It's 2021! My New Year's Genealogy Resolutions

 

Wishing all a Happy New Year. At last the storm cloud that was 2020 is gone. We don't necessarily know what 2021 will bring, but at least in some ways we'll be better prepared. And ready to meet, work, play and laugh whenever and however we can!

I've made some resolutions. Three for sure have to do with genealogy! 

#1 - A Do-Over - I'm going to look at all my photographs again, redo their scans and descriptions, etc. as needed. First thing this morning, Thomas MacEntee kicked off  2021's Genealogy Do-Over with a free webinar (recorded); got me all enthused, even though I had planned to sleep in today! As I go, I'm sure I'll learn more from my photographs, share them - and enjoy them myself all over again too.  Join the Genealogy Do-Over on Facebook or check his Genealogy Bargains website for the free handouts. 

#2 - I'm going to continue to catalogue my cookbooks. And reshelve them as soon as I can. Yes, this is a genealogy task. Most of them are British Columbia, Canadian community cookbooks and over the years, I've been indexing the names and recipes submitted by contributors. 

#3 January 2021 - I'm participating in the 2021 Family Connections Experiment again, starting today! There's still time if you'd like to join in this round. Lots of ideas there - try the Idea Generator! - and see the plans you can follow if you like. It's very flexible, if you have your own ideas as I often do. https://connections-experiment.com/

It's a Wrap! Day 21 of the 21 Day Family Connections Experiment

Today was Day 21, the final day of my 21 Day Family Connections Experiment.

Today going through old family files again, I found more unexpected, interesting family things...below. So more work to be done. 

And over the next week, I'll be compiling a linked list of the objects and stories I mentioned here during the Experiment along with any I've written about previously. 

This Experiment will carry forward, but on a different schedule. I'm intending to post on Treasure Chest Thursdays till I run out of family 'stuff'. 

MY RECENT FINDS

A cute photograph of my favourite grandson...long, long ago.

A cute photograph of a cousin - "Louise 3 yrs". Quite a while ago.

And a very strange Self Portrait (Yes, by me, of me). This is a folder (about 7 1/2 x 14 cm folded) but there's nothing inside. Perhaps I used it as a card for a gift? 

Had I been to a modern art show? Or just got a new ruler? I have no memories of this at all. I'll have to store this image in the back of my mind for a bit. I may yet remember. If it's at all lifelike (!), I must be 10-11 or so, as until then I had never had my hair cut.

The Self Portrait was in a file of my father's; I l knew he kept things. After he died, I found old school photos in his wallet and little childhood cards and letters from me in his bedside table, including the 'will' I made when I was eight or so (leaving everything to my brother).  And a special letter I had given Dad in 1970. 

Keep an eye out. The next 21 Day Connections Experiment will be in October for Family History Month!  There are many ways to participate. 

Encouragement & Future Motivation - Day 20 - 21 Day Family Connections Experiment

Today is Day 20 of my 21 Day Family Connections Experiment.

Almost finished! 

Today among other things, I was going through photos - my own. Yes, real paper photos from the 1990s on. Most of these are already in albums and in fairly good (original) order. Many have accompanying notes (for trips) or at least a card showing their original order. I'm very glad of that! 

But there was a pack of funny (horrifyingly so) photos which I took soon after my last move - genealogy boxes and boxes, piles and piles of binders and notebooks.

I now feel quite encouraged since the piles I have here are short, the boxes fewer and pretty organized inside, and most documents that I wanted to be scanned are done.  And I got rid of that fax machine too. Who remembers faxes? 

Both photos are of my genealogy, history, etc. space, 2000. 

Photographer shown: me. 

Of course, I will always have organizing to do, but  it was all so much worse at one time! I think now I should take photos of my genealogy/history/etc. space once a year to keep myself motivated to keep up my routines for filing, tagging, etc. and my genealogy hoard down to a minimum. 

Maybe I'll have room for a few more souvenir teacups then?

The Rogers FAN Club - Day 19 - 21 Day Family Connections Experiment

Today is Day 19 of my 21 Day Family Connections Experiment.

I am getting very close to the closing days of this experiment. Time to think about what's ahead.

