Tombstone Tuesday: Maternal Grandparents

Gert and Gordon Naber are buried in Restlawn Memorial Gardens in Holland.  Gertrude Brandt was born in 1921, Holland Township, Michigan.  Gordon was born in 1921, Holland Township, Michigan.  They were married in 1941, Holland Township, Michigan.  Gordon served in the Navy during WWII and was a carpenter.  They had 8 children children together.  Gertrude did not remarry after the death of Gordon.

Tombstone Tuesday: Paternal Grandparents

Agnes and Martin Groenhof are buried in the Restlawn Memorial Gardens in Holland, Michigan.  Agnes Stremler was born in 1909 in Zeeland, Michigan.  Martin was born in 1906 in North Blendon, Michigan.  They were married in 1929, North Blendon, Michigan.  They had three sons and Agnes didn't remarry after the death of Martin.

Organizing Genealogy Photos: Part 3

After scanning and placing the photos into a sort file, I than go back to organize.  Each family unit has an individual file.  (Once a couple is married, then they become a unit but their younger pictures stay with the parents.)  Each picture and a backup tiff file are placed into the correct family unit.  But I also wanted to capture the information on the back of the photos as well as giving additional information.  So I turned to Bento again.

I use Bento to organize my other genealogy files so why not use it for pictures as well?  I created a database to record the family name, the subject, the type of photo, who gave me the photo, where it is stored and a bunch of other information.  This way I can keep a visual record along with as much other information I need to store.  Plus since I have the surname as a separate field, I can sort the records by name.  This makes it easier to share specific family pictures.  Another important field is where the photo is stored.  Each of my archive boxes are listed, along with some places like my mother's heritage album.  Now I have a record of what is in each box too!  So this might not be a perfect way to organize pictures, but so far it is working out pretty well.

Tombstone Tuesday: Maternal Grandparents

Grace T. and Harold E. Vorce are buried in the Greenwood cemetery in Petoskey, Michigan.  Grace Tillotson was born in 1901 in Bay Shore, Michigan.  Harold was born in 1903 in Cross Village, Michigan.  They were married in 1927, Bay Shore Michigan.  Harold was an electrician and worked for Consumers Powers.  Harold remarried in 1978 to Lucille M Cooke who died in 2000.

Organizing Genealogy Photos: Part 2

The next step is scanning.  I already had a flatbed scanner, an Epson Perfection V300.  I had purchased this scanner a number of years before because I could scan slides as well as regular photos.  It has worked really well for me and I can scan to tiff or jpeg formats.  But it is not fast.  It actually seems to take longer to scan than when I first got it!  Since the Flip-Pal had recently come out, I though that smaller scanner would be great for all the snap shots I had.  The only thing is that the Flip-pal only scans to jpeg.

Usually I scan older or larger pictures with the Epson.  This way I am getting a really clean scan and I already have the image as a tiff.  This does take time but I can scan a few smaller pictures at a time and the scanner automatically finds the edges so there isn't a lot of cropping.  (I like to listen to different podcasts while doing the scanning since I don't have to think really hard about what I am doing and it makes the time go faster!)

I can scan wallet size or snapshots with the flip-pal and move much quicker through a stack.  I scanned over 300 pictures in just a few hours.  I do have rechargeable batteries since it does go through batteries.  After scanning each photo I store the digital file into a sort folder on my desktop for the next step.  Each photo does need to be cropped since the scan is of the entire glass, not just the picture.  I stack the printed photos so that they will be in the same order as the scanned images.  This does save some time when it comes to organizing the photos on my computer.

Tombstone Tuesday: Paternal Grandparents

Margaret L. and Raymond N. Green are buried in the Maple Lawn Cemetery in Boyne City, Michigan.   Margaret (aka Leta) Livingston was born in 1922 in Boyne City.  Raymond was born in 1919, also in Boyne City.  They married in 1939 and had two sons, one still living.  Raymond was a veteran of WWII and had a shoe repair business.  Margaret remarried in 1972 to Leon E Brooks who died in 2002.

Organizing Genealogy Photos: Part 1

some of the photo boxes plus the slide box

Organizing photos is actually pretty personal in that everyone has their own system.  I had been scrapping and scanning my own pictures since I had kids but there was a lot of pre-kids pictures that was just stashed in boxes. Then my mom gave me a ton of photos that she had from her mother and I needed a system.  I did search the internet but not a lot really seemed helpful.  Then I asked my father-in-law for his pictures because I knew they were just in boxes in the top of the closet and I wanted to discover that side of the family.  Now I really had a problem and needed to find a solution fast!

