Destination: Austin Family

Genealogy Journal Tuesday, December 1, 2009

2009-12-02T11:44:00.000-06:00

This was one of the busiest days I've had in a while - lots of writing, answering emails etc.

I was up early to make certain that the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories (ACCM) post was working. In case anyone is wondering, I might post about the technical aspects of creating the calendar image so you can click on each day of the month. This was done using the image map concept in HTML and it is pretty easy once you understand it. Genealogy bloggers may want to do this for family portraits etc. but I think there are not photo tagging applications that handle this.

Posted at Destination: Austin Family my Advent Calendar entry on Christmas Trees. Most of my ACCM posts will be recycled from 2007. This is why - as if I don't have enough to do - I am posting my new Christmas novella - When Christmas Came Home - on a serial chapter-by-chapter basis between December 1 and December 24. I think folks will like this story. Stay tuned.

I hadn't posted at my blog A Catskill Christmas in almost a year so I created a slideshow of photos from years past. I hope I was able to give some folks some ideas for decorations.

I've also been busy with doing layout for the GeneaBloggers Holiday 2009 cookbook - recipe entries are coming in fast and furious!

Today is also Data Backup Day and I wanted to make sure folks are not only backing up their genealogy data and blogs, but also thinking about what to ask Santa for in terms of external hard drives and backup subscription web sites!

Before dinner, I did a review of the ACCM December 1 entries and highlighted a few at GB - I am amazed at the commonality among many of us especially when it came to Mom's who wanted tinsel placed on the tree one strand at a time. Yeah, right.

Music: I am way in the holiday season in terms of music on my iPod - have created a Holiday Jazz playlist with Roberta Flack, Dave Koz, Chet Baker, Dave Brubeck and more.

Advent Calendar - Holiday Food - And Plenty Of It!

2009-12-02T10:00:00.005-06:00

[Note: This post originally ran during the first Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories in December, 2007]

Growing up in upstate New York, the holidays at my house meant one thing: baking. And I mean baking in a big way. You'd have thought that the Pillsbury dough boy and the Keebler elves had set up shop at our house.

It didn't matter that we didn't have much when it came to money. Mom saved up money and also knew to buy items she would need in bulk during the year. We'd start baking about two weeks before Christmas and made the following treats:

- Date Nut Bread
- Welsh Cookies
- Sugar Cookies
- Butter Cookies
- No Cook Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
- Thumbprint Cookies
- and Peanut Blossoms

The hyperlinked recipes above are all listed on my recipe blog called And I Helped!

We made at least 25 to 30 loaves of date nut bread. I'm not kidding. We'd use the disposable foil loaf pans and get a production line going. A loaf of date nut bread and a tub of whipped cream cheese was Mom's basic calling card during a holiday visit. Wrapped in aluminum foil, tied with ribbon.

Cookie making was split into different tasks spread over several nights. The first night we mixed all the dough since most of it had to be refrigerated before rolling out and cutting into shapes. The next night was for baking with lots of rolling, cutting and cookie sheets. And storage bins!

The last night was the best: cookie decorating. Mom usually organized a party with my cousins, neighbor kids or kids of co-workers. She'd take an old linen banquet tablecloth about 8 feet long and cover the dining room table. Then we set out all the cookies - mostly butter and sugar. Frosting was made with confectioner's sugar and milk. Then it was separated out into white coffee mugs (so you could see how much food coloring was needed) and colored.

Then the kids went to town working on their creations. The little artists worked in various styles: the "Designer" (aka Rembrandt) who fastidiously executed true-to-life renderings of Santa and snowflakes; the "Drizzler" (aka Jackson Pollack) who took a spoon, loaded it with icing and drizzled it across the cookie (and usually a neighboring artist's cookies as well); and the "Deranged" (aka Dali) who mixed different colored icings, layered icing and sprinkles, and created an abstract vision of melting Santas and warped stars.

When it was all done, Mom let the cookies dry overnight, stacked them in the storage bins, and simply shook out the tablecloth in the snow and placed it in the washing machine. Throughout the winter I would see scraps of frosting, bits of cookies and brightly colored sprinkles peek through the snow.

While I thought it was lots of fun and something to look forward to each Christmas, years later I realized there was a lesson in all this effort: It wasn't necessary to have a lot in order to give a lot. You did what you did best, added your own special touch, and gave it from the heart. It reminds me of the last verse of one of my favorite Christmas songs, In the Bleak Midwinter:

What can I give him
Poor as I am
If I were a sheperd
I would give a lamb
If I were a wise man
I would do my part
But what I can I give him
Give him my heart

Photo: Recipes for Good Eating, Crisco cookbook, 1944. [Author's note: for some reason this photo just seems bizarre to me as does the title. Do you think there was ever a "Recipes for Bad Eating" cookbook? And the scene is right out of Mommie Dearest.]

© 2009, copyright Thomas MacEntee

When Christmas Came Home - Chapter One

2009-12-01T15:07:00.001-06:00

[Note: the following is a Christmas-themed novella that I've written to coincide with the themes used in the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories. There are 24 chapters, one for each day leading up to Christmas. I hope you'll find this story of a family with an unusual set of challenges one that embodies the spirit of the season.]

When Christmas Came Home

Chapter One - The Christmas Tree

“Grandma, do you think this one will catch on fire?” John William said as he unknotted a piece of silvery garland on the Christmas tree we just put up. His question caught me off-guard, like I could really have put that day out of my mind. Ever.

Looking back at the aftermath of an 8-foot live Christmas tree catching on fire in the middle of the night is not an easy task, especially when it plays as an endless record in your mind during the holidays. The inspectors, both fire department and insurance, never really determined the exact cause. Their best guess was faulty wiring in the lights used to decorate the tree. I blame it on my missing sister if you ask me.

* * *

I had just decorated the tree the day before with my grandson and husband, Dan, helping out. I went through the usual ritual of testing lights, checking plug ends etc. There was nothing suspicious or out of sorts, believe me. One peculiar thing however that I can’t seem to let go of still haunts me.

Every year I would hang a set of 12 brass ornaments, each one engraved with the name of the sons and daughters of Maude and Albert McTaggart, my parents. In my mind, as they hung on the tree we were still together as a family with no fights, no harsh words, no fears, no tears. My sister Mary Margaret, nicknamed Mags, had gone missing for over 30 years now, and I figured all hope was lost of ever finding her. So for the first time that year, I decided not to hang her ornament on the tree but instead tucked it back in the holder and placed it with the other unused decorations. Bad idea.

