Camp Nelson near Lexington, Kentucky in the Civil War

Today I attended a session on how to prepare for the release of the 1940 Census scheduled for April 2012.  It was held at the Main Branch of the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library.  While there, I scanned the shelves to see if there were any books that might provide additional insight about my Civil War ancestors.  One book immediately caught my eye because it was about Camp Nelson, Kentucky.   This camp, located near Lexington, Kentucky was an important recruiting and training camp for black soldiers who often abandoned their slave owners to sign up for service.

I was shocked to open the book to p. 105 and read this interaction between Col. John G. Eve and Lt. G.A. Hanaford:

U.S. Mil. Tel.
July 30th 1864
By Telegraph from Camp Burnside
To Lt. G.A. Hanaford

Some negroes in Govt employ here on last friday night got some arms & went out of Camp to rescue a negroe woman from her owner.  They did not find the woman or her owner & came back.  What shall I do with them.  Answer.

Camp Nelson
July 30 1864 Col. JG Eve
Camp Burnsides

If you have any balls and chains put them on the negroes and make work with them on the Severest labor you can put them at.  I do not know but it would be a good idea to (have) one of them court martialed and Shot. as an example to others.

By Order of Brig Gen SS Fry
Signed Geo A. Hanaford   Lt & A A A A G

I have nothing more to add to this post. 

Sears, Richard D.  Camp Nelson, Kentucky -- A Civil War History  Lexington, The University Press of Kentucky, 2002.

"Dying or Going on Vacation . . . "

My Dad used to say of his sister, Margaret Ann, that every time he talked to her she was either dying or going on vacation.  I don't know if that was an original phrase with him or one that had been part of a lexicon of expressions that he had heard growing up. 

My brother, Tim, and I were discussing that phrase shortly before I left on my trip for Europe.  I was telling him that if I found out I had cancer (the curse of our family), I would immediately try to assess my odds.  If I felt that it was incurable, I would book a vacation immediately as I have no intention of extending my life with "treatments" that might give me a few more unbearable months.  I want to LIVE the life I've been given.



Tim holding Dad's motor

Not long after my return from Europe, Tim came by the house with the results of his CT scan.  It showed a "solid appearing mass" in his left kidney that "should be considered a malignant lesion until proven otherwise."  He referred to our earlier conversation and asked if I didn't find it ironic that the last time we had spoken, it was about whether or not I would "go on vacation" if I got a cancer diagnosis.

Well, we could definitely agree that we needed more information before we could decide whether to schedule a vacation.  Thankfully, with everyone's prayers, support and concern behind him, Tim got the best possible news.  Additional tests verified that his lungs were clear and the "hot spots" in his back were arthritis -- what Tim calls the "Jones back."  His kidney was removed yesterday and, at this point, his surgeon doesn't think he will even need chemo.  The tumor appeared to be pretty intact.

Coincidentally, Steve Jobs (founder of Apple) died yesterday at the age of 56. You can't log on today without reading quotes from a commencement address he gave at Stanford in 2005.  The predominate theme seems to be one of encouraging each of us to identify what is important to us in our lives and go about achieving our dream -- not that of someone else.  Jobs, who had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, confronts his immortality head on.  It gives him focus.  One of my favorite quotes is this one:  "Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life."

So I'm happy to report that Tim does not have to decide between dying and going on vacation -- at least not yet.  I know all of us have felt the love and support of everyone during this difficult time -- and Dad and Mom -- I certainly felt you.

Taking Stock -- Dad's 91st Birthday

It seems like every year on September 30th, I find myself "taking stock."  Where am I in my life now? What do I anticipate for the future?

My Dad died way too young at the age of 57.  I was pregnant with my daughter at the time.  He knew he was going to be a Grandfather again.  He also knew he would not live to see her. So let me see if I can get a few thoughts down on "paper."

