Monday This 'n That

Articles in this post: MIA, It's A Matter Of Faith, Nebraska's Best (Decendents News), Upcoming Nebraska Genealogy Events and Meetings

MIA
Yes, I've been missing in action of late. We've been having lots of babies here on the farm. Plus the garden has kept me from being infront of the computer plus the scanner portion of my printer went on the fritz so I had no way of sharing photos with you like I wanted.

I am now the proud owner of a wand type portable scanner and will be scanning pictures this week. Soooooo..............we are on a role again! I've got some great projects going!

Nebraska's Best (Decendents News)

The Monday's This 'n That post every week will include important information on the site, a DECENDENTS NEWS section where the family can make announcements, etc on current news. Does anyone remember what Decendent means?

Decendent: Proceeding from an Ancestor.................WHAT? Basically when working on your family history you choose a starting point. Generally that point is you. Everyone behind you are ancestors and everyone going forward (your children, grandchildren, etc) are decendents. However, in the instance of your decentents, you are an ancestor. There have we gone in a perfect circle now?

Basically we'd like to hear from the family about what is going on with you and your children. Keep it general and basic please since we're on the net but do keep us a bit updated. From the perspective of this BLOG the decendents of Michael and Jean Slocum are:

Billie Jean (Slocum) Hansen (5 children), Sean Michael Slocum (4 children plus caring for/adopted Kimberly's), Christopher Gene Slocum (2 children), Kimberly Jean (Slocum) Coffman (4 children) and Katrina Marie (Slocum) Shlick (2 children).

We would like to hear from the cousins of Michael Slocum and Jean (Gesch) Slocum. This means we want to know more about your families and discuss the possiblility of getting together with you for some kind of Cousins Event. It also means that we want to hear from the children of the Children of Chester A. Cunningham and Onieta Mae (Hall) Cunningham, George W. Slocum and Etta Mae (Sinclair) Slocum, August F. Gesch and Mary Elizabeth "Marie" (Rebensdorf) Gesch and Stephen J. Shavlik and Jennie Phoebe (Gunter) Shavlik.

If you are 'cousins' as described above can you let us know more about you and your children? You can EMAIL us or post on this message. We can't wait to hear from you!

It's A Matter Of Faith

I am also gathering information for an article about the faith of our fathers. What do you know about the religious life of your ancestors. If you are part of our families please EMAIL me with what you know.

Sometimes an apparent lack of faith in one of our ancestor's can give us a clue of many things. Are they hiding their faith? Were they persecuted for their faith? What do you know about your ancestors faith? Did they have a favorite Hymn or Song? How did they live out their faith?

Watch for my progress in this area. REMEMBER our goal is to make these people 'real' and not forgotten and not just names on a Family History Genealogy sheet.

Upcoming Nebraska Genealogy Activities and Meetings

Nebraska Educational Television's (NET) documentary of the OCGS "Tombstone Tour" can be found at: Tombstone tour: Finding the value in Nebraska cemeteries

Sunday, June 3, 2012:  2:00 pm to 4:00 pm, Walt Branch Library,  6701 South 14th St., Lincoln.  Rayma Shrader will be at Walt Branch Library from 2-4 PM to assist LLCGS members and anyone else interested in genealogical research.  Bring your questions about 1940 census, puzzles related to where to search next, etc. Invite folks who are curious about genealogy and they can learn how to begin using library resources. 

5 June 2012: Family History Library (Latter Day Saints) 8:30 pm 3000 Old Cheney Road, Lincoln. IMMIGRATION

7 June 2012: Tri-State Corners Genealogical Society (includes Richardson County) Meetings are 7:30 p.m. the first Thursday of each month at the Pioneer Plaza Meeting Room, 1820 Barada Street, Falls City, NE.


16 June 2012: Family History Library (Latter Day Saints) 8:30 pm 3000 Old Cheney Road, Lincoln. EMIGRATION

16 Jun 2012: The Otoe County Genealogical Society will be hosting a presentation on "Witching Unmarked Graves" from 1:00 to 3:30 p.m. at the Unadilla Cemetery in Unadilla, Nebraska, and afterwards at the Park Hill Cemetery in Syracuse. Cost is $5.00, which includes a witching rod and presentation material. Checks need to be made out to "OCGS" and mailed in along with your name and contact information by June 1st to P.O. Box 465, Syracuse, NE 68446. If you would like more information regarding this event, please contact OCGS president, Mary Hanke at hankemary@cox.net.


16 Jun 2012: The Greater Omaha Genealogical Society will be hosting a FREE gernealogy class, titled, Part I: "Finding Family on the Internet—Is It Accurate?" Once thought to be primarily the tool of business and science, the internet is being taken over by genealogists. What’s out there? Part II: "There’s More in the Courthouse than Vital Records." Learn what helpful records can be found in the courthouse to document your family history. This class will be held from 9:15 a.m. to 12:00pm at the Mormon Trail Center, 3215 State Street in Omaha. Classes are free, but pre-registration is requested. Please call (402) 706-1453 or email at genclass@aol.com.


23 June 2012: Extra! Extra! Read All About It – using newspapers for genealogy research.
Presented by Susan Petersen of LongLostRelatives.net  11:00 am W. Dale Clark Library, 215 S. 15th St, Omaha, NE 

Tuesday Family Trivia

This Weeks Trivia Question:

Often 'farm families' moved to town for one reason or another.  Usually it was when the children were old enough to take over the farm and the parents found town living easier for them.  This also meant that the couple would need some kind of income in their later years.

In the picture this man and his wife ran a business common many years ago.

This is a picture of Warren Sinclair and his 'town business'.  Who can name the business and the business location?  (I've given you a big hint here by giving you his name)  There are also several other stories about Grandpa Sinclair.  Who can share?

Last Weeks Trivia Question:

There are three categories for 'homesteaders' that qualify for certificates through the Nebraska State Genealogcial Society.

FIRST FAMILY	Settled in Nebraska by 1867
PIONEER FAMILY	Settled in Nebraska between 1868 & 1879
CENTURY FAMILY	Settled in Nebraska by 100 years prior to current date

Our question was for you to see which of the ancestrial families in the links above qualify as 'First Families' or 'Pioneer Families'.

I have to say that I was surprised by Jean's line.  Some that I thought would be First or Pioneer Families didn't qualify according to the above date. 

Mike's Line:  Hall and Masters qualify as First Families.  Sinclair and McCleary appear to qualify as Pioneer Families.  There are numerous families that then qualify as Century Families.

Jean's Line:  Gesch and Shavlik qualify as a First Family.  Krska and Gunter qualify as Pioneer Family.  Many other 'lines' qualify as Century Families.

Some of these might change as I go through the process of gathering all the proof information to submit these families for certificates.  I will have to gather proof of the time the families came to Nebraska and then prove through birth and death certificates on down the line the either Mike or Jean are actual descendants of these people.

Last year and early this year have proved bring us huge surprises in our family tree.  I'm curious what the rest of this year will bring.  I will be working on the eight family lines above this year.