Not only is it the start of a new year but it's almost time to start my adventure in Eire. Much of the packing is done and the research goals are pretty much set. I'm sure I'll be diverted to other things quite often and am open to whatever comes along.
Today while going through the "little things" that I travel with, I started browsing through two smallish but thick spiral notebooks, I decided to go through them to see if there were any pages I could tear out. There were a few, but I came upon a few gems.
I've had these little books for quite a while. The first one dates to 2008 and my first visit to Ireland. I think my fate was determined by that trip. I fell in love and haven't looked back - I just keep going back.
There are lots of notes on resources to explore that will save me time browsing library catalogues - yay! Most of my files are digitized and easily accessible on the laptop.
Recent matches from the DNA testing have a few tantalizing leads. So far nothing definitive but it's another avenue. Unfortunately most of my matches have not posted family trees so there's no way to know where the matches are. Drat! I think they've been watching the ancestry commercials and think that a DNA test result will answer all their questions on the ancestors. Hah! Think again folks, it's harder than that.
I'm going to miss watching the Sens. I suppose if I have insomnia on game nights I can listen live via the website. It will have to do.
This week will features last minute chores and some breakfast get-togethers. I will be eating big breakfasts so I'll only need to have one more meal each day. It's looking like Mother Hubbard's Cupboard here as I try to empty the fridge and pantry.
Maybe I'll have a chance for one more post before liftoff on Thursday but if not there will be one on the weekend from the Emerald Isle.
Sunday, January 1, 2017
Tuesday, December 27, 2016
Oh the weather outside is frightful but the maps are so delightful
Only 10 days to go until departure for Ireland. Having started packing and sorting a while ago, the clothing and electronics decisions have been made and everything will fit into the two suitcases. The golf clubs will stay here. A few things still need to be done to prepare the condo for my tenant and there are still a few social events on the calendar.
Christmas was a wonderful diversion and Maureen and I went to Pakenham to celebrate with Janet, Bruce and family. It was a great time during which we exchanged gifts, enjoyed wonderful food, and learned that we would not be good in case of fire.
It was a lazy sort of afternoon but the "all is calm" almost became "all is bright" when Maureen managed to set fire to a paper serviette when she inexplicably put it on top of a burning candle. She quietly picked it up, in flames, and said to me "I set the serviette on fire". Well I was instantly on my feet - who knew I could move that fast? I grabbed it from her lest she drop it on her clothes or the carpet and made a dash for the kitchen sink about 15 feet away. I didn't get that far.
Don't run with a flaming paper napkin. The extra breeze turned it into a little inferno, dropping bits of flames and ashes as I moved. The flames were licking at my hand when the whole thing disintegrated into burning ashes which drifted to the floor. They quickly burned out in mid-air having run out of fuel as the paper had burned up.
Behind me I hadn't seen Olivia jump up, grab a glass of red wine, and dump the alcohol on a large burning piece that had fallen in my wake. She chose the closest liquid to douse the flames. Thankfully it worked - or at least didn't cause a bigger problem.
The whole thing happened in less than 10 seconds. Very fortunately the burning paper and falling ashes didn't mark the floor, the wine did not re-ignite anything and was easily mopped up, and nobody got burned. We were truly a case of "what not to do with fire". It was a pretty close call.
So - now that we're all OK, what was the right thing to do? Nothing else caught fire and it is now just a funny story. It was a shame to waste the wine but that was the only damage incurred.
Christian Horizons sent someone to pick Maureen up around 8 pm as I was planning to stay overnight. Around 10:30 I decided to head back into town as the forecast for Monday was ice and freezing rain. Aside from the really nasty driving conditions it would have either coated the windshield with ice to be cleared or formed on the windshield as I drove. Not having drunk very much it was safe to drive. The roads were clear and bare and I made it home in good time.
Yesterday was Boxing Day and by the time I was up and about the freezing rain had started. It was nasty pretty much all day. I mentally patted myself on the back at having decided to drive home. So - I holed up (in my little log cabin on the 9th floor) and decided to do a little more digging into the past.
My main goal on the Ireland winter sojourn is to find the common Byrne ancestor we share with the Byrnes in Wicklow and Wexford. Secondary goals are all the same - find the McGrath, Brennan, Fennell, Whelan, Fitzpatrick and Loughnane families in their respective counties.
