At the end of May I took a road trip with my husband, mom and grandma to New England. My grandma’s ancestors are originally from Barnstable, Massachusetts. They migrated to Tolland, Connecticut, then to Lyme, New Hampshire and eventually to Wood County, Ohio where my grandma now lives. My grandma has been to Lyme, New Hampshire before, about 20 years ago, when she visited the old town church and cemetery where a large number of those buried there shared her surname of Dimick.
Since I have become interested in genealogy she has wanted to go to Lyme with me to show me the cemetery. My aunt offered to watch our kids for a week while we took this trip with grandma. She didn’t have to offer twice! We left for Ohio on the day school was out for the summer.
We not only searched for our ancestors, but did some sightseeing as well. From Ohio, we first visited Niagara Falls, New York which is one of the most beautiful natural features in our country. We made it to Lyme, New Hampshire on the second afternoon where we stayed in a really nice bed and breakfast called Dowd’s Inn. Lyme is a typical New England town––small, quaint and full of history. Our first stop was at the local library, which didn’t have much local history or genealogy on the shelves, but there was a town history book for sale which we purchased. Then when the staff discovered that we had traveled all the way from Colorado to visit, they gave us a second book of oral histories from local townsfolk.
We learned there were several repositories for local history and genealogy––the town clerk, the Lyme Historical Society, and a local resident who apparently has a lot of information in her house (probably comparable to our own Mary McRoberts). The clerk would be open on Friday morning, the Historical Society was only open on Tuesday mornings, and the local lady was described as ... “best if you call her first thing in the morning. Actually, you might just want to write her a letter.” I got the feeling she was up there in years and possibly took a lot of naps. We were there on a Thursday and would be leaving late Friday so we decided to visit the clerk first thing in the morning.
The rest of the afternoon we spent in the cemetery taking a whole lot of photographs! There were quite a few ancestors I knew to look for in that cemetery and some that I hadn’t known would be there! Needless to say, we spent a large portion of our time in that cemetery, located just to the rear of the church where our ancestors worshiped. Inside, there was an old church document hung on the wall from the 1830s with signatures from several of our ancestors. That evening we decided to get some food from the local convenience store (there were no restaurants). I discovered perhaps the most bizarre food I have ever seen. Basically, it was a peeled, hard-boiled egg paired with a bright red sausage in a sandwich bag for $1.89. I did not get that for dinner! I think I had some gouda cheese cubes and some crackers with a bottle of local wine.
Following New Hampshire, we were on to Tolland, Connecticut. The library was closed but we discovered the local chapter of the French-Canadian Genealogical Society which had a library. In their collection were a few books that described several cemeteries around the town, as well as “Dimmock Farm.” We figured we’d check them all out. Finding Dimmock Farm was an adventure! We found the land it was situated on off of Dimock Road. There was a sign with a map showing the trail we were to follow and designating where there were some historical sites. There was also a large warning that said “Beware of deer ticks. Especially dangerous May and June.” This was a heavily wooded area with a muddy trail and a lot of overgrowth. I traded my flip-flops for tennis shoes, grabbed an umbrella, and we were on our way.
We were almost to the end of the trail and had not spotted anything when I remembered the warning about ticks. I glanced down just to check and there were probably six ticks climbing up my jeans that I could see. Of course, I screamed “Get them off, get them off!” which my husband Seth found very funny. I had visions of Lyme disease and wondered if that had anything to do with Lyme, New Hampshire. (Of course we were in Tolland, Connecticut at this point and it didn’t matter anyway.) After we returned to the car, unsuccessful in finding any remnants of Dimmock farm, we did a tick check. They were everywhere, in our clothes and in our shoes, but luckily no one had been bitten by one. We found ticks in the car days later, mainly stuck to shoe strings, but creepy just the same.
After Tolland, we visited the nearby town of Stafford. There was a cemetery there we wanted to visit. We did find a few Dimock/Dimick ancestors there. The most exciting thing we saw there was the wildlife! We were walking the rows of stones attempting to read the really old ones when we came across a box turtle minding his own business. Of course I had to pick him up, play with him and take some pictures for the kids. We imagined the turtle was thinking “just when I thought it was safe to live in the cemetery….” Not five minutes later we discovered a small toad as well, hopping for his life, no doubt warned by the turtle. That was a cemetery full of wildlife!
