Creative Gene's 5th Annual iGene Awards

It's iGene Awards time again! I'm lookin' back at 2011 and showcasing my best and favorite blog posts in 5 categories. I'm hoping you'll enjoy revisiting these posts from last year. They nicely represent my work, my friends, and my family.

I bow to you, my faithful readers, and take the stage to present... Creative Gene's iGene Awards for 2011!

Best Comedy

I'm not much of a comedic writer but like anyone, funny things do happen to me. In Memories of My MC I write about one such event. It wasn't funny at the time, but it sure gives me a chuckle to remember it. It gets the iGene Award for Best Comedy.





Best Biography

I always find it challenging to write about family members I've never met and who I have very little information about. Such was the case with my Grandma Carrie. When I wrote Sweet Caroline, I struggled to come up with photos and stories about her. But in the end, I think I ended up with a pretty good article summarizing her life. It gets the iGene Award for Best Biography.




Best Documentary

My visit to PARI resulted in a 6-part series of articles detailing the many features the Polonica Americana Research Institute has to offer. It's a true gem for Detroit-area Polish genealogy researchers. Located on the grounds of scenic Orchard Lake, it is a facility to be proud of! PARI, Part 1, Who, What, When, Where, and Why (and the 5 other segments of this series) get the iGene Award for Best Documentary.



Best Screen Play

I'd love to see a Food Network show about Polish cooking. I would offer my article, Duck Blood Soup, Breakfast of Champions, to the creators as inspiration for one of the episodes. I don't know if the TFN has any Polish chefs on staff but I do know that Martha (Kostyra) Stewart is Polish and a good cook as well so I'm going to cast her in the leading behind-the-stove role. So, Duck Blood Soup gets the iGene Award as Best Screen Play! (Martha's photo from Wikipedia)



Best Picture

The iGene Award in this year's Best Picture category goes to, The Summer of '42. I just love these photos of my mom and her best friend posing for the camera. I think they must have been having a wonderful time on a hot summer day in the city!






That wraps up this year's awards. I hope you enjoyed the show! Stay tuned to see what will appear here on Creative Gene in 2012.

Bucket List GeneaMeme

I saw this meme going around and thought it would be fun to join in. The instructions are as follows:

The Bucket List GeneaMeme (courtesy of Geniaus)

The list should be annotated in the following manner:
Things you would like to do or find: Bold Type.
Things you haven’t done or found and don’t care to: plain type.
You are encouraged to add extra comments after each item.

• The genealogy conference I would most like to attend is... the Southern California Genealogy Jamboree, to meet a lot of my online genealogy friends and to soak up some of the Cali sun! 
• The genealogy speaker I would most like to hear and see is... Iwona Dakiniewicz. She's done research for me before but I'd like to hear her speak about the area of Poland my ancestors (and she herself) were/are from. 
• The geneablogger I would most like to meet in person is... Steve Danko. We were separated at birth and one day we will meet again! 
• The genealogy writer I would most like to have dinner with is... Denise Olsen, my genea-tech idol. 
• The genealogy lecture I would most like to present is... none. I'm not into public speaking. 
• I would like to go on a genealogy cruise that visits.... Poland! I'd love to take a cruise across the Atlantic to Gdansk, spend 2 weeks visiting my 4 ancestral villages in Poland, spend another 2 weeks sight seeing around Poland, and spend 2 more weeks photographing villages and doing research for my friends. Then I'd like to board the cruise ship and head home! 
• The photo I would most like to find is... Szymon Lipa, my great grandfather. Or any photos of any of my great grandparents. 
• The repository in a foreign land I would most like to visit is... whichever one in Poland that has the Państwowy Urząd Repatriacyjny that contains formation for my Mizera and Bober families. 
• The place of worship I would most like to visit is... the 4 churches where my grandparents and great grandparents were baptized in Poland. 
• The cemetery I would most like to visit is ... Wojnicz Cemetery in Wojnicz, Poland. 
•  The ancestral town or village I would most like to visit is... Grabno, Wojnicz, Tarnow, Debica, Bobrowa, Nagoszyn, Podborze, Zgorsko. They are all villages of my ancestors and they are all very near each other so I might as well visit them all as long as I'm dreaming! 
• The brick wall I most want to smash is... I don't have any brick wall ancestors. 
• The piece of software I most want to buy is... Painter Essentials. 
• The tech toy I want to purchase next is ... a new cell phone. I've filled the one I've got with apps and now I need one with more memory. 
• The expensive book I would most like to buy is... R.L. Polk City of Detroit Directory for 1920. 
• The library I would most like to visit is... Salt Lake City so I could photograph/download all the documents for all of my ancestors. I've given up hoping to see those images online.
• The genealogy related book I would most like to write is... my family history, volumes 1, 2, 3, and 4. 
• The genealogy blog I would most like to start would be about... not going there. I've got too many blogs to keep up with now, lol! 
• The journal article I would most like to write would be about... the men I have loved. Don't count on that one ever being made public, lol! 
• The ancestor I most want to meet in the afterlife is... my grandmother, Karolina Lipa Laska. She died young and never met most of her grandchildren, including me. She was also my only grandparent who was fluent in English so I won't need a translator, lol! 

