles on your rack, it's what words you make with them that counts.

Playing cards have been around for much longer -- they have had a thousand-year lead over Scrabble. Understandably, they also have a head start when it comes to being a part of the language. Many terms from card games have entered the English language. This week we'll deal with five of them.
(Also see a week of terms from poker from the archives.)

euchre

PRONUNCIATION:

(YOO-kuhr)

MEANING:

verb tr.: To cheat, trick, or outwit.
noun: A card game for two to four players usually played with the 32 highest cards in the pack.

ETYMOLOGY:

Of uncertain origin. Perhaps from the Alsatian game of Juckerspiel as the two top trumps are Jucker (jack). The verb sense of the word arises from the fact that the failure to win three tricks is known as being euchred and results in the opponent scoring two points. Earliest documented use: 1846.

USAGE:

"You got euchred. The company lied to you about its status and you foolishly bought its lie."
Colin Barrett; A Harsh Lesson on Due Diligence; Journal of Commerce (New York); May 23, 2013.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

The more sand that has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it. -Jean-Paul Sartre, writer and philosopher (1905-1980)

Today’s Recipe

March - Breakfast Foods

Golden Polenta and Egg, w/ mustard sauce

Golden Polenta & Egg with Mustard Sauce
Here's a streamlined version of Eggs Benedict: purchased polenta, boiled eggs and an easy, no-cook homage to hollandaise. It's a great weekend brunch.

Serves: 6
Preparation time: 25 minutes

Ingredients
1/2 cup low-fat plain yogurt
1/3 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon water
1 pound green beans, trimmed
4 eggs
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
12 ounces prepared polenta, sliced into eight 1/2-inch rounds

Preparation
1. Combine yogurt, mayonnaise, mustard, lemon juice and water in a small bowl.

2. Bring 6 cups of lightly salted water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add green beans and cook until just tender, 4 minutes. Remove the green beans with a slotted spoon and divide among 4 plates.

3. Return the water to a boil; place eggs, one by one, in the boiling water and set the timer: 5 minutes for a soft-boiled egg, 8 minutes for hard-boiled. When cool enough to handle, peel and slice the eggs in half.

4. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, add polenta rounds in a single layer and cook, turning once, until crispy and golden, about 4 minutes per side. Place 2 polenta rounds on each plate and keep warm. Add the reserved sauce to the pan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly to avoid scorching, until heated through, about 3 minutes.

5. Divide the polenta rounds among the plates, top with egg halves and drizzle with the sauce. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Nutrition Facts
Per serving:
278 calories
13 g fat (3 g sat, 0 g mono)
219 mg cholesterol
27 g carbohydrate
12 g protein
4 g fiber
528 mg sodium
313 mg potassium

Mar 4^th Corned Beef Hash

Mar 5^th Sunday Morning Muffins

Mar 6^th Breakfast Pizza

Mar 9^th Buttermilk biscuits and Mushroom gravy

Mar 10^th Baked Fruit – 3 ways

Mar 11^th French Toast Sticks – Kid Friendly

Mar 12^th Mini Quiche

Mar 13^th Red Velvet Waffles, with cream cheese gravy – (I didn’t say they would be healthy!)

Mar 14^th Triple Berry Smoothie – not just for breakfast any more.

Mar 17^th Homemade oatmeal, 9 ways

Healthy recipes:

Mar 18^th Arugula and Chicken sausage Bread Pudding brunch