Heather's Honor Roll Project (November 11, 2021)––Wallingford, CT World War II Memorial Part 6: Surnames R through Z.

 

Today -- Thursday, November 11,  2021 -- is Veterans Day. 

Among the military Honor Roll memorials located in Wallingford, Connecticut on the grounds of the Town Hall is one for those who served (and in some cases died) in World War II. It is by far the most extensive memorial listing of veterans of war who lived in Wallingford.  The list contains hundreds of names -- in fact so many that it has taken several posts to get them all transcribed and published. This is the sixth post of names from the Wallingford WWII Memorial.  [A post was not done in 2018 due to our relocation to New Jersey from Virginia.]  This listing will cover all the surnames in alphabetical order from R through Z, which comprises 543 names for this post.  With this final post, a total of 2,039 names will have been transcribed from the Wallingford, CT World War Two memorial. 

For the first post listing the 244 surnames from this memorial that begin with A or B, please see the earliest post here.  The second post listing the 298 surnames that begin with C through E can be viewed here.  The third post listing 317 surnames that begin F through I can be viewed here.    The fourth post listing the 242 surnames J through L can be viewed here.  And the fifth post listing surnames M through Q and covering 395 surnames can be viewed here.  

I know that finding a database of transcribed names is one thing for those who are searching for ancestors and relatives, but for those who cannot make a trip to see the actual memorial, a photograph of their family member's name would be a very useful gift for inclusion in a family genealogy; therefore, it is my intention to do a blog post shortly after posting each list of transcribed names to publish the photographs from which I worked to do the transcriptions. Please check back here periodically after you see a listed name of an ancestor or relative in a post and you will then be able to get a photograph of the name in a close-up of the memorial panel containing your family member's name. 

For readers who take the time to scan the names, you will notice that unlike memorials for earlier wars there are a significant number of women listed on this memorial. Also, apart from the sheer number of names on this World War II memorial, one will note the wonderful ethnic diversity of the surnames in the lists. And there are a number of obvious family members listed so that it appears several possible brother, father/son, husband/wife, and cousin combinations are listed.

My father is listed on the World War II memorial in Wallingford since he briefly attended a year of post-high school education at Lyman Hall in Wallingford before he entered Kings Point, the United States Merchant Marine Academy.  Prior to 1957 what is the present Town Hall was the Lyman Hall High School. [1]  I previously posted a close-up of a cropped section of names containing my father's listing here. This post continues the transcription of the hundreds of other names that are honored on the World War II memorial. The transcription posts will be submitted as part of Heather Rojo's wonderful Honor Roll project, which has the goal of creating a searchable listing of all U.S. war veterans on memorials erected around this country.

One other point to make on this Veterans Day regarding memorials specific to World War Two veterans–   the names on this and other WW II memorials around the country list members of what has often been called "The Greatest Generation."  The names on these memorials recognize the hundreds of thousands of men and women who sacrificed years of their youth or middle age -- and in many cases their very lives -- to combat an undeniable evil.  As we pause again this year to commemorate those members of the greatest generation who served and died in WW II, it is important to realize -- with respect to this particular memorial and so many others like it -- that almost all of the men and women named on WWII memorials are no longer with us. If they survived the war, the great majority have lived their lives and passed on. Very, very few remain with us today. READ THEIR NAMES and lift a glass today to all of those who made the ultimate sacrifice and to those who served! 

The names of the men and women honored on the Wallingford World War II memorial with surnames beginning with R through Z are as follows in alphabetical order within surname category and as read left to right across the columns .  .  .

Paul R. Rabito                             Alfred O. Racker                             Walter E. Racker

William F. Racker                        Karl Raczkovy                                 George J. Raffeta

Nicholas Raissis                           Andrew F. Rakaczky                       Ralph L. Raver

John E. Reardon                           Edward R. Rector                           Raymond L. Reed

Angus M. Rees                             Raymond J. Reiske                         Robert F. Reiske

Edward G. Renzendes                  Robert L. Revere                             Donald P. Reynolds

George E. Reynolds                     James J. Reynolds                           James P. Reynolds

Thomas F. Reynolds                    Robert Rhoades                                Frederick W. Ribie

Edward Riccio                             Esther Riccitelli                                John J. Riccitelli

Joseph Riccitelli                           Behard M. Rieske, Jr.                      Carl J. Rinaldi

Graziadio L. Rinaldi                    William D. Riordan                          Harry C. Riotte, Jr.

Joseph Riotte                                Robert J. Riotte                                Salvatore J. Ripa

Anthony K. Rish                          Joseph J. Rish                                   Steven R. Rish

William L. Risso                          Donald H. Ritchie                             Edward F. Ritz

Emil J. Ritz                                  William F. Ritz                                  Joseph D. Roberge

William H. Roberge                     John Robertson                                 Maynard W. Robinson

Adelino J. Rodrigues                   Joseph J. Rodrigues                           Robert L. Rogers

William H. Rolston                      John Rondo                                       John M. Rosick

Michael Rosick                            Harry O.E. Roslund                           Raymond H. Ross

Peter J. Rossi                                Donald F. Roudi                                Patrick J. Roudi

Ralph C. Roudi                             Edmund J. Rovas                              Hazelwood, Rowe

William Rubin                               Chester C. Rudziak                          Eugene Rumi

Adwin Rusczek                            Joseph Rusczek                                 Joseph J. Russell

Frank Russo                                 William P. Saas                                  Joseph E. Sabith

Alexander Sabo                            Andrew Sabo, Jr.                               August Sabo

Bernard Sabo                                Carles Sabo                                       John Sabo Jr.

Joseph Sabo, Jr.                            Joseph L. Sabo, Jr.                            Francis R. Sabota

Henry E. Sagnella                        Benjamin W. Sakowich                    John J. Salvadori, Jr.

Anthony J. Samal                         Candido D. Sammito                        Santo G. Sammito

Julius P. Samosky                        Joseph P. Sanchuk                              Joseph J. Santillo

Louis J. Santillo                           Daniel Santoro                                   Joseph P. Santoro

Donald W. Sarafin                        Leo F. Sarafin                                    John F. Sargent, Jr.

