Genealogy Tracking - Where are the descendants?

1) Harry Waxler was born on 26 Sep 1886 in Yassa Romania.

2) Samuel Peterson Waxel was born on 19 Mar 1889 in Romania.

3) Herman Waxler was born 1892 in New York. 

4) Cecelia Waxler was born on 15 Feb 1894 in New York.

5) Anna Waxler was born exactly 9 months after Joseph in New York on 23 Apr 1896.

6) Joseph Waxler was born on 31 Jul 1902 in Manhattan, NYC. His "Joseph Pierpont Stutz" persona was born on 24 Jul 1895 in Chicago, IL.

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8 Jun 1900: Jacob Wexler (b. Apr 1866) is married to Sarah Wexler (b. Mar 1863) since 1885 and they are living in Manhattan with their 5 children: Harry (b. Apr 1886), Sam (b. Mar 1889), Hyman [Herman], Celia (b. Dec 1893) and Annie (b. Apr 1896). (1900 US census)

1908: Harry Waxler marries Ida Mublstock. His first son, William was born on 30 Nov 1908.

23 Apr 1910: The Waxler family is living in Manhattan on 10th Avenue. Samuel is 21 (electrician), Herman is 18 (salesman at a family liquor store), Cecelia is 17 (laundry), Anna is 14 and Joseph is 8.

5 Nov 1911: Lillian Waxler was born to Harry and Ida Waxler in NYC.

2 Apr 1916: Celia Waxler married Marcus Escovitz in Columbiana, Ohio

29 Jan 1917: Esther Escovitz is born to Celia and Marc Escovitz

15 Jun 1918: David Waxler was born to Harry and Ida Waxler in New York.

26 Oct 1919: Herman "Waxler" married Rose Bernard. Her mother's maiden name was Lena Gross. Both of her parents were from Hungary. Rose became a naturalized citizen in 1913. Herman stated his mother's name was Sarah Waxle and his father's name was Jacob. The wedding took place in Manhattan. (marriage record)

7 Jan 1920: Herman Waxel was living with his wife Rose on Lewis Street in Manhattan. Herman works in the laundry. (census)

22 Sep 1920: Daniel Waxler is born to Herman and Rose Waxler.

1926: Sidney Waxler was born to Herman and Rose Waxler.

31 Dec 1929: Jacob Waxler died and is buried at Montefiore Cemetery in Queens, NY.

7 Apr 1930: Herman and Rose "Waxler" are living in the Bronx with their two children. Rose states she was from Austria and so were her parents. Herman works in the laundry. Column #30 states he was a veteran. They have two sons- Daniel (b. 1920) and Sidney (b. 1926), both born in New York. (census)

9 Nov 1935: Lillian married Seymour Schultz in Manhattan NYC. Or does not marry him because on the 1940 Census, she's back living with her parents and younger brother; marital status marked "Single".

9 Apr 1940: Herman and Rose "Waxler" are still living in the Bronx and works in the laundry. His oldest son, Daniel, is 19 and is an unemployed draftsperson. (1940 US census)

1950's: Esther Escovitz married Ervin Knoll. They have at least two daughters (Carol and Carrie) and later move to California. 

27 Jul 1961: Herman Waxler dies and is buried at Montefiore Cemetery in Queens, NY.

17 Dec 1979: Anna (Waxel) Liff dies.

18 Jul 2003: Esther (Escovitz) Knoll died in Orange, California. Her husband died in Santa Clara County, CA in 2006.

1 Apr 2011: Carol Eileen (Knoll) Vanderwalt died in California.

7 Dec 2018: Daniel Waxler died in Dover, New Jersey. He is buried at Mount Sinai Cemetery in Randolph, New Jersey.

Obituary:

