Books, Bones and Beyond: Writing Your Story: Maps and House Plans, 2

Genealogy tip for the day: Writing Your Story: Maps and House Plans 2

Yesterday we talked about how helpful it is to draw out house plans, or maps of where you lived. The same is true of other family members. As you research your ancestors it might be helpful to research the topography of the area where they lived. Drawing out a map of the area might even help solve some of those brick wall issues.

Let’s say that Grampa lived by a river. Across the river is a town that is closest to him, (as the crow flies). But is that where the family shopped? Maybe there was not a bridge close by, or you had to go over mountains to get to a crossing. A town that is further away, but easier to get to, may be your answer.

If you are looking for documents and don’t find them in what seems like a logical spot, to you, look around and see what other towns are in the area. If you can compare this with maps of that time or draw some yourself, maybe you can discover the reason for going further away.

If you are having no luck finding those records in a nearby town, look at the maps or the geography or the topography and see what was easier to reach. That might solve your problem. We all prefer the road of least resistance. So take a look, or draw a map yourself and see what Grampa may have been thinking. Also check city directories and see what businesses are where and what may have fit his needs. If he needed garden tools he wouldn't go to a nearby town that has no gardening supplies! See if you can come up with a city map, if you can’t find one yourself gather what information you can and draw one, yourself.

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

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The Desolation of Smuag

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Ludwig Van Beethoven

Today in History

Today in History
March 26

1517		The famous Flemish composer Heinrich Issac dies.
1799		Napoleon Bonaparte captures Jaffa, Palestine.
1804		Congress orders the removal of Indians east of the Mississippi River to Louisiana.
1804		The territory of New Orleans is organized in the Louisiana Purchase.
1827		German composer Ludwig Van Beethoven dies in Vienna. He had been deaf for the later part of his life, but said on his death bed "I shall hear in heaven."
1832		Famed western artist George Catlin begins his voyage up the Missouri River aboard the American Fur Company steamship Yellowstone.
1885		Eastman Film Co. manufactures the first commercial motion picture film.
1913		The Balkan allies take Adrianople.
1918		On the Western Front, the Germans take the French towns Noyon, Roye and Lihons.
1938		Herman Goering warns all Jews to leave Austria.
1942		The Germans begin sending Jews to Auschwitz in Poland.
1950		Senator Joe McCarthy names Owen Lattimore, an ex-State Department adviser, as a Soviet spy.
1951		The United States Air Force flag design is approved.
1953		Eisenhower offers increased aid to the French fighting in Indochina.
1953		Dr. Jonas Salk announces a new vaccine against polio.
1954		The United States sets off an H-bomb blast in the Marshall Islands, the second in four weeks.
1961		John F. Kennedy meets with British Premier Macmillan in Washington to discuss increased Communist involvement in Laos.
1969		The Soviet weather Satellite Meteor 1 is launched.
1969		Writer John Kennedy Toole commits suicide at the age of 32. His mother helps get his first and only novel, A Confederacy of Dunces, published. It goes on to win the 1981 Pulitzer Prize.
1979		The Camp David treaty is signed between Israel and Egypt.
1982		Ground is broken in Washington D.C. for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
1989		The first free elections take place in the Soviet Union. Boris Yeltsin is elected.
1992		An Indianapolis court finds heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson guilty of rape.
Born on March 26
1819		Louise Otto, German author.
1850		Edward Bellamy, writer (Looking Backward).
1859		A.E. Houseman, poet (A Shropshire Lad).
1874		Robert Frost, poet, multiple Pulitzer Prize-winner.
1880		Duncan Hines, U.S. restaurant guide author
1904		Joseph Campbell, folklorist and writer.
1911		Tennessee Williams, American dramatist (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, A Streetcar Name Desire).
1914		William Westmoreland, U.S. army general during the Vietnam War.
1923		Bob Elliot, radio comedian, one half of Bob and Ray.
1930		Gregory Corso, beat poet, discovered literature in prison.
1930		Sandra Day O'Connor, U.S. Supreme Court Justice.
1933		Vine Deloria, Jr., writer, activist.
1942		Erica Jong, poet, novelist (Fear of Flying, How to Save Your Own Life).

Robert Frost

Word for the Day

house of cards

PRONUNCIATION:

(hous uv kardz)

MEANING:

noun: Something insecure or insubstantial that is subject to imminent collapse.

ETYMOLOGY:

Alluding to a flimsy structure made with playing cards. Earliest documented use: 1645.

USAGE:

"'We have to find a new balance,' the pope said. 'Otherwise even the moral edifice of the church is likely to fall like a house of cards.'"
Michael Gerson; Francis the Troublemaker; The Washington Post; Sep 24, 2013.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Mistakes are part of the dues that one pays for a full life. -Sophia Loren, actress (b. 1934)

Today’s Recipe

March - Breakfast Foods

Raspberry and cream cheese muffins

Ingredients

up (5 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened

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1/3 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 large egg whites

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1 large egg

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2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk

2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries

1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine cream cheese and butter in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer at high speed until well blended. Add sugar; beat until fluffy. Add vanilla, egg whites, and egg; beat well.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture and buttermilk to cream cheese mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Gently fold in raspberries and walnuts.

Place 24 foil cup liners in muffin cups. Spoon batter evenly into liners. Bake at 350° 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from pans; cool on a wire rack.

Cooking Light
JUNE 2003

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: