Thank You for the Nomination

A very humble thank you to Heather Kuhn Roelker at Leaves for Trees and  Iowa Girl at Iowa girl Memories.  Both kindly nominated   me for the Liebster award.   For me this was nice because I have let my blog reading grind to a halt, and I haven't added any new blogs to my RSS feed in ages.  Both of their blogs were new to me, and I have enjoyed reading them immensely.  Like me, Iowa girl is a knitter and through her other Liebster awards, I was introduced to some wonderful blogs including a gansey knitter from Edinburgh, Scotland.  While reading Heather's blog, I discovered that she is a new quilter and I have quilted for years . . . following in the footsteps of my seamstress extraordinaire great grandmother whose quilt is part of my banner at the top of my blog.  I was even a vendor at quilt shows for over ten year, and have often found my quilting passion overlapping my family history passion.  Examples are here and here.

What is the Liebster Award?  I could try to be creative, but Heather said it best so I will just quote her.

"Liebster is a German word that means friend, dearest, adored, beloved, chosen one. The Liebster Award is given to bloggers who have less than 200 followers. The whole point is to encourage bloggers to keep chugging along and to help spread the word about interesting blogs to a new audience.

The rules for the award vary. Some bloggers ask for a list of questions or random facts to be answered and some just post their nominees."

• Thank the one who nominated you by linking back.
• List 11 random facts about yourself/your blog.
• Nominate five blogs with less than 200 followers.
• Let the nominees know by leaving a comment at their sites.
• Add the award image to your site (optional).

As I have stated, my blog reading has stagnated so rather than nominate blogs and require them to link back I will just recommend a few of my favorites and hope you will check them out . . .  no obligation on their part.

Shakin' the Family Tree - A quote from her blog opening  gives you a flavor for the no nonsense atitude of Dee Burris.

as Julia Sugarbaker said in Designing Women:

"...we're proud of our crazy people. We don't hide them up in the attic. We bring 'em right down to the living room and show 'em off. ...no one in the South ever asks if you have crazy people in your family. They just ask what side they're on." Like Julia, mine are on both sides.

A Sense of Family - If you have Ohio ancestors, then Shelley Bishop's blog is a must read.  It is a treasure trove of research information.

Finding Eliza -  Always a fascinating read but her current post about awards is spot on my feelings.  While you are there, take time to search for and read her post/poem, "I Come From . . ." - or the title is something close to that.

Family Archaeologist - While there are no recent posts, take time to go back and read the story of how Linda Gartz grandparents immigrated to the United States.  It is a compelling story.

'On a Flesh and Bone Foundation': An Irish History -  If you have Irish ancestors, then you will enjoy the photos and stories from Jennifer.

When life allows it, I spend a few hours minutes reading family history blogs.  We have a creative, knowledgeable, sharing community. It doesn't matter if they have 10 followers or 10,000.  And while comments on our blog posts are encouraging, and greatly appreciated, most of us blog for self fulfillment above all else.

Thank you for reading my blog.  Thank you for commenting on my blog.  Thank you for being a family historian and saving the story of your family for future generations.

Hellooooo . . .Marcia Fennell

About six to eight weeks ago I noticed that one of my posts was being viewed a disproportionate number of times.  It was my post, At the End of the Trail in which I concluded the story of my search for Margel B. Wells, my grandmother's best friend in high school.  Since her name has now come down to me, I was interested in finding out who she was and a bit about her life.  I remember asking my grandmother about when I was still a teenager.  I found out more than I ever thought possible.  It was a personal quest and few . . . very few . . . readers paid any attention to this post.  No matter.

 Then this past Fall, six months after I posted, it became my most read post, and this activity continued week after week.  I was baffled.  I searched to see if the related posts on Margel B. Wells were also being read, but it did not appear that they were.  Very interesting . . . then my stats showed that the majority of page views were coming from France.  That was really interesting.  This continued for over six weeks when suddenly, I found the following comment on the post, "I am Marcia Ann Fennell, Margel's daughter. How do I contact you? Now, this made sense.  Margel B. Well's family must haved found my post and probably told other family members about it.  Unfortunately, the comment was anonymous, and she left no email address for me to answer her.  I had no way of contacting her.  I did the only thing I knew to do and answered the comment on my blog listing my email address hoping she would come back to it . . . but she has not. 

