White? Black? A Murky Distinction Grows Still Murkier

Here is an article by Carl Zimmer at the New York Times. I found it here. I have been reading the book called One Drop by Bliss Broyard about her Creole father and I have been thinking about race and ethnicity. It is very interesting to reflect and to think about the shit we have created because of racism. I also happened to have listened to a podcast on The American Life - called Family Physics - about what we see based on expectations.

The "Pocahontas Exception" made me laugh out loud. It's interesting to note that Ms. Broyard mentioned a similar concept in New Orleans - as 'prominent' families in New Orleans also frequently had blended racial families and some members choosing to live in a variety of different cultures based on how they are perceived by the 'powers that be'.

In 1924, the State of Virginia attempted to define what it means to be white.

The state’s Racial Integrity Act, which barred marriages between whites and people of other races, defined whites as people “whose blood is entirely white, having no known, demonstrable or ascertainable admixture of the blood of another race.”

There was just one problem. As originally written, the law would have classified many of Virginia’s most prominent families as not white, because they claimed to be descended from Pocahontas.

So the Virginia legislature revised the act, establishing what came to be known as the “Pocahontas exception.” Virginians could be up to one-sixteenth Native American and still be white in the eyes of the law.

People who were one-sixteenth black, on the other hand, were still black.

In the United States, there is a long tradition of trying to draw sharp lines between ethnic groups, but our ancestry is a fluid and complex matter. In recent years geneticists have been uncovering new evidence about our shared heritage, and last week a team of scientists published the biggest genetic profile of the United States to date, based on a study of 160,000 people.

The percentage of self-identified European Americans who have one percent or more of African ancestry. Credit 23andMe

The researchers were able to trace variations in our genetic makeup from state to state, creating for the first time a sort of ancestry map.

“We use these terms — white, black, Indian, Latino — and they don’t really mean what we think they mean,” said Claudio Saunt, a historian at the University of Georgia who was not involved in the study.

The data for the new study were collected by 23andMe, the consumer DNA-testing company. When customers have their genes analyzed, the company asks them if they’d like to make their results available for study by staff scientists.

Over time the company has built a database that not only includes DNA, but also such details as a participant’s birthplace and the ethnic group with which he or she identifies. (23andMe strips the data of any information that might breach the privacy of participants.)

The scientists also have been developing software that learns to recognize the origins of the short segments of DNA that make up our genomes. Recently they used their program to calculate what percentage of each subject’s genomes was inherited from European, African or Native American forebears.

“This year we saw that we were in a great position to do the analysis,” said Joanna L. Mountain, senior director of research at 23andMe.

On average, the scientists found, people who identified as African-American had genes that were only 73.2 percent African. European genes accounted for 24 percent of their DNA, while .8 percent came from Native Americans.

Latinos, on the other hand, had genes that were on average 65.1 percent European, 18 percent Native American, and 6.2 percent African. The researchers found that European-Americans had genomes that were on average 98.6 percent European, .19 percent African, and .18 Native American.

These broad estimates masked wide variation among individuals. Based on their sample, the resarchers estimated that over six million European-Americans have some African ancestry. As many as five million have genomes that are at least 1 percent Native American in origin. One in five African-Americans, too, has Native American roots.

Dr. Mountain and her colleagues also looked at how ancestry might influence ethnic identification.

Most Americans with less than 28 percent African-American ancestry say they are white, the researchers found. Above that threshold, people tended to describe themselves as African-American.

Katarzyna Bryc, a 23andMe researcher and co-author of the new study, didn’t want to speculate about why people’s sense of ethnic identity pivots at that point.

The mean proportion of African ancestry for African-Americans across the United States. African-Americans in Georgia and South Carolina have the highest average percentage of African ancestry among African-Americans in the United States. Credit 23andMe

“We can only take it so far as geneticists,” she said.

The scientists also linked geographical patterns to their subjects’ ancestries. Latinos in the Southwest had high levels of Native American DNA, they found, while Latinos in the Southeast had high levels of African DNA.

The genes of African-Americans varied strikingly from state to state. In Oklahoma, the researchers estimated, 14 percent of African-Americans have genomes that are at least 2 percent Native American. This high percentage is probably due to the unique history of the state.

Some Native American tribes in the South, such as the Cherokee and Choctaw, kept African slaves. When they were expelled to Oklahoma in the 1830s, they brought the slaves with them. In some tribes, Native Americans and African slaves intermarried, and their descendants continue to live in Oklahoma today.

Dr. Saunt was fascinated in particular by the genetic findings among people in South Carolina. Dr. Mountain and her colleagues estimated that 13.3 percent of European-Americans in South Carolina have genes that are at least 1 percent African in origin.

But the researchers also found that African-Americans in South Carolina have among the lowest percentages of European DNA of any African-American population in the United States.

At one point, Dr. Saunt noted, the percentage of South Carolina residents who were slaves was greater than in any other state. But there was also a large population of freed slaves in Charleston permitted to interact with whites.

“We know lots of planters had mistresses in Charleston, and they obviously had children together,” said Dr. Saunt. “So what happened to those children? Some remained in the African-American community, and some moved into the white community when they were able to.”

Jeffrey C. Long, an anthropologist at the University of New Mexico who was not involved in the study, cautioned that the research was not based on a random sample of Americans. Instead, Dr. Mountain and her colleagues studied only people who were curious enough about their DNA to pay for a test.

