Serendipity & Humor

 

What better image to begin a post on humor and serendipity??? A Doxie Cake!

** A Copenhagen, Denmark, neighborhood is named after what once lay under the ground: potatoes. Called Kartoffelraekkeerne, which means "Potato Row," this area was named for the crop grown on the land in the 1800s. Homes on Potato Row nowadays command high prices.

** Did you know China owns, OWNS, al but two of the pandas in the world (Mexico owns the other two) and loans them to zoos, sanctuaries, and breeding centers in other countries. Remember that when you visit those darling bears next time.

** What is a merswine?  (A dolphin or porpoise)

** What U.S. state is known as the Sunflower State?  (Kansas)

**What does the acronym "yuppie" stand for? (young urban professional0

** What mountain range is also the name of a breed of dog?  (Pyrenees)

** According to the International Playing Card Society and other researchers, the kings in a deck of cards are thought to be David, King of Israel (spades), Alexander the Great (clubs), Charlemagne, King of France (hearts) and Caesar Augustus (diamonds).  (Remember that when you audition for Jeopardy.)

** Do you have mageirocophobia???   Sometimes I do!  This is a fear of cooking. (Gosh, there is a word for everything.)

** What did Barbie do when she directed the hens in a play? Barbie cued them.

**Art Conger,  retired policeman who now lives in Spokane, in his younger days lived in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco. He took a "room for rent" in a house with two 90-year-old sisters, who had lived there for 70 years. Soon, the building owner told Art that the sisters were being moved and he was going to offer the state $250 for all the stuff the women left behind. Art promptly went downtown and paid $50 for all the house contents, thereby usurping the owner. Art rented a dumpster and got busy.  To shorten the longer story (which appeared in our Spokesman Review, 30 June 2022), Art ended up with a 16-inch bronze vase, circled by a five-clawed dragon,  dated authoritatively back to the Ming dynasty in the 1400s. No price was stated for the vase, but one can imagine that it is priceless.  (Moral: you never know what you'll find once you start looking.)

**Our near neighbor, Montana, became a state on 8 Nov 1889, two days before Washington became a state. Montana is the 4th largest start; nickname is Treasure State; state animal is the Grizzly Bear; state bird is the Western Meadowlark...... and there is a state butterfly, fish, flower, grass, tree, fossil and gemstone. Can you name them???

** Villains twirl their moustaches and are easy to spot. Villains who are camouflaged are harder to see and more often fool us."  (Capt. Jean-Luc Picard, TV's Star Trek)

** If a tomato is a fruit, is ketchup a smoothie?????

Serendipity

 

Question for you:  Was your ancestor a yeggman?  Ever heard that term? Here’s a clue:  “We estimate that one crew of yeggs has been responsible for the theft of a total of $75,000 worth of securities from the bank.” Did you guess safe cracker? You were right. I’d never heard that word before. So was your ancestor a yeggman?

If your ancestry tracks back to an Eastern European country (think Croatia), I’d bet you don’t know much about that place. My husband’s line goes back into Luxembourg and initially I couldn’t finger that country on a map. What helped me to learn and what might help you? There are many good sources and references. The FamilySearch WIKI is one. In depth articles are another. The Spring 2021 issue of History Magazine carried a 6-page article on Croatia, “Land of 1000 Islands.” Historically part of Yugoslavia, Croatia has a long and sunny Adriatic coast line and is a favorite European summer tourist destination. The article does not go into research sources or suggestions but just gives background (with photos) of the “country of Dalmatians, citrus fruits, lavender, olives, wine, sunshine and possibly the birthplace of Marco Polo.”

