My Wordle Cloud for Saturday Night Fun

Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Fun:
Here is your mission, if you decide to accept it (shouldn't this be mandatory for all Genea-Musings readers every Saturday night?):

1)  Find something that you have written (letter, report, book, website, blog post, etc.) and copy all or part of it  (you know, do an Edit > Copy or a Ctrl-C on it).  If it's a website with an RSS feed, then just copy the URL in the browser address bar.

2)  go to www.wordle.net and put the copied text into the text box at http://www.wordle.net/create or URL at the site.  Be creative - select a Font, a Layout, and a color scheme.

3)  Capture the image by doing a screen capture, or by doing an image snip.

4)  Show us your Wordle creation on your own blog, on a Facebook status, or on a Google Plus stream post.  

5)  What use to do see for a Wordle cloud that you created?

6)  Be sure to leave a Comment to this blog post telling us where to find it.


Here's my wordle. It's taken from a very short bio I did on my husband's half great uncle, Henry Weidemann.

I think it looks cool and something like this might peak the interest of my grandchildren. Picking through the words used in the image gives a hint to his life.

Where I've Been Lately

I know it's been quite awhile since I last posted; however, I have been busy with a myriad of other things.

First, my dear husband booked a cruise for over Easter so we had to quickly prepare for the voyage. There was shopping, laundry, cleaners, packing, and the many preparations needed when one is to be away for over a week.

Then, two days before our departure, our dog, Bessie, appeared to have an eye infection (which she did). While at the Vet, I mentioned she had a little sore on her leg in the area where in December she had TPLO surgery. The Vet was not pleased with what she saw and took x-rays which revealed a major problem with the plate and screws that had been implanted. "They have to come out", she said. So we went home with eye drops, antibiotics, and orders to call her surgeon to set up a new surgery.

Two days later, we left Bessie in the capable hands of Bark Avenue Day Camp (her home away from home) with all her meds and left for New Orleans and our ship. It was a very relaxing and enjoyable cruise. We met some wonderful people and had interesting conversations. Saturday, April 14, we made the 16 hour drive home losing most of the relaxed feeling we had gained during the week. ;-)

Bessie had her surgery on Tuesday and we have been playing nurse and rehab therapist ever since. From the icing of the leg and the 4 short walks daily to trying our best to keep track of her medication schedule, this has kept both me and my husband very busy. The good news is Bessie seems to be feeling better than she has in a long time; the bad news is when Bessie feels good she wants to run around and have fun. Running around is currently prohibited!

So, the little time I actually get on the computer is being spent catching up on blogs, facebook, twitter, and email. Any time left is being spent indexing or arbitrating batches of the 1940 Census Community Project for Illinois for the Illinois State Genealogy Society. Anyone out there who would like to help can get started at the link above. We can use all the help we can get!!

So, it's back to indexing for me.

1940 Census Error Found Already

I've spent just a little time finding "my people" on the 1940 census over the past few days. Since I'm indexing as well and feel more of my energy should be put on that task, I've only allowed a few minutes a day to look for myself. And, since I did my homework before the release and gathered the all important ED numbers, I was ready.

My Indiana relatives were easiest to find as they are mostly rural and tended to stay put over long periods. I found my direct line and a few collaterals were spotted along the way.

Today, when I saw that MyHeritage.com had posted Illinois, I made the effort to find my husband's Chicago family. To my surprise, I found his grandmother listed with her four married sons but no daughters-in-law. Hmm, did they all have fights and run home to Mommy? I doubted that
.
Since I had a address for where hubby's Dad should have been and since I was still looking for my mother-in-law, I went to that ED and guess what I found. There they were, both of them, living happily in their own apartment.

Now, in my opinion, the odds are I'll find the other boys living with their wives too. How this error occurred, I don't know. Maybe grandma didn't understand a question about her children - yes, she was the informant-, maybe the census taker didn't ask the questions properly, however it happened my husband's father and, most likely his three brothers, are listed twice in the census.

So Little Time - Passing On Your Research

Two weeks ago my husband’s cousin, Kay, passed away. Kay had been diligently researching her mother’s side of the family for several years and had accumulated lots of wonderful information. Unfortunately, no other family members from that side are currently interested in continuing her work. It is believed in the future a nephew or niece may take up the research but, for now, we can only try to retain important data for later use, perhaps much later.

To that end, as the family historian on the Dad’s side of the family, I was called in to determine what to keep and what not to keep. What an ominous project and I only had one morning, this morning, in which to do it! Fortunately, Kay was wonderfully organized, making decisions much easier than they might have been.

