Pat Sand
Have you ever thought about your family tree and wondered what your great grandfather did for a living or how your great grandmother died?
I’ve made some interesting and sometimes tragic discoveries this past summer while getting to know my ancestors. I discovered that my great grandfather died in a freshet. Does anyone know what a freshet is? Neither did I, so I investigated.
The term freshet is most commonly used to describe a spring thaw resulting from snow and ice melt in rivers located in upper North America. As the story was told, my great grandfather was using his ferry to rescue people on the flooded Missouri River. One of his passengers panicked. The boat capsized and my great grandfather, who was only 47 years old at the time, drowned in the river.
Another great, great grandfather of mine was a German Landman. What is a landman? It is one of the words used in the German language meaning “farmer.” So, I now had my great, great grandfather’s occupation.
My favorite activity in genealogy is looking for old photos of my ancestors. I love to see how people posed for the picture, the clothes they wore, and where the photo was taken. Attached is a photo of my great grandparents on their wedding day. From this photo you can guess they were married in the early 1900s. One of our speakers this fall will show us how to date old photos.
If you are interested in learning about your ancestors, I hope that you will join the Genealogy Club here at Robson Ranch. We have some expert speakers lined up for the 2020-21 season. Our first virtual meeting will be on Tuesday, Nov. 3 via Zoom. Our speaker will be club member Patty Foley. She is going to talk about learning from genealogy podcasts and how she leveraged them over the summer. The following meeting is Tuesday, Nov. 17, and speaker Pam Ingermanson will share with us how to utilize educational materials on Family Search.
Joining the club is easy. Complete an application and pay a $20 fee, then send both to our Treasurer Judi Mutal. If a couple wants to join, the fee is $25. I’ve included the most current schedule of activities we have for November 2020 to March 2021:
Nov. 3: Patty Foley “Listening to Genealogy Podcasts”
Nov. 17: Pam Ingermanson “The Family Search Wiki”
Dec. 1: Kim Harrison “Criminals in Your Family Tree”
Dec. 15: Anette Rietz “Dating Family Photos”
Jan. 5, 2021: Panel Discussion “Bring Your Questions to the Panel”
Jan. 23, 2021: Pinal County Genealogy Workshop
Feb. 27, 2021: Bonnie Belza “DNA Kindergarten”
March 15, 2021: TBD
March 29, 2021: Open Discussion About Next Year’s Activities
Happy researching! I look forward to seeing you virtually in November.
If you have questions, please contact me, Pat Sand, on Next Door (we have our genealogy group there) or at [email protected].