It is time for picnics, parks, and playing outside.

This was at a gathering including both sides of my family (the Detroit side and the Kent Co, MI side) in Lansing, MI. Evidently their version of playing outside is backgammon. These are two of my Trotter uncles—Chris and Eric—and my Great Uncle Louis Johnson.

Happy hunting,

Jess

Michigan weather! Spring might be back tomorrow and there’s a chance of summer at the end of the week, which is a nice switch from the frigid temperatures through the weekend. Who’s ready for the beach? They are!

These are my 2nd great grandparents Flora Jane (Massy) and Cornelius Packer. I’m not sure who the person is over Cornelius’s right shoulder. They all look very proper sitting in the sand sometime in the nineteen teens or early 1920s and my guess is that this is either Grand Haven or Pere Marquette Park on Lake Michigan…. but as noted I’ll take corrections. Anyone out there recognize the background?

Happy hunting,

Jess

This year’s seminar was no exception. On Saturday I attended presentations on Scottish research, Ontario border crossings, Irish research pre-1860, and one on ways to interest children in genealogy. The Scottish class gave me a long list of new sites to play with which I want to use to track down Harry Alison’s line. The border crossings class is one I’m pretty sure I’ve taken before but now I have more information about my Ontario family and I have a better feel for who I should be looking for in the records. The Irish research class was packed full of information and ideas that I still need to work through, but I think it will help me add some depth to our Massy and Byrne lines.

And finally the class on ideas for interesting younger generations in family history was reassuring in that it covered a lot of the ideas we’d played with at work when discussing youth genealogy programming. Also, it reinforced my ideas for “corrupting” my nephews and niece.

Add to all that, I had a lovely lunch at a table with a number of presenters and took an hour to do some research in the Family History Center where I took advantage of some of their premium databases—I’ve got to get down there to research more often.

It was a great experience and I would highly recommend it almost regardless of your research level. Hope to see you next year!

Happy hunting,

Jess

I had to be under the age of two in this shot. Mom was probably a good 10 years younger than I am now, which is a little funny to get my head around.

And again it’s one of those shots where nothing looks the same anymore if you were to stand in the same spot and take a picture–I’m not even sure if the house behind my parents’ is still yellow.

Happy hunting,

Jess

It’s my annual nod… If I do it to everyone else around their birthday then I must be fair and post my own kid pictures around mine.

Another one of those fine (dated) fashion and design shots.

A) My mom owned knee high boots (thigh high on me)… and she let me borrow them.

B) There is nothing in the visible section of my parents’ kitchen or living room that looks like this anymore. No red shag, no wooden captain’s chairs, or dark brown anything.  The tiles were swapped out and the runners have changed. It’s almost like a whole different—and significantly lighter—house.

C) What is it with kids and big people’s shoes?

Happy hunting,

Jess

This is my Uncle Michael dressed for Prom. His was the third child after my dad and third to last of my Grandparents large family. He was also unfortunately the first to pass, in 1993.

Happy hunting,

Jess

Martha Ward Garbutt had some hand in raising my 2^nd Great Grandmother Flora Jane Massy. I would dearly love to know how Flora ended up in Canada. As I’ve mentioned before, the gap in my research on her life spans from the 1870 Census when she lived in Detroit, Michigan with her mother, Augusta (Cory) Massy, and 1881 when she was enumerated as the youngest Garbutt child. Whatever the story, the Garbutt family made a home for Flora. And it’s through this connection that she met and married into the Packer family—Martha’s 5^th child, Mary, married Cornelius’s older brother, Thomas, in 1875. And there’s more than enough photographic evidence that the families all remained in touch long after my 2^nd Great Grandparents came to Grand Rapids in 1891.

So, on this 195^th anniversary of the birth of Martha (Ward) Garbutt, I’d like to say thank you for whatever role she had in my existence. Martha was born in England to John and Jane (Spenceley) Ward in 1818 and married William Garbutt on 30 Nov 1839. They started their family in Pickering, in North Yorkshire (per the 1851 England Census) but the family immigrated to Woodstock, Ontario, Canada prior to 1855 when Mary was born. They were the parents of eight children. Martha outlived her husband by about 18 years and lived out her last years with Mary and Thomas Packer. She died at home, just over a month shy of her 95^th birthday, on 12 Mar 1913.

This photo-postcard was sent to my 2^nd Great Grandparents at Christmas in 1911 or 1912. One of my cousins shared it with me and it was one of those great finds that makes the rest of the pieces fall into place. It’s inscribed to “Curly and Flo” (Cornelius and Flora Packer) from Mary with the note, “don’t you think Grandma looks real nice for one nearly 94 years.”

Happy hunting,

Jess

** Ex. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, Strange Attractors by Charles Soule

Robert is the dark haired bloke seated up front, a believe that is his father, Cornelius,beside him on the bench. I think the others are Earl (at the head of the wagon) and George sitting up on the back.

For more on Robert Shea check out these posts: 24 Sep 2011, 22 Oct 2011

Happy hunting,

Jess

Happy hunting,

Jess

First, I still dance and I’ll be performing in a show on Saturday which is why I’ve been very quiet here on the blog for the past month or so.

Second, I recently had a chance to look at my niece’s progress report from her Preschool teacher in which she stated that she “wants to be a ballerina”—I know it’s a common “girl wish” but it’s still thrilling to hear when she takes such joy in coming to see me dance. And it makes me wonder about how the “creative gene” gets passed on.

Third, this shot was taken in a studio in the upper floor of a converted church in Haslett, Michigan—which in itself was cool!—but, coincidentally, the mother of one of my current fellow dancers has recently occupied the same space with the fabulous and inspiring small but mighty arts. For all you ladies who have been borrowing space there to make costumes… the upstairs workspace was my first dance studio.

And, yes, I can (barely) still do the splits.

Happy hunting,

Jess