Certainly, I will sort myself out some regular days to work on my family treasures, even after we are no longer so much 'at home'. 

Interesting that I've learned quite a bit more about some of these things I've been looking at all or almost all of my life. Remember the measuring cup I wrote about on Day 1, for instance. 

And I have opened up boxes I've been avoiding too :-) Some that others might just toss unopened.

Like the boxes of very old business files sitting patiently gathering dust while waiting for me. I won't be keeping everything, of course. A lot of paper is already in the recycling pile to go. There are old manuals, old receipts, a few photographs I've already pulled out and scanned. I just found the instructions for the old dolly I still use to take out heavier recyclables! 

But there are many clues in these files for my parents' Genealogy FAN clubs - their Friends, Associates, Neighbours.

Over the years, I have done bits of research on family friends and other people I remember. Several of the friends remained single and seemed to have few remembrances left behind. 

Now I am hoping to see a few more genealogy gems in here, like these few letters, likely the last ones Dad received from his friend, Walter Cooper. 

I've posted a bit about the Cooper family before. See With the Coopers in Seattle, 1949

Walter and his wife did visit Vancouver, BC to see Mum and Dad in the early 1980s. I have seen no photographs from that visit and have very few of my parents from that decade. I had always hoped the Cooper family might still have some. But these letters don't mention photos. 

Wish me luck!

One of the business files with letters and an obituary for Dad's childhood friends, the Coopers. (I have blocked out addresses for privacy reasons.)

For more about the 21 Day Family Connections Experiment, see my first Experiment article here.

Seashore Holiday Stray - Day 18 - 21 Day Family Connections Experiment

Today is Day 18 of my 21 Day Family Connections Experiment.

Another Sunday Stray photograph from my collection. This one I often like to include in my photography workshops. 

A Seaside Ferrotype (tintype); no information at all about these women. 

Perhaps the two are sisters and the youngest, the daughter of the woman sitting? The little one looks so comfortable there. 

Lovely backdrop. I'm guessing they are in an English seaside town's photograph studio. 

Would resting on the seashore allow the ladies to 'let down their hair' or are they documenting how long it is? 

If you happen to recognize them, or the backdrop, please let me know. 

For more about the 21 Day Family Connections Experiment, see my first Experiment article here.

A 'Last Ride' - Day 17 - 21 Day Family Connections Experiment

Today is... Day 17 - 21 Day Family Connections Experiment

And it's Saturday, time for Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun.

I don't always participate, but again this week, it seems an appropriate theme for my 21 days Experiment - and a conversation starter, for genealogists, at least. 

Randy's asked his readers to "Consider where you would go on your 'last ride.'...Tell us about your own Memory Lane." Have a read about his own last ride here.

If mine was a recap of my life and times, it could be boring even for me - pretty much an 'unrecognizable' west/east Vancouver, with Stanley Park and QE Park, and side jaunts to Chilliwack and Port Moody - both of those places have been vastly changed since I lived there too - and maybe Bowen Island and Wigwam Inn. 

Remembrance candles, All Souls event, Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver, BC, Canada, October 2014. Photographer: M. Diane Rogers.

And even though I write a lot about memories (and my stuff), I don't think of my life that way most of the time. I've been pretty lucky so far; most of the best parts turned out better than I figured, and the bad bits were at least short. 

As I've been looking to re-organize my own photographs, I have been thinking of the places I've been to research family. Many I'd like to see again, of course, and I've not yet made it to a few important ones, like Sweden, for instance. Could that be a 'last ride'? 

But at one point, I was planning to travel 'around the world' (for real, not via Zoom, nice as that is). That could be a great 'last ride'!  Or even riding across Canada by train; that likely would cost more than the world, but taking the train to the Calgary Stampede when I was 12 is still one of my very favourite memories. 

 Mountain View Cemetery, Autumn 2012, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photographer: M. Diane Rogers

I'm right with Randy on one point, I want to go out with my 'boots on' and my mind and whatever automagical devices we have then still whirling with research finds. And I'll just need a minute or two more to make sure my FamilySearch tree and my Saggers One-Name Study are up to date and then a quick flip to the end of my mystery book to see 'who done it'.  

