All My Ancestors

Randy Seaver must have finished up his Thanksgiving festivities more quickly than I did.  Last night while I still had a houseful of company, and we were enjoying watching the Bedlam that was the Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma football game, Randy was posting:

Saturday Night Fun – Who’s Number 1000?

It’s Saturday night, and I’m sitting here wondering who else is pecking away on his/her keyboard not having any real fun. So, let’s play a little game with our genealogy software:

GOAL: Find out who is Reference Number 1,000 in your genealogy software.

Sounds like an easy task, right? Well, not if you have over 20,000 persons in your database like I do. I worked with Family Tree Maker 16 for almost 30 minutes trying to figure it out this afternoon, and failed. I must be looking for RINs in all the wrong places – the Help file didn’t really help.

So after a trip to the airport this morning to send my brother back to Houston and bidding my eldest son and his girl farewell for their journey back to Tulsa, I am catching up on blog-reading.  I first read Apple’s posts–she’d checked her database for her #1000, and it’s a person who is also in Randy’s database!  What are the chances of that happening?  I guess if you have New England ancestors, it’s not all that rare.  I’m just not one of the lucky ones.

I went to my Master Genealogist database.  It was easy to sort the entire database of about 3500 people into numerical order, scroll down, and find #1000.  I was hoping it wouldn’t turn out to be one of the various Maiden Name Unknown [MNU] females in the collection.  As it happens, it is the grandson of one of my favorite ancestors, Merrimon Landrum’s grandson Merrimon Landrum Cooper.

Merrimon is my second great-grand uncle, and is a name that occurs frequently in my Cooper and Landrum family lines.  Sometimes it’s Merrimon, sometimes it’s Merriman.  And sometimes it has only one “r.”  This Merrimon Landrum Cooper is named for his maternal grandfather, Merrimon Landrum (1784-1826), about whom I have written here and here.  Merrimon L. Cooper is one of four brother, sons of Job Cooper and ELizabeth Landrum Cooper, who perished in the Civil War.  This photo is believed to be him:

My family tradition says this is him–I have seen this photo from another source labeled with his brother Elisha Fitzallen Cooper’s name.

Merrimon and his brothers John B. and Elisha all joined the 18th Texas Cavalry in 1862.  A few months later, they were captured at Arkansas Post and shipped upriver to Camp Douglas near Chicago.  Elisha and Merrimon both died at that camp.  Merrimon left a wife, Telitha Estes Cooper and 3 children:  Julia Ann, Job, and Ellender.  Elisha was not married and my great-great grandfather, John B., left a wife, Mary Mitchell Cooper and 2 children:  George C. and Rebecca Ann, known as Annie.  John B. survived the camp, was paroled only to perish at the Battle of Atlanta.  The fourth brother in this family to die in this awful war was Jose D., who’d joined the 12th Texas Cavalry and died in the Battle of Elk Horn Tavern.

So that’s #1000 in my database.  I ordered his military service record ages ago, but it’s been nice to have access to is through Footnote these days–I also have the pension his wife applied for in Texas.  Thanks to Randy for this trip down memory lane–an appropriate trip right after this generation of family has departed from all our fun this Thanksgiving.

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As with Randy Seaver, I’m not capable of a wordless posting, but I’ll keep it short.

This is the tombstone for my 3rd great grand-father, John Osborne (1808-1865) in McLeary Cemetery near Humboldt in Gibson County, Tennessee.  It is a shared tombstone with his daughter Emily Osborne McGee (1840-1865) who died a month after he did.

The man who sent me the picture told me John Osborne wasn’t very well liked and was perhaps shot to death.

Now there’s an honest man!!

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Here are the Tag Rules:
1. Each player starts with eight random fact/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
3. A the end of your blog post, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their name.
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged and to read your blog.

