Throwback Thursday | Dot + Red

Since I'm all in on the family history research these days, I thought I'd do a Throwback Thursday post with some of my grandparent's, Dorothy and Walter (who's nicknames were Dot and Red) wedding photos! If you think I get a kick out of finding old genealogy lines, imagine how much I love seeing these old photos of my grandma and grandpa. I love the amateur snap shots they took with their maid of honor too. So spontaneous and full of love. They really bright the moment back to life! 

Fun Fact: All the girls in my family have had a piece of my grandmother's dress incorporated into their weddings! I wrapped the stems of my bouquet of zinnias my dad, mom and uncle Walt grew for me!

Plantain Foraging for Springtime Allergy Relief?

Last week I was picking up our package of bees from a local guy, Joe May, who's sort of famous amongst bee keepers and gardeners (he's got 100s of hives in his back yard plus over a hundred varieties of apple trees!)  While showing us a hive he split (sans any protective gear!) one bee got him on the forearm. So he bends down in the yard, picks this leaf, pops it in his mouth for 5 seconds and rubs it over the sting. "Plantain will take the pain away in 15 seconds" he says. I ask him to show me what it looks like and realize this stuff is all over my yard. 

Fast forward to this morning, I'm gardening with the kids and my nose won't stop running and I can't stop sneezing. I'm willing to deal with it so I can be outside, but wouldn't it be nice not to deal? I grabbed my copy of The Complete Medicinal Herbal, which is one of my favorite books (and thrifted!) finds ever. I've always favored more natural, less processed cures for aches and pains and was so excited to discover uses for fruits, veggies and herbs I'm already familiar with like apples, oranges, cabbage, celery, mint, basil and more in this guidebook  

So I look up allergies in the back and scan for something familiar... eyebright, ground ivy and then... BINGO! Ribwort Plantain (plantago major/plantago lanceolata). The very same little weed Joe grabbed for his sting. I read on to see a poultice for fresh leaves is a cure for slow-healing wounds and bee stings. He was right on! Other uses include infusing the seeds into a tea to help get things moving in the digestive system, a gargle for sore throats and a juice for allergies.

So that's what I did! I gathered a basket of plantain leaves from the yard, grabbed a little wood sorrel too (because I love chewing 'em whenever I spot 'em!) and popped them into the blender with a knob of ginger and a little water.  

Its been about 45 minutes since I took it and wow - I definitely feel the difference! Almost like how you'd feel if you took some sort of mucus relief pill. The taste of the shot wasn't all that great, but also wasn't terrible. I chased it with a little water and a date. My guidebook recommends doing it three times a day but I think I'll only take it when I'm feeling especially sniffly.  I'm also drinking a lot of water, which I always do when taking anything with astringent qualities. 

Finally, I'm not a doctor and this info is for my personal use is not intended to treat or diagnosis a medical condition.  Use herbs with the guidance of a health care practitioner.  Any statements or claims about the possible health benefits conferred by any foods or supplements have not been evaluated by the Food & Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Throwback Thursday | Eva Fisher

In the past week I have been on a roller coaster ride of discovering lords and ladies, kings and queens, pilgrims and patriots - my epic family tree!

Going into the process, I thought I knew a lot. Meaning I could get back to the early 1800s on my dad's side of the family and always thought my heritage was predominantly German. Not so! My mom's side of the family is almost entirely from England! There are some Swiss, French, German, Dutch, Welsh, Scottish and Irish lines there too. 

Uncovering your ancestry is really a game of clue more than anything else. You've gotta be a detective, connect the dots, check and double check connections and more. On my fan chart of 16 great great grandparents, I have birth and death dates for almost all of them. Those usually help in some shape or form with finding christening dates and that leads to parents, which is what you're always trying to find. The goal is to extend the tree as far and wide as possible. My personal goal is to chart when all of my ancestors landed in the US because I believe those records are pretty strong. I've gotten back even further to kings and queens, but I think I'd like to get better at research to confirm those connections. 

So here's where I'm at now - I'm adding in the info I have - from photographs of my grandparents and their parents, aunts and uncles to birth, christening, marriage and death dates in an attempt to fill in some of those empty branches.

a never before seen (to me!) photo of my great grandma eva.