“Perhaps people who have mixed ancestry are more interested in their ancestry than people who don’t think they have mixed ancestry,” Dr. Long said.

David Reich, a geneticist at Harvard University and a co-author on the new study, acknowledged this was a reasonable concern. “It’s classic survey bias,” he said. But Dr. Reich also noted that the new results were consistent with smaller studies done in the past.

As genetic databases grow, Dr. Reich predicted it would be possible to get even more detailed insights into American history. DNA may be able to illuminate the movements of people across the United States, such as the Great Migration that took African-Americans from the South to Chicago.

“We’re in striking distance of that now,” Dr. Reich said.

Correction: December 24, 2014
An earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to South Carolina’s slave population. At one point, the percentage of residents of the state who were slaves was greater than in any other state; it is not the case that South Carolina had more slaves than any other state.

A version of this article appears in print on December 26, 2014, on page A20 of the New York edition with the headline: Racial Boundaries Grow Fuzzy as Ancestry Map Emerges From Study

The Cock of Verdun

Cock of Verdun

I found the insignia at the National Archives in College Park, MD. Apparently a few ideas were considered:

We have already met Herb Blake on a previous permission.

If Herb walks, we have a couple routes:



I once worked in Saint Dizier when I was working on an internship - one can see the town to the west on the map. A manufacturing town with some fine dining near by... but this was back in the 90's.

January 30, 1919

Dearest Mother + all,

The greater part of the Division left today en route for Colmar Alsace, not far from the Rhine. It included all the troops but one regiment and all the horse drawn vehicles, all of which go by train. The motor vehicles, including the Section, start by road February 4th. It will be a two days trip by road, I think and probably very interesting. It will be a cold trip, of course, because the weather is quite brisk lately, but we all have lots of clothes + blankets to wrap up in. at any rate, I should be willing to walk if necessary for the sake of getting out of the Grand Duchy.

I had a very nice letter from Aunt Birdella a few days ago in reply to one I wrote back in December I think.

Tom wrote me from Syracuse and posted me on all available news about the boys I used to know. Of course they were practically all in the Service, are yet, I suppose and we’re all out of touch. I’d like especially to know where Kimber and Morris are (they were with me at 193 Sterling Place, you know) and Steve Lee who was working in the City before he went to Plattsburgh.

Your letters of January 6th and 10th came together three days ago. Also two bundles of papers, which I was very glad to get.

I can’t understand why you always get my mail in batches. I don’t write my letters on that system. But then there are plenty of incomprehensible things about the army.

For the next week at least we shan’t get any mail. The mail follows the Division Headquarters and since for a week or so we shan’t be in touch with HQ we’ll just be out of luck. All sorts of little things seem like calamities since the Armistice.

I haven’t heard from either Mr. Friedman or from Charlie in several weeks. I imagine they’re both very busy.

I heard a rumor about Herb Blake’s being married some time ago though I don’t know just where. Evidently it’s true.

It looks as if I would have a chance to go on a permission again before coming home. I’m not crazy about the idea but if the opportunity offers I shall take it. It will break the monotony for two or three weeks.

I put on my second service stripe this week, with a sincere hope that it may be the last. Two are quite enough.

The Ambulance Service has at last been recognized as being something different from the Medical Department. The insignia adopted is a white “Cock of Verdun” on a circular maroon background to be worn on the left sleeve at the shoulder somewhat as the various divisional insignia. It’s only fair to distinguish the USAAS from the hospital attendants. What with service stripes, chevrons and all my sleeves will be nearly full.

With best to all
Your affectionate son,
Herb

200th Anniversary of the Year Without a Summer: How did you ancestors survive endless winter?

A cousin kindly sent me this article (which can be found here, from a blog called Findmypast.) I have a document, found amongst my great aunt papers, dated from 1815 from the Hebron, NY area. Didn't Joseph Smith come from around there? There is a man's name on the document, but I am afraid I do not recognize it as a member of my family.... So, the oldest document I have in my possession is a total mystery to me.

I will have to start thinking about this in the context of my family...


Historical anniversaries give us a chance to look back on some of the remarkable events in history and reflect on their impact today.

They're intriguing when thinking about our own family history and the world our ancestors lived in. Oftentimes we can determine motivations for their footsteps that we've so carefully traced through time.

1816: A global climate catastrophe

200 years ago, our ancestors experienced what historians call "the last great subsistence crisis in the Western world" - food in both America and Europe became scarce, resulting in widespread famine and economic crises in many areas.

Agriculture struggled because the normally stable summer temperatures of New England, Central Canada and Western Europe were highly abnormal in 1816. Overall, global temperatures fell significantly and the aforementioned areas experienced frost, snow and cold temperatures during the prime crop-growing months of the years.

The world was already in a long period of global cooling since the 1300's, known by climate historians as "The Little Ice Age." This larger period in history was already causing agricultural trouble for humans and in 1816 the issues were exacerbated to an extreme degree.

Mysterious red fog plagues America

In the spring and summer of 1816, many throughout the eastern United States observed a strange "dry fog" that persistently hung around. The fog dimmed sunlight and bathed everything in a strangely red light - it wasn't moist, and couldn't be dispersed by rainfall or wind.