* * *

“Well you know, J.W., I’d like to think we’re safe. We got all the proper lights and safe decorations this year. Plus your Grandpa and me made sure all the fire detectors is working . . .”

This was the best I could tell my seven-year old grandson, but I knew there wasn’t much that could ever remove the fear of being trapped in a house filled with smoke and flames like last Christmas. And even with that fire and its aftermath of cleanup, I just couldn’t bring myself to put up an artificial tree. I kept telling myself it just wasn’t right. Plus I figured if I changed one more Christmas tradition the way I did with Mags’ ornament, we’d all be in trouble or worse.

“Besides, we’ve got the Baby Jesus - don’t forget!” I quickly added to reassure J.W. During the Advent season I made sure to do quite a bit of story-telling using the different versions of the Nativity stories from the Bible. John William always had lots of questions about the Baby Jesus which I tried my best to answer.

“That’s right Grandma Cat! I’ll ask the Baby Jesus to protect the Christmas Tree ‘fore I go to sleep!” And with that he went back to rutting through the box of old felt ornaments, glittery tinsel and “stuff” filling an oil-stained, cardboard box marked Xmas Tree in heavy black script.

* * *

I remember the day when Mags wrote Xmas Tree with one of those black grease pencils, the kind you could mark china with at a tag sale, the kind you “peeled” to sharpen. It must have been well over 30 years ago when the family was still together. Well, as together as a struggling family with 12 children could be during a cold, backwoods New York winter.

Mags was older than me by a little over two years with one of my brothers stuck between us in the pecking order of the McTaggart children. We were quite a sight to see when you could catch a glimpse of us all in one place, which wasn’t very often. Mom had a devil of a time just keeping us from hitting or making faces at each other and that’s only when she was quick enough to catch us. I won’t mention the faces we would make at passers-by or those who stood to marvel at our brood of misfit children. Marveling faces had a funny way of quickly turning to a hand over an audibly gasping mouth or one that clutched a set of pearls around the neckline of a pristinely pressed cotton dress accompanied by the requisite, “tsk tsk” and a head shake.

The “McTaggart demons” was just one of many nicknames we picked up over the years, rightfully earned to be truthful. There were very few in town who would even stop and talk with Mom anymore, even if only one of the “demons” was by her side. A small town is pretty good at breeding quick-to-judge minds and if townsfolk didn’t witness our antics first hand, you can be sure they heard about it at the beauty parlor, doctor’s office or some other place where people gathered waiting and talking.

* * *

“Cat? Do you ever think I’ll get married?” Mags said just as she finished marking the box. I can even remember the date now - it was January 6, 1952. She was fifteen and I was twelve.

Our mother would never let us remove the Christmas tree, its ornaments or any of the other decorations around our home until after the Epiphany or what she called Little Christmas. This was her tradition, just like putting up the tree on Christmas Eve and not a day before. It must have been part of the holiday tradition that Mom learned from her parents who were born in Germany and raised “Old Country” as we often said.

And I remembered how Mags called me “Cat,” that day, not using her usual “M.C.” I hated my nickname - short for Mary Catherine. For some reason, my father had this smart idea of using “serial names” as he called it for all his kids. Which meant the eight girls would all be called Mary with different middle names (in birth order from oldest to youngest): Mary Ann, Mary Elizabeth, Mary Margaret, Mary Catherine, Mary Frances, Mary Alice, Mary Jane, and Mary Louise.

As for the McTaggart boys, well Dad had to be different. His idea of fun was to use the same middle name for them and change the first name (again, in birth order): John Patrick, Michael Patrick, Joseph Patrick and Thomas Patrick.

* * *

“Of course you’ll get married - someday. What makes you think you won’t?” I asked her as we finished packing up the ornaments.

Mags looked kind of sad when she muttered, “No one’s gonna want me. That’s all.”

True, she was a bit of a tom boy and a real smart ass. But what McTaggart child wasn’t? By ourselves, we weren't that bad and most people and places could tolerate us despite the reputation - well earned or not. But when we traveled in packs of two, three or more then watch out! Store keepers would suddenly block their main entrance or quickly turn the sign to the Be Back In 5 Minutes side.

“Mags, you will have no problem charming some boy pretty soon and then you’ll get married and have lots of babies!”

“Oh no - one baby is enough for me. No way am I raising a pack of hoodlums like us!” and with that we both burst out laughing.

At age 12, I had just learned about the “birds and the bees” and not from Mom but from a combination of other kids at school and my older brothers and sisters. There was no such thing as “sex ed” in school back then, especially in a Catholic school. Of course, looking back I now realize that what was told to me was a combination of out-dated facts, half-truths and outright myths. I just wished Mom had sat down and told all of us the truth, especially the girls. She also should have told us how to handle inappropriate advances and behavior from boys. And men. Mom could have saved a lot of time and heartache with that one.

* * *

John William was just finishing the decoration of this year’s tree when there was a knock at the door. I looked over my grandson’s efforts with a smile. With his limited reach, all the decorations seemed to be lumped into a 3 foot square area on the tree.

“Look’s great kiddo!” I said as I hurried to see who was waiting outside.

It was my older sister Liz (Mary Elizabeth) who was standing there, white as a ghost, holding a folded newspaper.

“Have you seen this? You are not going to believe it! Come over here and sit down,” she said as she came into the house and plopped herself on the sofa.

For some reason, this didn’t sound good.

© 2009, copyright Thomas MacEntee

Advent Calendar - All Trees Bright and Beautiful

2009-12-01T11:00:00.003-06:00

[Note: This post originally ran during the first Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories in December, 2007]

I've had so many different Christmas trees in my life, from boyhood to adult, but I can remember each and every one of them as well as the ones of friends and family members.

As a small child, our tradition was not to have the Christmas tree decorated until after the kids went to bed on Christmas Eve. My parents would stay up half the night decorating, wrapping presents and assembling toys. My brother and I would awake to see this live Christmas tree that hadn't even been there the night before! That Santa had brought and decorated!

A few years later, we would go and cut down our own tree but leave it undecorated so that Santa had something to do on Christmas Eve. Again, we'd awake and the tree was decorated. With the same lights (big colored C9 lights) and ornaments as the year before.

One year I remember most is when I woke up one morning before Christmas and the undecorated tree was knocked down on the living room floor. I then found out that my father had left - this time for good. But on Christmas morning the tree still made its appearance with its gown of lights and ornaments.

