Saturday Night Genealogy Fun- Your Favorite Toys as a Child

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: 

 It's Saturday Night again - 

time for some more Genealogy Fun!!

Here is your assignment, should you decide to accept it (you ARE reading this, so I assume that you really want to play along - cue the Mission Impossible music!):

1)  Jen on Auntie Jen's Family Trees posted "Throwback Thursday Favorite Toys" on 23 January, and Linda S. thought it would make a good SNGF topic.  I agree!

2) What are some (one or more) of the toys you played with as a child?  

3)  Share your favorite toy(s) with us in your own blog post, in a comment on this blog post, or in a Facebook message.  Please leave a comment on this blog noting where your conjectures are located.

Thank you Jen for the idea.

One toy I played with was a Barbie. It was an African American doll veterinarian. The doll had a stethoscope around her neck, a clipboard, a bag, and a dog with a cone collar around its neck. Another toy I played with was Legos. I played with them until was I twelve.  My first Lego set was a caravan with two figurines, a bike, a sausage, and a fire. I like Legos still to this day.

How Many Ancestors Have You Found?

Have you kept track of how many ancestors you have discovered? Do you want to create an ancestor tracker? Keep reading to learn how.




I first started doing this back in 2016 after watching a video on the Ancestry Youtube channel instructed by Crista Cowan, better known as The Barefoot Genealogist. I would update it as I found new ancestors. Over time, I forget about it and stopped updating the counter. 




My inspiration behind this idea came from The Genealogy Girl. After reading her post, I started to get back in the swing of using my tracker.





Why Would I Want to Use an Ancestor Tracker?

This reason and purpose will vary from person to person, but the main reason for me is to see my progress over the years. Maybe this could give you a research avenue to look at, which will later become a research question. 




How to Create an Ancestor Tracker?

There are many ways you can create your own personal tracker. You can track your ancestors in a spreadsheet or online program. Whatever works for you it best. 


I created mine, after watching Crista Cowan's video. The first column is the relationship to me. The second column is how many ancestors in that generation. The third column is how many I found so far.

You can update this weekly, monthly, and even yearly. In the past, I would update my tracker as I found new ancestors. I might consider doing it every new year.




Maybe you will consider keeping track of your direct ancestors, if you haven't already.



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Thanks for reading,

Vestal (Images of America) - Book Review

This is the first edition of "What's NEW in my Bookshelf?"

Recently, I received a book called Images of America-Vestal by Vestal's town historian, Margaret Hadsell. 

 Here are my personal thoughts on the book.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Prehistoric Vestal

2. Vestal

3. Ross Corners

4. Tracy Creek

5. Twin Orchards

6. Vestal Center

7. Willow Point

8. Mile Wide

Summary

The book mainly shows photos of prominent settlers and locations around the town of Vestal. It briefly mentions pre-Vestal and the families, churches, schools, businesses, etc. within parts of Vestal.

Evaluation

I liked how the author inserted plat maps into the book. At the beginning of each chapter, there is a section of the entire map in which part of it will be "zoomed in" on specific areas of Vestal.

I was a bit disappointed with this book because I expected more context, though I did love the photographs. 

Vestal was predominantly rural and the main occupation was a farmer. Over time as Vestal grew, industrial-wise, there become more jobs besides family businesses. I would have liked to see the transformation (through photos) from rural to industrial.

This change would have affected my ancestors and the choices they made before moving to other cities in New York and Pennsylvania.

 Recommendation

I would recommend this book to anybody interested in knowing about the settlers during the 1820s into the 1940s. 

For family historians and genealogists, this wouldn't give you a lot of context, but insight into who your ancestors may have interacted with if you have Broome Co. ancestors.

My star rating is 3.5 out of 5.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun- Your 2020 Plans/Goals/Resolutions for Your Genealogy Research

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: 

 It's Saturday Night again - 

time for some more Genealogy Fun!!

Here is your assignment, should you decide to accept it (you ARE reading this, so I assume that you really want to play along - cue the Mission Impossible music!):

1)  It's the New Year, and many readers have already made resolutions, or goals, or plans for one or more tasks or projects.  Or they haven't yet, but could or should.

2)  For this SNGF, please tell us what plans you've made, or what goals you've stated, or what resolutions you've averred for 2020.  Writing them down may help you achieve them.  Do one or more as you wish.

3)  Put it in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a Facebook post.  Please leave a link on this post so readers can find your resolutions/goals/plans.

2020 Genea-Goals

• Continue to work through brick walls- I may not accomplish anything this year, but if that is the case, the only thing I want for my family projects is to make progress. 

• Work on my neglected family lines- I need to spend some time on those dusty lines that I haven't looked into for a long time. They may need source citations, dates, places, and especially their stories to be told. 

• Write, write, write-  I hope to write my life story one day (if ever). Late last year, I found writing prompts on the Olive Tree Genealogy blog by Lorine McGinnis Schulze. I need to get back into writing. Another thing I want to do is write short stories about my ancestors, like Randy Seaver. This definitely includes source citations too.

2020, here I come!

Thanks for reading,