Family Stories Month - Service

I was raised to understand “there but for the Grace of God, go I” And I have witnessed the truth in that more times than I care to count. Life can literally change in the blink of an eye. We are all one race – the human race – and we need to be our brother’s keeper to the best of our ability.   

My mum was very spiritual. She lived her Christian beliefs quietly and without need for accolades or fanfare. She never preached and often gave devout evangelicals a run for their money when they started spouting off. My dad was raised in a church going family. His mother was a Sunday School teacher. We went to church when I was younger. However, my dad had zero tolerance for people who are deeply religious but not terribly Christian and so he quickly decided that church was not or him. 

I attended a number of churches in my youth. Baptist, Anglican, Catholic, Presbyterian, Lutheran and even the Synagogue. For me, it’s not so much about organized religious groups, although I do appreciate that they provide a deep sense of community. For me, it is about serving others when we are called to do so or supporting others when life is proving difficult for them to navigate. Fortunately, my career allowed me to do just that in many different ways. 

A friend and I were fortunate enough to experience a brief mission in Jamaica. I attended twice, she attended several times. We were with a medical mission team and worked as support to the medical staff. We had the joy of being stationed at a hospital in Montego Bay and spent time with new mothers as well as on the pediatric ward. We went with the traveling teams out to the clinics in the outlying villages in the hills. And we loved it. It was an incredibly humbling experience. But the opportunity to chat with and support the locals was unrivalled. 

Once I became a mother, I knew that I wanted my children to also have the mission experience. And so we did. Twice we went on a family mission in the hills of southeastern Kentucky and provided VBS for the local kids.

My kids attended church and I taught Sunday School, but to me, the best way to help teach them compassion and the importance of service was by immersing them in the real world. At home, after our missions, we started volunteering at a local clothing room. My son actually won an award sponsored by the newspaper for his hours of volunteering at such a young age. My daughter also volunteered at the clothing room then moved on to volunteer at a teen parenting program. 

The kids were able to understand on a real-life basis that everyone is the same, it is merely our circumstances that are different, and life is so tenuous that any one of us could end up in similar circumstances so it was important to treat those who were struggling with the same dignity that we would want to receive. I am so incredibly blessed that both kids turned out to be caring, compassionate and helpful human beings who are also strong advocates for those less fortunate than them. 

Family Stories Month - Pets

 

One of the joys in our family comes from our pets. Pets have always had a special place in our family – both immediate and extended. When I was young, we had a black lab. My dad named him. McTavish McGregor McDonald. Dad made the wire rope that he attached to our clothesline for Tavish to have free reign in our yard without intruding into the neighbours’ yards. Fences weren’t really a thing back then. One morning, we discovered that Tavish had chewed his way through the drywall in the basement. He was relegated to our really large laundry/utility room but decided he should investigate the rec room. He got himself stuck in the duct work. He and dad were never really friends after that.

When I went away to college in PEI, I bought a dog. Regal. Named after the Buick car that was popular at the time. I used to take her to the ocean to run her. She had a great big personality. Many small dogs do.

Then when I moved to my own place back near my family home, I bought Libra. She was amazing. We also bought a cat, Chisa. The two were best friends. My mum and dad watched Libra when I worked shifts. She was almost as much their dog as she was mine.

I had little Benji when I first moved to Brantford. Another spitfire. He had the best howl and frequently let his opinion be known.

 

My husband was a cat person. One afternoon, my son, then three, was getting his bike out of the shed and saw what he thought was a baby racoon. He called for his dad. The baby animal was actually a kitten. She and her four brothers were born at the side of our shed. Mama had made a nest in a bucket that had been turned sideways for storage. We never did find any trace of Mama cat so figure she must have been victim to cars. We took the five kittens in and fed them through eyedroppers. 

We ended up keeping three of them. The two boys were really bonded. 

Sadly, we lost the biggest when he was 10. I missed him. He not only thought his brother was an extension of him, but he also thought that I was his Mama cat. Probably because he knew I fed him. 

We lost Spice girl when she was 16. She went down hill quickly. And then we had to send Baby over the rainbow bridge when he was 18. He was a needy old man by then but full of personality. We had our two golden retrievers and he quickly realized that they weren’t going anywhere any time soon, so decided to join them. I often said that he saw himself as a miniature Golden. Although he tended to get into far more antics than they did. It has been two years since he left us and I still miss him. He was cuddly, pliable, and took no nonsense from the dogs. He, too, had a personality that was bigger than him.

