Ken: My father was a great story teller! He told us about this storm and how he had to dig out a tunnel to go to the store for milk and bread. We were all fascinated by this story because he went on and on about the great snow fall. Well, many years later we realized he was really telling a story. He was born in 1896. We still laugh about that. Ann in Farmingdale, NJ -----Original Message----- From: Ken Everard <everardk@comcast.net> To: NJ-GSNJ-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 10:08:36 -0500 Subject: [GSNJ] NJ Blizzard 1888 Genealogy is directly connected to history for a great number of reasons including occupations, wars, and even blizzards that our ancestors had to experience. One such event was the great blizzard that hit much of the northeastern portion of the United States and some of Canada. Here are some highlights of the blizzard: * It hit the area on Monday night 12, 1888, and caught most people and businesses off guard. * Accompanying the storm was rain rapidly dropping temperatures that sunk to below zero. Snow fell fast and caught most people by surprise, especially in NJ because everyone thought it would hit farther north. By Tuesday morning people could not reach their jobs or stores. Visibility was awful. Men's beards and whiskers froze with ice and snow on them. * Trains were unable to go far before realizing the tracks were too covered for progress far so the people on those trains were locked in with limited food. Families share what they had brought with them. * The winds blew at 35-50 miles per hour. People could not get to their jumps in cities because the walks and roads were not cleared. Most people were inadequately dressed to withstand the temperatures. NJ was not hit quite as hard as NY City and upstate New York. The source of this information is HISTORY MAGAZINE, Mary 2006. Did any of your ancestors pass down through the generations to you any of their experiences during the winter of 1888? Ken ==== NJ-GSNJ Mailing List ==== Visit our Collections Guide: http://www.rootsweb.com/~njgsnj/collectionguide.html ============================== Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx