SHORTIE TIP – Reference Librarians

Genealogy tip for the day: SHORTIE TIP – Reference Librarians

Ever heard of the movie “Support Your Local Sheriff”? Not that the librarians are anything like a sheriff, but let me paraphrase that to “Support Your Local Librarian”.

Your local reference librarian should be your ‘next best friend’-- your BFF! Get to know your local library and their reference librarians. Besides books on the shelves, they may know about databases, out of print books and other hard to find items to help in your research. Sometimes an item may not necessarily be in what you think is a logical place. There are a lot of sources that are typically “non-genealogical” but still give you information you may need. 

 

It could be you need to look at statistical reports, or historical trends, or geographic information about a country. They can assist you in ways you may not think about. So be sure and dig into this sometimes-untapped resource … their minds!

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

If any of these posts are helpful drop us a line in the comments section below. We just want to know if the information we provide to you is beneficial in anyway.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Are you a Lord of the Rings lover? We are having a LOTR marathon starting March 22!! Don't miss it!

Summer Reading Program will be starting soon. Watch for announcements on that and registration information. This is for ages Adults through young children! Come Join Us - and explore new worlds.

You can find our website at rogerspubliclibrary.org 

And our other blog at RPL's Movies and Music

Mass. Bay Colony Charter

Today in History 

Today in History
March 14

1629		A Royal charter is granted to the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1743		First American town meeting is held at Boston's Faneuil Hall.
1757		British Admiral John Byng is executed by a firing squad on board HMS Monarch for neglect of duty.
1794		Inventor Eli Whitney receives a patent for his cotton gin.
1900		United States currency goes on the gold standard.
1903		The Senate ratifies the Hay-Herran Treaty, guaranteeing the United states the right to build a canal in Panama.
1912		An anarchist named Antonio Dalba unsuccessfully attempts to kill Italy's King Victor Emmanuel III in Rome.
1915		The British Navy sinks the German battleship Dresden off the Chilean coast.
1918		An all-Russian Congress of Soviets ratifies a peace treaty with the Central Powers.
1923		President Warren G. Harding becomes the first U.S. President to file an income tax report.
1936		Adolf Hitler tells a crowd of 300,000 that Germany's only judge is God and itself.
1939		The Nazis dissolve the republic of Czechoslovakia.
1943		The Germans reoccupy Kharkov in the Soviet Union.
1947		The United States signs a 99-year lease on naval bases in the Philippines.
1951		U.N. forces recapture Seoul for the second time during the Korean War.
1954		The Viet Minh launch an assault against the French Colonial Forces at Dien Bien Phu.
1964		A Dallas jury finds Jack Ruby guilty of the murder of assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.
1967		John F. Kennedy's body is moved from a temporary grave to a permanent one in Arlington Cemetery.
1978		An Israeli force of 22,000 invades south Lebanon, hitting the PLO bases.
1990		Mikhail S. Gorbachev becomes president of the Soviet Congress.
1991		The "Birmingham Six," imprisoned for 16 years for their alleged part in an IRA pub bombing, are set free after a court agrees that the police fabricated evidence.
Lucy Hobbs Taylor Born on March 14
1804		Johann Strauss, violinist and composer.
1833		Lucy Hobbs Taylor, first woman dentist.
1854		Paul Ehrlich, German bacteriologist who received the Nobel Prize for medicine.
1864		Casey Jones, railroad engineer.
1879		Albert Einstein, German-born mathematician best known for his theories on relativity.
1934		Eugene Cernan, American astronaut, the last man on the moon.

Word for the Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(GLAS-go kis, GLAZ-)

MEANING:

noun: A headbutt: a strike with the head to someone's sensitive area (such as the nose).

ETYMOLOGY:

This slang for headbutt is relatively recent. The OED shows this 1982 citation from the Daily Mirror as the first printed use of the term:
"Glasgow has its own way of welcoming people ... There is a broken bottle gripped in the fist of greeting. Or there's the Glasgow Kiss -- a sharp whack on the nose with the forehead."
The term arose from allusion to violence in part of the city. An earlier term is a Liverpool kiss.