Daniel Waxler - Dover 

Great-grandfather and retired engineer at Picatinny Arsenal, taught and managed physics lab at County College of MorrisDaniel Waxler, a resident of Dover, N.J., since 1954, died on Dec. 7, 2018 at the age of 98.
Born on Sept. 22, 1920 in Manhattan and raised in the Bronx, N.Y., Dan graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School and City College of New York with a degree in electrical engineering. He went on to earn two advanced degrees from Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute.
Dan worked as a civilian electrical engineer with the Department of the Navy, the Signal Corps and the Air Force, including the Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome, N.Y., where he met his future wife, Marcia Schwartz. He worked for the Army at Picatinny Arsenal from 1954 until he retired in 1981.
During the next 20 years, he worked as an adjunct professor in the math and physics departments at the County College of Morris and worked as the manager of the physics laboratory.
On Feb. 21, 1954 he married Marcia (Schwartz) Waxler, who survives him. Also he is survived by his daughter, Enid McDonough Green (Roger Green); a grandson, Ryan McDonough (Kathleen Culbertson McDonough); a granddaughter, Zoe McDonough, and a great-granddaughter, Angel Lynn McDonough, who was the light of his life; also, nieces and nephews, Jason Waxler (Laura), Dr. Roger Waxler (Priscilla), Richard Schwartz (Karen), Dr. Rhoda Cobin (David), Rabbi Arnie Fertig (Gail), and Edward Schwartz (JoAnn).
Funeral services will be held Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018, from 12 noon to 1 p.m. at Tuttle Funeral Home, 272 State Route 10 West, Randolph (www.tuttlefh.com). Interment at Dover Mt. Sinai Cemetery will follow.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations in Dan's memory be made to Adath Shalom Synagogue OR Dover Mt. Sinai Cemetery Association. Checks to either organization can be sent to 841 Mountain Way, Morris Plains, N.J. 07950.

Marcia (Schwartz) Waxler RIP

Marcia Waxler

May 8,1930 - March 31, 2020.

SUMMARY:

1) Harry's descendant???

2) Christine Jacobs is the granddaughter of Samuel Peterson Waxel who is the father of Grace Helen (Waxel) Jacobs, Christine's mother. She currently lives in Philadelphia, PA.(Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/christine.jacobs.733 ) DNA verified on 23andme.com .

3) Enid Waxler McDonough is the granddaughter of Herman Waxler who is the father of Daniel Waxler. She currently lives in New Hope, PA. (Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/enidmcd )

4) Carrie (Knoll) Berg, MD is the granddaughter of Celia Waxler who is the mother of Esther Escovitz. She is a pediatrician in Southern California. https://www.choc.org/providers/carrie-knoll-md/

5) Howard Liff is the grandson of Anna (Waxler) Liff who is the mother of Walter Liff. He currently lives in Cincinnati, OH. (Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/howard.liff )

6) Judi Stutz is the granddaughter of Joseph Pierpont Stutz who is the father of Alfred Stutz. She currently lives in Tustin, CA.(Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/judi.stutz ) DNA verified on 23andme.com .

A great article about foreclosure and how it effected one family in Southern California...

A great article about foreclosure and how it effected one family in Southern California...

The Never Ending Foreclosure

Job Progress Report 5/10

Today is May 10th and I'm 46 days into my resignation and things are looking up in the jobs department at Me.Inc.:

• I got a haircut
• I've brushed up my resume
• Updated my LinkedIn profile to include my notary commission as self employment
• Joined monster, careerbuilder, branded.me
• Multiple recruiters are in play 
• Hiring managers have requested my resume
• Recruiters are emailing/calling

I've tried to keep an open mind about what skills I have and how they can be applied to roles other than mortgage loan post closing. With that being said, I developed an administrative assistant resume with a role in mind with a large local employer. Also, I was contacted about a reports analyst job at a medical insurance company (which is attractive to me because everybody needs medical insurance but not everyone is in the position to obtain a home loan), so I'm brushing up on my Excel skills.

And even while I was typing up this blog post, I got a call from another recruiter asking me if I wanted to interview for a Correspondent Purchasing position. Now I understand why that company is the way it is if they are contacting people to interview for roles they need to fill with zero experience, hiring them at a lower salary because of that fact, and then when they go through their trial by fire and fail, bloop, they get canned and the role becomes open again shortly. I feel like I dodged a bullet.

It's also 8 days from my departure date to be with my family for my uncle's memorial. A decidedly somber event. I think we all agree that his passing was sad but also blessing having witnessed him living with Alzheimer's disease and watching his slow demise. 

W/e 03/20/16

My head is in a bunch of different places this Sunday morning.

I've received papers in the mail to execute in order to releave my obligation to the timeshare condo I bought and don't choose to maintain anymore. That's good news. It's value went from the high of $7k which was what I paid in 1999 down to today's assessor's value of $502. It's value is so low now, the county doesn't even bother to send the tax bill anymore.

I'm contemplating whether or not I want to stay at my job. I've gained ReverseVision, HECM, FHA, Ginnie Mae and advanced MS Excel experience in the seven months since I've started. There was a sobering statistic disclosed at the last Operations town hall which stated sadly only 33 percent of staff were there for over one year. An audible gasp came from the audience. Being #1 comes at a cost having to deal with the sheer volume which makes it hard to attract and retain employees, not to mention favoritism. So between now and June will be the time for me to either figure out where I fit in or find a new job. And the latter is looking more attractive. The stress is so palpable, my eyelids twitch just thinking about the place and I hate that.

