We left Missoula around 10:30 am in Tim & Kathy’s new motor home. Maybe I’m niave but I thought it would be somewhat a smooth ride compared to our Econoline van. Big mistake! Very bumpy-I thought the back bed would help my back. Nada!

We stopped at a rest area around 1 pm for chicken and pasta, sandwiches, etc..

Next leg of the trip should be Coeur d’alene itself. More later.

The next part in our journey should be the city itself, the beach and final stop at the buffet table!

Thanks to Find A Grave for providing the grave marker!

It’s easy to use.  Give it a try.  You’ll want to automatically add it to your favorites!

Kuhns’ 1860 census contribution

I was very excited to find my maternal third great grandfather and his family in the 1860 census.  Some interesting information that I didn’t know was that Isaiah Kuhns was a gunsmith and his father, Jacob Kuhns, was a shoemaker.  That’s awesome!  By the time of this census, Jacob Kuhns was living with his son at the age of 76.  It’s apparent that his wife had already passed as she wasn’t included in this census.

For me, this census is a snapshot into my ancestor’s lives – how they were employed, their love of family, etc.  It can give you a “guesstimate” on birth/death dates even how long a couple has been married.  Other census records that I’ve seen recorded where they came from and when they emigrated to the United States, what language they spoke, etc.

1860 Important Facts

The United States Census of 1860 was the eighth Census conducted in the United States. It determined the population of the United States to be 31,443,321 — an increase of 35.4 percent over the 23,191,875 persons enumerated during the 1850 Census. The total population included 3,953,761 slaves.

By the time the 1860 census returns were ready for tabulation, the nation was sinking into the American Civil War. As a result, Census Superintendent Joseph C. G. Kennedy and his staff produced only an abbreviated set of reports, which included no graphic or cartographic representations. This new round of statistics did allow the Census staff to produce a cartographic display, including preparing maps of Southern states for Union field commanders. These maps displayed militarily vital topics, including white population, slave population, predominant agricultural products (by county), and rail and post-road transportation routes.

The 1860 census collected the following information:

• name
• address
• age
• sex
• color (white, black or mulatto) for each person
• whether deaf and dumb, blind, insane or idiotic
• value of real estate and of personal estate owned (required of all free persons)
• profession, occupation or trade of each male and female over 15 years of age
• place (state, territory or country) of birth
• whether married within the year
• whether attended school within the year
• whether unable to read and write (for persons over 20)
• whether a pauper or convict

Census – Where Can I Get Mine?

I’ve found a few good sources for census records.  The most popular is Ancestry.com.  Yes, they do charge for membership.  They’ve spent considerable time and resources gathering this information.  They also have 14-day trials and occasionally allow non-members access to their records free of charge.  Another service is Footnote.com.  Basic membership is free but to use its full resources you will need to pay.  Let me say this though – it’s resources are considerable!  Footnote.com claim  to fame is source documents provided by people like you and me as well as organizations like the National Archives!  Last on my list is FamilySearch Record Search.  It’s a wonderful service and free.  I’ve found many documents that I didn’t find on the other two.  I believe (and this is just my opinion so I could be wrong) that FamilySearch Record Search is probably the biggest user-contributor database project available today.  Countless thousands (or more) volunteer their time to transcribe census records not just for the United States but other countries as well.  The only downside so far to the Record Search is searches can’t be saved or marked for later research.  You’ll have to search for it all over again and try to find where you left off.

If you have further information on the Kuhns family OR would like to provide more information on census records, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment.  I encourage participation!

GPS Visualizer

GPS Visualizer is super simple to use.  Just add the address, city, state, whatever and it will bring it up on a map – Google or Yahoo.  It not only finds the correct addresses but GPS coordinates as well.

StandardFinder

StandardFinder lets you get that defined location.  Genealogists love details.  We thrive on it!  Place names are commonly broken down  into the following: city, county, state (province), country.  So Missoula, Montana (where I’m from) would be broken down to Missoula, Missoula, Montana, United States.  Where StandardFinder comes in is if you don’t know the full place name.  Like I said…a gem!

Hopefully these help you out as much as they have me!

Teaser:

Stay tuned for next Friday because I have one that’s going to blow your socks off!

Believe it or not, it all started with me updating my  new gallery.  I’m trying to move everything over to nextgen gallery (a WordPress plugin) and was adding descriptions so I had to open up RootsMagic v4 to get the information that I needed.  Since I just switched from Legacy to RootsMagic, I’m still trying to learn everything available to me.  One is adding the GPS coordinates just not for the place name but the place detail.

For my  example, I’ll use Roelof Lutke.  He died in Vogel Center, Missaukee, Michigan, United States.  According to my source, he was buried at the Vogel Center Cemetery.  One would assume that it would be the same town.  One would assume wrong as I did and the individual I sourced.  According to GPS data and the Michigan wiki, Vogel Center Cemetery is actually in Marion, Missaukee, Michigan, United States.

