Genealogy and Family Hope Chest Step 4: Share those Photos!

Photos are fairly easy to share and pass on. There are many methods but here's a few I have used:

* Scan your original photographs, then print them on good quality photographic paper. Label them on the back (using a proper pen for writing on photos) Mail to family

* Scan your original photographs, then create a collage (Picassa does a nice one) or Memory Book, with text describing each photo. Mail the bound Memory Book to family members.

* Take your favourite family photos to a photography store. Have them enlarged and then choose a nice mat and frame for each one. Give them as gifts at Birthdays or Christmas.

On the left you can see a few of the family photos I have enlarged and framed for myself.

Once you have framed a photo, be sure to print neatly on the back with pen! Put the date you framed it, your name and a brief biography of the subject. I have dozens of framed, labelled ancestor photos on the walls of my house (over 75 at last count) and while I have made copies to send to family, no one else has the huge antique frames I have. Some day my framed photos will be passed on and I want to be sure that whoever gets them next will know exactly who each person is and how they are related to that person.

My advice is to never frame your original photographs. Make good quality copies and frame those instead. You honestly can't tell them from the original! Put your originals (identified on the back of course) in a small, convenient container, and label it. Use several containers if necessary, depending how many originals you have.

I have all my pre-1950 photographs sorted by family (McGinnis, Peer, Vollick, Fuller, Simpson and so on) and I have one small clear storage tub for each. Labelled of course!

For duplicates or photos that I know I want to pass on to certain individuals (such as my grandchildren or children) I bought larger tubs labelled with the name of whoever I want to have the photos. So for example I have a large tub labelled with the names of two of my grandchildren and in it are the photos I already know I want them to have.

My older CDVs, Cabinet Cards and tintypes are in archival folders and binders. You can also buy a lovely container that looks like something anyone would want to have, and put your photos in that.

Choose whatever method suits you best but remember -- the idea is to make it EASY for your Executor to go through your home and carry out your wishes. If your photos are in file folders or dozens of photo albums, they are less apt to be saved or to be passed on to others.

You don't know who will be clearing out your belongings - a spouse, a child, a grandchild... but whoever it is will presumably be grieving and exhausted. They may have limited time or energy to carry out the task! So make it easier for them. Sort, organize and label.

Genealogy and Family Hope Chest Step 3: Categorize!

Okay you have made a list of all your family treasures and heirlooms. You've taken photos of each one. You've added a description of each item. And you've started your own Show & Tell - showing each item to children, grandchildren or other family members and telling them the story behind it.

Step 3 of my plan to make sure family treasures are cherished, preserved and passed on, is to do some categorization. We need to categorize what type of heirlooms we have. We need to figure out HOW we are going to preserve and share our treasured items but each one has its own unique challenges to overcome.

Not every item can be shared and preserved in the same way. I have a method of sharing and preserving my family treasures which is unique to each category. I want to share these ideas with you in separate posts (one for each category).

It's important to get an idea of what you have, where it fits (what category) and then take steps to follow a unique plan for each category. In my plan there are 5 categories of items I want to share with other family, as well as pass down to future generations.

1. Family photographs. Are you the keeper of the family photos? I am, and I believe it's my responsibility to preserve and share these with other family members.

2. Original Paper Items such as documents, letters and journals. This does not mean photocopies! An original document is one that can't be found somewhere else. Once it is lost, it's gone forever. But a photocopy of an entry in a church register, for example, can be obtained by someone else at some point in time. So if you have great-grandpa's letters written to great-grandman, or grandma's daily journals, or your own journals, or Uncle Fred's Enlistment Papers for WW1, they would go in this category.

3. Objects such as jewellery, china, family silver, a book that belonged to an ancestor, any physical object goes into this category.

4. Memories & Stories. These are not tangible. These are the stories that Grandma told you about her childhood or her father. Your own memories count too. Your memory of your mother ironing while singing a song to you goes in this category. You've probably already figured out that these memories and stories need to be written down but I want to talk more about that in a separate blog post

5. Genealogy Research. Yes you are going to want to see your research preserved and I've got some ideas on how to make that happen.

For now, take a little time, check your list of treasured family items and see if you want to add anything to that list. Then start thinking about what categories things fit into. You might want to consider how you think you can best preserve and share those items, before my next blog post.

Genealogy and Family Hope Chest Step 2: Let's Talk!

Step 2 of my plan to preserve and pass on cherished family heirlooms and documents involves starting with your children and grand-children at as young an age as possible.

This part is fun. The idea is for you to brainwash your family! Entice them with stories of each treasured object - who it belonged to, where they lived, how you ended up with it and what you want to see happen to it.

Keep talking to your children, grand children and anyone else who will listen. Tell them the stories until their eyes glaze. Your hope is that someone at some point in the future will actually remember something you said.

You could even tie this in to the Ancestor Cards I made for my grandchildren, and talked about in a previous blog post. Why not create a card for each treasured object and write a description of it explaining who owned it, when, and where and how it came into your possession. Play games with your grandchildren using the cards. if you have a photo of the person who owned the object put the photo on the Ancestor Card and on the reverse put the item photo plus description. Anything that gets your children or grandchildren's attention is good.

