Which Way Did He Go, George?

THIS SATURDAY: "Geek the Library" November 23rd, at the Rogers Public Library - Bring us your tech "?'s"

Looney tunes: Abominable Snowman

Genealogy tip for today: Which way did he go, George? Which way did he go?

Do you remember hearing that phrase from the Bugs Bunny cartoons? Mel Blanc, who voiced many characters, transformed his voice into the rabbit obsessed Abominable Snowman! He (the Snowman, not Mel) would hold Bugs by the throat and say “I will name him George, and I will hug him, and pet him, and squeeze him and call him my own!” …as he patted ole Bugs on the head with more than just a little force.

When you’re doing genealogy and your family disappears for a time or “forever” you may feel like that Abominable Snowman cause you have no idea which way did they go? Okay, so I have a weird mind to think of that Mr. Snowman. But, hey, I’m an otter and otters are playful. (Don’t try to figure that one out if you don’t know; just roll with me here!) :-)

Invariably at some point you are going to have a family disappear for a time, maybe between censuses or after a particular census. How do you find them again?

Censuses: Censuses are a little easier to trace now that they are online and “all” you have to do is type in their name and see how many censuses in which they show up. In the not-too-distant old days, you would have to go through the index of every state for every year to find a possible listing of your ancestor. Now it is a little easier. This is probably the easiest research tip to do first.

Neighbors: There are several things you need to keep in mind. We will be looking at those over the next few days. The first one comes from the “cluster theory” idea. Look at what family members or friends live where your ancestor lived. Especially note the ones that were witnesses to important documents, like a marriage or a will, or who were the godparents of a child. See if you can find them in a new place. Lots of times people would move where someone else has gone before them. It’s the good ole ‘networking’ idea.  It’s who you know. So if you had a friend or a friend of a friend that hears of better times someplace else, they are apt to go where someone else has already gone or is going.

Tomorrow we will look at transportation and trails, and the economy.

Last week we talked about different calendars. I found this website that gives more information regarding this topic.

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 helpful in anyway.

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Today in History

November 18
1477		William Claxton publishes the first dated book printed in England. It is a translation from the French of The Dictes and Sayings of the Philosopers by Earl Rivers.
1626		St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome is officially dedicated.
1861		The first provisional meeting of the Confederate Congress is held in Richmond, Virginia.
1865		Mark Twain's first story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" is published in the New York Saturday Press.
1901		The second Hay-Pauncefote Treaty is signed. The United States is given extensive rights by Britain for building and operating a canal through Central America.
1905		The Norwegian Parliament elects Prince Charles of Denmark to be the next King of Norway. Prince Charles takes the name Haakon VII.
1906		Anarchists bomb St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.
1912		Cholera breaks out in Constantinople, in the Ottoman Empire.
1921		New York City considers varying work hours to avoid long traffic jams.
1928		Mickey mouse makes his film debut in Steamboat Willie, the first animated talking picture.
1936		The main span of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is joined.
1939		The Irish Republican Army explodes three bombs in Piccadilly Circus.
1943		RAF bombs Berlin, using 440 aircraft and losing nine of those and 53 air crew members; damage to the German capital is light, with 131 dead.
1949		The U.S. Air Force grounds B-29s after two crashes and 23 deaths in three days.
1950		The Bureau of Mines discloses its first production of oil from coal in practical amounts.
1968		Soviets recover the Zond 6 spacecraft after a flight around the moon.
1978		Peoples Temple cult leader Jim Jones leads his followers to a mass murder-suicide in Jonestown, Guyana, hours after cult member killed Congressman Leo J. Ryan of California.
1983		Argentina announces its ability to produce enriched uranium for nuclear weapons.
1984		The Soviet Union helps deliver American wheat during the Ethiopian famine.
1991		The Croatian city of Vukovar surrenders to Yugoslav People's Army and allied Serb paramilitary forces after an 87-day siege.
1993		Twenty-one political parties approve a new constitution for South Africa that expands voter rights and ends the rule of the country's white minority.
2002		UN weapons inspectors under Hans Blix arrive in Iraq.
2003		Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules the state's ban on same-sex marriages is unconstitutional; the legislature fails to act within the mandated 180 days, and on May 17, 2004, Massachusetts becomes the first US state to legalize same-sex marriage.

