Leningrad, Then and Now

Stumbled upon these very cool photos that combine the past and the present in a very creative way.

Leningrad, then and now:
http://izismile.com/2009/02/27/leningrad_back_then_and_now_15_pics.html

This makes me think of some interesting things one could do when visiting the hometowns and homesteads of our ancestors if you have an old photo to refer to!

'Grave' Humor & Interesting Epitaphs

I was searching findagrave.com for ancestors and came across a category just for interesting or humorous tombstone texts.

Some of my favorites:

From a dentist's gravestone:
"I'm filling my last cavity."

An interesting story behind this one that reads "DAMN THE STATE DEPT"
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSie=1&GRid=10860996&

A Canadian says "I told you so..."
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSie=1&GRid=7968130&

A sad one:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=15912681

The Actor Jack Lemmon's last "role":
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=22822

An older man who obviously loved life til the last breath:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=17000569&PIpi=4774598

Perhaps it sounds morbid, but what would you have *yours* read? :)

Overcoming Those "Brick Walls"

This time around, a little bit of a personal story on my family history research, and how I was able to overcome what I thought was a "brick wall".

Watching the video you'll see that I had a clue the whole time, and didn't even realize it. :)

Best "Buys" for your Genealogy Research Dollars

Sorry to everyone for my long absence. Just got caught up with the JOB search. Speaking of which - if you know anyone looking for an experienced marketer with her MBA, please let me know! :)

This video sums up where (with what resources) I've had the most success in researching my family tree. You may be using the same sites and methods. If you have any thoughts, I'd be happy to see your comments.

I also mention one website I feel I wasted some money and time on - PublicRecordsPro.com If you made the same mistake let me know. Alternatively, if you feel the site was a great help, I'd love to hear where and how it was most helpful to you!

Thomas Jefferson's Mac & Cheese... Your Ancestors' Recipes

I came across this video recipe, which is supposedly the former American President Thomas Jefferson's favorite "macaroni and cheese". Now, I don't believe that this is actually Thomas Jefferson's recipe, as there is no historic proof of this, but it did get me thinking about the very cool legacy we are left in the recipe cards or informal cooking lessons we get from our mothers, fathers, their mothers and fathers, and so on.

How cool is it that we can bake a batch of cookies the same way our great-grandmothers did? Or whip up a casserole in the same way that an ancestor in England, France, you-name-it, did? It makes me feel closer to those people, though they've lived and died long, long ago.

I have several recipes which were my great-grandmother Isabelle's.  Her parents were English immigrants, so it's possible that some of them were old English recipes, or ones adapted for life and the ingredients commonly found in the US.  

There is one recipe in particular for a "drop" sugar cookie made with soured milk and a bit of nutmeg.  Unlike most sugar cookies, you don't roll the dough and cut them out.  Instead, you "drop" a bit of the cake-like batter onto your cookie sheet with a spoon, and they come out of the oven, soft, white, and almost like small cakes.  These are my very favorite cookies in the world except for my Mom's oatmeal raisin, or her datenut cookies -- supposedly a recipe given by an Eastern European friend to my grandmother years ago.

I've sort of guarded this recipe for years, but have thought I should start sharing it - at least with distant cousins, Isabelle's other descendants.  I suppose I don't want people NOT to see it.  It's just that I don't feel right about posting that "treasure" out there online and having it passed anonymously around. :)

In lieu of Isabelle's sugar cookies, here is Thomas Jefferson's Mac & Cheese.  I think you'll appreciate Chef John's other recipes at foodwishes.com as well!

Color, Race, and the Family Tree

An interesting segment aired on NPR just today which brings together genealogy, our notions of race, skin color, genetics and evolution:

To begin, please point your elbow to the ceiling.

Then imagine yourself naked.

Then look at the patch of skin on the inside of your upper arm, the part of you that almost never sees the sun.

Whatever color you see there is what experts call your basic skin color, according to professor Nina Jablonski, head of the Penn State Department of Anthropology.

And that color, the one you have now, says Jablonski, is very probably not the color your ancient ancestors had — even if you think your family has been the same color for a long, long time.

Continue reading, or listen to "Your Family May Once Have Been a Different Color."

American Royalty Deep in the Heart of Texas

If George Washington had demanded to become the King of the US, and not our first president, who would be ruling today?

Though Washington's descendants are many (though he himself fathered no children, nieces and nephews would have been next in line), and royal line rules vary by country, genealogists have traced the lines to one man who is doubly descended from Washington's family.

His location?  The lonestar state.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/162914