Week 22 of Abundant Genealogy

Week 22: Family Recipes: Family recipes are about more than just food. They provide sights, smells and memories of family history. Which family recipe are you most thankful for? Who was the first person to make it, and how was the recipe handed down through the generations? Has the recipe stayed the same all these years?

Many of my friends talk about a traditional dish they have for such and such holiday.  Their memories over the table and how making it reminds them of those special times.  Well, I seem to have an unusual family because there has never been many of those type moments.  My grandmother Combs always had a large family Christmas dinner until I was about 10 or 11.  Then kids started moving away and doing their own things.  By the time I was in college it was a simple affair with maybe 4-5 people.  We never had the same thing on the table two years running... except we always had turkey.

Some of my other friends have regaled me with stories of how a recipe was passed down through x number of generations and how marvelous it is.  That is cool, that is not my family either.  I think the oldest recipe I have in my collection is a simple roll recipe that was my great-grandmother Arvin's.  I could be mistaken on the source however.

When I think of food, family history, and those moments that I am most thankful for they usually involve birthday cake or great dinners in fantastic restaurants (many in Europe).  Seriously.  My mother doesn't cook, she has burned water in the past.  My dad was an experimenter in the kitchen.  You know the type.  He opened the fridge looked in it and started throwing things into a pot/skillet and that was dinner.  My grandmothers cooked meat and potato style farm dinners, really filling and artery clogging all at the same time.  Gosh they were good!

A few of my favorite, once in a while, meals I could request on demand from my father where Frito Pie and Irish Stew.  I talked about Frito Pie in this blog post.  Irish stew, as my father called it, was a variation on a Shepard's Pie.  It was ground meat (usually hamburger, but I have made it with lamb) that is browned with onions.  To that you add veggies like potatoes, carrots and peas.  Put a fair amount of water on it to boil and then drop homemade (okay they were usually Bisquick) dumplings on top.  Cover and let it steam until the dumpling/biscuits are done.  It was best on day two or three.  When I get to feeling bad and need comfort food this is what I crave!

*Image Library of Congress:  Escambia Farms, Florida. Mrs. McLelland cooking fried chicken for Sunday dinner

*photo credit: Nomadic Lass via photo pin cc

Week 21 of Abundant Genealogy

Everett and Paul Combs on trip back to family farm.
Church where siblings were buried

Week 21: Ancestor Tales of Hardship: In genealogy, there are plenty of clouds in the form of sad stories and hardships faced by our ancestors. These tales should not be forgotten because descendants can learn from them. Share with us a particular ancestor’s hardship story. How did these events impact your life?

Very few sad stories were ever told to me. Sometimes it felt like if you didn't talk about it, it never happened. I have more vague ideas and hints of peoples lives than full blown stories. A few times my Grandma Arvin would talk about the childhood deaths of her siblings or growing up on a farm. Grandma Combs would talk about growing up in town and how they made ends meet some months. Few of the stories had a lesson, and they tried to focus on the positive. Except for one that still surfaces in my mind on occasion about my great-grandmother Sylvia Freeman Combs.

In the mid-1960s my grandfather took his father back to the old family farm in Orange County, Indiana.  Grandpa would tell stories to his kids about how he walked behind the wagon from Orange County to Daviess County when they moved there in the early 1930s.  My dad told me grandpa was shocked to find the graves of 4 siblings he never new he had on this trip.

The family was very poor.   From what I understand from my father, they barely had enough food to feed everyone at times.  How they came to this situation, I do not know.  I do know that once they moved off the farm and into town where there was steady work their life improved greatly.  My grandfather was the third youngest child.  He new that he had a sister named Ruth who died in 1920.  Zelma and Everett Jr were born after that and lived full lives.  He did not know about those who died within a few months of their birth: Mary in 1924, Kenneth in 1928, Pauline in 1930, and Robert in 1933.

Grandpa asked about the graves was told a heart wrenching story about his mother.  She thought that as long as she could produce milk, she did not need to eat a lot.  All the food they had went to the children while she and her husband existed on whatever crumbs were left over.  Unfortunately, that is not the way breastfeeding works.  You have to feed your body so that you can feed your child.  With her best intentions, she starved her children to death.

