Between Semesters..

 Time goes by so quickly. The last time I posted was in 2020. Now I only have one Spring quarter remaining before I graduate with a bachelor's in History, minoring in Family History/genealogy.   

Since my last posting, much has happened in my personal life, married life, and business life. In my personal life, everything has been going really well. I'm working on my second flower garden and a vegetable garden. Last year we had a beautiful vegetable garden.

We had corn (yellow and white shoepeg), tomatoes (grape, cherry, early girl, beefsteak slicing), green peppers, cucumbers (for eating and making pickles), cabbage (my husbands favorite), yellow crookneck squash (my favorite), green beans (bush), white acre peas, purple hull peas, basil, oregano, marigolds (pest repellent), echinacea and sunflowers, long beans, watermelon, and sweet potatoes! 

My wonderful husband made the A-frames for the cucumbers and green beans. It was a 15 X 15 garden space; we put everything we could into that garden (blood, sweat, and dirty faces). Even though you can see the sweet potatoes, they are there. They grew under the A-frame in the back and spread their vines all over the garden. In October, after our beach vacation, we dug up the patch. We ended up having over thirty pounds of sweet potatoes, including two handfuls of slips for the 2022 growing season. 

In our flower garden, I was still learning what would grow, what the ground didn't like, or was that what the flower didn't like? But with any of the flowers that did make it, they sure did make beautiful arrangements! 

This year 2022, we've doubled our little garden space to 30 X 30, which is 900 sq feet! I've got so many vegetables planned for this year, including what we had last year! The addition to this year's garden is asparagus, broccoli, sweet yellow onion, red onion, beets, and a couple of varieties of lettuce. This year's tomato varieties will also include my husband's favorite cherry tomatoes and several other more extensive types of hybrid tomatoes. 

We packed (canned) and froze so many vegetables last year. We are still eating our green beans, green peppers, and white acre peas; only a few sweet potatoes are left. We primarily used the sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving and New Year in casseroles. So this year, we are doubling our potato patch by moving it to the side of the driveway. Making every space either have flowers or vegetables. 

We also gave several canned vegetables, heads of cabbage and bags, and bags of green beans and green peppers away. So, this year we will be doing the same. 

In my business life, I am finally accepting clients. Two semesters ago, I completed decorating my home office and finally hung my certificate. 

My personal business summary: 

Wendy has lived in various locations throughout the United States, with Georgia currently being her home. She has given lectures at various conferences throughout the south has done webinars and zoom meetings that are available online. Wendy devotes much of her time to the field of genealogy and presently has over 20 years of experience in genealogy. She is continuing her education by attending BYU-Idaho online, completing her bachelor's in History and Family History as her minor. Her final plans are to reunite children with their birth parent(s) from analyzing DNA; eventually working with law enforcement forensics team.

As a self-starter, she has always taken the lead in any job position and demonstrated a solid work ethic. She is experienced with consulting as a marketing manager. She is skilled in negotiation, customer service, coaching, mentoring, sales in retail, and de-escalation. She is proficiently skilled with Microsoft platforms such as excel, word, publisher, PowerPoint, and outlook. Also experienced in Linux, Red Hat, and Apple Software. She can work with a team or with minimal supervision and begin projects independently. On the hunt has always been in Wendy's blood, and the love of finding family is Wendy's passion. 

Blog: yesterdayslineage.com

Email: yesterdayslineage@gmail.com

Keeping up with the Joneses Pt 1 of 12

I haven't forgotten this blog, just things have taken more precedence, mainly school. But I was emailed recently asking why I haven't been blogging lately. Well, family history is why! It takes some time to compile names, photos and most of all making sure all the sources are correct before I go to publishing on the great ole interweb. So, without further ado... Keeping up with the Joneses

Dating the ages of the Rock Springs School class photo

• The picture was most likely taken in 1894, maybe 1893.

Three Jones brothers are standing together in the back row. Beginning with Charles,(2nd from left), age 11 or 12, next to him is older brother Samuel, age 15 or 16, and then Albert, about age 10 or 11...

Sister Esther was three years older than Sam making her about 19 at the time of the picture. If she is there I sense that she might be fourth from the right in the back row due only to the shape of her face which is mindful of her older sister Mary Lou reflected in a later family photo. If I have the photo dated but one year earlier, 1893, then Esther would have been 18 and probably still in school.

The two girls cropped near the center of the picture are most likely Martha Elizabeth, about age 8, on the left with sister Pearl, about age 6, next to her. This is only an educated guess since the two have dresses of the same patterned material meaning they are most likely from the same family and the age difference of the two is about right in the photo. I see a strong resemblance to Pearl and somewhat less in the face of Martha.

Grady, Eula, and Ruth would have been younger than six and most likely not in school at all. However, the front row has some rather young children present so it is possible that some of the younger family members were present. I can't recognize any strong facial features within the younger children, however. Ruth was born the year of this picture, 1894, Grady would have been about 4 years old and Eula about 2 years. It is possible that Grady may be present but I am doubtful at this point. If I were to hazard a guess if any, Grady might be fifth from the left in the front row but I really have no confidence in that at all.

