Scary Photo

In honor of Halloween and Wordless Wednesday, I share with you the scariest photo of all.

The scrapbook my grandmother made for my father from when he was in the isolation ward at Santa Clara County Hospital at age 4 with polio.  It has cards and letters from family and friends.  But it was left out in the woods under tarps for about 15 years.  I saved what I could from inside.  Yes, those are egg sacs and caterpillar burrows.  And lots of water damage.

I Wrote a Book!

In August 2011, I visited my grandpa in Washington (State).  I took my Flip-Pal scanner and photo organizer boxes and we went through all his pictures that were literally in shoe boxes.  I organized them all in categories in the boxes after I scanned them and got each photo’s story from Grampa.

We sat at his kitchen table and while a photo scanned, he’d be telling me the story of the next photo.  I learned about his hometown, his snakebites, his nicknames, his college, his restaurants and everything in between.  I came home with over 500 photo scans and no plan to write a book.  Or plan at all, really.

I started writing website posts, but it then it started being a website all about Grampa.  And so I decided to try a book.  A little over a year later and I tried and did!  It’s here!  It’s been distributed to Grampa and aunts and uncles, so I can share now. 

With pride for my family, my Grampa, and his wonderful stories.

Surname Saturday: Åslund

My great grandmother, Inga Kristina Aslund, loved wrestling.  My aunt does a wonderful impression of her yelling in Swedish and shaking her fists at the wrestling on television. 

Inga was born at 1:00 a.m. on July 3, 1887 in Langsele, Västernorrland  County, Sweden.   Her twin sister, Beda Elisabet, was born at 2:00 a.m.  Family stories say that Beda died soon after birth.

Inga and Beda’s parents were Lars Petter Aslund (b. 1847) and Anna Stina Flemstrom (b. 1843).  Lars was a tailor from Aborrasen, Graninge, Vasternorrland County, Sweden.  He married Anna Stina Flemstrom on 30 January 1887. 

All the above info except the wrestling commentary and the notion that Beda Elisabet died soon after birth were provided by Ancestry.com’s below image:

I am confusified by this word:

I can't find it in Google or in Swedish dictionaries, which means it is probably a place name, but I can't figure out what it could be.  If you know... well, please leave in my comments!

Source Citation:  “Sweden, Indexed Birth Records, 1880-1920,” database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 October 2012), entry for Inga Kristina Åslund, 3 July 1887, Långsele, Västernorrland, Sweden; citing “Swedish Church Records Archive; Johanneshov, Sweden; Sweden, Indexed Birth Records, 1880-1920; GID Number: 100022.100.2100; Roll/Fiche Number: SC-1137; Volume:908; Record Type: Födde (Births); Year Range: 1887 - 1887.”

It's My Blogiversary!

 Where does the time go?!?  It was two whole years ago and 298 posts ago that I realized there was a side club for genealogy in the blogosphere and I had never known it.  I started Mascot Manor Genealogy and… well… here we are!

 It’s been a wonderful experience and a very supportive environment.  Through this blog, I have found several cousins and other relations, all of whom are very special to me.   

My cousin (and friend) in Scotland found me through this blog and helped me to find that we are indeed cousins and that we do indeed come from Ireland.  She also helped me through the very difficult time this year of losing my dad.   

Other cousins and family previously unknown have shown me pictures, maps, treasures and data.  I can never tell you enough the joy each of those emails brings.

Being known as, “That Meerkat Lady” makes me smile.  So thank you.

Looking forward to what this year of blogging brings!

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Mapping Monday- National Institute of Genealogical Studies

I’ve been taking some fun classes through the National Institute of Genealogical Studies.  The class I just finished was, Electronic Resources: Using The Internet.  After each module of learning, there are some assignments and the assignment in today’s module had to do with Google Maps and Historical Directories.  Because Google Maps is old hat for me, I try to challenge myself and work a part of the family I have not concentrated on before.  So today I chose my Badgley family. 

My Badgley family history was “done” and given to me by a cousin.  I don’t have a terrific time with this.  Some people jump for joy when they find a cousin who has spent 50 years researching and has all this info to share.  While it’s great to know, you then usually need to go back through and validate it all.  I don’t like that part. 

So for the most part I've ignored my Badgleys.  But today with this assignment from the Institute, I decided to start in Canada.  It is said that my Badgleys were Loyalists, fleeing from New Jersey to Ontario.  My second great grandfather, William Deyo Badgley, died in Thurlow (now Belleville), Hastings, Ontario, Canada in 1873.  What would make him interesting? I asked myself.  I found him on the 1861 Canadian census and saw that he was a farmer.  Maybe I’d like him more if I saw his farm.  I Google Mapped Belleville, but I wanted to know and see his actual farm. 

Having never researched in Canada before (or, actually, in the United States FOR Canada), I Googled “Thurlow Ontario City Directory.”  It brought me to the QuintBranch, Ontario Genealogical Society website.  This website has amazing links, among them a link to a 1864-1865 Directory of the County of Hastings and Belleville, Ontario.  Page  353 of this directory showed that he was, indeed, from the township of Thurlow (which is now part of Belleville) and he was on the “VII Concession, Lot 24”.  I had no idea what this was, so I found an article about the Canadian County Atlas and read about concessions and lots.  I then found a township map with marked names of residents.  Using the process of elimination, I found the seventh concession, lot 24 and then used the township map alongside Google Map to find my ancestor’s actual farm.  Sadly, there is no street view, but it is still beautiful to see from a satellite!