2015 My Genealogy Year in Review

It's the end of the year and I decided to review the highlights and lowlights of my genealogical year.

Highlights: 

January Thomas MacEntee began the 2015 Genealogy Do-Over and I joined in the challange.  I am only doing a modified version since I have too many years invested to totally start over but I am reviewing things with new eyes.  I also spent time preparing for my trip to FGS/Roots Tech 2015 and my first trip to the Family History Library.
February  My trip to Salt Lake City!  I spent a week in Salt Lake City attending FGS2015 and Roots Tech 2015 adding a few extra days to explore the Family History Library.  I learned more about using Swedish Church Records, DNA, Fold3, Self-Publishing. and creating citations.  I met and visited with so many genealogistsit would be impossible to name them all!  Atteding this type of event always re-kindles my excitement.
April - May Received the results of the DNA tests that my son and I took.  I now manage 4 DNA accounts.  Time to learn more about reading the DNA reports.
June  I attended the Southern California Genealogy Society Jamboree in Burbank, CA.  Another round of awesome seminars by world class genealogists!  Meeting old friends and making new ones. This was my fourth Jamboree.  They are so much fun.  I had volunteered to help with some of the seminars as well.  It's another way to meet other genealogists.
July TheNational Library of Ireland released the Catholic Parish Registers on-line!  Using them I was able for find the marriage records of Patrick Connery and Mary Leahy on 4 Mar 1851 as well as both of their baptismal records documenting birthdays and parents names.  I have also found the baptism records for all 11 of their children.
October Our local genealogy group held a genealogy workshop open to the community to celebrate October is National Family History Month.  Members demonstrated Ancestry.com Library Edition, Photo Books created using family research, the Genealogy room at the library, Members of the Cherokee Township helped explain how to find Native American records.  The food drive held in conjunction with the workshop collected 151 pounds of food during the month for the local food bank.
November  Got Scott's adoptive uncle to do an ancestryDNA test with Scott to verify that he was really adopted.  Scott will now have DNA tests from all three companies!

Lowlights

Sadly neglected my blog this year - I promise to do better next year
Did not enter the Family History Writing Challange
Kind of dropped out of the Do-Over
Followed too many BSOs down the rabbit hole

I am glad I listed the highlights first since there are more of them!  All in all not a bad year.
The next post will set out my goals for 2016 which I have been considering this week.

Happy New Year!

Advent Calendar of of Christmas Tree

Hansens circa 1958

The Christmas Tree!  O Tannenbaum! 

 Growing up in the mid-west in the 1950's we had a live tree.  Dad always put the lights and ornaments on , after carefully checking each bulb.  In those days if one bulb went out, the whole string went out.  We, the kids, got to put on the tinsel.  It was the individual strands of tinsel that were to be hung separately.  I will admit that throwing the tinsel by the handful was much quicker.  Yes, we had a star on top of the tree!

re-posted from Dec 1, 2010

Surname Saturday - Surname Spread the Connerys and More!

Map of County Limerick from
The Families of County Limerick by Michael C O'Laughlin

It was going to be a simple project, check the Catholic Parish Registers for my Grandfather’s baptismal records.  Found him:  Michael, son of Patrick Connery and Mary Leahy on 16 June 1861.  He was baptized in Kilfinane, County Limerick, Ireland and his Godparents were Michael Leahy and Helen Leahy.  They are most likely the brother and sister of Mary Leahy.  The custom of the day was that godparents were either a relative or a very close friend of the family.

After finding Michael’s record I realized that I needed to do the same for his siblings.  All ten of them!

While I was recording all of their information, it  became apparent how “surname spread” happens.  Each has two godparents.  In recording the baptismal  entries for Michael’s siblings I actually added 3 new surnames and found several siblings for eachof the parents.   The new names are Brigid Barrett, Joanna Howard, and Marie O’Donnell.  While I have no evidence, I strongly suspect that these women later married the man she was paired with for the Baptism.

Individuals I suspect are the siblings of Patrick Connery are Dionysius and Michael Connery.  Those I think may be siblings of Mary Leahy are Thomas, Johanna, Patrick, Michael, and Helen.

Helen was a sponsor on two occasions.   Thomas Hennessy does appear to be unrelated to the Connerys and Leahys but I am sure there is a connection.  Later Michael would marry Alice Fleming, a granddaughter of John Hennessy.  Sister Ellen married Michael Hayes and sister Catherine married Patrick Walsh.  Brides of the brothers add more surnames to the count.

