Thoughts On A Silversword

 

The Silversword plant mirrors the human tale. At least to me.

The silvery hairs, fleshy leaves and low-growing rosette form the Haleakala Silversword ('ahinahina in Hawaiian) and grows only in hot, dry cinder slopes......... like the Haleakala Crater on Maui. These plants live between 3 and 90 years. They flower once, sending up a spectacular flowering stalk and then soon die, scattering drying seeds to the wind.

We humans are rather like this magnificent plant. We start as seeds, we grow in special locations for an allotted span of years and then we die. Our progeny, like Silversword seeds, have scattered to the wind.

If you go to Maui, do drive the twisty road to the top of Haleakala and take a stroll on the cinder paths among these fantastic plants.

 

Georgia's Virtual Vault

 

If you have Georgia research to do, you must investigate the Virtual Vault, an online feature of the Georgia State Archives. This is where records of interest to genealogists are digitized and made available for research. 

The masthead of the website states that this is "your portal to success to some of Georgia's most important historical documents, 1733 to present. The Virtual Vault gives access to manuscripts, photographs, maps, and government records. 

My research interest lies in Troup County. When I entered that into the search box, some 600 entries appeared before my eyes! I also need info from Wilkes County; wouldn't this make your fingers twitch??

How about this category (one of 53 collections/categories):

If you have Georgia ancestry, do check out the Virtual Vault!

Archaeology Magazine

 

Archaeology Magazine is the bi-monthly publication of the Archaeological Institute of America. Subscription cost is under $20 which is half what you'll pay for the issues at a newsstand. I really enjoy this magazine and learn so much history from it!

The July-August 2025 issue had a bit, "Legend of the Crystal Brain." This relates how in the 1960s the skeleton of a young man about 20 years old was found covered in ash lying on his wooden bed in the doomed city of Pompeii. In 2018, doing a more thorough study on this "man," some "fragments resembling obsidian" were found in the man's skull. The poor man's brain had been turned into glass by the extremely high temperatures of that volcanic ash.... over 950o! The scientist was quoted as saying, "We were looking into the brain of that young Roman who lied 2000 years ago---a brain that, perhaps, held his last thoughts before dying." How sad. 

Another fascinating bit was this:  "Cats curl up on couches in 1/3 of all American households. However, domesticated felines are not native to the New World but were introduced by Europeans. The earliest known cats in the present day U.S., an adult and a kitten, have been identified in the wreck of a Spanish ship that sank in Pensacola Bay in Florida at 1559. Cats were likely brought aboard to feast on rodents."

This magazine has articles of historic and archaeologic interest from all over the world......... from where our ancestors lived and still live all over the world. Try it; you might just like it. 

Civil War Research

 

Tomorrow is the EWGS Fall Workshop with the spotlight on Civil War Research. F.Y.I. Family Tree Magazine offers this 8-page, laminated, Cheat Sheet to help you "find military records and study the history" of the Civil War. Cost for this is $14.95, + p/h. This Cheat Sheet offers

5 Steps to Trace Your Civil War Ancestor:

1. Search the Civil War Soldiers & Sailors (CWSS) Database.... a free National Park Service site which indexes over 6,000,000 soldiers and 18,000 African American sailors. 

2. Obtain service and pension records (explains how).

3. Find burial information. (National cemeteries were established in 1862 for the Civil War dead.) 

4. Seek additional records (explains what/where).

5. Broaden your knowledge (gives great ideas). 

This Cheat Sheet then gives two pages explaining in more detail what the records contain. Also a map of the U.S. during the Civil War (Did you know that Oregon remained loyal to the Union?) and a Civil War Timeline (helps greatly to understand that conflict). The final page of this Cheat Sheet lists 17 websites and 24 books for your further study. 

One resource listed was The Civil War, a film by Ken Burns. I've viewed this; it's worth a second time around, especially if you have ancestors who participated in the Civil War.

Legacy Family Tree Webinars

 

Legacy Family Tree Webinars are one of The Best genealogical learning opportunities available to us these days. Why??

* Legacy Family Tree Webinars offer nearly 2500 presentations in their library.

* These presentations are from over 250 different presenters.

* These presentations span 26 different categories.

* These presentations are offered in 11 different languages.

* These presentations are FREE ON DAY OF and then go into the library.

* Membership is $49 annually which gives you access to the entire library, day or night, on your schedule.

There will be 10 presentations offered in October:

* Oct 1, 5:00am, EST, David Ryan, Irish Public Records Fire & Genealogy

* Oct 1, 2:00pm, EST, Blaine Bettinger, Understanding Ethnicity in DNA

* Oct 3, 2:00pm, EST, J.H. Fonkert, Ten Tantilizing Sources

* Oct 3, time TBA, Janice Nickerson, Ontario Genealogy

* Oct 8, 8:00pm, EST, James Biedler, German Genealogy

* Oct 10, 2:00pm, EST, Orice Jenkins, Betsy Grant: A Fight for Freedom

* Oct 14, 9:00pm, EST, Shauna Hicks, Australian Post Office Directories

* Oct 21, 2:00pm, EST, Gilkison & LaRue, A Coast to coast identity story

* Oct 22, 2:00pm, EST, Melissa Barker, Finding Females in Local Archives

* Oct 24, 2:00pm, EST, Art Taylor, Use AI to organize digital photos

* Oct 28, 2:00pm, EST, A MyHeritage Webinar

* Oct 29, 2:00pm, EST, Kory Meyerink, Colonial NY Research

Why not have a learning listen???

Cemetery Types

 How many types of cemeteries are there, would you guess? 

 Abandoned cemeteries

 Church cemeteries

Family Cemeteries

Military Cemeteries

Religious Cemeteries

Aboveground Cemeteries - Deep South

Pet Cemeteries

Cliff Cemetery-China

Garden Gems in Washington

 

Thanks to Ice Storm '96, the Moore-Turner Heritage Garden was rediscovered. Built between 1889 and 1932 as a residential garden but was largely abandoned in the 1930s and the historic home demolished in 1940. Although the Spokane Parks & Rec Dept acquired the property in 1945, most of what was once a beautiful garden (complete with pond--see above then and now) was lost to memory and time.

Fast forward to today when after extensive research and recovery (and clearing away of Ice Storm debris and plants gone wild), the garden is once again open for visiting. Tiz a small garden; in less than an hour you can walk all the paths (beware: they're mostly uphill).

Washington boasts many similar wonderful gardens. Let's go and aren't we lucky!!

* Seattle - Dunn Garden

* Seattle - Highland SeaTac Botannical Garden

* Seattle - Japanese Garden

* Seattle - Chinese Garden

* Spokane - Manito Park Garden

* Yakima - Ohme Gardens

* Federal Way - Powells Garden

* Bainbridge Island - Bloedel Reserve Garden

* Port Angeles - Port Angeles Fine Art Center (is a garden!)