Pandemic Brain - Does it Affect You?

Lockdown during this Pandemic can be tough. Some people thrive. They complete a book they're writing. They tackle projects that were set aside for months. They start new projects. They learn new skills or do more cooking.

Others do not fare as well. Many have trouble focusing or concentrating. They have no motivation, no urge to tackle any of the work piling up. Some are suffering severe financial pressures.

How are you doing? My husband and I have always believed in and lived, an emergency preparedness lifestyle so food-wise we are fine. Items that are hard to come by where we live are: Yeast, flour, disinfectant wipes, and some fresh vegetables. Meat is also starting to be in shorter supply but nothing extreme.

The "I Can't Focus" Camp

But we are both in the "I can't focus" camp. Every day I think about my second Janie Riley mystery I have been working on for a few years. I think about opening it and writing. But I can't.

I look at the Genealogy project I started with some excitement back in December. Now it seems a waste of time and energy so there it sits.

I have a gazillion ideas for projects I want to tackle but all I do is look at the binders I set up or the notes I jotted down. I sigh and close it all up with a shake of my head.

My Pandemic Brain

My mind is suffering what I call "Pandemic Brain" I can't focus. I can't remember what I did a few minutes ago. My mind is a jumble of thoughts. My sleep is disturbed with disjointed extreme dreams.

But I'm finally coming out of that fog a bit. Two weeks ago I decided I had to set myself one daily task and one fun item. The daily tasks I started setting and completing were small and simple. One day I made 3 loaves of pumpkin bread, another day I made a spreadsheet of all the wills I found for ancestors. That's not a lot compared to my pre-Pandemic work ethic! But I found completing the tasks not only made me feel good, it made me settle down and concentrate on what needed to be done, then making a choice.

I started expanding my tasks by making and canning dozens of jars of homemade Chili Sauce.  That was a huge job and my husband spent hours helping me. Once I did that I felt much better about things. I was taking some control again, and not giving in to feelings of helplessness.

I still have Pandemic Brain. I'm much more forgetful than pre-Pandemic. I'm not inspired or excited to start on any of the ideas I have rolling around in my mind but I am doing things. I am completing one task daily (sometimes more), I am setting up one fun thing each day, and I am walking a bit ever day.




Coping With Pandemic Brain

Many of my readers know I have physical challenges and auto-immune disorders and cannot walk more than 20 minutes on a good day. So I do what I can by walking on the cement surrounding our in-ground pool. It makes a good track for my rollator and allows me to walk more easily.

We live in a rural area and are forced to use a mobile capped connection to the internet, thus we cannot get Netflix or use Zoom or participate in any online meets, nor can we stream movies or podcasts.

So we have to make our own fun with jigsaw puzzles, card and board games, etc. I also created different areas inside and outside our home for sitting for tea or a snack. I gave them names - for instance our sunroom is the Poolside Bistro. I made a menu on a white board and we enjoy sitting there and "ordering" our food. It may sound silly but we enjoy the change of routine.

I hope all of you are coping and staying safe. What are your suggestions for coping during this lockdown?

Are You a Peer Descendant?

The Peer family were loyal to the British Crown, and suffered from persecution in New Jersey throughout the American Revolution. Jacob and his family left Sussex County New Jersey for Upper Canada in the summer of 1796. Four of Jacob’s sons – Jacob Jr., Edward, John and Philip Peer petitioned for land one year later. They settled in the Hamilton area of what was then the wilderness of Upper Canada.

This series of 6 books discusses the lives of Jacob, his wife and their sons Levi, Edward, Philip, Stephen, and Jacob Jr. Each book is fully sourced with footnotes. Descendants will enjoy seeing images of early documents such as land petitions and wills.

The Peer Family in North America: V.1 Jacob & Anne Peer, Immigrants from New Jersey to Upper Canada in 1796. Revised Edition Available at Amazon.com or Amazon.ca Also available as an E-book	The Peer Family in North America: V.2 Levi Peer & Elizabeth Marical and their Descendants to 3 Generations Available at or Amazon.com or Amazon.ca Also available as an E-book Note for the book on his parents you also need to purchase V. 1 Jacob & Anne Peer available at Amazon.com or Amazon.ca
The Peer Family in North America: V.3 Edward Peer & His Two Wives and their Descendants to 3 Generations Available at Amazon.com or Amazon.ca Also available as an E-book Note for the book on his parents you also need to purchase V. 1 Jacob & Anne Peer available at Amazon.com or Amazon.ca	The Peer Family in North America: V.4 Philip Peer & his two Wives Ester Dunn and Susan Griniaus and their Descendants to 3 Generations  Available at or Amazon.com or Amazon.ca Note for the book on his parents you also need to purchase V. 1 Jacob & Anne Peer available at Amazon.com or Amazon.ca
The Peer Family in North America: V. 5 Stephen Peer & His Wife Lydia Skinner and their Descendants to 3 Generations Available on Amazon.com or Amazon.ca Note for the book on his parents you also need to purchase V. 1 Jacob & Anne Peer available at Amazon.com or Amazon.ca	The Peer Family in North America: V6 Jacob Peer Jr. and his wife Lucy Powers and their Descendants to 2 Generations 152 pages, full color Available on Amazon.com or Amazon.ca Note for the book on his parents you also need to purchase V. 1 Jacob & Anne Peer available at Amazon.ca