Warren N. Sargent                        Andrew B. Sari                                 Charles J. Sass

Ralph P. Sassi                               Joseph J. Satton                                Clifford L. Saunders

Henry R. Saunders                       James L. Saunders                            Robert J. Saunders

Robert J. Scacchetti                     Frank Scagnelli                                 Joseph Scagnelli

Philip Scagnelli                           Michael Scarpa                                  Robert E. Schellinger

Norman P. Schipke                      Wlater W. Schipke, Jr.                     Bertram J. Schnakenberg

Roy F. Schomburg                        Raymond F. Schonn                         Edward B. Schott

Augustus A. Schultz                    George E. Schultz                             Joseph P. Schultz

Paul J. Schultz                              Philip A. Schultz                              Leo Scionti

David W. Scott                             Raymond Scott                                 Robert G. Scranton

Bela J. Secunda                            Stephen S. Secunda                          William J. Secunda

Louis F. Segalini                           Joseph J. Selesh, Jr.                          Bertam Self

Albert J. Selvaggi                         Rocco J. Selvaggi                             Edward W. Semrau

John A. Senese                            Julius A. Senese                                 Joseph L. Serrat

Ralph Server                                Eleanor N. Setterlund                        James E. Shaw

John T. Shaw, Jr.                           William Shaw                                   John F. Sheahan

Clarence J. Sheehy                        Edward T. Sheehy                            Isaiah Shein

Milton C. Shepard                        Warren C. Shepard                            John J. Sheptock

Robert H. Shiels                            Ruth A. Shookies                             Francis J. Shortell

Lester C. Shortell                         Richard J. Shortell                            Wilbur C. Shortell

James W. Shortelle                       Robert E. Shortelle                            Thomas R. Shortelle

Marshall S. Shute                         Charles S. Siedlicki                           John M. Siedlicki

Sophia K. Siedlicki                       Stanley M. Siedlicki                         Edward J. Sieron

David L. Sills                                Frank J. Silverstream                       Robert P. Silverstream

John F. Simeone                            George E. Simmons                        Henry Simmons

John M. Simmons                         Matthew J. Simmons                       Peter Simmons

William C. Simmons                    Alexander R. Simon                        Anthony L. Simon

Julius A. Simon                            Louis J. Simon                                 Stephen P. Simon

William B. Simon                        Julion Simoni                                   Olga N. Simoni

Bertha L. Sittnick                        Clarence A. Sittnick                          Ralph A. Sittnick

Raymond F. Sittnick                    Robert M. Sittnick                            Frank S. Sleseinski

Walter J. Sleseinski                     Lester E. Slie                                     Raymond T. Slie

Robert R. Slie                              John B. Slonski                                 Kenneth J. Slonski

Stanley F. Slonski                        William Slonski                                Charles R. Smith

Edward H. Smith, Jr.                    Henry B. Smith, III                           Robert H. Snedeker

Andrew Snyder                            Frank J. Soboslai                               John S. Soboslai

Edward A. Socha                         Albert S. Sokolowski                        Bernard Solkoske

Edward J. Solkoske                     Bernard Solters                                  Charles B. Soltesz

Stephen F. Somolya                    Edward R. Sondey                              Ted R. Sondey

Joseph M. Soos                           Frank A. Sopczak                               Alexander Soria

Joseph Soria                                Charles J. Sotak                                  Joseph Sotak

Joseph Sousa                               Kenneth J. Spellacy                            Andrew J. Squarceri

Eugene St. Cartier                       John E. St. Cartier                              Francis C. St. John

Seymour St. John                        Albert N. St. Onge                              Matthew W. Stabach

Nicholas J. Stabile                      Edward Stak                                        Louis E. Stak

Henry W. Stankus                       John S. Stankus                                   August J. Stanlaski

Charles S. Stanwood                   Alfred F. Stansiewski                         Joesph A. Stansiewski

Walter P. Stansiewski                 Clara Stearns                                       Lloyd B. Steele

Nancy Steele                               Robert N. Steele                                 Stanley W. Stego

Walter L. Steinhilber                  George W. Steiniger                           Charles Stella

Salvatore S. Stella                       Harry E. Sterling                                Edward S. Stevens

George D. Stevens                      Howard N. Stevens                            John B. Stevens

Kenneth F. Stevenson                Franklin W. Stewart                            Lloyd R. Stimpson, Jr.

Herman Stoleman                        David A. Stone                                 Donald R. Stone

Ferdinand J. Straub                     Ignastius J. Strojny                            Charles H. Strong

Michael Stupakevich                  Joseph L. Stupski                               Stanley J. Stupski

Thomas E. Sullivan                    Irene Sunday                                      Frank M. Susie

Wasil Susinkevich                     Albert H. Sutterlin                              Anthony S. Swabski

Frank J. Swantek                       Robert T. Swartwout                           Charles W. Sweeney

Richard C. Swenberg                Rudolph F. Swiatek                            Walter F. Swidock

Frank Swistak                           Arthur G. Sylvia, Sr.                           Arthur Sylvia, Jr.

Joseph Sypek                            Stanley Sypek                                     Raymond J. Szekunda

Joseph Szilvasy                        Maragret H. Szilvasy                          Francis T. Taber

Rufus H. Taber                          David J. Taczli                                    Jack H. Tafeen

James I. Talbot                          John H. Talbot                                    Richard C. Talbot

Robert H. Talbot                        John Tamasi                                       Elmer Tanch

Andrew F. Tanganelli                Stanley K. Tanger                              Walter P. Tangney

Francis Tanik                            Frank J. Tartaglia                                Peter O. Tassmer

Roger P. Tassmer                      William F. Tassmer                             Casimer C. Tatara

Edward J. Taylor                       Hubert J. Taylor                                  James M. Taylor

Robert C. Taylor                       Walter J. Taylor, Jr.                             William A. Taylor

Andrew W. Tencza                    Alfred W. Tenczar                               Joseph G. Tenczar

