Freedom ~ My 1st Car

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2024: Week 29 (AUTOMOBILES)

When I first got my license I was allowed to drive my parents car, but only on the days my brothers needed to go into town. 

We lived out of town so my parents were delighted to have another driver in the family. 

I drove whichever brother needed a ride to wherever they were going, and could do what I wanted until I had to return to pick them up. 

Doing whatever I wanted involved cruising up and down Baker Street in Nelson, British Columbia. 

That was where I waved to my peers who were cruising the same streets. 

Sometimes we would stop for coffee, but mostly we just drove to the end of the several block street & then turned around to go the other way. 

Thinking back to those trips with my 2 younger brothers I wonder what my parents were thinking. 

Nelson's roads are straight up and straight down.

I turned 16 in October in the days before graduated licensing. 

I was just given the keys and off I went as a brand new driver with my 2 siblings in the car up and down steep icy streets.

What were they thinking?

When Chris and I raised our kids they didn't understand why we were so freaked out by the idea of them going in vehicles with new drivers. 

Chris turned 16 in July of the same year I did in the Rocky Mountain area of Alberta - his experiences were exactly like mine, BUT he also saw the evidence of inexperience as a Paramedic. 

Our poor children were allowed none of the freedoms their parents had.

Now back to the story about MY car!

In the summer  of 1985 my parents gifted me the white Pinto pictured below. 

They paid $100.

When I look at this picture I see the rust along the driver's door 

           - I don't remember rust being there. 

In my mind my 1st car was perfect. 

I loved this car.

When friends told me the Pinto was prone to exploding if they were rear-ended I made sure to always watch my rearview mirror when stopped or any other time I might be rear-ended.

I'm not sure why the car shook and rocked when stopped at a stoplight, but the motion soothed me so I didn't worry about it. 

My car gave me my first taste of freedom.

I still lived at home so escaping without my brothers in tow was a delight. 

I had to pay for my own insurance and gas, but I had a job so this wasn't a problem.

The driver's door couldn't be closed from the inside. 

I would open the door, unroll the window, close the door, climb in the window, and close the window. 

It opened from the inside so a repeat performance wasn't needed. 

Wondering what the equivalency would be in 2024 I used an inflation calculator, and realized an equal spend today wouldn't get a running car. 

Then again if my parents hadn't bought the car from a friend of the family I don't think $100 bought any sort of car in 1985 either. 

When you remember your 1st taste of freedom!!! 

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***

Photos:

$100 in 1985 equivalency in 2024. Inflation Calculator Clipped, $100
https://inflationcalculator.ca/

Personal

Links:

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

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!

______________________________________________________________

Happy Birthday X4 Great Grandfather Thomas Thomson ~ Born 232 Years Ago

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2023: Week 29 (BIRTHDAYS)

As I sat down to write this week's blog about BIRTHDAYS I decided to find someone in our Bramble Bush who was born on July 18th. 

I found:
Thomas Thomson
BIRTH 18 JUL 1791 • Wemyss, Fife, Scotland
DEATH 26 MAY 1833 • Dalkeith, Scotland

Exactly 232 years ago my paternal 4th great grandfather was born to 

John Thomson
BIRTH 12 JUL 1763 • Seggie, Orwell, Kinross, Scotland
DEATH BEF. 1829 • Scotland, United Kingdom
and
Jean Beveridge
BIRTH BEF. 20 OCT 1765 • Portmoak, Kinross-shire, Scotland
DEATH Unknown

My 3rd great grandmother is their daughter
Agnes Thomson
BIRTH ABT. 1826 • Inverkeithing, East Wymess, Fife, Scotland
DEATH 7 FEB 1898 • Inverkeithing, Fife, Scotland

Agnes retained her maiden name as her married name when she married:
Henry Thomson
BIRTH ABT. 1825 • Buckhaven, East Wemyss, Fife, Scotland
DEATH 3 OCT 1901 • Buckhaven, Fife, Scotland

who was the son of
Alexander Thomson
BIRTH 4 MAR 1796 • Buckhaven, Fifeshire, Scotland
DEATH 5 FEB 1875 • Buckhaven, Fifeshire, Scotland
and
Williamina (Minnie) Cargill
BIRTH ABT. 1795 • Wemyss, Fife, Scotland
DEATH ABT. 1855 • North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland

I have not yet wrapped these 2 Thomson family lines back together again, but I have no doubt that Agnes and Henry were somehow related.