From that point on, we had artifical trees. It was easier on Mom, of course, but it also gave us a ritual to perform each year as a family. In the 1970s, artificial trees were not that realistic - even if you did spray them with that pine tree scent in a can. I remember colored mini-lights (no blinkers!) and those red satin ball ornaments that the cat would turn into string sculptures.

My great-grandparents had a tiny, Charlie Brown type artificial tree but I was always so fascinated by the mercury glass ornaments and clip-on birds. And our neighbors across the street always cut down a fresh tree in the woods behind their house.

Out on my own in California, I returned to decorating live Christmas trees, and huge ones at that. I always bought a Noble Fir which is now difficult for me to find here in Chicago. Noble firs have sturdy needles that barely fall off, and plenty of space between branches to display big and beautiful ornaments. You wouldn't know it by looking at the dour "me" posed next to it but the tree had 1,000 lights and handmade decorations. Caption: "Holiday Joy" by Grant Wood.

Over the past few years, I've put up the "gold tree" due to moving from California to Chicago. I saw this in one of those seasonal Christmas shops they have in the mall - they open way too early in September and are gone by January 1. The tree was in the window with lots of ornaments. I asked the owner if she would sell it to me and she said yes. She wanted me to wait until after Christmas but I made her take down every ornament and pack it up for me right then and there. It is plastic and assembles in about 5 minutes. This year it is serving duty in the entry way, greeting holiday guests.

But this year, its back to large and live: a 9 foot tree, 1500 lights, over 500 handmade ornaments. I will post photos on my other blog, A Catskill Christmas once it is assembled. In the meantime you can go there and take a look at the ornaments I've been making.

For all its mess and hassle, I much prefer live Christmas trees. It brings nature into my home and so many memories to my heart.

Photo: me with one of my live Christmas trees, California, 1996

© 2009, copyright Thomas MacEntee

Genealogy Journal Monday, November 30, 2009

2009-12-01T09:14:00.001-06:00

Crazy busy day - I think the lack of activity over the holiday weekend was responsible.

Put the final touches on the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories main page which will remain at the top of the GeneaBloggers site through December 25th. I also pre-posted the first 15 posts which is a relief. All I need to do now is tag the posts each day and then select the "best of" for highlights.

I fell behind on my Genealogy Journal here at Destination: Austin Family so I played catch-up.

Posted May I Introduce To You . . . Katrina McQuarrie at GB.

Spent much of the day completing paperwork for my new consulting gig which will take up most of my December including some travel.

Later at night, I started working on a Christmas novella that I've had kicking around in my head for weeks. I think what I'll do is serialize it in 24 chapters here at DAF and see what the reader reaction is before I work to get it published if it is good enough to do that.

Help Genealogy Socities - Chase Community Giving

2009-11-30T14:18:00.001-06:00

You can help out your favorite genealogy societies and non-profits by visiting the Chase Community Giving page on Facebook.

Chase is letting fans of the Chase Community Giving page vote for their favorite charities. Once you accept and install the application, you are allowed up to 20 votes.

Enter the name of your favorite charity on the lookup field and then cast your vote. The Chase Community Giving page also allows to to get the word out to your Facebook friends about the charity you voted for and how they can participate.

I was able to locate and vote for these societies that I belong to:

German Genealogy Group http://www.germangenealogygroup.com
Huguenot Historical Society http://www.huguenotstreet.org
National Genealogical Society http://www.ngsgenealogy.org
New England Historic Genealogical Society http://www.newenglandancestors.org
Southern California Genealogical Society http://www.scgsgenealogy.com

And I still have votes left! Contact me if you'd like me to vote for your favorite charity!

I was unable to locate these groups and have been in contact with them so they can get listed on Chase's site.

California Genealogical Society and Library http://www.calgensoc.org

If you know of a genealogy or family history-related non-profit that is not listed on the Chase Community Giving Page, click Can't Find The Charity You're Looking For to see if the charity qualifies and then click here to add the required information.

And spread the word - I think if you can contact all your genealogy colleagues you can help channel this available funding to your favorite genealogy societies.

© 2009, copyright Thomas MacEntee

Genealogy Journal Catch-Up!

2009-11-30T10:46:00.000-06:00

Somehow I've fallen behind on my genealogy journal posts. The most likely culprit is Thanksgiving preparations and then some out-of-town company over the weekend.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

It was a very slow blogging day for most folks as they prepped for the big day tomorrow.

I posted my annual I Give Thanks post over at Destination: Austin Family as well as A Heartfelt Thanks at GeneaBloggers. I can't believe that GB has had more than 500,000 hits since late February, 2009 - and every member of the genealogy blogging community is responsible for its success.

I worked on entering my David Putman descendants into my new genealogy database on RootsMagic 4 as well as becoming familiar with the source citation templates. Although I've always felt more familiar with Family Tree Maker, I think I need to fully understand each of the major softwares for genealogy and I'm committed to doing this with RootsMagic as well as Legacy Family Tree and a few others.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

A busy day in the kitchen for me - thank goodness for pre-scheduled posts!

After cooking for close to seven hours (Roast Turkey basted in butter and Chardonnay, stuffing, potatoes lyonnaise, ginger glazed carrots, homemade refrigerator rolls, sweet potatoes, squash, homemade cranberry sauce), guests arrived and we had a nice leisurely dinner from 5:00 until after 10:00 pm!

We did discuss genealogy and lots of family memories. There was also good news all-around from new employment opportunities to finally closing on the sale of the family house which has been up on the market for over three years! May this be a portent to a much better year and decade starting in 2010!

Friday, November 27, 2009

I've come to the realization that I still have lots to do for pre-posting the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories posts and I better get cracking!

At GeneaBloggers, I made sure the Weekly Events post was up - took more time than usual since there are special events such as ACCM, Holiday Cookbook and more!

Since I am not a Black Friday shopper (and usually I am anti-consumerist but because of the economy I've been encouraging folks to spend as much as they comfortably can), I had lots of time for genealogy research!

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Played Escape from Costco Island and got out of there in a record 11 minutes and under $100! Woot! Also picked up a few things at the grocer's but we'll be living on leftovers for the next week.

Posted the New Genealogy Blogs post at GeneaBloggers - some great ones even though this was a light week with only six new blogs.

Overnight guests arrived on their way home to St. Paul, Minnesota. We had appetizers and rolled out the bar cart before going off to Tapas Las Ramblas at the end of the street for tapas. Next was off to George's Ice Cream where I experienced the Kitty Kitty Bang Bang flavor: cheesecake with raspberry swirl and crushed Oreo cookies.