Dear Dad,
This year I guess I'm in a more reflective mood than usual.  ALL of your children and grandchildren could benefit from your wisdom today.  I believe that it was on this date four years ago that my daughter had her pregnancy officially confirmed.  I saw it as a sign.  Her son, Ian, is now 3 years old and the love of his parents and six grandparents. 

Liz just confirmed for me that she and Roland are going to have a second son.  (I was hoping for a granddaughter for me and a daughter for her, but we couldn't be happier).  It looks as if we will have another beautiful grandchild sometime in February.  I'm taking it as a sign.

Your son, Tim, was just diagnosed with renal cancer.  He is going through his pre-op appointment today and a second bone scan tomorrow.  Surgery to remove the cancerous tumor is scheduled for next Wednesday.  I'm taking it as a sign.

All of us would love to have a conversation with you today.  You've walked the path before us and we could all use your advice today.

Thinking of you has made me get busy on my second blog.  For the past three years, I've told everyone that I would work on a blog that only discusses the Jones line, the Ohio River, and the boats that have been a part of our family.  I've finally started on it.  I'm calling it "A River Runs Through Us."  You can link to it here.

I'm sure you are aware that you now have 10 great-grandchildren with another on the way.  Perhaps they'll get to know you some day by reading these blogs.

Could you please get together with Mom and be with our family right now?  We want to keep Tim (AKA Karen's favorite brother) around to bug for a long time to come.  Besides he is the oral family historian and I need him.

We love and miss you.

Kath

I'm back . . . literally



Bacharach, Germany

Exactly one week ago today, I was landing at CVG (the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky International Airport) on the second leg of a trip that began much earlier in the morning in Milan, Italy. I was part of a trio from the northern Kentucky/Cincinnati area who met up with another six intrepid travelers from Florida.

I must really be getting old.  It has taken me this entire week to recover from the jet lag and get back into my normal routine -- and I'm not working like most of my fellow travelers.  Last night was the first night I went to bed at a "normal" time and woke up at a reasonable time in the morning.  There were some nights when I woke up at 4:40 AM, unable to go back to sleep.  After all, it was 10:40 in Italy!

I knew I was back on track when I could click on my google reader and read some of the many posts my fellow bloggers had written in my absence.  I actually wanted to post to my own blog.  I even created a powerpoint presentation for a talk I am giving Saturday at our library.  I'm going to try to entice others to consider writing their own family history blogs.

So now that I've "recovered" you'd think I'd be finished with traveling for awhile.  As my husband and I have frequently noted, however, once you've been bitten, the travel bug is forever with you.  So here is to the next time!

Barbara, Missy, Kristin, Kathy, Betty and Tommy

Costa Deliziosa docked in Cobh, Ireland

The Windows of Venice



San Marco Square
Venice, Italy

I just returned from a wonderful trip to six European countries:  Germany, Netherlands, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, and Italy.  The trip included a 10-day cruise with additional days before and after the cruise.  The whole trip was put together by my cousin and genealogy buddy, Barbara Pharo.

One of the places we visited was Venice, Italy.  I fell in love with the architecture, especially the diversity of windows.  I thought I would share some of my favorites by putting together a couple of collages.

In order to do this vacation justice, I would have to start a whole separate blog.  So let me just say that it was a wonderful adventure for the nine people who were fortunate enough to go.

Things that Make You Say "Aww" . . .

My nephew and his wife gave birth to twin girls on July 26th.  They were big girls -- 7 lbs. 6 oz. and 6 lbs. 14 oz. at birth.  Twins run in their mother's family.  Both of the maternal grandparents are twins.  But I cannot recall any twins in my immediate line.

With the permission of Violet and Isabel's parents, I want to share these newest members of the Jones family.

The two girls were welcomed into a home that had a big brother, Quentin.

They definitely seem to be happiest together -- after all, they aren't strangers to each other.

Have you ever been in a situation where one yawn seemed to lead to another?  So have they.

So welcome to the family, Violet and Isabel.  You've been born into a great one!