All throughout New England, temperatures dropped below freezing in May, June, July and August. The grounds froze and the fields were as barren as they were in winter. Towns located at high elevations - where farming was difficult even in good conditions - suffered the most.

Corn was hardly worth harvesting, and many wheat crops were devastated, making bread-products very scarce. This resulted in sky-high prices for food and many from the lower classes risked starvation. For instance, a bushel of oats cost the equivalent of $1.55 today in 1815 but increased to the equivalent of $12.83 today in 1816. That's an increase of over 700%!

While the western United States did not suffer, transporting food at this point was very difficult - the country had yet to be linked together by reliable rail transport, forcing most communities to rely on local production for food supplies.

How Joseph Smith and your ancestors were affected

The struggles in New England caused a mass emigration from the area and greatly sped up Westward expansion in the United States. If your family migrated west around this time, it's very possible that they moved due to these agricultural struggles or food shortages.

Western New York and the Northwest Territory (now the Great Lakes region) were very popular destinations for families with ruined land. An estimated 10,000 to 15,000 people emigrated from Vermont, including the family of a young Joseph Smith.

The Smith family moved to Palmyra, New York, to join other members of their family. It was here that Smith began his path to founding the Latter Day Saint church - in a strange way, this climate disaster played an indirect role in initiating Joseph's journey.

Beautiful sunsets and Frankenstein: Cultural positives

Interestingly, in the same way high levels of air-born pollution today can produce some marvelous sunsets, the mysterious dry fog that covered the land did the same thing. English landscape artist J.M.W. Turner likely drew inspiration for some of his work from the sunsets of this year and elevated landscape painting to prominence through his brilliant paintings, paving the way for Americans like Thomas Cole and the Hudson River School.

The amazing sunsets and sunrises of 1816 likely inspired some of Turners most famous paintings, like this one:

J.M.W. TURNER, THE 'FIGHTING TEMERAIRE' TUGGED TO HER LAST BERTH TO BE BROKEN UP 1838-39

Elsewhere in Europe, the dreadful weather resulted in the creation of an iconic literary monster. Mary Shelley and her future husband Percy Brysshe Shelley were visiting Lord Byron in Switzerland in the summer of 1816, and the constant rain and cold precipitated a chain of events that led to Shelley writing an initial draft of Frankenstein.

What caused the climate change

Climate historians and climatologists hypothesize that this change was brought on by a massive volcanic eruption in 1815 in the Dutch East Indies (modern day Indonesia). The 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora was the biggest the world had seen for 1,300 years and resulted in between 70,000 and 100,000 deaths in the South Pacific due to the immediate effects.

This enormous eruption brought on a volcanic winter (a reduction in global temperatures due to volcanic ash and sulfuric acid in the atmosphere obscuring sunlight) that resulted in the disaster of 1816. In addition, global weather patterns were affected, ushering in wildly different seasonal temperatures:

In tracing your family's journey through time, don't overlook major events like the Year Without a Summer when constructing their story. Understanding this climate phenomenon may give you some explanation for the migration of your ancestors.

The Health Benefits of Knitting

My mother told me she used to knit, as many of her fellow students did, during college lectures back in the 50s.

I have been struggling feeling good about taking the time to knit... though I want to. I just feel as though I should be doing something else, something 'productive'. Now I can use this article to justify my time with the needles.

Happily, too, my mother is very excited about digital photography, so I see that she will continue to benefit from the focus required by both crafts and digital photography.

I took this from the New York Times.

About 15 years ago, I was invited to join a knitting group. My reluctant response — “When would I do that?” — was rejoined with “Monday afternoons at 4,” at a friend’s home not three minutes’ walk from my own. I agreed to give it a try.

My mother had taught me to knit at 15, and I knitted in class throughout college and for a few years thereafter. Then decades passed without my touching a knitting needle. But within two Mondays in the group, I was hooked, not only on knitting but also on crocheting, and I was on my way to becoming a highly productive crafter.

I’ve made countless afghans, baby blankets, sweaters, vests, shawls, scarves, hats, mittens, caps for newborns and two bedspreads. I take a yarn project with me everywhere, especially when I have to sit still and listen. As I’d discovered in college, when my hands are busy, my mind stays focused on the here and now.

It seems, too, that I’m part of a national resurgence of interest in needle and other handicrafts, and not just among old grannies like me. The Craft Yarn Council reports that a third of women ages 25 to 35 now knit or crochet. Even men and schoolchildren are swelling the ranks, among them my friend’s three grandsons, ages 6, 7 and 9.

Last April, the council created a “Stitch Away Stress” campaign in honor of National Stress Awareness Month. Dr. Herbert Benson, a pioneer in mind/body medicine and author of “The Relaxation Response,” says that the repetitive action of needlework can induce a relaxed state like that associated with meditation and yoga. Once you get beyond the initial learning curve, knitting and crocheting can lower heart rate and blood pressure and reduce harmful blood levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

But unlike meditation, craft activities result in tangible and often useful products that can enhance self-esteem. I keep photos of my singular accomplishments on my cellphone to boost my spirits when needed.

Since the 1990s, the council has surveyed hundreds of thousands of knitters and crocheters, who routinely list stress relief and creative fulfillment as the activities’ main benefits. Among them is the father of a prematurely born daughter who reported that during the baby’s five weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit, “learning how to knit preemie hats gave me a sense of purpose during a time that I felt very helpless. It’s a hobby that I’ve stuck with, and it continues to help me cope with stress at work, provide a sense of order in hectic days, and allows my brain time to solve problems.”