 

Digging in the trash can

Our two beautiful Golden Girls are such a joy to us.

Branch Manager and Assistant Branch Manager

Although they are creeping up in age, they still run and swim like young dogs. It is so much fun to see how much joy they get out of life and that brings us joy.

Registration for #KILTEDKULTURE Quarterly Conferences is now OPEN!

 

As part of our support of Year of Stories #YS2022, we have four conference events happening throughout the year. Each conference has a theme, and the speakers will give presentations based on that theme. Here's the line-up:


19 March - Emigration/Immigration
Speakers & Topics:


Dr Marjory Harper - Voices of the Diaspora

Dr Keir Strickland - Excavating the Highland Clearances

Jessica Evershed - The Highland & Island Emigration Scheme Database

Christine Woodcock - Scots in Atlantic Canada


18 June - Crime and Punishment
Speakers & Topics


Donna Moore - The Lock Trilogy: historical crime fiction novellas

Chris Paton - The Mount Stewart Murder

Robert Howie - The Story of Jekyll & Hide (Deacon Brodie)

Roddy Greig - Fife FHS Kalendar of Convicts


10 Sept - Industry/Occupations
Speakers & Topics

Stephen Clancy - Paisley Weavers

Justin Parkes - Scottish Steelworks and the Coal-fired Ironworks Industry

Irene O'Brien - My Ancestors Was... Researching Ancestor Occupations

Neil Fraser - Historic Scotland's Industry Collections


10 December - Uniquely Scottish
Speaker and Topics

Paula Duncan - Kilt Making as a Heritage Craft

Nick Fiddes of DC Dalgleish - All About Tartan

Carol Jackson - Ellis Gin

Chef Gary MacLean - Scotland's Larder


You can register for one, all four or mix and match to suit your interests. Each conference is £10 ($17cad)

Just an FYI that if you book for all four events, you will be invited to a FREE event on October 15th to help you put your stories together so that they can be shared with others and across the generations.

Registration is OPEN

Kilted Ancestors Supports Year of Stories #YS2022

 

#Year of Stories kicks off tomorrow, January 2 at 9 am eastern. Join us in the Kilted AncestorsFacebook group where we will in the new year with an overview of some of the drop in sessions we have on tap throughout the year to get you fired up and ready to share the stories of your Scottish ancestors. 

Each month throughout the year will have a dedicated theme and each week, Clare and I will give you a prompt to help you along in getting your stories written down. And in addition, we will have a guest (or two) dropping by to help you even further. These drop in sessions will happen monthly. Lots to learn, so plan to join us. 

These events are 100% FREE. Just come along and join the Facebook group and you will get access to everything on offer. 

To give you an idea of what we will be sharing, here are the monthly topics: 

Jan – Folklore

Feb – They moved to Scotland

March – They Left Scotland

April – Crime Stories

 May – Police Stories

June – Skeletons & Scandals

July – Weaving & Textiles

Aug – Mining

Sept- Steel Works & Ships

Oct – Retail & Shopping

Nov – Food & Recipes

Dec – Scottish Drinks

You can interpret these any way you wish to fit the story of your ancestors. Join us for ideas, prompts and to hear from others in the group as well. 

 

Family History Month - Recalling Memories

In a recent conversation, the question was asked: 

What were the sleeping arrangements like when you were growing up?

My father was one of eight siblings. They lived in a two bedroom miner's row house. Four girls were in one room, four boys in the other. Beds were shared.

My mother was one of 20. And while they were not all home at the same time, her and her siblings talk of sleeping "head to toe" One person slept north/south on the bed and their bed-mate slept south/north. Some slept across the bed as that gave more room. They often slept three or four to a bed. 

In both instances, there would often be times when kids who were not siblings joined in on and bunked down wherever they landed. 

My granny used to love coming to Canada for her holidays. Three weeks, six weeks, three months, six months. She always started out at my aunt's house up the street, but within a few days, was at my mother's doorstep, bags in hand. I honestly can't recall where I ended up sleeping while Gran was visiting, I just know that when she was staying with us, my room became hers. It was never stated, it was understood. 

I recall, too, spending a week at our neighbour's cottage. There were three families sharing a three bedroom cottage. My mum, my aunt's family and my uncle's family. The adults all had bedrooms. The rest of us (about 10 kids) slept on floors, sofas and cots in the living-room or kitchen. Sleep was fairly elusive as my mum and her brother spent the night calling out to one another and sharing stories, memories and jokes. But the memories are of laughter, love and spending the night wherever we could find a flat surface. 

