And the winner was.......

Last year, the Dean of the library where I work promoted a pumpkin carving contest for the employees of the library and really anyone else in the university. What a blast and yes, yours truly particpated.

Having quite a large family who love to carve pumpkins warrants me buying at least eight or nine pumpkins each year (we always have some do overs!). Good thing because I was in the pumpkin carving mood. Theme....umm I needed a theme, something different, not the usual pumpkin face. Something I really enjoy, something that wouldn't be too difficult to carve....bingo-a FAMILY TREE. So, with my idea in my head (I should have drawn a picture on a piece of paper first!) I "carved" away. So many children so little room to get them all on the pumpkin along with the branches, the roots, etc. So much slimy gunk to pull out, let's not go into that. Of course, I had to save the pumpkin seeds for the kids too. It's so much easier to paint a pumpkin or supervise. After two attempts (remember I said we always have some do overs!) I completed my Family Tree pumpkin. On each branch I listed a name of one of my children. My children were amazed that MOM could actually carve a pretty good family tree too!

The next morning I carefully transported my work of art to the university library. It was added to the collection of other carved pumpkins which included cats, witches, Harry Potter, and more. The faculty, staff and students all voted and much to my surprise I won! What a thrill and the prize was a Borders gift certificate. What could be a better gift for an amateur genealogist than the opportunity to buy one of their favorite genealogy books!

Am I carving another pumpkin this year? Well, the pumpkins are sitting on the back porch. The kids are gearing up...we'll see what I'll "carve" up this year.....

Tombstone Tuesday: Boudreau and Senesac

My GG grandparents headstone

Belle and Isaac Senesac,

Belle Boudreau Deno Senesac b. 7-30-1860 (correct birth date)

d. 1-2-1946

Isaac Senesac b. 4-10-1867 d. 11-3-1912

Buried in St. Rose Cemetery

Bourbonnais, Illinois

Photograph owned by P. Taylor

My GGG grandparents headstone

Luke and Aurelia Boudreau

(Belle's parents)

Luke Boudreau b. 4-10-1828 d. 4-27-1905

Aurelia Landry Boudreau b. 3-21-1830 d. 10-8-1917

Buried in St. Rose Cemetery

Bourbonnais, Illinois

Photograph owned by P. Taylor

A little bit of a treat before Halloween...

Greetings,
Like many of my blogger friends, I have been working on my family history for quite a while now. I still get very frustrated when I make one of the simplest mistakes and don't realize it for too long a period. Where did my brain cells go??
Example-I have been searching for the names of Katharine Ball's parents, my GGG grandparents. They were not listed on Katharine's death certificate. Katharine's sister Julia died in April of 1928. Both sisters are buried in Oakwoods Cemetery here in Chicago. I contacted the Cook County Clerk's office for a copy of Julia's death certificate only to be informed that they had no record of it. (Cost $15). According to Oakwoods Cemetery, Julia died on the 24th of April and was buried on the 26th. That tells me, she had to have died close by. Where else could I find a death certificate if the county clerk doesn't have it? The cemetery doesn't have a burial permit either, which may have indicated where Julia had died. I tried to think of other places to find Julia Sommer's death certificate.
I tell people all the time, try different spellings for your ancestors. Many times names are misspelled on any document including vital records. Did I follow my own advice? After way too long a period of researching. A light bulb FINALLY went off. I was searching for Julia Sommer, but could a death certificate be under Julia Summer? Yes, I searched the Cook County death index and there she was...date of death matched! I requested a copy from Chicago Genealogy and within one day had a digitized copy of Julia's death certificate. (Cost $5.46, including PayPal fee) All the information matched with what I already knew...her date of birth, husband's name and address. Julia's son Phillip was the informant on the death certificate and he was quite knowledgeable. He knew Julia's parents names and where they lived! Galief Sommer and Elizabeth Rusch Sommer resided in Neckargemund, Germany. I now know the names of my GGG grandparents on another branch of my tree!
"If only..." can now be another lesson learned the hard way. Sure hope I don't need to learn it the hard way again. I am thrilled to add two more names to my research but also to have another direction to move toward finding even more ancestors!
What a great hobby!

