I recently learned of a wonderful school that existed in Scott County, Kentucky. I wrote to the Preservation Kentucky/Kentucky Heritage Council and they granted me permission to reprint the following article. It was a winning entry in the Photo-Essay Competition sponsored by Preservation Kentucky and the Kentucky Heritage Council. This particular essay was written for the 2002 competition by Sarah Miles, a home school student in Scott County. This is an annual contest and the 2005 regulations can be found on our website. We are always trying to spread the word about this contest, so any help that you can provide would be wonderful. (see http://www.preservationkentucky.org/news/PK_2002_Essays/High_02_1.html. I will be adding some data at the end of the article. "Preserving the Spirit of Place" 4rd Annual Preservation Week 2002 Photo-Essay Winners The Choctaw Academy by Sarah Jane Miles "When I first heard about the Choctaw Academy my reaction, like many others, was "the what"? In this essay I'm going to expand your knowledge of the Choctaw Academy. The Academy is hardly known to most Scott County citizens, and it was once know throughout the United States as the best-civilized school for Indians. The Choctaw Academy has only one building left; I plan to show you why I think the building should be reserved for future generations. It is one thing to read and write about history, but is another thing to personally see and stand next to that same spot where history was made. The Choctaw Academy is located on Blue Springs farm, a beautiful homestead with rolling hills, hand made rock fences, and a sparkling spring. In the year 1818, Richard M. Johnson, future Vice-President under Martin Van Buren, feeling led to help the Indians, donated land right next to his home to the Kentucky Baptists Mission Society for building an academy that would educate and civilize the Indians. This land was known as Blue Springs. Consequently, the academy was built consisting of five buildings. The academy itself was a two-story stone building; there were three buildings for living quarters and dining, and one frame structure. It was first opened in 1819, but was closed shortly after in 1821. It was not reopened until after 1825, when Richard Johnson made a treaty with the Choctaw nation promising to give the money received from the sale of Indian territory to the education of Indian children. Around twenty-five young Choctaw Chief's sons, ranging from ages 13-24, were sent to the Choctaw Academy becoming the first teenage boys in the school. They each were given a new American name like Davis Fry, Adam Nail, John Wade, Daniel Miller, and Thomp McKenny. Reverend Thomas Henderson, a strong Christian man, was selected to be the overseer of the school. The Indians were taught reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, geography, practical surveying, astronomy, and vocal music. If the students wished, they could also work in a trades shop for making shoes, building wagons, running a tailor store or a blacksmith shop. Also a fund was given to each Indian (who participated in the trade shop) to enable them to buy instruments and tools to start their own trade on returning home. There was plenty of land outside for the boys to have fun playing games, running or relaxing in their spare time. Other Indian nations soon saw the quality and education the Choctaws received, and joined the Choctaw Academy including: Chickasaws, Cherokees, Foxes, Miamies, Osages, Pottowatomies, Seminoles, and Quapaws, also attending were local black and white boys from nearby farms. By 1830, the Academy was in full bloom with over a hundred students. Choctaw Academy kept growing so much that by 1831, they decided to move to White Sulphur, a nearby farm also owned by Richard M. Johnson. Rev. Thomas Henderson expressed his feelings of success when he learned that pupils from the Choctaw Academy were putting to use what they had learned and were behaving as Christians. Many graduated students had written him stories about their newly found jobs. One student had opened a blacksmith shop, another was running a shoe and boot store, and one had just become a teacher. Hearing these stories made Henderson value the work and effort he put into the academy, knowing that the students would grow and apply their knowledge. Like most schools, the Choctaw Academy had to face some mischievous rumors. In 1839, a group of boys wrote a letter about their suffering to Mr. Armstrong, who recruited Indians for the Choctaw Academy. Many people believed the letter to be lies told from ill-behaved boys who just wanted to go home, but never-the-less more examinations were made. Even thought the Choctaw Academy went through numerous more inspections to prove its quality and even selected a Choctaw named Peter Pitchlynn, to fill in the space Rev. Henderson's retirement left, many parents refused to send their children. Some think that the refusal from some of the Indians was what caused the Choctaw Academy to close but that is not true. With the Indians starting to build their own schools in their land, there was no use in going to a school that was miles away in Kentucky. So in 1845, the Choctaw Academy came to an end. But for twenty years the Choctaw Academy had the privilege of educating many generations of Indians and seeing them grow with the nation. Some of these young men were: Lewis Downing, George W. Harkins, Peter Pitchlynn, Robert Jones, William Smallwood, the Leflores, the Folsoms, and the Nails. There is only one building left, believed to be a living quarter, because of a fire. The Choctaw Academy building has survived for almost two hundred years and I think it would be wonderful if it could be preserved for future generations to tell the story that it has experienced even if it was for only a small period of time. It represents the accomplishments of many Kentuckians, who overcame the prejudice of that time, to prove that if you work hard and follow your heart; you can accomplish something great for yourself and others. Next to the school is a small hill where some of the young boys attending the Choctaw Academy died from the Cholera epidemic; I believe this should also have a sign placed on it telling about the students of Choctaw and their accomplishments. References were gathered from "Scott County: a History", "Chronicles of Oklahoma", "Col. Richard M. Johnson of Kentucky", and "History of Scott County". Additional notes: As noted in the article above, students at the Academy were given Americanized names; most did not like these names and when they went back to their tribes, reassumed their Indian names. Tracing most of the students who attended there thus becomes an almost impossible task. Carolyn Foreman wrote an extensive series of articles on the Academy and transcribed several lists of students who attended in the years 1829-1839. These were published in the Chronicles of Oklahoma - Vol VI, #4, December 1928 pp. 453-480, list of students 1829; Vol IX, #4, Dec. 1931, pp. 382-411, list of students 1834; Vol X, #1, March 1932, pp. 76-114, lists of students 1835, 1836, 1838, 1839. The following is a transcription of a report written in October 1838 listing the students then enrolled. My thanks for her transcription efforts and I will show what she was able to copy. Again, these are the American names assigned. "A list showing the names, ages, and tribe of each student in the Choctaws Academy in Scott County, Kentucky on the 1st of October 1838. There are 152 Indian youths in this institution generally in good health, good condition and well contented. The teaching and boarding departments are well conducted with a sufficient number of competent and efficient teachers well supplied with books, stationary and school apparatus; and also with ample supplies of wholesome provisions and comfortable bedding--The workshops are well managed by good foremen and are in a prosperous condition--The medical department is very successfully conducted by Dr. Adam Nail a student of this institution with the occasional aid of other physicians.--All of which is most respectfully submitted. Thos. Henderson, Supt." CHOCTAWS (shows name and age): John Weslley, 21; A. C. Welch, 12; Walt McCan, 21; William Simpson, 16; Brown Nelson, 20; Marcus Hays, 12; Brainard Millard, 20; Simon Willis, 18; James N. Trahum, 22; Tom Hays, 13; James D. Black, 20; Wilson Victor, 13; Coffee Folsom, 19; Osbourn Pursley, 14; Charles Henderson, 20; Joseph Vandever, 14; John R. Cotton, 20; Jonah Simpson, 13; George Gains, 18; Saml McKenney, 13; B. Worland, 18; Charles James, 13; Andrew West, 18; Penson Victor, 11; John McClour, 19; George Perkins, 17; C A Cajpbell, 18; William McClain, 13; Alex Wade, 18; C Columbus, 15; Adam Nail, 19; A Buckholts, 22; Geo W Trahum, 19; W B Pitchlynn, 14; Lewis Cass, 16; Amos Folsom, 15; Benjn. Franklin, 20; Reson Jones, 14; John Page, 16; Morgan Jones, 13; Robert Clerk, 16; John Hunter, 13; William Robus, 15; W C Perry, 13; Adam Christy, 18; C A Harris, 12; Charles Jones, 16; W A Holly, 14; Absolum Holson, 15; John Allen, 14; Jos P Lancaster, 15; N Hobert, 16; Jefferson Jenkins, 12; Saml Cornelius, 12; Ambrose Levine, 15; Alex Mackey, 11; Benjn Nail, 12; Richd Harkins, 19; Josh Folsom, 19; E C Folsom, 20. POTAIOTAMIES [sic] : Richd N. Johnson, 18; John B Durett, 11; James Jackson, 16; Anthony Mastair, 18; William Marshall, 15; Auguswtus Ceasor, 17; James Bones, 13; Henry A Sneed, 17; F A Daudeen, 11; James Winchel, 15; Robt M boyers, 16; M. Vanburan, 15; Thomas Evans, 18; Spear S Tipson, 18; A C Pepper, 18; John T Douglass, 8; L H Lands, 14; Lewis Humbert, 15; Joel P Poinset, 17; Tho McKinney, 19; Amos Kendall, 13. CHICKASAWS: Hughs L White, 1k6; J R Poke, 13; John E Anderson, 16; M Tarver, 14; B A Runnells, 16; L Alberson, 12; Saml Love, 13; William Brown, 14; Colbert Carter, 14; Jackson Frazier, 14; George Colbert, 14; Benjn Runnels, 13; Robt Johnson, 14; William Carrol, 13; Tho H. Benton, 14; John Duncan, 10; N Barton, 14; J B Duncan, 9. CHEROKEES: Phillip Watts, 19; C McIntosh, 15; C Campbell, 16; Charles Branham, 14; Sonora Hicks, 13; Edwd H Pinse, 12; Nicholas Smith, 14; M Bell, 12; Jefferson Rogers, 16; Lewis Downing, 12; David Miller, 16; E Crutchfield, 11; Ellis Fairling, 19; Josh Ross, 13; J B Fields, 15; SEMINOLES: W. T. Duvall, 16; J as D Waiscoat, 11; Wesley Thomas, 15; John H Eaton, 17; Geo W Hord, 15; F C McColla, 16; CREEKS: Tho Marshall, 16; James Henady, 13; Edwd Carr, 14; Porter Marshall, 15; Lucious Marshall, 14; Goliah Haiword, 19; Elijah Beaver, 14; PRAIRIEDUCHEIN: Jack C. Williams, 16; Augustes Garrett, 13; Robt J Waid, 15; David Garrett, 16; James Muir, 15; Lewis I Bryce, 17; Mitchel Forsythe, 13; William Campbell, 13; William Thorn, 11; CHICAGA: John Laterut, 22; Jos Walker, 14; Paul Hill, 21; Pierre Navoir, 16; Isaac P Berry, 19; Frances Page, 20; John T Jones, 16; L B Bertrand, 21; J T Sprags, 17; James H Hook, 6, Moses H Scott, 16. MIAMIES : William Cass, 18; Jack Laull/Lacell, 11; Willy Viley, 15; QUAPAIOS: Gilbert Lafayette, 17; Rufus King, 15 See also: http://jenniferhsrn2.homestead.com/choctaw.html for many more school rosters. As you can note, many children were named for U S heroes, some might have been named for citizens of Scott Co. (c) Copyright for presentation and work not obtained from others 10 Feb 2005 Colonel Sandi Gorin SCKY Links: http://www.public.asu.edu/~moore/Gorin.html Sandi's Puzzlers: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gensoup/gorin/puz.html Gorin Publishing: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/

TIP #526 GETTING FROM HERE TO THERE ON EARLY ROADS AND THROUGH COVERED BRIDGES In the beginning - of Kentucky that is - there were timbers, hills (called knobs), dense undergrowth and buffalo trails. Quite a challenge for the early settlers and explorers trying to bring their family, wagons, livestock and earthly belongings to the wilderness called Kentucky County Virginia; later the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The most important perhaps were the buffalo trails. I have been told many times that buffalo often traveled two by two, side by side, and this was the width of the pioneer wagon. The buffalo followed the same path each time, pounding down the ground each time into a solid "road" of packed dirt and small rock. Whether this is an urban legend or a factual statement I don't know but I do know that the pioneers did follow the buffalo trails. Thus began the Kentucky road system. I'm not going to go into a detailed study of all the original roads in Kentucky but a little about their importance and how it involved every able-bodied man and boy. One of the first tasks the settlers had to tackle after clearing out the timber, building their cabins, establishing a town or community and chasing of wild animals and Indians was building roads. In working with the "roads book" and the county order books of the earlier years, one will find several interesting things about these roads. 1 - Some of the first roads built led from the "city" to a water grist mill. Mills were erected early on the waterways to grind the grain to feed the people and the livestock. So many petitions will be found in the records of "viewing the way for a road from such and such town to so and so's mill. 2 - Another set of early roads led to adjacent counties or "to the state line." This was of course to enable the citizens to travel more easily to other areas and to get produce in and out. 3 - Roads within the town were critical. I'll describe those in a minute; they were great "fun". 4 - And, last but not least, roads leading to city and county officials' homes ranked very high. It seemed that the city and county leaders were insistent that they have good roads coming right to their front door! What did the roads look like? Not much. It appears that when a road was established, everyone's land where the road crossed had to give permission. Sometimes the land owners protested as it might have taken some of their good land and they wanted the road moved. Once everyone agreed and the surveyors had laid out a tentative route, it came up for a vote and if approved, the road was "established." Then the road was divided up into precincts and each precinct or section had a supervisor, superintendent (various names) in charge of not only building that section of road, but to keep it passable. He then had "hands" appointed to serve with him and every year that road was checked out to be sure it was passable. Of genealogical interest in the road books (if all counties still have these books, also found in the county order books), is that all the "hands" serving on a portion of the road would have been neighbors. Thus, if you find Robert Roadbuilder as the road boss for a section with hands Don Dirthauler, Roger Rockthrower and Samuel Shovelman working with him, these were his neighbors along that road. Did problems arise? Oh, yes. Robert Roadbuilder might shirk his duties and Don, Roger and Samuel give up. When the road was next checked, fallen trees might lie across the road, potholes deep enough to bury a wagon were evident and rocks thrown by a nearby farmer tossed into the road. Reprimands and even fines could be following or a total replacement of the supervisor. It was a constant battle to keep these roads passable, if we could really call them roads. They were barely ruts, finally up to 18 feet wide and passage along these roads could be limited by the willingness of the crew to work and the elements. Town roads fared better normally; the town fathers saw these daily. But they were nothing to write home about. Just dirt, rutted and looking much like the roads seen in old westerns where the young ladies had to hoist their skirts over their ankles to cross the street with the mud holes and the wagons splashing mud all over the citizenry. It was not until years later that the technique called macadaming the roads appeared. Some streets were covered with wooden planks to cover the mud holes but that wasn't much of an improvement. The road crew also had other responsibilities - that of building bridges over the waterways. Some were just basic bridges which amazingly were wonderfully done and held up for many years. The hardest though of the bridges and the most beautiful were the covered bridges. They were not only awesome to the eye but served the purpose of protecting people, livestock and wagons crossing. At one time more than 400 wooden bridges were to be found in Kentucky, but most of these have been torn down or fallen down after many years of traffic. Local woodworkers joined with the road crew to erect these bridges; there was much lumber available with which to build them. There was a complex system of trusses holding the roof and sides in place. The builders could build the bridge on the shore and then roll it into place, pulling and pushing while standing in the water The sides were then built and the roof followed. As with the roads, every male over 16 who was in good physical health had to assist in the building and maintenance of the bridge. There was a certain number of hours each year that each male citizen was required to put in. Today, there are only 13 covered bridges to be found in Kentucky, most built later than the pioneer days which have fallen down many years ago. Bourbon Co: The Colville Bridge was built ca 1877 and is called a double post and brace design. Bracken Co: Walcot Bridge (also known as White Bridge), built in the 1880's. Fleming Co: Goddard Bridge, constructed between 1865 and 1870. Ringos Mill Bridge was built in 1869 near a gristmill. Franklin Co: Switzer Bridge, built 1855 - 120 feet long and 11 feet 6 inches wide, 12 feet high Greenup Co: Oldtown Bridge, built ca 1800. Bennett's Mill Bridge, built ca 1856. This is the longest Standing covered bridge in KY - 155 feet long and is still being used! Lewis Co: Cabin Creek Bridge, built 1873, also known as Rectorville Bridge or Mackey-Hughes Bridge Mason Co: Dover Bridge - a toll bridge built 1835. Valley Pike Bridge, built 1864, still in use. Robertson Co: Johnson Creek Bridge, built 1874 Washington Co: Beech Fork Bridge, also known as the Mooresville Bridge, built 1865. Longest double span bridge, each span is 102 feet long. For a look online at some Kentucky covered bridges, I recommend the following: http://www.millenniumhwy.net/coveredbridges/coveredbridges.html For some idea of the construction of the covered bridge, go to: http://www.summerville-novascotia.com/CoveredBridges/Plans/ This is from a Canadian site and newer (1920) but will give you some idea of the construction necessary. I think we're getting a little better view of how our ancestors lived. They were not only building their own family homes, cleaning out fields of trees and rocks, encountering wild life, watching for Indians, establishing towns, building churches, setting up city and county governments, grinding grain, working on their trades of blacksmithing, carpentry, etc. but in their spare time they were riding patrol to keep the country safe and building roads and bridges. And we complain about commuting to an air conditioned office with massive computer systems and the coffee machine or in our home with washers and dryers, microwave ovens, cable TV, computers that allow us to search the world for information - how times have changed! And, the next time you are driving down a bumpy country lane in Kentucky (or any state), remember, years ago, two lumbering buffalo might have huffed and puffed along this route! (c) Copyright 3 February 2005, Sandra K. Gorin Colonel Sandi Gorin SCKY Links: http://www.public.asu.edu/~moore/Gorin.html Sandi's Puzzlers: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gensoup/gorin/puz.html Gorin Publishing: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/