Stanley J. Tenczar                     John A. Terribile                                  Michael S. Terribile

Alfred J. Tessmer                      Edward J. Tessmer                               Edward J. Tester

William F. Tester                       Arnold Tew [my father]                    Kenneth W. Theis

Joseph F. Thewlis                      William Q. Thewlis                            August A. Thiede

Edward F. Thiede                       Arthur Thomas                                   Richard Thomas

Robert S. Thompson                  Victor M. Thunberg                            Havery H. Thurrott

James Thurrott                            Richard V. Thurrott                            Robert F. Tierney

Vincent J. Tierney                       Edward Till                                        Joseph J. Timko

Francis A. Tipple                        Edward F. Tomko                               Frank M. Tomko

Joseph F. Tomko                        Steven J. Tomko, Jr.                            William C. Tomko

John A. Tordo                            Alphonse Torelli                                   Michael Torelli

Ralph M. Torelli                        Andrew J. Toth                                    Arthur W. Toth

Edwin W. Toth                        Julius N. Toth                                       Louis S. Toth

Stephen J. Toth                         William Toth                                        Donald F. Totz

Henry A. Totz                            Donald S. Tracy                                  Robert W. Tracy

Jerome P. Travers                       Charles Treat                                      Edward C. Treloar

Howard A. Treloar                    Claude S. Tremper                               Kuster Trofimchik

Ted Trombley                            Charles F. Trowbridge                        Stanley P. Trybulski

Edward Trzciensky                    Frank Trzciensky                                Joseph P. Trzciensky

Walter M. Trzciensky                William Trzciensky                            John J. Tubiak

John S. Tulipan                           Maurice W. Tully                              Alex M. Turdin

Paul P. Turi                                 Steve J. Turi                                      Albert J. Turner

Ralph F. Tuscano, Jr.                 Thaddeus Tutak                                  Harry W. Tuttle

Arnold W. Tyler                        Royal F. Tyler                                     Steve J. Unger

Robert Unwin                            Charles H. Upham                             Anne Urban

Barbara Urban                           Pasquale Urbano                                Joseph S. Urso

Robert F. Vacca                         Paul F. Vaka                                       Joseph P. Valentine

Vincent J. Valentine                  Helen M. Vancky                               Lloyd J. Vanemburgh

Irving C. Vanleuvan                  John W. Vanski                                 William J. Vanski

Charles A. Vantassell                Anthony L. Vass                                Maynard L. Vass

Rudolph J. Vecoli                      William L. Vekony                            Edward A. Velardi

Virginio J. Viarengo                  Andrew Viski                                    Joseph J. Vitali

Lawrence Vitali                        Vincent L. Vitali                                Arthur Vitellli

Louis Vitelli                              Theodore Vlasovetz                          Anthony Voss

Robert D. Vroom, Jr.                 Frank Vumback                                Barbara R. Wachtelhausen

Robert L. Wachtelhausen          Charles Wade                                   Arthur J. Wallace

Floyd Wallace, Jr.                      Robert Wallace                                Arthur Wamsley, Jr.

Charles Ward                             Edward J. Ward                               Carroll Warren

Alex W. Warro                           George M. Warro                            Michael Warzeniak

Peter Warzeniak                        Philenon A. Warzocha                     Peter Washkevich

Anthony Wasilewski                  Francis C. Wasilewski                    Henry V.  Wasilewski

Nicholas J. Wasilewski              Victor Wasilewski                           Walter W. Wasilewski

Walter W. Wasilewski                Wanda Wasilewski                          Gabriel L. Wasko

Gordon Webster                          George H. Weiden                          John F. Welch

Mark T. Welch                            Francis E. Wells                             Albert C. Wendt

Henry F. Wendt                           Herman T. Wendt                           Theodore J. Wendt

Alex Werbiski                            Miroslav F. West                             William H. Wheeler

Irving M. White                        James C. White                                Warren E. White

Francis H. Whitehouse              Leslie H. Whitney                            Stanley S. Wieczorek

Frank S. Wieland                       Niels J. Wigforss                              Andrew Wigh

Francis G. Wigh                        John B. Wilcox                                John Wild

Harold S. Wilkins                      Robert K. Wilks                              Charles E. Williams

Charles F. Williams                   Daniel N. Williams                          Edward R. Williams

George T. Williams                   Richard E. Williams                        Robert C. Williams, Jr.

Thomas H. Williams                 Warren B. Williams                        George C. Wilson

Edward R. Winchell                  Keith B. Winchell                           Edward J. Witkowski

John Wojewodka                       Theodore Wojtasik                           Joseph F. Wolak

Walter J. Wolak                         William W. Wolak                            Adolf F. Wolcheski

George A. Wolcheski                Joseph J. Wolcheski                          Harry M. Wolf

George A. Wood                        John M. Wooding                            Raymond F. Wooding, Jr.

Philip E. Woodtke                     William F. Woodtke                        Stanley Woronick

Harry F. Worrall                        James E. Wrinn                                Joseph J. Wrinn

Harry R. Wustrack                    Leo J. Yacek                                    Walter J. Yacek

Frank J. Yasensky                     Frank J. Yaskot                                 Jennie Yaskot

Walter J. Yaskot                        John H. Yeamens                              Joseph E. Yergeau

Zigmond Yonoski                     Bernard York                                    Donald Young

James T. Young                        Warren S. Young                               Felix A. Yuris

Walter A. Yuris                         Anne E. Yusza                                   Walter B. Yusza

Charles L. Zabrowski               Joseph J. Zambory                            Steve A. Zambory

Gino Zandri                              George Zborovancik                         Joseph Zborovancik, Jr.

Julius Zeher                              Edward J. Zenkiewicz                      Frank P. Zenkiewicz

John S. Zenkiewicz                  Joseph R. Zesk                                 Charles J. Zieminski

Edward A. Zieminski                Henry A. Zieminski                         John E. Zieminski

Edward Zienkowicz                  Robert R. Zima                                John J. Zocco

Theodore J. Zolkiewicz            Vincent R. Zolkiewicz                     Paul Peter Zuk

Charles W. Zunda                     Edward W. Zunda                            Frank S. Zunda

John S. Zunda                           Alexander W. Zwible                       Walter J. Zwible

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Copyright 2021, John D. Tew

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Saturday Serendipity (November 6, 2021)

 

Here are a few selected reads recommended for this weekend . . . 

