Picture from here.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Week # 25: Neighbors
Week #25 - Neighbors. Who were your childhood neighbors? Have you kept in touch with any of them? Do you feel the concept of “neighbors” has changed since then?
Sorry that I've been slacking these weekly posts. I logged in today determined to do one no matter what the suggested topic but I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a subject that I had a lot to say about!
Our neighborhood growing up was THE BEST! Our house sat in the middle of a row of about 7 houses where the neighbors became some of our (and our parents) best friends. First of all, our immediate next door neighbors on one side were my Aunt, Uncle and cousins. That was great to begin with because it was like having a second house and yard. There were no fences between the yards and we ran through their yard (and many of the neighbor's yards) as if we owned them too! If we got bored at our house we could go over to our cousin's house (entering with just a warning double knock on the front door) and see what was going on over there. The other neighboring families happened to all have kids close to our own ages and mothers who all happened to be stay at home moms like ours. Summer evenings in the neighborhood were the most fun when everyone was outside--the kids playing, riding bikes or roller skating and the parents all gathering in one yard or another to chat and maybe have a drink or two! We had an open green space behind our houses where everyone would often gather for games of baseball or soccer.
My favorite memory would have to be the parties. For special occasions (or sometimes just because) we had a lamb roast (big family tradition as you've noticed from some of the pictures in previous posts) and family, friends and neighbors would all come to eat and socialize during the afternoon. In the evening, it turned into the neighbors sitting around the fire talking, laughing, and finishing off the keg of beer! Meanwhile the kids, with our walkie talkies and flashlights, would sneak around the yards making a game of "spying" on the adults. Looking back now I am not sure how this held our attention for the hours that it did but somehow it was always fun. It may have helped that we were probably high on sugar from all the party food and were up way past our normal bed time. One time some other neighbors, who were obviously jealous that they were not invited, called the police on our parents because we were being too loud!
Do we keep in touch today? Many of us do, to some extent. Everyone has since moved but some are still in the area and sometimes "the moms" get together for dinner. Just a few weeks ago my sister's friend Annie (from 2 doors down in the old neighborhood) and her mom stopped by to visit.
I do think neighbors and neighborhoods have changed some since that time (we are talking about 1980s mainly). There are still some places where people end up forming little groups of friends with their neighbors like we did but I think it is harder now. More mothers are working outside the home and kids are doing more scheduled activities after school and on the weekends instead of just going home and running around the neighborhood with siblings and friends.
I don't know if our experience with our childhood neighboorhood is completely unique but I do know we definitely had a lot of good times on Falcon Circle!
Sorry that I've been slacking these weekly posts. I logged in today determined to do one no matter what the suggested topic but I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a subject that I had a lot to say about!
Our neighborhood growing up was THE BEST! Our house sat in the middle of a row of about 7 houses where the neighbors became some of our (and our parents) best friends. First of all, our immediate next door neighbors on one side were my Aunt, Uncle and cousins. That was great to begin with because it was like having a second house and yard. There were no fences between the yards and we ran through their yard (and many of the neighbor's yards) as if we owned them too! If we got bored at our house we could go over to our cousin's house (entering with just a warning double knock on the front door) and see what was going on over there. The other neighboring families happened to all have kids close to our own ages and mothers who all happened to be stay at home moms like ours. Summer evenings in the neighborhood were the most fun when everyone was outside--the kids playing, riding bikes or roller skating and the parents all gathering in one yard or another to chat and maybe have a drink or two! We had an open green space behind our houses where everyone would often gather for games of baseball or soccer.
My favorite memory would have to be the parties. For special occasions (or sometimes just because) we had a lamb roast (big family tradition as you've noticed from some of the pictures in previous posts) and family, friends and neighbors would all come to eat and socialize during the afternoon. In the evening, it turned into the neighbors sitting around the fire talking, laughing, and finishing off the keg of beer! Meanwhile the kids, with our walkie talkies and flashlights, would sneak around the yards making a game of "spying" on the adults. Looking back now I am not sure how this held our attention for the hours that it did but somehow it was always fun. It may have helped that we were probably high on sugar from all the party food and were up way past our normal bed time. One time some other neighbors, who were obviously jealous that they were not invited, called the police on our parents because we were being too loud!
Do we keep in touch today? Many of us do, to some extent. Everyone has since moved but some are still in the area and sometimes "the moms" get together for dinner. Just a few weeks ago my sister's friend Annie (from 2 doors down in the old neighborhood) and her mom stopped by to visit.
