Hi everyone,
I apologize for not posting for a while. I am not feeling like a blog is large enough to contain things in a manner I can easily display. I am exploring how to build a website so it will be easier to navigate and post pictures, content etc with some sort of historical order. For my birthday and Christmas, I received a new Mac computer (compliments of my great hubby) and it has several templates I can use. I hope to play around with this more over the holidays.
In the meantime time, in the spirit of Christmas, I want to ask you: what is your favorite Christmas memory? If you don't have a favorite, describe a fond memory you have of Christmas? What was your favorite Christmas gift as a child? Please feel free to post and share.
Wishing you Peace and Joy! Happy Holidays!
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Decendants of Alphonsus Kirk in America--the big picture
In the file box is a blue print sized paper detailing the Decendants of Alphonsus Kirk family tree. Not only is it blue print sized, but the original copy (made in 1977) is done in mirror or reverse image. I took it to an Office Dept a month ago to see if they could make a copy, shrink it to legal size and oh, btw can they reverse the letters? They were pretty perplexed by the task and it turns out the equipment at their store wouldn't do what we needed. Oh hum. Now what? I entertained the thought of completely redoing this tree using modern resources (as this version appears to be hand drawn/printed), but I like the way it looks and feel it's important for everyone to see it the way it currently is. So, after coming to that conclusion, I began to search again for a copy store that could do what I needed. I am so happy to report that on Friday, Oct 23, I found a place that could do it. I asked for legal size copy thinking my scanner was sized for that, but you can see from this scan that it is not. Consequently some of the edges aren't on here. However, I would be happy to make and mail a blue print sized copy for anyone who is interested (now that I know where to go :). You can see center page that our heritage begins in Scotland, to York England in 1631, and then to Belfast Ireland before Alphonsus Kirk set sail to America in 1688. He landed in Jamestown, VA in 1689 and died in 1745. In America, the Kirk's made their home in PA and OH. They were deeply rooted in the Quaker religion which may be one of the reasons they came to America (to avoid any religious persecution of their day). Our Kirk geneology follows Alphonsus (cut off at top) to son Timothy Kirkand Sarah Williams (one of the first names at the top of the page) Follow that line down to Ezekiel Kirk and Hannah Crookham. Take that line to the far right to Mahlon Kirk and Sarah Hines. My scanner cut off there, so I made another copy to show their line (2nd attachment of tree). In addition, Ginny found some really great/detailed info on Mahlon and Sarah, as well as their son Nathan and daughter in law Abigail Whinery (attachment #3) . Pretty amazing stuff. I could honestly look at this one document for hours (and truth be told, I have). It is so interesting to review and I wish we could somehow trace back further than what we have (which begins in Scotland in the late 1500's--to put that in perspective Henry the 8th was King of England in the early 1500's-1547, Anne Boleyn was beheaded in 1536, and Queen Elizabeth I took her throne 1558-1603).
Thursday, September 10, 2009
"I am..."
As I open this most precious, sacred-to-me gray plastic file box of family artifacts--letters, maps, pictures, news articles, and books-- I am instantly in a reverent state. Every time I open this file box to reminisce, explore and discover I find I am always affected by the amazing contents. The cool part is I always find something I missed previously.
This letter written by Erna Kirk (in 1975), is one of the pieces I recently "found." I have been through this family treasury box at least 20 times and somehow missed this until now. As I pick up the faded mint green pages to read it, the first sentence strikes me in a manner I find so compelling, I sit down to fully digest it. I linger and ponder on her words. "I am Erna Evangeline Aldredge Kirk." I am....to me, this is a sentence so surprisely beautiful in it's simplicity but there is a strength with it. I read the sentence penned on the faded pages over and over, taking it in before preceeding down the page. The penmanship is beautifully trained, a forgotten art in our modern time. As I glance at my haphazzard penmanship, I am reminded how true this is; my penmanship resembles a 1st grader learning cursive. Her language is well thought; her recall is set in story telling fashion intermixed with history. I read and I learn epic details of her life. For example, I didn't know that my great-great grandfather (Edgar Aldredge) died in the flu epidemic in 1918; I didn't know her mother's name is one of my personal favorites (Kate); I didn't know that my great grandparents (George E. and Erna Kirk) shared a date very familiar to me--Sept 4th--which was their wedding anniversary in 1915. This was also Grandma Ginny's birthday (1921), and the wedding anniversary of my maternal grandparents, Ed and Margie Cole.
As I read these pages, I feel connected to her. I imagine what it would be like to have her read this to me. I picture her sitting calmly at the dining room table at 2803 in Moline, dressed in her pretty blue dress with her glasses and hair maticulously curled. In the quiet disposition that I knew of her, I picture her telling me the story of her life, her family and of the events that transpired during her years. Even though it's not all on paper, I think about everything she lived through, what she experienced, what she saw, what she felt. I wish I had been more mindful years before to ask her questions. But I was 9 years old then...
