Friday, May 30, 2014

Follow Friday ~ Fab Finds for May 30, 2014 – Anniversary Edition

Noisemakers from Microsoft Office Free Images
Today's Fab Finds post is very special. Why? Because...
  • This is  the 100th Fab Finds post I've shared here on my blog.
  • It's also the 2nd anniversary of when I began my weekly Fab Finds posts.
My very first Fab Finds post was published two years ago on June 1, 2012. Yes, it's not the exact same date as today, but close enough. The design of my Fab Finds posts have evolved over time. Just for fun, here's my first Fab Finds post.
I hope you've enjoyed reading my weekly Fab Finds posts over these past two years.

My Fab Finds for this week are (in no particular order)
  1. Treasure Chest Thursday: Sharing a Gift from the Railroad by Linda Huesca Tully, author of Many Branches, One Tree
  2. Slowing Down by Jen Baldwin, author of Ancestral Breezes
  3. Sentimental Sunday: Military Memories - Remembering for Memorial Day by Amanda Pape, author of ABT UNK
  4. 2014 Memorial Day Honor Roll Project Contributions by Heather Wilkinson Rojo, author of Nutfield Genealogy
  5. The Roberts Brothers~Memorial Day 2014 by Cheri Hudson Passey, author of Carolina Girl Genealogy
  6. Using Evernote’s Web Clipper on FindaGrave by Beth Foulk, author of Genealogy Decoded
  7. Membership Complete (DAR) by Valerie Craft, author of Begin with 'Craft'
  8. Heads up! Springpad is Shutting Down by Lorine McGinnis Schulze, author of The Olive Tree Genealogy
  9. FamilySearch.org to Add “Hints” by Dick Eastman, author of Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter
  10. The Joy of a Signature by Irinna Danielson for FamilySearch Blog
  11. The Shoe Box Timeline by Emily Kowalski Schroeder, author of Growing Little Leaves
  12. Shipley Munson Appointed Advisor with International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies by Steve Anderson for FamilySearch Blog
  13. On Finding Graves by Amberly, author of THEGENEALOGYGIRL
  14. War Ration Books by Barbara Poole, author of Life From The Roots
  15. Merging Profiles on WikiTree by Randy Seaver, author of Genea-Musings
  16. 6 Steps for Success in Working with Your AncestryDNA Matches by Crista Cowan for Ancestry.com Blog
  17. Journey to the Past is Now on Facebook by Brenda Leyndyke, author of Journey to the Past
  18. Great Web Tools for Searching Historic Newspapers by Paul G. Nauta for FamilySearch Blog
  19. FIND A GRAVE.com - SUBMITTING RECORDS USING THEIR SPREADSHEET AND SUCCESS! – FIND A GRAVE POSTED THE ENTRIES FROM MY SPREADSHEET by Diane Gould Hall, author of MICHIGAN FAMILY TRAILS
  20. What’s Your Most Unique Genealogy Discovery? Mine’s a Left Foot. by Donny, author of An Amateur Genealogist's Musings
  21. Ohio in the War: Her Statesmen, Her Generals and Soldiers by Lee Drew, author of Family History with the Lineagekeeper
  22. Millions of New Devon Baptism, Marriage and Burial Records Published Online by Simon Last, author of Charnwood Genealogy

In Case You Missed Them….My Contributions to the Blogosphere This Week

Jana's Genealogy and Family History Blog
Grandpa's Postcards

Thanks for reading!


© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

52 Ancestors: #21 ~ The Signature of Nicanor Matus

This is part of the "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" Challenge begun by Amy Johnson Crow, author of the blog No Story Too Small.



Last week, I introduced you to my 2nd great-grandmother, Raymunda Villatoro Vasques. I also shared what could be photos of her. One of those photos is the photo at the top of this post. I know the little boy in this photo is my grandfather, Debs Warren Webster. It may be that he and his sister, Carlota, were visiting their grandparents, Nicanor Matus and Raymunda Villatoro Vasques. So, the adults in this photo could be Nicanor and Raymunda. I wish I knew for sure, but I don't.

In any case, today, I'd like to tell you what I know about my maternal 2nd great-grandfather, Nicanor Matus.