***

Kilfinane, County Limerick; Diocese of Limerick

Baptisms and Marriages 1832 to Jul 1856,  microfilm 02429/03

Baptisms ans Marriages Aug 1856 to Mar 1859  microfilm 02429/04

Baptisms Mar 1859 to Mar 1880  microfilm 02429/05

Sometimes the Will is the Way

Ancestry.com recently posted a collection of Wills and Probate Records.  Last week I began to look for Wills for my ancestors and found the Wills of my Great-grandfather and Great-great- grandfather who died in Milwaukee, Wisconsin within a year of each other.  Interestingly one of the Wills was handwritten and the other was typewritten.

Herman Burbach (1852-1896) was my Great-grandfather and the son of Georg Burbach.  Herman arrived in Milwaukee with his parents and brother John in 1856.  The Will of Hermann Burbach was a simple one leaving all of his estate to his wife Eva Schmitz Burbach for her lifetime and upon her death to be divided equally by his children. There is a provision that if Eva were to marry again, the Estate would be held for the children.  There were actually two files for Hermann as there was a pending Real Estate deal between Hermann and his brother John to sell three properties to Herman Frey.  

Reading the Will, I learned that he owned properly, and had a beautiful signature.

Signature of Herman Burbach 1896

His Will also referenced each of his children by name and age omitting only his son John who had died in 1892.  Yet another form of documentation.  New information to me is the fact that Herman and his brother John were landowners in addition to running a successful butcher store and grocery.

*********************************************************************************

Source Citation

Probate Packets, 1850-1910; Author: Wisconsin. County Court (Milwaukee County); Probate Place:Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Source Information

Ancestry.com. Wisconsin, Wills and Probate Records, 1800-1987 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2015.

Original data: Wisconsin County, District and Probate Courts.   

4th of July Memories

google images

I don't remember any special 4th of July festivities when I was growing up in the 1950's.  Elmhurst had a Memorial Day Parade every year which I duly marched in as a Brownie and Girl Scout, but I don't remember a 4th of July Parade.  I think at the time the various surrounding communities shared the parades.  Of course there were always the big city parades to attend.  Though I don't remember the parades, I do remember the fire works.  Sometimes we would go to the park and lay on the grass to watch the spectacle in the skies and sometimes dad would park along the side of the road for our viewing plaesure. Back at home there were sparklers and black cows (root beer floats) to end the day.

Fast forward to the 1960's and celebrating the holiday at my in-Laws.  My in-laws happened to live on Main St in Wheaton.  Wheaton had a huge parade every year and it just happened to go right past my in-laws front door. The 4th of July was an all day occasion at my inlaws.  Early in the morning the step-ladder would be set up at the end of the drive-way.  This would be m father-in-law's perch as he took photos of almost every entry in the parade. Next the lawn chairs would line-up across the front lawn to save places for expected guests. Sometimes there were playpens and strollers too!

google images

Friends, family, and friends of family were all included. This was a mlti generational event, involving grandparents and great-grandparentsas well as parents, babies and children of all ages.  The fridge in the basement was full of soda for the children and the beer was in a cooler in the driveway.  Hot dogs and hamburgers were kept warm on the Weber grill for snacking during the parade.  When the parade was over the party moved to the backyard for the picnic part of the day.  The food was the same every year:sloppy joes, potato salad, macaroni salad, various relishes, and for desert glorified rice or ambrosia salad and Always ice cold watermelon!! About 7 pm, those who wanted to watch the fireworks would pack up for the 3 block trek to the park.  The sidewalks and even the streets were full of people heading in the same directions,  At the park, blankets would be spread and strollers parked.  Portable radios would be tuned to the same station and decks of cards would come out to while away the time until the show began.  Then it was time for the "OOOOH"s and "AHHH"s.  After the show was over it was time to join the tidal wave of humanity heading back to Main St.At the house, those who chose not to go to the park had moved their chairs back to the front driveway so they could see the arial displays. The advantage here was that babies too young to appreciate fireworks could be safely left behind. I believe this continued until they moved to Florida in the early 1980s.

google images

When our children grew older and joined Scouts we both marched with them and watched from the sidelines as they participated in the parade in Elburn.  Between Scouting and the Kaneland Band our kids were in 4th of July parades until they graduated from high school. One year when we lived in Elburn, we and 2 neighbors bought the same album of patriotic songs and at a pre-appointed time opened all our windows and dropped the needle and full volume.  It certainly added a festive note to the day!