TIP #525 MY DOMICILE, SWEET KENTUCKY DOMICILE Today I am going to look at little bit at Kentucky architecture - or, what did our Kentucky pioneer homes up to the 18th century look like? To get a better picture in our mind about our ancestors, we need extra information other than the dates as I have said over and over. Take a look at your pedigree charts. Do you see a name and a batch of dates? Like wooden stick people, one dimensional, they look back at us. In many of my tips, I'm trying to put life back into them via the written word and photographs/diagrams. Then, hopefully, when you look at that pedigree chart or family sheet you will look beyond the name and date and see them in your mind's eye as they go about their daily lives; the work they do, and today, the places they lived. I will divide our homes into various periods of time and you can place your family in the appropriate category. I will also divide this study into two categories: The folk architecture and the homes of the more monied. Folk architecture would be characterized by the more primitive, "meets the basic needs" style home. In other words, normal working people - farmers, blacksmiths, small town Kentucky. Their houses reflected their roots; British, Irish, central European. At first, many tried to style their houses much as they had known as a child and, as years passed, modified them based on the availability of materials, climates and money available. Soon their houses became American with their own individual styles, some bearing no resemblance to the past heritage. Single-pen: Most of the early houses were very small one or two unit buildings. The first was called a single-pen house - it has one main section, normally one story. Some had two stories with the second "floor" being a loft where many slept in large families. Most had just one room; some had a partition to divide the structure into two equal sized units making two rooms. It is hard to imagine the large families of the past co-existing into a one room cabin. A sample picture of a single-pen house can be found at: http://www.nwk.usace.army.mil/harryst/logcabin.htm (Harry S Truman's log cabin home in the Ozarks). A saddlebag house was built with two equal sized rooms built around a central chimney which served both rooms. A sample of this style can be found at: http://www.illinoishistory.gov/hs/Log.htm (Abraham Lincoln's home - space down the page to near the bottom for a better view). A double-pen house had exterior end chimneys. If there was an open passage between the two sections or "pens", then it was called a dogtrot house. Later many people closed in the dogtrot which created a central aisle or passage between the two units. A photo can be found at: http://www.texasescapes.com/CentralTexasTownsNorth/ComancheTexas/ComancheCou ntyCourthouses.htm (about 1/4th way down the page). I-house: A larger cabin style house was sometimes called an I-house. It had a central passage, is two stories tall and is only a single room in depth. These are found in Kentucky and Tennessee and indicated people of moderate money living in the country. An I-house which has been built onto many times is shown at: http://www.floydsfork.org/ht/ht_tylerbuildings.htm#The%20Main%20House The shotgun style house is found in some of the larger cities in Kentucky, particularly in Louisville was said to have been influenced by those who had seen African and Caribbean homes. It was one room wide and many rooms deep. See: http://bywater.org/Arch/shotgun.htm for some wonderful pictures and more descriptions. What were these homes built of? Normally, what was available locally. From logs to stone, brick, frame and vertical plank. Now, let's look at some more formal housing styles. As noted above, the early Kentucky pioneers came from many locations with the largest settlements being from Virginia, the Carolinas and Pennsylvania. With them came the knowledge of how their homes had looked on the eastern shores as well as in the Old World. 1780's. Stone and brick were the construction materials of choice. Residences many times took the form of a two-story, gable-ended structure. By the mid 1780's, brick was becoming more and more popular with the upper crust as more could be done with it. Houses built during this time period were called Georgian-Federal in their styling. The layouts were symetrical; the doorways were ornate and the house had many cornices. They had hipped roofs. http://www.wakefieldma.org/architecture.html Roman, Renaissance, Classical. Championed by Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson County's third courthouse which was built between 1810-1812 reflects this style of architecture. Kentucky was the first to develop this style; Matthew Kennedy designed, in 1814, a similar design for Transylvania College's main building; and the Roman Catholic Proto-Cathedral in Bardstown KY was built in this style in 1816. http://www.bardstown.com/~stjoe/ In the 1820's the Greek Revival style gained in popularity thanks to Gideon Shryock who designed the 3rd courthouse in Jefferson County. Other famous architects who designed in Kentucky were Maj. Thomas Lewinski (designing for the Kentucky arisocracy). http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/greekrev.html Gothic Revival was popular during the same time as Green Revival. Steep roofs, 1-3 gables, highly decorated, Gothic arches on windows. John Rogers built St Thomas Church in Nelson County in 1816; Hugh Roland designed the Roman Catholic Chapel of St Louis in Louisville (the earliest of this style found); Nathaniel Cook of Frankfort designed the Kentucky Arsenal in 1849-50 and the Good Shepherd Church in Frankfort (1850). http://www.military.ky.gov/kyngemus/by_armory/arsenal.htm By the 1840's and 1850's new building materials and techniques emerged; lumber could now be machine cut and machine-made wire was available. Cast iron along with terra cotta appeared and the buildings stated getting taller; those skyscrapers could be 5 stories tall! And, in the 1850's the Italiante style became popular. These buildings had low pitched roofs, overhanging eaves; the windows were quite tall and narrow; and cupolas appeared on the roofs. An example of this style would be the Customs House in Louisville (designed by E E Williams in 1853) and Lewinski's Deaf and Dumb Asylum in Danville KY (built 1854). Isaiah Rogers designed about 1852 and his most famous works here would include the Capital Hotel in Frankfort and the Louisville Hotel of 1854. http://architecture.about.com/library/bl-italianate.htm Also, in the 1850's buildings with cast-fronts appeared. John McMurtry designed the Elliott & Craig Building in Lexington. Miles Greenwood of Cincinnati manufactured the iron front in 1858. Henry Platt Bradshaw came to Louisville in 1859 from England and provided designs for the Louisville City Hall and the Louisville Steam & Power Co. But everything came to a slow halt in Kentucky for awhile. A period of depression hit in 1857, followed by the Civil War. As the country slowly rose to its feet, many of the older styles of architecture faded from popularity including Greek and Gothic Revival. Victorian eclecticism combined with the Gothic and the Italiante and what was known as the French Second Empire. Other styles flourished also: Eastlake, Queen Anne, Jacobean, French Baroque, Rococo, Moorish, Flemish, Venetian Gothic. See the following: Victorian eclecticism: http://www.victorianbazaar.com/homes.html French Second Empire: http://www.uvm.edu/~vhnet/histarch/haas05.html Eastlake: http://www.normal.org/HistoricPreservation/ArchitecturalStyles.htm (go down to Victorian cottage) Queen Anne: http://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0,1607,7-151-9620_11154_11189-29348--,00.html Jacobean: http://www.totaltravel.co.uk/travel/london/chilterns/richmond-upon-thames/ph otos/ham-house French Baroque: http://www.madamebonancieux.com/fr_baroque.html Rococo: http://www.pitt.edu/~tokerism/0040/rococo.html Moorish: http://www.victorianweb.org/art/design/moorish/hackford1.html Flemish: http://www.explorenyc.com/Oldest-Newest/flemish.html Venetian Gothic: http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0001560.html The earliest Victorian architecture building in Kentucky was in Bourbon County, the courthouse, designed by Albert C. Nash from Sweden but residing in Lexington. From 1885 until 1900, the Chicago School of architecture was popular. This included Richardsonian Romanesque, High Victorian Gothic Beaux Arts and Colonial Revival. Henry Hobson Richardson developed the Richardsonian Romanesque which included round-toped windows and entrances; masonry walls of rough finish. The Fayette County courthouse of 1898 was built in this style. The High Victorian Gothic came to the states from England; introduced in Kentucky by Peter Bonnett Wright of New York. Other buildings in these designs was the 1891 Nelson County courthouse, the Hopkins County Courthouse (1892) Colonial Revival was popular from 1893 up to WW II. Sites to check: RichardsonianRomanesque: http://www.watsonschoice.com/GuideBook/Attractions/HistoricUniontown.htm High Victorian Gothic: See next Gothic: http://architecture.about.com/library/weekly/aa061200a.htm Beaux Arts: http://architecture.about.com/library/bl-beauxarts.htm Colonial Revival: http://architecture.about.com/library/bl-colonialrevival.htm Well, our tour of architecture in Kentucky has ended. Every house style existed in Kentucky and many still stand. Which house reflects your personality and pleasure? Me .. oh, I'm a country girl and I'll take a double-pen cabin with an enclosed dog trot any times. Additional information obtained from the Kentucky Encyclopedia, John E Kleber, University Press of Kentucky, (c) 1992, Second printing. (c) Copyright 27 Jan 2005, Sandra K. Gorin Colonel Sandi Gorin SCKY Links: http://www.public.asu.edu/~moore/Gorin.html Sandi's Puzzlers: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gensoup/gorin/puz.html Gorin Publishing: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/

TIP #524 BEGINING AT A WHITE OAK OR SOME KIND OF A TREE! I must admit that platting your ancestor's land in Kentucky can be downright confusing. Unlike other northern states (and likely a lot others), the old deeds in Kentucky can be confusing to read. Everything is based on trees which are no longer there, rocks, poles .... there's no way you say to even figure out what your ancestor's land looked like! Everything is based also on the nearest waterway - which might be some distance away, and neighbor's lands as the "lines" on all sides of the deed. For this tip, I want you to get a pencil, a calculator, a ruler and if possible, some graph paper. I'm going to try to teach you how to draw the plat of a pretend ancestor and then you can dig out your Kentucky deeds and try your hand. First of all - the old deeds mention poles and links, not inches and feet. So, note down on a piece of paper somewhere that 1 inch equals 126 poles. Thus, if we divide the poles shown in the description of the land by 126, we know how long to draw each side. We are most familiar likely with what is known as 15 minute maps which mean that 1 mile equals 1 inch. (Some other maps use a 7.5 minute map which means 1 cm equals .25 km. ) On a 7.5 minute map we can convert 1 inch to equal 320 poles. Don't get confused now, it'll all work out! On your graph paper draw an arrow off in the corner pointing north (always pointing at the top of the map). Jot down the scale you're using and we'll stick with the 15 minute map. Draw an arrow showing the direction you're going. And along the lines you'll be drawing write the call. The call? What's that? Let's take a minute to learn some terns that aren't in our vocabulary unless we use them daily. beg means beginning - where we're going to start Call means the line or the boundary cor means corner fk means a fork ln means line - the path we'll be following p means pole/perch, rods - all are equal to 16.5 feet rd means road (not too many of these in the earliest days!) Since a lot is based on trees, I think you can figure out their abbreviations such hick for hickory, wo or w/o for white oak, ro or r/o for read oak; most of the times the type of tree is written out or abbreviated enough to be recognizable. But, their spellings are varied! And, as a little refresher of measurements ... An acre is 160 square rods, 43,560 square feet or 1/640 square mile A chain, with which they measured, is a constant 80 chains for each mile. Each chain is 66 feet long and has 100 links. A degree - back to high school math, is 1/360th of the distance around a circle. A link was 1/100th of a chain (see above) and was 7.92 inches or 25 links or 1 rod long. Metes and bounds is the way the survey was taken with the measurements being the metes and the Boundary markers being the bounds. Stick with me and you might print these definitions off so you can refer to them later! Now let's look at Samuel Stickinthemud's deed. See if you can work with me through this. Samuel Stickinthemud lived in Swampland County (you know I'm making this up I hope!) The property is shown "on Stinky Creek" and here is the description of the land: Beginning on a read oak. Thence due west 120 poles to a white oak and a dying elm Thence due north 160 poles to a hickory Thence north 80 degrees east, 300 poles to a poplar Thence due south 200 poles to a marked rock Thence South 65 degrees west 160 poles to 2 scrub brush trees on the bank of a pond Thence north 60 poles to the beginning. You've marked a starting point somewhere on the paper so we'll begin right on that dot which you have labeled "red oak" Step 1 - due west 120 poles to a white oak and dying elm. Take that 120 poles and divide by 126 (refer back to the paragraph "First of all..." and that will give us .95 inches. Lay your ruler on the paper and draw a line straight west going approximately .95 inches. That line ends on a white oak and dying elm, draw a dot at the end of the line you've just drawn and write in beside it "white oak and dying elm". Step 2 - due north 160 poles to a hickory. Divide the 160 by that good old 126 and that will give you 1.27 inches. Lay your ruler at the point you marked in step #1 and extend the line north 1.27 inches. At the end of the line write to the side "hickory". Step 3 - north 80 degrees east, 300 poles to a poplar. Zero degree always means due north and south. So this is 80 degrees towards the east of north and south. Divide the 300 poles by 126 giving you 2.38 inches slightly north east (you can use a compass or other device to make this exactly 80 degrees off of north). At your dot at the end of this line indicate "poplar" Step 4 - South 200 poles to a marked rock. Divide 200 by 1.26 giving you 1.59 inches. From your last point draw a line 1.59 inches due south and at the end of this line put a dot and mark to the side "marked rock." Step 5 - South 65 degrees west 160 poles to the scrub brushes at the bank of a pond. Again, from your last line's ending angle south approximately 65 degrees and how long will be it? Yes 160 divided by 126 and this line will be 1.27 inches long. Step 6 - north 60 poles to the beginning. I think you're ahead of me now, 60 divided by 1.26 indicates .48 inches and you hopefully will be close to the beginning. Now - look at your deed again and see if property lines are mentioned. If for example on step 2 it mentions John Jumpinghigh's line being there, write his name above that line. Fill in as many names as you can. It may help you physically locate the land on a topo map. Now - there are glitches along the way. Due to surveying errors (or inability to survey part of the property due to physical obstacles) some property lines won't close up or match. Some land plats come out looking very strange indeed. You're blessed if the land comes up to a river or some well known landscape feature which may still exist today. This is one reason that the county surveyor had to go out and re-survey many of the plats (also called processioneering): the trees had died or been cut down; a rock moved or the neighbor thought that good old Sam was moving in on his property. At the death of a land owner lands had to be re-surveyed also to distribute equally to the heirs (if so noted in the will) so that everyone had about the same amount of land, all had access to the waterway or roads. This is just a simple overview of platting; I know there are software programs that will do this in a jiffy, but for those of us who do not have these programs, it's fun to learn how to do it ourselves. Tracing your ancestor's property is complicated as land was divided up so many times. The ancestor might have started out with 3,000 acres and over his life, gave some to his children, sold part of it, forgot to record some of it ... never mentioned houses most times . But the only way to tackle it is to start at the beginning and plat it out. It makes a lovely addition to your family history to include a plat map. Many times, we have to work backward starting with the current owner and it's description. Find out who they bought the land from. Find that deed in the deed book and find out who they bought it from and work backwards as far as you can. Sometimes the researcher can go back several generations - sometimes they'll get stuck because of all the divisions of the land. Good luck! (c) Copyright 20 January 2005, Sandra K. Gorin Colonel Sandi Gorin SCKY Links: http://www.public.asu.edu/~moore/Gorin.html Sandi's Puzzlers: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gensoup/gorin/puz.html Gorin Publishing: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/

TIP #523 - FIRE! Thanks for the tremendous response to the tip of last week on the railroading days. This week, I'd like to look at another unsung hero whose job has changed a lot over the years, but still has the same goal - the saving of human lives and if possible, saving of homes, businesses, barns and many structures. From the earliest fireman to those who gave their lives on 911 and beyond, the fireman is a noble breed with tremendous bravery. For my main source for this tip are the minutes of the city where I live, Glasgow, Kentucky. Other sources will be shown. Think back into the early to mid 1800's when most homes were constructed of wood and the woods were close to the homes. Not many brick structures yet dotted the landslide although some of the more affluent could afford to build brick structures. Burning was done outside the house or cabin; cooking was done on a fireplace in the cabin or in an outside kitchen in a separate structure. Hook and ladders hadn't been invented yet and each city had to prepare for fires. At a meeting here in February 1840, the Board of Trustees took up the matter of creating a fire department. Before the advent of the fire department of course, fires were put out by bucket brigades manned by friends and neighbors. But, now it was time to organize a special department trained to put out fires and to organize the citizens so they could help. I imagine the rules were the same in all small communities with some variations but here are the regulations here: 1. All male citizens from the age of 18 to 55 were required to enroll their names at the City Clerk's office and be available to serve in the Glasgow Fire Company. 2. Officers to consist of 3 Directors, 1 first engineer, 1 second engineer, twelve 3rd engineers, four fire men; these to be appointed by the Trustees of the town. The city was responsible for appointing others due to death, resignation or removal. 3. Within 20 days all those appointed in #2 had to assemble on the square and have drills which were conducted monthly. Fines were issued to those who failed to show up (25 cents). The Directors were to procure a cap for each of the officers and firemen with a personal number on it. The officers were to also procure a "speaking trumpet" to give orders so he can be heard. 4. The #3 engineers should, when signaled for a fire, "repair in haste" to the place where the engine is kept and then take orders from the #1 engineer (or in his absence, the #2 engineer). A $2.00 fine was imposed if these steps were not followed. 5. Houses were designated 1st class, 2nd class and 3rd class. The first class houses were those worth from $3,000-$4,000 and the owners were issued 3 fire buckets. Second class houses were worth $2,000-$3,000 and they received 2 fire buckets. 3rd class houses were those worth from $1,000-2,000 and they received one fire bucket. The owners of the homes had to purchase their own buckets as a price of $2.00, $4.00 and $6.00 depending on the classification. Citizens refusing to pay for their fire buckets were fined from $3.00-$10.00 and then $1.00 a month for every month they refused. 6. The city was charged with buying the buckets, of fine leather, and carve or paint on each bucket the name or the first letter of the name of the citizen who purchased them, then delivering them to the home owner. 7. The home owner was to place the fire bucket over their front door to make it convenient for grabbing in case of fire. If the individual refused or failed to hang the bucket where it belonged, they would be fined from 25 cents to $5.00 for each offense and fined every 24 hours thereafter. The Fire Engine: For some great photos of the old fire wagons (horse drawn) and fire engines, go to: http://www.famousfoto.com/fire_photos.htm Originally, the fire wagon was pulled by manpower, but was finally replaced by horses. In many locations, the replacement of man by beast was fought against as it was felt it would put men out of work who were trained to pull the wagon. For an interesting story from New York, check out: http://www.equisearch.com/lifestyle/thelife/eqfirehors535/ Some wonderful firefighting Currier and Ives scenes of olden times can be found at: http://www.hammerdown.com/c_i_prints.html One fire department described how the horses were trained to pull the wagons: Through the years, the Fire Dept. used horse drawn equipment utilizing 12 horses, with four being stabled at any given time. The horses were trained so that in the least amount of time the wagons could roll. The horses stables were in the rear of the Fire Barn, with the wagons located near the front doors. The horses harnesses were suspended on a hook above the wagon tongue. When the alarm sounded the stable gate would automatically open and the trained horses would bolt to their positions at the wagon tongue as the harnesses would drop on their backs and be fastened to the wagon. The on duty horses always had their bits in their mouth and bridles on. The bits were removed only during feeding time. The old-time firefighters would testify they could harness their horses and be out of the station as fast as the modern firemen could do the same with their motorized trucks. The training of these horses was handled in a very unique manner. A rope was tied to the horse's bridle, with the other end attached to the wagon tongue. As the alarm sounded, a man, standing behind the horse, would touch the horse with the whip and the horse would follow his natural instinct to the wagon tongue where he was fastened in his harness. This practice was repeated until the response from the horse was automatic. In the early days of the horse drawn fire wagons it was not unusual to see the wagons approaching turns at full speed, broadsiding the wagon around the turn and sometimes upsetting themselves, scattering hose and ladders about the street. http://www.geocities.com/heartland/pointe/7819/History2.htm Much has changed over the years; men were replaced by horses who were later put out to pasture and replaced by motor driven engines. The fire departments expanded and eventually had their own building. In most cities, the firemen are regularly paid employees of the city and when on duty, sleep and cook at their own facilities. The smaller communities to this day have the marvelous volunteer firemen who come running at the ring of their telephone to save a neighbor's farm or house. They do this without pay and many times without recognition of their hours of service. The fireman's environments may have changed, their equipment improved, their training intensified, but they are still, as they have been from the first bucket brigades, heroes. Thousands upon thousands have died in the line of service as they struggled to bring out a baby from a burning house, or had a building collapse on them. If any of your family members or ancestors were firemen, I hope you take the time to learn a little more about what they did, possibly some fires they fought, equipment they might have used; expand your genealogy past the proverbial names and dates. In closing, a little bit of trivia. No fire station worth it's salt (well most of them!) have a Dalmation dog riding beside them. Did you ever wonder why? There are three major reasons given by researchers of such things: Many years ago, Dalmatians were used to chase rats out of the fire stations and horse stables of London. The dogs also guided the horse-pulled fire wagons through city streets. Another suggestion is that these hard-working dogs were trained to escort the fire engine to protect the horses from stray dogs and other animals. The distinctive spots of the Dalmatian made it easy for the horses to distinguish from other dogs. Yet another - The dogs escorted the horse-drawn carriage in order to quiet the horses. Once on the scene, however, the dog had other duties as well, including safeguarding the fire equipment from vandalism and theft. (c) Copyright 13 January 2005. Colonel Sandi Gorin SCKY Links: http://www.public.asu.edu/~moore/Gorin.html Sandi's Puzzlers: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gensoup/gorin/puz.html Gorin Publishing: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/