And Donna Pointkouski added some items of her own. I'm borrowing a few...

• The celebrity I’d most like to see on Who Do You Think You Are? is… Bobby Vinton because he's Polish and I'm a big fan of his. I'd like to see him go back to Poland to find his family roots. 
• The genealogical records I would most like to see become available online are… all the records/films that the FHC has in their vault for Poland, Russian Poland, Austrian Poland, and Prussian Poland.
• The family heirloom I would most like to own is… my grandmother's diamond necklace which was supposed to be handed down to me but wasn't.
• The living cousin I would most like to find is… any of my maternal grandmother's sibling's offspring in Poland.

I don't think it's likely I'll achieve most of the things on this bucket list but hey, it's fun to dream!

New Year's Resolutions Past and Present

I'm not always successful in achieving my New Year's resolutions but in 2011 I was.   My resolution for 2011 was to "fill in the holes" in my family tree. I didn't expect to fill in every hole of course, and honestly, I filled in more than I expected to. My crowning achievement was finding Julia Laska and knowing that my cousin Ray was doing the happy dance in heaven when I did. Julia was just one of many new names, dates, places, and/or events added to my family tree in 2011.

I like that kind of past-year review! :-)

Now it's time to look forward. I've been giving my genealogy some thought and much as I like researching, it's time I set a goal towards getting some of what research I've already done better organized. With that in mind, my New Year's resolution for 2012 is to get some of the digital audio recordings of my mother transcribed. I'd like to get them all done, of course, but I have no idea how long it will take me to do them so I don't know if it's reasonable to expect to get them all done this year. Therefore, I'm going to play it safe and just say "some".

Just curious... has anyone tried using voice recognition software on digital audio recordings? I'm wondering if it would work for my purposes. If you've had success with this, please let me know what VR software and microphone setup you used. Thanks!

Carnival of Genealogy, 113th Edition

Welcome to the January 4th, 2012 edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. The topic for today's edition is, "A Dickens Christmas". We're all taking a look at Christmases past, present, and future. Charles Dickens was a genius story teller and his timely work, A Christmas Carol, was the inspiration for our posts included here. I know you'll enjoy reading about these little vignettes of Christmases then, now, and yet to come! So without further ado, pour yourself a glass of eggnog (if you've any left ;-) and let's take a peek at where the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present, and Future will take us...

Dorene Paul presents A Dickens Christmas: Christmases Past, Present, and Future posted at Graveyard Rabbit of Sandusky Bay, saying, "Dorene from Ohio recalls Christmases past with a big family and Christmases present and future with an even bigger extended family."

Wendy Littrell presents A New Type of Christmas Ghost posted at All My Branches Genealogy, saying, "Follow me on a journey to discover the Ghosts of Christmas Past that began before I was born, continuing through my childhood and the childhood of my children, up to the present and what I believe the Christmas that has yet to come holds for me!"

Janet Iles presents Carnival of Genealogy: A Charles Dickens Christmas posted at Janet the researcher, saying, "Janet recalls visits with her grandparents at Christmas and dreams of a Christmas with all her family."

