Vikings in Lincolnshire

It does seem strange how one family demands attention. It is as if the ghosts of our ancestors are saying 'pick me pick me!' They will not be denied.  As of today there are 38,059 people on my tree. In preparing the Christmas project for 2013 it was the Cullins family that pushed to the fore. (Hannah Cullins was my paternal grandfather’s mother.) Throughout this year I’ve added to the Cullins information and I can’t seem to get away from them.

Ancestry.com sends emails with new hints for our trees. These hints could be for any one of the 38,059 people, although they generally are hints for direct-line ancestors, which narrows the pool significantly.  Still, that is a lot of people. I decided to pick one random hint, do an updated search, and write up a little article for the blog.  It was the Billesby family that was picked out the virtual straw hat. I knew nothing about them but when I looked them up – guess what! – they lead right on down to Hannah Cullins .

Cicely Billesby * (1475 - )

is Sandy’s 13th great grandmother

Your 13th great granJane Langton * (1515 - 1559)

daughter of Cicely Billesby *

Edward Asfordby * (1545 - 1590)

son of Jane Langton *

William Asfordby * (1575 - 1623)

son of Edward Asfordby *

John Asfordby * (1617 - 1657)

son of William Asfordby *

William Asfordby * I Hon (1638 - 1698)
son of John Asfordby *

Susannah Asfordby * (1669 - 1745)

daughter of William Asfordby * I Hon

William Beatty * II (1695 - 1757)

son of Susannah Asfordby *

George Beatty * (1735 - 1811)

son of William Beatty * II

Rebecca Jane Beatty * (1762 - 1843)

daughter of George Beatty *

John Cullins * II (1791 - 1857)

son of Rebecca Jane Beatty *

William C Cullins * (1825 - 1918)
son of John Cullins * II

Hannah Lenora Cullins * (1866 - 1921)

As you can see the first Billesby (Billsby, Bilsby) in our family was Cicely born in 1475. Once she married we lost that name, of course, but the DNA flows on down.  So, what of Cicely’s family? It seems that the family of Cicely’s husband, Alexander Langton and the Asfordby family were close, intermarrying neighbors in or around the village of Billesby (now Bilsby, yes it is still there!), Lincolnshire, England. Cicely’s second husband was John Asfordby.

 Lincolnshire, England

These days Bilsby is a 10 minute drive to the beach at Sutton on Sea, or a 2 minute jaunt into the market town of Alford, East Lindsey District.  You can read more about Bilsby at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilsby

Here is what I’ve gathered from perusing the online information given for the Billesby family. They were likely not Angles or Saxons, or Norman French . . . most likely, they were settlers who came with the marauding Vikings of Norway.  If you haven’t seen the Vikings series on the History Channel I recommend it, especially to my family.  These are your ancestors, colorfully portrayed. (Another of our lines leads back to Ragnar.)  I’ve watched the first season, but there are two more.  Also, look at this article about the Norman Invasion of England http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_conquest_of_England#Tostig.27s_raids_and_the_Norwegian_invasion especially the section called Tostig's raids and the Norwegian invasion.

The suggestion that Bilsby (Billesby) was probably named for a Norse goddess, Bil, is another clue that our ancestors were Norwegian settlers. They, of course, didn’t have a 10 minute drive in from the coast, but a few days of trekking would have brought them to the ideal spot for a settlement.  I believe they were there a while before the Norman Invasion of 1066. After the invasion when the Normans were in power they would have granted the Billesby family the land they had already claimed, no doubt, in thanks for aiding in the conquest of England. By the time the Doomsday book recorded Billesby it was a settlement of 18 households.  There was, eventually a castellated and moated house (replaced by the Bilsby House mansion built in 1740 on the same sight). The other dwellings would have been wattle and daub with thatched roofs.

