Family History Friday (FHF): Love Spoons!

One of my great, great grandmothers is from Wales. In researching Wales, I found a fun tradition that is celebrated there. The tradition of giving Love Spoons.
They are beautiful!
 A tradition that started in the 1600’s, I think. The man would carve the spoon to give to his intended. The designs are ornate and very symbolic of the love that the man felt for his future wife and his desires for blessings in the marriage. You will find them here! Take a few minutes and look at the beautiful designs and read about the meanings of the carvings.
Do research about the area your ancestors lived, you will find customs and traditions that were common where they lived. That means that they probably did some of them too! Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy
Update: December 21, 2023: I want to add to this post about the Love Spoon Tradition that when my little brother Larry got married I gave him and his sweet wife Lisa a Love Spoon. I also have a few love spoons in my home. I think it’s a great way to share with the rest of the family some of the traditions of our ancestors. It also helps us to have opportunities to tell our children and grandchildren about those who came before us. They were real people and lived lives just like us. I would say in some ways their lives where much harder than anything we have to go through. I know my ancestors who came from Wales were miners. It was a tough life. When I think of them and what their days must have been like I am filled with gratitude that they journeyed on and endured so that I could be born and have this wonderful opportunity to live on earth and learn and grow. If I have hard times I often think of them. Remember them, your ancestors. They are real!

Family History Friday (FHF): Lost and Found!

When my maternal grandma
Norma,
was a little girl. She lived quite far from the nearest town. They were farmers and lived a distance from the neighbors as well. At one point in her young life, the telephone lines were being strung across the open land in southern Idaho. Before they could hang the lines, they had to dig deep holes for the telephone poles to be anchored into. One day my grandma turned up missing. She had been gone for hours. She was just a small child, maybe five years old. Great grandma was frantically trying to find her. She would call and call. Now, where they lived was quite flat and you could see for a good distance in every direction, but they could not find her. Finally, after a tough time searching and worrying, they found her. She had fallen into one of the holes that the men had dug for the telephone poles. She wasn’t real close to home. She had wandered off and was a distance away. The holes were not even visible until you got right up to them. She was at the bottom of the hole crying and crying. She had called out for help, but no one could hear her. She was so happy to be rescued, but was very exhausted from trying to climb out. What a scary thing. She knew they could not see or hear her. Can you imagine how scary for a five year old child.
The moral of the story?
Well, maybe it is this-
be careful when playing near large deep holes,
they may just swallow you up!!!
 also- that
those who love you
will always look for you, until they find you!
Look for your ancestors! Find them!
 Get to know them. You’ll be glad you did!!
Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy

Family History Friday (FHF): The Library Catalog!

The Family History Library Catalog is a great place to go online, to see what information is available about a certain area. You will find it here! When you get to the catalog, you can do a search to see what the Family History Library has that will help you with your search. The exciting part is that you don’t have to make a trip to Salt Lake City to see the micro film, or micro fiche that you would like to see, to do your research. These items can be loaned to the Family History Centers all over the world. There are 3500 of them. You can locate one here! Then you can do your research closer to home. If you can make a trip to the Family History Library it is an awesome experience. Go to the Family History Library Catalog and see what’s there for you!!! Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy

Family History Friday (FHF): School!

What does
SCHOOL
 have to do with Family History?
You can include an ancestor
in your children’s homework assignment!!
I realize for most of our children, 
school is almost out for the summer. 
So remember this, for future reference!  
Some ancestors might be famous. Some may have played a significant part in history. Some might have been in attendance at a historic event. Maybe an ancestor knew, or was an aquaintence of someone famous.
Children can use one of the stories
from an ancestors life, 
 to do a homework assignment.
It’s a great way for them to get to know their ancestor.
My children have done reports on John Sayer,
 when learning about early American history.
Also, they have done projects that involved the pilgrims. I even had the opportunity to go to one my children’s classroom to talk about the pilgrims. Fun!!!
Queen Victoria
One of our ancestors, is said to have been a “lady in waiting” for Queen Victoria. Part of the story passed down, is that the queen would come in and sit with them and sew. She loved visiting with those around her and she treated those who worked for her with kindness and love. I love that story! I would love to do more research on that. If one of my children had a report or assignment about world civilizations/United Kingdom, it might be more fun to encourage my child to do research in an area that meant more to our family. It helps them to love history and family. Try it with your children! It’s fun!
Happy Family History Friday. Love, Joy 

Family History Friday (FHF): Another Perspective!

