Posts Tagged ‘photos’

Just this week I clicked on a Facebook link that took me to Tami Koenig’s  “Your Story Coach” blog and the “7 Photo Memories to Capture Now” and I had an “Aha, I should be doing this moment!”

Actually, to be honest, I had an “Aha, I should have already been doing this moment.”

Quite some time back, I attended a scrapbooking workshop, and the instructor advised us to take photos of the inside of our home.

Take photos, she suggested, of each part of each room, including the wall hangings, the way the furniture is arranged, and, well, just everything, including one thing I never would have dreamed of doing, the views out each window, because as Tami Koenig reminds us in her blog post above, things change.

And sometimes, things change unexpectedly, such as when an earthquake occurs, a tornado hits, a flood damages, or a fire destroys.

So, the best time, as Tami says, to take those photos, is now, today.

And many years ago, when I first heard that instructor’s advice to take a photo of the view out each window, it was already too late.  A house fire had destroyed the home that I grew up in, and that window of opportunity was already gone!

For more ideas on other photos you might want to capture now, tuck a camera in your purse, read Tami’s  “7 Photo Memories to Capture Now” blog post, and head out the door.

by Sherry Stocking Kline
01 August 2010

Off and on for several years, I’ve tried to get started scrapbooking and journaling my photographs.  But it takes a lot of room to gather it all up, and spread it all out.

And I seem to be one of those people who have to change background papers and photographs over and over (and over) till I finally find the combination that I like.  Takes hours. (And usually two more trips to the scrapbook store!)

Then I found digital scrapbooking with a Twitter friend on-line.

So, instead of cutting up my photographs, and then wishing they were a different shape and size, or worse yet, wishing I had never cut them up at all,  now I can digitize photos, crop, re-size, and re-shape to my heart’s content, leaving the originals alone.

I love it!

Below are some of the 12 x 12 scrapbook pages for my family history book that I’ve created.  First, is the page for my great-grandparents, Roderick Remine and Frances “Fanny” (Hitchcock) Stocking and their four sons.

My grandfather is standing on the far right, Elmer Leverett. He passed away before I was born, and I never got to meet him.  (I sooo wish that I had been able to get to know him.)

The Roderick Remine and Frances (Hitchcock) Stocking Family

The photo below here is my great-grandmother, Maggie (Corson) McGinnis and her daughter and son-in-law, Maud and Elmer Stocking.

It looks to me like they are sitting on the east side of  Maud and Elmer’s home near Mayfield, Kansas.  Maud and Elmer’s home was on their farm on the NW 1/4 of 18-32-2W, where they had a quarter section of land. (160 acres).  Later, my parents bought this farm from Maud and Elmer and I grew up here as well.  The house burned down several years ago.

Maggie McGinnis with daughter Maud Stocking & husband Elmer Stocking

The photograph below is of my dad’s parents and his siblings.  What a great photograph! (I wish I knew when it was taken!!)  I really like the burnt sienna colored paper below with it’s hints of other shades, and I added just a few “starbursts” to it to ‘gussy’ it up a little.

My grandfather is seated on the left and my grandmother is seated on the right. My father, Harold Stocking, Sr., is standing on the back row, third from the left.

The Elmer Leverett and Maud (McGinnis) Stocking Family. Standing: Frank, Carl, Harold, Sr., and Alma; Seated, Father Elmer Leverett, Herbert, Frances, Peggy, Mary, and Mother Maud.

While researching and preserving history is very important to me, my scrapbooking is not all about preserving the past, it’s also about preserving and enjoying the present, too, and being able to enjoy it again and again for the future.

Below is the cover from “Giggles”, an 8 x 8 scrapbook that I created this summer for my two darling little granddaughters.  There are several of my favorite photos and fun times that we’ve had in the past few years, and the book is a favorite with the girls as well.  I also think it will help them remember all the fun times that we’ve had!

Jordyn Savannah "Savvy" & Chloy Celyse star in their own Book created especially for them.

Below is a photo of the girls reading their very own Storybook Scrapbook!

Jordyn reads their Storybook to her younger sister, Chloy.

Currently I am using a Family Photo Tree template at www.TurnMemoriesIntoBooks.com to create a 12 x 12 scrapbook page of our family tree. I am  also working on a Storybook for my mother, who is nearly 99 years old, so I’m working with some really neat old photographs, and preserving some fun stories!

Sherry Stocking Kline
December 5th, 2009

Thanks to Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings we can let the kid in us out to play tonight while we write our letters to Santa!

