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Genealogy Generosity

9/13/2012

Thanks for the prompt GeneaBloggers! So has someone offered to help you in your genealogy search? There was one person, very early on in my search for my great grandfather Arthur Nichols.

A man named Ken, in CT, saw a request for information of mine, on a message board. After a few emails, he offered to go to the cemetery where my grandparents are buried, and take a photo of their headstone for me. I had never been to the cemetery. They died when I was young, and my parents didn't want us there for various reasons. I knew what cemetery they were in, Spring Grove, in Stamford, CT.

Ken not only took a photo of their headstone:

But he also took a photo of Arthur's headstone:

He also took a photo of a headstone that he thought might be related, Milton S. and Mary J. Borsey (which I can't find at the moment), and turns out to be my other great grandparents. Until these photos arrived in the mail, I had no idea of their names or anything. He opened up a huge hole in a brick wall for me. I will forever be grateful to him, for taking the time out of his busy schedule to go hunt them down for me.

I hope that some day I can do the same for someone else.

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Obituaries

9/10/2012

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With a large concentration of my family having lived in Stamford, Connecticut, it only makes sense to take advantage of the Ferguson Library Obituary service. They offer an index on their site, where you can search for obituaries, some going back to the late 1800's.

I was under the impression (I don't know why), that you had to pay $20/obituary. After emailing the library to ask if there was any sort of discount for a large number of them, I received an email back, stating that they do this service free of charge. Perfect!

Here is the list I am sending them:

Of special note is the one I have highlighted, Nichols, Mrs. I do not know if this woman is connected to my Nichols, but considering the time period, it is possible that this could be my missing Clara Estelle (Blisard) Nichols. My great grandfather Arthur Nichols wasn't a wealthy man, but it's possible he could have done an obituary if she passed. My grandfather Gordon Everett Sr. was born in 1913, and by the 1920 census, Clara is missing.

I don't want to get my hopes too high, but the possibility is there. I will keep you posted, once I receive them.

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Thankful Thursday - My Father

9/6/2012

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There are a lot of reasons I have to be thankful in my life, but this coming month is giving me one of the most wonderful things to be thankful.

For those of you new to my blog, this is my dad. He can be stubborn, but giving to a fault. He is exasperating at times (it's always been "my way or no way").

Back in February of this year, out of the blue, he collapsed with a massive seizure. After much testing it was found that his lung cancer that he beat two years ago had spread, and

he had a 4cm tumor on his brain. Thankfully, it wasn't in his brain. Lots of doctors appointments later, he had surgery to remove the tumor. We weren't out of the woods yet though. His mental status was really altered. A combination of the swelling in the brain and also medications they had him on. This has since resolved itself, and he is back to doing most of what he used to do, even driving.

It is now almost his birthday. He will be 70 this month. This is a HUGE milestone for him. Not many people in his family live this long, and he seriously thought he wouldn't. Of 6 children, there is only him and his older brother. Both his sisters, and his two other brothers have passed away. His parents both passed away in their early 60's.

I am thankful to the doctors, nurses, and hospital staff at Wentworth Douglass Hospital, and especially the Seacoast Cancer Center, for all that they have done to ensure that I have my father for another birthday. Now we can enjoy complaining about him being a royal pain for much longer :).

He has worked hard all his life to take care of my mother and us children. And as much as he hates to admit it, from all I have been told about my Grandfather, he is more like him than he will ever admit.

In August he had new scans done, and they have come back clean as a whistle. Not a spec of cancer anywhere. It truly is amazing what G-d and medicine can do. And yes, praying was the first priority. I am just thankful.....the words can't do justice for what my heart feels.

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1940 Census Searchable On Ancestry

8/4/2012

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I might be a day or so behind, as I just checked my gmail account for genealogy stuff, but Ancestry has indexed all of the 1940 census, and it is now searchable.

This was a huge thing for me, because whenever I tried the tricks offered using the street name and enumeration district from the 1930 census, I came up empty. In my searches, I could not for the life of me, find East Meadow Street in the 1940 census. Stamford, CT was a big city back then, being a huge boom town since the late 1800's, and the massive immigration of the Irish. There was no way I was going to through, page by page by page, to find them. So I waited. Sometimes patiently lol .

This one contains my grandfather, Gordon E. Nichols and his family. Including my great grandfather Arthur E. Nichols, who passed away later in 1940. I am glad he was still alive for the census, although I suspect he was probably already sick.

(Source: Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1940. T627, 4,643 rolls.)

I did make a correction to the transcribing, as they were listed as "Nicholas". I can't blame the wonderful indexer, as the handwriting on this one is not great (big surprise there, wonder if they ever thought to make the census takers do a handwriting course).

And this is my grandfather Mayo H. Blanchard, and his family. He is always pretty easy to find, due to his unusual name. I also made a small correction to the transcribing on this one, as my uncle's name is Alfred, not "Affred". That was the census taker's fault.

(Source: Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1940. T627, 4,643 rolls.)

My father and mother will not show up in the 1940 census, as they were born 1942 and 1943, respectively. But many of my aunts and uncles are there. It is kind of funny to see them as little children. I want to do nothing more than spend the day working to find others, but I must get my homeschool planning done for my boys first, since we begin the new year on Monday.

I will be definitely getting my files set up so that I can get back to searching, as soon as I possibly can.

And I just want to take a minute to thank all those wonderful volunteers who have worked so hard to make the 1940 census available to all of us. It is so appreciated!

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Genealogy Generosity

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Thankful Thursday - My Father

1940 Census Searchable On Ancestry

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