Often when we lived in Kaneville we would watch fireworks from our deck, while listening to the Boston Pops on the radio.

Living in Florida we celebrated sometimes at the beach and sometimes at home in the pool. Dave went back to being in parades with the Knights of Columbus.  One year we even watched the fireworks at the Naples Pier.

Dave and I were lucky enough to help celebrate the 4th on a military base in Germany.  That brought the meaning of the holiday home in a special way.

I have also celebrated the 4th of July in the mountains of Colorado after a hailstorm.

Now it has come full circle as my daughter and son-in-law watch their children help their communitiy celebrate the holiday as Scouts and Band members.

Off all the ways I have celebrated  the 4th of July, I think the "Wheaton Years" hold the strongest memories both because of their duration but also because of the memories of the family and friends associated with those years.  I know that borh of my kids asociate the "Wheaton Years" with the 4th of July.

Bright Shiny Objects - They Are Everywhere!!

image: navy83girl.deviantart.com

In late December, I committed to the Genealogy Do Over.  I had already begun a partial do-over by selecting a family line and reviewing every person an piece of paper for any missed or overlooked information,  at the same time creating source citations that were missing.  It is one of my failings, not creating source citations as I enter details.  Fortunately I have kept the order cards from the microfilms I have used for my research.

In January I entered the Do Over in earnest.  Enter BSO #1!

image: richardburn.com

 I had plans to attend FGS2015/RootsTech in February.  With a few extra days included for my first visit to the Family History Library, there was the need to plan to make the most effective use of my time at the Library.  I decided to concentrate on two of my husband's Swedish ancestors for whom I had no place of birth or accurate date of birth.  I created a research plan and timeline for both.  Another part of my plan was to check out the Library's holdings for Ireland, especially Counties Limerick and Cork.  These are the ancestral homes of my maternal grandparents.  While I was not very successful in my plan, I was successfully distracted from the Do Over for most of February and a good part of March.  I do not easily admit defeat in searching for clues.

After I returned from Salt Lake City, I went back to the Do Over and finished reviewing the original line I began working on in July 2014 and continued on to another line, following up on my Swedish research.  At RootsTech I attended a class on using the Arkiv Digital to find Swedish records.  To use this program you must first know the place where your ancestor lived.  This resource is free to use at the Family History Centers.  Having learned in class that the immigration records are part of the police records, I have been able to find the record of my husbands great-grandmother Caroline Nelsson leaving Sweden in 1871 to go to Boston, Massachusetts.  

In late March, I became aware of a free class offered online by Trinity University in Dublin, Ireland. It is a six week class titled: Irish Lives in War and Revolution: Exploring Ireland's History 1912-1923. Enter BSO #2!

image: disruptiveconversations.com

 The counties that my maternal grandparents came from in Ireland were heavily involved in the fight for freedom.  " learning the history solves the mystery" right.  How could I not follow that BSO?  While my grandparents were already in the United States at this time, they each had atleast one sibling still living and working in Ireland and they also traveled back to visit several times.  Knowing that they responded to the census question on "Place of Birth" with Irish Free State in 1940 leaves me with little doubt about their leanings.

As I continue the Do Over, I know I will be distracted at time by other BSOs like webinars, conferences, traveling, and life in general but I have resolved to keep returning back to the goals of the experience.  I will never finish in the 13 week cycle of even in a year, but I will accomplish quite a bit this year.

Oh, there is BSO #3 Jamboree in June!

Saturday Genealogy Fun - Which Date is the Correct Birth Date for Alice?

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- The Date Your Grandmother Was Born

It's Saturday Night, 

time for more Genealogy Fun!!

For this week's mission (should you decide to accept it), I challenge you to:1)  What day of the week was your Grandmother born (either one)? Tell us how you found out.

2)  What event was a headline in the newspapers on that date?  Tell us how you found out.

3) What has happened in recorded history on your Grandmother's birth date (day and month)? Tell us how you found out, and list five events.

4)  What famous people have been born on your Grandmother's birth date?  Tell us how you found out, and list five of them.

5)  Put your responses in your own blog post, in a comment on this blog post, or in a status or comment on Facebook.