TIP #522 - THOSE GLORIOUS RAILROAD DAYS Last week I introduced you to the major railroad lines that ran through Kentucky. This week, I have a confession to make and a little deeper look at the glorious days of railroad travel. I am totally in love with the railroad. In the little town in which I grew up, there was a train, I believe it was the Illinois Central. I didn't pay any attention to it then; it was merely an inconvenience when the school bus or your car had to wait for the slow-moving train to pass. Or on the school bus route where the train bridge was next to the old car bridge which terrified us as children - merely a bridge with two large boards that the bus driver had to keep the tires on or drop down on the bottom of the bridge - and likely into the creek. But, like the engineer on the train, the bus driver zoomed across safely and many times, a train would be on the train bridge at the same time. I remember the steam engine whistles but the memory is fading as I get older. But a little later on in my life, I started missing those old trains and was introduced to model railroading by my husband. Sad to say, box after box of model railroad supplies now sit in boxes in my attic with no place to display them again. I was the building architect; he did the "rolling stock", I did the buildings. Starting with kits, I soon grew bored and built hundreds of buildings from "scratch", modeling them after Gorin, MO which was named for our family. The town was fashioned back to the 1880-1920 time frame when railroads ruled. What is it that still fascinates us today with the power and majesty of the iron horse? What made it so important in the development of our nation that even today we look back at pre-Amtrak days to the old logging trains, cattle trains, passengers cars, single gauge lines? I could never begin to explain it, but in the mid 70's, we were able to ride a steam engine drawn train from St Louis over into IL and I was never the same. Not strong enough to pull even a few cars over the bridge into IL, we had to have diesel help, but oh the wonder of sticking your head out the open windows and feeling the wind on your face, along with a lot of soot and ashes; having a box lunch in a park ground while the train turned around, listening to the haunting whistle of the old engine as it approached street crossings and watching the smoke billow into the deep blue sky. Railroads in the past did more than connect little village to larger towns and provide a slightly faster and slightly more comfortable mode of transportation, it provided many thousands of people with an income. Kentucky, like other states had been a primarily agricultural state. Most incomes were derived from farming, blacksmithing, millwrights, harness makers, teachers and the like. But, with the coming of the railroad, occupations expanded. The blacksmith and harness makers learned new trades in order to exist; much like today when the keypunch machine, typewriters (to a certain extent), and other occupations that were common when we were children, have now disappeared into the annals of time. There were many types of railroads back in those wonderful days; not all just served passengers. Freight lines carried produce from the little farms to the big markets at Louisville or Nashville or down to New Orleans. Passenger lines were filled to capacity with family going to visit family; some traveling great distances for the first time - not on foot! Other trains carried strictly livestock to the stockyards at Louisville or Cincinnati; or grain from the fields of hard working farmers to the coasts. Some railroads were known as short-lines, going just within a certain territory; some crossed state lines. The short-lines often transferred their goods to the larger railroad lines, acting just as a small charter planes of today. And when competition got going strong, the little lines were bought out by the larger ones and many old railroad lines are known only in the memories of the older generations. During the Civil War, the railroads transported our soldiers and carried the weaponry - many didn't survive to see another day because of enemy attacks. And then suddenly, without our really noticing it, the railroad disappeared into Amtrak for passenger service and many of the freight lines merged. If any of your family or ancestors worked for the railroad, it was a proud career. Many areas of research can open up to you to add flavor to your family tree if you take the time to learn more about the railroad. What did they do? Conductors The most familiar to the passengers, took the tickets and provided for passengers Engineers Ran that mighty train Firemen Stoked the furnace to keep it hot enough Gandy dancers Laid the tracks Lineman Installed telegraph poles and strung lines Loaders Loaded freight, animals and grain Maintenance Worked on the train to keep it running Policemen Patrolled the railroad yards Porters Helped the people on and off the train Stationmasters Managed the local railway station Telegraphers Trained in Morse code to send messages back and forth There were many colorful terms used by railroad employees such as: Alley Clear the track in the railroad yard Anchor them Set the hand brakes Ashcat Fireman on a locomotive Bail it in Feed the firebox Bake head Locomotive fireman - also known as the bell ringer Ball of fire Train is running fast Ballast scorcher Engineer who is really speeding Barn Roundhouse for the locomotive Beat her on the back Run the engine at full stoke Beehive Yard office Binders Hand brakes Bird cage Lantern carried by brakeman or switchman Black diamonds Company coal Black hole Tunnel Black snake Loaded coal cars Blanket stiff Hobo Bobtail Switch engine Boiler ascension Explosion of the boiler Boiler header A man riding in the engine Chicken/turkey dressing Ballast Cripple A crippled locomotive or car Going back to the farm Laid off Running barefoot A railroad car without brakes This is just a sampling of expressions; I have accumulated about 20 pages of railroading terms. And, I might add, a railroading job was an extremely dangerous job. Many of a good man has lost his life. Which railroad? You should determine also which railroad your ancestor worked for and try to learn a little about the routes such as those I covered last week. Here are some sources for you to investigate: Railroad Retirement Board has a Web page at www.rrb.gov/funfacts2.html The following is courtesy of George Morgan: Another excellent Web-based resource for researching railroad history is that of the University of Connecticut Libraries, located at Storr, CT. The Railroad History Collections Web page at www.lib.uconn.edu/DoddCenter/ASC/raillist.htm is the portal into their own collection of railroad materials. In addition, the library has compiled an exceptional compendium called "Sources for Railroad History Research in the United States" at www.lib.uconn.edu/DoddCenter/ASC/BLC/Railroadlinks.htm. Likewise, you can locate a multitude of railroad history sites on your own using your Web browser and a search engine such as Google (www.google.com). Railroad History page (members.nbci.com/generanch/rails/), and the Railroad History Links by State (www.trainweb.org/wyomingrails/rrhist.html), among others. According to George Morgan, you can find maps such as housed at: http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/reference/maps/main.asp). We need to ascertain also if any records even exist that can help trace our family member. This can be a long process - is the railroad an original company, or has it merged with another line. Who kept the personnel records or do they still exist? Could they have been donated to a historical society or a major library? Would someone know that is a member of a railroad hobby club? Looking for records after 1936? Check http://rrb.gov/geneal.html. This is the US Railroad Retirement Board which was started in the 1930's. They charge $27.00 for a look-up for anyone who worked for the railroads after 1937 and is deceased. After you've found out all you can about your ancestor's occupation, what line he worked for, the time frame, then you can start writing letters. You might come away with a heavy heart as many records just did not survive. Some railroads (including the L&N) have published histories that might give you some information. It might not have your ancestor's name, but will give you an awesome overview of the life they lives! For a fee, you might check the Railroad Genealogical Society at http://www.rrgs.org. This is a fairly new organization that is collecting American and Canadian railroad records. They are blessed with a goodly supply of records from the Missouri-Kansas-Texas and the L&N railroads. It costs currently $20 per search for non-members but for that price it will continue searching for your family member as they add new records. (c) Copyright 6 Jan 2005, Sandra K. Gorin. Colonel Sandi Gorin SCKY Links: http://www.public.asu.edu/~moore/Gorin.html Sandi's Puzzlers: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gensoup/gorin/puz.html Gorin Publishing: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/

TIP #521 - KENTUCKY RAILROADS I've been asked to do another tip on the old Kentucky railroads - how did our ancestors get from here to there after the arrival of the iron horse? I will list below the railroad references I could find; if you know of additional, please write me privately and I'll put them in a future tip. These records were taken primarily from Collins' History of Kentucky, 1874. When once the pioneer rode horses and in carriages; they were now advancing into steam boats and railroads ... and travel they did! Below are the name of the railroads and the routes they took. Many town names shown in the counties were just stations and never developed into towns. Bowling Green Portage Railroad. This is considered by many as the first Kentucky railroad. James Rumsey Skiles came to Warren Co and served as a representative from there during the 1825-28 session. He with other business men formed a company to improve the narrow Green and Barren Rivers so steamboats could have access; urged the citizens to macadamize roads and develop a public transport system. The results of the latter was what was known as a portage railroad of horse-drawn carriages that traveled along wooden rails, built in 1832. Cincinnati Southern Railroad. This line was never fished from ran from Cincinnati to: Grant Co: Crittenden, Williamstown. Scott Co: Georgetown. Fayette Co: Lexington. Jessamine Co: Nicholasville, Clay Viaduct or Kentucky River Bridge. Boyle Co: Danville, South Danville to the L&N RR crossing, Point Isabel or Burnside to the TN state line. Cumberland & Ohio Railroad: This line was never finished but ran from Madison IN to Trimble Co: Milton, Bedford. Henry Co: Short Line, News Castle, Eminence. Shelby Co: Hornsby's, Collier, Shelbyville, Finchville, Veach. Spencer Co: Norman, Yoder, Taylorsville. Nelson Co: Bloomfield. Washington Co: Glenville, Grundy, Springfield. Marion Co: Lebanon, Muldrow, Campbellsville. Green Co: Greensburg. Metcalfe Co: Little Barren. Barren Co: Hiseville, Glasgow, Big Barren. Allen Co: Scottsville to the TN state line. Eastern Kentucky Railroad: This line started in Greenup Co and included: Riverton, Argillite, Hunnewell, Hopewell. In Carter Co: Grayson. Elizabethtown, Lexington and Big Sandy Railroad: This line ran between Lexington to Catlettsburg. In Fayette Co: Lexington, Athens, Combs Ferry. In Clark Co: Pine Grove, Winchester, Hedge. In Montgomery Co: Thurman, Mt Sterling. Kentucky Central Railroad: This line ran between Covington to Lexington serving the following towns: Covington, South Covington, DeCoursey, Culberton, Grant, Ryland, Canten, Mmullins, DeMossville (all Kenton Co), Butler, Meridian, Boston, Irving, Catawba, Falmouth, Livingood, Morgan (all Pendleton Co), Boyd, Berry, Robinson, Garnett, Poindexter, Cynthiana, Lair (all Harrison Co), Shawhan, Kiser, Talbott, Paris, Wright, Huston, Hutchison, Lowe (all Bourbon Co), Bryan, Duncan, Lexington, McLear (Fayette Co), Providence, Catnip Hill, Hill Dale and Nicholasville (all Jessamine Co). Lexington & Covington Railroad: This handled much of the new cattle industry after the opening of the Louisville stockyards in 1834. Unable to locate the route. Louisville & Nashville Railroad. Chartered in 1850 by the Kentucky General Assembly, this railroad became the dominant rail carrier before the Civil War. By 1920 it ran over 1,800 miles. The total list in early days included the following: Louisville to Nashville: Jefferson Co: Louisville, Strawberry, Randolph, Old Deposit. In Bullitt Co: Brooks, Shepherdsville, Bardstown, Belmont, Lebanon. In Hardin Co: Booth, Colesburg, Muldrow's Siding, Elizbethtown, Glendale, Nolin, Sonora, Upton. In Hart Co: Bacon Creek, Munfordville, Rowletts, Horse Cave. In Barren Co: Woodland, Cave City, Glasgow Junction [now Park City], Rocky Hill, Smith's Grove. In Warren Co: Oakland, Bristow, Bowling Green, Memphis, Rich Pond, Woodburn. In Simpson Co: Franklin - then on to TN. Louisville to Memphis TN: From Louisville to Warren Co: Bowling Green, Rockfield. In Logan Co; South Union, Auburn, McLeod, Russellville, Cave Cpring, Whipporwill, Olmstead. In Todd Co: Allensville and then into TN. Louisville to Glasgow in Barren Co: Glasgow Junction. Louisville to Bardstown. Went to Bullitt Co and included Bardstown Junction, Quarry Switch, Big Spring and Cave Spring. In Nelson Co: Sayers, Samuels, Nazareth, back to Bardstown. Knoxville Branch: Louisville to Livingston KY. In Bullitt Co; Lebanon. In Nelson Co: Boston, Nelson Furnace, New Haven, Gethsemane, New Hope. In Marion Co: Chicago, , Loretto, St Mary's, Lebanon, Penick, Riley, Gravel Switch. In Boyle Co: North Fork, Brumfield, Mitchellsburg, Parksville, Danville, Shelby City. In Lincoln Co: Stanford, Richmond, Hall's Gap, Crab Orchart, Gum Sulphur. In Rockcastle Co: Brudhed, Mt Guthrie, Mt Vernon, Pleasant Valley, Pine Hill, Round Stone to Livingston. Louisville to Richmond, KY: In Lincoln Co: Richmond Junction, Hayden, Gilbert's Creek. In Garrard Co: Lancaster, Hyattsville, Point Leavell. In Madison Co: Moran's Summit, Silver Creek, Duncannon, Harris to Richmond. Louisville, Cincinnati & Lexington Railroad: This was a short line and served the following stations: In Jefferson Co: Fairgrounds, Gilman, Woodlawn, Lyndon, Ormsby, Anchorage, Obannon. In Oldham Co: Pewee Valley, Rhorer, Baird, Brownsboro, Buckner, Legrange, Lexington. In Henry Co: Pendleton, Sulphur, Campbellsburg, Turner. In Carroll Co: Carrollton, Worthville, Eagle. In Gallatin Co: Liberty, Sparta, Glenscoe. In Grant Co: Elliston, Zion. In Boone Co: Verona, Walton. In Kenton Co: Bank Lick, Independence, Maurice, South Covington, Covington. In Campbell Co: Newport. Ended in Cincinnati. This railroad also ran from Louisville to Lexington going through the following stations: Louisville to Lexington Junction. In Henry Co: Jerico, Smithfield, Eminence, Belleview, Pleasureville. In Shelby Co: Croper, Christiansburg, Bagdad. In Franklin Co: North Benson, Frankfort. In Woodford Co: Ducker, Spring Station, Midway, back to Scott Co: Midway, Payne, Yarnallton. In Fayette Co: Lexington. Another route ran from Louisville to Shelbyville. In Jefferson Co: Anchorage, Williamson, Beckly, Taylor, Long Run, Connor. In Shelby Co: Simpsonville, Field, Scott, Hansbrough, Shelbyville. Louisville, Paducah & Southwestern Railroad: Known earlier as the Elizabet & Pad RR: Jefferson Co: Louisville, Pleasant Ridge Park, River View. Hardin Co: West Point, Cecilian Junction, Stephensburg, East View. Grayson Co: Big Clifty, Grayson Springs, Litchfield, Millwood, Caneyville. In Ohio Co: Spring Lick, Horse Branch, Rosine, Elm Lick, Beaver Dam, Hamilton, Render Coal Mines, Rockport. Muhlenburg Co: Green River, Nelson Creek, Owensboro, Greesnville, Gordon, Bakersport, Norton Junction, Henderson & Nashville RR, Woodruff, Tradewater. In Caldwell Co: Scottsburg, Princeton, Dulaney. In Lyon Co: Eddyville, Catawa, Cumberland River, The Narrows. In McCracken Co: Clear Pond to the Tennessee River, Calvert City, Lawton's Bluff, Clark's River, Paducah. Maysville and Lexington Railroad: This line ran between Maysville to Paris KY. The following towns were served: In Mason Co: Maysville, Summit, Clark, Marshall, Mill Creek. In Fleming Co: Johnson, Bruce, Elizaville, Ewing, Cowan. In Nicholas Co: Licking, Myers, Carlisle, Miller. In Bourbon Co: Millersburg, New Forest, Paris. In Fayette Co: Lexington. Mobile & Ohio Railroad: Ran between Louisville and Cincinnati and other areas carrying cattle from the Louisville Stockyards and the Cincinnati Stockyards. Started in Hickman Co at Columbus to Clinton, Moscow. Fulton Co: Jordan and then on to TN. Nashville &K Northwestern Railroad: Ran from Hickman KY to Nashville TN. In Fulton Co: Hickman to the State line. Owensboro and Russellville Railroad: Never finished but ran from: Daviess Co: Owensboro, Sutherland, Cow, Lewis. McLean Co: Riley, Livermore, Island, Stroad. Muhlenburg: South Carrolton, E&PR RR Junction. Paducah and Memphis Railroad: McCracken Co: Paducah, Bond, Florence. Graves Co: Lynden, Boaz, Viola, Hickory Grove, Mayfield, Pryor, Wingo. Hickman Co: Morse, Fulton - then on to TN. St. Louis and South Eastern Railroad: Came into Henderson Co and included Henderon, Randolplh, Alves, Busby, Robards. In Webster Co: Sebree City, Dixon Road, Slaughtersville. In Hopkins Co: Hanson, Madisonville, Earlington, Morton, Nortenville. In Christian Co: Petersburg, Crofton, Kelly, Hopkinsville, Caskey, Pembroke. In Todd Co: Trenton, Moore, Guthrie - then on to TN. (c) Copyright 30 Dec 2004, Sandra K. Gorin, All Rights Reserved Colonel Sandi Gorin SCKY Links: http://www.public.asu.edu/~moore/Gorin.html Sandi's Puzzlers: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gensoup/gorin/puz.html Gorin Publishing: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/