Our family name comes from that first settlement and most likely was of that first land holding Billesby family.  Here is Cicely Billesby’s family tree:

John de Billesby */ (1226 - )

is Sandy’s 21st great grandfather

Your 21st great grandfath

Robert de Billesby * (1256 - )

son of John de Billesby */

Eudo de Billesby * (1286 - )

son of Robert de Billesby*

Richard Billesby * (1316 - )

son of Eudo de Billesby *

John Billesby Bilesby * (1346 - 1394)

son of Richard Billesby *

Thomas Billesby * (1376 - 1430)

son of John Billesby Bilesby *

Richard Billesby * (1417 - 1459)

son of Thomas Billesby *

John Billesby * (1440 - 1471)

son of Richard Billesby *

Cicely Billesby * (1475 - )

daughter of John Billesby *

John de Billesby, born 1226, is as far back as the records go at the moment. That is 160 years after the Norman invasion and 140 years after the village of Billesby was listed in the Doomsday book.  The family certainly had a long history in that area prior to the first of our records. This John was my grandchildren’s 23 great grandfather.  

Lincolnshire is primarily, even to this day, agricultural and life keeps the slow pace of the seasons. Most likely the landholding Billesby's were Medieval landlord famers with tenets working a good deal of the land. For many more generations Cicely’s descendants remained in Lincolnshire. It wasn’t until 1674 that the brave Billesby descendent, William Asfordby, gathered his wife, Martha Burton, and children and left the land their family had claimed six centuries before and headed for America.  You’ll find some interesting facts about this intrepid ancestor at William Asfordby. 

Credits: Thanks to ancestry.com and wikipedia.com

Ichabod and ADGD

[There's a song at the bottom!]

Okay, here’s the deal. . . I have this disease called ADGD. The above picture was posted on Facebook by one of my genealogy wielding 3^rd cousins, whom I love dearly. It’s meant to be funny (I’d love to give credit for the picture, but I don’t know where she got it). It is in no way meant to poke fun at those with ADD or ADHD. Still I think most genealogists will agree that they have a problem with ADGD, which if you are trying to accomplish anything, can be a very real problem.

At Christmas I promi told my family to expect an “Ohio family-of-the-month” until the workbook I sent them was complete. That would mean I’d need to send one family’s information in January, right? Today is January 30. Yikes! It is a given that January is a very busy month for me in other ways but you’d think I’d be able to finish the Cullins family in short order as it is the one I’d already started. Not done. Of course, there’s plenty of time . . . two days. I have two whole days to work on this. Aren’t I lucky there are 31 days in this month? I have many non-gen things to do but that is beside the point.

Boy have I been distracted. There were several days when I was determined to work on the Cullins. Indeed, they are fascinating people but. . . picture this, I’m sitting at my desk looking at ancestry.com’s John Cullins page on my monitor and then someone walks by me with a steaming bowl of home-made corn chowder. My nose picks up the scent, I sniff the air, my head turns to follow that delicious odor, and I start to float out of my chair. I'm transported out of the 1805 Cullins’ cabin with spoon in hand and feet flapping. Picture, if you will, Ichabod Crane at a party. Yes, it is downright cartoony. Of course, it isn’t literally a bowl of chowder it is more likely a comment someone made on the Oldfield family on Nancy Fidler’s page. (I started this morning with this one.) Since ancestry.com revved up their ‘comment’ section to social media status it has been a banquet of comments (large

enough to cause nightmares), most of which I’ve had to save to look at later (even with the fear that the headless horseman will soon be riding my way).

Or, it could be that I pulled myself back to the Cullins only to find I’ve somehow gotten wrapped up in the fascinating Vassal family (Yum, pot roast with veggies!), landing in the 1600s. Well, who could resist. You probably haven’t heard of Uncle William who, in my opinion, was one of the most significant men to set foot on our soil. For me he has risen to the ranks of Abe and MLK and FDR. So, you can understand why I was pulled away from the good ol’ Cullins.

I’m switching everything over to a new tree. I try to do some of that every day -- it’s a distraction. In December I found my cousin Stephanie’s daughter on Facebook. There’s so much to catch-up on with her (Hm, chocolate cake!). Oh, but she's not a Cullins. And so it goes . . .

I’m really rock ‘n rollin’ with Facebook. Yesterday I added as friends cousin Patty and her daughter on my father’s side (hamburgers hot off the grill!) and the son of my cousin Susie on my mother’s side (the chips – got to love those Lays).