USAGE:

"The General Medical Council, the most useless body in Britain, can't even get the name of their new boss right. If John Reid is half as tough as he pretends he'll give this rotten lot a Glasgow kiss!"
David Mellor; Man of The People: Headbangers; People; Jun 15, 2003.

Today’s Recipe

March - Breakfast Foods

Triple Berry Smoothie

Needed: Coconut water (frozen into ice cubes, you will need 12), three cups of fresh berries, greek yogurt.

Directions: For each layer blend 1/4 cup yogurt, 4 coconut water ice cubes and 1 cup of berries. Add each layer to the cup, rinse your blender and repeat. Enjoy!

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.

ENJOY!

Now You Know!

SHORTIE TIP – Birth Certificate Woes

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Summer Reading Program will be starting soon. Watch for announcements on that and registration information. This is for ages Adults through young children! Come Join Us - and explore new worlds.

You can find our website at rogerspubliclibrary.org 

And our other blog at RPL's Movies and Music

Genealogy tip for the day: SHORTIE TIP – Birth Certificate Woes

Are you having trouble finding a birth certificate or even a baptismal record for you ancestor? Here are some suggestions:

-Order the next closest sibling

-Check the last or next census

-Check for variants in first name, or for nicknames and diminutives.

          Sometimes a person’s official name may be Billie, not William

-Note the time period you are researching. Birth certificates, per se’ didn’t become established until after 1900 and as late as in the 1920’s. Check Everton’s Handybook or The Red Book for a listing per state.

When you find a sibling record, check for:

-Current residence

-Current state

-Spelling of the family name

These and other bits of information on the certificate may give you new clues in finding the one you want.

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

If any of these posts are helpful drop us a line in the comments section below. We just want to know if the information we provide to you is beneficial in anyway.

William Herschel

Today in History

483		St. Felix begins his reign as Catholic Pope.
607		The 12th recorded passage of Halley's Comet occurs.
1519		Hernando Cortez lands in what will become Mexico.
1660		A statute is passed limiting the sale of slaves in the colony of Virginia.
1777		Congress orders its European envoys to appeal to high-ranking foreign officers to send troops to reinforce the American army.
1781		Astronomer William Herschel discovers the planet Uranus, which he names 'Georgium Sidus,' in honor of King George III.
1793		Eli Whitney patents the cotton gin.
1861		Jefferson Davis signs a bill authorizing slaves to be used as soldiers for the Confederacy.
1868		The U.S. Senate begins the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson.
1881		Czar Alexander II is assassinated when a bomb is thrown at him near his palace.
1915		The Germans repel a British Expeditionary Force attack at the battle of Neuve Chapelle in France.
1918		Women are scheduled to march in the St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York due to a shortage of men.
1935		A three-thousand-year-old archive is found in Jerusalem confirming biblical history.
1940		Finland capitulates conditionally to Soviet terms, but maintains its independence.
1941		Hitler issues an edict calling for an invasion of the Soviet Union.
1942		Julia Flikke of the Nurse Corps becomes the first woman colonel in the U.S. Army.
1943		Japanese forces end their attack on the American troops on Hill 700 in Bougainville.
1951		Israel demands $1.5 billion in German reparations for the cost of caring for war refugees.
1957		The FBI arrests Jimmy Hoffa on bribery charges.
1963		China invites Soviet Premiere Nikita Khrushchev to visit Beijing.
1970		Cambodia orders Hanoi and Viet Cong troops to get out.
1974		The U.S. Senate votes 54-33 to restore the death penalty.
1974		Arab nations decide to end the oil embargo on the United States.
1981		The United States plans to send 15 Green Berets to El Salvador as military advisors.
1985		Upon the death of Konstantin Chernenko, Mikhail Gorbachev becomes the new leader of the Soviet Union.
1991		Exxon pays $1 billion in fines and costs for the clean-up of the Alaskan oil spill.
Born on March 13
1615		Innocent XII, Roman Catholic Pope
1733		Joseph Priestly, scientist credited with the discovery of oxygen.
1764		Charles Earl Grey, British Prime Minister
1798		Abigail Powers Fillmore, First Lady and wife of Millard Fillmore
1855		Percival Lowell, astronomer who predicted the discovery of the planet Pluto.
1886		Albert William Stevens, balloonist and photographer.
1892		Janet Flanner, writer ("Letter from Paris").
1900		George Seferis, Greek poet.