Our trip concluded in Boston, Massachusetts where we took a trolley tour of the city. My grandma declared “I will eat a lobster in Boston!” So we went out for seafood that night and my grandma got her lobster. While there we visited the graves of many of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and other notables such as Mother Goose. All in all it was a great trip with many strange adventures along the way. I experienced some of the more “wild” aspects of genealogy and can’t wait for the next excursion.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
The First Word #10: Journals Are This Girl’s Best Friend
I haven’t done much genealogical research lately. What I have been doing is changing my life situation from being a stay-at-home mom to having a full-time out-of-the-house job. So I have not had very much to write about lately.
However, I have been journaling a lot lately. These changes have brought up a lot of things for me to sort through. I have found journaling helpful in the past and have kept a semi-consistent journal for 12 years now (...good grief, has it really been that long?)
Keeping a journal is therapeutic. I can put on paper the things that are bothering me and get them out of my head. If there has been some sort of an event that I don’t understand or that is upsetting, I can write about it and then sleep well at night because it’s no longer churning in my mind. I also use my journal when things are going well and I want to remember how good I am feeling about something.
Journals are especially good for writing down special events, such as things my kids have accomplished, or a memorable trip, or a visit with someone. Writing down your thoughts, experiences, hopes, memories, and frustrations can be an excellent way of breaking your writer’s block. It can be a starting point for larger pieces. A journal can be a little snapshot or a preview of a larger article. I often go back to my journal for an article idea.
A journal will also be a treasure for a great-grandchild to read someday. Or they may be confused if they read my journals, I don’t know.
Here’s an excerpt from 3 October 1996 when I was still in college studying art: “I’m really looking forward to graduation. Only 7 more months then I’ll be able to do what I want to do…” And this one from 10 April 1997: “I’m going to name my next cat Gunther.” But also I wrote on 27 October 1997: “Two weeks ago we went to Abilene, KS for Seth’s grandpa’s 80th birthday. It was a surprise party. It was very fun. He was definitely surprised! It was also neat to meet some of Seth’s family that I hadn’t met yet…”
So I’ve written about my thoughts for the future, ideas about cat-naming, and about a special event related to an ancestor. These items are fun for me to read and will be even more fun for my descendants.
I don’t know about you, but it seems that my ancestors never wrote anything down. I don’t even have a letter, a Bible record or a grocery list from one of my ancestors. Oh how I wish just one person had kept a journal! I long to read about their thoughts, ideas, hopes for the future, what their kids were doing, their struggles in parenthood, in life. I would love to be swept away with visions of pioneer life of my ancestors, of the hazards of working on a farm, of falling in love and getting married.
It is one thing to learn about our ancestors, find the names and dates and fill in a chart. We can even flesh out some of their lives and personalities through extensive research, but we won’t ever know what they were really thinking and living if we don’t have any written accounts of their own... Thoughts and ideas right from their own heads and left on paper for the rest of us to find and read.
I have talked to my kids about keeping journals of their own. Even 7-year-old Ethan writes in one once in a while! They are still young. Ethan only learned to read and write last year. However, I’m planting the seeds in their mind that a journal is a good idea and therefore might be something they do in their future.
I think it is probably too late for me to find any journals or letters from my ancestors. I have asked just about every living relative I know if they know of any and the answer is always “no.” However, I can leave a journal for my kids and grandchildren and great-grandchildren to puzzle over after I’ve left this earth. More importantly are the benefits I gain from journaling right now while I’m still alive: mental health and writing ideas.
However, I have been journaling a lot lately. These changes have brought up a lot of things for me to sort through. I have found journaling helpful in the past and have kept a semi-consistent journal for 12 years now (...good grief, has it really been that long?)
Keeping a journal is therapeutic. I can put on paper the things that are bothering me and get them out of my head. If there has been some sort of an event that I don’t understand or that is upsetting, I can write about it and then sleep well at night because it’s no longer churning in my mind. I also use my journal when things are going well and I want to remember how good I am feeling about something.
Journals are especially good for writing down special events, such as things my kids have accomplished, or a memorable trip, or a visit with someone. Writing down your thoughts, experiences, hopes, memories, and frustrations can be an excellent way of breaking your writer’s block. It can be a starting point for larger pieces. A journal can be a little snapshot or a preview of a larger article. I often go back to my journal for an article idea.
