An Artist in the Family

On our long ride to RootsTech, I was telling my friend about my great grandfather, Joseph Mossey (Massé). He was a carriage trimmer. My friend asked what a carriage trimmer was and while I thought I knew, I hesitated. I decided if I am going to get to know my ancestors, I should get to know what it is they did and be able to explain that to others.

Naturally, I began by googling “Carriage Trimmer”. I found a website that categorized professions. My Joseph was an artisan. That was a pleasant surprise. My mother and grandmother were excellent needleworkers in knitting, embroidery and sewing and my grandfather, George Mossey,  was, according to my mom, a great cook. And, now his father was an artisan in his own right.

How did I learn about my great grandfather’s abilities? I was doing some newspaper research. I found a site that has indexed the newspapers of northern New York. This ad I found in The Plattsburgh Sentinel caught my eye and gave me a smile. My great grandfather was “one of the best carriage trimmers”!¹ How thrilling that someone would actually print such nice words about one of their employees who also is my ancestor.

In my search, I also found a book that is a reprint of a book that was apparently the carriage trimmer’s Bible back in the 1880s and maybe was one my great grandfather referred to in his business.

According to the description on the website, “…the book describes the complexity of materials—leathers, silks, laces—and range of skills (upholstering, tufting, stitching and binding, cutting enameled leathers, making leather sockets, welting, fabric selection, etc.) required for this branch of the carriage trade.” The book also contains “recipes for cleaning, oiling and blacking leather, polishing metals and restoring ivory, among others.” It goes on to describe the tools used in the carriage trimmers arsenal, such as stuffing sticks, round knives and shears.²

Looks like I’ll be going back to Google to learn what many of those terms mean which will give me a better idea of what my great grandfather really did for a living.

(Can you hear the buttons popping off my shirt?)

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Sources

1. Unknown author, . "Merritt." Plattsburgh Sentinel [New York] 20 Apr 1883, Vol. 28, No. 47 1. Web. 12 Mar. 2012. http://news2.nnyln.net/plattsburgh-sentinel/serch.html.

2. "The Carriage Trimmers’ Manual Guide Book and Illustrated Technical Dictionary." Astragal Press. Astragal Press, An Imprint of Finney Company, 2012. Web. 12 Mar 2012. <http://astragalpress.com/carriage_trimmers_manual.htm>.

Newspaper Research Brings Surprise

Every once in a while, research reveals a surprise that sets you back on your heals. This happened to me this weekend as I was researching on GenealogyBank for data about my gg grandfather, Francis McCue or Frank McHugh as his name evolved before he died.

Let me back up a bit. I was privileged to attend RootsTech with my friend, Bev. We decided to get there a few days early so we could spend some time in the Family History Library. While there, I actually found some court records for Bridget McHugh which dealt with the estate of Frank McHugh. More on that in a later blog.

Then, at RootsTech, I attended a session by Drew Smith on using your blog as a research log. That was it. This is what I am going to try and do as I spend this year trying to find where in Ireland Frank McHugh came from.

Yesterday, I spent several hours researching in GenealogyBank for any news items on Frank McHugh but instead came across a small article about Bridget. Of course, every little bit of information causes many more questions that lead to more research. But, that is what makes researching our families so interesting.



Questions that now need to be answered are: Why was having some beer in the house against the law? Why did she have beer in her house? When was the trial and what was the result? (I searched GenealogyBank but found nothing on the trial).

Newspaper research is really fun because it helps bring our ancestors to life. My gg grandmother was a real person who got her name in the paper probably in a way she never expected. I sure was surprised!

New Year’s Resolution

This year I plan to write more diligently on my family history blog. At the end of the month, I will be traveling to RootsTech. One class in particular I plan to attend is Drew Smith’s Using a Blog as Your Online Research Log.

As I established goals for this 2012 New Year, I decided I would like to concentrate on breaking down some of my brick walls most of which occur around the beginning of the 19th century. But, in addition to the brick walls, bringing my ancestors to life using as many records as I can find, became an AHA moment while I was attending a genealogy conference. I needed to make them real people, flesh them out. People, and especially my ancestors are not just names, dates and places. They were real people whose decisions affect me and my descendants.

