Genealogy Business Once More Proves Nothing Is Certain Except Change

I celebrated another birthday on the first of this month. I had been thinking for some time about taking the plunge and springing for a Legacy Webinar membership. I've really enjoyed watching the webinars over the past couple of years. I especially like viewing them during the free week, when I can pause to take notes as often as I want. It's the main reason that I prefer seeing them after the initial live airing. I was, however, missing out on all of those great bonus webinars. The only question was when I would buy my first membership.

A few days later, the genealogy world was rocked by the news that My Heritage had acquired Millennial Corporation, the parent company of both Legacy Family Tree Webinars and Legacy Family Tree Software. Initially it seems to be a mutually beneficial deal for both the companies involved and for the consumers. We'll see how that shakes out over time.

The big news from my perspective is the half price sale that's going on right now for both the webinar membership and the Legacy 9 software. With the added push of Thomas MacEntee's discount codes, I finally took the plunge last Saturday. I'm now a webinar subscriber, as well as the Deluxe version of Legacy9!!!

The first webinar this subscriber viewed was Judy G. Russell's excellent "A Taxing Matter: Using Tax Lists in Genealogy". It's nice having the free syllabus and chat log, but that won't stop me from pausing the webinar to take notes. What I'm really looking forward to is to see all of those older webinars from my pre-webinar days, as well as the bonus webinars.

I'm the meantime, I will download Legacy 9 in the near future. I have been using Legacy 8 standard for a few years now, mostly as a backup for my older FTM program. I look forward to exploring the bells and whistles in Legacy 9 deluxe. There's some webinars out there, I hear, that just might be helpful!

I've lately noticed an increasing number of blogs have added a closing statement to comply with FTC guidelines for affiliate relationships. Here is mine. I have no affiliation with any genealogy business, beyond my use of their products and services. I don't foresee this status changing any time soon.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today I celebrated my first birthday as a retiree. There were a few birthday wishes on Facebook, and I received calls from Sara and Melanie. Mostly it's been a quiet day at home, marked by a quick visit from Steve and Audrey with Orin. I had gone to the Silver Spoon on Sunday to celebrate with Mom, Rick, Orin, Sara and Bri.

In past years, I would have been at work on a Tuesday, so that has been another change. Right now I'm watching the Dodgers play in Atlanta. They are leading 3-0 going to the bottom of the sixth inning, so hopefully that will be a great end to my day.

I pray that God will keep Mom and me in good health in the coming year. We have Jazzy's first birthday coming up next month. It will be nice for the family to be together.

Vacations, Staycations and Travel

Not all vacations involve travel. Not all travel involves vacations. I guess it's a matter of perspective in who is defining those words.

When I was three, Mom took my baby brother and me on our first airplane trip. Of course, I have no memory of that journey, but Mom sure does. Dad had to join us later, because he only had one week paid vacation at that time. The rest of us flew back to Missouri to visit her family, then later flew to Minnesota to see Dad's family and meet up with him.

From my parents' point of view, the entire trip was to visit family and show off the kids. For me, it meant having different places to play. I got tired of that about the third week out, and decided to walk home. Unfortunately, home was in Los Angeles, and we were staying at the family farm in Minnesota. I was found by anxious family members sitting in the swampy area off the road, crying and surrounded by mosquitoes. Time for everyone to go home!

Throughout my childhood, vacation meant anytime we were out of school, summer, Christmas or Easter breaks. Now it's summer, winter and spring breaks. Sign of the times for our culturally diverse, politically correct society. We mostly were home during Christmas and Easter vacations, although there were a few memorable camping trips during Easter break. It turned out that Death Valley is quite pleasant in early spring. Who knew?

We spent alternate summers staying close to home (many beach camping trips and local museams, amusement parks, etc.) one year and travelling to the Midwest by various routes the next. My parents had the idea that the actual travel should be part of the vacation for their growing family, so we saw much of the country West of the Mississippi River as we traveled between California, Missouri and Minnesota to visit our family. Those school and family reunions were the only time we got to see our cousins, something we didn't appreciate til much later.