What makes it even more fun is Vogel Center Cemetery is 1.4 miles from Vogel Center and 7 miles from Marion!  Even better, Marion is also part of Osceola county.  Trust me, Michigan is weird that way.  According to the wiki, Vogel Center and Marion (zip code 49665) are part of Clam Union Township.  The other part of Marion resides outside of the township, therefore belonging to Osceola county as well.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any images or a website of the cemetery but I did find something by doing a simple Google search – a record of all residents of the Vogel Center Cemetery (yes, genealogy humor).  Perusing through the record shows up other possible family members – the Dodde family (a breakoff of the Doddema name).  It looks like I have some work ahead of me.

Moral of the story: if you ever get bored just blindly entering data, google the area.  You might find more than you expected!

IMPORTANT UPDATE:

For some reason, I had a feeling to do another search on this elusive mystery (thought case solved).  Good thing I did.  Histopolis.com shows that Vogel Center Cemetery is considered to be in Clam Union Township, Missaukee County.  It makes a certain sort of sense when you think of it.  None of my programs liked having a town with 2 separate counties.  You can see the problem with that,  can’t you?

Link to site:  Additional information on Vogel Center Cemetery, Clam Union Township, Missaukee County, Michigan, United States and other places is available on Histopolis.com

Case closed!  I’m in such a giving mood, I’m including the image of the cemetery.

View Larger Map

So genealogy detectives,  the game is afoot.  Who is this missing relative?

Update 8 May 2010:

Along with the help of Henk Doddema, we’ve been able to figure out that her name was “Gonnie” Doddema.  She died in 2002 and was cremated.  Her urn is kept at the Yarden Crematorium Schoterhof in Heerenveen, Friesland, Netherlands.  She was married to an Oosterwerff but we have no further details.  Gonnie appears to be a nickname; again nothing concrete.

Please keep us updated on the mystery of Gonnie Doddema.

February 17, 2010
Dear Mom
Current mood:  crushed
Category: Life

Dear Mom,

I’m certainly going to miss you.  I can’t believe you’re really gone.  You’ll always live in my heart and I’ll always have the memories. I will always have you in my life, you will be right beside me, even if I can’t see you.  I consider myself to be a lucky woman,  as I had your love for 55 years.  Some daughters aren’t that fortunate to have that love or to have their mothers as long as I did.  What gives me comfort is that you passed away knowing how much your two grown daughters loved you. You knew how much your only granddaughter loved you and how proud you were of her with her aspirations of being a nurse anestheist.  I’m glad that we were all by your side so you wouldn’t be scared. Damn this is so difficult to write when tears are blurring my vision.
For those of you who didn’t know my mom, let me tell you a little about her life.

My mother was born in the Netherlands, in Rotterdam on April 7, 1925.  She was the youngest of six children.  My mother was fluent in Dutch, English and German.  My mother was working in Germany when World WarII broke out. She worked as an au-pair/maid for a Jewish family. When the Nazi’s took them off to the camps, my mother was on her own, trying to get back to Holland, safety and to her family. While in a basement hiding from the Nazi’s, my mom and a friend came upstairs, crossed the street and broke into an abandoned house to get food.  All they found to eat was some moldy bread, which they ate and brought the rest to the basement which held others who were injured and starving.  While crossing the street a German tank spotted them and pointed the turret at them. They froze and though that was the end. Instead the soldiers chatted them up, shared a cigarette with them and let them go.  My mom finally found her way back into Holland.  While in a park and feeling safe, they heard the German planes approach. Instead of running and hiding under the trees, my mom climbed up a tall chain link fence and hung on for dear life while they carpet bombed the park.  My mom survived with only a moderate sized shrapnel burn on her instep. My father was a soldier in the US Army.  When my mom returned to Holland, she met my father. My dad saw her and it was love at first sight. My mother immigrated one and half years later to the US to marry my father.  They settled in Los Angeles, California.  My father became a police officer for the LAPD.  They had two daughters, Holly (me) in 1955 and Stacy in 1962.  In 1964, we moved to beautiful Orange County, close to the ocean near Seal Beach.  My mother was a homemaker, who enjoyed sewing, making clothes and custom drapery. She had a flair for interior decorating.  Our house was probably the prettiest house of our entire neighborhood.  I was always proud to have friends over.

Mom encouraged my dad to invest in real estate. Together they purchased many homes and businesses in the LA and OC areas.  As a twelve year old, I assisted my parents in rehabbing their properties. When I was a young adult, my mom and I were a team.  I told her what to buy and how to stage the properties when it was time to sell.  My mom was far more frugal than I was, but when she listened, she sold the properties sooner and made more money.

