From Axer to Ziegler

The neat thing about volunteers is we get to chose where we want to volunteer!  I’ve volunteered for Meals on Wheels, Salvation Army, a Kindergarten Classroom, United Way and different Historical Societies, and have received untold blessings from each one of them!  The people and their stories are probably what I enjoy the most.

This week I volunteered at the local Historical Society on two different days, and on each day I met a person who touched my life, both in different ways.

On Friday, as I was showing a lady how to thread a microfilm machine, I noticed she was from Virginia, and casually asked her if perchance she went to the Inauguration.  Since I was an Inauguration Junkie it was still on my mind. Her reply was she hadn’t gone, but her husband had.  Since he was sitting at a computer while waiting for her, I went directly over to talk to him, and he was the first person who touched my life!

I actually had tears in my eyes while talking to him.  I explained why this inauguration meant so much to me.  I was a child of the 50′s and 60′s and memories of Watts Riots and Medgar Evers, James Meredith and the Little Rock Six are still vivid for me.  

Growing up overseas I knew no prejudice.  Moving to the shores of our Nation in the 50′s taught me that.  I couldn’t understand why the color of a person’s skin made him less a person than I was . . . I still don’t understand the theory.

This gentleman shared his experiences with me, from the “Scouting Trip” several days before, to the 4AM Metro ride into the District on the 20th, the bitter cold he endured with his daughter, sister and her friend, and the spirit of the crowd.  I was thrilled to talk to a person who had been there!  He pulled up his website for me with over 400 pictures of that day and showed me shots of the crowded train into the Washington, Riot Police, crowds of people, and many, many candid shots of the crowd. Then!  He offered to send me a link to the pictures!!!

I have gone over and over the pictures!  They are awesome and I am so thankful to him for sending me the link.  I now have a first person view of that day.  Unbelieveable!

The second person who touched my life was the next day and she touched my life in a completely different way.  She was a researcher and the stories about her husband’s family are the stories that make a family real ~ warts and all!

In tracing his heritage they came across prison records, arrests and an ancestor who ran a “Bawdy House!”  Think of all the information there is on that family!  Newspaper articles, court documents, information in prison records, but the one thing she was looking for was not to be found.  An actual maiden name for the ancestor who ran the “Bawdy House.”   Why?  She couldn’t be found in Church Records and that would be the only source that would have marriage records in the time frame she would need!

This woman told the story in such a Story Teller’s fashion that I was fascinated!  She knew details of their arrests, who some of the clients were (Lawyers and Judges of the day) and where her “Bawdy Houses” were.  She and her husband had gone by each location and seen them since the buildings still stand today.

Did I help my family research this week?  No.  Was the time I spent volunteering spent not in vain?  To quote a defeated Vice Presidential candidate ~ You Betcha!  Do I look forward to this week and my days at the Historical Society!  Of course I do.  

I never know how the next person I meet is going to affect my life.

Benjamin Ring Home; Used as HQ for George Washington

Rear view of home showing cook oven extension

Ring Home Stone Cellar

Awesome tree at Gideon Gilpin's House; site of Lafayette's HQ

Sign at base of tree

For more information on the historic site, go to the Brandywine website.

Upon my father’s death, I inherited every bit of his family history that he had set aside at my Aunt’s house.  Among the things were a stack of photographs and portraits that he had saved. Were they labeled? What do you think? I have managed to figure most of them out, but this family has intrigued me.

I’ve shared this picture with others in various family lines and nobody thinks anybody looks familiar.  I know it must be family, otherwise it would not have been saved all these years!

What I know about this family:

• They were not an affluent family.  Their clothes don’t fit, their shoes are scuffed, they need haircuts and they are standing in dirt.
• They were probably photographed by a traveling photographer.  
• Either they or the photographer covered the home with their tablecloths. To show off the tablecloths?  To cover their home?
• This was either two or three generations.  I’d guess three.
• This was photographed in the winter when the leaves were off of the trees, most probably in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania since that is where most of my family is from.

Any thoughts on this?  I wish the photographer had taken the time to put his name on this.  He, after all, took the time to put it on a cardboard backing. . . .

Another Meme has hit the circuits and I participated this time ~ 

Highlighted in red = I’ve done it!
Italized=I’d like to do it
Ignored=never happened; never will happen!