In college, my travel became focused on academic activity rather than family trips. I went on choir tours to Europe and the Western U.S. My senior year I spent a semester on World Campus Afloat, going from LA around South America, across to West Africa, into the Mediterranean basin, and flying home from Florida. I attended class while we were at sea, then my time was my own when we were at port. I still view that time as the greatest educational experience of my life.

As an adult, I have traveled for both business and pleasure. I have gone solo, with family, friends and tour groups. I have enjoyed vacations at home or on day trips to a variety of places. I tend to view vacations as time off work, in which case I am now on permanent vacation since my retirement earlier this year. Vacation is, after all, a matter of perspective.

Celebrating Independence Day at Home

Mom and I stayed home today. We could have gone to the annual pancake breakfast put on by the police department. It will benefit Meals on Wheels this year. That's really good, but Mom didn't feel up to going out this morning, and I'm not a fan of pancakes or sausage. I ended up surprising Mom with homemade bread pudding with a holiday dash of red, white and blue sugar sprinkles, topped by whipped cream. Yummmm!

After breakfast, we watched Channel 7's coverage of the 113th annual parade in Huntington Beach. This year the theme was "United We Stand" for the largest parade West of the Mississippi (according to their mayor, among others). Estimated attendance this year was over five hundred thousand, so regardless of the actual size ranking, it's a huge affair. Yet this parade definitely has a small town feel. It's not the Rose Parade, but instead more of a family party celebration before, during and after the parade. That Minnesota marching band could just as easily been marching in the parade in Crosby. The floats were colorful, the equestrian covered the gamut from miniature horses to therapy horses, the band's played lots of patriotic music, and the big crowd just had fun. Huntington Beach sure can do a great event.

Later we watched that All American pastime, as the Dodgers held on to beat the Diamondbacks 4-3, followed by the fireworks at Dodger Stadium. Of course I could already see the fireworks outside even before it got dark around 8:30. It was typical semi-professional 360 show, meaning you could see the sky rockets going off no matter which way you faced. Oh, and the ground Safe and Same explosions were pretty colorful too, not to mention legal.

Clayton Kershaw, Kenley Jansen, Corey Weaver and rookie phenom Cody Ballinger have been named to the National League All Star team for the game to be held next Tuesday July 11. That's pretty good representation for the Dodgers, who are arguably the best team in baseball headed into the All Star break. Houston fans might not agree, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it. There is a big push to vote Justin Turner in to the final spot to be announced on Thursday --it would only be fair, since he should have been named to the team to start with. We'll see what happens...

I don't know how soon I'll get to sleep tonight. I'm normally an early-to-bed early-to-rise person, but the fireworks are still going strong out there. I'm switching back and forth between the Capital Fourth and Macy's shows. I'll probably end up falling asleep to the sounds of explosions all around me.

Before I head off to sleep, I just wanted to wish our northern neighbors a belated Happy Canada Day. This is their sesquicentennial anniversary. On July 1, 1867, Canada became a nation, part of the British Commonwealth, although it would be another century before we would see the maple leaf flag.

Happy Independence Day, everyone!!!

SCGS Jamboree 2017 Live Streaming Experience

Well, the final day of live streaming is complete, and it's time for  me to relax at home while I absorb the content of the sessions I've viewed over the past few days. I pretty much tuned out my family and the rest of the world as I took notes while trying to keep up with the speakers. I may just have to rewatch some segments. There was just so much to take in.

I have been watching videos from Rootstech and Jamboree for a few years now, as well as numerous Legacy webinars. While I have enjoyed the learning experience, I must admit that I prefer watching later to live, because I can pause as needed to catch up on my notetaking. I always feel like I'm missing something important when I watch live while taking notes. On the other hand, there is something to be said for immersing yourself in the presentations and soaking it all in.

