1940 Census Again

Ancestry.com finally has 1940's Michigan indexed so I was able to located my other grandparents.  I had looked through a number of sections for Holland but wasn't able to find them before.  Above is page two with Martin being on the first page.  This page has my Grandmother Agnes, their first son and then a brother from each.  Art's mother had passed so he was living with his older brother during high school.  Herman Stremler is the brother of Agnes and I hadn't know he was living with them at that time.  I am curious about that but not sure anyone alive would be able to explain!

Death Certificate Found

Look what I found in the stack off stuff - Grandpa Green's death certificate!  I love finding something when you least expect it!  Now I didn't actually learn anything new but I am now one more step toward sourcing my file, yeah!!

I didn't know that social security cards were ever made of metal!  Behold the original social security card for my husband's grandfather.  I really have nothing else to add so this is a SHORT entry!

Mrs. Roxanna Kidder; 1895

Started scanning again.  This time I was going through a file folder of newspaper clippings and other stuff.  There were quite a few Livingston clippings and some other interesting things.  One of the great things was an 1895 funeral pamphlet for Mrs. Roxanna Kidder, Died Aug. 8, 1895.  This is actually one of my problem areas so it is great to have a specific death date!  This should be the grandmother of Jennie Kidder who married Clark Green in 1886.  I only wish there had been more information :)

Last Day of May

It is hard to believe that today is the last day of May!   This picture is from the Holland Tulip Time Festival's, stem festival. My daughter and two nieces are the only ones who still want to have their pictures taken.

I have once again been waylaid to a different task.  I started scanning photos but now my computer is acting up so I am afraid to add more files.  So now I am digitizing videos.  It is actually a lot of fun to see some of those old videos!  But now I am using up the memory on the other computer.  I just cannot win.  What I need is a new computer with a HUGE amount of memory!

Next week is the last day of school for the kidos.  That will guarantee that I will not be able to get anything done all summer.  Well it is exciting for them to be moving to different schools in the fall, I will miss my free days!

Interviewing My Grandmother

I'm currently uploading my very first you-tube video!  In 2002, 2003 and 2004, I did a number of family interviews (most were with my mother).  One of my favorites is my Grandma Naber's interview.  It started with my niece needing some information on the great depression and my sister asking me to videotape.  I think we planned on expanding it right from the beginning to a more in-depth interview.  My grandmother wasn't very convinced that she had any information of interest, but we did end up with almost 2 hours of footage.  The actual interview was done in March 2003 and she died later that year.  After re-watching and digitizing, one of the best parts is hearing Grandma laugh again!

I will post the video link after it is upload.  It is still only 1/2 done.

(update - part one is done and posted!)

1940 census

As you know the 1940 census was released at the beginning of April. I was very excited and I thought that was the first year that I would find my grandparents together.  But no, they were not married until 1941.  So 10 more years and 4 kids later, they will finally be listed together!  But I have been able to find a number of other folks.  Of course I have to page through each district but it does go pretty fast!

I found almost all of my great grandparents.  I did know where they would be located since they didn't move around much.  My other set of grandparents I haven't attempted yet since I only know they lived in Holland.  I also found a few the the great-great grandparents.  A couple as I was looking for other names and some because I looked through all three of the districts in Zeeland!

The census above is of my great-grand father Benjamin Groenhof.  My father remembers him so I went looking since I knew he had been living in Zeeland in 1940.  I found him living with his second born son.