Nicanor was born around 1852 or 1855 in El Espinal, Oaxaca, Mexico. The reason there's a discrepancy in Nicanor's birth year is because his stated age differ in two separate birth records. In his daughter, Crecenciana's, birth record from 1900 he said he was 45 years old, which would mean he was born in 1855. But, in a birth record in which he was a witness, his stated age was 45 and the record was from 1897. That would mean his birth year was 1852.

Nicanor's signature is present, not only on his daughter's birth record, but also on at least two separate birth records in which he served as a witness.  The signature below was from a birth record dated 15 April 1899. In that birth record he stated his age as 45 years old.




There's just something special about seeing an ancestor's signature, isn't there? You may have noticed that I have a tab at the top of my blog dedicated to sharing my ancestors' signatures. I've now added Nicanor's signature to that list.

Nicanor and Raymunda were the parents of four children:

  1. Esther Matus Villatoro (1893-1919) [my great-grandmother]
  2. Catalina Matus Villatoro
  3. Francisco Matus Villatoro
  4. Crecenciana Matus Villatoro (1906-1973)

There's a lot I don't know about Nicanor Matus. I don't yet know who his parents were or if he had any siblings. I don't know where he passed away or his exact date of death. I do know, however, that he died before 7 March 1925 because Nicanor and Raymunda are both listed as deceased in their son, Francisco's, marriage record which is dated 7 March 1925.

I have a lot of research to do to learn more about my 2nd great-grandfather, Nicanor Matus. I'd especially like to find out who his parents, grandparents, and so forth were. And also if he had any siblings. As I learn more about my Matus ancestors, I'll share that information here on my blog.


Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Monday, May 26, 2014

Military Monday ~ Memorial Day 2014

Today is Memorial Day in the United States. It's a day set aside to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice as they served in the military.

Today, my husband and I went to the Clovis Veteran's Memorial Building. On the grounds of this building are several memorials, one of which is this beautiful Statue Memorial.



There's also a Garden of Honor, which is dedicated to Clovis veterans who died while serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf. A "Veteran's Honor" rose bush has been planted for each Clovis veteran who died while serving their country.



Another memorial on these grounds is the Globe Memorial. There are several low white walls around this globe. And on these walls are bronze plaques about different wars or battles.



This plaque is about D-Day.



My husband and I also went to a local cemetery. It was beautifully decorated with large American flags. Smaller flags were placed next to the graves of those who served in the military.



We weren't the only people visiting the cemetery today. There were other people there, either alone or in small groups. It was especially nice to see a family with small children there.

My heartfelt thanks go out to all of those military men and women who died in the service of our great country. And my thanks also go out to the families of these brave service men and women.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Friday, May 23, 2014

Follow Friday ~ Fab Finds for May 23, 2014


My Fab Finds for this week are (in no particular order)
  1. See an Error? Speak up! AND Would you like to contribute to the Honor Roll Project for Memorial Day? by Heather Wilkinson Rojo, author of Nutfield Genealogy
  2. Are You Cropping Too Much? by Michael John Neill, author of RootDig.com
  3. Images we can use: The Met by Judy G. Russell, author of The Legal Genealogist
  4. Star Wars versus the Revolutionary War-Engaging the Next Generation by Valerie Hughes, author of Genealogy With Valerie
  5. Visit to the Newberry Library by Taneya Koonce, author of TANEYA'S GENEALOGY BLOG
  6. Oral Family History Fades in Just Three Generations AND New Online Collection of Civil War Records Released in Observance of Memorial Day by Paul G. Nauta for FamilySearch Blog
  7. Worldwide Indexing Event – Mark the Date – Sunday July 20, 2014 by Paul Milner, author of Paul Milner Genealogy
  8. Walking the Sunken Road by Michelle G. Taggart, author of A Southern Sleuth
  9. Public Service Announcement: Don't Procrastinate on Heritage Ornaments by Caroline Pointer, author of 4YourFamilyStory.com
  10. Facebook Comments and Family Stories by Kathy Smith Morales, author of Abbie and Eveline
  11. RootsTech 2015 Call for Presentations by Amy E. Smith for FamilySearch Blog
  12. Meeting Up with Dear Myrtle by Susan Petersen, author of LongLostRelatives.net
  13. Scan Your Genealogy Photos and Documents to FamilySearch by Lee Drew, author of Family History With The Lineagekeeper
  14. Review: Amazing Family Tree Charts from i (chart) you by Thomas MacEntee, author of GeneaBloggers
  15. Quick tip: naming patterns by Yvette Hoitink, author of DUTCH GENEALOGY
  16. Happy Blog-aversary to this little blog! Three years and still having fun by Diane Weintraub, author of Nuts From the Family Tree
  17. I’m Back! by Elyse Doerflinger, author of Elyse's Genealogy Blog
  18. Dever Langholf, Sr ~ B26 Pilot and My Grandfather by Eowyn Langholf, author of Genealogy of a Forest Elf
  19. MY TRIP TO SCOTLAND–WHAT I DID RIGHT AND WHAT I DID WRONG by Diane Hall, author of MICHIGAN FAMILY TRAILS