 

We subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and read each issue mostly cover to cover. The final page of the magazine is an “Ask Smithsonian” page where experts address questions. Recently (March 2021) a reader asked, “When did the war of 1914-1918 begin to be called the Great War?”  Good question.  Here’s the Smithsonian answer:  “Almost as soon as the conflagration began. The Canadian magazine Maclean’s noted, ‘Some wars name themselves. This is the Great War’ in October 1914. Winston Churchill broke with British nomenclature when he called the conflict ‘the World War’ in 1927, says David Ward, a senior historian emeritus at the National Portrait Gallery. Most British people stuck with ‘the Great War’ into the 1940s, calling the more recent global conflict ‘the War.’ In contrast, Time magazine started using the terms World War I and World War II in 1939, before the United States entered the conflict.”  Now we know how that name originated.

 

Obituary Crew..... and a "Christmas" find.

The Obituary Indexing Crew is keeping on keeping on. The crew is comprised of: Lynda Keenan, Lynn Krogh, PJ Farrance-Rabel, Cilla Carpenter, Jeanne Coe, Patricia Flint, Sandi Gaffney and me, Donna. 



Jeanne Coe and I are working to index the obituaries found in the 22 drawers of Biography Files at the Ferris Library. And that's where I found that Santa once lived in Spokane!

Alexander Cozza, who was born in Italy, died in Spokane in 1978 and lies resting in Holy Cross Cemetery. His wife, Santa C., died in 1998, age 86, and rests beside him.

Now you know! :-) 

Save the Chancery Building? Yes or No?

There is a huge decision looming regarding the rehabilitation or demolishing of the Catholic Chancery building next door to Our Lady of Lourdes Cathedral. Do we care what happens?

I certainly do! That building has stood for over 100 years and housed the diocese for 53 years. Originally, the Diocesan Archives were held in the basement. Famed architect Kirtland Cutter designed the building in 1910 and it housed various businesses until 1966 when the Catholic diocese purchased the building (their old building being in the path of I-90). 

Cowles Real Estate Company owns the building and stated in an article in The Spokesman Review last August that "with the age of the building, many of the systems are nearing or past the end of their useful life, including the roof, plumbing, electrical, elevator and HVAC." 

Here's what I think: Quoting from the website www.whitehousehistory.org:

President Harry S. Truman also had the White House renovated between 1948 and 1952. The White House interior was gutted in an extensive renovation. The original exterior walls remained standing while the interiors were removed and reinstalled within a skeleton of steel structural beams on a new concrete foundation

If, back in 1950, that magnificent structure was totally gutted and updated, why cannot that be done to one of the few really great historic buildings remaining in Spokane???

It was suggested to me that anybody who cares might want to write a letter to Betsy Cowles, c/o The Spokesman Review, 999 W. Riverside, Spokane WA  99201, and explain your thoughts and feelings regarding that 100 year old and most beautiful building.

A Picture Worth 1000 Words

No need to say anything about this image I found on Facebook. One picture says it all.

Love This Apartment Name!

Spotted this small apartment building on West Riverside. I just HAD to get out of the car and take a photo. I think it's just the darlingest name for an address I've ever seen.

Did Our Ancestors Mark Halloween?

In your family stories, do you have any mention of how your ancestors might have marked Halloween? Or is this just a 20th Century Wall Street phenomenon? Did they at least maybe carve a pumpkin? (Or were pumpkins FOOD in days of yore?)

Have you a carved squash on your front porch yet? Know when/where that custom originated? Thanks to Wikipedia, here's the answer:  It is believed that the custom of making jack-o'-lanterns at Hallowe'en time began in Ireland. In the 19th century, "turnips or mangel wurzels, were hollowed out to act as lanterns and often carved with grotesque faces," were used on Halloween in parts of Ireland and the Scottish Highlands.

Fish vs Whale...... Do You Know The Difference?

What does today's post have to do with genealogy? Nothing and maybe everything. Your ancestors and mine (especially your Scandinavian ancestors of which I have none :-) ate whale blubber and whale meat and tons of cod fish. THEY knew the difference.

Whales have lungs, their tail goes up/down and is attached horizontally, and they give birth to live young and nurse them, and has smooth, rubber-like skin. 

Fish have gills, their tail is vertical and goes side-to-side, they lay eggs in water and swim away, and they have rough scales.

Now you know. Pop a quiz to your fishing grandsons!

