Memories & Musings

When I saw the challenge word for this week, MUSIC,  I thought, wow, I could write 52 posts on music in my life. I'm not a professional musician but music is the thread that runs through my entire life.  One of my earliest music memories takes me to a hospital bed when I was four and had… Continue reading Music

The 1920 census records show my paternal Grandma, Louise Kathryn Juhrend McDearmid, living with her mother, Amelia,  and two brothers, August and Herman, in Highwood, Illinois. Amelia who was twice widowed, owned the house. August owned a jewelry story and Herman was a laborer. Amelia and daughter Louise took in laundry.  The orphanage But here's… Continue reading Loss

This week's topic from the Generations Cafe challenge is FORTUNE. I've decided to search each of my ancestry lines and find more information on when and where my ancestors came to America to seek their FORTUNEs. I'll start by going backward in time and finding the first person in each line who was born outside… Continue reading Fortune

Where did it begin?  My paternal Great-grandfather was James Gardner McDearmid, born in Woodstock, NH in 1839. His son was Gardner Clark McDearmid, and his son, my father, was another James Gardner McDearmid. Everyone loved my Dad, Jim. He passed away in 1954 when I was 15. It was very traumatic for my family, especially… Continue reading The Name’s The Same

1+1=12 Back in the day families were generally large or I'd say huge by today's standards. My Mom, Anne, was third in a family of 12 siblings. I'd call this MULTIPLES. Between 1920 and 1935 Iva Mae Quist gave birth to this amazing line up of 7 girls and 5 boys. This picture looks like… Continue reading Multiples

This week's Generations Cafe challenge word is POWER. What's the first thing that comes to mind? For me it was CARS. I have pictures of my families cars over the years and there are stories and thoughts about a few of them. I have to say that I may not have the year and model… Continue reading Power

Generations Cafe Week 7: Unusual Source My interest in Genealogy probably started with my Mom's desire to keep track of her many siblings and their offspring. She was one of twelve and between them there were 28 cousins who had 46 babies. Mom religiously kept an ongoing record of births and deaths in the family.… Continue reading Unusual Source

The Generations 52 week challenge prompt is Valentine. Of course my mind goes to the many, many wonderful and romantic Valentine cards and gifts from my Jim. But Valentine Day is not always a happy one. That got me to thinking about a favorite movie, Shirley Valentine (1989) so I pulled it up from my… Continue reading Valentine

In the kitchen is where the party happens! Our house in Irvine, CA had a large kitchen that opened to a family room so we had a "great" room. The counter in the middle held all the snacks and even though there were many places to sit and visit, inside and out, people always collected… Continue reading In The Kitchen

My Generations Cafe challenge for this week is Favorite Photo. I have thousands of photos! How can I pick one as a favorite? 60 years of photos-35mm, Polaroid, 4 x 6 prints! Lucky me- they are all digitized. When we were living full-time in the RV I spent many long hours scanning slides and pictures.… Continue reading Favorite Photo