A recent email from the yarn company Red Heart titled “Health Benefits of Crocheting and Knitting” prompted me to explore what else might be known about the health value of activities like knitting. My research revealed that the rewards go well beyond replacing stress and anxiety with the satisfaction of creation.

For example, Karen Zila Hayes, a life coach in Toronto, conducts knitting therapy programs, including Knit to Quit to help smokers give up the habit, and Knit to Heal for people coping with health crises, like a cancer diagnosis or serious illness of a family member. Schools and prisons with craft programs report that they have a calming effect and enhance social skills. And having to follow instructions on complex craft projects can improve children’s math skills.

Some people find that craftwork helps them control their weight. Just as it is challenging to smoke while knitting, when hands are holding needles and hooks, there’s less snacking and mindless eating out of boredom.

I’ve found that my handiwork with yarn has helped my arthritic fingers remain more dexterous as I age. A woman encouraged to try knitting and crocheting after developing an autoimmune disease that caused a lot of hand pain reported on the Craft Yarn Council site that her hands are now less stiff and painful.

A 2009 University of British Columbia study of 38 women with the eating disorder anorexia nervosa who were taught to knit found that learning the craft led to significant improvements. Seventy-four percent of the women said the activity lessened their fears and kept them from ruminating about their problem.

Betsan Corkhill, a wellness coach in Bath, England, and author of the book “Knit for Health & Wellness,” established a website, Stitchlinks, to explore the value of what she calls therapeutic knitting. Among her respondents, 54 percent of those who were clinically depressed said that knitting made them feel happy or very happy. In a study of 60 self-selected people with chronic pain, Ms. Corkhill and colleagues reported that knitting enabled them to redirect their focus, reducing their awareness of pain. She suggested that the brain can process just so much at once, and that activities like knitting and crocheting make it harder for the brain to register pain signals. More of Stitchlinks findings are available at their website.

Perhaps most exciting is research that suggests that crafts like knitting and crocheting may help to stave off a decline in brain function with age. In a 2011 study, researchers led by Dr. Yonas E. Geda, a psychiatrist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., interviewed a random sample of 1,321 people ages 70 to 89, most of whom were cognitively normal, about the cognitive activities they engaged in late in life. The study, published in the Journal of Neuropsychiatry & Clinical Neurosciences, found that those who engaged in crafts like knitting and crocheting had a diminished chance of developing mild cognitive impairment and memory loss.

Although it is possible that only people who are cognitively healthy would pursue such activities, those who read newspapers or magazines or played music did not show similar benefits. The researchers speculate that craft activities promote the development of neural pathways in the brain that help to maintain cognitive health.

In support of that suggestion, a 2014 study by Denise C. Park of the University of Texas at Dallas and colleagues demonstrated that learning to quilt or do digital photography enhanced memory function in older adults. Those who engaged in activities that were not intellectually challenging, either in a social group or alone, did not show such improvements.

Given that sustained social contacts have been shown to support health and longevity, those wishing to maximize the health value of crafts might consider joining a group of like-minded folks. I for one try not to miss a single weekly meeting of my knitting group.

Ice cream in Luxembourg City

What do you suppose makes Herb say "Dearest Mother of Mine" now? Cute.

This is what I could find of the city of Luxembourg with what I hope is the bridge Herb mentions:

Photo taken from here

26 January 1919

Dearest Mother of Mine,

I wish I could tell you that I’m coming home very soon but I can’t do that until I know something definite. I’ve heard on pretty good authority that the first of the Ambulance Sections are to start back next month and regularly every month thereafter. However the first step in that direction is to be relieved from duty with a Division and that has not yet come about.

I had expected that we’d be moving back into France about this time but the move has been postponed until after the first. I’m not sure yet just where we are going but it will doubtless be some place in Alsace. I shall certainly be glad to get back into France. Yesterday completed two months for us in Luxembourg and I never want another two months like it.

On Friday I went in to the city of Luxembourg on business and spent a few hours in the city. It’s really a rather nice place. There are two parts to the town – the old and the new separated by a wide deep ravine with a little river at the bottom. The sides of the ravine are laid out into streets and parks with winding roads and all terraced. The two banks are spanned by a great stone bridge, from which one has a very pretty view of this quaint little valley. The town is very clean looking with pretty good streets and the public buildings are quite fine. Although it is the capital of the country the town isn’t much more than 30,000 or 40,000 I don’t believe. It is, of course, full of military police, but fortunately I had a pass. I saw a sign in a window “Ice Cream” so I went in and had some in spite of the fact that it was a cold day. That was the first I had seen since I was on permission.

The weather has been rather colder lately and today it is snowing. There hasn’t been quite so much rain and that is a comfort.

I’ve been trying to remember what I can of the girl to whom Tom is engaged. It isn’t much. Her name is, I think, Coleman and I think she is Catholic though I’m not at all sure of it. She comes from a very nice family quite well known in the town, I believe. As for herself she’s fair skinned + dark haired + very pretty – very nice manners. I really don’t know her at all though I’ve met her several times.