Vanity, Thy Name Is Woman

If you don't burst out laughing at seeing this old magazine ad, you're missing a big part of your funny bone:

Don't be too smug. But in your family photo collection you have ones of ladies with marcelled hair like this one shown. My mother-in-law, born in 1913, in her 20s had her hair done like this!

Birds' Eye Maps?

Perhaps your first thought upon reading that post title was that it was going to be something about birds making maps? Nope.

Wikipedia explains: A bird's-eye view is an elevated view of an object from above, with a perspective as though the observer were a bird, often used in the making of blueprints, floor plans, and maps. It can be an aerial photograph, but also a drawing.

Wikipedia didn't say when these specialty maps began but posted one for Paris in 1850. 

If you'd enjoy seeing a birds' eye map of Spokane, there is one hanging on the wall outside the Northwest Room in the downtown Spokane library. (Hurry; library closes in Jan for two years.)

Obituaries: Always Take Two

Nowadays this doesn't happen quite as much, but only a few years ago the newspaper would publish two different death notices for a person. If you read carefully, it's easy to see that each one contains more/different information. And one has a photo while the "twin" does not! And one for each lady does not carry the date of death! 

Point of this post is this: Do look for a second "obituary" or death notice (or perhaps more than two even) when dealing with newspapers. 

Beer labels?

When I was blessed to visit Iceland, we went to the National Museum of Iceland in the capitol city, Reykjavik. Of course I had to peek into the archives. One set of shelves with big binders really caught my eye:

All of those binders were full of sheet protectors covering BEER LABELS! Icelandic beer, I guess. Didn't look at all of them. Isn't that the most unusual thing to find in an archives??

Do you suffer from nomophobia??

Today there are many new conditions and diseases popping up. The newest one to my eyes and ears is nomophobia. And just what is this and do you have it???

Nomophobia is the irrational fear of being without your mobile phone or being unable to use your phone for some reason, such as the absence of a signal or running out of minutes or battery power. A phobia is by definition an irrational fear.

All I can say is "heavens to murgatroid." What next? 

Do not "toss the baby out with the bathwater."

Everybody seems quick to disregard the posted online trees as undocumented rubbish. And maybe too many are. But hold your horses. I'm working on a tree for a friend in Florida who knew nothing about his surname line. Imagine his delight when I found that somebody had posted a picture of his great-grandmother to accompany their online tree matching into his line! 

Is sorting through all the might-be-trues to find a gem like this worth the time and trouble? You decide. 

Donna

Something New for YOU Has Begun

Filling the capable blogging shoes of Kris Krell will be a challenge but this post is to announce that I shall try. Try to share with you timely tidbits, historical trivia and just plain "can you believe this?" items. Serendipity, if you will. If you like what you see, please click to subscribe and future posts will come right in to your email box.

Let's start off today with a bit in The Spokesman back on 10 April, "Alternatives to Burial and Cremation Approved by House." Apparently, Gov. Inslee is studying a bill that, if approved, would bring Washington a big step closer to human composting.

Human composting is also known as natural organic reduction or alkaline hydrolysis, both approved options for the final disposition of human remains.

With a bipartisan vote of 80-16, the House sent the bill to Gov. Inslee. What are YOUR thoughts on this idea??

Serendipity Day

** Genealogy’s Star: A Must-Read Blog (in my opinion) & YouTube Channel

** Washington’s Colville Tribes Selected For The Next U.S. Census Test

**Insects: Future Or Past Food?

**How To Ensure All Will Be Lost

James Tanner crafts his Genealogy’s Star blog nearly two times per week and I read every post and learn something new each time. Back on 5 Mar 2016, he posted about the BYU Family History Library Channel on YouTube. He was discussing a new uploaded video titled, “Why You Can’t Trace Your Family Back To Adam.” Who would not want to view this video?? Here’s how: (1) Click to www.youtube.com;  (2) select the BYU Family History Library channel; (3) Chose what you want to view from the list of over 400 videos; and (4) Click the subscribe button to get notification of new videos as they’re uploaded.