Back to researching tips next week! Sandi White Christmas: "Early in November 1944 I boarded a troop ship (a converted luxury liner) in San Francisco headed to the war in the Pacific. There were 4,000 other U.S. troops (including 500 WACs and 500 Aussie and New Zealand troops, who were returning home from the war in North Africa). The ship, the Monterey, followed the southern route far south of the Hawaiian Islands. Since we were unescorted, the ship zig-zaged all the way to New Caldonia dodging submarines. Therefore, the journey took about 30 days. I ate Thanksgiving dinner standing up shoulder to shoulder in the cramped mess hall as the ship pitched back and forth. The one pleasant thing about the trip was that there were about 15 USO units on board heading to the Pacific area to entertain the troops. Nearly every day one or another of the units would use the aft cargo hatch cover for a stage to practice their act. That was a great break in the boredom. This was the year that the movie "Holiday Inn" came out. It featured the song "White Christmas," which has since become a Christmas standard. The troop commander on the ship forbade any of the USO people to sing "White Christmas." He figured it would be bad for morale for troops heading into the unknown to hear a song that focused on home. Along about the last day out at sea, the Special Services Officer in charge of the USO group took the microphone to say a few words. His name was Capt. Lanny Ross. He identified himself as the same Lanny Ross who sang on the popular radio show of the time, "Showboat." It was a weekly show about life on a Mississippi riverboat. There was a Captain Willie, and singers Lulabelle and Skyland Scottie, a couple of comedians called Molasses and January and some other regulars on the show. Maybe, some of you remember it from the time before television. Capt. Ross told us to just sit back and pretend that we were kids back home sitting on the living room floor in front of the old Philco console radio. You know, that big wooden piece of furniture with the big glass dial, and knobs and a big cloth-covered speaker? He said we would turn on one of the knobs and we would hear "Moonlight and Roses," which was his theme song. He sang a couple of other songs for us and then the band struck up "White Christmas." He sang it all the way through and then led us while we all sang it. The colonel troop commander didn't say a word. All too quickly it was over. Instead of being demoralized, as the colonel had feared, we realized we were headed to action that would protect what we left back home. Although the future was uncertain for us, we knew what we had to do. I finally arrived at my post in New Guinea just before Christmas Day. It was almost comical. The guys who were already there had fashioned a scrawny Christmas Tree out of a scrap of broken lumber with a bunch of bent coat hangers for branches. They had tied colored toilet paper and cloth scraps on it for decorations. Of course, I didn't get any presents that year because my family did not know where I was. It was a pretty bleak Christmas but we all survived it. Some of my buddies did not survive events that happened later. They made it possible for me to have many, many "White Christmas" memories later. Christmas in Brazil: "There are three Christmases that stand out in my memory. I'd like to share them with you. As a child, we moved to Brazil when I was 5. We arrived the end of September, just before school started. The arrival of our household goods, however, was another matter. I vividly remember that first Christmas in Recife for two reasons - first, because our things hadn't arrived and at the time you couldn't find a Christmas tree for sale, so our tree that year was a well developed tree limb that we'd spray painted white, and the decorations were home made. The second reason that this Christmas was memorable is because the seasons in the Southern Hemosphere are the exact opposite of ours... Christmas fell in the middle of the summer. Going swimming at the beach which was only a couple of blocks from our house on that first Christmas day we'd spent in Brazil is something I'll never forget. Moving forward a couple of years, we'd returned "home" to the US to spend Christmas with our family. That year we spent Christmas day at my grandparent's home in Cumberland County. I'll never forget waking up that morning to falling snow. The temperatures were in the upper 30s, but we had about 8 inches of snow on the ground by the time the day was over. We kids had been outside all day sledding and building snowmen - something unheard of coming from the tropics, and that I didn't remember ever experiencing before. One of my most treasured memories, however, are the first couple of Christmases we were home to stay. Mom had 6 brothers and sisters. At the time, we still were able to get everyone (and their kids) together to celebrate a family Christmas. Because there were so many of us we always drew names. Those first couple of years, however, there was a special visitor to our celebration each year. Mom and I played "Santa Claus" and bought and wrapped gag gifts for everyone there. We managed to sneak them into the garage and leave them, then a note stuck on the tree instructed someone to go out to the garage and retrieve "a special surprise". A few of those gifts that I remember were a jump rope for my grandmother, a coloring book and crayons for "Grannie", an aunt's mother, a matchbox car for that cousin that was just turning old enough to get their driver's license, and one of the little boxes that had a cow painted on it and would "moo" when you turned it over. To this day, I'm not sure that anyone ever figured out who was "Santa". Christmas in Sweden: "thought you might like to see this little story my husband, Kenneth (from his life as a child in Sweden) wrote: "FOODS and SMELLS - MEMORIES of CHRISTMASES PAST." Christmas in the north of Sweden in the 1930s and 1940s was filled with memories of foods and smells that began several weeks before Christmas. Mother began baking about the 1st of December, first, cookies that could be preserved in sealed tin containers; but only after we, the eleven children, had tasted each of the 20 different kinds of cookies. Coffee breads came later, and closer to Christmas. The smells of baked goods were the smells I remember of Christmas. During this time Mother and "Mormor" (grandmother in America) also prepared sausage, head cheese, ham and lutfisk, and these foods had a certain associated aroma as did the newly cut Christmas tree that was brought in from the snowy woods on Christmas Eve. And, as the snow fell softly on trees and fields, we sat down by candle light for Christmas dinner, but we could not begin to eat until we had properly asked God for His blessing and thanked Him for the abundance of His gifts and his love. God Jul to all! (Evelyn) "There Goes Santa!" It was Christmas Eve, 1968 or '69. We had been to my in-laws home in Cleveland and were heading back home to Maple Heights, a Cleveland suburb. It was late and we were tired and we still had presents to assemble. Our two girls were in the back seat. I said something about getting home so they could get to bed so Santa would come. "No! I'm not sleepy!" came the response from both of them, so excited about Santa they couldn't sit still... or be quiet. I knew it would be several hours before they would wind down and fall asleep so we could put together that doll house and whatever else had to be assembled. Suddenly, in front of us, high in the sky, was the red flashing light of an airplane heading to the airport for landing. It was dark enough and the plane was still high enough that the girls didn't know it was just a plane. I let out a squeal, pointing to the light -- "Look, there's Santa... see Rudolph's nose flashing? Hurry Daddy and get us home so they can get to sleep quick or he won't stop and leave them any presents!" My husband played along with me and sped up just a bit. The two of us acted very excited and the excitement in the back seat could almost be cut with a knife. A few minutes later, we pulled into our driveway. Their father jumped out and ran to unlock the door, two little girls telling him "Hurry up Daddy... hurry up!!!" By the time I got in the house with the baby, got him settled in his crib and had my coat off, they were both in bed and sound asleep. I never saw two little girls move so fast or hit the bed so fast. Santa got the things assembled and we fell into bed about 2 or 3 in the morning. Of course, the girls were up just a couple of hours later so we didn't get much sleep. Would have been even less though if it hadn't been for Rudolph's nose being spotted by me. #2 It was about a month before Christmas. I had put up the tree and had things decorated. The tree looked so forlorn though with nothing under it yet, so I emptied several boxes...shoe boxes, cereal boxes, macaroni boxes, cookie boxes, margarine boxes, soap boxes, .. you name it and if I could empty it into something else I did it so I could have the boxes to wrap to put under the tree just for a little decoration until I got the presents home and wrapped. When the girls came in from school and saw all the "presents" they were so excited... "Who are they for Mommy?" "Never mind" said I. Now these 2 girls were always fighting. They fought from the time they got up until the time they went to bed. If one said it was day time the other said she was wrong. If one did if they didn't he was going to start burning the presents. Well... the girls knew that wouldn't happen... Daddy wouldn't throw them away or throw them into the fire roaring in the fireplace. Oh no... their Daddy wouldn't do that. Uh huh... <evil grin> A little while later they came into the living room, one tattling on the other about something and the other one denying it. Daddy didn't say a word. He went to the tree, picked up a "present", walked across the room to the fireplace, and in it went. He walked back over to his recliner, sat down, looked at them with their mouths hanging to the floor and tears welling up in their eyes and told them... "I warned you what I was going to do. Any more fighting and I'll burn another one." The girls didn't say a word. They went back to their room and we heard no more fighting until after Christmas that year. Every once in awhile for the next couple of weeks one of them would ask one of us whose present it was. "Doesn't matter... it's gone now." Those 2 little girls who were about 7 and 8 at that time, are grown women in their 40s today. A couple of years ago, at Christmas time, we were all sitting around and talking, me telling the story to new members of the family and friends, and everyone laughing. My oldest daughter looked at me and said, "Mom, you never did tell us who that present was for." We all had another good laugh when I confessed that it had been an empty box for decoration. My girls had been stewing about that burned "present" for over 30 years. A Special Christmas Gift: "I apologize for this being so late, but I had to wait to send my memory because she wasn't due until Dec 16 :) Last year my oldest son was serving on the U.S.S. Enterprise at Christmas on the other side of the world, his first Christmas away from home, also his daughters first Christmas. Thankfully he made it home and my best Christmas memory will be this one, my newest granddaughter, Emily Lynn, was born Dec 16, all my children are home and safe and they say it's gonna snow this week :) Have a Merry Christmas everyone :)" (Rena) Merry Christmas everyone from the Gorin house to yours! (c) 23 Dec 2004, All Rights Reserved

I am going to do something I haven't done before! You will receive 2 posts on Christmas - one today and one tomorrow. There were just so many beautiful memories - I don't want to just toss them out. So just count these as my gift to you the readers. Your response to these stories have been wonderful! Sandi To Mother from Santa: "This is a story about my mother who passed away October 2003. When she was a little girl her mother and father were divorced. She was an only child of that marriage but each parent remarried and had children with their new husband and wife. My mother didn't feel very wanted because she didn't feel like she belonged anywhere. Her step mother resented her and her step father resented her so when Christmas would come she didn't get much. One Christmas in particular she always remembered was at her grandmother's house, the Christmas tree seemed 20 feet tall. Of course when you are 5 it does seem tall. When they started passing around all the presents her step sisters got big presents that turned out to be beautiful dolls. She only got a small hand carved piece of wood that was of two birds eating a cracker. (Now it is a very cherished piece of course). But she was so hurt she went under the stairway and cried. As a child she never got a doll for Christmas and she always had wanted one year after year. The year of 2002 I knew my mother of 79 was not going to be around much longer and was afraid I wouldn't have another chance so I bought her a beautiful porcelain collector baby doll that reminded me of one that would have been purchased back in the 1920's or 1930's. I wrapped it and placed it under the tree that year at my brother's house without anyone knowing who it was from. I attached the note " December 25, 2002. Dear Bettie Lee, Mrs. Clause and I want to apologize for the delay in getting this gift to you. As we were planning for our trip last night we found this gift that was supposed to be delivered to you approximately 70 years ago. We found it tucked back behind some other toys. We are very sorry. Now we know why you were sitting under those stairs crying. It was because we forgot your gift. We hope you can forgive us, we didn't forget you on purpose. It is very hard to find good elf help these days. I couldn't get into your house last night to deliver this, so I left it at your son's house instead. Your husband surely secures your house now that you don't have any children there with you. Very truly yours, Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus. MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR" When my mother was handed the gift everyone in our family (all 36 of us) stopped opening our gifts to see what was in the mysterious package with no name except who it was to. As she opened the letter and read it out loud she began to cry and tears streamed from every eye in the room. She opened the gift and cried. The doll sat on her bed until the day she died which was October 10, 2003 and my dad saw to it that it was buried with her. I miss her dearly, especially during the holidays." (Sheila) Christmas in Cave City: "The year was about 1928 when I was five years old. It was around seven or eight miles out of Cave City, Ky. out past Shady Grove cemetery, in Hart County. And is now a part of Mammoth cave National Park, was where we lived. It was a little four-room house, very primitive and by today's standards, it would be considered uninhabitable. Was heated by a wood-burning stove. Water was carried about a quarter mile in a galvanized bucket and not a drop was to be wasted. The wash water ,which ran off the roof was collected in a rain barrel and stored therein. This was used to wash clothes ,dishes and bathing. The house was on a mud road which was strewn with rocks and boulders. It was impassable by automobiles, and I think horses and buggies and wagons had a hard time negotiating it. Strangely, I do not remember anything being said about Christmas or Santa Claus , but that is a while ago and I may have forgotten about it if there was. I definitely know there was no tree. But, all the same, I remember my mom giving me a brand new pair of "bib overalls", and a little home made wagon. They had used a cigar box for the wagon bed and had made the wheels from a wood limb that had been sawn off in thin pieces. The handle that you pulled it with was also a limb from a tree that had a "T" shape to it. I had on my new overalls and was pulling my wagon down the mud road and suddenly, the world spun out from under me and I landed on my back in a puddle, I was upset because my new clothes were ruined, but MOM said it would be alright, she could wash them and make them like new, but putting the "new "back in a pair of overalls is never as good as when they are really new. My dad died in January right after that and I know not what happened to my little Christmas wagon, and I definitely outgrew the overalls. (Tom) The Christmas of '53: "My most favorite Christmas was in 1953, the year I married, I lived about 5 miles away form my parents and the snow was getting deeper by the hour, The roads were closed snow drifted to the top of the fence post. This was my first Christmas away from home and it didn't look like we were going to get to go to my parents house. My next door neighbor came with horses and a sled we wrapped up really warm and put blankets every where on the sled and we took the sled to my parents house. My dad had cut a live tree and we strung popcorn and made construction paper loop rings and we hung the Christmas cards on the tree. and our star for the top was cardboard covered with foil. I wish I could have had a picture to remind me of how beautiful it was. Later that day we took the team of horses to the top of the hill near my parents house and unhooked the team and rode the sled to the bottom. We gathered all the neighbors in and had a wonderful Christmas. The sled was the only means of travel and everyone was glad to get to go. The Christmas story was read by my father and there was none of the hustle and bustle that we have now with the Christmas shopping. It was truly a Christmas to remember. Two days later the highway department brought a dozer in and cleared the highway .Christmas has never been the same since. Believe me that Christmas where we were all together was the best ever, My father died that April and Christmas has never been the same since." (Mary) The Nativity Play: "Fortunately, I've always had merry Christmases. Being a baby boomer, I'm almost embarrassed by the riches our family had during the holiday seasons. Both of my parents lived through the Great Depression, so they did everything they could to "make up" to their children, what they had lacked during their own childhood's. I must relate my 4th grade school Christmas play. Back in the early 60's, the 2 plays, that my elementary school produced yearly, were "The Blue Willow" & "The Nativity." I really, really wanted to play the lead in "The Blue Willow" but ended up as the sound effect person. November came 'round and tryouts for "The Nativity" were held. I feared that I would, again, be the sound effect person due to my triumphant work in "The Blue Willow." (Deserved a Tony award, in my opinion.) However, I was chosen to play Virgin Mary. Wonderful! A role to show my true talent! My mom made my costume - all in blues, a flowing gown, a long head scarf, a shawl ... different shades of blue. I thought it was the most beautiful outfit I had ever seen. (This was about the time when I was considering becoming a nun, just because I like their habits ... & we were Danish Lutherans.) The play went well ... no better virgin ever graced the stage of Monroe Elementary school, than I. Had the New York Times reviewed our play, I'm sure that we would have received 2 Thumbs Up with a special mention of my pious expression and the ability with which I handled the Baby Jesus. (Who was a life sized Betsy Wetsy doll.) With my triumphant stage presence still ringing in my ears, on Christmas Eve I pleaded with my mom to allow me to wear my Virgin Mary dress. She agreed & I greeted all of my family at the front door with the statement, "Hello! Merry Christmas! I'm Virgin!" (Having played her, I felt we were now on a first name basis ... ) My parents later (when I was older) related that there were lots of snickers from aunts & uncles & grandparents at my welcoming statement. And for those of you who are Rocky Horror Picture Show fans ... nope, I never made it on stage when the call went out for a virgin. " (Lynnea) The Girl From Uncle: "I was an only child raised in Ohio away from my mother's extended family in Louisiana and my father's, which were mostly split between the Bowling Green area and Indianapolis. My Aunt lived in Dayton - she was the reason we were there - she came in her teens to Dayton to work in about 1918 and when my grandfather died in 1925, she brought my father up to Dayton to finish high school. I always wished for siblings more than anything else - but with parents who married late in life at 39 and 44 and who accidentally had me at 44 and 49, it was something that never was going to happen. My father loved the aforementioned jam cakes but my mom made them for him throughout the year - I don't remember it as being something for Christmas. My mother was an elementary school teacher and she made cookies over the holidays. We always had a box of Esther Price chocolates. The Esther Price candy wasn't cheap, however and we made the box last as long as we could. It came in a beautiful foil-wrapped box that I recycled into Barbie/Skipper clothes keepers or else my Aunt Jodie in Louisiana, who often spent Christmas with us, would use to store her clipped recipes from newspapers and magazines. As an only child, I had nice gifts but some that I particularly remember were a pair of child-sized snow skis that I never got to use. In southern Ohio (60 miles from the KY line) we were at the bottom of the snow belt and the top of the Bible belt. It didn't snow enough to use them until I grew out of them! Nowadays, I buy my kids sleds or a new snow shovel as insurance that it won't snow enough to need them! Of course, some years we get a lot of snow but some we get barely any. The other was a Susy Goose brand Susy-Q Secret Agent Kit. It was about 1967 and it was probably developed because of all the secret agent boys toys inspired by the Man from U.N.C.L.E., James Bond and others. But this was for girls! I picked it out of the J.C. Penney catalouge - "Susy Q Secret Agent - She Always Gets Her Man!" It was a pink plastic purse with various articles of spygear such as sunglasses and a garter with a holster for a tiny pistol. When you pulled the trigger, out popped a fake (darn it!) lipstick that could be used as a whistle. I sure did love that thing! In second grade (1965) I got a Madame Alexander baby doll "Pussycat" that looked so real that when I took her for show and tell, holding her over my shoulder like a real baby, a teacher who came in the classroom was startled because she thought I had a real baby! The best thing about dolls back then - Barbie included - was that they didn't all have blond hair. Pussycat and my Barbies, Skipper and Tutti all had brown hair. In later years, my best gift was a 13" color TV I got in 1982 when I was 24. It was totally unexpected - back then we only had one TV set until I got that. Now we have a TV in nearly every room! (Martha) The Ballerina Doll: "I was 6 years old in the early '50s and we lived in the Knotty Pines Cabins in San Antonio, Texas. My memory is that it was a group of 2 bedroom cabins without any lawn, just dirt road, mostly occupied by Air Force personnel. At that time children could wander out of their parents' eye with no concerns, and my brother and I did exactly that. My favorite place to go was a toy store that was a couple of streets away. I think it was a small store, since I can still see in memory, how closely the counters were placed and how things were stacked up high on shelves. The top of my head didn't even reach the top of the counters as I stretched to reach for the ballerina doll that I loved. She sat on the counter-top in her crisp, pink tutu and pointy shoes, carefully packed with tissue in a box. I don't remember a clerk ever speaking to me, but I visited the ballerina doll every day, carefully caressing her as she nestled in her box. I really wanted Santa to bring me that doll. I whispered my wish to the Air Force base Santa my mother took me to see, and thought that would mean my wish would be answered. I really wanted that doll. Of course, you know what happened. My parents never knew about the doll, as my mother says now, or perhaps she was too expensive; but the doll wasn't delivered by Santa. More than fifty years later I still remember that doll and how much I loved her. I suspect if I would have gotten her as a present, she would be lost in my memory, but now I still see her fresh in her box forever and feel the child in me yearn for her. Other than a rabbit fur stuffed kitty my grandmother, Meme, gave me one Christmas and I wore down to it's leather, no other Christmas toy remains in my memory. I suspect this is something important to understand, but it eludes me still... a cherished memory of a toy not received." (Pamela) "My home in Louisville's west end had a large living room that was the focus of our evening activities when I was a child. At Christmas, the focus of our family was the Christmas tree. Dad would get out the one-of-a-kind Little Town of Bethlehem tree base that he had made when he was only 14 or 15, I guess. The stable where Jesus was born had the nativity set in it and a light. There was a tiny water well in the town square, old pottery water jugs, old oriental type rugs--all in miniature and all made by my dad. The tall tree he placed in the center seemed to grow out of that town--as though it were the center of the world. In some sense, I think it still is--the center of the Christmas story that brought to Earth the one who was it's Creator. Well, I have lots of Christmas memories that all sort of blend together, I think, because of the traditions that we always kept again and again. I loved unpacking the ornaments and seeing the old familiar things we always put on the tree. Sometimes we'd buy a new string of lights and, of course, tinsel. But I enjoyed the smell of history that clung to the old ornaments and in the old cardboard boxes they were stored in. When the lights were strung on the tree and on our front porch, the magic transformation from mundane to sacred was complete. Dad had even made a large Star of Bethlehem of wood, covered with white paper in the front, so the bulb in it gave it a soft glow. He built a special lattice for that end of the porch that was there year-round with the star-shaped opening that was waiting always for the next Christmas--to become, once again, our own special Christmas star. The rest of the year, it was an empty space--just as Christ's tomb was empty after he arose-just as our hearts are empty until we invite Him to make His home there. Well, ALWAYS, Mom or Dad would read the Christmas story from the Bible on Christmas Eve. We'd eat some Christmas cookies with our milk or cocoa, and then off to bed to imagine what surprised might be under the tree. One year, I was so naughty. I'm ashamed to tell it, but I had decided I must become a wild animal trainer. My father had taken me to visit a pet shop downtown on Market Street, and the owner, Mr. Monday, had some wild animals there. He had a leopard, a Mynah bird that whistled seductively at me (and everyone else), and two gorillas in cages in his back room. Talk about an exotic smell! Well, I decided my parents should buy me a tiger or a lion cub for Christmas. I was sure that I could train the animal and then perhaps every Christmas they could add to my menagerie as I grew up preparing for my place under the Big Top. I was really perplexed on Christmas morning when there was no live jungle cat for me to play with. But I quickly forgot my tiger when I followed a string from under the Christmas tree out to the porch where my dad had a big box. It was a new green 20" Huffy bicycle. I learned to ride my bike that week, and so, I began to imagine that perhaps I could be a trick bicycle rider in the circus, instead, and just admire the big cats from afar. (Ruth) Texas Cedars: "Y'all may not believe this but we still use cedar trees here in north central Texas at Christmas time. And yes, the favorite way is to put it into a pail of dirt. We're covered up with cedars and most of us encourage folks from town to come out and get whatever they want so as to get rid of some of them. You don't suppose that some early Kentucky migrators brought these pesky but pretty cedars down here with them when they GTT do you?" (landjahead) Christmas Punch: "Christmas punch (or nog) and "Christmas Gift". My grandfather, Johnny FIERS, b: 1847 in Barren Co., KY (around Old Wisdom) would invite everyone, including people off the street, in to his home for Christmas Punch, which included some strong liquor He would also be the first to say, "Christmas Gift" in person, and would make early morning phone calls on Christmas morning in order to say Christmas gift. (R. M.) (c) Copyright 22 Dec 2004, Sandra K. Gorin

Hi, Sandi stopped by my site, postcards.rootsweb.com and created a Virtual Card just for you! To pick up your card, simply point your browser at the page listed below. http://postcards.rootsweb.com/cards/dec16-2118623056.html The card will remain on the server for about one month, so please print it out or save it as soon as you can.