I've been tagged!

Big thanks to Becky over at Kinexxions to tagging me with one of the newest memes traveling the internet this week. I managed to get this one done without too much delay...here I go....

10 years ago I was

* I was teaching Kindergarten and absolutely loving it!

* My "favorite dog" Dakota was still a puppy!

* I was just starting to research my family history!

* I bought my first computer!

* My oldest daughter was starting college and my youngest son at the time was in third grade!

7 Things On Today's To Do List

1. Work the day job (done)

2. Check my blog and comment on others (working on this one now)

3. Take my two sons to get haircuts (if they would get home!)

4. Make dinner (might have to order out!)

5. Try to finish the book I've been reading "The Blue Cotton Gown- a midwife's memoir by Patricia Harman (will attempt after 10:30 when most of the kids will be in bed!)

6. Clean off my desk (I'm stressing thinking about this job, it will probably have to wait for another day!)

7. Get to bed before midnight! (If only, but I can wish!)

5 Snacks I Enjoy

1. I can only pick five? Okay, anything chocolate

2. Jay's Baked Mesquite potato chips (yummy)

3. Cheddar cheese and wheat crackers

4. Snow-caps (chocolate)

5. Junior mints (chocolate again)

5 Places I Have Lived

1. Chicago Ridge, Illinois

2. San Jose, California

3. Justice, Illinois

4. Alsip, Illinois

5. Chicago, Illinois

5 Jobs I Have Had

1. Shampoo girl and manicurist (first real job!)

2. Factory worker (college)

3. Flag guard (college)

4. Retail management (Montgomery Ward, adulthood)

5. Library Specialist (curent, best job, working with books and people!)

Now I am suppose to pass this on to other "Newbie" Genea-Bloggers, so I am tagging the following blogs I have been viewing recently...

Twig Talk

Little Bytes of Life

Speak Up Librarian non genealogy but oodles of information on our deaf community

Thank you again Becky....

Hmmm, when did it all start?

I think it's safe to say that I love working on my family's genealogy. I love going to libraries, cemeteries, historical societies, genealogical societies, archives, and much more. I admit I am sometimes obsessed with knocking down one of my many brickwalls. And, when I feel I am getting close to finding an answer--watch out, it gets even worse. Do you remember what specifically spiked your interest in your family history? I do.
In 1998, my cousin Terry and I were driving to Indiana. We were going to the cemetery where our grandmother Lucy was buried. Somehow we got on the subject of our great grandparents Bert and Eva Hanaway. Neither of us knew them, we were babies when they passed away. But, we grew up attending the annual Hanaway reunion in July. It was a once a year event where we gathered and celebrated Bert and Eva's lives. Aunts, uncles and cousins came from all over Illinois, Indiana and Michigan to join in the celebration. We starting counting how many grandchildren Bert and Eva had and came up with a number around 40. Then we wondered how many great grandchildren they had. We would be included in that number. We estimated around 100. We tried naming all the grandchildren-which wasn't too hard because that was our parents generation and we knew all of our parents first cousins. We tried counting how many children each cousin had. Of course, we couldn't keep that number straight. Who had nine children, who had eight? Who were we missing? We ran into a tangled mess. That was when I knew I needed to KNOW! That was my defining moment. I wanted to know -where I did I fall in the number of great grandchildren? I wanted to know Bert and Eva's parents' names. Where did they live? How many children did they have? Where were are all of my other relatives....not just my Hanaway aunts, uncles and cousins?
Months later, after many questionnaires were sent and returned and many more phone calls were made, Terry and I were amazed to discover that Bert and Eva had over 150 great grandchildren!
So, here is a question for you...do you remember when you KNEW you needed to KNOW about your family history? What happened that sparked your interest to the point that you had to know? Was it a story from a relative? Was it the loss of a loved one or a notation in their family bible? Was it an heirloom you inherited? When did you KNOW that you needed to find out more information about your family history?