The 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge by Amy Johnson Crow, author of No Story Too Small -

New Blog Discoveries

In Case You Missed Them….My Contributions to the Blogosphere This Week

Jana's Genealogy and Family History Blog
Grandpa's Postcards

Thanks for reading!


© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

My Dad ~ Husband, Father, Artist

Not only was my dad, Jan Albert Iverson, a loving husband to his wife and a wonderful father to his children, he was also a very talented artist. He loved to draw and was good at it. He especially liked to draw cartoons.

Here's one of his drawings. It shows him listening to a tape sent by my mom (his fiance at the time). He was in Korea when he drew this cartoon.


Jan Iverson Cartoon While in the Army

My dad served in the army from August 1958 until July 1960. He was a Korean War veteran. He was sent to Korea in August of 1959 and spent eleven months overseas. By the time he was in Korea, the armistice had already been signed. So, thankfully, he wasn't involved in active fighting during his service there.


Jan Albert Iverson


While my dad was overseas, he and my mom would mail tapes to each other. My mom said that she even sang a song in one of these tapes. Incidentally, my mom told me that when she was younger, she wanted to be a singer when she grew up. Yes, she has a wonderful alto voice.

In the cute cartoon above, my dad included some Portuguese words in the thought bubble. That's because my mom is from Brazil and speaks Portuguese and English. My dad did not speak Portuguese, however, and unfortunately, didn't get the Portuguese phrase quite right. Oh well. It's the sweet thought that counts. His cartoon shows that he was thoroughly enjoying himself as he listened to a tape my mom sent to him.

I remember when my brothers and I were young that my dad would tell us stories about talking cars. He would also draw cartoons of these cars. I wish I had those cartoons today.



Jana with her brothers
Jana And Her Brothers

My dad also loved to paint. I have a few of his paintings displayed in our home. Here's a photo of one of them.



The date on this painting says 1972. My dad painted more pictures during his life. I will probably share more of his paintings here on my blog in the future.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Monday, May 19, 2014

52 Ancestors: #20 ~ Is This Raymunda?

This is part of the "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" Challenge begun by Amy Johnson Crow, author of the blog No Story Too Small.

Last week's 52 Ancestors blog post was about my maternal great-grandmother, Esther Matus Villatoro.

Esther's parents were Nicanor Matus and Raymunda Villatoro Vasques. This beautiful portrait was found in one of the briefcases that belonged to my Grandpa Debs Webster.
The briefcase contained many wonderful photos and other family history treasures.



Unfortunately, this beautiful photo didn't contain any information about who this lovely woman was. The photo is rather large. It measures approximately 9-1/2 inches x 7-3/4 inches.

We've wondered if this is a photo of Esther's mother, Raymunda. For comparison, here's a photo of Esther. What do you think? Is there any resemblance?




We have another photo that may show Raymunda. Here it is. It's a very small photo measuring only about 2-1/8 inches x 2-3/8 inches. It was also found in one of my Grandpa Debs' briefcases.



The little boy in this photograph is my Grandpa Debs. And I believe the girl behind him and to the right is his sister, Carlota. As you can see, the writing on the photo says "Mexico." Unfortunately, I don't know who wrote that.

Debs and Carlota's mom, Esther, died in 1919, when Debs was five years old and Carlota was nine years old.

I wonder if this is a photo showing Debs and Carlota visiting their grandparents, Nicanor and Raymunda, sometime after the death of their mother. Perhaps they were even staying with them while their father, Frederick, a.k.a.
"The Traveling Dentist," was on a trip somewhere.

Sadly, I don't know a whole lot about my 2nd great-grandmother, Raymunda Villatoro Vasques. I don't know where or when she was born. And I don't know her exact death date. I do know that she died sometime before 7 March 1925. The reason I know this is because that is the date her son, Francisco, got married. According to his marriage record, his parents, Nicanor and Raymunda, were both deceased.