Mom enjoyed traveling to see her family in Holland and loved the Hawaiian Islands. I often went along with her on her travels. After my dad passed away, my mom moved closer to the ocean to Huntington Beach.  She loved the ocean, the smell of the salt air and sailing. She was a beautiful woman, an exotic, tall, long legged brunette, with high cheekbones and a full mouth.  She looked like a cross between Geena Davis and Sophia Loren.  I know why my dad was so taken with her and why others persued her after my dad’s passing. She was a classy, vibrant, elegant woman, who always dressed and behaved like a lady. She taught me to always dress for success and that you only have one chance to make a first impression. She was so right.  Thank you mom.

Mom suffered her first stroke in 2000. It was deemed a minor one, but both my sister and I noticed the change in personality. She began to suffer from anxiety and couldn’t sleep. Her short term memory was affected, so she began making notes on post-its all around her phone.  She had all these dreams of rehabbing her beach house, but completely lost all interest. She wouldn’t entertain anymore or even let anyone inside her home.  We both found that very odd behavior. In October 2008, my mother was sitting by the pool with her companion Hank (who was also from Holland) and suffered a major stroke.  She was rushed to Hogue Hospital. After three days there, it was very apparent she might not be well enough to return home, even though I had every intention of bringing her back there with 24/7 nursing care.  My husband and I painted, recarpeted her beach house and made it clean and tidy for her arrival.  I painted the walls her favorite color. I bought her all new linens and towels.  After 100 days in a care center, it was more than apparent, she wasn’t well enough to live in her own home again. At that point, I took charge and demo’d her kitchen and bathrooms.  I rehabbed her entire home to what she would have wanted, cream maple cabinets with an antique coffee glaze, granite counters, updated fixtures, stainless appliances, slate floors, etc. She would have loved the choices I made.  I wonder now if she could really see the photos I showed her of my work.  I had no choice but to rent it to offset the huge monthly costs to take care of her in the way I would have wanted her to be taken care of.  I relocated her to Tempe, AZ to Friendship Village where they took excellent care of her. The CNA’s were affectionate and so caring, something I had never seen before in my life.  Friday nights were Karoke Night. Dennis one of the male nurses always was singing and dancing through the living room making us laugh at times. I promised mom that if she ever had to go into a home, that it would be a nice one.  This one was MORE than nice. I slept peacefully at night knowing my mom had the best care.  I promised her I’d give her the best and I did.  Mom lived there one day short of a year. In that last year, my sister Stacy, my daughter and I were able to spend a lot of time with her. It’s difficult for the living to watch your parent fail, get more frail, lose weight, pocket food, loose the ability to communicate and to walk. Had she known how bad of shape she was in, and had she had the means, she would have downed a bottle of Ambien had it been available.  My mother was all about quality of life and wouldn’t have wanted to live the way she had the last year of her life.

During job training for my new position, my mom became unresponsive and couldn’t swallow anymore. I was alone when I got the call. My husband Greg was in northern AZ on business for two days, my daughter was at NAU and my sister was in California working as a caregiver. That night I had mom all to myself. I was honest with her and told her she was going to die and not to be afraid. I reassured her that her family would all be waiting and to go towards the light.  I told her many times that I loved her, that I would miss her terribly, that she was a great mom to me, a little strict sometimes, but I needed it.  I talked to her about the trips to Holland and to Hawaii where we flirted with the locals in our red convertible, sailed Napali, helicoptered over Waimea and visited with her friends in Kapaa. I told her that I had scored the job I desired, a very well paying, secure job in this horrible economy. Yeah me without that important four year degree.  I told her how I finally motivated my sister to go back to school to become a CNA. I told her that I bought a never lived in foreclosure condo for my sister to live in, that I paid cash for so she’d never have a mortgage to worry about. My mom always loved a bargain, especially in real estate.  I’m sure she was proud of me and happy to know Stacy would be well taken care of.

The other day, I drove over to the mortuary to pick up both urns.  I asked Nancy to assist me with carrying the other one to my car. I placed both boxes in my backseat and belted them in.  I told Nancy, “My mom was always a backseat driver, this is where she belongs.”  We laughed and I gave her a big hug, thanked her for her kindness and said good-bye.  I backed out of the parking space and headed out the driveway when I heard my mom ask (Inaudibly in my head) , “Holly do you have enough gas?” I smirked and said, “Yeah mom I have enough gas.” Anytime I drove her anywhere, she always asked me that question once the car started moving. Yeah mom, I have enough gas…..

Our deepest sympathy at DoddemaGen go to Holly and her sister, Stacy.

Note: Holly’s family line will be added within the next 24 hours.

This really isn’t as wordless as I would like but some background is most likely necessary for these photos especially considering this is for genealogy purposes.

It’s Christmas Day 1994.  I was in the United States Air Force Basic Training Camp at Lackland Air Force Base located outside of San Antonio, Texas.  Our TI (training instructor) was ever so kind enough to let us go to the Base Exchange (BX) so we could buy needed items such as soap, etc.  Several in my flight knew about the little photo booth located there so we all made notecards for our loved ones since we weren’t allowed to make phone calls at that time.

I think the photos themselves describe how I was feeling that day; being gone from my wife of only a year and our newborn son, only 3 months old.