Why God Never Received Tenure

The Chronicle's Wired Blog has a very interesting item today to which a lot of people in academic circles can relate.

Lorikeets

I love lorikeets. They are such colorful birds (besides having a good name)! Bill Hobbs has some great pictures of the ones in the Nashville zoo.

Scanning Party

AnceStories tells us about an online ScanFest that will take place on Sunday March 25 for those with scanners and Windows Live Messenger. It sounds like it will add some fun to those participating. Unfortunately I have a previous commitment and won't be able to join in the festivities.

Reflections on Terminology

Cow Hampshire offers some observations on our changing language in her post about cellars becoming basement. I think we've all noticed similar changes with other terms.

20th Carnival of Genealogy

The 20th carnival of genealogy is posted at Creative Gene.

Laura Lucy Taylor

Laura Lucy (Taylor) Lantz was my great grandmother. She was the daughter of Stephen and Betsey (Dearborn) Taylor. She was born 25 April 1854 in McLean County, Illinois. Her father Stephen Taylor was born in the Marietta, Ohio area 28 February 1814 to Stephen and Lovica (Rathbone) Taylor. His father died a few months later, allegedly in the Detroit, Michigan area during the War of 1812 although no record of his service or death has been located. He supposedly had a fascination with riverboats and claims to have known Robert Fulton. Although a minimal search has been done, nothing to corroborate this has been found. Her mother Betsey was born 4 September 1818 in Morgan County, Ohio to Deacon Nathan and Lucy (Perkins) Dearborn. Nathan’s line goes back to Godfrey Dearborn of New Hampshire. Lucy’s line goes back to John Perkins who immigrated to Massachusetts in 1629. Although Laura’s father was not very religious according to his obituary, Laura attended the Methodist church which was very near their home in the portion of McLean County near the Woodford County line. She married Abraham Lowden “Abe” Lantz on 15 February 1874. Abe grew up in an Amish family which had moved to McLean County about 1851. His parents and many of his siblings moved to Howard County, Indiana by 1864, but Abe remained in Illinois where he went to work for a merchant. Eventually Abe owned his own dry goods store in White Oak Township and later in Carlock. He also served as postmaster for some time. After Abe and Laura married, they attended the Christian Church although he never joined. In 1896, a group of Amish from the McLean County, Illinois area moved to Monroe County, Mississippi. Abe, Laura, and their seven living children moved along with this group although they attended the Christian Church. Known children are: Levi Hollis “Lee” (1875-1955), Saloma Olive “Ollie” (1877-1923), Emma (1881-1965), Abraham Lowden “Abe” (1883-1918), Irving Lee “Moses” (1885-1971), Mary Irene “Marie” (1888-1971), and Betsy Barbara “Bess” (1891-1977). (The 1910 census states that she was the mother of 8 children, 7 living. The birth order and sex of the eighth child is not known although it seems likely this child was born between Ollie and Emma.) At least two of Abe’s children served as teachers for the Amish. Laura is said to have been a good cook. She served seven courses with every meal at her husband’s insistence. In 1918, son Abe, a salesman for the Brown Shoe Company, died of yellow fever in Texarkana, Arkansas. Due to the quarantine conditions at that time, his body was buried in Arkansas. His widow eventually moved to Denver, Colorado. Her beloved husband Abe died in 1920. Laura died of cancer 25 September 1922. She and Abe are buried at the Odd Fellows Rest Cemetery in Aberdeen, Mississippi. Her daughter Ollie died in a tragic car-train accident in South Dakota the following year as she was going to Yellowstone National Park with her family for a vacation.

Sources:

Duis, E. The good old times in McLean County, Illinois : containing two hundred and sixty-one sketches of old settlers, a complete historical sketch of the Black Hawk War and descriptions of all matters of interest relating to McLean County. Bloomington, Ill. : Leader Pub. and Print. House, 1874.

Luthy, David. The Amish in America: Settlements that Failed, 1840-1960. Aylmer, Ont.: Pathway Publishers, 1986.

Marriage License, Abraham Lantz and Laura L. Taylor. McLean Co., Illinois, Marriage Book G, p. 249; photocopy in my possession.

Stearns, Ezra S. Plymouth New Hampshire Families. Baltimore, Md.: Clearfield Company, 2001. Orig. pub. as vol. 2 of The History of Plymouth, New Hampshire (Cambridge, Mass., 1906).

Also various federal census records; deeds; newspaper clippings; family sources.

Much of the information about Abe's store and duties as postmaster can also be found in McLean County histories and directories which are available at the McLean County Museum of History.

McClung Warehouse Bricks Get New Life

Many of the bricks from the McClung Warehouses fire in Knoxville will find a new home at the Museum of Appalachia.

