Carnival of Genealogy, 94th Edition

Welcome to the June 4, 2010 edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. The topic for this edition is: the changing roles of women. We all know that women's roles have changed over the centuries but have you stopped to think about how and when women's roles have changed within your own family? The participants in this edition of the COG certainly have! I invite you to come meet the women who changed the course of our lives with their pioneering spirit and willingness to go where no woman had gone before. These are the women of our families who changed our histories.

Pour yourself an ice cold Arnold Palmer and come join us! The Carnival is back in town!

Margie Rennick presents Why I Admire My Great Grandmother posted at Ancestor Chase, saying, "A tribute to my great grandmother on Mother's Day. Her story explains why I admire her and how the lives of women have changed over time." Margie, after reading about Katherine, I admire her too! Margie is right. Katherine's story is a perfect example of how few choices were available to women "in the old days". Yet Katherine was able to persevere and raise her children on her own. She's truly a remarkable woman. Thank you for sharing her with us! 

Dorene Paul presents Aunt Bertie was a Police Officer, and Co-Owned a Business posted at Graveyard Rabbit of Sandusky Bay, saying, "Dorene from Ohio's Aunt Bertie was a part time police officer and she also co-owned and operated a restaurant." What a delightful story Dorene! It's so nice to hear of women who were pioneering new roles in their communities. The 1960s was a time of transition for women and Bertie is a perfect example. She was able to handle the traditional roles of wife and mother along with the less traditional business owner and Police Officer. She was truly the "total package". Thanks for sharing her with us!

Jasia presents The Changing Roles of Women in the Lipa and Mizera Families posted at Creative Gene. I take a long look back at the roles of the women in my family from the 13th Century to the present. It is just amazing to me to think about how the roles of the women in my family have changed over the years... from peasant farmer's wife, to college educated business owning wife and mother, and lots in between. 

Judy Cole presents Sara and Betsey posted at The Genealogy Gals, saying, "This is the story of my daughter who has an unusual occupation and her role model, Betsey Miller. I think you will find Betsey's story both amazing and inspiring". Judy shares Betsey's amazing and inspirational story very eloquently. No wonder Betsey was your daughter's role model! Wonderful story, thanks for sharing it with us!

Kim Eisman presents The Changing Roles of Women in My Family posted at Ancestors of mine from Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky & beyond. Kim tells of several women in her family who broke with tradition, some by choice and some by necessity. All are stellar examples of women who worked as needed to support themselves and their families. What a great tribute, Kim. Loved the 5-legged table story! You make me want to meet them all!

Charles Hansen presents Carnival of Genealogy Working Women posted at Mikkel's Hus, saying, "My mom was a working mom while most moms were stay at home moms. She was able to work at home and make a good living." Thank you for sharing the story of your mom's work world with us Charles! She was no doubt capable and productive... an entrepreneur with a home office before it was "cool" to have a home office. That makes her a woman ahead of her time, doesn't it?

Nancy Messier presents Student Nurse, Registered Nurse posted at My Ancestors and Me, saying, "Audrey was the first among her mother and known foremothers to acquire formal education beyond high school. Read brief glimpses of a student nurse's training and view memorabilia and some of her scrapbook pages." Nancy, you have done your mother proud! This is a wonderful overview of Audrey's education and nurse's training put into perspective. It is so important to keep perspective in mind when looking back at our ancestor's lives. Nancy does a nice job of speculating on what might have motivated and inspired her mother as well as what she may have regretted. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! Thanks for sharing her with us!

Susan presents Orphaned and Widowed, Part I posted at Nolichucky Roots, saying, "A newbie blogger, I hesitated before entering this, especially since it's not a new post, but this two part article I wrote about one great-great-grandmother's life in 19th c. Virginia does illustrate how constrained their lives were even within domestic confines. I still shake my head at how little control she had over her home and children following her husband's death." Susan shares with us the story of Margaret Meredith Palmer who lived a traditional woman's role until the death of her husband. Family letters shed great insight into the challenges, fears, and reality that Marget faced as a single mother. Even though she married a man of means and those means were left to her and her children after his death, life was anything but easy for her. It was a man's world back then and women were not granted the same rights and privileges. Thanks for sharing Margaret with us, Susan! A very moving story!

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~*~*~*Feature Article *~*~*~

Cynthia Shenette presents Meditation: The Strength of Ordinary Women posted at Heritage Zen:, saying, "This article really wrote itself. I started writing about my female ancestors in general, but four women stood out for this particular topic. I admire their strength and dignity in facing life's challenges. Thankfully times have changed, women's roles have changed, and my life is better because of it." Terrific tribute from Cynthia! I could really feel the admiration, sympathy, and respect in her words. I really like the way she compared and contrasted the lives of her female ancestors with her own life. Very well done. And the way she listed the people mentioned and her sources... really neat and professional. Thank you for sharing your tribute, Cynthia. I know your female ancestors would be proud!