A journal will also be a treasure for a great-grandchild to read someday. Or they may be confused if they read my journals, I don’t know.
Here’s an excerpt from 3 October 1996 when I was still in college studying art: “I’m really looking forward to graduation. Only 7 more months then I’ll be able to do what I want to do…” And this one from 10 April 1997: “I’m going to name my next cat Gunther.” But also I wrote on 27 October 1997: “Two weeks ago we went to Abilene, KS for Seth’s grandpa’s 80th birthday. It was a surprise party. It was very fun. He was definitely surprised! It was also neat to meet some of Seth’s family that I hadn’t met yet…”
So I’ve written about my thoughts for the future, ideas about cat-naming, and about a special event related to an ancestor. These items are fun for me to read and will be even more fun for my descendants.
I don’t know about you, but it seems that my ancestors never wrote anything down. I don’t even have a letter, a Bible record or a grocery list from one of my ancestors. Oh how I wish just one person had kept a journal! I long to read about their thoughts, ideas, hopes for the future, what their kids were doing, their struggles in parenthood, in life. I would love to be swept away with visions of pioneer life of my ancestors, of the hazards of working on a farm, of falling in love and getting married.
It is one thing to learn about our ancestors, find the names and dates and fill in a chart. We can even flesh out some of their lives and personalities through extensive research, but we won’t ever know what they were really thinking and living if we don’t have any written accounts of their own... Thoughts and ideas right from their own heads and left on paper for the rest of us to find and read.
I have talked to my kids about keeping journals of their own. Even 7-year-old Ethan writes in one once in a while! They are still young. Ethan only learned to read and write last year. However, I’m planting the seeds in their mind that a journal is a good idea and therefore might be something they do in their future.
I think it is probably too late for me to find any journals or letters from my ancestors. I have asked just about every living relative I know if they know of any and the answer is always “no.” However, I can leave a journal for my kids and grandchildren and great-grandchildren to puzzle over after I’ve left this earth. More importantly are the benefits I gain from journaling right now while I’m still alive: mental health and writing ideas.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
The First Word #9: The Story of a Summer Home, Nederland, Colorado
My husband Seth’s grandparents were known throughout the family for their summer home in Nederland, Colorado, commonly referred to as “the Cabin.” When I became part of the family I heard stories and was shown pictures of events at the Cabin. It was a place where the whole family came together and created a lot of happy memories.
Seth’s grandfather, Paul Furbeck, wanted a home in the mountains. He and his wife Margaret lived in Abilene, Kansas––it is a good eight or nine hour drive from Abilene to Nederland. One of their daughters was living in Evergreen, Colorado, so in 1976 she began scouting the area for land that they could consider buying. She found a 1.8 acre lot on the southern side of Nederland for about $7500. For Grandpa, the view sold it. The Cabin would have a perfect view of the town below and the Indian Peaks to the North.
Grandpa wanted to build the house from scratch. He was always interested in working with his hands and this would be no exception. He bought the house from a company called Capp Homes who sold houses in kits. Capp had a crew come to the lot and build the framing for the foundation. The family helped out and then built the rest of the house.
The foundation and basement was poured in 1977. They lived in a camper during the time they were there until the house was in a livable condition. They were able to begin living in the Cabin about the end of the summer of 1978.
When they first built the home, they would come to Colorado at the end of May, after school let out for the year, because Grandma was a school teacher. They would return to Abilene before school was back in session for the fall. After they retired, they stayed longer. One year they didn’t leave until after Thanksgiving. During that trip they discovered how the snow would get packed thick on the county road and that their driveway would develop a terrible drift in the winter that soon became impassable. They would have to park the car at the top of the driveway and walk down to the Cabin through the trees, creating a trail.
I remember times visiting my husband’s grandparents at the Cabin. They would be out in Colorado for a few weeks in the summer and we’d go visit. Seth’s grandma liked to take drives in the mountains––we’d just get in the car and see where we ended up. One day we drove up to Caribou, a ghost town, and had a picnic. Once we drove down Magnolia Road, a very steep and narrow road, where she picked up a hitchhiker who needed a ride to the highway to catch the bus. (I never would have imagined Grandma picking up a hitchhiker!) Another time we drove through Ward and down the mountain the “back way” into Boulder.
