Pink vs. Blue

Pink and Blue are two seemingly ordinary colors in the crayon spectrum that have special meaning for parents and babies everywhere. It's pretty well understood that little girls are swaddled in pink, and baby boys are wrapped in blue. 

However, it hasn't always been this way. 

Prior to World War II babies would have been dressed in the opposite color as they are today. 

It's true!

Red was thought of as an inherently masculine color, and any color that was a derivative of red was a color for men. Even little baby men. That meant maroon, and even pink were men's colors.

Blue was thought of to be a delicate, and beautiful color fit for a girl; one fit for a little lady. This was in part because of flowers like blue bells. 

Today when a couple wants to decorate their nursery in neutral colors they use green and yellow. Back in the pre-WWII days, couples would use blue and pink. That just sounds adorable! 

This interesting information lends to the question, well why did this change?

In large part it was because of the WWII imagery and propaganda of Rosie the Riveter in her factory blues, and how that image changed into the June Clever in a pink dress. When Rosie conquered at the factory in blue, and then held her homestead while in a pink dress, the color ideology altered.

What does this have to do with family history?

Any ancestor you have on your tree that was born in America prior to WWII would have been wrapped in a different color than babies are today. So, great-great-great grandpa was a pink baby boy- how cute is that? 

This is a great event to add to your family history timeline. 

Look through your family tree and see which family members would have been dressed in pink or blue. 

(All facts from this article can be seen here.)

Happy Hunting! 

Maple Leaf Rag

"Ragtime, which emerged in the 1890s, was composed music, written down for performance on the piano. Ragtime pieces were not accompanied by lyrics and not meant to be sung. The creative genus of ragtime, Scott Joplin, was born in Texarkana, Texas, in 1868. He learned to play on piano his mother bought from her earning as a maid, and he may have been trained in classical music. …He played at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 and soon wrote ragtime sheet music that sold well. In 1899 he composed his best-known tune, the 'Maple Leaf Rag,' named after a social club (brothel) in Sedalia, Missouri. It sold an astonishing one million copies."
 From "African Americans: A Concise History" by Hine, Hine and Harold

Interesting bit of history, but what does it have to do with family history?
Well, Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag was written in 1899 and with a new style of printing that became available in 1900, the song Maple Leaf Rag was the hit song from 1900-1905. Everyone heard this song! And because of the notations on the sheet music people were hearing the song all over the country played the same way. 

Wow!

This hit jam was played in dance halls, bars, at parties- everywhere! With records becoming more and more available Maple Leaf Rag could be heard in homes from coast to coast.

That means that any of your ancestors (mine too) that were alive during 1900-1905 heard this song! It's a piece of history, and one that we can listen to and connect to. 

If you're working on a family history timeline then this song would be a great event to add to the timeline.

Check out Maple Leaf Rag here. 

Happy Hunting!

It's Alive!

A common question that gets asked when Hunters and Huntresses are working on family search is: Why can't I find my parents? My siblings? My own aunts and uncles?

And this is what I ask them: Are they alive?

Family Search is an amazing website, and it protects individuals privacy. What that means is if a person is alive then their information is kept private for them. I have a Family Search account, and so do my two sisters. When I first logged on I filled in my information and voila! There I was as the beginning of my tree. I also added in my sisters, individually, and my parents- because they are currently alive. I was able to search for three of my four grandparents in the system because they are dead and their records are available. 

On my sister's accounts they have created files for themselves, and for our parents etc. What that means is I currently exist at least three times. Uh oh! We don't want multiple files of a person- that's the whole point of merging files! But it's alright, because I am alive. Someday after I die and my information is public on Family Search then someone will reconcile the files of me into one, and then all the trees I'm on will connect in a new way.

This privacy also effects any photographs, or memories you add to a living person.

My dad also uses Family Search. When he adds a picture or memory of his deceased father to that file, we can all see it. It's really amazing! Suddenly all the people connected to grandpa can see old pictures, and read about the adventures of his Scouting days (my paternal grandfather was the ultimate Scout Master). 

However, my dad added a picture of me to the account he created for me, and I can't see it. Why? Because I'm alive and the account he created for me is (essentially) off line. It's individual and only my dad can see what he's added for me. 

Basically, people who are dead have files that can be viewed by anyone and are connected to other trees.

People who are alive have private, individual, offline files that can only be seen and accessed by the person who created them. 

It's a great opportunity to be able to create accurate accounts of family that are currently alive because we can get all their information perfect! We can ask them exactly when their birthday is, and where they were born (city, county, state, and country!) We can also add memories of them right now. In this, we are able to have full, complete files of our loved ones. 

How often have you wished you could ask someone on your tree who their relatives were? Wouldn't it all be easier if each family member had kept an honest, and exact journal?

Don't wait to interview living families. Don't regret the time you have now! In an early post I listed some solid interview questions for talking with loved ones. That list can help you in creating a loved one's living file. 

As you work on your family tree and find yourself frustrated in trying to find a family member take the time to pause, and remember that if they're alive it's private, deceased then it's public. 

Happy Hunting! 

Oh, what's in a last name?