1.   As someone who recently discovered my descent from a married couple accused of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts (and wrote about it in December 2018 for Rhode Island Roots, the Journal of the Rhode Island Genealogical Society), I found "Witches are icons: Americans embrace their family ties to Salem trial victims" in The Guardian to be interesting.  You can read the piece here.  

2.    Marian Wood, of Climbing My Family Tree blog, wrote this week about the importance of literally "knowing where the bodies are buried" and she reviews the usefulness and ease of Find-A-Grave.  You can read her post here.

3.    Ancestry got sued in federal court in Illinois pursuant to an Illinois genetic privacy law.  The Legal Genealogist, Judy Russell, has an opinion about the suit and you can read it here.

4.    Janine Adams, of Organize Your Family History blog, shared a genealogy horror story just two days after Halloween -- but it has a fairly happy ending.  It serves as a cautionary tale that we should all be reminded of from time to time.  Read "Back up to the rescue" here. 

5.    There are all kinds of exclusive clubs and societies with qualification requirements that limit membership (Mayflower descendants, Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution, etc.), but The Washington Post did a piece on a fairly new one that just recently had its inaugural dinner at Manhattan's University Club in New York.  There were 19 participants and it was a very exclusive membership to be sure.  Read about this new Society here.   

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Copyright 2021, John D. Tew

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Saturday Serendipity (October 30, 2021)

Here are a few suggested reads while you are waiting near the door for those trick-or-treaters to arrive tomorrow night . . . 

1.    As DNA becomes an increasingly important and useful tool in genealogical research, it is interesting to discover that for the first time DNA from a dead person has been used to confirm the descent of a living person.  Read about how this was accomplished and who the two people are by going here. 

2.    Heather Rojo, of Nutfield Gneealogy blog, provides a little scary Halloween genealogy bits for your amusement.  See her post here. 

3.    This past week Nancy Messier, of My Ancestors and Me blog, examined a separately filed marriage license and a marriage certificate for an ancestor couple.  She discusses the difference and reminds us why one is actually a more important document than the other.  Read her post here.

4.    Janine Adams, of Organize Your Family History blog,  posted another of her "bite-size Quick tips" for advancing your research -- and she provides a helpful link.  Have a quick look at "Read the instructions to enumerators" here.

5.    With all the pumpkins and Jack-o-lanterns appearing this week and especilly tonight and tommorrow night, this would be a good time to visit (or revisit) Peter Muise's post of October 17th titled "Jack-O-Lanterns: Demons, Gemstones, and New England Origins" at his blog, New England Folklore. You can read his post here.

6.    For those from Rhode Island -- or with Rhode Island roots.  If you have not already seen Diane Boumenot's free video of her presentation on Rhode Island probate (with case examples), you can read about it an get the link by going here on her blog, One Rhode Island Family.  Her presentation is from a recent meeting of RIGS (Rhode Island Genealogical Society).

7.    If you use Family Tree Maker for your family history database and you are not yet aware of Russ "Cousin Russ" Worthington's blog, Family Tree Maker User, you  should take the time to look at his blog here.  It has been described as "hands down the best user guide to Family Tree Maker." 

8.    Move over and out of the way Mr. Columbus, Jamestown, Plymouth Colony, and even 1565 St. Augustine, Florida.  The evidence is in that the Vikings arrived wayyy before all of those others.  Read the scientific evidence here for Viking occupation in Newfoundland 1,000 years ago this year. 

9.    BUT then you might want to read "6 Misconceptions About the Vikings" here at Mental Floss by Jake  Rossen. 

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Copyright, John D. Tew

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Genealogical Amnesia (October 29, 2021)

 

CNN recently showcased a commentary from The Conversation, a collaboration between academics and journalists.  The August 13, 2021 commentary by Jeanne Shinskey, of the Royal Holloway Univeristy of London, focused on a phenomenon known as "childhood or infant amnesia." 

Childhhod amnesia is a puzzling occurence with which we are probably all familiar, but did not realize it had a scholarly name.  It is the little understood situation where most of us do not remember much about our lives from before age 7.  And even when we try to recall early childhood memories, we are often faced with wondering if they are actual personal memories or mere recollections based on stories from parents, older siblings or others, photos, etc.

Research into the phenomenon of childhood amnesia has looked at the obvious possibility that a simple explanation could be that young children just do not yet have the capacity for forming fully developed memories.  But experiments have demonstrated that babies as young as six months have the ability to create short-term memories lasting minutes and even long-term memories that can last weeks and perhaps as long as months.  So the thought is that maybe the issue is not the ability to form memories, but rather the capabilty of maintaining them.  Studies have shown, for instance, that children and teenagers have earlier memories than do adults.

Language also appears to be an important factor in the process of remembering.  The hippocampus in the brain is considered essential to the ability to form memories and it is not fully developed until about age seven.  Language develops during roughly the same time period when an infant goes from one word utterences to complete fluency in a native languge between the ages of roughly one and six.  And during that time the child learns to use words and concepts important to having and maintaning memories.  Personal pronouns like I, me, you, they, us and concepts like "to remember" and "to forget" are learned and used properly. So the physiological structural ability to create and maintain memories overlaps the development of the language necessary to communicate those memories.  The ability to verbalize an experience or event relates to the preditability concerning how well the experience or event will be recalled months or even years later.  One study found that children a little older than two years who had been to an emergency room due to common childhood injuries could remember the event up to five years later whereas children who were younger than 26 months old, and who could not talk about and describe the event, remembered little if anything about it. 

Much of the research on childhood amnesia concentrates on the function of language in helping to create and maintain memories.  And to do this, the role of what is called "narrative expression" is examined.  As Jeanne Shinskey, of the Royal Holloway University in London, describes narrative expression and its social function, "When parents reminisce with very young children about past events, they implicitly teach them narrative skills, what kinds of events are important to remember and how to structure talking about them in a way that others can understand."   To further elaboate she explains. . . 