I know where I want to 'end up' - at Mountain View Cemetery in Vancouver, BC. There's space there for me, with mum and dad, uncle David and grandma and grandpa. And lots of other relatives besides, including one set of greats. Now I'm wondering how they all feel about bagpipes. Mum won't mind if the piping can be a little ways off. Dad will just want to know who's paying the piper. Grandma and Grandpa, being so English, might not be impressed! 

For more about the 21 Day Family Connections Experiment, see my first Experiment article here.

Dad's Pen and Pencil Set - Day 16 - 21 Day Family Connections Experiment

Today is Day 16 of my 21 Day Family Connections Experiment.  

I don't remember Dad ever using this pen and pencil set. Perhaps it reminded him of the war, and he just put it away for good in the living room desk where it seems it's always been. There is a bigger box of assorted pens there too.

I'm pretty sure his parents gave him this. It seems like a very practical but nice gift. But there is a chance that it was a gift from a young lady before he left for his posting in Washington, DC.

My dad's Parker Active Service Pen and Pencil set. 

These sets were advertised widely here during World War II.

Parker Active Service Set. A perfect gift for those in the services. Matching pen and pencil with special heavy duty 14K gold trim.  Complete in tunic pocket leather carrying case. $8.50. The Daily Colonist, Victoria, BC, 13 December 1941, Hudson's Bay Company advertisement, page 20. 

I thought the 1941 mention of "Blackout" and new hours in this Hudson's Bay Company advertisement page was interesting, given our current shopping situation.

My dad, George W. Rogers, at his desk in the Canadian Embassy, Washington, DC. Personal collection. Photographer unknown. Before 1946, as he has another ring on. (Not his wedding ring.) There is a pen or two on the desk but not this set. And just look at his hair! 

Treasure Chest Thursday - Day 15 - 21 Day Family Connections Experiment

Today is Day 15 of my 21 Day Family Connections Experiment.  

And it's Treasure Chest Thursday. 

Appropriate as today I'm writing about a few of my treasures - but likely for these ones my heirs are wondering "Why ever has she hung on to those old things?" Here's the answer. 

An old taped together box - some weird thing that spins - and a REMINDER stamp? 

The answer is first, that these are things I remember from my parents' office. And I didn't play with them then, but, second, I used to 'work' for my parents so these do hold special memories for me. I rescued them many years later, thinking... third, hey, I can use these for my scrapbooking. And there you go. All perfectly understandable. 

All its letters and numbers and symbols accounted for. The stamp pad isn't original, I know. But somehow I couldn't turf it either. (Adding ink to stamp pads was one of my tasks.) I think Dad last used this set in the 1980s when he, Mum and I were selling stuff on weekends at a Vancouver flea market. 

The spin around thing holds stamps with various size handles, and the REMINDER stamp originally was used to 'decorate' any overdue invoices that had to be sent out in the mail. 

I don't know how old this set is, or if Dad bought if new or used. I hardly remember the first office on Broadway when I was really little, but I do know that they had to buy more furniture for the Cambie Street office they opened in the 1950s. Some of that was new, but much was not. And I may have mentioned before, I still have four chairs that were in the office. Two would likely have been dining room chairs. The other two may have been meant for home or office. (I should browse in some old catalogues or store ads to see if anything looks familiar.) My tiny Christmas tree was not always a 'Charlie Brown' tree. It was the office tree and had its own ornaments when it was in use there. 

What I didn't know in the old days was that this stamp set was made by an historic Vancouver company -The Geo. H. Hewitt Co. Ltd. as it says on the seal design inside the box. Mr. Hewitt began his business in 1885 in San Francisco, but in 1898 he and his wife followed the Gold Rush trail not to the gold fields but to Vancouver, BC, where he set up shop. The company is still in business here. 

Check out the old photographs on the Geo. H. Hewitt Co website, including a Con Jones "Don't Argue" token. (We could use some more of those!) And if you collect old vehicle plates, see Christopher John Garrish's website BCpl8s.ca: https://www.bcpl8s.ca/Bicycle.html  Hewitt manufactured license plates for commercial trucks, bicycles and chauffeur badges too. 