I absolutely love etymology and learning what names and words mean. This blog post is going to be a direct quote from a fabulous Mental Floss article all about surnames, their purpose, and what they mean. 
Hopefully you'll recognize one or more of these last names and be able to add this understanding of these last names' definitions to your family tree. If nothing else, it's silly and very entertaining!

Enjoy!

"Long before Lorde, Adele, or even Cher, one name was all a person needed. In Britain before the Norman Conquest of 1066, people went by single names. If a village had an overabundance of Toms, one might be called Tom, John's son, and another Tom the baker. But last names weren't inherited until Norman nobility introduced the practice, creating Tom Johnson and Tom Baker. It's easy to guess what an ancestor of someone named Cook, Carpenter, or Smith did for a living. With other occupational surnames, though, either the word or the trade has become obsolete, so meaning is hidden. 

1. BARKER
The name Barker doesn't come from carnival barkers who yell, "Step right up!" or another Barker who shouted, "Come on down!" but from barkers, also called tanner, who converted hides into leather by steeping them in an infusion of astringent bark.

2. BAXTER
It may surprise some hipster to learn that in Old English the "-ster" suffix was used to form feminine agent nouns. A man who baked was a baker; a woman who baked was a baxter. Later, baxter was used for either sex.

3. BREWSTER
A woman who brewed was a brewster.

4. CHALLENDER
A challender was a maker or seller of blankets, from Middle English chaloun, meaning blanket or coverlet. 

5. CHANDLER
A chandler was originally a maker or seller of candles. The term broadened to mean someone in charge of stocking candles for a large household, a dealer in household items, and, later, a dealer in supplies for a ship. 

6. CHAPMAN
Chapman is an Old English word for merchant. The root “chap-“ is related to “cheap,” an obsolete verb meaning to barter, buy, and sell; to trade, deal, bargain.

7. CRAPPER
Although the purported biography Flushed with Pride: The Story of Thomas Crapper is a satire and Crapper did not invent the flush toilet, he did run a plumbing company. His name is not the origin of the word “crap,” however. The name Crapper is a variant of Cropper, one who harvests crops.

8. DAUBER
A dauber was a plasterer or someone who applied “daub”—clay or mud mixed with stubble or chaff—to make a “wattle and daub” cottage.

9. FLETCHER
Fletcher comes from Old French flecher or flechier and means an arrow maker.

10. FROBISHER, FURBER
These two names come from Old French forbisseor, furbisher or polisher of armor. These days, we refurbish things without worrying about whether they were furbished in the first place.

11. FULLER, WALKER, TUCKER
A fuller, known in some regions as a walker or tucker, trampled on cloth in water to clean and thicken it.

12. HUSSEY
Hussey was a shortening of “housewife” and did not have the negative denotation “hussy” does today.

13. JENNER
Jenner comes from Old French engigneor, meaning engineer or maker of military machines.

14. KELLOGG
W. K. Kellogg, a vegetarian who developed corn flakes as a healthful alternative to the traditional ham-and-egg breakfast, might be surprised to learn that his surname derived from “kill hog” and referred to a butcher.

15. KISSER
A kisser didn’t osculate for a dollar at a carnival booth. He made leather armor for the thighs, called a cuisse, from Old French cuisse, “thigh.” Don Quixote’s name is also derived from the same piece of armor.

16. LATIMER
Perhaps from a misreading of the word “Latiner,” an interpreter was called a “latimer” in the 13th through 15th centuries.

17. LEECH
Based on the state-of-the-art medical treatment of the day, in the Middle Ages, physicians were known as leeches.

18. LORIMER
A lorimer made bits, spurs, and metal mountings for horses’ bridles.

19. PALMER
Those who had made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land wore a token representing a palm branch and were known as palmers.

20. PARKER
In the Middle Ages, a parker was a gamekeeper in a game park.

21. PULLEN
From the Old French word poulain, colt, the name was given to those who were frisky or those who raised horses.

22. READER
Most medieval readers were illiterate, but they knew how to use reeds to thatch roofs.

23. SPENCER
A spencer dispensed a lord’s provisions.

24. SPITTLE, SPITTAL
This name has nothing to do with saliva, but refers to someone who worked in a “spittle” (from Old French hospital), a charitable house for the indigent or diseased.

25. SPOONER
From the Middle English spoon, meaning splinter, this name was given to roofers.

26. TRAVERS
From Old French travers, meaning the act of passing through a gate, crossing a river, bridge, etc.; travers meant a toll collector.

27. WAYNE, WAINWRIGHT, WRIGHT
A wright was a builder or craftsman. There were once millwrights, tile-wrights and wheelwrights. Now the suffix survives only in playwright and the old-fashioned term shipwright. A wain or wayne was a cart or wagon. The names Wayne and Wainwright both refer to wagon builders.

28. WEBB, WEBBER, WEBSTER
These three names (Webster being the feminine form) all derive from Old English webba, weaver.

29. WHITER, BLACKER
Strange as it may seem, both of these names refer to linen bleachers. Blacker comes from bleckester, meaning bleacher.