Unlike simply recounting information for factual purposes, reminiscing revolves around the social      function of sharing experiences with others.  In this way, family stories maintain the memory's accessibility over time, and also increase the coherence of the narrative, including the chronology of events, their theme, and their degree of emotion.  More coherent stories are remembered better.  Maori adults have the earliest childhood memories (age 2.5) of any society studied so far thanks to Maori parents' highly elaborative style of telling family stories.

All of this, of course, got me thinking about what, by analogy, I could call "genealogical amnesia."  Like lost childhood memories, how many people (who are non-genealogists) do we know who cannot even name their eight great grandparents, who apparently have lost the family "memory" of almost anyone beyond the parents of their parents?  I have met people who sometimes struggle to recall the names of even all four of their grandparents and are clueless as to the maiden names of their grandmothers, let alone the maiden names of great grandmothers and earlier female ancestors.   Genealogical amnesia!

It seems to me that the rise in popularity of genealogy as a hobby gives hope that through research and  narrative sharing of research results, there can be more fact-based stories to pass on about ancestors and generational chains of reminiscence can be created that will help reverse the cases of "genealogical amnesia" so common in our culture.

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Copyright 2021, John D. Tew

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Saturday Serendipity (October 23, 2021)

 

As I ease back into more regular blogging, here are a few suggested reads for this weekend.

1.    James Tanner of Genealogy's Star blog posted this week about the incredible number of documents and other material being digitized online.  He suggests the need to consider expanding "genealogical research" beyond what is most often categorized as a gnealogical record.  You can read his post here.

2.    The Legal Genealogist, Judy Russell, discusses the important question regarding who owns the copyright of the creator after his/her original copyright expires.  You can read the short explanation here.

3.    Having just devoted months to transferring my blog posts to hardback book form, I found a piece by Prudence at creativefamilyhistorian.com to be particularly interesting when it comes to design considerations for creation of a family history book.  Three basic design considerations are discussed with illustarted examples of before and after.  Have a look here.

4.    The COVID pandemic has been epochal in terms of lost life (728,000 and counting in the U.S. alone), but it has also taken a terrible toll in lost businesses -- particularly small businesses that were part of the very fabric of their communities.  This week Barbara Poole of the photo blog Life From the Roots, posted some of those losses in Lowell, Massachusetts that she captured and preserved with her camera.  You can see some of those lost, but not soon to be forgotten businesses here.

5.    Janine Adams of Organize Your Family History blog posted some useful keyboard short cuts (mostly for Mac) that are always worth being reminded about.  See her list here. 

6.    It's that time of year to be reminded again about the "Honor Roll Project" started by Heather Rojo of Nutfield Genealogy blog.  What, you may ask, is the Honor Roll Project?  It is a good way to honor our veterans this coming Veterans Day and you can learn all about how by going here and reading Heather's recent post. 

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Copyright 2021,  John D. Tew

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As Requested . . . A Look Inside My Most Recent Blog Book (September 9, 2021)

 

Following the most recent post about my blog-to-book efforts, Nancy, one of the long-time readers of this blog, commented that she was considering making books of her genealogy blog ( My Ancestors and Me).  She asked if I could show more of the inside of the book.  I am more than happy to do so and additional photos with explanations are presented here.

The headline photo above is of the so-called "Great Photo Wall" that appears to be a feature of IntoRealPages books and cannot be changed so far as I know.  The Wall is created by taking thumbnail photos of the pictures that accompany posts within the book and making a collage of them at the beginning of the book. 

There are basically two different ways to organize a blog-to-book using IntoRealPages.  For comparison purposes, interested readers should please open the blog post of December 20, 2020 here in order to see the important differences in the two organizational options.

In the book featured in the December 2020 post above, I used what is called a "Chapter Index" organizational format.  In this format each individual blog post is considered a "chapter" in the book.  As a result (and as illustrated in the referenced prior post), a "chapter page" is inserted before each and every blog post.  The chapter page merely repeats the title of the adjacent blog post itself and so it is not only redundant, it adds unnecessary pages to the book and thus to the cost of each book because cost is ultimately determined by the page count. 

The definite benefit of the Chapter Index format is that it produces a very nice, user-friendly index that provides the title of each individual post and the page number on which it begins (see the photo at the December 2020 post above).

While I believe the IntoRealPages blog-to-book is a quality hardback book that should last generations if treated with a modicum of care, the truth must be told that the books are NOT inexpensive.  But, if the time and effort that goes into creating such books for our posterity is added to the cost and then "amortized" over the time and generations that will be able to benefit from them, they really work out to be a reasonable cost.  Even so,  there is still no reason to add to the cost where it is not really required.  For that reason, I switched in the three latest volumes and produced them with what is called the "Month Index" format.  A picture of that style index is illustrated in the post of August 28, 2021 here.

The Month Index format organizes the blog posts in chronological order within each calendar year included in the book.  A calendar year page is inserted into the book in the same way as the Chapter Index, but only where necessary to distinguish blog posts in one specified year from posts in a subsequent year.  This means, of course, that there will be far fewer indexed pages inserted in the book and thus the cost of each book will be less. 

I will freely admit that the Chapter Index format is much more user friendly for the reader than the Month Index format.  However, after pondering the matter I decided that I preferred to go with cost savings now as opposed to user friendliness for descendants in the future.  

Why did I do this?  

I did this because I realized that far into the future of these books the reader would not be likely to search for specific blog posts using the Chapter Index unless and until he or she had become somewhat familiar with the titles and content of book and any particular blog post he or she had found interesting or important.  Someone opening a book with the Chapter Index for the first time in say 50 years would perhaps get some vague idea of what a post is about from the title, but for many they would not.  I think they will be more likely to just skim or browse through this "genealogy book one of their ancestors or relatives produced"--sort of like looking through an unindexed catalog of today.  IF such readers find things of interest or import to themselves, then they will dog-ear, bookmark, or otherwise create a way to easily locate the post(s) again. The same will be true of a book using the Month Index format and their browsing can be done in sections by year and then chronologically within the year.  The difference for today is that the cost of producing the book is lower by eliminating a redundant chapter page before each and every blog post in the book.

