Week in Review and The Latest FHWC Story

What a week, so much done, so much left to do, and so much to share!  Knowing what to tell you and where to begin is my morning frustration it seems.

Week three of the Family History Writing Challenge is done.  Last week I mainly worked on the cookbook.  I have decided that I will need to beg for some more stories and remembrances from my family as well as pictures of the people who passed down the recipes.  It will make the book come to life much more I think.

With all the editing and sorting of the recipes I only wrote one story.  This one is about a clock that I inherited when I was 5 years old from my grandmother’s sister, Beatrice Armstrong Norris.  It is included at the end of this post.  Hope you enjoy it.

Also, if you saw my post on Friday the Going In-Depthdigital magazine was released.  I have never been involved with a project like this before and have been blown away with the response the community has given to the magazine, its creators, and my fellow writers.  I am feeling truly blessed this morning to be a part of such an amazing group of people. Let me know what you thought of the first issue! Oh, and don’t’ forget to check out the blogs and forums.  There is lots of wonderful information over there at the In-Depth Genealogist.

Finally, I will be speaking on three occasions this year and wanted to pass that information along to you.  If you are in the Fredericksburg, Virginia area I hope you will come out and listen plus say hi!  First, I will be giving a presentation on Blogs for Genealogy to the Fredericksburg Regional Genealogy Society (FRGS) on April 10.  It will be at the end of the regular meeting which starts at 7pm in the Salem Church Library.  Next I will be participating in a series of Seminars (March 16 to May 11) presented by FRGS in conjunction with the Rappahannock Regional Library.  The topics I will speak about are on genetic genealogy and lineage societies from 9am – 12pm at the Downtown Fredericksburg Library May 11^th.  Finally I will be once again speaking at the FRGS evening meeting on October 9^th on the topic of genetic genealogy at the Salem Church Library starting at 7pm.

Hope you all have a great week of discovery and research!

My Cinderella Clock

As a little girl I was fascinated by my visits to my grandmother’s older sister Bea.  Aunt Bea was born Beatrice Armstrong in Martin County Indiana.  She married a man named Victor Norris and even though he died many years before I was born my great aunt never remarried.  Bea died when I was 4 years old so my memories of her are scattered and jumbled to say the least.  They are more impressions of what my senses told me about her. 

I remember her sitting in a big fluffy chair a round, happy, grey haired woman with her feet propped up on a footstool.  She always had caramel candies in a dish next to her chair that she would give me.  Her laugh was loud and strong to my little ears and she was a very animated talker.  However, the one thing I remember the most was the clock she had on top of her TV. 

This was no ordinary clock, it was a Cinderella clock.  Well, at least as a small child that is what I thought it was.  The clock was shaped like a grand carriage.  A large round cab set on top of 4 large delicate wheels.  It was ornately designed and many flourishes and embellishments.  The face of the clock was where the people would have sat and, well, I loved it.  My grandmother told me I would sit for whole visits staring at the clock.  It was too high for me to touch, but I still tried to.  To me it was the coach that carried Cinderella to the ball, a perfect princess carriage.

When Aunt Bea died my grandmother brought the clock home with her.  She sat it on her TV and I watched it again.  Grandma told me it was mine and when I was old enough I could take it away to my house.  My grandmother died when I was 16 and the clock was passed onto me.

I know nothing about this clock and I wish I knew more.  A wheel was been broken in our first big move after college but other than that the clock still works, and when plugged in keeps time.  The face-plate says it was made in the USA by United Clock Corporation, Brooklyn, New York. 

It sits packed away for now.  My boys have just become old enough where I may begin putting things that are fragile back out into circulation.  One day I hope it will sit out on display in the house. Not on top of the TV though, they are way too thin now.