So, if this really is a photo of Nicanor and Raymunda with their grandchildren, Debs and Carlota, then the photo was taken sometime before 7 March 1925.


Nicanor and Raymunda were the parents of four children:

  1. Esther Matus Villatoro (1893-1919) [my great-grandmother]
  2. Catalina Matus Villatoro
  3. Francisco Matus Villatoro
  4. Crecenciana Matus Villatoro (1906-1973)

I do know who Raymunda's parents were. Their names were Demitrio Villatoro and Isabel Vasques. I'll share what I know about them and their children in a future post.

As you can see, I still have a lot of research to do in order to fill in the details about Raymunda's life. As I find out more about her, I will share the information here on my blog.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Saturday, May 17, 2014

Favorite Family Recipes ~ Angela's Awesome Bread



Have you ever named a recipe after the person who gave it to you? That's what I did with this amazing bread recipe. I don't even know the actual name of the recipe. I named it Angela's Awesome Bread because it IS awesome, and my friend Angela gave the recipe to me.

This bread is really delicious and pretty simple to make. There's no hand-kneading involved. At all. So, here we go. I'm going to show you how easy it is to make this amazingly awesome bread.

First of all, place 2-1/2 cups of warm water, 1/3 cup sugar and 3 (3/4 oz. each) packages of yeast in your mixing bowl.




Mix together with a dough hook attachment and then let it proof until bubbles appear.



Add 1/3 cup of softened butter, 6 cups of flour, and 1 tablespoon salt. Mix. Then add 1/2 - 1 cup of flour until dough cleans the sides of the mixing bowl. It should look something like this.



Remove the dough hook and place a damp kitchen cloth on top of the mixing bowl. Place it in a warm oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, replace the dough hook, and mix for 10 seconds.

Repeat this process for an hour.




Grease a large cookie sheet.



Then dump the dough onto the cookie sheet.



Form the dough into two loaves. Score the tops of the loaves with a knife and place in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. Turn the cookie sheet and bake for another 10 minutes.



Remove from oven and place cookie sheet on a wire cooling rack.



Place loaves of bread directly onto wire cooling rack.



It really is that easy! I hope you like this delicious and simple bread. It's especially good served warm topped with butter and jam. And it makes excellent toast too. Yum!


RECIPE

Angela’s Awesome Bread 


Ingredients

2-1/2 Cups Warm Water (120-130 degrees)
1/3 Cup Sugar
2 Tbsp. Active Dry Yeast [I use 
3 (3/4 oz. each) packages of yeast.]
1/3 cup Softened Butter
7 Cups Flour
1 Tbsp. Salt

Directions


In a Kitchenaid Mixer with dough hook attachment, mix together the water, sugar, and yeast.

Let the yeast mixture proof (until bubbles form). Then add the s
oftened butter, 6 cups of flour and the salt. 

Mix together and add ½ cup – 1 cup flour until dough cleans sides of bowl.

Remove the dough hook and place a damp kitchen cloth on top of the mixing bowl. Place bowl in a warm oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, replace the dough hook, and mix for 10 seconds. Repeat this process for 1 hour.

Form into two loaves on a greased cookie sheet. Score tops of loaves with knife.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Turn cookie sheet and continue baking for 10 additional minutes.

Remove from oven. Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by!