I have a good bit of information on the Fennell-Whelan whereabouts. I know where they lived and how to get there. Parish records online are helpful but difficult to read in the online images. I'll be in search of a genealogy society or a historical society near Athy to see what else I can find. They came from Tankardstown, specifically from the townlands of Barrowhouse and Monebrock.
I know whence the Loughnanes came in Tipperary but nothing has been uncovered in record searches so far. Maybe a little trip to Thurles can help. Bridget Loughnane married Jean Baptiste Hebert in Quebec in the early 1830s and she died a couple of years later in her early 20s. No trace of relatives can be found in Canada - but her marriage record gives her parents names and townland in Co Tipperary. It's a start.
The Brennans were from Clough/Castlecomer area of Kilkenny. Despite Brennan being the most common surname in that region, I do have some information on them. Catherine Brennan married Michael McGrath in Bytown (Ottawa) in 1854. From the marriage register I know his parents' names, but where were they from? Michael's obituary says he was also from Kilkenny - somewhere.
Then we have the invisible Fitzpatricks. Patrick Fitzpatrick apparently emigrated around the time of the famine. He went first to Ottawa and then to Brockville. He managed to avoid being documented in either place in the 1851 census. Did he come alone? Who knows? Of course he died two years before the census in which he would have been asked the year of arrival in Canada. Of course he married during the gap in the church records, so of course his parents names are lost in the mists of time. Of course his obituary shed no helpful light on his past. Of course!
I'm beginning to wonder if my ancestors spent a great deal of effort to remain anonymous or if they were just lucky to fly below the radar all the time. Their surnames were common as were their given names. I do know the counties they emigrated from, well some of them. Perhaps the Walshes and Macdonalds were gypsies and came from everywhere.
Recently I purchased a Genealogical Atlas of Ireland. It breaks the counties into civil parishes, baronies, poor law unions and Roman Catholic parishes. In some cases, also into Presbyterian parishes. I'd hoped against hope that townlands were included - of course not. It would be so much easier if the parishes had been subdivided again into townlands. Nope! It's like a scavenger hunt to find each little bit of information except without clues to the things to look for.
Ancestry.com was not too helpful in coughing up records of baptisms or marriages in Ireland even with some idea where to look. It did however, lead me to the National Library of Ireland site for parish registers. With the help of the new Atlas I went through every Catholic parish in Cavan seeking Fitzpatricks. Hopeful at first, but the search was in vain. There are no baptism records for any parish in Cavan either early enough to include Patrick Fitzpatrick or there was a gap in the records for the decade around his given year of birth. Of course!
Today I have a few things to do but there are bits of time. I shall see what I can find on sources to track the Loughnanes. The Atlas may help and John Grenham's Tracing your Irish Ancestors will once again be combed for helpful sources.
Maybe I can produce a helpful list of likely sources at the NLI and National Archives in Dublin to speed the searching when I get there. The Family History Centre in Dublin is another potential destination.
Time to put the coffee on and get the day started.
Monday, December 12, 2016
You just never know what you'll find when looking for something else
Well it's been a strange few minutes. I found a resource I didn't know was available and in that resource I found a record that was hiding under an assumed name.
The past couple of weeks have been hectic and the next couple promise to be just as busy, but today's plans to go to Library and Archives Canada to research the City Directories of Ottawa were shelved because of the snowstorm. It's not of epic proportions but bad enough to make the roads hazardous and I only have all-season tires, not snow tires. So - what does a frustrated genealogist do?
I had received a notice from the public library that there is a book on hold for me. I won't pick that up today either. I wanted to go online to the library site and make sure that any remaining holds were deferred until April after my return. There won't be a lot of time to read in the next 3 weeks. The main site was down but there were active links to some of the resources.
Holy smokes - there is access to Ancestry Library from home. I have my own subscription but thought I would check it out anyway. I'm not sure why I chose to look for a birth record of my uncle Francis Gilbert Sunderland, because I had it already, but as soon as I clicked the Search button, not only did his birth registration come up, that of my great aunt Serena Sunderland (Aunt Irene) pop up under the name Serena Raickstack. The reason for such a result, given the search parameters, is that her mother's name was Frances Sunderland.