The activity on this post continued for a few more weeks, but I never heard from Marcia Fennell.  I would love to make contact with her and share the other information I have about her mother.  Maybe she even has photos of my grandmother that were left  in her mother's belongings.    The activity on that post has dwindled to previous miniscule levels.  So this is my plea to find her.

Helloooooooo . . . Marcia Fennell.  My email is listed in the column to the right.

Finding the 1940 Kennelly Family Home

Let me first explain that I have an aversion to facebook.  Maybe it is because I am too old ,but it has always seemed so confusing and is always changing.  Oh gee, that really did sound like an old lady statement!  Several years ago, I jumped on the facebook bandwagon and accidently  offended a good friend.  I didn't realize that the email I received was just a copy of a post on my facebook wall and that my response (whch I thought was private) would also go on my facebook wall.  After that, I closed and blocked everything I could.  But . . . time went by and organizations that interest me used facebook to send messages to members.  My son and his wife post their vacation photos on facebook to share with friends and family.  And so I am a reluctant and infrequent facebook user.

Then about a year ago, I took the bold step of joining a facebook group . . . Chicago Genealogy.  I mostly lurk but now love the fact that I get emails of each post.  If you have Chicago ancestors . . . and I have a boatload . . . I highly recommend this helpful and informative group.

Last August I posted the following:
 Now that I have found my mother and her family in the 1940 census records for Chicago, I hoped to see if the building is still standing. They lived in the Garfield Park area - about two blocks away from the park. The address is 3918 W. Monroe. It appears that there is a building there, but sadly, there is no street view for Google in that area so I cannot tell if it is the same. Any suggestions for getting a photo? I have only partials in the background of photos of people. Thanks!

Almost immediately  Michelle Gobert responded, not just with a suggestion, but with a link to the photo at right. It came from the Cook County Assessor's Office, property search  

Catherine Keckeisen then suggested using the Cook County Geographc Information System.  

Warning that it could be a bit complicated she posted step-by-step instructions for how to use the system.  First go to this website. "Then under "Online mapping with Cook Viewer" click on "Cook Viewer Mapping Application".  Scroll down when it will let you and click on "Accept" (of course after you read all their rules, etc.).  On the next screen that appears, type in the address.  I typed 3918 W. Monroe.  For the city, I typed Chicago.  Click on Search. A new box will appear that shows a bunch of information about the property.  Make sure it has the same address.  Your property is 99 years old for instance.  Make sure you jot down the Parcel Pin number as it can be helpful to get other information from Cook County on this property." ". . .Look down in that second box on the right and click on PHOTO and there you have it! Exciting, huh???"  

And it was!

The next step was to compare the partials (mostly the front porch) with the current appearance of the house.  I am sure my grandparents rented because I don't remember that they ever did anything else.  The information from the above sites indicated that the building is now two apartments with a combined total sq. footage of just under 2700 sq. feet.  The current value is listed as $180,000.

Left side of the porch

Right side of the porch

When I compare the current view of the building and its companions on either side, I can tell they have been modernized . . . and not for the better!  But who am I to criticize. . . I like old stuff. 

The photo at left of my Uncle Ed in his Bishop Quarters uniform shows a beautiful and substantial stone front porch with ionic columns and an arched window with decorative stone detail below.  The current view shows a replacement porch of wimpy wrought iron and a shingled roof with a white plastic chair blocking the view below the window.  Do you think that beautiful architectural detail is still there - or was it sold to a salvage yard . . . worse yet, dumped in a landfill??  

Home to the left

Home to the right

Sadly, the same modernization trend seems to have attacked the buildings on either side of my mother's former home.  The building on the right also had the stone porch removed to be replaced with 1970's chic, but a search for the building to the left (3922 W. Monroe) shows that its stone porch has survived although the building has been painted white.  Architecturally, this is a wonderful block of buildings.  I hope my photos have given you a flavor of the neighborhood that used to be here.

Wait!  Can I see the window detail still there in the photo of the 3922 property??

Both methods ended with the same photo, but depending on the property, one might work better than the other.  So now you have, not just one, but two ways to find Chicago properties courtesy of the facebook group - Chicago Genealogy!  