Came home and saw that Randy Seaver had posted his Saturday Night Genealogy Fun which dealt with celebrity look-alikes. You know I couldn't resist participating! I was a bit surprised by the results - historically people say I look like Bruce Willis and he didn't even appear in my top eight celebrities!

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Early in the morning (I was up until 4:00 am) I took care of all the Daily Blogging Theme posts for the week including Black Sheep Sunday. I am considering making some changes to the actual themes beginning in 2010. I think Tombstone Tuesday and Wordless Wednesday should stay since they are the most popular but others might change since new theme topics would allow others to participate. I may post a poll asking for feedback.

Posted the SNGF rollup at GB since many folks participated - lots of fun to actually see the photos of bloggers!

Made a huge breakfast for guests before they undertook the seven hour drive back to St. Paul. Spent the rest of the day napping and working on the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories.

SNGF - My Celebrity Look-Alikes

2009-11-29T03:21:00.000-06:00

This week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun from Randy Seaver over at Genea-Musings involves finding your celebrity look-alike:

1) Go to http://www.myheritage.com/ - you don't have to be a registered member to use this feature. Click on the "Celebrities and Fun" tab.

2) Click on the "Celebrity Collage" tab, and then on the "Create my Collage" button.

3) Upload a photograph with your face (or another person's face) to the site (the face must be at least 100 x 100 pixels) and click on the "Run face recognition" button.

4) Select a collage template, and the faces (up to 8) to go into the collage template. Click on "Next" and "Preview" your template, which should bring up the template for you to review. You could click on "Save" and it would go off to your selected social networking site.

5) Figure out how to show your collage on your blog or social network site (I have my own process defined below).

6) Tell us which celebrities that you (or your selected person) look alike - write your own blog post, make a comment to this post or on Facebook.

7) Think about how you could use something like this as a Christmas gift.

Well here are the not-so-stunning results. As I've always said, I have a face made for radio:

I Give Thanks

2009-11-25T13:12:00.001-06:00

As my family and I prepare for Thanksgiving, amid a frenzy of cleaning and cooking, I want to pause and note those people and things for which I am truly thankful.

Health: although this has not been one of my better years in the health department, I can still wake up, dress myself, prepare a meal and start my day on my own. For this I am thankful.

Family: far-flung as they may be, and crazy as they often are, I appreciate the gift of family especially my in-laws who have continuously welcomed this non-Greek boy as one of their own. For this I am thankful.

Unemployment: believe it or not, being out of work for over a year has been a gift, albeit one which comes with many heavy burdens. If it were not for my layoff, I don't think I would ever have started this transition to genealogy as a profession. For this I am thankful and for the ability to see hidden opportunities.

Education: growing up poor, my mother knew that a good education was they key to my escape from a life of continual poverty. And she knew I had to do it myself for it to have value. Without her constant guidance, I would not be where I am today. For this I am thankful.

Writing: through my various blogs, I've been able to develop a writing style which not only serves as an outlet when times get tough, but as an income stream. For this I am thankful.

Friends: looking back, I can't believe how many wonderful people I've been able to meet - both in real life and virtually - in the genealogy field. These folks can be counted on for advice, a good laugh, honest feedback and for just being themselves. I hope everyone would be so lucky to have friends like these. For them I am thankful.

Sex Offender Database as Genealogy Source?

2009-11-25T11:27:00.001-06:00

Recently while I was working on a research project for a client, I found myself in an awkward situation: the only way I could verify the date of birth for a relative was by using that person's entry on a state database listing current sex offenders.

In most states and some localities, it is a requirement that those convicted of sex-related crimes must register and have their information publicly accessible on a registry. Citizens are then able to look up such information either using their own Internet connection or can walk into a local law enforcement office and use a public terminal.

While the person I located on one such registry is not a direct relative, these are the questions that using such information posed:

the information was for a living individual so what are my duties in terms of privacy? Does it matter that the information such as date of birth is available to anyone with Internet access?

what is my duty as a professional genealogist to disclose the source of such information, especially if it cannot be verified in any other manner? In this case, the person was too young to have appeared on the 1930 United States Federal Census.

should I have simply entered an estimated date of birth or left the field blank?

should I have entered the exact date of birth without a proper source citation?

do these registries get updated especially if an offender dies? How permanent is the information accessed?

What is your take on sex offender registries as a genealogy source?

© 2009, copyright Thomas MacEntee

Genealogy Journal Tuesday, November 24, 2009

2009-11-25T10:13:00.000-06:00

I can tell people are getting ready for the Thanksgiving holiday - I've seen a drop in emails and web hits but it is nice to see folks are keeping up with their blog posts with lots of Tombstone Tuesday entries!.

Posted Eyes of St. Joseph Part 1 at Destination: Austin Family and Resources for PDF at GeneaBloggers.

Worked on pre-posting for the Advent Carnival of Christmas Memories at GB.

Finished my work on client research and sent it via e-mail. I wanted the client to have all my findings plus a pedigree chart and ahnentafel report in order to share them at Thanksgiving.

Started to rebuild my own database - this time I am doing a parallel operation with Family Tree Maker 2009 as well as RootsMagic 4. Entering everything by hand, making sure all source citations are uniform and correct. Someone shoot me please!.

The Eyes of St. Joseph's - Part One

2009-11-24T13:50:00.001-06:00

Yesterday as I participated in Scanfest, I decided to scan some of my mother's childhood letters to her grandmother, Therese Austin McGinnis. I came across a sweet letter dated April 4, 1953 - just before Easter - in which Mom describes a trip up to Grahamsville where my great-grandparents had a farm. In her writing she sounded excited since she would be spending her entire Easter vacation with her grandparents away from the noise and congestion of Jersey City, New Jersey.

Also enclosed in the envelope were several newspaper clippings about a phenomenon known as "The Eyes of St. Joseph's." I had heard stories as a child about the mysterious lights which would occasionally appear at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church located on Pavonia and Baldwin Avenues in Jersey City. The term "eyes" is used since St. Joseph's had a school for the blind as part of its educational program.

My mother's family belonged to the parish at St. Joseph's, worshiped there and many of the children received the sacraments of Baptism, First Holy Communion and Confirmation there as well.

Below is a full transcription of the news clippings. I will be doing some research and talking with my aunts and uncles to see what they remember about this phenomenon.