I had long ago found a marriage for Frances Sunderland to Harry Raistrick in September of 1889, a week after her arrival in Canada with her brood of 5 young children. She was also pregnant at the time. So? Well Harry Raistrick lived in Bradford England and never came to Canada. The marriage was a sham, to give a father to Serena I suppose. Frances had been widowed in October of 1888 when James Sunderland died of pneumonia. Now there really was no reason for this fake marriage as she had recently arrived and nobody need ever have known her "situation". She could have claimed James' death to have been more recent.
Frances never used the surname Raistrick except, even though misspelled, on this registration which took place in October of 1890. The marriage was very real as a ceremony did take place and the marriage was registered. What wasn't real was the groom. Witnesses to the marriage were Abraham Taylor and Mona Pownall, Frances' sister. I can only speculate that perhaps Mona's husband George acted the part of the groom, Harry Raistrick. I can't find any evidence that this man ever set foot on Canadian soil. Abraham Taylor was Frances Sunderland's next door neighbour in the 1891 census, taken the year following Serena's birth. Frances was using her first married name, not Raistrick, nor was Serena ever known to use any surname but Sunderland prior to her marriage.
He was a very real person who lived in Bradford, England whence Frances had come. They must have been acquainted because she knew the rather unusual names of his parents which were recorded on the marriage cert. Perhaps they were very very well acquainted but we shall never know for sure.
I have often wondered how Frances got the money to travel to Canada. I wonder if the butcher, Harry Raistrick, might have helped out. This is pure conjecture on my part but it would make sense. If indeed he was the father of Serena, sending Frances and her children to Canada could preserve their secret. Harry already had a wife and children. To the best of my knowledge the Raistricks continued to live happily in Bradford, England. At least there are a number of records to say they were there for decades after 1890.
In later years Serena (Irene) acquired an attested birth certificate, signed by her sister Annie, possibly to get a passport. This certificate said that her father was James Sunderland and Annie said that she was present at the birth. When Serena was born Annie was 11 and most likely always did what she was told. She might never have questioned her sister's parentage or else kept her mother's secret.
The serendipity continues. I wonder what my next surprise will be!
The past couple of weeks have been hectic and the next couple promise to be just as busy, but today's plans to go to Library and Archives Canada to research the City Directories of Ottawa were shelved because of the snowstorm. It's not of epic proportions but bad enough to make the roads hazardous and I only have all-season tires, not snow tires. So - what does a frustrated genealogist do?
I had received a notice from the public library that there is a book on hold for me. I won't pick that up today either. I wanted to go online to the library site and make sure that any remaining holds were deferred until April after my return. There won't be a lot of time to read in the next 3 weeks. The main site was down but there were active links to some of the resources.
Holy smokes - there is access to Ancestry Library from home. I have my own subscription but thought I would check it out anyway. I'm not sure why I chose to look for a birth record of my uncle Francis Gilbert Sunderland, because I had it already, but as soon as I clicked the Search button, not only did his birth registration come up, that of my great aunt Serena Sunderland (Aunt Irene) pop up under the name Serena Raickstack. The reason for such a result, given the search parameters, is that her mother's name was Frances Sunderland.
I had long ago found a marriage for Frances Sunderland to Harry Raistrick in September of 1889, a week after her arrival in Canada with her brood of 5 young children. She was also pregnant at the time. So? Well Harry Raistrick lived in Bradford England and never came to Canada. The marriage was a sham, to give a father to Serena I suppose. Frances had been widowed in October of 1888 when James Sunderland died of pneumonia. Now there really was no reason for this fake marriage as she had recently arrived and nobody need ever have known her "situation". She could have claimed James' death to have been more recent.
Frances never used the surname Raistrick except, even though misspelled, on this registration which took place in October of 1890. The marriage was very real as a ceremony did take place and the marriage was registered. What wasn't real was the groom. Witnesses to the marriage were Abraham Taylor and Mona Pownall, Frances' sister. I can only speculate that perhaps Mona's husband George acted the part of the groom, Harry Raistrick. I can't find any evidence that this man ever set foot on Canadian soil. Abraham Taylor was Frances Sunderland's next door neighbour in the 1891 census, taken the year following Serena's birth. Frances was using her first married name, not Raistrick, nor was Serena ever known to use any surname but Sunderland prior to her marriage.