Hey, fellow geneaholics, it’s Saturday Night, and time for lots of Genealogy Fun!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission: Impossible music), is to write a nice letter to Genea-Santa Here are the directions:

1) Write a letter to Genea-Santa and ask for only ONE thing. It could be hardware, software, a missing family Bible, a record that you desperately want, etc.

2) Tell Genea-Santa what a good genea-girl or genea-boy you’ve been this past year and give examples.

3) Exhibit your posts on your own blog, in a Facebook post commenting on this note, or in a Comment to this blog post.

So – go forth and write your letter!

Dear Genea-Santa!

Thank you for all the great Genealogy gifts you have given me this year, the impromptu family gatherings we’ve had, the marriage licenses I’ve found, and tombstone photo I located on DeadFred.com, and most especially my Twitter and Blogger friends who have welcome me and helped me join their genealogy community!

And Please, Santa,  help them get their genealogy wish list this year.

Who was my Great-great grandfather Jones?

Santa, I know times are tough right now, and even Santa and his elves are cutting back.   So, the one thing I’d love to know, the one record I’d like to find, is who was my Great-grandfather Willis Washington Jones’  father?

I promise I’ve tried to be a good little genea-girl this year, Santa, and tried to help others when I knew an answer to a question, tried to encourage other genealogists when they were running into brick walls, and forwarded neat information on Twitter.

I wrote a “how-to-get-started-doing-genealogy” blog post to help someone interested in locating their ancestry. I also brought home a box of ‘orphan photographs’ from a garage sale to try and locate a good home for them. (Still working on that!) And I was asked to help locate a living relative/descendant so someone can return some photographs and memorabilia. (This has proved to be tough! Several deaths and no living descendants thus far.)

I’m sorry Santa that I didn’t get more tombstone photographs uploaded to DeadFred.com.  I promise to do better next year, Santa, and I’m sorry that I got a little behind keeping track of the births, marriages, and graduations in my dad’s side of the family.

Santa, I promise that I will start sending out new questionnaires along with my Christmas card!

And Santa, along with the butterscotch cookies and milk I’m leaving out for you, I’m giving you a large economy size bottle of Tums ‘cuz I just read that you have to eat 87 million cookies on Christmas Eve…

Thank you, Santa!

Sherry

Hi Everyone! It’s Saturday Night and time for a little Genealogy Fun from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings!  (I think Randy forgot to cue the Mission Impossible Music tonight, so if you miss it,  go ahead and cue it up!)

Did you ever wonder what celebrities you looked like?

No? Well, me either, but if you’ve been dying to know, Randy’s found a software app that can answer that question!

Check it out below!

It’s Saturday Night again – are you ready for some Genealogy Fun?

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to find which celebrities that have the same facial features that you (or someone else you choose) have. Here are the directions:

1) Go to www.MyHeritage.com – you don’t have to be a registered member to use this feature. Click on the “Celebrities and Fun” tab.

2) Click on the “Celebrity Collage” tab, and then on the “Create my Collage” button.

3) Upload a photograph with your face (or another person’s face) to the site (the face must be at least 100 x 100 pixels) and click on the “Run face recognition” button.

4) Select a collage template, and the faces (up to 8) to go into the collage template. Click on “Next” and “Preview” your template, which should bring up the template for you to review. You could click on “Save” and it would go off to your selected social networking site.

5) Figure out how to show your collage on your blog or social network site (I have my own process defined below).

6) Tell us which celebrities that you (or your selected person) look alike – write your own blog post, make a comment to this post or on Facebook.

7) Think about how you could use something like this as a Christmas gift.

I don’t know who many of these folks are, but am honored to be compared with Jacqueline Bisset and Olivia de Haviland.

I keep looking at the guys and decided that the software picked up on three things, my smile, my glasses, and my chubby cheeks!

O.K., so when you can stop laughing, go to My Heritage and download your software and find your celebrity look-alikes!

by Sherry Stocking Kline
November, 10, 2009

This stone belongs to my husband’s grandparents, John Conver and Jessie (Wood) Kline.

John & Jessie (Wood) Kline, Ryan Township Cemetery, Sumner County, Kansas

The Ryan Township Cemetery is located in Sumner County, one mile west of Milan, Kansas on Highway 160, or about 16 miles west of Wellington, Kansas.