So I'm really looking forward to the week's vacation I put in for even though it has it's own level of stress and sorrow built in. In 58 days, I'll be in New York with my family for Uncle Frank's memorial.

Last weekend, I bought supplies to build another two raised planting beds on my patio. I almost killed the tomato plants I bought drying them out without watering them for a week. they seem to come back to life after being drenched on Friday and Saturday. I have more coming up where they the cherry tomato plants were last year, now the where the peas are planted.

And then I was thinking... 02/16/16

They say the essentials we all need are food, shelter and clothing. [...and then the government taxes us for what they provide while we provide some sort of existence/life for our ourselves and our families. Paid taxes in 2015 for the first time in a while.]

But as I was walking back to my home after driving home from work, it hit me that these things are driven by money, emotions, and comfort.

One's ability to earn enough money could either raise or lower the emotional state resulting in a level of comfort in life. Personality and education back it up. Health, whether it be physical or mental is controllable to a certain extent, but for the most part, your health outcome is in the genes you get from your parents. You get what you get healthwise, from genetics, unless you smoke, drink, or take/abuse drugs and food and don't choose to move your body in vigorus ways to help build muscle and remove the toxins then the results or the lack thereof - you did to yourself and your genes did it to you. [Yes, I have Crohn's disease, but changing jobs has changed my commute and my stress level is down due to less of a commute, up to new surrounding and standards to get re-acquainted with on job tasks I'm already familiar with and working for a manager that actually cares to manage, but change is good.]

And then I was thinking, that,  "Isn't it enough to be a good person?" ...as I drive home on the "freeway" in this car, with this amazing horsepower as I grasp the steering wheel, this conveyance I'm seated in, that others, too, are seated in as we travel to our destinations and in my mind's eye/imagination- the exterior of the cars melted away and all people commuting on the freeway were seated floating in a dimly glowing interior blue light with powertrain and frame assuming the driving position with hands on their steering wheels, no upholstery with tires-this technology that really hasn't changed all that much in over 100 years [but to make it faster, safer, use less gas, or another fuel, but really at what cost to our environment if the power to make that alternate fuel was derived from fossil fuel?] and when we as humans end up using up all of the fossil fuels this world has, would we then need to worry about the need to expand our roadways or instead how they scarred the earth, contributed to global warming and how they'll need to be deconstructed?

No, it's not enough to be a good person if you're not exhibiting that goodness for someone else other than yourself to recognize, witness and benefit from. Hence we reward the leaders in their field - whatever they may be and punish those who don't meet society's expectations of what is good and right and true and sometimes - most of the time - logical.

If people were forced to work and live only within the areas that their feet could carry them, how many could? Could one's life be richer and still not have to worry financially?

And to think the fact that management tools are being rolled out to my team tomorrow. And I'm so excited, I can't sleep.

My Uncle Frank passed away tonight. I'm glad I got to know him before Alzheimer's took it's toll on his daily life. He taught me to take care of the people and the things you love and the rest will work itself out. This weekend, to honor his lifelong love of plants, I'll be planting flowers and tending to the cherry tomato plants that made it through the winter cold. Rest in peace, Uncle Frank. You will be missed.

Happy Christmas 2015

As a result of my son working black Friday, he received a 25% off voucher so I decided to take advantage of that discount and bought an xbox with Kinect, a year games with gold subscription for xbox, ooma, new cable modem so I don't have to rent one from TimeWarner Cable anymore, and a mattress topper. Merry Christmas to me.

I also switched out the cable box with dvr because it had an issue with turning on we were struggling with for awhile. Now, maybe it was just us moving the remote too soon to the coffee table before it was switched on fully or maybe it was the level of crap on the coffee table preventing the signal from getting to the cable box in the first place, but anyway, the new box is smaller and sleeker and comes with a better menu. Last weekend, I was able to turn in the two cable modems and turn off the phone with TimeWarner since my number porting operation was completed with ooma earlier that week.

Wednesday, we had a pot luck at work. I brought in a 4-flavor variety cake from the Walmart bakery and picked up a dozen tamales from a local mexican bakery (Yelp Review #1026 & First Review #147) because someone who was let go from another team had noted those on the pot luck sign-up sheet. I also brought in a bag of mandarin oranges for my team for an extra shot of vitamin C to stave off the colds and flu we have been passing around the office. Way too many people have been sneezing and sniffling this season. I need to get a jumbo bottle of hand sanitizer going again on my team since we handle the files after at least five other groups handle them (set-up, processing, funding, closer, underwriter) and it's a proven fact that paper harbors germies, especially paper money.