Birthdays today

1789		Louis Jacques Daguerre, French painter, physicist and photography pioneer.
1810		Asa Gray, botanist (Gray's Manual).
1836		William S. Gilbert, English playwright and humorist, one half of Gilbert & Sullivan.
1870		Dorthea Dix, pseudonym for Elizabeth Gilman, who wrote syndicated advice.
1874		Clarence Day, American writer (Life with Father).
1899		Eugene Ormandy, orchestra conductor.
1900		Dr. Howard Thurman, theologian and first African American to hold a full-time position at Boston University.
1901		George Horatio Gallup, American journalist and statistician.
1909		Johnny Mercer, songwriter.
1923		Alan Shepard, first American astronaut in space.
1939		Margaret Atwood, Canadian writer (The Edible Woman, The Handmaid's Tale).

Word for the Day

This week we'll look at five terms that have roots in flowers.

lotus-eater

PRONUNCIATION:

(LO-tuhs-ee-tuhr)

MEANING:

noun: A person who indulges in idle daydreaming or leads a life of luxurious ease, instead of dealing with practical matters.

ETYMOLOGY:

From the lotus-eaters, people in Homer's Odyssey, who ate the lotus fruit that supposedly induced a dreamy forgetfulness. Earliest documented use: 1832.

USAGE:

"James Hewitt finds himself in Devon with mum, sleeping in the spare bedroom ... Life as a lotus-eater in sunny climes appears to be well and truly over."
Anna Pukas; The Major Moves Back With His Mum; Daily Express (London, UK); Nov 9, 2013.

Quote for the Day

Little girls are cute and small only to adults. To one another they are not cute. They are life-sized. -Margaret Atwood, novelist and poet (b. 1939)

Today’s Recipe

Holiday Cooking

Cranberry Relish

My sister used to make cranberry relish when I was young. She would get out the food grinder and crank away. I think she put more in it than this recipe calls for but it is similar. This looks just as delicious as her relish always was.

Ingredients

• One 12-ounce package fresh cranberries
• 2 oranges, peeled
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped

Directions

Using a food processor, pulse the cranberries and oranges. Transfer the chopped fruit to a 1-quart bowl and add 1/2 cup of the sugar, stirring to mix. Add more sugar to taste, as the sweetness of the oranges will vary. Add the chopped pecans and serve.

Notes

Cook's Note: This relish will keep for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator.

ENJOY!

Now You Know!

Gregorian Calendar

Computer Classes every Sat. mornings 10-12. "Open House" Whatever you need.

"Geek the Library" November 23rd, at the Library - Bring us your tech "?'s"

The Rogers Public Library will be closed Nov 28 and 29 for the Thanksgiving Holidays. We will reopen on Sat. the 30^th.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Genealogy tip for today: Gregorian Calendar:

 

The Gregorian Calendar is a solar calendar, i.e. based on the rotation around the sun instead of the moon's rotation . It has 365 days divided into 12 irregular months. They all contain 30 or 31 except February. And February originally had more than twenty eight.  It had 29 and the 30^th in Leap year. But Julius Caesar was jealous of Augustus Caesar and stole a day from February so he could have 31, same as August!

Although technically the calendar is named after Pope Gregory VIII, he adapted it from a calendar devised by Luigi Lilio, who was an Italian doctor, astronomer, and philosopher, (also known as Aloysius Lilus). He was born in 1510 and died in 1576, just 6 years shy of the introduction of his calendar, via the Pope.

