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!

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!

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.

Without going into too much detail, my oldest son was having some medical issues that required our full attention which meant the website took backseat during that time.  I’m hoping in some future time, we’ll have enough people contributing that you won’t notice my absence.  Back to the subject at hand, our son is doing better but still needs some help.  It appears we finally found someone that will be able to meet his needs.

What’s that mean for DoddemaGen?  I can finally get caught up.  Believe me when I say this…it won’t be in one fell swoop.  While coping with all the changes around here, I still have my own personal issues to deal with.  The constant pain I live with seems to be increasing and my meds are just not able to keep up with it anymore.  It is my goal to do some work to this site daily so I don’t fall too far behind.

Thanks for your patience!

2749 Meriwether

It’s spring.  Flowers poking their heads out after a long winter’s sleep,  trees budding, and the Doddema’s preparing to move yet again.  It’s our way of deep cleaning.

There’s nothing wrong with the current house per se.  It’s a beautiful 5 bedroom/3 bathroom and the landlord is exceptional.  The exception: it’s very expensive.  $1800 per month expensive.

We decided to search early as our lease was nearing its end and living in an university town, housing for our family size is a commodity.  While many houses were available in our price range not all measured up to our normally low standards.  A few of the places we looked at probably should have been completely renovated or torn down!

Then we found the ad.  The place is perfect for our family.  The view is amazing as the mountains are visible in every direction.  There are some downsides such as all the bedrooms being on the second floor, unfenced yard and a super steep driveway.  Looking on the bright side, the stairs are few!  The kids barely stay in a fenced yard anyways and the driveway can be used during the winter as a giant sledding hill!  Another positive is that this place will save us over $500/month!

The move is scheduled for this upcoming Saturday (18 April 2009).  We’ve already talked to church members and should have enough manpower to help with everything.  We get the keys on Tuesday and being as niave as we are….we plan on moving the boxes over and unpacking before the big day.  Kara won’t have that following Monday off so having the kitchen fully functional is a must as well as the laundry room!

I would like to take this time to personally thank all those that helped to make this place a reality for us: Linda Peterson (Kara’s aunt), Nannie Stewart (my sister), Kathy Hammond (Kara’s mom) and Kristi Norton (Kara’s sister).  THANK YOU!

For those of you that don’t come by that often our new address will be:

I’ve taken some photos of the place before the move-in.  I’ve always wanted to do the before and after shots.  Here’s my chance.  Click on photo below to be taken to the house images.

I do want to say that Pieter Doddema was the one of the reasons that DoddemaGen got off the ground.  He was one of the first Doddema’s that contacted me about our shared genealogy (Dievertje and I are 5th cousins).  Within a day, my database grew by hundreds.  I not only had names and dates but images of the records.  He constantly was going to the archives to learn more about his ancestry, painstakingly translating records that were over a 100 years old.

He’s my genealogy hero and I’m sorry that he was taken from us so early in his life.  My deepest condolences to his family.  We grieve with thee.

Emmett’s grandmother is Electa A. Richardson, who is the wife of the cousin of me 3 times removed (and yes, if you can tell from the wording that I copied it….you bet.  That’s a mouthful!).

Welcome Emmett!  If there’s anything you need, please contact me!  If you see further items that you would like corrected, please post in the forum.  One of the great features of this site is that you can start a blog post and have it continued in the forum!  A wonderful way to get people to see all of DoddemaGen.

Have some good family stories about your grandmother?  Pictures, etc. please feel free to share.  I look forward to a great relationship.

(Note: source information about Electa Richardson to follow in next post)

We also went to Abbys’ concert.  She played very well.

So all in all…a very good day.

Isn’t that delightful?  At least I can’t blame voter fraud on this; this is all Montana.  ACORN is off the hook today.

As far as whatnot is concerned, Kara (my wife) is going to be taking a more active role in writing articles/posts.  Her main goal is writing about our family and all the stuff we do ie accomplishments, dreams, etc.  I wish her luck.  Hopefully she can draw attention back to this site.

On that note, and it’s an issue I’m normally not confrontational about but if you visit the site and like it….say something.  Anything.  The comments are open to guests and registered members alike.  Registration just makes it possible to help contribute in our family history project.

Now I’m not going to drop any hints or anything but even in-laws can participate on this site.  If your family is on this site, you have every right to participate.  Tell a family story, share some recipes or give us the latest news on your family.