Wordless Wednesday

Who doesn't love a good yearbook photo?

Recently Ancestry.com provided our family with yet more interesting family history information. Through their site you can now search many US Yearbooks and by doing so we came across our paternal grandfather's High School yearbook photo, circa 1929. He's at the bottom - D. Austin Grubb.
Our father had apparently never seen this particular yearbook or photo and commented with the following "Interesting. Must be from West High School in Akron. I think he only spent his last year there. Before then he went to Western Reserve Academy in Hudson. But then his father died and the money dried up. I didn't know that he was "Bud" that early in his life."
The part that we found amusing was once again the strong similarities in the Grubb men through the generations. Beyond the physical resemblance which is again very apparent, there are definitely some personality traits that shine through even in the little comments next to his photo, i.e. "Hobby: Finding a suitable hobby." Apparently being a bit of a smart ass runs in the family because if we didn't know better we could attribute that quote to either of the two David Austins who came after him!

Finding Croatian Family

My daughters asked me to do a "guest blog" for this week about my adventures in Croatia last year. A couple of years ago my sweet husband thought we should take a trip to Croatia and look for my relatives. My paternal grandparents were both born in Lika, Croatia in the 1890's and immigrated (not together) to the United States when they were in their late teens. Both settled separately in Whiting, Indiana with other Croation immigrants, and subsequently met and married in 1924. After my grandmother died in 1963, we lost touch with her family in Croatia.

Anna and Jack Manovich (my paternal grandparents)

Last October we headed off to the Lika region with just an old address of my grandmother's sister. Within one day, with the help of our bed and breakfast host, Vlado, we found my second cousin--her grandmother and my grandmother were sisters. She was so excited about meeting us, that the very next day she and her son-in-law drove 2 hours to Gospic and brought pictures that my grandmother had sent over the years to her sister. The pictures were of my dad when he was little and my dad and mom's wedding. There was even a picture of me when I was about 7 years old!!


We were able to spend three days with my cousin and her family and became part of the family. It was like we had always known each other, while we were talking and talking about our families and our lives in different countries. I plan on visiting again next summer and am hoping that some of our Croation family will make the trip to Ohio some day.


Looking for your family can have wonderful and exciting benefits, as well as making new friends.

Oprah talks Genealogy

Did anyone catch the Oprah show on Tuesday? She talked to Lisa Kudrow from the show Who Do You Think You Are? and also interviewed Dr Henry Louis Gates Jr from the PBS series African American Lives. These shows, along with the growing popularity of Ancestry.com have really served to introduce the general population to genealogy research, an area formerly reserved for a relatively small population of highly trained researchers.
So go to http://www.oprah.com/showinfo/Celebs-Dig-Up-Their-Family-Secrets to watch clips from the show and from the above mentioned TV programs.

Interviewing Your Family

Last weekend I had a great visit from my mom and nephew Carter. We went to the beach, rode the ferris wheel, hiked Runyan Canyon, shopped at the Grove and ate a lot of good food. Most importantly - I found time to interview Carter (on videotape). Most genealogists know that interviewing living family members is one of the most important things that you can do to preserve your family history for generations to come. But often we only think of interviewing our older relatives - and miss out on the younger generation. So I decided to start very young - with my youngest relative that can talk! And - boy can Carter talk. In the coming weeks I'm going to take the results of my interview and work on creating our newest product. I'll post more on that as I make progress. For now - pictures of Carter enjoying Los Angeles.

