Week End Chat...All Members Invited!!! April 8-10, 2016

Question

This is an ongoing "Chat" post that can be added to throughout the weekend.  All members of WikiTree are encouraged to join in, especially first-timers!

 

Do you have any ideas to share?

 

Have you witnessed any famous events?

 

Have you broken through any brickwalls through WikiTree?

New people, say Hello and introduce yourself!

Have you learned anything new or uncovered any techniques to improve profiles more easily?

G2G Pilots, Mentors, and Leaders... any fresh Tips for us?

Any special plans?

Any subject you want to chat about...

* Fads/hobbies when you were 18?

* What do you do other than Wikitree?

* Heard a funny one?

* April Fool's Pranks?

* Do you do anything to help people or animals that are less fortunate?

* Say something! (You know you want to!):D 

Comments

Hey! my first Chat Launch!  Let's get the Weekend Rolling.

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Thanks for starting the weekend chat..............

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BTW, who or what determines who does run the chat in a given week?  presumably it's not just "first come, first served?"  ...Or is it"

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Dave I believe that this Chat is supposed to be done by the connectors project, but if has not happened by afternoon I sometimes start it and nobody complains.

Answer 1

Here is an article about our Mountain Genealogists Society's Friday Family Finders group I mentioned last week.  We helped find the lost family of a dying 71-year-old woman raised in an orphanage.

http://www.canyoncourier.com/content/genealogy-group-reunites-local-woman-mom-siblings

Comments

A marvelous story Michael!  Thanks for sharing it.  Although I have lived near my families for most of my years, this brought a tear to my eye thinking about them and the hardships and hard feelings.  It's great it was all resolved in time.

Answer 2

Yay! My wife and daughter gave me permission to take back the garage for the summer.  We the snow all but gone (knock on wood) they are parking outside and I can once again set up my woodworking shop inside the garage.

Comments

Michael,

What kind of woodworking do you do? I've always wanted to try making a chest of drawers. Do you do that kind of thing? I've made a few simple tables and just last week delivered two quilt racks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2VfVqzNfEc

They turned out really pretty.

Betty

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dovetail_joint

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Yikes dovetail joints are the toughest. I've seen machines that can make a heart shaped dovetail but by hand they are impossible. I usually make a mortise and tenon joint or just make band saw boxes.

Betty

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Hi Betty,

Here are some of my projects, ideas come from my wife who likes a lot of the stuff Anna White has.  I wish I could have a full-time shop, but I have to use my garage and living in Colorado, I have to close up for the winter, which can be a long time.

http://michaelstills.com/?cat=9

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Thanks for starting the weekend chat and love the woodwork :) Betty is soo creative, it's great to see how creative many Wikitree members are !

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Michael,

I might have to try the bookshelves. The visual effect is really stunning. Where did you get the plans for that?

Did you get sucked into the lathe vortex yet? It's a whirrled of fun!!!!

And thank you Bea. I try to make things that are different.

Betty

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I'm thinking about a cell phone shelf along the same lines as the book shelf kinda in a hashtag kinda way.

Whatcha think?

 

Betty

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http://wysada.com/en/-76681?ccheck=1

Here's one in black.

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Pretty cool Betty, it looks fun.  I had no plans for the bookshelf.  I had to draw it up from scratch and do the math.  It is really simple however once you have your dimensions. Each board is one full length of the bookshelf with slots cut halfway through at each intersection.  Just align the opposing slots and insert.  Like interlocking your fingers on each hand.  That left the joints on each corner which I wish I had just overlapped instead of mitering. Also, you have to account for the shorter lengths for each board that intersects the edges.  Fasten with a few screws and hang.

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My husband has the same amazing ability that you do to just figure stuff out. It's probably genetic. What method did you use to cut the slots for the shelves? For this small shelf

I used my little scroll saw with the table set a five degrees to cut the slots. I'm not finished finessing the cuts so it's just inserted in the slots. I will sand and maybe paint it black then sand the slots to fit exactly. I figure people can put their cellular phones on it for safe keeping.

Also, here are pictures of the last cradle that was delivered for Easter:

And WInston with a tie.

 

 

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I used a Jig Saw.  Nice work!

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The one tool we don't have. We got the wood for the project and cut it all to size. Hubby is working out how to cut the slots with a router. Thanks for the great idea.

Betty

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I would use a router today.   I did not have one at the time.