As they grew older, they were able to stay less and less. Four months gradually turned into two, then just a few weeks. Eventually the house was empty for most of the year except for the occasional visit by an aunt or cousin who was out for a ski trip. The last summer they came to visit their summer home was 2001. At that point, Seth and I were living there with our son Ethan.
In 1999, we were living in Aurora when Seth got a job in Boulder. We decided it was time to move closer to his job. This was just about the time when the grandparents had only been able to come to their summer home for a few weeks each summer and the drive was getting longer and harder for them to make. We needed a place to live, they needed someone to take care of their house. It was a perfect fit! We moved into the Cabin in March 2000. Ethan was born in December 2000 and his first home was that Nederland, Colorado mountain home. It is a beautiful house in a beautiful town.
The house is still owned by Seth’s grandma. When Seth got a new job in Longmont and we had our second child, Ellie, we felt the need to move to Longmont and purchase our own home. Now the Cabin is being rented, by the same couple for the last 5 years. They love it and take great care of the house.
That house has blessed this family with so many wonderful memories––pictures of various grandchildren visiting, an old pile of walking sticks collected in the woods. It stands for so many experiences and is a family treasure. Not as small as a family bible or photo album, but a house can be a genealogical treasure too. Built by the hands of the family, it holds a lot of spirit within its walls.
Seth’s grandfather, Paul Furbeck, wanted a home in the mountains. He and his wife Margaret lived in Abilene, Kansas––it is a good eight or nine hour drive from Abilene to Nederland. One of their daughters was living in Evergreen, Colorado, so in 1976 she began scouting the area for land that they could consider buying. She found a 1.8 acre lot on the southern side of Nederland for about $7500. For Grandpa, the view sold it. The Cabin would have a perfect view of the town below and the Indian Peaks to the North.
Grandpa wanted to build the house from scratch. He was always interested in working with his hands and this would be no exception. He bought the house from a company called Capp Homes who sold houses in kits. Capp had a crew come to the lot and build the framing for the foundation. The family helped out and then built the rest of the house.
The foundation and basement was poured in 1977. They lived in a camper during the time they were there until the house was in a livable condition. They were able to begin living in the Cabin about the end of the summer of 1978.
When they first built the home, they would come to Colorado at the end of May, after school let out for the year, because Grandma was a school teacher. They would return to Abilene before school was back in session for the fall. After they retired, they stayed longer. One year they didn’t leave until after Thanksgiving. During that trip they discovered how the snow would get packed thick on the county road and that their driveway would develop a terrible drift in the winter that soon became impassable. They would have to park the car at the top of the driveway and walk down to the Cabin through the trees, creating a trail.
I remember times visiting my husband’s grandparents at the Cabin. They would be out in Colorado for a few weeks in the summer and we’d go visit. Seth’s grandma liked to take drives in the mountains––we’d just get in the car and see where we ended up. One day we drove up to Caribou, a ghost town, and had a picnic. Once we drove down Magnolia Road, a very steep and narrow road, where she picked up a hitchhiker who needed a ride to the highway to catch the bus. (I never would have imagined Grandma picking up a hitchhiker!) Another time we drove through Ward and down the mountain the “back way” into Boulder.
As they grew older, they were able to stay less and less. Four months gradually turned into two, then just a few weeks. Eventually the house was empty for most of the year except for the occasional visit by an aunt or cousin who was out for a ski trip. The last summer they came to visit their summer home was 2001. At that point, Seth and I were living there with our son Ethan.
In 1999, we were living in Aurora when Seth got a job in Boulder. We decided it was time to move closer to his job. This was just about the time when the grandparents had only been able to come to their summer home for a few weeks each summer and the drive was getting longer and harder for them to make. We needed a place to live, they needed someone to take care of their house. It was a perfect fit! We moved into the Cabin in March 2000. Ethan was born in December 2000 and his first home was that Nederland, Colorado mountain home. It is a beautiful house in a beautiful town.
The house is still owned by Seth’s grandma. When Seth got a new job in Longmont and we had our second child, Ellie, we felt the need to move to Longmont and purchase our own home. Now the Cabin is being rented, by the same couple for the last 5 years. They love it and take great care of the house.
That house has blessed this family with so many wonderful memories––pictures of various grandchildren visiting, an old pile of walking sticks collected in the woods. It stands for so many experiences and is a family treasure. Not as small as a family bible or photo album, but a house can be a genealogical treasure too. Built by the hands of the family, it holds a lot of spirit within its walls.
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