Web 2.0 and Genealogy Research--My Favorites!

Weekly Genealogy Blogging Prompt

Week #14: Talk about the different types of technology you use in your genealogy research. Whether it’s a new search engine, a special application, or anything else “2.0,” let readers know what you’re working with, and how it’s working for you.

Flickr--yes, this is a photo sharing site, but I couldn't live without it! I have family and friends in two continents, six states and this the main way I share photos with them. I upload photos here more than facebook. I especially like the "leave a comment" feature that I use to "tag" and identify individuals in group photograhs. My relatives can comment on the photographs and assist in the identification process or just add their two-cents worth! Here is one photo that my father chimed in on. I have quite a few faces to identify as you can see!

Facebook (fb)

• "Friend" fellow genealogists and keep up with their status updates
• Follow multiple blogs on the fb application, Networked Blogs
• Become of "fan" of genealogy related sites or "join" a group to stay up-date-with your favorite applications/groups/software. Here are just a few groups/pages on fb that I follow:
  
• Geneabloggers--Thanks Thomas MacEntee and gang! They are a wonderful support for both veteran and newbie bloggers. I love the weekly blog post ideas for inspiration!


• Legacy Family Tree--My genealogy software
  
• Clooz--Organizational software that I use. It is an electric filing cabinet that assists you with search and retrieval of important facts that you have found during the ancestor hunt. Clooz shows you the relationship between documents, whereas, genealogical software (i.e., Legacy, Family Tree, etc.) shows the relationship between people.
  
• Facebook Friends of the National Archives



• National Genealogical Society

Twitter

• Post a status message when your blog gets updated. Your followers will be alerted and follow the link to read it. The reverse is also possible as long as the people that you are following do likewise. I was creating the post manually, until I discovered....
  

Tweet Later

• I use this service to automate a Twitter post from my blog when it gets updated. This is easy and there is a tutorial! I don't have to remember to log into Twitter to "advertise" that I updated my blog.


• I also use this service to set up a keyword search. Periodically, Tweet Later will search ALL of the tweets for the specific Key Word(s) that you request. The results will be sent to you in your email inbox (it can get to be a long list depending on what you search on). You can search on "genealogy," specific genealogical organizations or particular people's names. This is a huge time saver because you don't have to constantly stay on Twitter to monitor status posts for something you are interested in. Also, you will learn about posts of people that you may not be currently be following (but you may decide to follow them after you discover that they are posting information on a topic that interests you!). Tutorial is here.

TweetDeck

• I use this application to organize the Twitter people that I am following. Not everyone that I follow has posts on genealogy, so I set up groups in Tweet Deck. One group is titled, "genealogy." I have another group of "close friends" another on "librarians." This way, my twitter posts are organized according to subject (more or less). This is a much more efficient way to read Twitter than by logging into the Internet version of Twitter.



• TweetDeck has now integrated with FaceBook and one of your groups is automatically your Facebook friends. It is so nice to be able to scan that column for the latest status posts from your fb friends. You don't have to login to fb either!

Ancestry.com--I have been a full subscriber for many years and I couldn't live without it!

Footnote.com--Great new site and I love the social networking aspect! A big bonus...they are uploading Texas birth and death certificates and I am saving them just as fast as they appear online! You can create your own pages and link your own uploaded information with Footnote content. See this page on my great-great grandfather.

iGoogle (How I organize my RSS feeds)

• The only thing I will say about this fabulous application is to read an earlier post that I created on this application!

Well, I could go on a bit more, but since this is my first blog post in about 6-weeks, I'll call it a night and publish this entry!!!

Jello Salad--Which Food Group Is It?

Weekly Genealogy Blogging Prompt: Week #6 - Let readers in to your kitchen. Discuss your family’s favorite foods. What was a typical Sunday dinner in your childhood house? What did grandma make that had you coming back for more? Were there any dishes that the dog wouldn’t even eat? Thanks to We Tree for the inspiration!

Well, I am a tad behind on my blogging, but I wanted to make sure that I blog on a prompt from 2 weeks ago! While I could describe any number of food traditions in my family, I think I would like to talk about....Jello!!!

The phenonomen of Jello Salad is totally lost on my Brooklyn, NY born and bred husband while it was a staple in my house growing up in Texas! In my house, jello was one of the basic food groups, while my husband doesn't even consider it edible! 