I actually did get to see all of the streamed videos live this year. Now that I have joined the ranks of the retired, my time is mine--no more delayed Friday and Saturday viewing! Below are the videos I saw:

FR009 Facebook: A Tool for Genealogy Research by Thomas MacEntee
FR018 Genealogical Proof for the Novice Genealogist by Annette Burke Lyttle
FR027 Treasures in Township Records by Peggy Clemens Lauritzen
FR035 From Famine to Plenty -Finding My Immigrant Ancestor's Stories by Tessa Keogh
SA009 Descendancy Research: Another Path to Genealogy by Michael L. Strauss
SA018 Wives, Girlfriends, Widows, Exes and Mistresses: Documenting Women by Gena Philibert-Ortega
SA027 Sources of Genealogical Research for Armenians in the Caucasus by Camille Andrus
SA036 Your Ancestor's FAN Club: Using Cluster Research to Get Past Brick Walls by Drew Smith
SA045 Technology for Deciphering Foreign Language Records by Randy Whited
SA052 DNA vs. Irish Annals by Brad Larkin
SA026 BONUS video How to Get More from Your DNA with GEDMatch.com by Shannon Stewart Christmas. This one made a long day even longer, but was soooo worth it!
SU009 Researching Your Irish Ancestors Online by Donna M. Moughty
SU018 Underused Databases for Scottish Genealogy by Christine Woodcock
SU027 What's New in Eastern European Genealogy by Lisa A. Alzo
SU036 Using the Bureau of Land Management Tract Books by Michael John Neill

I like watching from the comfort of my home, but I hope to have the opportunity to attend my first genealogy conference next year if money and transportation allow. It would be great to commune with fellow family history enthusiasts.

Let's see what the future will bring...

Herman Eugene Passley Jr. 1959-2017

I'm writing this as Mom is preparing to send sympathy cards to my Uncle Hermie and Aunt Joann, and to my cousin's wife Robin. It's been a week now since Hermie passed away following a battle with cancer. I think neither of us wanted to take that final step of acknowledging the death of one so close in our family. For Mom it's almost like losing her own child. For me it's losing the first cousin in my generation of the Passley-Swiney branch of the family tree.

Hermie was born and raised in the Southwest corner of Missouri. He never lived anywhere else. He enjoyed forty years of marriage with his beautiful bride Robin. They raised their sons Travis and Drew, and Hermie lived long enough to see his grandchildren. Yet he was only 57 when he died.

He worked for Tamko Building Products, then for the City of Webb City Missouri Public Works Department. He always had an interest in sports, from high school wrestling and football to support of youth sports to sports memorabilia collecting to his love of the Kansas City Royals.

He was active in his community, particularly with the Webb City Elks Lodge #861. It's somewhat telling that he requested that in lieu of flowers, contributions should be made to the Cerebral Palsy of Tri-County Development Center or the Webb City Elks Lodge Scholarship Fund. Even at the end, his thoughts were with his community.

R.I.P. Cousin. May God's peace rest with your family.

My FGPC-Jennie Jackson (Olson) aka Berntine Johanna Jakobsdatter

Today has been a nice celebration of Mother's Day. Rick came over after church and took Mom and me to meet Sara and Bri for dinner at the Silver Spoon restaurant in Covina. It was nice being there, because Bri's boss asked her to start work earlier than she had been scheduled. She just started working for them a couple of weeks ago in their original location in Glendora, but this one just opened on Friday, and is walking distance from home for her, so it's all good. She also got to see Rick's new motorhome, which is nice since she may not see him again before he begins his retired life on the road.

Speaking of Rick, he's counting down the days til his retirement at the end of the month. Now that he has his motorhome, he'll be gone by early next month. With one sister moving to Idaho and another moving to Texas, this year has been one of enormous changes for my family. Mom and I are simply surfing those waves of change.

One thing that hasn't changed is my interest in family history. I've made great strides in my research since I retired at the end of February --oops, another change for 2017! I have found more cousins and more ancestors and more info about known family.

The most spectacular find involved my paternal great grandmother Jennie Olson (nee Jackson). as with her husband Sivert, I knew she was born in Norway and came to this country as a child, but not much else about her life before she married Sivert. Then one day a couple of months ago, I happened to recheck her findagrave memorial to confirm her burial info, and what should I find, but newly entered biographical information about her birth and parentage in Norway, including her Norwegian birth name! I had acquired some of this data from a cousin last fall, but this was more detailed. I saw who the contributor was, and emailed her. It turns out that she was descended from Jennie's older brother. Cari had made the leap to the other side of the pond in her research, and was kind enough to allow me guest access to her Ancestry tree. Since that time, I have expanded my knowledge of Jennie and her family.

