Week 52: YOU

     We made it! This is the final prompt in the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge. I actually made it to the end. I have a problem with finishing things that I have started, so I'm excited to complete this challenge. This week's prompt is "You". So I have decided to include the information from the "About Me" section of my blog.
    I'm Jen Rickards aka Auntie Jen! Welcome to my blog. I chose the name Auntie Jen because my nephews always refer to me as Auntie. It's also a name that I've used in the past for one of my great Aunt's that I was very close to. And who do you always get the greatest stories and information from? Your crazy Aunt, of course. Aunts always seem to have not only the best stories but the most secrets, and my research has definitely unearthed plenty.
     I first got into genealogy in 2012. I had just moved back to Missouri from Colorado in 2011 and my grandma was wanting to pass special things along to me since she was getting along in years. Along with her special costume jewelry and figurines, she gave me a couple of boxes of old photos. She knew how much I loved photos. I'd never seen these before. They were just thrown into the boxes, no rhyme or reason. Some were water damaged, torn or just not in very good condition. The photos that were in good condition had a lot of people that were unknown to me. Sadly at the time, my grandma's mind was not as sharp as it used to be. There were days when she had clear memories, and others when she didn't. Mom knew some of the people in the photos, but not all of them. I was surprised to see some photos dated back as early as the 1900s. Wow! So I decided to take on the daunting task of labeling these photos.
     I knew the first thing I needed to do was to create a tree. I started filling in the names and dates that I knew for sure. One thing that helped tremendously was a little datebook that had been passed down. Half of it was written in German, the other half translated. That helped with tracing back to my 3x great-grandma. (I have since learned some of the information in this book was incorrect) Once I started plugging in names and getting hints and documents, I was hooked.
     Now I'm working on both mine and my husband's family trees. I've been able to trace most family members back to when they first came to the United States. I've found cases of murder, insanity, war heroes and interesting stories about run-ins with historical figures. But probably one of the most exciting things I've found is I have more family than I ever thought I had. I found the other side of my grandma's family (the ILG family), whom I never knew existed before. That was one of the most exciting finds. As you will see from my blog posts that this was not the only exciting thing I have found while doing my research. Seriously, you have to check out all that I found.
     My dad likes to ask me, "How far are you going to trace back?" Well, my first goal was to just put names to photos. Then it was to trace back to when the family first came to the United States. Yeah, that didn't stop me. I have traced family now in France and Germany. Honestly, I don't know if I ever will stop. There is always one more thing to find. My goals change often as far as my research goes. Once I accomplish one, another pops up. So, while I'm able to research, I will keep researching. I have started doing family trees for friends now as well just because I love doing the research. I hope to one day make this into a career of some sort. I don't know where this journey will lead me, but I will keep following it until I do.
     Now, both my husband and I have taken DNA tests. Mine was through 23 and Me and his was through Ancestry. His was not so surprising, but mine sure is! I might also do mine through Ancestry to see if it is consistent and try to connect with other family members.
     The purpose of this blog is to share my journey through genealogy. I'm hoping the information I gather about my family will be helpful to others possibly researching the same line. I will also share tips I've learned about doing genealogy research as well as information about local history and how to find certain records. Don't forget to check the other tabs at the top of my blog. I have a YouTube Channel and I share some crafts relating to family history. Thank you for checking out my blog and I hope you follow along with me as I climb my trees to see what kind of nuts fall out.
     I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog post for the 52 Ancestors Challenge. As I stated in the past blog post, I will not be participating in the 52 Ancestors Challenge for 2020. I will still continue to write for my blog but will be focused more on specific ancestors this year. So stay tuned for more stories about my family.

Happy New Year!!

