Brother & Sister ~ First Friends, Forever Friends

  52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2021: Week 21 (AT THE CEMETERY)

Brother & Sister at the gravesite of their parents

“You may be as different as the sun and the moon,
but the same blood flows through both your hearts.

You need her, as she needs you...”     

                  ― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

With only two children in their family at a time that families were large my maternal grandmother & her brother were close.

With their parents

As often happens they grew apart once they had families of their own. When they first got together after not seeing each other for quite a while  it was like they had never been apart.

“To the outside world we all grow old.
But not to brothers and sisters.
We know each other as we always were.
We know each other's hearts.
We share private family jokes.
We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys.
We live outside the touch of time.”   

                                             ― Clara Ortega

Siblings -- Forever Friends!!!

This is why I search - 

Cause ... 





You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!
















***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***

Links:

Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge
https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/

If you reference or use my blog posts in any way please

include a link to the specific blog and

credit http://somehowrelated.blogspot.com/

My blogs are ©Deborah Buchner, 2014 forward.

All rights reserved.

Please & Thank you!

________________________________________________________________

 

Fishing For Cousins ~ Updated GedMatch

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2021: Week 20 (COUSIN BAIT)

This week I received a newsletter from GedMatch with a link and information about their new website. This is the first newsletter I have ever received from GedMatch. They are planning on sending out monthly newsletters according to this first one. 

The newsletter was full of interesting information along with a link to Kitty Cooper's blog about how to use GedMatch.
      ***Check the LINKS section below if you are interested in reading that.

There was also information about 2 Facebook Pages. The first one is GedMatch's page which I have been following for a long time. The second one was GEDmatch.com User Group which I hadn't yet discovered. It's a private group, and the request to join was approved within minutes. 

The first comment I read was from a user who had signed into his GedMatch account after not using it for a long time to discover the family tree he had uploaded years ago was out of date. The answers he received were all about how to delete his gedcom, and upload another. They also outlined how to make the living people private since there was some concern about whether the autotool from GedMatch could be counted on to do that. 

I couldn't remember if I ever uploaded our Bramble Bush to my GedMatch account, and decided to check. I discovered I did have a Family Tree in my GedMatch account. In 2016 I uploaded our Bramble Bush that had just less than 500 individuals in it. 

Also in 2016 I took an online genealogy course from the University of Strathclyde in Scotland. It was during this class that I realized that a reasonable exhaustive search did not entail accepting every green shaky leaf from Ancestry Hints. The family tree that has been available on GedMatch for the past 5 years is one that I deleted from Ancestry due to mistakes. I didn't remember that I had uploaded to GedMatch.

This is a major fail in COUSIN BAITING!

The key to cousin baiting is to ensure that the information publicly available is accurate to ensure distant cousins who may know more than I can find me to share what they know.

In 2017 I began a new Bramble Bush that now has 10,395 people. 

My primary reason for starting over was that I was beginning to think that my brick wall was due to mistakes. In November 2015 I had received my Ancestry DNA results, and nothing was as expected. In the spring of 2016 we added my dad's and husband's Ancestry DNA, and things didn't get clearer. It was only in taking the genealogy course that I realized that nothing fit because the pieces I was trying to place belonged in a difference forest than the one I created. 

I am fairly confident in the accuracy of our BRAMBLE BUSH FAMILY TREE (2017). There have been times I have had to resort to reasonably exhaustive search, but I struggle with placing people I am not very confident about. 

DNA matching has been the key to climbing higher up the tree. 

I haven't been using GedMatch too much over the last several years after discovering a few unexpected non-parental events. I joined the Facebook user group to learn more about the tools offered at GedMatch. 

I deleted the outdated GedCom family tree, and tried to upload our current Bramble Bush. The maximum number of people accepted is 10,000 so the upload was rejected. 

I viewed their youtube video on uploading to figure out what to do. After pondering for a bit I decided it was best to upload the GedCom to Ancestry, and create a new private tree. I planned to delete enough folks be under 10,000. I would also need to anonymize or delete all the living folks to protect privacy.

I began that process, and realized that it was going to take me weeks to complete. 

I searched for other ideas, and the suggestion of using software to privatize living folks seemed the easiest. 

I downloaded my tree from Ancestry to a GedCom file. Uploaded to Roots Magic, and then downloaded a GedCom choosing the privacy option. I then uploaded to a new private tree on Ancestry. The majority of living folks were listed as private as I had wanted. I still had 395 more people than the maximum allowed for uploading to GedMatch.

I spent the next several hours fixing the few living folks whose names were not changed to private, changing private to initials for the 6 people I have DNA kits for on GedMatch, and deleting about 400 extended relatives of spouses in the lower sections of the tree. 

I plan to learn to use the GedMatch tools in the future. To date my primary purpose for GedMatch has been COUSIN BAIT!