I was let off work at 3PM yesterday, forgot the gifts I received on my desk (santa bear, itunes gift card, Starbucks gift card, snack container, tea cup and saucer and a bunch of candy canes) and the leftover cake when security was doing their sweep of the building, and made my way to the local Albertson's before heading home where there were a ton of shoppers gathering foodstuffs for the holiday. I don't remember the parking lot being so full since... probably Thanksgiving. My own shopping basket held a Foster Farms turkey breast, chicken strips, corned beef, crescent rolls, biscuits, pie crusts and sage sausage.

Breaking tradition, I actually prepared Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. Roasted Turkey breast, roasted rosemary carrots, mashed potatoes and gravy. Banana Bread for dessert.

When I got home, I checked the freezer while putting away the groceries for the mixed vegetables and found none. It appears my son is the human vegetable vacuum. So it seems I need turkey gravy, said mixed vegetables and mayo (it's expired 11 days ago) to get through the weekend.

A side note: I love the fact that I earn enough to not worry about paying my bills, but especially not having to worry about what I spend at the grocery store. I basically get what I want when I want it. I guess that helps to satisfy, on some level in my life, my need for spontaneity.  

So my Christmas morning started with me turning on BBC America to watch the Dr Who marathon and working on some crochet.

I'm thinking about making monkey bread this morning while the Disney xmas parade is on.

Happy New Year!

I took time off of work since the 1st hoping that my wrist would feel good enough in order for me to complete the flooring project, but that thought seems like the joke's on me to get that project done. I'm still wearing the splint all the time (except in the shower) and I have a follow-up appointment with the orthopedist on 01/06.

On 01/05, I'm renewing my notary commission. It's an all day affair with state mandated education seminar and then a proctored exam immediately afterwards.

I stayed up New Years Eve and watched the ball drop on tv trying to stay warm. It actually snowed in Southern California the night before so I had to crank up the heat to be comfortable.

Stephen decided to walk home from work in the worst storm of the year and he's been sick ever since.They've been passing around the flu at his work for weeks.

For Christmas, while running Stephen to work and then picking him up at the wee hours of the morning because Walmart was open 24 hours a day between Thanksgiving and Christmas ans he was working graveyard, I bought a Sam ham fir the first time. And I'm happy to say it was pretty good. After eating on it for three days, Stephen made 16 bean soup out of the rest of it in the crock pot.

Before Christmas, I sent my couch, club chair and ottoman to the upholsterers because I couldn't stand the peeling top grain leather anymore. The set was in good shape otherwise. The fabric choice I made from their swatch book turned out to be discontinued and I really didn't like their alternate suggestions (not to mention the $18 per yard price tag), so I took it upon myself to locate and buy upholstery fabric I liked. It was something I've never had to do before, so I did some research online and found three of the biggest, oldest places to investigate. On my first try, I went to Dorrel Fabrics and found a great one for $15 a yard and bought the whole roll and dropped it off at Pete's a week ago at my lunch hour. A few days later, Eddie texts says the are working on the sofa asking me asking about the side details, and I said forget them. I can't wait to get it back.

Things that aren't here anymore

PBS is a wonderful thing. Recently, they have been showing a two show series called, "Things that aren't here anymore" as well as "More things that aren't here anymore" chronicling businesses and landmarks that are long gone in around the general Los Angeles area.

Sometimes, when I find an address on a U.S. Census or other genealogy record, I'll look it up on Google Maps. Which got me to thinking, "What would people see if they look up the places where I lived?" in the future.

Well, when it comes to the addresses where I grew up, they're not going to see much. The first three houses I lived in for any significant amount of time were razed.

7410 Tokay was a 5 and a half acre rancho with a one bedroom house at the front of the property with no neighbors to the north, none across the street and one to the south - The Beers, who also had a farm when I lived there. After my dad sold to a contractor, the property was developed into a subdivision.

The years my mother decided to rent a room from other people, I really don't consider those places to have been my homes. The places we lived on Redwood and on Grammercy Place in Riverside were not ours and felt very temporary to me.

8412 Alder was, I believe, the original house to the double lot.  The garage was converted to the living room by the time I l lived there. A workshop and an additional home at the back of the lot were as old as the house I lived in. This house was razed (which I'm glad it was because it and the attached cellar were haunted.)

14966 1/2 Randall was a home behind another home accessible by a driveway to the left of the main house. After a fire years after I moved away, the house was razed.

The last house I lived in before moving to Orange County 22 years ago still exists, but instead of the backyard looking out onto a field, that field is now an elementary school.

