McLean County, Illinois

Today I visited some ancestral lands in McLean County, Illinois. I started my day at the courthouse where I discovered that it is a waste of time to go to the county clerk's office. I had decided to start my day at the courthouse because the Museum of History doesn't open until 10 a.m., and the courthouse opened 2 hours earlier. Basically I discovered that the county clerk only issues certified copies of marriages and that they cost $12. You can order a photocopy of the certificate from IRAD for less than that. The Museum of History has the microfilm available as well.

The other hassle in downtown Bloomington is that the parking is only for 90 minutes so you have to go move your car every 90 minutes. I had seen a parking enforcement guy when I parked the first time so I knew I'd better move in 90 minutes.

After visiting those, I made a trip to the Denman Cemetery where many of my Taylors are buried. Their graves are the ones nearest the road, but I discovered that someone needs to bring a weed eater to tend to their graves. The rest of the cemetery is well-kept. It's just my ancestors' graves that are in need of TLC. There were also some broken and missing markers in that corner of the cemetery. I'm pretty certain that my great grandmother's sister's grave is among those with lost markers. I didn't find it, and I looked through broken markers.

After that I toured the town of Carlock where my great grandfather had a dry goods store. It's pretty small, but I did see the church where the family attended.

I definitely need to make another trip to McLean County in the future, but my time was limited. I'm now in the Chicago area for the National Genealogical Society's Conference in the States.

I will try to upload photos of my McLean County trip sometime later.

Craving Greek Food

I've been craving a good gyro or souvlaki now for a couple of weeks. There are no good Greek restaurants near where I live. My craving just got worse when I read Taneya's blog today and discovered she'd been to a Greek Food Festival over the weekend. I plan to find a good Greek restaurant in Chicago while I'm there for the National Genealogical Society's Conference in the States.

Smart Idea

LINK - Schools in Kentucky are beginning to offer courses in Chinese. Some experts believe Chinese could very well become one of the main languages of business. Many of my colleagues believe that we should begin teaching Mandarin Chinese to all students in the first grade.

Tea Time

LINK - Charleston Tea Plantation, which was purchased by the Bigelow Family of tea fame in 2003, is open for tours again. I'd say this is a must on my next tour of Charleston. It's appropriate that the city which has America's only tea plantation is the setting for Laura Childs' tea shop mystery series. I read her latest installment in a single day last month. It is Blood Orange Brewing. If you have not read any of her tea mysteries, I recommend that you begin with the first in the series, Death by Darjeeling.

Courthouse Research

LINK - Here's another book to add to my wish list for the NGS conference coming up in a couple of weeks. Christine Rose has a new book on courthouse indexes. Dick Eastman is giving it very good press!

Summer Reading

I love Dottie Frank's books. Full of Grace is probably the one with the most profound Catholic message of the three. While I am Protestant rather than Catholic, I did appreciate the journey of faith in this book. I love the Charleston area and have really embraced Frank's books because of the setting. This one is set in Charleston and Hilton Head. One of the features I really enjoy are brief appearances by characters in her other books. We got to revisit the friends from Shem Creek briefly in this most recent novel.

Jaroslav Pelikan

LINK - Well-known Yale history professor Jaroslav Pelikan of Yale has died. I remember using some of his works for church history courses in Bible College and seminary long ago.

One Room Schoolhouses

LINK - Here's a story about a one-room schoolhouse that's been around since the American Revolution in New Hampshire. I guess I've always romanticized these relics of the past. Education Wonks questions the quality of the education children are receiving at these. Personally, I wonder if the education quality is not better because it is more personalized. There is a 1:18 teacher-student ratio. The community is close-knit and probably keeps better tabs on what is going on at the school. There is likely even more accountability. In this day and age, the teacher is going to have to be aware of all the standards and meet the state-mandated requirements anyway.

Paving Over Graves

LINK - In Wellington, Ohio, a businessman paved over two graves to make room for a parking lot. The headstones were saved and will be relocated. The graves belonged to Charles Seeley (d. 1880) and his wife Lucy (d. 1882). The owner has offered to exhume the graves and rebury the deceased if family members come forward.

East Tennessee Historian Dies

LINK - Peter Hayden Prince, author of Ghost Towns of the Smokies, died earlier this week. He has an impressive resume.

Genetic Genealogy

LINK - An interesting MSNBC site focuses on DNA in genealogy. Thanks to Dick Eastman for the tip!

I Hope This Prediction Holds True

LINK - I've been trying to find a new home that I would really like, but everything that is acceptable is priced just a little beyond what I feel that I comfortably afford. If home sellers do lower their prices 10% by fall, I might just be able to enjoy the "American dream."

Instapundit on Knitting

LINK - I never thought I'd see the day that Glenn would post on knitting. I don't knit. I actually would love to learn, but those self-instruction books do nothing for me. I just can't get the art of "casting on" mastered. I'll stick with cross-stitch, even if it might not be quite so "cool."

Back to Blogging

Sorry - I've been on "hiatus" for awhile. My life has just been very busy for the past 6 weeks or so. I should have more time after this weekend. This article caught my eye. As a college educator, I see more reports of plagiarism these days than we used to see where well-known persons are accused of taking someone else's work and passing it off as their own. This time it is the leader of a country accused.

Reinterpreting Curious George

LINK - I think some literary critics have nothing else to do so they dream up strange interpretations of children's classics! (Actually, they were probably desparate for tenure at some university so they used their imagination to crush a classic children's story.)

Knitting

LINK - An interesting article - even talks about a male physician who knits. I can't seem to get the hang of "casting on" so I've give up trying to teach myself and will hopefully find a knitter who can show me the "ins" and "outs" of knitting sometime. In the meantime, I'll stick with cross stitch.

East Tennessee Historic Registry Candidates

LINK - Three East Tennessee sites are under consideration for the historic registry: Miners' Circle Cemetery in Anderson County, St. Mark's Presbyterian Church in Hawkins County, and the Moore Family Farm in Hawkins County. [Free online registration required.]

Before the Tennessee House

LINK - A bill which would allow access to cemeteries on private property!

How 'Bout Those Vols?

Congrats to the men's Vols and Coach Pearl on defeating Florida tonight!

Back from Christmas Break

Okay, everyone, in case you couldn't tell, I decided to take a blogging break over our Christmas break. I'm back now. I waited until I got most things settled for the classes I teach to begin blogging again.

I went to the cross stitch shop today for the class on waste canvas. I'm stitching a snowman on a sweatshirt. I've learned that your stitches will not be as even as they are on evenweave cloth! It's also harder to "frog" with jersey knit. Fortunately, I only had about 10 stitches that had to be redone due to a miscount!

I went to Gulf Shores, Alabama on New Year's Day for overnight. I got to see damage inland from Katrina in Mississippi and Alabama and damage remaining on the Alabama Gulf from Ivan. It's amazing. Katrina also made the USS Alabama in Mobile a little lopsided, and they had cranes out there trying to get it upright again. I don't think I could have taken a look at the Mississippi Gulf. I have seen photos taken by folks who've gone down to help, and I cry and cry and cry. It's so sad!