Karen K presents COG: Christmas past, present, and future posted at The Road Backward, saying, "A Christmas Carol, with a twist: Christmas of 1992, 2011, and 20??..."

Donna presents Christmas: Then and Now posted at What's Past is Prologue, saying, "Donna Pointkouski shows us what a difference 40 years makes in Christmas: Then and Now."

Becky Wiseman presents kinexxions: Christmas :: Past - Present - Future posted at kinexxions, saying, "70+ people for dinner, caroling by telephone, and perhaps a future Christmas in Hawaii... past, present, and future!"

Apple presents Ghosts of Christmas posted at Apple's Tree, saying, "Traveling through the mists of time the past is a bit cloudy, the present sharp and clear and the future just a shadow."

Dawn Westfall presents Christmas Past, Present & Future posted at Wisteria, saying, "I didn't just write about a Christmas future, I posted a photo of the future!"

Cynthia Shenette presents An Interview With My Grandmother posted at Heritage Zen:, saying, "A local newspaper interviewed my grandmother in December 1954 about her Christmas traditions. I thought the clipping I had of her interview was lost, but didn't serendipity strike! I found it a week before Christmas! The Spirit of Christmas Past was with me that day!"

Jasia presents My Dickens Christmas posted at CreativeGene, saying, "It's fun to look back, celebrate the present, and dream of the future. Christmas is a magical time of year and almost anything is possible. Come read about my holiday!"

That concludes this edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. I sure enjoyed reading about all those Christmases past, present, and future! The Christmas holiday is the perfect time to reflect on the meaning of the holiday, the people from our past that we've shared the holiday with, and how we're celebrating Christmas now. And one can always dream about Christmases to come! Thanks to all the writers who participated in this edition. You are much appreciated!

Call for Submissions! The topic for the 114th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is: The 5th Annual iGene Awards! For those not familiar with the iGene Awards, you can see the previous years here, here, here, and here. We'll announce our best blog posts from the previous year (in this case, 2011) in the following 5 categories: Best Picture (that would be a photograph), Best Screen Play (story you would make into a movie including the cast), Best Documentary (investigative research), Best Biography, Best Comedy. Write up a blog post with links to your best articles in these categories and submit it to the COG! Feel free to use the iGene graphic if you'd like. The deadline for submissions is February 1st.

Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy using our carnival submission form. Please use a descriptive phrase in the title of any articles you plan to submit and/or write a brief description/introduction to your articles in the "comment" box of the blog carnival submission form. This will give readers an idea of what you've written about and hopefully interest them in clicking on your link. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.


Thanks for the poster, fM!

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My Dickens Christmas

Holidays come and go. Years go by. People move away or die. Memories are what bring them all back to us. I treasure my memories of Christmases past and the people who were a part of them. I also wish I could have spent a Christmas with some family members who I never knew. I had a very nice Christmas this year, surrounded by family and friends and together we made more memories. I can't help but wonder what Christmas will be like in the future. Come along with me as the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present, and Future take us visiting...

First, the Ghost of Christmas Past takes us back to a Christmas before I was born. That would be the Christmas of 1952...

This photo was taken in the parlor at my grandparent's house in Detroit. By Christmas 1952 my grandparents, Wincenty and Sophia, had been living here in the U.S. for 40 and 39 years respectively. Walerja (Wincenty's sister) and Waclaw (Walerja's son) had just immigrated to the U.S. They were DPs (Displaced Persons from Poland) sponsored by my grandfather. This was their first Christmas in America and they were living with my grandparents at the time. The photographs on top of the television are of my mom and her sister Helen. Those pictures were taken in the early 1940s. I never met my grandfather. He died 6 days before I was born. I never met my Grand Aunt Walerja either. She died in 1966 but my family had lost touch with her by then.

I have a few precious memories of my grandparent's house in Detroit. My grandmother died when I was 14 but she sold the house and moved out of Detroit two years prior to that. This parlor room was in the front of the house just off the dining room. In later years, this room wasn't used as a parlor. The dining room was used as the parlor/living room once my grandmother stopped entertaining (she went blind).

