WooHoo! Olive Tree Genealogy is 20 Years Old!!!

Twenty years ago my life changed. I started Olive Tree Genealogy website at a time when the internet was just in its baby stages. There were no webpage editors, no blogs, and no one I could ask for help. 

I learned to code my webpages manually, using trial and error. Most websites were battleship gray with no bells and whistles. I was pretty excited and proud of myself when I figured out how to make mine pink-peach! 

The winter of 1995 was actually the debut of the Olive Tree Genealogy website but it was only a few pages. 

It's was located at http://www.bconnex.net/~lschulze/

The nice graphics I created don't display and I don't have them anymore but you get the idea. 

February 1996 saw Olive Tree Genealogy move to Rootsweb.com as the full-fledged OTE site. Here's what Olive Tree Genealogy website looked like in 1997
 
In 1998, considering itself all grown up, Olive Tree Genealogy took its own domain name and moved to its current home. 

My website was among the first to bring primary sources to the Internet with its passenger lists of ships from the Netherlands to New York in the 17th Century. 

What started as a project to take my mind off my accident and losing my husband to cancer, became a career! 

Olive Tree Genealogy grew from a dozen pages to over 2500 pages, and over the years have created in total 10 websites and 10 blogs. If interested you can read the full Biography of Lorine, the creator of Olive Tree Genealogy

See the list of my 10 websites and 9 blogs
  
BLOGS

• Olive Tree Genealogy
• Ask Olive Tree
• Ancestors At Rest
• Past Voices: Letters Home
• The Paper Trail
• Antique Hunter
• Ollie's Yummy in Your Tummy
• Family Bibles
• Tea For Two
  

WEBSITES

• Olive Tree Genealogy
• Naturalization Records
• Ancestors At Rest
• All Census Records
• The Genealogy Spot
• Olive Tree Extras
• Past Voices
• All English Records
• The Great War
• Canadian Military Heritage Project 

From Record to Reality - Gleaning Your Family's Story of Service

Olive Tree Genealogy is very pleased to present an article by Guest Author Marie Rundquist. Marie's books (listed at end of article) are available at  buybooksontheweb.com (Infinity Publishing), Barnes and Noble, along with other Internet and E-book sources. 

From Record to Reality

Gleaning Your Family's Story of Service

by Marie Rundquist

May 2012

At Memorial Day events and backyard barbecues, we cherish the memories of our beloved men and women in uniform, share their treasured photographs, and display their medals of honor, but what do we really know of their stories?  As time passes, and wartime memories fade, an ancestor's military registration record, limited to the most basic of vital information, may be the only evidence of his service to his country.  While genealogists highlight marriages, births, and family lines in their research, military service is often incidental -- a footnote annotation in a charted family tree.  When I initially researched my own family history, I found elaborate details related to my ancestors' marriages, births, and deaths, but noted only a cursory mention of their military careers.  


At a recent memorial service for my husband's paternal uncle, we had the opportunity to witness the presentation of an American flag by an Honor Guard, a stunning tribute to my husband's “Uncle Ed” and his service to his country.  At Ed's viewing, there were many stories shared about his love of family, his devotion to his real-estate career, his ability to organize community events, and put people at ease, but little was said about his military service.  As he was laid to rest, and an American flag, folded into the shape of a three-cornered hat, was presented by the Honor Guard to surviving family, all in attendance were at once reminded that Ed had enlisted in the the military during World War II, and were deeply moved.


Ed's World War II enlistment record offers an abbreviated view of a high school graduate with machine-shop training, a single man with dependents, who were his immediate family. Challenged to complete Ed's story of service, I searched the 1930 Federal Census records and discovered that Ed was, in fact, the youngest in a family of eight, that his mother and father were originally from Poland.  I examined the census reports of adjacent households in Trenton, New Jersey's sixth ward, observed numbers of Czechoslovakian and Polish surnames in close proximity, and concluded that Ed lived in a tightly-knit, Eastern European immigrant community.  I browsed the recently published 1940 Federal Census and unearthed the roots of Ed's (and my husband's) deeply ingrained work-ethic, for according to the enumerator, Ed's three elder brothers all contributed to the household, and each held a job – as, respectively, a night-club musician, a factory-worker, and my father-in-law was, at the time of the1940 Federal Census, an apprentice linoleum layer for a department store.  According to the census taker, Polish was the language most commonly spoken at home in Ed's neighborhood..  


