Monday, June 22, 2015

Father's Day Weekend Recap- Ireland, Scotland, Texas and Tahoe

It has been a very busy weekend for me with many celebrations and genealogical connections.

On Saturday, I had the pleasure of presenting two sessions at the Houston Family Genealogy Day sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My class handouts for the both the Irish and Scottish session are posted here.  In addition, there are handouts from several of the other presenters that are profiled here.

For those that attended my presentation on Irish genealogy,  I offer the following previous blog posts that I have written on Irish genealogy:

Feb 16, 2015
My paternal grandmother's ancestor, James McCrory, left County Monaghan, Ireland, settled in Lancashire, England married an innkeeper's daughter, Sarah Lee and took her to Pennsylvania. I have had the good fortune to ...

Jul 30, 2011
My wife and I traveled to Ireland in April 2008 and spent time in Dublin and Belfast with five days spent at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. I was able to document many of my family stories in the records at PRONI ...

Nov 24, 2014
However now that we know that Bridget Ann Moss was born in Ireland and that she had a son, William Patrick Moss born 1879 in California, it appears fairly certain that this is not my family. Annie Lanstein Moss and her ...

Feb 02, 2015
Born in County Fermanagh, Ireland in 1828, he immigrated to America in 1853 according to the 1900 census. He settled in Schuyler County, Missouri. On 31 March 1859, he married Mary Nevin in Schuyler County. In 1860 he ...

I acquired a wealth of material for future blog posts over the course of the weekend not the least of which was my Father's Day visit to the new Bryan Museum in Galveston.  The Bryan Museum is a MUST SEE historical and artisitic attraction.  My family was on the first tour of the day yesterday, which was led by the Bryan Museum curator. The tour also included a drop-in by Mr. J.P. Bryan who highlighted some of his favorite pieces in the collection.  The Changing Gallery features a special exhibition honoring the Buffalo Soldiers of the 9th and 10th U.S. Cavalry to mark the occasion of the 150th Anniversary of Juneteenth.  This exhibit will run through Labor Day but visit the museum soon and visit often.

I want to thank both of my daughters for being such good sports about my family history addiction.  They both encouraged me with tips on new developments in the family history world:

To help bring thousands of records to light, the Freedmen’s Bureau Project was created as a set of partnerships between FamilySearch International and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Afro­-American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAHGS), and the California African American Museum.  Read more about it at http://www.discoverfreedmen.org/

I have also been having a lot of fun with a product called the Simply Fun Conversation Ring.
Each ring contains 98 question cards with a variety of conversation starters. It can be used two ways, ask questions to each other or predict how the other will answer the question.
Compact, sturdy cards on a ring go anywhere. Great to keep in your purse, car, on coffee or dinner table, etc.  Questions cover a variety of topics that are great for children and adults.
Great for: car trips, sports activities, waiting in line, hospital or nursing home visits, classrooms, gift toppers, around the kitchen table, at a restaurant, family reunions & gatherings, small group activities.

One of the questions was about the most beautiful place that we had every visited and Lake Tahoe was on the top of my list.  Coincidentally, my sister was also waxing poetic about Tahoe on Facebook.  My siblings and I have very fond memories of a place called Valhalla also known as the Heller estate at Lake Tahoe.

Nick Cimino and Uncle Jack Kelly on the pier at Valhalla about 1970.

Nick Cimino in front of the boat house at Valhalla, Lake Tahoe, June 1965.


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