The one thing I wanted so much for my son, that my mother could not seem to provide for me and my brother, was a stable home life as we moved every 3-4 years when growing up. If home is where the heart is, mine is where I bought my own and no one can take away the feelings homeownership has brought me.

Which is probably why I get a cold feeling when thinking about where I grew up and even going to my high school reunion. It's been 30 years since my high school graduation and I don't see the need to look back and reminisce.

Buying a Feeling of Closeness or The Stuff We Leave Behind When We Die

So my cousin Tina posts this photo of a bunch of random jewelry...

... but there is this golden heart with the letter "J" inside of it, so I know it's from my Aunt Jane. And I bought it. Best $25 I ever spent?

Sadness

The last time I blogged here, little did I know that my Aunt Jane's fight for life was over due to the ravages of diabetes. This is the message I received on Facebook from my cousin Cate...

               "Judi... hopefully this will reach you...Your Aunt Jane has died. She had a stroke a 

                   week and a-half ago and slipped into a coma on the 26th. She was brain dead last

                   Friday (May 3rd), and they removed her feeding tube at that  time. She died 2AM 

                   Wednesday(May 8th)."

This is very much how my father died. And it bothers me that such a little thing as elevated blood sugar can do so much damage to the body. It bothered me so much that I talked to my new doctor when I had my initial consultation after I changed over to Kaiser health insurance. You know what he said after I discussed my family's history diabetes?

                                          "Don't get fat, don't get fat, don't get fat!" 

If it's as simple as that for most American's, why aren't we more vigilant about what we eat and staying active after 40?

When I got back to work after hearing the news, I told my manager who then said that I've got to go back to New York for the funeral and out of my mouth came, "It's my family, I've got to." After all, Aunt Jane made the effort to come to my mom's memorial, so I had to attend hers.

I flew into Newark Airport (EWR) on Sunday. It took two hours driving in the dark to get to Poughkeepsie. On Monday, I drove up to Red Hook to visit my mom's/grandparent's grave site and pulled the vines off of the headstones. I thought about collecting more photos of headstones, but I really wasn't into it on that day, so I left my camera in the car and headed back to the hotel, but not before going to the grocery store for provisions.

Tuesday was the funeral. I stayed downtown, so the funeral home wasn't too far from the hotel.  It was very Catholic and with the splashing of the holy water onto the corpse, her priest said a few poignant things plus verses from the Bible and then read what my cousin Tina wrote. After that, whomever wanted to follow the casket in the procession line to the cemetery did so, minding the traffic signals, but still driving behind the hurst with our emergency blinkers on. Aunt Jane is buried with Uncle Frank who passed in 2002 in section 24 in the back rows of St. Peter's Cemetery in Poughkeepsie, NY.

Wayne and Tina arrange for a meal at a local private boating club on the banks of the Hudson River. We stayed and talked a bit, but really I was kind of in a daze from the jet lag and time change

Suddenly...

Jane Marie Fulford Metrando

July 7, 1929 - May 8, 2013

Suddenly, I found myself on the receiving end of a Facebook message from my cousin telling me my Aunt Jane had passed away. I don't know why, in all of my family discussions, everyone always referred to her as 'my' aunt, but she was. First born of four girls. The one in the family that lived her life on her terms in more ways than one. My mother's oldest sister.

Suddenly, I found myself saying those same words to my manager who then replied, "She's family- you have to go (to the funeral in New York)". There was no question in my mind I had to go because Aunt Jane gave at least that respect to my mother when her ashes were buried in New York in 2010, I just didn't see myself traveling back to the east coast so soon after vacationing in Virginia with my Aunt Tressa and Uncle Frank six short week ago.

Just as suddenly, thirty minutes online and a credit card placed my trip in motion. Plane tickets to Newark, a Hertz rental car, a room in Poughkeepsie.

I flew in on Sunday. Visited my mother's grave on Monday and pulled some vines off of my grandparents adjacent headstone. Went to the funeral on Tuesday. Flew back home on Wednesday.

My 2013 Vacation in Virginia

If you asked me ten years ago where I wanted to go on vacation, Virginia probably would not have been on my mind. My aunt and uncle live here though in the Shenandoah River Valley and they were always telling to me come and visit them so here I am. I flew in on Saturday and coming from California, that took the better part of the first day. I woke up at 4AM to get to the airport by 5AM to get a the plane by 6:30AM for a flight at 7AM. I didn't want to drive to the airport, so a friend from work took me to LAX. In the dark. On a Saturday morning when she could have been sleeping. That's what friends are for. The plane experienced turbulence over Illinois and near where I landed at Dulles. It made my stomach a little queasy. After almost six hours on the plane, the landing at Dulles was easy. The airport is modern and has a high speed shuttle to take you from the gates to the terminal. Once your bags are collected at the luggage carousel, all you have to remember is who you rented your car from and find where to stand on the curb to catch the shuttle bus to where the rental car terminal is. Rent your car, find it in their parking lot, and you're off!

