HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY!

     This Saint Patrick's Day is a little more special than most.  I think it is because of our trip to Ireland this past fall.  Seeing Crough Patrick (where supposedly Saint Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland) and realizing that it was almost in my great grandmother Bridget's backyard makes this holiday more special, almost like celebrating a family member's birthday. 

     Traditionally we have eaten corned beef and cabbage on this holiday in the past.  However, the problem is I am not much of a corned beef and cabbage fan.  So, today we decided to change it up a bit.  Instead I am making Guinness stew.  My husband has already made an Irish soda bread and will soon be making a Guinness molasses bread.  The crust for the banoffee pie is already done.  Okay, let's be honest, I think that is what I am most looking forward to eating tonight! 

      I did start the day with some tea from Connemara and may be ending the day with some Irish coffee.  I am wearing my green, so let the celebrating begin ... 

Wishing you all --  

Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Daoibh!  (Happy St. Paddy's Day)

FUNERAL CARD FRIDAY

             This is the funeral card for my Grandpa Charlie (Sherlock). I decided today to honor both of my Grandpas by posting their funeral cards on my blog.  Grandpa Leonard is on MyPolishRoots blog.

          Grandpa Charlie died the same year I got married.  At his funeral was the first time that my fiance met my extended family (aunts, uncles and cousins) and yes, we still did get married!  In fact, we married on my Grandpa Charlie's birthday -- July 9th -- and even though he was no longer with us, we still thought about him on that special day.  I am sure that it was tough on my Grandma Theresa on my wedding day since that was his first birthday after he died and only 2 months after his death.  My Grandma was a real trooper (and although she was very sad about Grandpa) she celebrated the joy of my wedding and being together with all the family.

AMANUENSIS MONDAY

         I love making genealogical finds and when they are done accidentally, it is even better!  So this weekend, I was stuck at home with my car in the shop for repairs.  It was a perfect time to scan old photos -- childhood, wedding, and the kids when they were babies.  Well, as I was going through one of my daughter's scrapbooks she had done on family history for a middle school project, I found a copy of a letter.  I guess if I was organized I would know exactly where the original one is!  It is on my "to do" list to find.  Anyways, the letter is in German and is addressed to (I thought) my 2nd great grandfather Baltazar Nebgen.

        For years, I was just happy to have this letter in my possession and didn't care that I had no idea what the letter was about.  I could try translating in online but it being handwritten would cause me more problems -- is that an s or a k or a t?  I have a friend name Sabine, who I knew from my daughter's high school band days and my PTA days.  She is from Germany so perhaps she could translate it for me. Okay, so now you are probably asking why I hadn't thought of this earlier, say perhaps 5 or 6 years ago.  Well, my life was so crazy with kids' activities and mine that who even had time to breathe back then, never mind do genealogy research and translate German.

      So, this is what I found out -- the letter is actually to Mrs. Baltazar Nebgen, my 2nd great grandmother.  It is from a captain of a Dutch ship. I think I mentioned in a previous post that my great grandfather Peter Joseph Nebgen was a midshipman.  I also want to mention that even though my great grandfather's first name was Peter, it seems doing research that he often went by his second name Joseph.  I guess this is common for Germans in those days (something about taking a saint's name for the 1st name).

      It is my understanding that Mrs. Baltazar Nebgen (Anna Maria Wittayer) had written the captain of the ship because she had not heard from her son since he got on the ship and she was worried.  Okay, I can totally relate to this.  Sons do seem to have a problem calling home (or writing home in those days).  So the concerned Mom wanted to know where her son Joseph was.  This letter is from the captain of the ship reassuring Anna Maria that Joseph is doing well and working hard (exactly what all mothers want to hear) and that he would be on the ship a bit longer.  It seems though, that Joseph wanted to go back home as soon as he got off the ship.

      I love that my Grandma kept this letter all those years and that she passed it on down to my father and now to me.  It is a true treasure!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

                                     Theresa Nebgen Sherlock and Charles Sherlock

MILITARY MONDAY

     In October of 1952, my Dad (Donald Sherlock) and three of his fellow soldiers were sent to Camp Stoneman before being sent overseas to Korea.  In this photo, Leonard King, Bernie Katz, Donald Sherlock, and Louis Pontrelli are at the Los Angeles International Airport getting ready to board a plane to the Bay area.

     Camp Stoneman was located in Pittsburg, California (northeast of both San Francisco and Oakland) and was a staging area on the west coast for troops leaving for Korea.  For more information on Camp Stoneman, check out www.militarymuseum.org.

Note: Whenever I come across in my research some place I hadn't heard before, I research it to find out more. Wikipedia, of course, is a great source but there are lots of websites, like the military museum website listed above. I love learning more about not only the history of my family but the history of places and things they were involved with. I think it will make my family history book that much more interesting.

SIBLING SATURDAY

             Today would have been my Dad's 84th birthday.  Donald Joseph Sherlock was born on 2 Mar 1929 in Chicago, Illinois.  Here he is in a photo with his two older brothers.  Donald is the cute one to the far left.  In the middle is his brother Edmund (known as Eddie) and on the right Charles (who always went by the name Chuck since his dad was also named Charles).

             They were very close siblings -- living most of their life in the same town.  They raised their families in the same town (Van Nuys, California) sending their children at times to the same elementary and high school. Only when they were much older did two of them move away -- Eddie to Vista (in San Diego County) and Chuck to Ventura (near the beach north of Los Angeles).  Donald lived in the same house in Van Nuys that he bought 6 months prior to my birth in 1955 until his death in 2001.

            Happy Birthday, Dad!  We miss you and love you!

TRAVEL TUESDAY - Trevi Fountain

             I just ran across this photo recently of Grandma Theresa Nebgen Sherlock visiting the Trevi Fountain in Rome. I visited Rome and this famous fountain in the summer of 2011.  It was a bit more crowded during my visit than during Grandma's -- at least from what I can see in the photo. I think this photo is from the late 1960's.  I seem to remember my grandparents travelling a lot during that time.  I have photos of them in Mexico and Hawaii, too.
          It is fun finding photos of your ancestors in places that you love to visit too!  Maybe I could make a scrapbook of their travel photos!