121st Carnival Of Genealogy, Great Discoveries: The Lashbrook Book

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Thanks to Jasia at Creative Genes for hosting the 121st COG.  Her challenge:

The topic for the next edition of the COG will be: Great Discoveries. ...It's time to once again share your latest discoveries, the ones that put a smile on your face, brought a tear to your eye, or for whatever reason made you say, "wow"!

Possibly the greatest discovery I made in my 20 some years of research was when I ordered a microtext copy of a surname book,  "Lashbrooke, Lashbrooks, and Lashbrook (of the United States)", (Utica, Kentucky: McDowell Publications, 1986), complied by Mary K. Gritt Lashbrook.

This was very early on in my research, maybe the first year, surely in the first two.  I had ordered a few other surname books and they had all been gold mines.  When I ordered the Lashbrook work, however, I was fishing, pure and simple.

The catalog description at FamilySearch.org says:  "Ten generations of Lashbrook families, most of whom are descended from William Lashbrooke, who was living in Prince William County, Virginia at the time of his death in 1760."

Heavens, at this point I had NO idea who I was chasing, so, I took a chance that someone I could connect to would show up in Mary's work.  And, boy did it ever!

I have mentioned this a few times before, Mary did an outstanding job of the one name study of Lashbrook in the USA.  She ended up with a few lone wolf lines.  Instead of ditching the research she tucked the rough outlines in at the end of her work.  And, there it was that I found Archie, in all his glory, with his siblings and parents, and extended ancestry.  Mary had filled 12 pages with what she had collected.  12 wonderful pages.

(Below, the first of the 12 pages of Richard and Ann's descendants.)

I currently have 239 people in my data base with the surname Lashbrook.  There are 6 brides married to Lashbrook dudes for whom I have been unable to determine maiden names.  There is also one lone Lashbrooke (sad story that, filled with abandonment and resentments, and yes, it surrounds Archie, dear ole Archie, the starting point of most of the next 20 years of research).

I ran a descendancy chart with just names, including spouses, it is 75 pages long and includes approximately 2,250 names.  I have been reluctant to find out how many pages it would take to print this compiled data for some time, last time I tried, it was well over 850 pages.  But, I held my breath and tried again the other day, and it was around 1040 pages, including the index and one photo per person (where I have some graphic of some kind).   Sans graphics the report and index are about 940 pages.  That is pretty interesting to me, 100 pages of graphics and not everyone has a graphic attached to them.

Mary's work has been the foundation for all the research I have done since then, well over 20 years of research.

Several years after the searching began I was gifted with a copy of May's book, that alone is a story I should probably share sometime.

(Below, my gifted copy of the Lashbrook book, a treasured and valued possession.)

My greatest discovery, no doubt about it, was Mary's book on microtext and the 12 pages she tucked in at the end, for a family she could not even link to.  I cannot thank her enough times.

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Cedar Point, We Came, We Conquered, We Had a Great Time

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Our family had a summer's end trip to Cedar Point Amusement Park this week, we we all able to go less two adults who had to work (darn that work thing getting in the way!)  We had a beautiful weather day, not too hot nor humid, low wind, blue skies.

My one ride, first of the day, got that out of the way:

This photo was taken from the ground (of course!).  The MaXair spins, and it swings back and forth pendulum style, while spinning, and stops at the top at about 90 degrees (at 140 feet) from the "load" position.  Wikipedia calls it a giant frisbee ride, says it goes 70 miles per hour. Son # 1's wife was the only one brave enough to go on it, and, we all agreed, she looked a bit green when she got off it.  And, yes those are feet in the air, upside down rider's feet.

Below:  No I did NOT ride this.  My faithful readers may remember the Tram ride from *&$#, err, in Palm Springs California.  I did ride this MANY years ago.  I did not like it then, and believe me, after Palm Springs, there was little chance, err, NO chance, of my getting on another one, even one this tame.

And, there goes my entire family, Son # 1, his bride, his twins, Son # 3 and Man, off to conquer the Blue Streak:

Massive spider legs??  Nope, the support legs of one of the numerous roller coasters.  I thought they looked a bit artistic.

What is that hiding in the bush, err, landscaping?

