Rootstech 2024

Today at RootsTech, I was at home while participating in a Notables Project Q and A for Wikitree live on their YouTube channel.

There's a first time for everything.

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 .

Genealogy In The News

Genealogy In The News:


In Tacoma, Washington:

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-forgotten-paupers-cemetery-20160829-snap-story.html

In San Francisco, California:

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-miranda-metal-casket-girl-identified-20170509-htmlstory.html

... and the thing I learned. In California, if a cemetery is 200 or more years dormant, the land can be reused again. I did not know this. So it's important for posterity to document these gravesites headstones on websites like FindAGrave.com so that the final resting place is a true public record and not just facts waiting to be rediscovered sitting in a file cabinet in some government facility.

The randomness of life or is it?

I woke up early this morning, turned on the tv to KCET and Rick Steve's was taking me through a tour of Holland. And I looked down at the laptop at the latest profile I was working with on wikitree.com and the surname was Hotaling - it's a Dutch name. I'm part Dutch.

The Dutch settled in New York..

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.

Chicago - bite me

I went to Chicago on vacation to do some genealogy work, but what I got instead was to experience a mini-Los Angeles. Mind boggling parking, hours worth of traffic going to and from the city and a mass transit system I just couldn't really grasp in the four short days I was there.

I flew in on Wednesday to O'Hare from Long Beach. I stayed miles from the city, in a suburb called Arlington Heights in a nice business class hotel thanks getting getting a sweet deal from hotels.com. I rented a car from Hertz because it appeared as though that's what I needed to do to get around. I think the next time if I ever go there again, I will get a hotel near a train station, take the hotel shuttle or a cab from from the airport to the hotel and then hoof it after taking the train to downtown. I mean, its about the only way to avoid the city's horrible parking/ traffic situation.

On the night I landed in town, I rushed over to the hotel and checked in and then drove over to the Niles Public Library in order to attend a book lecture on "Oldest Chicago". I love trivia and I thought this would be a nice introduction to the city. I bought a book and the author signed it for me. Nice.

The publisher of the book, Lake Claremont Press, is located in Chicago and also has published other local interest books like for graveyards, history of city, and how to manage genealogy searches. I'm not sure how helpful the first two might be, but I'm thinking about picking up a copy of the third one.

 I ate dinner at Johnnie's down the street from my hotel. They are known for the Italian sandwiches there. I had a one Italian with sweet (grilled green bell) peppers and then I got to slather on as much mustard as I liked. I also ordered a Pepsi. The sandwich was big enough to where you ordering fries would be kind of like a waste of time. It's unique, it's good, and they don't really sell them in California. It's kind of like a roast beef sandwich but different.

The next day, I went to the Sulzer Regional Library and they were really nice about giving me a guest library card for my genealogy research. They didn't even ask to see my drivers license, or if they did, I don't remember.

Then I tried driving into town to find parking so I could do some touristy things, but to no avail. Lots of street closures and I guess there is this weird underground parking which kind of freaked me out. So I ended up driving through town twice, then sick of the bad traffic I headed back to the hotel. Three hours later...

I ate dinner at Mitsuwa at the food court establishment called "MAMA House". It's Korean food and I got the BulGoKI. It was tasty and filling.

Friday, I ate lunch with some my credit union co-workers in the Chicago office and met all of the people I've been emailing for a while now. I discussed my genealogy research with a few of the managers. I dropped an entire plate of take-out Italian food on one of the managers floors. The styrofoam just didn't hold up. I scooped it all up and then threw it in the trash and went and got a few things and move back into the office.

One of the managers volunteered his service to take a picture of a gravestone for me if and when I can find it- HAHA. I honestly do not think he comprehends what he's volunteered himself for. If there's an online index somewhere, I'm going to find it.

After that, I went to another book store wanting to see if the had more books on genealogy or Chicago. At Half Price Books, I did, however, find two Lion Brand Yarn books, one on making socks and the other on making hats, so those were cool finds.