My own grandmother told me endless stories of her family. She repeated them several times a year. She showed me objects - her husband's gold pocket watch, his watch fob and chain, her wedding ring, his signet ring, her grandmother's Prattware pot lids, her mother's special knives and forks, a toast rack her mother used ... and so on.

With each item she told me the story behind it. I knew more about Grandma's precious family objects than I did my subjects in school! Hearing the same story so many times really stuck in my mind. Yes I forgot a few, for example I have several teacups Grandma gave me but I can't for the life of me recall whose they were.

The point is to maximize the odds in favour of your family heirlooms being remembered and cherished by at least one member of your family. To do that you need to talk and show and be enthused about each item. I've done this with my sons and my grandchildren since they were little. Now my grandchildren ask to see the items, and they love the stories I tell them of their ancestors.

You'll also have a wonderful opportunity to spend some one on one time with your children or grand-children. You'll also begin to see who might be a potential candidate to carry on the torch. If you are lucky there will be one child who is intrigued and wants to know more, who asks to hear your stories.

That will bring you to other decisions later - such as who will you pass your family heirlooms to - but we'll talk about that in a later post.

For now, start talking!

An Older Woman in Her Glory

This is my entry for Smile for the Camera: Costume

The word prompt for the 10th Edition of Smile For The Camera is Costume? No, not as in Halloween. Costume as in dress in general; especially the distinctive style of dress of a people, class, or period. Show us that picture that you found with your family collection or purchased that shows the costumes of the rich to the not so rich, from the civil war to the psychedelic sixties.

You can't get much more typical Civil War era than this older woman in fashionable gown. Her bonnet is a bit old-fashioned but that was very common with older women. They often stuck to a hair style or bonnet they had worn in their younger years.

Starting a Genealogy and Family Hope Chest

Going through my mother's boxes from her apartment, and re-examing Doris' Genealogy Box has made me stop and think. Have I made sure that the genealogy and family treasures in my care are going to be passed on to others for safe-keeping?

I am sure that many of us have such treasured items. Even if we have no family heirlooms we have our genealogy research and papers. I've learned that when a loved one dies, it is not always easy, or possible, to preserve precious documents or heirlooms. Even if saved, how and when does one pass them on to others?

It should be easy. You save everything you think is worth saving, and immediately decide you are passing everything on. Done - not your problem anymore. But wait! Who says the folks you want to pass these treasures on to are prepared to accept them. I'm learning it's not as easy as you might think.

Will Others Treasure Your Treasures?

Another scenario - you have family treasures that you enjoy so you don't want to pass them on to others now, but you want to be sure they go to other family members when you are gone. That's even more difficult to guarantee.

There are logistics involved in passing on family heirlooms and genealogy papers. If you expect your journals to be kept for the next hundred years or more, you should be thinking ahead to the problems future generations might encounter. People move. Families split up. Your great-grandson might treasure your journals but his wife may think they are just taking up space and getting musty and dirty. You might have so many journals that they become scattered and lost.

What about Great grandma's wedding ring? How will you ensure that is passed on and its history known and shared?

Your great-uncle's Military Medals and papers - is it really logical to think that a jumbled mass of documents with some tarnished medals is still going to be kept all together by one descendant and its provenance still remembered?

Who Wants Your Masses of Genealogy Papers!

And your genealogy papers and records that take up 4 filing cabinet drawers or 10 binders. Who on earth is going to want to store those? Even if you have a son or daughter ready and willing, what are the chances that the next generation will accept those 4 filing cabinets of papers and store them safely?

Who Will Carry the Torch?

I've been giving this a lot of thought over the past year and even more so since my mother passed away. As the unofficial keeper of the family photos and treasures in my family, I need to make sure that everything I love and hold dear will go on to the people I think most apt to pick up the torch and continue to cherish them.

I thank my lucky stars that my grandmother passed on most of her cherished heirlooms to me when I was a teenager. She saw an interest from me and she leapt at the opportunity to tell me the stories of who owned each item and what it meant to her.

It must have been difficult for her to let them go in her lifetime but it was a very wise step on her part. Had she waited, it is unlikely many would have been saved when she died, as no one but me knew their significance. And I was many miles away with no say over who in the family was given any mementoes.

Develop a Plan

So I have developed a plan - a Genealogy & Family Hope Chest - for helping to ensure that treasured family items and genealogy papers do get passed on and cherished by others. I call it a Genealogy & Family Hope Chest because you cannot of course guarantee that what you consider important to pass on will be preserved and passed on by others. All you can do is hope. But along with that hope you can take steps to maximize the possibility that what you want will happen!

Step 1

Let's start with Step 1 of the Genealogy & Family Hope Chest

First, make a list. Yes, sit down today and make a list of all the family treasures and heirlooms that you have in your possession.

Beside each item, write a brief description of its provenance - who owned it and how old it is, and how and when it came into your possession. Take a photograph of it or scan it. Do this for each cherished item you have.