Before I come back I want to get some little presents for Marnie and Olive to bring with me, especially as I couldn’t get them anything for Christmas. I wish you’d suggest some things that you think they might like. Can’t you?

Your affectionate son,
Herb

1919 - January List of Sections

And now you know why I always knew where Herb was. I found this at the National Archives.

Clara Lazzaretti and Alexandre Bienvenue

I spent much of the day at the notarial archives in NOLA researching some properties. Mostly I was overwhelmed, but I learned a few things and met some very nice people - including stunningly beautiful Tabitha who is headed off to graduate school in conservation soon, she hopes. I met Erin and Natalie, too, who helped me understand a bit about how to go about getting information, and Leslie (or Melissa?) who spent a lot of time with me educating me about the work that some Tulane students did entering the buildings of French Quarter into a wonderful database. The property I was researching, unfortunately lies directly across North Rampart, so it was not included in their wonderful database.

I did, however, find these maps:



This map seems to show the division of Mr. Treme's property into lots. It appears to me that this map was created by Jacques Tanesse on June 13, 1810. Mr. Treme seems to have owned the house and orchard in the upper right hand area. I took this map from here.

I also found this funny map. The reason it interested me and I saved it because it mentions the name Alexandre Bienvenue, who is Clara Lazzaretti's brother-in-law and the person from whom she buys a property on North Rampart designated as No. 25.

I finally have this last image which I love. I assume it is not the Lazzaretti-Bienvenu house, but I wanted to share the image. I bought it today at the Notarial Archives. These are the wonderful watercolors made as advertisements when the property was sold by the sheriff. I paid $1.00 for this black and white image, but one can buy a very large mounted color poster for $350 which is lovely.

One can see the facade of the house and the floor plan - which has a second building in the back, and perhaps an outhouse in the very back? This property was put up for sale in April 1845. I was trying to find it on Google maps, but I believe it is gone. How sad. This is what I found in the approximate location:

Bored out of his mind.... But thinking about home

Here is Nagem, Luxembourg. The town looks very pretty, but I can certainly see why it would not appeal to a 21 year old soldier. Nothing doing but those milk cows!

Photo taken from here

Olive was born in December 1904, so she would have been fourteen in 1918... right?

Olive - though date unknown

So, who is Aunt Anna? I have no idea.... is Aunt an honorary title, like for Aunt Berdella?

January 7, 1919

Dearest Mother,

Your letter of December 8th came to-day. That will give you a pretty true idea of the mail service these days. It is really worse now than it has ever been.

I had been thinking of Olive’s birthday – and Dad’s – and wondering whether Olive would be fourteen or fifteen. To save me I couldn’t decide which was right. I was quite sure she would be fourteen until I took another look at the pictures you sent me and then I decided that fifteen would be nearer the truth. I expect that I’ll scarcely know her when I get back.

There is still no news about demobilization. We haven’t moved so far from Nagem, Luxembourg though there is a rumor around that we are to go back into France with the Division. I put no faith in rumors anymore.

All chances of seeing Mr. Rankin’s friend in Paris are over. Several extra companies of Mr. P’s have been assigned there and it is as much of your life is worth to set foot there without special authority. Since one can’t get the special authority, chances are pretty slim. One man in the section went there on permission to stay with his brother who is connected with the Red Cross. He was picked up as his leave ended and given ten days with a prisoner’s working squad near Paris while his case was being investigated. He got back here finally but has no more desire to visit Paris. So I think the day I had in Paris on my way back from permission will have to suffice me.

This last week I have had a card from Mrs. Nial + one from Aunt Anna and a letter from Nellie Graham. Also one package of 4th class. Printed rather used to come in pretty well but now when we need it so badly it’s even more irregular than the first class matter. Still, it does come eventually and is very, very welcome when it arrives. Time hangs pretty heavy on everyone’s hands around here, though the natives appear to be used to it. Where they get the ambition to stick it year in and year out I don’t know. I suppose the habit grows on them.

I’m in my usual good health – not even a cold to complain of. The weather continues bad – very bad. There has been just one halfway decent day since Thanksgiving. And there isn’t another blessed thing to write about.

Best love to you all
Your affectionate son,
Herb

A Missing Link (The NOLA Olivers)

Thru DNA connections I have two people who do not necessarily know one another, but they have the same ancestor in their trees. I haven't been able to communicate in a meaningful way with either cousin about their trees, so I don't know how much information/people in the trees is first hand knowledge of people they actually know.

Ancestry indicates that they are both 4th - 6th cousins, which means at a minimum a 3rd great grandparent is our connection.

The surname I find in both, well, all three trees actually, because of mine, is Oliver. I have a second great grandmother named Oliver. I do know, though, that she came from Ireland in the mid-1800s. And that is about all I know. I know some of her descendants, of course. :)

I have another DNA connected person (different branch, but I know where she fits) who I know has put some wrong information in her tree. I have told her about the error, but she has not made the change. So, with that tidbit, I know to approach other people's public trees with caution.

I am trying to piece this man's life together and see if I can get further back. I have found his parents - lucky for me - but I still haven't jumped over the pond to Ireland.

And I can't get further back. Also, is his mother Ella or Ellen? A search in the Orleans Parish Marriage records comes up with nothing for a William and Ella/Ellen. (That doesn't mean anything, of course...) But I haven't been able to find anything about them. I suppose I might conclude that they - William and Ella - do not live in New Orleans. Why would I think they do? Perhaps Joseph Mack Oliver moved to New Orleans from elsewhere and then settled and married here. Maybe he is the first of my branch of Olivers to live in NOLA.