So you can see each circumstance is a delightful bowl of food passing by Ichabod’s nose.  Old Ic definitely has ADGD. There is no end to the work you can do on your family history. It is absolutely endless.  Still there is a great feeling of satisfaction when you complete a project, which is why every month I’ll work to overcome ADGD!

Credits: 

Ichabod and pie – Disney Wiki  http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Ichabod_Crane
The Headless Horseman Pursuing Ichabod Crane, by John Quidor, 1858, Smithsonian.
Turn, Turn, Turn - The Byrds, embryonicsoul, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4ga_M5Zdn4
YouTube GVmota

Saddling Up the Horse



It says there have been 34 visitors to my blog so far today and that is amazing as nothing has posted in almost a month. Like everyone I was busy with the holidays. January is an odd one. Welcoming it as a fresh start I try to sort through any files from the previous year both paper and digital to be ready for taxes, have a clean and orderly desk with room in it (!), and a tidy computer with fresh files for the New Year. That is the ideal anyway. I try to have a life in addition to all that but do hope by the end of the month I’ll be ready to rock 2014.

After Christmas Our Ohio Pioneers and the stacks of books had been sent off to family. My copy was still in pieces and there was a very messy guest/assembly room to reclaim. The door was closed on the mess. As of this morning it is accomplished. The book is on the shelf and the room looks great. Guests are welcome once more. So, what’s next?

The book, or rather workbook, is a work in progress. The introduction promised that more information on each of our families would be added every month. "Welcome to the family of the month club!" reminiscent of the fruit of the month, wine of the month, etc. This month it's time to finish the Cullins family of Muskingum County, Ohio. What fascinating stuff! I’ve run into references to Melungeons, a mixed-race group of mysterious origin from Appalachia, mention of Jamestown, and even John Smith and Pocahontas. Good grief, maybe there were vampires back there as well! (Okay, just kidding. If you haven't followed the Twilight series that comment makes no sense at all.)

Are any of these related to my family? I don’t know yet, but what interesting possibilities they present.  There's still a lot of work to be done. Of all the Ohio pioneer families we had this Cullins family is most like the one depicted in Conrad Richter’s Awakening Land Trilogy. They entered Ohio very early and carved out a homestead in the wilderness.

So folks, that’s where I’m at. Just saddling up the horse for a ride through the year. (No, not a literal horse, that beauty at the top of the page isn't mine. I snapped a photo of him while working on Sandy Hikes San Diego, at the lovely and rugged Daley Ranch near Escondido, CA. Two riders were ready to go up one of the many trails best accessed on horseback. Looking further into these Ohio families will be an interesting journey, and it brings up the desire, once again, to travel to Ohio. Today the TrekOhio website posted on Facebook a fabulous winter hike. Check it out!

I received a note on my hiking blog that the musical links were great. There isn't anything relevant to my genealogy work at the moment except that wonderfully cool, mellow music that has been keeping me company - Jack Johnson's album Brushfire Fairytales. Enjoy!

Credits: TheJackJohnsonShow YouTube, Jack Johnson - Drink The Water, Album – Brushfire Fairytales

Wrapping It Up

For decades, since I first read them, I had an idea. That idea was to share The Awakening Land trilogy with my family; and to develop a family history library of literature that was reminiscent of our family experience. The Luckett family is a fictional composite but their experiences, culture, and life represent our many families who moved into Ohio in the early days, shortly after the Northwest Territory was divided.

For Christmas of 2012 the family library idea kicked off, not with the early 19^th century, but with Elizabeth Chadwick’s two historical novels: The Greatest Knight and The Scarlet Lion. Unlike Conrad Richter’s Ohio trilogy these weren’t fictional characters but fictionalized accounts of real people on our family tree – Sir William Marshall and his Lady Isabel deClare who lived in the 12^th and early 13^th centuries.  These five books, plus the two genealogies I’ve put together make a seven volume start to that family history library for my children and grandchildren.

The 2013 experience also included blog posts that documented my Internet journey into Ohio. This is how the blog post started back on

June 1, 2013:



. . . and so it begins. Our pioneers in Ohio.

~

Here we are the day after Christmas. That is 54 blog posts and close to 40 books into the mail to the family – including my own self-published workbook.

As in any huge project, there were changes from the initial idea. I realized that sending all four books at Christmas would be overwhelming to readers busily involved with the holidays and the toys they’d just unwrapped. They needed more time to read and digest the books. The trilogy, individually published as The Trees, The Fields, and The Town, to my dismay had slipped out of publication and pulled from library shelves. It seems I was just in the nick of time. Our libraries are less and less repositories for literature of the ages and more and more shelf space for current best sellers. I had to scour the country via Amazon, Abebooks, and other sources to find all the copies I needed – each part of the story becoming more and more expensive. In fact, I’m sure my searching for so many of these hard to find books pushed up the price in the used book market.

By October I had all the copies of The Trees I needed. It was the easiest to find as it, at one time, was read in mid-western schools as part of the curriculum. Since they were early Christmas presents, they were wrapped in pretty paper and tied up with ribbon and off they went to their various homes. The Fields, more scarce in the marketplace, was wrapped and ready to send before Thanksgiving. The Town, for which Richter received the Pulitzer Prize, was the most costly. It is available in more recent publication but expensive and difficult to find in its original version. I’d heard that the story was compromised somewhat by being edited for a modern audience. I didn’t read multiple versions to test this out, but bought the older versions if I could come up with the asking price.

With The Town wrapped and ready to go in December that meant I had the daunting task of finishing, editing, printing, and packaging my Ohio book. After doing the Ohio and 18 county histories and designing and setting up the framework for the actual genealogy I realized it was humanly impossible to include all of the family information. The best I could do was add the information I’d gathered on the Cullins family – that pioneering group I was working when I started the Ohio project. So, the book morphed from a complete and bound book to a workbook-in-progress placed in a ring-binder.


Family Reunion - the workbooks together and ready to send.

Finishing up that huge project was one of the most intense, difficult, and rewarding I’ve attempted. I was happy with the result and hope that it will be, at least eventually, loved and appreciated by each family that received it. In the end it was exactly as it should be – a work in progress.  Over the months of 2014 I will be adding the pioneer families to each of the counties and sending them on to be added to their ring-binders.  In short order, the smaller ring-binder will have to be replaced with a larger version. You know those gifts people send – the wine of the month, the fruit of the month. This will be the family of the month! 

Group Hug!

During the year, in addition to these books and the blog, I read Helen Hooven Santmyer’s (1895-1986) Ohio Town, her autobiographical memoir of Xenia, Ohio. Although we had no family in Xenia it is representative of the development and growth of Ohio towns and is an amazing read that incorporates the memories of her grandmother, mother, and her generations.
2013 has been my Ohio year.

I hope one day to make it there!

November 22, 1963

I perched on edge of the seat pouring over my notes – a left-hander in a right handed desk. I’d done okay in high school speech but this was a class of nearly 100  Sophomore wanna-a-be speech pathology and education majors – and I didn’t ‘wanna be’ there, or a teacher, or a speech therapist. I was a foreigner among homies in Lincoln, Nebraska. Three months earlier I married my Freshman-year sweetheart and gave up my political science major and dreams of Foreign Service. I couldn’t expect my husband to follow me around the world. No, instead I’d follow him into ‘the wild blue yonder’ as an Air Force wife. Crazy, right? I have no excuse except this – it was 1963.

It was November 22 to be precise. The young professor who, on another day, purposely embarrassed me in front of this class for mispronouncing a word (My pioneering Iowa family hadn’t picked up the fine distinction between ‘jist’ and ‘just.’ ) was looking over her list of speakers for the day. 

A girl wrenched open the door and 100 heads swiveled toward her as she yelled -- “The President’s been shot!”  This was not something that happened in the United States, at least, not in modern times, so the 200 eyes blinked in astonishment and disbelief.

“No, it’s true. This isn’t an Oklahoma joke.” were her exact words. It was football season and our annual rivalry with Oklahoma U was super-charged by the bonfire rally on the night before. Go Huskers!

If it wasn’t an Oklahoma joke then it must be true. President Kennedy was shot!

While heads swiveled back to attention, and we quietly whispered and wondered if he lived or died, it was obvious that Fräulein professor was an irritated-at-the-interruption Republican. Believe it or not President Kennedy was not universally popular, his reelection was not a shoo-in. I was stunned. My folks were citizens of Camelot and I’d met, then Senator, Kennedy in 1960.