What were the sleeping arrangements like when YOU were growing up? 

RootsTech Interview with Forever.com

What a great pleasure it was for the team at the Great Canadian Genealogy Summit to interview Glen Meakem of Forever.com 

We had so much fun learning about this fascinating new technology that allows long-term cloud storage where the person uploading to the cloud retains ownership! The upfront fees pay for the long term storage over many many years. This is the ONLY cloud storage that is guaranteed for the long term and guarantees you retain ownership. 

Thank you, Glen, for energizing us and for this unique way for family historians to preserve their family memories and ephemera long term. 

Kathryn Lake Hogan, Glen Meakem and Christine Woodcock

Preserving Your Family History

Preserve Your Family History

Most genealogy researchers will tell you that they are searching not only to find out about their history but also to keep their family’s history alive for future generations. So, now that we have those research documents, bits of scrap paper, newspaper clippings, photos, e-mails and other assorted bits of “research”, how do we preserve them for future generations? There are a number of options. Here are a few:

1.) Scrapbook - take those precious old photographs and preserve them in an archival, acid free book. Remember to tell the story as you add the photos. If you are having trouble getting your old photos out of those sticky magnetic albums, don’t despair. You can use a micro-spatula (a small science tool about the size of a large crochet hook, but with a soft rounded edge) and gently ease this under the photo to separate the photo from the sticky page. Gently pull up on the photo with consistent pressure while sliding the spatula under the photo and work slowly and firmly to ease the photo away from the adhesive of the magnetic album. The spatulas can be expensive, so a “multi-purpose tool” can be ordered from Creative Memories for $10 and will work wonders and last years. Other scrapbooking companies and stores likely have similar items for getting those embellishments off the pages. Drop by a store or check online for a dealer nearby and start getting those precious photos OUT of those sticky albums and into archival, photo-safe ones that will keep them preserved for decades. While embellishments are aesthetically appealing, they are not necessary in a family history album. The history is what is important.

2.) Family History Book - This really isn’t as complicated as it sounds. My first family book was a record of my grandfather’s descendants. Harry fathered 21 children. My grandmother and my mother were fantastic story tellers. Once they passed away, I knew in my heart that I needed to get their stories onto paper. I needed a way to let my children know my granny and my mum. And I needed to give them a way to feel like a sense of belonging to our very large, very open family system. Our family is all encompassing and all embracing. Don’t get me wrong, like all families, we have our moments and our members. But in such a large family there is usually always someone you can connect with. Your family book can be whatever you want it to be - the story of a single ancestor, the story of one branch of your tree, how the family came to emigrate. Any subject you choose. As we all know, it is important to document, and a family book is a great way to do just that.

And while you are at it, don’t forget to document your own history. Provide a personal history lesson for your family. Think of how thrilled you are when you come across an old letter or postcard from a now deceased relative. Why not provide that same feeling for your descendants? When does your memory and awareness of certain events (ie. JFK’s murder, the first man on the moon, the Watergate Scandal, Lady Di's death, 9/11 hurricane Katrina, the Tsunami, the Japan earthquake, Obama being elected) kick in? Where were you when you first learned the news? How did you respond? How did you know this news was bigger than most? Do those events trigger memories of what life was like then? What society was like? What values and principles were important? Think of the inventions you’ve seen in your life time. My granny went from travel by horse to watching rockets being launched. Remember when YOU were the remote for the tv? How you used a wringer washer? Life before microwaves, electric can-openers, a time when home milk or bread deliveries were the norm? Think of a time before space shuttles; when trains or boats were the main form of vacation transportation. Fear not! Document your own history. It will make fascinating reading to those who wish that they could reach back 100 years and touch you, share a coffee and a chat with you. Don’t worry about grammar or spelling. It is YOUR story that they are interested in. This is not an English class.