Kay maintained binders - there must have been forty of them - containing descendant’s charts, family group sheets and important documents, as well as separate binders for census records and such. These I suggested should be retained for future reference. Being familiar with Kay’s ability to research and document, I feel secure the most important information for a future genealogist will be found in those binders. Because storage space will be limited, I was far more discriminating with the various folders contained in the filing cabinet.

Now, for the real point of this blog! I backed-up Kay’s Family Tree Maker File to an external device and gave both the file and the software version she was using and the manual for that version to the family. However, technology being what it is that file and the software will be obsolete before we know it. I can guarantee nothing will be updated after today.

Now, I love technology but I am convinced we still need to get our genealogy on paper. I came to that conclusion a couple of years ago when I decided to start creating family history books to be sent to family members and libraries. Whether it’s in book form or printed out and organized in binders or family folders, please, make sure your work is in print form. If you’re still researching, be sure to keep your print records updated as well as your computer files.

I’m wearing a shirt that says, “So many ancestors; so little time.” The truth of that statement was made very clear to me today. We have no way of knowing how long we have on this earth. To have any hope of our work carrying forth to the next generation of genealogists, we need to put it into a stable form. The most stable form, even today, is print.

Yes, I am posting this on my blog and will mention it on Twitter and Facebook but, if I really want my g-g-grandchild to read this, I will print it, put it in an archival safe sheet protector, and put it in a binder marked DO NOT DESTROY – FOR THE NEXT FAMILY HISTORIAN!! There’s no guarantee that will work either, but at least I will have given it my best shot.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Surname count

I don't have too much time this afternoon so I'll have to be brief with my answer to Randy Seaver's

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - How Many Surnames?

It's Saturday Night - time for more Genealogy Fun!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:

1)  Go into your Genealogy Management Program (GMP; either software on your computer, or an online family tree) and figure out how to Count how many surnames you have in your family tree database.

2)  Tell us which GMP you're using and how you did this task.

3)  Tell us how many surnames are in your database and, if possible, which Surname has the most entries.  If this excites you, tell us which surnames are in the top 5!  Or 10!

4)  Write about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, in a status or comment on Facebook, or in Google Plus Stream post.

However, I did take a minute to check out a few statistics. I am using Family Tree Maker 2012 and this is what the file statistics gave me:

As you can see, from my 4,534 people in the file, I have 925 surnames (among those is the all too common UNKNOWN). I was surprised to see I had 816 Media items since I only started adding media a couple of years ago.


This is my main file where I keep both my sides and my husband's sides of the family. I've often considered dividing the two but so far I've kept us together:-)

Dream vs Reality

To begin with I'll admit I am retired and prior to retirement I had a vision of what my tranquil, easy life would be like.

• My dream morning: I wake up on my own volition, sun streaming in the window, song birds twittering sweetly to each other. I brew a cup of coffee, log on to my laptop (or I-phone or tablet) to leisurely catch up on my facebook and twitter and google+ friends and family. I might post a thing or two about what I've been up to or what I'm planning for the day. I might need a second cup of coffee to get it all done but who cares, I've got all day! Then, I'll take the dog for a walk, grab some lunch, and get going on my projects - writing blogs posts, writing my current family book, or researching online. I'll break for dinner when I get hungry, then if there's not a meeting to attend, I'll get back to work or catch a webinar or a web radio show on genealogy.
• My reality: I wake up between 5:30 and 6:30 to the sound of my dog giving herself a "bath" or chewing on her paws. I'm up and showered by 7; While my husband takes his shower, I  brush the dog's coat and teeth and send her out to potty, prepare breakfast - no biggie mind you , just cereal or English muffins -, and brew some coffee. No time to log on now, we have to head out to a State park or bike trail or somewhere like that for our walk with the dog. Hurry up 'cause it's almost time for lunch; we're on a schedule you know!! Finally, about noon, I'm allowed about four hours to do whatever I want which means I usually rush through fb, twitter, and google+ so I can get to my projects. I've only got until about 4pm before my time and attention are required elsewhere once again.
• Truth: I'm oh so grateful to have a husband who after all these years (50 this year) still wants me by his side for almost everything. I'm happy to have the privilege to sit next to him and watch tv in the evening; even if it means I miss a webinar or two. There's no way to know how long we'll have together and I would hate to regret not spending these precious hours with him.

Come to think of it, my dream morning could get to be pretty lonely. I'd rather share my retirement with all its give and take than have complete control without the love of my life.

Wordless Wednesday Almost - Eliza Jane Hinton Leisure

All that's missing from the photo of Eliza Jane (Hinton) Leisure is her corn cob pipe. No joke; she did enjoy her pipe upon occasion.