I slept like shit the entire time I was on +2 hours. The room was quiet and the bed was fine, it was the time change I couldn't get used to. So normally I get up at 5AM weekdays. My body was telling me to wake up at 3:30AM all week. So I'd stay up until I fell back asleep and then when I woke up again, by that time, I missed the continental breakfast offered by hotel. Nice, huh? I participated one morning. Memo: don't eat banana nut muffins on vacation. I did not feel good after consuming those. I'm sure they were fine for anyone else but me... they were probably made with dairy in the recipe.

On Saturday morning, I got ready, packed up and checked out of the hotel. No trip to the mid-west would be complete without a stop at While Castle so I drove to Palatine to eat a #1 (4 burgers just like the ones you buy at the grocery store, a french fries and a drink) on the way to go outlet shopping at Huntley Premium Outlet on I90 off of ILL Route 47 before my plane flight going home. My educated guess would be that center is 40% full of tenants. The Van Heusen store is huge compared to the one I shop at at The Citadel in Commerce.

After I could shop no more because my luggage was full, I drove back to O'Hare giving myself three hours before my departure time to deal with the bad traffic around the airport on Saturday, having to turn in my rental car and getting shuttled back to the airport, and the TSA lines which I generally loathe. It was nice to find out that the lines are not particularly long and they make an effort to keep them moving.

I had a Crohn's attack on the flight which was both humiliating and horrifying at the same time and since I check my baggage, I didn't have with me what I needed to deal with it. Since I had extra time in the terminal after turning on the rental car, I should of went to the restroom immediately before getting on the plane because I hate to use those airplane toilets. I went once when I got into the terminal after going through the security line, but then I walked the terminal and then found a seat to catnap until it was time to board the plane. What a nightmare.

After I got home, I found out that my pink hard-sided suitcase was opened and searched by the TSA because they left me a flyer letting me know they did so. Thanks, but next time you go and search my bags, fucking close the shampoo and conditioner bottles please.

Monday, I went over to my ex-mother in-laws house and she started to show me all of these old photos of her family and I just couldn't stand to see them in disorganized piles any longer, so I suggested that we go to Wal-Mart and pick-up some scrap booking supplies so they can be preserved and not handled anymore. I mean, some of the photos were over 100 years old! $75 and about 6 hours later, one book is just about done. I sorted the photos as best I could and Linda arranged them on the sheet and tacked the corners down. We have another session planned for this Sunday to do the other book.

Vacation day 5, October 12th

It's Wednesday and I decided it's laundry day. I found the laundry room on the first floor of the Homestead Suites where I'm staying, but with the drier fee of $2 alone, I think I'll take my chances washing elsewhere. As I was getting ready to leave, I opened up the yellow pages I found in the top drawer of my kitchen and located a few in my area. The closest one travel wench couldn't find on Commonwealth. But I remembered from reading, that there were three in Newburgh, so I traveled over the Hudson not exactly knowing where I was going but with the goal of finding a laundrymat. I somehow made my way to Broadway. I found Snow White Laundrymat, but it was rusty, old, and had no vending machines for soap and dryer sheets. After my quick audit, I hopped back into my car and went to the next one. I found Newburgh Laundry World off of he corner of Fullerton and Broadway. *ting* tha will do. It was huge and had everything I needed complete with a Spanish speaking attendant. It was $2.50 to wash in the small commercial front loading machine. They had no top loaders. To dry, it was .25 cents for 8 minutes. I put in 4 quarters and waited. Once all of the folding was done, I decided to drive to the end of Broadway straight into the Hudson. Not really, but as I went towards the river, I found another historic marker and this one was about General George Washington. My son is related to him. Fancy. I have to check that out, but first I have to get back to the hotel for lunch. And then I never sent back. Yet. Here's the link to what I found on my excursion: http://www.nysparks.com/historic-sites/17/details.aspx

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.