My X2 great grandfather, son of Agnes & Henry Thomson was
Thomas Thomson
BIRTH ABT. 1849 • Buckhaven, East Wemyss, Fife, Scotland
DEATH 22 FEB 1919 • Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland
married to
Isabella Glass
BIRTH ABT. 1849 • North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland
DEATH 29 JUL 1943 • Edinburgh, City of Edinburgh, Scotland

My great grandfather, son of Thomas & Isabella was
Thomas Thomson
BIRTH 10 MAY 1880 • North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland
DEATH 19 NOV 1940 • Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada
married to
Elizabeth Young Slicer
BIRTH 4 AUG 1882 • North Berwick, Haddingtonshire, Scotland
DEATH 24 JUN 1958 • Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

When I first started searching the Thomson line I was very confused by the number of Thomas Thomsons to be found.

This is the area the family is predominantly from. 

Today I found X4 great grandfather Thomas Thomson who was born 232 years ago exactly, and realized I know nothing about him because each time I try I get mixed up in the Thomson lines.

Up next I will try to find more information about this X4 great grandfather and his ancestors. 

When you realize you don't know enough about a particular line!!! 

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***

Map:

Google Maps. Retrieved July 18th 2023 from
https://www.google.com/maps/place/North+Berwick,+UK/@56.0784257,-3.2576583,10.66z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x48870656577f27a3:0x70433f000895b52e!8m2!3d56.058363!4d-2.719646!16zL20vMDIyeWtf?hl=en&entry=ttu

Links:

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

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!

_____________________________________________________________

Fun Fact ~ Dr. Seuss Is In Our Bramble Bush

I work in library. 

There is no funner fact than discovering my relationship to Dr. Seuss 

I was super excited to see the connection when it was the featured connection on WikiTree a few months back. 

Granted ... it's a stretch. 

He's not a super close relative, but Dr. Seuss is in this Bramble Bush!

Theodor Seuss (Ted) Geisel is my husband's - 

****husband of 3rd great-grandniece of husband of
grandaunt of husband of 1st cousin 5x removed***

The actual connection is via his first wife:

Helen Marion Palmer
BIRTH 16 SEP 1898 • Brooklyn, Kings County (Brooklyn), New York, USA
DEATH 23 OCT 1967 • La Jolla, San Diego, San Diego, California, USA

This is the path between my husband and Helen:

George Howard Palmer 1862-1910
Father of Helen Marion Palmer

 Adoniram Judson (Judson) Palmer 1833-1911
Father of George Howard Palmer 

Benjamin Palmer 1793-1857
Father of Adoniram Judson (Judson) Palmer 

Jonathan Palmer 1746-1808
Father of Benjamin Palmer 

Elizabeth Seaman
Mother of Jonathan Palmer

 Jonathan Seaman 1683-1755
Father of Elizabeth Seaman 

Jecaniah Seaman 1720-1752
Son of Jonathan Seaman 

Rachel Secord , (twin of Peter) 1726-1759
Wife of Jecaniah Seaman

 Daniel Secord Jr. 1698-1765
Father of Rachel Secord , (twin of Peter) 

Marie (Mary) Secord 1736-1816
Daughter of Daniel Secord Jr. 

