Genealogy and Family History Forums

Genealogy and Family History Forums.

I co-host this genealogy group on yuku.com. We have been together since MSN had groups and we have migrated to different “.coms” through the years, until we have settled here for about 5 years, so we are not going anywhere! (unless yuku goes under, then we will migrate somewhere else!)

There is not much action lately, but if you post a comment, members will come “out of the woodwork” to answer questions, discuss genealogy with you, or just visit. (We love to visit, LOL!)

There is a ton of genealogy links that have been submitted over the years from the members stumbling across them in their research, and hundreds of modified registers have been posted under our “surname forum”, along with the once very popular “Ancestor of the Week” forum.

The most action we have is under the “Just Conversation” forum, where about three or four of us check in every few days to say “hello”, what the weather is like, and what we have been up to. It’s gives the group a nice fellowship feeling, and we usually report what we are researching at the present, or where we are going to research our genealogy.

If you come and visit, let us know you saw our link here from my blog! No prizes, just interested how many used the link!

Happy Dyngus Day!!

Happy Dyngus Day for all of us ‘Dyngussers’ out there!!

  Let’s go Dyngussing!!

Watch out for the Water!

Wooden Bird Cages

Jose, our Blue and Gold Macaw. One of the culprits who chewed the cages up!

We were stationed in Panama Canal Zone (1960’s) and my Dad was the XO at the Marine Barracks. (He later became CO). He decided to make these beautiful parrot cages, to house the beautiful parrots who decided to join our family. We let them fly during the day, but at night, my Dad wanted to corral them so they wouldn’t get into any “trouble” with the monkeys or the neighbors.
Dad went to the woodshop that was part of Special Services, and passed his certification test to use the equipment. Special Services was the group in charge of building the morale of the troops and dependents on military bases.
Dad then decided to use dowel rods to make the bars on their cages. He ordered maple wood for the frame and maple dowel rods from Maine (mail order), and we had to wait about 6 weeks to get the wood.
The wood finally arrived, and my Dad ‘went to town’ building beautiful cages. Everyone came by our quarters to see the cages. We had an impromptu cage party, which pleased my Mom because she loved to entertain. Dad promised a few other people he would make them cages, too.
We went to bed for the night. The next morning when we woke up, our beautiful maple cages were saw dust and the birds were flying all over the house, eating the furniture, “pooping”, screeching, and just having a grand time!!! We “gringos” didn’t understand parrots love to chew wood~~ especially fine maple wood from Maine!
Were we the ‘talk of the town’ when the local people found out what happened. The “locals” called my Dad “Major Parrot” as a joke, which my Dad took quite well.
That was the last time my Dad used the wood shop. !!!!

(My Dad actually built one more, HUGE cage using chicken coop wire which corraled all the assortment of birds we aquired while living overseas. Jose graduated to a perch inside the house…which brings to mind more stories of the mischief he got into. Another day~~another blog post, LOL).

Our Family Bible

Here is a fun story I have heard through the years from my Grandparents Hazel Marie Ackerman Stockmaster and Frederick Charles Stockmaster. My mother also used to tell this story if my Grandparents were not around. This is very thick, beautifully illustrated, with a Biblical dictionary, along with the science from the early days of Christianity all included, along with an index Bible

4 generations (including myself) have told this story:

• Martha Louise Stockmaster Burritt
•  Fredrick Charles Stockmaster
•  Grace Louise Carson Stockmaster
• Orrenda Willes Carson

This story is about the family Bible from the James R Carson family in Hamilton County, Indiana:

James R and Orrenda Willes Carson were my 2nd Great Grandparents who lived in Hamilton County, Indiana.

One day, as the story goes, a peddler came to the door selling family Bibles. Orrenda wanted one, and had James’ name engraved on the front leather cover in gold lettering. She then wrote all the weddings, marriages, deaths, and grandchildren in the family tree pages of the Bible.