Print the photos. You can print 4 to a page or 6 to a page, or print each separately. It's up to you. Make sure you clearly label each photo with the name and brief description of what it is. Yes, you're duplicating your list you just created, but in a visual format.

You now have a written or printed list of family heirlooms with a description of each. You also have a photo of each family heirloom clearly labelled and described.

Put one copy of the list and photos in your Safety Deposit Box (if you have one) This is just to safeguard against losing the other copy!

The other copy (list plus photos) should go in a manilla envelope marked "FOR MY EXECUTORS" and placed where your Executor(s) will remember to go to first. You have written a will and appointed executor(s) haven't you? Phone your executor(s) and tell them where you are putting this envelope and what is in it. (You should already have such an envelope which contains instructions on what you want done with your remains, where your safety deposit box is, a list of bank accounts, lawyer's name etc but that's a topic for another blog post)

This is the Family part of your Hope Chest, don't worry about your Genealogy papers just now. We'll get to those later. You can have a break now and relax. I'll talk about Step 2 of a Genealogy & Family Hope Chest in my next blog post. I think you will find Step 2 is a lot of fun!

Military Records: Looking Under a Stone, not just peeking behind it...

This is a photo of my Grandmother's brother Sydney Simpson. Sydney was born in Ramsgate Kent England in 1897.
I knew Uncle Syd, as we called him, for he lived in Toronto and came to visit our family fairly often. But Until I saw this photo in Doris' Genealogy Box, I had no idea he had been in WW1.

A search of the online CEF (Canadian Expeditionary Force) records of soldiers in the First World War brought up the front and back of his Attestation Papers.

This was terrific to have but something that is often overlooked by researchers is that Library & Archives Canada has a nice little link called "How to consult a file on-site or order a copy of the complete file" This should not be overlooked when you find an ancestor's WW1 Attestation Papers online!

The Attestation Papers are simply the record of the soldier's signup - the date he/she enlisted, where it occured, some vital information about the individual and whether or not they were accepted and so on. But what is not online is the full file on that soldier! That file can be 2 pages. It can be 100. Most Canadian Expeditionary Force service files contain an average of 25 to 75 pages. You have no way of knowing until you order it. The cost is very reasonable and it is well worth taking the time to fill out the order form online.

I have ordered dozens of WW1 CEF files for individuals. Items included are often a list of promotions or demotions, major movements (events) such as being wounded, disciplinary action, arrival in England, to the front lines, hospitalization, leave and so on. You can also see what unit the soldier was in, and if he was transferred, when he was discharged or if he died, etc.

So remember, don't overlook the value of military records in your genealogy research but more importantly be careful to ensure you have obtained the full records and not just a small portion of them!

For Canadian military records, there is much more available online than just WW1

The Joy of Genealogy

As I continue my unpacking of my mother's 11 boxes of documents, photos and miscellaneous items from her apartment, I find myself becoming easily distracted.

Each item makes me pause and reflect. What did this mean to mother? When and where did she get it? Why did she keep it?

Mother was the story-teller in the family and she often told me stories of her childhood and what she recalled of her grandparents. But she was never interested in the family history until later in life.

Her parents were both born in England and I would send her my findings on her family whenever I searched out something new. Then the genealogy bug hit her. She became fascinated at finding new ancestors and in 1997 at the age of 81 went with me on her first research trip -- to Salt Lake City, the mecca of genealogists!

When we found her Fuller family origins in Lenham Kent England in the 1860s but could not research further back because those records had not been microfilmed, she would not give up. Within a few months she had made arrangements with the vicar to fly over from Canada and research in the local church parish book.

She spent several days in the dark and damp church poring over the old church books that went back to the 1600s. Her journal reflects the difficulties she had reading the old script and staying warm. Of course with no photocopier she had to copy and write everything out by hand - a monumental task!

Now I find that her genealogy files are overflowing. How much of it is data I sent her? How much of it did she find and share with me? How much is new to me? It's wonderful that she was so enthralled with research and genealogy. But I have a huge task ahead to go through all her notes and hopefully make some new discoveries along the way. Wish me luck!

Genealogy Jewellery

When I packed up my mother's belongings after her death two weeks ago, I didn't have time to sort or scrutinize items before packing them. Everything had to go quickly into boxes, to be sorted at my leisure when I returned home.

Because mother wasn't a very organized person, her belongings were jumbled together and that is how they were packed - as we found them. So I am finding the most intriguing items mixed in with very ordinary papers and ephemera.

One of the items I found as I unpacked was an old tarnished silver charm bracelet. It was very black with age but I could see that there were 8 small hearts and 3 tiny heads (2 girls, 1 boy). It looked vaguely familiar but it wasn't until we cleaned a few of the hearts that I realized the significance and remembered when mother wore it!

It was a charm bracelet with a heart or head for each of her grandchildren! On each charm was engraved the grandchild's name and date of birth. The first charm was for her first grandchild born in 1958. The last charm on the bracelet represented my son born in 1973. Two grandchldren are missing, both were born after 1973.

