CRAFTY Genealogists

DearMYRTLE started a new Facebook group this week called CRAFTY Genealogists. It was created to share craft ideas for the upcoming holiday. I've so far limited my sharing to projects that were or could be used with genealogy/ancestry in mind, so I thought I would share them here as well.

Although I haven't made a new card in years, my free time was spent making cards and other paper crafts before I got hooked on genealogy.

I made these cards about five years ago with images from my maternal grandfather's albums which are right around 100 years old now.

The image is of my great-grandfather, George Robert Smith and my grandfather's siblings on Christmas Day. I sent this to some of the descendants of the Great Aunts and Uncles in the photo.

The little boy in this photo is my grandfather's youngest brother, William John White "Pin" Smith. I sent this card to two of his children that Christmas.

A few years before I made these cards I made some quick Christmas ornaments for people at the office. They weren't relatives, obviously, so I used some vintage clip art for my images and layered them with vintage wallpaper and sheet music and embellished them with ribbon and paint and glass glitter. The bases are those thin discs that you can find at the chain craft stores.

If I share anymore of my vintage projects with the group, I'll be sure to post them here, too.  In the meantime, I received my maternal grandfather's WWII military file from Library and Archives Canada last week. As soon as I have time to get his medals and photograph them, I will have a post for Military Monday.

Wedding Wednesday - Home Movies

Home movies, a phrase that has gone the way of the 8mm camera. As I was describing this film of my grandparents, father and other relatives yesterday, I couldn't find the phrase to accurately describe this film turned VHS turned MP4. Home movies, that is the term that suddenly, finally popped into my head last night.

My paternal grandparents, Dagmar Alice Viola Anderson and Howard Bierly Matthews were married on October 21, 1031 at the home of her parents in Manchester, CT. The reception was held nearby at the home of her brother, Elmer Carl Ragnar Anderson. Someone in the family must have had a thing for gadgets because some of that reception was captured on film in these home movies which also include footage of my dad apparently visiting Manchester and Cape Code with my granparents.

Get out your popcorn and enjoy!

Wedding Wednesday - Three Summer Weddings during the Great Depression

80 years ago this past Monday, on August 10, 1935, at a small but lovely church in a picturesque rural setting my mother's parents, Marjorie Elizabeth Dean and George Washington Smith, were married.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith

Minton United Church, August 10, 1935

Minton United Church, November 2014

November 2014

In the summer of 1935 Canada was as mired in the Great Depression as the United States.  My grandmother was to be her sister's Matron of Honor two weeks later and couldn't afford a second dress or set of accessories, so she chose a pale blue dress and pink hat that would be appropriate for both occasions.

 

Dorothy was also her sister's Maid of Honor and my grandfather's Best Man was his younger brother, Francis Parker Smith.

As their father had died in January from a burst appendix, my grandmother's brother, Kenneth Emery Dean, gave her away. He is pictured on the far left with his new bride, Adah Bailey Dean.

This description of the wedding was originally published in the Quebec Chronicle Telegraph but reprinted here in the Buckingham Press who's Editor and owner was my grandfather's uncle, Albert Hamilton Parker.

This was a summer of weddings for the Dean family; my great-uncle Kenneth Emery Dean and his bride Adah Bailey, were married on June 29th and my great-aunt Dorothy Irene Dean was married to Charles Leslie Copland on August 24th.

Wedding of Dorothy I Dean to C Leslie Copland

Fuel the Find - What I've Been Doing Today

Do you know how FamilySearch.org is able to offer document images for free?

Through volunteers who index records in their collection. It is easy and interesting. Your results will be reviewed, you can choose the level of difficulty and the records you want to index.

FamilySearch is hoping for 100,000 volunteers to help "Fuel the Find" this week. Get more details here.

I only indexed my first few batches of records about a month ago. At the intermediate level, I did find some of them a bit difficult so today I've been indexing Beginner level records. They were New York WW II Fourth Draft Registrations. You may have heard of this referred to as the Old Man's Draft because it involved men from 46-64. They were not registering for military service, but so that the government could inventory manpower. You can read more about it here.

I like indexing this set of records because I live in New York, so I am familiar with some of the town and county names. Of course all records have some challenges. I was able to find a 1940 Rochester City Directory online today to help me decipher the name of one man's employer.

It has been challenging and rewarding and the dishes will just have to wait until tomorrow. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Actually, I'd better get some housework done tomorrow, my Kindle Fire arrives on Monday - yessss!