Sexton’s Death Brings Throng

Watchers Still Baffled By Church Mystery Lights

Crowds watching the nightly mystery lights in the belfry of St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church, Jersey City, for the past three weeks increased last night after the body of the church sexton was found in a seat of the choir loft.

Matthew Guarino, 64, of 385 2nd St., had said Thursday morning he was going up to the belfry to investigate the strange lights that have been seen glowing in the church bell tower since Good Friday.

Two other church workers Paul DeGiacomo, 17, of 379 3rd St., a grandson of the late Mr. Guarino, and Patrick Haltin of 237 Baldwin Ave. climbed to the belfry and after a search found him dead. A Medical Center doctor said death was caused by a heart attack.

Throngs Watch Light

Hundred assembled at various points around the church area last night to watch the lights appear in the belfry. The best vantage point was in Henry Street a half-block west of the Baldwin Avenue bridge over the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks.

The throngs stood for hours watching the lights that were plainly visible. Many carried binoculars and a few had telescopes. It was evident that the lights were not being shined on the bell tower from any outside source.

Glow and Fade

No rays, that would immediately be discernible if a spot light was being used, were visible at all. The lights were seen emanating from the inside of the belfry somewhere illuminating two round windows at the base of the steeple.

The lights were noticed glowing brightly for a brief period and then fading away again, almost disappearing, only to reappear and glow steadily for ten to 20-minute intervals.

The light would at times become almost white. Then it would seem to change color and glow with an amber shade that would turn almost to a pink and then back again to a dull yellow.

Offers Theory

Tom Richmond, 20, of 12 Lott St., a member of St. Joseph’s Parish, has his answer to the mystery. He said: “We focused on an automobile spotlight on the opposite end of the steeple from where the light is seen, the traffic light side, and we found that it completely drowned out the mysterious flow. We focused the spotlight on the other side and the glow remained.

“My theory is that the glow is produced by the traffic lights on the northeast corner of Pavonia and Baldwin avenues. We distinctly saw the glow change from red to amber to green as the traffic light changed to those colors.”

No Traffic Light Then

But veteran police officers said they don’t remember that there was a traffic light at that corner some 30 years ago, when the mystery lights were previously seen.

The police, incidentally, are not planning any further investigation of the mystery lights, they said today. A 13 year old delivery boy for The Jersey Journal, Phillip Calabrese of 42 Court House Pl., said he has seen the lights not only almost every night for the past several weeks, but as late in the morning as 9 o’clock when they were plainly visible.

A reporter who watched the lights last night was at the church almost 30 years ago when thousands stood in the street nightly watching the strange lights appear and disappear then.

Priests of the parish insist the lights can be caused only from some natural source but are unable to explain just what causes them to appear.

Many and varied reasons for the lights were overheard being advanced by superstitious persons in the crowd last night.

Police officials denied last night that any policemen went into the church belfry. Thursday night was the last night. It was reported that police had been searching the belfry for Guarino and had been unable to find him until workers saw him at 11:30 a.m. yesterday.

Earlier Incidents

Crowds of curious have gathered at many points in the county at various times to observe unexplained occurrences. At one time almost three decades ago large foundation stones of the mausoleum on the Hudson Boulevard in North Bergen bore shadowy outlines evidently the result of rain and weather that looked like the outlines of shapes that seemed like the face of Christ, the Blessed Virgin and other holy persons.
Meanwhile, funeral arrangements were completed for Mr. Guarino. His funeral will be held Tuesday from the Introcaso-Angelo Funeral Home, 143 Brunswick St., with requiem at 10 a.m. in St. Joseph’s Church.

. . . Boulevard. The heaviest concentration of spectators was the Baldwin Avenue bridge and Henry Street.
Police kept the crowds away from the vantage area at the end of Henry Street near the bridge because residents there had complained of the noise and of children swarming over the roofs of the garages and other buildings.

Pastor Leaves Church

The pastor, the Rev. Francis J. Sexton, who has been ill, left the rectory at 10:30 p.m. and was escorted to a private car by Police Capt. Patrick Sheehy. The noise and succession of telephone calls about the lights have seriously interfered with the rest of all the residents of the rectory. His destination was not revealed.
This morning, it was reported at the rectory, Father Sexton was back at church, saying the 8 a.m. mass.
Earlier, the pastor had discounted any possibility of the supernatural in the belfry mystery.

“It’s ridiculous. There is no miracle here and people should not look for one,” Father Sexton said. “There is absolutely nothing to this thing of lights. Maybe some reflection from a stained glass window or some other natural source Just a bugaboo. Nothing for anybody to get excited about at all.”

The ceiling of the tower had been painted a deep green about a year ago, police pointed out, explaining that the glossy surface may have served as backboards for the light rays.

Seen Before

Actually, according to some of the residents on Henry Street, these reflections are nothing new.

“I saw them three years ago,” one insisted. “Some of the older people in the neighborhood have been seeing lights for years. It’s old stuff to us.”

Residents on Baldwin, Pavonia and Magnolia Avenues and Henry Street pointed out that the “dimming of the lights” means the return of peace and quiet for them.

Holes In Garage

“Look at the holes in my garage,” a coal dealer declared indignantly. “Not only do these people keep me up all night with their noise, but they have been climbing all over the garage roofs in the neighborhood and damaging them.”

It has likewise been hectic for the priests at St. Joseph’s. The phone at the rectory had been ringing during the early morning hours of the morning ever since the lights were first “discovered” by children Thursday night.

Tower Bare

The tower itself is practically bare, except for the bell in the belfry and an assortment of pigeons’ nests. There are no electric lights in the tower. The only electricity in that part of the church is the connection to the bell, which is electrically operated.

A few children have declared that they have seen the slights during the daytime but most of the observers have watched the reflections after dark. The potpourri of colored lights from the nearby Journal Square section has been advanced as one of the reasons for the reported change in color in the beams.

According to most observers, the lights have emanated from two arcs on the south side of the tower, located between the belfry and the steeple.

View Needed

Viewers have not been able to see the reflections unless they were at least a half-block from the steeple.
An aide to Father Sexton pointed out that none of the priests now at St. Josephs have been in the belfry in at least five years. Aside from the current visits of the police, painters were the last ones to have been in that part of the church, which is kept locked, the aide said.

Photos: currently the source of the images is unknown despite an extensive search online. I think the clippings are from The Jersey Journal or another local newspaper around April 1953. Until I can conclusively located proper copyright information for attribution, I will leave the items posted as is and update attribution when more information becomes available.