3.) Family Newsletter - if your family is large enough, you may want to consider sending out a newsletter. I promise you that you won’t regret it. Especially if your family is spread out geographically. The newsletter content can be whatever you want it to be. I started our family newsletter in December 2005  -  nearly 2 years after I put together our first family book. When I finished the family book, I wanted a way to record and to share new babies that were added to our tree, a way to announce marriages, a way of acknowledging and honouring those who have passed away. I have also included facts and trivia about the area where the family grew up, Scottish traditions, recipes, new research that I have uncovered about past generations. The newsletter started out being mailed to 20 of my aunts, uncles and cousins. It is now e-mail and snail-mailed to over 80 people. Kids can’t wait to get their own copy in their in-box. And everyone who gets a copy passes it along to someone else. The distribution has expanded in other ways as well. It is no longer just for Harry’s descendants, but for the descendants of his three brothers as well. Others now contribute stories, poems, recollections, old photographs and even funeral cards for our ancestors. They share their pride in their children’s accomplishments. The one thing EVERYone looks for in each edition are the physical similarities that run through our family. I have cousins in Timmins who are the double of cousins in Edinburgh. The two have never met and yet anyone seeing the two of them would know they belong to the same family. These realizations provide a remarkable sense of belonging. I even do a section once in a while where I run two photographs together to show the rest of the family how much of a resemblance there is. The family are thrilled with the resemblances. As my uncle once said, “Joey looks more like Alex than Alex does!” We have dedicated some issues to family occupations and are able to show the family that we are not just coal miners or farmers anymore, but also firemen, teachers, bus drivers, nurses and social workers. The newsletter has been a remarkable journey and one that I am so very glad I undertook. Know your intended audience (mine is always my older aunts and uncles). Be sure to add more than just birthdays and reunion news and you will be amazed at the gratitude you receive.

I recently had the honour of putting a family history book together for a friend. Her uncle was turning 80 and this was to be a special gift for him. His sister is edging towards 80 herself and as an aging grandma, was eager to get her memories into a format that would preserve them for her grandchildren and generations yet to come. Their father was a soldier in both world wars. An amazing story in and of itself. He was wounded in WW1 so was not able to go back into the field in WW2. Instead, he was a trainer of soldiers who were about to be shipped out. The big blessing for his daughter was that with the Family History Book, his memory and his story would not be forgotten when she and her brother died. They could now enjoy the rest of their sunset years knowing that their father’s legacy would be preserved.

From the family book and from amassing hundreds of pictures, I made family calendars for my friend’s mom and uncle. That was a year ago. This year, I was asked to make 5 for the family. There was lots of secrecy as the calendars were requested and put together. At Christmas, they were all opened during a family gathering. The comment I received from my friend really hit home for me. She said, "you know you have given my cousins the greatest gift and that is a sense of family as it was certainly fractured prior and maybe always will be but at least there is a "knowing" now that didn't exist before.....that is a gift." I realized in that moment that this is what my family book, and even more so, my family newsletters have done for my family. These preserved memories had given each and every one of us a sense of belonging. Like it or not. And certainly we each have twigs on the tree that we wish we could prune. Regardless of that, we are connected. Forever. By blood, by relationship, by being connected. Whether we were born a Crawford, married a Crawford, were adopted by a Crawford or were raised by a Crawford, we are all part of the same cloth. A cloth that is unique in design. Our ancestors were warm and welcoming. Others were welcomed into the clan for a number of reasons: close friendships, far fetched kin, neighbours, folk who just needed a place to be. By nature, then, the cloth for our clan of Crawfords is an open weave. Anyone "claimed" by a Crawford IS a Crawford. And they all get their branch on our tree. Others are jealous of our connection. Not that they are necessarily envious of the relationships or even of the individuals, but of the deep and abiding sense of belonging. You can give that same gift to your family.

4.) Blogging - For those who have heard the term, but have no idea the meaning, a blog is basically an online journal. Something written on the web and updated regularly. Blogs can be about absolutely anything and can include photos, videos, links to websites or to other blogs. The new social media craze seems to show that most of us enjoy sharing our thoughts, but letter writing to just one or two people is both tedious and time consuming for those of today’s generation. So social medium such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Blogging has become an easy way to share with everyone at once and to do so in a timely way. Everyone can know everything there is to know in an eye-blink. I have a blog that I often use to update family in Scotland, Australia and the western states about family outings, special events and vacations. I also have a blog where I can update those who are interested in the latest research I have uncovered (most were thrilled with the possibility of a “black widow” in the family tree). If you already use your computer to communicate with other family members, consider blogging. Others can always print the information and save it for future generations.

5.) Family Website - again, this is for the computer savvy researchers. And again, this is a great way to keep the information alive and to share with others. My cousin in Australia is the webmaster for our family website. I visit it often, not only for dates and events, but for pictures, information about family homesteads, old family occupations, stories and so much more. I rarely come away from the website without having learned something new. And again, this is a great way to keep in touch with other family members and to get them to contribute information and pictures as well.