TIP #518 - CHRISTMAS MEMORIES - PART 1 During Christmas I take a break from the more serious things and post something of a lighter nature. The next two tips deal with Christmas memories of people on my other lists. Sad and funny, old and new; a chance for people to share back things from their past that was special at Christmas time. So, sit back and enjoy these memories. I have included only the first name of the submitters but I imagine you will find someone's story that you can relate to. I have had to abstract these so I can get them all in. A Soldier's Memory: "For most Americans, Vietnam was a pop-art oddity 12,000 miles away; for me, it was as real as the blood coursing through my veins and oozing onto the ground. A helter-skelter piece of a Chi-Com grenade had found its mark. As I lay there in pain, watching my life's blood steal away into the earth, the phrase "ashes to ashes and dust to dust" brought a whole new reality into perspective for this 19-year-old man-child. As I felt myself about to slip away into the black realm of unconsciousness, the thoughts and memories of home seemed to envelop my whole being, and I found peace and solidarity in remembrances of a simpler time. I devoured this sense of tranquility like a ravished scavenger. Then, in the distance, I heard a voice yell, "Medic," and next I felt a hand on my shoulder. In a voice that would calm an angry sea, he said, "You're going to be fine, son." At that instant, I released myself to drift into sweet, sweet sleep. When I awoke, I was back at base camp in a real bed, the likes of which I had not seen in six months. It actually had white sheets that smelled of Ivory Snow and were as soft as a mother's touch. I knew I was safe now. The metal that had invaded and ripped my body had been removed, and my limbs that had been scorched with fire were now wrapped so delicately and precisely with white gauze. The smell of iodine flowed over me, and it was as refreshing as the smell of newly mowed grass after a summer rain. The next voice I heard was that of a nurse. She spoke softly, and the sweet melody of her voice was a harmonic orchestration of every woman's voice I had ever heard. Her visits to change my dressings were more powerful than any narcotic. As soon as she would come into view, the pain would cease. In the cradle of her care, I healed - not just my wounds but the hatred for an enemy I did not know. Christmas Eve, I returned to my unit. The stench of burning excrement hung in the air as thick as molasses. Everywhere the business of war was being attended to - sandbags being filled, bunkers being dug, rifles being cleaned - plans for survival regulated everyone. I had always thought there was no recognizable smell for impending death, but this country reeked of it: It was everywhere, no one left unscathed, no one left untouched, no one emotionally unscarred. We all had seen death, and we all had helped him, and I had returned to help him more. I had reached my unit in time for mail call. I had not anticipated receiving any mail; I didn't write letters; what was there about war and death worth writing home about? I was stunned beyond belief when I heard my name called, but a quick punch from a buddy snatched me back to the present. I had received three huge packages from home. Each one filled with all the love and warmth a family could squeeze into a box. There was candy, cookies, canned fruit, pictures, newspapers and more, and, there was enough for everyone. Others brought out packages they had received and we all sat around devouring this slice of home. For that moment in time there was no war, no death, no dying, no pain. The feast of love our families had sent could not be rivaled in any banquet hall. We sang every Christmas song we knew, and, if we didn't know all the words, we improvised. Everyone had a story to tell about a special Christmas back home. We shared a camaraderie that crossed all racial and religious backgrounds. It was the only time in my life I've ever felt a mutual, unconditional love for man and mankind, and I know it was shared by all of us. Toward dusk we had just about succumbed to all the merriment when someone yelled, "Hey Jim, you forgot a package over here." As I weaved my way through everyone, I looked up and there in the doorway stood that wonderful angel of mercy who had helped heal my wounds. In her arms was a package that had been delivered to the hospital. We both tore into it as if it were a last-ditch effort to prolong this night of revelry. Surely the wonderment within this box would rekindle the joyous hours we had just spent together. As I lifted the lid, she let out a yell so loud that everyone stopped and all eyes focused on her and what she held in her hands. In that instant nostalgia had turned to joy as everyone caught a glimpse of flashing silver streamers. A roar went up as someone recognized, "It's a Christmas tree." Everyone moved feverishly to make a place to display this silver Christmas tree. Then someone began to sing "Silent Night," and soon everybody was singing from everywhere in the compound - from foxhole, from bunkers, from guard towers "Silent Night, Holy Night" resounded from the small country, in that small corner of the world, and I'm sure it was joined at some faraway rendezvous with millions of other voices singing "sleep in heavenly peace." Thirty-seven years later, my war is over; my personal battles have been won and now another generation of young soldiers prepare to endure a Christmas away from family and friends. My hope for them is that somehow they are able to believe in the Spirit of the season and "sleep in heavenly peace," among friend and foe. (Jim)" Santa, Send Dad Home: "When I was very young my Dad was in World War II . Back in those days, the radio was the best communication we had. Also, at Christmas time they would read children's letters to Santa on the radio. So, I ask Mom to write to Santa and ask him to" SEND MY DAD HOME FOR CHRISTMAS". It was Christmas Eve ,in the afternoon. Mom had just washed my hair and she was washing hers. When she heard me say" there's my DADDY". We lived about a quarter of a mile off the main road. No trees to block my view. I ran out the front door, no shoes and wet hair, also no coat. Down the road I ran to meet my Dad ,as he was getting out of a cab at the end of our road. Mom, ran after me , but couldn't catch me. It was my DAD . Santa had brought him home for Christmas . As he had told me when he read my letter on the radio. I listened to Santa and this is what he said," Little girl I will do my very best to bring your Daddy home for Christmas". That was one of my greatest memories of a Wonderful Christmas wish coming true, all because of Santa. My precious Dad passed away 19 Aug 2003. What fond memories flood my heart when I think of him. Merry Christmas to all!!!!! (Arvilla) I See Daddy: "Time doesn't mean much to a 3-4 year old but at that tender age, we lived in Lincoln IL; I knew nothing of WW II and what it meant to the parents or wives of their men being drafted. I didn't know what a draft was; only that my Mom was very, very sad and had been crying all day. I learned later that my precious Dad had been drafted and had to report for his physical that day. I think it was around Christmas time which I'd already learned was a wondrous time for a young girl although my parents, like many of that time, could barely afford fancy gifts for their children. For some reason, I sat glued most of the day in a chair where I could look out the front window; I was watching for my Daddy's car. I don't remember what kind of car it was in 1943-1944, but I remember my Daddy being happy about buying something for that car; something that must have been relatively new. They were called sealed-beam headlights and maybe they looked different from other car lights. The darkness came and I sat there; Mom was still sobbing as she started preparing supper. All of a sudden I saw a car coming and yelled out as loudly as I could "Mommy, Daddy's coming, I can see his sunbeam headlights!" In fact, it was my Dad and he came in sadly but with a smile on his face at the same time. He had been refused due to some back problem or something. Something was born in me right then which continues to this day; a fierce pride in the military. I know my Dad would have proudly served if he could have, and later I married a military man. Christmas? Well, that was a special year. Daddy was still there, there was a little tree in the living room and a teddy bear hiding in the only place I hadn't thought of looking; a teddy bear who celebrates his 61st or 62nd birthday with me and who is still cherished as "Paddy O'Cinnamon", the bear who became mine on the year that we all celebrated Christmas together. (Sandi) First Christmas Remembered. "I must have been five years old, in those times. I remember no special days, no birthdays, anniversary or holidays. But this year we were going to have my first Christmas remembered. We lived in a four-room house by the side of a dirt road about a half-mile off the highway, in Adair County Kentucky. Life was pretty simple back then. I remember no Christmas decorations, just a strings of beads made from popcorn on a small Christmas tree, cut from a field, where Red Cedar wood grew in abundance. Finely Christmas day came and I was up early to see just what Old Santa had brought me. There is was, under that small tree, an apple, orange and a small bag of loose candy, but the biggest and best gift I ever received was a small shinny "Cap Pistol" and one roll of caps. This small cap pistol had a place for one cap, which was place in the chamber, before pulling the trigger for a BANG! There must have been about fifty caps on that roll. I don't remember if I ever got another roll of caps for that gun. However I do remember that first Christmas in the year of 1939." (Carlis) A Note To The Elves: "My brother and sister and I spent our youth in Frostproof and Lakeland, Fla. in the 40s and early 50s. Believe it or not we had fireplaces back then and we used them. Every Christmas our father would have us write a note to the elves listing what we wanted from Santa. He would have a huge fire going in the fireplace and he would put those notes up the chimney and they would disappear. We were totally enchanted with the thought that the elves were on the rooftop catching our notes and we just knew Santa would bring us the things we wanted. It always seemed such a mystery and a wonder to me that Daddy was able to make Christmas so enchanting for us. To this day I have no idea how he managed this delightful surprise. I never think of Christmas without reliving that lovely memory." (Abigail) Popcorn and Garland: "My best Christmas memory is similar to everyone's.. Popcorn and cranberry garland, Silver stars around the large Christmas tree lights include the "BIG" one on top... "fresh smell of the tree", Going to the Christmas Eve church service and getting a Christmas bag of fruit, nuts and candy...Waking up to hearing the Christmas carols on the radio and finding the Lincoln Log set and a 3 foot high baby doll left by Santa... PS Dad and I spent hours building houses and forts with that set.. (The tomboy in me is shining through!!) Happy Holidays to everyone.." (Kat) A Kentucky Cedar Tree: "I never heard of BUYING a Christmas tree, or never knew there was any KIND of Christmas tree except a CEDAR, until I left Monroe County KY! Cedar trees grew in abundance at my grandparents' farm, so my mother, my sister and I would bundle up and drive out there and we sometimes searched a long time before Mama decided on the perfect tree to hack down. Daddy, who hated cold and snowy weather, would not go with us, but he could nail together a wooden platform to nail to the tree! And, he was good at untangling Christmas lights, and hanging them on the tree. Another early memory was Christmas at my grandparents house. She had tiny REAL candles on her tree! It's a wonder the house didn't burn down. At the Christmas table, men ate first, then the children, and lastly, the women. I'm glad my mother changed that custom! (Pansy) Christmas in Ohio Co KY: "I grew up in the 40's and 50's in a small town in Ohio County Kentucky and my fondest memories were of us three kids going with daddy to get our cedar Christmas tree which always looked much smaller in the field. Daddy would have to saw a couple of feet off the bottom after he drug it home and then he made a wooden stand for it. But the most memorable thing was hanging our stockings on Christmas Eve, they were long thick tan cotton stocking that the women wore in the winter. Christmas morning they were filled. The foot was full of mixed nuts, next a sack of all kinds of candy, then oranges, apples, bananas and grapes. I hung my stocking until I married in 1953. Oh, how we looked forward to that stocking. What I would give to just have one more Christmas morning with mother and daddy. If your parents are still with you give them a hug from me. Greetings to all." (Dora) My First Christmas Card: " When I receive my FIRST Christmas card I Keep the envelope, put the date on the outside "Incoming 04" Then as the cards come in I cut off each return address and put it in that first envelope. Save the envelope for next year. I have a good file for recent addresses. As I write my cards I make a mark on each return address to note that I sent the card for the next year. Sure makes addressing cards easier. Especially if you have friends who move often. Happy New Year." (Helen) The Gift: "This weekend I made some cookies, bought a miniature Xmas tree and decorated it and took it over to a senior citizen that lives alone and if you could have seen the joy those two little things gave her you would want to reach out and give her a big hug. Although it gave her great joy, the joy my husband and I got will always be with us. Today we went and bought more trees and makings for cookies and have called the local nursing homes looking for just the right seniors to take them too. There are many seniors that are alone with no living family members and the holidays are a really tough time for them. We always remember the children at Xmas but forget about the seniors. This is going to be probably my best Xmas yet." (Linda) Kentucky Molasses Candy: "My Texas Christmas memories are happy ones. However, my dad and his ancestors were from KY and two of our Christmas traditions including his making molasses candy in the skillet and having my mother make a Jam Cake along with Fruit Cakes." (Anne) Black Walnut Tree: "We lived on a farm that had a large black walnut tree in the yard. After school my brother and I would gather all the walnuts that fell that day and place them in the driveway so my father would run over them when he came home from work. After they dried in the sun the next day we would pick them up and break off the hull and put them in bushel baskets to dry out. Come the Christmas season my father would crack them on a flat iron and we would all pick them out in the evenings and put them in Mason jars. My mother used them in divinity candy, fudge and cakes during the holidays. Black walnuts and hickory nuts were what we could afford -- free! My greatest Christmas as an adult was the year we received our son. We had waited on adoption lists for over 5 years and had never told anyone of our problems or planned adoption. So, when we learned a little boy would be ours we took pictures and shared them with each of our families on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Many surprises and tears of joy were shared and that little boy came to our home on Dec. 26th. No gift will ever surpass that. He is now grown and the joy he has brought our lives is immeasurable. (Elaine) Another Kentucky Cedar Tree: "Living in comfort in suburban Atlanta, my favorite Kentucky Christmas memory is decorating one of those ubiquitous Kentucky cedar trees instead of a Frazier or Douglas or White Pine. My Dad later always used an artificial tree. Living in Atlanta we always seem to end up with a school or team fund raising fir tree....but how I miss the simple Kentucky cedar tree for Christmas." (David) "I had many memories as a child. But tonight I got the greatest gift. I was asked to baby sit my Great niece and nephew. As I was sitting in my sister living room the front door opened and then a guy said Merry Christmas. I looked and then screamed. Here was my son and his wife who is in the Air Force came home for Christmas and surprised me. He told me a month ago that the Air Force cancelled all leaves that with everything going on. (Jerri) "I have a lot of memories of Christmases when I was a child of getting nothing for Christmas. Money was hard to come by and, of course, Santa obviously did not know we were there. It is hard for a small child to hear what other children got for Christmas and answer the question, "what did you get?". The strange thing is that today, as in years past, I bought bags and bags of toys and delivered them to Toys for Tots to be given to children who would not otherwise have toys. I had black dolls and white dolls and trucks and all sorts of things. Go figure! (Alene) To be continued next week. (c) Copyright 16 Dec 2004

