Talking with Grandma

What I learned from talking to Grandma RUNKLE: Edith BURNS, was married to a guy from and in New York City...so how did someone from Grass Creek, Indiana met a guy from NEW YORK CITY!!! Edith was the postmistress so she sent her name and address in one of the bags going out. And John BRIGGS found the address and they started corresponding, and eventually decided to get married in New York City. So her brother Robert and his wife Mildred (Grandma Runkle's parents) Gertrude and her husband Claude, Helen, and maybe their mother, Carrie (DOWNS) Burns. As William Thomas, put it...that had to be a long trip. I thought it sounded a lot like nowadays: online dating.

Why dead people...

Because they can't hurt you the way living people can. Granted to be friends you have to talk to each other, and since I stopped communicating with everyone...then it shouldn't hurt. Stupid me, thinking I could stop the having people hurting me. Or me letting them hurt me, it's a vicious circle. I'm ready to stop living in the hell I call the past, and make new friends. I know, I'll only be opening myself to NEW pain, but at least it won't be this again with the same person. Maybe I'll be living in a place where I can't dwell, on it!!! Or it won't register to me that I'm being hurt. LOL. I know I chose to let them hurt them...anyway, today I saw something that made me happy. One of my old young women, was showing her support to another despite how different they were back then, and how different they still are. :) Sorry I just had to express that.
Nothing like going to Relief Society to hear that I was looking at the rocks, but not finding the flecks of gold. I need to try to focus on the good things instead of the hurt. Which still means I need to leave here to get away from all of the negative environment.

9 Generation Fan Chart

At Christmas my sister mention that I should make a fan chart for our genealogy but I couldn't find it. Well this week I did, so I printed it out to see where we're missing information. Much to my surprise, we reach the sixth generation in all lines, and are only missing two couples out of the seventh generation. So now I know where to focus my searches, and I've know that a few lines don't go very far but wasn't sure where and how many. Then my father was talking to my great-aunt Janece Herrold and he mention I had printed out this 9 generation chart and that the BURNS side of our family was really short...then she mentioned that years ago she had gotten some of the genealogy from Edith BRIGGS who is on my mom side of the family, and I need all the help I can get on that side. Which is one of the lines I want to start researching it is one of my very short lines!!! I've been amazed recently by those in the church around who have been wanting to start their own research only to have other step up with the information they've been needing, looking for, or not even looking for but get it to start on a different line. Now it's happening to one of the lines, I wasn't sure how or where to start researching, but having the desire to do so regardless. I think that is one of the keys having the desire, regardless of knowing how to start the research. If you have the desire, and start trying to make progress I believe and have seen a lot lately that Heaven Father will help you.

Genealogy

Today a member of my church, who a few weeks ago I gave her a name I found in my genealogy because it was very close to her husband's surname, came over so I could help her use new.familysearch.org. It was a rough start but once we started entering information it was fun to see what we could find and do. I help her take names off a pedigree chart and put them on new.familysearch, then we looked at familysearch.org because she realized that you can't search for information at new.familysearch. I never had much luck with familysearch but...today we typed in a name and right away we found a census record with his name on it. We found his children and could guess on about birth years so we added those to her family on new.familysearch. Then she mention that she had just gotten information from someone in the family, and she couldn't understand it. I looked at it and realized that the family we just added to new.familysearch were on the top of that sheet of paper, with birth date, and location. So we edited that information, and add some children who weren't born at the time of the 1910 census. Then I looked at the bottom of the page realize that the mother of the family add the top of the page, had her parents and siblings at the bottom of the page, so we added them. She was then excited to find out that by adding that family she came across temple work that was finally done. That family went back a few generations and most of their work was done. By the time we were done, I was able to explain most of what was in the packet of information, that she had gotten from her husband's family. It was an interesting to look at someone else's genealogy, and figure out how it was all connected. I've never had to look at someone else genealogy and see how it fit together. I know that she was impressed how I could take a few notations on the sides of the paper and figure out what they meant. So it was a good day, I'm glad I could share some of my knowledge of genealogy with someone else. And she can't wait to try this on her own, later this week. I also was able to get more of my own genealogy done, after she left so I only have 300 and some odd people to search before I finish the first search that I'm doing using FamilyInsight. So I'm excited about that also.