We heard the classrooms around us being dismissed and then thundering through the halls and down the steps, leaving us in a building as quiet as a mausoleum. Now we were all on the edge of our seats wanting a radio, a TV, and loved one to hold . . .

“No,” she ordered the class, who as a body was ready to flee, “sit down!” She took a quiet moment to scan her list of speakers . . . I could almost hear the turret of a Nazi tank turn as her finger found a name and her eyes aimed at me . . .

Thoughts on Veterans Day



Considering that we have a large number of Quaker ancestors who, because of their religious conviction, did not practice war (although they were often on the front lines with the Red Cross or participated in other ways), we have a large number of veterans who served well and proudly and made sacrifices so that we could live under this government in this land happily and well. America has been good to all of our families who immigrated here between 1600 and 1850. And, through their sacrifices they have made this our land. I believe we have been represented in every war from the French and Indian to Vietnam. So far our younger generations emulate their Quaker forebears in not joining the military or practicing war in Iraq or Afghanistan. Regardless, we owe a great deal to those who keep us safe.



 A word about those who also serve. My first husband  was an Air Force officer. It follows that I was an Air Force wife. Not only did he serve at various domestic stations – he was in Vietnam. The Vietnam War had a huge impact on my life and, as things flow on down, on the children. My mother’s life was turned upside down by WWII. Consider my grandparent’s worry and anguish when Pearl Harbor was bombed – their son was station there. Consider the worry of my widowed grandmother when her only child’s ship was sunk in a typhoon. The cost of war is also carried by the loved ones of military personnel. Simply put, our lives would have been different if they hadn’t been in the military. Military spouses and other family members also serve and we salute you!

My brother attended West Point and served in the Army. During WWII my father was an Army officer who served in the European theater. Uncle Wayne was a Navy pilot. My mother worked at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant – a dangerous job building and packing shells. My step-mother was an Army nurse. My step-father was in the Navy floating in a life raft in the Pacific (as well as other war-time duties). My paternal grandfather held the lowly rank of wagoner in WWI (he was a farm boy who could handle a team of horses.) but his job all over bloody France was as a wagoner/corpsman – he had a wagon and therefore he picked up the dead and wounded as well as trying to help those dying of disease.





My mother’s brother Weldon signed up for the Navy at 17 and made a career of it. He survived Pearl Harbor and was on duty during the Korean War. We have ancestors aplenty who served in the Civil War almost exclusively in the Union Army. We had family in the War of 1812, the Spanish American War, and many who participated in the Revolution mostly on the American side. Some of our German ancestors fought for the British but were welcomed to stay here after the war.



With all those and many more I’m sure there are some fascinating or horrifying tales to tell. Of course we have stories – we are the survivors. All those wasted lives . . . all those who died are not telling stories; and since they were mostly young – have no descendants to carry on. The world was forever altered because they left before their time. So, as we salute those who protect and serve let’s all look to the day when, like the Quakers, we can practice war no more. In the meantime, we are thankful for our military forces.

God Bless our Veterans and their families.

Follow this link for more awesome Veterans Day posters: http://www.va.gov/opa/vetsday/gallery.asp

Credits:   U.S. Dept of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Day Poster Gallery,  http://www.va.gov/opa/vetsday/gallery.asp

Autumn Doldrums

It happens every year. I love autumn, I’m going full-speed ahead, sailing before the wind, and then the wind dies and I’m dead in the water. All those things I have to do, all those things I was working busily and happily on are still there. I should be sailing at 30 knots because I gained an hour.

Wait a minute! It feels like I lost two. I’m slightly out of whack and still trying to get all those things on my list done but Daylight Savings Time has disappeared! I don’t know why the spring forward doesn’t bother me; but the change that falls back doesn’t make any sense – can’t we just adopt Daylight time as permanent? It gets dark way too early and my internal clock doesn’t make the shift easily. Of course, Beatrice doesn’t know anything about man tinkering with time so she still on doggie Daylight Savings.  Hopefully I'll adjust and the wind will kick up soon as I have a ton of things to do.