John is the fourth son of James and Elizabeth (Conver) Kline.  John had three older brothers who passed away before the family moved to Kansas.  You can read more about James and Elizabeth Kline’s family here.

Jessie is the daughter of Nathaniel and Mary (McMulin) Wood. Nathaniel and Mary homesteaded a quarter section of land in Sumner County, Kansas, near Milan, and are also buried in the Ryan Township Cemetery, Milan, Kansas.

John and Jessie had three children:

Lawrence Conver Kline b. May 15, 1911 – d. Feb 16, 1989
Dorothy L. Born & Died in 1915 at 4 mos of age
Melvin Ray Kline b. Mar 20, 1918 – d. Aug 18, 1988

Lawrence, Dorothy, and Melvin are all buried in the Ryan Township Cemetery, Milan, Sumner County, Kansas.

If you are researching the Kline family, I hope you will leave a comment with your contact information so we can share and compare research!

Thank you & Happy Researching!

by Sherry Stocking Kline
November 6th, 2009

James & Elizabeth (Conver) Kline buried in Ryan Township Cemetery, Milan, Sumner County, Kansas

On the Stone:

James Kline

Jan. 25, 1945  –  June 21, 1908

Elizabeth His Wife

May 4, 1846  –  Dec 8, 1918

James and Elizabeth (Conver) Kline are buried in Ryan Township Cemetery, near Milan, Sumner County, Kansas. The cemetery is located one mile west of Milan, Kansas on Highway 160.

James and Elizabeth (Conver) Kline came to Caldwell, Kansas shortly before the 1893 Cherokee Strip Run, where as family story has it, James ran in the Cherokee Strip Run, and when he was not fortunate enough to win free land, he later came to the Milan, Kansas area, where he purchased land along the Chickaskia River south of Milan.

James was born in Clarion County, PA.

Some of the following information includes information that I personally have found, but also includes information that I received from cousin Liz Williams:

Elizabeth Conver was born  4 May 1846 in Richland, Lebanon Co., PA, and was the daughter of  of John A. Conver & Marry Huff.

James and Elizabeth were married in Knox, County, Illinois on 31 Oct 1867.  They had three sons that died before they came to Kansas, Charles William Kline, born in 1868 but died before 1870, and two more sons, Levi born in 1870 in Illinois and Samuel born in 1872 in Iowa also died young.

After coming to Kansas, they had seven more children. The oldest surviving son, John Conver Kline, was my husband’s grandfather.

James and Elizabeth’s other children were: Newton Oliver Kline, Susan Alica Adilia Kline, James Monroe Kline, Walter Cleveland Kline, Orie Ray Kline, Mae Violet Kline

I would love to connect with other members of my husband’s Kline, Conver, and Huff family to share information, so please leave a comment with  your contact info and I will respond asap.

Daryl M Jones, Sr. & wife Laura May Bastien Jones Ryan Township Cemetery, Milan, Sumner County, Kansas

On Daryl and Laura May Jones’ Stone:

Jones

Daryl M. Sr
May 30, 1908 to June 32, 1999

Laura May
Jan 28, 1913 to Oct 25, 1980

Married Aug 20, 1932

Daryl and May were my Aunt and Uncle.

I did not know that May was not her first name until I read her obituary.

May died from leukemia, though she lived many years after she was diagnosed.

Gaylon Jones, buried in Ryan Township Cemetery, Milan, Sumner County, Kansas

Daryl and May had three sons, Daryl Jr, Dale, and Gaylon. Dale and Gaylon are deceased and Gaylon is buried next to Daryl and May.

On Gaylan Jones’ Stone

Gaylan R. Jones

August 26, 1943

July 2, 1979

Dale was cremated and his ashes spread over the ocean where he loved to fish with his wife, Bonnie, who is also deceased.

My Uncle Daryl was an engineer without a degree. If he needed a piece of farm equipment, or needed something fixed or added to, he could most generally make it or fix it, and other farmers came often to have him fix or weld their equipment.  After he retired from farming at age 70, he spent more time doing what he loved, which was ocean fishing near Aransas Pass, Texas.

Grew up on a Farm near Milan, Kansas…

Growing up on the farm near Milan, Kansas, Daryl was an excellent horseman, and trapped for furs to help the family income. He attended one year of college at Wichita State University, but there was no money to further his education, so he traveled to California, worked in the aircraft industry, and came back to the family and farm where he married May.

He could have done well in college and afterward, but I can’t imagine that he would have been any happier than he was farming, living on the farm, and growing crops and building and welding things for himself and others.