Repost #2 . . . The Artsy Craftsy Christmas Creche

The Artsy Craftsy Christmas Creche

Originally posted 19 Dec 2010

In our house, Christmas was always home made.  It might have been partly out of necessity, but it never felt that way.  In addition to having a sweet tooth, and being a sewing whiz my mother was very artsty craftsy.  Not only did she make all of my clothes, but she made EVERYTHING for our house.  She loved magazines and used many of the ideas she saw in their pages to adapt for our home.  She never seemed comfortable being ordinary or mundane.  As an example, our living room had one wall with a painted plywood false wall about 5"-12" in front with floor to window top arched cut outs in front of the windows and sheer drapes hanging in the arches.  I am sure this idea came from a magazine.  She was a big city girl living in a small town.  Her second husband, Merle and the best stepfather a child could ever have, always went along with her ideas even as he grumbled.  Mother always had to put her own spin on things.

Across the street from our house lived Mamie Schleeter, the mother of Merle's best friend since childhood.  She was like a second mother to him, and her hobby was ceramics. Mamie was exceptionally talented and sold a fair number of her ceramic pieces. So one year Mom and Merle ordered a complete nativity set with gold trim.  Merle was very handy (a much more important trait for a husband than wealthy) and I am sure envisioned making a nice standard wood creche for the figures.  He should have known better.

One day during the late Fall, Gloria and Merle were going for a "drive".  Going for a drive was a ritual in our family, and one that I didn't always appreciate when I was young.  As an adult, my husband and I often go driving around country roads after dinner, and now I love it.  As children we used to claim that Merle knew every gravel road in our county, and we drove along them feeling like the car was on a perpetual rumble strip.  Mother was always on the lookout  for natural items that she could use in one of her hundreds of craft projects.  Driving along mother would just yell stop if she saw something she wanted and then direct Merle to retrieve what she wanted if it was in a particularly difficult spot. Mom supervised.  She (meaning Merle) always gathered items such as bittersweet, cattails, rosehips and rocks for her arrangements and projects.  However, the creche needed a very special setting.  When they arrived home that day, the trunk lid was open indicating it held something so large that it couldn't close.  Mother had discovered a stump with roots on the side of the road, and amazingly, she was able to talk Merle into wrestling it into the trunk.  What a perfect natural setting for their new nativity set!

And so it was.  She cleaned that stump and covered the top of the television with a layer of the roll out cotton snow, arranged the figures in the spaces formed by the roots, and sprayed aerosol snow over the top.  She then fixed an over-sized angel and star at the top surrounded with evergreen boughs which hid the fact that the angel was out of scale. Televisions in those days were big, boxy freestanding pieces of furniture that were the main focus of the room, so it was a perfect location. It could hold the weight of the stump.















This was our nativity setting for many years.  So many, in fact, that my younger brother thought it was a piece of driftwood, because the bark had worn off.  Really??? We lived in central Indiana and never went on vacation.  Where would we get driftwood that large?  The years have passed, and my brother is now the official keeper of the nativity set, but he has the figures in the more traditional setting imagined by Merle originally.

Personal note:  This post was completely written and ready to post when an amazing, some might say providential, event occurred.  I was re-reading the text and adding the photos, when, as I was searching for photos and cropping the new ones sent by my brother, I noticed a curious looking thumbnail.  Could it really be??  I quickly closed the select window so I could open the thumbnail in question to see it more closely.  It was, it really was . . . It was an old fuzzy photo of the original stump on our television!  I shrieked shouted, "O.. M.. G..., I can't believe it!"  My fingers quickly called my brother who was in his garage making this year's gifts.  I asked if he knew about the photo.  No, he didn't remember ever seeing it and neither did I.  This is truly a family memory restored. I love my blog.

A Repost from Christmas Past . . . The Pan

With no time on my hands, and a feeling of guilt over my lack of posts, I am recycling some of my Christmas posts from past seasons.  Since many readers do not read past posts, I am hoping you will enjoy these.  Today I will share one infamous post from December 2010 about a Christmas tradition I share with my brother and a kitchen pan that once belonged to our mother.  Lisa Louise Cooke read it on her Episode 61 podcast for premium members.  

And now. . .  

"Holiday Fun for Genealogists". 

Posted here originally on 28 Nov 2010

Well, I have always known that I would write this blog post.  It has taken all of my willpower to save it for the holiday season where it rightly belongs.