Driving from the airport to Winchester took maybe 40 minutes? I had to stop and get something to drink because I was thirsty from the long flight.

So I got in on Saturday and they fed me. I got up on Easter Sunday and they fed me. And we had an early dinner of ham, three veggies and tea. I was so full... These seniors eat way too much way too often. They are so sweet and so retired. They are in their 80's and don't volunteer much anymore. Tressa makes things to sell at the craft fairs around town. She handed me the instructions sheet for Star Pot Mat. Guess what I know how to make now?

STAR POT MAT

Three skeins of yarn, 4 ply worsened weight.
variegated (4 rounds)
white (3 rounds)
Your choice of solid color (3 rounds)

Directions:
Using variegated colored yarn:
Chain 8, slst, chain 2
Round 1 - dc 15 times into ring, slst
Round 2 - *chain 21, skip one st on ring and join in next st of ring. Repeat from * 8 times. Slst.
Round 3 - 10 sc, then * 3 sc in next stitch, 20 sc, 3 sc in next stitch. Repeat from * 7 times, 10 sc.
Round 4 - Continue to sc and when you reach a star point, 3 sc in same st.
Round 5 - Continue to sc and when you reach a star point, 3 sc in same st.
Round 6 - Continue to sc, and when you reach a star point, 3 sc in same st. End variegated colored yarn.
Round 7 - Yarn on white. Continue to sc and when you reach a star point, 3 sc in same st.
Round 8 - Continue to sc, and when you reach a star point, 3 sc in same st.
Round 9 - Continue to sc, and when you reach a star point  3 sc in same st. End white yarn. Shape work to look like an 8 point star
Round 10 - Yarn on solid color, then  * 7 stitches from point of star then sc, and when you reach a star point  3 sc in same st. Sc in next 7 st, sc [repeat from * seven times]. Slst onto first solid color st.
Round 11 - sc in each st, and when you reach a star point, 3 sc in same st.
Round 12 - sc in each st, and when you reach a star point, 3 sc in same st. End solid colored yarn.

I was feeling a little stir crazy on Easter Sunday night with the rainy and cold weather, and not knowing where I was going, I drove around until I found a grocery store that was open (Food Lion) and picked up some things. I also bought two VA scratchers at $5 a piece and won $10. Made my money back.

On 04/01, I went to the visitor's center: http://www.visitwinchesterva.com/visitor-info/visitor-center

I went to Stonewall Jackson's home and took the docent led tour with my uncle. Tressa stayed in the car knitting because she didn't feel like negotiating all those steps. I bought a $10 ticket and then later found out they were across the driveway from the visitor's center.

http://www.winchesterhistory.org/society_museums.htm

After that, we decided to take a drive out of town, but before doing so, because by then it was noon, we stopped for lunch and ate at Perkins. I found the food to be very much like Coco's. They offer a 2 or 3 item lunch special. I had the chicken noodle soup and lemon meringue pie, and tressa and frank split a 3 item special - frank had the tuna melt and tressa had the loaded potato soup and split her salad with frank. The bill for three people was less than $20.

Then I drove with them over to the arboretum. They had an herb garden I walked through that looked pretty shabby right after the end of winter. I picked a few leaves of sage and lavender and put them in my pocket. They also have a driving tour of the property which we took. Afterwards, my guts were so shaken, I had to stop the car again and parked across from the herb garden in order to walk to the office building to where the restrooms was. It was a good thing they were there. OK, then we tooled on down the road to Milltown, but the mill building there was closed for renovation. I quickly ran around the building and took some pictures and got back into the car because it was a cold, blustery day.

We drive through Milltown, which is actually older than Winchester and not much of a town at all, and then went back to the house. That was outing for the day. And then we ate again. And I made another star pot mat. I'm on my third one now.

This Halloween is not like all the others

My thoughts and prayers go out to all those on the East coast dealing with the effects of Hurricane Sandy.

The greater tri-state area was hit hard. Some places harder than hard. Some people lost everything. The NYC MTA was crippled by the flooding. The stock market was closed for two days.

I worry about the youth of today...