He was a very real person who lived in Bradford, England whence Frances had come. They must have been acquainted because she knew the rather unusual names of his parents which were recorded on the marriage cert. Perhaps they were very very well acquainted but we shall never know for sure.
I have often wondered how Frances got the money to travel to Canada. I wonder if the butcher, Harry Raistrick, might have helped out. This is pure conjecture on my part but it would make sense. If indeed he was the father of Serena, sending Frances and her children to Canada could preserve their secret. Harry already had a wife and children. To the best of my knowledge the Raistricks continued to live happily in Bradford, England. At least there are a number of records to say they were there for decades after 1890.
In later years Serena (Irene) acquired an attested birth certificate, signed by her sister Annie, possibly to get a passport. This certificate said that her father was James Sunderland and Annie said that she was present at the birth. When Serena was born Annie was 11 and most likely always did what she was told. She might never have questioned her sister's parentage or else kept her mother's secret.
The serendipity continues. I wonder what my next surprise will be!
Saturday, December 3, 2016
Serendipity all over the place
Well it's about time I caught up. Seems that time is slipping by so fast and there's still so much to do.
The side trip to Sheffield is arranged - flight and accommodations arranged. I will notify the archives when I'll be arriving and what documents I want to look at so I can get down to business quickly. I'll be staying at a B&B about a 20 min walk from the Archives so will get in a little exercise. I'll have the Sunday to look around the city itself.
I've continued to work on Aggie's Dash and the more I write and edit the more research I seem to do. Not sure when I'll decide that I've finished. I wish Don would reconsider giving me some stories to include. It is a tribute to Nanny and I would like as much input as possible. Alas that's not going to happen.
Two friends are reading the story for me and suggesting changes in wording which is very helpful. It's a case of finally deciding I've collected all the information and stories and starting the formatting and inclusion of photos and their layout. There is no chance now that I'll have it done as a Christmas present.
In the past couple of weeks the importance of two particular homes in Aggie's life have taken on greater meaning. The first is 146 Lebreton St which it turns out was built by her grandfather, not her father, in the 1890s. The other is 279 Bayswater which was bought (built?) by her husband Harry in the 1920s. It has taken a while but it seems that the best option is to use the microfilm at the Ottawa Land Registry Office which should have the history of the two homes. I hope to go on Monday afternoon to see what I can find out.
To the same end, I went to the Ottawa City Archives this afternoon in a search for information about the expropriation of 146 Lebreton. What I did find is that since it was expropriated by the Ottawa Separate School Board, it would not be found in the minutes of City Council. The province doesn't seem to keep the information and previous inquiries to the school board went nowhere.
However, as I was re-shelving the minute book I happened to notice the headline on a bunch of old newspaper articles that another researcher was examining. It said "Old Time Stuff" and is from the Saturday Citizen of the 1920s. I remember finding one article in that series that was written by E.P McGrath, my great grandfather. I have an image of the article that I clipped from a digital archive that no longer exists. However, the archives have three boxes of those articles. Now I just have to wait for the other lady to finish with them and I'll be notified. I am excited about what I might find in those old columns.
This evening I decided to contact a DNA match from ancestry.com - a distant match but I noticed that she is from a very small town in NY State, Brooktondale. Bing!! I have another cousin who lives there. He is descended from both a brother and sister of my great great grandfather Edward Burns. I doubt that he is a common connection. Anyway I sent off a message hoping for a reply. Immediately afterwards I was browsing a Kehoe/Keogh message board on ancestry and found one from the same person I match on DNA. Could we be related through the Kehoes? So, I answered her post there too. Now I just sit and wait.
Christmas is almost on us and I have some cooking to do this week for next weekend's celebrations with Tom, Susan and family. Keeping in mind preferences and allergies I hope to come up with something a bit different for dessert. The veggies are a no-brainer. It will be a lot of fun.
Well I'll sign off now and hope to get back before I go winging off to Eire.
The side trip to Sheffield is arranged - flight and accommodations arranged. I will notify the archives when I'll be arriving and what documents I want to look at so I can get down to business quickly. I'll be staying at a B&B about a 20 min walk from the Archives so will get in a little exercise. I'll have the Sunday to look around the city itself.
I've continued to work on Aggie's Dash and the more I write and edit the more research I seem to do. Not sure when I'll decide that I've finished. I wish Don would reconsider giving me some stories to include. It is a tribute to Nanny and I would like as much input as possible. Alas that's not going to happen.