Week 51: Future

     The new year is upon us. It's time to make new goals, new plans, new tasks, etc. What do you have planned? What do you hope to accomplish for the new year? Let me tell you what my goals are.
     First and foremost, I obviously want to continue my research. I want to continue to learn more about my family and my husband's family. More details, more facts, more stories, etc. Going deeper than just the basic birth and death records. I want to bring them to life. I hope to write more in-depth and detailed stories about specific ancestors so you can learn more about them and their lives. Without them, I wouldn't be here today. Genealogy research is more than just researching documents. It's making their story come to life. So that's what I hope to do.
     Second, I want to preserve what I do have in my collection. I hope to digitize photos and documents and organize them on my computer. I have so many that my grandma gave me that I haven't scanned in yet. These are the photos that got me into research and I don't want to lose them. Not only do I want to preserve these, but also preserve the memory of specific items. I need to photograph and catalog family heirlooms in my possession along with what my parents have. Memories fade and people forget why a specific item has been passed down for generations and will eventually end up in the trash or a yard sale. If those items get lost or damaged, I want to at least preserve the memories.
     And lastly, I want to further my education when it comes to research so hopefully one day, I can make a career out of this. I have been doing genealogy research since 2012. Eight years doesn't seem like a long time compared to some, but to me, that is a very long time for me to stick with something and still love it. And even though I have a lot of experience and knowledge under my belt, I still don't know near enough. I still have a lot to learn. I just started working on writing up reports for clients after research has been completed. Thanks to Melissa Finlay from Boundless Genealogy, I have learned a great deal about putting one together in a professional manner. I plan on attending webinars, reading more material such as Evidence Explained (my new Christmas gift), and developing my niche. (I'm not telling what it is yet; still a secret). I will also be volunteering to do research for others to strengthen my research skills. Whatever I can do to make this happen, I will be doing. Sancia (my daughter) still has two and a half years of school left, so I have time to really develop my skills. This new year will be the start of going down that path.
     Of course, I will still be blogging about my journey, making and uploading videos to my YouTube Channel, and continue to be active in my Facebook groups as well as my twitter account. And although I really enjoyed doing the 52 ancestors in 52 weeks challenge, I will not be participating next year. While it helped me to keep writing in my blog and stay active, I have some other ideas about what I want to write about this coming year, so I will be devoting my time to those specific topics. If you are interested in participating in the 52 ancestors challenge, please visit Amy Johnson Crow's website.

     So those are my goals for the future. 

What's yours??

Week 50: Tradition

     In my family, we don't have a lot of what you would call, "Traditions". Things have changed over the years and nothing has really been consistently passed down. I do have a lot of memories of spending time with my family for the holidays. But there is one tradition that my husband has been doing with me for years, and it all started on our first Christmas Eve together as husband and wife.

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Journal Entry from 12/25/2002 1:30am:

Well tonight has to be the one of the most best nights of my life. First of all, it started snowing yesterday and just finally stopped. It is so beautiful outside. One dream has come true so far. I get to spend the first Christmas with my husband and it happens to be a white Christmas. 

For Christmas Eve, we spent it with his parents at his house. All of the family was there. While we were all doing our own thing, Mark started to open the window on the front door, and fix a speaker by the window. We were like, "What is he doing?" Finally, he led me outside for our slow dance together in the snow. (Brief history: About a year ago when Mark and I were working one night together at One Way, it started to snow and he told me that he wished he had a girlfriend at the moment to slow dance with her in the snow. I was hoping that I was that girl for that moment.) We danced to POG Christmas songs. It was pretty.

So, we come home to my parent's house to stay the night for Christmas and Mark and I are sitting in front of the TV, cause he wouldn't let me go to bed. Why? I did not know. All of a sudden, 1:00am rolls around, officially Christmas. So he turns the TV off and hands me my Christmas card. It was a beautiful card. In it, he had written about a dream he wanted to share with me that night. But I would have to read about it in the Book of Wife. (Brief history: About a year ago or so, Mark had started writing letters to his future wife and called it, appropriately, the Book of Wife. I have only been allowed to read certain entries at certain times, and now it was time for the Christmas entry.) The entry was a few pages long, describing how he felt and what he wanted to do with his wife on Christmas. The ironic thing was the letter was dated December 25, 2001, 1:00am. Exactly one year ago. Finally, it stated what he wanted to do. He wanted to slow dance with his wife in front of the Christmas tree listening to music. So he started the music as I was finishing reading. The first song was the first song we ever slow danced to: I Don't Wanna Go by Avalon. The second song was a Christmas song by Martina McBride: O Holy Night. And the third song was the song Mark and I had deemed as one of our songs: The One by Gary Allen. I was crying the whole time. Just to have the music playing, the lights flashing on the tree, beautiful snow outside, and the man of my dreams in my arms... FOREVER!

But wait, there's more...

When we finished dancing, he pulled an ornament off the tree that was in the shape of a red mail box. He handed it to me and told me, "You've got mail". So I opened it and there was a kleenex inside. I unwrapped it and there was a necklace inside. It was one of the necklaces with a grain of rice inside. And on the rice he had written on one side, "MNJ" (Mark and Jenni) and on the other side, "Forever". I burst into tears again. The necklace itself is beautiful. It has purple beads (My favorite color) and the glass that holds the rice is in the shape of a heart with a rose inside.