Jana

© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Friday, May 16, 2014

Follow Friday ~ Fab Finds for May 16, 2014


My Fab Finds for this week are (in no particular order)
  1. Escape to a New World by Jacqi Stevens, author of A Family Tapestry
  2. AncestryDNA at the National Genealogical Society Conference - A Report from Angie Bush by CeCe Moore, author of Your Genetic Genealogist
  3. Confession: I’m a GeneaFreak in My Sleep by Kerry Scott, author of Clue Wagon
  4. Utah Student to Receive Genealogy Grant by Denise Levenick, author of The Family Curator
  5. DNA ethics: speak up! AND We’re genealogists… and we vote by Judy G. Russell, author of The Legal Genealogist
  6. Dropbox Links Security Issue by Thomas MacEntee, author of Hack Genealogy
  7. Between The Leaves: A Google Hangout from Ancestry.com by Anne Gillespie Mitchell, author of Finding Forgotten Stories
  8. Ashes to Ashes, Artefacts to Bits by Tony Proctor, author of Parallax View
  9. A new-to-me DNA cousin, or a scam? by Diane, author of Nuts From the Family Tree
  10. Will you tell me a story? by Amberly, author of TheGenealogyGirl
  11. LEARNING ABOUT OUR ANCESTORS IS MORE THAN NAMES AND DATES by David Walton, author of Ancestor Sleuth Hound
  12. Fold3 Offering World War II Records Through May 31st for FREE by Randy Seaver, author of Genea-Musings
  13. 4 Lesser Known Genealogical Resources by Valerie Hughes, author of Genealogy With Valerie
  14. How to Get Kids Interested in Family History by Juliana Smith for Ancestry.com Blog
  15. Mother's Rings by Jennifer, author of 'On a flesh and bone foundation': An Irish History
  16. Doctor Saves the Living and the Dead by Guest Blogger for FamilySearch Blog
  17. The Family Scandal-That Wasn't by theailurophile, author of Leaf Twig and Stem
  18. Movin' & Shakin'--Getting it Done Before you Move by Heather Collins for Young & Savvy Genealogists
  19. Website launched to commemorate the Lives Of The First World War by Andrew Martin, author of History Repeating
  20. Family Tree DNA Releases myOrigins by Roberta Estes, author of DNAeXplained – Genetic Genealogy

Randy Seaver's NGS 2014 Conference Blog Compendium continues to be updated. You can check out the new additions by clicking on the following link.

The 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge by Amy Johnson Crow, author of No Story Too Small -

New Blog Discoveries

In Case You Missed Them….My Contributions to the Blogosphere This Week

Jana's Genealogy and Family History Blog
Grandpa's Postcards

Thanks for reading!


© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Engle Family Postcards ~ From Roses to snow in California - 1905





This vintage postcard, which was made in Germany, was sent to Mrs. R. Engle in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. My regular readers will likely already know who Mrs. R. Engle was. But, for my new readers, I'll give a brief explanation of who she was. Mrs. R. Engle was Sarah Amanda (Waterman) Engle. She was my maternal 2nd great-grandaunt and she was married to Richard Engle, who was a Civil War veteran.

This postcard was sent by Sarah and Richard's son, Charles A. Engle. The previous Engle family postcard I shared here on this blog was also sent by Charles and it was dated June 30, 1905. That postcard showed Avalon on Santa Catalina Island which is near Los Angeles, California.

It looks like Charles was in California for at least a few days during this trip because the postcard I'm sharing today was dated July 2, 1905 and he wrote it while he was in Los Angeles, California.

Here's Charles' message to his mother:
Los Angeles
July 2, 1905
One of the many ?? here.
Chas. A. E.
It looks like he added another quick message the day he mailed the postcard:
We go to Frisco tomorrow July 4th
You'll notice I put two question marks in the first part of Charles' message. I cannot figure out what those two words are. Or are they two words? Is it really one word continued onto the next line? I don't know. If any of my readers have any idea what Charles wrote, please let me know. I'd appreciate it very much.

Also, I wonder who Charles was referring to when he wrote "we." Did his brother, William, accompany him on this trip to California? I wonder what the trip was for. And why were they going to San Francisco?

Were they in California to find a place for the Engle family to live or were they there on vacation? Charles' mother, Sarah, moved to Los Angeles sometime before or around 1909. Her husband joined her later, and so did her sons, William and Charles.

These Engle family postcards are so fascinating. They give an interesting glimpse into the lives of the Engle family in the early 1900's.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Monday, May 12, 2014

52 Ancestors: #19 ~ Who Was Esther?

This is part of the "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" Challenge begun by Amy Johnson Crow, author of the blog No Story Too Small.

Esther Matus Villatoro

This is a photo of Esther Matus Villatoro. She was my maternal great-grandmother and second wife of my great-grandfather, Watson (Frederick) Emory Webster, also known as "The Traveling Dentist" here on my blog.

How much do I really know about Esther? I'm afraid I don't know nearly enough about her. Yes, I know when and where she was born and when and where she died. But, I don't know what she was like. I don't know what kinds of foods she liked or what she liked to do in her spare time. What was her favorite color? Did she like to dance? Did she like to read? What was her childhood like?

I know she traveled a bit during her life because of her husband's travels. Did she like traveling?


She was born in Mexico but moved with her husband to Brazil. Did she miss Mexico? Did she like Brazil?