Man, the Grandtwins, and their mom went this spinning swing called the Wind Seeker.  It goes up, WAYYYYY, up, about 300 feet up!  I did not ask, but, I'll bet the view was pretty spectacular WAYYYYY up there!

Cedar Point is located on a slim peninsula of land that is on Lake Erie. It sits on about 360 acres, by the way, there are 15 roller coasters! There is also some nice beach!

Man, the Grandtwins and their mother rode this ride at Snake River Falls, and yes, they got VERY wet!

One of the 15 roller coasters, I am sure Son # 3 probably rode this, he rode a lot of coasters.  I don't know the name.  Have to say, the coasters are AMAZING to watch from the ground!   I so wanted to stand underneath and around them and just shoot photos for hours.  The most amazing one tho, we felt was the Top Thrill Dragster, 0 to 120 MPH in 4 seconds flat!  It goes 420 feet up and has a 90 degree vertical angle, in other words, it pretty much goes straight up and straight down!  Son # 3 rode it twice I hear!  That 0 to 120 is the dangest thing I have ever seen, it acts as if it has a jet engine in it's back end, but, it is powered by a hydraulics launch mechanism of some kind.  I have no idea what that means, 'cept it means F * A * S * T and then F * A * S * T * E * R yet!  (And, nope, I did not get ONE photo of the Top Thrill Dragster I was standing there watching in total awe!  Forgot to shoot!)

Wait, tell me it isn't so - - Summer is over??  Arghhhhh, the last ride  - - -

A fun day was had by all, even though we missed our two adults that had to stay home to work.




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Summer's Last Hooray - - Planning a Day at Cedar Point.

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

After an uneventful ride to the park, the picking of the campsite was a bit bumpy, but, we are in and settled.  We are parked backwards in the site, but that is what Man wanted, and at least we are not stepping out into some beautiful black dirt.  (Noting that I just cleaned Tana's light goldish colored carpet.  We had a great dinner cooked on the grill.

Then, the planning of tomorrow's visit to the park began:

Will it be???

Or??

Well, for me, NEITHER.  I will be the designated "holder of the stuff" and photo taker.  Sony is gonna need some help, I probably should review settings and where is that gorilla tripod??



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RePost, When Neil Was Leaping, Where Were You?

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Originally posted July 20, 2009

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It is all over the news today, it was 40 years ago today that Neil Armstrong spoke the words that will be forever remembered: “That's one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind".

So, do you know where you were, what you were doing, when he took that giant leap??

A few months ago the Wild Ones’s got chatting about recording feelings and where we were during the monumental happenings of our lifetime. Not necessarily marriages or births of our children, but of events in our lifetimes like Neil Armstrong’s landing on the moon. We all agreed that to find such memories of our ancestors is a great genealogical find. As researchers we tend to get excited over letters and old diaries. Therefore, wouldn’t it be a good thing to leave these memories for our descendants to read? Record them in your database?

On July 20, 1969 Man was stationed in Washington DC at the Language Institute. Our first born was just 6 weeks old, in a few days I would celebrate my 21st birthday. Man’s parents had just driven me and infant Son #1 from Allen Park to Maryland to our apartment. It was hotter than hades, the apartment had no air conditioning, Man’s parents went out and bought us a huge floor fan. We sat in their hotel room, which WAS air conditioned and watched the landing, on a black and white television.

Simple memories, but like others I have chatted about here on the blog, clear, crystal clear memories, I can see us sitting in that hotel room, the hush, how we all held our breath in suspense, the awe.

So, where were you on July 20, 1969?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is about how I remember the landing on that black and white television, image courtesy of Wikipedia. 

This file is in the public domain because it was created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted". 

Rest in Peace Neil Armstrong.



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Orange Cemetery Kit, Add Ons

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

When I posted The Orange Cemetery Kit, I also posted a link on Facebook and Google Plus.  And, then the conversations began!  What fun we had, with silliness and some great suggestions and questions.  I am going to post some of the suggestions, some appeared in comments on the original post.

Those that would fit in MY kit first.

Tweezers, thanks to Debbie Blanton McCoy.

Crayons will be stored in a sandwich baggie, thanks Leslie Lawson.

Toothbrush, thanks again to Leslie Lawson.

Old socks which you can use and then toss when they become dirty, thanks to Linda Jenkins Wensel.

