A Christmas Verse For you

Christmas is creeping up on us. Time to spend time with our love ones and think of our family far away or who have past on. Many Christmas's have past for me. 61 one to be exact. Lots of wonderful memories and some not so great.
Times are good today. Money is tight, but we have our health ( cancer free 5 years ) ( sober 2 years 10 months and 20 days thank you Jesus) Hubby is well, children are doing pretty good. As in many cases money is tight for them too, but we have it so much better than a lot of folks around us. We are warm, have a place to sleep and food to feed our bellies. I want to take this time to be thankful for all I have and to pray for those still suffering with no place to sleep, hungry, out of work and what ever disease they are suffering from.
I want to thank all of you who visit me at my different blogs. You may not comment often but I do sense you there and hope that I give you some joy or a just a smile.
God bless you and have a wonderful Christmas and lets pray for peace and a prosperous year for all of us.
Today's vintage post card is a Christmas Verse .
Here's a Christmas Message packed with cordial good cheer
To friends, one and all, far and near, Of Peace on earth, good will I send
A loving message to you , dear friend

Time Line Thursday John W Zion 4x Great Grandfather

I have started to do the time line on one of my grandfathers. This is just the beginning of his time line. I have put this information into my word program and can add information as found or I have time to add. I need to put in information on children marrying, grandchildren being born. I want to add historical information to this time line. I can see questions I have like did one son die about 1805 or is he in the 1820 and 1830 census. I spent time last night at http://www.ancestry.com/ and finding information on his children. I see several different members working on this family line and hope to get in contact with them in the future.

I hope that as I work on this I can bring John back to life, what was happening in his world. I am hoping that this will be of interest to other family members that do not share my interest of getting to know our ancestors.

I have started with the Zion line. This is my maiden name, my father's name. We know nothing of this line after they came to the United States. I put the name Zion in a search information and found information I knew and some I did not know. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zion. I knew the name Zion was a Hebrew word but did not know the name Zion appears 154 times in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible).

My family practiced Christianity in the US. I would love to find the family before this time and see if they were of the Jewish faith. So many questions to ponder and search for.

One birthday my sister gave me a great gift. She bought me a certificate that has the Family Name History of the Zion name. It is from a Historical Research Center. I have framed it and it hangs on a wall in my sun room. It has that the Zion name is a Polish name. We have always associated with family coming from Germany and being of German heritage not Polish heritage.

Time Line of

John W Zion my Great Grandfather x 4

Abt 1770 Born to parents unknown in North Fork Holston River. Washington County, Virginia, United States
1789 November 03 about 19 years old married Lucy McCormick in Washington County, Virginia, United States
1790 August 31 son Jacob C born Washington County, Virginia
1791 March 03 about 21 years old acquired 133 acres on Mill Fall Branch, Washington County, Virginia, United States.
Source Annals of Southwest Virginia, 1769 to 1800, author Lewis Preston Summers. Virginia history,Virginia Genealogy.
1791 July 30 son George born Washington County Virginia
1793 01 April acquired 184 acres on Water Mill Creek, Washington County, Virginia , United States
Source Annals of Southwest Virginia, 1769 to 1800, author Lewis Preston Summers. Virginia history,Virginia Genealogy
1793 May 08 son John W Jr born Washington County Virginia
1795 January 22 son McCormick was born in North Folk Holston River Washington county, Virginia
1796 November 25 daughter Elizabeth born
1799 son William born Washington County, Virginia
1801 April 09 son Matthew Zion born Harlan, Washington County, Virginia
1805 son born name unknown at this time died about same time. Question is did he really die or is he male in 1820 and 1830 censuses
1807 daughter Rachel (Rachael) born Harlan, Washington County, Virginia
1810 census has John living Washington County, Virginia census has wife Lucy age between 26 and 44 and John‘s age over 45 years old. Living with them are 2 males under 10 this would be Matthew age about 9 years and William age about ten years old, 1 male 10 to 15 which would be McCormick our ancestor at the age about 15 years old, 3 males 16 to 25 years which would be Jacob, George and and John W ages about 20, 19 and 17 years old , 1 female under 10 years Rachel age about 3 years old and 1 female 10 to 15 years old. This would be Elizabeth age about 14 years old . Living near by is a John McCormick not sure who this is at the moment
1820 census has John W Sr now living in Lee county, Virginia. Living with him is his wife Lucy, 1 male age 16 to 18 years old do not know who this is, 1 male age 16 to 26 years old this would be Matthew age about 19, 1 female between 10 and under 16 years old this would be Rachael , and they are involved in Agriculture. Living next door are sons Jacob, McCormick John Jr, William and George in their own owns with their families.
1830 census has John Sr is about 60 years old living in Lee County with wife Lucy age is about about 58 years old. Living with them is 1 male whose age is between 15 and 20 years old who is this and 1 female age 15 to 20 who is this is unknown also. Living near by are sons John Jr. and William with their families.
1840 census has John Sr and Lucy living still in Lee County, Virginia.
1850 died Pennington Gap, Lee County,Virginia.

