Grandma's Garret: Just A Homemaker

Uncle Peg’s Chronicles

April 6, 2023

“Just a Homemaker”

Under the stats is a Save the Date (if you are interested).

Number of pages in Outline Descendant Report: 163, up from 161.

Number of pages in the basic Descendant Report: 246 (up from 246 last chronicle)

Francis Holmes is # 1. I am still # 339.

Jonathan Marquez (Frances Anne Holmes Ballantyne line) is last at # 503.

# 502, where he was last week, is now Derrick Hurde.

This should change weekly, if I’m doing my job.

I put the names of all descendants of Francis Holmes who are either in our Facebook group or on my mailing list for chronicles, in a bag. Spouses and friends are not included as they do not get numbered in the program’s default. Those who have no descendants are also not numbered, but I’ll include them with their parent’s number. I pull out names, and include them for two weeks. Next week, I’ll draw more. This is for fun, but if the names I drew were not in my tree that I am using now, I insert them. Win-win exercise.

The three I drew last week are:

· Chandler Hall is # iii, son of Julia Nolte, is still # 428.

· Orin AKA Trace Holmes is still # 283. And yes, Trace is a retired college professor of history. Thanks, Ami.

New this week (only two) are Missy Oksen Corda and Dan Davis.

Missy Oksen Corda, #iii, is the daughter of Sabrina Oksen, # 392, and the granddaughter of James and Sharon (Holmes) Oksen. She married Matthew Corda about seven years ago. I haven’t met Missy personally, but we’ve been Facebook friends for some time. She loves to share her memories of her grandfather and pictures of her nieces and nephews. She also loves and cares deeply for her family and her furbabies. She enjoys exchanging letters with her penpals. Missy is in the William Holmes line.

Daniel Davis is #476. I met Dan shortly after he was born, but I haven’t seen him for ever so long. He is the son of my late first cousin, Susan Lutes Davis and her husband, Warren Davis. He is married to Nicole and has two children, Lillian, a young adult, and Dylan, a teen. Dan is in the Charles R Holmes line. Miss your Mama, Dan.

FYI, this takes a lot of time, but it’s kind of fun. I do it on Tuesdays rather than Thursdays. Watch for your name.

My genealogy goals for this week were:

· Complete the introductory blurb to the Lincoln projects.

· Facilitate the new reading group read for April in our new NBGS website. We are reading: “Genealogy for Pastime and Profession” by Donald Lines Jacobus.

· Chronicle several times, and publish on Thursday morning.

· Add a few more people to the tree so the stats move.

· Start researching and writing about Jonathan Maltbie for the “Where There’s a Will” article. That will have to wait until after my April presentation.

· Continue working on my April presentation, “Hook, Lines, and Sinker” for the genealogical society.

· Continue indexing old New Brunswick obituaries and death notices for the NBGS website project.

· Get ready to scan Uncle Billy’s guest book for the NBGS website.

The Carrie chapter is about ready to put on the shelves of the Lincoln Historical Society. The new reading group started April 1^st. Only a couple of people participate. I’m reading the book and taking notes to hopefully stimulate some discussion. I added people to our tree; they were not in our lineage but another branch, so stats didn’t move much. I have an initial start on Jonathan and Abigail (Holmes) Maltbie – such a sad story. Revising and practicing my presentation for April 15th. Worked on the newspaper index a bit. Editor of our website is really intrigued by Uncle Billy’s guestbook.

An update on Mary Ellen Fielding. She has posted a few things on Facebook. She wrote, Tuesday, (I think it was):

I’m getting stronger every day here at the Tremont Nursing and Skilled Care in Wareham.

Save the Date

(if interested)

April 15, 2 PM ADT

I will be the speaker for the April meeting of my genealogy society. It’s a workshop, and I am going to talk about how to write an outline for an article for a genealogical journal. Sounds boring, I know. But, it’s the kind of thing that is useful for just about any kind of writing or presenting. My example will be my grandfather, Floyd Orren Holmes. I have three wee stories about his life, and my theme is close calls.

You will need a zoom link, so be sure to tell me if you would like to attend. One of my slides has this quote:

“Go beyond names and dates. Once you have the larger framework established, it’s time to integrate your research and notes in a way that truly tells the story of your family. What interesting information did you find that surprised you? Which topics are most important to you?” ~Angie Frederickson, “The Writers for Hire.”

The clipping on the left was in one of the newspapers of 1883 that I am indexing. Just for fun.

In working on the Lincoln project, I have fine - tuned the genealogy part of our CCC into what I want it to look like. There are things I can tuck into the descendant report. For Lincoln, I have added occupations. I get these basically from two sources, the census records and if I have them, their obituaries. Some people work at the same position all their lives, and some are different every ten years. It’s rather interesting. Back in the day, most of the women only worked before their marriage, but not all. Some of them had their own business and husband and wife worked together. I wish obituaries weren’t so expensive to put into the newspaper. I do love a long, detailed obituary. When I did Mum’s last year, it was so bare bones. Not even the gist of her life, which, after she married, was homemaker. Just a homemaker? I haven’t been writing that in, but perhaps I should. It is, or can be, a valid, important, busy career for a man or a woman.

I am reading Jacobus’ “Genealogy as Pastime and Profession” and facilitating it as a book group read on a Facebook group for my genealogical society. It was written in 1930, so it has some great advice, some pertinent advice, and some which now seems humorous. I put little quotes into the main Facebook group. Yesterday’s quote brought an onslaught of like icons and a few comments.

“Those who view graveyards as gloomy places to be avoided can never experience the mingling of reverence and exaltation felt by the genealogical enthusiast when at last he stands in front of the long - sought gravestone of a remote ancestor.” Image 17.

I look forward to visiting the long – desired visit to the gravestones of our ancestors, Isaac and Mary Elizabeth (Ketchum) Ketchum in Portage Vale, in the cleaned-up Pioneer Cemetery in Portage Vale. Possibly in June, if the snow is gone by then.

Do you enjoy visiting graveyards? Why or why not?

I went looking for old Easter cards this morning, and found this list of Charles R and Phoebe McMonagle Holmes’ family. I’ve seen it before, and I don’t know the handwriting. My friend Brian fixed up the photo years ago. I know the boys, but not sure on the girls. I assume that is Ethel on the back left, as she looks to be the youngest. Here’s my best guess:

Back, left to right: Ethel, Bertha, Dan, Ella and Emma (not sure which is which, but Ella is older)

Front, left to right: Cecil, Charles (father), Phoebe (mother) holding Floyd, Arletta, and George