Aden I (Aden) Beebe , SGT 1761-1843
Son of Marie (Mary) Secord 

Amasa Beebe 1791-1850
Son of Aden I (Aden) Beebe , SGT 

Rachel Smith 1792-1862
Wife of Amasa Beebe 

Esther Smith 1756-1828
Mother of Rachel Smith 

John Smith 1715-1785
Father of Esther Smith 

John (Little John) Smith Judge 1747-1846
Son of John Smith 

Isaac Smith 1788-1869
Son of John (Little John) Smith Judge 

Francis Allen (Frank) Smith 1836-1921
Son of Isaac Smith 

Martha J Isabel (Mattie) Smith , twin to Ida 1873-1902
Daughter of Francis Allen (Frank) Smith 

Clifton Alexander (C.A.) (C. A.) (Cliff) Lee 1902-1979
Son of Martha J Isabel (Mattie) Smith , twin to Ida 

Mary Alice Lee 1951-2019
Daughter of Clifton Alexander (C.A.) (C. A.) (Cliff) Lee
& my mother-in-law

When I started researching Dr. Seuss & his wife Helen I was saddened to find the tragedy of their marriage. Dr. Seuss was unfaithful. Helen suffered medical issues. She committed suicide. She left behind a letter that suggested she knew about his affair. A tragic legacy. 

BUT Helen is not strictly defined by her relationship & death. 

She was an Oxford scholar, and a children's author herself. 

"She graduated from Wellesley College with honors in 1920 and thrived in an environment where the curriculum was focused on languages, literature, and even economics. After graduation, she enrolled in Oxford University, an institution that awarded women degrees for the first time only four years prior to her arrival. Unbeknownst to either of them, Ted Geisel was to also attend Oxford after he graduated from Dartmouth." 1

It was at Oxford that Ted & Helen met.

Helen was instrumental in convincing Ted to become a children's author & illustrator instead of a teacher after she saw his doodling while taking notes in class. 

Ted was on a path to be an English Professor.

Without Helen Dr. Seuss & the books he became famous for may never have existed. 

I was 10 when my younger brother was born. Our family belonged to the book-of-the-month club. All the books were Seuss books. I loved reading them over and over again to my brother. One time when he was about 3 he ordered GREEN EGGS & HAM at a restaurant. The amazing staff at the restaurant didn't blink an eye at the order. The scrambled eggs arrived with green food colouring & the ham was tinted green too. More than 40 years later I can still picture the delight on my little brother's face!

Years later we had 2 boys of our own, and we read Suess books over and over again to them. We had stacks of them from our weekly library visits in addition to our home library collection built up by our own membership in the book-of-the-month club. My husband and I could recite the books without actually looking at the pages because we read them so often. Our boys knew them by heart as well, but still asked us to read them. There are several that we can still recite without even seeing the book. 

Both our boys grew up to be readers. 
They love books. 
Dr. Seuss had a roll in that. 

Every Halloween I dress up as the CAT IN THE HAT for my day at work!

I work in library --- how fun is it that Dr. Seuss is in our Bramble Bush!!!

Looking past the not so great details about the folks in your tree to find the legacies!!!

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***

Footnotes:

1 Meisenhold, Jana. The Complicated And Painful Legacy Of Dr. Seuss. The Establishment, Orginally published March 19th 2019. Retrieved July 19th 2022 from 
https://medium.com/the-establishment/the-complicated-and-painful-legacy-of-dr-seuss-f1609121f000

Sources:

Cahn, Robert. The Wonderful World of Dr. Seuss. Originally published July 6th 1957. Republished February 28th 2016. Retrieved July 20th 2022 from https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2016/02/wonderful-world-dr-seuss/

Dr. Seuss. Wikipedia. Retrieved July 19th 2022 from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Seuss

Helen Palmer. Wikipedia. Retrieved July 19th 2022 from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Palmer_(writer

Meisenholder, Jana. The Complicated And Painful Legacy Of Dr. Seuss. Originally published March 19th 2019. Retrieved July 20th 2022 from
https://medium.com/the-establishment/the-complicated-and-painful-legacy-of-dr-seuss-f1609121f000

Vasquez, Jared. Helen Palmer. Originally published May 3rd 2020. Retrieved July 20th 2022 from 
https://celebsindepth.com/helen-palmer/

Links:

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

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!

______________________________________________________________

Newsworthy - Found in a Gossip Mag

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: 2020 Week 29 (NEWSWORTHY)

Have you even googled your own last name?  Have you ever narrowed it down to NEWS only?  Well that is what I did for this week's blog Newsworthy. 