One last note about the overall book organizational format.  It is possible to do a book in a third "format" that I somehow did with one volume by mistake.  Volume 4 is the thinnest (and therefore least expensive) of the four IntoRealPages books I have produced.  In that first volume after the Chapter Index book, I attempted to eliminate the insertion of redundant chapter pages for every blog post.  I was successful in doing that, but I also inadvertently eliminated the user friendly index and thus the book became nothing but an unindexed chronological collection of the blog posts put into that volume.  The photo below illustrates how three blog posts appeared in that volume without any chapter insert and throughout the book neither was there any calendar year pages to indicate the beginning of a new year of posts.

Finally, I need to point out that the IntoRealPages blog-to-book is printed in what I believe is an unalterable three-column format.  The photos or other inserts in the original online blog post all appear in the book, but they are positioned to accommodate the three-column format; as a result your posts in the book will look different than that in the original online posts.  The paragraph separation and font size and position of photo captions will also be different–but not distastefully so.

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Copyright 2021, John D. Tew

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All photos by the author.

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Mission Accomplished -- Capturing Blog Posts In Permanent Book Form (August 28, 2021)

 

My eight-month long hiatus from blogging is now coming to an end and I am slowly going to get back to posting again.  The task I set for myself of capturing my 750+ blog posts into book form for more permanent preservation is finally accomplished.  As the photos above illustrate, I now have six hard-bound volumes of  nearly a decade of blog posts.  The last four volumes (shown in the top photo) have been produced using the web-based application IntoRealPages.

I first blogged about my blog-to-book efforts back on February 20, 2015 when I produced the first volume of the book version of my blog using an application called Blurb. That post, "Want To Preserve All Your Genealogy Blog Efforts? Better book it!," can be viewed in its entirety here.

As I wrote in that first post, I became concerned that a blog really exists only as digital code stored in the cloud or as stored on one's computer and backup media.  The problem is that with the rush of technology changes, concerns about hacker attacks, and other factors beyond our personal control, there is no guarantee that the content so painstakingly created today will be available for future generations to access easily.  Who knows what technology will be available to our great, great, grandchildren and whether the content in the cloud today will exist there then–and if so whether tomorrow's technology will be able to access the content?  How many today can listen to 8-track tapes found in the attic? Who is able to get stored content off a Zip drive discovered in the dark recesses of an old desk drawer? 

Hard copy books on paper are "low-tech" and inexpensive.  With reasonable care they have proven to be remarkably enduring and accessible for hundreds of years.  For these reasons I believe a book version of a genealogy/family history blog is the best way to preserve the content and efforts of today's blogger.

My blog-to-book project has not produced a uniform collection of volumes of my blog.  So far two different book publishers have been used and a close look at the six volumes reveals they differ from each other in a variety of ways.  I have had to learn the features of each of the blog-to-book applications and how to use them.  As with all applications, there is much to learn and use over time finds much to discover that was previously unknown.  For example, the very first volume using Blurb resulted in a dust jacket cover over a solid black binding.  If the dust jacket is lost or destroyed, then there is nothing on the book's binding to indicate what it is–one has to open the book to discover its contents and purpose.  By the time of Volume 2, I learned to use the application to do away with a dust jacket.  I was able to integrate the cover art and text into the book binding itself.

A close examination of the spines of the six volumes in the photo immediately above, reveals that I had to learn how to control the spine text.  Volume 3, the blue book and the first one to use IntoRealPages, indicates that I failed to get the volume number on the spine of that book.  I recovered in the next three volumes using IntoRealPages, but the placement of the volume number is not uniform.  Also, my name as author appears on only three of the volume spines.  This illustrates that until one spends time with a blog-to-book application and is able to master most or all of its features and variations, the best approach is to adopt the view that "variety is the spice of creating a blog-to-book collection."  😊

When Blurb no longer supported Google Blogger, I was forced to find another blog-to-book publisher.  After deciding on IntoRealPages as the new publisher, I posted about the experience on December 20, 2020.  "IntoRealPages–A New Blog-to-Book Producer" can be viewed in its entirety here.  In that post I discussed some pros and cons about the new publisher and mentioned the cost for the book.  Since that review of IntoRealPages I have produced three more volumes and come to learn more about the application and its features.  The "Great Photo Wall" feature is still an imposed attribute of a book so far as I can tell, but is has grown on me even as it adds to the cost of the book.  On the other hand, I have found a balance between making the books more user friendly and decreasing the cost of the books.

In the first volume using IntoRealPages, I mentioned how I liked the "Chapter Index" organization of the book.  That index listed the title and date of each individual blog post and provided the page on which the post started.  [See the photos in the December 20, 2020 post.] This was a great improvement over Blurb, which had no such feature when I used it, but it came at a significant cost increase for the book.  As illustrated in my post of December 20, 2020, organizing each blog post as a "chapter" imposed the addition of a chapter page between each individual post.  Since the cost of a book is based on a per page price, each additional page adds to the overall cost.  Therefore, on the last three volumes I found and used an organizational feature that made the book a little less user friendly, but resulted in cost saving.

Instead of using a chapter index that treated each post as a chapter, I used a "Month Index."  The Month Index organizes all the posts chronologically and divides them up by month instead of by individual post date.  This means that the Month Index will tell the reader the page number where all the posts for a given month and year begin and then the individual posts will be sequential by date within that month with no added chapter page for each post.  This eliminates many redundant chapter pages, but now makes it much more difficult to find an individual blog post quickly by title.  After pondering it, I decided that because the ultimate purpose of the blog-to-book project is to preserve the posts for my descendants into the distant future, the likelihood is that great grandchildren and beyond will not be deterred by an index that does not state where each titled post begins.  If they have an interest at all it will be in browsing through the volumes in chronological order and if a particular post is of importance to them, they will mark or note it in some way to make finding it again easier.  I voted for saving costs now in actual production of the books over user friendliness for descendants.  Others using IntoRealPages might decide to vote the other way. 😊

I like IntoRealPages better than I did Blurb and I hope to use it for all future blog-to-book projects.  If you are looking to preserve your blog for the long run, I recommend IntoRealPages.  The cost is well worth it to pass on to future generations all your family history research, photos, documents, etc.