The Gregorian Calendar did much to fix the problems of the Julian Calendar if for nothing else - the Julian calendar had an error of one day every 128 years. But also they were adding leap year every three years instead of four. So it had too many days and 13 had to be removed. The Gregorian Calendar fixed that problem and lined it up to meet with the equinox, however when the change was made several days had to be dropped. To make the change better new rules were set to determine when Easter would occur and the rules for calculating Leap Year were changed. Now the Gregorian Calendar has to adjust only one day every 3236 years – much better than the Julian Calendar.

For genealogists the trick is knowing which calendar was used where and when. Portugal, Poland and Spain adopted the Gregorian in 1582. Others were not so quick. Great Britain and America did not begin using it until 1752. Japan switched to the Gregorian Calendar in 1873. China officially adopted it in 1912 but had feuding warlords. Not until China was nationalized did they begin using the Gregorian calendar, in 1929.

For the most part, your research may only be in the US, or only be after 1752. Even if you go back before then, the date adjustment may not be much of an issue. Probably the biggest problem you may encounter will be during that overlapping of dates such as George Washington’s.  Therefore it will be much easier for you to track.

Aren't you glad you don't have two birthdays? You'd have to be almost 200 years old anyway! ;-)

For more information on this topic you may go to < www.timeanddate.com>. Or type in the name of the calendar you wish to research.

 

This illustrates the 11 day difference in George Washington's two birth dates.

 

 

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 helpful in anyway.

 

 

Are you looking for an obituary in the Rogers, AR area? We have newspapers that go back to the late 1800’s although the early years have gaps. If you have email we can send you obits at no charge. If you need or wish for a paper copy the charge is only for copies and postage, with a minimum of about $2.00.

You may contact us through our website, rogerspubliclibrary.org under homepage/research/ask a librarian. Or you may email us directly at rplgenealogylibrarian@gmail.com .

 

Today in History

November 16
1798		British seamen board the U.S. frigate Baltimore and impress a number of crewmen as alleged deserters, a practice that contributed to the War of 1812.
1813		The British announce a blockade of Long Island Sound, leaving only the New England coast open to shipping.
1821		Trader William Becknell reaches Santa Fe, N.M., on the route that will become known as the Santa Fe Trail.
1846		General Zachary Taylor takes Saltillo, Mexico.
1864		Union General William T. Sherman departs Atlanta and begins his "March to the Sea."
1892		King Behanzin of Dahomey (now Benin), leads soldiers against the French.
1902		A cartoon appears in the Washington Star, prompting the Teddy Bear Craze, after President Teddy Roosevelt refused to kill a captive bear tied up for him to shoot during a hunting trip to Mississippi.
1907		The Indian and Oklahoma territories are unified to make Oklahoma, which becomes the 46th state.
1913		Swann's Way, the first volume of Marcel Proust's 7-part novel Remembrance of Things Past, is published.
1920		Metered mail is born in Stamford, Connecticut with the first Pitney Bowes postage meter.
1945		Eighty-eight German scientists, holding Nazi secrets, arrive in the United States.
1948		President Harry S Truman rejects four-power talks on Berlin until the blockade is removed.
1953		The United States joins in the condemnation of Israel for its raid on Jordan.
1955		The Big Four talks, taking place in Geneva on German reunification, end in failure.
1960		After the integration of two all-white schools, 2,000 whites riot in the streets of New Orleans.
1965		In the last day of the fighting at Landing Zone X-Ray, regiments of the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division repulse NVA forces in the Ia Drang Valley.
1967		U.S. planes hit Haiphong shipyard in North Vietnam for the first time.
1979		American Airlines is fined $500,000 for improper DC-10 maintenance.
1982		The space shuttle Columbia completes its first operational flight.
1989		Salvadoran Army death squad kills six Jesuit priests and two others at Jose Simeon Canas University.
1992		Eric Lawes, while using a metal detector to search for a friend's lost hammer near Hoxne, Suffolk, England, discovers the Hoxne Hoard, the largest hoard of Roman silver and gold ever found in Britain, and the largest collection of 4th and 5th century coins found anywhere within the bounds of the former Roman Empire
1997		Pro-democracy Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng released from prison after 18 years, for health reasons.