Fourth of July Memories

Do you ever ask a question and assume you already know the answer you will get? That's pretty much how we felt when we decided to ask 3 generations of women in our family to describe their most memorable Fourth of July. You'd likely assume, as we did, that you'd get a lot of descriptions of amazing fireworks displays, fun times with family, and good food.
So what happens when you get answers that are completely the opposite of what you expected? Well, let me tell you..
Our grandmother recalls that on July 4 of 1972, a family friend "dropped dead" at her local July 4th parade. That's the first "memorable" fourth of July that came to her mind. All the others were pretty much the same. Ok how can you top that one?
Our mother remembers being really excited to take her two young daughters to their very first fireworks display one July fourth. She vividly recalls how we (Jeanne & Susan) burst into tears when the very first firework went off and were soon so hysterical that she and our Dad had to pack up and leave early.
We (Susan, Heather, and Jeanne) agree that one of our best memories of a fourth of July is when we were allowed to climb on top of our cousins' back porch roof and sit up there watching a nearby park's fireworks display.
So, while the answers we got from our grandmother and mother were not quite as expected, they gave us something that we didn't have before. These were stories that we had never heard. They gave us stories and memories that were a part of their own life story that are now a part of ours.
If there's a lesson to be learned, it's to ask your family questions about their life experiences because you never know what you will learn (and who couldn't use a good laugh?)
What has been your most memorable Fourth of July?

How Far Back Can You Go (Part 2)?

Agnes (Santifort) VanDerAa, Cora (VanDerAa) Veldkamp, Jeanne (Veldkamp) Manovich, Diane (Manovich) Grubb, Jeanne (Grubb) Hall, Natalie Hall

Remember the male line on the paternal side of the family and the amazing resemblance? Well, we'd now like to introduce (in pictures) the female line on our maternal side. There's definitely some physical resemblance here too, although not as striking as with the males. We can trace seven generations of this female line and we have photos of six generations, which is pretty impressive. In fact - my mother recently sent me a copy of my birth announcement from the local paper (pictured below). In it are the names of all of the women pictured above (except for Natalie) - which means 5 generations were all alive at the same time.


It's amazing to see all the generations lined up like this and feel a connection to the women before us. I can only imagine how their lives were different than ours today!

How far can you trace back a male or female line in your family? How many of these individuals do you have pictures of?

5 Questions for Heather

Q: Who are you?
A: I am the youngest of the family, but not by much since there are only 5 1/2 years between the four kids! I have lived in the great state of OH my whole life, with the exception of a year after college when I lived in DC. It was a good year. I am mom to a 1 1/2 year old with baby #2 arriving in December. Since my son was born I stopped working full time and now work 3 part-time jobs just to stay crazy.

Q: What is your favorite childhood memory?
A: Jeanne's answer of spending time with our grandparents was a pretty good one! There are so many that I can't just pick one. Cutting down a Christmas tree every year was always an adventure, and somehow we always ended up with a huge, fat, ugly tree! Birthdays were another great time at our house. We didn't typically have big fancy parties with friends, but we always had crazy family parties with imaginative gifts from Bop (our grandfather).

Q: Who are you named after?
A: I am named after my dad's sister, my Aunt Sue. How is that possible? Aunt Sue's real name is Heather, but apparently she didn't like the name and goes by Sue. Our mom and dad must like it though since they named me Heather. Either that or it was the first name they thought of for a girl since our mom was convinced she was having a boy! My middle name is Diane, which is our mom's first name.

Q: Do you have any special talents?
A: Unless you count the ability to talk almost incessantly, I'm not sure I have any! I have always been athletic and almost constantly participating in sports until just recently when I retired from rugby after an amazing 10 years of fun. I only wish I would have been introduced to rugby before college.

Q: What do you hope to do with the extra income that comes from the business?
A: I am constantly spending it in my head - but who knows what I will actually chose to spend it on. A little traveling would be nice and a new car to fit our growing family!

Census Records

When I first logged in to Ancestry.com in 2001, I had no idea what genealogy research was all about. The first thing I discovered was the thrill of finding someone from my family in an old census record.

When the 1930 census was released to the public in 2003, the first thing I did was search for my maternal grandparents (both were born in the 1920's and thus had never appeared in a published census record).

Below are pictures of the actual 1930's census records showing each of my grandparents as very young children. (You can click to enlarge the photos.)




Although I already knew the information that is listed here - the thrill of seeing their names on a document that was handwritten in 1930 (by the census taker that showed up at their front door) was something that I'll never forget. If you've never done any genealogy research, try searching for a census record - you just may get hooked!