With the updated GedCom I am feeling confident any cousins out there will be able to connect with our Bramble Bush.

Summer 2020

Fishing for cousins!!!

This is why I search - 

Cause ... 





You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!
















***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***

Links:

Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge
https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/

Kitty Cooper's Blog, A Really Basic Approach to Using GEDmatch
https://blog.kittycooper.com/2021/02/a-really-basic-approach-to-using-gedmatch/

If you reference or use my blog posts in any way please

include a link to the specific blog and

credit http://somehowrelated.blogspot.com/

My blogs are ©Deborah Buchner, 2014 forward.

All rights reserved.

Please & Thank you!

________________________________________________________________

 

Mother's Day ~ Remembering My Mom

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2021: Week 19 (MOTHER'S DAY)

My mommy and I  

plus my brother

2021 marks my 7th Mother's Day without my mom. 

My mom died in March 2015. Grief is complicated.

That first Mother's Day I struggled with the realization that I was now motherless. I was a mother myself, but celebrating Mother's Day was always about my mom & not about me. 

That first Mother's Day while I was feeling sorry for myself I realized that my grandmother had lost the child that first made her a mother. 

mom with her parents

That year started an annual tradition of sending grandma a Mother's Day package. Mom always made a big deal about celebrations like Mother's Day, and I realized that grandma would be feeling that loss immensely. Sending grandma a Mother's Day package assisted me in feeling like I was still honouring mom.

I always sign every package I send grandma with my mother's special code XOXO... 

Mom began adding it to all cards, letters, and presents to stand in for my dad after he passed away in 2010. 

The code now stands for mom on these special packages.
I'm not sure if grandma knows, but I do.

me with my mom & dad and two brothers

In the years that have passed I have learned to celebrate myself as a mother

honour grandma

 

and remember mom!

Knowing it's okay to be sad while celebrating her memory.

This is why I search - 

Cause ... 





You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!
















***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***

Links:

Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge
https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/

If you reference or use my blog posts in any way please

include a link to the specific blog and

credit http://somehowrelated.blogspot.com/

My blogs are ©Deborah Buchner, 2014 forward.

All rights reserved.

Please & Thank you!

________________________________________________________________

 

When the Crime & Punishment are self imposed ~ Sometimes Your Best Is Not Required

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2021: Week 18 (CRIME & PUNISHMENT)

This is my third year with the 52 Ancestors challenge, and this week's late blog is the first time that has happened in the 3 years. 

I considered skipping this week entirely because I know it's not a CRIME to do so, but then realized I don't have to get too complicated. The challenge is 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. 

Life got very complicated about a week and a half ago. Researching in depth won't be  possible for  a while. 

BUT there is no CRIME & PUNISHMENT for not creating in depth blogs for this challenge. 

The only expectations I am not meeting are my own, and there is no shame in that. 

As a parent of Type A children I taught them  young that 'sometimes your best is not required just get the damn thing done'. Over the next few weeks I will be taking my own advice.

My Ancestor I present for week 18 wasn't involve in any crime to the best of my knowledge.  

The crime really is that I haven't followed this line up too far. 

My husband's 2nd great grandmother:
Samantha Burtch 
BIRTH 1843 • Burford Tp., Canada West
DEATH 15 MAR 1902 • Burford Tp., Brant Co., Ontario
she married (my husband's 2nd great grandfather)
Alexander Burtsel (Birdsell) Lee
BIRTH 6 JAN 1843 • Burford Tp., Canada West
DEATH 11 NOV 1923 • Northfield, Burford Tp., Brant Co., Ontario

Her father was: William Burch
Her mother was: Harriet
Her brother was: William Burch born 1856 in Ontario Canada

That is all I know about Samantha Burtch prior to her marriage. 

To be a bit dramatic .... that is a crime. In the years I have been researching both sides of the Bramble Bush somehow I missed X2 Great Grandma Samantha. 

Samantha & Alexander had 9 children that I have found records for.
My husband's great grandfather was their youngest. 

Their children:

William Henry Lee
BIRTH JUN 1864 • Burford, Ontario, Canada
DEATH 23 MAY 1927 • Oxford, Ontario, Canada

Levina Justena Lee
BIRTH ABT MAR 1866
DEATH 12 OCT 1867

Charles B Lee
BIRTH ABT 1868 • Ontario, Canada
DEATH MAY 1911 • North Dakota, USA

Matilda Jane Lee
BIRTH 27 JUN 1870 • Burford, Brant, Ontario, Canada
DEATH Unknown

James Leslie Lee
BIRTH 13 NOV 1874 • Brant, Ontario, Canada
DEATH 1 FEB 1905

Effie Mabel Lee
BIRTH 22 AUG 1875 • Brant, Ontario, Canada
DEATH Unknown

Morley Veness Lee
BIRTH 28 FEB 1879 • Burford Tp., Brant Co., Ontario, Canada
DEATH 1961

Ulysses Grant Lee
BIRTH 5 OCT 1880 • Brant, Ontario, Canada
DEATH Unknown

John Franklin Lee
BIRTH 28 MAY 1883 • Northfield Centre, Brant Co., Ontario, Canada
DEATH 12 MAY 1952 • Burford Township, Ontario, Canada

In looking for someone to write about it's easy to notice where research is still needed. 