Don't Miss Free Downloads on UK National Archives

I've been enjoying searching Discovery on the UK National Archives and enjoying the free downloads. In case you missed the announcement, while KEW is closed, signed in users can download digitized records for free.

Registered users will be able to order and download up to ten items at a time, to a maximum of 50 items over 30 days. Normally these records must be purchased so this is a wonderful thing that the Archives is doing!

So far I have found 18 wills of ancestors and have happily downloaded them all. Of course I still have to try to transcribe them but since it looks like lockdown in Ontario Canada will be going on for some time, I have the time.

I've made a list of what I have found so that I don't get confused. My mother's lines go back in Kent UK for hundreds of years so I have many ancestors to hunt for. There are more than wills available for download such as:

• First and Second World War records, including medal index cards
• Military records, including unit war diaries
• Royal and Merchant Navy records, including Royal Marine service records
• Wills from the jurisdiction of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury
• Migration records, including aliens’ registration cards and naturalisation case papers
• 20th century Cabinet Papers and Security Service files
• Domesday Book

My focus has been exclusively on wills such as the ones I already found for:

1657 George Longe
1752 Roger Hooper
1816 Philip Hubbard (see my book The Hubbard Family of Kent England )
1619 John Person/Peerson
1534 Richard Best
1666 Dorothy Ferrall
1659 John Virill aka Ferrall
1593 Richard Saxby
1778 Jane Hooper
1799 Isaac Hubbard (see my book The Hubbard Family of Kent England )
1733 William Laming (See my book The Laming Family of Kent England)
1810 William Laming (See my book The Laming Family of Kent England)

plus three for my youngest son's father's ancestors in Yorkshire, two for my daughter-in-law's ancestors in Norfolk and one for my husband's ancestor in Cornwall.

I have my work cut out for me! If you have English ancestors, you may want to jump over to The National Archives UK and have some fun.

Learning to Read Old Handwriting

Sometimes we are lucky enough to find a very old document concerning an ancestor. I don't know about you but I'm so excited when I do find an old will or inventory from the 17th or even 16th century!

So I have studied hard over the many years I've been researching family, and can read very basic Dutch or English documents from those early years. In fact I created a few tutorials and wrote a few articles to help others with some of those early letter formations.

Reading 16th Century English Records

How to Read 16th & 17th Century Handwriting

Tricks to Deciphering Old Handwriting

Palaeography: reading old handwriting 1500 - 1800 A practical online tutorial

Help Reading 17th Century Dutch Church Records

But still I struggle with these old documents and find myself floundering, unsure as to what I am reading. That's why, when I found out this booklet on Reading Tudor and Stuart handwriting existed but was out of print, I went on a hunt for it.

Just before the Pandemic began I received 17 wills of ancestors ranging from the earliest will of my 13th great-grandfather Alexander Cullmer dated 1551 to the 1748 will of my 8th great-grandfather Thomas Hinds. I haven't had much time to go through them carefully but I've skimmed them. Now I'm anxious to use my new book and start going through them very slowly.

Some are inventories, not wills, and those are the most fun as I feel like I am walking through their homes as I read about the belongings in each room.

I hope you are finding time to work on your genealogy during this Stay At Home era.

Murder Most Foul - George Greenlees

August 5, 1895 in Buffalo, New York was a typically hot summer day. George Greenless, my 1st cousin 3 times removed, was estranged at this time from his wife, Ella 'Nellie' Misener. Hoping to find her at home with her parents, he entered their home and a shouting match ensued.

George then pulled a pistol and shot and killed his mother-in-law. Next he shot and wounded his sister-in-law's fiance Walter Flewell. Flewell later died of his injuries.

George's story is a convoluted one. He was sentenced to life in prison for second degree murder in 1898 and sent to Auburn Prison in New York.

During his trial he became friendly with the warden of the jail where he was held. Later George's Canadian relatives came to New York to testify, and more lurid stories of George's erratic behaviour and mis-treatment of his wife came out. At one point a witness stated that there was a great deal of insanity in the Greenlees family.

In 1909 he was sent to Sing-Sing Prison but was released on parole and married Rachel Roach in 1918 in Buffalo. In 1924 the courts granted George a parden. He and Rachel had six children before his death in 1928.