How Far Back Can You Go?

David Austin Grubb II, David Austin Grubb III, David Austin Grubb IV, Carter Joseph Grubb

Even if genealogy is not really your thing, I think that everyone has to get at least a little thrill out of finding out information about their family's history. When it's something you have spent some time researching it's even bigger than that. On our father's side of the family, the Grubb side, we can trace the male line back 7 generations. While information like this, with names, birth and death dates and locations is interesting in itself, what really brings it to life is seeing the photographs of these relatives, many of whom were long deceased before you were even born. Photos bring so much more to the genealogical story by highlighting striking similarities among a family line including similar facial structures, body types, expressions, and even personalities! I think you will agree that there are amazing similarities in all of the aforementioned if you study these photos of 4 generations of Grubb men!

5 Questions for Jeanne

Q: Who are you?
A: I'm a 36 year old midwesterner. My most important and rewarding role is being a mother to my 3 year old daughter who had a rough start in life as a micropreemie and has Cerebral Palsy as a result. However, I am also a part-time government employee, avid reader and someone who loves to spend time with my friends and family.

Q: What is your favorite childhood memory?
A: It's hard to pin down just one so I will just say all of the many weekends spent with my grandparents as a child. We (siblings, cousins and I) LOVED to spend the night at their house because it meant doing all the things we did not get to do at home - staying up late, building forts in the closet, drinking brown cows, having Bop (my grandpa) push us on the swings at the park, watching the horses practice at the fairgrounds(go Benji), and playing video games at our favorite bar Kramers!

Q: Who are you named after?
A: My first name, Jeanne, is also my grandmother's first name and we both are called "Jeannie". My middle name is Marie which is not a family name that I know of but it apparently goes well with Jeanne.

Q: Do you have any special talents?
A: I don't know about talents but I think I have somewhat of an eye for fashion or at least what colors and styles are flattering on others. My family always says that they can tell when I don't "approve" of what they are wearing because I don't have much of a poker face. At least within my extended family I am the go-to girl if a fashion opinion is needed. If I had unlimited funds, buying clothes would be at the top of my list of splurges. For some reason, I am not that into shoes though. I probably have only 2 or 3 pair that I wear for each season and that's it.

Q: What do you hope to do with the extra income that comes from the business?
A: At first, probably just practical things like paying off debt etc but I'd also like to put aside some money to try explore some alternative therapies for my daughter. I am particularly fascinated by The Anat Baniel Method.

Weeksville

While in Brooklyn visiting Cypress Hills Cemetery - we also went looking for the house where Lucy was living when she died in 1938. Above is a picture. What we found was that this neighborhood is on the border between Bed-Stuy and Brownsville. And it has a very unique history - especially for those interested in African American genealogy and history. This neighborhood was once called Weeksville. It was founded by free African Americans in 1838. A few blocks from the above house is the Weeksville Heritage Center. We arrived after the normal tour hours, but the people there still took the time to give us a full tour of the historic homes (beyond generous - and we were so grateful). The Weeksville Heritage Center offers many programs for the local community, especially for local school children. If you're ever in the area - I highly recommend a visit.

The Mystery of Lucy

Above is the result of my first genealogy graveyard visit. I went to Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn (and Queens), NY a couple weeks ago in search of the grave of my husband's great-great-grandmother, Lucy. As you can see from the above picture - we were successful!

Unfortunately, Lucy is the oldest known relative in my husband's mother's family. I've recently requested (and received) the death certificates for Lucy and her daughter, Sadie. I was hoping that these might provide me with information about both Lucy's parents and her husband.

Up first - Lucy's husband: Sadie's death certificate lists her father as Melvin Motley. This information was provided by her son (my husband's grandfather), Lawrence. But - on Lucy's death certificate it lists her husband as simply Bennie. In addition, it lists her mother as Lucy Ridley (not Bagley as shown above). This leaves me with a number of questions about Sadie's father, Lucy's husband(s) and Lucy herself.