"I have always thought of Christmas time as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time." - Charles Dickens

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And next the Ghost of Christmas Present comes for a visit and takes us to the dining room of my current home for Christmas 2011...

Those of you who were following my blog back in 2008 will notice that I've redecorated since then! Here is my dinner table on Christmas Eve just a few hours before everyone arrived. The guests at our Christmas dinner table this year included my son and his girlfriend of 3 years, my daughter and her boyfriend of 8 years, my brother and sister-in-law, my best friend (who moved to Alpena, Michigan just a month before Christmas), my husband and myself. We had a wonderful evening, lots of good company and good food followed by Mass at a local church. I do believe that Christmas Eve is my favorite evening of the year!

I was blessed to be together with my family and friends on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day was celebrated with my husband's family at his younger brother's house. It was also a lovely day but with 5 nieces and nephews aged 10 and under it was a bit more boisterous. OK, maybe it was more than just a bit more boisterous... how about down right raucous, lol!

"I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year." - Charles Dickens (A sign with this quote on it hangs on the wall to the right of the Christmas tree in the photo above.)

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So that leaves us with a visit from the Ghost of Christmas Future... as we look at Christmas 10 years from now here's the picture I'd like to see...

My husband and I are living in a condo having moved from our current home. Joining us for Christmas Eve dinner will be our two children and their spouses, 4 grandchildren, my brother and sister-in-law, and my best friend. We will celebrate Christmas Day with my husband's younger brother and his family and his sister and her family. There will also be a Grand Niece in attendance. Kaj, Vladi, and Josie will be a part of our holiday celebrations too. Everyone will be healthy and leading happy lives. It will be a white Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The U.S. will not be at war. The economy will be fully recovered and unemployment rates will be very low. Solar energy will be the main source of power for our homes, businesses, and automobiles. We'll all be using the Internet2 at broadband speeds 10 times what they are now. And the entire country will have free WIFI coverage for our computers and cell phones. Oh what the heck, as long as I'm dreaming this scenario up lets say the politicians in Congress have learned to get along and play nice and have adopted a spirit of cooperation too!

"And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless us, every one!" - Charles Dickens

[Written for the 113th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy, "A Dickens Christmas"]

Let It Snow!

It's that time of year again, time for blog caroling at footnoteMaven's place. I always enjoy seeing which carols people like listening to. I've shared a few of my favorites in the past and this year I'm sharing another favorite... Let It Snow! 

I'm a Midwestern girl and in these parts we like snow for Christmas. I can do without it the rest of the year but when it comes to Christmas, I like mine white!

Let It Snow : Lyrics

Oh the weather outside is frightful, 
But the fire is so delightful,
And since we've no place to go,
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

It doesn't show signs of stopping,
And I've bought some corn for popping,
The lights are turned way down low,
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

When we finally kiss goodnight,
How I'll hate going out in the storm!
But if you'll really hold me tight,
All the way home I'll be warm.
The fire is slowly dying,
And, my dear, we're still good-bying,
But as long as you love me so,
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

[written by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne in 1945]

My latest favorite version is by the cast of Glee! You can hear it and sing along to the lyrics on YouTube:

Merry Christmas!

Carnival of Genealogy, 112th Edition

Welcome to the December 4, 2011 edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. The topic for this edition is: An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving. We're writing about Thanksgiving holidays of yesteryear and we have some GREAT stories here! This is a terrific edition of the COG but I must warn you, when you read these articles you're likely to suffer from cravings, smiles, belly aches, snacking, and of course, your mouth will start to water. It's unavoidable. But you'll love them! Thanksgiving is America's most food-centric holiday so it goes without saying that these stories are about good eats. But that's not all. Come along then and see what I mean. Pour yourself a nice glass of wine, (I believe it's white that goes with poultry, no?) and pull up a chair up to the dinner table. The Carnival is back in town!