May I, as your serendipity teacher today, give you two homework assignments today? First click to www.genealogysstar.blogspot.com (note the two “s”) and sign up for James Tanner’s blog. Next click to www.youtube.com and get going with your home learning from there!

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An AP blurb in our local paper by Regina Garcia Cano, and from Sioux Falls, SD, read: “The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation is one of two National American reservations selected as test sites ahead of the 2020 census, as officials mull whether to ask for the first tie about tribal enrollment.” The two reservations are Standing Rock Indian Reservation, which straddles North and South Dakota, and the Colville reservation. “By selecting these geographic areas, we are allowing ourselves an opportunity to test our methods and procedures in areas where it is difficult to deliver questionnaires by mail,” said Deirdre Bishop, chief of the bureau’s Decennial Census Management Division.” I found this tidbit fascinating for many reasons. I’d not realized that the tremendous amount of decade-long work went into the taking of a census.

For more information on this (census taking) Google “Decennial Census Management Division.” Or “2020 U.S. Census.”  And ditto for more info on the two reservation test sites.

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According to an article in the Delta Sky magazine for April 2016, the foods in our future may include insects……..bugs. Here is a link to a short video about Andrew Zimmern’s views on eating insects:  http://www.travelchannel.com/shows/bizarre-foods-celebrates-100/video/the-bug-eating-guy from the Travel Channel. There has been plenty of buzz about “how are we going to feed the hungry millions on our planet in the future…and are insects the answer?” in the media. But I was not prepared for the picture that accompanied that Delta Sky article: a lollipop with a nice fat caterpillar inside of it! Yum?? Now, you might say, what does this have to do with family history? Let me ask you this:  Did our ancestors eat insects? I think they surely did but not in the way you think. I think poor eyesight, poor lighting in homes, and creepy-crawlies everywhere and in everything ensured that there were insects in our ancestor’s food. Yum.

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How to ensure that all your genealogy, your life’s work, will be lost. Eight thoughts from Donna.

1.      Do not ever make time to take to relatives and collect their memories and memorabilia.

2.      Do not make time to share photos with relatives and get positive ID for them.

3.      Do not bother to scan in old photos and memorabilia and certainly do not bother with backups.

4.      Do not both to compile a list of who-in-the-family gets what of all the family treasures you’ve collected over the years.

5.      When cleaning out grandma’s house after the funeral, just bring lots of big black plastic bags for everything to take to the dump or Goodwill.

6.      Do not bother with transferring all the family information you have stored in binders and boxes to an online program.

7.      Do leave so much stuff stuffed in your office that your kids will be overwhelmed and not really know what to keep and what to toss.

8.      Don’t make a plan for without a plan you surely will fail and your genealogy will be lost.

Sad Facts:  Your local genealogy society DOES NOT WANT all your binders and boxes of un-organized papers and stuff. Neither does the Family History Library. And neither do your kids! They want the information and not all the stuff and they want it organized. 

Serendipity

Serendipity 
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical, Legal.
Serendipity

Serendipity means a "happy accident" or "pleasant surprise"; a fortunate mistake. Specifically, the accident of finding something good or useful while not specifically searching for it. The word has been voted one of the ten English words hardest to translate in June 2004 by a British translation company.[1] However, due to its sociological use, the word has been exported into many other languages.[2]
Etymology

The first noted use of "serendipity" in the English language was by Horace Walpole (1717–1797). In a letter to Horace Mann (dated 28 January 1754) he said he formed it from the Persian fairy tale The Three Princes of Serendip, whose heroes "were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of". The name stems from Serendip, an old name for Sri Lanka (aka Ceylon), from Arabic Sarandib. Parts of Sri Lanka were under the rule of South Indian kings for extended periods of time in history. Kings of Kerala, India (Cheranadu)were called Chera Kings and dheep means island, the island belonging to Chera King was called Cherandeep, hence called Sarandib by Arab traders.




