Weekly Rewind

My Week

Back to work after a very relaxing vacation, I was greeted by very unpleasant weather and the surprise that I would start the week with driver training. Any young man who shows up early and pulls four feet of snow off of the hood of my bus is aces in my book! I'll spare you the rest of the details here but it was a very busy week.

I did get back to transcribing letters, only half a dozen completed. One letter raised some questions that I spent a couple of hours on and I may never know for certain, but I believe that letter was dated incorrectly. I am close to the end of the current folder and will have to start sorting through the next 700 or so images to identify the letters that pertain to the Camfield family.

I also invited members of John's family to work on his family tree with me at Ancestry.com. To my surprise and delight my nieces have actually added some information and seem interested so I spent some time adding pictures, stories and other documents that I have collected over the years.

I mentioned last week that I really liked to way John Newmark had posted his Ahnentafel on his blog and my intention to copy his idea here. There is more work involved to it than I thought there would be and I have started it and need to get back to it.

All that did not leave very much time for reading this week and there was a ton to read!


Carnivals and Roundups

The 87th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy, posted at Creative Gene, was so large that Jasia created a numbering system to make it more manageable! The topic was New Year Resolutions and 66 of us decided to weigh in with ours. With the limited time I had this week there was no way I could read all of the submissions.

Jasia has announced big changes for the COG this year that I am excited about and feel will not only make the editions fun to read again but will also challenge my writing ability. Be sure to read all that she has to say. The topic for the next edition is Volunteerism and submissions are due by January 15th.


Jessica has posted the 25th edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern Genealogy at Jessica's Genejournal. The topic was Hanukkah and Christmas traditions. The next edition will be a carousel, so your topic choices are wide open. Submissions are due by February 18th.

The 17th edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture has been posted by Lisa at Small-leaved Shamrock. The topic was Show and Tell. The next edition will be the 3rd annual St. Patrick's Day Parade. Another wide open topic for you to participate with. Submissions are due March 14th.

The 6th edition of A Festival of Postcards: White, was so large the Evelyn broke it down into two parts at A Canadian Family. Part 1. Part 2. The theme for the next edition is Light and submissions are due by February 28th.

At Genea-Musings you'll find Randy's weekly Best of the Genea-Blogs.

John shared his Weekly Picks at Transylvanian Dutch.

Diane has posted a roundup of genealogy news at the Genealogy Insider.

Larry posted, Five We Like: Another week of family history goodies, at Passing It On.


Weekly Reading

I wish I could write a fraction as well as Tim at Walking the Berkshires. Don't miss "Teach your parents well...."

At The Genealogue Chris has his Top Ten Reasons I'm Not Attending Blogger Day 2010.

Blaine, The Genetic Genealogist, shared, Personal Genomics: A Very Personal Post.

Read, Does Genealogy Software Make Inputting Source Unnecessarily Complicated?, at The Research Journal and weigh in with your opinion.

Randy shared a mystery and how he solved it at Genea-Musings with Who is Mr. Seaver, Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

At AnceStories, Miriam has started a new series, Online American Digital Archives and Databases. Alabama was first up.

If you are looking for Missouri Digital Heritage resources check out John's post at Transylvanian Dutch.

T.K. shared a Boatload of Float Documents at Before My Time.

Texicanwife had a very moving tribute to her husband at Mountain Genealogists.

At Random Notes, Leah shared her frustration with, Oh Just Pick A Name Already!, and is asking for your thoughts on how to record place names that have changed over time. I'm stuck on this too so I'll be watching the comments section to see what you all recommend.

New to me, Irish Mason has had a very interesting series on her blog, Portals to the Past. She details her serendipitous journey of discovering her great-grandfather's occupation and more. I won't hive it away you can all of the posts here. Remember to scroll down and read bottom to top.

I really enjoyed Caroline's, Operation Return and Replace, at Family Stories.

Have you ever wanted to see a home your ancestors lived in but no longer own? Harriet was able to do just that with Memories of the Ziegler House at Genealogy Fun.

Denise will show you how to Run a Family News Service with Posterous at Family Matters. I liked this because even older family members that are not comfortable with the internet can participate with just an email account and you can choose your privacy setting.

I do not have Dish Network, Direct TV or even cable but if you do you may be interested in what Dick had to say about The Generations Project at Dick's Genealogy and History Corner.

Elizabeth Warner Camfield, July 5, 1909

Libbie writes again from Chicago. She says "Baby is not feeling so well again. We are afraid he is exposed to measles." Libbie's letter is clearly dated July 5, 1909. This is perplexing to me. I have Russell Amasa Camfield's birth date recorded as 30 December 1909. On the 1910 census he is listed as 3/12. The only other child listed is Earl, age 12. All I can think of is that the date on this letter was added by someone else at a later date.

She also says that she is planning on a long visit in Bronson, MI, however Fred will be staying at the home in Chicago, IL.

Fred had a sideline as a photographer and Libbie also mentions photographs that Fred had taken and printed extra copies of that she was sending along.

The final bit of family information gleaned from this letter is that Mamie Carlisle, Annie's daughter-in-law had been hospitalized and Libbie wished tot know where she was and how she was doing.


For more see:
Camfield Family Letters
Descendants of Sarah Ann Wisner
Michael Camfield


Camfield, Elizabeth Warner (Chicago, Illinois) to “Dear Aunt and All”
[Sarah Ann Wisner Camfield] Letter. 5 July 1909. Digital Images 1-3.
Privately held by Apple, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,]
Snowville, New York. 2010.
[Carlisle Family, Box #1, Correspondence, 1909,
Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan. 2008.]

Elizabeth Warner Camfield, April 20, 1909

Another letter from Libbie in Chicago. She updates how her family is doing. There were two significant passages in this letter.

A letter from a friend in Cotter, Ark. rec'd this morning says they have had doors and windows open for a month, that is where we lived over a year you know.

I knew that Libbie and Fred had lived in the Ozarks for a time but not exactly where, when or for how long.

She also shares new of her family and others in Bronson, MI

Grandma, Uncle Am Ruple died a week ago to-morrow (April 13, his mother's birthday). Aunt and Uncle you will remember him as the undertaker at Bronson. You remember I told you he has been gradually losing his mind for a few years, but he kept up till the Thur. before, 'twas no especial sickness.

Mrs. Casky, Elmer VanWormer's mother was buried a few days before Uncle died, also two other old residents one in Bronson, one in Matteson but you did not know them. I can count that Uncle lived in that house for 26 yrs., don't know how much longer in Branch Co., have not seen his obituary yet. Also "Bromie" Van Fleet and Dan Tice died within the last 2 weeks. Mr. Tice had been helpless with paralysis for over a year, he lived with Bert the old place, But owns most if not quite all of the old place now, the other boys don't amount to anything - only to the saloon keepers. I don't know whether I've written to you since I knew that Pa and Ma have gone back to Noble this spring will live on Billy Swartz's house, the boys wanted them back near them where they could look after them better. Annie will stay with them also for a while anyway, of course they rented the house in Coldwater.

From the 1900 census, Amasa Ruple was born Jan 1834 in Ohio. The other people mentioned were neighbors in Noble, MI


For more see:
Camfield Family Letters
Descendants of Sarah Ann Wisner
Michael Camfield


[Sarah Ann Wisner Camfield] Letter. 20 April 1909. Digital Images 1-6.
Privately held by Apple, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,]
Snowville, New York. 2009.
[Carlisle Family, Box #1, Correspondence, 1909,
Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan. 2008.]