Genealogy Humor

The other day Girl #2 said she had lost her humor.  I'm so glad that she found it again! 

In a few days I'm going to visit her, stay a few nights, dirty up the bathroom and come home covered with dog hair from her chic sofa.  But who cares!  We will do and talk non-stop genealogy.  

As for the bedroom (guest) and clean bedding ... I have always had clean bedding.  I think! However, a few months ago Girl #2 was visiting me when her hubby became mentally unbalanced for the day.  He decided that Girl #2 had her little cubby of genealogy goodies, computers, files, scanner and printers.  He wanted HIS cubby in the house.  Geoffrey dismantled "my" bed and carried it up three flights of stairs to the family room.  They have a split level house which means several twists and turns.  Was this a project to gain a cubby of his own?  Or was it an attack against Girl #1 and Girl #2?  

When Girl #2 returned home, there was the bed smack dab in the middle of the family room. And there it remains to this day.  That's right folks, I sleep in the family room.  Look on the bright side.  I have a fireplace and a television and should I decide to curl up in a chair and read, there's plenty of those.  And Geoffrey has his cubby.

Girl #2 is a good cook, when she cooks.  I know it's better than she gets here.  She is forced to eat popcorn, tuna casseroles and toast when she visits me.  Who has time for gourmet meals when genealogy is at the top of the list?  She keeps coming back, so I assume she enjoys the entertainment.  

I'm getting Li'l Red ready so I can go sleep in the family room and share the chic sofa with the dogs.  What fun!  

You Go Girl #1 ... Ruby  

GENEALOGY AND HOUSEWORK or "SHOULD OPPOSITES CO-EXIST" ?

Should genealogy and housework co-exist? This is not for me to answer but you may be better informed by the end of this article. Working on my genealogy and researching are the most important things for me but that pesky housework keeps rearing its ugly face. A few days ago, I got a great email that was the surprise answer to both of my dilemmas. Research or clean? Usually these silly emails just come and go but this one made me laugh and was so great that I had to pass it along.

All of us who love our genealogy just wish we had more time to spend on it. We all tend to feel guilty when we pursue the fun things in our life and end up letting everything else around us seemingly "go to pot".

As I have gotten older, the cooking and chores don't get done as often but I don't care as much either!


Dog hair on the sofa stays put longer but it just makes it look like we got some new "chic" upholstery!

The kids can't come home very often to visit, so I don't work to the bones cleaning before the onslaught of the family of ten!

Company only comes occasionally and usually unexpectedly so they should not expect great food and clean bedding!

Hubby and I have not eaten a meal at our dining table for 3 weeks now. I am sorting papers and getting my research notebook in order on the top of it. The YGGG #1 and I will soon be on the road again, heading to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. The table has become my second "office". The first one is full up and piled high!

Great home cooked meals have been few and far in between. Carry out and TV dinners are pretty tasty these days! We have been eating our meals on old metal TV trays that belonged to my parents in the 1950's and 60's. Does anybody else remember those great little "trays"? Incidentally, they make great extra tables by your chair to hold even more books and papers.

I figure we can always turn the under ware inside out and get another day if the wash gets too far behind!

Compute, write, read and research - these are the words to live by.

I hope you did not think that I got off subject and forgot about that awesome little email I got. A good friend sent "MAXINE" to me and completely made my day. This has to be one of the cutest and most useful tips I have seen.

You never have to feel guilty again because you spent more time looking for those elusive ancestors than you did doing your chores, cooking, or cleaning the garage. Now you can go right ahead and enjoy being a Genea-Bum. "MAXINE" would surely agree that life should only be fun! Be sure to read her cartoon in this post and then run out and get a few gorgeous "get well" cards for yourself.

Wishing you happy and guilt free Genealogy play time, and I almost forgot: " GET WELL " soon...



P.S. I look more like "MAXINE" every day and because my house is less than pristine, I have to thank my own Geoffrey as he complains very little about my Genealogy paper messes and lack of homemade meals. I think those great little "get well" cards that I- RECEIVED- even have him fooled!


Thanks to Arthur for making me laugh with "MAXINE".

