) ( ) Good Morning Family! .-.,--^--. ( Come on in. . . \\|`----'| - The coffee pot's on. . . \| |// ...and we even have decaf, | |/ tea, and hot chocolate! \ / ------ Today's topics include: 1. Welcome to new Bower/Bauer/Baur, etc. cousins 2. Please remember to vote! 3. A descendant's nightmare 4. Semi-availability of Colleen - NO COFFEE NEXT WEEK 5. Kuzin's Korner If you've been with the family [the BOWER-L list] for at least three weeks, you'll probably want to skip the following paragraph… TO OUR NEWEST COUSINS ~~ On behalf of the entire family, I'd like to extend a most hearty welcome to those cousins who came into the family fold this past week. We are very glad to have you with us and hope you'll stay and remain a part of our online family. As soon as you're comfortable with us and the list, please send in your Bower[s]/Bauer/Baur lines so we can all see how we're related to you. We do not have a fancy format for sending in records or queries to the list. Post as many as you wish! If the data has anything to do with Bower[s]/Bauer/ Baur lines or any of the variant spellings that might help someone, please feel free to post it. Every scrap of information is appreciated. If you haven't visited the homesite of this list yet, you are encouraged to do so. The Bower Family Homestead [a.k.a., the Homestead] is our homesite and the gathering place for much of our information. It waits to join us all in welcoming you into the family at <http://www.crosswinds.net/~bowerhomestead>, or you can use or shortcut URL of <http://embark.to/Homestead>. We also have a newly opened sister site, the Bower Cottage, that we've begun to fill. There are currently only a few names there, but give us time... :) The Cottage is at <http://www.crosswinds.net/~bowercottage>, or you can use the shortcut URL of <http://embark.to/bowercottage>. PLEASE REMEMBER TO VOTE When you go to the front page at the Homestead please remember to click on the logo in the top right corner; at the Cottage it's a link on the second page near the bottom (where the shells are). Help me keep our sites - and data - in view of the surfing public by clicking on each one every day (or even several times a day). You can return to the Homestead or Cottage from the World Wide Top 100 site simply by hitting the 'Back' button on your browser twice. It only takes a few seconds to vote, but it makes such a difference toward our families being seen. We need to stay on one of the front two pages if we're to receive any discernable amount of surfing traffic. A DESCENDANT'S NIGHTMARE Can we talk here? You know, as well-meaning genealogists and family historians we ask all the "right" questions, cite our sources and do our best to keep good records. Fortunately, we also have well-meaning relatives who try to help us with our research by giving us family materials - or photocopies thereof. For the most part we can pretty much tell where the information is coming from and which ancestors we're dealing with. However, one of the _THE_ saddest instances of our research involves boxes of pictures and family photo albums. Oh, I don't mean those current shots where everybody still knows who the people are in the pictures. I'm talking about those OLLLLLDDD pictures - the musty, time-worn tintypes and cardboard ones. You don't see many tintypes, but how many times have you been to a flea market, an antique or second-hand store and found a box full of cardboard pictures with no names on the back? That box _always_ reminds me of an unmarked grave. All those people... all those families... all those lineages... just sitting in a box of lost souls. What am I getting at here? What's the point of this missive? It's two-fold: 1.) Have your relatives marked the backs of all their pictures? When they pass on, if you should be the recipient of their albums and boxes of pictures, can you identify _all_ the people in _all_ their pictures? Probably not, and you as the "lucky" heir of this treasure could face a nightmare -- knowing you're looking at (at least some) old relatives but not knowing who they are. 2.) We are not working on our ancestries for people today, but to leave legacies for future generations who may not ever get to meet you. Have YOU marked all YOUR pictures?... Or, will your grandchildren or great-grandchildren one day inherit a bunch of nameless faces only to be haunted by a nightmare you could have prevented? I happen to be one of the "fortunates" who now possess four family photo albums from my deceased grandparents along with two boxes just stuffed with pictures. Are the people identified? No. Do I know who these people are? No. Can my mother identify all or some of the people? Fortunately, a few. Unfortunately, not her own grandfather though she knows he's in one of the albums. (He died when she was very young.) What does this mean for me? I now own pictures of nameless people and, though I won't even consider the "unmentionable", already know that unless I can put names to these faces, one day portions of this treasure will be relegated to "that" box - that unmarked grave of lost souls. I could cry over this for I know my great-grandfather will sit in "that box." All my current-day pictures are marked - but those newly acquired cardboard pictures?... *sigh* Will this nightmare I now face also happen to you or your children or (great) grandchildren? I hope not. Please cousins, talk to your grandparents and parents. Ask them to mark their pictures. I know, you'll do it tomorrow, right? Well, keep in mind you just don't know how long you're going to live! We've all heard the saying, "A mind is a terrible thing to waste." So is a family's heritage. SEMI-AVAILABLITY OF COLLEEN >From 27 June until 6 July I'll be on a vacation of sorts. After three long, long, long <g> years, I'm finally going to be seeing my two eldest children again! yaaay! This is the first opportunity we've all been able to schedule a reunion since my husband's and my return from Germany last year. So, I'll be taking a break to spend time with them. We'll be on the road, but I'll have my laptop with me so won't be completely out of touch with you (I couldn't begin to think of doing THAT! VBG) Effective 27 June I'll move over to my web-based e-mail address <ladyaudris@crosswinds.net>. You'll be able to reach me there though I won't be able to get online everyday. I'll send a reminder on the 27th so you won't forget and think I've left you high and dry (*shudder*). Since I can't guarantee that I'll be in a place to hook up my laptop there will not be a Coffee next week. KUZIN'S KORNER Jacquie Daniels, aka "Jak", <Jak@daniels.flexnet.co.uk> will be leaving for the Australian Olympics any hour now. Jak, YOU GO GIRL! As you step out on the competition line know that you have an entire online family rooting for you! We all wish you a safe trip and the ecstacy of winning an Olympic medal. May your arrows fly true with BOWER POWER!!! VBG BOW-ER, BOW-ER, BOW-ER! Family... it's what we're all about. I really enjoyed this time with you. It was so nice. I hope you all have a fantastic next two weeks. I wish you all the next 14 days filled with health, fun, productivity, and above all, filled with love. ) ( ) _.-~~-. (@\'--'/. Colleen ('``.__.'`) `..____.'