The "What Books Do You Read" Challenge

Better late than never.  Last night's genealogy fun challenge was "What books do you read now and do they reflect your genealogy hobby? What was the last book that you read?"  The blog post of the challenge along with the links to the blog posts of the various answers of those that accepted the challenge can be found HERE.

I consider my genre of choice to be historical fiction.  I do switch it up a bit and for some reason have read quite a bit of fantasy or science fiction this year.  I have also been adding in some non fiction for balance.   I don't think the books I read particularly reflect my genealogy hobby.  I read  parts of books as a portion of my research.  I read articles and blogs, listen to podcasts or or watch videos to increase my skills related to genealogy.  All that generally takes place online and not in a book.  Right now I am enjoying an online workshop  which I am very excited about that is teaching me some creative non fiction writing skills.   The site can be found HERE.

The last fiction book I read was Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel.  My review of it can be found HERE.  The last non fiction book I read was River of Doubt by Candice Millard.  My review of it can be found HERE.  I generally try to read for about thirty minutes before I turn out the lights at night.  It helps me sleep.  I read on my kindle fire and for the last several months I have been utilizing the State of Ohio's library to check out e-books on my kindle.  I have also been using them to check out magazines.  The magazines are in nook format so I read them on a nook app on my phone since I do not have a nook.  I did read the latest Family History Magazine in this manner.   While my blog is not exclusively book reviews,  it is mostly book reviews.  The other way I "read" is I listen to audio books on my 50 minute commute to and from work.

I find the books I read in various ways.  People know I am a reader so they will make suggestions which are always the best way.  TIME Magazine has good book reviews and I have found some good suggestions there.  I follow a couple of blogs that have book lists as their posts.   One example can be found HERE.  And I am in a library reading group.  I also still follow what the library reading group in the town I lived in before I moved are reading.  Sometimes when I want to find some ideas I will google a library such as the NYC library and see what their reading groups are reading.  Whenever I see a title I may like I add it to my wish list either on audible or on amazon.  So I always have two lists of books to choose from when it is time to select a new title.

Some of my go to fiction authors are:  Barbara Kingsolver,  Jodi Picolt, Dan Brown,  John Green, Phillipa Gregory,  Bernard Cornwell, Shirley Tallman, Victoria Thompson,  Elizabeth Peters,  and of course Diana Galbaldon.    Some of my go to non fiction authors are:  Bill Bryson,  Candice Millard,  Doris Kerns Goodwin, and Ruth Gruber.  I also have an obsession with purchasing hard copies of historical cookbooks.   Reading is an important part of my life.  One of my favorite sayings is "A good book will get you through a lot.".

The "What Started You Actively Researching Your Family History?" Challenge

Back in the days when genealogy was done by snail mail letters written to  people in states far away and a person had to travel to areas to spend time in courthouses and cemeteries, my mother had the genealogy bug.  I can remember being drug through many a cemetery as a child and I did not like it.  My mother died in 1990 and about ten years later I became interested in my cultural heritage.  I was especially interested in my great grandmother.  She died in childbirth with my grandfather and she was illegitimate so she was a question in our back ground.  One of the stories about her was that as a new bride she showed up at my grandfather's home with nothing but a bag of clothes and a guitar slung over her back.   I asked where my mother's research was and my sister had a large cardboard box stored of mom's genealogy work and my sister was glad to hand it over.   As I sat down and dug into the contents of the box I was taken back in time to when my mother was writing the hand written charts and notes I was reading.   I read letters that she had received from other researchers and copies of bible pages that she had copied from bibles other family members had in their possession.  Holding the papers and reading mom's handwriting made me feel close to her.  I still feel close to my mother when I spend time researching my family history.   So that is my "what got me started" story.  Click HERE to go to the original challenge page and find the links to the other entires in this weeks challenge.   By the way,  the beautiful woman in the picture at the top of the page is my great grandmother.  She married Oscar Rohrer and she is one of the women I featured during March of this year when I wrote the "Women From My Family History"  series.  The blog I wrote for Leona can be found HERE.   And below is a picture of my pretty momma.  The blog I wrote in March that featured my mother can be found HERE.  

Charlotte Ann Rairigh

1930-1990

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Station Eleven

by

Emily St. John Mandel

For a person whose genre of choice is historical fiction,  I have sure read my share of science fiction/fantasy this year and the book I finished last night is one such book.  It is Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel.  This novel is about the unraveling of lives and the ability or inability to move forward.  The book moves back and forth between life as we know it and the struggles of people moving through their particular lives and some of the same individuals after a flu epidemic ends life as we know it on earth.  It is a story of the apocalypse but it is a lot more than that.  I brings the meanings of Shakespeare's plays into real life,  mirroring a production of King Lear in the world as we know it with its  concept of regrets in our lives piling up and a traveling production company who performs Shakespeare's plays and classical music throughout the post apocalypse world.  The banner on the wagon of the production company is a line from Star Trek Voyager episode 122, "Survival is insufficient".   It is one of the those books that will stay with me for a long time.  Maybe always.  Please click on the title and the author's name above to follow the links for more information and enjoy the video that follows.  