I worry about the youth of today, but specifically my son. I mean, I don't remember being so motivated to get a job immediately after graduating from high school either, but this is ridiculousness happening at my house. It's been 5- almost 6 years now and he's been in community college for maybe 18 months during that time and he had a job for a while until there was a management change and they fired him because the bitch couldn't seem to schedule him when he wasn't in class. At least he doesn't have that grandiose sense of entitlement that lots of people seem to have, but I don't know what else I can do to light a fire under his ass to get him to become motivated.

So I get home and I get bullshit from him as to what he's done with his day, so I hop on line and crank open my fave job aggregator - juju.com , and start looking for jobs he's qualified for near the house. There are jobs listed for Sprout's, Kohl's, others. I ask if he's applied and he says "no". And I'm like if I can find these jobs, I don't understand why you can't. I think he just doesn't want to work. And as long as I'm paying for everything he needs, why should he?

I'm eating out more and staying home less. I'm trying to get some exercise after work. Ignoring the problem is not making it go away, it's just not on my last nerve as much as it could be. I've threatened to confiscate the computer equipment in his room, but that didn't do anything and takes too much effort. I think I just need to kill the internet. Because what do you do when the internet is down but sleep, read or go outside. I told him I want to move closer to work by the end of the year so he's going to have to either be able to pay for half of the rent or move out. I want my craft room. I want to rent the place to get a positive cash flow out of it because my mortgage is so low.

Vacation day 3, October 10th

It's Columbus Day! Yeah!

I'm up early again. I decided to partake in the free breakfast that's offered at this hotel. It's served in the breakfast room across the hall from the check-in counter.

It's a meatless breakfast. You can make your own waffles, they have biscuits and gravy, bagels, danish, yogurt and fruit cups, oatmeal, two choices of cold cereal and 2%, coffee, tea and juice. I was able to pull together a meal of a couple pieces of wheat toast with spread and apple jelly, a fruit cup and to drink a cup of coffee with three sugars, no creamer and a half a cup of orange juice.

I grabbed an apple for the road.I also picked up a hotel directory and a brochure for the Mohegan Sun Indian Casino in the lobby on the way up to my room.

So the goal today was get to Waterbury, CT, because, hey, I screwed up the hotel reservations in Fishkill, NY and shorted myself one day because I honestly did not know how long it would take to get from Brockton, MA. Guess, what? It takes four hours. So, I somehow found the nearest hotel, Courtyard by Marriott, to this place called Library Park that, so I was told, had headstones in it. Possibly a Fulford headstone in the park of this guy:

Name       Lt. Gershom Fulford, F416, M
Birth Date      1701
Birth Place     of Waterbury, New Haven Co., Connecticut
Death Date      7 Jan 1790 Age: 89
Death Place     Watertown, New Haven Co., Connecticut
Occupation      Blacksmith
Flags           Military
Father          Abraham Fulford , M (~1675-)
Mother          Phebe Clark , F (1675-1717)

Yep, that's one of my ancestors, my 6th great grandfather. He was a Lieutenant and fought in the French and Indian War from 1754 to 1763. But since it's a federal holiday, everything in the downtown area is closed. I took a walk to the park where the headstones are supposed to be, but I honestly think they are not there anymore. there were some knuckleheads along the wall I was supposed to look at, but I'm thinking the stones were move or removed due to their deterioration.

I located a German Fine dining restaurant at Dreschers but I was devastated to learn they are not open for dinner on Mondays.

I thought I was going to go on the hunt for my 6th great grandfather in the biggest library I can find in Waterbury while I'm here before driving the last two hours to Fishkill, but decided on doing more online research instead. On the city's website, it named someone from the Silas Bronson Library as he city historian. I've decided to contact her.

My Aunt Tressa called last night to tell me that my cousin Debbie just had a baby and that I should visit her in LaGrange since she's off work. More family time. Yeah!

Vacation day 2, Oct 9th

Vacation day 2, Oct 9th:

I took my time getting up and getting acclimated to the time change before driving down to New Bedford to meet my cousin Debra, her boyfriend Ed and her kids Chelsea and Brittany. Debra is a ministry assistant and I'm not churchy, so I didn't want to impede on her Sunday too much. The kids, who are actually college age, were working at iparty.com at the South Dartmouth Mall. iparty happens to be the east coast competition/equivalent to Party City. We sat and talked and watched football. We have so much in common as people but not so much in life experiences.


I can't say that it's an interesting fact that many of the men on the Stutz side of the family are estranged, but it is noteworthy. More and more I'm thinking that is has to do with a strong sense of French heritage. C'est La Vie. But that'a just my theory.