Birthdays today

42 BC		Tiberius Claudius Nero, Roman Emperor.
1811		John Bright, British Victorian radical who founded the Anti-Corn Law League.
1839		Louis-Honore Frechette, Canadian poet.
1873		W.C. Handy, father of the blues, famous for "St. Louis Blues."
1889		George S. Kaufman, American playwright and collaborator with Moss Hart (You Can't Take it With You , The Man Who Came to Dinner).
1907		Burgess Meredith, actor; the first man to win the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor twice, and a winner of several Emmys, he is considered one of the most accomplished actors of the 20th century.
1914		Edward Chapman, spy; after becoming a spy for Nazi Germany, he became a double agent serving his native England.
1930		Chinua Achebe, Nigerian novelist.
1935		Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, Lebanese Twelver Shi'a scholar; sometimes called the "spiritual mentor" of Hezbollah.
1952		Peter Keefe, TV producer (Voltron); credited with introducing American audiences to Japanese animation.

 

 

Word for the Day

rube

PRONUNCIATION:

(roob)

 

MEANING:

noun: An unsophisticated person from a rural area.

 

ETYMOLOGY:

Shortened form of name Reuben. Earliest documented use: 1891. Also see hey rube.

 

USAGE:

"Is he simply some rube, an easy target for fast-talking telephone magazine salespeople?"
Kevin Prokosh; Normal is Overrated; Winnipeg Free Press (Canada); Oct 18, 2013.

Quote for the Day

Poetry is the art of creating imaginary gardens with real toads. -Marianne Moore, poet (1887-1972)

 

 

 

 

Today’s Recipe

Holiday Cooking

 

Sweet Potato Casserole

Ingredients:

1 (40 ounce) can cut sweet potatoes, undrained 1 cup white sugar 2 eggs 1/3 cup butter 1/3 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract   1 cup packed brown sugar 1 cup chopped pecans 1/3 cup all-purpose flour 1/3 cup butter, melted

Directions:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter a 2 quart baking dish.
2.	Place the sweet potatoes and their liquid in a medium saucepan, and bring to a boil. Cook 15 minutes, or until tender. Remove from heat, drain, and mash.
3.	In a medium bowl, mix the mashed sweet potatoes, white sugar, eggs, 1/3 cup butter, milk, and vanilla extract. Spread evenly into the prepared baking dish.
4.	In a separate bowl, mix the brown sugar, chopped pecans, flour, and 1/3 cup melted butter. Sprinkle over the sweet potato mixture.
5.	Bake 35 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.

 

ENJOY!

 

Now You Know!

The Julian Calendar

Computer Classes every Sat. mornings 10-12. "Open House" Whatever you need.

"Geek the Library" November 23rd, at the Library - Bring us your tech "?'s"

 

 

 

Genealogy tip for today: Julian calendar

 

The Julian Calendar was created in response to the Roman Calendar before it. The Roman Calendar was rather complicated. Days were added or removed to help adjust to the seasons and to try to keep it in sync with the equinox and solstice days. This was a rather burdensome job. The Roman Calendar had 12 months in its calendar but only 355 days. Therefore there were 10 days that had to be dealt with somewhere.

 

It is roughly based on the lunar calendar, which as we know today, does not perfectly align with even the present day calendar. So getting it to jive with the seasons created a problem. The months were called either hollow months or full months. The hollow months had 29 days and the full months were made up of 30 days.

 

The first Roman Calendar was even worse with only 304 days with 61 days unaccounted for during winter. The final one had 355 days but was an improvement though still fraught with issues. While Julius Caesar ruled he decreed that a new calendar be drawn up. He consulted with the astronomer, Sosigenes and created a calendar that was more in alignment with the earth’s revolutions around the sun.

