Sunday, June 13, 2010

Sunday Summaries, or Reflection's This 'n That, mid June

It has been an interesting week.  Some of the highlights, in no particular order.

A.  Man and I live near the Michigan Speedway.  We usually avoid the area during race weekends.  We have been known to even leave town in Tana, just to avoid the mess.  Yesterday, we had to go past the Speedway for an appointment, early during the day, like the worst.  UGHHH.  Back roads were utilized, mission accomplished.  However, we had to return to the stick.  Man pulled a "let's be brave and go for it" attitude and we dove, errr, drove right into the situation.  Just as we were going to take a dive, errr, turn to the left, and skip the worst of the mess, I spied the Goodyear Blimp.  Had to have a photo, so, we drove RIGHT BY the Speeday, here is my small reward.  How fun is this??


B.  SOOOO, you think you know everything there is to know about your ancestor?? You have spent HOURS, $$$$$, more hours, more $$$$$ researching.  Nothing more to learn??  Well, snicker, maybe, maybe not!  The other evening, even tho all tired out, I decided to surf around on FamilySearch.org.  Man's father reportedly was married 3 times.  I have yet to find the 2nd marriage, figure the bride's name is wrong, but, I keep looking, now and then.  The other night in my stupid tired state, I surfed in, typed his name on the Michigan Marriages search page, and found, NOPE, not him, but his father (same name).  WHATTTTTTT????  Holy genie wowsers, etc., etc, etc.  See:

Groom's Name: Arthur N. Stevens
Groom's Birth Date: 1881
Groom's Birthplace:
Groom's Age: 36
Bride's Name: Dorothy Davis
Bride's Birth Date: 1891
Bride's Birthplace:
Bride's Age: 26
Marriage Date: 30 Jan 1917
Marriage Place: Flint, Genesee, Michigan
Groom's Father's Name: Wallace Stevens
Groom's Mother's Name: Letta Clifford
Bride's Father's Name: Abe Davis
Bride's Mother's Name: Lena Clark
Groom's Race:
Groom's Marital Status:
Groom's Previous Wife's Name:
Bride's Race:
Bride's Marital Status:
Bride's Previous Husband's Name:
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: M01528-2
System Origin: Michigan-EASy
Source Film Number: 1018928
Reference Number: Img664 Pg317 Rcd4601
Collection: Michigan Marriages, 1822-1995

Now, there are two Michigan Marriages data bases at FamilySearch, the other is Collection: Michigan Marriages, 1868-1925, and has had images.  Well, the images are not present this weekend, but, I did learn from that data base indexing, these extra bits of info:

Groom's Birthplace: Austin, Minn.
Bride's Birthplace: Baltimore, Md.

Gotta say that is my man, err, Man's grandfather, errr, our very own "bad" guy!  Gosh durn it, he is the reason I got hooked on research, one of my most outrageous.  And, now, MORE!!  Can we spell WAHOO??

Cannot wait to get a look at that image!

C.  I just love my blog, I love how it makes me look at my research in a different light. I love how the comments of my great readers sometimes send me back to square one, the drawing board, to the google search!  Happened again this weekend, this time thanks to Renate of Into the LIGHT, who wrote some comments on my post Bathing Beauties from Virginia.   Her comments sent me off on one of those followup research google binges.  I started looking at maps and other goodies about the places I knew Florence and her mother lived, Money Point, Buell and Portlock.  Well, I got an education as to location, location, location.  It turns out my 3 locations are about 2 miles apart.  Well, hmmmm, why didn't I realize this, and why haven't I studied maps before for these locations??  No answer, but done now!  LOL


Above:  Map of the area of Money Point, near Norfolk Virginia.
"A" is where Google maps says Money Point is.  I note
with much interest what looks like a hunk of sand just below
that "A". Beach??  As in what is in the photos
 from my Bathing Beauties post??
Nahhh, could it be??  Shoot, more questions.

I also found an interesting piece, titled,  "A Brief History of Money Point".  A PDF file, this is now downloaded and linked to a multimedia event for Florence's mother, Lorena.  (Note: as of March 2019 the link was non-functional.)

By the way, if you have not been following Renate, you just have to surf over and read her post Sentimental Sunday - My Grandmother's Loss (Part 2 of 3) .  Bring a tissue or two.

Yes, indeedy, it has been quite the week.


*Special thank you to cousin Anne for finding and forwarding the newspaper article containing the notification of the issuance of that marriage license. 

Copyright 2010, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

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5 comments:

Barbara Poole said...

Hum, where do I begin. I esp. enjoyed the dialog between Renate and you regarding the "Bathing Beauties" and that everybody can stroll the beach now, Ya.
Also, how wonderful that you found Man's grandfather in FamilySearch.org. I use those Michigan records a lot, could hug them because they are free and easy. So glad you found something too. Thanks for an enjoyable post.
Oh, did the blimp get a picture of you two?

Carol said...

Babara, I figure the blimp did not bother with a photo of this ole gal hanging out the window of our old old old Escort Wagon, parked on the side of the road. I do believe they were more interested in the race track.

BUT, if you did see us, it was a silver Escort, by the way, could you let me know??

LOL

Renate Yarborough Sanders said...

Carol, I wrote a really long comment earlier when I was at the library and I read this post. When I clicked to send it through, I got an error message and the comment disappeared!
Anyway, the archivist at the library in Norfolk to me to mention to you that Bowden is a very well-known name in the area. I hadn't thought about it, but the street adjacent to my grandmother's property in Norfolk is actually Bowden Ferry Rd. Hmmm...
Anyway, I showed him the bathing suit picture, and he made few guesses, but didn't know exactly where it was either, but we both agreed that those appeared to me military-type tents, which could have been set up just about anywhere around here.
Okay, well, I'm sending you and email. Thanks for suggesting your readers visit my blog!

Renate

Karen said...

Why is it that in the wee hours of the night, instead of going to bed like sensible people, we start searching for ancestors??? lol

Carol said...

Karen, pray tell (she says with a slight sarcastic, black humor tone of voice) does sensible have to do with genie research? LOL