For more on serendipity
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Serendipity

Serendipity Day

Having just been for two weeks in Egypt, learning about all the 4000 year old temples and pyramids, and experiencing the warmth and friendliness of the Egyptian people, Egypt is on my mind today.

Here is my picture from the Mena House Hotel where we stayed several nights. The old part of it was built in 1869 to house the dignitaries who came for the opening of the Suez Canal.

Are there resources for folks with Egyptian ancestry? Very darn little, I found. The Wiki on FamilySearch has a "Egypt Genealogy" page but there is not yet much there. Could find nothing in the Ancestry catalog.

Reading Mountains of the Pharaohs: The Untold Story of the Pyramid Builders, by Dr. Zawi Hawass, 2006, my eyes jumped at this:  "The ancient Egyptian government took a census of cattle every two years, and kings of the early periods numbered their reigns according to these censuses."  That's cool, but of no genealogy help.

There are folks with Egyptian ancestry who will be wanting to trace their family tree. I hope some resources will soon be coming.

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Had a great read on my Kindle on the long flight over:  Murder Bay, by David R. Horwitz. This is good fiction:  The year is 1958 and police sergeant Benjamin Carey is appointed head of a new department housed in a century-old house in Washington, DC. Sleeping in the turret room, Ben learns of and begins to unravel the mystery of Mordechai Finkel, a Civil War soldier who died in the room a century before. The story line jumps between 1862 and 1958 and is wonderfully told....a genuine page turner. I highly recommend this book whether or not you're facing a long flight. 

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Wishing you had access to some of the premium subscription websites but your budget don't allow subscriptions at this time? No problem.  Visit your nearby Family History Center and through the Family History Center Portal  you can access fourteen different for-pay websites including Ancestry, Fold3, Newspaper Archives, Find My Past, Paper Trail (website of the Oregon California Trails Association which has lists of 99% of the pioneers who migrated west in the 19th century), and Heritage Quest Online. For the days and hours when these centers are open, visit our EWGS website (www.EWGSI.org) or click to www.familysearch.org and "search for a center near you." 

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If you're one of those who really have not liked the new Ancestry.com website....well, too bad. It's official:  that will be the one-and-only Ancestry website so we must learn to appreciate and use it. I personally think it's a case of impatience...just not wanting to take the time to click around, read and learn how best to understand and use the new site. But, bottom line, that's the way it is. Until the next time Ancestry decides to update their website!

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There are some, including my dear late mother-in-law, who had no use for genealogy. She not only believed it was hogwash but was a shameful waste of time. Being a Bible-reading Christian, her opinion came from 1 Timothy 1:4 (KJV):  "Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies...." Or Titus 3:9:  "....avoid foolish questions and genealogies..."  To my understanding, after some study, the answer is this:  Jews of the day strove too often to prove their descent from Abraham thus claiming that they were automatically saved above the Gentiles...that they were better than the Gentiles. Paul emphasized personal righteousness no matter what your ancestry.  What is your opinion?

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What blogs do I follow? This is on my mind as I have nearly three week's of catching up to do. I follow the Ancestry blog, the Ancestry Insider (yes, different), the Genealogy's Star blog, the Legal Genealogist blog (often over my head but interesting nonetheless), the Geneabloggers blog, Dick Eastman's newsletter (www.EOGN.com... the free version) and the Fold3 blog. It costs nothing to subscribe to these blogs and by scanning them weekly you'll keep yourself updated on what's going on in the genealogy world. "Takes too much time!" you say. Psshaw... I can scan five blogs posts in five minutes and so could you. Zero in on what's important to YOU.

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Here are some more Cyndi Ingle-isms that I quickly scribbled down on the day she was with the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society:  

      "Avoid a website or an email that looks kinky."

      "I don't know if I believe everything I tell you." 

      "For cryin' out tears!"

      " I do believe that everything you need to do efficient research today is on the Internet. 

              but if you've looked everywhere and have not found your answer or ancestor,

              you are not looking in the right place and at the right record."