What I've been up to...Genealogy

This summer I was looking at my genealogy and realized that I/we could get a lot of my family temple work done if we focus on it. So I was looking at ways to see if there was work that we missed, and I found that there was a program called FamilyInsight. And with it I could search all of my family files names in new.familysearch, and find work that we missed or didn't know was done. Then I could combine those names and get it combine on my PAF file and new.familysearch at the same time. Which is a huge time saver, I also find out that we have 7000 names in our PAF file which I never knew before. I also like that FamilyInsight shows those that were living due to birth dates.  I wish I could find away to see how much work is done, how many are living, how many are in the 55 years that we can't do work for, and then how many names we actually have left to work on. I'm excited by the work I've been able to get done, over this last part of the year. I figure in the next few months I'll have all the names combine, and really know how much work there is really left to do. Then we'll reprint the family file sheets once the temple is work is done.

Empty space

So my parents are actually having people look at the other house, which is great. The one problem I see is that that house is still full!!! Then I realize that in the hope of getting my grandmother's stuff out of the house and make that room a functioning part of the house I've created an empty space. It's not big by any means, but it is a space, will the carpet get laid, probably not...which again was part of the goal I was working toward. It also means that the room won't be ready by Christmas and the family will once again have only one room to gather in with two small children, the house still won't be baby proof...and I already want an excuse to boycott Christmas. My dad is still fighting the fact that we're trying to organize the house...and I think just the knowledge that what I did was basically pointless has made me feel defeated. I've been told that without the space I created we wouldn't have anywhere to go with the other stuff...but I doesn't help much. I'm not a person who cries much...but I have to admit that this hurts enough that I did cry. I already realized that yes dad does love the progress to a point but without his help...I'm stuck. And with him bitching about it, it tells me that he isn't ready to move forward. Mom isn't going to change her work habits because one room is clean. She isn't ready to move forward either, and realize that she can have a life outside of work...one which includes her husband, and children, not just her mom. But getting her to leave work early one day a week to have dinner with her mom has been a huge accomplishment though. AND Me...I guess I really just don't watch everything move into the hole I created, it will hurt. I feel like I worked so hard and was actually motivated to do SOMETHING for days and weeks on end and now it just seem pointless. Granted I do feel that everything I did this summer is preparing me for the future...just what I'm not sure of. I know that I enjoyed piecing together our genealogy with the obits and newspaper articles, I've also come up with a way to help others start from the beginning with just obits. I hope I get to put that to use, just to see how and if it works, and I did like helping my family declutter. I just need someone who is actually WILLING and READY to help other out. Unlike here, I've also done more baking and some new cooking. And want to try more I just need more people to share with so I don't eat it ALL and the other home improvement work I've been doing around the house this year...just all makes me feel like I'm being prepared for something. I just wish I knew what it is and how I can get to that point so I can move on, because I'm ready. And I wish I could just market myself as someone who wants to work on genealogy and decluttering...but somehow I'm sure not/yet sure there is a market for what I want to do but how and where it would be.

Obits. and showing off what I did this weekend.

This just one of the families with obits., wedding announcements, and  newspaper article on different family members.

This is just the THOMAS family...it was fun to sort.

So over the last few weeks I've been sorting through the family obituaries, taking the data off them to check if PAF and new.familysearch is up to date, and that I have all the information I needed for each individual. So after doing that I had stacks of obituaries divided by main families example: THOMAS, ROUCH, JOHNSTON, HERSHBERGER,  then I put them in a clear plastic sheet with the family tree/family group sheet binder for the families. Then I still wasn't sure what to do with them we had a family group binder from years ago that just glued the information to the back of the individual's page, but in my case I didn't think that would work since I want to do a reprint in the next couple of years, since most of the temple work should be done by then and I want that information on those pages too. So I was talking to Doug, and he mention alphabetizing them, when I realized I could glue them to a completely separate page (colored to help it stand out.) Then place that right behind their family group sheet, that way I have them organized and yet if I reprint at anytime I don't lose that information.