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Photos by the author.

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Copyright 2021, John D. Tew

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Dear Descendants: The Events of January 6, 2021 (January 8, 2021)

[I remind readers that these occasional letters to my descendants are intended to share and explain my experience living through various momentous events that happened during my life.  As such, they contain my personal opinion.  Others are free to disagree as to what the events meant from their point of view and they should record and preserve their thoughts and beliefs for their descendants to read and judge just as my descendants will do.]

Dear Descendants:

I originally began this post on Monday, January 4, 2021–the day after the meeting and swearing in of the 117th Congress and the day before the momentous Senate elections in the state of Georgia that would determine which party would control the new Senate after the general election of November 3, 2020. 

Following the November 2020 general elections, the Democratic Party retained control of the House of Representatives, albeit it with a smaller majority than before the elections.  Control of the new Senate was undecided and literally hung in the balance because there were 50 Republican Senators after the general election and there were 46 Democratic Senators with two Independent Senators who caucused with the Democrats–leaving a Senate of 50 Republicans and 48 Senators who voted as Democrats. 

The Georgia Senate races provided an unusual sitation where both U.S. Senate seats were up for election in runoffs on January 5, 2021 because no candidate received more than 50% of the votes in the original elections held on November 3, 2020.  One of the two races was a special election to fill the remaining two years in the term of Republican Senator John H. Isakson, who had resigned due to health reasons after being re-elected to his third six-year tem in 2016.  His seat had been filled with an appointment by Republican Governor Brian Kemp and neither the appointed Senator, Kelly Loeffler, nor any of her opponents–particularly Democrat Rafael Warnock–had been able to garner more than 50% of the vote.  The nation was watching the Georgia elections (about $500 million dollars–half a billion dollars–was poured into the race) to see which way control of the Senate would go.  Because the Democrats, Joseph Biden and Kamala Harris, had won the presidency and the vice presidency in the November elections, a 50/50 Senate would be controlled by the Democrats with the slimest of margins.  The Vice President, as President of the Senate, is the tie breaking vote.  While a sweep of both Senate seats by the Democratic candidates was possible, it was generally deemed to be unlikely both seats would flip to the Democrats.

When this post was originally started, the nation was also focused on January 6th, 2021 (two days ago) as the date that the Congress would receive, open, and count the certified elector results from each of the states, thereby confirming officially Joseph Biden and Kamala Harris, as the President-elect and the Vice President-elect.  Throughout the nation's history the process of opening and counting the electoral college votes had normally been a ministerial, pro forma, event, but this year the event was a matter of serious concern and anything but a minsterial, pro forma ceremony because the incumbent president, Donald J. Trump, had for the first time in our history refused to conceded the election based on a claim of widespread fraud across several states.  Moreover, for the nearly nine weeks since the general election he and his supporters had tried to undo the election results in a handful of states.  Dozens of unsuccessful lawsuits had been filed by Republicans and, through a clarion claim that the presidential election had been rigged and stolen from the Republicans, diehard Trump supporters in the public, in elective office, and in the conservative media sought to undermine the legitimacy of the election results.  Donald Trump ignored the raging virus pandemic in the country that had already killed 350,000 Americans and seemed to be engaged only in playing golf and badgering Republicans to make every effort to throw out election results in several states based on unsubstantiated claims of fraud.  And then on Saturday, January 2nd Donald Trump forced an hour long call directly to the Republican Secretary of State of Georgia (Brad Raffensperger) to harangue him about Georgia's certified presidential tally and culminate with, "So look. All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have because we won the state."

On Wednesday, January 6th Molly and I were ready to sit down to watch the live broadcast of the receipt, opening, and counting of the certified electoral college votes from the states.  By 11:00 AM Donald Trump's "Save America/Stop the Steal Rally" was underway near the Ellipse after Trump had tweeted weeks earlier (on December 19th),"Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, be wild!"  There were already thousands of Trump supporters at the protest rally when Eric and Donald Trump, Jr. spoke to the crowd and were followed by Rudy Guiliani (Trump's personal lawyer and formerly Mayor of New York City during the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center), who said, "Over the next 10 days, we get to see the machines that are crooked, the ballots that are fraudulent, and if we’re wrong, we will be made fools of. But if we’re right, a lot of them will go to jail. Let’s have trial by combat."  Then Donald Trump, the sitting President of the United States, spoke to the assembled throng for more than an hour and said during his monologue, "Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore, and that’s what this is all about. To use a favorite term that all of you people really came up with, we will stop the steal."  He also encouraged the assembled crowd to march on the Capitol, saying, "We want to be so respectful of everybody, including bad people. We’re going to have to fight much harder and Mike Pence is going to have to come through for us. If he doesn’t, that will be a sad day for our country because you’re sworn to uphold our constitution. Now it is up to Congress to confront this egregious assault on our democracy. After this, we’re going to walk down and I’ll be there with you. We’re going to walk down. We’re going to walk down any one you want, but I think right here. We’re going walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators, and congressmen and women. We’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong." 

At the conclusion of Donald Trump's discourse thousands of demonstrators began walking down Constitution Avenue to the Capitol in a sea of Trump flags, Tea Party flags, Q Anon signs and shirts, and American flags while Trump retreated to the White House.

Photo by Shawn Thew AP/Bloomberg from NBC 4 Washington, DC website

Photo by Ringo Chiu/AP via Getty images from NBC 4 Washington, DC website

By 1:10 PM, thousands of demonstrators arrived at the Capitol building grounds and began grappling with police at the security barriers and on the Capitol steps.  They soon became rioters storming the Capitol.