From the story, J.R. was annoyed/angry that she spent so much money. As the story goes, either he wasn’t in town at the time, or not there at the house when she bought it. I vaguely remember the story, but I remember she bought it off a door-to-door salesman a peddler.

My Oral Family History

I am collecting my family stories that recounted to me. Every Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter, the white Haviland China comes out, along with the silver service, and we would set the table. As the family sat down for the holiday meal, my mother would tell the story of how the china came to our family. To this day, I still use this china and I am the one to tell the history of the china before we eat. When I am gone, my daughter will take over the china and the story.

Here is the story:

John Carson from Butler County, Ohio was my third Great Grandfather. The Carson family was living in Butler County, Ohio in the early 1800′s.They decided to migrate to Fayette County, Indiana and they ended up in Hamilton County, Indiana where they stayed. When the family packed their things up and loaded their covered wagon, and the most important “thing” to pack was the china.

They took the quilts they made and wrapped the china up, and packed it in barrels that they built. They made it to Fayette County, Indiana first, and then moved up to Hamilton County. Through all the moves, not one piece of china broke.

My father was a career Marine, and our family moved all over the U.S., and to Central America. My Mom bought three or four metal garbage cans. She packed her heirloom china in these barrels with the original quilts (and regular newspaper). Wherever what base we lived on, we would take our china along.  Not one piece of china broke.

Must have been the “barrels” (trash cans), good luck, or the spirits were watching over that china!! I tend to think it was the spirits!

Brief Words About The Amish

I wrote this awhile back to explain the Amish to a lady who I was doing some research for.  I am posting this for Sarah to give her some background of the Amish/Mennonites.

The Amish are direct descendants of the Anabaptists of the 16th century Europe and were among the early Germanic settler’s in Pennsylvania.[1]

There was a wide-spread counter-culture of religious reform. This is where the Anabaptist movement started.

The three groups are:

• The Mennonites of Dutch and Prussian origin
• The Hutterian Brethren of Austria
• The Swiss Brethren

 Jacob Ammann founded the Swiss Brethren and the Amish are a branch of the Swiss Brethren.[2] The Swiss Brethren were a small group of dedicated people in Zurich, Switzerland. The early leaders were Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, and George Blaurock. The three ran into trouble for preaching without authorization by their government.

Grebel, Manz, and Blaurock thought the name “Christian” applied to the teachings of Jesus. In their view, the definition of Ulrich Zwingli,Menno SimonsChristian was to avoid confusion by everyone else who belong to the state church, went through the baptisms, and went to Mass just to fit in. In other words, The Swiss Brethren were more conservative and wanted a “pure” religion with faithful followers.

 They brought their concerns to the head of the Swiss state (Reformed) church. Ulrich Zwingli, head of the Swiss Church rejected their reforms and ideas. 

 The three men did not care. They baptized each other, and other adults who believed as they, and started the Amish Church. They then left Europe to remove themselves from persecution by different state churches that opposed them. The three men died, two from execution by the Swiss and one from getting the plague while exiled by the Swiss.

Menno Simons joined the Anabaptists in 1536. Menno was highly educated and could write well. He wrote The Handbook (Enchiridion) and Complete Writings of Menno Simons. The Amish treasure the German and English additions of both books.

 This got them into trouble because it undermined the Catholic, Lutheran, and Protestant idea of religion. The three religions mixed politics and different practices of religion the Amish did not believe in.

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[1] Amish Society Fourth addition, by John Hostetler Chapter 2 page 25

[2] Amish Society Fourth addition, by John Hostetler Chapter 2 page 27

The above picture is a buggy plate

Letters From Home~~Cicero, Hamilton County, Indiana

This gallery contains 1 photo.

Cast of Characters: Grace~~ My Great Grandmother Grace Louise Carson Stockmaster Orrenda~~My 2nd Great Grandmother Orrenda M. Willes Carson Della~~My 2nd Great Aunt Mary Dell Carson Criswell Allen Ral~ My 2nd Great Uncle (Great Grand Uncle) James Ralston Carson Jr., DVM … Continue reading →

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