A 1941 parish directory was shared at Ed's memorial service, its pages lined with the photographs of young men in uniform, their faces full of hope, eyes bright and shining.  Leafing through the directory, I was reminded that while most view senior year as a launching point for college and careers, for a high school graduating class in the early 1940s, senior year was a weigh-station on a long and perilous journey – one that for many would end on foreign shores.  From a published obituary, I learned that Ed was an Air Force veteran of World War II, who served in the Asiatic Pacific campaign.  After returning home, Ed approached life with boundless optimism  -- that he, as a survivor of World War II,  had the opportunity to marry, buy a home, build a career, educate his children, and be of help to  his family and friends ranked highest among his concerns. A lover of music and song, and a devoted family man, Ed didn't “sweat the small stuff.”  Quibbling over trivial and insignificant events of the day simply didn't factor into Ed's priorities – nor did quibbling factor into his brother's priorities, as I recall, and certainly my husband is not a quibbler..


By extending my research beyond a single military registration record, to include the 1930 and 1940 Federal Census, newspaper articles, and other published sources, I gained insight into a family's shared traits, uncovered the greater reality that upheld “Uncle Ed's” military enlistment record, and, in honor of Memorial Day, advanced one enlisted man's story of service from footnote to front-and-center.



Marie Rundquist is a DNA project manager, collaborative research community moderator, president of an information systems consulting firm and author of Revisiting Anne Marie: How an Amerindian Woman of Seventeenth-Century Nova Scotia and a DNA Match Redefine “American” Heritage and Cajun by Any Other Name Recovering the Lost History of a Family and a People. For more information visit: http://dna-genealogy-history.com

New App from MyHeritage for Searching Records including 1940 U.S. Census

  The following announcement was sent to Olive Tree Genealogy by MyHeritage. MyHeritage was the first to put up indexes of the newly released 1940 U.S. Census and they continue to lead the field in their endeavors

World’s largest family network unveils new mobile experience for searching historical records, including the 1940 U.S. Census, on iPhone, iPad and Android 

PROVO, Utah & LONDON & TEL AVIV, Israel – April 5, 2012: MyHeritage, the most popular family network on the web, today announced the ability to search billions of historical records, including the 1940 U.S. Census, on-the-go via a new version of the free MyHeritage Mobile App for iPhone, Android and iPad. The new version 1.2 of the MyHeritage App also searches more than 22 million family trees, helping users with their family history research. The move further extends MyHeritage’s leadership by offering an intuitive and exciting experience for families to discover more about the lives of their American relatives in 1940 and to trace their roots around the world, all on-the-go.

The MyHeritage Mobile App was first introduced in December 15, 2011 and has since amassed an install base of more than 500,000. In addition to searching historical content, it allows users to take their family tree on-the-go with an attractive display specially suited for mobile devices, capture family moments for future generations and stay in touch with family anytime, anywhere.

As millions of people rush to satisfy their curiosity and access the 1940 US census - one of the most significant sets of historical records ever to be released - MyHeritage is currently the only commercial player offering both a complete set of images from all US states and a preliminary searchable index, available via the new MyHeritage App and on www.myheritage.com/1940census. Access is completely free and no registration is required.

All 3.8 million images of the 1940 U.S. Census, and the initial collection of indexed records searchable by names, facts and other criteria, are now available to explore for free on the MyHeritage App, downloadable from the App Store or Google Play (formerly Android Market). The app can search the entire MyHeritage data collection of more than four billion records, many exclusive to MyHeritage, including birth, marriage, death, immigration and military records, census records, newspapers, yearbooks and much more. Available in more than 20 languages, the app enables family history lovers all over the world to explore their family’s history.