Bill West presents EATING AT THE KIDS' TABLE posted at West in New England, saying, "Some good memories about childhood Thanksgiving, and one teenage memory of a forgotten turkey"

Kristin Cleage Williams presents Thanksgiving - 1991, Idlewild, Michigan posted at Finding Eliza, saying, "Memories of our snowy Thanksgiving in the Michigan north woods. Fifteen people, a 29 pound turkey with all the trimmings and lots of passionate discussion. Does Thanksgiving get any better?"

Heather Wilkinson Rojo presents A Most Memorable Thanksgiving posted at Nutfield Genealogy, saying, "It was a Thanksgiving full of power outages, uncooked turkey, and bad weather, but it ended up being everyone's favorite Thanksgiving (except for my Mom, the hostess, who remembers it with great horror!)"

Dorene Paul presents Aunt Alpha hosted the Steen Family Thanksgiving in 1927 posted at Graveyard Rabbit of Sandusky Bay, saying, "Dorene from Ohio reflects on the Steen family Thanksgiving in 1927, which included families from both the city and the country."

Julie Goucher presents Carnival Of Genealogy 112 - An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving posted at Anglers Rest, saying, "Imaginings of a First Thanksgiving."

Denise Olson presents A Tale of Two Turkeys posted at Moultrie Creek Gazette, saying, "In our family, turkey used to be a staple at both Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. Not anymore! Here's why . . ."

Jasia presents Thanksgiving in Detroit posted at Creative Gene. Most people think of automobiles and Motown records when they think of Detroit but we are also known for one heck of a grand Thanksgiving Day parade! Come read about my childhood memories of the parade and Thanksgiving dinner at my house. Oh, and I've got pictures! :-)

Karen Hammer presents Ancestor Soup: Pink Bowl posted at Ancestor Soup, saying, "The Pink Bowl has been a constant at our holidays dinners since the late 1950s or early 1960s. So far, five generations have eagerly anticipated whatever the cook placed in it."

Katie Pirolt presents Thanksgiving Traditions posted at Katie's Grove, saying, "I interviewed my mom, aunt and uncle about what Thanksgiving was like for them growing up. The family was very large and my grandmother and great grandmother worked and prepared for a week to make the dinner special. The big traditional thanksgivings lasted from the 50's all the way up to the late 70's until the children all moved out and started traditions of their own."

Carol presents An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving, the 112th Carnival of Genealogy posted at Reflections From the Fence, saying, "Old fashioned or traditional, or both? A review of our families and our "traditions" reveal some that are old fashioned, and some that are new. New, old, traditional, old fashioned, all that really matters is giving thanks. Of course, we really enjoy the food part of our traditions, don't you?"

Charles Hansen presents An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving for COG 112 posted at Mikkel's Hus, saying, "Sine I do not like pumpkin pie I got my choice of pie every year, most times apple, but sometimes mincemeat. mmm"

Frances Ellsworth presents An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving, the 112th Carnival of Genealogy posted at Branching Out Through The Years, saying, "Good memories."

Joan Hill presents COG 112 - An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving: 1960, The First Thanksgiving At Hungry Hollow posted at Roots'n'Leaves, saying, "Tho the year was 1960, in many ways it felt like 1860 -- a time when we seemed to value the simple ways of country life."

Cynthia Shenette presents Holidays Are Like People... posted at Heritage Zen:, saying, "People change and holidays change the way people do, so I decided to write about how my Thanksgiving holidays have changed over the years."

That concludes this edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. Well, didn't I tell you it would make your mouth water? I just love this edition. The authors all deserve a big round of applause for recording all the memories of old fashioned Thanksgivings. Bravo! )( )( )( )( I laughed, I sighed, and my mouth watered. Great writing, all!

Call for Submissions! The topic for the next edition of the COG will be: A Charles Dickens Christmas. We're going to borrow Charles Dickens' idea and have some visits from the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. First show us a photo from a Christmas/Hanuka/Kwanzaa past and tell us what you know about it (or just share a story about a past holiday if you don't have a photo to share). Then share a photo from your Christmas/Hanuka/Kwanzaa celebration this year (it can be a photo of holiday lights, a tree, etc., it doesn't have to have people in it) and tell us something about how you'll be celebrating the holiday this year. And lastly, write about a future Christmas and how you'd like to celebrate it. (Feel free to let your imaginations go on this one!) Write up your visits by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future and submit them to the Carnival of Genealogy. The deadline is January 1st.

Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy using our carnival submission form. Please use a descriptive phrase in the title of any articles you plan to submit and/or write a brief description/introduction to your articles in the "comment" box of the blog carnival submission form. This will give readers an idea of what you've written about and hopefully interest them in clicking on your link. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.


Thanks for another wonderful poster, fM!

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Thanksgiving in Detroit

Long before I was born a Thanksgiving Day tradition was started in Detroit. That tradition was a parade. The first parade was put together in 1924 and there has been one on the streets of Detroit every year since except for 1943 and 1944 when it was suspended because of a materials shortage due to WWII.

In the early years, the Thanksgiving Day parade was sponsored by Detroit's J. L. Hudson department store. It was first broadcast on radio in 1931 and on television it's been carried nationally since 1959. Every year there are common elements... floats, marching bands, clowns, and Santa Claus. And each year there are changes to  the floats and marching bands. Big balloons and paper mache heads were added also.

J.L. Hudson sponsored the parade until 1979 when it was handed over to the Detroit Renaissance Foundation. They then handed it over to the Michigan Thanksgiving Parade Foundation in 1983. It is put on every year with help from many generous corporate sponsors and more than 4,000 volunteers. The warehouse where the floats and costumes are stored gives tours throughout the year.

The parade route has changed a few times over the years. I believe it has always had Woodward Avenue as a part of its route. I know that some of my grand aunts and uncles attended the parade because I've see their photographs of the parade in family photo albums. I believe many of my cousins have attended the parade in person too.  I went to the parade for the first time on Thanksgiving of 1973 and didn't attend in person again until this year, 2011. But I've watched it on TV every year as far back as I can remember.

As a child, I used to look forward to watching the Thanksgiving parade on TV. At the end of the parade Santa Claus was greeted by the mayor of the city and presented with "the key to the hearts of the children of Detroit". This marked the official beginning of the Christmas season, my favorite time of the year! Children all throughout the city and the metro Detroit area knew that starting then you had to "be nice" or Santa wouldn't bring you what you wanted for Christmas.

When I was a child, you never saw Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving! Not on houses, not in stores, and there was no Christmas music played on the radio yet either.

I can remember my mom cooking in the kitchen on Thanksgiving morning and popping into the living room (the only room in the house that had a television) to check on the parade. I still remember the smell of her sauteing onions, celery, and green peppers for the stuffing... what a wonderful scent! Mom would play up my excitement with questions like, "Any sign of Santa yet?", "Did you count the marching bands? How many so far?", or my favorite comment, "Let me know when you see Santa. I don't want to miss him!" And sure enough, when I called out to her to announce Santa, she'd come running. We'd always judge how good a Santa he was, if he looked real or fake, and if he had a friendly face.

My dad and brothers weren't into the parade or Santa. I don't remember them ever watching the parade with me or being a part of my parade experience.

Just about the time the parade was over (about 11am), mom would pop the turkey in the oven. She'd have stuffed it with her traditional sage stuffing, using a recipe from her Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. Then she'd take a break from the work in the kitchen and we'd look through the 3" thick stack of sale ads that always came in the Thanksgiving Day edition of the Detroit News (which we had home delivered). Oh how I loved looking at all the toys in those ads!

In the afternoon I'd "help" my mom in the kitchen. I didn't do much, really, but she'd find something for my little hands to work at. Our Thanksgiving dinner consisted of turkey, stuffing, gravy (made from scratch, of course) with mushrooms, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, dinner rolls, and cranberries in the form of canned Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce. After smelling that turkey cooking all afternoon we all came to the table with our mouths watering. Mom was a really good cook and the food was always fantastic. For dessert she always made pumpkin chiffon pies with made-from-scratch whipped cream in the shape of snowflakes on the top. Oh man, my mouth is watering just thinking about those dinners!