I am going to find out if I can have 2 more charms made up for the last two grandchildren who are missing from the bracelet. If it is kept with a note to indicate its significance and the owner, it will be an amazing genealogy treasure trove for future generations.

1891 Canadian Census online at LAC

Library and Archives Canada now has the 1891 Canadian Census online

Genealogists can access digitized images of original census returns which list the name, age, country or province of birth, nationality, religion, and occupation of Canada's residents at the time of the 1891 Census.

For more Canadian Census records see AllCensusRecords.com

The Value of Military Records

Having found the photos of Ern and Cordelia Simpson sailing on board SS Canada from Liverpool to Canada in 1923 in my mother's papers, I was distracted from unpacking my mother's 11 boxes and now intrigued by what else might be in Doris' Genealogy Box!

I continue looking through Doris' Genealogy Box. For those who have not been following this story, Doris was my mother's cousin (my grandmother and Doris' father were brother and sister) and on their deaths all their papers, documents and photographs came to me for safe-keeping and sharing.

I hadn't realized how many documents there were about Uncle Ern. This is an early photo of him taken in Ramsgate England. I'd looked at his papers, skimmed through them, but never sat down to put the pieces together or think about them in any depth. The number and variety of his military records was astounding.

I soon discovered that Uncle Ern was in the 1st Battalion Kent Buffs in Ramsgate England. The Kent Buffs have an impressive military history going back hundreds of years.

But the real value in a genealogical sense was the discovery of Ern's Military Book which listed his wife's name (including her maiden name), his parents and his siblings, and their places of residence! Wow. There was his sister (my Grandmother) by name - Ruth. Had I not already known my grandmother's parents' names what a find this would have been. It just goes to prove that searching a sibling in depth can often turn up details that relate to your own direct ancestor.

Organizing a timeline of the military documents relating to the Kent Buffs in my possession helped me to understand Uncle Ern's time with that outfit:

1903. Age 19 years 6 months. Joined the East Kent Regiment "The Buffs" in the 1st Battalion. His character is noted as "very good, a thoroughly sober and well conducted man" He is 5' 4.5" with tattoos on both arms.

December 1904 - February 1905 - in the Mounted Infantry


1906. Age 22 years 6 months. There are two military documents concerning Ernie's transdfer to Army Reserve from 1st Battalion, The Buffs. There is a Certificate of Transfer dated 10 July 1906, a certificate for being in the Army Rserve dated Dover 10 July 1906.

1908. Age 24 years 6 months. Dominion of Canada Certificate of Identity of an Army Reserve Man Permitted to Reside in the Dominion. It is dated 22 June 1908 and expires on 10 July 1915

This certificate allwed Ernie to live in Canada. This paper indicates that Ern's military service to date consisted of 3 years in the Army (1905-1908) and 11 years 82 days in the Reserves. This means that he joined the Army Reserves or the Kent Buffs in 1895 at the age of 13, however I found no papers or records before 1902 in Doris' Genealogy Box


1914 Next I found a Certificate of Discharge for Ernie dated July 30, 1914. It states that he attested to the Buffs in Ramsgate on 11 July 1903, was transferred to the Reserve Army on July 1906 and is no longer fit for service. His character is once again noted as "very good, a thoroughly sober and well conducted man"

Ern's military career did not end with the Kent Buffs or his immigration to Toronto Ontario Canada. During WW1 he was posted to the historical Stanley Barracks in Toronto Ontario as a Guard, then the Royal Canadian Army Veterinary Corps after WW1.

I will write more on those two stints in these historical units plus his court-martial for letting a prisoner escape from Stanley Barracks, in a later posting.

Another Genealogical Mystery Solved

This photo was taken in Ramsgate Kent England in April 1906. It is one my grandmother Fuller gave me many years ago, of her brother Frank at age 16.

Grandma always told me that her little brother drowned in Ramsgate Harbour at the age of 18 and that was why she herself was terrified of the ocean and never swam. In fact when I was a little girl and went to stay with her one summer, she would only let me have about 1 inch of water in the bathtub!

I never thought to question Grandma's story.... but on looking through Doris' Genealogy Box I spotted a receipt in the name of Ernie Simpson.
It was dated August 1, 1908 from F. W. Matthews, Funeral Director in Toronto Ontario (Canada) and showed a $40.00 bill paid for "Funeral Furnishings and Services" for the "late Frank W. Simpson" This was Grandma's brother Frank!

Further searching turned up an earlier receipt dated July 24, 1908 from St. James Cemetery in Toronto for $4.00 paid for "...the ground of North Grave Lot 134, Block C, Ravine" in the cemetery.



Realizing this must be for Frank's burial I searched Ancestry.com Vital Statistics for Ontario and found Frank's death certificate.


Grandma's brother Frank Simpson died of appendicitis in St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto Ontario on 22 July 1908 at the age of 18, he did not drown in Ramsgate Harbour. I think now that Grandma made up the death by drowing story to cover her own fear of the water and to keep her grandchildren cautious when around water.