Serendipity "Friday" (today is Thursday)

Reason? I'll be the least among four speakers at Heritage Quest Research Library's OctoberFest on Saturday, October 10th. As it's a 6-hour drive from Spokane, I'll be heading over on Friday.

If you live near Sumner, and are not signed up for this exciting day, I don't think it's too late. Click to www.hqrl.com for information.

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Hubby and I attended a wonderful presentation last evening from the Spokane Chapter of the American Archaeology Association. Dr. Robert Neyland told us all about the H.L. Hunley, the Confederate submarine that sank the U.S.S. Housatonic and then sank herself. 

Dr. Neyland related how Hunley had been found and recovered (in 2000) and was now undergoing restoration (which will take another 8 years!). Read all about it at www.hunley.org.  The most fascinating part was when he explained the recovery of the eight crew members...their bones and artifacts. At the above website they have posted photos of the cranial-face-feature reconstructions of all eight men. After all the forensic work was done, these veterans were buried under the Confederate flag in a Charleston, SC, cemetery and several descendants attended the event.

If you think you, or somebody you know, might be a descendant of a sailor aboard the H.S. Hunley, do some Googling and you'll find plenty of exciting information on this particular brave ancestor. 

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Did you know:  The membership of every organization is made up of four types of bones:

1.  Wish Bones  --  These "bones" sit around and wish every one else would do the work.

2.  Jaw Bones  --  These "bones" do all the tal king but little of the work.

3.  Knuckle Bones  --  These "bones" knock everything that everybody else tries to do.

4.  Back Bones  --  These "bones" are the ones who get under the load and do all the work.

Which kind of "bone" are you????

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Above the entrance to the University of Colorado Library is this carved phrase:  "He who knows only his own genealogy remains always a child."   Isn't that an interesting homile to be carved over the door of a university library?

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Just discovered a new-to-me website that will help in the finding of local or still-alive people. Give it a try at www.blackbookonline.com.  The home page describes this as "the free public records search site." 

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Another way-cool website that my brother shared with me is this..... Google this phrase:  "22 Maps and Charts that will surprise you."  Posted by Ezra Klein on 11 Mar 2015, he explains:  "A good visualization helps you see what the data is telling you. The best visualizations help you see things you never thought the data would tell you. These 22 charts and maps were, at least for me, in that category: all of them told me something I found surprising. Some of them genuinely changed the way I think about the world."  Really, now, try it you'll like it.

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Have you heard of Thomas MacEntee's The Genealogy Fairy? Thomas explains:  "Back in March 2015, I announced a new concept as part of my genealogy business: The Genealogy Fairy. I have seen a huge increase in business revenue related to affiliate marketing and I wanted a way to say thankyou to those who continue to support my business and believe in what I do to improve the way we search for our family history. 

What Thomas has done is to set aside 5% of affiliate income for some type of grant program. These Genealogy Fairy grants are open to all genealogical and historical organizations, especially non-profits, and to individual genealogists who seek to fund specific projects related to genealogy and family history. 

If this offer intrigues you, click to www.genealogybloggers.com/update-genealogy-fairy.com. Or just Google "the genealogy fairy."  What a good guy to make such a great offer.

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Been wanting to make a family book? An ONLINE family book? Like with Shutterfly?  I was just introduced to the Olive Tree blog:   Olive Tree Genealogy, created by Lorine in February 1996 was started to bring genealogists FREE genealogy records. Olive Tree Genealogy has more than 1,900 pages of free genealogy records to help you find your brick-wall ancestors and build your family tree. In a post of 1 Sep 2015, Lorine pointed to three YouTube tutorials on how to do a family book using Shutterfly. Why not take a peek?

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Unserious Thought for Today:  Broken pencils are pointless. 