A Birthday Book - Day 14 - 21 Day Family Connections Experiment

Today is Day 14 of my 21 Day Family Connections Experiment.

Today I'm looking at our Irwin-Carmichael Birthday Book. 

This Birth-Day Forget-me-not book is what I consider a real Family Treasure. It was given to my maternal great grandmother, Janet Carmichael, in 1881 before she and her husband William Irwin, and their little daughter, 'Minnie', left Islay, Fenelon Township, Victoria County, Ontario, Canada to live in the Northwest (Newdale, Manitoba). Family and friends signed their names on their birthday pages. Some of those people Janet never saw again, but a few later joined the migration to Manitoba or moved or retired to the Coast (Vancouver, British Columbia). 

She kept up the book throughout her life, and my maternal grandmother, Janet's daughter, Amy Estella, inherited it. She kept it up, adding birthday dates and some of the marriages and deaths of friends and family. And clippings, mostly funeral notices. My brother and I were the last names Na entered. After that the book was put away. By that time, it was too fragile to be held. 

When I first became 'serious' about doing genealogy, Mum let me index all the names, dates and messages in the book. She kept a watchful eye while I transcribed everything written in the book and it gave us a chance to discuss what she knew about the people. 

William and Janet Irwin (née Carmichael) and baby Minnie - Mary Jane, born 1879.  Carte de visite, Scott and Andrus Artists and Photographers, Cor. Kent & Williams Sts, Lindsay, [James A. Scott and Mortimer I. Andrus, Ontario, Canada.]

The Preface to the Book, page 1-2

An example of a page: August 16 - Maud Oliver; Mrs. Tom McIntosh; 

August 17 - James Murchison; August 18 - James Carmichael.

If you see a name you think is 'yours', contact me and I will send you a scan of the page. 