This morning, I was reading an article in Jan/Feb’s Family Chronicle by Bernice L. Rocque who has turned her research into stories which “[illuminate] the essence of ancestors who influenced the generations behind them…”.

While I don’t have the connections she has to older living relatives, I do have facts and could certainly work to find more. So as the New Year begins, I will try to put into words the facts I have learned about my ancestors. Maybe I will even try to record the first-hand knowledge I have about the ancestors I did get to know or learn about from the family stories I heard growing up.

My blog will become my research log but with more details.

Wish me well.

Learning the Culture

Just read an interesting story that Dad sent to me. He found it on CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/02/26/forgotten.graves/index.html?hpt=C1

I find it interesting that black families seem to be so much more interested in their past and wanting their descendants to remember, than those in my family. When I tried to ask questions of family members, or have tried to contact distant family members, I have most often been shunned or told that they can’t remember anything. My mother was this way; and Carol, my cousin,  told me the same thing about her mother (my mom’s sister). They could remember very little. Once in a while I could get my mom to talk but it was rare. And when I showed her her name and her family listed in the 1930 census, she wanted to know why she should care about it.

It wasn’t until I saw Rosie O’Donnell on Who Do You Think You Are? that I got a clue about my family history. Although only one line of my family history is Irish, it seems that the celtic philosophy permeated my family’s way of thinking. Rosie mentioned that in her Irish household, the past was forgotten, never spoken of. For some reason, the Irish do not like speaking about their past.

Like many cultures, the Irish have had a hard history. But what makes their history any more difficult than that of the Blacks in America whose ancestors were enslaved, treated like animals and had very difficult lives? What about the American Indians who were forced to leave their homes because of the white man and yet still revere their ancestors. I know little about the Chinese and their hardships, but their ancestors, too, are revered.

Some interesting thoughts. Guess I will have to study this further.

Actually Using High Tech

So, with all that I learned at RootsTech and have been reading about, I realized I needed to put it all to use.

This is, again, off track of my family researching, but just wanted to assure my family that the time, effort and $$$ put forth for family history is paying off little by little.

Friday, after RootsTech was finished for the day, I was determined to get over to the Family History Library before all the festivities began so I could get a little research in.

As I dumped all my stuff in the hotel room, I was trying to figure out what to take and not overload myself with stuff. (I usually have to cart everything along in case I “forgot” something.) This time though, I was determined to take the minimum and get a few things accomplished in the small amount of time I had.

I did not want to lug my netbook along and a whole bunch of paper notes. So, using my newfound knowledge, I grabbed my thumb drive which had RootsMagic-to-Go on it, a pen and a spiral notebook with paper to write notes and my NGS neck ID holder for my pen and Library cards.

Off I went to the Library which was just next door and since the sun was shining and weather seemed relatively mild (and cuz I kept forgetting my sweater the last time I was there), I walked out without any coat and just my thumb drive, pen and spiral notebook.

Got to the Library, plugged my thumb drive into a computer, looked at my database, clicked on the Library catalog to see what films I needed to view, jotted down a few notes and the film#s, unplugged my thumb drive and I was off to find the films and see what I could learn.

What fun! Had everything I needed at my fingertips, did not lose my sweater, didn’t have to worry about a computer and I actually found a lot of information on one of my families of interest.

Yea for technology and good weather!

from High Tech to Low Tech

Wow! did not realize it had been so long since I posted. I want to get back to my ancestors’ history but I need to share with my friends and family all the cool things I did in Salt Lake City.

I was soooo lucky that Michelle and Ellie (14mos) wanted to come with me so that made the trek so much more fun.

We arrived on a Wednesday; Carolyn picked us up at the airport but not before she locked her keys in the house. Michelle and I were content to sit and wait (what choice did we have?) which also gave Ellie a chance to nap.

