The Quest

About two years ago, mom and I went on a trip to Georgia to research our ancestors. I was amazed to find that one of the descendants of my great-great-great-grandfather was still living on the family land. And that the home Oliver Gaines Barron built was still standing! This descendant was Thelma Pate. She was in her 90's, but still welcomed us into her home, shared stories and information with us and took us to see the homeplace. I will forever be grateful that I was able to spend that small bit of time with Thelma. I have thought of her often, hoping that one day I might get to go back and visit her again. I found out today that I won't get that opportunity this side of heaven. Thelma Pate went on to bigger and better things on Thursday, December 15, 2011. Thelma Jackson Rooks Pate, 98, died December 15, 2011. She was born on June 24, 1913, in Campbell County, just across the Chattahoochee River from the County Line area of southeastern Carroll County where she lived all her...

So I was browsing Kindle books for what I might read next and came across author Alice Zogg. Of course, I saw the name, saw that she was born in Switzerland, and I had to know more. After contacting Alice, I found out that she had married a Zogg, who was also born in Switzerland. They live in California now. She also shared this little tidbit: It is unlikely that the many Grabs Zoggs and the numerous Walenstadt Zoggs are closely related.  The family line of Zoggs from Grabs (and surrounding area) are mostly of protestant ancestry, whereas the Zoggs from Walenstadt (and surrounding area) derived  predominantly from people of Roman catholic faith.  In addition there is another group of Zoggs in the state (Kanton) of Graubünden. Interesting! I haven't read the book I purchase yet, but if you're interested in finding out more about Alice and her books, check out  www.alicezogg.com .

There is a line of Zoggs who came to the U.S. and settled in the northeast. Their patriarch was Ulrich Zogg, who was born in Grabs, Switzerland, in 1828. In our line, Florian Zogg was born in Grabs in 1831. So I couldn't help but wonder whether the two were related. It struck me that I might be able to find out by tapping Her. Thommen's records again. Alas, what he found shows no direct relation. But I still think - way back there - the families must have all come from the same bloodline. At any rate, here is what Roland had to say: If your birthyear  1828 is correct, I have the solution and the answer that the lines not are related. So Ueli *1828 is the  6th  child from 10 , from Ueli Zogg 1794-1837 and Margrith Vetsch 1798-1879, marriage 1817 And Ueli *1794 is the eldest from 6 children from Andreas 1772-1804 and °Ursula Zogg 1778-1823, marriage 1793 And Andreas *1772 is the eldest from 5 from Hans 1749-1790 and Ursula Schlegel 1748-1785, marriage 1771 And HAns *174...

A lot has transpired recently on the Zogg front. I found a couple of contacts in Switzerland who have been most helpful. One actually provided five generations of information that he has compiled from original records. Florian Zogg born 1831 marr. Anna Gabathuler, born 1837, from Wartau, daughter from Mathias and Anna Sulser, 10 children, Mathias is the 5th. Florian Zogg, born 1806 marr. 1826 Magdalena Bohner, 1805-1873 from Wartau, 9 children, Florian is the third. 5 sons had a family with children, so this family is today the greatest Zogg family Florian Zogg born 1769,  he marr. 1789 Agnes Stricker, Christians daughter from Grabs, he was a cattler-trader, 13 children, Florian was the 11th. Brother David was a french mercenary. David Zogg 1746-1788, marr. 1766 Anna Stricker, Grabs, 1746-1825, 8 children, Florian is the youngest. Three other sons had a family. Normally only one or two sons could marry. Florian Zogg marr. Before 1747 Maria Eggenberger, we know two children, Anna a...

It seems somehow appropriate to visit a cemetery the weekend before All Saints Day (and therefore Halloween). I didn't see any ghosts, but I was saddened by the number of field stones in the Parker Memorial Cemetery . Saddened because those graves, although marked, will never be known by name. I find field stones interesting because they give us a glimpse of the materials that were available to our ancestors. But they are also beyond frustrating... because each one marks a grave that is unidentifiable. You can tell that many of them once bore inscriptions, but now they are worn away to nothing. Sad. At least one of them was still in good condition and readable. I imagine it was placed much later than the others.

I just finished reading The Hangman's Daughter  by Oliver Pötzsch (Lee Chadeayne, translator). The book in itself was interesting, but what I found to be particularly of note was the postscript. Apparently the inspiration for this book was the author's own ancestry of executioners - the Kuisl family. I have not yet found such a shocking occupation in my own family's past. We were doctors, teachers, preachers, farmers. But who knows what we would find if we delved back into the medieval past! The author notes: "In the past few years, genealogical research has become increasingly popular. Perhaps one of the reasons for this is that we are trying, in a world of increasing complexity, to create a simpler and more understandable place for ourselves. No longer do we grow up in large families. We feel increasingly estranged, replaceable, and ephemeral. Genealogy gives us a feeling of immortality. The individual dies; the family lives on." Maybe this is why I find g...

