Nostalgia for Grandma's Cookies

During this pandemic, where family cannot gather for the traditional holidays, I (and much of my family) became nostalgic for Grandma's anise Christmas cutout cookies.  It turns out there were several versions of the recipe around, but my second cousin sent me her mother's recipe card, and this is actually my great-grandmother's recipe.  Not only can we now bake and eat the cookies of our memories, but the connection to Grandma, my Great-aunt, and my Great-grandmother is priceless.

My Great-grandmother, Clara Herrmann Eckhardt, was a Harding from West Pittston, Pennsylvania, who relocated to Rochester, NY in the 1910's.  

Happy New Year 2017

Happy New Year!  This year, Family Sherlock is concentrating on writing the biography of her great-great-grandmother Anna Ritschard of Oberhofen, Switzerland.  Anna had a true immigrant experience with a twist.  Stay tuned!

To help with this, I will be attending a workshop at the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society called Write It Up!

If you are interested in my other published writing, see the links on my website.

Wyatt Earp's Pawnshop

I recently read and loved the novels Doc and Epitaph by Mary Doria Russell, about Doc Holliday and the Earp brothers.  When I was in San Diego on the Old Town Trolley Tour last week, pulling into the Gaslamp District, the guide pointed out a pawnshop that was started by Wyatt Earp when he moved to San Diego after the OK Corral.  I had to see it closer, so I got off the trolley and walked back a few blocks.  I had never been in a real pawn shop, but I had to go into this one. 

I asked the man working there, and he said, yes, it was started by Wyatt Earp, and that he used to live across the street.  That is now a shopping mall, but the inside of the pawn shop still looks, I imagine, like it did when it was built.

The Mormon Battalion Historic Site

Last week I was in San Diego.  We went to the zoo and saw the seals and even a whale in La Jolla, and I spent a day on the Old Town Trolley Tour.  I almost did not go, as I thought it might be too touristy, but it was well worth the price, convenient, and I saw so much.  I could have spent another day or two seeing the sites.

At the end of the tour in Old Town, I visited the Mormon Battalion Historic Site.  I grew up and still live a half-hour from Palmyra, New York, where the Mormon church was founded.  I am not a member, but as a genealogist, I spend time in the church's family search centers and I have been to Salt Lake City and to the big library there as well as seeing the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and other sites.  However, I did not know that a group of Mormons traveled to San Diego in 1847 from Iowa, before they settled in Salt Lake City.  The museum is a replica adobe building, and it is a really fantastic interactive display, including rumbling from a stampede, the night sky, thunderstorms, cedar wood scents, and photos that talk just like in Harry Potter!  I also got to pan for "gold", and having watched a documentary about the Klondike a few days earlier, I was anxious to try and found it a lot more difficult than I expected.  My "gold" nugget is on the upper right hand corner of the photo.

The 70th Anniversary of Anna's Passing

70 years ago this morning my great-great-grandmother, Anna Ritschard Glossner, died.  She is the most intriguing of all my ancestors, so much so that I am writing a book about her.  Born in Switzerland, she appears to have been well educated there.  She immigrated to New York in 1884 as a young woman, and quickly married another immigrant and occasional mill worker, had 11 children and was predeceased by all but the oldest 5.  She certainly does not fit into the stereotypical American Dream, but she was a survivor and did what she could to keep her family fed.  I have been immersed in research about her lately, so stay tuned for the biography!

The Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread

I love Irish soda bread, or at least the kind I have made in the past and that is readily available in our local grocery stores this time of year.  It is so easy to make that I never buy it.  I was looking for a recipe for this year and ran across this site: The Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread!  Even though I love caraway seeds and currants, I decided to experiment this time by following the guidelines for real soda bread and just using flour, salt, baking soda and buttermilk.  I have a really hard time following recipes, but the only change I made to this one was to use 1/2 white flour and 1/2 whole wheat flour.  I did not knead it on a floured board but just pulled it all together with my hands.  I did put a cake pan cover over the bread while it was baking, and I did not put any butter in it.  The temptation was great to add the beloved caraway and currants, but I resisted, and thankfully so.  The bread is wonderful.  I have been cutting pieces off all afternoon, and at this rate there will not be much left for St. Patrick's day tomorrow.  But I still have enough pastry flour and buttermilk for a second loaf... maybe I will put some currants and caraway in that one, for variety! 