Several suggestions were made to add straps to the bag, so I can carry cross my back, one was to use a bungie cord and some type of wrap,  thanks to Linda Jenkins Wensel .  Another good idea, "go to the thrift store and buy a used purse with shoulder straps. Take the strap off and attach to the back- bing bang boom done."  Thanks to Terri Kallio.

Two great suggestions on finding something orange.  One is from cousin Connie Eunice Nunes, who always comes up with some interesting feed back for me, love the way her mind works.  Her idea, Bing search the term neon orange, I'll save you the effort, here is her link!  And, Terri Kallio offered this great suggestion,  "As far as things orange - go to any store that sells hunting gear and you will find all the orange stuff you could ever want......"

Another suggestion came from Laura Cosgrove Lorenzana, who wrote, "It's actually a great idea to ADD to the big bucket...an easy way to keep the small things together, and when you don't need the whole bucket, you can just grab the smaller bag and go."

And, along the same lines, Linda Melnik wrote, "What I'll probably do is use both the lunch box and the bucket and leave the bucket in the car with the "just in case" stuff like paper towels and the larger container of wet ones. I also buy a box of individual wet ones and can put one or two of those in the lunch box."

Several suggested including a GPS unit, thanks to AMP (my Virginia genie angel) and others.  We could use the handheld geocaching unit for this and we also have the GPS in Jolly.




*The disclaimer, Facebook and Google Plus are social networks I participate in.  They happen to both be free (well, we could debate that till the cows come home, but, I digress) sites, I use.  They own the copyrights and all that junk.  I use them, sometimes successfully, other times, with much angst and ranting.  They have not asked me to mention them (hahaha, like, mmm, folks, I just am NOT that important to either of them, eh??).  Nope, I get no $$ from them either when I chat about them.

** I have not linked to any of the posters of these wonderful ideas, some are bloggers, if you are interested, search for them, or contact me privately and I will share URL's with you.  I did not include links because Google gets upset if you put too many in one specific blog post, and I just did not feel like facing down the Google world today.

*** I will add additional suggestions later if any more come in.
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The Orange Cemetery Kit

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Back in early July (2012) several researching/genealogy bloggers over at Google Plus were discussing our "cemetery kits".  What items did we feel necessary, helpful, must haves when we went out cemetery stomping.  We had a delightful discussion and at the end of it, Leslie Lawson of Genealogy and Other Thoughts compiled all of our ideas and wrote a post, where she showed off her orange bucket of cemetery cleaning tools and her kit.  It is a great kit!

But, I needed something much more simple and much smaller so I could carry it in Tana or Jolly and have it all in one place.  Because we spend many months in Tana I keep a very small cemetery stomping kit.  I had a knife and a brush in Jolly and the rest of my small, very small arsenal was in Tana in a drawer in the top of the closet over the washer/dryer.  I tend to forget to take any of it with me, well, cause, I have to dig it out of the closet.  However, if I have it stashed in Jolly, ya, there is a thought, I will have it on hand when it is needed.  We actually found a little hidey hole in Jolly the other day while cleaning.  That was a start - -

I really liked the idea of something orange.  (That said it needs to be a much brighter orange than Blogger gives me to choose from in the font colors, eh?  LOL)  The theory, is of course, if it is orange and you set it down, and wander away, you can still see it fairly easily, just as Leslie has pointed out in her post.

We checked at one of the box hardware stores, and I came home with a small tool bag, but, it was black.  Black is NOT orange, the size was small(ish),  maybe still a bit large for my small collection of tools, but, it folded up flat, so, we purchased, and brought it home for consideration.

Not totally happy with the black bag, we checked several other stores as we ran errands.  We were in a serious case of FAIL, nothing orange, or too small or too large.  Finally we found something, VERY VERY orange and Man announced it the perfect size.  It is a school lunch box.  Yea, seriously, a school lunch box.

Below, opened.  I have crayons for rubbings, of course, paper will not fit in a kit.  LOL  I have scissors, a sharp knife (reason to like this lunch box, that hard plastic liner which will keep the knife from cutting through the soft sides), small spray bottle (which I can refill with water from our drinking water bottles), and two brushes to gently clean off the mud daubers and lichen.