A search of Ancestry.com Ships Passenger Lists revealed that Frank arrived in Quebec Canada in May 1907 on board the ship Southwark. 14 months later he was dead.

When I was a teenager Grandma gave me a book The Blacksmith of Boniface Lane that Frank had won for perfect attendance in the Cavendish Baptist Sunday School in Ramsgate in October 1902.

Frank was 13 years old and I don't think he ever read the book as it is in perfect condition.

But I treasure it as a memento of the brother who meant so much to my grandmother. I would never have known the true story of Frank's death nor where he is buried, had it not been for different preservers saving documents. And if it were not for my Grandmother giving me Frank's book and photograph, I would not have been able to piece together a little visual tribute to Frank's memory.

A Photograph Leads to More Genealogy Discoveries

In my mother's boxes of items from her apartment, I found 2 photographs both marked on the back in my grandmother's writing. One was a photo of Grandma's brother Ernest (Ern) Simpson with his daughter Doris.


Ern's photo was written on the back "April 21st 1923. Wait[ing for t]he Canada on the [dock?] at Liverpool" My mother had added the names "Doris & Ernest Simpson" in block printing

The second photo was of Ern's wife Cordelia Cook. Auntie Cordie's photo was harder to read but it said "[-----------] alone S S Canada April 1923" I love that Auntie Cordie is on board the SS Canada and you can see the funnel and other ship structures in the background.

Ernie was born in 1883 in Ramsgate England, the eldest child of my great grandparents David & Sarah (Stead) Simpson. As kids We saw quite a lot of Uncle Ern, Auntie Cordie and their daughter Doris. They would often drive from Toronto to Ajax for a visit.

I know quite a bit about Ernie as he and his wife Cordie came to Canada in 1908 and settled in Toronto where he ran a Grocery Store.

A search of Ancestry.comlast year found Ern and Cordie's arrival in Canada in 1908 but I had never gotten around to checking other years in case they went back to England to visit family. So the 1923 photo was a very nice surprise!

The photographs in Mother's possessions sent me scrambling back to Ancestry.com but nothing was found for their sailing from Liverpool to Canada in 1923. I did find their departure from Canada to Liverpool in 1922 and the passenger list shows that they were headed for his mother's house in Ramsgate.

His paternal grandmother Sarah (Page) Simpson, shown here in the picture of Ern in 1885, lived with his mother until her death in 1921 so sadly Ern would not be seeing her on the 1922 trip.

When Doris died in her 90s, all of her papers and photographs came to me for safe-keeping. She and her parents were preservers, there were oodles of documents. Curiosity compelled me to look through the box at the time but I confess that I never scanned or studied them in depth.

Although I am bogged down with boxes from my mother's apartment, off I went to pull out the tub with Doris' belongings - and to my delight I found several documents that provide more detail on her father Ernie.


Ernie's original birth certificate from 1883 was in Doris' Genealogy Box, as was his wedding certificate (the original) from 1907. In a strange "small genealogy world" kind of way, I happen to have my great grandmother's bible which has the entry of his marriage written the same day it occured.

I also have several lovely wedding day photos of Ern and Cordelia, found in an antique photo album belonging to Doris. One is the full wedding party and the rest are of the happy couple.

The bible is another story. After Great-Grandmother Simpson died in England, the bible was given to my grandmother's sister's step-daughter who gave it to her daughter who immigrated to Australia to live! That's confusing isn't it? So Great-grandma's bible was in the hands of a non-blood distant relative who very graciously mailed it to my mother when she asked for it many years ago.

So now I am digging through my mother's cousin Doris' Genealogy Box and will write about what I find there that relates to my Uncle Ern Simpson and his family.

Ontario Genealogical Society 2009 Conference

The Ontario Genealogical Society's 2009 Conference web site is now on-line

This year the conference is hosted by the Halton-Peel Branch and is being held at Sheridan College in Oakville from May 29th to 31st. It will also celebrate the 300th Anniversary of the Palatines who left their homes in 1709.

The web site contains full details of the schedule and registration, including a trip to the new Ontario Archives.

Unpacking the Genealogy Treasures

These are a few of the items found in the first box I unpacked. Mother's Pilot Log Book was a suprise, I don't think any of us knew she had kept it. She took her pilot's licence in 1982 at the age of 66 in preparation for building and flying her own ultralight aircraft.

Finding her log book helped me firmly establish another date in her genealogy timeline, because I could not remember the exact year she learned to fly.

She and her companion Godfrey Harwood are shown here standing beside their ultralight when it was finished. Some of the other genealogy finds were a memory book of her 90th Birthday Party in 2007, a few of her personal journals, one of her trip diaries which she typed and printed off her computer (her 2001 camping trip in the Australian Outback at age 85), a small bible, a dragon wall tile she bought on her trip to China (which she used as a hot plate) and two incredible treasures of jewellery.

One was a small engraved heart-shaped locket "To Joan from Cec" which my father gave her on their wedding day in 1936. Inside is room for two small photos, one for my father the second for my mother. This was a beautiful treasure and one I will cherish.