WAIT! As I write this I remember that one census indicated that Joseph Mack Oliver was born in Texas. If that were true - all other census indicate that he was born in Louisiana - then perhaps William and Ella/Ellen are in Texas and I am searching entirely in the wrong state. Though it does appear that William was a witness to the wedding, which would bring him back to NOLA. Though he might have traveled for the joyous occasion.

But, we also have an obituary which indicates that Joseph Mack Oliver had a sister and half brother... a sister he calls Lita and a half brother he calls Peter Tatum. We see Peter in some of the census documents living with Joseph or his children. I guess I need to get back to writing that life story and see what I can tease out.

And, am I jumping to conclusions on the name of the father? Maybe that is not shorthand for William. Maybe it is another name entirely.

I am getting discouraged enough to start entering all the Oliver marriages before a certain date in to Ancestry to see what pops up. Silly and a huge waste of time, isn't it? But that is what I am thinking. I should just finish writing the story of Joseph Mack Oliver and see what trails I determine and explore those.

Herb's Christmas Eve

Poor Herb - no Christmas package and feeling really low.

I have decided Marnie is Margaret, Herb's youngest sister.

This would be 'Marnie' and Herb in 1953 at Christmas

And this is Christmas 1959 - Harry with his back to us, Dorothy - Herb's second wife on the left - Ruth - Harry's wife - and Nellie Jane and Olive at the head of the holiday table.

On Christmas Eve, what Nellie Jane and Oliver are reading at home and Herb is writing in Luxembourg. Taken from Newspapers.com

Christmas Eve

Dearest Mother + Dad,
How I wish I might have been with you to-night, even for a few hours. But one can’t bridge thirty-five hundred miles except in imagination so I must be content with that.

Who is trimming Marnie’s Christmas tree, thereby taking my job away from me? And where are you putting it? In the same place? This afternoon while I was out for a walk I met a man bringing home whole load of small Christmas trees in a cart drawn by one ox and two milch cows. The poor cows don’t get much rest around here. Many of the peasants have to use them to do their plowing and carting nowadays.

Dec. 26th

My intentions were good night before last but after I started I got to feeling so low in spirits that I couldn’t go on. Lord I was homesick. I wasn’t the only one, either. So the evening ended by we non coms playing cards to keep our minds off our troubles.

Christmas wasn’t a howling success either. We had a good dinner but that doesn’t make a Christmas. At first we were to have turkey but the turkey didn’t arrive so we bought a pig from one of the peasants and half of it made a good dinner for the whole section. With it we had fried potatoes, canned peas, and apple sauce and for dessert apple pie, cheese, nuts + raisins.

The day before Christmas a box came for the Section from the Red Cross. In it was a phonograph with twenty records and a raft of cigarettes. In addition everyone had chocolate + tobacco from the Y.M.C.A. Some six or seven of the boys had received their Christmas packages. The rest are presumably hanging around in some base port. However it’s forbidden to criticize the government or it’s servants any way. They can’t prevent one from thinking, though.

Nothing new occurs. I expect that we’ll move to some other town in Luxembourg, further south, in a few days, but where we’ll go from there I have no slightest idea.

The papers have no news except long detailed descriptions of what the President + Mrs. Wilson wear, eat, visit and talk about day by day. That sort of thing may be interesting to both French and Americans at present in Paris but there’s only one interesting topic amongst Americans in the armies of occupation: That is “when do we get out of here?”

The weather has been colder lately and there was a fall of three or four inches of snow for Christmas.

The rest of the news is that I am well and as happy probably as could be reasonably expected.

And, oh yes, I got those socks you sent me. That’s a good scheme + might be pushed further.

With best love to all,
Your affectionate son,
Herb

Such good information about The French Army Division Herb is stationed with

I had to look up the Rainbow Division (I have attached a link below):

On April 6, 1917, the United States Congress declared war on the German Empire and entered the Great War. In the rush to mobilize troops, individual states competed with each other for the honor to be the first to send their National Guard units into combat. Secretary of War Newton D. Baker authorized the organization of a Division made up of National Guard units from 26 different states and the District of Columbia. Douglas MacArthur, who at the time was a Major working at the office of the Secretary of War, is credited with saying “The 42nd Division stretches like a Rainbow from one end of America to the other.” MacArthur was instrumental in the formation of the Division and was appointed its Chief of Staff and promoted to Colonel.The 42nd (Rainbow) Division was activated in August 1917 and was assembled at Camp Mills in Long Island NY. Its four infantry regiments were respectively 165th (formerly New York’s 69th); 166th (formerly Ohio’s 4th); 167th (formerly Alabama’s 4th); and 168th (formerly Iowa’s 3rd). War strength of 27,000 was present when the Division paraded for Secretary of War Baker on September 26, 1917. The Division arrived in France in November and December of 1917 and trained in Eastern France until mid-February 1918.

What do you suppose Harry has done now that he needs to be fixed up? My goodness. What do we do with that boy?

Poor Herb, waiting for his Christmas package! 

December 20 [1918]

Dear Mother,

I was beginning to think the mail man had deserted me until I got your letter of November 26^th day before yesterday.