And, yep, I can see the orange, I set it out in the yard, about 50 feet away and shot:

Then, I set Sony to a bit of zoom:

Yes indeed, I can see that orange from a long ways off!  Just like I wanted.  So, unless I find something more appropriate in the next few weeks, the orange lunch box will be my new cemetery stomping kit.

I am looking at methods to get a longer handle on this thing, maybe carry it over my shoulder.  Hmmmmmm - - - -

No, my cemetery stomping kit is not nearly as all encompassing as many of my friends, however, if I need more tools I will either go get them and come back, or make do the best I can.  I accept that there will be times that I will fail, that my compact cemetery stomping kit just won't do the trick.  I can live with that.

Man will now house his small collection of tools that he carries IN Jolly in my first purchase.  Well, at least I did not have to return it!  LOL




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Thursday Tech Report :: Wonder if Toodledo Can Help Me Produce?

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

The last couple of weeks I have been on another techy binge.  Some of that had to do with the Yahoo email account getting hacked.  Maybe I'll talk about that more some time, but, for now, let it suffice to say, that event has caused me to re-evaluate MUCH about my email presence on the net.

iGoogle is going to the net heavens in the sky in November of 2013 they tell us.  I am going to miss my iGoogle page, it was where my browser went when I started up the computer and the net for the day.  I had weather widgets, a few jokes, puppy photos, and most important my Google Reader widget.

So, since we hope to be on the road for THE Trip, THE Encore in a few months, I decided to be proactive and start searching for a new "front page" now.  The thought was, I have a little time now,  other than the fact that I am working on another book that I really want to finish in the next week or so, I have time now.  Well, maybe??  Anywhoooooo, more on front pages in the future here at Reflections - - -

During that process someone mentioned that they could not live without Toodledo helping to manage their lives and their to do lists.  Since I was on a techy toy/app mission, I decided to have a lookie see.  Why not, while I was on that roll? Below, a screen shot of a portion of the web page. Toodledo is a web site where you build your own to do list, your to do list stored in the cloud.

So, I signed up, and started playing.  I decided I would include even some mundane items, like taking my meds in the morning and evening, working on my web sites, my back up projects and even checking some of my many email accounts (yes, I frequently forget to even check them in the rush of life, my bad, my truth).  My thought was put even the small every day activities and see if by listing them it made any difference in how I approached them.  Since I have episodes of procrastination, would looking at this every day shame me into action??

So far, I am doing pretty good with the truly mundane chores, checking those email accounts I tend to forget about, but, are important to check.  Some of the weekly to do items, I am not doing so well with.  Over all I feel I have been more productive.

And, the experiment continues.




* The disclaimer, iGoogle, GoogleReader, Toodledo are copyrighted names and products.  You know the routine, I use them, some successfully, others, well, not so much.  I have not been asked to review them.  If there is a fee or price to pay, I pay it.  They not only do not ask me to review their products, they do not give me any $$ or gift to do so.

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Wedding Wednesday :: One of My Favorite Marriage Records

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

When I first started my family research, a few moons, OK, many moons ago, most of Man's grandfather's story (my beloved Archie, he has taken me on quite the journey, I do love that man!) was one huge mystery.

Over the months and years I have dug a bit here and there, and unearthed tidbits here and there.  When I started this life changing hobby, we did not even know Archie's real birth name.  We had suspicions, family whisperings that our surname really was not our surname.  Well, those suspicions alone will send any addicted researcher into a tizy, and my tizy is still ongoing, some 20 plus years later.

After a few months of research and the discovery of the real surname, I found 12 pages tucked in the back of a family surname book.  The compiler could not tie the lineage to her main body of work.  I have never found a connection either.  But, that compiler in her one name search had 12 pages of Man's family, briefly stated, but, a wonderful outline to work from.  Yes, I thank her daily, without her, I don't believe I would have put it together in 20 years.  Instead in 20 years I took her 12 pages and it now is well over 800 pages if printed in a narrative style report.  (I am afraid to find out how many, after about 800 pages I stopped running the reports and checking.  LOL)

I then set out to prove the 12 pages, document it, and fill in a tremendous amount of holes.  I am still filling in holes all these years later.