Warner LaRue and Carrie Esther (Breneman) Jones Ryan Township Cemetery, Milan, Sumner County, Kansas

By Sherry Stocking Kline
October 20, 2009

Warner LaRue and Carrie Breneman Jones, my grandparents…

Warner LaRue Jones was born in Kentucky. Probably Barren County, to Willis Washington and Martha Ellen Smith Jones on March 13, 1880, and died in Sumner County, Kansas on November 1, 1947.

Carrie Esther Breneman Jones was born (I believe in Nebraska. I do not have all of my info here where I can double check), to Constantine “Tom” Breneman and Salinda (Rose) Breneman on Aug 15, 1876, and died Sept 13, 1956.

They are both buried in Ryan Township Cemetery, Milan, Sumner County, Kansas.

My grandmother, Carrie Breneman Jones, was gifted at painting & hand crafting things…

I never got to meet my grandfather, and I was young when my grandmother died. But I remember that she was extremely gifted at hand crafting things, crocheting beautiful doilies, and pretty doll clothes.  She  taught herself to paint when she was already a senior citizen, and painted very life-like pictures of animals, particularly our families’ registered Ayrshire cattle.

We visited her often, and how I wish I had been old enough to ask the many questions that I now have!

Here is a photograph of their young family. My mother is the youngest child in this photograph, and there was one more child, Fern, born later. Fern died from pneumonia when she was sixteen, and is buried next to her parents.

Warner & Carrie Breneman Jones & children, Floyd, Rose, Daryl M, and Dorothy

My grandfather, Warner Jones, loved his favorite team of mules!

I can’t resist adding one more photograph that I just love!  Wish I knew the name of the mules, but my mother told me that my grandfather loved those mules very much!

Warner Jones and his favorite team of mules

by Sherry Stocking Kline
First published in the Wichita Eagle’s Active Life Magazine – April 2002

Getting Grandpa to talk about the “good ole’ days” really isn’t as hard as you might think. All you have to do is set the stage, bring along some props, and be prepared with plenty of questions.

Pat Gaddie grew up listening to her Grandpa Sam tell his Irish jingles, share stories about blue racer snakes chasing him through fields, and the wagon trip he made in 1902 when he was eighteen and his family moved from Tennessee to Oklahoma.

“He lived next door to us when I was small,” Gaddie said, “and when I was eight or nine years old, he used to tell stories to entertain me.”

How to Keep Them Story Telling…

Not everyone enjoys reminiscing, but if your Grandpa (or Grandma) does, here are a few tips to keep them story telling.

Decide what you want to know, make a list of questions, then ask the most important ones first.

What’s your priority? Is it facts, figures, dates, and places, the who begat who and where or when, or is it the stories that you want to hear?

Are there family legends that you want to verify or clarify, or do you want to hear how he proposed to Grandma, laugh about the night he and his bride were chivareed, or see D-Day through his eyes?

Set the stage.

Old photographs and family memorabilia are great memory triggers, and can prompt a flood of memories, so bring out the high school play bills and yearbooks, wedding photos, and photographs of the plane Grandpa  flew in the service. When he shows you the photo of his first car, be sure and ask him about the job he took to pay for it.

Take field trips to old schools, cemeteries, and other meaningful places, and travel to Grandpa’s hometown and drive by his old schoolhouse. You may learn who put the snake in the teacher’s desk, the story behind Grandpa’s nickname, and more.

Remember that Grandpa’s dates may be approximate, as he’ll likely remember events as happening “the year of the big blizzard, the summer of the drought, or just before Beverly was born”.

Bev Malone interviews older family members to flesh out stories and verify the information.

“The best way to get the stories flowing about family members is to ask about people and things, not personalities,” Malone said.

Make sure your cameras, and audio or video recorders have fresh batteries, and take along spares. If you need an extra memory card for your cameras (or film) be sure to take that along, too.

“Recorders can make people nervous,” Malone said, so she breaks the ice by asking, “Do you mind if I tape this? My brain can’t keep it all in my head.”

Take notes, just in case technology lets you down, and transcribe your notes as soon as possible.

Need help with your list of questions?

There are books that can help, such Emily Anne Croom’s “Unpuzzling Your Past Workbook” with questions tailored for different decades in history, and Janice T. Dixon’s “Family Focused” with question lists and suggestions to help you conduct interviews and gather information.

What’s Dixon’s advice in “Family Focused” to interviewers?

