This Bramble Bush Foundation ~ Us

Welcome to Week #1 of the 52 Ancestors in 52 weeks 2022.

This is my 4th year participating, and I am super grateful to Amy Johnson Crow for inspiring me to write about the folks in our Bramble Bush. 

If you want to sign up there is a link at the bottom of this blog.

The challenge took me from an uncommitted relationship with my genealogy blog (2014-2018) to telling the stories of our ancestors every week (2019 to 2021).

I look forward to sharing more stories for those who are interested now, and for those who will become interested in the future.

Primarily I write for me. It's a way to turn the list of names and places into living breathing people.

These are the people who impacted who we are today. They need to be remembered.

This first week's prompt is FOUNDATIONS.

To start this year I will focus on the bottom of this Bramble Bush. 

US!

First there were two people living their own lives:

Chris

He's the tiny baby in the carriage with his parents

from the newspaper on the day he was born - with his mom

with his little sister

with his little sister and grandpa

with his little sister

with his little sister

with his little sister

With his great grandfather, Alonzo Vannatter

with his little sister

with his little sister

with his uncle - his dad's youngest brother

with his mom

Basic Training Canadian Military

Deb 

with mom

with my brother and dad

with my brother and dad

with my aunt, my mom's younger sister

with my mom, dad, and two uncles (mom's youngest siblings)

with mom & dad, and the puppy whose name I don't know

with mom, dad, brother, great grandmother, and aunt (mom's younger sister)

mom and I

with brother, dad, mom

with younger brother

dad trimmed my hair for school photos while mom was away

with cousin, brother, uncle (mom's youngest brother)

with cousin & brother

with aunt (mom's younger sister)

with mom, stepfather, and younger brothers

with younger brother

with brother and great grandmother (Nellie May nee Cannon Graham)

with brother and great grandmother (Nellie May nee Cannon Graham)

with brother and great grandmother (Nellie May nee Cannon Graham)

with brother

with mother

with mother

with brother and cousin

with mother and brother

with mother and brother

with mom

with aunt, mom's youngest sister

With friend Karl Turner for his Grad

with brother, step-father & grandparents

about a year before meeting Chris

Not too long before meeting Chris

They became a couple:

They became a family:

  

And the family grew

AND grew

Their nest emptied:

Once the nest empties there is more time & money for genealogy --- errr I mean fun!!!

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!

________________________________________________________________

2022 - A Return to the Old Normal

Future

What shall I write about for this week's prompt FUTURE? 

Understanding the past is the key to the future.

I have always tried to live in the moment. 

As the last moments of 2021 are upon us I honestly can't wait to forget about this year. 

In looking back I'm shocked to realize 2021 is over. 

This has been a hard year for most folks. 

It was the 2nd year of the Covid19 pandemic. 

So much of what was happening personally & throughout the world was overshadowed by the worldwide pandemic.

As 2021 comes to a close I look forward to 2022 with the hopes that we can go back to the old normal. 

When the pandemic first started, and we talked about the new normal there was lots of talk about what parts of the old normal we could let go of. I now no longer remember which parts I said I no longer wanted. I look forward to a return to the old normal. 

There is so little that I remember from this past year. 

There was so little to mark the passage of time.

One good thing that happened this year?

My dad gave us his Harley Davidson. He bought it new in 1986, and babied it. When he decided he was no longer riding it enough to keep it he gifted it to me. It is such a beautiful bike. It's in such good condition it qualified for Collector Plates. Maybe in 2022 we will attend a Show & Shine?  

1986 Harley Davidson, September 2021

Looking forward to a return to the the old normal.

From our house to yours  -  HAPPY NEW YEAR, 2022!!!

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!

________________________________________________________________

A Griswold Family Christmas ~ Our Bramble Bush

I suspect there is not one person who knows us that would be surprised to hear we have Griswolds in our Bramble Bush. 

When we decorate for Christmas our style can only be described as a 'Griswold Family Christmas'. 

The first time I saw National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation I recognized the style as mine. 

We even decorate the bathroom. 

I don't know anyone else who has a talking outhouse in their bathroom that has the voice of Santa saying things like "What does a guy have to do to get a bit of TP around here", or "Soon I will have to use my good list", and then a long farting noise followed by a Santa chuckle with some ho ho ho's thrown in. 

The shower curtain, towels, and toothbrushes round out the boldly decorated bathroom. 

The first Griswold I found was the wife of my husband's X2 great uncle

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

who married, November 7th 1888:
Frances Griswold
BIRTH 7 MAR 1874 • Norwich, Ontario, Canada
DEATH 1963 • Burgessville, Canada

Frances was the daughter of 
Barbara Ellen Recknor
BIRTH 4 DEC 1844 • Otterstadt, Pfalz, Bayern, Germany
DEATH 1919 • Norwich Twp., Oxford, Ontario, Canada
and
John Lyman Griswold
BIRTH 16 NOV 1843 • N Norwich Oxford Co, Ontario, Canada
DEATH 24 MAY 1914 • Norwich Twp, Oxford, Ontario, Canada

Now isn't that interesting --- 
Lyman is in my mother's maternal family line.
Looking more closely at the parents and grandparents of John Lyman Griswold I find Quaker records. My Lyman line is Quaker. 
There is little doubt that my husband and I are both connected to the Griswold family line.
This is not surprising. 
BUT it will be a research project for another time!

The tackier our Christmas presents the happier we are.

One year I mailed this card to my mom for Christmas!

Even the folks who send us presents know this about us

Received Xmas 2021

When you aren't surprised to discover that It's in your DNA OR your family married into it!

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!

________________________________________________________________