Because it is St Patrick's Day, I have chosen to begin with my Irish Grandmother Alice Fleming Connery,  According to family tradition, Alice was born to Thomas and Mary Hennessy Fleming on 1 January 1872 in Ballylanders, Co Limerick, Ireland.  Although Irish Civil Registration provides this information:

Alace Fleming

Ireland Births and Baptisms

Name:	Alace Fleming
Gender:	Female
Birth Date:	31 Dec 1871
Birthplace:	Limerick, Ireland
Father's Name:	Thomas Fleming
Mother's Name:	Mary Hennessy

Indexing Project (Batch) Number: C01237-8 , System Origin: Ireland-EASy , GS Film number:255846 , Reference ID: v 4-2 p 993 *

I cannot at this time determine which is the correct date although I suspect that the actual birth was 31 Dec 1871 with a baptism date of 1 Jan 1871.  Perhaps this summer when the Catholic Church records for Ireland are released the actual date can be determined.  For this project I will use both dates.  

Alice was born either on Sunday 31 Dec 1871 or on Monday 1 Jan 1872.  To determine this I used a google search for the phrase "calender January 1872"

These were the headlines in the New York Times on 31 Dec 1871 and below are the headings from the Chicago Tribune for 1 Jan .1872.

For this information I accessed my newspapers.com account.

FGS 2014 and FGS2015/Roots Tech Reflections

I've been home from Salt Lake City almost a week now.  While putting away the things of FGS2015/Roots Tech, I came across the schedule book from FGS 2014 which was the first FGS conference I attended.  I thought it might be interesting to compare my lecture choices for both to see if a pattern existed.

Gone to Texas
August 2014

For FGS 2014 I only attended two society session and one was about Society Projects with Thomas MacEntee.  This would cover things that our group could take on such as an indexing project. The second session was about "Marketing Your Society" with Marian Pierre-Louis and talked about ways to spark interest in your society.  The tracks these topics fell under were Society Projects and Outreach and Education respectively.

Over the next three days I attended five sessions dealing with Records, five sessions dealing with Methodology, one session on Research Strategies.  I also volunteered for 8 hours at the Welcome Desk and the Vendor Hall.  I did have time to visit the vendor hall and visit with both blogger friends and facebook friends.

Celebrating Families Across Generations
February 2015

For FGS2015 / Roots Tech  I was able to attend five sessions for Societies.  Topics included:  Communicating on a Shoestring Budget, Your Society Can't Afford to Do a Seminar? Here's How?, The Ethical Genealogist, Tips for Robust Society Websites, and Social Media for Societies: It's Not a Bandwagon, It's a Freight Train!  These sessions on Wednesday are all aimed at helping Society members help their groups grow and stay strong.

On Thursday FGS2015 began holding four sessions a day with six lectures per session.  At the same time Roots Tech began also holding four sessions a day with eighteen choices per time slot.  That is a total of twenty-four topic choices per session time!

Thursday I elected to attend Roots Tech offerings choosing to attend: Self-Publishing for Genealogists: Tips, Tricks, and Tools; Irish Records, Beyond the Obvious; What Can Public Libraries Offer Genealogists? and The Future of Genealogy - Indexed Obituaries.  These sessions fell under the tracks of Sharing, General, Find and Organize.  Actually except for the class on Self-Publishing, I would say they mostly fall into Records.

Friday morning I attended another Roots Tech class: Research Your Swedish Ancestors in Living Color Using ArkivDigital Online.  This is a program available at local Family History Centers but locally no one uses it or knows how to.  In the afternoon I went back to the FGS side of the convention center to attend:  German Genealogy on the Interner: Beyond the Basics; Doing History Eliminates the Mystery; Fraternal Orgnizations: Records and Resources; and Using Tax Records for Genealogical Problem Solving.

On Saturday I stayed on the FGS side again and attended "She Came From Nowhere: A Case Study Approach to Solving a Difficult Genealogical Problem; Beyond The Census: The Nonpopulation Schedules; Getting to Know Fold3; and Martha Benschura:  Enemy Alien.  At the close of the conferences I attended Dick Eastman's Dinner.  It was a great evening meeting and visiting with other genealogists.  Dick even had some door prizes and I was lucky enough to win a one year subscription to MyHeritags!

In looking back at the sessions attended in August and February I would say that most often my choices are records and methodology with occasional tools added!  I LOVE attending conferences!  What could be better?  Education, networking, and meeting old and new friends.  Bring it on!

It has Been Five Years!! Five Years Since I Posted My First Blog!!