This is Joy’s daughter, Kelsey, doing a guest blog for Family History Friday!
Ever since I was little, my mom has been
 in love
with doing family history
 She has always taught us to have a love
 for the people who came before us, and
paved the way for us to have the lives we do now. 

We have been on a couple trips to places where our ancestors are from.  We took a trip in 1999 to the East coast, including Dedham, Massachusetts, where our ancestors, the Fairbanks, built their house in 1637, and Plymouth, Massachusetts, where our ancestors who came across on the Mayflower landed.  It was so fun to see how and where they lived when they came to America, and to see all the struggles they went through to make life better for us. 

Whenever we go on long trips in the car, she asks us questions about our ancestors to see if we know who she is talking about.  It is really cool to know things about them, because then they are real. They aren’t just names on a piece of paper. They really lived and experienced things, just like we do. I really do appreciate the things she does to find out who they are, and to help us know them as well.

I would recommend that you do your family history, and share what you learn with your kids, so that they can enjoy it too.

Family History Friday (FHF): Google!

I really love
google!
When I need to find something, or I’m bored to tears, I can do a
“google”
search by entering a few words to be searched and a plethora of information about whatever you typed in comes up!! My FHF today is to suggest that you do a
google
search.
I put in “genealogy blog sites”,
and found much information and places to go to help in research.
As I’ve said before, you can
 google
your ancestor, to see if anything comes up.
You can
 google
 where they lived, find maps and also many pictures of the location. Do a
google
search and see what happens.
Happy Family History Friday.
Love, Joy

Family History Friday (FHF): State Historical Background!

If you have family from a certain area in the United States, and would like information about the place, you can go to the new “FamilySearch” here. Once there, click on “research helps”. Once there,  you will find an alphabetized list of possible information you can use. Click on the letter at the top of the state that you wish to look up. For example if I want information about the state of Utah, I would click on the “U”. When the list comes up, go down to “Utah Historical Background”. Click on it to see a chronological history of Utah. It is a great way to learn important dates and information that could be added to the history of an ancestors. It can/will be helpful and informative. Try it!! Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy

Family History Friday (FHF): The Wall.

I actually teach an organizing class for people getting started doing their family history. I’m not always organized, but I do know how to organize.
One of the visuals I use in my class is a
 picture of a wall.
We want to get to the other side of the wall, but the wall is stopping us. The wall represents an obstacle or problem in research. Something preventing us from going any further, or progressing. How will we get over the wall? Well, on this side of the wall, the side where we are, there are many possible ways to get over the wall. There is a pole vaulter, a person holding a large bunch of of helium balloons, someone with a ladder leaning against the wall, someone with dynamite, someone digging under the wall, someone with a jack hammer, two people on a teeter totter, one person standing on shoulders of another, Rapunzel has her hair hanging down to help someone up, a group of cheerleaders are doing a pyramid, someone is on a tractor- ready to break through, a person with springs on their shoes, etc. The purpose of the visual is to tell others-
don’t be discouraged. 
There are many ways to accomplish what you want to do. Sometimes you need to find out that there are other ways you haven’t tried yet. Saying to yourself, “Well, I tried this way, and also that way. What else could I try that I haven’t tried?” 
 There is more than one way to find
what you are looking for.
In fact, you can find the same exact information many different ways. Don’t give up. If I am having a difficult time finding something, and I have tried many different ways to find it, it might be time to take a break from that part of my research for a time.
I’m glad I have the picture of the wall
 to remind me I can do it, you can too!!
Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy

Family History Friday (FHF): Technology!