19th Carnival of Genealogy

The 19th Carnival of Genealogy is up. I didn't participate as I couldn't come up with a good story.

When is a Cherokee Not a Cherokee?

I'll admit it. This is a trick question because the vote isn't over yet. However, the Cherokee nation is voting today on whether or not to "kick out" members of the Cherokee nation who descend from black slaves of the nation. Many of these already have documents stating that they are descended from full-blooded Cherokee.

Thoughts on UT Basketball

I believe that Pat Summitt should dress as a cheerleader for every game against Florida in the future. It seemed to work like a charm for the guys last night. Maybe we also need to have Peyton Manning motivate the players before the game and be in attendance too!

I love the way that Pat Summitt and Bruce Pearl get along so well with one another.

Congratulations to the team on a big win over Florida last night!

Old Newspaper

Cow Hampshire has a post about the oldest newspaper in the United States, the New Hampshire Gazette. It's a very interesting read.

Fascinating Iowa Case

There's an interesting 19th century missing persons case with a link to recent DNA studies that is just absolutely fascinating at IAGenWeb.

Sevier County Genealogy Conference - March 9 & 10

SEVIER COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY System HISTORY CENTER to hold 4th Annual GENEALOGY CONFERENCE:
“COLLECTING AND PRESERVING OUR MOUNTAIN HERITAGE”
The Sevier County Public Library System and the Sevier County Office on Aging & Fort Sanders Sevier County Senior Center invite you to attend the 4th Annual Sevier County Genealogy Conference on March 9th and 10th at the Fort Sanders Sevier County Senior Center at 1220 West Main Street in Sevierville. The conference will begin at noon on Friday, March 9th and conclude at 4:30 pm the following day.

Featured speakers include: Anita Finger, an experienced researcher for the Eastern Band of Cherokee; Cherel Henderson, Director of the East Tennessee Historical Society; J. Mark Lowe, CG, a full-time professional family history instructor; Annette Hartigan, Great Smoky Mountain National Park Librarian; and Dr. George Schweitzer, Alumni Distinguished Professor at the University of Tennessee.

Conference sessions include the following: The Territory South of the French Broad; Wonder What’s Over the Mountain; Finding My Way Home Again; What the National Park Library Offers; Over the Mountain, Across the Plains; Balancing on North Carolina; Using that Brick Wall as a Foundation; and Cherokee Research.

Also included in the conference fee is a storytelling dinner on the Friday evening of the conference. Dr. Schweitzer will be the featured presenter for the storytelling dinner which will begin at 6:00 pm. on Friday, March 9, 2007.

Conference fees are $45.00 per person for both days; early-bird registration, which runs through March 1st, is $40.00. Registration forms and schedules for the conference are available at any of the Sevier County Public Library System facilities and online at http://www.sevierlibrary.org. For additional information, please call (865)908-7988 or email Theresa Williams, SCPLS Genealogy Manager, at twilliams@sevierlibrary or Tim Fisher, SCPLS Genealogist, at tfisher@sevierlibrary.org.

Cousin Seeks Re-Election

My 6th cousin once removed, Haley Barbour, is seeking re-election as the governor of Mississippi. Our shared ancestry is via the Fowlkes family.

Sunrise

This is the view that I saw this morning as I walked across the campus from the library toward the business division to teach my class, which is housed under the Stokely Memorial Cafeteria (on the right). The other building is the Student Activities Center. It was a lovely sunrise!

Of shrinking cemeteries and missing washtubs

The headline "He's Lost Without A Washtub" certainly caught my attention. His headline links to a story that talks about a cemetery in South Carolina which has shrunk from about 200 graves to only 8. Read the full story.

Snowy Thoughts

I love snow! Now, I don't really want the 8 feet plus they have in upstate New York, but I do wonder why those folks are being so greedy. Wouldn't they share just one foot of snow with those of us down here in East Tennessee who haven't seen a decent snowfall in years? That should give all the teachers a couple of snow days which they are really longing to get!

Endangered Cincinnati Graveyard

LINK - A Wesleyan cemetery in Northside in endangered. The city and the state are arguing over whether it is public or private and whether the city has to do anything about it with the abandoned cemetery law. Ultimately, it will probably be up to individuals to save it!

Block Island 2007 Census

My Rathbone family was one of the original families to settle Block Island. Apparently there is now a tradition to take a census on groundhog's day to count everyone who is wintering on the island, year-round residents and visitors included. This year's census count was down 15 from last year's count. (Hat tip to Genealogue)

Clouds

On the morning of January 27th, we had some neat clouds. I took several photos. On this first one, I accidentally had the flash on, but I kind of liked the artsy effect so I kept it. You can view other photos at flickr.