There are a number of ways to preserve your family history for future generations. Try tackling one of them. You will be amazed at how easy it really is and you will feel an incredible sense of accomplishment as well.

Technology Tuesday Preserving Family Photos with Digital Scrapbooking

Almost simultaneous to beginning my venture into genealogy and family history, I began scrapbooking. I love the idea of preserving memories and, for me, scrapbooking provides the perfect way to preserve old photos for future generations. As well, the books themselves become treasures and heirlooms. It is so much nicer to look through a scrapbook than it is to wade your way through shoeboxes or drawers of family memories. 
In this digital world, I ventured into digital scrapbooking. The costs of the product I wanted to produce were astronomical, so I turned to digital photobooks. While these are relatively simple to do, they lack the lustre and "wow" factor of scrapbooks. I have recently found myself wishing I could find a program that was affordable, and allowed me not just to drop photos into a digital book, but that would allow me to embellish MY way, and to journal the story as I go. 
Then, Divine Intervention. MyMemories was running a promotion. They offered me a discount if I tried their product and agreed to review it. I must admit I thought it was a spam e-mail, but something nagged at me to find out more. I am so glad that I did! The promotion was not spam, but was a genuine offer for me to review their latest product. How could I resist?
For some time now, I have wanted to do something with the old photos from the Fowler branch. Jean & Henry are how all of us with Fowler connections descend. They are my great great grandparents. I have a huge affinity with Jean, having never known her of course, but I bonded with her the moment I discovered the story of the tragic death of her father and brother who died together in a mine. Her brother was 18 at the time.
I have been fortunate to receive photos of Henry, Jean and six of their 12 children. Now to use my newly found digital scrapbooking software and see what I could produce. I have been astounded by the results.

The wonderful thing about MyMemories is that I can use their pre-designed templates or I can make my own pages. I often find pre-designed doesn't fit  with what I had in mind, so I love the flexibility of being able to create my own pages.

MyMemories also allows me to journal as much or as little as I want

The embellishments are definitely the thing that gave me that WOW factor. The brads, ribbons and bows come pre-loaded in Suite2 and the frames and florals were included in a kit that I purchased.

The kits are less than $5.00 us. The kit I purchased was $4 and included 11 pages of vintage  background "paper".

 I then purchased add-on packs of embellishments for the words, flowers and other finishing  touches. Some are FREE, but most run about $2.

I made this entire 11 page digital scrapbook for $55. This includes the software which is $39.95. The good news is that I now have all of this downloaded to my computer and can make 100 more books using the same paper and embellishments without spending another cent! How cool is that?

I read an article today that said that the past decade is the most digitally documented in history but because no one is printing photos anymore, it stands to be the least documented period of history for future generations looking back. Knowing how much we treasure old photos and the memories they evoke, that thought is alarming to me. So, the final product of my digital scrapbooking has to be something tangible. 

  MyMemories allows you to save your album as JPEG pages on your computer (this way you can post separate pages to Facebook, blog about them or e-mail them), print calendars, create a dvd or download them to your iPod. To make the dvd or iPod download, I can add music and narration, making MyMemories a two-in-one software program. That still doesn't resolve the tangible thing for me, but I do think they are great options that I haven't seen with other digital scrapbooking programs. And YES, I can create a photo book from MyMemories. The photo books start at $19.99 for 20 pages. The one I would use (a larger size) is $39.99. Still comparable to other photo book makers.

Now here's the fun part. I have been soooo thrilled with this product (really) that I want to be able to share it with you. MyMemories has given me a "promo" code that friends, family and even strangers can use to get $10 off the Suite2 software. That makes the software just $29.95 and you download it so you can start playing with it right away.
Here's the promo code:
STMMMS29295 (copy & paste into the promo code box at check out)
Once you register, you will get a welcome e-mail that will offer you $10 in free paper, embellishments or whatever else you want to use. One tip though, use it all at once. It is a coupon, not a credit, so what you don't use, you lose.

BUT before you do that, I have one free software to GIVE AWAY. You need to visit the site and then add a comment to this blog, letting me know why YOU deserve to be the winner of the freebie. That's it! That simple.
Ready?.....Set?.....GO!! Let's start preserving those memories!!!

I want to see what you make (it really is incredibly simple to use. I did this book in half a day), so send me a link to your photos if you upload them anywhere.