See? I have questions. Unfortunately, the person who may have been able to answer my questions about Esther passed away 19 years ago. That would be Esther's son, my grandfather, Debs Warren Webster. I say that he "may" have been able to tell me something about Esther because he was only five years old when she passed away. So, I don't really know if he would have been able to answer all of my questions about what Esther was like.

So, I'm left to piece together Esther's life the best I can. And I'll tell you what I do know about her so far.

The date I have for Esther's birth is 18 September 1893. She was born in Arriaga, Chiapas, Mexico to Nicanor Matus and Raymunda Villatoro. Esther was the oldest of four children born to Nicanor and Raymunda. Esther's siblings were Catalina, Francisco, and Crecenciana.

At some point, Esther's youngest sister, Crecenciana, moved to Brazil too. I'll share more about her in a future post.


Esther was very young when she married my great-grandfather. I don't have their marriage date, but their first child, Carlota, was born on January 11, 1910. So, if Esther and Frederick got married in 1909, Esther would have been around sixteen years old at the time.

I wish I knew when this beautiful photo of Esther was taken. What was the occasion? It must have been something special. She was wearing a corsage and had some flowers in her hand. Because she was wearing her wedding ring in the photo, this must have been taken sometime during or after 1909.

Esther Matus Villatoro

By the time Esther was 25 years old, she was the mother of five children. My Grandpa Debs was her third child.

On 1 November 1919, about a year after her last child was born, Esther passed away from
tuberculosis. According to the birthdate I have for Esther, she was 26 years of age at the time of her death. Her death certificate, however, states she was 25 years old when she passed away. So, there's some discrepancy here.

As I mentioned earlier, my grandfather was only five years old when Esther died. Her death was very difficult for him.

Death visited the Webster family again three more times. Frederick not only had to bury his wife, but three of his children, Edna, Eugene, and Alice. Of the five children born to Esther and Frederick, my Grandpa Debs, and his sister Carlota, were the only children who survived to adulthood.

This must have been so difficult for Debs, Carlota, and Frederick. I don't yet know why Edna, Eugene and Alice passed away. I wonder if they contracted tuberculosis from Esther. I have yet to find their death records. Because my great-grandfather traveled so much, it's difficult to say where the children passed away.

I do have Esther's death certificate, which I will share in a future post. And even though I don't know all I'd like to know about Esther at this time, I'm so very grateful to have photos of her. They were found in my Grandpa Debs' personal belongings. I'm thankful he took such great care of them.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Mother's Day 2014

To my mom and all the other moms out there, I'd like to wish you all a very Happy Mother's Day!

I hope you enjoy this special video – "It was Mom: A Mother's Day Tribute To Moms."


Happy Mother's Day!

Jana

© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Friday, May 9, 2014

Follow Friday ~ Fab Finds for May 9, 2014


My Fab Finds for this week are (in no particular order)
  1. Want a Full Refund on Your NewspaperArchive.com Subscription? Just Ask About Their Charity. by Kerry Scott, author of Clue Wagon
  2. The Women in my Early Life—Together by Becky Jamison, author of Grace and Glory
  3. Step by Step by Debi Austen, author of Who Knew?
  4. Why Blog? - Motivation Monday by Denise Coughlin, author of Denise's Genealogy Journey
  5. How Do I Cite This Record I Found on MyHeritage? AND National Genealogical Society (NGS) 2014 Conference Blog Compendium by Randy Seaver, author of Genea-Musings
  6. My Origins Update On Family Tree DNA by Andrea Kelleher, author of How Did I Get Here? My Amazing Genealogy Journey
  7. Review: Zcan+ Full Featured Mouse Scanner by Thomas MacEntee, author of GeneaBloggers
  8. FTDNA’s myOrigins by Michele Simmons Lewis, author of Ancestoring
  9. Ancestral Flower Choices by Amberly, author of TheGenealogyGirl
  10. myOrigins at FamilyTreeDNA by History Chick, author of Genealogical Musings
  11. We DO Want Mom's Advice—And Her Family History! by Diane Haddad – Genealogy Insider for Family Tree Magazine Blog
  12. My Ancestor was a Chut: More on Dutch and English Jews by Amy, author of Brotmanblog: A Family Journey
  13. Submitting a FOIA request to the VA by Patrick Jones, author of Frequent Traveler Ancestry
  14. 6 Tips to Find Your Mexican Family History by Glen N. Greener for FamilySearch Blog
  15. Cyndi's List: Browse Categories vs Search Engine by Cyndi Ingle, author of Cyndi's List Blog
  16. Throwback Thursday - Genealogy Style! by Sally Knudsen, author of Sally Searches

New Blog Discoveries

In Case You Missed It….My Contribution to the Blogosphere This Week

Jana's Genealogy and Family History Blog

Thanks for reading!


© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Monday, May 5, 2014

52 Ancestors: #18 ~ Grandma Ingrid's Grade School

This is part of the "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" Challenge begun by Amy Johnson Crow, author of the blog No Story Too Small.



My paternal grandmother, Ingrid Anna Gillberg, was a wonderful family historian. She put together not one, but two, Books of Remembrance. Inside one of these books is this photo of where she attended grade school when she was a child in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Ingrid's parents, Carl and Hilda Gillberg emigrated from Sweden in 1909 and 1910, respectively. They first settled in Salt Lake City, where Ingrid was born. Later the family moved to the Los Angeles area. Ingrid was born on 5 November 1913.

This is a photo of Ingrid taken in 1923 when she was about 10 years old.



Isn't this a fun photo? I wonder what the occasion was for having this picture taken. See how she's holding the skirt of her dress? Perhaps her mother made this dress for her and wanted to get a photo of Ingrid wearing it.

Whatever the reason for the photo, I'm glad it was taken. This photo is also in the same Book of Remembrance as the photo of Ingrid's grade school. It's so fun to see Ingrid at the age she was when she attended grade school. Can't you almost picture her skipping along on her way to school?

I think the name of Ingrid's school is Donlas Grade School, but when I did an online search for this school in Salt Lake City, it didn't show up in the results. Either I'm not reading my grandmother's handwriting correctly, the school's name has been changed, or it no longer exists.

If any of my readers have heard of this school, or can help me find any information about it, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Friday, May 2, 2014

Follow Friday ~ Fab Finds for May 2, 2014

IMG_0269
My Fab Finds for this week are (in no particular order)
  1. My Big Find at the Georgia Archives by Tonia Kendrick, author of Tonia's Roots
  2. Preservation Week 2014 Family Photographs AND MayDay Genealogy Data by Nancy Loe, author of Sassy Jane Genealogy
  3. Suggestion: The Time to Digitize Historic Items is NOW by Dick Eastman, author of Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter
  4. Returning from Sabbatical: Back and open for business! AND Happy Birthday Great Grandma! by Smadar Belkind Gerson, author of Past-Present-Future
  5. Who is this adorable girl named Cuba? by Susan Saunders-King, author of Susan's California Roots
  6. How Important Was the Car to the Lives of Your Ancestors? by Ralph Poore, author of Root, Branch and Twig
  7. Out On A Wing For His Country by Valerie Hughes, author of Genealogy With Valerie
  8. Source vs. Record by Beth Foulk, author of Genealogy Decoded – Ah Ha Moments for Genealogists
  9. Talented Tuesday: Doing Her Bit by Linda Huesca Tully, author of Many Branches, One Tree
  10. Using Twitter for genealogy research AND 5 reasons why the new free Skype group calling is great news for genealogy societies by Gail Dever, author of Genealogy à la carte
  11. The Story Trek Season Premiere by Renee Zamora, author of Renee's Genealogy Blog
  12. Exploring genetic genealogy by Janine Adams, author of Organize Your Family History
  13. The National Archives of Ireland, findmypast, and FamilySearch Bring Lost Irish Records to the Internet by Thom Reed for FamilySearch Blog
  14. Cleanliness Takes Effort by Cindy Eppich, author of Remembering Family
  15. An Heirloom’s Journey – Treasure Chest Thursday by Wendy Malinowski, author of Our Lineage
  16. GeneaBloggers Members Invited to Celebrate Military Ancestor Memories by Thomas MacEntee, author of GeneaBloggers
  17. FAN Club: Looking for Mary Ennis by Kathleen Scarlett O'Hara Naylor, author of You Are Where You Came From

The 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge by Amy Johnson Crow, author of No Story Too Small -

New Blog Discoveries

In Case You Missed Them….My Contributions to the Blogosphere This Week

Jana's Genealogy and Family History Blog
Grandpa's Postcards

Thanks for reading!


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