So far we’re still in Boxhorn, Luxembourg but I rather expect that we shall move within a week. Where to I don’t know. Otherwise things are exactly the same, except that for two days it has snowed instead of rained.

I was glad to hear that Tom got home at last and to know that he can get around. It seems to me that I must have told you he was engaged to a girl in Syracuse. I know her slightly and I think she is very nice. She seems from a good family not rich but fairly well off.

I was surprised to hear that Ralph Weed is married though I knew of course that he was engaged. I know his wife very well – she was a stenographer in the advertising department when I was there. She’s a very fine girl.

This is for Dad – I’ve read that article about the Marne in the Post and I must say it’s a scream. I don’t believe it was intended for comedy but that’s what it is – low comedy at that. No one should be allowed to write such stuff. From the author’s point of view the war may have been a pink tea affair but she must have seen things from a peculiar angle.

I thought I had told you what happened to Lieutenant Allen but it’s evident I didn’t. he went into the medical service – first aid work with the rainbow division. I think he is probably in Germany with the Rainbow Division.

I had a letter from Mr. Friedman several days ago. He sent me a money order + told me to get myself a Christmas dinner in Paris. (Paris is two days journey from here, by the way.) He also wanted to know when I would be back, says he needs me badly. I wish I could tell him.

I’m quite sure I told you once about our Division – but then you may never have gotten the letter. At any rate it’s the 13^th and is one of the best Divisions the French have. It is part of the 21^st Army Corps, a crack corps, and at present is with the 5^th Army. From June 15^th to October 22^nd or there abouts we were with Gouraud’s army, the 4^th, which broke up the German attack on Rheims + Chalons July 15^th. The Section was working then at Suippes about half way between Reims + Chalons. Two regiments of the 13^th are Chasseurs (the Blue Devils, you know) and the other two are infantry. Three of the regiments wear the Military Medal fourragère (that’s the colored rope green and yellow twisted over the left shoulder) and the other one has the Croix de Guerre fourragère. The Military Medal fourragère is the next highest honor a regiment can have. It is surpassed only by the Legion of Honor fourragère which is worn only by the Foreign Legion. Before the war Foch commanded the 13th and early in the war he commanded the 21^st Corps.

I was hoping that troops would be demobilized according to length of Foreign Service but I read in the “Stars and Stripes” about a lot of ground service aviation men being sent back from England nine days after their arrival. There are also wild articles about a large part of the American army remaining here for perhaps two years but I scarcely think they’ll attempt that. I don’t believe it would be wise.

With Christmas only five days away only three Christmas packages have arrived in the section so far but a great deal can happen in five days so I haven’t begun to worry yet.

There’s only one thing I have to say about Harry at this time and that is go to Dr. Marsh and have himself fixed up if that’s the only way out. I can readily believe that that weighs heavily on his mind and it would be better to get it attended to in some way. Don’t you think so?

With best love to you all and a happy new year.

Your affectionate son,

Herb

Taken from here

New Orleans Cousins

I have fallen in love with New Orleans. There is something about the city which hits me viscerally. I have no way to explain it. And it's not the Creole or Cajun food or the jazz music particularly... it's the architecture and feel of the city. Wait, I need to amend that, as I love the Zydeco music!) I don't know what it is really, but I am very happy in New Orleans, but not for the reasons others may love NOLA.

You may understand, then, how excited I was to find a DNA connection with people born in New Orleans. Now I have fantasies that my DNA aligns to the city like a compass to magnetic north! I have not yet been able to connect their trees to my tree, but they also have Irish heritage and they have the Oliver name in their tree, as do I, through my 2nd great grandmother. Though my second great grandmother and her husband settled in Troy, NY, not Louisiana. So, where is the split? Did one of her brothers go to NOLA while she headed to NY? Or was the immigrant further up the tree?

I have communicated (and soon to meet) a fellow genealogist who is related the the wife of the man I believe to be the patriarch of the branch I am researching - so the younger generations tie us together, but we are not biologically related. She has not researched the Oliver family in New Orleans, but perhaps she can point me to some of the resources not yet available on Ancestry.com which can help me climb the tree. My new friend has been researching for 20 years.

The Surprising origins of the Irish

This explains some of my husband's DNA results... he is the 'Emerald Isle' the whole way, but with a tiny trace of European Jew and Caucasian... so some of his ancestors possibly walked west to Ireland and Great Britain. I say that, because he doesn't have any recent ancestors from anywhere other than Great Britain and the US.

The Irish people have a complex genetic history shaped by mass migrations from the Middle East and Spain, with blue eyes and fair skin arriving through a later migration from Eastern Europe, new DNA evidence indicates. The evidence was found in the bones of four people buried in Ireland: a brown-eyed, black-haired female who lived on a farm some 5,200 years ago, discovered buried in a small village in Northern Ireland, and three men who lived between 3,000 and 4,000 years ago, found on Rathlin Island, just off the Irish coast. When researchers analyzed the woman’s genome, they discovered a strong similarity to people from Spain and Sardinia, who are believed to have originally migrated to Europe from the Middle East. The genomes from the three Bronze Age men revealed a different genetic background, with about 30 percent of their DNA closely resembling populations from modern-day Russia and Ukraine. These blue-eyed males also had a genetic variant linked to a hereditary iron-overload disorder, haemochromatosis, which is so prevalent in Ireland that it’s also known as Celtic disease. Researchers said their findings show that the modern Irish were largely shaped by the 1,000 years of migration from Eastern Europe. “There was a great wave of genome change that swept into Europe from above the Black Sea into Bronze Age Europe, and we now know it washed all the way to the shores of its most westerly island,” study author Dan Bradley tells The Guardian (U.K.). He said the migrants may have even brought “the introduction of language ancestral to western Celtic tongues.