Bertine Johanna Jakobsdatter was only a baby when her father died in 1872. By 1879, she came to America with her widowed mother and her siblings. She gave birth to her first child the year before she married Sivert. They had three more children, including my grandfather Martin. The young family homesteaded the farm near Brainerd MN now known as Pine Ridge Farm. She was eighteen years younger than Sephanias Olausen, which meant she had more energy as a pioneer wife and mother to raise the kids and work the farm. Even so, it was perhaps not too surprising that she died at the relatively young age of 52. She truly deserves to be honored on this Mother's Day!

My First El Monte Historical Society Tea

April has been an interesting month. I'm only in my second month of retirement, but I've already attended two meetings of the local historical society. The first one was the regular monthly board meeting. It's actually open to anyone, which is nice since I am able to learn more about the organization at these meetings. The second one was much more fun. It was my first quarterly tea.

Quarterly teas aren't held every three months, but they are held every quarter, hence their name. First quarter is in February, second in April, third in September, and fourth in November. It's not like dressing up to go to high tea at the Ritz. There is tea (and coffee and punch). There is also a variety of food, provided by different service organizations on a rotating basis. The highlight is a speaker telling everyone about the  history of El Monte.

The speaker at this tea was El Monte Councilman Juventino "Jay" Gomez. He has a heart for veterans, having  served our country in Viet Nam during the turbulent Sixties. He also has a son, grandson, and other family members who served our nation in various military conflicts over the past several decades, so is well acquainted with answering the call to serve and protect.

Gomez spoke movingly about patriotism and what it means for our service personnel, veterans and civilians. Most Americans love their country, but relatively few are called to serve in the armed forces. While we can never understand that special bond of comrades in arms, we can appreciate the sacrifices they have made for us. We can offer thanks to them for their service. More tangibly on a municipal level, El Monte provides a variety of programs and other services for our veterans. Banners on our city streets name our veterans. Last year saw the opening of our first housing project for homeless veterans. More housing is on the way. There will always be more that we can do as individuals and as society to support our veterans. It was good to be reminded. Thank you, Jay!

Next month we will install officers and directors at El Sombrero Restaurant. Yet another first for me...

The Retired Life

I almost can't believe that it's been a year and a half since my last post. Except for the tiny character flaw known as past journaling history, of course--I have gone my entire life without keeping a diary for more than a few months or a few years, whether by hand or by keyboard. This is why I never promised that I would be making regular entries in this blog. I said as much in my first blog post, because I know myself that well.

There have been changes since my last post. The most important one is that life event known as retirement. On February 27, 2017, I gave my company notice of my immediate retirement after my employer requested that I take some time off to resolve some medical issues that I have. I am slowly dealing with the health issues, but in the meantime I am enjoying the retired life. There is less stress now the I can relax more. I am able to do more for Meals on Wheels, which is good, because in recent years I have only been able to manage the daily administration of my volunteer work outside of my regular job hours. I hadn't been to a monthly meeting in over a year, so it was a pleasure to attend the March meeting earlier this month. I also attended my first meeting of the El Monte Historical Society, although I have as yet to officially join, due to not receiving the application yet. Hopefully that little detail will be taken care of by the April meeting. I still got to suggest a speaker idea for the "tea" that will be held at the El Monte Historical Museum next month, and I asked lots of questions at the meeting.

The nicest thing is that I am getting back into my family history research. I never totally stopped, but the past year or so had involved more webinar  (thanks Legacy Family Tree!) and video (thanks Rootstech, Jamboree, YouTube and others) watching, and less actual genealogy research and data entry into my database software program. This month I have rediscovered the joys of finding out about my ancestors and other family members, both dead and alive. I've even made contact with another cousin I found while browsing findagrave. She has provided a wealth of information about my dad's Norwegian family across the pond--I'm still absorbed in her tree, and haven't yet entered any of her info into mine. Of course, the same could be said for most of the info I have acquired over the past year or so. At least I have more time to organize, verify and choose  what to enter.

There have been other changes, some good, some not. On the sad side of the ledger of life have been the deaths of friends and family, most notably Dad's brothers Norman and Gene last year. On the other hand, 2016 saw the birth of Mom's first great grandchild, sweet little Jasmine Marie, aka Jazzy! Everything balances out in the end, and we continue on. God is good all the time.

Hmmmm, maybe I won't wait another year and a half for my next post...