Displaying Family Heirlooms - WW1 Medals and Photo

This is our framed grouping of military memories of Cecil Sandercock. Cecil was my husband's great grandmother Myrtle's brother and he was killed in WW1, at the age of 20. Myrtle kept all her treasured memorabilia of her brother Cecil and eventually every object was passed down to us. This is one of two framed tributes we have for Cecil.

This grouping, which is in a 15"x24" frame, is Cecil's photo in his Canadian Military WW1 uniform, his medals from the Great War (WW1), his death plaque and the official notice of death which went out, with the plaque, to every next of kin of a soldier killed in that War.

We decided to mount Cec's medals and death plaque directly on to, instead of recessed in, the charcoal grey mat we chose as the contrast mat for the objects were were framing. We chose a lighter grey for the overall mat which would go around the edges. We could have gone with a narrow light grey mat but we felt the framed group was too long and skinny if we did that, so we opted for a fairly wide light grey area around the interior grouping.

The outside frame we chose is a semi-gold frame (although it looks like silver in this photo) with marbled reddish brown flecks. To complement this we chose a reddish brown mat for the death notice and Cec's photo. The outside frame is very large and also raised in two levels, rather than being flat to the wall.

Because the mats change from light grey around the outside to charcoal grey on the inside, we outlined the charcoal grey mat with a detailed gold frame. The interior frame has a raised design which appears sculpted.

Choosing the right spot to hang a framed Family Heirloom or grouping is almost as important as framing it! Because this framed set of family treasures is very large and clunky we wanted it to be above a piece of furniture that was also large and clunky.

This tribute to Cecil Sandercock has a place of honour on our living room, above our Victorian bow-front china cabinet. You may notice another military photograph to the right. That is my grandfather in England circa 1910 in his Kent Buffs uniform, with his rifle and bicycle.

Everyone has their own taste and their own creative ideas, so please remember that my articles on displaying family treasures are only meant to show you what my husband and I have done, and explain why we made certain choices. In the end you must do what pleases you - frame or display your heirlooms in a way that pleases you and display them wherever you like, as long as you display them!

**************

Displaying Family Heirlooms - Making Sure the Handwriting is on the Wall

My husband's great grandmother's younger brother Bill Sandercock was killed in August 1917 during WW1, while standing beside his brother Cecil. Cecil sent a postcard to his parents about Bill's death. Bill was only 20. Sadly, one year later in August 1918 Cecil Sandercock was also killed in France. He too was just 20 years old. Two months before his death, Cecil sent a postcard to his sister (my husband's ancestor).

Their sister Myrtle kept all the postcards Cecil sent, as well as his military medals and Death Plaque. She also had photographs of her brothers and her father (who also enlisted in WW1) in their military uniforms. All of these family treasures were passed on in the family - first to my husband's grandfather, then his father and then my husband. I'm sure some items went missing, for no one knows where Bill's medals or Death plaque are. So we decided we needed to organize all the heirlooms and display them as a group.

This would prevent any more from being lost in future years, and would ensure that future generations know what items belong to what individual - and the meaning behind each one.

After laying out each item, we realized we had too many for one display. So we decided to keep the postcard separate from the rest. The postcard also had an extra small decorated card that went with it so we had two paper items to frame. The original postcard was beautifully decorated on the front with raised ornamentation of embroidered cloth.

The main colours in the embroidery were purple, green and pink with a bit of yellow. Embroidered in purple was the phrase "To my dear Sister" The embroidered flowers were surrounded by a beige frame with embossed lines.

We chose a beige mat and gold frame with black flecks. Then we chose a forest green mat to use as a double mat, which gives a very nice effect of three colours - beige, green and white - when it is bevel cut and placed around the objects. We wanted to show off the feminine beautifully decorated postcard but also bring in some more neutral colours that would also enhance the postcard. Thus the gold flecked with black for the frame and the choice of forest green for the second mat.