 

The new Julian calendar added 1 day to four months, April, June, September and November. Two extra days were added to January, August and December. March, May, July and October were already assigned their number of days from the Roman Calendar – with 31 days each. This took care of the 10 day discrepancy with the former Roman Calendar.

 

However! The Julian Calendar introduced unknowingly an error of one day every 128 years. This meant that the calendar had to shift back one day to adjust itself. In 1582 The Gregorian Calendar was introduced to fix the problems with the Julian Calendar. This was a big improvement but still had some problems of its own. It wasn’t accepted worldwide and even today not every country in the world uses it. By the 1900’s, however, the vast majority of countries did. We’ll look at that calendar next time.

 

Next post will be on Sat., Nov 16.

(Information for this article came from timeanddate.com)

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

Today in History

1501		Arthur Tudor of England marries Katherine of Aragon.
1812		As Napoleon Bonaparte's army retreats form Moscow, temperatures drop to 20 degrees below zero.
1851		Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick is published in New York.
1882		Billy Clairborne, a survivor of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, loses his life in a shoot-out with Buckskin Frank Leslie.
1908		Albert Einstein presents his quantum theory of light.
1910		Lieutenant Eugene Ely, U.S. Navy, becomes the first man to take off in an airplane from the deck of a ship. He flew from the ship Birmingham at Hampton Roads to Norfolk.
1921		The Cherokee Indians ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review their claim to 1 million acres of land in Texas.
1922		The British Broadcasting Company (BBC) begins the first daily radio broadcasts from Marconi House.
1930		Right-wing militarists in Japan attempt to assassinate Premier Hamagushi.
1935		Manuel Luis Quezon is sworn in as the first Filipino president, as the Commonwealth of the Philippines is inaugurated.
1940		German bombers devastate Coventry in Great Britain, killing 1,000 in the worst air raid of the war.
1951		The United States and Yugoslavia sign a military aid pact.
1951		French paratroopers capture Hoa Binh, Vietnam.
1960		New Orleans integrates two all-white schools.
1960		President Dwight Eisenhower orders U.S. naval units into the Caribbean after Guatemala and Nicaragua charge Castro with starting uprisings.
1961		President Kennedy increases the number of American advisors in Vietnam from 1,000 to 16,000.
1963		Iceland gets a new island when a volcano pushes its way up out of the sea five miles off the southern coast.
1963		Greece frees hundreds who were jailed in the Communist uprising of 1944-1950.
1964		The U.S. First Cavalry Division battles with the North Vietnamese Army in the Ia Drang Valley, the first ground combat for American troops.
1968		Yale University announces its plan to go co-ed.
1969		The United States launches Apollo 12, the second mission to the Moon, from Cape Kennedy.
1979		US President Jimmy Carter freezes all Iranian assets in the United States in response to Iranian militants holding more than 50 Americans hostage.
1982		Lech Walesa, leader of Poland's outlawed Solidarity movement, is released by communist authorities after 11 months confinement; he would win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983 and be elected Poland's president in 1990.
1984		The Space Shuttle Discovery's crew rescues a second satellite.
1990		Poland and the Federal Republic of Germany sign a treaty officially making the Oder-Neisse line the border between their countries.
1995		Budget standoff between Democrats and Republicans in the US Congress forces temporary closure of national parks and museums; federal agencies forced to operate with skeleton staff.
2001		Northern Alliance fighters take control of Afghanistan's capital, Kabul.
2008		First G-20 economic summit convenes, in Washington, DC.
2012		Israel launches Operation Pillar of Defense against the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip.

