Time with a Cousin

Over the last couple of years, I have run into a “new” cousin. It started when I had time to listen to Genealogy PodCasts. A PodCast is like a radio show, but on an iPod. I would listen to these PodCasts going to and from work on the train. One of those PodCasts was Dear MYRTLE.

I had met her a couple of times over the past couple of years. She talked about Second Life (2nd Life), so I tried it out a couple of times, but then finally learned a little more and found the “virtual” meetings were very interesting, so I became a little more active. Later she and I did a joint meeting where we shared our genealogy screens. We soon realized that we might be related.

Dear MRYTLE was to give the talk at Lunch for the Family History Day this past weekend, so my wife, Patti and I left on Thursday to meet up with Dear MYRTLE and Mr. Myrt. We had a great time.

One of the things we wanted to do was to see the house where my grandparents lived and the house that my Dad built. We did that.

Mr Myrt and I mentioned that Valley Forge was not that far away, so se took a run over there. Clearly the Visitors Center had changed since the last time we have been there, so we went in to “look around”. Mr Myrt had an ancestor who was at Valley Forge so we wanted to check that out. Then Dear MYRTLE mentioned a name from her ancestry who was there as well. That was the same family name that she and I shared in a presentation, so then I remembered that I had two ancestors that were in Valley Forge that winter.

Dear MYRTLE’s ancestor and one of mine (same family) were from Maryland, so we looked him up and where the Monument was, and Mr Myrt mentioned his, and he was from Maine, which is where my other ancestor was from.

What a beautiful day to spend time with “family” looked and finding Monuments for our ancestors.

We wanted to visit the Chapel at Valley Forge, so we did.

When we pulled in the driveway to park, the bells were ringing. Not a normal thing to happen on a Friday afternoon. Here a couple were celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary at the chapel, with the kids and grandchildren all there.

That family were able to “relive” the wedding day of that couple, 60 years later, but will be able to tell the story of last Friday, as a new chapter for them, but another chapter for the happy couple with their family.

Valley forge was just out side of the door and all of the history that took place there, but they will remember the story of the 60th Wedding Anniversary of the lovely couple.

A walk into the past

In a couple of days, we will be traveling into New England to meet up with some Genea—Bloggers.

This past April, I decided to visit a Genealogy Conference and decided to visit the New England Regional Genealogy Conference in Springfield, MA. I met up with some Facebook and Genea-Bloggers for the first time and walked away with many more.

The Genea-Blogging community is always talking about how the “west coast” has these gatherings and the reports in Blogs, Twitter, and Facebook all sound like they are having a wonderful time.

A group of New England Bloggers will gather this weekend for a Bash. To say “can’t wait” is an understatement. Just to be able to sit down, face to face to chat will be wonderful.

As Patti and I are preparing for this trip (a first for her), Patti has been gathering the information she needs to join the Mayflower Society. She should have an opportunity to chat with other Mayflower Society members with hopes that she will be encouraged to continue with the “paper work” involved with that effort.

The drive will be between 5 and 6 hours, so now that we have made the drive, what do we do. Just come home, or make a vacation out of it. It’s funny, two retired people and a vacation. A new concept for me. Aren’t we already on vacation?

The choices were Maine or Cape Cod. I have ancestors from Maine, and Patti from New England and Cape Cod. As they say “six of one, a dozen of another”.

Earlier in my research, I had met up with a gentleman who was the grandson of a place I had been researching. Through Facebook, I had made “friends” with a couple of folks with the same Surname. They were from Maine, and this gentleman said he had living relatives in Maine. I was reminded of that, so I reached out to that FB friend, only to find out that I was not the first person who tried to make the connection between this gentleman and this FB friend. Not a connection.

HOWEVER, in a response, this Facebook friend sent me a ‘hint’ of a museum, in Maine, with the her Surname. Checking that museum out, online, I found that it was located at the Acadia National Park. That just happened to be the destination, for us, when / if we went to Maine. My maternal Grandmother had deep roots in that area, my family growing up would visit there in the summer, and my grandparents went there every summer to spend the summer.

A couple of years ago, we visited my grandmother’s “hang outs”. One of which was the Carroll Homestead at Acadia National Park.

Getting more information about the Museum, I had emailed the National Park Service, through the website, for the Museum and was forwarded to the Ranger in charge of programs for the Museum. In the email from the Ranger, it turns out that the Carroll Homestead is open on Tuesday’s and a descendent of John Carroll is part of the Open House to “tell stories” about the family.

With any luck, on Tuesday, I will meet a cousin to hear stories about our ancestors and to walk into the past, in the home of my 3rd Great-Grandfather.

With any luck, and a good internet connection, I’ll be able to blog about this “Great Adventure” and this Walk into the Past.

Air Force Memorial, Arlington, VA

For Memorial Day, 2011, we went to the Arlington National Cemetery and to the Air Force Monument in Arlington. Please visit this Slideshow to see some of the pictures of that memorial.

Thank you,

Alaska Cruise – 05/16/11

Our last day afloat, traveling from Ketchikan back to Vancouver. A chill out day, packing our suitcases.

The hi-light of the day was the show called Dreams, an enchanted classic. With a little Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust, a young girl’s which becomes a dream come true.

We were told that we might see Orca’s, as they had been seen just ahead of us. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any.

We are all backed up. Lot’s of pictures, lots of stories of our own. I’ll post pictures when I get back home.

Early to rise in the morning, in Vancouver, then a long flight back to Philadelphia through Chicago.

This blog certainly didn’t do justice to our experiences. Each of us will share our pictures over the next coupled of days, when we get home to our own computers and a hi-speed connection.

Thanks for following our journey.

Alaska Cruise – 05/15/11

Ketchikan was our next stop. Today we were able to go on the same adventure. Lighthouse, Totems, and Eagles, not necessarily in that order. This was a great trip, but for some reason, Jenn’s camera lost all of her pictures for this trip. devastating to say the least. We saw many Eagles, flying, sitting in trees, sitting on nests, most pointed out to us by our tour guide, we found a couple ourselves. One light house, and a Totem village. Of course, local stories as we traveled on a boat.

Carrie, Patti, and I walked around town. Carrie and I walked on Creek Street. It is a creek that has stores on both sided of this creek.