The Civil War Genealogy Blog Challenge

I have just, just started thinking about writing and blogging about my ancestors and memories. I thought that maybe writing of my intentions, would be an impetus to actually write about my Civil War ancestor.

Therefore, I plan on writing about my G-G-Grandfather Charles Barker Todd. He was an interesting guy. He was wounded at Spotsylvania, and eventually died of lead poisoning from the minie ball that could never be successfully extracted. Meanwhile he served as a juror on the Haymarket Riot trial in Chicago. This is the famous anarchist trial that is studied by many around the Chicago area.

My challenge is to stick-to-it, and actually write this stuff down. Not much research needed. I just need to get.it.written.

One of the fun parts of searching for ancestors, is finding relatives as well. While posting my writing intentions, I found that Bill West the originator of this challenge is a distant cousin through common progenitor Richard Barker, from England who dies in Massachusetts. Small World! Bill's blog

52 Weeks of Sharing Memories

I recently started reading a bunch of genealogy blogs. Some of the bloggers are participating in a project called "52 Weeks of Sharing Memories". The idea is to write your memories for your children and their children so that the details of your life are not lost to them. They've heard your stories, but probably won't remember them.

I know that I'd love to hear all of my Mom and Dad's stories again. How many times have I said, that I wished that I had recorded dad's war stories, and mom's stories of all her cousins and aunts and uncles. Hopefully, I'll catch some of those things here, and hopefully my children will appreciate them!

TO keep me honest and to generate stories of their own, I will publish my memories to my seldom used or read blog, with the holes that my siblings, cousins, etc will comment too.

52 Weeks of Sharing Memories: Favorite Toy or Game (Week 12)

I am starting off where I am, on this project. And that means, that since I am 64 weeks behind, I will just jump in right here. If I get ambitious, I might try to do two memories a week in order to catch up.

I am not sure that I had one special toy. There are toys that I remember. Some because they are still around (very few) and some just because they got caught in the detritus of Mom’s home and they stuck around.

Those that are still around:

· A china statue of Yogi Bear! I think that Huckleberry Hound Dog was my favorite, but I’ve always liked Yogi and Boo-boo too.

· I have a Lucky Locket Kiddle that Peggy Koretke gave to me for my 10^th birthday. I distinctly remember because it was my only birthday party.

· My old Kissy Doll (by Ideal) lives in Northern Wisconsin at the lake house. She doesn’t kiss anymore, but kind of makes a pop noise. Now that I think about it, I think we threw her out when we tore down the old house.

· I still have my Pooh Bear and Lamby stuffed animals. They are threadbare but loved, like the Velveteen Rabbit. I also still have my dad’s Teddy Bear. It’s very cool and jointed and stuffed with sawdust.

Those that I recall fondly:

· I had a very cool metal dollhouse, with plastic furniture. But no dolls that fit in it!

· I loved my dolls that were similar, but different, to Barbie’s. (Jeanne had a Barbie, but I NEVER got one.) I had Tammy’s Family (by Ideal) Tammy, her mom, her dad, Brother Ted, and sister Pepper. I played with them ALL of the time.

· My sisters would remind me that I also had a beloved card board box that mom’s new vacuum cleaner came in. It was shaped like a kayak, with a hole in the center. I’d put beloved treasures in the box and then pout my foot in the center hole and walk around with it like a ski. Made lots of noise and annoyed the hell out of my sisters! All worthwhile! I think that I also had a metal tissue box holder that I rattled around with. I think it was green.

· I had a doll called Charmin’ Cathy. It had a pull string and a player in her side that played little white 3 inch records.

· Also a Beautiful Chrissie Doll with hair that grew! She had a knob on her back that you turned to get her hair to roll up inside her, and then you pushed a button on her stomach to release the hair and make it “grow”! She was also around for quite awhile.

· I had another pull string doll that talked. She was Shrinking Violet from the cartoon show” The Funny Company”. “My name is shrinking Violet.” And her eyes blinked and her mouth moved when she talked. “I’m afraid of noisy boys.” “I’m just afraid of everything.”

Of course, I didn’t have near the volume of toys that kids now days have, but I was quite the privileged little suburban Chicago child.