© 2009, copyright Thomas MacEntee

Genealogy Journal Monday, November 23, 2009

2009-11-24T10:05:00.000-06:00

Typical of Mondays, very busy with lots of blog posts to read and writing to do.

Went through the usual process of reading and answering emails as well as tagging blog posts for Madness Monday.

Wrote article on Practical Tips for Genealogy Presenters for upcoming issue of Speak Up! - the newsletter of the Genealogical Speakers Guild.

Seems to be a problem with the Submit a Recipe form for the GeneaBloggers Holiday 2009 cookbook and recipe contest. I need to monitor and see if others have submitted recipes but I've not yet received them.

Posted MRUA at Destination: Austin Family about my 3rd Great Grandmother Elizabeth Wood.

Posted in draft at DAF about The Eyes of St. Joseph - a somewhat supernatural phenomenon in Jersey City, New Jersey witnessed by mother and thousands of others in the Spring of 1953.

Prepped a post at GB for Resources for PDF which will go up midday on Tuesday.

The May I Introduce To You . . . post about Sandra Taliaferro went up at GB - Sandra is a great genealogy blogger and friend on Twitter.

Am coming down to the end of my client research and will probably send an initial report tonite. I hope I've been able to provide the client information she didn't have.

Elizabeth Wood (nee Unknown) - Most Recent Unknown Ancestor

2009-11-23T13:27:00.002-06:00

This weekend Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings posed this challenge as part of Saturday Night Genealogy Fun:

1) Who is your MRUA - your Most Recent Unknown Ancestor? This is the person with the lowest number in your Pedigree Chart or Ahnentafel List that you have not identified a last name for, or a first name if you know a surname but not a first name.

2) Have you looked at your research files for this unknown person recently? Why don't you scan it again just to see if there's something you have missed?

3) What online or offline resources might you search that might help identify your MRUA?

4) Tell us about him or her, and your answers to 2) and 3) above, in a blog post, in a comment to this post, or a comment on Facebook or some other social networking site.

My MRUA is Elizabeth C. Unknown, wife of William Wood, my 3rd great-grandfather. From the research that I've done so far here is what I know about Elizabeth:

she married William Wood around 1845. This is based on the birth date of her oldest child Rachel J Wood who was born abt 1847.

she was born in New York state but which county or town is unknown. This is based on the United States Federal Census data for 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880 for both Elizabeth and William Wood and family.

I have not done much research on my Wood line and I really need to do so. Finding a death date, a possible memorial on Find A Grave and also looking at the earlier census dates such as 1840 and earlier would help. In addition, consulting the New York State census for 1845 over at Family Search would help as well.

© 2009, copyright Thomas MacEntee

Genealogy Journal Saturday & Sunday, November 21-22, 2009

2009-11-23T10:57:00.000-06:00

A fairly quiet weekend - I love this time of year even though the holiday season can make it busy. There is more time to spend on genealogy and research.

Saturday

Managed to get the New Genealogy Blogs post up as well as pre-posted the rest of the Daily Blogging Theme posts at GeneaBloggers. Next week will be busy cleaning the house and getting set to have family over for Thanksgiving Dinner with yours truly doing the cooking.

Spent the rest of the afternoon and evening at my friend Erica's setting up her new Dell laptop. It is an Inspiron 15 series - very nice but too big and heavy for my tastes - I've become more of a netbook fan. The setup was no problem except for a glitch with the ISP where Comcast had to be called. After the setup we were served a great dinner of steak meat pies with green beans and cherry pie!.

Sunday

Took care of reading blog posts - lots of nice Most Recent Unknown Ancestor posts as part of Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun. I need to work on my own post as well as do the SNGF rollup.

Spent a few hours getting the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories posts for December automated. It will be a busy month for me and as much as I can do to automate the process, the better.

A very quiet day - lots of time spent on client research for the GOIAS and MEDEIROS lines in Kauai, Hawaii. I am very impressed at the number of records and stories preserved for the migration of Portuguese from the Azores to Hawaii.

At 11:30 am I had an online chat with the other students in the Jewish Genealogy class at GenClass. Again this was an hour that just flew by and was filled with information and resources. I think for the price, the classes at GenClass are a great value especially if you want to explore areas of genealogy research with which you are unfamiliar.

At 1:00 pm it was time for Scanfest! We had a great crowd and I worked on scanning old letters from my mother and her siblings. One that caught my eye was from April 1953 and had news clippings of a "mystery light" phenomenon at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in Jersey City. I will need to do some research on this.

Dinner: broiled chicken breast and penne pasta with four cheese sauce, Caesar salad.

Genealogy Journal Thursday, November 19, 2009

2009-11-20T10:43:00.001-06:00

A relatively quiet day - not much blogging in fact which is a surprise!

I put the finishing touches on the big announcement over at GeneaBloggers - it is all set for 2:00 pm CST on Friday. Hint: if you remember those Advent calendars from your childhood you're really going to love what I have planned in December.

The rest of the day was spent researching the GOIAS surname in Kauai, Hawaii. I thought I had it bad with my surname - ugh! I can't believe how many bizarre variations keep showing up in the census: GOERS, GOSIA, GOISA. And one fact that I found very interesting: middle names were not common among the Portuguese in Hawaii. So when they enlisted during World War II, you will often see they use the middle initial V. - for Victor.

Genealogy Journal Wednesday, November 18, 2009

2009-11-19T09:36:00.000-06:00

Wednesdays are always busy and I just needed to get over the hump - and I did!

Reviewed all the great Wordless Wednesday posts over at GeneaBloggers. It is difficult for me to figure out if Tombstone Tuesday or Wordless Wednesday is more popular.

Finalized and posted the Resources for Holiday Blog Decorating and even added two "screencasts" using the new Screenr application. I spruced up the Destination: Austin Family blog as an example and also helped Gini at Ginisology makeover her blog for the holidays.

Worked with my new client on this consulting gig - it looks like final approval will come this week. I will be very busy in December but it is a great opportunity.

Put the finishing touches on tomorrow's big holiday-related announcement over at GeneaBloggers. This will require quite a bit of work but I think with pre-posting it can be achieved and will really add value to the genealogy blogging experience for many.

The rest of the day and evening was spent working some more on my client's Portuguese-Hawaiian research. In case anyone is interested, the main surname is GOIAS and when all is said and done, with the client's permission, there will be a series of posts.

