Four Generations July 30 2007

How News Reporting Has Changed in 117 Years

You'd never see a story worded like this in any of today's newspapers:
As August Beck, a respected citizen of Negaunee, was returning to his home from business, Monday evening Nov 10, he was met by a crowd of fiendish Finlanders, a number of which held him, while the balance drew knives and carved him, inflicting dangerous wounds in his breast and frightfully cutting his arms in numerous places. The murderous fiends left their victim in an unconscious state, and he was picked up by friends, who at once took him to hospital where he received medical attention. He will probably die. Hanging is too good for the inhuman perpetrators of this outrage.
Nov 22, 1890 page 4 of the State of Superior

Darwin Award for 1889 ?

Genealogy research inevidably necessitates one into going through old newspaper death notices and obituaries.This one is from a Sault Ste Marie Michigan newspaper February 23 ,1889 :
Hart Williams of Milo, Kalamazoo County, who died Thursday, is believed to have come to an untimely grave on account of his decidedly human habit of eating wooden toothpicks.His stomach was opened and lots of little bits of wood found in it, with no other apparent reason for his death.

Name of the Day

1894 : Mary E Long of Welland Ontario married Charles Terryberry and thus became Mary Terryberry !

Name of the Day

Omar Basilius Neff (an in-law of course)

Reams and Streams of Relatives

I now have over 13,000 individuals on my genealogy database,and 2641 surnames that I've researched. Most of these are connected to my family by blood or marriage. The majority of them are descendants of immigrants from the United Kingdom--England , Scotland and Ireland, although there are some from Scandanavia , Germany and other locations in Europe. They came to Canada and the U S from the early 1700's , and throughout the 1800's and 1900's.
These are the brave people who left their homes and families, most of the time forever, boarded crowded and sometimes rickety ships succeptable to various diseases, and sailed into the unknown.
I am so grateful that my ancestors took the leap of faith to come to the New World and lay the groudwork for the beautful countries that we have been priviledged to be born in.
Here's to the McLachlins , the Gowanlocks, the McCallums and Pattersons, Scots who settled in Ekfrid, Middlesex Ontario. To the Kilmers and Walters and Fells, Germans who first immigrated to New York State and then to Upper Canada in the 1780's. Many from these families went on to Western Canada, some into Michigan and Ohio and other parts of the U S.
Most of them were people of deep faith in God , and some were ministers of the Gospel and missionaries to far away locations such as Africa. Thanks to you all for the physical and spiritual heritage you have passed on to us !

The Edmonton Sky Last Night

Name of the Day

Nebachudnezzar McGeachy born 1927 Kenora Ontario (deceased)

Genealogy-God Started It !

I was always interested in my family history-in fact I'm interested in all history. But before I got hot and heavy into my family's genealogy, I was drawn in by the lengthy geneaologies of the Old and New Testaments. Don't ask me why, that's where most people give up on their attempts to read through the Bible. I can only say that my conclusion after months of study, was that the sole reason God laid them down in the Scripture was to make a HUGE point--that He knows intimately every person He ever created (even to the numbers of hairs on our heads) He sees everything we do and go through and--amazingly, He cares enough about each person to record their names in books (even if your name is Huppim or Muppin !)
You might think that scrolling through endless census reels or poring over hundreds entries in any given parish register might be tedious and boring, but believe it or not it has its hilarious moments.
This post will be the first to have a feature I am calling "Name of the Day-From Yesterday" :

1870 : A couple happily named their twin boys Cyrenius and Eyerenius !