My daddy writes these amazing stories about his life, giving all who read a glimpse of his perspective and experiences. I thought I would share another one with you.
On Technology
I was born in the mid-1930’s (1934) (my memories of the way it was then) I never saw an indoor, flushing toilet until I was eight years old. Outhouses were the standard, with either a Montgomery Ward or a Sears and Roebuck mail order catalog for toilet paper. We carried our water from a neighbor’s pump a half block away until dad hand dug a well in our front yard. Mother washed clothes in a washtub using a washboard and a bar of ivory soap. After they were washed and rinsed she would wring the water out of them by hand. They were then hung outside on the clothesline to dry. Her apron had big pockets where she carried wooden clothespins. They were gathered up and brought in after they were dry. They smelled so fresh after being blown in the breeze. Mother would sprinkle them, and roll them up to be ironed. She ironed with a very heavy, hand iron that was heated on top of the cook stove. The iron had to be reheated frequently while she was ironing. We heated our uninsulated house with a potbellied wood stove and mother cooked on a cast iron, wood burning, cook stove. Wood had to be chopped year round for one or both stoves. In the coldest part of the Minnesota winter, both stoves had to be fed wood most of the time to keep the house warm. All of the logs were cut with a hand held bucksaw into one to one-and-a half foot lengths. Then dad used an axe to chop them into smaller chunks for burning. Dad would keep his axe sharp with a spinning grindstone using foot-pedal power. The work was hard but a sharp axe reduced the work considerably. We had an icebox that kept our food from spoiling. Ice was delivered twice a week, as I remember. The iceman, in an old Model A Ford truck, delivered a one foot square block of ice to each house on his route. The block of ice was dropped into the top of the icebox and the food was kept in the bottom section. Since we had no running water in the house, we carried water in buckets to fill an elongated copper tub for our weekly baths. The water was heated on top of the stove and then the tub was placed in the middle of the room. There were five of us kids, at the time, and we all bathed in the same water. The girls bathed first and the boys waited outside until they were through, and then the boys bathed last in somewhat, dirty water. We did have electricity in our house; there were two light bulbs, one upstairs and one in the basement room. There were strings hangingdown from each light that switched on the lights. If they were not turned on before dark the strings were very difficult to find.We had a large console radio that we listened to. There were only a few programs and usually there was more static than program, but we would listen anyway. We also had one of the first RCA phonograph players of our day. We would wind it up and listen to the music recorded on large, round, black Bakelite records. The records would break or get scratched easily and then the music would include a strange sound each time it came around to the scratch. The most technical thing, that I was aware of in that era, was an automobile. My dad had an old 1924-5 Essex, which he could only start with a hand crank from the front of the car, but he could only get it to run part of the time. The only paved roads in the town we lived in were the highway running through town and the main street. The rest of the roads both in town and in the country were gravel and very dusty and bumpy. I don’t remember ever seeing wrist watches.
There may have been some, but pocket watches were very popular. The men that could afford them had nice fancy silver or gold chains that hung in front of their vests with the watch safe and secure in their vest pockets. My grandfather, Judge Emil O. Hanson, was one who wore a chain with his pocket watch in his vest pocket. I have heard the story of a patent clerk who quit his job in 1900, because he said that everything
that was going to be invented had been invented by then. In my early years, we too may have thought that most everything had been invented. After all we had a washboard, an icebox etc. What more could we ask for? There are so many wonderful appliances and other technical things that have been invented since those many years ago. In reality, it almost seems like most everything of value, that has been invented, has been invented in the three quarters of a century since I was born.
I love him so much and am so grateful when I here where he has come from. Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy

Family History Friday (FHF): Alot to live up to!

My 3rd great grandfather’s name is
 John H. Fairbanks.
He was a fur trader in the Great Lakes area in the 1800’s. He descended from Jonathan Fairbanks who came to America in the 1600’s and settled in Dedham, Massachusetts. He married my 3rd great grandmother
whose name was
Shaganoshequay
(AKA Mary Sayer). Her father was John Sayer the fur trader and her mother was Bwan equay, a full blood Ojibwe. It has been said of
John H. Fairbanks that he was a master of the Ojibwe language.
In the family history book, “The Fairbanks In America”, it says this about
John H. Fairbanks: Born in New York in 1798. Died in White Earth, Minnesota 1880. He was a useful scout for the American Army during the war of 1812. (That would make him 14 years old at the time). He was in the battle of Lake Champlain, and rendered efficient service during the engagment, for which he received the thanks of his commanding officer. In 1818, when he was 20 years old, he was employed by the American Fur Co., under the late John Jacob Astor. He filled all the positions of trust as chief trader, with profit to his employers and great credit to himself, until the dissolution of the Co. in 1835. He then entered the service of the Northwest Fur Co., successors to the American Fur Co., and remained in the their service until their dissolution in 1848. He was known to every Chippewa Indian in Minnesota, and was master of the Indian languages. He was a man of high worth, strictly temperate in his habits, charitable to a fault, and noted for tender affection for his children. He was the soul of honor, and it has often been said that he had not an enemy in the world.
What a good man!!! I love him. What a legacy, what a life. The Bible says, ” charity is the pure love of Christ”. This book about the Fairbanks says of John, that he was “charitable to a fault”. That is amazing to me. It’s makes me want to be the best “me” I can be.
Discover things about your ancestors that make you want to be a better person. I have. Happy Family History Friday!! Love, Joy