TIP #517 TIME TO DISSECT THAT FROG! Let's travel back to our high school days and the course called Biology. Maybe students use a computer to do this painful task digitally now, but in my time, we had to dissect frogs. I skipped over Biology as I was more interested in history and office skills, but our General Science class met right after lunch in the Biology room and oh, that lunch didn't settle too well with the smells coming from the closed up room. What does frog dissection have to do with genealogy? A lot. All of our life, we dissect things. No, not physically, but we have to break down things in smaller parts and analyze the results. It's an automatic thing that we don't normally think of as dissection, but it's something we do as we analyze situations, material we read, and yes, our genealogy. Do the dates match? Is that a variant spelling of our surname? Where were they at census time or tax time? Is that a child I didn't know about? So today, I am looking at one source of information that we might find on our ancestors, the biography. As many of you know, I run a rootsweb list called KYBIOGRAPHIES where I've posted over 10,000 biographies from the old biographical records. We have touched on this subject before in an earlier tip but as a brief recap: Books containing biographies from the 1800's and later were called "vanity books." The editor did not usually question the information (except perhaps in the Dickey Diaries); they were like paid ads. Individuals wishing to have their biography in a book of this type paid for and wrote their own family biographies. It is assumed that the more they paid, the bigger and more flowery the biography could be. The editor (such as Perrin) just took the money, took the biography and printed it. So, you will find errors, exaggerations, and things that don't always jive. However, the biographies of these earlier date are so chocked full of information, that one must never overlook them. I am printing below a typical biography with its source from my post this morning to KYBIOGRAPHIES. Then, we'll sort dissecting it to see what information we can pick up. You might get a piece of paper to sketch this out, or a family chart/pedigree chart. Kentucky Genealogy and Biography Volume 1, Kentucky: A History of the State by Battle - Perrin - Kniffin, 3rd edition 1886. Larue Co. GEORGE WASHINGTON HILL was born February 22, 1845, in Stokes County, N. C., and is the sixth of six sons and three daughters, seven of whom lived to be grown, born to Samuel and Susan (Tucker) Hill, both born in Stokes County. Samuel Hill was a farmer and school teacher; was married in Stokes County in 1833, and immigrated to Hart County, Ky., in 1846, and in 1849 settled on 120 acres in La Rue County. He was a captain and colonel of militia in North Carolina; received military instructions and taught several schools of this character, and on coming to Kentucky was made a captain and colonel of Kentucky militia, and died in 1853, aged fifty years. His father, Samuel Hill, who was a hatter by trade, and also a farmer, married Sallie Cox, daughter of Richard Cox, of Stokes County, N.C. He was a large slave holder, and lived to be about ninety years old. He had a brother, John Hill, who was captured by the Indians, and held a prisoner for a few years, when he made his escape. Mrs. Susan Hill was a daughter of John Smith Tucker, who was a farmer, and a patriot of the war of 1812. He married Wilmith Hodges, of Halifax County, Va. John S. Tucker was born in Halifax County, Va., who married Sallie Smith, of Virginia. Robert Tucker was a slave-holder, a son of William Tucker, who was of English stock. Wilmith Hodges was a daughter of Thomas Hodges, of Halifax County, Va. George W. Hill was reared on a farm, and was married, May 9, 1878, to Rachel Louisa Davenport, who was born November 4, 1850, in Marion County, Kentucky. She is a daughter of Benjamin A. And Nancy A. (Blain) Davenport, natives of Marion County, Ky. Mr. Hill and wife have two children to bless their union, Benjamin Howard and Samuel Judson. They are members of the Baptist and Methodist Episcopal Churches. In 1872 Mr. Hill purchased eighty acres where he now resides, two miles south of Hodgensville, but now owns 122 acres, which he has acquired by his own industry. In politics he is a Democrat. His wife's father was born in Virginia in 1811, and came to Kentucky at the age of twelve with a widowed mother and other relatives and friends, that settled in Hardin County, Ky. He learned the trade of gunsmith under David Weller, in Elizabethtown, Ky., and afterward located in Lebanon, where he married Nancy A. Blain, whose father, James Blain, was born in Virginia in 1796, and participated in the war of 1812, and was engaged in the battle of New Orleans. After the war he married Nancy Purdy, near Lebanon in Marion County, Ky., and lived happily together in a home secured by their join labor until his death, in 1862, at the age of sixty-six. His wife lived a few years longer and died October 25, 1870, at the age of seventy-one years. Let's dissect: 1. Since the book was printed in 1886, George Washington Hill was in Larue Co that year or within a year or so before (allowing for publishing time). Did he make it to the 1900 census report? 2. He was born 22 Feb 1845 in Stokes Co. NC. In checking Stokes Co was formed in 1789 out of Surry Co. This lets you know that you need to do some searching on the web for records available for Stokes County and a check of the surname there. 3. He was the sixth of six sons and three daughters, only seven of the 10 lived to maturity. This gives you the outline of the family, with no names, and it doesn't say if he was the youngest of all the children, just the youngest of the boys. 4. His father was Samuel and Susan Tucker Hill, both of them born in Stokes County also. It's likely they were married there then, add that to you list to see if you can find a marriage record there. She was a Tucker; were there any Tucker records there? They married in 1833 and since he was born in 1845, their marriage is likely there. 5. His father was a farmer and a school teacher; you now have his father's occupation. George would then just be a "tick mark" on his father's census record of 1830 in Stokes County. 6. In 1846 they made the move to Hart Co KY. Right between the census records of course, but they should appear then on the 1850 Hart Co Census with George being about 5 years old. That census will also give you the names of his living siblings. 7. Oops .... problem; they didn't stay in Hart Co. In 1849 they were in Larue County. Scrap the 1850 Hart Census and look at Larue. Larue was formed in 1843 out of part of Hardin County; Hart was formed in 1819 out of Barren and Hardin Co. 8. Next we find that his father, Samuel, was a captain and a colonel in the NC militia. Note that you need to check NC military records and see if you can find his papers. In KY, he held on to that rank in the Kentucky Militia. Then he died in 1853, age 50. That would make his father born about 1803 back in Stokes Co. 9. Wording can get tricky on some of these biographies in determining whom is being spoken of. It is repeated next that Samuel Hill was a hatter and a farmer and married Sallie Cox. What? Above it says that he was farmer and married to Susan Tucker. Oh, we're moving back a generation. We're now back to the parents of Samuel who married Susan or the subject's grandparents. Alright, Samuel Sr was the hatter and farmer. Sallie was the daughter of Richard Cox of Stoke's County. He was a large slave holder. Who was - Richard or Samuel Sr? It appears that they're talking about Samuel Sr here; and he lived to be about 90 years old. Since we don't have a birth or death date of Samuel Sr., we'll have to leave that open ended. We could venture some guesstimating at Sr's date of birth but for now we'll leave that hanging. 10. He had a brother, John Hill. It appears that this refers to Samuel Sr; he led an exciting life of being captured by the Indians. 11. Mrs. Susan Hill was a daughter of John Smith Tucker. Now we're back to George's parents. John Smith Tucker, her father, was a farmer and a patriot of the war of 1812. War records possibly? John Smith Tucker married Wilmith Hodges of Halifax Co VA. Another county to investigate. 12. Then, John S Tucker was born in Halifax Co and married Sallie Smith of VA. Oh, this is John Smith Tucker's parents; back another generation on the maternal side. 13. Robert Tucker was a slave-holder, son of William Tucker who was of English stock. Who's he? John S. Tucker's father and grandfather. Getting back several generations now! 14. Wilmith Hodges was a daughter of Thomas Hodges of Halifax Co. Va. She's the wife of John Smith Tucker, gets confusing! 15. Now, we're back to the subject, George Washington Hill. He was a farmer's boy, we already know his birth date, now we see him marrying 9 May 1878 to Rachel Louisa Davenport. Her date of birth is given next, she was a Marion County girl. Her parentage is given - Benjamin A and Nancy A Blain Davenport. You could check the Marion County records on line or in the county clerk's office to see if you can find their marriage; but perhaps they came from elsewhere and settled in Marion Co. Nothing is said here of generations further back on Rachel Louisa Davenport, so you're on your own with her for now. 16. George and Rachel have 2 children - Benjamin Howard and Samuel Judson Hill. Their dates of birth are not shown but if they married in 1878, figure about 1879-1880 for the oldest child. 17. They are members of the Baptist and Methodist Episcopal Churches. He is the Baptist; she is the Methodist Episcopal. 18. In 1872 George is buying land outside of Hodgenville; there should be some deeds there, he says it was 2 miles from Hodgenville, but doesn't say which direction. 19. George is a Democrat - women couldn't vote! 20. Now, we're going to learn a little more about Rachel (d/o Benjamin A and Nancy A Blain Davenport). His wife's father (Benjamin) was born someplace in VA in 1811; came to KY at age 12 which would be about 1823. His father was already dead by that time (whose name we don't know). They settled in Hardin Co. Benjamin A was a gunsmith in Elizabethtown (county seat of Hardin). He married Nancy A Blain there in Hardin Co (look for marriage license?) She was the daughter of James Blain who was born someplace in VA in 1796, was in the war of 1812 (records?). After the war, he married Nancy Purdy near Lebanon in Marion Co KY. This means James came to Kentucky sometime after 1812 and married in Marion Co. James died in 1862, age 66. That agrees with his birth date. Nancy Purdy Blair died 25 Oct 1870 at the age of 71, making her born about 1799. Thus, out of this one biography, we have gone back several generations on his maternal and paternal lines. We have learned the occupations of the Hill ancestors, their military service and where they lived and married. We know George's political affiliation (and they were very proud and open about that in older times), and his church affiliations. Any church records for a Baptist church close to Hodgenville that was there during his life-time? One could check to see if the minutes of the church were available and could find when they joined and maybe other family information. You have census records to check in various counties and states to pick up other family members. Based on the dates of birth and/or deaths, if after 1852 and before 1911, you can check the vital statistics for that year and find yet more family information. You can now try to locate the deeds for the various counties (either on line or through a visit to that county seat) and find when they bought or sold land. With more and more records on line now, you might even luck out and find it there! All of this tip is just to give you another source for looking for information. Once you have all the above data written down or entered on a file, you can add to, correct, delete errors (if any), and build your George Washington Hill file. This was a real biography so if you are a descendant of good old George W Hill, I've filled in a lot of gaps for you! These pioneers traveled a lot more than we give them credit for. I know that many of you, like me, just had them plopped on the same property their entire lives, just gettin' in those crops and rearin' young en's. But so many of them moved every few years, always looking for better land, richer soil, more adventures. Here is the story of one family from Stokes Co NC who ended up in the annals of Kentucky history! (c) Copyright 9 December 2004, All Rights Reserved. Colonel Sandi Gorin SCKY Links: http://www.public.asu.edu/~moore/Gorin.html Sandi's Puzzlers: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gensoup/gorin/puz.html Gorin Publishing: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/

TIP #516 - REVOLUTIONARY WAR PENSION APPLICATIONS I trust that this will help both the new researcher and the experienced as well with a look at the Revolutionary War Pension applications - who could apply, what was necessary and where to order the applications. Pension applications were created primarily under two acts of Congress dating between 1818 and 1853. The first act of 18 March 1813 applied to veterans of the continental establishment and those in naval service who had served a minimum of 9 months. Congress cut back on this act on 1 May 1820 and stated that the pensioner submit property schedules to prove they were in need of a pension. Another act was approved 7 June 1843 which provided that veterans with 6 months of service (irrespective of the type of service, and irrespective of need) were entitled to apply for a pension. On 4 July 1836, widows of veterans with the required minimum of service were allowed to apply for a pension provided that they had married the veterans before the expiration of the last period of the veteran's service. An act provided pensions for widows who married veterans at a later date and finally, on 3 February 1853, widows were allowed to apply for a pension regardless of the date of marriage. Since there weren't many official records of the Revolutionary War, an applicant had to submit evidence of his service and identity. This would include a discharge certificate or notice of his commission, testimony of a comrade in arms, or a family Bible record showing birth, marriage and death dates. Files containing the pension applications are arranged alphabetically by the name of the veteran. Filed with these are invalid pension reports, most of the Revolutionary War bounty land warrant application records and large record carts relating to bounty land warrant application records that were destroyed by fire, and some final payment vouchers described below. These records contain cross references to the half-pay files of Virginia naval officers described later in Claim Files for Special Naval Awards. Documents that may be included here would include commissions, discharge papers, diaries, family Bible records. Some of these documents have been transferred to the Library of Congress under an act of Congress 25 Feb 1903. An alphabetical name index to the Revolutionary War pension application files has appeared serially beginning in March 1943 in the National Genealogical Society Quarterly. This index does not include entries relating to transcripts of the 1796 reports on invalid pensioners described above. The printed index entries for veteran's files whose surnames begin with A through S is available on microfilm. Also on microfilm are the face sides of envelopes or record cards relating to veterans whose surnames begin with T through Z. These indexes show the name of the veteran, the State from which they served (provided the service was other than that rendered with the Continental Line or naval forces), the name of his widow if applicable, the pension application file number and/or the bounty-land warrant application file number. A pension application file contains much information such as: Name, rank, military or naval unit, period of service, and, if he applied for a pension his age or date of birth, place of birth, place of residence. If a widow applied it shows the date and place of his death, her age and place of residence, the date and place of her marriage and her maiden name. Research aids. --There are several published lists of value in identifying Revolutionary War pensioners. The Revolutionary War and other pensioners who were or had been on the rolls are listed by name of State or Territory in War Department Report From the Secretary of War, . . . in Relation to the Pension Establishment of the United States, 1835 (23d Cong., 1st sess,, S. Doc, 514; serials 249-251), unindexed. Volume 1 lists the names of pensioners residing in New England; volume 2, those residing in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia; and volume 3, all others. The names of pensioners on the rolls, in 1840 were obtained from the population census schedules. The pensioners are listed by name with age in Department of State, A Census of Pensioners for Revolutionary or Military Services (Washington, 1841), an unindexed volume, which was reprinted in 1954. Entries are arranged by name of State or Territory, thereunder by name of county, and, in the case of some counties, by name of minor subdivision. Some entries, however, do not relate to Federal pensioners and may refer to State pensioners. The Genealogical Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints also has a typescript index to the names appearing in the above publication. It also has a negative microfilm copy of the index. National Archives Library also has a typescript copy and a microfilmed copy of the index. How to order copies: Copies of the continental line military service records (which are more rare than those of South Carolina militia), revolutionary war pension application records (the most rewarding records, if you are lucky enough to have an ancestor in them), and bounty land warrant records may be ordered from the National Archives: National Archives (G.S.A.), Military Service Records (NNCC), Washington, D.C. 20408, and request three or four copies of GSA Form 6751: Order and Billing For Copies of Veteran's Records. To file a request for records, you must have the following minimum information: name; State from which he served; war in which he served, or dates between which he served. Note that there are a few documented women who served (masquerading as males) in the revolutionary war! There is room for unit and branch in which he served (infantry, cavalry, artillery, navy), date of birth, place of birth, name of widow, and other information, if available. The more information you supply, the more likely it will be that the National Archives can locate the records. If any potentially relevant information is located, you will receive notification of cost for photocopies and a bill. Note that the Archives will only send what they find. This information is not necessarily that of your ancestor! For a more complete search, visit the U.S. National Archives in Washington in person, or one of the regional branches (which all have microfilm copies of these records. Details on records at the U.S. National Archives is taken from "Guide to Genealogical Records in the National Archives" M.B. Colket, Jr. & F.E. Bridges, U.S. Govt. Printing Office, 022-002-00016-3, 1964. Colonel Sandi Gorin SCKY Links: http://www.public.asu.edu/~moore/Gorin.html Sandi's Puzzlers: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gensoup/gorin/puz.html Gorin Publishing: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/

TIP #515 - THANKSGIVING This will not be an official researching tip but just a very short look at the past and present of Thanksgiving Day. No dates, nothing deep, just a thought or so. From the time the pilgrims landed until today; no matter how tough the times, not matter how unstable the world might have appeared, Americans have always found something for which to be thankful. Over the years those reasons have changed and grown but they have always been there. For our Kentucky ancestors, thankfulness was deep in their hearts. The Indians didn't attack. The baby didn't die. The crops that year were harvested and would provide food for man and beast through the harsh winter months. The storms passed over the cabin with no destruction. The supply train made it to the mercantile. As years passed, the thankfulness continued but changed with the changing times. The road was completed so they could get to town easier The church was there as a haven for a weary soul The Civil War was ended finally and their son came home The Union was spared; the slaves were freed. Moving into the 20th century - GI Joe is ok; the mother clutches a letter The Depression has passed and somehow they survived Jobs are coming back and Daddy is working again The Berlin Wall has fallen What about the 21st century? What can we be thankful for in the year 2004? I'll let you make your own list. Of a certainty, the times have always been hard. Many families didn't greet their returning soldier boy or girl and they lie buried on foreign lands. Many didn't make it through the Depression. Storms did kill and destroy. Illnesses did ravage. But in the heart of every American, in every Kentuckian, is that determination that has always looked towards the morrow, have learned from the past, and have put the proverbial one foot in front of the other. When you celebrate Thanksgiving this year and are thanking God for the blessings He has bestowed on your family; remember those who gave their all, who worked from sunrise to sunset, and those who have died to make America a free country so we could get our family, our friends, maybe just only our cat and dog if our families are gone ... and be thankful. No matter how hard, no matter how drear, no matter how alone ... we can be thankful. Happy Thanksgiving from my house to yours. Sandi (c) Copyright 24 Nov 2004, Sandra K. Gorin Colonel Sandi Gorin SCKY Links: http://www.public.asu.edu/~moore/Gorin.html Sandi's Puzzlers: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gensoup/gorin/puz.html Gorin Publishing: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/

This is a recycled tip! The rootsweb server that houses this list and thousands of others has been down for the past two weeks and this tip never made it out. Things are still a little sluggish but hopefully it will make it to your mailbox this time! Sandi TIP #514 - U S REPRESENTATIVES FROM KENTUCKY AND U S SENATORS 1792-1873 Below is a list of all the US Congress Representatives and Senators from Kentucky from 1792-1873 and their term of office. REPRESENTATIVES: ADAIR, John, 1831-1833; ADAMS, George M 1867-1875; ADAMS, Green 1847-1849, 1859-1861; ALLAN, Chilton 1831-1837; ANDERSON, Lucien 1863-1865; ANDERSON, Richard C Jr, 1817-1821; ANDERSON Simeon H, 1839-1840; ANDERSON, William C 1859-1861; ANDREWS, Landaff Watson 1839-1843; ARTHUR, William E 1871-1875 BARRY, William T 1810-1811; BEATTY, Martin 1833-1835; BECK, James B 1867-1875; BEDINGER, George M 1803-1807; BELL, Joshua F 1845-1847; BOYD, Linn 1835-1837i; 1839-1855; BOYLE, John 1803-1809; BRECK, Daniel 1849-1851; BRECKINRIDGE, James D 1821-1823; BRECKINRIDGE, John C 1851-1855; BRISTOW, Francis M 1859-1861; BROWN, John YOUNG 1859-1861, 1873-1875, 1867-1869; BROWN, William 1819-1823; BUCKNER, Aylett 1847-18749; BUCKNER, Richard A 1823-1829; BULLOCK, Wingfield 1820-1821; BURNETT, Henry C 1855-1861; BUTLER, William O 1839-1843 CALDWELL, George Alfred 1843-1845, 1849-1851; CALHOON, John 1835-1839; CAMPBELL, John 1837-1843; CAMPBELL, John P 1855-1857; CASEY, Samuel L 1862-1863; CHAMBERS, John 1828-1829, 1835-1839; CHILTON, Thomas 1827-1831; 1833-1835; CHRISMAN, James S 1853-1855; CHRISTIE, Henry 1809-1811; CLARK, Beverly L 1847-1849; CLARK, James 1813-18167, 1825-1831; CLAY, Brutus J 1863-1865; CLAY, Henry 1811-1814, 1815-1821, 1823-1825; CLAY, James B 1857-1859; COLEMAN, Nicholas D 1829-1831; COX, Leander M 1853-1857; CRITTENDEN, John J 1861-1863; CROSSLAND, Edward 1871-1875. DANIEL, Henry 1827-1833; DAVIS, Amos 1833-1835; DAVIS, Garret 1839-1847; DAVIS, Thomas T 1797-1803; DESHA, Joseph 1816-1819; DUNCAN, Garnett 1847-1849; DUNLAP, George W 1861-1863; DURHAM, Milton J 1873-1875; DUVAL, William P 1813-1815 ELLIOTT, John M 1853-1859; EWING, Presley 1853-1854 FLETCHER, Thomas 1816-1817; FOWLER, John 1797-1807; FRENCH, Richard 1835-1837, 1843-1845, 1847-1849 GAINES, John P 1847-1849; GAITHER, Nathan 1829-1833; GOLLADAY, Jacob S 1867-1870; GRAVES, William J 1835-1841; GREEN, Willis 1839-1845; GREENUP, Christopher 1792-1797; GREY, Benjamin Edwards 1851-1855; GRIDER, Henry 1843-1847, 1861-1866; GROVER, Asa P 1867-1869 HARDIN, Benjamin 1815-1817; 1819-1823; 1833-1837; HARDING, Aaron 1861-1867; HARLAN, James 1835-1839; HAWES, Alfred G 1831-1837; HAWES, Richard 1837-1841; HAWKINS, Joseph W 1814-1815; HENRY, Robert P 1823-26; HENRY, John F 1826-1827; HILL, Clement S 1853-1855; HISE, Elijah 1866-1867; HOPKINS, Samuel 1813-1815; HOWARD, Benjamin 1807-1810 JACKSON, James S 1861-1862; JEWETT, Joshua H 1855-1859; JOHNSON, Francis 1821-1827; JOHNSON, James 1825-1826; JOHNSON, James L 1849-1851; JOHNSON, John T 1821-1825; JOHNSON, Richard M 1807-1819, 1829-1837; JONES, Thomas L 1867-1871 KINCAID, John 1829-1833; KNOTT, J Proctor 1867-1871 LECOMPTE, Joseph 1825-1833; LETCHER, Robert P 1823-1833; LEWIS, Joseph H 1870-1873 (Barren Co); LOVE, James 1833-1835; LYON, Crittenden 1827-1835; LYON, Matthew 1803-1811 MALLORY, Robert 1859-1865; MARSHALL, Alexander K 1855-1857; MARSHALL, Alexander K 1855-1857; MARSHALL, Humphrey 1849-1853, 1857-1859; MARSHALL, Thomas A 1831-1835; MARTIN, John P 1845-1847; MASON, John C 1849-1853, 1857-1859; MAY, William L 1835-1839; McDOWELL, Joseph J 1843-1845; McHATTON, Robert 1826-1829; McHENRY, John H 1843-1847; McHENRY, Henry D 1871-1873; McKEE, Samuel 1809-1817; McKEE, Samuel 1865-1869; McLEAN, Alney 1815-1817, 1819-1821; McLEAN, Finis Ewing 1849-1851; MENEFEE, Richard H 1837-1839; MENZIES, John W 1861-1865; METCALFE, Thomas 1819-1828; MILLIKEN, Charles W 1873-1875; MONTGOMERY, Thomas 18113-1815, 1821-182; MOORE, Laban T 1859-1861; MOORE, Thomas P 1823-1829, 1833-1835; MOREHEAD, Charles S 1847-1851; MURRAY, John L 1838-1839 ORMSBY, Stephen 1811-1817; ORR, Alexander D 1792-1797; OWSLEY, Bryan Y 1841-1843. PEYTON, Samuel O 1847-1849, 1857-1861; POPE, John 1837-1843; POPE, Patrick H 1833-1835; PRESTON, William 1853-1857; QUARLES, Tunstall 1817-1820 RANDALL, William H 1863-1867; READ, William B 1871-1875; RICE, John M 1869-1873; RITTER, Burwell C 1865-1867; ROBERTSON, George 1817-1821; ROWAN, John 1807-1809; ROUSSEAU, Lovell H 1865-1867; RUMSEY, Edward 1837-1839 SANDFORD, Thomas 1803-1807; SHANKLIN, George S 1865-1867; SHARP, Solomon P 1813-1817; SIMMS, William E 1859-1861; SMITH, Green Clay 1863-1866; SMITH, John Speed 1821-1834; SOUTHGATE, William W 1837-1839; SPRIGG, James C 1841-1843; STANDIFORD, Dr Elisha D 1873-1875 (Jefferson Co). STANTON, Richard H 1849-1855; STEVENSON, John W 1857-1861; STONE, James W 1843-1845, 1851-1853; SWEENY, William N 1869-1871; SWOPE, Samuel F 1855-1857 TALBOTT, Albert G 1855-1861; TAUL, Micah 1815-1817; THOMASSON, William P 1843-1847; THOMPSON, John B 1841-1843, 1847-1851; THOMPSON, Philip 1823-1825; TIBBATTS, John W, 1843-1847; TOMPKINS, Christopher 1841-1835 (Barren Co); TRIMBLE, David 1817-1827; TRIMBLE, Lawrence S 1865-1871; TRIPLETT, Philip 1839-1841; TRUMBO, Andrew 1845-1847; UNDERWOOD, Joseph R 1835-1843 (Barren & Warren Co); UNDERWOOD, Warner L 1855-1859 (Warren) WADSWORTH, William Henry 1861-1865; WALKER David 1817-1820; WALTON, Matthew 1803-1807; WARD, A Harry 1866-1867; WARD, William T 1851-1853; WHITE, Addison 1851-1853; WHITE, David 1823-1835; WHITE, John 1835-1845; WICKLIFFE, Charles A 1823-1833, 1861-1863; WILLIAMS, Sherrod 1835-1841; WINCHESTER, Boyd 1869-1873; WOODSON, Samuel H 1820-1823 YANCY, Joel 1827-1831; YEAMAN, George H 1862-1865; YOUNG, Bryan R 1845-1847; YOUNG, William F 1825-1827; YOUNG, John D 1873-1875 SENATORS: ADAIR, John 1805-1806; BARRY, William T 1814-1816; BIBB, George M 1811-1814,1829-1835; BLEDSOE, Jesse 1813-1815; BRECKINRIDGE, John 1801-1805; BRECKINRIDGE, John C 1861 (resigned); BROWN, John 1792-1805; CLAY, Henry 1806-1807; 1809-1811, 1831-1842, 1849-1852; CRITTENDEN, John J 1842-1848, 1855-1861; DAVIS, Garrett 1861-1872; DIXON, Archibald 1852-1855; EDWARDS, John 1792-1795; GUTHRIE, James 1865-1869; HARDIN, Martin D, 1816-1817; JOHNSON, Richard M 1819-1829; LOGAN, William 1819-1820; MACHEN, Willis B 1873-1875; MARSHALL, Humphrey 1795-1801; McCREERY, Thomas C 1873-1879,1868-1871; MERRIWETHER, David 1852-1853; METCALFE, Thomas 1848-1849; MOREHEAD, James T 1841-1847; POPE, John 1807-1813; POWELL, Lazarus W 1859-1865; ROWAN, John 1825-1831; STEVENSON, John W 1871-1877; TALBOT, Isham 1815-1819, 1820-1825; THOMPSON, John B 1853-1859; THRUSTON, John Buckner 1805-1809; UNDERWOOD, Joseph R 1847-1853; WALKER, George 1814-1815 (c) Copyright 4 November 2004, Sandra K. Gorin Colonel Sandi Gorin SCKY Links: http://www.public.asu.edu/~moore/Gorin.html Sandi's Puzzlers: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gensoup/gorin/puz.html Gorin Publishing: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/