This is just the beginning of getting to know my great great great great grandfather John W Zion. I look forward spending more time with him and his family.

Create A Personal Timeline For My Ancestors

I have started to work on getting a time line for my ancestors. I am hoping by doing time lines of what was happening in their personal life and historically I will get to know them better. I also will be able to see what information I am missing.
I have decided to go back as far as I can on each of my lines of grandparents and do the time line on each of them. I will then work forward on each generation.
Important information will be date in chronological order
age as close as possible to the event
What the event was and location to where it happened
and any documentation I have.
I started with a great x 4 grandfather John W Zion. I have not visited him in a long time so have lots to add since I just joined http://www.ancestry.com/
I have started this first time line in my word program I can then easily change and then print out.
Thanks For Stopping By
please stop by again as I post in the future his time line and additional time lines for my ancestors.

Remembering Darryl Christmas for Smile For The Camera

Christmas is a great time for families to spend time together. It is also a time that I spend remembering Christmas's in the past. There are so many memories of wonderful Christmas's. Of course with those memories comes thinking of family that is no longer with us. Today I am spending a little time telling you about Darryl. He was my brother in law from my first marriage. He was tall , quiet and very sweet. I loved him like a brother and still think of him with fond memories. He love to fish, he loved the outdoors and he loved Jello. We would play scrabble together at the kitchen table. I remember Darryl and wish he had spent more Christmas's with us.
This picture is of Christmas 1966. I am newly married with my husband Al who is in the navy. He was able to come back home for Christmas. We spent the day at my in laws and opened Christmas presents. This picture is of new hubby and me in front of their Christmas tree. I am 18 years old, married for a little over 2 months and unknown to me I will have my first son in 9 months in September of 1967. His middle name will be the same as Darryl's. Darryl will pass away in April of 1968 at 30 years old.
As I prepare for the holidays today these wonderful pass Christmas's are always with me.
I miss you Darryl and wish you had stayed with us longer. You would of enjoyed my boys.
This is just one of my Christmas memories. Come back as I share other family members and Christmas's of the past.

I will be posting this for Smile for the Camera

Ancestry.com Upgrades Census Collection

Ancetry.com has upgraded the census collection. You can read the whole article at
http://blog.familytreemagazine.com/insider/2009/12/10/AncestrycomUpgradesCensusCollection.aspx
If you’ve had trouble finding your ancestors in US census records on subscription genealogy site Ancestry.com, it may be time to try again. The site just released enhanced images and/or indexes for six more census. They have added to upgrades implemented a few months ago, that means improved images for the 1790 through 1900 censuses, and better indexes for the 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1900 censuses. In all, that's 200 million improved census records.
I am excited when ever I can find my of my ancestors or to link with fellow relatives at the site.

Nebraska State Census at Ancestry.com

Ancestry.com announced the release of the Nebraska State Census records for 1860 to 1885 today. You can read about it at Crista Cowan's blog post Ancestry World Archives Project Releases Nebraska State Census, 1860-1885.

I had family living in Nebraska at this time. So far I have found my great great grandparents in the census. John Coleman is living with his wife Alta Cheuvront Coleman and daughter's Alta M ( Myrtle), Mable Coleman Hall ( my great grandmother) and brother's Elic Henry and a Frank Matheny who I think was a hired hand.

(1877 Nebraska State Census, Cass County, Salt Creek Township, Page 9, Dwelling #1, Family #1, National Archives Microfilm Series M352)

I love the new opportunity of finding new areas to research my family at www.ancestry.com

Memories of Christmas Past and Grandma's Brooch on Treasure Chest Thursday

During the last years my mother was with us every year she would give us gifts of her favorite treasures at Christmas .

This is one of my favorites. It is a brooch that my mother bought as a gift for my grandmother about 1942.

She gave me a note in her handwritting telling me that it cost her $12.00 which was a whole weeks wages and tips.

I think the best gift is our memories and things from the past.

Family Events 12/ 6 to 12/12

December 6 ~ it the birthday of my 2nd Great Grand Aunt Jane Coleman. She was born in 1826 and was the older sister of my great grandfather John Henry.






December 12 ~ is the anniversary of my great grandmother Katherine Gallaher Appleton and Step great grandfather Appleton. They were married 115 years ago this date in Winona, Minnesota. Appleton may have been the step father of my grandmother, but he raised her as his own from age 1 and was her father and the grandfather of my mother and siblings.