BIRTHDAY PAGES
ROSE	Alice M.
CARMICHAEL	Alexander
MURCHISON	Janet
BROWN	Mr. R
GILCHRIST	Maggie
GRAHAM	Alexander
MURCHISON	John
BATES	Edward
MACALLISTER	John
SCOTT	Samuel
GRAHAM	Lindsay
GILCHRIST	Lizzie
DOUBEK?	Sadie
SCOTT	Janet Muriel, Capt.
ROGERS	George William, Major
WALLACE	Walter O
CARMICHAEL	Maggie
SCOTT	Janet Muriel
LAWRENCE	Agnes (Mrs. A. J.)
IRWIN	Esther
SCOTT	Janet
GRAHAM	Peter
MCTAVISH	John Donald Charles
ROGERS	George William
CARMICHAEL	Margret
GILCHRIST	John
GILCHRIST	?
SCOTT	Hattie
IRWIN	Etta S.
CAMPBELL	Chas. G.
DRUMMOND	Lawrence Steele
BRIMACOMBE	Richard
IRWIN	Doris Genevieve
CARMICHAEL	J. A.
MCCALLUM	C.W.
MCNABB	Diana
CARMICHAEL	Lila
CARMICHAEL	Mary
MUIR	Mary
IRWIN	C.E.
CAMPBELL	H. S.
SMITH	Gregory Alan
MCNABB	Annie
ZURCHOW	Elsei Louise
IRWIN	Janet
BRIDE	Ronald Wayne
MCNABB	Colin
IRWIN	Geraldine Clarica
DRUMMOND	William Ernest
KINGDON	Leslie Gayle
IRWIN	Margaret (Margret)
CONKEY	Mary Ann
[IRWIN]	Minnie
CARMICHAEL	Dannie
GRAYSTON	Mary A
TRIPP	Margaret M
CARMICHAEL	Johnny
BROWN	F. R.
SCOTT	Mamie Stella
IRWIN	Maggie J.
IRWIN	William Howard
DRUMMOND	Donald A.
BRIDE	Sally Ann
GREEN	Robt L?
[IRWIN]	Willie James
IRWIN	John
PACE	Jean Bates
CONGDON	Margaret Isabelle
GILCHRIST	Lizzie
YOUNG	Maggie
YOUNG	Janet
BATES	Kenneth
IRWIN	Patricia Jean
MCLEAN	Maggie
IRWIN	William Howard
PARNELL	Robert
BROWN	Wm.
KAATZ	Wendy
BROWN	Edgar
MURCHISON	Christina
CARMICHAEL	Duncan
IRWIN	Nellie G.
GRAHAM	Duncan
GRAHAM	Jennie
IRWIN	Beverley Grace
MARK	John
IRWIN	Wm. M.
IRWIN	William James
MCDOUGALL	Flora
DRUMMOND	Allan Scott
MCTAVISH	Myrtle
HARPER	Mamie Stella
SCOTT	Samuel Bates
ASSELSTINE	Matthew W.
IRWIN	M.A.A.
DRUMMOND	A.S.
COUTTS	A.B.
GOWENLOCK	R.
IRWIN	Janet Grace
BURLINGTON	J.C. Mrs.
BROWN	Joseph F?
IRWIN	Willie H.
CONGDON	Robert Edward
PACE	PHILIP E.
MCTAVISH	Aileen
IRWIN	Frances M.
PACE	John L.
SCOTT	J. Walter
PATTISON	Eva
LAVERY	Mr. & Mrs.
ELLIS?	George
CAMPBELL	Nettie
IRWIN	Jacqueline Louise
BROWN	Eliza? Mrs.
ZURCHER	Edward Wallace
GREEN	Bella M.
CONGDON	William Lawrence
CONGDON	Sadie Hunter
CASSADY	Mrs. John
DRUMMOND	Lizzie
BROWN	Thos. A.
CONGDON	Ch
PATTISON	Elizabeth
MURCHISON	Mrs. Mary
WILSON	Maggie J.
BATES	Kenneth Scott
STEWART	Mary
PARNELL	Mary E.
SAUNDERSON	Wallace
CARMICHEAL	Daisy
BROWN	Minnie Ellie
OLIVER	Maud
MCINTOSH	Mrs. Tom
MURCHISON	James
CARMICHAEL	James
KINGDON	Margaret Ann
ROSE	Ethel
LAVERY	Agnes Mae
BRADLEY	Annie
KAATZ	Judith Vinetta
GILCHRIST	Duncan
GILCHRIST	James
CARMICHAEL	Donald
PATTISON	George Henry
ROSE	Kate
CONGDON	Freddie
PARKER	John J.
STORMS	W. P.
IRWIN	James
IRWIN	Mrs. Mary J.
GRAHAM	William
DRUMMOND	Janet Mary
DRUMMOND	Margaret Agnes
CARMICHAEL	Jessie
CASSADY	John
DRUMMOND	Alex
[IRWIN]	Maggie Annie Alexina
[IRWIN]	Baby
IRWIN	Mary Jane
IRWIN	William Charles
IRWIN	Robert Charles
MURCHISON	Annie
MCALLISTER	Ann Jane
IRWIN	Mary Jane
IRWIN	James
ZURCHER	John Donald Charles
MURCHISON	Neil
MURCHISON	William
IRWIN	Robert Brian
MURCHISON	Malcolm
SMITH	Dean Alexander
MARK	Maggie
MURCHISON	Christie
IRWIN	Clarence Campbell
IRWIN	Amy E
SCOTT	J. W.
SAUNDERSON	Sadie
BATES	Mary Lou
PARNELL	Hannah``
IRWIN	twins
IRWIN	James Jr.
LAVERY	Morris
ANDREW	Agnes
ZURCHER	Ronnie
ROSE	Rachel
WALKEY	Maude
IRWIN	Amy Estella
MCGREGOR	Lena
SCOTT	Annie P.
ZURCHER	Beatrice Bates
BATES	Marshall E.
BATES	Marshall
IRWIN	Maggie F?
MURCHISON	Ella
LAND	Emma
GRAHAM	Margaret
ROGERS	Diane
MCDOUGALL	Maggie
RICHES	Russell
MCTAVISH	Robert Edward Douglas
IRWIN	David
ROGERS	David Scott
CLULOW	Joseph
PACE	Donald Preston
GORDON	Samuel S.
IRWIN	Mrs. James Jr.
PACE	John Edward
GILCHRIST	Annie
CURRINS	J. D.
ROSE	Margaret Edith

NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS (loose - in front of book)
CRAIK	Mabel Henrietta
KENNEDY	Sarah	KENNEDY
COOPER	Eileen Honorah	WILLIAMSON?
SHEPPARD	William A.
BENNETT	Evangeline Bertha
CHANDLER	Mrs. Dorothy
IRWIN	Jacquline Louise
ALLEN	Randall
DONALDSON	Rev. David
MACCORKINDALE	Alice S.	GROSS?
MCDIARMID	Lotty	DOUGHTY
BENNETT	Catherine
DAVIS	Dorothy Marguerite
ORR	Ella Maude	GROPP?
STOCKDALE	Catherine Mae	GARRISON
MCGILL	Margaret Helen
STEWART	Muriel Scott	STEWART

For more about the 21 Day Family Connections Experiment, see my first Experiment article here.

Baby Advice - Day 13 - 21 Day Family Connections Experiment

Today is Day 13 of my 21 Day Family Connections Experiment with another look at some 'family treasures'.

I've been going through very old files in a filing cabinet, clearing out paperwork that's not needed now, as long as it's not interesting genealogically. Sometimes, as genealogists know, that's a hard call. 

This 6th Edition of Dr. Spock's Pocket Book of Baby and Child Care (6th Printing, December 1947) was on a bookshelf but when I came across baby advice folders in those files, I was reminded to pull it out too. As you can see, it was well-thumbed, first by my mother, and later by me. 

The advice sheets, and there were a bunch of them, as I remember, were given out to new mothers who attended 'Well Baby Clinics' in Greater Vancouver, and possibly distributed at doctors' offices and at classes for 'prospective mothers'. 

My mother gave them a stack of them so I'd be able to look after my dolls properly (and stay out of her hair). I do know that the dollies knew the rules instinctively. I remember my keeping to these schedules for their sleep, feeding and sun bathing, and don't remember any quibbles. 

Mum, my brother and me and my dolly, Bowen Island, 1950s. Mum seems to be pulling her hair out? I think she may be puzzling over how to fix a broken toy in her lap.

Many years later, she gave me "Dr Spock" too. By that time I had a very new baby and he had no idea about any rules! But I always thought the first page in the book was Dr Spock's best advice. And most of the book was very practical. (Although he rarely mentioned little girls.) I did read all the rest though. And if in doubt I could always ask mum :-)

"The Baby's Day - 5-6 months", Child Welfare Division, Metropolitan Health Committee, c. 1948. This Committee was organized in 1936 among the Greater Vancouver municipalities and school boards to more efficiently direct, organize and operate local health services under the control and supervision of a Senior Medical Health Officer. 

Dr. Spock's book, front and back covers, (1947 printing). First published May 1946 as The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care.

"Trust Yourself", page 3-4. His then often controversial advice. 

Pocket Book of Baby and Child Care by Benjamin Spock, M. D. (6th Printing, December 1947) 

For more about the 21 Day Family Connections Experiment, see my first Experiment article here.

REFERENCES

"Dr. Spock's Timeless Lessons" by Richard Gunderman, 6 September 2019, The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/dr-spocks-timeless-lessons-in-parenting-122377

Administration of the Greater Vancouver Metropolitan Health Services by Stewart Murray [Senior Medical Health Officer, Metropolitan Health Committee], Canadian Journal of Public Health / Revue Canadienne de Santé Publique, Vol. 43, No. 5 (MAY 1952), pp. 202-208.

Through the years with public health nursing: a history of public health nursing in the provincial government...British Columbia. by Monica M. Green, The Canadian Public Health Association, 1984. UBC Open Collections: https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/historyofnursinginpacificcanada/nursing/items/1.0211729#p3z-5r0f: 

Saggers Family Collection - Day 12 - 21 Day Family Connections Experiment

Today is Day 12 of my 21 Day Family Connections Experiment.

