Saturday Serendipity (December 21, 2019)

This week's suggested readings are :

1.     For those of you who might have ancestors or relatives in western New York, you should be aware that two library systems in that area have made newspaper databases available on their websites.  The Weekly Genealogist of NEHGS provided links to these two newspaper databases. The first is the Pioneer Library System covering Livingston, Ontario, Wayne, and Wyoming counties and can be viewed here.   The second database is the Perry Library System covering newspapers from Wyoming County with a focus on the town of  Perry, NY.  It can be viewed here.

2.     Just this week I was commenting to my wife that we hardly ever see tinsel on Christmas trees anymore.  It was nearly ubiquitous when I was young in New England.  And now this week the NEHGS provides an interesting link to "The Tumultuous History of Tinsel."  The piece is short, but interesting.  Who knew that tinsel was very expensive or highly flammable?  All I remember was directions not to throw it and clump it on the tree.  It had to be placed piece by piece!  Read the history of tinsel here and enjoy a short walk down memory lane. 

3.     Can identical twins have DNA tests that are not identical?  If so, then why could that happen? Read the answers here.

4.     If you have Irish roots, then you should be aware of the project to recreate archives that were destroyed in a fire in 1922.  For example, the census records for the entire 19th century back to 1821 were destroyed. Read about the project, the intent to digitize recreated records, and its results so far here.

5.     If you haven't checked out the recurring "Genealogy News Bytes" feature on Genea-Musing blog by Randy Seaver, have a look at the most recent post here.  You will probably find it very useful. 

6.     Looking forward to the release of the 1950 federal Census in April 2022?  So is Marian B. Wood of Climbing My Family Tree blog.  Read her post on the subject here. 

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Copyright 2019, John D. Tew

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Saturday Serendipity (October 26, 2019)

1.     Since the month of October is on the wane and temperatures are dropping in many areas of the country, it is the time of year to talk about "when the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock."  If you have never read the poem that is the source for the fall expression "the frost is on the pumpkin," then Bill West of West in New England blog has done the favor of posting James Whitcomb Riley's entire poem this week.  You can read it here.

2.     I'm not the only one who has wondered just how Randy Seaver keeps up the blogging pace he has maintained for years.  At some point I even wondered if Randy had a secret staff that read and fed him articles, posts, and links for all the amazing content he manages to include on his blog.  This week Randy responded to the specific inquiry of some other John (not me) about how he gathers his weekly Best of the Genea-Blogs and his bi-weekly Genealogy News Bytes.  It turns out Randy does not have a hidden staff and he reveals his secret in a post this week that you can read here.

3.     With Halloween a mere five days from today, an interesting post was contributed this week by Peter Muise of New England Folklore blog.  Peter explains about special names associated with the actual Day of Halloween and the few nights before Halloween.  The author's mother remembers that in the 1940s there were three nights associated with Halloween in Haverhill, Massachusetts!  I lived in Salem Depot, NH and then Concord, NH in the late 1950s through 1965 and I only recall Halloween as the night of October 31st.  The worst thing associated with Halloween in Concord was the older teens who stole candy from younger kids.  Back then, many of us used old cloth pillow cases as our bags for collected candy.  Teenagers with no costumes except some kind of mask would come up and talk nicely asking if we had any good candy, etc. and then in a flash they would knife our bags so the candy scattered.  They quickly collected the best of the candy they could locate.  It was dangerous and outright mean.  But when my family moved to south central New Jersey I was exposed to "Mischief Night," which was the night before Halloween when kids would egg houses, throw toilet paper into trees, soap car windows, spray shaving cream all over anything they desired, and commit other acts of vandalism such as smearing fudge or butterscotch toppings on house picture windows.  I guess the grocery stores saw exploding sales of eggs, TP, shaving cream, soap bars, and dessert toppings in the days before the week of Halloween, but home owners hated it and often stood watch over their properties until past midnight -- and that in many cases just added to the challenge.   Read about the special names associated with the time of Halloween by reading "Pickets, Cabbages, and the Pigman: Halloween Lore" by going here.

4.     They say that drinking warm milk can help one fall asleep.  But what does drinking warm goat milk the way Heather Wilkinso Rojo illustrates in a family photograph do for someone?  Perhaps it is what one does after having a lot of wine with your friends? 😀  See Heather's funny Photo Friday here.  [Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Heather.]

5.     This week Judy Russell, The Legal Genealogist,  posted a very interesting photo of an unknown antique device.  Have a look here first and then scroll down to read the comments.

6.     At some point all genealogists come to learn about the extremely sorrowful destruction of the 1890 Federal Census "due to a fire in the building where the records were stored."  And that usually is as far as the explanation goes.  This week The Weekly Geneaologist of NEHGS provided a link to an article that gives us all a more detailed explanation of the loss of the 1890 Census due to two fires (1896 & 1921).  You can read it here.

7.     And finally, most genealogists are fascinated by photographs (and especially old photographs).  Another "Story of Interest" highlighted in The Weekly Genealogist by NEHGS is an article titled "19 Of The Oldest Photographs From The History of Photography."  Have a look here.

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Copyright 2019, John D. Tew

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