Two friends are reading the story for me and suggesting changes in wording which is very helpful. It's a case of finally deciding I've collected all the information and stories and starting the formatting and inclusion of photos and their layout. There is no chance now that I'll have it done as a Christmas present.
In the past couple of weeks the importance of two particular homes in Aggie's life have taken on greater meaning. The first is 146 Lebreton St which it turns out was built by her grandfather, not her father, in the 1890s. The other is 279 Bayswater which was bought (built?) by her husband Harry in the 1920s. It has taken a while but it seems that the best option is to use the microfilm at the Ottawa Land Registry Office which should have the history of the two homes. I hope to go on Monday afternoon to see what I can find out.
To the same end, I went to the Ottawa City Archives this afternoon in a search for information about the expropriation of 146 Lebreton. What I did find is that since it was expropriated by the Ottawa Separate School Board, it would not be found in the minutes of City Council. The province doesn't seem to keep the information and previous inquiries to the school board went nowhere.
However, as I was re-shelving the minute book I happened to notice the headline on a bunch of old newspaper articles that another researcher was examining. It said "Old Time Stuff" and is from the Saturday Citizen of the 1920s. I remember finding one article in that series that was written by E.P McGrath, my great grandfather. I have an image of the article that I clipped from a digital archive that no longer exists. However, the archives have three boxes of those articles. Now I just have to wait for the other lady to finish with them and I'll be notified. I am excited about what I might find in those old columns.
This evening I decided to contact a DNA match from ancestry.com - a distant match but I noticed that she is from a very small town in NY State, Brooktondale. Bing!! I have another cousin who lives there. He is descended from both a brother and sister of my great great grandfather Edward Burns. I doubt that he is a common connection. Anyway I sent off a message hoping for a reply. Immediately afterwards I was browsing a Kehoe/Keogh message board on ancestry and found one from the same person I match on DNA. Could we be related through the Kehoes? So, I answered her post there too. Now I just sit and wait.
Christmas is almost on us and I have some cooking to do this week for next weekend's celebrations with Tom, Susan and family. Keeping in mind preferences and allergies I hope to come up with something a bit different for dessert. The veggies are a no-brainer. It will be a lot of fun.
Well I'll sign off now and hope to get back before I go winging off to Eire.
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
I get by with a little help from my friends
I have great friends - loyal, loving, constant and smart. Two very brave ladies offered to read my Aggie's Dash story and provide corrections and feedback. Thank you Laurie and Pat. You are wonderful for doing this.
The idea behind writing about Agnes McGrath Sunderland, my grandmother, was to preserve her story for the family. My goal was to include genealogy-worthy data in a flowing narrative. Once this story is complete the plan is to choose another ancestor and keep the process going. With the help of these ladies I feel like I'm getting there.
Once I've settled in Bunclody in January I hope to join a local writers' group for motivation and feedback. I'll be looking for a group that meets in a pub. So far they seem to prefer the library but I'm sure there's a suitable pub instead.
The process of writing must be unique to each writer - or at least that's how I feel at the moment. I don't have an established routine or process, having not considered myself to be a writer up to now. Yes I wrote instruction manuals and plenty of letters, but not a non-fiction work about someone I knew and loved.
I feel like I'm getting to know my grandmother better too. She lived with us until her passing in 1969 and I saw her every single day I was at home. But each of us had a unique relationship with her and some of the stories I've received from siblings and cousins have broadened my picture of Nanny. I'll try to do her justice.
A couple of seminars offered at the Ottawa library in branches from one end of town to the other, have also helped. Listening to Denise Chong the writer talk about how she goes about her research and writing, a presentation on making a photo book, and a drop-in genealogy session have all added to my knowledge.
Every time I think I've finished the story something else comes to mind. The photos I've assembled for inclusion have provoked more remembrances that turned into more paragraphs of the narrative. At some point I will just have to say "enough" and I'm done.
For now I'll try to catch some sleep so that maybe tomorrow I will reach that point. If not, maybe the tomorrow after that.
The idea behind writing about Agnes McGrath Sunderland, my grandmother, was to preserve her story for the family. My goal was to include genealogy-worthy data in a flowing narrative. Once this story is complete the plan is to choose another ancestor and keep the process going. With the help of these ladies I feel like I'm getting there.