My new publication: The Ancestry of Anne Bretherick and David Greer

My new book, The Ancestry of Anne Bretherick and David Greer, is available for purchase on CreateSpace: https://www.createspace.com/5661888.  It is the genealogy of Anne Bretherick and David Greer, including their Stott, McKnight, Mainwaring, and Steinmetz ancestors of Pennsylvania, Lancashire, England, and County Donegal, Ireland.  If any of these names ring a bell, this book might be for you, too.

Happy Birthday!

For my nephew's 21st birthday, I researched his paternal grandparents' family history and published it.  The book is available for purchase on CreateSpace: https://www.createspace.com/5661888. 

My heritage without DNA testing

I recently watched an episode of "Finding Your Roots", and I was very impressed that Henry Louis Gates Jr. called his one guest, rather than surprising him on camera, to tell him that they discovered something very surprising when they did a DNA test.  As a professional genealogist, I recognize that DNA testing for genealogical purposes is a science unto itself, and I prefer to leave it to its own experts.  I enjoy the sleuthing through old records and articles to piece together histories. 

That said, the engineer in me has to break things down into numbers.  Based on the research I have done and my family before me has done on my ancestors, this is my genetic breakdown without DNA testing:
     56.25% German
     25% Sicilian
     6.25% Swiss
     6.25% Irish
     6.25% English

Maybe some day I will have DNA testing done to see if the research matches the test results, but for now I am more than happy to concentrate on telling these ancestors' stories.

Small World...

I am just home from the New York State Family History Conference, and I did meet or renew acquaintances with a lot of people from the area or who I have crossed paths with in the genealogical field.  It was a great networking event! 

However, there were a few instances where I just scratched my head and thought, "small world".  I met a family with my mother's maiden name, and they lived in Rochester at a point, so surely we are distant cousins, possibly going back to Germany.  I have to check my notes and get back to them!  I met a woman who had an aunt who lived on my street, and the funny thing is that my street is a dead end in a village that is one square mile, and there are only about 20 houses on the street.  As we are having our annual street party this weekend, I will ask if anyone remembers her!  Then I met a very kind woman who diligently tracked down someone who could help me with some Swiss research.  She used to live in this area, went to the church I was baptized in, had sisters who went to the college I went to, and her aunt lived on the street that was around the corner from a house my aunt used to live in. 

New York State Family History Conference

Next week, yours truly will be an exhibitor at the New York State Family History Conference in Liverpool (Syracuse), New York.  This means I will have a table set up in the Vendor Hall, where I can talk with other attendees and potential clients, and I will also be able to attend workshops and lectures.  If you are in the area stop by- the Vendor Hall is open to the public!

Dear Brother: The Civil War Letters of William A. Harding to his brother Palmer

I have published the transcribed Civil War letters from William A. Harding to his brother (and my great-great-great grandfather) Palmer Harding.  The book is available on Amazon; the paperback edition for $5 at www.amazon.com/dp/1481915045 and the Kindle edition for $1.50 at www.amazon.com/dp/B013HBLI68.  I have blogged about these letters, and transcribing them has been a work in progress for years.  I am happy to finally have them out there for others to read!