But Cecil's hand-written note was on the back. Here was a dilemma - how to frame a postcard when we want to see both front and back?

The solution was actually simple - we used clear glass instead of the usual cardstock mat. Thus the beige frame surrounds both the postcard and the small decorative paper that came with it. For the postacrd, the double mat of forest green was placed under the beige and clear glass under that. For the small decorative paper, the forest green mat is not cut away but is placed under the entire piece.

The result is very effective, we can turn the frame over and read the postcard at any time and whatever wall we hang it on shows through the clear glass mat. And Myrtle's favourite brother will always be remembered.

See our second display of Cecil's War medals, death plaque and military photo.

Displaying Family Heirlooms - Making Sure Keepsakes Aren't Lost

Most of us have them. A sentimental keepsake of a beloved family member. The gold pocket watch given to Grandpa on his 21st birthday. The medals given to a father in the Military. A postcard from Aunt Matilda to Uncle Harry during WW1.

Our treasured mementoes can be anything, from jewellery to letters to medals to the bullet supposedly removed from great great grandpa's leg in the Civil War. But where are they? Chances are they are kicking around in the bottom of a drawer somewhere. Or in a trunk in the attic.

Isn't it time to do something with them? To ensure they are not lost to future generations? To display them in a way that you can enjoy them every day? Have you thought about what happens when you, the keeper of that family treasure, are gone? Does anyone else know who the treasure belonged to? Do they know the story behind it? Chances are you are the only person who has that knowledge. So now is the time to preserve and display that heirloom for posterity.

My father died when I was 13. I was given his WW2 Service Medals, his cap badge and a photo of him in his officer's uniform. The photo went into a photo album. The Service Medals and cap badge went into my jewellery box. For years they were buried amongst rings and bracelets. Occassionally I took them out and looked at them.

One day I realized that no one but me knew that the medals and cap badge were his. No one but me knew his rank in the Army, and the only reason I knew was that I had sent for his military records from Library & Archives Canada. So I decided to take his photo, cap badge and medals and create a grouping which I could have framed. Then I could hang the framed memorabilia on my wall and enjoy it every day. Framing them together would keep the mementoes from being lost or separated.

The first thing I did was to take the three items and figure out how I wanted them arranged. Next came the decision regarding the picture frame and the mat. Because this was my father and his military memorabilia, I wanted a frame that was somewhat masculine and dark coloured. It's important to choose your frame and mat to suit the objects you are displaying so take your time when making this decision.

Because I was having medals and a cap badge mounted, I decided to have a shadow box effect, with the objects recessed. So I kept the cut-out around those objects simple.

I decided that adding my father's name was important to this specific display. So I had a local store engrave in silver his name and military rank on a dark plaque. This was put bottom center of the arrangement.

For my dad's photo I wanted more definition, so I had the framing shop add a second smaller frame which mirrored the larger frame around the entire grouping. Size is important, so be sure you don't choose a frame that is too wide or too narrow. Everything needs to be in balance to create a nice composition for your heirlooms display.

In this grouping I opted for a dark, semi-masculine frame with details, an off-white (ivory) mat and a light grey for the inside mat used under the medals, cap badge and name plaque.

When my display was framed and returned to me I was thrilled. I wrote out the details about my father on paper and fastened it to the back of the framed piece. Then I hung it on my wall where I see it every day. Yes the medals are slowly tarnishing with time. But that is unimportant to the idea behind keeping all the treaures together.

My son knows this will be passed on to him to be the next keeper of this family heirloom. Hopefully he will pass it on to his son and so on, so that future descendants will always have this memento of my father.

Please note: It was difficult to take a good photo of this display as the glass caused reflections. Thus some of my photos which I have uploaded here for illustrative purposes may not show the detail I hoped they would. Also I blacked out in a graphic program parts of my father's name plate, so it looks a little off center in the illustrative photo I took.