River Of Doubt by Candice Millard

The River Of Doubt

by

Candice Millard

Flying back to the midwest from San Diego on Sunday,  I completed listening to The River Of Doubt by Candice Millard on my iPod.  This is an excellent book and I highly recommend it.  Although non fiction it is an action packed story.   It is the story of Theodore Roosevelt's Amazon exploration expedition that he completed after his presidency.  I was especially impressed with the Brazilian military leader Rondon that accompanied the group.  More about him can be found HERE.    Another member of the party was George Cherrie and he too was very interesting.  More can be found about him HERE.   I have fond memories of back in the 1980s when I did quite a bit of canoeing on various American Scenic Riverways and at one time I thought a trip down the Amazon River would be the ultimate journey.  Since listening to this book I am glad I never realized that aspiration.   The graphic descriptions of the rainforest and the river's dangers are very frightening.   This is a book that all history buffs will enjoy.  Please click on the title and the authors name to follow the links to more information and enjoy the video that follows.

The Who Would You Go Back And Interview Challenge

Doris Ellen Shively

1908 - 1994

Although late with the Saturday Night Challenge due to a wonderful wedding I attended over the weekend,  I wanted to participate belatedly.   The particulars of the challenge and links to the other entries can be found HERE but the basic premise is to state if I could go back in time and interview someone who would it be and what would I ask.   The challenge was more specifically what event I would want to go back in time and re-visit to complete interviews during, but I could not think of one specific event.   Yet if I were to pick a person who I had plenty of time to spend with and did not take advantage of the wealth of information available she would have been willing to share it would be my father's mother.   As you can tell from the picture of her I have posted at the beginning of this entry,  my grandmother Doris was my pretty grandma.   She always was dressed over the top and her hair and make up was completed to perfection.  I was lucky to be able to visit her in her home in Fort Wayne Indiana many times,  although we did not live in the same city while I was growing up.  I always had fun when I spent time with her.  Although she was more than willing to tell stories about family members I did not take notes and I did not ask enough specific questions.   I would ask her to tell me more about her mom and dad.  I would question her about her grandparents and her aunts, uncles and cousins.   And I would ask her to tell me specifics about my dad while he was growing up.   Her Find A Grave page can be found HERE.  

The How Many Surnames Challenge

This is a digital image of one of the pages from the Shively Family Bible.

This week the Saturday Night Challenge revolves around the different surnames in our family trees.  To read the original challenge and find the links to the other people that accepted the challenge click HERE.


1) Go into your Genealogy Management Program (GMP; either software on your computer, or an online family tree) and figure out how to Count how many surnames you have in your family tree database.

2)  Tell us which GMP you're using and how you did this task.

3)  Tell us how many surnames are in your database and, if possible, which Surname has the most entries.  If this excites you, tell us which surnames are in the top 5!  Or 10!!  Or 20!!!

4)  Write about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, in a status or comment on Facebook, or in Google Plus Stream post.

I use Reunion software for my family tree.  Under reports I can generate what is called a "last names"  report.  It tells me that I have 1479 unique last names.   To do this I go to the side bar on the left of my reunion tree window and click on reports.   Then I had a prompt to click on to form the report.  I believe it said "Show".   They are arranged alphabetically so I have to scroll though to pick up on which surnames I have the most entries for.   First I scrolled through and jotted down all the names and figures for those surnames I had in the three figure range.  I had seven.  Then I scrolled back through and counted how many I had in the two figure range.  I had 130.  So I scrolled through one more time and jotted down those surnames that were  more than 75 but less than 100.   There were eight.  So I decided I would  list my top 15 with date ranges.  The explanation given for date ranges is:  

• Earliest Date - the first event date recorded for anybody with a selected surname. The "earliest date" could be any event date, including a death date if there is nobody with the surname who has a birth date. 
• Latest Date - the most recent event date associated with a surname. The "latest date" could be today's date if a person with the surname is living. 

* Sullivan - 158 persons, from 1690-2016

* Shively - 152 persons, from 1709-1840

* Rohrer - 126 persons,  from 1696-2016

* Dexter - 125 persons, from 1500 - 2016

* Rairigh - 121 persons,  from 1775 - 2016

* Morris - 108 persons,  from 1663 - 2016

* Sheafor - 105 persons,  from 1754 - 2016

* Coffman - 99 persons,  from 1730 - 2016

* Moyer - 93 persons, from 1672 - 1979

* Snider - 92 persons,  from 1732 - 1963

* Duffield - 89 persons,  1590 - 1965

* Hutchinson - 85 persons, 1564 - 1740

* Wible - 84 persons, 1730 - 1967

* Lyle - 81 persons, 1765 - 2016

* Stair - 76 persons, 1678 - 2016

Please click on the link on the Hutchinson surname for an explanation of why this surname is in my tree.  She was one of the women highlighted in the series I wrote last March honoring women in my family history.   Hutchinson is one of those lines with issues.   Dexter is my married name.  Coffman, Duffield, and Lyle are all surnames that are from my children's father's lines.   Shively, Rohrer,  Wible and Stair are surnames from my paternal lines.  Rairigh, Sheafor,  Moyer,  and Snider are surnames from my maternal lines.  Sullivan and Morris are surnames that wind through both my maternal and paternal lines - we have to love those Pennsylvania Dutch Anabaptist's lines and how they intertwine. 

This week was another learning experience for me.  I did not realize that there was a last names report function in my software.