Taken from the January 15th edition of the Week Magazine.

'Heavy' Drinking linked to Strokes

Image and blurb taken from here.

Men who average three drinks a day and women who average two face a significantly higher risk for stroke in middle age, a new study has found. The study by Swedish scientists examined drinking habits of more than 11,000 twins over four decades, and found that those they defined as “heavy” drinkers in their 50s and 60s have a 34 percent higher risk for stroke than more moderate drinkers. That makes excessive alcohol consumption a greater risk factor in strokes than high blood pressure and diabetes. Heavy drinkers also were more likely to have strokes five years earlier than light drinkers, regardless of their genetics or other health habits. The findings are consistent with the American Heart Association’s recommendations that men not exceed two drinks a day and women, one. Previous studies have found that moderate drinking can have a protective effect on heart disease and overall mortality, and the Swedish study found that abstaining from alcohol altogether did not lower the risk of stroke. Drinking is “like Jekyll and Hyde,” Tara Narula, a cardiologist at New York City’s Lenox Hill Hospital, tells CBSNews.com. “It can be medicinal and beneficial or poisonous and detrimental, depending on how much you use.”

Of course, according to an earlier article, we can drink coffee and undo the harm....

Taken from the February 20th edition of the Week Magazine. See how I am catching up on my reading? Really good stuff in this edition from long ago! But now I can toss the pages I have been saving for months.

Rittenhouse Needlepoint

Wow.
A beautiful store with so much to see. They have a ton of needlepoint yarn and they have many, many examples of things you can *do* with your needlepoint! That has been my struggle... how many needlepoint pillows can you possibly own? And I suspect my family does not want a ton of pillows, either.... We are not cutesy pillow people. Nor are my friends, for that matter.... it's an internal struggle for me....

I am not in love with all the ornaments or three dimensional pieces, though the variety of stitches on the pieces are really pretty and very creative.

An aspect of this store which is new to me is that at Rittenhouse Needlepoint they both create custom canvases and they make the pillows or the boxes or the backgammon sets which can be the final product.

Clearly I have been extremely limited in my vision as to what one can make with needlepoint. At Finishing Needlepoint you can see a variety of things to make - from hair accessories to coasters to the aforementioned backgammon sets.

I spent a good amount of time speaking with Kaitlyn who custom paints canvases for the shop. Kaitlyn is trained as a graphic artists and she showed me an example of her work. Not inexpensive to get a custom canvas.... But for those of us who like the process of creating but are not artistic, seems like a nice collaboration.

The intriguing thing about Rittenhouse Needlepoint is that they encourage lingering - as they even clearly print on their windows they are for needlepoint-coffee-conversation. They also encourage the meditative aspect of needlepoint. (I have been struggling with the feeling that I am wasting my time when I do my fiber art/crafts; this gives me 'permission' to work away during the day when I think I should be doing something at my desk. Of course, in all cases, needlepoint or desk work, is going against our intrinsic need to be standing and moving. How can we combine exercise and needlepoint?)

Kaitlyn kindly let me photograph one of the canvases.

Terrible photograph, but I didn't want them to think I was taking the photograph to copy it; and I was taking the photo just to show my husband who knows about my llama and alpaca fetish. A nice combination of interests... now if only there were an exercising, healthy eating llama canvas.

Here is a very colorful and playful foot stool from their web site:

Check them out at 18th and Walnut Streets in downtown Philadelphia, on the second floor. Plan to spend  while - heck, bring your project with you. I bought a ton of beautiful yarn to complete a geometric piece I am currently working on.

Go back here to see the discussion of one of my recently finished pieces. Here is the photo, though:

Slow and steady wins the race

Taken from the February 20th edition of the Week Magazine.

This is not something I ever have to worry about.... I tried riding like hell for 3 bursts of 20 seconds the other day and it nearly killed me. My legs were like noodles afterwards. I was inspired by a video on the BBC with Dr. Michael Mosely. I have no idea who he is, but a friend recommended it to me me.

Running too fast and too often may be just as unhealthy as not exercising at all, the Los Angeles Times reports. Researchers in Denmark studied a group of 5,000 people over a 12-year period and found that hard-core runners who routinely jogged at a brisk pace—a 7-minute mile or faster—for four hours or more per week were just as likely to die as those who did no exercise at all. Runners who jogged at a more leisurely pace—roughly a 12-minute mile—for just over two hours per week had significantly lower mortality rates. The findings are in keeping with a growing body of evidence that there is an ideal amount of exercise, and that too much of a good thing can stress the cardiovascular system and the body in general. “There may be an upper limit for exercise dosing that is optimal for health benefits,” says the study’s author, Peter Schnohr. “If your goal is to decrease risk of death and improve life expectancy, jogging a few times a week at a moderate pace is a good strategy. Anything more is not just unnecessary; it may be harmful.”