Let me give you an example. My mom's grandma, Eva B. Fisher (pictured, Right) was the daughter of Issac Edward 'Ed' Fisher and Ora C. Miltenberger... but I only had the year of great-great granny O's birth. When a record reads something like '1871-Deceased' under a person's name, i've found that it's usually a dead end. I kept looking around and I uncovered some marriage registrations for her daughters (by searching for documents tied to her husband Isaac 'Ed' Fisher (see tip four below) but the mother of the bride came up as Lea Mittenberg for one but Ora C. Miltenberger on another. Then I found a Ella L. Cripe Miltenberger and wondered if that could somehow be her.  What was Eva's mom's maiden name (and it's spelling?) and more importantly, would that lead me to the next generation - my great-great-great grandparents? A lot of old records and hand writing can be hard to decipher, or in some cases, as I believe with the US census takers, just misheard and written down incorrectly. 

In this case I had to jump off the genealogy site and just Google it. Bingo. Not only did I find Ora Miltenberger Fisher, but I was able to confirm her husband Ed, daughters (including my great grandma Eva) The site also gave me leads on the names and birth/death years of her parents. I took that info and punched it into FamilySearch, which yielded a match in the system. What was initially a dead end now took me as far back as 1620, including early American colonists! I LOVE WHEN THAT HAPPENS!

A photo of my mom posing with her grandma at my mom's high school graduation party. Eva handmade this suit as a gift for my mom (and also taught her how to sew! And yes! I know I look like a twin of my mom! 

I cannot put into words the thrill of making these discoveries. When multiple puzzle pieces add up and open a new doorway to the past - it's just that - thrilling!! Here are my suggestions and what has helped me most as I fill in my tree!

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I hope you find tracing your family roots as thrilling as I do! So many of you have watched my Instagram stories that I've posted immediately after making some sort of discovery and have remarked how excited I am. It's true!  As I carefully trace each line I hope to share more stories with you here! If you find this information helpful - please pass this page along to anyone who could benefit! And if you see some names in my posts that look familiar - please say hello! I'd love to connect with my extended family! 

A Walk Down Memory Lane

CHECK out this old timey photo including my paternal grandfather Walter (bottom right). He was the youngest son in the family and only to inherit his father's copper locks, earning him the nickname "Red". We see a little strawberry in our blonde Beatrix! 

Last Sunday morning, I woke up to a comment on my blog that hinted to having some history on my home and the original owners. What followed were half a dozen emails back and forth with a family member (hi Marilyn!) I learned a lot about my house (the original owners had a farm stand and sold apples and pears! We're growing apples and pears!!!) and piqued my interest in getting more solid details. 

My first hit was a 1940 census report from my street with a lot of names I recognize! Both of my next door neighbor's parents are on it! People stay put around here! The land we live on was in the same family back to 1870 from what I've uncovered. Such a gift to find this information as we near the one year anniversary of buying our home. We love this piece of earth so so much. But I digress! 

As for my family, I've traced my ancestry to early American colonists in some lines and as far back as 1544 in Switzerland in others (I only learned of my Swiss ancestry in the past few years!) The records are absolutely amazing! I've done this kind of research before but this time around I am yielding so much more. I'm using the LDS Family Search site and it's really good! And free! 

Like I said, I want to go even further in depth with this and I will but I'm so excited I had to put post something now. Maybe for Mother's Day you take a little time with your own moms to work on your family tree or share some stories of your grandmothers this weekend. History is so precious - and by that I mean the tales of the people who came before us - not just the family lines and birth dates.

Speaking of history and Mother's Day, last week Adam gave me the surprise of my life... we're seeing Hamilton!! In less than a month! Since I started listening to the soundtrack I have wanted to get more background so I'm reading the epic 818 page whopper by Ron Chernow. And it's the little stories, the many many little stories that color his life. 

So, long story short, I've assigned myself some homework and I want to record it here. I've been spending a lot less time on social media (guys... try it!) and spending more of my life getting in the faces of the people I love. It's awesome. Anyways, I'm going to flesh out my family tree, get some stories to go with it, organize my photos and reach out to family members for more! I've received some tips among the historians and researchers who follow my little blog and would love for more in the comments!  

Thanks guys and Happy Mother's Day to all you mamas out there!