One of the first holes I wanted to fill was to find documentation surrounding the parents of Man's grandfather Archie, Wallace Henry Lashbrook and Letta (Lettie) Amelia Clifford.  On a research trip to Allen County Public Library in Ft. Wayne, Indiana I set out to discover their marriage.  I knew she had been living in Floyd County Iowa (thanks to my census research).  My master plan was pull index books for Floyd County and then proceed to surrounding counties.  I hit paydirt on the first try, I found Wallace and Lettie in a Floyd County index compiled book.  I will never forget the thrill, it was HUGE!  Yea, a bit of dancing, and hooting and hollaring went in, in the middle of the library.  Well, quiet hooting and hollaring!

Later I obtained a copy of that marriage record, it is one of my favorites.  Wallace and Lettie were not hiding from me!

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SkyDrive, Oh, Yea, HUGE Improvement

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

I have had a hotmail account for some time, years is some time, right??  I don't use it for email, I was looking at putting some files on SkyDrive for cloud storage.  I have been fussing with cloud storage since October of 2010.

Trouble is, I found it clunky.  And, because it was clunky, I did not enjoy the process, did not enjoy using it, so, of course, I did NOT.

Then, Microsoft redesigned, renamed, re did a lot of stuff.  It is now Outlook.  SkyDrive is still there, my files were still there.

So, I decided to have a second look at the cloud storage stuff.  It took me a few moments to find the link, they hid it under a drop down arrow thingy.  OK, some call it slick.  I suppose it is after you use it a few times.

I fuss a bit, I add a new folder, and then I discover how they meant it to work, how to quickly and I do mean QUICKLY up load files to the new folder.  HOT DIGGITY DOG!  With the two monitors, drag and drop works nicely.  VERY nicely.  And, I can drag multiple files at once by "selecting all" with Windows 7 Explore.

Once the files are at SkyDrive, I can even rearrange them a bit, and the process to do that is also slick and fast.

WOW, I just went from clunky to slick.  I actually think I will now use SkyDrive for storing some files in the cloud.

Well now, how's that for a win for the techy one who has more trouble with techy stuff than any one she knows.

WIN!



* Disclaimer time, I use products named here, sometimes successfully, others, well, not so successfully.  None of the vendors or supplies have asked me to talk about their products, and they do not pay me anything to do so.  All those names, hotmail, SkyDrive, Outlook, Microsoft, Windows 7 (Explore), they are all owned, lock stock and barrel by the respective companies, yep, they own it all, copyright, everything.

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Thursday Tech Report :: Chimani, My Fav App

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

I cannot wait to use this later this fall when Man and I start THE Trip, THE Encore, to explore new areas out west.  Actually, we have had fun playing with it this week, marking off the parks we have been to over the last, hmmmmm, XX years or so.

Chimani Apps for the Outdoors

And specifically, the National Parks app.  Here for iPad, iPhones, iPods.  Here for Android.

Many many thanks to Jenna Mills for suggesting the app to me over on Google Plus.  Jenna blogs at Desperately Seeking Surnames.

This is the best app I have downloaded on the iPad, for my travel addiction.  (Families is my favorite so far for my family history addiction.)

The app is intuitive, all encompassing, has photos, overviews of the parks, statistics, links to many park web sites, a super slick map, and more.  And, yes, it is fun "stamping" the parks you have been to and you can even indicate the year you were there!  It is also fun looking at "My Chimani", the list of parks we have visited.  We have LOTS more to visit!  WOOT!




*  You know the disclaimer, I use the products named in this blog post, I pay for them, full price.  Sometimes I use them with success, other times, well, not so successful.  I have not been asked to review these products.  They own them and the copyrights.

**Graphic used with permission of Kerry Gallivan of Chimani.
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Man Gets Piney, And What A Cache Container!

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

The other day Man and I decided to do a bit of geocaching, cemetery hopping, errands and treat our selves to lunch out.  It was gloomy and they had threatened (err, promised) rain, but, we are brave and left home anyway!

Our first stop was the cemetery.  While I gathered my records Man pulled out the GPS and discovered there was a cache 82 feet away!  Well, now then, how fun is that??  So, we started looking, part 1 was to find a stone, take some data from it and find new coordinates.  OK.  About the time we needed to put in the new coordinates, the batteries on the GPS died.  Well, that was a bit inconvenient.

So, I started reading stones, checking my records.  I finished about 2/3rds of the section and the rain started.  Hmmmmphhh.