“Be relaxed, don’t interrupt, don’t contradict, and don’t ask questions that can be answered with a yes or no.”

“Keep the flow of conversation going,” Dixon said, “you can go back and ask questions later.”

Gaddie cherishes and shares her Grandpa Sam’s stories with her family, a process that can add valuable information to your research as well as give you new questions to ask.

With a little planning, the next time you visit Grandpa, you may learn more about your grandfather, your parents – perhaps even yourself.

Elizabeth Laird Crabb - Buried at Milan, Ryan Township, Sumner Co., Kansas

The Tombstone Reads:

Crabb

Elizabeth

Wife of J.R.U. Crabb

March 11, 1831
July 30, 1912

Aged 81 yrs
4 mos. 19 DS

Obituary:
Death of Mrs. J. R. U. Crabb    August 1, 1912 – Milan News

Miss Elizabeth Laird was born in Hart County, Kentucky, March 11, 1831, and died at her home near Milan, Kansas, July 30, 1912, aged 81 years, 4 months and 19 days.

Early in life Mrs. Crabb dedicated her life to God through faith in Jesus Christ and united with the United Baptist church in Barren County, Kentucky.  She has been since that time a constant and faithful member of the church.

She was united in marriage to Mr. J. R. U. Crabb, July 11, 1857.  To this union six children were born, of which two died in infancy, one boy at the age of thirteen and one daughter after she was grown.  Two daughters still remain, one is married and lives in Kentucky and the other is still at home.

Mrs. Crabb has been ill for a number of years and everything that cheerful hands, loving hearts and the best of medical skill was done, but all in vain.  A good woman has gone to her reward leaving behind a sorrowing husband, two daughters and a host of friends.

Funerals services were conducted in the Baptist church, Wednesday afternoon at two o’ clock, by the pastor, F. G. Wilkerson.  Interment was made in the Milan cemetery.

The entire community extends sincere sympathy to the bereaved husband and relatives.

And here is part of my mystery, and my brick wall.

Elizabeth was my great-great grandmother. Or was she?

Her death certificate states that she was born in Hart County, Kentucky, and her parents are Hezakiah and Patsy Carter Lard/Laird.

Her obituary mentions the children “born to this union” and does not mention any other children.

The Mother in the census here was given the last name Crabb by the census taker, but note that her name was Patsy C., leading me to wonder if Patsy was actually Elizabeth’s mother, rather than J.R.U.’s.

For a time, even though my mother called her grandmother and we placed flowers on her grave, I could not verify her link to my family, as her son, my great-grandfather, had the last name of Jones.

My great-grandfather, Willis Washington Jones was born in 1853, and by 1860, he is shown here on the census with Elizabeth Lard Crabb and her husband, J.R.U. Crabb.  My mother was always told that Elizabeth was her grandmother, but as Elizabeth died the same year my mother was born, she does not remember her. Her older siblings did remember her, however, and she was always called grandmother by them and by my mother’s mother.

It appears, and records seem to verify, that Willis was her son, either by a previous marriage, or that Willis was illegitimate. (I have Willis’ death certificate, but not here where I am today. I believe that it lists Elizabeth as his mother.)  By the time Willis died, however, he was re-married to a much younger woman, and had begun a second family.

I’d like to be able to solve this puzzle someday, and in writing this, found one clue that I had previously over-looked. Amazing how a fresh look will open up another possible avenue of research!

Brick Wall Suggestions Most Welcome!!

Happy Tombstone Tuesday!

1860 Census
Page #87
Metcalfe County, KY
East Fork Post Office
Entry # 586  586

J. R. U. Crabb,  22,  M, Farmer, `1000 Real Estate Value, 1500 Personal Property Value,
Elizabeth , 28, F
Daniel U,  2, M
Patsy S, 1/12 yrs olf, F
Patsy C. Crabb, 60, F
Willis Lard, 25, M
Catherine Piper, 17, F
Amanda Gooden, 12, F,
Willis Jones, 7, M

1870 Census
Saunders Precinct
Barren Co, KY
20 Aug 1870
Temple Hill Post Office

Crabb, Joseph R. U. 32, M, W. Farmer,  blank, 1200 personal property, born KY
, Elizabeth   36, F, W  housekeeping
, Daniel W.  12, M, W
, Martha S    10, F, W
Sallie A.      8, F, W
Bettie          4, F, W,
Patcy (?) C  70, F, W,  housekeeping