Since I mentioned my Stray Postcard and Photograph Collection yesterday, I thought I might say something about my Saggers Family Collection - and my Saggers Surname Study.

Sarah Frances Saggers was my paternal grandmother. I always knew a little about her family who had all come here to Vancouver from England. I think she coached my dad so he'd remember a few things! 

As far as my Saggers Family Collection goes, it's very small. I've written already about a few of Grandma Sarah's books that I have,  And in the 'Rogers' box dad gave me were some papers relating to her father's estate which Grandpa Joe Rogers (Sarah's husband) helped with. Inside the box was Grandma's photo album, and some loose photos. As well there were school photos and a few papers about my dad and his brother, David. 

Photographs above I believe were taken at Burton End, Stansted, Essex. The ones below say "Dad's Old Home", Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire, England.

Last year, I rescanned the photo album and all of the photos in it. Many are of Saggers relations here in Vancouver. A few must have been sent from England, like the ones above which apparently show the family's last home at Burton End. And my Great Grandpa David Saggers 'old home' in Bassingbourn in Cambridgeshire.  

At some points, Grandma organized most of the photographs onto pages. Many photos are glued down; some are held in with photo corners. On some pages she wrote a descriptive heading. Not always. And it does not appear she kept any of the letters I believe she received from England which may have explained some of the photos. Nor did she note any of her family members, except for one school photo. And a few people might be relatives from Grandpa's side of the family? (Rogers/White)

Unidentified; but I can see Grandpa Rogers there, and Grandma in the front row, I think. Possibly taken in Stanley Park in Vancouver, BC. 

If anyone looks familiar, please do contact me. Last year, I put all these photos in a virtual album and I sent links to some relatives. If you'd like to see them too, let me know. 

I hope that all these stay in the family, but all the information on my Saggers families also is in my Saggers One-Name Study, along with data on all the other Saggers families I've researched up till now around the world. All this surname study information, I hope, will have another 'custodian' someday soon. But in any case, it will be preserved by the Guild of One-Name Studies as I am a member. The Saggers Surname Study is part of the Guild's Member Website Project, currently 300 strong! A photo of Grandma Sarah appeared in the latest Guild newsletter in an article about Guild members blogging and mentioned her Christmas cake recipe. 

For more about the 21 Day Family Connections Experiment, see my first Experiment article here.

Sunday Strays - DIXON, Sintaluta, Saskatchewan; BURDON, Corvallis, Oregon, 1910 - Day 11 - 21 Day Family Connections Experiment

Today is Day 11 of my 21 Day Family Connections Experiment.

These Sunday Strays are from my postcard collection - and not (as far as I know) related to my families. 

Names & places:  DIXON, Sintaluta, Saskatchewan, Canada; BURDON, Corvallis, Oregon, USA.

Two handsome fellows, one is the sender, I think. There is faint writing beside the photo, but I think it may have been transferred from another card or document, perhaps while stored in someone's album.  I was interested to see the cut edge of another photograph on this postcard; perhaps there is another very similar postcard in another collection? 

Sent to Miss Mary Dixon, Sintaluta, Saskatchewan, Canada. Postmarked Mar 6, 1910, Corvallis, Oregon, USA.

The message reads: Dear Mary  

I am getting along all right. Hoping you are all well. Write soon to

J J [?] c/o Mr Tom Burdon Corvallis Oregon RFD Rout 4

Mary Dixon may have been the daughter of William and Minnie Dixon. If so, it appears she was born in 1893 in Canada and later married Otto Carl Jansen.

I see a Thomas G Burdon (born in Canada, 1890) listed in the 1910 US census as living in Oregon with his mother, Susana, and a sister, Minnie.

If you know these people, please contact me.

While this postcard is not associated with my own families, it is in  my 'Stray collections'.  And every collector needs to have a plan and a conversation with their heirs about the disposition of these, if necessary.

So far, my plan is to have the Strays donated to the Vancouver Postcard Club. By scanning them and putting the details I have on the web, I hope to share them with appropriate families long before we need to worry about this. But this may spark a family discussion! 

For more about the 21 Day Family Connections Experiment, see my first Experiment article here.