Join the Genealogy Society and library staff on Saturday, May 19 starting at 10:30. First you will meet author and genealogist Greta Nettelton who talks about how she researched her family. She found Cora Keck was a piano prodigy from Davenport, Iowa whose coming-of-age story turns all our stereotypes about Victorian gender relationships upside down. Cora’s mother was a self-taught itinerant physician and the proprietor of Mrs. Dr. Keck’s Palatial Infirmary for All Chronic Diseases, and her father was a bankrupted farm mechanic who kept house for the couple’s six children. Mrs. Dr. Keck sent her daughter to Vassar’s School of Music in 1884 to keep out of trouble and find a proper Ivy League husband but Cora defied everyone’s plans, first enjoying a series of romantic affairs with her classmates and later eloping with one of her mother’s business partners, a 63-year old banker. Greta found Coras's diaries and papers and began piecing her family history.
Genealogy for Librarians is an email I subscribe to and lately there was discussion about "black sheep" in family research. EVERYONE has at least one in their family history. Yet, I have found thatpeople seem to think it reflects on them today. I know one person who upon finding her relative was unwed with children, was so devastated she dropped her research.
One researcher pointed out blacksheepancestors.com as a source for records in U.S., Canada and Great Britain. Check it out! There is International Black Sheep Society of Genealogists that has a web site, blacksheep.rootsweb.com
In past centuries, there were various factors that caused people to be reported in asylums. For one, mental hospitals were the only one in certain areas and served all regular hospital functions, including births, appendectomies and broken bones.People with behaviorial problems due to head injury, illness,"hardening of the arteries", senility etc were often admitted to residential institutions.
After 10 long years, the 1940 federal census was released online in early April. For all those who need to find lost relatives and document findings, here is a chance to begin searching. By law, the federal census is withheld for 72 years so all who want to view the 1950 records will have to wait another 10 years.
The Genealogy Society of Rockland will be meeting Tuesday, April 24 at 7 PM. At this meeting, members will be viewing the new census and making comments and observations. Should you have questions, plan to attend. Interested persons are always welcomed.
There is a monthly meeting scheduled for March 17 beginning at 1 PM. Guest speaker Tom Riley will discuss a little known bit of Rockland history. Happy Valley was a farm near Spring Valley that housed children who needed a home. The children were placed there for many reasons but the important thing is that they had a happy home, learned a trade and went to school. The residence had a working farm and its own school. Many Rockland chidlren passed through this facility. The site was replaced with a county golf course that is active today.
Tom Riley is a writer, photographer and speaker. He will talk about his experiences and others who lived in Happy Valley.
The wheels are heading for the Newark Museum on April 11. A bus trip is planned for the day as we depart at 9:30 AM in the lower parking lot. We'll head first for lunch at a restaurant in the Ironbound section. Then we go to New Jersey's largest museum where we will have a tour of Poetic Pastimes: Japan and the Art of Leisure. This special exhibit brings to life the Japanese passion for play and their long-held affinity with nature through more than 100 pieces of fine and decorative arts.There will be time to see other exhibits and of course, visit the gift shop!
Fee is $47.00 for the trip. Call today to reserve a seat at 634-4997 ext 139.
During the bleak days of February, members from the summer Warm Up America program are gathering on Mondays at 10 AM. Knitters and crocheters meet to work on projects. Out of the past Monday meeting, it was decided to make coats for dogs that will be donated to local animal shelters. It is hoped that enough coats can be made to become fund raisers for the shelters. If interested, come to the next session, February 13, and get a pattern and some yarn. We will continue the project through the spring though we will not be meeting in the library.
If you have questions or can't make the sessions, call 634-4997 ext 139. Animal shelters are an important part of a community, yet funding for them continues to shrink. Rockland County has certainly suffered shelter cutbacks. Please help in this important program to support these struggling groups.
It's January and the hustle bustle of the holidays is over. Ah....to sit down with a good book but, you want to discuss it with someone else. Here is the perfect opportunity. Join the fiction book club at the library. Chapters is the name of the group that meets the second Tuesday of the month at 7:15 PM. Each month, there will be an informal discussion of the chosen selection. All opinions are respected and title suggestions are always welcomed. Selections range from the classics to more current fiction. For more information, call 634-4997 ext 139. Chapters is proud to announce that it is nearing its 8th-year anniversary! Be a part of this active group.
A recent email from Victor Jones, librarian at New Bern-Craven Co. Public Library directs us to a url, http://tinyurl.com/84f4ffj and to Dick Eastman. Mr. Eastman, famed genealogist, writes an excellent essay about the demise of the of the SSDI on Rootsweb and all the security issues with this database. I don't want to give the ending away..read the article. It is fascinating.
During the bleak days of February, members from the summer Warm Up America program are gathering on Mondays at 10 AM. Knitters and crocheters meet to work on projects. Out of the past Monday meeting, it was decided to make coats for dogs that will be donated to local animal shelters. It is hoped that enough coats can be made to become fund raisers for the shelters. If interested, come to the next session, February 13, and get a pattern and some yarn. We will continue the project through the spring though we will not be meeting in the library.