Sadly, I have no pictures to share with you from my first visit to the parade in 1973. I know I took some photos but I have no idea what happened to them. I do, however, have a few photos to share with you from this year's "America's Thanksgiving Parade" as it is now known. I only stayed for half the parade but when I got home I turned on the TV and watched the second half. I think mom would have loved this year's Santa. I think he looks great! What do you think?

The crowd cheered as the parade began.

The first balloon this year was a new one, Kermit the Frog.

Lots of clowns!

Horses are always a crowd favorite.

These uni-cyclists got lots of oohs and ahhs.

Local marching band.

More happy clown faces.

It wouldn't be an all-American parade without Uncle Sam.

New float this year, from Art Van Furniture. The biggest ever!

Here he is, the jolly ole man himself!

Plan to be Remembered, Revisited

I'm reposting an article I wrote 5 years ago at this time of the year. The information is still relevant so I thought I'd give it another go around...


I've spent a lot of time (years) on genealogy research and one of the most significant things I've come to realize in the course of my research is that most people don't plan to be remembered. Think about that for a moment and you'll realize how simple and profound that is. If people planned to be remembered we wouldn't have half the trouble we have finding them or learning about them! I don't think most people want to be forgotten when they die, so why don't they put some planning into being remembered?

The obvious reasons that come to mind are: thinking about one's mortality is uncomfortable; too busy living to think about dying; I haven't done anything important enough to be remembered for; too much bother, or in the case of those with immense egos... I don't have to try to be memorable, I already am! But there are other reasons why people don't plan to be remembered.

In the old days, the options for preserving something of one's self were much more limited than they are today. Take my ancestors for instance. They were were all poor peasants (is there any other kind?) in a poor country (Poland). Literacy was not an option for them (pretty much until my grandparents' generation). So they couldn't write their family history or an autobiography. Cameras, especially in the early days of photography, were only for the wealthy. So how could the common man preserve something of them self? Some could sketch or paint. Some could carve, sculpt, weave or sew. The rest? They would likely only be recorded in history as entries in their church parish registries for baptisms, marriages, and deaths. And in the case of Poland, such vital records weren't kept for common folk until the late 1700s. If they were lucky, they might get a tombstone and a grave that their family essentially rented for a time. Then they faded into obscurity when the next generation couldn't afford to pay their grave renewal fees.

These days things have changed dramatically. We have all sorts of ways of preserving something of ourselves to be remembered by. Even the poor farmer (modern day peasant) in Poland can read and write (Poland has a very high literacy rate (99.3%). So writing something becomes the most basic of options. Beyond that, in many countries around the world even the common man now has the ability to record themselves digitally in audio, video, or static photos. And while having a grave and tombstone may still indicate status or wealth in some areas of the world, in other areas it's not as important a way to be remembered as it used to be. More and more often people (at least in the U.S.) are choosing alternatives like cremation and opting for having a "foundation" created in their name, or a brick dedicated to them at a public venue.

But even with all the new options available for preserving something of ourselves many still won't do it. They'll leave it to their loved ones to remember them in an obituary or with a donation to their favorite charity. They'll hope that they'll be remembered kindly. They won't get it unless they've been involved in genealogy research... if you don't go out of your way to deliberately leave something of yourself to be remembered by you'll become just another of thousands of names on someone's tree. Future generations will look at your name and life dates and wonder about who you were and if they look like you or enjoy the same hobbies or talents.

As genealogists we know how much we would treasure an audio recording of gg grandma chatting merrily with her sisters or daughters in the kitchen while cooking up a holiday dinner. Wouldn't you just love to have that!?! Or how about a video of gg grandpa sitting around the table with some of the guys from the village at a simple Saturday night card game discussing the condition of the fields, the likelihood of rain in the next week, and their concerns about their lazy teenage children who want to sleep till noon? How precious that would be! And yet if you'd asked gg grandma and grandpa if they wanted their conversations recorded while they were cooking or their pictures taken while they played cards they probably would have laughed at the idea and probably protested too. But if you'd asked them if they would prefer to be remembered as real people, ordinary though they may be, or forgotten as anything more than just a name and date on the family tree what do you suppose they would answer?