Apple of Apple’s Tree has tagged me for this meme.  I’m always up for an easy way to generate a blog topic.  I’m not so crazy about tagging others because I’m pretty sure I’m not in on this tagging business at the beginning so probably everyone I choose will have been tagged.  But here goes:

1.  Tex, as might be known from her name, is a 6th generation Texan.  She is partial to the Molly Ivins, Ann Richards mode of Texan.

2.  Tex has lived in Oklahoma much longer than she lived in Texas.

3.  As a child, Tex was often called snoopy.  She now knows she was just a budding information professional.  She is a librarian and collecting information for analysis is her passion.

4.  Tex watches (and reads) so many criminal procedurals that her husband believes she may be plotting his demise.  She is not.

5.  Tex may have a touch of agoraphobia.  She really does not like new situations and does not like to leave her comfort zone.  But she will push herself, particularly if new family information is involved.

6.  Tex went to Ireland last year and wishes she had Irish ancestry.  It is truly a magical place.

7.  Tex went to the USSR many years ago–she was there while Yeltsin was being elected–and knows she has Germans from Russia ancestry.  It is a difficult place.

8.  Tex really really really wishes she could get her 4th great-grandfather Christopher Osborne out of North Carolina.

I’m tagging some of my faves with the hope that they have not already been tagged, and as with all “chain letters,”  feel free to ignore    I promise bad luck will not come to you.:

Olive Tree Genealogy Blog

Moultrie Creek

Ramblings

Genealogy Roots Blog

Before My Time

Genblog by Julie

Jessica’s Genejournal

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My Aunt Dot died 9 September 2008.  She hadn’t been in good health for a very long time.  She was one of two of my dad’s 7 siblings who were still living and since my dad died in 2003, they became even dearer to me.

Aunt Dot and Uncle Jimmy never had children of their own so we nieces and nephews usually felt pretty special.  I still treasure the Fostoria crystal pieces she gave me for my wedding, and I spent time with them back in high school when I was at “camp” at Texas Tech in Lubbock.   One week was photography camp and the next week was yearbook camp–I didn’t see any sense in traveling the 4 hours it would take to get home and then back to Lubbock, so I spent the weekend with them.  They took me out for Mexican food and any other place I wanted to go.  I remember they had a combination washer-dryer–it was all in one machine, a front-loader of some sort.  Coming from my family of 5 I couldn’t believe that anyone could get along with just one machine for washing AND drying.

I’ve always loved this picture of them–possibly on their wedding day in 1950.  Uncle Jim always wore his hat at that angle and Aunt Dot always looked that dressed up (with later subtractions of corsage and hat).

Family members used to say I looked like Aunt Dot–I can certainly see the family resemblance.  I tend to blame my shortness and wideness on my German ancestry, but truth be told, I get some of it from the women in the Osborne family as well.

I always loved it when Aunt Dot and Uncle Jim came to Perryton for Thanksgiving or for Christmas.  They were often driving Uncle Jimmy’s very clean, very spiffy pickup.  (There were only working pickups in my life then–it’s what my dad and all the farmers drove–you didn’t just travel in them.)  Uncle Jim worked for Texas Tech and I’m pretty sure he could build or repair anything.  For a few years he would bring the clay pigeons and device he’d built to “throw” them, along with all the shotgun shells he’d reloaded.  His 6 brothers-in-law and various other relatives entertained themselves for hours out at the farm with his toys–Aunt Dot was in the kitchen bossing and cooking.  She had on her good clothes with an apron and she always smelled good.  I was in awe because she was so dressed up and also, she was one of the few women in my family who worked outside the home.

Part of my dealing with grief is to record the lives and deaths of my loved ones.  I went to www.findagrave.com to post Aunt Dot’s obituary only to find that it had already been posted.  I felt a little robbed, though ultimately I am grateful that there are so many generous folks out there who do that sort of thing in their area.

I didn’t get to attend her funeral–the only one of my dad’s siblings that I didn’t get to go to.  We were getting ready to go to Detroit and I just could not get away and I knew I couldn’t drive that far and back in one day–all the time I had if I really squeezed the calendar.