Serendipity Friday

James Tanner, GenealogyStar blog, back on 26 August, posed this question:  “Where are all the photos?”  He explains that “millions of digitized photos go online every day. How many of these photos are of your ancestors?” Or I might add, your family?  Tanner, in this blog post, goes on to trumpet the virtue of attaching photos to your Family Tree in FamilySearch:  “All the tagged and captioned photos on FamilySearch.org are searchable by Google.” What does that say to you? Tanner tells you:  “The best way to find these photos is to search by your ancestor’s name in the Google Images program.” Now you know. And, by the by, I do recommend that you sign up for Tanner’s blog at www.GenealogyStar.blogspot.com.

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Next trip to Bellevue you might want to stop for a visit to a brand new research facility. A recent announcement by FamilySearch explained that the new Seattle Family Discovery Center is open for business!! I’ll quote from the announcement:  “High-tech “Museum of You” concept for center guides visitors to discover, share and preserve their histories and memories…… visitors to the center are provided with a tablet computer as a personal guide to interface with large touch screens where they learn more about themselves, view family origins, and discover how ancestors may have lied and even dressed. Data used for the interactive experiences is drawn from online data at FamilySearch.org and select partners.” Check it out for yourself at www.FamilySearch.org/discoverycenter/seattle   And by the by, this is totally FREE and is located just behind the LDS temple, seen on the northside of I-90 approaching Bellevue.

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The Northeast Washington Genealogical Society (Colville) was treated to a great program recently by president, Karen Struve. Her topic was “Understanding & Using Pinterest.” Karen explained how to create an account, create your boards and pin items of interest to your boards. “Boards can be for recipes, craft ideas, gardening ideas, dogs, or genealogy! Think of Pinterest as another place to post, store and share the documents and/or photos of your ancestors.  I was lucky enough to be at that meeting and it was explained that the under-30 crowd is using Pinterest every day (most likely) and if you want to connect with your grandchildren, and no matter how old you are, you better learn how to use these social media…like Pinterest.

On a parallel note, an article in the Daughters of the American Revolution, Sep-Oct 2014, article by Maureen Taylor titled, “5 Ways to Use Pinterest for Genealogy” listed these reasons: (1) Follow your favorites…like Ancestry, FamilySearch, FamilyTree Magazine, etc.  (2) Keep track of sources for research; you can create and keep your To-Do list there with images of books and/or documents that are on your To-Do list;  (3) Create boards for ancestors; post biographies and images to grab your grandkids’ attention;  (4) Document local history..take and post pictures of cemeteries and places where your ancestors lived…this ultimately will reach dozens of cousins potentially;  (5) Compile a virtual family history cookbook. All good ideas.

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“Have you bookmarked JSTOR Daily yet?” So began a post from Judy Russell on her blog, The Legal Genealogist, on July 17, 2015. Judy explained that since she discovered this resource she has found it “irresistible” and “packed with great information.” So what is JSTOR Daily? She explains:  “JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization, founded to help academic libraries and publishers; is a shared digital library created in 1995 to help university and college libraries free up space on their shelves, save costs, and provide greater levels of access to more content than eve before…………. JSTOR currently includes more than 2000 academic journals, 50 million digitized pages and continue adding at the rate of three million pages annually.

“JSTOR is cool but it can be overwhelming,” Judy advises. That’s where the JSTOR Daily comes in. Anybody can sign up for this free newsletter/guide to the JSTOR collection at www.daily.jstor.org.  Both Judy Russell and I recommend this to you!

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Your Genealogy Today is the new incarnation of the Family Chronicle Magazine, published out of Toronto but applicable to all genealogist’s needs. The July-Aug 2015 issue featured these articles:  (1) Panama Canal employee records;  (2) Beginning World War II Research;  (3) DNA & Genealogy;  (4) “What the Widow Got,” an article looking at how your female ancestor may have been affected by property laws.

You can subscribe to this dandy publication in a paper/print form or a digital form by either calling 1-888-326-2476 or clicking to their website, www.internet-genealogy.com.  Cost is $19.95 for the digital edition.

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I’ll sign off today with a quote found in a 1935 newsletter about the building of Grand Coulee Dam encouraging worker safety:  “A ladder is no stronger than any one rung.”  In our genealogy arena, we could say, “A genealogy society is no stronger than any one member.”