Albert William Stevens

Word for the Day

Roman nose

PRONUNCIATION:

(RO-muhn noz)

MEANING:

noun: A nose having a prominent bridge. Also known as a hook nose or aquiline nose.

ETYMOLOGY:

From the belief that this type of nose was common among the Romans.

USAGE:

"The question is: Will Mr. Morales, a strapping Aymara Indian with a Roman nose, an infectious smile and a shock of long black hair, catch on as a durable fashion influence?"
Juan Forero; The Fashion of the Populist; The New York Times; Feb 2, 2006.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

A city that outdistances man's walking powers is a trap for man. -Arnold Toynbee, historian (1889-1975)

Today’s Recipe

March - Breakfast Foods

Red Velvet Waffles, with cream cheese gravy

(I didn't say they would be healthy!)

Red Velvet Waffles, make 4-5
1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tablespoon cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon espresso powder (optional)
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup oil (I used vegetable oil)
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon red food coloring
In a bowl combine the dry ingredients (the first seven listed above) and whisk to incorporate. Now add in the remaining ingredients and stir until just combined. Allow the batter to rest for 20 minutes. Follow your particular waffle iron directions and make waffles.
Cream Cheese Syrup, makes about 2 1/2 cups
8 oz. cream cheese
3/4 cup cream (I used half and half)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
In a pot combine the cream cheese, cream and sugar. It helps if you cube the cream cheese into 8 or so small squares. Heat over medium heat until the cream cheese begins to become more liquid. Whisk as you heat to remove any lumps. Once the mixture has become a thick syrup remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. If you want to thin the sauce out even more feel free to add more cream.

You can drizzle the syrup over the waffles just before serving or you can serve it in a small cup and dip waffle pieces in!

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!)

ENJOY!

Now You Know!

SHORTIE TIP – Tunnel Vision

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Summer Reading Program will be starting soon. Watch for announcements on that and registration information. This is for ages Adults through young children! Come Join Us - and explore new worlds.

You can find our website at rogerspubliclibrary.org 

And our other blog at RPL's Movies and Music

Genealogy tip for the day: SHORTIE TIP – Tunnel Vision

When researching your genealogy on computers, or over the Internet, be sure and use more than one website. We can sometimes get stuck using only one website because we have learned how to use and it’s become our favorite. But that can give you tunnel vision.

Explore other websites as well. They may have the same or similar databases. Oft times they will give you slightly different results. So be sure and check out other options. What one isn’t giving you, another just might.

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

If any of these posts are helpful drop us a line in the comments section below. We just want to know if the information we provide to you is beneficial in anyway.

Juliette Low

Today in History

March12

1496		The Jews are expelled from Syria.
1507		Cesare Borgia dies while fighting alongside his brother, the king of Navarre, in Spain.
1609		The Bermuda Islands become an English colony.
1664		New Jersey becomes a British colony.
1789		The United States Post Office is established.
1809		Great Britain signs a treaty with Persia forcing the French out of the country.
1863		President Jefferson Davis delivers his State of the Confederacy address.
1879		The British Zulu War begins.
1884		Mississippi establishes the first U.S. state college for women.
1894		Coca-Cola is sold in bottles for the first time.
1903		The Czar of Russia issues a decree providing for nominal freedom of religion throughout the land.
1909		British Parliament increases naval appropriations for Great Britain.
1911		Dr. Fletcher of the Rockefeller Institute discovers the cause of infantile paralysis.
1912		Juliet Low founds the Girl Scouts in Savannah, Georgia.
1917		Russian troops mutiny as the "February Revolution" begins.
1930		Gandhi begins his march to the sea to symbolize his defiance of British rule in India.
1933		President Paul von Hindenburg drops the flag of the German Republic and orders that the swastika and empire banner be flown side by side.
1933		President Roosevelt makes the first of his Sunday evening fireside chats.
1938		German troops enter Austria without firing a shot, forming the anschluss (union) of Austria and Germany.
1939		Pius XII is elected the new pope in Rome.
1944		Great Britain bars all travel to neutral Ireland, which is suspected of collaborating with Nazi Germany.
1945		Diarist Anne Frank dies in a German concentration camp.
1959		The U.S. House of Representatives joins the Senate in approving the statehood of Hawaii.
1984		Lebanese President Gemayel opens the second meeting in five years calling for the end to nine-years of war.
1985		The United States and the Soviet Union begin arms control talks in Geneva.
1994		The Church of England ordains women priests.
Born on March 12
1554		Richard Hooker, English theologian (Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity).
1858		Adolph Simon Ochs, publisher of The New York Times.
1862		Jane Delano, nurse, teacher, founder of the Red Cross.
1890		Vasav Nijinsky, Russian ballet dancer.
1922		Jack Kerouac, American novelist (On the Road).
1928		Edward Albee, American dramatist (Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf).
1946		Patricia Hampl, poet and memoirist (A Romantic Education, Virgin Time).

