Turn, Turn, Turn

On another blog that I follow (Genea-Musings), the blogger does a Saturday Night Genealogy Fun post.  This weekend's was to locate the #1 song on the day you were born, or some significant day in your life.  I didn't recognize the #1 song for my date of birth (Near You, by Francis Craig), so I checked for my 18th birthday (surely I would recognize a song from then, right). 

It was 'Turn, Turn, Turn' by The Byrds.  The words to this song were adapted from the Bible (the book of Ecclesiastes):

To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time to every purpose, under Heaven

A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep

A time to build up, a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together

A time of love, a time of hate
A time of war, a time of peace
A time you may embrace, a time to refrain from embracing

A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time for love, a time for hate
A time for peace, I swear it's not too late.

Such a wonderful mantra for a young woman starting her adult life.  As I look back now, at 63 years, I think of all those times - of love, of hate; of war, of peace; of gains, of loses; of dancing, of mourning; sowing and reaping.... My life has been full - I've experienced so much. 

The song became a plea for world peace in the time of the Vietnam War, but song writer Bob Seegar donated 45% of the royalties for the song to the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, because, in Seeger's own words, "[in addition to the music] I did write six words." 

Do you want to see what song was #1 on your birth date or when you turned 18?  Go to this website (http://www.thisdayinmusic.com/birthdayno1), fill in your desired date, and see what comes up.

P.S.  Do you hear that rumble in the distance?  That is the Baby Boomers - they are getting ready to retire.  On January 1st, 2011 the very first Baby Boomers turned 65.  Millions upon millions of them are rushing towards retirement age. 

Baby Boomer Memories or Tribute to James 'Walter' Tuttle

I grew up in Garden Valley, Idaho in the fifties and sixties.  My family was involved in the lumber industry - my father was a sawyer - tree cutter, and many of his family worked in the lumber industry in Pennsylvania before moving to Idaho (seeking fortune, as so many did, after the gold rush - if not directly from mining, from the industries that supported the miners; truck farming, retail stores, shipping, etc).

In Garden Valley my mother's brother, Walter Crawford, worked a small sawmill (called a portable mill) and we moved into one of the houses that were brought in to Garden Valley for the mill workers.  At this time there were 8 of us children; my sister and I and my six brothers.  We lived in a small three-bedroom house across the North Fork of the Payette River from the sawmill.  Uncle Walt and his family lived near the sawmill and some of our cousins from Tennessee had moved to Idaho to work in the mill also.

James Silas Tuttle (20 Sept 1915) and his wife, Willie Mae Rowland Tuttle (13 June 1918) had two children - James Walter (13 Aug 1948) 'Walt', and Lola (abt 1946).  Since they were the same age as we were, my older brother Adrian and my younger brother Roger and I used to play with them (our ages ranged from 9 to 12 then).  Of course the sawmill was a fascination, but we had strict orders to stay away from it as it was not safe for children to play around the machinery.  But we had fun catching tadpoles in the ponds surrounding the mill and though we were not supposed to, we climbed on the logs stacked around the mill.

Pictures from a party that was held for the sawmill workers.   The first is my mother with one of the mill workers and the next two are pictures of my second cousin, James Tuttle (Walt and Lola's father).   James' grandfather (George W Tuttle 1872-1955)  and my grandmother (Christina Ellen Tuttle Crawford 1871-1954) were brother and sister.

Walt and Lola lived in Garden Valley a couple of years and went to our school.  They are included in some of our school pictures.  Lola is the 4th from the left in the back row (blond with part in middle) and Walter is the blond on the right in the front row.  This is the first, second and third grades in Garden Valley School in 1955-56;  Roger (next to Walter) and Walter were in the first grade, I (4th from right in second row) was in the second grade and Adrian (4th from right in back row) and Lola were in the third grade.

Well, the reason for telling this story is to tell the story of Walter (James Walter Tuttle), the only Vietnam casualty that I personally knew - even though I lived through the decade that many of the young men my age were going to Vietnam and a number of those who went there were not coming back.  