So now there is one.  My Uncle Ray, at 81, believes he’ll farm another year, because what else would he do?

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I need to post.

I have a couple of stories going but they’re not ready.

So I thought I’d post one of the handouts I compiled for one of the groups I’ve spoken to recently.  This was really used more as a guideline for my talk, so of course it’s not comprehensive, but I’m always surprised at what long-time residents don’t know about the good resources in their home town.  This is from a 20 minute presentation to one of the local sororiety chapters.

The bottom line is, always explore the website for the libraries in your town or the town where you are researching–public libraries, state libraries, state archives, state historical societies, etc., etc., etc.

Databases:

Ancestry census records

WorldVitalRecords

Find My Past

New York Ellis Island Passenger Records

HeritageQuest (census, books, PERSI, Revolutionary War)

Footnote

Oklahoma Historical Society Research Library www.okhistory.org

Hours: 9am – 4:45pm M-Sat Phone: 522-5225

Databases:

AncestryLibrary.org

Footnote

HeritageQuest

Catalog and indexes online at www.okhistory.org/research

Archives portion of catalog includes some images of maps and photos

Native American records (Dawes index online)

Nation wide print resources

Oklahoma newspapers on microfilm

Metropolitan Library System www.metrolibrary.org

Hours: vary by agency, check online DN Phone: 231-8650

Databases:

AncestryLibrary.org

HeritageQuest (may be accessed remotely with Metro Library Card)

Oklahoman online (may be accessed remotely with Metro Library Card)

Sanborn maps for Oklahoma

Small collection at Downtown Library, including OKC city directories and phone books

Oklahoma Room

Oklahoma County newspapers on microfilm

See “Oklahoma Images” for Oklahoma County history and essays

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written for the 7th edition of Smile for the Camera–A Carnival of Images

• The word prompt for the 7th Edition of Smile For The Camera is Oh, Baby! Show us those wonderful family photographs of babies, or those you’ve collected. Share the ones that are too cute for words, or those only a mother could love. Your favorite of grandma or grandmas’ favorite. Grandpa on a bear skin rug or grandpas’ little love. Everyone has a baby photo, so let’s see it!  Choose a photograph of an ancestor, relative, yourself, or an orphan photograph that is the epitome of Oh, Baby! and bring it to the carnival. Admission is free with every photograph!

Here are my entries:

A contemporary baby in our family, with her my mother-in-law, her great-grandmother.

Gram Lillian Hagar Spindle and great-granddaughter Brooklyn.

….and a slightly older baby–me.

In the only two-piece you’ll ever see me in, at my grandparents’ home in South Dakota.

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Today I was to spend one hour talking at one of the local libraries about the databases available through the library system that are useful for genealogy.  I’d chosen to concentrate on AncestryLibrary.com, HeritageQuest, and the local newspaper which is available online back to about 1900.  The local paper is really more of a state newspaper, so in a small, young state like Oklahoma, that a real treasure to have free access to through the local library.

I was prepared.  I had a short PowerPoint presentation ready to go–on my jump drive as well as emailing it to myself in case the computer wouldn’t read my drive.  I’d even made copies of handouts.

The adventure started when I arrived at the library and the programmer I’d been working with was not there.  One of the circ clerks handed me the projector but indicated there was not a laptop.  I’d recalled that the programmer said the library had one, so I persisted.  I felt a little sorry for the circ clerk but we finally t on the same wavelength–she got out their lap top, and then, of course, we had trouble logging in.  We called IT for the library system, gratefully they were there on Saturday, and they walked us through.  THEN, of course, I couldn’t get the laptop to connect to the projector.

I only had about 7 students so we just pulled up chairs to the table where the laptop was, and we went through the powerpoint, starting only 10 minutes late.

Ahhhhhh, the adventures of speaking genealogically. 