Patricia Hampl

Word for the Day

Bristol fashion

PRONUNCIATION:

(BRIS-tl FASH-uhn)

MEANING:

adjective: In good order.

ETYMOLOGY:

We know the term is coined after Bristol, England, but we are not so certain why. Some believe the term alludes to the prosperity of the city from its flourishing shipping business. Others claim that the term arose as a result of the very high tidal range of the port of Bristol: at low tides ships moored here would go aground and if everything on the ship was not stowed away properly, chaos would result. The term is often used to describe boats and typically used in the phrase "shipshape and Bristol fashion".

USAGE:

"Everything was shipshape and Bristol fashion, the parallel bars looked spruce, the leaves had been raked out of the swimming pool, there was not a drop of horse poo on the riding course."
Patsy Crawford; Olympic Gold is a Little Tarnished; Sunday Tasmanian (Australia); Jul 18, 2004.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

The greatest tragedy in mankind's entire history may be the hijacking of morality by religion. -Arthur C. Clarke, science fiction writer (1917-2008)

Today’s Recipe

March - Breakfast Foods

Mini Quiche

These are mini quiches made with puff pastry for the crusts. I've seen similar ones also called baked egg souffle before (like the Panera version, which I love!). [Editor – comments come from the website where we got the recipe.]

Mini Quiches, makes 3
puff pastry
3-4 eggs
1/4 cup half and half or cream
salt + pepper
1/4 cup cheese (I used parmesan)
Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a bowl whisk together the eggs, cream, salt and pepper. Butter your baking dishes (I used large ramekins). Cut your puff pastry into large squares that will slightly hang over once placed in the baking dishes. Fill 2/3 full with the egg batter. Fold the edges in toward the center. Sprinkle on the cheese and bake for 35-40 minutes, until the egg looks set. 
These will appear quite puffy as you remove them from the oven, but they will settle a little as they cool.

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

ENJOY!

Now You Know!

SHORTIE TIP - College Catalogs and Yearbooks

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Today is our monthly Lunch and Learn day. Bring a sack lunch and learn something new. Today’s meeting will be on starting a new business after the age of 50.

Check out our new blog on movies and music at: RPL's Movies and Music by Robert Finch

You can find our website at rogerspubliclibrary.org 

Genealogy tip for the day: SHORTIE TIP – College Catalogs

Did your ancestor attend college? Sometimes old college catalogs also had a roster listing students. You might find your ancestor’s name listed if he or she attended that year. Catalogs were usually updated frequently.

Look in the area where that person lived to find schools. If you know where a parent or sibling went, that could also be a possibility for their attendance as well. If you can’t find one locally, look at other places of residences and see if that leads you to any schools.

Don’t forget about trade schools, too. Colleges aren't the only place people could get training or an education. If they were in the medical field, try to find a teaching hospital. Vocational schools and tech schools give you other options as well.

Think about the historical context. Community colleges were often called junior colleges in the past.

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

“Genealogy is personalized history.”

If any of these posts are helpful drop us a line in the comments section below. We just want to know if the information we provide to you is beneficial in anyway.

Archduchess Marie Louise.

