Is Meets Was

I haven't written an article for my blog in months, and how shocked I was to find nothing on the front page! Thank goodness articles may still be reached through the dynamic keyword link in the left margin. It is time to get busy and start writing about family history again. Hopefully by writing this post, I will return IsMeetsWas to life. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could rejuvenate ourselves so easily? The absence of articles is not a reflection of my inactivity. Most recently, I am lost in tons of busy work, massaging the over 9000 names of places in my database on Family Tree Maker.  I have reduced the number of place names to under 6000, but I still have more place names demanding my attention. I am concerned about the loss of the historical integrity of the names of places as I strive for consistency and update the place names to make them recognizable to online maps. Often as I make changes, I have included the old name of the place in the descriptive f...

Merry Christmas. For me, Christmas is a nostalgic time as well as a joyous time. It is a time in which I remember the people who have touched my life. One such person is my paternal grandmother, Mary (Fitzgerald) Merrill. My life was touched by her absence. Mary holding Gil, Lib, and Dot, and Fred Merrill, 1913 Christmas Tree, 1913 In December 1913, my grandparents celebrated Christmas with a tree and a new camera. Fred and Mary were living in Franklin, New Hampshire with their three children: Dorothy Margaret (age 6), Elizabeth Mary (age 2), and Gilbert James Merrill (6 months). I wonder: "Were there presents under the tree for the children to open on Christmas morning? Did Santa stuff special treats in stockings hung by the chimney?" I do know that  there was plenty of snow to enjoy that winter.  Uncle Dan Fitzgerald c. 1913 Mary, Lib, Gil, and Dot, Winter 1913 Above is the only photograph I have of Uncle Dan. Two years later, at the age of 18,...

Olive, Eulie, and Cedric Hopkins October 1897 I am pleased to introduce you to Winifred Eulalie Hopkins. Everyone called her Eulie. She was born on September 3, 1894, in Milverton, England .  Eulie's father, George, was the son of an Irish merchant and minister from Wicklow, Ireland.  Eulie's mother, Emily Ruth Draper, was the daughter of a coach smith and livery stable keeper of Hackney, London, England.  Eulie, December 1901 Garry, Edith, Harold, Lance, Maz, Cedric, Eulie, Olive, and John c. 1918 Eulie was the 8th of 10 children.  While Eulie passed into adulthood, the Great War, now known as World War I, was raging in Europe. It began on 28 July 1914, when Eulie was approaching her 20th birthday, and lasted until 11 November 1918, when Eulie was 24 years old. More than 9 million people who fought in the war, mostly men, were killed. Possibly the vast carnage is the reason that Eulie and two of her sisters never mar...

Thank you to Nancy at  My Ancestors and Me  for honoring me with the One Lovely Blog Award. I am passing the award onto the following blogs: Wendy for  Shanghai Wen Wen ,  Susie for  Little Susie Homemaker Sarah at  Unshoveling the Past Ms.Genealogist at  Who Does She Think She Is? Wendy's blog and Susie's  blog provide delightful insights into the lives of two contemporary young women who have chosen such different paths.  For a whimsical look at Wendy's reality, recently uprooted and transplanted from San Francisco to China, visit Shanghai Wen Wen .  To discover how to live and laugh while raising and homeschooling six children on a very moderate income, take a gander at Little Susie Homemaker 's stories.  Unshoveling the Past    and  Who Does She Think She Is?   are both blogs that explore the author's family histories, one from a very personal perspective and the other from a more academic viewpoint....

You may be wondering why I am promoting a To-Do-List on a blog about family history. The answer is simple. Astrid is part of our family's history, and I have been one of the beta testers for severals months. Try it. It's free. Download it directly onto your iPone :  http://bit.ly/astridUS ,  or go to the App Store.  Search for "To Do" and scroll down until you see Astrid To-Do. As a beta tester, Astrid has been helping me stay focused on my family history projects. Today, I received these reminders: Publish 2nd Edition of Mary Fitzgerald's Album Search Probate Records for Jabez Draper, died October 3 1899 Also, I use Astrid to keep my Shopping List. Thanks to Astrid, I have finally remembered to replenish the rubbing alcohol. I wish my Nick had an iPhone too, and then we could keep a shared Honey-Do-List. © 2011, Cathy H Paris

August and Conrad in 1888 and again, fifty years later, in 1838 My maternal great grandparents, Conrad Bals  (1864-1953) and  Augusta Schulze  (1866-1947), immigrated from Westfalen, Preussen to Brooklyn, New York in 1887 and 1888, respectively. Although my memories of them are faint, I was fortunate that they were still alive when I was born. Nine years ago, I created a slide show to tell the story of Conrad and Augusta and to share copies of Bals family photographs. I sent a CD with the slide show to each major branch of the family. Recently, my cousin, Michelle, asked for a copy of these photographs. Rather than burn another CD, I decided it was time to include the slideshow on my blog. To see the slide show I created 9 years ago, just click here:   BALS FAMILY HISTORY Enjoy.   © 2011, Cathy H Paris

For years I was proud of being the first woman in our family who left home before she was married, seeking my independence and destiny in another world. (For me, that other world was California.) How wrong I was! Researching family history, I have discovered a parade of woman in my family, and in my husband's family, who traveled a similar road years before my time. One of these women was Susanah Lavella Hopkins , and like me, Lavella was destined to become a Californian. Known as Lala to her family, she used Lavella as her given name. In 1869, Lavella's birth was registered under her mother's name, Fanny Hopkins, in Rathdrum, County Wicklow, Ireland. Her father, Nicholas "David" Hopkins, had been born into a family of means. David had a farm called Lamb Park in Coolbeg, near Wicklow Town. In 1881, when Lavella was only 11 years old, her mother died. Family correspondence suggests her father experienced financial difficulties. By the time she was 2...