First off I don't have a lot of extra money so I knew I had to do all the scanning and organizing myself. So the first problem I had to tackle was where to put the pictures after I scanned them.  I just could not return them to the plastic bags or boxes or old albums since they would get more damaged that way.  I knew I needed to get archival boxes (and already had gotten 1 box for old slides) but how many?  At this point I decided that I needed to divide into four groups.  My parents are divorced so having their family pictures separate works and my mother-in-law had also died so that seemed to work okay as well.  So I purchased four regular size boxes for each family surname (Groenhof, Naber, Green, Vorce).  But I also had quite a few pictures that were bigger than the standard size picture box.  So I purchased three boxes for pictures up to size 12x9.  (The reason I went with three is because my side just didn't have a ton of large pictures so I could easily store them in one box.)  But I also had some really large pictures of my kids as well as heritage pictures that needed a bigger box. So I purchased one box (19.5 x 13) to hold all those really large pictures that would not be brought out much.

I wrote on the side of each archival box the size so I would know which box fit which picture and added initials of the family (G/N for my side).  Plus I labeled the four small boxes with the family name as well.  So now it was time to start scanning!

Spring has Sprung

So that went by fast!  That is the time from my last post to this one.  I just didn't make the time to post anything and didn't have any inspiration either.  Plus I didn't get far into scanning since I still have hard drive storage space issues.  Now school is almost done and we will see what the summer brings!  Anyway, this is my daughter's tulip time picture from this year.

Scanning Update

A corner of my room circa 1982

So I realized the other day while looking for older Tulip Time pictures, that I have been doing so much scanning for other people that I hadn't scanned my old photos.  Now I don't have THAT many.  My personal pictures start about the time I was in middle school and received my own camera.  (And a lot of those photos are really not that great.)  But now that I have the Flip Scanner, I can go through them pretty fast.  So that is what I have started to do!  I'm just going to scan, crop and dump into the correct years folder and deal with them later (probably).

This picture shows the turtle I made in shop (which I don't remember doing), the pot I painted (and don't remember) and the dolls I collected (and still have) which are sitting in an old shelf which I wonder where it went!

Tulip Time 1987

This is one of my favorite Tulip Time pictures!  I have been putting together a simple album featuring the yearly Tulip Time picture with the nieces & nephews.  This is one of the earliest ones I have right now but I hadn't looked at them in years!  This picture was taken during my very first year dancing during the yearly Tulip Time Festival.  My (future) sister-in-law is on the far end and my sister standing next to her are also dancers.  This would have been their last year dancing since they were both seniors.  My oldest sister is wearing her costume as well but might have been in the alumni dancers.  I am in the center holding my oldest niece.  She was about 18 months old at the time.  My mother made all the adult costumes.  I am not sure if it was my sister or my mom who made the little dress which was made to match my sister's costume.

Jeanette De Vries Brandt

about 1914

So I realized during my last post that my great-grandmother Jeanette had a child every year for SEVEN years!  (Okay it is probably a re-realization!)  Two of these babies died.  Julius Otto before he was one year old and Rose Marie was stillborn.  Now they did re-use those names which does make it complicated.  Four more children came along in 1927, 1929, 1930 and then the baby in 1938.

Jeanette was the seventh child, born Feb 15, 1899, to Johannes and Gertrude De Vries.  She married Otto Brandt Oct 31, 1918.  I have heard that it was a forced marriage in that Otto might not have been willing but Jeanette's brothers made sure he attended.  And since she was 3 months pregnant at the time of the marriage, this is probably true!

I believe her childhood was pretty happy, living on a farm with good parents and lots of siblings.  Her early marriage must have been very difficult with babies and cleaning and the depression.  Her husband Otto was not always able to find work.  She lived until 1975, long enough to see grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  My own daughter received her middle name in honor of Jeanette so she will be remembered.

Gert Brandt

Photo booth picture of Gert Brandt when she was in her early teens.  (This is my favorite of the ones I have seen!)  I'm not sure if she is still in school here.  She was only allowed to go through the 8th grade.  Her father didn't think girls needed to go further.  She worked and gave her salary to her parents after leaving school.

Gert was born May 21, 1921, the third child of Otto and Jeanette.  Her older brother Julius died before she was born.  So she grew up with one older sister and seven younger siblings.  What a full house!  She also grew during the depression and didn't live on a farm, although they did have a garden and chickens.

Maybe I like this picture because it shows she did have some fun!

Military Service in The Netherlands

Otto Brand / late 1880's

This is a picture of my Great-Great Grandfather, Otto Brand.  Otto (third generation with that name) was born November 9, 1860 in Zuilichem, Gelderland, Netherlands.  He served in the military while in his twenties.  The "story" is that he served more than he was personally required by selling his services to those who didn't want to serve.  He didn't marry until he was 30 years old and he and his wife had two children while still living in the Netherlands. His wife Willemke's family had been immigrating to the United States so she really want to join them.  Otto was more reluctant to move but eventually they immigrated with their two young children.

They had two additional children after the migration, one of which was my Great-Grandfather Otto who was born in 1898.  According to my grandmother, her grandfather Otto never really learned English so Dutch was still spoken in his house.  Her future husband, Gordon was able to speak Dutch with Otto which he seem to enjoy.  Otto's own grandchildren had never really learned more than a few words of Dutch.