Once I've settled in Bunclody in January I hope to join a local writers' group for motivation and feedback. I'll be looking for a group that meets in a pub. So far they seem to prefer the library but I'm sure there's a suitable pub instead.
The process of writing must be unique to each writer - or at least that's how I feel at the moment. I don't have an established routine or process, having not considered myself to be a writer up to now. Yes I wrote instruction manuals and plenty of letters, but not a non-fiction work about someone I knew and loved.
I feel like I'm getting to know my grandmother better too. She lived with us until her passing in 1969 and I saw her every single day I was at home. But each of us had a unique relationship with her and some of the stories I've received from siblings and cousins have broadened my picture of Nanny. I'll try to do her justice.
A couple of seminars offered at the Ottawa library in branches from one end of town to the other, have also helped. Listening to Denise Chong the writer talk about how she goes about her research and writing, a presentation on making a photo book, and a drop-in genealogy session have all added to my knowledge.
Every time I think I've finished the story something else comes to mind. The photos I've assembled for inclusion have provoked more remembrances that turned into more paragraphs of the narrative. At some point I will just have to say "enough" and I'm done.
For now I'll try to catch some sleep so that maybe tomorrow I will reach that point. If not, maybe the tomorrow after that.
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
The sun came up this morning
Well I was rather shell-shocked with the US election results yesterday. I will try to recover quickly and hope that maybe he can at the very least, put on the back burner the most horrible of his plans and somehow entirely forget about a couple.
I have just the faintest glimmer of hope that he will manage to leave a bit of Obama's legacy intact. He won't be able to tarnish the grace, integrity and leading by example of the outgoing President. That is unlikely to be matched. Is it even possible for Trump to consider Obama's lifestyle as an example of how to behave?
I'm cleaning the apartment, including washing the windows and vacuuming in corners, to make my world bright and clean. It feels a bit sullied by all the election coverage that has flowed out of my TV for the last many months. Although a bit of a train wreck I couldn't look away as I was at the same time completely unable to do anything about it.
The narrative I've been writing of my grandmother's life is now in the hands of a friend. I'm making no attempt to produce a volume of interest to a general audience. This is for and about the family. The next phase is to collect and arrange and edit as needed, the photographs I have available as illustrations. Subsequently I will use some sort of online publishing tools to make it available for any who wish a copy.
My flight to and from Ireland is booked. Embarkation on the adventure will be 5 January and my return is scheduled for 13 April. I will be home for Easter yet not in time to be the main provider of dinner. Yay! Actually, now that Janet has such a wonderful large home in an idyllic setting she's ended up the default host. Yay again. There are so many benefits from having a condo apartment rather than a house. For one thing - no garden to put to bed, nor leaves to rake.
Tom and Susan are supposed to come to Ottawa - well Pakenham - the weekend of Dec 9 to celebrate the Burns Christmas a bit early. It's unlikely that Mark will make it but Heather should be here. I have my fingers crossed that she is able to come a few days early to help me with the "photo project". By Christmas I'd like to have all of the relevant family pictures organized, scanned, duplicated for safe-keeping, and originals given to whomever among us wants them. The very old irreplaceable ones will stay in the firesafe. Copies can be made for any who desire them. From what I've recently learned, the hard copies will outlast the digital images and I have to make sure that all are properly preserved.
So - back to my cleaning now. It does feel good to get this done - even though I've only finished the living and dining rooms so far. Where is that mop?
I have just the faintest glimmer of hope that he will manage to leave a bit of Obama's legacy intact. He won't be able to tarnish the grace, integrity and leading by example of the outgoing President. That is unlikely to be matched. Is it even possible for Trump to consider Obama's lifestyle as an example of how to behave?
I'm cleaning the apartment, including washing the windows and vacuuming in corners, to make my world bright and clean. It feels a bit sullied by all the election coverage that has flowed out of my TV for the last many months. Although a bit of a train wreck I couldn't look away as I was at the same time completely unable to do anything about it.
The narrative I've been writing of my grandmother's life is now in the hands of a friend. I'm making no attempt to produce a volume of interest to a general audience. This is for and about the family. The next phase is to collect and arrange and edit as needed, the photographs I have available as illustrations. Subsequently I will use some sort of online publishing tools to make it available for any who wish a copy.