I planned to write about a known relative who had a news article written about them. I thought about using one that I already have since I collected quite a few with the not so long ago free access to Newspapers.com

BUT then I found this article, and even though we don't know how she's related - there is no doubt she is because all the Buchners are.

source cited below

Mrs. Buchner along with Lugosi and Spider have never been happier.

The article seems to fit nicely under the gossip rag type.  The headline screams read me in the grocery store line up. As I stand in the line at the grocery store looking at those headlines I think those people and their families shop too - how awful is that. It seems no family is excluded.


Are you wondering why I decided to write about this article?  Why I decided to link the article in my sources below thereby potentially increasing traffic?  


When I first started my blog I added this intro to the top

"This is my space to share my quest to collect as many broken branches as I can in my fractured family tree which resembles a bramble bush more then a proper tree. As I go forward in this blogging journey I hope to share how I have searched far & wide for family - with no regard for where they come from or if I should really want them. 
You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!"

If this find doesn't embody my initial intention I have no idea what would. 


Collecting family - with no regard for where they come from
or if I should really want them!







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***





Sources:

Woman who is celebrating a decade of marriage to her two pet CATS says she has never been happier (and has no plans to find a human husband), Daily Mail, Retrieved July 20th 2020 
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2898715/Woman-celebrating-decade-marriage-two-pet-CATS-says-never-happier-no-plans-human-husband.html



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!

___________________________________________________________

Greatest Challenge ~ Being Present

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 29 (CHALLENGING)


Many years ago I moved quite far away from the town I was raised in where I still have family & friends. Over the years I rarely went back to visit. After my mother died I went home to take care of her affairs. As I drove into town I was sad. I realized I hadn't been back after my stepdad died 5 years previously. If my mom wasn't a big enough draw for me to visit would I ever come back now that she wasn't there? 

BOB

When I returned home after settling mom's estate I cried. I knew I wouldn't be back. 


Last year my grandmother had a surgical procedure, and was not recovering as quickly as the family hoped. Family members were taking turns caring for grandma, and were all getting very tired. I decided to take mom's turn with grandma. 


As I drove over 5 mountain passes with mom's little dog I knew that I was heading out on a very challenging journey. I felt that going home was going to be super hard. Everywhere I would see reminders of my mom who I could no longer pretend was just very busy living life back home.


When we arrived at grandma's independent residence mom's dog knew exactly where to go. She and mom had spent lots of time at Grandma's apartment, and even stayed overnight. In the more than 3 years since she had been there she hadn't forgotten. As the two of us walked through the hallways and rode the elevator mom's little dog would pose and wait for the other residents to shower her with attention. Only a few left her disappointed. I felt like I was traveling with a rock star. It would take us a long time to get in and out of the building while we stopped and visited with folks that remembered her from previous visits with mom.


I had thought that caring for grandma, and traveling with mom's little dog would be challenging. It was not. Siska was a fantastic traveler. Being with grandma was healing. I took the time to cruise the main street where I had cruised as a teen after loading my car with friends. I reconnected with family and friends.  I realized that you can go home.


So what was challenging? 



Grandma has boxes of photos, documents, and artifacts. As a family researcher I couldn't wait to spend time digging through them. Grandma's memory is very good. I had plans to take photos of the photos with my cell phone and take notes. Each night I would bring something out, and grandma would start talking. I tried to take photos, but then I missed the stories. I tried to take notes, but became engrossed in her stories. 


My greatest challenge that week was simply being present. Not trying to collect photos, documents, and stories. Just listening while Grandma walked down memory lane. Watching her as she talked and reminisced while looking at photos left me with warm fuzzy feelings. Knowing that Grandma was over 90 years old, and I might never get a chance to collect her stories was hard. Just being present and connected was a gift I will never regret.


Grandma's recovery that week was amazing. The healing power of dogs is well known. For Grandma it was a tie to her precious daughter who had died. It was quite beautiful to see them together. When I was thanked for all I had done for grandma I let them know that I was simply Siska's wheels she was the true star of the moment. 


Knowing that I might never get a chance to get grandma's details to go with the photos, documents, and artifacts was made okay by the experience I had in reconnecting with my grandmother. 

Grandma with Siska

Making memories, but not collecting them!

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!