The best genealogy find though was a tarnished silver charm bracelet which held heads and hearts engraved with the full names and complete birthdates of all her grandchildren up to 1973. I am going to add the last two grandchildren born after 1973 so that the bracelet is complete. What a genealogical treasure for a future descendant!

I'm making good progress and following advice given here on my blog, am sorting items into plastic tubs for later conservation - but enjoying them now!

Almost a Dozen Boxes of Life, Where do I Begin?

Yesterday I looked at the 11 large cardboard boxes and 2 huge plastic tubs containing my mother's life. As I mentioned in my posts Packing Up a Life, the boxes contain an assortment of items from her apartment. Mother was not an organized person and her living areas reflected that.

So each box contains eclectic items that were packed as I found them - a trip diary, old photos, earrings she had taken off and laid down on top of a pile of papers. One room may have held 3 trip diaries, others were scattered in one of two bedrooms, some were in drawers. This makes for difficult unpacking as I don't know what is in each box. We had very little time and could not sort before packing, it all has to be done now that the boxes are here ready to unpack.

As I stood and gazed at the boxes sitting on top of each other in my computer room, I wondered how on earth I should tackle this huge job. "Start with one box" said my husband. His idea was that I would unpack one box, sort it, organize it, archive it and scan or copy any papers to share with my siblings. Then all the items in that box would be stored in their proper place. But where WAS their proper place?

And how could I unpack one box and go through it carefully when it might contain one trip diary but none of the others. Shouldn't I unpack everything and organize items in some kind of chronological order? And did I really want 10 boxes sitting for weeks while I took my time with one?

Finally I decided I had to unpack one box and organize the items within by putting them in plastic storage tubs. I knew I would find my mother's writings, her memoirs, her trip diaries, photographs and her genealogy papers. So I would need (at a minimum) one tub for photos, one for memoirs and souvenirs relating to her life, one for her trip diaries and one huge tub for her genealogy papers.

I decided I could not allow myself to enjoy what was inside each box, but instead unpack, sort, organize into tubs until all boxes were empty. When all the boxes were unpacked I would allow myself to take one tub at a time and go slowly through it.

Easier said than done! The first box had many surprises and treasures. Besides the dust there was a very nice photo of my grandmother on her wedding day to her second of three husbands, several other photos I had never seen before taken in the 1920s in Guelph Ontario, her writings about her trips to Australia, Alaska and Russia, two published articles about mother, my aunt and my grandmother living and travelling around N. America in a Winnebago in the 1970s, a book of minutes of meetings where she was secretary, an envelope of newspaper clippings of births, deaths and marriages from the early 1900s, a 1967 Expo Souvenir Glass, and my step-father's death certificate.

How could I not sit down with a cup of tea and enjoy reading her trip diaries at the very least!

I confess that I gave in. I read her trip diaries. I glanced at the photos but fought the impulse to scan them and put them up in a Picassa Web Album or print them off for siblings. I spent a wonderful afternoon curled up in a chair, feeling like my mother was sitting in my living room telling me all about her adventures.

Now I have to go back to unpacking, sorting and organizing. I welcome any suggestions as to the best method of tackling the unpacking and sorting, but also how to archive and share the treasures with my siblings and other family members!

Packing Up A Life, Day 2

Day 1 of packing up my mother's belongings from her apartment was over. After my brother left my husband and I stayed another 2 hours to clear out the rest of the kitchen and the bathroom. Then it was off to our hotel to shower and change for supper and collapse into bed at 11 p.m.

I woke at 3 am, unable to sleep. Day 1 had passed in such a blur of activity and frantic sorting and packing that I really didn't have time to think about the circumstances and the emotional impact this was having on us. Objects that had been precious to my mother had been tossed in the garbage. Her earrings that she purchased on each of her many trips still dangled from her earring board on her dresser. I couldn't stop worrying about what we were going to do with those earrings!

On Day 1 the Writer's Group she was part of had invited us to attend a memorial service they were holding in mother's honour on Day 2 of our packing and sorting. My brother had a lawyer's appointment so could not go but I was honoured to be asked and told them I would be there. They asked if I would read the obituary I had written for mother, and also a poem that I found in her apartment on Day 1. Mother had written the poem for her group and it seemed fitting that it be read at the Service. Mother was a very reserved woman who did not share her emotions or feelings with others but her writing gave her that opportunity to allow her inner thoughts and feelings to shine through. Her poem touched me as it revealed a part of her I had not known. So I agreed to read it. All these thoughts kept me awake from 3 am on.

The service was lovely. Each of the women in her writing group shared their impressions of Joan (my mother). It was a unique opportunity for me to glimpse my mother through their eyes, as a friend rather than a mother. Then it was my turn. As I read her poem, I was overwhelmed and could not continue. But one of the women took over and finished it. It all seemed so fitting as mother's writing was extremely important to her. Here is her poem written when she was 90:

Heaven knows what destiny is in store for any of us
I am sure that God has our fate in his hands
I believe that at our birth our death is decided
And the date is already set
No matter what crisis we may go through
It makes no difference
When our time arrives we leave this life
And no amount of counsel will change it
The devil that is in each of us
Will not be able to change this
God will prevail this I firmly believe

Poem by Joan
2007

Then it was back up the apartment where my brother and my husband were busy sorting and packing. I wanted to finish up her office files. I had to read the title of each file folder so that I could either pack it in a box destined for my home or put it in my brother's executor pile. It was quite frustrating to have to bypass opening and reading such files as "My Life", "Trip to Russia", "Trip to China", "Friends", and so on. But I knew I would have lots of time to read and share with the rest of the family once I got everything home.

Day 2 was more emotional than Day 1. Whether it was fatigue or the fact that Day 2 was a slightly slower pace, thus there was more time to think about what we were doing, I do not know. But I felt very sad to think that 93 years of living was being sorted into "keep" "throw out" or "give to grandchildren" The apartment complex was planning a bazaar in a few weeks so we added "bazaar items" to our sorting piles.

Because we had so little time left before my husband and I had to head out on the long drive home, we decided that I would also take the little mementoes we hoped to distribute to grandchildren or great-grandchildren. It would be easier to pass those items on to family at a later date. At this point our SUV was almost full. We had 11 cardboard boxes, 2 large plastic storage tubs, and some smaller items already packed and in the vehicle. Now we had to find room for 2 more boxes of mementoes.

Finally we were done. The apartment was sorted and packed. Larger furniture that we did not want was set aside for the local thrift store. Neither Goodwill nor Salvation Army offered a pickup service and we could not deliver the items ourselves. The ladies had their bazaar items and a few smaller mementoes went to mother's closest friends in the building. Her life was now packed into those few cardboard boxes and tubs. It felt very unceremonious and I had to keep reminding myself that it was simply the natural course of living and dying.

Our last stop was to pick up mother's ashes. Such a small box. It seemed surreal, less than a week before she had been talking to us and laughing. Her ashes have come home with me for safekeeping until we can inter them.

I have also arranged to have my father's ashes disinterred and shipped to me so that he too can be interrred in Guelph with my mother. He has been waiting 49 years to go home and lie with his brothers, parents and grandparents in Woodlawn Cemetery in Guelph. Now everyone will be together.

We plan a Memorial in the spring or early summer when the weather is better and my son is back from Afghanistan. At that time we can say our farewells to our mother and our father, and celebrate their lives. Because packing up a life doesn't mean the person is gone and forgotten, it is a process of moving forward through the cycle of life and death. Mother will be remembered, her "treasures" will help family to think of her each time they look at an object she once held dear and now in their possession.

And now I have dozens of boxes to unpack and many more memories to be rekindled. I suspect there will be genealogy treasures in those boxes too.

African American History Collection Launch

The National Archives and Footnote.com Launch Online African American History Collection

Over a million pages of original documents, letters and photos, most digitized for the first time.

Lindon, UT - January 29, 2009 – In celebration of Black History Month, Footnote.com is launching its African American Collection. Footnote.com has been working with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Washington, D.C., to digitize records that provide a view into the lives of African Americans that few have seen before.

“These records cover subjects including slavery, military service, and issues facing African Americans dating back to the late 18th century,” explains James Hastings, Director of Access Programs at NARA. “Making these records available online will help people to better understand the history and sacrifice that took place in this country.”

Footnote.com has spent the last two years with NARA compiling this collection and is currently working on adding more records that will be released in the upcoming months. African American records currently on Footnote.com include:

Service Records for Colored Troops in the Civil War – Records for the 2nd-13th infantries including enlistment papers, casualty sheets, oaths of allegiance, proof of ownership and bills of sale.

American Colonization Society – Letters and reports relating to this colony established in 1817 for free people of color residing in the U.S.
Amistad Case – Handwritten records of this landmark case beginning in 1839 involving the Spanish schooner Amistad, used to transport illegal slaves.
Southern Claims Commission – Petitions for compensation resulting from the Civil War.

“The Southern Claims Commission records are a very rich, often overlooked resource for African American family research. They often contain information that cannot be found anywhere else,” says Toni Carrier, Founding Director of the USF Africana Heritage Project. “These records document the experiences of former slaves during the Civil War and in the days immediately after. Many contain detailed narratives that make it possible for descendants to envision the lives and experiences of ancestors.”

Footnote.com is also working on additional record collections that will be released shortly. Those records include:

Records of the US District Court for the District of Columbia Relating to Slaves, 1851-1863 – includes slave schedules, manumission papers and case papers relating to fugitive slaves.

Records for the Emancipation of Slaves in the District of Columbia, 1862-63 – minutes of meetings, docket books and petitions pertaining to emancipation of slaves.

Registro Central de Esclavos 1872 (Slave Schedules) – registers from Puerto Rico giving information for each slave: name, country of origin, name of parents, physical description, master’s name and more.

Records Relating to the Suppression of the African Slave Trade and Negro Colonization, 1854-1872 - letters, accounts, and other documents relating to the suppression of the African slave trade.