Photo by John Minchillo/AP from NBC 4 Washington, DC website

 

Photo by Julio Cortez/AP 

Photo from Reuters Pictures via Twitter

 

A joint session of Congress commenced around 1:00 PM with Vice President Pence presiding over the event.  Despite days of pressure from Donald Trump for the Vice President to exceed his constitutional authority and single handedly throw out certified elector votes from a handful of states Trump lost in November, Mr. Pence began the roll call of states amid suspence about what would actually happen when the first state on Trump's challenge list was reached.  In the days prior to Congress convening to do the official electoral college tally, 14 Senate Republicans and about 140 House Republicans had indicated they were going to object to the acceptance of electoral results from several states.  It was important to those wanting to disrupt the electoral college results that at least one Senator and one Representative combine to make any objection; otherwise any objection to an individual state's tally would fail.  The alphabetical roll call of the states began and the results from Alaska and Alabama (both won by Donald Trump) were accepted without objection and recorded.  At about 1:15 PM the state of Arizona was called and was immediately objected to by Rep. Paul Gozar of Arizona and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.  This caused the two houses to devolve into ther own chambers to debate and vote on the eligible obection.  This was very disappointing when it actually happened, but it was expected.

And then, during the debate on the Arizona objection (at about 2:15 PM) Vice President Pence was suddenly ushered out of the chamber and unexpected, confused movement in the Senate chamber ensued.  Both chambers of Congress were evacuated by Capitol Police and the Capitol building, the "People's House," was put on lockdown.  As of that moment, the narrative of this letter to you descendants had to take a differnet tone and direction. 

After the illegal breach of the security perimeter around the Capitol was accomplished, the demonstrators morphed from protest to riot and they forced their way into the Capitol building by breaking windows.  Once in, the ransacking of the interior of the building began and ultimately led to at least two deaths--a female rioter inside the Capitol was shot by a policeman and a policeman trying to defend the Capitol was hit on the head with a fire extinguisher and later died of the injury.  Others died either inside or outside the Capitol building leading to a total of five riot-related deaths as of the January 8th date of this post. 

The rioting led to significant damage and vandalism inside the Capitol.  Windows were smashed, doors were broken, at least one bust was covered with blood, offices were trashed and looted.  One man walked off with the lectern of the Speaker of the House and her gavel was reported stolen.  Trash was littered everywhere.  But the rioters were finally driven away from the Capitol grounds after the 6:00 PM curfew began being enforced by the presence of police–with the FBI and National Guard called in to assist.  The Congress returned to joint session and by early the next morning the counting of the electoral college tally was completed and Joseph Biden and Kamala Harris were declared the winner of the 2020 election and will be sworn in on January 20th at noon.  As of today however, various civilian "militia" groups have said they will be in Washington to protest at the inauguration!  It remains to be seen how that will work out, but by the time this is read by you the result will be a matter of history already known to you.

Photo by Manuel Balce Ceneta

Photo by Win McNamee/AP

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Photo by Olivier Douliery/AP

Photo by Leigh Ann Caldwell via Twitter.  [The round sticker is a piture of Joe Biden
 with the words "Not My President!"  The rectagular stickers say "F*** ANTIFA."]

Photo by Mike Theiler/Reuters

As you descendants should know, Molly and I lived on Capitol Hill for a year and a half in 1978-79.  We were on Maryland Ave. just off Stanton Park and a couple of blocks behind the Library of Congress and the Capitol grounds across the street.  We are quite familiar with that area from a time when I could go for a run and run up the steps of the east front of the Capitol and around the other side down the steps to run to the Lincoln Memorial and back.  I would often stop my run on the way back home to stand on the western front and look down the Mall.  One could still at the time walk into the Capitol rotunda and around the Capitol grounds.  It was indeed the "People's House" and the symbol it all represented did approach the sacred.  On January 6th, 2021 it was desecrated by demonstrators turned rioters; but more importantly when the purpose of the melee they wrought in the Capitol is understood, they turned into insurectionists.  They wanted to intimidate and threaten the Congress into throwing out enough elector votes to keep the losing candidate in power.  It was undemocratic in its purpose and, as one of their flags left littering the floor of the Capitol proclaimed,  it was treason.  Many, if not most of those who broke into the Capitol came armed with weapons of various description, includng Molotov cocktains, spikes, clubs, or they made weapons out of materials they found inside the Capitol.  They were trying to prevent the newly and duly elected executive officers of our country from assuming their office two weeks hence.

Today, January 8th, 2021, some 50 people have been arrested and charged.  Authorities are searching the mountain of photographic evidence identifying the people who stormed and ransacked the Capitol.  Many more arrests are sure to follow.  The last two days have been spent with mounting calls for the removal of Donald Trump from office.  Calls for Vice President Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment are gaining support and some Republicans are speaking out in tepid support, most are not.  There have been resignations by two cabinet members and many of lower rank.  The House has drafted new articles of impeachment to submit for a vote within the next two to three days if Trump does not resign or the 25th Amendment is not invoked.

The implications of the damage that was done to our country and the serious concern that was caused among many nations of the world is only slowly being comprehended.  In the ransacking of the Capitol computers were stolen and classifed material could have been exposed.  It is not an exaggeration to say national security could have been jeopardized.  The full repercussions will take weeks if not months to uncover and analyze–and in many respects this was all foreseeable when the behavior of Donald Trump over most of the last decade is considered.  As Jeb Bush said of Trump when he was running against him in the 2016 primaries, "He's a chaos candidate and he'd be a chaos president!"  He has been exactly that and now we are left with the pieces that have to be put back together.  I hope we make it to January 20th and beyond without further violence or an outbreak of  civil war.

Finally, for the genealogical record, know that Molly and I did all we could to avoid Donald Trump rising to power .  We voted against him twice and made monetary donations to those opposed to him and his policies in 2016, 2018 and again in 2020.  We believed from day one that with Donald Trump as president things would get very ugly--sadly we were correct.  We believe history is going to be a harsh judge of Donald Trump and deservedly so, but you will know the ultimate result of that assessment, not us.

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Copyright 2021, John D. Tew

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