I purchased this set of dishes last year (I think) from Garden Ridge. I have loved them and wished I had purchased another set so that I would have 8 placesettings. The burgundy dishes I got from Pier One back in 1996 have not aged well... cracking and getting extremely hot in the microwave. So I've relegated them to the sideboard (perhaps to the donation pile soon). That left me with only 4 placesettings of these (Casa Cristina Oro) and some clear burgundy "Visions" that I was given as a gift sometime around the college/post-college years. I've looked all over to try to find more of the Visions, with no luck. So... I finally found these at Replacements, but for a pretty steep price (compared to the $20 I paid for my first 4 placesettings). Enter Craig's List. I found 8 placesettings for sale in Oklahoma City. So the wheels start turning in my head and I think... if Martha (Stone) could go get these for me, then give them to Amy's parents, then Amy's par...

Wondering how to go about finding people in Belgium. It's a long story really. But suffice it to say that an acquaintance is wondering about his extended family, who lives in Belgium. The surname is Doornewerd, but I haven't been able to find many people with that surname. And ancestry.com doesn't appear to have any online records for Belgium. Or maybe I just haven't looked hard enough. Or maybe they're restricted to the international subscription, which we let drop because everything was in another language. At any rate, it doesn't appear that Doornewerd is a common surname. It also doesn't appear that there are many online records for births/deaths/marriages/census/etc. for Belgium. We'll see. Another quest!

While visiting my sister this week in Chicago, I decided to take a walk through the neighborhood to Union Ridge Cemetery. Union Ridge is one of the highest points in Cook County and is a part of Norwood Park. Originally organized in 1872 from adjacent townships (Jefferson, Leyden and Niles) as a village, and named after Henry Ward Beecher's novel Norwood , or Village Life in New England (1868), Norwood Park was annexed to the City of Chicago in 1893. Click here to read more about Norwood Park . Union Ridge Cemetery is a beautiful place... well-shaded, and mostly well-kept. Quite a few of the headstones have begun to sink into the ground, obscuring the lower parts of the inscriptions. The cemetery is mostly surrounded by residential areas, which you would think would make it a peaceful place. And it was for the most part... except for the one lady who was outside in her backyard screaming the f-word at God-knows-who. There were several large monuments, and a good number of m...

I suppose I should have taken German. I would have never pegged Heckman as a German name, but it turns out that the word "heck" or "hegge" means "hedge" and presumably referred to a family who lived near a hedge. Had I taken German, I would have known that. I would now also be able to interpret the census and other records of our Zogg ancestors. But, alas, I didn't take German. PS - Why do I care about whether Heckman is a German name? Only because I'm stalking someone else's dead people.

I like what I do... most of the time. But lately I've been happiest when thinking genealogy. A church member just mentioned in passing that she was needing someone to make a photocopy of a page in their family Bible, which is in the archives at Abilene Christian University. Well, you can't just make a comment like that to me without expecting a conversation... so we spent the next 20-30 minutes standing at the bottom of the stairs talking about lost lines and 19th century travel habits and internet vs. foot-to-the-ground research. I'm sure if my job was genealogy research I would find my mind wandering to graphic design, web design, publications, etc. But right now I would just rather be doing anything but that... including stalking dead people.

I was in a fairly good mood this morning. Meg let me sleep about 6 hours straight. Vertigo fairly under control. Only a mild headache. Got some stuff done this morning before work. Then... got to work and checked my e-mail. Really rude and critical e-mail from a church member about the new website. Bye-bye good mood. I'm trying to talk myself down. Take it with a grain of salt. Consider the actual content and ignore the rudeness. Maybe e-mail is just a rude medium.

I saw a t-shirt today with this saying on it... "You'd Be More Interesting If You Were Dead." Ha. Love it. Next up for bid in this year's church auction... genealogy expertise. I've done the Greek Feast for two years and have had enough of that. This time... I'll do something that I would do anyway. Stalk people. But with permission.

Sometimes I would just love to quit my job and work from home. Stalking people. Or something. As long as it doesn't involve working with actual, live people. There are all kinds of problems with live people. But chief among them is emotions. When you're exploring your family genealogy, you can imagine what they might have thought or felt, but you don't have to actually deal with their feelings. I hurt someone's feelings yesterday... completely unintentionally and I'm really not quite sure how or why. But today I can't stop thinking about it and it bothers me. It was all about work. So the solution: don't work with people. Problem is... there are no jobs that don't involve working with people. At least a little. It would just be much better if they were dead people who, I imagine, don't get their feelings hurt.