Correspondence of the Military Intelligence Division Relation to “Negro Subversion” 1917-1941 - record cards and correspondence of the Military Intelligence Division (MID) that relate to activities of blacks in both civilian and military life.

In addition to these records, Footnote.com also features member contributions that include topics ranging from the Underground Railroad to Women Abolitionists to African Americans receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor.

“The contributions to our site have been impressive,” says Russell Wilding, CEO of Footnote.com. “It’s exciting to see people connect with history and with each other.”

You may use the Footnote.com Free Trial to view the Black History documents

Packing Up a Life

How do you pack up a life? That is what my brother and I had to do this past Monday and Tuesday. With my mother's passing last week, we had to clear out her 2 bedroom apartment.

Although tiny, her apartment was crammed full of her papers, writings, trip diaries, memoirs in progress, photo albums and all kinds of miscellaneous items. So my husband and I headed off to join my brother, knowing that we only had 2 half days and one evening to accomplish the task.

Mother had joined a writing group and was working on her memoirs when she died. Of course as a genealogist I could not bear the thought that these might be lost. I was determined to gather every scrap of paper I could find and take it home to sort through at my leisure. That way I could preserve and share it with others in the family.

I had not realized the enormity of the task. Papers and journals and binders full of notes, were everywhere. I counted 25 large 3 ring binders chock full of writing and printed genealogy reports. I packed 7 photo albums then my brother found hundreds of loose photos stuffed into large envelopes in her basement storage locker. Mother had an office where she wrote on her computer late into the night. Beside her desk were 2 large filing cabinets (4 drawers) full of file folders. One extra filing drawer was part of her desk and when I started in the office I found another rolling cabinet also full of files.

So we organized ourselves - my husband would tackle the kitchen. A small job we thought - perhaps an hour tops to finish it. Hah! The kitchen took hubby almost 7 hours to sort and empty out.

My brother was to sort larger items of furniture and go through mother's clothes and dresser drawers. That was very difficult, it is a sad thing to look through pockets and pack your mother's favourite outfits into bags for Goodwill.

My job was to gather all the file folders, photo albums and looose papers. At first I felt intrusive and very uncomfortable about "prying" as I skimmed papers to know whether it was something I should take or something that my brother, as executor, needed.

Partway through our packing we were surprised by the arrival of two women who had been friends of mother's and in her writing group. We had a lovely talk with them, it was very nice to hear them talk about our mom and how much they enjoyed having her in the group and as a friend. They invited us to join them the next day for a service they were having in honour of our mother.

Many of the people living in the apartment building dropped by to offer condolences or have a chat about mother and her impact on them. It was quite heartwarming to hear their stories and to realize how well they treated her.

Calling it a day at 7:30 pm we looked around and felt that we were in a worse mess than when we had started. We had boxes ready for our vehicle and my husband had taken out load after load of food items (some with expiry dates of 1995!!) to the garbage but it looked like we had hardly made a dent. We left feeling a bit depressed both at the seemingly never-ending job ahead, and at the realization that we were packing up a life. Once packed it would be over. A life lived, now gone.

I'll talk about Packing Up a Life, Day 2 in tomorrow's blog post.

Ireland Civil Registration Indexes 1845-1958 online

Ireland, Civil Registration Indexes 1845-1958 are now online at FamilySearch website

There are no images of the original record, but there are images of the indexes

Anyone with Irish ancestors will want to take a look

Joan McGinnis 2 Sept 1916-22 Jan 2009

My mother
Joan McGinnis
2 Sept 1916-22 Jan 2009



My mother passed away early this morning. I saw her yesterday in the hospital. When I went to kiss her goodbye, it was difficult to manouever around her tubes and machines. She tried to raise her head, and my glasses hit her cheek. She laughed at our bumping of heads. As I left she smiled and waved. I'm glad I have that nice last memory of her. This is her obituary:

Joan Dorien Edith McGinnis passed away peacefully in Lakeridge Health Hospital in Bowmanville Ontario on Thursday January 22, 2009. She was 92 years old. Born in Guelph Ontario on 2 September 1916 to parents Charles Fuller & Ruth Simpson, she married Cecil McGinnis (who predeceased her in 1960) in Guelph in 1936.

Joan moved to Ajax Ontario and worked in the Munitions Factory during WW2, then as a Medical Secretary. She later lived in a Winnebago with her mother and sister Lillian, travelling throughout Canada and USA. In later years she moved to British Columbia with her companion Godfrey Harwood (who pre-deceased her in 1994), then returned to Whitby Ontario where she lived with her sister Lillian Bonar (who pre-deceased her in 2004). Joan lived on her own in an apartment in Whitby until her death. In recent years Joan joined a Writing Club and was working on her memoirs when she fell ill.

At age 80, Joan became an avid traveller and journeyed to many places including Australia, China, S. Africa, Russia and England. On her last trip to Australia at age 85 she hiked and camped in the Australian outback. Joan lived life to the fullest and leaves behind 2 sons Larry & David, 2 daughters Charleen & Lorine, a younger sister Eileen and an uncle Walter. Her grandchildren and great-grandchildren are numerous.