So here I am now, writing all what has happened tonight and it is isn't Christmas morning  yet. I can't wait to see what else he has instore for our lives. Praise God for your Mark, my wonderful husband. I love you more than words can say.

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     That entry was from my Live Journal that I used to keep. I saved that entry and added it to my scrapbook. Each year from that night, Mark and I have the tradition of exchanging gifts on Christmas Eve and slow dancing in front of the tree. It's been 17 years, and we haven't missed one yet. This Christmas, our daughter has threatened to sneak up and record us slow dancing in front of the tree for Tik Tok. I'm glad she gets a kick out of us.
     Now it doesn't snow every year, but when it does, Mark still tries to surprise me with a slow dance in the snow. A few years ago, while we were still living in the apartment, and we had some beautiful snow that was coming down. I was down at Mary Ellen's apartment getting ready to leave and found him outside waiting for me. Both Mary Ellen and I were wondering what he was doing. So I said goodbye to her and then all of a sudden, he started playing music on his phone and slow danced with me right there in the middle of the apartment complex. A few minutes later when I got upstairs, I received a phone call from Mary Ellen. She confessed she was watching through the window and thought that was the most romantic moment she had ever seen. I was so happy our moment had brought her so much joy.
     We are 10 days away from Christmas Eve. I can't wait to continue this tradition with my husband this year. It is my favorite part of the holidays. What traditions do you have in our family for this time of year?

Our first Christmas 2002

Our special Mailbox ornament

Grandma Swope made this

Week 49: Craft

     For this blog post, I am going to take a moment and advertise our genealogy craft group, GAACR. Our main Facebook group, GAA (Genealogy Addicts Anonymous) is a great place to talk about our obsession with genealogy. The creator, and queen of all, Sue also created a few sister groups to go along with the main group, one of them being Genealogy Addicts Arts & Crafts Room (GAACR).
     I am the head admin in the GAACR group and it is one of my favorite groups by far. This group combines our love of genealogy and our love of being creative. Addicts are encouraged to share craft ideas relating to genealogy, no matter whether they are their own or found on the internet. What is the point of doing the research if you can't share the results with family in a creative way? I've seen beautiful trees, family heirloom displays, genealogy gifts, scrapbooks/family books, repurposed items from collections, and a whole lot more.
     I definitely encourage you to check this group out if you are on Facebook. Come share your talents with us or get some great ideas. Perfect for the holidays!

Join GAACR now!

Week 48: Thief

     We all have a criminal in our family, whether or not we want to admit it. No family is perfect. Some are just better at hiding it. I've sure come across some skeletons in my family while researching their lives. For the 52 Ancestors prompt this week, only one man came to mind that fits within the topic of "Thief". Let me introduce you to Earnest Alexander.
     Earnest Alexander was born July 12, 1874, in Arkansas to John William Alexander and Mary Francis Munday. He is the half-brother of my husband's great-grandma, Mary B. Schulling. I only started researching Earnest to find out more about Mary's family. The first interest I had in him was when I located him in the 1900 United States Federal Census. He was listed as an Inmate at Leavenworth Penitentiary in Kansas. Oooooo... Earnest, what did you do?

     A quick search online led me to an index for Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary Inmate Case Files at Archives.gov. He was listed there as inmate #1438. With that information in hand, I sent off an email to the Kansas City Archives to request information about his file. This is the response I got back:

"Earnest Alexander, was inmate number 1438. His inmate file is 7 pages. To make sure this is the “correct” person; here are a few particulars from the file:
Crime: Having in Possession Altered Obligations of the U.S.
Sentence: 2 years
Received at Leavenworth: Dec. 29, 1898
Discharged: July 11, 1900
Ethnicity: White
Occupation: Farmer"

     I was unsure what the crime he was charged with, so I googled that charge. Apparently, he was in possession of counterfeit money. Oh, you naughty boy. The Kansas City Archives told me I could get a copy of his file, but it would cost me $20.00, so I decided to wait on that. I searched in newspapers but found nothing mentioning his arrest.
     Even though I did not get his file, the Archives were nice enough to send me a link to view his mugshot at least. Fascinating! So let me introduce you to Earnest Alexander.

     It appears he was also known by another name: Henry Price. Interesting. I will definitely have to get a copy of his file to hopefully find out more about this character. For now though, this is all I know. So maybe it's a stretch to say he was a thief, but he was definitely trying to, or at least had the idea to, try to "steal" something by passing counterfeit currency.

Do you have any criminals in your family? 

Share them in the comments below.