His widow Rachel married another Sing-Sing inmate in 1932. William Leonard, her new husband, was sent to prison in 1903, served a short term before release but was back in Sing-Sing in 1904. Another short term resulted but once again he returned to Sing-Sing in 1908 sentenced to 2 to 4 years. I cannot read his crime in the records as the writing is challenging.

Newspapers are amazing, full of genealogy gold! I found dozens of newspaper articles about George on a Free Trial Newspaper Site

SPECIAL: Free Genealogy Records on Ancestry

The 75th anniversary of VE Day is this week. From May 4th - 8th, Ancestry Canada will be providing free access to all 10M Canadian military records on the site.

In addition, Canadians can access for free all content on online newspaper archive Newspapers.com, as well as all records on Fold3 – a site that provides access to military records, stories and photos.

Reform School Records are Genealogy Gold

John Wormald born 1880 in Yorkshire England, was sent to Calder Farm Reform School in 1892 at the age of 11. He was not discharge until 1897 at the age of 17.

Here are his records

Source: West Yorkshire, England, Reformatory School Records, 1856-1914 on Ancestry.com

Notes in his record state he spent 5 days in the House of Corrections and 5 years in Reform School for stealing a purse from his uncle's house.  His parents, George and Annie Wormald, my son's great-grandparents, had administered several previous punishments for his misbehaviour. The record shows 2 previous thefts and punishments of a birch rod whipping for each:

John was said to not be a vagrant but he was from a large family and had friends who his parents thought led him astray. In some desperation they sent him to live with an uncle but as you see below, that was not helpful.

 

 While I feel sad for John and his family, the wonderful thing about this set of records is not only the photo of John and details but at the very bottom of the record is a list of several relatives - an aunt, three uncles and his grandfather. This is genealogy gold. 

I've tried over the years to find out what happened to little John after he was discharged but with no luck.

Find Prison Records for Ancestors

1863 Jury William Massey Trial

My husband's 3rd great grandfather William Massey was sent to trial, found guilty and given 6 months at hard labour in the Stratford Ontario Jail. He was found guilty on April 18, 1863. His sentence began December 10, 1863 and he was released June 10, 1864. So William was incarcerated in the Stratford Jail and not in Tennessee fighting for Grant as family legend had told. Sadly William died a year and a half after his release from jail.


Why the Lie?

Our best guess is that a lie was told to his children (ages 3 to 16) when he was imprisoned. Far better to tell the little ones that Daddy was off being a hero fighting a war, then to say Daddy was a thief and was sent to jail. And note MaryAnn's words in a newspaper article "....after spending 6 months in a Federal Hospital he was discharged..." Wow - 6 months - that was his sentence in Stratford Jail! We are just surprised that in such a small town, the gossip didn't make the rounds  for the kids to get wind of! Or did MaryAnn simply make up the story on her own?

We think the jail term may have hastened William's early death. He was 41 when he served his time at hard labour. And it would have been very hard. Conditions at the jail were not good, there was very little ventilation, it was cold in winter and hot in summer. Disease was almost certainly rampant.

So as sad as it is to think of William suffering as he must have, we are delighted to have found yet another bit of detail to help us form our story of this ancestor.

Prison Records Provide the Clues Needed

It was not the non-existent court records suddenly appearing that provided this information. It was the records of the Stratford Jail. They are sparse but they do provide the prisoner's name, age, length of stay in Canada, place of birth, crime and date imprisonment began and ended. The records also provided us with height, colour of eyes and hair, and a few other comments about his character. William has two mentions, the second states that his conduct as a prisoner was good.


Immigration Date Found

The other very welcome bit of information we gleaned from the jail records was that William had lived in Canada for 20 years. This gives us an approximate year of immigration from Ireland. Since ships passenger lists to Canada were not archived before 1865 we had no year of immigration and had previously only known that in 1843 William married Ellen Montgomery in Quebec. But we did not know if he arrived in Quebec as a child (with parents) or as a young man.

Now we know that he was approximately 21 years old when he sailed from Ireland to Canada. Since his wife's family was already in Quebec, and had been for many years, we assume he met her soon after arrival.

Soldier’s bedroom has not been touched since he died in World War 1

A French soldier’s bedroom has not been touched since he died in World War 1. 

Dragoons' Second Lieutenant Hubert Rochereau died aged 21 after fighting in Loker, Flanders, in April 1918. 

When his parents left their home in Belabre, south-western France, they sealed the room, preserving it exactly as he left it.

Take a look at the amazing photos of this young soldier's room as it was over 100 years ago.

New Jersey Archives Starts Indexing NJ Early tax Lists

New Jersey State Archives announced yesterday on Twitter:

Archives staff are indexing New Jersey's early tax lists (over 1,800 in all). The resultant database and digital files will eventually be posted for free use on the Archives' website. As most date from 1772-1820, they are vitally important given the loss of New Jersey's first 4 federal censuses.