TIP #514 - U S REPRESENTATIVES FROM KENTUCKY AND U S SENATORS 1792-1873 Below is a list of all the US Congress Representatives and Senators from Kentucky from 1792-1873 and their term of office. REPRESENTATIVES: ADAIR, John, 1831-1833; ADAMS, George M 1867-1875; ADAMS, Green 1847-1849, 1859-1861; ALLAN, Chilton 1831-1837; ANDERSON, Lucien 1863-1865; ANDERSON, Richard C Jr, 1817-1821; ANDERSON Simeon H, 1839-1840; ANDERSON, William C 1859-1861; ANDREWS, Landaff Watson 1839-1843; ARTHUR, William E 1871-1875 BARRY, William T 1810-1811; BEATTY, Martin 1833-1835; BECK, James B 1867-1875; BEDINGER, George M 1803-1807; BELL, Joshua F 1845-1847; BOYD, Linn 1835-1837i; 1839-1855; BOYLE, John 1803-1809; BRECK, Daniel 1849-1851; BRECKINRIDGE, James D 1821-1823; BRECKINRIDGE, John C 1851-1855; BRISTOW, Francis M 1859-1861; BROWN, John YOUNG 1859-1861, 1873-1875, 1867-1869; BROWN, William 1819-1823; BUCKNER, Aylett 1847-18749; BUCKNER, Richard A 1823-1829; BULLOCK, Wingfield 1820-1821; BURNETT, Henry C 1855-1861; BUTLER, William O 1839-1843 CALDWELL, George Alfred 1843-1845, 1849-1851; CALHOON, John 1835-1839; CAMPBELL, John 1837-1843; CAMPBELL, John P 1855-1857; CASEY, Samuel L 1862-1863; CHAMBERS, John 1828-1829, 1835-1839; CHILTON, Thomas 1827-1831; 1833-1835; CHRISMAN, James S 1853-1855; CHRISTIE, Henry 1809-1811; CLARK, Beverly L 1847-1849; CLARK, James 1813-18167, 1825-1831; CLAY, Brutus J 1863-1865; CLAY, Henry 1811-1814, 1815-1821, 1823-1825; CLAY, James B 1857-1859; COLEMAN, Nicholas D 1829-1831; COX, Leander M 1853-1857; CRITTENDEN, John J 1861-1863; CROSSLAND, Edward 1871-1875. DANIEL, Henry 1827-1833; DAVIS, Amos 1833-1835; DAVIS, Garret 1839-1847; DAVIS, Thomas T 1797-1803; DESHA, Joseph 1816-1819; DUNCAN, Garnett 1847-1849; DUNLAP, George W 1861-1863; DURHAM, Milton J 1873-1875; DUVAL, William P 1813-1815 ELLIOTT, John M 1853-1859; EWING, Presley 1853-1854 FLETCHER, Thomas 1816-1817; FOWLER, John 1797-1807; FRENCH, Richard 1835-1837, 1843-1845, 1847-1849 GAINES, John P 1847-1849; GAITHER, Nathan 1829-1833; GOLLADAY, Jacob S 1867-1870; GRAVES, William J 1835-1841; GREEN, Willis 1839-1845; GREENUP, Christopher 1792-1797; GREY, Benjamin Edwards 1851-1855; GRIDER, Henry 1843-1847, 1861-1866; GROVER, Asa P 1867-1869 HARDIN, Benjamin 1815-1817; 1819-1823; 1833-1837; HARDING, Aaron 1861-1867; HARLAN, James 1835-1839; HAWES, Alfred G 1831-1837; HAWES, Richard 1837-1841; HAWKINS, Joseph W 1814-1815; HENRY, Robert P 1823-26; HENRY, John F 1826-1827; HILL, Clement S 1853-1855; HISE, Elijah 1866-1867; HOPKINS, Samuel 1813-1815; HOWARD, Benjamin 1807-1810 JACKSON, James S 1861-1862; JEWETT, Joshua H 1855-1859; JOHNSON, Francis 1821-1827; JOHNSON, James 1825-1826; JOHNSON, James L 1849-1851; JOHNSON, John T 1821-1825; JOHNSON, Richard M 1807-1819, 1829-1837; JONES, Thomas L 1867-1871 KINCAID, John 1829-1833; KNOTT, J Proctor 1867-1871 LECOMPTE, Joseph 1825-1833; LETCHER, Robert P 1823-1833; LEWIS, Joseph H 1870-1873 (Barren Co); LOVE, James 1833-1835; LYON, Crittenden 1827-1835; LYON, Matthew 1803-1811 MALLORY, Robert 1859-1865; MARSHALL, Alexander K 1855-1857; MARSHALL, Alexander K 1855-1857; MARSHALL, Humphrey 1849-1853, 1857-1859; MARSHALL, Thomas A 1831-1835; MARTIN, John P 1845-1847; MASON, John C 1849-1853, 1857-1859; MAY, William L 1835-1839; McDOWELL, Joseph J 1843-1845; McHATTON, Robert 1826-1829; McHENRY, John H 1843-1847; McHENRY, Henry D 1871-1873; McKEE, Samuel 1809-1817; McKEE, Samuel 1865-1869; McLEAN, Alney 1815-1817, 1819-1821; McLEAN, Finis Ewing 1849-1851; MENEFEE, Richard H 1837-1839; MENZIES, John W 1861-1865; METCALFE, Thomas 1819-1828; MILLIKEN, Charles W 1873-1875; MONTGOMERY, Thomas 18113-1815, 1821-182; MOORE, Laban T 1859-1861; MOORE, Thomas P 1823-1829, 1833-1835; MOREHEAD, Charles S 1847-1851; MURRAY, John L 1838-1839 ORMSBY, Stephen 1811-1817; ORR, Alexander D 1792-1797; OWSLEY, Bryan Y 1841-1843. PEYTON, Samuel O 1847-1849, 1857-1861; POPE, John 1837-1843; POPE, Patrick H 1833-1835; PRESTON, William 1853-1857; QUARLES, Tunstall 1817-1820 RANDALL, William H 1863-1867; READ, William B 1871-1875; RICE, John M 1869-1873; RITTER, Burwell C 1865-1867; ROBERTSON, George 1817-1821; ROWAN, John 1807-1809; ROUSSEAU, Lovell H 1865-1867; RUMSEY, Edward 1837-1839 SANDFORD, Thomas 1803-1807; SHANKLIN, George S 1865-1867; SHARP, Solomon P 1813-1817; SIMMS, William E 1859-1861; SMITH, Green Clay 1863-1866; SMITH, John Speed 1821-1834; SOUTHGATE, William W 1837-1839; SPRIGG, James C 1841-1843; STANDIFORD, Dr Elisha D 1873-1875 (Jefferson Co). STANTON, Richard H 1849-1855; STEVENSON, John W 1857-1861; STONE, James W 1843-1845, 1851-1853; SWEENY, William N 1869-1871; SWOPE, Samuel F 1855-1857 TALBOTT, Albert G 1855-1861; TAUL, Micah 1815-1817; THOMASSON, William P 1843-1847; THOMPSON, John B 1841-1843, 1847-1851; THOMPSON, Philip 1823-1825; TIBBATTS, John W, 1843-1847; TOMPKINS, Christopher 1841-1835 (Barren Co); TRIMBLE, David 1817-1827; TRIMBLE, Lawrence S 1865-1871; TRIPLETT, Philip 1839-1841; TRUMBO, Andrew 1845-1847; UNDERWOOD, Joseph R 1835-1843 (Barren & Warren Co); UNDERWOOD, Warner L 1855-1859 (Warren) WADSWORTH, William Henry 1861-1865; WALKER David 1817-1820; WALTON, Matthew 1803-1807; WARD, A Harry 1866-1867; WARD, William T 1851-1853; WHITE, Addison 1851-1853; WHITE, David 1823-1835; WHITE, John 1835-1845; WICKLIFFE, Charles A 1823-1833, 1861-1863; WILLIAMS, Sherrod 1835-1841; WINCHESTER, Boyd 1869-1873; WOODSON, Samuel H 1820-1823 YANCY, Joel 1827-1831; YEAMAN, George H 1862-1865; YOUNG, Bryan R 1845-1847; YOUNG, William F 1825-1827; YOUNG, John D 1873-1875 SENATORS: ADAIR, John 1805-1806; BARRY, William T 1814-1816; BIBB, George M 1811-1814,1829-1835; BLEDSOE, Jesse 1813-1815; BRECKINRIDGE, John 1801-1805; BRECKINRIDGE, John C 1861 (resigned); BROWN, John 1792-1805; CLAY, Henry 1806-1807; 1809-1811, 1831-1842, 1849-1852; CRITTENDEN, John J 1842-1848, 1855-1861; DAVIS, Garrett 1861-1872; DIXON, Archibald 1852-1855; EDWARDS, John 1792-1795; GUTHRIE, James 1865-1869; HARDIN, Martin D, 1816-1817; JOHNSON, Richard M 1819-1829; LOGAN, William 1819-1820; MACHEN, Willis B 1873-1875; MARSHALL, Humphrey 1795-1801; McCREERY, Thomas C 1873-1879,1868-1871; MERRIWETHER, David 1852-1853; METCALFE, Thomas 1848-1849; MOREHEAD, James T 1841-1847; POPE, John 1807-1813; POWELL, Lazarus W 1859-1865; ROWAN, John 1825-1831; STEVENSON, John W 1871-1877; TALBOT, Isham 1815-1819, 1820-1825; THOMPSON, John B 1853-1859; THRUSTON, John Buckner 1805-1809; UNDERWOOD, Joseph R 1847-1853; WALKER, George 1814-1815 (c) Copyright 4 November 2004, Sandra K. Gorin Colonel Sandi Gorin SCKY Links: http://www.public.asu.edu/~moore/Gorin.html Sandi's Puzzlers: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gensoup/gorin/puz.html Gorin Publishing: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/

If you receive this twice, I apologize. I sent this out at 7ish this morning and it hasn't gone out yet. Ignore if this is a duplicate! Sandi TIP #513 - OF OLD-TIME ELECTIONS By the time you receive this tip, you will be gearing up to go to the polls and cast your votes. Voting has been one of the greatest privileges of American citizenship and whether Republican, Democrat, Independent or other, it is important to make that trek and stand in line. Now this tip isn't going to be one of endorsement of one man or party over another, but a short look back at the wild and wooly elections of the past, particularly in the 17th and 18th centuries. No great detail will be given, but we forget that elections and campaigning of those days were just as bitterly fought as those of today. I will be quoting from several local sources and references about some of the going-ons. According to Franklin Gorin, author of Times of Long Ago (Barren Co KY), p. 47: "In the early years of this century [19th], there were in this county three precincts, at which the candidates for the legislature received their votes, namely Glasgow, Pikeville and Tompkinsville All would cast their votes at Pikeville and Tompkinsville the first day, then the whole could would assemble at Glasgow the third day to witness the result, which would be known as the close of the pole. It was at these elections the following practice arose: So soon as the result would be known, the whole crowd would rush to the polls, (where the candidates sat to thank their voters as they received a vote) and seize the successful men, on their shoulders and carry them sitting upright around the public square, then to the Big Spring where the elected had provided a barrel of whiskey, enough brown sugar to sweeten it and tin cups. The Big Spring furnished the purest and coolest water; thus delicious toddies were made and drunk with toasts and shouts until all were satisfied and made happy." William Daniel Tolle, a Barren County historian who wrote for a local paper from 1877 through the early 1920's wrote of the campaign of 1840, a particularly bitter one. This campaign was known as the "Log Cabin" hard cider and coon skin campaign." Locally he writes that a big barbeque was the order of the day. Wagons rolled in with a cabin on it. The cabin contained barrels of "hard cider" enough to whet the thirst of any uncommitted voters. Voting days were interesting. Of course, only free white males could vote in the early days and they must have saved up all their energies just for the election! Fighting over the best man was the order of the day; whiskey and moonshine flowed, arguments were heard everywhere. Votes were not private like they are today, everyone gathered around to see who an individual was voting for. Votes were often bought or sold for a drink. Now, not all the citizens participated in the rioting and drinking; but if it was ever to be seen, this was the day or days to get a ring side seat! Lewis Collins, History of Kentucky Volume 1shown much good information on elections: p. 50: $100 fine for betting on elections passed the Kentucky Legislature 1 March 1854. Oh, betting had been an active pastime of that day! And, after the law above was passed, there were many arrests for citizens who kept up the practice! I have read through many of the court cases reference betting on the elections; the authorities just hauled them in one after one sometimes. p. 131: "Provides the manner of Kentucky soldiers in U S service voting for U S president and vice-president (5 Feb 1864). It appears there was no provision for the War of 1812 for the soldiers to vote and this was being corrected for the Civil War. p. 157: President Lincoln signs the bill introduced into the US Senate by Gov. Powell of Kentucky which passed the senate by a large majority, and the house of representatives by 113-19 - to prevent military interference with elections; the penalties for violation are very severe. (Feb 25, 1865). p. 170: Heavy fines imposed for preventing legal voters from voting violating an order. Certain soldiers were interfering with the voting process. p. 173: Rioting erupts at an election; more than 20 men killed throughout the state.(Aug 6, 1866). p. 246k: Riots break out in Nicholasville in Jessamine County, people shot and injured. While the old-time politicians didn't have access to television, the internet and other high-speed transmissions of data, there was negative advertising! Newspapers ruled and its messages were delivered. They were primarily partisan in their approach and candidates were thoroughly trashed if of an opposing party of the editor. This held not only for local politicians but national as well. John Adams was accused of being a "closet British loyalist" in 1800. Andrew Jackson was accused of being a bigamist in 1828. Grover Cleveland was charged with fathering a child out of wedlock in 1884. Cartoons of a vicious nature were common and sing-song choruses and poems invented. The Republicans campaign slogan of that year was "Ma, Ma, where's my pa? Gone to the White House, Ha! Ha! Ha!. Cleveland admitted that the story was true. On the other side, The Republican nominee was James Blaine whom the Democrats labeled "The Continental liar from the State of Maine." This has been noted to be one of the meanest campaigns in American history. It might also be noted that in the 19th century party bosses were choosing their party nominees for Congress. So if you're tired of commercials and attacks, they've been around a long time; the general public just didn't get to witness it 24 hours a day. (c) Copyright 28 Oct 2004, Sandra K. Gorin