Kef asked me yesterday why I hadn't blogged in a while. So here are my excuses: It's too hot for me to go on quests over my lunch hour. Since Ken died, my routine has never been the same. All of my best blog ideas come to me in the shower. Although my laptop is handy in lots of ways, it is not water-proof. Nothing is happening. I haven't been pursuing any family lines (for myself or others) in a while. I lack self-discipline, and therefore just don't get around to it. Maya. I have my hands full with this little caninite {props to Ron Hettler for the hybrid of canine and termite} . I'll try to be better. Promises.

If it weren't for my tight family connections, I wouldn't know my second-cousin-once-removed Bryan and his bride Kendi. (Most people don't , I'm told, have a clue about their second-cousin-once-removed.) I find Bryan and Kendi interesting because they are so cute... so young... and sooo doing just what they want to. Some people wait their whole lives to do what they love. These two dove in right out of college. Bryan is a photographer (among other things) and Kendi is a fashion blogger (among other things). The family grapevine tells me that Kendi has bought a dress shop on the square in a suburb of DFW. Who does that? Especially at such a young age? Umm... I guess people who are brave enough to live their dream. Now, I haven't really talked to Kendi about this venture, but I can only assume that running her own shop is a dream of hers. And I admire that. Have a dream. Do it. I used to dream about doing some things. In fact I have a whole list of things I wante...

So I did end up creating a Facebook group for our Gideon descendants, but so far it hasn't been as successful as our Zogg group is. I think the Gideons just got too spread out, the Giddens/Gideon name confused everyone, and no one knows where they belong. We are having an on-going discussion with distant cousins via e-mail, but I get the feeling we're spinning our wheels a bit. I could ask, "What's the point?" But then I'd be asking that question about genealogical research as a whole. I guess the point is curiosity... and some people are just more curious than others. Lots of Gideon descendants heard all kinds of stories about having Cherokee blood. I always took it for a fact, until one day my mom's cousins told her that they just made up that story to see if anyone would believe it. But somehow other lines (who had never met these nefarious cousins) heard similar stories. Could this be why we can't trace the lineage of Lillie Parks? Is she Cheroke...

I was thinking about starting a group on Facebook for Descendants of Dr. Berry Wilson Gideon. Then I thought, would it be easier to just create a website? Hmm. Lot of work. Then I thought... wish there was a way to simplify this, but the simpler you get the less information you have. Anyway.... all of that drove me to distraction and I started shopping/browsing for genealogy stuff. I thought it would be nice for me to display my tree somehow, so I started looking for family trees that are suitable for framing. They are very simplistic, and rightfully so since you have to fit it all on one page. But in the process I saw this amazing pictorial family tree. And thus the reason for the title of this post... So if you have come across a frame-able family tree that you particularly like, I'd like to know about it. I think the photographic version is a little much. I'd like something that's pretty and includes several generations. I guess I could just make my own, ...

After a conversation with someone yesterday, I began to reflect on how much I personally have changed since moving to the metroplex. The things that defined my life in Lubbock are no longer the norm. I'm not involved with Emmaus. I don't know any people in my demographic. I don't volunteer to work with children (for pay or otherwise). I never give spiritual talks or lead small groups or reunion groups. I rarely paint or sing or play the piano. I don't write feature articles. I don't make agape or go to the movies or take day trips to sled on sand dunes. I'm generally not the life of the party or the one doing the planning. So who am I now? Am I all about work? Well, not really. I still like to write (but don't do it often). I've added genealogy to my interests, but that's a fairly solitary endeavor. I hesitate to volunteer for things. I don't lead spiritual activities. I go straight home from work most days... Meg needs to be let out. Most of m...

When Ken died, I thought I'd shy away from my fascination with cemeteries and family history. In the moment, it seemed morbid. But I felt compelled to go visit Floyd's resting place (Ken's dad) yesterday during lunch. People may think I'm morbid for walking cemeteries in my spare moments, but Bear Creek Cemetery is one of the more peaceful places I know to go. All the people there are at peace... there's greenery and shade and flowers and reminders of lives lived well. I can't explain why I feel soothed there, but somehow I do. The questions and uncertainty of "real life" seem insignificant there, where lives are finished and strife is over. Sure, there's a melancholy there. But sometimes melancholy is just the balm I need to heal.