Walter enter the service in 1968 from Arthur, Tennessee (where the family moved after the sawmill was closed down about 1958).  Following is the report from Ancestry.com:

Vietnam War: U.S. Military Casualties, 1956-1998 about James Walter Tuttle
Name:     James Walter Tuttle
Birth Date:     13 Aug 1948              Death Date:     29 Apr 1969
Gender:     Male              Age:     20
Race:     Caucasian (White)
Home City:     Arthur              Home State:     Tennessee
Religion:     Baptist - Other Groups
Marital Status:     Single (Spouse Not Listed)
SSN/Service #:     67101540
Citizen Status:     U.S.
   
Death Date:     29 Apr 1969
Processed Date:     Apr 1969
Casualty Country:     Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam)
Casualty Type:     Hostile - Killed
Casualty Reason:     Multi-Fragment Wounds
Casualty Air:     Ground Casualty
Body Status:     Body Recovered
Service Branch:     Department of the Army
Component:     Selective Service
Military Grade:     Specialist Fourth Class
Pay Grade:     Specialist Fourth Class (U.S. Army)
Province:     Military Region 3 - Tay Ninh
Length of Service :     00
Service Occupation:     Armor Intelligence Specialist (ARMY)
   
Tour Start Date:     6 Dec 1968
Service Branch:     Department of the Army
Component:     Selective Service
Rank:     Specialist Fourth Class
Military Grade:     Specialist Fourth Class
Pay Grade:     Specialist Fourth Class (U.S. Army)
Company:     G Trp
Regiment:     11th Cav
Batallion:     2nd Sqdr
Province:     22
Decoration:     Not Available
CN:     Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam)
Service Occupation:     Armor Intelligence Specialist (ARMY)
Data Source:     Coffelt Database
National Archives and Records Administration. U.S. Army Personnel and Dependent Casualties, 1961-1981
Original data: [File from the U.S. Army] Casualty Information System [Archival Database]; Records of Deceased Army Personnel, Deceased Dependents of Active-Duty Army Personnel, and Active-Duty Wounded Army Personnel, 1/1/1961 - 12/1981; Records of the Adjutant General's Office, Record Group 407; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD.

Burial: Shoffner Cemetery, Harrogate, Claiborne County, Tennessee, USA

A Genealogists' Work is Never Done

I decided to share my family tree on Ancestry.com with fellow family genealogist, Judy, and in the process, was looking it over.  I decided to add a copy of my maternal grandparents' marriage notice from the Laurel County KY records which proves that many of us have had the wrong date in our databases (we have  26 November 1887, taken from the Family Data Collection - Individual Records from ancestry.com, and also from Elisha and Christina's oldest daughter's family story.  The record below shows it to be 5 November 1886.)   Then I decided to do a research of any other records that could be out there for Elisha Jordan Crawford (spelled Crafford on the certificate).

Of course this led to several hours of researching as I came across a comment on a message board that suggested that one of my branches on my family tree may be incorrect.  Here's the comment from the Scott Family message board:

Posted by: Pike Thomas     Date: September 03, 1999 at 21:29:40
In Reply to: Re: Daniel Scott (my 5th great grandfather), b. 1761, Surry NC by Dennis Norton     of 18150
  The infomration posted by Dennis Norton does not square with what I have at all.
  I have children of Daniel Scott I as Arthur, Daniel, Jesse, Leonard, Thomas and Mary. I also have his father as Edward Scott of New Kent and later Goochland Co VA, whose will lists said Daniel.
  My info appears in a section of a work about to be published "The Scotts of SW VA: Descendants of James & rachel Scott and Other Important Scott Lines", 3 vols., fully documented. More info on request.
Posted by: Dennis Norton     Date: September 04, 1999 at 21:48:53
In Reply to: Re: Daniel Scott, b. 1761, Surry NC by Pike Thomas     of 18150
  There were 2 Daniel Scotts during tat period of thime... One went to KY the other to NC.
  I would love to share info and "check" out the accuracy of my info.

Posted by: Melodee Clegg     Date: September 03, 1999 at 21:51:36
In Reply to: Re: Daniel Scott, b. 1761, Surry NC by Pike Thomas     of 18150
Pike,
  After not looking at the forum for 2 months, I find your message three hours after it was posted! My research also convinced me that Edward Scott, not William, was the father of Daniel I. I am very interested in the new Scott book; how can I get more information about it? Thanks-- Melodee

Oh no, not another "John Piney-wood Yeager' type dilemma. Several people with the same name in the same area of the country.  Why couldn't our ancestors think up some original names, instead of naming their children with common family names???