My flight to and from Ireland is booked. Embarkation on the adventure will be 5 January and my return is scheduled for 13 April. I will be home for Easter yet not in time to be the main provider of dinner. Yay! Actually, now that Janet has such a wonderful large home in an idyllic setting she's ended up the default host. Yay again. There are so many benefits from having a condo apartment rather than a house. For one thing - no garden to put to bed, nor leaves to rake.
Tom and Susan are supposed to come to Ottawa - well Pakenham - the weekend of Dec 9 to celebrate the Burns Christmas a bit early. It's unlikely that Mark will make it but Heather should be here. I have my fingers crossed that she is able to come a few days early to help me with the "photo project". By Christmas I'd like to have all of the relevant family pictures organized, scanned, duplicated for safe-keeping, and originals given to whomever among us wants them. The very old irreplaceable ones will stay in the firesafe. Copies can be made for any who desire them. From what I've recently learned, the hard copies will outlast the digital images and I have to make sure that all are properly preserved.
So - back to my cleaning now. It does feel good to get this done - even though I've only finished the living and dining rooms so far. Where is that mop?
Monday, October 31, 2016
Pulled in multiple directions
You can have too much of a good thing. Sometimes it's hard to tell which is the better thing, or the best thing.
Recently I started paying more attention to presentations and workshops presented at a number of branches of the Ottawa Public Library. When I reviewed what is being offered it seems that they are all aimed at me. So many offerings so little time. I did a little picking and choosing.
The first one I attended was about tracing the history of a house in Ottawa. Hey - I need to do that. There are two houses in fact. One is the home of my great grandparents which was expropriated in 1969 and has been demolished. The property is now a parking lot. The other is the home that my grandfather built and in which my family lived until I was almost 12 years old.
I'm writing my maternal grandmother's life story - or rather, I'm trying to do justice to a wonderful strong woman who was not sufficiently appreciated while she was alive. Everyone deserves to be remembered and just because you were not a public figure or a member of the aristocracy doesn't mean that this doesn't apply in your case. I really do want Agnes McGrath Sunderland, my Nanny, to be remembered.
I had started writing about her and was struggling to put together a smooth readable narrative from the facts and anecdotes I had assembled. It wasn't working. I might just as well have printed out the "lifestory" option from our family tree on Ancestry.com and tossed in a few photos.
Lo and behold the Library came to my rescue again. Denise Chong, the Ottawa author of The Concubine's Children, was giving a presentation to aspiring writers at a branch not too far from my home, although not at the branch I regularly use. Denise is a non-fiction writer who tells the true stories of her characters in a very readable way. I can't hope to come close to her wonderful style. She researches exhaustively, assembles all the details from documents and interviews and then begins to write.
I had assembled the skeleton of Aggie's life. I have birth, marriage and death records. I have copies of the censuses in which she was enumerated. I had personal recollections and stories from her other grandchildren but since she had passed away in 1969, I couldn't conduct an interview. Neither could I interview my mother who lived with Nanny almost her whole life. She has also died. There is one living niece with whom I speak from time to time on long distance phone calls. She did offer some help as she spent quite a bit of time with Aggie who was her closest aunt. Somehow all that information was not easily translated into flowing prose.
With inspiration from Denise's talk and a copy of her latest book "Lives of the Family", I was finally able to start writing the story. I began by describing Aggie at a particular place and point in time. She was almost 9 years old. From that beginning it was a little easier. Now I'm absorbed in the process.
There are so many resources which I can use to put context around Aggie's life. I still have not decided where I will draw the line and tell myself "that's enough". I have still to conduct the research on the stories of each house. City directories have provided information that was a surprise to me. Just how much of the history of those homes will be included? I still don't know.
Stories of Aggie's parents and grandfather keep creeping in, as do stories of Aggie's son and daughter and sister and ...
How will I incorporate the stark facts of her life? Well, there will be an annex to the book which will include the family tree and the various religious and secular milestones in her life. Pictures will be grouped and inserted in sections to break up the text, they will not be sprinkled in with the text. I'm not an editor or graphic designer yet I would like the presentation to be attractive.
Tomorrow the library is beckoning again. This time it will be to learn a bit about how to take better vacation photos. I'll take lots of notes.