TIP #512: CORN, FLAX, CRADLE, CLEANING FLAX AND ROPE My tip for today will take us right back to the early days of Kentucky and before, long before any settler could even imagine our 21st century inventions. How many of you, upon reading the census, noted over and over the occupation of farmer. Not very exciting you say? Did you ever wish your ancestor was a lawyer, doctor, explorer instead? But farming ... so mundane. Having grown up on the farm in my youth, but thankfully at an age where I wasn't personally involved in the rigors of farming, I nevertheless understood very early in life that a farmer's life is not an easy life. The writing today come from a late historian in Barren County KY who wrote under the pen name of "Ellot" - William Daniel Tolle. He wrote for a local paper for several decades and makes the reader feel as if you were sitting along beside him on an old wagon, traveling over the area and interviewing people and having them tell you about your lives. This article was written about 1880-1890. Here is what he wrote on the topic at hand this week. "When the land was first cleared (by the early settlers), the principal crop was Indian corn. The land was very rich and made heavy yields. In a very few years other products were raised, such as flax and cotton for the making of clothes. An old saying was that Good Friday was the day to sow flax seed, another saying was that March tow was better than April flax; meaning that flax seeds sown in March would make tow that would be better than flax if the seed were soon in April. Sometimes early and sometimes late, so that rule won't work. The flax seed produces only one stalk, so the seeds must be sown thick. Another old time saying was that the seeds be sown thick enough that by wetting the ball of the thumb and placing it down in the ground nine seeds would stick to it. "Flax seeds should be sown early in the year as the ground becomes warm enough for them to germinate and grow off well, it requires soil of good fertility. The seeds are plowed in with a shovel plow and the ground brushed or dragged in order to make a smooth surface. They are left to grow; the stalk growing to the height of about two to two and one half feet, forming many sprin-angles or shoots at the top of the stalk, putting forth blue or purple flowers, and forming pods of bolls filled with seeds. When these balls become brown the stalks are ready to pull up and laid in a straight even swath and left to cure. When the stalks and balls are sufficiently cured, they are taken up, tied in bundles, hauled to the barn, bulked away and left for a later day. When winter draws near, all other crops are safely harvested, on some rainy day perhaps, the seeds are beaten off with a hand maul or mallet preparatory to hauling back to the field and being again spread out in smooth even swaths to go through a process of "rotting." It is always desirable that this process should take place in the winter, under snow if possible, in or under to whiten the lint. When sufficiently rotted for the stalk to break easy so it could be easily separated from the lint, it was taken up again, tied in bundles and hauled to the barn. Generally through the months of February and March it was cleaned and made ready for the loom. "I believe I could make a flax break with more ease or accuracy than I can describe one; but I will try and describe on as the break is the next thing to use in the history of flax. "Four parts, four or five inches square required to start with, two of them something like two and a half feet long; two of them six inches longer. Holes should be morticed in them and cross pieces four inches wide and two inches thick should be put in the mortices and made perfectly tight. The mortices must be the same distance from the foot of the posts but the posts for the rear end of the break should be wider apart then those of the front end. Three slats or swords are the next thing required which should be about four feet long and one half inch thick with the top edge beveled off with a round bevel to about the thickness of a quarter of an inch. One of these should be let into the cross pieces in the post, in the exact middle, and firmly fastened; the other should be let in the cross pieces on each side of the first one, and something like one and a half inches from the first one at the front end and two and a half or three inches at the seam end, all of them securely fastened. [Note: I hope some of you understand how this works .... it took ingenuity to figure this all out and I would be lost immediately!]. A block of wood is now wanted for the head. It can be about twelve inches long, four or five inches thick and ten to twelve inches broad. The top corners must be rounded off making a nice smooth head on top with the under edge smooth and level; holes must be bored in the posts on the back end and above the cross piece for another piece of timber to work in, the ends of which are rounded and dressed so as to fit the holes in the posts but not tight enough to prevent its working; two swords or slats are placed in the bottom side of this cross piece and in the head so they will come down and work nicely between the bottom swords. This last work would have to be done before the rear parts are closed up and fastened, in order to let the ends of the top cross piece go through the holes of the posts. A good firm piece of timber round and smooth about one and a half inches long is placed in the head piece and back top cross piece for the handle. The above is a pretty fair description of the old time flax break which is a thing of the past. (Whew!) After closing up and making everything tight and secure, the break is ready for use. "A sunshiney day is preferable for the work so the flax can be spread out in the sun which makes it more easy to work. The operator takes a bunch of the straw, enough to make a good sized handful when broke and raises the tip of the break, putting the flax between the upper and lower swords, beginning at the rear end of the break where the swords are furthest apart, moving the tip of the break up and down with one hand, and as the stalks break and fall, he moves on nearer to the front end of the break where the swords are nearer together. When the stalks are well broken and fallen under the break in what was called "herds", the lint was given a few twists in order to keep it more compact and hung up in a proper condition across a pole or something of a suitable nature. One hundred pounds was regarded as a good days work for a good hand. "The swingling is now in order. A swingling board was made of a common clapboard six or eight inches wide, either nailed to a block, or one end of the board sharpened and drove into the ground, the end of the board being dressed off making it smooth and of proper shape and height. A swingling knife was generally made of hickory wood, about one inch thick, two and a half to three inches wide and about twenty inches long. It as nicely beveled from the center to the edge on each side and tapered to the end; a good hand hold was made. It was well dressed and well shaped in every particular. All things being ready a handfull of flax was taken, put across the board, held with one hand and beaten with the knife, held in the other hand. This process was kept up until all the fine herds were beaten out and the lint became soft and pliable. Cleaning two to three dozen handfuls of flax in a day was a big days work for one person. "When the flax left the swingling board, it went to the hatchel; which was a piece of hard wood probably ten inches wide, twenty inches long, with a sufficient number of iron spikes through the middle of it to answer to the purpose of drawing the flax through the spikes. In going through this process every thing was cleaned out, leaving nothing but the pure lint. The tow from the swingling board was called swingling tow, and that from the hatchel called hackling tow; it was much finer than the swingling tow and was used for making the best articles of the tow cloth. "The flax was spun on a little low wheel commonly called a flax wheel. It was run by a treadle, the performer sitting in a chair and running the wheel with the feet on the treadle. Cloth in an early day was made of cotton warp and flax filling; the filling being spun on the little wheel. My mother used to spin towing thread and shoe thread on the flax wheel, which was better and stronger than the thread of today. She used to make flax jeans which was nice and durable. Any flax cloth that can be found at this time is highly prized and kept as an heirloom. "Tow from the flax was spun on the cotton or big wheel as it was called. The spinner had to walk back and forth. When the crop of tow was spun it was put in the loom and woven into cloth. Some of the finest was used at home for different purposes but much of it was exchanged with the merchants for other goods. The woman as a general rule claimed this cloth and purchased their spring dressing with it. The price was generally about twenty cents per yard. The merchants always expected a deal with the ladies when the tow cloth was ready for market, and always prepared for them, having the kinds of goods on hand that they knew they would want, and was as proud to see the country ladies coming in with a big roll of tow cloth as they are today seeing them coming in with a big roll of green backs. The flax seeds also had a value from fifty to seventy five cents per bushel. There was another use that tow was put to in those days; that of making rope. Plow lines and bed cords were all made of flax tow in an early day. "While most every farmer had a flax break, all of them did not have what was termed "Rope Works." In order to make the words, a post should be gotten sixteen or eighteen inches through and the part above the ground should be firmly planted in the ground. Three holes should be bored in the post at the proper height for the operator to work his hands and arms naturally. The holes should be in a triangle, each one the same distance apart. A plant or board should be secured of proper width and length and holes bored through it to correspond precisely with the holes through the post. Cranks are made with one stem to go through the post and project out two or three inches; the other stems to go through the board. (The ends of which is dressed down for good hand holds). The mechanism of these cranks is such that when put through the post and the other stems put through the board they will all turn easily by manipulating the board. "We will now measure off one hundred feet of level ground on a perfect line with the post above described. Here we have a pair of truck wheels placed on a heavy axle, with another post fastened to the axle and a heavy tongue projecting out behind. A hole is bored in this post and one crank put through it. We are now ready for laying the strands which is done by taking the thread is it comes from the wheel, tieing one end to the stem of the crank at the large post and going to the other post, running it off the ball as you go, and tie to the crank at the post at the trucks. You pass backward and forward tieing at each post until the strand is made as large as desirable. You then tie to another crank at the big post at the big post and go through the same process until three strands are laid which number constitutes a rope. Everything is now ready for some person to take hold of the ends of the board through which the stems of the three cranks are placed at the big post and to turning. In this way all three of the strands are twisted at the same time. Some persons are watching along the line to keep the strands from getting together. When the strands are twisted sufficiently hard, one person takes a small forked stick and places it over the middle strand, the other two running on each side. One person now begins turning the crank (this is all done at the end where the trucks are). The person holding the fork moves forward as the twist forces him out. This is called laying the rope. When the person using the fork gets as near the big post as possible, the rope undergoes a dressing, which is done by taking three corn cobs, putting them around the rope lengthwise and giving it a good rubbing. "It is now taken off, the ends well tied to prevent raveling and done up pretty much as farmers fix their plow lines when taking their teams from the plow, only done much nicer and wrapped much more. The above description is for a bed cord which is ninety feet long having drawn up ten feet in making it. Many of them were sold to the merchants for ninety cents in exchange for their goods; one dollar being the general price for bed cords in those days before rope was being shipped into the country from factories as at present. (c) Copyright 20 Oct 2004, taken from "Backroads of Barren County", Sandra K. Gorin, Gorin Genealogical Publishing, (c) May 1994. All Rights Reserved. Colonel Sandi Gorin SCKY Links: http://www.public.asu.edu/~moore/Gorin.html Sandi's Puzzlers: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gensoup/gorin/puz.html Gorin Publishing: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/

TIP #511 - FOLLOW UP ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY I was amazed at the response to my tip of last week on the use of digital cameras in genealogical research! I don't think I've ever received so many emails and so positive. Perhaps the purists on the list who are really "into" photographic uses thought my tip very simple and tossed it aside, but from the responses I received, it is obvious that many of us are interested in the use of the digital camera. I intentionally made the tip at the novice level; most of us are not photographers by trade and have to learn as we go from not only the manuals (which can be a terror) and from trial and error. Much like when we learned to type; many of us took typing in school and can fly over the keyboard. Many use the hunt and peck method and wear out the backspace or delete keys. On the job training. So, don't become discouraged if your original efforts don't produce the results you want. Unlike conventional film, you are ruining a roll of film ... take the picture again. I'd like to give you a brief tip this week from some of the things that some of our listers sent me after reading last week's tip and then some web sites which will give you something else to browse through. Jan wrote that at the same time she purchased her camera, she bought one of these new 3 in 1 scanners for under a hundred. dollars. It has 4 slots for the most popular sized memory cards, thus eliminating the need to use your camera to download you photo's into your PC. This REALLY saves on the batteries. She stated that she's taken hundreds of pictures and just replaced her batteries for the first time. Laurie wrote that one thing she does is put the pictures into a word document with the description and print out the document. Then she stores the printed pictures in acid free top loading protectors - which in turn can be stored in zippered 3-ring binders. Storing them in the protectors in 3-ring binders makes it easier to bring out the pictures when family gatherings take place. No smudges from food! And no one will walk off with a single picture!!! Ruth gave a wonderful tip too. She suggested (from experience) that when her daughter's camera quit working, it turned out "she had been taking photos, uploading, erasing and then retaking photos. She kept using the same part of the memory card which eventually wore out and she needed to get a new memory card. It might be wise to not erase all those small batches of photos until you are about to do something really critical like a trip or something and then erase the entire card." I hadn't thought of this and was doing exactly what her daughter was doing! Tonya might have saved some of our genealogical lives by this tip: She stated that she had accidentally erased about 20 or so pictures. To recover them, you can download a free program called Zero Assumption Data Recovery. It's a tool that can be used on all sorts of digital data from PDA's to camera files. It saved the day, and you can't beat FREE!!! It's also very easy to use. You can find it here: http://www.z-a-recovery.com/ Eddie provided some good tips too: Scanning a picture: If the picture is to used on a web site, the resolution need only be set at 70, a computer can see no more. If the picture is to be printed, would suggest at least a setting of 200, or more, depending on how sharp or crisp one wants the fine details. That comes in handy if one wants to replace some portion of a picture, that has a scratch, or crease. Or worse yet, some one used scotch tape to hold the picture in an album, and once the tape is removed along with it goes part of the picture. Bear in mind the higher the resolution the longer it will take to scan. He also added: Pictures of tombstones: There is always a shadow of a tree or something over some portion of the tombstone. He has two flash lights mounted on pods that I can stick in ground until get proper lighting on either side of the tombstone. Trick there is to use one flashlight (left) and then the other (right), and then both. Make sure the camera angle is near same angle as the slanted tombstone, prevents the text on the tombstone from being elongated. Now - if you'd like to read up on digital photography uses in genealogy, I'd recommend the following sites: Juliana Smith is the editor of the daily Ancestry Daily News which I have recommended before. She has done two excellent articles on her experiences as a new digital camera user. Part 1 can be found at: http://www.ancestry.com/learn/library/article.aspx?article=9041&o_iid=831&o_ lid=831 (My First Digital Research Trip, 20 September 2004; part 2 was posted 11 Oct 2004 with more clues. This hopefully will be archived soon. Digital Cameras and Genealogy, http://www.rideau-info.com/genealogy/digital/ This is a wonderful site with about 11 different categories. Most are easily understood by the beginning photographer; some go into more technical terms but show examples and tips. Digital Photography for Genealogy: http://www.wimfamhistory.net/Digital/digital.htm This looks at various digital cameras, tips and photographs. Julie Morgan's site: http://home.midsouth.rr.com/picstoshare/digital_photography.html This will get you started! Have fun with a digital camera. Experiment with your pictures until you are comfortable with them. Due to the extreme clarity of a digital shot, even a picture of a blade of grass, a spider web or a beautiful sunset will amaze you. Think of what it will do for your family pictures! (c) Copyright 14 Oct 2004, Sandra K. Gorin

TIP #510 THE DIGITAL CAMERA IN GENEALOGY I have recently made another small step into the world of technology and purchased a digital camera. I knew nothing about digital photography; all I know is that over the years I have taken thousands upon thousands of snapshots, enough to fill about 10 albums for me, several shoe boxes and about as many for my daughters. And, I like most of you, still have unlabeled pictures which are driving me slightly mad in determining the 5 w's: who, what, where, why and when! As I looked at the photographs taken over the many years of my life, I could almost cry. I did the best I could with the camera I had, but some were so dark, so faded, some discolored. I was determined to learn what I could about the digital camera in genealogy work. For this post, I'm going to learn along with you some of the techniques to use with a digital camera; I know that I am thrilled with mine, although I forgot to get one with a few features I needed. Let's start with the photos you already have. I have always used my scanner to copy into the computer the old family picture and then edited it with an editing program. You can also use your digital camera. The camera comes in handy when you're visiting with Aunt Liz and she has THE photograph of which you need a copy. But, she wouldn't let go of that picture for anything; not even long enough for you to run down to the local copy shop. Aunt Lizzie says it's her picture and the family can just wait until she's gone. After much sweet talking, she decides that you can make a copy of the picture as long as it doesn't leave her sight. Not too many of us have a scanner in our pocket or a copy shop in the living room. What to do? Why not your digital camera? Or what if you have a picture that has turned red on you ... a common problem with photographs taken during the 1950's through the 1970's. Again, your digital camera can come to the rescue! Most of us don't have a lot of extra equipment and try to hold the camera steady as we shoot a picture of a picture. But, an inexpensive tripod (found at most department stores anymore including WalMart and Kmart) really helps. Your camera needs to be mounted upside down between the legs. If you want to be absolutely positive you have the camera lined up, you can use a level to ensure that the lens is exactly parallel to the photo. If you're like me ... I'll eyeball it and likely it won't be level. I just want to get the picture taken before Aunt Lizzie changes her mind! A copy stand is also handy at times. This will hold the book (photo album etc) and has a lamp on either side. This will distribute the light more evenly and has a place to mount the camera upside down. But most of us don't want to carry a lot of extra equipment with us or confuse the same Aunt Lizzie by hauling in more and more gadgets from the trunk. The tripod will normally work just as well. Natural daylight is the best for shooting books and photos (not in the direct sunlight however) or a small lamp by the item to be photographed. Before you take the picture, check your hands! No, you don't have to run to the bathroom and wash off dirt, but if your hands are shaking, even pushing the button of the camera can jiggle the camera ever so slightly. If you want a perfect picture, you can use the camera's self timer and move those shaky hands away! If you camera has a zoom lens (this is what I forgot in the camera I purchased!), there might be some distortion at the edges. If you're using the zoom lens, try to position your camera at 10mm or greater and being sure that the camera is parallel to the work. To be on the safe side, take at least three pictures of the same photograph or book. You can delete from memory those that didn't come out right, especially if you are hand holding the camera! I am not going to discuss f-stops ... primarily because it is a detailed subject and I am not qualified to discuss this! If you are taking a picture of a photo album page that contains more than one picture, take a picture (or 3) of each beaming face and then take a picture of the entire page. Much like photostating the cover page of a book along with the page you need; this gives you a source of checking the photo layouts; perhaps they were placed in a certain order on purpose, such as the youngest to the oldest child, or progressive ages for the same individual. And, as a personal aside, have a notebook handy and write down any information on that page to identify the person or place. We all get excited and take hundreds of pictures, visit a lot of relatives, go a lot of places and when we get home... ouch! Was that at Aunt Lizzie's house or Grandpa Bill's? Where was that cemetery? When you get home, download those priceless photos into whatever photo program you have. Here you can do your editing - brightness, size, and cropping. And, as my daughter taught me, rename those pictures! Digital prints are all numbers, rename them to something that makes sense to you later! I print off those pictures I want; and store the rest. I like using the digital camera over my scanner in the times when I need to shoot a picture of a three dimensional object --a piece of furniture, jewelry, and "things" that just won't fit on a scanner. But my scanner gets its workout too! Scanner prices have come down drastically, but there's just so much that will fit in my car! Taking pictures of slides will still be a problem. Digital cameras don't handle slides very well; and scanners don't either unless you have a new scanner with a slide attachment. It's many times better just to take your slides in to a photo shop and have them transferred to a Kodak Photo CD. It is noted that some sources stated that it's not a good thing to store your photos onto tape or a ZIP drive. They recommend only a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM. The life expectancy on the latter is said to be between 30-50 years; storage on a ZIP or other disk can damage the picture because of the magnetic properties. I hope mine hold out a while longer! You will save them as a jpeg or a tif file. It is also good to keep the information about the subjects, dates, locations, etc. in a separate file and store your photos just as the image itself. What size of camera should I get? Size counts in the digital camera world. The bigger the image (in pixels), the better the picture quality. It has been recommended to me by many that you should not get a camera less than 3.2 megapixels. Batteries: One must also consider batteries. Believe me, digital cameras go through batteries rapidly. Have charged spares with you! Most cameras will use AA or AAA batteries and recommend NiMH rechargeable batteries. The instruction booklet with the camera will normally tell you how many pictures you can take expect to take. I purchased an inexpensive battery charger that will recharge in 15 minutes; others charge in an hour, others a normal charge time - hours. I carry a spare pair of charged batteries with me. Memory: The camera comes with a tiny internal memory and a pair of batteries that last a very short time. The larger the memory, the more pictures one can take at one time without downloading the pictures. So I suggest buying more memory immediately! On a 3.2 megapixel camera with 600 mb of storage, you can take about 300 pictures. I purchased 128 mb and haven't had a problem. Once you have downloaded your pictures, you erase them from the camera memory and you're ready to go again. In conclusion. I have not meant this to be an intense lesson in photography. Believe me, I am not qualified to do that! To someone who is used to shooting pictures with a regular 35 mm camera, taking the film out and having it developed, digital photography can seem very complex. There are more add-ons one can have including little (and expensive) printing docs so you can print out 4 x 6 pictures on the site, etc. But I was looking for a camera that would shoot pictures of cemeteries, old documents and photographs as well as casual shots of the family and scenery. I added only the battery charger and the extra memory; I hope to invest in a tripod. Sound expensive? Yes, possibly, but prices are dropping. Up front there will be a decent expenditure. But when you shoot as many pictures as I do, I just did a little math. Roll of film: $8-$12.00. Developing: $10.00 plus or minus. Waiting for pictures to be developed? One hour, one day or several days. Ability to go back and re-shoot the pictures if they didn't come out right (we've all chopped off someone's head, caught someone with their eyes closed, had a shadow over the tombstone, had our thumb over the lens ... you know the story!) With digital, I can take a picture, view it, re-do it if necessary and have it immediately. No worry about lost films at the camera developing store, no charge for prints that didn't come out right. No begging the spouse to turn around and go back 50 miles to do it again. I have become so addicted to the digital camera that I carry it with me even going to the grocery store. Sound strange? Not really. Who knows what wonderful picture you might be able to capture on the way? (c) Copyright 7 Oct 2004, Sandra K. Gorin Colonel Sandi Gorin SCKY Links: http://www.public.asu.edu/~moore/Gorin.html Sandi's Puzzlers: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gensoup/gorin/puz.html Gorin Publishing: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/