The big debate over any gathering, was 1) who is going to bring the jello salad? and 2) which jello salad should they make? 

Would it be the Orange Jello with Pinapple and Grated Carrots? My grandmother Kempf loved to make that one! 

Orange-Carrot Salad

• 1 (6 oz.) pkg. orange flavored gelatin
• 2 cups boiling water
• 1 1/2 cups cold water
• 2 large carrots, shredded
• 1 (11 oz.) can mandarin oranges, drained
• 1 (15 oz.) can crushed pinapple, undrained
• Carrot curls
• Lettuce

Dissolve gelatin in boiling water, and stir in cold water. Chill until partially set.

Fold carrots, oranges and pinapple into thickened gelatin. Spoon into an oiled 2-qt. mold; chill until set. Unmold on lettuce and garnish with carrot curls. Yield: 12-15 servings.

Or would it be the Rosy Strawberry Jello with sour cream topping? Here is the recipe handwritten by me in high school (circa 1975) where I got the recipe from my home economics teacher (I guess I am dating myself here!):

Rosy Strawberry Ring

Note: I usually made this in a glass dish and did not bother to unmold it. I would spread the sour cream topping over it before serving.

A twist that was sometimes served was Green Jello with Pear Halves. That was something special because it involved layering!

Under-the-Sea Pear Salad

• 1 can (16 oz.) pear halves
• 1 pkg. (3 oz.) Jell-O Lime Gelatin
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 TBS lemon juice
• 2 pkgs. (3 oz. each) cream cheese
• 1/8 tsp. ginger

Drain pears, reserving 3/4 cup of the syrup. Coarsely dice pears and set aside. Dissolve gelatin and salt in boiling water.  Add pear syrup and lemon juice. Measure 1 1/4 cups into an 8x4-inch loaf pan or a 4-cup mold. Chill until set, but not firm-about 1 hour.

Meanwhile, soften cheese until creamy. Very slowly blend in remaining gelatin, beating until smooth. Blend in ginger. Stir in pears. Spoon over set gelatin in pan. Chill until firm-about 4 hours. Unmold and garnish with chicory or watercress. Serve with mayonnaise, if desired. Makes about 3 1/2 cups or 6 serviings.

Note: Recipe may be doubled, using a 9x5-inch loaf pan.

~The New Joys of Jell-O, General Foods: White Plains, 1974. 69.

I am the proud owner of The New Joys of Jell-O (copyright 1974), and I have a couple of jello molds stashed here somewhere, but since getting married, haven't had a chance to use them much! LOL!!

Maybe on that next trip to Texas......

Weekly Genealogy Blogging Prompt #4: Castroville, Texas

“Take a genealogy day trip and blog about it. Discover the local history and genealogy in your area. Take a trip to a cemetery or other historic location. Describe the day, what you learned, where you went, how it looked, how it sounded. Armchair genealogists will love the mini travelogue.”

I am going to have to fudge a bit on the challenge this week, since I do my genealogy research trips on holidays or between semesters. I have already blogged about a wonderful genealogy road trip in October 2008, that I took with a dear friend and it was on that trip that I got to do my first research in a county courthouse (cool!), small town library (very helpful), and also the historical society of Steuben County New York (fabulous folks). As much fun and educational as that trip was, it had nothing to do with my family or my husband's family history, but it sure made me reinvigorated to get back at it!

My most recent genealogy road trip was on Christmas 2008 and it was spent in my hometown of Castroville, Medina County, Texas. It has been many years since we last visited over Christmas as my husband and I now live in Maryland. In addition to being with my 3 brothers, their families and my parents, I also had in mind to make it to the church cemetery and take head stone photos as well as meet with a local historian, family friend and distant relative, Frances (related five different ways!).

My husand and I departed from Baltimore to take the Southwest Airlines' nonstop flight to San Antonio, Texas. I lugged my laptop, scanner and luggage through the Baltimore airport and was happy to learn that our beautiful hotel, The Hotel Alsace Spa and Resort (sitting high on a hill overlooking my little hometown) had free wireless access. The hotel also had a spa, but alas, this was not the trip to take advantage of that luxory! My parent's home was filled with my brother's family who flew in from Denver, Colorado and some other grandkids who did not want to be separated from their 1st cousins! My two other brothers live in nearby San Antonio.