Great Aunt Kath

Taking a Break

Hotel am Markt Bacharach, Germany
(our hotel the first two nights)

I'm going on an unexpected vacation!  I've blogged before about my cousin, Barbara Pharo, with whom I share a common gg-grandfather.  We met a couple of years ago through Ancestry.com.  Although she lives in Tampa, she grew up in northern Kentucky, across the river from Cincinnati.  In the less than two years that we have known each other, we've traveled to the home of our common ancestor in Kentucky and attended the Ohio Genealogical Conference together.

Barbara had a last-minute cancellation for a European trip she's been planning for the past year for a group of nine. It is part cruise and part land travel. With the encouragement of my husband, I jumped at the chance to go. 

We start out in Germany and then take a train to Amsterdam.  This is followed by a week-long cruise that will take us to ports in Ireland,  Spain, Portugal and Italy.  After disembarking from the cruise ship, we will head by train to Venice for a couple of days.  With stops in Verona and near Milan, we will fly home on day 17.

I've only had two weeks to really get used to the idea that I am going.  Although this is my 5th trip to Europe, I've never been on a cruise and I've never been to Spain or Portugal.  So it will be a mix of places that I love (Rhine River Valley, Amsterdam, and Cobh, Ireland) with places I am sure I will love.

There are nine people in our group -- a nice blend of older and younger, and "crips" and "non-crips." I'm in the "crip" group with my knee and hip replacements, but it hasn't prevented me from doing anything I've wanted to do in the past and I don't expect that it will be a problem now. 

As a fan of European trains, I am excited that our non-cruise travel will almost exclusively be by train.  We are sure to see some beautiful countryside.

So I've got three days to "get my act together."  I've given some thought as to whether or not there will be any blog posts between now and mid-September, and I've decided that I will just have to play it by ear.  I don't know how full my days and nights will be, but taking in the experience will be my top priority.

One thing for sure -- as I have internet access, I hope to read a few of your posts.  I'm sure I'll have a few symptoms of withdrawal when I don't have continual internet access -- but I'll deal with it.  Know that I will be thinking about you and raising a glass of "whatever" to you all -- wishing you could be with me.

Bon voyage!

The 200th Post of Jones Family Matters!



Photo Credit:  PD Photo.org

When I began writing this blog in May 2009, I didn't know how much I would grow to love it.  I worried about having enough material.  Would I ever figure out how to position images?  Would anyone even read it?  Would my family care?

I found that genealogy is never finished.  There are always new discoveries.  I learned that I am much more attracted to finding out who my ancestors were and not nearly so interested in dates and charts. My foggy idea that the blog could serve as "cousin bait" has definitely proved to be the case.  Not only has it helped me forge new relationships with my first cousins, but I've discovered third and fourth cousins I did not know existed.  Martha Darby Rutter, Betty Arnett, Barbara Pharo and the Biedermanns are just some of the cousins who come to mind.

I've become a better researcher.  In striving to tell the story as accurately as possible, I've found myself reexaming records, searching for missing pieces, and actually toppling a couple of brick walls.  I've submitted three articles to genealogical journals for possible publication.  I was just notified that my latest submission will be published in the Ohio Genealogical Quarterly making it three for three.

I discovered that I have a real interest in and love for historical context.  Thanks to my diverse ancestry, I've become much more knowledgeable about German, English, Welsh and Irish history.  Since I'm a 5th generation Jones in Cincinnati, I've become even more appreciative of the city of my birth.

Lately I've even convinced a couple of relatives and friends to have their DNA analyzed for both health and ancestry information.  I've stayed on top of some of the latest software advances such as google+ and  I am scheduled to teach a series of classes on family history blogging at our library in the fall.  I've become much more involved in my local and state genealogical organizations and now been accepted into four lineage groups and one group for Civil War ancestors.