This is great news for those of us who have New Jersey ancestors pre 1800!  I'll be anxiously watching their website for further updates

NEW! Genealogy Research Service

Olive Tree Genealogy is pleased to announce that I am now offering a Genealogy Research Service in Ontario Canada records. This includes Upper Canada and Canada West genealogy records. You may purchase packages for 3 hours, 5 hours or 10 hours of research.

My 3 hour package is $150.00 US funds

My 5 hour package is normally $250.00 US funds but with a limited 10% discount it is $225.00

My 10 hour package is normally $500.00 but with a 15% discount of $75.00 it is available for a limited time for $425.00 US funds

To request a package, write to Lorine at olivetreegenealogy@gmail.com with your request. I will then send you a list of what details I need from you. After we work out details you will be invoiced through Paypal.

I am also able to offer individual records search in Ontario Land Records Index and Abstract Indexes to Deeds at a flat rate per record. Please see my Genealogy Research Services page.

NYPD Unearths Over 100 Years Of Photos Documenting NYC’s History

Buried in the basement of of police headquarters, where the New York Police Department photo unit has rooms of boxes and file cabinets. The boxes and cabinets are filled with departmental photos from the 1800s to today.

These historical photos are coming to life again as they are being digitized.
Their first set of digitized boxes consisted of 14 bankers' boxes and was donated to the municipal archive in 2019.

Continue reading

Medieval Mummy Perfectly Preserved in Siberia

Researchers working in the Russian High Arctic in Siberia excavated the naturally mummified remains of a woman who lived approximately 800 years ago.

This is the first woman found in the site called Zeleny Yar.

Her hair and eyelashes were perfectly preserved thanks in part to a copper plate that covered her face. The plate helped slow decomposition.

Vatican Library Online

The Vatican Apostolic Library, known as "VAT," contains around 75,000 codices and 85,000 incunabula (which Esparza defines as "editions made between the invention of the printing press and the 16th century") amid a total of over one million volumes.

Thanks to an ongoing digitization project launched a decade ago, many have become searchable and downloadable on DigiVatLib, a database of the Vatican Library’s digitized collections

Continue reading at The Vatican Library Goes Online and Digitizes Tens of Thousands of Manuscripts, Books, Coins, and More

Found Easter Bunny on Twitter!

Those who followed my blog post on the weekend Easter Bunny Returns With His Family Tree
know that I had hear rumours that E.B. was on Twitter. Well I'm happy to say I found him yesterday!

His Twitter handle is @IamEasterBunny if you want to see what he's been up to over the years. He hasn't tweeted in a long time but hopefully he's just busy finding food in the Pandemic.

I read his tweets (See below for images) and it looks like he's hot on the bunny trail of a few of his brick walls. Plus he announced yesterday that he's been chosen as a Celebrity Bunny on the next season of the TV show "Hop to Find Out Who You Think You Are" Wow I can't wait to watch that episode!

Easter Bunny Family Bible Found!

Easter Bunny Hopped By to Share Some Genealogy News

Some of you may remember that a few years ago a very exciting discovery was made! A small girl named Alice was playing in the garden of an old house in England when she fell down a large rabbit hole. Before climbing out she made a unique discovery. In a small wooden box under a pile of rabbit fur hats Alice spotted a yellowed letter. The letter was addressed to "Dear Easter" and signed "Uncle Wiggily", and it provided details of an interesting family tree!

Take a look at Easter Bunny's Family Tree chart and the letter to Easter Bunny from Uncle Wiggly.

Easter Bunny hopped by my house today as he made his rounds and shared some new discoveries. His great-grandma Bunny Fufu's bible has been found! Cousin Willy decided to downsize his warren and needed to get rid of items. So Easter was the lucky recipient of the treasured Bible. It even has a photo of Fufu on the cover!

Easter couldn't stay long as he had a lot of eggs to colour and hide but he did show me the Bible and let me take a picture of it. Wow, what a lucky bunny! I wonder what he'll find in the next 12 months?

Easter Bunny's Family Tree Pedigree Chart

Since that exciting discovery of his family tree, Easter Bunny has found more genealogy goodies!  In 2010 Easter found a family tree chart!

It seems that a little girl named Alice was playing in the garden of an old house in England when she fell down a large rabbit hole. Before climbing out she made a unique discovery. In a small wooden box under a pile of rabbit fur hats Alice spotted a yellowed letter. The letter was addressed to "Dear Easter" and signed "Uncle Wiggily", and it provided details of an interesting family tree!

The complete letter has been transcribed and you can read the text of the letter here

This year a Descendant Family Tree was found! Here it is for your enjoyment and below it is the original letter from Easter Bunny's Uncle Wiggly.