Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Tombstone Tuesday - Walter Herbert Smith and Marika Bey



Walter Herbert Smith was the youngest child of Orlando Chauncey Smith and Rachel Jeanne Frechette. He was born in Thetford Mines, Quebec on September 7, 1923.



Walter married Marika Bey sometime after World War II although I have not been able to find a date for the wedding so far. Together they had four children.


Although I did not know Mickey well, she was one of the few adults around whom I felt comfortable as a child and she still has a special place in my heart. We were able to see her only a few weeks before her passing in December of 2000.

Walter and Mickey are buried in the Smith family plot at Elmwood Cemetery in Sherbrooke, Quebec along with Walter's grandparents and parents and other relatives.

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

DearMYRTLE's GenDoc Study Group - Wednesdays at Noon Eastern

Tomorrow is the second session of DearMYRTLE's GenDoc Study Group where participants discuss Mastering Genealogical Documentation by Dr. Thomas W. Jones. The sessions are held live on Google Hangouts, Wednesdays at 12:00 pm Eastern Time. If you follow the link above, you will find the schedule of sessions through January 17, 2018.

Dr. Jones' book is not a replacement for Evidence Explained, but sort of a companion. As the author himself says, it is a textbook for citation creation where Evidence Explained is a reference manual.

I am not as far along in Dr. Jones' book as I thought I would be at this point, mostly because I was inspired to go back and reread Genealogical Standards and the first two chapters of Evidence Explained, but I'm actually excited to keep reading and learn more. I'm very hopeful that this textbook will help me to better understand how to create my own citations. It has bothered my for some time that I don't cite my sources here on my blog, but my posts would take four times longer to put together if I did. My goal is that by the time the study group is finished, that I will be able to go back post-by-post and cite any sources that I have shared in my posts.

Screenshot from YouTube


If you are interested in watching the Week 1 session, you can watch it easily on YouTube but you won't be able to see the comments of those who were watching or add to the conversation. To see that, you just have to register either through Google, Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. You can find the registration links for all of DearMYRTLE's September hangouts here.

There may be other places as well, but I know that you can buy Dr. Jones' book at the NGS webiste in softcover or at Amazon for Kindle.

I can't believe we'll be almost three weeks into next year when this group wraps-up, but I can't wait to see where the book and group together can take my knowledge of and comfort with creating citations in the next few months.

Tombstone Tuesday - George Robert Smith and Charlotte Codere




George Robert Louis "Bobby" Smith was the eldest child of my great-uncle, Orlando Chauncey Smith and his wife, Rachel (pronounced Rashelle) Frechette, who are also buried in this plot at Elmwood Cemetery in Sherbrooke, Quebec.

Bobby was born on June 14, 1919 in Thetford Mines, Quebec.


Bobby married Marie Blandine Charlotte Codère of Sherbrooke on October 17, 1942 at Église de Saint-Charles-Borromée in Beaulac-Garthby, Quebec. Together they had one daughter.



They are buried in the Smith family plot at Elmwood Cemetery in Sherbrooke, Quebec, with Bobby's parents and grandparents and other Smith relatives.

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Tombstone Tuesday - Orlando Chauncey Smith and Rachel Jeanne Frechette



This week's post should have gone up last week, but I was a bit busy and stressed finalizing the sale (junking) of my old car and purchase of a new one. It was right here in this cemetery last month that it began to be obvious that I was going to have to make a decision about cars, as the steep hills proved to be a challenge for my transmission. My poor mother was worried that we wouldn't make it home to New York. Although I don't think we were in any danger of that, "My Car Died in This Cemetery" would have made a catchy title for a blog post. Anyway, now that's over I can get back to my ancestors.

These photos were taken at Elmwood Cemetery in Sherbrooke, Quebec.

Orlando Chauncey Smith was the second son of my great-grandparents, George Robert Smith and Isabella Frances Parker. His older brother Benjamin died at ten months old in 1889. Lannie, as he was known, was born about eighteen months later on July 7, 1891.



Lannie married Rachel Jeanne Frechette in Quebec City on November 5, 1918.  They had three children, two of whom are buried here with their wives.


Lannie died before I was born, but I can remember visiting Tante Rachel (pronounced like Rashelle) at her home down the street from my grandparents.

I don't have any photos of the two of them together. I'll have to remedy that one of these days.


This photo of Lannie and his youngest brother, William John White, was taken about 1914.


This photo was taken at my mother's graduation from Bishops University, also in Sherbrooke, in 1958. Aunt Rachel is in the dark coat.

Hobbs-Merritt Do-Over

I didn't really rely on someone else's tree to give me the names of my great-grandmother's parents, did I?  Did I??? Ugh, I thi...