With DNA matches confirmed through 3 of the children there is no doubt what has been researched so far is accurate, but going further up this line is definitely needed.

Following through on my commitment to myself to present 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks!

This is why I search - 

Cause ... 





You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!
















***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***

Links:

Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge
https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/

If you reference or use my blog posts in any way please

include a link to the specific blog and

credit http://somehowrelated.blogspot.com/

My blogs are ©Deborah Buchner, 2014 forward.

All rights reserved.

Please & Thank you!

________________________________________________________________

 

My Favourite Place ~ Safe at Home

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2021: Week 17 (FAVOURITE PLACE)

In early February 2020 we went to Costa Rica, and enjoyed a beautiful week and a half in a lovely all inclusive resort on the Gulf of Papagayo. For the flight over we were careful to use hand sanitizer often. When we completed Customs returning to Canada we were asked if we had any cold symptoms or had been to China. 

It wasn't too long after our arrival home that things got serious. 

When the Worldwide Covid-19 Pandemic resulted in 'stay home' orders in March of 2020 most of us believed we just needed 3 weeks to flatten the curve.

It would be 2 months of working from home before the library I work in reopened for curbside pick up. A further 3 months before a limited number of customers were allowed inside the building. 

As the pandemic case counts continued to grow over 2020 we all began looking forward to 2021 believing the pandemic would be over, and life would go back to normal.

I remember how hard I laughed when I saw the meme suggesting 2020 could be a trailer for 2021. 

I am no longer laughing. 

The world is no longer laughing. 

2021 has resulted in new 'stay home' orders throughout the world. 

Canada stopped all incoming flights from India & Pakistan last week. Passengers who arrive via flights from anywhere into Canada must quarantine in a hotel until their Covid test returns negative. All of the Canadian provinces have some level of restrictions in place.

My province, British Columbia, has ordered all restaurants to offer delivery and takeout only. Customers may only eat on the premises if they have a patio. They have divided our province into three regions, and no travel is permitted across these regions for non-essential purposes. No indoor church services or gatherings. Mandatory mask wearing in all businesses.  

These restrictions are not small, but in considering the worldwide needs of the many they are not overdone. The health restrictions have been established to protect us. 

While greeting people to enter my workplace one of the questions we ask is if they have been a close contact to a known case over the past 2 weeks.  A year ago the answer was often that they didn't know anyone who had gotten it. Starting about a month or so ago I began hearing several times a day about the friends & family they know who have gotten Covid. I have even had a few share that someone they were close to died from Covid complications. We have had a few cases in our friends & family circle, and feel blessed that none have been sick enough to require hospitalization.

My husband and I continue to front face the public everyday at work. We have both had our first vaccines. He had Pfizer in February as part of the healthcare worker rollout. I had AstraZeneca last week when Canada lowered the age restriction. I chose to take the first vaccine offered, and not vaccine shop. 

The case counts worldwide are climbing at a faster pace than 2020. The original Covid-19 virus has mutated, and created variants that are more contagious & virulent. 

It appears as though 2020 really was a trailer of 2021. 

The idea of making a joke about 2021 being a trailer of 2022 is not even a little amusing.

Thinking about the possibility of a third year of a Covid Pandemic is completely outside my current ability to imagine. 

Right now in 2021 my FAVOURITE PLACE is HOME. 

When I am at home I can forget there is a worldwide pandemic going on.

The moment I leave the house I am forced to see that there is a pandemic still going on. If anything it feels more serious now in May 2021 than it did in May 2020. Maybe only because of the fatigue after dealing with it all for a year already. 

The real estate market in our neighbourhood clearly shows that not everyone has their own little hideaway place to call home. 
I feel blessed that we do!

A Pandemic is the perfect time to reflect on where exactly my FAVOURITE PLACE is ... 

SAFE AT HOME!!!!

Stay home - for you & your fellow humans!

This is why I search - 



Cause ... 





You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!
















***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***

Links:

Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge
https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/

If you reference or use my blog posts in any way please

include a link to the specific blog and

credit http://somehowrelated.blogspot.com/

My blogs are ©Deborah Buchner, 2014 forward.

All rights reserved.

Please & Thank you!

________________________________________________________________