Genealogy Television Programs Sprouting Up

2009-11-19T08:44:00.002-06:00

Last night while watching television, I came across advertisements for a new show on ABC which some would say is genealogy or family-history related. Find My Family - from the makers of Extreme Home Makeover - seeks to reunite living family members such as children with their birth mothers, others who have become separated from their parents or siblings, etc.

As I watched the trailers for the show (both on television and here on ABC's website), something caught my eye: the image of a lone tree (sometimes barren and sometimes with foliage) on a green grassy hill. Hmmmm . . . where have I seen that image before?

I realize that Find My Family deals with finding living people (which as a reader of this blog, you know I love honing my research skills looking for the living), and some would say the genealogy angle is slight compared to other shows. There's no doubt that heartwarming (some would say heart-wrenching) stories sell and work better with living people. While I stopped watching Extreme Home Makeover years ago (I thought it became exploitive and produced a mindset of people just waiting for a windfall to come their way), I will be watching Find My Family. I'm interested to see just what methodology and research techniques are used to locate people and, more importantly, how and if they deal with the privacy issues involved in such a search.

* * *

With the American version of Who Do You Think You Are? set to premiere in January 2010, I'm wondering if the television world is finally catching up to the way in which genealogy and family history have continued to grow as a hobby especially on the Internet. Or perhaps producers of these shows have finally figured out what many of us who pursue our roots already know: it is the stories behind the research that help illuminate our ancestors and allow us to make connections with them.

Are we looking at another explosion of interest in genealogy akin to what occurred in 1977 when the mini-series Roots premiered? Back then there was no Internet to turn to, but it was the libraries and archives which were inundated with folks making their first attempts at genealogy research.

Fast-forward 32 years and viewers are likely to go right to their computers once the show is over. My hope is that the online genealogy community of bloggers, vendors and others can stress the importance of sound genealogical research practices while at the same time making the experience of finding one's roots enjoyable and educational.

© 2009, copyright Thomas MacEntee

Holiday Blog Decorating!

2009-11-18T15:29:00.001-06:00

As you can see, Destination: Austin Family has taken on a holiday look! I'd appreciate any feedback in the comments area as to what works, doesn't work etc.

Also, in case you want to do you own holiday decorating at your site, check out these resources over at GeneaBloggers:

Resources for Holiday Blog Decorating

Part 1: Backing Up Your Blogger Blog Before Installing A Holiday Template (video)

Part 2: Installing A Holiday Template in Blogger (video)

Genealogy Journal Tuesday, November 17, 2009

2009-11-18T11:46:00.000-06:00

A relatively quiet days with lots of time for research and writing - my kind of day.

Went through the blog posts - lots of Tombstone Tuesday entries which I was glad to see.

Posted Planning a Blog Redesign and Resources for Blog Design over at GeneaBloggers. Also posted New Years Resolutions 2009 Check Up at Destination: Austin Family. I am already working on my resolutions for 2010 since I am so much more focused on genealogy as a career than I was a year ago.

Drafted a resources post at GB on holiday blog templates - many genealogy bloggers like to spruce up their blogs for the holidays so I want to make sure they have resources and, more importantly, understand how to back up their current template in order to restore it later on!

Also worked most of the afternoon on my new "top secret" program at GB which has intrigued many folks. Not sure the best time to make the announcement - probably this Friday, November 20, 2009. Stay tuned.

The rest of the afternoon - which was cold, chilly and damp - was spent on research for my Hawaiian/Portuguese client.

Watched the first half of the movie The Hand That Rocks The Cradle - creepy and seems like no one can play a crazy b*tch like Rebecca DeMornay! Also watched The Good Wife on CBS.

Music: well although I didn't play any of it, I organized all my Holiday music. I am a firm believer in no "Christmas" until at least the day after Thanksgiving - the economy be damned. No decorations, no music, etc. I'm old-fashioned and I like it that way.

A New Years Resolution Checkup

2009-11-17T11:07:00.000-06:00

While I was performing research on my past entries for the Carnival of Genealogy, I came across a post I did here in December 2008 entitled New Years Resolutions for 2009. Normally, I am not someone who looks back at my own actions - I tend to be a forward-looking person who lives life with little or no regrets. I prefer to look back at the lives of my ancestors!

But I was surprised in several ways about the resolutions I'd written almost a year ago:

I actually succeeded in completing several actions to which I had committed
Looking back I really think I could have had more goals!

Basically, I succeeded with the following resolutions:

Increase Outreach Efforts. At the time, GeneaBloggers was only in existence within the world of Facebook as a group. Little did I know that within a month of that post, I would set up GeneaBloggers as a .com domain and watch it grow to the vibrant community that it is with close to 750 genealogy blogs listed.

Write More Articles. Despite the demise of Digital Genealogist over the summer, I have been asked by several magazines, websites and blogs to contribute written articles and posts about genealogy and more specifically about technology. In the Spring of 2010 I will have two submissions printed in upcoming issues of Family Tree Magazine and I am happy to be part of one of my favorite genealogy magazines!

Attend Genealogy Conferences. I attended the Southern California Genealogical Society's Jamboree in late June 2008. Not only did I have a blast and meet so many interesting folks, but I knew by the end of the weekend, that the rest of my year would be spent working on a career transition from the information technology field to being a professional genealogist.

Area in which I was not successful:

Cleanup My Database. I've been so busy with writing and taking on pro bono research clients as I build experience, that I haven't committed myself to my own research. I need to get with the program and just do it!

Finish Scanning The Box. Again, utter failure here. I really do need to just let the scanner run one day while I am putzing around on the computer. There are so many photos I could use for Wordless Wednesday or other posts! Plus I need to do a better job of organizing my old letters and make sure they are preserved archivally.

Genealogy Journal Monday, November 16, 2009

2009-11-17T08:54:00.000-06:00

While this Monday was not busy in terms of emails and blog post reading, I did get quite a bit done in terms of writing future posts and working on a few new projects.

Took care of the usual tasks such as email, reading and tagging posts for Madness Monday, etc. Also made certain the scheduled post of May I Introduce To You . . . was set for 2pm CST.

I discovered that I had been awarded a total of four Kreativ Blogger awards over the weekend and during the day. So I made sure to post at Destination: Austin Family my "seven things about me" and pass award on to seven other genealogy bloggers. I also cross-posted at GeneaBloggers since that blog won two of the awards.

Much of the afternoon was spent putting together posts and pages and graphics for the new Holiday 2009 Recipe Contest at GB. One of the biggest challenges was a way to automate the way in which recipes could be submitted and enforce some type of standardization in terms of information provided. I found a neat (and free - we like free) tool which I'll post about soon. The contest will run for about the next three weeks and the prize is a $25 Williams-Sonoma gift card. The goal is to produce a PDF printable cookbook the week of December 7, 2009.