Off to the grocery store we go, did our errands, purchased new batteries for the GPS and back to the cemetery we go, it had stopped raining.

Find, was a FAIL.  We are pretty sure we solved the clues correctly, and we suspect we know where the cache had been.  Not sure it was there any longer.  Resigned to a no find, I would have finished that section of the cemetery rewalk, only, yep, it started raining again.  OK, time for lunch.

On the way to lunch we actually stopped to find one more cache (cause it has stopped raining, AGAIN!), it is down there, really:

Don't see it??  Man did.  He has a bit of a 6th sense about these things, and here it is:

I managed to dig out the log, sign it, and NOW we are off to lunch.

After lunch (which was nomma nomma good), Man found another cache to search for which was on the way home.  This is supposedly a drive by where you don't even have to get out of your vehicle.  OKKKKK. Well, it is in an old phone booth, but of course, cute, get it, drive by??  Ya.  Only, that old phone booth is the home of a rather healthy nest of  - - bees!  Man being a bit allergic to bee stings, and me, well, not stupid and surely a chicken, decided we did not need to claim that cache at all.

Next, we decide to try once more to find the cache we could not find when the grandtwins were with us, another cemetery one.  We rechecked the clues, ending up in the same place as we were on our first try, and Man really got into the piney (one of the clues was, "It's piney.)  In fact, the piney bit him, leaving a long bloody scratch.

And, another FAIL!!  And, enough, we won't try again.

But, that bottle cap cache, that made the FAILS a little more palatable.

OH, and it never rained another drip all day, after it chased us out of the cemetery, nary another drip.  Don't cha love Mother Nature??




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Tombstone Tuesday, Grief So New And Raw

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

I have digitally edited this photo, I removed the name and I have blurred the face.  I did not take a lot of time with the editing, as it is not what mattered to me, what mattered was the overwhelming grief this memorial represents.  This is the grave of a child, who died in the last 24 months.  I will not reveal where, except the grave is in Southeast Michigan.  Again, it really matters not.

It is obvious this child was much loved and heavily grieved.  Bless this child and the parents.

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I Want Phone Service for $1.00 a Month!

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

From the July 14, 1897 issue of the Michigan Messenger published at Adrian, Lenawee County, Michigan:

"(from the Tecumseh Herald)  Negotiations are pending relative to the starting of an independent telephone line in Tecumseh same as in Adrian.  The rates for residences will be $1.00 and business houses $2.00 per month.  The corporation is to be known as the Tecumseh Phone Co. and will be composed largely of resident stockholders."

Later in the year we read in the paper of additional fees, although I will admit, I do not totally understand them, but, for the price stated, who cares??  This comes from the November 20, 1897 issue of the same paper:

"The new telephone line between Adrian & Tecumseh has been completed and the exchanges connected.  The exceptional rates of 10 cents will prevail."

Yessssmmmm, I want phone service with these kinds of rates!



*Graphic courtesy of cksinfo.com

**Seems rather appropriate to publish this right now, considering the frustrations I am currently having with all things techy!
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Thursday Tech Report :: Experimenting With Two Monitors; iPad Research Trip, Take Two, A New Trick

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

When Son # 1 was here last, I had him show me how to set up Windows 7 for a double monitor set up.  Here is a photo of my messy desk, please ignore mess, thank you!  LOL  Jury is still out, I have not decided if I like or no like this set up.  And, yes, I think I can make it work in Tana if I decide I like it after all!  LOL

Yesterday Man and I went with the Lenawee County Family Researchers on a little field trip get away day.  After Tuesday's fiasco with Yahoo email, the break was welcomed.

We drove over to Monroe County to visit their library, their historical society (and archives) and the River Raisin National Battlefield Park.  We also managed to pack in a very nice lunch, it was an enjoyable relaxing day.

During the day there were a number of queries about the iPad.  One was from one of the librarians. She looked incredulous, when she asked me, "Is that all you have with you to research with, no papers, no computer?"

What followed was a little show 'n tell of Families and Legacy Family Tree. An exchange of web sites followed.

Yesterday I did not intend on doing any research, even though I did do some.  The camera capture of images still is quite remarkable, I have download a scanning app, although I did not use it.  Maybe I should have, jury still out on that too.