The meeting with my mother's cousin, Frances, was entertaining and very educational, as it always is! Frances and another woman in Castroville, Connie, have become the de facto caretakers of the records of St. Louis Catholic Church. They also extensively researched their own families as well as other people in Castroville. Since I am related to both women, they are able to answer a lot of questions that I come up against! The visit with Frances was bittersweet because I had already met with her 2 years ago and scanned every photo that she had of our common ancestors (a lot!) but when my laptop was stolen from my home last fall, those photos went with the laptop. Thank you for people like Thomas MacEntee who encourage and educate people on backing up their data! I know better (I am a high school media specialist and give these "lessons" every day), but for goodness sake, I can't seem to follow all of my own good advice! So needless to say, I will be at the next Data Backup Day on Feb. 1st!

As much as I did not want to be recanning photos that I already scanned previously, visiting with Frances for an afternoon is always a fruitful event and it was a chance for my mother, Frances and me to reconnect and get relationships and marriages straight in our records.

I was excited to again view the photo (and then scan) of an early immigrant to Castroville, Carolina Wussler Echtle. While she did not emmigrate when Texas was still a Republic, her story is fascinating and I find myself in awe of her and people like her who made the same sacrifices.

Carolina Wussler Echtle & 9 Surviving Children

Carolina emmigrated from Gengenbach, Baden, Germany in the latter part of June in 1883, to the United States with eight children . Seven more children were born to her and Martin Echtle, but they died in Germany before the family emmigrated. Carolina and her children embarked at Antwerp, Belgium for New York on the ship Silasia, and it took 14 days at that time to make the trip.

Silesia

After arriving at New York, they at once left for San Antonio, Texas, where she met her husband, Martin, and oldest son, Joseph. Martin and Joseph came down from Iowa to meet the rest of the family, as they had left Germany a year or so earlier. I can't imagine traveling anywhere with 8 children, much less on a ship across an ocean to an unknown place!

Here is the ship's passenger list for Carolina and her eight children:

Upon her arrival in Texas, Carolina found her husband, Martin ill and died shortly after their arrival. The family settled in Boerne where they stayed for two years. They then moved to Bulverde until 1887 when they moved to Geronimo, Rio Medina. They stayed until 1902, then moved to a farm near La Coste where family members still reside. The family was very poor. They had no stove, but Joseph (oldest son) built one with rocks outside the house. They often wondered where their next meal was coming from. Most of the meals were made from flour, such as "noodles," "dunes," "pluda," "Knepfla" and "phana-kucha" as well as "kartofel soup." They seldom had meat, as they had only one of two hogs to kill in the winter time. The older girls worked as maids for families in San Antonio.

While visiting with Frances, I found that she had researched the early newspapers and found Carolina's obituary. The local library in my hometown does not have a microfilm printer, so Frances transcribed the obituary:

My mother has written down the recipe for homemade noodles just like the way the early immigrants used to make it (read obituary above). It is still served with beans on Fridays at the local diner! It is a meatless meal and cheap too! This is from my mother:

"This next recipe is for "Knapfla" (The K is silent when pronouncing the word. I got the verbal instructions on how to make Knapfla one day at the grocery store from Florence Tschirhart (90 years of age). She is a good noodle maker and gave me tips on how important kneading is when making noodles. Until then I did not have much success with noodles until she told me how to knead the dough. " ~Roselyn Keller Kempf

Mrs. Tschirhart's Knapfla

2 Eggs
1 cup water

Add:
2 Cups flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
Add more or less flour to make a spongy dough

Mix in a shallow bowl and then with a spoon or knife, cut off pieces from teh dough while in the bowl, straight into the boiling water. Boil for 10 minutes and drain.

Note from Andrea--this is suspiciously like German spaetzle that I learned to make when my husband and I lived there 1995-1998!

Well, I didn't even go on to talk about my cemetery excursion, but that has to wait for another day! This trip "home" gave me the impetus to begin blogging to keep me on track with my research and to share, as well learn from others. I scanned a lot a photos from my parents and I have uploaded those to Flickr. I find that the "Add a Note" feature is useful when you do not have the luxory of sitting down next to someone to get their assistance in identifying people. My parents can log into Flickr and make comments on the photos or add a note so that I can properly record names and places! Yea! I also joined find-a-grave online and began uploading my gravestone photos from the St. Louis Catholic Cemetery. Lastly, this trip gave me the inspiration to begin grouping my records into some sort of story. When I acquired the photos of Carolina Wussler Echtle from Frances, I logged into Ancestry.com to find the family on the ship's manifest and when I did that, I also found the photo of the ship! Most of the Alsatian settlers came into Galveston and I have not been able to find those records on Ancestry.com. I was unable to visit the cemetery where Carolina was buried, but hey, I have to have another reason to return to my roots to continue on with my story!