It's back to Ireland

Michael Brown in Ireland is the equivalent of John Smith in the USA. Tons of them.

Getting the name of a relative is always exciting to me. Getting a name of a living relative is a big YEAH!

I talked to my Aunt Grace yesterday and she called to tell me that she found the deed to the grave where my grandparents are buried which means she can grant me authority to lay my mom's ashes to rest there. It was a weight that was lifted off of my shoulders.

The previous day, I had sent an email to my Aunt Tressa about visiting the area for the funeral.

So it's on. It's on. I need to pick a date and time and get with the mortuary about the stone marker and pay the fee. I'm thinking Wednesday,October 19th.

I told my boss at work that I'm taking two entire weeks off.I haven't had a real vacation since 2001 when I went to see my Uncle Arthur on my dad's side of the family and then drove down from Atlanta, GA area to see my Aunt Grace and Uncle Bob.

So, while I was drinking my hot black tea this morning trying to wake up because I'm got a shit load of things to do and the desire to do them, I started to poke at my family tree on Ancestry. Yesterday, they sent me another 'thank you' for correcting bad transcription. and I was trying to fill in the missing people for Joan Staub, but could not because she's a living relative in New York and that state is strict with it's privacy laws and genealogy. So I was looking a little farther back and  thought, "Hmmm I have a photo of Michael J. Brown, my 2nd great grandfather by marriage to Mary Florence Killmer who was the sister of Julia Ann Killmer, my maternal 2nd great grandmother". And looked at his parents info and decided they were both immigrants from Irish Free State somewhere between 1867 (when he was around age 20) and 1872 (a year before the birth of his first child in the US). They should be on the Ellis Island registry.

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.

Where's Sam?

I am in the process of researching my family tree. I started this project for my son who is an only child and doesn't have much contact with family since many live elsewhere. I wanted him to have a sense of connection to family even though he may not see them or know them personally.

During this journey of discovery, I found out my son related to George Washington. Yep, THAT George Washington, the father of our country. That was a big shocker. George's mom was a Ball and somewhere in the line a Ball married into the family who eventually migrated South during the Civil War and then West and because of the Crenshaw's and the Haas', my son has a whole slew of family specifically located in Texas.

But now, I'm looking at my father's side of the family. It seems many of the men in the family were transient and left for whatever reason or were lost track of which I find sad. I never knew my grandfather on my dad's side of the family who died in 1971 when I was 5 years old. My dad didn't know his father either. My grandfather was a lifer in the Army until his lack of hearing got in the way of him doing his job and then he was rejected during reenlisting. He was admitted to the U.S. National Homes for Disabled Volunteered Soldiers twice, in 1933 and 1935. And in reading the intake documents carefully, it seems my grandfather had a brother named Sam who lived in Cicero, Illinois.

So how do you find a man who doesn't want to be found? Like a puzzle, you find the pieces and put them back together paying attention to the clues that this type of research gives you.

The first thing I did when I found Sam's address was Google it. I wanted to see where this man lived or even if the house existed anymore. Unfortunately, the address doesn't not exists anymore. It's now a parking lot for a bankrupt grocery store called Delray Farms.

I then matched the address given as a contact, Sam's address, to the 1930's U.S. Census Records. This took some doing because I'm not familiar with the area nor working with census records all that much. I was able to track down an enumeration districts description page on the web which pointed me to the correct block. The address was found to be located in District 2038. The street address was 2308 South Cicero. There were two tenement houses filled with boarders that either worked for the electric works or the railroad which was right near by. Almost the whole neighborhood consisted of these types of housing in 1930. But as luck would have it, Sam didn't live in that specific house in 1930 and probably not for another three years...

