Reaching out through the Internet

I've been so busy with writing projects for work, that my genealogy research has been in the holding pattern. But, this week I have spent some time on ancestry.com. I will confess, I really do like that website, and feel it is worth the annual fee.

The other day I received an email from a distant cousin, located in Canada, wanting to share some information. That is one of the really cool things about the Internet, the ability to reach out to distant cousins and share stories.

Recently my mom has been going through some of her pictures, and keeps asking me questions about when this relative got married, or born, or died. Since my computer is usually on, I can pop over to my ancestry.com account, and get the information.

If you aren't a member of ancestry.com, and are serious about genealogy research, I would really recommend checking it out. They have a two week free trial, but remember to cancel prior to the end of the trial (if you don't want to continue) or they will charge your credit card.

Some people refuse to pay for any genealogy info, but I don't understand that. I figure the folks at Ancestry.com are providing me a valuable service, and I am more than willing to pay a fair rate for what they offer.

Father's Day

Yesterday was Father's Day. Dad has been gone almost 17 years. It doesn't seem like he has been gone that long, because his presence is still so strong. I imagine Mom may feel different...that for her it may seem like a lifetime.

I wonder sometimes, how things would have been different, had he lived. If he would have put those cigarettes down when I, as a little girl, I begged him to stop smoking. I would steal his cigarettes and draw lines to show where he should stop smoking. Back then, they said if you only smoked half the cigarette it would not be as dangerous.

I look at those from my mother's generation that have died - and the smokers, most of them went first. And now I look at my generation, and see the few that have gone, they too were smokers.

My father-in-law is almost ninety, and going strong, in spite of diabetes and loosing a leg. He was once a smoker, but he quit about twenty years ago.

Had Dad lived, I wonder what he and Mom would be doing today. Mom lives with us, and I know she misses the relationship of a spouse, a relationship unique from a relationship between a parent and child.

Damn those cigarettes. I would have liked Dad to know my kids as teenagers, and adults. He missed so much. My kids missed so much. Mom is missing so much.

Newspaper Archive

I am seriously considering reinstating my premium Newspaper Archive account. If you aren't familiar with what it is...NewspaperArchive is a website that "contains tens of millions of newspaper pages from 1759 to present. Every newspaper in the archive is fully searchable by keyword and date, making it easy for you to quickly explore historical content."

A few years back I was a premium member, which meant I wasn't restricted on the number of newspapers I could view during the day. For a writer and researcher it contains some great stuff..and for the family historian, it can bring all sorts of surprises. This morning I read mom a little clip from a Charlo Montana newspaper, circa 1940 - where her name was included.

Very cool stuff.

33rd Anniversary

Today Don and I celebrated our 33rd Anniversary. We drove to Laughlin late this afternoon, and had an early dinner at Outback. It was a nice afternoon. 33 years....a lot has happened in those three plus decades. Lots to reflect on...and lots to look forward to.

Beginning our Castro oral history project..

Tonight we taped our first oral history interview with Don's step-dad. I think it went pretty well, and I'm looking forward to the future interviews. One of Walter's stories involved his experiences of working on the sugar cane plantation. He quit school after the 8th grade to help his family - there were 13 living children (three had already passed away) - one of his jobs on the plantation was plowing the sugar cane field behind a donkey.

He told of how the sugar cane was as tall as the donkey, and as he walked behind the animal to plow the narrow section the donkey would sweat profusely, and the sugar cane would rub against the animal on either side, and hit against Walter as he went by. Walter said when he went home at night he smelled horrible.

Oral History

My father-in-law, Walter Castro, has finally agreed to allow us to tape him in an oral history interview. Actually, it will be an extended interview, as he has much information we'd love to record!

He is actually Don's step dad. Don's real father died of cancer when Don was just a little boy, and his mom married Walter a few years later. (Note: our kids had 2 Grandpa Walts, as my father was Walter...yet we called him Walt, not Walter.)

Walter was raised in Hawaii, on the sugar cane plantation. His mother was born in Hawaii, her family moved to the Islands from Portugal. His dad moved from Puerto Rico to Hawaii as a small boy. And while Walter's last name is Castro, according to family history it is not their real name...that is one of the many stories I hope to uncover.

Walter lived through the infamous Hawaii tidal wave, and literally held onto a tree, after getting the younger kids to safety, and was unable to move to safer ground in time.

It should be interesting!

Relatives and family

Is there a difference between a family and relatives? Are they the same thing...or is family someone you feel connected with, and a relative is someone who shares your DNA?

I was thinking about this this week...thinking about my own family and some members who at one time I was close to. One in particular, a cousin. As children we were close. We shared holidays, sleep overs at grandma's and trips to the beach.

We were family. Now we are relatives. And for some reason I don't really understand...it is now distant relatives. The type that don't exchange holiday cards or laughter.

Rather sad.