Don’t you? We’re in the holiday season!  I’ve been working on the book but in a scattered way. It is being accomplished a bit at a time. Glitch – I didn’t print, or have pages printed in order so there was no way to machine collate. I have been building the 10 books by hand. I’m looking at it as meditative time in which (and here’s the good part) I’m not sitting in a chair. The pages are spread in piles on a queen-sized bed and I’m moving around and around it.  Maybe it’s not cardio but at least I’m moving.  I’m at the confusing part. Which charts do I want to include and where? Still they are near complete.

The biggest part of the last week or two has been working on ancestry.com to complete all the family information I want to include (and this is just for one county) – the details for each person, such as relationship – “this is your 6^th great grandfather.” Or making sure I have all the dates. Are all the children listed with the family? You think you have it all until you go back and. . .  There’s always work to be done and it can be repetitive and a bit tedious. Still, there is a nice feeling when the record is as complete as you can get it. Is it accurate? I did the very best I could with the time and information available.

Overall, the book is shaping up nicely. Here’s the rub. Only a small portion of it will be ‘somewhat’ complete before it is time to send it off.  It is not humanly possible to complete it by Christmas. My book is turning into a workbook – an outline to be filled in over time.  Still, I’m happy with that. Ohio is there in all its glory and the counties set up.  I’m concentrating on one family in Muskingum County and will spend the first several months of 2014 adding the rest of the families. It gives me time to make the record as complete as possible.

Happy Veteran's Day!

It’s the weekend and gloriously beautiful. Time to get out in the San Diego sunshine!

Credits:  Nat King Cole "Autumn Leaves"  - Elyan, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEMCeymW1Ow
Clipart: ship - ancestry.com
Photo: Price Center UCSD; flag & sun - Sandra Barber

Ellipsis . . .

What’s next . . .? It was August 2012 when I launched this blog with a family history focus. After 20 posts – a mixed-bag of stuff – and one year later in August 2013, with the post “18 or 5 to 2” the blog rolled into a new purpose.  That was my venture into exploring Ohio - the Christmas book project (and by the way a new diet and healthier lifestyle). It was like riding the rails - rolling through a foreign, and yet American, land. I was an Internet hobo tumbling off the train into 19 counties to see what they had to offer that explained themselves currently and historically.

If you go back to look at “18 or 5 to 2” scoot to the bottom and ramp up Chicago singing “25 or 6 to 4”  – music to read by. Having looked at the counties (I’d say fair sampling) in 22 posts it was time to hitch a ride on a small plane

 and take an over-view of Ohio itself. Since I was the visitor it seemed best to let Ohioans speak, and the next 13 posts feature Ohio as shown to us by the creative folks on YouTube who live in and love their state.

I loved the YouTubes so much I wish I could keep going with them . . . but it is off purpose. The 20 pages (19 counties, plus Ohio) have been designed, written, printed and collated for the book and it’s time to move on.

You know what is wonderful about big projects? You don’t have to know it all at the beginning. You have an idea, you get started . . . and what to do is revealed as you go. I’m a late-bloomer. It took me a long time to learn this. I wonder how many great things I’ve not accomplished because when the idea came it seemed too overwhelming. I didn’t have a clue “how to do that.” I’d be stymied or discouraged. The truth is, though, that you don’t need to know how to do it all at once, you only need to take the first step. Embrace that big idea and know you can . . . then start taking baby steps and the way opens up. We’re not alone. God, or the Universe, or the higher power (whatever your view on this) provides and all you need is to be open and receive those nudges, Ah Ha moments and quiet inspirations that move your mountain.

Sometimes you'll have an idea . . . you've given your best . . . and it is not working, in fact, it is wasting your precious time. Be disappointed for a beat, take what you've learned, and change focus. I've given up on a PhD and a career in academia, I couldn't fit it in.  Another truth – our lifetime is finite. We need to choose carefully how to use it. What is really important?

So, what’s next for me is all about family . . . part one of ‘the Christmas project’ has been mailed . . . part two goes out in November . . . and part three in December. As in all genealogy – it won’t be finished, but we’ll reach a new beginning . . .

