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Quarantine Tuesday Reading Kaffeeklatsch: 2/9/21
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Big news for me is I attended my first DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) meeting since my long lost bio brother passed near the beginning of 2019. Since there is so much about genealogy tied up in DAR meetings and that is how I found out about him, the two have been tied together for me. I'm glad that I attended.
And I've started getting into genealogy again. Through a DAR and Amazon friend, I found out that you can get a Pioneer certificate for some of the states and I found out that I am not the first member of my family to move across the US to WA state! Turns out my 3rd great-grandmother moved here in before 1889 when she was a widow!! She must be where I get my adventurous and independent spirit from!!
And I joined you guys for Zoom for the first time in a while and enjoyed it thoroughly!!
Then my Bucs won!! It's been a great year for Tampa Bay sports!! Made it to the World Series, won the Stanley Cup and now Super Bowl!!

I have found one online at a local store that is not ugly at all but it is 88" and I would have to lose a bookcase to fit it in, which will NEVER happen in this house, it also is truly too long for me...I am only 5'2" and live alone. And no I can't just move the bookcase to a new location because there is no new location to be found. Most of my wall space is already covered with book cases.
I have a lot of books.
The one my friends had from Flexisteel is not terribly ugly either, but no store here carries it. I have the specs on it so possibly one of the stores can special order it.
@Charlotte - quality of materials makes a huge difference.
Geneology is fascinating. So is the DAR. I have been to the DAR headquarters in DC because they have a museum which does interesting exhibits, often revolving around needlework. There are also these period rooms you can tour, decorated by different states, and to tour them you end up wandering through the huge headquarters building. The hallways are lined with portraits of past presidents and members of DAR....almost exclusively white women. I forget who the sole black American woman whose portrait I saw ... someone prominant in 20th Century. One of these days I need to do some reasearch on the DAR itself.
My family only dates from 1830s (Irish) and 1850s (Germans). We are newbies. Or is that upstarts?

The ladies in my chapter do a lot with needlework and quilting. They are quite amazing. One day I think it would be interesting to go to the National convention.
A while ago I was a member of UDC and we had a Black member which I thought was amazing.
Almost every line of my family has been here since almost the beginning. Most of my ancestors arrived in the mid-1600s. I've done a lot of research on my lines and have been working on getting the various clubs and certificates now. I did UDC first and then through the same line did DAR.

My husband did some genealogy a while ago. On my mother's side I am related to the Ochs family who founded the New York Times, and to another member of that family who put up the original money for it. That relative left a memoir and he was a bit of a 19th century Forrest Gump, meeting multiple presidents, the German Kaiser, etc. On my husband's side, his great-grandparents were society people back in England/Wales, with their weddings and funerals written up in the newspapers and a stained glass window dedicated to his great-grandmother, which is still in place in a church in Cardiff.

I agree... I'm so fascinated by Genealogy and I'm so happy to be able to feel like I can start digging back into it. I think I'm going to try to knock out some Pioneer certificates this year, although I'm struggling with finding balance since it takes away from my reading time.

I am pretty sure the black portrait I saw at DAR was Marion Anderson. Now I am very curious.

Looks like fences were mended after 1939.
I had a client who was a member of DAR during her life, and she left a financial bequest to them in her will for which I was the administrator. I remember the formal thank you from DAR personally addressed I received.

Looks like fences were mended after 1939.
I had a client who was a member of DAR during her life, and she left a financial bequest..."
Interesting.

@Charlotte-fascinating history! I started my family genealogy years ago and never finished, I need to get on that. I watch Finding Your Roots, on PBS, all the time. There was an episode a few weeks ago when someone's history, through a single mother grandmother, also lead to Washington state! The theory was that women were migrating there in the late 1880's because they were being offered jobs that men normally would get.

Women still needed marriage for security if not social expectation. Legitimate work oportunities and ability to own property were still mostly unavailable.



I bet that had something to do with it! Original family researchers assumed she lived out her days in Georgia and was buried near her husband even though they didn't find a headstone. I love that I've found that's not the case. And I bet it was because she had more opportunity. The 1880 census has her and her 3 daughters running a farm in GA and she's 67! Then off she goes to the PNW with a couple of by great uncles to live out her years.
@ Theresa - I doubt she moved to the PNW for the whole husband thing... she was in her 70s by the time that she got here. :)
I have seen the spinster thing (I hate that word) happen a few times in my family tree with various great aunts. Although a couple were in the FL State Hospital and well... that's a whole other sad story of what they subjected women to in the past.
@Nikki - That's awesome! Although I'm quite a bit younger than her and fancy myself way more like Loralei which is why it took me so long to join because I pictured the same thing!
@Amy - The bit of research that I've done on my husband's line I wonder if he comes from similar. I know they arrived in the early 1900s from Czech and I think our last name of Shimko was originally Schimko or Schimkova. Also the research I've done is that they were Jewish although his family is not now. There hasn't been much said about his family history and I have to say it is so much easier and there is so much more to research about mine, that I haven't taken the time to dig into his as much.

Books mentioned in this topic
Defining Moments in Black History: Reading Between the Lies (other topics)Defining Moments in Black History: Reading Between the Lies (other topics)
Authors mentioned in this topic
Dick Gregory (other topics)Dick Gregory (other topics)
Here in the states we have a holiday 3 day weekend coming up called Presidents Day which honors Lincoln and Washington. In reality it is a great time to score some big purchases during the President Day Sales. I need a new sofa and this can't be put off any longer. The center section of springs in my current sofa collapsed. I kid you not. I did know that was going to happen, yet just kept putting off shopping for new sofa.
I am a huge procrastinator when it comes to shopping because unless it is for books, needlework supplies, or cute gift shops when on vacay in different places, I hate shopping.
I'm inclined to get a recliner sofa, pun intended. One of those power models with maximum adjustments. Ugly as sin but friends had a Flexisteel model in their condo when I stayed there a couple years ago and it was fabulous. As my friends said, they got past the ugly easy and went with total comfort.
Besides finding affordable furniture stores in Manhattan that are open and carry quality not dreck (I once bought a sofa at Classic Sofa - best I ever owned, lasted a long time, but even with decorator discount, cost a fortune), size is an issue. I need a slightly shorter sofa (80" max) to fit in the space between bookcases, also fit in the elevator, and fit through the apartment door. A loveseat is just a tad too short.
I also have to find and pay someone to haul out the old sofa to the curb, and check NYC trash rules on curbside pickup. So dang complicated.
*SIGH*
Wish me luck. Think I will close office early Friday and get the shopping over with.
Yes, I know how happy I will be with a new sofa when it gets here. I just loathe the process.