1. Who was Melvin Motley? Sadie's father, but not Lucy's husband? Or was he Lucy's first husband?
2. And were they never married, divorced - or did Melvin die?
3. Who was Bennie? Was he Sadie's father? Or just Lucy's husband? And is this where the last name Bagley (on the gravestone) comes from?
4. What was Lucy's last name at birth? Ridley or Bagley?

Next up - Lucy's parents. Her death certificate lists them as Billie Ridley and Mary Davis. But the 1900 census has Lucy Bagley listed (age 15) living with her father - William Bagley. Again - this only leaves me with a number of questions.

1. Was Lucy's father Billie Ridley or William Bagley?
2. If Lucy was born to Billie Ridley then was William Bagley (age 40) actually her husband (at age 15)?
3. Did William Bagley go by the nickname Bennie as listed on Lucy's death cerficate?

Lots of unanswered questions. But that is what makes genealogy research fun! I can't wait until I have the time to dig in and see what I can find out about all of the mysteries of Lucy.

Memorial Day

In honor of Memorial Day we'd like to introduce our oldest known relative who served in the Armed Forces, our great-great grandfather, Henry A. Grubb. Henry served in the Civil War and this is an image of one page of his 80 page long pension file that we obtained from the National Archives. Below is Henry's great grandson, David Austin Grubb III(known to us as Dad), who served in the US Army.

Let us introduce ourselves

Now that we've been around for a month, we think it's time that everyone got to know a little bit more about the Style My Tree family. You are probably wondering how 3 sisters from a medium-sized Ohio city came to be owners of their very own business. Well, maybe that's not the most pressing question that you have but SURELY you have some questions. So, take a minute to ask one (or more) questions and we will answer them in upcoming posts. Look for individual posts from each of us describing a little about ourselves and how we will use our unique talents to benefit the business.
Ok, let's go -- start asking questions!

Who Do You Think You Are?

NBC just finished airing the first season of Who Do You Think You Are? and has announced that they are planning a second season! I highly recommend that you check this show out if you haven't already. Go here to watch any of the seven episodes from the first season in their entirety. If you don't know anything about the show, it follows seven celebrities as they research their own family history. It is amazing some of the discoveries that they make. I was excited to see the first episode featuring Sarah Jessica Parker, especially since she makes a visit during the episode to her hometown of Cincinnati, OH! She discovers that she had relatives who were part of 2 significant historical events- the California gold rush and the Salem witch trials. It is amazing what a little research can tell you about your family history.
Please share with us what interesting facts you come across as you discover the marks that your ancestors have made in history!

So what's this blog all about?

Our goal at Style My Tree is to be more than just a successful business, although we certainly would not mind that! Our products are personal and meaningful to us and a main goal of ours is certainly to share this with our customers. However, we want to offer you more. We want to craft this blog in a way that both compliments our business AND provides something extra for our customers and fellow small business owners. So, our intent here is multifaceted. First, it is to offer tips for investigating your own family genealogy. Perhaps we can inspire you to start thinking about your own family history by sharing fascinating information and pictures from our own family tree. Second, we plan to share information that we run across in this venture that may help other small business owners succeed.
Finally, we would love for this blog to become a place for sharing information about family, genealogy, and just life in general. There is so much that we can share and learn from each other. We'd love for you to join us on our exciting adventure so please drop by again soon!

Style My Tree is Open for Business

Welcome to the blog for Style My Tree! What you will find on our website is art that we've designed based on people's family history. We're hoping that Style My Tree will serve as a great place for people to buy gifts for weddings, anniversaries, births--all of those life-changing events that remind us of the importance of family.

Your friends and family can choose the art piece of their choice and we will deliver to them a graphic representation of their history. If they want, we can even help them investigate their background and fill in details that they may be missing.

We invite you to check out our web site, ask questions, or order pieces during our "soft launch" phase. The first five customers will receive 10% off of their whole order!

Open For Business Soon!

We are busy working on our new business so be ready to be blown away by our great designs! We hope to be open for business soon so check back again soon.