Sutro Library

Recently I drove up to the Sutro Library on the SFSU campus to do some genealogy research.  What a great place!  It proudly boasts that they have the finest genealogical collection west of Salt Lake City, and it was impressive!  There were books on family names, books on counties, books on states, books on history....  I found so many great clues to our family history and some research I'm doing for others.  I loved the feel of thick paper in fragile bindings.  The names... so old-fashioned and charming.  I can't wait to spend time there again.

 The views of the campus were beautiful from the bright windows!  

It would be easy to spend days there, researching family lines.  Of course, the best part was having dinner with my daughters after they got off work that evening!

Now we are having stormy weather in California.  The wind blew and the rain pounded last night, causing my dogs to bark as they heard branches bounce against the fence boards.  Parts of the roads are flooded, causing lane closures and slow moving traffic.  Still we need the rain, so it is hard to complain.

Learning, Learning

Saturday led my friend Mary and me to yet another genealogy workshop, this one in Gilroy (aka the Garlic Capitol of the World, or so they say). I work in Gilroy so pass these scenes often.

 The green hills create a beautiful backdrop...

 I love this Old City Hall (now a restaurant)...

It dawned on me this morning what a busy month of learning it has been ~  three weekends in a row of workshops!  First, the Ancestry Day in San Francisco, then the following weekend my daughter Ash and I attended a mystery writer's workshop in Monterey, then this past Saturday the DAR sponsored genealogy program.  Have loved all of them!

The Writer's Workshop was held in the Monterey Peninsula College Library -- in fact right there in the room on the right in the photo below. 

But my favorite part of the library is actually on the opposite side of the building, straight through those triple doors you see above.  Here is what the other side of the library looks like:

The library sits on a hill so guess what those large lovely windows look out on?  Monterey!  I promise to go back and take a photo from the top floor sometime, lest you think I am teasing you with the panoramic views provided. That section was closed during the time we were there.

Now it is time for cleaning and grocery shopping -- my daughters arrive Wednesday night and we'll start right in with our pumpkin rolls and pies.  Just in case I don't make it back here before the big day, I wish you all a heartfelt

 HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Ancestry Day and Veteran's Day

The San Francisco Hyatt Regency Lobby.

Saturday morning I was up before the crack of dawn to drive up to San Francisco for the weekend. It's always great to spend time with my daughters there, dining and shopping, watching movies and chatting. This weekend I had an additional reason to go north.  One of my hobbies is genealogy and ancestry.com was putting on a conference on Saturday. It was held at the Hyatt Regency and the ballroom was packed with people. I ate lunch in the hotel restaurant, then walked around to enjoy the beautiful views the floor to ceiling windows offered.

The clock tower of the Ferry Building.

The Bay Bridge (San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge)

The Embarcadero Center Ice Skating Rink.

The Ancestry Day presenters were fabulous and I left with a syllabus full of helpful hints and notes. Hobby experts now rank genealogy as the second most popular hobby in the country, following on the heels of gardening as number one.
  
Saturday night the girls picked me up at the hotel and we went out to dinner. I spent the night at their apartment and then Sunday we shopped. We don't have to have elaborate plans to have a great time together. 

Have had a few busy days here. Friday was a non-student day at work so the speech and language therapists in our district met to share therapy materials and ideas, then had lunch together. Yesterday, Veteran's Day, was a day off work which gave me time to try out some of the genealogy research techniques I learned and work on my novel. It's coming along nicely and I'm keeping up with the NANOWRIMO word count. 

This week and all year round, please thank a Vet for their service to our country! Researching our roots makes me appreciate all the veterans in our family tree, from the Revolutionary War to current days.

Before we know it, Thanksgiving will be here! Nights are cooler -- November is in the air!

New England Trip - Massachusetts

Summer is racing by, so I better get after blogging about my trip.  Still have much to share!  Chris and I have been spending a lot of time doing genealogical research on our father's side of the family.  Through old family letters, ancestry.com and other resources, we are uncovering more and more records and could write our own episodes of the show, "Who Do You Think You Are?"

So one of the days we were in New England we drove to a couple small towns in Massachusetts to do some cemetery sleuthing.  We started at the grand old Taunton Library.

 On the way in the door, we noticed this interesting plaque about the library's history:

 

We even paid a visit to the Registry of Deeds to do some research, which was right next to the beautiful Taunton Courthouse.

 

The Taunton Cemetery was on a beautiful knoll, with graves so long forgotten.  We discovered several ancestors grave sites here.  Standing there on the land, we breathed in the air, took it all in, and tried to envision the area as our loved ones must have seen it, hundreds of years ago.

Many gravemarkers had the "death's head" symbol on them.  We had learned about these at the cemetery in Boston.  Common in the 17the century, the death's head usually consisted of a stylized skull with wings or crossed bones (in the tombstone below, all three were represented).  Some believed these were intended to represent a combination of a physical death and a spiritual regeneration.  Puritans were adamantly against such symbols. 

We stopped for lunch at a diner in town and then headed to another town where we discovered two cemeteries with more of our ancestors.  They were very small family cemeteries, tucked into neighborhoods, surrounded by rough stone fences.

We knew only the approximate location of one and asked a neighbor if he knew where there was a cemetery in that area.  He informed us that it was actually behind his house (in a typical looking neighborhood) and we had to hike down a path, designated as an easement to the cemetery, to get to it.

 

We were a bit awestruck, imaging our ancestors standing on this ground over 300 years ago.  Some had been ship captains, some farmers, others merchants.  I'm sure they had no thoughts that someday three sisters from a country they wouldn't believe existed as it does today would be standing there to pay their respects to them. 

Quite a thing to ponder....