Happy Blogoversary to Me!  Five years ago Thomas MacEntee initiated a challange titled "Winter Games for Genealogists".   Something about it appealed to me, so I joined the fun.  Until that time I had been pretty much a solo genelogist.  I volunteered at the local Family History Center but didn't belong to any Societies or genealogy groups.  The Winter Games has changed all that.  I became a happy Geneablogger.  Reading other blogs gave me encouragement and inspiration.  The memes that Thomas publishes daily also helped me to select topics.

Following Genabloggers on Facebook helped me feel as though I knew the different bloggers by name and I was encouraged by their generosity and friendliness.  It was with some trepeditation that I signed up for the Southern California Genealogy Society Jamboree in June of 2010.  Once there I felt more than welcome,  genealogists are very friendly and love to talk to others.  I have been back several times and plan to go again this June.

Going to Jamboree taught me that there was a lot of education out there and I needed to take advantage of it.  Since my first trip to Jamboree, I have also taken four genealogy cruises, joined the Southern California Gebealogy Society, and the Illinois State Genealogy Society.  I have also joined a local genealogy group, Schertz Cibolo Valley Area Genealogists and as part of that group I am a member of FGS.  I am currently at my second FGS conference and my first Roots Tech,  I will also be making my first visit to the Family History Library before I return home.

Lynn Palmero's writing family history series of prompts has also helped me with inspiration and challanges.  There are so many people out there I'm not going to try to name them all but each and every genealogist out there has helped me to become a better genealogist.  Thank you all!  It all began with the 2010 Winter Games.

FGS 2015 Day 1 - Society Day

Unfortunately I missed the thw opening session which featured Curt Witcher, Jen Baldwin and Deena Cotant.  I really hope it was recorded since the topic was "Successfully Embracing the Future"

The sessions I did attend were "Communicating on a Shoestring Budget: Cost Effective Solutions for Societies" with Deena Coutant, "Your Society Can't Afford to Do  Seminar/ Here's How! with Paula Stuart-Warren, " The Ethical Genealogist" with Judy G Russell,  "Tips for Robust Society Websites" with Cindy Ingle, and "Social Media for Societies: It's Not a Bandwagon, It's a Freight Train!" with Rory Cathcart.
I tried to attend sessions that were not recorded although several were but all  the sessions were excellent.  Without a doubt Judy  Russell's session had the heaviest attendance and I am sure that Thomas MacEntee and Lisa Louise Cooke's sessions were also heavily attended.

With 3 days to go I know this is only the beginning!fgFGS2015 #fgs2015

FGS 2015 Getting Ready to Research and Learn

It's almost here!! Something I have yearned to do but doubted I ever would.  My upcoming adventure to FGS2015, Roots Tech 2015 AND a visit to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City!!

I have been getting ready for about a month.  I have looked at the syllabus for FGS2015 but have not made any final choices for classes yet.  With 25 or more sessions per day to choose from, how do I ever decide?  That is not even including the Roots Tech sessions that will be going on.  I am staying a week even though both FGS2015 and Roots Tech last only four days.  I have built in some research time in the Family History Library too.  Looks like I will get some extra time in the Library since in addition to being open on President's Day, they are open until 9 pm.  Here is where I will need some serious time management skills.

In preparing for the research portion of my adventure, Since I am part of the Great Genealogy Do Over, I have created two different research logs.  Early on I decided to limit my research to two different areas which have been pretty much my brick walls.  On my husband's Swedish line there are two men for whom I have been unable to establish a birth date of place of birth.  I have a reasonable expectation of some success because of a finding aid available at the Library.  Wish me luck!  My second area to be searched is Limerick County, Ireland.  I have town and village names and lots of surnames to look for.  Both of my mother's parents and as far as I know all of her her ancestors came from County Limerick.  Given the reported state of  Irish records, I am hoping that there are some genealogies of other books that will help me with finding out more about my Irish.

I will Connect with genealogy facebook friends, Explore the Family History Library, and Refresh myself with new knowledge and enthusiasm!

Throw Back Thursday and Treasure Chest Thursday Meet

This picture was the treasure I received in my inbox when I checked e-mail while in Japan!  The photo is of the house in Oslo, Norway where my great-grandfather Adolf Hansen was born in 1852.  The name of the street is "grøndlandsleiret" and some of the buildings still exist today.

The e-mail also contained a biography of Adolf which appeared to come from an recording of his music. 