Ordinary daily events can become real treasures if we just take the time and effort to record them. The thing is, we as genealogists can recognize this. We get it, in a way that others don't. It's up to us to carry our cameras, video and/or audio recorders with us when we have a chance to spend time with our loved ones. We need to find a way to get those photos that nobody wants taken. If we can't be so obtrusive as that than at the very least we can come home and write up a summary of the visit.

Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming soon. They are great opportunities to get together with loved ones and create a time capsule of sorts. All you have to include is a brief write up of who was there, perhaps their ages if known, the topics discussed over dinner, a short list of the foods served, a synopsis of the weather, and perhaps some personal reflections or observations. At a minimum we can all do that much.

If you have a camera, consider making a photo diary of the day. Record the images you might not normally think to photograph such as:

• the environment/weather of the day
• the home/restaurant you will be gathering at (even if it's your own!)
• the food on the table
• a family pet
• the place where you go to worship if you do so
• candid photos (mom in the kitchen, dad in front of the TV watching a football game, etc.)
• maybe a photo of something new in your community, like a new library or restaurant that just opened (anything to mark time)
• and don't forget to turn the camera on yourself!

For people with a digital camera this is virtually cost free. But even those with film cameras can capture the day with one roll of film. Even with developing costs it can be less than $10 for a genuine keepsake!

A collection of photos and a write up of the day, maybe throw in the front page of a local newspaper (or a screen shot from a news agency web site) and/or a podcast of CNN international news and you have one dandy, quickly and inexpensively put together time capsule that will preserve not only something of yourself but of everyone you spend holiday time with. Whether you burn your time capsule elements to CD/DVD, upload them for online storage, or print them out and stick them in a special file folder (or do all three), you can preserve something of yourself (and others!) with a little planning. You might consider burning a copy of your time capsule to DVD as a gift for the host/hostess. What a thoughtful and creative gift that would be! Heck, you might even want to make additional copies to send to friends and family out of state or out of the country. Just make sure you keep a copy for those family members in the future who will be looking at your name on the family tree and wondering about you. Genealogy is so much more than just names on a tree. Plan to be remembered!



Wishing a happy, healthy, and safe Thanksgiving holiday to all my friends and acquaintances online!

Jachowicz, Poet of Poland, Poet of Children

SUNSET

The sun went down, with it one more day has passed away;--
The church-bell heralded its death through the twilight grey;
Tomorrow, at the same time and hour, with bell-tones clear,
     Another day shall disappear:
     And after that a third, and so
     Our whole life day by day shall go
An old man thought, --up and down he paced with feeble tread.
What does the old man mutter? the thoughtless children said.

The Old Man

Gaily with your pastimes you amuse yourselves today,
But your life is fleeting imperceptibly away.
See you the sunset, children fair?
Only look! see over there:
The clouds with red and gold inwrought,--
Their play a moment was forgot.
And while they looked with earnestness
The old man spoke of sinfulness
Repentance and a saving grace,
How swiftly day to day gives place;
And of the vanities of earth,
They understood not then its worth.
In riper years alone their might
The sunset shone upon their sight.
They thought of what the old man said many years ago,
And finer feelings filled their hearts all with a holy glow.
The world's snares deceived them no more,
Love of wealth and glory was o'er;
Flown away as if with the wind,
And if for earthly joys they pined
The old man's sunset crossed their mind.

-- by Stanisław Jachowicz (1796-1857)

I've chosen this poem for the Great Genealogy Poetry Challenge because the author, Stanisław Jachowicz, was born and spent his early years in the same section of Poland (Galicia) where many of my ancestors lived. I feel a tie with him.

Jachowicz is best known and revered for his poetry for children. "His fables and proverbs can be found in almost every house in Poland." The heroes of his stories and poems were not animals or trees but children. There is much wisdom to be found in his words, as is evident in the poem above.

Stanisław Jachowicz
Born: April 17, 1796 in Dzikow, Poland.
Died: December 24, 1857 in Warsaw, Poland.

Sunset by Stanisław Jachowicz. From Poets and Poetry of Poland by Paul Soboleski. Knight and Leonard Printers, 1881.