While sitting there, we saw the Sleights. Alane was on her way to Alicia’s for the baby blessing and Don was going to follow on Friday. So funny in this huge world actually running into people we know.

Carolyn is amazing. She managed to get Michelle’s two huge suitcases and my med-large suitcase in the trunk and 2 carseats, a stroller, two babies and 3 adults in the car. Great job, Carolyn. (Should’a taken a picture of that!)

After running errands, etc, Michelle drove me to the Plaza Hotel where I was going to stay for the 3-day RootsTech Conference. The conference was great! As usual, I learned a lot. Saw lots of people that I knew from previous conferences and met a lot of knew people. Innovations at the conference were the play ‘n relax areas; the central “camping” spot for the bloggers, the hands-on workshops, the fact that the conference was for both techies and non-techie types. There was also a wider age range in the attendees than I have seen in the past.

My favorite quote of the conference was by Curt Witcher: “If you do what you have always done, you’ll get what you have always gotten.” Interestingly enough, I can apply that to many facets of my life. Just the week before, my dog agility trainer told me the same thing when I could not get Skye to jump over a different jump; I kept giving him the same signal so he kept jumping over the same jump, duh!

There was some frustration with class offerings and logistics at RootsTech but that is to be expected when something so huge (3000 people) and so quickly brought together (7 months) has its debut. The keynote speakers were very good and not necessarily genealogists. Curt Witcher, however, is still one of my favorites and I had the privilege of hearing his keynote address AND attending the luncheon where he again spoke, this time specifically about societies. I came back with tons of ideas and have been overwhelming our TCGS president with them.

The rest of the week was spent with family. It was fun. We all enjoyed watching the 3 kids play together: Dallin, 8; Gracie, 4, and Ellie, 14mos. In spite of the cramped quarters, only one bathroom, and car jockying, it was a pretty smoothe and fun week. Michelle had fun cooking for Kris and Carolyn, Kris made us the MOST scrumptious pizza I have ever eaten (and probably filled with a gazillion calories—but so yummy). We saw Dallin and Gracie do their gymnastics (with 3 kids, 3 hours right at dinner time, the logistics getting there and back were interesting.)

We went to the ballet, the Carl Bloch Art Exhibit at BYU with Midge, Cheryl and Kaia, the temple, the Family History Library, the Lion House Pantry; shopping, walking, eating Graeter’s Ice Cream, crazy week…

We had warm days, sunshine, wind blowing so hard it nearly blew Gracie over; snow (so glad I wasn’t driving) and cold.

After 9 days away, though, we were ready to come home. Kris got us to the airport in plenty of time to relax. We let Ellie play in the kiddie play area for 30 min before we headed to our gate. On arrival, Bernie and Marshall were waiting for us with flowers (thanks to Marshall) and the ride home (2.5 hrs) was quiet and relaxing (Bernie does all the driving; I am so lucky).

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The Now: Going to Salt Lake City

The new RootsTech Conference takes place this week in Salt Lake City. I decided to go but when I told Michelle, she wanted to go too. Not to the conference of course, but to visit her brother, Kris, and his family.

So Wednesday morning, we are flying from Spokane to Salt Lake City, Michelle, Ellie and me, Gramma.

I am excited about RootsTech and the opportunity to learn about 21st century technology and genealogy. Plus, some of my favorite presenters/genealogists will be there: Thomas MacEntee, Curt Witcher – as well as several friends. I also was lucky enough to find someone who needed a roommate for the conference, so will be staying with Terri during the conference. Old friends, new friends, family, this should be a great week.

When Michelle found that the Sleeping Beauty Ballet was being performed, she bought tickets for Carolyn, me and her to go. We hope to go to the Salt Lake Temple on Monday morning, then visit the Family History Library to gain some insight into Swedish Research. This will be a busy Monday.

Tuesday we will have lunch with Midge Patrick then attend the Carl Bloch art exhibit at BYU’s Art Museum.

Michelle also found out that Smith’s sells Graeter’s Ice Cream and plans to buy a half gallon every day we are in Salt Lake—guess she likes ice cream!