Adolf Hansen (1852-1911) had a background not unlike Svendsen’s. He grew up in straitened circumstances as the “illegitimate” son of “the unmarried discharged soldier Martin Hansen”, but had the will-power and energy to make a success of his life. When he was fifteen, he was accepted as a pupil by military musicians and received tuition in the clarinet and violin. Since there were no full-time employment possibilities for musicians in Norway at that time, most professional

musicians had to take on an assortment of different jobs. Hansen played in the Christiania Theatre Orchestra, and it is possible he also played in the Music Society Orchestra under Svendsen’s direction.

Fortune shone on him in 1880 when he was awarded a scholarship to study in Paris. Before he left Norway, the Brigade Music Corps arranged a composition evening to raise money for him. Some of his own works were played – mostly pieces for a military band, but also his string quartet – and he himself played the clarinet in a performance of Mozart’s clarinet quintet. On his return from France, Hansen was appointed kapellmeister for the Christiania Tivoli Orchestra, which consisted of 20 musicians who had to play two concerts a day. He thus held a position that corresponded to that of his more famous colleague Hans Christian Lumbye in Copenhagen’s Tivoli. Hansen composed melodious light music which was extremely popular in his day and which, when published in arrangements for piano, brought in good money. Many of his pieces have a girl’s name as their title – it seems he knew a few ploys to increase their sales and popularity! His music also often

reflected everyday life and events, as we shall see. He composed more than 300 works, and five of them are represented on this album.

Christianialiv: Musikalske tonebilleder (Christiania Life: musical tone pictures) was composed in 1888. It was originally scored for the piano, and is a real pot-pourri, with Hansen borrowing nine familiar tunes and placing them, in his own arrangements, between two galops. This is a form of programme music that was fairly popular in the second half of the 19th century. Christianialiv depicts a tour round some of the capital’s cultural and entertainment hotspots. The cover picture on the piano score (see p. 16 of this booklet) shows the people and buildings the traveller is going to see after arriving at the railway station. The music begins with a galop, written by Hansen himself, symbolising, of course, the train journey. From the square outside the station the itinerary

proceeeds up Karl Johan Street to the Studenterlunden park in the city centre, where the Brigade Music Corps plays a street march whose original score still lies in the band’s archives. Then follows supper at the Grand Hotel, accompanied by a serenade by I.P.Hansen. From there we move on to the old Christiania Theatre in Bankplassen, opposite today’s Engebret Café. Not unnaturally, one of Edvard Grieg’s melodies is heard here – the “Mannjevningen” march from Sigurd Jorsalfar. A galop from the 1880s takes the listener to the Tivoli Variety Theatre in the Tivoli Gardens at Klingenberg, where there was also a circus. A slow polka and the crack of a whip transport us into the circus ring and remind us of the dressage we can enjoy there. From the circus two well-known melodies lead us to a couple of Christiania’s most celebrated beer-halls,  the Centralhallen and Bazarhallen. Then it’s time for another theatre visit, and a gavotte ushers us into Victoria Theatre, before we end up dancing a waltz in Flora’s Dance Saloon at Klingenberg. The concluding railway galop makes it clear that we are ready to leave Christiania, after enjoying an eventful trip round some its attractions.

In May 1892 Adolf Hansen took over as director of the 4th Brigade Music Corps in Bergen. One of his first compositions there was the Serenade for Nina and Edvard Grieg’s silver wedding celebration. The serenade, which concludes with a trumpet fanfare in honour of the famous couple, was performed outside Trollhaugen, the Griegs’ home, in the morning of 11th June. In a letter to his editor in Peter’s publishing house in Leipzig, Grieg wrote: “The Brigade Music Corps played a work specially composed for this occasion – I shall never forget the effect this beautiful music had on me that wonderful quiet summer morning.”

 The other Serenade on this album was composed by Hansen for the young singer Nathalie Egeberg (1872-1931) whom he had married in 1889. She became one of the leading singers at Den Nationale Scene, Bergen’s theatre and opera house.  Hansen was a skilled violinist and played whenever he could in the Musikselskabet Harmonien (forerunner of today’s Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra), whose chief conductor in the years following 1893 was his friend Johan Halvorsen. This is possibly what inspired him in 1895 to compose his Romance for violin and piano, Op. 123. This work, which won huge popularity, was later arranged for B flat cornet and military band. The following year Hansen composed a work in rondo form which he called Bondebryllupet (Country Wedding).

