It's Time to Give Back to the Genealogy Community

Now that I'm feeling better, I've had the time and energy to get back to some genealogy work.  I had been reading about the release of the 1940 U.S. Census at the beginning of April.  Only the census images have been released.  So, you can only find your relatives if you know exactly where they lived, or browse a community page by page.  The reason is that the census images have not yet been indexed.

What is indexing?  Well, if you started your genealogy in the last decade and went straight to Ancestry or Family Search or some other site and entered your surname in the search box, you were benefiting from the indexing efforts done by others.  Volunteers are indexing the 1940 census for Family Search, viewing each page and typing the names, ages and birthplaces into special software.  Once the indexing is complete, which involves several sets of eyes on each indexed page, the census images for that state will be searchable on Familysearch.org.

I know the thrill of finding my ancestors, with the click of a button, in an indexed census.  It's time for me to give back, and index someone else's people.  So far, I have indexed census pages from New York, Massachusetts, Mississippi and Louisiana.

If you are interested in contributing to the 1940 Census project, click here and then click the button "Get Started."  You will have to download the indexing software onto your computer.  And it's easy.  Well, not all the census enumerators had exemplary handwriting.  A few times, I've had to ask my husband and daughter to see if they could figure out some names.  We all stared at one woman's name for several minutes and were unable to figure it out.  The indexing arbitrators ruled that it was "Sue."  I never guessed!

Have you given back to the genealogy community?  Why not start today?

Feeling Better, but Changing Focus

Thank you to all who took the time to post messages of support after I let you know I was talking a blogging break due to my breast cancer diagnosis. 

Now that I have had a chance to process my diagnosis and am feeling a good bit better, I've found the energy to blog again.  I feel that I need to put my energy into breast cancer awareness, something I was not strong at before becoming sick.  I've created a new blog titled "Kate's Breast Cancer Awareness Blog" which you can find at http://katebreastcancer.blogspot.com/.  In addition to the awareness content, I will be using the blog to keep friends and family up-to-date on how I'm doing.  If breast cancer is part of your life -- or you want to keep it away -- please follow my new blog.

I hope that the new-found energy I have will translate into more family history posts as well.  As you know, I have a lot more stories to tell.

Wisdom Wednesday: Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Why I am Taking a Blogging Break

Image provided by Carol Sutton at
http://www.carolsutton.net/download_pink-ribbon.html

Warning:  This post may not be suitable for all readers.  It contains introspective and mystical content that may trigger discomfort or disdain. 

One of the things you start to pay attention to as a genealogist is when and how your ancestors died.  Most of my ancestors, on the Irish and Italian sides, lived long lives, even the ones born during the Great Famine.  My maternal grandmother passed away two years ago, days short of her 99th birthday.

My side of the family hasn't dealt with much cancer.  So maybe I took my own longevity for granted.  I didn't know that most women that get breast cancer don't actually have a family history of it.

Since I learned I was pregnant with the Bean, my lovely little girl, I've been careful.  I've tried to eat well, keep my weight down.  But I exercised too little and snacked too much.  I've made sure to look both ways before crossing the street, but still got knocked down by a truck once.  I've seen my doctor regularly, but I forgot to do my monthly breast examination.  I didn't realize how risky that could be.

As a result, last night, I had to tell the Bean that Mommy has breast cancer and it's in a few places it shouldn't be, besides my breast.  So now we know why I've been feeling so low since the end of August. 

To my surprise, today I feel better than I have in weeks.  I feel that today's new cancer treatments, plus all the support I've received from family, friends, coworkers and bloggers has built me an army that can kill cancer.

And my relatives and in-laws are part of my army.  I have been doing a visualization involving pulling out my tumours and replacing them with loving, healing light.  From the beginning, the living and the dead from my family tree have been joining me in the visualization, helping to heal me.  My Sweetie's mom, who survived breast cancer but not lung cancer, is there.  Her name was Helen, which means "light."  Helen, my Moynihan aunts and uncles, my grandmother are all helping.  And I swear that last night, my other grandmother, my namesake Katie, came by to give me a hug goodnight.

You know, I thought I was going to write about how it feels to add the yucky information to the family tree:  the illneses, the deaths, the tragedies.  But that's not really the lesson I want to share.  I've realized in writing this that whether we call ourselves genealogists or family historians, whether we research for fun or for posterity, genealogy has been giving back to us.  We're giving it dates and sources, it's giving us people.  Today, for me, it's giving me support and healing.  My family tree isn't a GEDCOM file.  My family tree is a network of people who have loved and protected their kin forever.  I've been trying to tell their stories in this blog.  And I think they are helping me to continue that work.

But for a little while, I'll need to take a break.  I understand I'm likely to feel worse before I feel better.  I'll be back to tell you how a Moynihan became a Monahan, about Alfred Burrows' WWI service, and many other stories.  When I can.

Til then, some homework for you:

• Homework Assignment 1: Get caught up on those tests you've been forgetting about.  Check your breasts.  Get that mammogram.  See your doctor.  Tell your sisters, your daughters, your girlfriends, your wives.  Take care of yourself, so you can take care of your family.
• Homework Assignment 2: I'd love to hear your stories of your ancestors reaching out to help and support you. I may sound a little crazy, but I don't think I'm the only one.