As most of my readers have asked, "how do I begin"? As Julie Andrews has sung in The Sound of Music: 

"Let's start at the very beginning, a perfect place to start...." You start with what you know, YOU!

So, do I go out and buy all those funny looking charts and print up a ton? NO, for goodness sake, NO! You have charts at your fingertips, just find one you prefer and print, voila! So, for ease of reference, here is a simple, easy, easy chart that you can go with, for now.

Now you can do like me, for when I first started over twenty years ago, I started on paper. Starting with me, myself, and I.

My name, my birth date, and where I was born. Wow, simple! Now, this is where things get difficult, parents. Some may not know, we may not have a Dad or a Mom that we can call on a daily or a monthly or bi-6month or a lifetime. You go with what you know, AND if you are adopted, GO WITH WHAT YOU KNOW. This isn't meant to be painful or dredge up bad memories or anything of the like. This is all about YOU and finding out where you come from. Easy and painless.

Choose either Maternal (Mother), the Websters #3 definition: derived from a mother [1]: or Paternal (Father) and again the Websters #3 definition: related to the father's side.[2] Since I personally knew my Mother's name and my biological father's name, I was able to do that, now, birth-dates of both were easy, but the year, not so much. So, I made a phone call to my Mother, and with a lot of why's and wherefore's she told me both her and my biological father's birth-date, and of course, while I had her on the phone, I asked about my maternal grandmother and her husband, my grandfather (my Mother's parents). Confused yet? Trust me, keep it simple. Sometimes on notebook paper, it'll come together, and don't forget about your Mother being long-winded and telling you stories of your great-grandparents because they will; keep writing everything down. Just let her talk and talk and talk. You'll have later  to verify these "sources." Hopefully, while on the phone with your Mother, she's told you where she was born, and maybe where your grandmother was born. Remember, you will be able to verify these "sources."

So, let's start with my personal pedigree chart above. The first person is me never mind the spouses, that'll come later in my next blog post. I have listed my maiden name, not my married name, Why?

When recording your genealogical data on charts, some important conventions should be followed concerning names, dates, and places. By following these standard rules, you can help ensure that your genealogy data is as complete as possible and not be misinterpreted by others.

1. Record names in their natural order - first, middle, last (surname: A Family name, surname, or last name, is the part of a person's name that indicates to what family they belong. ). Use full names if known. If the middle name is not known, you may use an initial.

2. Print SURNAMES in upper case letters. This provides easy scanning on pedigree charts and family group sheets and distinguishes the surname from first and middle names. This convention is widely used but is not necessary. Example: Wendy Lee ROSE (please take note, I did not use this form, its all a matter of personal preference)

3. Enter women with their maiden name their surname at birth, rather than their husband's surname. When you do not know a female's maiden name, insert only her first given name on the chart followed by empty parentheses (). Some genealogists also record the husband's surname. Both ways are correct as long as you are consistent and follow all naming rules.

4. If a woman has had more than one husband, then you would enter her given name, followed by her maiden name in parentheses, followed by the names of any previous husbands (in order of marriage). If the middle name is known, then you may enter that as well. 

5. If there is a commonly used nickname for an ancestor, include it in quotes after the given name. Do not use it in place of a given name and do not enclose it in parentheses (parentheses between a given name and surname is used to enclose maiden names and will cause confusion if it is also used for nicknames). If the nickname is a common one (i.e., Kim for Kimberly), it is not necessary to record it. Example: Rachel "Shelley" Lynn BROWN

6. If a person is known by more than one name (i.e., due to adoption, name change, etc.), then include the alternate name or names in parentheses after the surname, preceded by a.k.a. Example: William Tom LAKE (a.k.a. William Tom FRENCH) As listed above in my tree, it shows my daughter listed as M May (Hewitt) because she was adopted by my second husband.

* YOU CAN NOT DISCOUNT A MARRIAGE EVEN IF IT ENDED BADLY, OR A DEATH*

Simply just fill the information in, even though you don't "count it" it still happened. Signing a court document negates personal preference and a whole lot of confusion twenty to thirty years later. Then your family members down the line while doing their genealogy will find out about it, and not know what to do with all this other information.

7. Be sure to include alternate spellings when your ancestor's surname has changed over time. This possibly is due to the name being spelled phonetically or due to the surname being changed upon immigration into a new country. Record the earlier usage of the surname first, followed by later usages. Example: Michael HAIR/HIERS

*note* My Grandfather Jacob Stephen Reuter is a perfect example of this. On the ship's manifest "The Berlin," his name was "Stefan Jakob Reuter" when he arrived in the States, and upon filling out his declaration, he "changed" his name to be more American. He switched his given name and the middle name, and it is known on his military DD-214 records, as Jacob Stephen Reuter.

8. Don't be afraid to use the notes field. For example, if you have a female ancestor whose birth name was the same as her husband's surname, then you will want to make a note of that so that it is not assumed in the future that you had just entered it incorrectly.

Whew! That is a whole lot of information, isn't it? Yes, will you use it? Yes.

[1] "Definition of Maternal." n.d., https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/maternal. Accessed 19 October 2020.

[2] "Definition of PATERNAL." n.d., https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/paterna l. Accessed 19 October 2020