I hope you enjoyed hearing about my genealogy trip home and finding out all that was produced out of a simple desire to scan photos and gravestones from one cemetery!

Wordless Wednesday:: Brothers

Genealogy Blogging Prompt #3: Participate in weekly blog themes: Tombstone Tuesday, Wordless Wednesday, etc. Many genealogy bloggers post photos of grave stones on Tombstone Tuesday or a photo worth 1,000 silent words on Wordless Wednesday. Participate in these informal events or invent your own.

Bernard Biediger and his brother David, circa 1925

Weekly Genealogy Blogging Prompt #2

Topic: Participate in carnivals. A carnival is a showcase of bloggers' posts on a given topic.

Carnival: 10th Edition of Smile for the Camera

Word Prompt: The word prompt for the 10th Edition of Smile For The Camera is Costume? No, not as in Halloween. Costume as in dress in general; especially the distinctive style of dress of a people, class, or period. Show us that picture that you found with your family collection or purchased that shows the costumes of the rich to the not so rich, from the civil war to the psychedelic sixties. I know you have them, so share. Admission is free with every photograph!

This photograph was one that I found in my paternal grandfather's ancestral home. They had many, many photographs and fortunuately for us, most were labeled! This one was labled on the back with the name, O'Toole. The only problem is that that is not a family name! I will need to research my paternal great grandmother's siblings and see who her sisters married because I have a feeling that it is from one of those families.

I think that this photograph dates from the early 1900's and I have always loved the photo from the first moment I saw it lying in the box! It was taken at a studio in San Antonio,Bexar County, Texas. The boy probably lived in San Antonio or my ancestral hometown, Castroville, Medina County, Texas (about 30 miles West of San Antonio).

The boy looks as if he is going riding! I love his short pants, black stockings, straw hat, riding stick and most of all, the black, button shoes! Adorable! I guess you wouldn't catch many modern day boys in an outfit like that!

Someday I hope to identify him by his first name and family!

Weekly Genealogy Blogger Prompt #1

Eva Tschirhart (Keller) baby picture
Originally uploaded by Andrea Christman

The Weekly Genealogy Blogging Prompt #1 at Facebook is:

1. Upload your favorite picture and talk about it on your blog. Answer the who/what/when/where/why of the subject matter and explain why it is your favorite.

I don't know if this is my all-time favorite photograph, but it is my "latest" favorite!

Who: My maternal grandmother, Eva Albina Tschirhart Keller. All of her grandchildren called her "Mother" and it must be because her youngest child, my Uncle Burnell, was born later in her life and he was only 7 years older than me! I guess he called her "Mother" and the name stuck with the grandchildren. My own mother was called "Mom" and that is how we told the difference between the two women!

What: Childhood portrait

When: Eva was born Dec. 1913 near San Antonio in a small town named LaCoste, Medina County, Texas. She was one of three children born to Idella Rose Haegelin and Edward William Tschirhart. I would assume she is between 2-3 in this photo which would date the photograph around 1915-16.

Where: The photo is imprinted with the photography studio "Stein" and location "San Antonio". This makes sense as my grandmother lived her entire life in a small town 30 miles west of San Antonio. Most of the old photographs in my possession are taken in studios located in San Antonio.

Why: I don't know exactly why this photo has captivated me, but it could be because of the wonderful, warm and nurturing memories I have of spending time with my grandmother. She was a "quiet" giant! She ruled the roost without letting my grandfather realize it. I love the look on her face in this photograph; sort of a look of anticipation. Her hands are clapsed as if to say, "is this right?" I totally love the little crochetted dress, black, patent-leather, buckle shoes and adorable plaid leggings! My grandmother always had a flair for fashion and we always wondered how a simple, small town girl who grew up to be a farmer's wife learned this flair, but obviously, she learned it early! My most cherished memories are of her taking me shopping in San Antonio and stopping for lunch in the tearooms of the department stores (Joske's and Frost's in particular!). Boy did she love to shop!