Today in History

March 11

537		The Goths lay siege to Rome.
1649		The peace of Rueil is signed between the Frondeurs (rebels) and the French government.
1665		A new legal code is approved for the Dutch and English towns, guaranteeing religious observances unhindered.
1702		The Daily Courant, the first regular English newspaper is published.
1810		The Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte is married by proxy to Archduchess Marie Louise.
1811		Ned Ludd leads a group of workers in a wild protest against mechanization.
1824		The U.S. War Department creates the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Seneca Indian Ely Parker becomes the first Indian to lead the Bureau.
1845		Seven hundred Maoris led by their chief, Hone-Heke, burn the small town of Kororareka in protest at the settlement of Maoriland by Europeans, in breach with the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi.
1861		A Confederate Convention is held in Montgomery, Ala., where the new constitution is adopted.
1863		Union troops under General Ulysess S. Grant give up their preparations to take Vicksburg after failing to pass Fort Pemberton, north of Vicksburg.
1865		Union General William Sherman and his forces occupy Fayetteville, N.C.
1888		A disastrous blizzard hits the northeastern United States. Some 400 people die, mainly from exposure.
1900		British Prime Minister Lord Salisbury rejects the peace overtures offered from Boer leader Paul Kruger.
1905		The Parisian subway is officially inaugurated.
1907		President Teddy Roosevelt induces California to revoke its anti-Japanese legislation.
1930		President Howard Taft becomes the first U.S. president to be buried in the National Cemetery in Arlington, Va.
1935		The German Air Force becomes an official organ of the Reich.
1941		President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorizes the Lend-Lease Act which authorizes the act of giving war supplies to the Allies.
1942		General Douglas MacArthur leaves Bataan for Australia.
1965		The American navy begins inspecting Vietnamese junks in hopes of ending arms smuggling to the South.
1966		Three men are convicted of the murder of Malcolm X.
1969		Levi-Strauss starts to sell bell-bottomed jeans.
1973		An FBI agent is shot at Wounded Knee in South Dakota.
1985		Mikhail Gorbachev is named the new Soviet leader.
1990		Lithuania declares its independence from the Soviet Union.
Born on March 11
1731		Robert Treat Paine, Declaration of Independence signer
1860		Thomas Hastings, architect of the New York Public Library.
1885		Sir Michael Campbell, the first motorist to exceed 300 mph.
1899		Frederick IX, King of Denmark
1908		Lawrence Welk, orchestra leader.
1926		Ralph David Abernathy, civil rights leader, associate of Dr. King.
1952		Douglas Adams, British writer, (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy).

Thomas Hastings

Word for the Day

Chinese puzzle

PRONUNCIATION:

(CHAI-neez PUZ-uhl)

MEANING:

noun: A very intricate puzzle or problem.

ETYMOLOGY:

From the allusion to the complexity of puzzles from China.

USAGE:

"In this psychological mystery, a Chinese puzzle of a movie, Deneuve plays dual roles."
Kevin Thomas; Deneuve Triumphs in 'Crime'; Los Angeles Times: Apr 10, 1998.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you. -John Bunyan, preacher and author (1628-1688)

Today’s Recipe

March - Breakfast Foods

French Toast Sticks – Kid Friendly

French Toast Sticks, makes 2-3 servings.
4-5 slices of bread (I used an Italian loaf)
4 eggs
2 tablespoons cream (I used half and half)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
a generous sprinkle of cinnamon
Mix together the eggs, cream, vanilla and cinnamon in a shallow dish. Slice the bread into sticks. Coat each pieces in the egg mixture and place on a prepared baking sheet. (You can line with aluminum foil).  You could also grease the baking sheet with a little oil or butter. Don't use parchment paper.
Now sprinkle a little cinnamon sugar over each stick. Bake under the broiler for 2-3 minutes. KEEP AN EYE ON IT. Not all broilers were created equal, so watch yours and adjust the bake time. What we are aiming for is for the eggs to cook but also for the sugar to caramelize on top. Think creme brulee.

After 2-3 minutes remove the sticks from the oven, flip and sprinkle on a little more cinnamon sugar. Bake for an additional 2-3 minutes. Now you're ready to serve. These are totally dippable.

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

ENJOY!

Now You Know!