Please note that the photo below is from left to right:  Gloria Kennelly (my mother), Mary McDonnell Kennelly (her grandmother), Berenice Moldt Kennelly (my grandmother).  I am including it because it is a wonderful photo, and I don't have any good Christmas photos of my mother later in her life.  Those that I could find, I can't bring myself to post for she would surely haunt me if I did.

During the holidays it is not unusual for families to laugh, reminisce, and share stories about past family times.  It usually starts "Remember when . . ." and ends with a smile and a warm family feeling in your heart.  Occasionally, accompanied by a smile or chuckle.  At our house, we usually began the litany of memories with "Remember that d*&#  pan of mother's?"  Except for sweets, our mother did not particularly enjoy cooking. While she loved new sheets and towels and had a whole room for her sewing equipment and crap craft supplies,  her pots and pans were gathered together from who knows where and never replaced.  We had knives that were dull, mismatched plates, rubber spatulas with handles that fell out, and cake pans that must have been passed down from gr-grandma.  Then there was THE PAN.  It was cast aluminum with an exterior darkened from centuries years of burnt oil, but the standout feature was the handle.  It had a wood handle with a long screw through the center.  The screw was fastened securely to the pan, but the wood handle had long ago worn larger in the middle.  This meant that the pan would swing and spin as you held the handle.  We begged our mother to throw it out every time we had to use it, and the contents would spill as the pan would sway and swing when we lifted it.  Mother was particularly fond of boiling macaroni  in this pan.  Pouring off the water was an exercise in frustration accompanied by loud swearing.  I told her that if she didn't throw it out, I would put it in the casket with her. . . . . and I tried to.  Little did I know that my brother retrieved it, sandblasted the oil off and wrapped it in Christmas paper for the following holiday.  Years have passed, and I don't remember what was in the pan that first Christmas. Since then it has been a planter, a clock, etc. Each year we pass it back and forth and talk about that D*&# pan and about our mother.

Last year it was my turn.  I never had any really inventive ideas.  Dahl, my brother, was the more creative one.  But last year was different.  He will have a hard time topping this. As I have said in an earlier post, my brother is the original genealogist in the family, but since I have joined him in this wonderful adventure, I have dragged him with me to various cemeteries in Chicago and Iowa.  I teased him about needing a "gravedigger" tee shirt since our adventure at Calvary cemetery pictured at right.  Privately, I had a brainstorm for THE PAN.  I filled it with dirt, covered the top with moss from Hobby Lobby, and painted small wood shapes to resemble tombstones.  A package of dollhouse scale flowerpots completed the look.  I decided to make him a "portable cemetery"!   It would be a representation of our past adventures searching for our ancestors.

And now to share it with you.

Click to enlarge and see detail

I included a tombstone for our g-g grandfather James Bush Allen because I was sure we would find it when we went to the cemetery - we didn't.  So I guess this is the only one he will ever have.  There is also a tombstone for g-g-g grandmother Anna Lyman, mother of James B. Allen who is buried in Canada, g-g-grandparents, Owen &; Bridget McDonnell, and our gr. grandparents Edward P. and Mary Kennelly.  Lastly, I put a headstone for Margel Kennelly and partially covered it with moss since we had dug up the original.  It was beautiful!!

My brother loved it ,and it has decorated the shelf above his computer for the past year.  It will be sad to see it go.  But, I wonder what he has in store for me??

Maybe you have a special object from a loved one who is no longer here.  I challenge you to think about the possibility of starting a similar tradition of your own. What wonderful fun to pass it around the family and laugh about times past and the family who came before us.