Otto died July 3, 1947 in Holland Michigan followed 11 days later by his wife, Wilma.  They are buried in the Pilgrim Home Cemetery in Holland.

Flip Pal Scanner

This past Christmas, I received a Flip Pal Scanner!  I do have a regular flat bed scanner which I love, but it does take time to set it up.  Plus I have to run it through my laptop.  Right now my computer needs a new battery so it has to be plugged in at all times.  Additionally, it heats up very fast so I don't like running it all day if I can help it.  So that is where the Flip Pal comes in. Plus I liked that you didn't have to remove a picture from an album to make a scan.

I have used the scanner quite a bit since December.  Because of its size, it works best on regular snap shots and it does scan really fast.  The BIGGEST issue I have with it is the batteries.  It takes 4 regular AA batteries and I can only scan about 45 pictures before they need to be replaced.  I did purchase some rechargeable batteries and hopefully that will work out.  I used rechargeable batteries in my old camera and they kind of sucked too!

Annie's Ghost

I actually read this book a while ago but I think it would be good to describe it now: Annie's Ghosts by  Steve Luxenberg.  Steve is actually a journalist rather than a genealogist but still describes the research he did to find this lost Aunt.  The start of his search came after his mother died and they receive a notice from the cemetery about flowers.  But the notice lists 3 graves, rather than the two expected.  A girl named Annie is listed.  Most of her life, Steve's mother repeatedly stated she was an only child but once when she was sick, she mentioned a younger sister who was institutionalized at the age of 2.  So after finding out the name of this mysterious Aunt, Steve goes looking for the truth.  The story is set in the Detroit area and also describes the treatment regularly given at this large institutions.  Good story and worth a read!

Knitting

So another thing I have neglected over the last few years is knitting.  I actually like to knit quite a bit although not during the summer.  In the winter time it is great to have some yarn and needles in your hand!

It is actually a family tradition to knit!  My mother (plus sister), my mother-in-law and both my grandmothers either knit or crochet.  Both my grandmothers crochet'd (is that right?) until they were quite old since it kept their fingers nimble!  I was actually surprised to see some samples of my paternal grandmother's rather delicate crochet samples.  I have a hard time picturing her doing this type of work since I don't remember her ever doing it in front of me. I do have a couple of ornaments she gave me.  My maternal grandmother actually made wash clothes which is why they are a favorite of mine.  Ever christmas we could pick one out.  Now I wish I had saved one...

So I have to get back into knitting, learn how to crochet and spend less time on the computer.  Good luck with that right?!

Birthdays Through the Years

Grandma and her oldest granddaughter

So I worked on a "secret" project last year (2012) for my older sister Deb (not pictured).  My sister has done many many birthday cakes over the years for the kids of her siblings, plus others.  My job was to help her find a new cake each time so I had a ton of different cake ideas on my computer.  So I printed out recipes for all these different cakes and then made prints from all the kids birthdays.  We did parties from when they were 1 until they were 10 years old.  I actually was able to find almost all of them except for the three oldest because that was before I was regularly taking pictures.  I had the project done by Christmas time and gave it to her then.  She was so surprised!  She said it was her favorite gift and she really enjoyed looking at the book, as did everyone else at the party.

So that got me thinking that it would be really cool if I could find a picture of myself for every birthday.  And if I could, I would make a little photo album and it might be fun to get out every year.  Of coarse, I am almost positive I didn't celebrate every birthday as an adult.  So what would I do for those years??

People of Borculo Addition

So here is my own people of Borculo picture from my collection.  This is a picture of my grandparents, Martin & Agnes (Stremler) Groenhof.  They worked at the Borculo gas station during the depression era.  The gas station was located where the road use to curve around but now is under the pavement, or so I was told.

While my grandfather is wearing the traditional overalls typical of a gas station, my grandmother is rocking the dress, shoes, jacket and hat!  Plus I cannot get over how much my grandmother looks like my aunt Hazel and they are not even related!

Photo Discovery

Yes, I know I have totally failed at keeping up on blog posts in the later half of last year.  But that is behind me and I can try again this year!  I just have to stop ignoring the blog page and just do it :)

By chance I found a picture of my great-grandfather on a web page.  BUT the picture looked familiar..

BECAUSE I have a copy of the same picture!  Above is our family copy and the other is on the People of Borculo site!  (Luckily it isn't the People of Walmart!)  So now I know which person is actually my great-grandfather since my picture wasn't labeled.  In the back: John TenBroeke, Gerrit TenBroeke, Henry Wesseldijk, Joe Wesseldijk, Albert Bosch and Ben Groenhof - in the front: Minnie (Wesseldijk) Bosch, Cecilia Bos, Catherine Bos, Alena Bosch, Ruth Bos, Louise Gahan, Catherine Bosch, Dorothy Geurink with Henry Geurink out in front.