Please join me in congratulating Cynthia Shenette for being the Featured Author of the 94th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy!

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That concludes this edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. I hope you enjoyed meeting this terrific group of women as much as I did! A big thank you to all who participated. I truly enjoyed your stories and the women of your families!


Call for Submissions! The topic for the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy will be: The Annual Swimsuit Edition! Yes folks, it's that time again... time to look over your photo collection of bathing beauties and select one to share. Bring us your pin-up girls, guys in Speedos, or kids building sand castles. Summer is here and it's time to show us how your family members have enjoyed the water and the summertime heat! The deadline for submissions is July 1st. Thirty submissions will be accepted. 

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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Oh No, Not the Pools!

Yesterday I took a drive through the old neighborhood. The one I grew up in, in Dearborn, Michigan. I don't go back there as much as I used to when my mom was still alive and living there. I still have a brother living in the city but I didn't stop to see him this time around. This was a trip for observation and reminiscing.

The economy is pretty tough for communities all throughout Michigan right now and Dearborn is no exception. Dearborn was a community that always offered a good number of amenities to its citizens such as numerous parks and swimming pools, Camp Dearborn, Dearborn Towers, an outstanding Parks and Rec Department, neighborhood libraries, neighborhood outdoor ice skating rinks, the Youth Center, and a terrific school system. Over time and for a number of reasons that I won't go into here, the city has been on the decline. Many schools have been closed, including the junior high school I attended. Camp Dearborn is a shadow if its former self. Dearborn Towers is up for sale. The Youth Center was replaced with a Community Rec Center (not at all the same!). The ice rinks... I think all the outdoor rinks have been removed in favor of one indoor rink. The schools, well, don't get me started on that subject. Let's just say they don't provide the quality education they used to.

As a kid growing up in Dearborn, I took my city amenities for granted. I made use of them and didn't think of them as anything special. It wasn't until I was in high school that I became aware of just how unique a community Dearborn was in that respect.

Recently, I became aware that the City of Dearborn's administration was mulling over budget cuts and was planning to close down the neighborhood swimming pools. Let me tell you, that got me worked up like you wouldn't believe! Those pools are sacred to every child who grew up in Dearborn. My childhood is tethered to those pools! More than schools closings, businesses going out of business, Camp Dearborn becoming a golf course, and the libraries losing staffing, I care about those pools. I hate the thought of them being closed permanently. Fortunately, a group of current Dearborn residents has organized (on FB of course) to protest the closing of those neighborhood pools. And they have been successful in keeping them open, at least for one more year. :-)

That got me thinking... about Dearborn and all the changes that have taken place there since I grew up and moved away, and summers spent at the neighborhood pool and the neighborhood park. The memories flooded me and they are almost all happy ones. I realized that while much of Dearborn has changed, much of it is still there for me to capture in photographs... a project I should undertake sooner rather than later. I've taken lots of pictures of Dearborn in recent years, but there are still many to be taken. And lots of memories to write up. So maybe that will be my mission for this summer, to go back and photograph the old neighborhood, and write up my memories. And maybe I'll share a few non-Dearborn memories too. Maybe I'll write up a whole month of summer memories like I did my Christmas memories with the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories...

Want to join me? Want to write up your own childhood memories of summer? I'd love to read about your memories too!

And maybe, just maybe, I'll go back for one more swim in my neighborhood pool.

Email, Vulnerable Family Information

I just read an interesting article on Lorine McGinnis Schulze's blog Olive Tree Genealogy. In the article, Can You Teach an Old Genealogist New Tricks?, Lorine writes about a problem she's having with identifying photos shared with her by family members because the email with the identifying information didn't get transfered to her new computer when she replaced the old one, and it's been lost.

This really struck a chord with me. If there is one segment of my genealogy information that I consider to be more vulnerable than the rest it would be that which exists only in email.

For many years, I used Microsoft Outlook as my primary email client for checking my POP3 email account. Consequently, I have literally hundreds of emails that I've received from cousins and family contacts over the years that are stuck in Outlook in its native .pst format. I have faithfully transferred those files to each new computer I've had and I've purchased new versions of Microsoft's Office Suite as needed. So that information is not lost nor is it inaccessible. However, I stopped using Outlook as my email client a couple years ago (in favor of Yahoo Mail and GMail) and I don't want to have to purchase the program ad infinitum to continue to access and store that information.

I would like to get all that email, 1) printed as batch files folder-by-folder so I don't have to print each email individually, 2) converted to a more standard format (preferably .pdf), again, as batch files so I don't have to do it email by email, and 3) exported from Outlook to my GMail account, again, preferably as batches by folder.

If any of my readers can recommend a software program, app, widget, gadget, etc. that could help me accomplish any of these tasks I'd really appreciate hearing from you! Or if you know of a way to accomplish this within Outlook please share the how-to link(s) because I've not been able to find a way to get it done. :-7