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.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010
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.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
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?
Thursday, July 1, 2010
How Far Back Can You Go (Part 2)?
Agnes (Santifort) VanDerAa, Cora (VanDerAa) Veldkamp, Jeanne (Veldkamp) Manovich, Diane (Manovich) Grubb, Jeanne (Grubb) Hall, Natalie HallRemember 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?
Sunday, June 27, 2010
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!
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!
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
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!
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!
Saturday, June 19, 2010
How Far Back Can You Go?
David Austin Grubb II, David Austin Grubb III, David Austin Grubb IV, Carter Joseph GrubbEven 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!
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