Li'l Red Goes To The Cemetery

Today Li'l Red and I went to the Greenwood Cemetery in York, Nebraska.  It is over two hours one way from where I live.  My parents, grandparents and a lot of other relatives are buried there.  Because I will be traveling for several weeks, this was my only opportunity to decorate the graves.  

It was a lovely day for a drive.  The sun was out with only a few clouds and little to no wind.  Is this Nebraska? 

The cemetery is well kept, with an office on the grounds.  In fact some of the employees were mowing and doing maintenance.  There are a lot of trees and shrubs on the grounds.  

I parked Li'l Red and then began decorating the graves.  As I turned to walk back, I noticed a tree behind Li'l Red and it had something blue on it.  I was shocked.  The message was nothing that I expected.  The serenity of the cemetery was suddenly interrupted. 

Every few trees, there was a blue signed tacked on them.  They are firmly tacked so nobody removes them or the Nebraska wind doesn't blow them off to Kansas.  The message reveals the cost of cemetery lots, the cost of grave openings and cremation openings.  This is followed by a message that the cemetery is not tax supported so donations are appreciated and tax deductible.  Excuse me ... I believe we paid for perpetual care!  

Tacked and tacky!  Find another way to advertise the cemetery, such as a sign tacked to the cemetery office.  I would rather see directions to various sections of the cemetery tacked to the trees ... save the advertising for somewhere else.  Better yet ... save the trees and don't tack anything to them!  

Ear Muffs, Hoodies and Head Bands

The two of us had quite a time finding the Moore graves in the Big Springs Cemetery.  It's true that the wind was blowing and it was cold.  Wind in Nebraska in May is typical, but not the cold.  I had been in the cemetery a few years ago, and knew "exactly" where the Moore graves were located.  They were along the fence.  Find the fence and you'll find the tombstones.  Walk the fence and you'll find the tombstones.  

You Go Girl #2, Cheri, looked at me and said, "Right!  Look how long that fence is!"  So we walked the fence.  Girl #2 was wearing her hoodie and head band.  I kept telling her to tighten the hood.  She kept hollering that she should have brought her ear muffs.  Ear muffs in May?  And she wears furry, brown ear muffs!  As we would walk a few yards she would grumble that she'd have an ear ache because she didn't wear her ear muffs.  Thank goodness they were at home.

Eventually we decided to look at the map of the cemetery at the caretaker's building.  That's usually a good idea, particularly when there is a long fence.  Sure enough, we located the Moores and counted off the rows so we could locate their graves.  Walk, count, grumble about the ear muffs ... no graves for the Moores.  Back to the map, count it off again.  

Finally we located the caretaker who informed us that in order to use the map you have to turn sideways and stand on your head.  Going the opposite direction, we located their graves.  They were about three rows west of the fence.  That's how my memory works!  

The two of us are going to Salt Lake City in a month.  I suspect somewhere in all of her luggage she will have those furry, brown ear muffs ... just in case ... rain, wind, cold.  Might as well go prepared!  

Girl #1 .... Ruby 

LOOKING FOR ADALINE

On a recent trip to eastern Nebraska, the YGGGirls made a visit to the quaint old cemetery at Blue Springs, Gage Co., Nebraska. It was a nasty and cold day with high winds but we were determined to find the final resting place of our Great Grandfather as well as some of our Great, Great Grandparents.

We arrived at the beautiful old iron gates of the cemetery which is located about a mile north of the little community of Blue Springs, Nebraska. This cemetery was started in the year 1860 and is the oldest recorded cemetery in the state of Nebraska. There is a great old central building in the middle of the cemetery with an old water pump next to it which made it a very picturesque scene. We could hardly even stand up due to the wind but started out to locate our ancestors. We first found Great Great Grandmother, Mary Eberhart on the west side of the cemetery. By then we were about to freeze out, having only brought sweaters on an extremely cold day, but we pushed onward while trying to not blow over in the wind!