Annual Conference the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa (BIFHSGO)

I took the day off work today to attend pre-conference workshops for the 17th Annual BIFHSGO Family History Conference in Ottawa.

I missed Lesley Anderson's presentation "I can't find them anywhere -- effective searching, sharing and collaborating with Ancestry."  While I'm sure I could have learned a great deal from Lesley, I wanted to attend Kyla Ubbink's presentation "Storing and Preserving Family Archives and Artifacts."  Kyla is a local conservator with whom I've chatted at previous conferences.  Her talk gave us an excellent overview of the dangers that our archives and artifacts face in our homes as well as practical tips to ensure we store them in a manner that will avoid further degradation.  In addition to suggesting specific products and suppliers for archival storage and conservation, she offered hands-on demonstrations.  Kyla warned us that conservation requires patience, and the hands-on work cannot be done in a bad mood.  Sometimes you need to put the project down for the day; other times you need to take it straight to the professionals.  I can see a certain meditative benefit to cleaning off "old book smell" page by page with a soft brush, but I learned the hard way that removing staples is not my forté.  I must wait for a propitious day before attempting the dental floss technique to remove photographs from the old magnetic albums.

My afternoon session was Linda Reid's "Introduction to English and Welsh Family History Records."  Linda provided an excellent handout which summarized her key points and recommended resources.  Clearly it's time for me to start looking for English parish records for Sweetie's Burrows family.  In her talk, Linda showed how to use several key linking records to fill in a pedigree chart.  It's the same exercise that I took the Bean through earlier this year.  She may only be eight years old, but it's never too early to learn the importance of citing sources for the information on our family tree.

I had a few hours to kill before the evening lecture and spent much of it taking advantage of the resources at Library and Archives Canada (LAC), where the conference is taking place.  In its Canadian Genealogy Centre on the third floor, LAC has some databases prepared by the Société de généalogie de Québec with 20th Century Quebec marriages and deaths.  I was able to find Sweetie's Gita's second marriage as well as his Grandad's second and third marriages.  (Hmm, that may be a worrisome theme?!)   I was also able to confirm Grandad's death, which may now allow us to request his Canadian military records.

The Don Whiteside Memorial Lecture this evening was given by local author and columnist Phil Jenkins.  Phil's presentation, "Thanks for the Memories," was a thought-provoking (and musical) discussion of the potential for ancestral memory or the passing down of ancestral traits.

If you're in or near Ottawa this weekend, you may want to head to LAC, downtown on Wellington Street at Bay.  Walk-in registrations are available.

The conference continues Saturday and Sunday and there will be many interesting topics presented, this year focusing on England and Wales, and particularly on London and the Home Counties. 

If you see me there, come say hello.  And check out the BIFHSGO blogging buzz at Anglo-Celtic Connections, by conference co-chair John Reid, as well as the BIFHSGO Blog, and Elizabeth Lapointe's Genealogy Canada Blog. 

Before I close, I must extend my thanks to the BIFHSGO volunteers that make the conference a great success each year. 

Today in Family History: Good Things Happened

Today is September 11th.  It's a day the world will never forget.  So many live were lost that September 11th will always be a day filled with sorrow and tears.  But let those not be our only remembrances of the day.

September 11th is also a day when good things happened.  Babies were born.  People were married.  September 11 has long been a day of tears of joy.  And we shouldn't forget that either.

Happy birthday, Dad.  Happy birthday, Sherri.  Happy anniversary, Wendy.  Love you all.

Today in History: August 26, 1917 Maria Ontaria Bertolo was Born

I'm sure I'm not the only genealogist who didn't always understand who was on her family tree and where.  When I was in elementary school, one day our substitute teacher was Mrs. Plexman.

I remember that Mrs. Plexman had presence in our classroom.  She spoke with precision, calm and dignity.  And she was lovely:  dark, dark hair and a creamy complexion.  What I didn't fully realize is that Mrs. Plexman was my great-aunt, my mom's paternal aunt.  Eventually, Mrs. Plexman became Aunty Rose as I got to know her in my teenage years.

After she died in 1985 1986, Aunty Rose took on yet another identity when her birth certificate came to light.  It turns out, that Rose was her nickname.  She was named Maria Ontaria Bertolo by her parents.  She was the third of Giuseppe Bertolo and Maria Iop's ten children to be born in Ontario.  I guess they liked the place!  Here's her baptismal record, in which Father Belcastro had Latinized her name as Mariam Ontariam:

The family story is that when Nona Maria held the new baby, Maria Ontaria, older sister Helen looked at the baby and declared that she was so beautiful they must call her Rose.

One day when I was about 18, my mom and I ran into Aunty Helen on the street.  My mom mentioned that she always thought I resembled Aunty Rose.  Aunty Helen said, "No, Kathy's much prettier!"  I wish it were true.

Rose Bertolo, at her brother Luigi's wedding, October 1929

But I do see the resemblance.  And I take that as a great compliment.

Today in Family History: August 3, 1971 Maria (Iop) Bertolo Died

Forty years ago today, my great-grandmother, Maria (Iop) Bertolo, passed away in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada.  In a March 2011 post, Surname Saturday -- Iop, I told you a bit about Maria's life in Fiume Veneto, in the Friuli region of Italy and her emigration to Canada.

Hers is the first funeral I remember attending as a little girl.


Riposa in pace, Nona Maria.