First published in a version for piano, this work contained all the folk music elements people at that time expected in such a piece. It was given the Opus number 180, and if the numbering and order of his works are correct, Hansen managed to compose almost 60 works in 1895-96! This tells us how easily and quickly melodies flowed from his pen. Hansen was a much-loved personality in the musical life of Bergen. 

He died in 1911, five months before the death of his former teacher, Johan Svendsen.

Many thanks to cousin Anders De Lange for sharing this wonderful information about our mutual great-grandfather

#week2 Genealogy Do Over - Still Organizing and Planning

Burbach Research 1732 to Current

We are now into week 3 of the Genealogy Do-Over and I continue to resist doing actual research but I am still going through my Burbach (my dad's maternal line) and making note of missing facts and records while checking the citations for the facts I do have.

I am doing active research on the two brick walls I will try to solve while I am in Salt Lake City next month.  I will be looking for the birth place for Oloff Hanson and Leopold Peterson.  I want to do as much fact finding as I can before I make the trip so I don't waste time with unproductive searches.  Just now I thought of a search that was suggested for Leopold that I need to do for Oloff.  They are both from Sweden and settled in Chicago by following routes in very different time frames.

I have been working more with Evernote and used it's search capability to find a note I had made at the library.  I knew it referred looking in a certain newspaper but couldn't remember who I was going to look for or the year I needed to find.  Evernote found the note by just entering the name of the newspaper.

I purchased Family Tree Maker 2014 and after a few bumps in the road (caused by some nasty things living in my computer) it is up and running.

I already feel that I am beginning to become a better and more disciplined genealogist as I recognize the need for smart planning instead of falling into the rabbit hole.  I will admit to falling into the hole for a while yestersay.  I was at the library and decided to google the villages I hope to research in County Limerick, Ireland.  One on the towns was Lisnaverne.  Imagine my surprise to find a Find A Grave for the church cemetery!  Of course I had to look but there were only 37 graves.  They were all for the Hennessy family.  My grandmother's mother was Mary Hennessy!  And there were notes attached listing parents, spouses, and siblings!  I will be using Find A Grave much more often.

Genealogy Do-Over: The first week ends!

It's time to recount what I accomplished this first week of the Do-Over.  Since I am doing a modified Do-Over, my procedure will be different than others.

I will be making my first trip to Salt Lake City in February so I am also working on my research plan for the trip.  I have decided to check the Swedish records for two of the brick walls in my husband's paternal lines.  One is Oloff Hanson ( b 1824-1831) who came from Sweden in the 1850's and fought in the Civil War.  I would like to try to determine his place of birth and parents names.  Leopold Peterson is the second person I have decided to find in the Swedish records.  Leopold immigrated to Boston in 1870 and married there in 1873 before moving to Chicago before 1880.  These men are the respective 2nd great-grandfather and great-grandfathers of my husband.  In preparing for the research I have printed  a timeline and filled out a research plan of action.  The second research I would like to do in Salt Lake is to check-out the available films for counties Cork and Limerick in Ireland for my mother's parents families.  I will check the Family History Library Catalog for the films that I might want to see.  I do know parishes and townlands that I am interested in researching/

This week I have also developed a file naming convention which is similar to other that have been posted and explored Evernote.  In Evernote I have set up a notebook system and moved research notes into various surname notebooks.

Bring on Week 2!

Genealogy Do-Over Beginning my Modified Approach

As I read the Do-Over objectives for the first week, I began to formulate my approach.  It is specific to me and my genealogy.  I had already begun a review of my genealogy files by beginning with my Burbach line and comparing my paper files with my data base and making sure that my facts were properly documented.

I will continue with this process but include setting up a more manageable file system for both paper and digital.  To achieve this I spent time today updating and organizing Evernote.  I also purchased Lorine McGinnis Shultze's  "Organize Your Genealogy in Evernote in 10 East Steps" and The Genealogical Proof Standardby the Board for Certification of Genealogists.  I will be setting up notebooks for each of the lines I am researching.  I will also be making a list of the records that I need to obtain.  Mostly I have been working with census, church records, and ship lists.  They will need to be added to the media files for the appropriate individual.

I believe I have been guilty of not citing my sources and know I have not kept any records of failed or un-successful searches.  This is something I will be correcting.  I have also reviewed Christa Cowan's videos on "Common Genealogy Mistakes".  One error I have made is not recording every spelling of a name I am researching.  Who knew there were so many spellings of the name Ferguson?  One challenge will be to try to re-create that list.