For now, it's time to start making supper. I will try not to write this evening but spend some time selecting the pictures to use and scanning those I don't yet have in digital format. Two weeks ago, at the library of course, I learned about preserving family photos. I will have to spend a good deal of time getting pictures in order. Digital format is not the best way to preserve a special picture. Printed pictures, well cared for, will outlast digital every time.
I did go for a short walk today and have decided to try downloading audio-books to my phone so that I can "read" while I walk. The story will come into my ears and not through my eyes glued to a page. I hope it works.
I'm trying not to be overwhelmed with the prospect of all the writing that lies ahead. So many ancestors, so many lives to recount, so little time ...
Recently I started paying more attention to presentations and workshops presented at a number of branches of the Ottawa Public Library. When I reviewed what is being offered it seems that they are all aimed at me. So many offerings so little time. I did a little picking and choosing.
The first one I attended was about tracing the history of a house in Ottawa. Hey - I need to do that. There are two houses in fact. One is the home of my great grandparents which was expropriated in 1969 and has been demolished. The property is now a parking lot. The other is the home that my grandfather built and in which my family lived until I was almost 12 years old.
I'm writing my maternal grandmother's life story - or rather, I'm trying to do justice to a wonderful strong woman who was not sufficiently appreciated while she was alive. Everyone deserves to be remembered and just because you were not a public figure or a member of the aristocracy doesn't mean that this doesn't apply in your case. I really do want Agnes McGrath Sunderland, my Nanny, to be remembered.
I had started writing about her and was struggling to put together a smooth readable narrative from the facts and anecdotes I had assembled. It wasn't working. I might just as well have printed out the "lifestory" option from our family tree on Ancestry.com and tossed in a few photos.
Lo and behold the Library came to my rescue again. Denise Chong, the Ottawa author of The Concubine's Children, was giving a presentation to aspiring writers at a branch not too far from my home, although not at the branch I regularly use. Denise is a non-fiction writer who tells the true stories of her characters in a very readable way. I can't hope to come close to her wonderful style. She researches exhaustively, assembles all the details from documents and interviews and then begins to write.
I had assembled the skeleton of Aggie's life. I have birth, marriage and death records. I have copies of the censuses in which she was enumerated. I had personal recollections and stories from her other grandchildren but since she had passed away in 1969, I couldn't conduct an interview. Neither could I interview my mother who lived with Nanny almost her whole life. She has also died. There is one living niece with whom I speak from time to time on long distance phone calls. She did offer some help as she spent quite a bit of time with Aggie who was her closest aunt. Somehow all that information was not easily translated into flowing prose.
With inspiration from Denise's talk and a copy of her latest book "Lives of the Family", I was finally able to start writing the story. I began by describing Aggie at a particular place and point in time. She was almost 9 years old. From that beginning it was a little easier. Now I'm absorbed in the process.
There are so many resources which I can use to put context around Aggie's life. I still have not decided where I will draw the line and tell myself "that's enough". I have still to conduct the research on the stories of each house. City directories have provided information that was a surprise to me. Just how much of the history of those homes will be included? I still don't know.
Stories of Aggie's parents and grandfather keep creeping in, as do stories of Aggie's son and daughter and sister and ...
How will I incorporate the stark facts of her life? Well, there will be an annex to the book which will include the family tree and the various religious and secular milestones in her life. Pictures will be grouped and inserted in sections to break up the text, they will not be sprinkled in with the text. I'm not an editor or graphic designer yet I would like the presentation to be attractive.
Tomorrow the library is beckoning again. This time it will be to learn a bit about how to take better vacation photos. I'll take lots of notes.
For now, it's time to start making supper. I will try not to write this evening but spend some time selecting the pictures to use and scanning those I don't yet have in digital format. Two weeks ago, at the library of course, I learned about preserving family photos. I will have to spend a good deal of time getting pictures in order. Digital format is not the best way to preserve a special picture. Printed pictures, well cared for, will outlast digital every time.
I did go for a short walk today and have decided to try downloading audio-books to my phone so that I can "read" while I walk. The story will come into my ears and not through my eyes glued to a page. I hope it works.
I'm trying not to be overwhelmed with the prospect of all the writing that lies ahead. So many ancestors, so many lives to recount, so little time ...
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