Answer 3

Michael, Thank You for starting the Chat this weekend. The weather here in Ohio can't seem to make up it's mind. When I got up this morning everything was covered with snow but that is all gone now, it is going to come back tonight. :(  on Tuesday I had to take my long time girlfriend to the Urgent Care because she broke one of my Cleveland Browns glasses and required 5 sutures in her forearm, from the glass not me. I have been still working on my son in laws line, but I no longer refer to his relatives as a tree but rather a briar patch. There are a lot of lines that split apart and then rejoin a couple of generations later. There are a lot of curious names in there like Beaver and Moose. I will get the club 1000 badge for this month, the first in a long time, because most of his family was already here but abandoned and not worked on after their 2011 GEDCOM upload. Most of these profiles have no biography or sources so this is going to take up a lot of my time in the future.

Comments

Dale, my mom and brother were born in Canton, OH.  Ancestors in Jefferson, Tuscarawas, and Stark.  Heal well.

Answer 4

Spring is here in Colorado, need to break out the yard equipment. While I'm at it, need to check if a fox as been getting into our barn - either that or a ghost (do poltergeists do barns?). Also a big track meet for my son and a college visit.

Comments

Peter my daughter runs the 100m and 200m for Evergreen High School. We were at All City Stadium for the Thomas Jefferson Twilight meet.  She is going to the University of Puget Sound in the Fall.

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My son does a variety of events (decathalete) but just did the 110 and 300 hurdles this last weekend (in Parker, so a different meet than your daughter). They'll be at the same meet eventually if they haven't already.

Answer 5

Well, sad to say, I still haven't done my taxes so I'll spend part of the weekend doing that.  I do have a schedule on what to do each day until the taxes are done. This afternoon  we do have my brother coming over to play board games.  Most probably "Settlers of Catan"  The last time we got together I managed to sneak up on brother Bob and my wife to win both games.  But he's heading back to Ohio for the summer on Monday, so whoever wins the last game gets to be "Lord of Catan" until fall.

Comments

Love, love, love Catan. We have the whole set.

Betty

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Our son owns a store in our town called  Our House Games.  They sell Catan and many more games.  They are on Facebook and are at www.ourhousegames.org Look them up sometime.

Answer 6

Happy Weekend!

Happy, Happy, HAPPY Dance! While doing the April Sourcerers Challenge, and randomly looking for NJ Pitmans...I found a Census listing my great-grandmother's family, with names of what may be the whole family. 

Happy, Happy, Happy!!! I now return you to your regular weekend channel:)

Comments

Lots of New! New Jersey Sources to search on Kitty's Library page:

 http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Kitty%27s_Library & free-space I made: http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Genealogical_data%2C_the_Salem_Tenth_in_west_New_Jersey & 

• Somerset County, New Jersey Historical Quarterly by A. Van Doren Honeyman, ed., 8 vols. (1912-1919).

• New Jersey genealogical data

• State of New Jersey, Department of Health, Vital Records in New Jersey.

• State of New Jersey, Department of Health, Vital Records in New Jersey. Princeton University Library. .

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Thank you! :)

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That's great news, Sherry!  I love to hear when someone makes a significant find.

Answer 7

Whoa - I think FamilySearch.org deserves a 'Black Belt' for helping me kick down a brick wall!  I've been searching for a State of Kansas County marriage record from 1901 and just this week I discovered that they have been added for the years 1811-1955 to the FamilySearch.org database (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1851040). It was searchable by name!

 Goes to show you that you need to recheck your resources occasionally for newly added records!  Have a great weekend all!

Comments

Great find, Deborah.  And thanks for the reminder to keep checking resources.  You never know what new resources have been added.

Answer 8

Good morning from rainy Las Vegas. It's about time too, this rain is needed to wash away all of the pollen. For the past 15+ years I have had a gg grandfather that was a complete mystery. All we knew was his name, approx DOB and his parents names. I have spent the past week combing the Italian archives web site and finally found him and a whole slew of family. So far I have added http://www.wikitree.com/genealogy/Ricchiuto-Family-Tree-5 all this to Gregorio. Brothers and sisters, grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, uncles etc.  It's been a good week, I'm going to spend a few hours drinking coffee and admiring this new branch on my tree.

Comments

Well done!

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Its always great when you can find answers........ Well done

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Great news, Jim!  You deserve to sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labors.

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Thanks, all! It's a nice feeling to smash a wall down after staring at a name for 15 years.