When I first heard this story as a child I didn't really get what it meant.  Yes it was sad, yes it was tragic, but how could this happen?  Why didn't she just eat more.  Can you tell that I never had to go hungry before?  I didn't understand what the lesson of the story was.

As I aged, and then had children of my own, the implications of the tale hit home. I struggled with breastfeeding my oldest who was a micro-preemie. My next child was a breeze compared to the first and I prepared myself by reading everything I could. Proper nutrition was a must. You had to feed yourself to feed your baby. Sometimes I would let my mind wonder during the middle of the night feedings, more than once I thought of Sylvia, and I cried for her.


*Image from the Library of Congress: Nurse the baby Your protection against trouble : Inform yourself through the Health Bureau publications and consult your doctor /

Passports are a family thing

I have had a passport since I was 18.  When I was a freshman in college my mother was stationed in Germany.  Yeah... they ship me off to college and then go to Europe for a 3 year tour of duty.  The last thing my parents did before they left was take me to the base and get me a passport so I could visit them over breaks.  The experience wasn't bad.  Took a picture, signed a piece of paper, and 3 months later it showed up in my mailbox.

Since then I have renewed my passport twice, the last time this year.  Renewals are fairly easy things to do online now, and I never had to go into an office.  Typed it up online, printed it out, and then mailed it in!  My kids on the other hand have been a whole different story.  They have to get theirs renewed for a family trip we are taking and it has been hurdle after hurdle.  Some of my own making too.  I could go on and on about it, but I can already feel my blood pressure raising.

The one thing I kept thinking about while I filled out their forms:  I have to make this look nice so when my descendants look for passport applications they can read it!  Yeah, that thought actually went through my head.  Jeesh...

Think about how excited you are when you find that handwritten document from decades ago.  I bet the person filling it out was only thinking about how they have to fill this paper out, how quickly they could get it done, and didn't really think about who may see it in the future.  Who really does? That is unless they are in a field of study that has them coming into constant contact with original documents. 

Almost makes me want to take up old fashioned letter writing again!

photo credit: Baigal via photo pin cc

Intro to Genetics on FTF post

My latest Family Tree Firsts post is up and you can read it here.  It is the first in a series of posts on genetic testing for genealogy chronicling my families experience with the process. 

The picture is the oldest Combs family picture I have.  It shows my great-grandparents Frank and Sylvia Combs with their children.  My grandfather is on the right, standing next to his mother.  His mother, Sylvia Freeman, is the great-great-granddaughter of John Foote from the previous FTF post.

There is a plethora of information out there on genetic genealogy and I don't want to rehash what you could find easily on your own. You can read up on it to your hearts content online and in books.  However, one thing I have noticed is that these companies don't really give you the tools to understand the results.  Not that I expect to be hand held through the process, but having a bit of a guide so that you understand what all those numbers and letters mean would be a great thing.  I took classes in genetics and was confused at some points.

My absolute favorite class in college was microbial genetics.  LOVED IT!  The lab was like a candy store for me and I couldn't wait to get there (4 hours twice a week).  We studied all sorts of DNA, learned various techniques and procedures, and then for a treat at the end of the semester we cloned our own DNA for a study.  WHOOT!

Now all I wish I could do is get into a lab and do these tests on my whole family... I really wonder what is hidden in our genes.  Could something be in there help us make a connection to another family?  Could I finally get a break in jumping the pond?  So many questions.

What? It is already the end of MAY!

That was my reaction to the calender this morning.  The last few months, in fact this year, have just flown by.  Crazy-hectic-mom schedule doesn't help the matter at all.  My oldest has already got the itchy feet and antsy twitches that come with a kid that sees the end of the school year just a few weeks away.  I have the antsy twitches and tick of a mom that will soon has both kids home for 11 weeks. 

To top it off, Mr. Man will be starting middle school and Mr. Bear is entering Kindergarten this fall.  I just have to make it to September to receive my reward of freedom from children eight hours a day five days a week.  Think about all the research I will be able to do! Oh, and mani-pedi's; can't forget the occasional spa day you know.