The Potential of Ebay

There is good news and bad news.  I have "saved searches" on eBay just in case something related to my ancestors might come up.  It hasn't been working the way I envisioned when I saved them originally. My fantasy  dream is that an old photo, family bible, or document relating to the civil war service of an ancestor will be up for sale.  Nothing so exciting or rare as surfaced yet.  I get daily messages about items that  have me baffled as to how they could even relate to my saved search terms, but . . . I left them because every now and then something pops up that is related despite the usual too high for my budget cost.  I have passed on a sterling spoon with an engraving of Mt. St. Clare school in the bowl because almost $50 seemed like way too much.  It has been re-listed several times and is currently still for sale.  I did bid on and win a postcard of Frankfort High School, and I have a family photo, generously shared by my cousin, of my grandfather with his high school football team standing on the front steps. I loved seeing the rest of the building.  It was only $8 so this was an easy decision.  Recently, however, a celluloid pin with a photo of the Kansas State Agricultural College (later Kansas State) football team of 1905.  As I zoomed in, I could see my grandfather, Carroll Walker, sitting in the front row.  Now this I had to have!  Since I never follow sports, I had no idea that Kansas State had such a good football team this year. I am sure that influenced the bidding.  I placed a bid for what I thought was the astronomical sum of $20.Instantly I was outbid.  I paused, and just watched it for the next few days until it was about to end when I took a deep breath and bid another $5.  Instantly outbid again.  Oh well, it was not to be.  Do you know what little pin, smaller than 2 inches in diameter, finally sold for?  $73 plus shipping!


I was patting myself on the back for keeping a clear head, when a 1906 Kansas State Agricultural College yearbook pops up.  Oh no, I had never seen one this early so again I placed a bid. Really, I'm the high bidder??  Now, I wanted it badly.  The high bid did not move until the day before it ended.  I had been outbid.  Sadness descended, but the next night as it was an hour from ending, I placed another bid . . . outbid . . . I added a few more dollars . . . outbid.  With a minute left, I decided on a final bid.  I would go no higher since I was already over my initial limit, and with that keystroke became the new and final high bidder!  Other slightly later KSAC yearbooks were selling for $90 on eBay . . . I did not pay that much but unless you go to eBay and look it up, I will keep secret my final bid.


The book is fascinating and one of the most interesting photo is the one of the yearbook staff.  The annual is in wonderful condition, with no writing or missing pages.  I treasure it.  Of course, my favorite page is the one with my grandfather sitting in the front row with the football team. But . . .now I need the 1907 version when he was a senior!

Carroll Walker - Front row second one in from the right side

 I encourage you to take a chance on eBay,  just don't get carried away by it. Even with a "saved search" it takes patience to weed through all of the junk, but it is easier.  I am still waiting for a 1942 Providence High School (Chicago) yearbook to show up. . . someday.  If you have an ancestor who was a student at KSAC during 1906, let me know, and I will gladly send you a scan of any page you want.

A few days later, I discovered that complete scanned copies of Kansas State yearbooks are online at:  http://digicoll.lib.k-state.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/yrbk   I think I would still like a 1907 copy, but it is wonderful to see Grandfather Walker mature from a freshman to a senior.  I wish I knew the names of the other players but they don't identify the individual in the photos. Also, it seems that you are not able to save individual photos except in a very low quality.  Of course, you can purchase them, but I have not investigated the cost.

Ancestor Images

I admit that I am particularly fond of old family photographs.  A photograph somehow makes my unknown relatives more real. . . their relationships, their homes, gardens, and taste in clothing all jump off the paper (but more often the computer screen) and burrow their way into my heart.  I often find myself stubbornly peering into the face of an unidentified relative as if I expect them to speak up.

I have photos that have been passed down to me, photos that have been generously shared with me, photos from newspaper articles, and discovered on the internet.  I even have a mugshot from Leavenworth federal prison.    But as I was walking through my bedroom the other day, I noticed one of my favorite trio of images of my children.  They are silhouettes that were cut one summer day in August at the Amish Acres Craft Festival in Nappanee, Indiana.

My oldest son Scott was shirtless on that hot summer day. His cowlick visible

My daughter Wendy wearing her hair in the braids she wore most days

Paul, my youngest

The silhouettes were done with my children standing sideways in front of the artist as she stared at them for a few moments, then looked down at the paper as she cut.  No light projecting their shadow onto the paper, just the practiced eye and skill of the artist.  She caught their image perfectly. . . for only $3 each.

For a number of years, I was a vendor at this and other craft shows in the region, but my children loved Amish Acres.  They would help me carry and set up my booth, and then spend hours at the festival when it started . . . occasionally helping me in my booth. They checked out all the other craft booths, reporting on their favorites, they played in the pond, joined the audience for the folk singers or puppet shows, but at closing time they would head over to the homemade ice cream booth for a free cup of ice cream as they cleaned up. 

Do you have silhouettes or alternatives to photos in among your family images?  Perhaps an watercolor portrait, or a caricature drawn by a sidewalk artist on vacation?