Also during the day I worked on some draft posts at GB: one on how to plan a redesign of your blog as well as a resources post for blog design tools (web browser testing, color palettes, etc.). Reminds me that I should do a special holiday post on holiday icons and templates - many bloggers like to "decorate" their blogs around this time of year.

The rest of the evening was spent working on a major top-secret project for GB as well as catching episodes of Accidentally On Purpose and Two and a Half Men on CBS.

Music: today was classical music in the morning, specifically Jacqueline Du Pré. In the afternoon it was a 1970s blast from the past with Melanie, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Dr. Hook and more. Remember those?

Genealogy Journal Saturday & Sunday, November 14-15, 2009

2009-11-16T10:34:00.000-06:00

And I thought this weekend would be quiet. Despite several social engagements I was able to get quite a bit of genealogy research, writing and learning done!

Saturday

Finished the New Genealogy Blogs post at GeneaBloggers with 24 newly discovered blogs just before I left to play Escape from Costco Island. If it weren't for the 100 Holiday Stamps, I would have kept the bill under $100!

Speaking of holiday cards, if you are still looking for an easy way to get them done, consider VistaPrint! They have a 50% off sale with free priority shipping right now - I was able to get 100 cards preprinted with names and a message for $49.99. This is the best deal around - just be careful when you order from VistaPrint since they try to sell you almost everything else from return address labels to website design!

Off to Elk Grove Village (a suburb near O'Hare Airport) for a niece's birthday party. A great family event with ages 2 months (Stephanie was the quietest, sweetest baby I've seen!) to mid-80s which is a genealogist's dream! Although these were all "in-law" relatives and not direct relations, I was able to get them talking about their own family trees.

Came home and worked on my own SNGF - A Nice Thing post and did the roll-up post over at GB.

Sunday

I was touched by all the expressions of kindness between genealogy bloggers and others after reading so many Saturday Night Genealogy Fun posts.

Worked on my entry for the 24th Edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy whose theme is Tips and Tricks. Posted about Surname Suggestion List which is a great piece of free software for genealogists.

Received the next May I Introduce You To . . . post from Gini Webb of Ginisology. What a trooper she is! Despite having a laptop power cord which suddenly died, she used her husband's laptop to get the post to me. It will be up at GB on Monday afternoon.

In the afternoon, I participated in an online chat as part of my Jewish genealogy class at GenClass. A small but wonderfully interactive group hailing from California all the way to Tel Aviv! I found out some interesting facts and we had such a good time that we will be chatting again next Sunday.

Sunday evening was cold, chilly and damp - the perfect night for ribs at Twin Anchors! This place is a Chicago institution and one which I'd not yet visited. With only valet parking (the Lincoln Park neighborhood is not easy when it comes to parking) and no reservations, the meal was worth the wait as was the most-excellent beer menu. Of course, our friend Erica then "twisted our arms" and dragged us of to Dairy Queen afterwards. I rolled myself home after that.

My Kreativ Blogger Awards

2009-11-16T09:12:00.002-06:00

I want to say thank you to one of my dearest genealogy blogging pals for her gift of the Kreativ Blogger award recently. I'm talking about Luckie of Our Georgia Roots - if you are not familiar with her or her blog, run (if you can do such a thing on your keyboard) and check out her blog. She has not only been a great contributor to the genealogy blogging community, she is a key player among the Twitter genealogists and can always be counted on for meaningful insights into the struggle of searching for one's ancestors.

Now as part of the challenge, it seems I must reveal seven "things" about myself, preferably new things which I've not revealed in any of those other crazy memes on Facebook or Twitter or blogs. So here goes:

I grew up in New York but my accent would lead you to believe I was born in the Midwest.

I don't drive. Never have and never will. I have always lived in major cities with excellent transportation. I feel my life is much simpler without a car and things like repairs or car insurance.

I've always been attracted to the life stories of older adults especially senior citizens.

If I had the means, I would be a perpetual student and enroll in classes covering a wide variety of topics. I'd rack up degree after degree.

I try to find a common ground with each person I encounter - I've always been the mediator and moderator in most professional and civic endeavors.

I almost drowned when I was four years old.

Despite having broken my right leg twice, I used to be an active ballroom dancer specializing in jitterbug, lindy hop, and West Coast swing.

And then I also need to pass along the award to seven other bloggers. Since this award has been passed around quite a bit (which is great!), I am going to seek out some of our newer, less noticed bloggers and send them some kreativ love:

Family Tree Writer

Kinfolk News

Mountain Genealogists

Of Trolls and Lemons

The Armchair Genealogist

TJLGenes: Preserving Our Family History

Tracing Descendants

Working With Surname Variations

2009-11-15T12:30:00.000-06:00

[This post was created as part of the 24th Edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy]

Despite enduring two years of German while working on my bachelor's degree (can you tell I hated it?), I still have trouble with certain words specifically surnames. When I am doing research, I will often focus only on what I am certain is the form of a surname and not consider any other options. This is sort of like working with blinders on but I've found a free software application that can help me out of my comfort zone.

Surname Suggestion List is an application developed by Matthew Combs which takes a surname and creates several levels of variations of that name.

As explained by Matthew, the variations in the Excellent column are very similar to the surname used in the search. The Close variations are only similar and the Longshot variations are "somewhat" similar.

There is no way I would think of variations on Henneberg like Hernberg or Heinberg without this application. And while I am a huge fan of web-based applications and tend to shy away from anything I have to download, Surname Suggestion List is one of those "must have" tools for my genealogy toolbox.

Besides generating variations, Matt has also programmed in the ability to click on a surname variation and then perform a Google search with that data. You can also specify Book Search, Image Search and Blog Search.

Worried that Surname Suggestion List won't cover the foreign names you are looking for? Don't worry. From the version list provided, Matt has included the following surnames besides those commonly found in the United States and the United Kingdom: Armenian, Belgian, Czech, Danish, English, French, German, Irish, Kurdish, Lithuanian, Maltese, Norwegian, Pakistani, Persian, Polish, Scottish, Spanish, and Swiss. And Matt also updates the program to include surnames suggested by users.

Check out Surname Suggestion List and you'll be surprised at where your research takes you. As they say, "variety is the spice of life" and of surnames in genealogy research.

© 2009, copyright Thomas MacEntee