ACCOMPLISHMENTS FOR THIS WEEK

My two accomplishments for this week are:  I have found two wills from men named Jacob Bowser.  All I have to do is head to Kittanning and look at their wills.   But, I have become wiser and will call first.  I am glad it is only a forty five minute drive.  
Second was today I went to monthly meeting of  the Western Pennsylvania Genealogical Society.   Today was a presentation by Debbie Kapp who talked about Exploring the New Family Search.org.    I have always had trouble using the Family Search web site.  She covered four main places to search and explained the fine details of the web design.   There were a lot of things I did not know or perhaps missed.   I am now excited to go about their site and see what I can find.   
I had a feeling of disappointment when some book I would be interested in was located in the LDS Library in Salt Lake.   Debbie said that a lot of the same books are in other Libraries or genealogical societies.  I have to search more on that subject.  I should have deduced that myself, but now I know.

TUESDAY'S GENE MEETING

 

Once a month, on the second Tuesday, the Oakmont Genealogical Study Group meets.    It is a small group, we usually have some one speak and exchange ideas.

The topic starting with this year will be on going for the next five years.  The Civil War.   We can expect to see many lectures and articles written about that topic.   Olive Bowsers father would have been of the age to serve in the Civil War but I have not found any information mention his name in the Pennsylvania Archives.   Perhaps Jacob was his middle name.

Stopped by the LDS Church and checked their records from Armstrong County PA.    In the book of wills filed I found two Jacob Bowser, one who died in 1878 and one in 1893.   I need to go to the County Courthouse in Kittanning PA and see if I can check those records.   There are thousands of Bowsers from Armstrong County.

I just have to wait for the spring thaw.

52 WEEKS TELEVISION

 

The first time I remember seeing television was when I was very young, probably about three or so.    We did not have a television and on Friday nights my parents and I would go to the neighbors and watch The Friday Night Fights.  I remember is was sponsored by Gillette.   The television was small and in black and white..   I must have thought this was the most boring thing in the world, I do not remember watching it but I remember being there.

When I was about thirteen my parents built a game room in the family home.   It was down in the basement and it was paneled with wood and it had two couches and a few end tables and a television.

We did indeed have a television but we weren't allowed to watch it.   On occasion the whole family would go and watch things like I LOVE LUCY, THE HONEYMOONERS WITH JACKIE GLEANSON,  MILTON BEREL, and TED MACK ORIGINAL AMATEUR HOUR  My husband remembers watching  CAPTAIN VIDEO at his neighbors.

After my brothers came along the television was now upstairs and we would spend the mornings watching TV westerns that were made for kids, this was soon followed by cartoons.   But after my dad came home from work we did not watch TV any more, Dad controlled the TV till bed time. 

I do not watch much television today.  Even today when people talk about what they watch I am sometimes clueless what they are talking about.

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE

Just a bit irked about this show, or lack or it.    Last night I was all set and snuggled down to watch "Who Do You Think You Are?"  and it was not there.     It was a Steeler's special .  For the past two weeks everything that could have been learned and questioned has gone on 24/7 in this town.  There was no need to go over the obvious again and again.   I must add I am not a sports fan and I am in the minority in this town of sports nuts.

I checked the next local market one hundred miles from Pittsburgh and it was not there either.   This happens again in March with the basketball.   I thought that is why they had sports stations like ESPN.


I did find the airing this morning on the NBC website.   I will be glad when the game is over.  I still wish I had someone to do my research for me.  LOL

PICTURES OF MY LAST POSTS

 

My childhood home and the house my parents built.

At an early stage of construction with my dads truck in the side yard.

Me tethered to the play pen so I would not run into the street while they worked on the house.

POSTED ON WRONG BLOG

My previous post about Doom and Gloom was posted (by me) on the wrong blog.   I decided to leave it there and I have to search and see how the same type of weather would have affected our ancestors?

Did most of them walk to work?  I think perhaps they did since most of them lived in the community where the factory was located.   Our great grandmothers probably we stay a home mothers raising the larger families.   If they did work I would suspect they would have done washing or housekeeping for someone else.

I know my grandmother Gertrude O'Rourke would do housekeeping for others.   I also remember that she did a weekly cleaning for a local Savings and Loan to supplement her income.   I went with her one morning and had to sit still in a chair while she cleaned.   Since the Savings and Loan was a few miles away from her home, we took the street car and I remember the far was about a dime.

My other grandmother Anna Bartels work cleaning the local school HOMEVILLE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL.  I note that this school was built in 1939 and that was just a bit after her husband, my grandfather, Willi Schridde had been killed by a lightening strike.   This school was a ten minute walk from her home.

Willie Schridde worked as a millwright at the DUQUESNE STEEL WORKS and they lived up the hill from the plant.   The men walked to work, which was downhill and I do not know if they was trolley service  back up the hill.   Something I had never thought about before.

Thomas Dowd lived near the  EDGAR THOMPSON US STEEL WORKS plant and the men also would have walked to work.   Our grandfathers and great grandfathers did a lot of back breaking work.

I have a little more exploration to do on these two Steel Mills and snow storms of the past.

DOOM AND GLOOM

Weather forecast that is, is over and done for South Western PA.   After listening to the forecast since Saturday or Sunday in my neck of the woods it was essentially a non event.

That may be due to the fact that I did not have to go to work on Tuesday....I did hear of ice and accidents.   Somehow, they never cancel work. 

The major icing did not happen and on Tuesday it was warm enough to warm and melt a lot of the ice.  The ice on my driveway was about an inch and down at the bottom it was about two inches thick.   

When I got home from work today it seems that the melting occurred at the bottom of the ice and it was cracking and there was space underneath.    I got out my metal shovel, I do not know what kind of shovel it is but it done the job.   I was able to spend about a half hour hitting the ice, breaking it off, and tossing it in the yard and out of the driveway. 

The driveway is virtually free of snow and ice and I like it that way.   No ice on the steps or sidewalk.   Most of the snow melted on the roof and the melting water is about finished.

I can not believe that the groundhog said it will be an early spring. It remains to be seen, but I have a hard time believing a large rodent with a weather forecast.