TSGS Cruiser Blog

Thursday, August 26, 2010

From My Email Box - "Links!"

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I get several links from TSGS members, SAR/DAR members and from various email lists that I subscribe. I like to share as many as I can on this blog.

Bill Cook had sent me this one of some great Civil War photos in the spring of 2009 and were posted on this blog at that time. My good friend Carol Lantaff just sent the same link to that web site and since it has been almost a year and a half since it was posted, I will post it here again: http://www.mikelynaugh.com/VirtualCivilWar/New/Originals2/index.html This collection of photos are about 150 years old and are quite interesting (see the 19 Apr 2009 blog "For Our Civil War Buffs!").

Past TSGS President Virginia Aldridge sent an update to the Vanderburgh County, Indiana email list for the Cumberland Presbyterian Church Records on her site "The Tie That Binds". This is her links page that has some great research links and other very good links of genealogical/historical interest.

Recently, Jamal Masood (aka CuriousJM), a retired Chief Engineer, asked permission to use a couple of photos I had taken of New Harmony's Roofless Church that was posted on this blog on 18 Feb 2009: From the FIRST MATE's PHOTO ALBUM... CuriousJM has a very neat site "Travelogue of An Armchair Traveller" Visit his site and do some traveling in your armchair via your computer.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Eloise Weller (1923-2010)

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Eloise Weller, 87, died Sunday


Eloise was a long time TSGS member serving for many years on the book aquisition committee. She maintained the inventory of all of the books and other research materials that the society obtained and placed on the shelves for the general public to use in their genealogical research. Her involvement & support of the society will be missed. she was a very kind and gentle lady that many of us will miss as a friend.


Her husband, Lowell, and Eloise were married for 66 years. See her obituary in the Evansville Courier & Press here: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/courierpress/obituary.aspx?n=eloise-weller&pid=144865803

Friday, August 20, 2010

NAVIGATING ALONG the RIVER -
Research Tips

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This is a post card with a photo of Evansville's St. Mary's Hospital submitted by TSGS member Claudia Gleason. She stated that this card was mailed 03 Feb 1910 (about 100 years ago!). Please click on the photo to get a larger image.
I may be using the modern campus at St. Mary's in the near future to have a pacemaker defibrillator installed to make sure my old engine is performing at maximum efficiency.

This reminds me of a good research tip to pass on. Since I judge the 4-H Genealogy project exhibits in several of the counties surrounding Evansville, I have discovered that many of the kids & their families do not think about where their family members were born or died. Taking Warrick and Posey counties as examples... at the time this postcard was created some people were being born or died at home, but as time went along more were going to the nearest hospital to have a baby or to get medical treatment and, hopefully, not to die. If they came to St. Mary's Hospital to give birth or died there, the place of the event would be in Vanderburgh County and that is where the event is recorded and certificates can be obtained. They may have been born and lived their entire life (and even buried) in Warrick or Posey County; however, their record of birth or death would be in Vanderburgh County.

Where there are rural counties surrounding a larger town or city... there may be only one hospital and that would be in the larger community. Check the county they lived in first. If you can not find a record of birth or death, check for a nearby county with a hospital. Also, consider this: your county may have had a hospital, but it was not the one your family would use. St. Mary's is a Catholic hospital, Deaconess is a Protestant one with Welborn being a Baptist hospital... religion affiliation might have played a factor, as well.

- Post card submitted by Claudia Gleason
- Article compiled by JGWest

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

From the FIRST MATE's
PHOTO ALBUM...

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Prototype Coffin Screws Into the Ground to Save Space

Donald Scruggs has a ground-breaking new idea... the Screw-In Coffin!

"They're not making any more real estate; not until we colonize other planets at least. Laying out our dead horizontally, and leaving them in peace forever, is becoming an expensive proposition. That's why inventor Donald Scruggs has come up with the screw-in coffin.
Holding a body vertically, it is screwed down into the ground securely, to optimize graveyards' use of space. It can be screwed in manually or with a machine, and designed to take into account the density of the earth where it's used. Scruggs has installed the prototype below in his own California backyard, and is working on refining the idea. He even envisions a transparent model for those wishing a glamorous burial." [Discover]



- Photo taken by David Friedman via Discover

- This photo & article was posted on Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Evansville Family Doctor 1850-1860's

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The Evansville Museum...
has a very nice display of the office of
Dr. William M. Elliott
who graduated from Evansville Medical College in 1853.
[Read more by clicking on the sign below to get a bigger image.]


Dr. Elliott's Office in the lower level of the Evansville Museum.

- Photos taken & submitted by JGWest

Monday, August 9, 2010

Marker/Plaque/Monument Monday

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Evansville Fire Department
Hose House #14...

one of 2 fire stations scheduled to be closed this year - near St. Benedict's School, Memorial High School & University of Evansville (not far from The Little Sisters of the Poor Nursing Home).
It is the primary responder to my home, too. Was to be closed on Jan. 1st. - but, is still in operation after all of the protests... but one day they will quietly close it.

- Phot taken & submitted by JGWest

Sunday, August 8, 2010

NAVIGATING ALONG the RIVER -
Research Tips

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Family Traditions


First we need to define "family tradition" in regard to genealogy. Here, we are not discussing customs or lifestyles. We are talking about family stories that have been passed from one generation to the next. And like the game "telephone" where a player whispers a short message to the person next to them and that person passes the message to the next down the line to the last person who tells the group what the message is... which is usually way different than the original! Family traditions like most undocumented information if originally based on some sort of facts which can be helpful in our research. It can give us a theory to verify the story. Occasionally, we get something from another researcher that states "family tradition says," when in actuality, the information is a non-documented statement that the origin is totally unknown and did not get passed down from family members. Thus, it is of even lesser value than family tradition might be.

How many of us have a family tradition that there is Native American blood in our ancestry? My mother's mother's family often spoke about our family having Indian ancestors. No one could tell me on which branch or who was Native American or any other clues that could help me research the facts. After years of researching all of these lines back as far as I could go... I did not find anything that suggested any connection to Native Americans. However, one day I did discover a connection in a story in an early history book that stated some of my ancestors being massacred by a renegade tribe of Indians. A woman and her children were kidnapped with some being brutally murdered including a young baby. The woman and one daughter were my direct ancestors. Could it be that my family passed down a story of this horrible tragedy that over the generations turned around to embrace Native Americans as family? Several years later, I learned of a branch of this same family had applied for a claim for Native American's benefits with some facts in the application that made it seem very probable that there was Native American ancestors. So it seems that the family tradition had some merit after all and now I know where it comes from.

Family traditions generally contain partial truths that are vague and often mixed-up with missing facts and the source of how the tradition began. Often these stories are passed along because of vanity to connect with someone famous. I suspect every WEST in the United States has a story of how they are related to Lord De La Warr (Thomas West)... a Colonial Governor. There is a state & river named for him - Delaware! The Delaware Indians were named indirectly for him. They called themselves "Lenape;" the British called them Delaware for the river where they resided. My West family has many stories of our descent from this very famous early American Colonial family. However, the "proof" is very circumstantial and weak in regards to genealogical standards. And, according to Family Tree DNA where the results of my family were taken... there is a y-DNA group who have shown their descent from Lord Delaware's family that does not match our y-DNA West group. It seems that this family tradition has no merit.

- Compiled by JGWest