Credits:  Photo: riding the rails, Library of Congress
                             Biplane, Wikipedia
                Clipart: Bing images

Amherst - Quintessential Ohio

It’s Saturday. There's a demonstration show this weekend and the next at the Antique Gas and Steam Museum down the road. If I can make good progress on the Ohio genealogy book this coming week maybe I’ll switch blogs and dig out my camera to experience and share those noisy behemoths. I’ve lived here a long time and have never been to this unique museum. The weather is so beautiful – shame on me for sitting at the computer! Time to rev-up my old blog - http://sandyhikes.blogspot.com/

I’m wrapping up the third segment of Aquila’s Orchard – or to carry the metaphor -- that’s three acres of trees in the form of blogs posts. That isn’t too far-fetched. Each post in a blog is like a living organism. It acquires edits and comments and photos and songs. It can move people and be read around the world. What an amazing time to be living.

The first ‘acre’ of Aquila’s Orchard demonstrated the purpose of the blog – which is family history. The break-ground posts were a mixed bag but it is obvious that they were steering me toward Ohio.  I have three early posts concerning my Robb family, who lived in Cadiz, Ohio. That first section ended with the random choice of Sir William de Tancarville who lived from 1070-1129. He had a relationship with the Marshall family from my last year's Christmas project. I knew I could be endlessly random and needed a purpose for this Christmas.

That second acre was started  in June with entry “Ohio Pioneers” – I’d found my focus. And, that acre is chock-full of Ohio counties.  Acre number three is nearly filled with the best of Ohio YouTubes – they have been great fun. I’ve saved these two for last as they are up-beat and seem quintessentially Ohio – small towns and gatherings of good, fun loving, artistic, and sometimes reverent people.

Church Street, Amherst, Ohio 1910



Amherst Grindstone

The residents of the small City of Amherst, not far from Lake Erie and Cleveland got together to do what they called a “lip dub video” to promote their lovely town. A good portion of the town's residents skips, dances, and lip-syncs their way through the streets to a couple of oldies but goodies.  The video is a bit long in order to include everyone who wanted to be a part this great community project and well worth the few minutes to watch it. The love, enthusiasm and joy in celebrating their hometown touches me and moves me. I watch the credits, backed up by Elvis, while mopping up tears and blowing my nose. They made me smile and want to visit Amherst – The Sandstone Center of the World.

Amherst Ohio Lib Dub



The second video is one of several that points out the good and bad of Ohio. The side bar on the right includes the depressing "The 10 Worst Cities in Ohio Explained." Say it isn't so Ohio!

Top 10 Facts About Ohio



Credits:
Top 10 Facts About Ohio, Nick Uhas, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QicVbTTz9nI
Amherst Ohio Lib Dub, Main Street Amherst, YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IslkfUQa3Ic
Photos:  Wikipedia, prepared sandstone;
"English Carols" by Nikiphoros Lytras (1832–1904), Wikipedia

Lovin' Ohio from the outside in. . .

If you are new to the blog here’s a brief summary – it is a genealogy blog currently focused on our Ohio pioneers. I'm an outsider. Ohio was pretty much a blank slate for me, as I grew up in Iowa and live in California. 

What an adventure! Ohio is a beautiful land filled with creative, talented Americans who love their  country, their villages and cities, their townships and counties – and most of all their state. When they leave it they pine for it, when they are home they cheer for it. The last eleven posts have featured YouTube videos of Ohioans showing off and singing about their state – with honesty – both the good and the bad.  Not only Ohioans sing about the place.  Here are two Ohio songs that rock from Australia and Texas!

If you haven't heard of Kingswood from Australia you will. They are heading our way. Love the way they rock. That lead singer - whoa! he's fabulous!

Kingswood - "Ohio"



Probably everyone in the world heard this next song before I did. It's great fun.

Ohio (Come Back to Texas) - Bowling for Soup,  with video by Amy Taylor



Credits:
Ohio by Kingswood, YouTube by Cascket1, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CXyYyXMQcA
Ohio (Come Back to Texas), YouTube, Bowling For Soup, video by Amy Taylor, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45DFVyriVI0.
Photo: Ohio Forest Services, http://www.ohioforestservices.com/CertifiedForests.html