However, we have to get through almost three months of summer first. Mr. Man has all the places he wants to visit this summer outlined on a piece of paper that was handed to me yesterday.  Battlefields, museums, and various historical sites in a four state radius.  I had to inform him that I didn't think we would be able to make it up to Boston this summer (talk about disappointed looks from the two of them). 

Included in the summer plans is a historical summer camp put on by the Jamestown Yorktown Foundation called Broadsides Camp.  We have our week booked there, both boys are going to both camps, and it should be fun!  They both did it last year and they begged to come back this year.  Who can say no to a history camp?  Logistics are the only down side as it is three hours from home and we have to stay in a hotel for a week.  Ah well, could be worse.

One of the best parts:  on day three of the Jamestown camp they will be learning about the Tempest and how some ships were blown of course and shipwrecked in Bermuda.  Among those colonists was Stephen Hopkins and his family, ancestors on my husband's side.  Mr. Man is so excited to be learning about his family at CAMP!  Mr. Bear is excited to drill with the soldiers at Yorktown and the go to play with mud and fish at Jamestown. 

Wish me luck... I may need a rescue by the end of the summer!

*Images taken by me.  Toys on the beach at Virginia Beach, and Statue of John Smith at Jamestowne Island, 2011.

Warring Grandfathers, next FTF post is up!

My next post at Family Tree Firsts is up.  You can read it here.

I have to say this was one of the more interesting discoveries that I have made.  In the United States you here stories about opposite sides of the family fighting against each other in the Civil War.  Brother against brother, families torn apart, and the like, but how often do you find stories of families on opposite sides of the Revolution?  Usually the people who stayed loyal to the British left their homes after the Revolution and you have to search another country.  I have a soldier leaving the army to stay here!

Reading John Foote's story it tugged at my heart strings.  To think he took his mother on a family visit and was ripped from the family.  I keep wondering about him, his mother, and the Foote family.  Did he ever write to her and let her know that he was alive and where he was?  As a mother the thought of someone taking my son is unimaginable.  The anguish would tear at me.

Edward Arvin choose to enlist.  He was able to make the decision to fight for his country.  You can read about his journey at a site written by my cousin (a couple times removed) on the Arvin Family.  Check it out.  We share the same lineage to Henry Arvin and our lines split with two of Henry's sons.

*Image from wikimedia commons

Letters with results, next FTF post is up

My latest post over on Family Tree is up.  You can read it here.

I am in the process of writing back to Miss. Hilbert. She has always been such a nice woman and I enjoyed talking to her when I was younger.  If possible I want to meet up with her on my next visit home to Indiana.  Still working on scheduling, but it will be a great big genalogical adventure when I go.

The picture posted was from a Combs family reunion in the mid 1950s.  I thought it was a great picture of my dad and all his first cousins at that time.  He, his two brothers, and sister were among the oldest there, but he said he remembers it very well.  Now, being able to remember all the other kids in the picture from nearly 60 years ago is a bit harder.  Dad turned 73 last week, so I will forgive him that he can't identify which of his cousins was the baby that year.

In the post I copied the note she gave me about a portion of my mother's family line.  There is one name I do not recognize on it.  Who is Ann?  I don't have an Ann Sanders listed anywhere.

G. Grandmother Wildman name

      was St. Clair Burton
G. Grandmother Sanders
      name was Gamble
Grandmother Wildman
      name Mary Francis Moberly
      died April 30 1864
Grandmother sanders
       Name Elizabeth Denning
       Born May 27 1827 Died June 13 1880
Grandfather Armstead Wildman
       Born Dec 6 1829 Died Mar 15 1900
Grandfather James Sanders
       Born Sept 8 1829 Died Jan 30 1913
Aunt Ann Sanders died
       Sept 22 1937 Wednesday 6.30 O Clock

Many of the names on this list I had discovered through census, marriage, birth, and death records.  I have to admit that it is nice to have confirmation on them from a source about 2 generations back from me.  A source who probably knew most, if not all, of the people on this list.  A few of the dates I have are off by one or two years, but that is better than ten!

I am curious to see what else Miss. Hilbert and I will talk about in the future.