Something I did play with was Evernote and GoogleMaps on the iPad.  Our fearless leader had emailed us an schedule for the day, including addresses.  Since this was the day after the little Yahoo disaster, I was a bit worried that I would not be able to access the email while away from home, so, I emailed it to Evernote.  And, away we went.  At some point, looking at the schedule, now residing happily in Evernote, I had a question.  What would happen if I clicked on those addresses?  Those addresses were, after all, highlighted, sure looked like a link to me.

TA DA, click on the highlighted address and GoogleMaps opened and took me right to the address.

Allrighty now!  This has all kinds of possibilities.

I was able to reproduce the same results several times.  See me smile!

Let me tell you all this techy stuff, does some surprising stuff.  Back to the learning curve I go, two monitors, and more iPad tricks.




* Yep, standard disclaimers.  Evernote, iPad, Windows7, GoogleMaps, Families, Legacy Family Tree, products I use, some with great success, others with mixed results, some still learning.  None of these companies have asked me to mention them here at Reflections, so, nope, they did not pay me a penny to do so.  I pay for those products that charge for use, full price, every time.  Yep, I do like the free stuff too!
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Wedding Wednesday :: Honeymoon Sites, Revisited 65 Years Later

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Man's mother saved EVERYTHING, I think I told you that before, EVERY THING!  Her "wedding" box mementos had all types of little tidbits and surprises.  There was a bill from the Wolverine Hotel in Detroit for two nights stay, the two nights immediately after the wedding.  And, there was this post card.  She had written on the back, "Honeymoon Hotel, Art & Millie"  This is the Otsego Hotel in Jackson, Jackson County, Michigan.

Also found in the collection was this menu from the "Villa Bee" in Jackson, Jackson County, Michigan, a 3 page affair, only sharing the front of it.

Of course, you know I did a little research on both of these places, and I found that the Otsego Hotel is now the Otsego Apartments and the Villa Bee* was sold to new owners back in 1956, the name was changed to Club Ludwig and had been known as a place for fun and music ever since.  In June of 2010 the business was for sale.  I feared that it would be torn down.  I had decided Man and I needed to take a drive to Jackson to visit both sites and take some photos.

*  A bit of history on the Villa Bee was found at this web site in 2010:

http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2010/06/peek_through_time_club_ludwig.html

Here is a bit of that article, note the quote marks!  The web site has a much longer article, fun read, go there.  In the meantime, thanks to the paper for this, sure gave us a good feel for the club during the time that Man's parent's were there, I can hear the big bands in the background, can't you??

"Before Club Ludwig

Club Ludwig started life as the Villa Bee, opened by William J. Short around 1944 and hailed in a July 15, 1944, Billboard magazine article as being one of the top clubs in this part of Michigan, along with Battle Creek's Club Tropics, Kalamazoo's Club Hollywood and Detroit's Club Haymarket.

The Villa Bee claimed in the 1945 Jackson City Directory to be "Jackson's foremost society night club." It was "air-cooled" and home to Karl Kaslow & His Orchestra. Big bands, including the Tommy Dorsey Band, also stopped by between shows in Detroit or Chicago.

It was common for the club to draw upward of 350 people to its 25-by-45-foot oak dance floor - one of the largest dance floors in town - on Saturday nights."

So, here are some photos taken on July 29th of this year, first Villa Bee, now Club Ludwig, from what we could tell, out of business, the property is for sale.

And the Otsego Apartments.  Isn't it amazing how similar it looks to the post card?  Man found some people sitting outside and they said the original tile floor is still in the main lobby area.  We did not go in, probably should have.

It was great fun to travel to the honeymoon sites, 65 years later.  Sad to see the Villa Bee/Ludwigs closed, but a thrill to see the Otsego and in such good shape (it is downtown Jackson, many downtown buildings everywhere are in deplorable shape, and look at this one, amazing!)

The grandtwins were with us when we made this trip back in time, and they both said they enjoyed seeing where Gramma Millie went on her honeymoon.  Yep, the family historian in me smiled a lot at that comment!

Many trips back in time do not turn out this well, some say you cannot go home again, but, this once, we got to go back, 65 years worth and it was not bitter sweet.  And, now, wonder if that Billboard magazine article is to be found anywhere??  I'm off, another tidbit to chase.




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