Too Cold to Work Today! February 6, 1913

Too cold to work!

Weather a little colder. We did not go out to work today. I cut wood in the morning. In the afternoon about 3:30 we moved to Ostley. Arrived about 4:30


NOTE: In the interest of true transcription, the ":" between "3" and "30" or "4" and "30" above were not in the entry...I know it sounds picky, but I haven't been able to figure out how to superscript or underscore in this blog format! Actually, it doesn't "sound" picky, it IS picky!

Genealogy Research Made Simple

There was a cartoon in the paper a while ago that I had to save: "Shoe" by Chris Cassatt & Gary Brookins. The character "The Senator" was being interviewed by the reporter who asks, "What initially inspired you to run for president?" The Senator goes on to explain his interest in tracing his family's roots, searching through old records, etc. only to discover that it took too much of his time. So he decided to get into politics. "What does all that have to do with a presidential bid" asked the reporter. Holding up the newspaper, the Senator replies, "Now, you boys in the press are doing it for me!"

So the real answer is that there's nothing simple about genealogy and the research it demands. Armed with the mantra that "Genealogy without research is Mythology", we delve into areas that we really had no idea ever existed! I'm going to blog about what got me started (it wasn't a presidential bid!) where its taken me and the challenges I face for my own background and that of the many people who have been attending my classes and asking for my assistance.

Suffice it to say for now that I've found many surprises, a few "lost inheritances" (NOT MINE!!!) and many new friends around the country who to whom I just happen to be related. The Moore's in Alabama, the Robison's in Missouri, the Robinson's in Indiana, the Blodgett's and the Lillie's in New York and Massachusetts, the Casey's in California, the Bassett's in ....well... all over! Michigan, Ohio, Colorado, Massachusetts, Texas, Hawaii... the list goes on. These aren't just names I found in old records; these are people with whom I've communicated, listened to their stories and discovered what a small world this really is.

I'm can legitimately count a couple of presidents in my "collateral" lines. William Howard Taft and I share a common ancestor, Deacon Samuel Chapin, one of the founders of the city where I was born, Springfield, Massachusetts. The deacon was also the progenitor of Harry Chapin and Marion Morrison who you would all know as John Wayne. Yes, they're cousins, albeit distant! I can count pilgrims and Puritans (there's a difference) from Plymouth Colony including a great grandfather who fell off the Mayflower and had to be rescued, John Howland. Look up his story! And I have no less than 12 direct ancestors who are Revolutionary War Patriots. My 4th Great Grandfather, Hezekiah Robion, was a veteran of the East Tennessee Volunteers in the War of 1812. I have direct ancestors who were Confederates and others who were Yankees.

And the list goes on and on. Stay tuned...

February 5, 1913....A Little Warmer!

There's a word or two in this post I can't figure out for a couple of reasons: 1) Clem's handwriting skill was atrocious and 2) Clem's spelling skill was atrocious! So, here's the best transcription I can offer based on the entry for Wednesday, February 5, 1913

The weather is much warmer but a high wind. And a little snow. Cullerne went to Edson this morning so Steve and I had the car to ourselves. Steve worked on nots [?] ahd I read Cradane [?] X all morning. This afternoon I went out and had to hunt for wood.

And Grampa, if you find the remote while your out there, text me!

More "Clem" news on the Grand Trunk Pacific---January 4, 1913

From "Lest We Forget", here's my grandfather's entry in his diary from Tuesday, January 4, 1913:

The weather is about the same 20 [degrees] below. We did not go out to work today because we had run out of coal and Steve and I had to look around for wood. Cullerne went to Carval and told us to get some wood. We asked he sec. man where we could get some and he told us he had some already cut. We went over and got it and told Cullerne that we had a hard time getting the wood.

First, telling his boss he had a hard time getting the wood strikes me as my grandfather's wry sense of humor. Instead of being tasked with chopping down trees with Steve, they just had to walk a little and pick it up from a pile of wood ready to burn!

Second, I have to tell you that I couldn't find the HDMI cable to hook up Karen's laptop to the flat screen. I was a little cranked about that. I finally tracked it down. Someone (me) had wrapped it up and put it in my carrying case to take with me to the next class at the Hitchcock Free Academy in Brimfield, MA. More on that later...I'll only have 4 or 5 students this go-around... No problem with that, I like small "cozy" classes! But when I read that my grandfather couldn't work because they didn't have any coal, it was too cold to work and their boss told them to go out and "get some wood"...kinda put things into perspective for me!

At least I haven't lost the remote in the past few days...

[caption id="attachment_494" align="alignnone" width="300"] This old wagon may have been around at the Carvel General Store when Clem was up there 100 years ago![/caption]

Here's a link to the Carvel General Store: http://www.carvelgeneralstore.ca/about-us.html

a cold morning in Alberta! February 3, 1913 "Lest We Forget"

Today I start transcribing again. The past few weeks had already been transcribed so posting was as simple as a copy/paste with a few comments. Here are the comments from the January 3rd entry, one hundred years ago!

Monday, February 3, 1913
We got up at 6 30 and the weather was much colder than Sunday. After breakfast and I got ready to go to Lemon on the rail change notes. We left at 9 30 and got to Lemon at 12 oclock sharp and had dinner. We did not start back till about 2 oclock because we did not want to get to early we would make the walks longer. We thought 22 miles iwas enough for one day. We got back about 4 00

Well, there you go! Walk 22 miles round trip for dinner??? In January??? In the CANADIAN WILDERNESS!!! And we worry about getting a parking spot right outside the entrance to the mall so we can wander around in a temperature controlled environment! I'll be honest, I'll take the mall over a walk in the woods to a place called "Lemon"....

February 2, 1913---Do They "Celebrate" Groundhogs Day in Canada???

Here's the last page that I've transcribed ahead of time. Starting tomorrow, I'll be transcribing directly from Clem Dickson's diary, "Lest We Forget". It's getting pretty fragile so I hope I can work with it without causing any additional wear and tear.

Sunday, February 2, 1913

We did not get up till 830 this morning. Our morning to sleep. We had breakfast in Jenkins. Then the day’s work starts.

By the way, Karen and I went to a fundraiser at First Church in Ludlow this morning called "Ice Cream for Breakfast." This a "really?" moment: Ice cream for breakfast? REALLY?!?!? The place was MOBBED!!! I think this will catch on....go figure!

And yes, "First Church in Ludlow" was the first church in Ludlow, MA. It was established in 1774 and the first minister was a guy named Pelatiah Chapin. By an outrageous coincidence, Rev Pelatiah turns out to be an early cousin of mine, a few times removed, of course! More on that in another post...it gets sorta interesting!

Dangerous Spam E-Mail!

WARNING! I just got an e-mail allegedly from PayPal. It stated that they had successfully changed my address. The "new" address was somewhere in California. Has nothing to do with me. There was a ZIP file attached which I DID NOT OPEN! I'm sure there a virus or a trojan buried in there somewhere. On closer inspection of the originating e-mail, it came from "help -at- notify.paylap.com" [I replaced the @ with at to prevent an e-mail address popping up] which could easily be mistaken for a legitimate e-mail from "help -at- notify.paypal.com" Can you spot the difference? I couldn't delete this one fast enough!!!

Here's a screen shot of the body of the e-mail

[caption id="attachment_485" align="alignnone" width="300"] SPAM e-mail with ZIP file attached[/caption]