I do think neighbors and neighborhoods have changed some since that time (we are talking about 1980s mainly). There are still some places where people end up forming little groups of friends with their neighbors like we did but I think it is harder now. More mothers are working outside the home and kids are doing more scheduled activities after school and on the weekends instead of just going home and running around the neighborhood with siblings and friends.
I don't know if our experience with our childhood neighboorhood is completely unique but I do know we definitely had a lot of good times on Falcon Circle!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Cora Veldkamp - Newspaper Archives
While searching through the website NewspaperARCHIVE I found a short article about my great-grandmother, Cora (Van Der Aa) Veldkamp. This was published in The Pointer in Riverdale, Illinois, February 23, 1923. My grandmother remembers her mother talking about this illness. She was convinced that she would only have girl babies as a result of it - but after four girls - a boy came along!
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Land Records
Genealogy research usually begins with collecting birth, marriage and death records for ancestors. Using these to find the parents of each ancestor and go back another generation. But after moving back a few generations there usually comes a time when those records aren't available for a certain ancestor - then what? A good genealogist will learn to search for other types of records that can give details of where someone lived, who their neighbors were and who they may have interacted with on a daily basis. Very quickly they will learn that there are hundreds of "other" types of records to find.
Tonight I was reminded of an online resource for some of those "other" records that I haven't used in quite a while - the US Dept. of the Interior - Bureau of Land Management - General Land Office Records. This website includes a database of Land Patents - which recorded the initial transfer of land from the federal government to individual owners and includes a description of the location of the land and the issue date. Since many of my father's ancestors came to Ohio early in its history as a state, I did a quick search to see if I could find any land for them.
Below shows a record I found for David Austin Randall. D.A. Randall was the brother of our 3rd great-grandfather, Delano P. Randall - and also the Reverend who married our 2nd great-grandparents, Henry A. Grubb and Harriet Randall. He was a prominent figure in Columbus, Ohio for most of his life and (most likely) the namesake for my brother, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, all named David Austin.
This shows a description of land in Chillicothe, Ohio sold to David A. Randall of Franklin County, Ohio on September 1, 1857. I don't believe that D.A. Randall ever lived in Chillicothe, but it does give me something further to investigate to see where this land was and what he may have done with it.
The BLM General Land Office Records site has other interesting information, such as the survey plats and even field notes which are a narrative record of how the land was surveyed, including instruments used and the people involved. They have documents dating back to 1810 - so if you have any ancestors that were the first to settle in certain states here in the US check out this site and see what you can find.
Tonight I was reminded of an online resource for some of those "other" records that I haven't used in quite a while - the US Dept. of the Interior - Bureau of Land Management - General Land Office Records. This website includes a database of Land Patents - which recorded the initial transfer of land from the federal government to individual owners and includes a description of the location of the land and the issue date. Since many of my father's ancestors came to Ohio early in its history as a state, I did a quick search to see if I could find any land for them.
Below shows a record I found for David Austin Randall. D.A. Randall was the brother of our 3rd great-grandfather, Delano P. Randall - and also the Reverend who married our 2nd great-grandparents, Henry A. Grubb and Harriet Randall. He was a prominent figure in Columbus, Ohio for most of his life and (most likely) the namesake for my brother, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, all named David Austin.
This shows a description of land in Chillicothe, Ohio sold to David A. Randall of Franklin County, Ohio on September 1, 1857. I don't believe that D.A. Randall ever lived in Chillicothe, but it does give me something further to investigate to see where this land was and what he may have done with it.The BLM General Land Office Records site has other interesting information, such as the survey plats and even field notes which are a narrative record of how the land was surveyed, including instruments used and the people involved. They have documents dating back to 1810 - so if you have any ancestors that were the first to settle in certain states here in the US check out this site and see what you can find.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Wordless Wednesday - Four Generations
Agnes (Santifort) van der Aa, Cora (van der Aa) Veldkamp, Jeanne (Veldkamp) Manovich, Diane (Manovich) Brogan-Adams
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
60 Years Ago...
Some pictures of my grandparents on their honeymoon! Happy Anniversary (just a bit late!)
Monday, June 6, 2011
Kent State Yearbook
Last fall we posted a photo that we found of our grandfather's high school yearbook from Ancestry.com. Recently I also found our grandfather's yearbook from Kent State University. He was pictured twice - once for his formal picture and again as part of his fraternity - Kappa Mu Kappa. The pictures are below - the Grubb ears are truly on display in the second one!
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