The 150th Anniversary of William A. Harding's Death

One hundred and fifty years ago today, William A. Harding, my 4x-great-uncle, was killed in the Civil War, at the Battle of Hatcher's Run in Virginia.  He was a Union soldier, 23 years old, and had no wife or children.  But he did leave a legacy of sorts.  During the war, he wrote letters to his oldest brother, Palmer Harding, who was my 3x-great-grandfather.  We still have those letters; I was given some of them as a graduation gift from my cousin, and my grandma had others.  These letters, and the family history that was likely written by Palmer, are what started my interest in genealogy as a child.  I am annotating the letters which I have transcribed, and I plan on publishing them.  Thank you William, not only for your service to our country for a righteous cause, but for making my ancestors "human" rather than just statistics.  Thank you for telling part of their story.

Sneem, Ireland - It's a Small World

In October at The Genealogy Event, a lady, Patricia, came up to my exhibit table.  After hearing that I was located in Rochester, NY, she told me her ancestor lived in Rochester briefly before going back home to Ireland, and that he worked on the trolleys.  My great-grandfather also worked on the trolleys, and we both followed up with details to see if they might have been colleagues.  Unfortunately, her ancestor was there while mine were still in Amsterdam, NY.  But I did mention to her that my great-great grandmother was Irish and born in Sneem.  Although I had been in Kerry and on the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland, I did not know I had roots there at that time, and I was not in Sneem.  Patricia was, and she sent me this picture:

The boxer is not John L. Sullivan, but it does reinforce the legacy of the sport in Ireland.  Patricia also told me that Charles de Gaulle's wife's governess was from Sneem and was a McCarthy, as was my great-great-grandmother.  I have to do further research to see if they are indeed related.  And to see if Patricia and I are related...

Life in Tenements

I was thrilled to be able to stay in a real tenement in New York earlier this month.  However, I purchased the book, How the Other Half Lives, by Jacob A. Riis, at the Tenement Museum, and found how sad life in these buildings really was.  I almost did not buy the book after glancing at the photos he took over 100 years ago to illustrate his points.  The filth and poverty is unimaginable.  The Blue Moon Hotel is built in a "newer" tenement, dating from 1879.  There had been reforms by then, the most important was providing air ducts into the bedrooms.  I realized my hotel room had two of these, one in the now shower.  Here is the other:

So my room would have had two small bedrooms and a living room/kitchen that looked out on Orchard Street.  The beam in the ceiling is likely the divider between these.  The "inside" windows may have let in a bit of stale air and virtually no light, but this was an improvement on the closets which served as bedrooms in the older buildings that had no air or light. 

History can be very sad, and thinking about the lives of immigrants who came to this country with high hopes of escaping poverty and starvation, only to live in these conditions is heartbreaking.  It is no wonder some turned to lives of crime, and it is no wonder children died at such a high rate.

Staying in a Tenement

Last weekend I was an exhibitor at The Genealogy Event in Lower Manhattan.  I needed a place to stay, and while searching for a hotel I ran across the Blue Moon Hotel in the Lower East Side.  Built in an old tenement building and directly across the street from the Tenement Museum on Orchard Street, I knew this was the dream location for a genealogist (especially one whose ancestors were poor immigrants and surely stayed in a similar building)!  

The Blue Moon Hotel is a perfect blend of the good sides of both worlds- my stay there was like stepping back 125 years but with all the modern amenities.  My room probably housed a family of 12 in 1880, but was huge for just me!  In the evenings I could open the window and sit on the wide sill and watch the bustle on Orchard Street, yet the new windows were sound-proof at night.  Much of the old wood trim and tiles have been salvaged to decorate the hotel. 

The view from my window.

The neighborhood is filled with little restaurants and shops.  I was able to attend the Lower East Side Pickle Day, too, and sample all sorts of pickles including a pickle cupcake and a pickle ice cream sandwich! 

 

For any historian or genealogist, or just someone looking for a unique hotel, I would recommend a stay at the Blue Moon Hotel.  It is a little piece of history.