1. Started your own blog. (have 4 of ‘em)
2. Slept under the stars. (love, love, love camping!!)
3. Played in a band. 
4. Visited Hawaii. (yessir!  I was born there!)
5. Watched a meteor shower. (go back to #2)
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.  
7. Been to Disneyland/world. (Disneyland the year it was opened then at least once a year thereafter.  One year I went six times!)
8. Climbed a mountain. (lived in the Mountains and climbed many of them!)
9. Held a praying mantis.
10. Sang a solo. (nor would you want me to!!)
11. Bungee jumped. 
12. Visited Paris. 
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea. 
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch.  (quilting and then I won a blue ribbon at the County Fair!)
15. Adopted a child.
16. Had food poisoning. 
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty. (had a chance, but let Hubby and grandson do it instead!! not for me!)
18. Grown your own vegetables.  (yup ~ and the deer ate everything EXCEPT the Zuchhini!)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France. 
20. Slept on an overnight train.
21. Had a pillow fight. 
22. Hitch hiked. 
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill. (Like when I had “Eye problems?”  Can’t see going to work??)
24. Built a snow fort. 
25. Held a lamb. 
26. Gone skinny dipping. 
27. Run a marathon. 
28. Ridden a gondola in Venice.
29. Seen a total eclipse. 
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset. 
31. Hit a home run.  (Yessir ~ when I met my husband!!!)
32. Been on a cruise. (8 of them!   5-Mexico;  2-Caribbean; 1-Panama Canal)
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors. (I live there!)
35. Seen an Amish community. (once again, I live there!)
36. Taught yourself a new language. (Pennsylvania Dutch and HTML.)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied. 
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person.
39. Gone rock climbing. 
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David in person. 
41. Sung Karaoke.
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt.
43. Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant.
44. Visited Africa.
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight. 
46. Been transported in an ambulance. 
47. Had your portrait painted. 
48. Gone deep sea fishing. (Halibut fishing in Alaska)
49. Seen the Sistine chapel in person.
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. 
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling. 
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud. (who hasn’t??)
54. Gone to a drive-in theatre. (uh huh)
55. Been in a movie. (my parents’ home movies count?)
56. Visited the Great Wall of China. (I’d love to visit China and if I did, this would be a “have to see!”)
57. Started a business.
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia. 
60. Served at a soup kitchen.
61. Sold Girl Scout cookies. (Yup and eaten a lot as well)
62. Gone whale watching. 
63. Gotten flowers for no reason. (Nice hubby. . . . )
64. Donated blood.  (I don’t even like blood tests!!!)
65. Gone sky diving.
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp.
67. Bounced a cheque.
68. Flown in a helicopter. 
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy. (Singer Sewing Machine and Sweet Sue Doll both from the 50′s)
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.
71. Eaten Caviar. (on a cruise)
72. Pieced a quilt.  (see #14 above!)
73. Stood in Times Square. (Oh yes!  Love that City!!!)
74. Toured the Everglades. (Yes, on my final trip to Florida!)
75. Been fired from a job. 
76. Seen the Changing of the Guard in London. 
77. Broken a bone.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle.
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person. (Several times)
80. Published a book. 
81. Visited the Vatican.
82. Bought a brand new car. (My Murano a year ago!)
83. Walked in Jerusalem.
84. Had your picture in the newspaper. (last one was for an article about RAOGK)
85. Read the entire Bible.
86. Visited the White House. (Now I’d love to visit it!)
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
88. Had chickenpox.  (on one of those Grand Canyon visits!)
89. Saved someone’s life. 
90. Sat on a jury. (no but I’m called for Jury Duty on the 23rd of this month!)
91. Met someone famous. (Dan Rowan (remember him??), Richard Nixon, Red Skelton, Tina Sinatra . . . I lived in Palm Springs!)
92. Joined a book club.
93. Lost a loved one. (step-son, father, grandparents)
94. Had a baby. (two, both grown into wonderful adults!)
95. Seen the Alamo in person. 
96. Swum in the Great Salt Lake.
97. Been involved in a law suit.
98. Owned a cell phone. (since the early 90′s ~ can you say BIG BAG phone??)
99. Been stung by a bee. (one flew in my open car window and stung me in my ear as I was driving!!)