One hour isn’t much time to cover such a broad topic, but I wanted the folks to know what good resources their library card entitled them to.  I spent some time educating them about PERSI on HeritageQuest–they knew about census and Rev War records, but PERSI is such a rich resource and many people don’t know of it.  Or they know about it, but since it is not full text, they aren’t sure how it might be useful to them.  We also discussed some of the other newspaper databases that are avaiable through EbscoHost and ProQuest–again, coverage varies by date, but it is a way to check newsstories in places where other family may live and work.  We also talked about WorldCat, a way to check to see if a genealogy has been published on a particular family or topic, to check bibliographical info, etc, etc.

It was a fun day–there’s never enough time but I was glad I had enough experience to be able to “punt” when we had the “technical difficulties.”

Questions from the “students” included what to do with photos with lots of people in them but not necessarily their family (DeadFred.com), where to access American Indian records (come to the library at the Oklahoma History Center), and one person said he was hoping I was going to talk about more websites for research (I offered to email him my handout from my Library Lock-In talk a couple of weeks ago).

Now, if I can just find my jump drive that somehow didn’t make it home in my pocket and the card of the man I promised the handout to.  I plan to write a note to the circ clerk’s supervisor–she saved my bacon today and I really appreciated her willingness to hang in there with me.

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I’m back.

Just because I haven’t been posting doesn’t mean I haven’t been thinking about it.  Should I or shouldn’t I?  Have I lost all 2 of my regular readers?  What else is left to say?

But here I am.

In my time off, I’ve been to Detroit where I spent 16 days in a hotel room.  Even in a luxurious hotel, which it was, that’s too long.  However, it was the place to be given what we were doing there.  (We saw the King of Sweden and the Tampa Rays while we were there.)

In September, my husband was diagnosed with prostate cancer.  I’ve always considered prostate cancer to be the type to have if you’re going to have to have cancer.  But then when it showed up on my door-step, I felt completely different.  And that feeling was made even stronger when we found out he had very high Gleason scores (that’s the strength of the cancer, for the uninitiated).  Doctors kept telling us that it was unusual for him to have prostate cancer at his age, and it was particularly unusual for it to be that aggressive.  Somehow, not all that comforting.

Prostate cancer is one type of disease that requires lots of research and decision-making on the part of the patient.  (I tend to be a researcher for all types of problems–an occupational hazard for a librarian and incurably curious person, I suppose)  But there really were a lot of decisions to make.  I won’t bore you with all the options–

My husband is king-size.  Some is basic build and some is being overweight.  This complicates the surgical options, which was the option that was recommend given the strength of the tumors.  Robotic surgery seemed the best choice, but not all robots could handle a patient of Hubbo’s size.

We were fortunate to have a well-connected retired head of urology from the state medical school advocating for us.  Hubbo’s urologist had been this man’s student, and the urologist and Hubbo had grown up together, both in somewhat disadvantaged circumstances, so there were all sorts of connections going on.  We could not have been more fortunate to have these two men on our side.

The final decision was to go to the Henry Ford Hospital‘s Vattikuti Urology Institute.

It could not have been a better experience.  The personnel were competent and caring.  The entire program, from the phone calls and information we got before we left home, the actual surgery, to their availability after we got home is unparalleled in my experience.  (and, unfortunately, I do have some experience in this arena).  The surgeon came out to talk to me during the surgery when it was delayed a bit, assuring me right up front that nothing was wrong.  After the surgery, the surgeon (!) walked us (#1 son and minister) over to the chapel and then back to the center for a chair massage.  The hotel worked with the hospital to make the entire stay comfortable and comforting.

So, that’s where I’ve been.  Life is sort of starting to return to normal.  Except for the fact that Hubbo is still on medical sabbatical and his response to having a moment of spare time seems to be to start re-decorating the house.  So far we have a loveseat and two chairs (his mother’s) recovered, a recliner purchased, 2 bookcases in place, and another chair at the upholsterer.  Not to mention blinds ordered for the front room and the painter contracted to do some work before Thanksgiving.  whew

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