The War to End Wars

My family has had an ongoing interest in WWI.  Maybe it is watching so much BBC, starting with "Upstairs, Downstairs", then "Brideshead Revisited" and most recently "Downton Abbey".  The interest also extends to books.  We avidly read all the Charles Todd mysteries, and more recently, Ernst Jünger's Storm of Steel.  This morning I read this article, and found the archives with the digitized journals- what a treasure trove for historians!

As a genealogist, I have found that one of my great-grandfathers served in WWI, but in the Italian army, even though he lived in the US.  We have a photo taken of him in Palermo, Sicily, in full uniform.  My grandmother remembered him going to war, leaving behind a wife and two young daughters.

More interesting is my great-grandfather-in-law, who was inadvertently key to the creation of Bletchley Park in WWII...  His story is told in David Kahn's Seizing the Enigma.  Because the story of his war service and adventures are not told beyond this even, I should record it to preserve it for posterity.

Family Recipes

Many families have recipes that have been handed down, and dishes that evoke childhood.  My family memories revolve around food too.  Grandma Nellie making chicken cacciatore (which as a child I was really disappointed in but now love), Grandpa Eddie's veal cutlet (no dish even in Austria comes close), Aunt Elinore cookies, Aunt Kathryn's vegetable soup... but one recipe my cousins, aunts, sister, mother and I still think about are Grandma Elsie's pickles.

Grandma's recipe box got lost at some point- she may have thrown it away herself accidentally, and my mother and aunts have most of the recipes anyway, but no one has the pickle one.  These pickles were a big production.  She got a big crock from a yard sale or something like that.  I don't know if she ever made them before she was retired or if it was a nostalgic food memory of her own, but I remember she had to hunt down little cucumbers at the farmers market, and I remember all the grandchildren looking at the scum-covered crock in horror.  We would go down in the basement and peek at it as a dare.  But most of all I remember the sharp spicy taste of those pickles.  Last summer a new friend mentioned making pickles, and I asked her about them.  She said that type is called "crock pickles" and she had never made them.  I did some research, and the longer they ferment, the spicier they become.  One of my aunts thought Grandma might have put horseradish in too.  So this morning, I bought some little cucumbers from a farm market and I made a batch of crock pickles.  I am using a big glass jar, and the cucumbers are bigger than the ones Grandma used, but it is an experiment.  Next summer I will grow little cucumbers in my garden, and if this batch comes even close, I will also buy a big crock to ferment them in. 

My crock pickles in the basement on the first day.

It would be fun to write a cookbook that gathers these family recipes along with the stories about the relative it came from.  We even have some cards still written by the original great-aunt or grandmother.

When I'm not in the office...

I work from home, or rather from wherever my laptop is.  One of my clients asked me what my office is like.  It actually doubles as a fiber art studio, but I have a window by my desk, so I can look outside in the winter and watch the birds at the feeder.  In the nice weather, I go out here and sit by my pond.  If you look closely, you can see a couple of my goldfish.

Where genealogy and sewing collide

I have been on a sewing binge.  I was inspired this spring to make a 1920's theme summer wardrobe, and I was adding a chambray dress today when I ran out of light blue thread.  I did not buy matching thread because I was sure I had several spools, but the full spool is buttonhole thread, so too thick for the sewing machine.  I looked in my thread basket and in the box of student supplies for a class I want to teach, and nothing...  Not wanting to trek back to the fabric store, I was ready to quit for the weekend when I remembered one other place.  I inherited my Grandma's sewing box. 

It isn't really a box; it is one of those 1950's cocktail boxes.  She didn't drink cocktails and she didn't sew, but there were two spools of cadet blue thread in there!  I remember when I was a little girl, and already sewing that she told me she took millinery instead of sewing in school, and regretted it.  So why did she have so much blue thread?  I realized it was for my Grandpa's uniforms- he was a bus driver for RTS his entire working life, and his father did the same before him on trolleys and then buses.  A couple of weeks ago I bought a commemorative set of RTS tokens in honor of them. 

Now I will also be wearing a piece of my heritage!