And so, I share this first. It is completely out of historical order, yet I hope you are as touched by this as I was. Do share your Erna stories. And of course, there is much more to follow....
Cheers!
This letter written by Erna Kirk (in 1975), is one of the pieces I recently "found." I have been through this family treasury box at least 20 times and somehow missed this until now. As I pick up the faded mint green pages to read it, the first sentence strikes me in a manner I find so compelling, I sit down to fully digest it. I linger and ponder on her words. "I am Erna Evangeline Aldredge Kirk." I am....to me, this is a sentence so surprisely beautiful in it's simplicity but there is a strength with it. I read the sentence penned on the faded pages over and over, taking it in before preceeding down the page. The penmanship is beautifully trained, a forgotten art in our modern time. As I glance at my haphazzard penmanship, I am reminded how true this is; my penmanship resembles a 1st grader learning cursive. Her language is well thought; her recall is set in story telling fashion intermixed with history. I read and I learn epic details of her life. For example, I didn't know that my great-great grandfather (Edgar Aldredge) died in the flu epidemic in 1918; I didn't know her mother's name is one of my personal favorites (Kate); I didn't know that my great grandparents (George E. and Erna Kirk) shared a date very familiar to me--Sept 4th--which was their wedding anniversary in 1915. This was also Grandma Ginny's birthday (1921), and the wedding anniversary of my maternal grandparents, Ed and Margie Cole.
As I read these pages, I feel connected to her. I imagine what it would be like to have her read this to me. I picture her sitting calmly at the dining room table at 2803 in Moline, dressed in her pretty blue dress with her glasses and hair maticulously curled. In the quiet disposition that I knew of her, I picture her telling me the story of her life, her family and of the events that transpired during her years. Even though it's not all on paper, I think about everything she lived through, what she experienced, what she saw, what she felt. I wish I had been more mindful years before to ask her questions. But I was 9 years old then...
And so, I share this first. It is completely out of historical order, yet I hope you are as touched by this as I was. Do share your Erna stories. And of course, there is much more to follow....
Cheers!
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Ginny's Legacy
Two of Ginny Kirk's many legacies are the geneologies behind the Kirk and Christofferson families. She passionately pursued our family histories so we could have a better understanding of our heritage. Ginny's pursuits led George and her to many public libraries and cemetaries in Pennsylvannia, Ohio, Scotland and the Quad City area. She spent countless hours researching, writing letters, making phone calls and exploring possibilities. During this time she shared her discoveries and information with us. I remember many dinner time discussions at 2803 involving her research, findings and family stories (told in tandem with George). My memories of these times around the table with Ginny, George and other family members are incredibly valuable to me. While I remember many of these stories, it is with an unfortunate vagueness of details (when did I get old?). I wish I had a better memory. I am looking forward to hearing them again through you all. Please post some of your favorites.
With Ginny's passing in 2004, I was bestowed the wonderful honor of continuing with her geneology archives. I had agreed to continue with this a few years before her passing. This responsibility is one I am so honored to have and wholeheartedly accept, as I have an unbelieveable admiration for my grandmother; it makes me feel connected to her even in her absence. As part of the responsibility, I received an file box of amazing photos, historical information, stories, letters, newspaper clippings, maps, lineage tracings, and more. It's all truly more than I imagined. I have contemplated many ways to share this data with our family and a website seemed like the best way since we are all separated by many miles. I have also decided that I will add some personal journaling to each posting so you all can get a feel of the amazing content this file box holds.
Lastly, above all I hope you enjoy the culmination of years of Ginny's work. I hope the content of what I am setting up to share will make you laugh, cry, reminisce, discover, and pass along stories. I am looking forward to sharing this with you all.
Cheers!
With Ginny's passing in 2004, I was bestowed the wonderful honor of continuing with her geneology archives. I had agreed to continue with this a few years before her passing. This responsibility is one I am so honored to have and wholeheartedly accept, as I have an unbelieveable admiration for my grandmother; it makes me feel connected to her even in her absence. As part of the responsibility, I received an file box of amazing photos, historical information, stories, letters, newspaper clippings, maps, lineage tracings, and more. It's all truly more than I imagined. I have contemplated many ways to share this data with our family and a website seemed like the best way since we are all separated by many miles. I have also decided that I will add some personal journaling to each posting so you all can get a feel of the amazing content this file box holds.
Lastly, above all I hope you enjoy the culmination of years of Ginny's work. I hope the content of what I am setting up to share will make you laugh, cry, reminisce, discover, and pass along stories. I am looking forward to sharing this with you all.
Cheers!
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