So you see, I have my Daniel Scott as the son of William, not Edward Scott.  So, since these posts were made in 1999, I decided to see if I could find the 'new Scott book' that Pike Thomas mentioned ( "The Scotts of SW VA: Descendants of James & rachel Scott and Other Important Scott Lines", 3 vols., fully documented).

I found it but did not find the conclusive evidence he claimed was there proving the parentage of Daniel Scott (b. 1761).  But now I'm unsure of my data and I'll be spending much more time searching and researching for that definitive bit of information that will prove or disprove my dates and relationships.

A Success: Reunion Summary

The Crawford Reunion, held Saturday, June 11th, was a huge success.  With not even two months notification time (to round up names and addresses of relatives we had lost contact with and send information to those we could), we had over 68 people at our event.

The 2011 Reunion Planning Group - top:  Judy, Reba (me) and MaryKay, next: Donna, then: Roger, then: Tammy.  A great big THANK YOU to all of you for all your hard work and wonderful participation on Saturday.

People came from St Maries (Idaho), Jerome (Idaho), Portland (Oregon), Stites (Idaho) and locally from Caldwell, Nampa, Boise, Garden Valley, and Emmett.  There was a lot of visiting, good food to eat, and family albums to pour over.  I believe fun was had by all.

Some of the albums displaying family photos. 

Tomorrow is the Day

Tomorrow is the Crawford family reunion and I am looking forward to visiting with cousins I haven't seen for years and those I have never met.  We are realistically acknowledging that we won't get a lot of genealogy done in just one afternoon, so some of us are meeting on Sunday to share information.

We have people traveling from North Idaho, Portland, and Jerome.  This is better than we expected - we had figured on just a few locals to show up and help make plans for a larger reunion next year (probably a weekend in Cascade, Idaho at the state park there by the lake).  But it looks like we may have around 50 people there (only a small 'drop in the bucket' compared to the how many descendants Elisha and Christina Crawford have). 

I've been following a lot of genealogy blogs lately and have gotten more ideas for my blog.  Many involve adding interesting items about one or two individuals in your database each week.  With over 5000 individuals in my Family Tree Maker, that could last a lifetime.

 

I look forward to sharing the outcome of our event in the coming days.  I hope I have lots to share.

 
Emmett, Idaho looking across at the butte.

My Ancestry.com database is private, but I am willing to share with anyone who emails me with a valid request for information about any of my branches  (Crawford, Tuttle, Dexter, Logue, Washburn, Bennett, Scott, Earle, Wingate).  Comment on this post if you would like to share any info.

Stirring Up Memories as Well as Dust

Searching through old photo albums and boxes and boxes of newspaper clippings, negatives, and loose pictures sure stirs up many memories.  Imagine coming across that snapshot of you holding your first grandchild and next to it a picture of your grandmother holding your mother as an infant.  There's the pictures of loved ones long parted and that stack of pictures of a family event which was the last get-together for a recent lost loved one.

I recommend that everyone do this at least once every year or two.  Check those photos to see if the persons photographed have been identified.  If not, be sure to mark them if you know who is in the picture and when it was taken.  If you don't know about the photo, find a relative who might know.  Don't wait until all those who might know are gone.

 My brother Adrian, holding my granddaughter (lost him in 1999).

My parents, Cecil and Rachel (Crawford) Logue.  Dad died in 1983, after their 50th wedding anniversary, and Mom died in 1993.  (Shown with their grandson, Jacob)

 My sister, Christina, enjoying a family get-together in August 2010.  We lost her in October.  She was my answerer of questions about who, what, where and when.  If I found someone in the death notices that could be a relative, I would pick up the phone and call Christine.  It may have taken her a few minutes, but she generally could recall names and stories about many of our relatives.  I miss her so much and daily wish I had spent more time with her while she was alive.

So find your 'answerers' and appreciate every moment you have with them.