And probably the most unexpected thing -- through Geneabloggers (a group of almost 2000 bloggers writing about their family histories) I've met new friends -- friends whose work I admire.  I look forward to every one of their posts. I'm amazed that these contacts are spread throughout the United States and beyond.  There is great diversity among our group and I've been exposed to traditions that are foreign to me.

So blogging has become a passion for me -- and I owe much of it to those of you who have taken the time to read and comment on my posts.  I look forward to the next 200 posts.

"Our" Vonderheides in the Ships Passenger Lists

Since I started researching the Vonderheide branch of my family (maternal g-grandparents) ten years ago, I was amazed that I could not find this family listed on any ship's passenger list or other common resource such as Germans to America. After all, I knew exactly when the family came through Baltimore on their way to Cincinnati from written family records, naturalization papers and census documents. I chalked it up to the many variations for Vonderheide in the records. I've found this surname listed as: v d Heide, Heide, von der, Heide, von der Heide, and several other variations.
 
Recently, however, one of the members of our local genealogical society published an article containing a ship's passenger list that included Vonderheides from Holdorf, Germany who emigrated to Cincinnati in 1852. They were the aunt and uncle of "my" Vonderheides who did not arrive until 1881. Encouraged by her article, I decided to try again. This time, I think I hit pay dirt. I wonder if you agree with my conclusions.

I searched ancestry.com for passenger lists to Baltimore for June 1881. Scrolling through the document page by page, I found this image:



Click to enlarge

I then looked to see what the transcription was for this record:



Click to enlarge

My Vonderheide family of 1881 included Hermann Heinrich (age 42), Elisabeth (age 43), Joseph and Heinrich (Henry) twins (age 11) and August (age 7). The ages for the parents were correct. Elisabeth could have had the nickname of Liselle. What was clearly "Heinr." on the original record was transcribed as "Heiur", and "August" was transcribed as "Margurt". The poor transcription of the names was understandable, but the ages were clearly wrong. And how did they EVER decide that their surname was HeideHeide?

I'm not surprised that the people responsible for recording the names of the people in steerage were not too concerned about getting the ages of the children correct. Everything else fits. I think I finally found them! In addition, I now know that they came over on a ship called the Leipzig.

S.S. Leipzig
Photo Credit:  Palmer List of Merchant Ships

According to the Palmer List of Merchant Ships:

The steamship LEIPZIG was built for Norddeutscher Lloyd by Caird & Co, Greenock, Scotland (yard #149), and was launched on 13 February 1869. 2,388 tons; 91,68 x 11,89 meters (length x breadth); clipper bow, 1 funnel, 2 masts; iron construction, screw propulsion, low-pressure, single expansion engine, 1,150 hp, service speed 10 knots; accommodation for 84 passengers in 1st class and 735 in steerage.

You can read more about it by clicking on this link.  Search under "L" for "Leipzig." Lesson learned -- don't stop searching too soon.

The 1948 Wedding of Bill Hansen and Florence Ryan

Florence Ryan and Bill Hansen

Every time I'm convinced there are no more treasures in my immediate family left to uncover, a new one turns up.  My sister-in-law, Linda, was going through some things in her home and found a binder full of wedding pictures of my mother and her two sisters.  The three girls were part of that generation that had to wait out World War II for the "boys" to return home.  As the oldest of three girls and a boy, my mother had to wait the longest as her young adult years were put on hold. 

With the war finally over, there was a sudden availability of eligible men. All three started dating prospective husbands, and in the end, all three girls were ready to marry at about the same time.  My mother got married in January, her sister, Evelyn, in April and her sister, Florence in June.  Not only were there three marriages in five months, but my grandmother made the bridesmaid dresses for all three weddings.

So back to the binder my brother and sister-in-law found.  It was filled with beautiful pictures of elegant weddings.  I do not recall seeing many of the pictures before.  My brother felt that the blog was a great vehicle for sharing them with the family.  I put some of the pictures into collages and then decided to make a photoshow with all of the pictures for Florence and her husband, Bill.

I'm glad I can still be surprised.