Answer 9

I had wonderful discovery and was able to add new data to one family line.  I was doing research to add data to the family of the sister of my great great grandfather.  I had noticed on the Ancestry family trees for her husband that people had listed sources for early land patents he received, but apparently no one had bothered to open the sources and look at every page of the actual land patent certificates.  When I opened each of the four certificates I discovered that two certificates listed his previous county and state of residence, which no had listed, and I was able to find him on a census for that location, something no one else had listed.  The best discovery was in the last land patent document, as the original document was a warrant for land for his service in the War of 1812, and it gave his rank, the name of his Captain, the name of the regiment and state from which he served - this was the best discovery as no one in the family or on Ancestry had this information!  Just goes to show that you need to open every document and look at every page!  I submitted a document request on-line to the National Archives, and am now waiting to see what they can find on his War of 1812 service.  This is great information to be able to add to the family history!!

Comments

Woohoo!! Way to go!

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That is brilliant......  Good for you...

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That's great, Carolyn!  Hope you find another gem when you receive the War of 1812 files.

Answer 10

Hey all,

Stuck inside with a spring cough. I got to run down to the local store and get some strawberry plants, though.

*cough*

Betty

Comments

Hope your cough disappears soon, Betty.  Enjoy your strawberry plants.

Answer 11

I have not been working to hard on genealogy for a month or so. I had a heart attach in February that has definitely slowed me down.

I did find on rootsweb a whole family tree that helped me a lot! during my reading of the Family newsletters I discovered this information that could be helpful to all of Us with English,irish, and scots descendants. 

here is the link. It does load pretty slow!

http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~fuqua/FFNV2N1.pdf

What the link shows is the naming patterns of Families. 

• First Son...Named for the Fathers Father
• Second Son...Named for the Mother's Father
• Third son named for the (his) Father
• Fourth son named for the Father's oldest brother
• First Daughter named for the Mother's mother
• Second Daughter named for the Father'smother
• Third mother named for the Mother
• Fourth Daughter Named for the Mother's oldest sister. 

 I think this information could be useful for someone who is trying to find relatives with a brick wall. I had not seen anything about family naming so found it quit interesting. No wonder we have SO many same names in Families!

Pam h. 

 

 

 

Comments

So sorry to hear about your heart attack, Pam. I hope you are recovering well and will be able to return to some of your regular activities soon.

Answer 12

I stumbled into a briar patch with my son in laws family. I just found a woman with the LNAB was Lyerly and she married a man with the LNAB of Moose. Now this woman's mother had a LNAB of Moose also and just to make things interesting Her grandmother's LNAB was Beaver. I am not making this up I have found sources for this information and this is not the first time the LNAB's in this family have gone in a circle.

Comments

Where are they from?  What is their background?

My wife's father is Boyle and her mother is Lyng.  Boyle-Lying (Boiling).  My surname is Stills, so my wife could be Stills-Boyle-Lying. (Still Boiling)

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Michael, They are my son in laws ancestors from North Carolina. The funny thing is the Beaver first showed up in his line in the 1700's  then it went away but his mothers LNAB is Beaver.

Answer 13

Realise the weekend is nearly over and I had not added a contribution to Weekend Chat.

Saturday was a bit wet and not a nice day. However today has been drier but breezy and colder. Still managed to do a few things in the garden this afternoon.

Wikitree has been a bit quiet this week though I have plenty to follow up on. There are always plenty of ideas - putting them into practice is the thing.

Another week beckons and see what it brings....

Regards

Chris

Comments

Rain tonight in Evergreen, CO.  We took my daughter to a reception in Denver for High School Seniors who will be attending the University of Puget Sound.  I think they brought the weather for a bit of show and tell.

Answer 14

Though it's a week late, I'll share a harmless April Fool's prank I played on my co-workers last week.

We have a staff meeting every Friday, and often someone brings in some treat - doughnuts, cookies, muffins, etc.  A couple weeks ago I helped clean up after the meeting and saved one of the doughnut boxes.  I volunteered to bring in treats for last Friday's meeting.  I brought a vegetable plate as a healthier snack alternative, put it in the doughnut box, and placed it on the conference table.  You can imagine the surprised look on their faces when they opened the box!

Comments

My wife works in Human Resources.  One of her co-workers refers to her as his Office Mom. She sent him an email with an attachment for completing a Drug Test that day.

Answer 15

Great Chat this weekend Michael... Thanks!