Finally, we discovered the rest of the family who seemed to be all together. Father, Joel Moore and his son Thomas Moore were close together. It seemed natural that Adaline Moore who was the wife of Joel should also be close as we knew she was buried in the same cemetery. No stone for her, that was odd--but as we pondered her whereabouts, we noticed that an area of grass that was next to Joel's stone seemed to appear slightly sunken. Down on hands and knees, we began to probe the area with our hands. Sure enough , it seemed as though Adaline's marker was indeed there. We pulled grass and moved as much dirt as we could by hand in order to bring her marker to light. Both of these people had only the original metal plate markers which had been set in cement many years before. Adaline's had sunken below ground level and become completely overgrown over time.Her first name had been spelled incorrectly on the old metal plate. We cleaned the area out as best we could, knowing that she would surely be covered up again when the first rain came through and washed dirt over the stone. We hoped that at least for a few short weeks that she might "stay in the light of
day".

It was a great day to be able to find our Great Great Grandparents and other family in that beautiful little cemetery. I will visit there again someday but wonder who will look for our "Adaline" in the distant future and again re-discover her final place? We put out flowers, the first to be there to honor our relatives in many, many years and then hurried back to our little red car to turn on the heater and recover from our freezing outing. It was a great discovery for us and soon we were off to yet another cemetery for more research!

Cause of Death ... Squeezed by Genealogy Books

In May of 2008, Cheri and I visited her son and family in Topeka, Kansas.  You can read about this unique family on her blog, Those Old Memories.  What great fun when my nephew, Jason, suggested we visit the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library.  

The library is located at 1515 SW 19th Ave. in Topeka; 785-580-4400.  They are open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturdays 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Sundays from noon to 9 p.m.  The library contains books and a lot more.  There you will find a museum/gallery with displays, a cafe, booktique, computer training center, homework center and even quiet reading rooms.  They have massive collections of books, multimedia, etc.  

On the second floor are enlightening exhibits about Topeka and the area and ... drum roll ... the Special Collections Topeka Room, Genealogy Center.  To learn more about genealogy from their location click on genealogy & local history at their web page.  

Cheri did not go too prepared and so was a bit confused where to start and what to do.  She seemed to focus on my well being.  The genealogy section is equipped with some electronic space savers storage solutions which are book shelving units that close shut and open by pushing a button.  She reminded me several times not to get caught between the bookcases should somebody pass by and push a button.  

I was not too concerned ... after all it might be the way a genealogist wants to depart this life. Squeezed by genealogy books!   

SSSSNAKES IN THE GRASS !

May 2008. One of our usual trips to scout out a family cemetery. This one was to the town of Ansley, Nebraska. It is a very small community in central Nebraska that we have many ties to. Several of our ancestors are buried in the small cemetery and my great uncle owned the bank in Ansley for many years.

This was a cool but sunny day and we expected to find a lot of great new treasures of our family. The You Go Girls scouted out all the graves of our ancestors and of course took lots of pictures for posterity. One more grave to find but it was not even close to the other family members. The cemetery caretaker and his son were working on a small building in the cemetery and we had to ask for his help to find our one missing grave. Kindly he pointed us in the right direction, way to the west edge of the cemetery, next to an old dilapidated fence at the edge of a farm field. We are game for anything so off we go, heading west to find William Morris Copsey.

I was hurrying along, anxious to find our wayward relative. Ah ha--spotted, all alone out by the fence. You Go Girl 2 (Ruby) was sauntering along behind me and looking at every gravestone in her path. Scream !!!!!, CHERI........... it's a snake! We are not young kids anymore but boy did that girl move fast. I ran back to see if she was okay, not bitten-but alas the old gal was faster than the snake! YOU GO GIRL...! The snake, not to be deterred from his "area", was on the attack. It was a Nebraska Blue Racer snake and he was fighting mad. Hissing and daring us to come closer. Of course two old ladies are not match for that so we backed off. The caretaker and his son came over and with a rake, convinced the snake to move along out of our path which he finally did reluctantly after making certain we knew just who belonged there and who didn't. We hurried and got our photos and left the territory!

William Morris Copsey was a private in Co.F, 8th Regt. Wisconsin Vol. Inf and also served in Co. K 34th Regt. Wisconsin Calvary. He is mentioned as an early settler in Weaver Prct of Furnas County, Nebraska in the book, "Past and Present of Furnas County, Nebraska." Wm Copsey was our ancestor and a proud Civil War veteran but this day, it seemed, he had preferred to "rest in peace."

YGGG, Cheri