Debbie took me to St Mary's Cemetery in New Bedford where my grandmother was buried, but we couldn't locate the headstone. I'm not surprised. She hasn't been back in two years since the funeral. We then drove to 270 Shaw Street, the childhood home of Bernie. It's a two unit property. All of them on that street are. Then Debbie took me to see Dorothy Aguiar at 330 Query Sreet. She's 76 years old and still lives in her family home, though her parents has long sense pasted away. She's pretty deaf, but still talks. Everyone says she's a little off. Her front door was plastered with bumper stickers. Ed lives in the area so he sees her frequently walking around the neighborhood.

We came back to Debbie's house, said our good-byes to Ed and then took off to pick-up her daughters from work. After, Debbie took all of us to dinner at Friendlys. Debbie is on a high protein diet and mine is non-dairy so I struggled but found a dish I could eat Teriyaki chicken stir fry.

How I spent my summer vacation 2011

My summer vacation blog entry has been postponed until October. One day will be about burying my mother's ashes next to her parents in Red Hook. The rest of the time is mine to do what I want. I'm taking two weeks off work.

JetBlue.com states that with a 2 hour layover in Seattle, I will get to Boston 2 hours eariler than if I flew directly to JFK. O.K., I'm game because the experience of flying with JetBlue is supposed to be nice. So then I'm an hour away from my cousin Debbie. Since I'll be landing at about 9:30PM east coast time, and having flown all day, I'll pick up my rental car and stay at a hotel in Boston. Sunday morning, I'll drive to Debbie's house meeting her after church. Family time. I want to do as much "meet & greet" with family as well as geneology research as I can while on the east coast, so coordinating all of that has been a big part of my plans. I'll be visiting MA, CT, and NY.

There is something weird going on with my aunts and I'm not quite sure what it is. Tressa and Grace talk but not to their oldest sister, Jane. Tressa was written out of her mother's will. Grace took care of my grandma until she passed away and was buried with grandpa in Red Hook and that's where my moms ashes are going to be placed because that was my mom's wish and she was a heir. I'll be dealing with that drama while there. I also have to do a speech at the event which I'm not looking forward to. I realize no one really knows me and I can say anything I want, really. It's more for them than for me. If they only knew some of the crappy things my mom did to me and my brother when we were kids, but now that she's dead, does it really matter that much? I have a theme and I think I'm going to read from the bible psalms 34 since that was the year she was born. What the hell.

The day after the remembrance, I'm flying on JetBlue again from Newburgh to Orlando to go to Disneyworld/Epcot. I'll have a day and a half there and then fly home on Jet Blue for the 3rd time Saturday. I've got to have some fun while on vacation...

No Rain

The weather this week has been strange. Yesterday, it was cold as hell - in Southern California standards, that is. It was in the high 40's to the low 50's last night. High school friends living in Yucaipa complained of the snow ruining their fruit trees. That alone makes me glad I left. I hate being cold. I visited the snow just once as a little kid. I can't remember who took me, but I think it was my mom. She pulled off of the road and I remember getting out of the car and my feet crunching in the newly fallen snow, then the cold hit me and I was done. My day in the snow took all of 10 minutes.

Today, it's bright and sunny. My one cat was so happy she could go outside again, she talked me into it. I lounged on the chaise on my patio in the sun for awhile. It got too hot for yesterday's uniform I threw on again this morning... white Mickey Mouse sweatshirt, grey sweatpants and powder blue Uggs.

Beginning on Monday, work goes into overdrive. There was a final vote on Friday and the vote was go-go to move the vast majority of our first lien mortgage loan servicing activities to another company. I've already marked FHA loans as such. I think we're getting a whopping 22 days total to get it accomplished. My manager asked about my vacation plans again and I told him I'm coordinating with my cousins to make the trip. Vacationing in NewYork. I think I will be traveling there right before Octoberfest in Germantown. Something to look forward to besides trolling for headstones of my ancestors.

[Photo Credit: Dominic Grisafe, April 2011]

It's a tree, it's a tree, a big old frickin tree

The more I research my family tree, the more ancestors I find in the state of New York. I've been working on my family tree for over 15 years now. The majority of that has been online.

Today, I wanted to blog about my find because it was substantial. I found a distant relative that is as passionate about genealogy and posted his tree online. But it wasn't just the tree, it was photos, too. A name is just a name until you can see a photo and then that name has a face and that is a find. In the process, I located an obituary that he needed and sent him a copy to fill in the blanks of a relative that was just a name and no details to him.

That's what genealogy is all about really, the details of life. You are born, you live here and there, events in your own live changes others lives and life goes on.