30. WOODWARD
From the Old English words wudu, wood, and weard, guardian, a woodward was a forester.


Just think: if we took our surnames from present-day occupations, you might run across people like Max Coder, Tina Telemarketer, and Heather Houseflipper."

I hope you enjoyed this fun article! I've read it a few times and still get a giggle out of it. It definitely makes me wonder what my last names might be if it were based on my career or my parents' careers!
I love talking about the Norman Conquest of 1066 and the differences in Old and Middle English! We'll go into more detail about why those are all important in a future post.

Happy Hunting! 

Siblings and Cousins- Ohana

Working on family history can be really exciting as we find new names and are able to go further and further back in time. That moment when you find the name of someone born in the 1800's is really exciting!

But it's also important as we find ancestors going back that we not forget about siblings. 

This is what I mean: my dad's side of the family on my family tree goes back several generations but it looks as though only children married only children and had one child. And for a German heritage that just doesn't seem accurate.

Then on my mom's side of the family, it might not go as far back as my dad's but every child and cousin is accounted for. I love that they cared about the siblings and bloodline of in-laws just as much as their own direct line. The result is a much fuller tree, and a far more accurate glimpse of what my family really looked like. 

Using another family history program I looked up my five greats-grandfather on both sides of my family. According to this program, that great-grandfather on my dad's side had fourteen descendants. My mom's great-grandfather had over five hundred.

Wow. Big difference! Obviously, the one on my mother's is more accurate because it had cousins, and siblings taken into account.

I love getting to see how certain family names were used and reused. For example, there was a generation that used flower names for the girls- lots of girls named Violet, Rose, Lily, etc. Then there was a generation of using presidents names- it's actually pretty awesome. Lots of George Washington Breeden, John Adams Breeden, Thomas Jefferson Dean- I love it!

Hunting to find siblings is a lot of work and doesn't move us farther back on the timeline of our family trees but it's fulfilling and helps our family trees be accurate and full.

Think of your family now. Wouldn't you want your own siblings to be included in a list of your family? I definitely wouldn't want mine forgotten. What if your cousins were left behind? No way! I love my cousins- I definitely want them represented on my family tree. 

Family is important and hunting for our ancestors in a full and complete way is exciting and rewarding. When we make sure that we include our ancestors siblings, and cousins then we are able to see the shape that our family takes. It's amazing to see how names get reused, and just how big our family really is. 

Where the Names Come From...

Recently while in my Civil War class my professor mentioned that he was putting together a database for soldiers in specific regiments in the Civil War. He talked about utilizing Ancestry.com (a fantastic website) and how it was amazing that "all this information is just right there! It's incredible how Ancestory.com just digitizes it."

My teacher is absolutely right- it is incredible! However, neither Ancestory.com nor FamilySearch.org just magically digitize the information that we search through. Have you ever wondered where the information you find on these sites comes from? 

Think about it…when you searched for grandma on one of these sites and a file all about her popped up, did you wonder where it came from?

When I log into FamilySearch (or Ancestry) and start searching or plugging in names to try and connect on my tree, the information I find is not there by accident, coincidence or magic (although that would be super cool). This information is typed in by people like me and you! 

This amazing information that is ready for you to find comes from documents and records like census records, marriage records, death indexes, boat manifests etc.

Here's an image of an old census record. It's handwritten, and has been scanned into the database of a family history site. 

The basic idea behind indexing is this: We type up what we see on these old records. That's it! Then the information is available to people searching for their ancestors. 

I like indexing through Family Search, and it's fun to do! When I log-in, I select the indexing option. There are some great tutorials for first time indexers available too (or if you're an experienced indexer and want a refresher course). You're able to select the document to work on, and then you type exactly what you see on the record onto a spreadsheet. 

Even this explanation makes it sound more complicated than it is. 

Some census records are tougher to read than others, and that's why Family Search has a great system set up to have indexers of differing levels double check each other's work. 

When I index I am a Level 1 indexer. Then there are Level 2 indexers that will double check my work, and a Level 3 indexer who checks their work before it's put online.

This assures that the information we find and index is accurate and will truly help the person searching for an ancestor.

What this means for me and you is that when I'm searching for information on a relative and I type in their name I can find links to this census and record information so that I not only know their birth date, birth location, death date etc but I can see the family census (which will tell me more about their siblings, where they lived between the time of birth & death, who else lived with them which often included parents-in-law). All this information adds to the story of my ancestor. When I see a link to a boat manifest then I can learn more about their immigration such as how old they were, where they were coming from etc.

Indexing is amazing, and exciting to do. I haven't yet seen a member of my own family on a census record as I work but I know that other people have because of all the information I've been able to gather.

I love indexing and getting to see what names were popular at different times. 

(Thanks Hercules!)

I also loving getting to see how handwriting styles changed, and what was fashionable in that regard.

Indexing helps all of us in our family history work, and for my teacher in putting together his database. Research like his will benefit all of us too because we'll be able to learn more about family members who served in the Civil War. It really is a win-win situation.

If you're interested in indexing I highly recommend it! Either way, it's good to take a moment and be grateful for the people who do index and make so much information available to all of us. 

Happy Hunting!