 

 

Birthdays today

1650		William III, King of England (1689-1702).
1765		Robert Fulton, American engineer who invented the first steamboat.
1840		Claude Monet, French impressionist painter.
1889		Jawaharala Nehru, Indian nationalist leader.
1900		Aaron Copeland, American composer whose works include Billy the Kidd, Appalachian Spring and Fanfare for the Common Man.
1906		Louise Brooks, silent film star, symbol of the 1920s flapper.
1907		Astrid Lindgren, Swedish children's writer (Pippi Longstocking).
1908		Joseph McCarthy, anti-Communist senator from Wisconsin.
1908		Harrison Sallisbury, journalist for The New York Times.
1917		Park Chung-hee, Korean general and statesman; led 1961 coup that overthrew the Korean Second Republic; elected president 1963; assassinated Oct. 26, 1979.
1921		Brian Keith, actor (The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming).
1922		Veronica Lake, actress (Sullivan's Travels).
1927		McLean Stevenson, actor; best known for his role as Lt. Col. Henry Blake on the TV series M*A*S*H*.
1930		Edward Higgins White II, engineer, astronaut; first American to "walk" in space (June 3, 1965); died in explosion at Cape Canaveral (Cape Kennedy) during prelaunch testing for first manned Apollo mission.
1935		Hussein of Jordan, King of Jordan (1952–1999); second Arab head of state to recognize Israel as a sovereign nation.
1947		Buckwheat Zydeco (Stanley Dural Jr.), accordion player, zydeco artist.
1948		Charles, Prince of Wales, heir to the throne of England.
1954		Condoleezza Rice, US Secretary of State under Pres. George W. Bush (2005–2009).

 

Word for the Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(MUHL-i-guhn)

 

MEANING:

noun:
1. A second chance, especially in golf where a player is sometimes given another shot to make up for a poor shot which is not counted.
2. A stew made from odds and ends, using whatever is available.

 

ETYMOLOGY:

Both senses of the word are from the name Mulligan. It's not certain who these two Mulligans were -- maybe a golf player and a chef. Earliest documented use: 1936.

 

USAGE:

"It's the Do-Over Derby, in which the only candidates not asking for a mulligan are the ones demanding dozens of them."
Frank Bruni; The Do-Over Derby; The New York Times; Feb 13, 2012.

 

Quote for the Day

Everyone discusses my art and pretends to understand, as if it were necessary to understand, when it is simply necessary to love. -Claude Monet, painter (1840-1926)

 

 

 

Today’s Recipe

Holiday Cooking

Swedish Meatballs

 

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
• Kosher salt
• 1 1/2 cups breadcrumbs
• 1/3 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons dry sherry
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 pound ground pork
• 1/2 pound ground turkey
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• Freshly ground pepper
• Vegetable oil, for frying
• 3 tablespoons lingonberry or cranberry preserves
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• Chopped fresh dill, for topping
• Fresh pickled cucumber slices, for serving

Directions

Melt the butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, season with salt and cook until golden brown, 4 to 6 minutes; set aside.

Combine 1/2 cup breadcrumbs and the milk in a bowl; set aside until the milk is absorbed, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir the sherry and mustard powder in a large bowl until dissolved, then beat in 1 egg. Add the soaked breadcrumbs, the browned onion, the pork, turkey, honey, allspice, 2 teaspoons salt, and pepper to taste. Gently mix with your hands until combined.

Dampen your hands; form the mixture into 36 small meatballs, about 1 tablespoon each. Put on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.

Put the remaining 1 cup breadcrumbs in a shallow dish. Whisk the remaining 2 eggs and 2 tablespoons water in a bowl. Dip each meatball in egg, letting the excess drip off, then roll in the breadcrumbs; return to the baking sheet.

Heat about 1 1/2 inches vegetable oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat until a deep-fry thermometer registers 325 degrees F. Working in batches, fry the meatballs, gently stirring with a slotted spoon, until golden and cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate and season with salt. Let stand 10 minutes.

Fold the lingonberry preserves into the sour cream and top with the dill. Skewer each meatball with a pickled cucumber slice and serve with the lingonberry cream.

 

 

 

 

ENJOY!

 

Now You Know!