Or, there is an alternate idea. I found a Sam Stutz in California. In San Diego County. This Sam Stutz was born in Illinois like my grandfather. This Sam Stutz gained a U.S. patented for a machine that sorted gold from slew. If he were an engineer, that would make sense since many of the Stutz's are big thinking people with highly technical jobs. I'm thinking that maybe my grandfather lost track of his brother and that the address he put down was old and Sam moved on a while ago. That would mean I may have undiscovered blood relatives as close as a two hour drive away I have never met before. It's exciting to think about if you're into genealogy to make a discovery like that. But one step at a time.

CA Supreme Courts uphold Prop. 8 Banning Same Sex Marriage

Read: CA Supreme Courts uphold Prop. 8 banning same sex marriage

My feelings stir when I heard about proposition this initially. I am a single mother of a 21 years old son. Even after all this time and the fact that I never married my son's father, it bothers me that same-sex relationships want the same rights as I have. Their situations are not the same and will never be.

Marriages were registered and regulated by the government for the social welfare of women and their natural born children. Outside of marriage, paternity existed to prove a man's relation to a child and named him at least a financially responsible party, as well as rules were established for inbreeding so that retardation and birth defects would be prevented. Without these, women and children became financial burdens upon society and had the ability to draw welfare payments from the government. And that was me. After being neglected then beat-up, once I was not living under the same roof as my boyfriend... the father of my child, I filed for welfare in order to take care of us. My son was 10 weeks old, paternity was established and I continued to collect a check until I was able to earn enough to support the both of us, which happened as he entered school. In a time when it was expected for women to take care of their family and not work at all, financial responsibility was crucial to the survival of family unit, even if it was a one parent home.

In the state of California, where civil union is recognized, where a third party must be utilized to bare children with at least one parents genes and adoption is carried out in this regard or to adopt a child outside of the relationship all together, why do same-sex relationships demand the equal availability to marriage? It's not about the right to bare legitimate children because that only can occur in a monogamous heterosexual relationship. It's only about the sentimental value of the ceremony itself and you can't go through the ceremony without a marriage license. Merriam-Webster's definition of family is (2a) a group of persons of common ancestry: clan. You marry, you consumate, then procreate. I tend to agree.

Now I know why I eat slow...

I always wondered why I ate so slow as compared to my mom or my friends. Maybe this is the answer. I'm a quarter French (Canadian) you know...

See: Sleeping and eating - the French do it best

Washington

Now that I have discovered that my son is related to George Washington, anytime the surname happens to pop-up into my life and I'm not actively searching it out, I stop to take a deeper look.

Last weekend in the Parade magazine that comes with the Sunday newspaper, there was an ad for Martha Washington's Cookbook. Intriguing.




(Click on the image to make it readable.)
The green highlighter is the genealogy noted in the article.

Yesterday, wow

Genealogy is a trippy thing. A friend of mine once told me I'm some kind of fricken United States royalty. Just like King Henry VIII in that Showtime series "The Tudors" I'm so engrossed in, I wish sometimes I was just so I could relieve this world of certain select individuals such as rapists, molesters, murders and the like. Only just beheadings would occur in my kingdom, but I digress. Many of my relatives came from England.

Lots of people I meet seem like shadows of the people they were, could be or should have been, including myself. I feel hiding away allows me to avoid their disappointment I feel when trying to relate on some kind of personal level. But I'm no better or worse than anyone. I'm just a collection of life's experiences, whatever they may be.

Yesterday, I found out I'm related to the father of our country... the first U.S. president General George Washington himself. Ironic that my son has had this intense craving for cherries from a young age, ehy? LOL

For people who live in Ohio

My dear friend in Ohio and my one avid blog reader was complaining to me that I'm babbling on about the Tudors and he doesn't understand why. It's a series on Showtime cable. But it means more than just entertainment to me because, you see, I went to high school with Candy Stuart who is a direct decendant of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots. Mary Stuart had dealings with Elizabeth I, the daughter of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, and the show that I've been watching is primarily about them. And I'm into genealogy and I love watching this kind of stuff, so I think it's cool.

Click on the image above to make it bigger.
Pedigree courtesy of Wikipedia