Category Archives: genealogy

Dipping into Evernote for Genealogy

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I’ve been researching my family history for 30 years, and have had Evernote on my computer and mobile devices for 3 or so. But other than using it to clip the occasional newspaper article, I’ve never harnessed the (apparent) power of Evernote as an overarching organizational tool for managing my research.

As part of my 2016 Genealogy Do-Over (GDO), I decided to get serious about Evernote.

Aside: My Evernote setup. I have the desktop version running on a Mac (running OS X 10.11.2). I also have Evernote on my aging iPad and on my iPhone 6. I use the Chrome browser on all devices and have the Evernote Web Clipper extension on my Mac which means I just click the icon to initiate a new note. I will very likely hit the wall on storage and will upgrade to the Premium product even though it breaks this Canadian’s heart to buy anything in US Dollars these days.

Here is a log of my learning process:

  1. I had a peek through the GDO social media sites and found an excellent piece by Colleen Greene on how she uses it. My temptation was to just take her process and make it mine, but quickly realized that this was a rather hasty decision if Evernote and I are going to be best friends going forward. But I liked her note naming and tagging conventions and mentally tagged these for consideration going forward. (See what I did there?}
  2. I decided to do a quick setup on Evernote, creating a notebook stack called Genealogy that contained three folders (for now at least): Maternal Line, Paternal Line, and Research Tools. (Thank you, Colleen.) I had an old notebook called “Genealogy” that was my holding cell for everything related to family history that I had clipped in the past, and I stuck that in there too with the intent of sorting the notes into their proper homes at some point, say, when I get tired of watching Evernote tutorials. I immediately saved the Colleen Green page above into the Research Tools notebook, and tagged it “evernote” and “tools”.
  3. I googled “evernote for genealogy” and right near the top of the search results was this treasure trove of possibility on the Cyndi’s List site. Templates! I love me a good template. Saved the page into my Research Tools notebook and then spent a few hours going through it.
    1. I had a look through Thomas MacEntee’s article Evernote: Your Virtual Genealogy Assistant for a good review of the features of Evernote. I immediately created a contact called “Evernote” and added the email address to which I can send content to my Evernote account. I also learned from Tonia’s Roots that you can add @<notebookname> or #<tag> to the subject of your email and the note will get automatically filed in the correct notebook.
    2. I found Colleen Greene’s helpful piece on Research Logs and Note Links, the second in her series on Evernote for Genealogy, so I decided to just go through her six-article series and mine it for the nuggets. There’s a free downloadable template for her research log that she uses for each person in her tree. It’s a little complex for my needs but I will create my own template at some point. I don’t want to duplicate what I have in my tree software in Evernote, but simply make it a place to store media, articles, and research goals and checklists.
  4. Finally, I reserved and checked out How to Use Evernote for Genealogy: A Step-by-Step Guide to Organize Your Research and Boost Your Genealogy Productivity by Kerry Scott from local public library. It looks pretty comprehensive and I’ll be perusing it for more ideas. If it looks like something I’ll want to refer to regularly, I’ll purchase a copy.

My next steps are to develop some templates for research goals. I don’t want to duplicate information in Evernote that I already have in my genealogy software, but it will be the best place to capture the outstanding research questions that are active at any given time.

 

 

My Genealogy Do-Over

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best-practices-next exit

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am embarking on a Genealogy Do-Over in 2016, following Thomas MacEntee‘s process. In the first month of this 12-month process, we are asked to set aside our previous research and get some preparatory work done.

Because I am using this process to switch to new software, and because I am reasonably focussed and evidence-based in the rest of my life, I am planning to simply access my paper and electronic records as I need them going forward. Many of them were purchased, and some were obtained during my trip to Salt Lake City last year so it is unreasonable to have to re-generate them.

In thinking about my research practices and looking at some lists of “golden rules” published by MacEntee and Alona Tester, I have come up with three areas that I want to focus on (and improve) as well as some research tools that I need to learn more about.

Janet’s Best Practices (going forward, at least):

  1. Organisation
    Have a plan: keep a research log and to-do list.
    Capture now. Curate later.
    New tools: RootsMagic, Evernote
  2. Accuracy
    Find at least 2 sources for every fact. Don’t believe every family story or everything in a certificate.
    Read all documents thoroughly, scraping every piece of pertinent data.
    Have a consistent method of recording data and sources.
    New tools: The BCG Genealogical Standards Manual, RootsMagic
  3. Storytelling
    Look for stories, not just people, places, and dates.
    Learn about the social history of the the places my ancestors lived.
    Visit as many living relatives as possible.
    Capture the stories of my ancestors on my blog or elsewhere.

Evernote is a very popular tool used to capture and organize stuff. It’s a great place to drop photos, articles, snippets of information that you can then tag. I have used it sporadically but I know that there is a lot more power available there. In the next month, I plan to get more familiar with it using online tutorials and will set it up so that it can become an integral part of my research tool box.

The Genealogical Standards book mentioned above was published by the Board of Certification of Genealogists and contains valuable guidance for ensuring that genealogical work is accurate. I purchased this book a few years ago but have not dived into it yet.  Bedside reading.

 

Friday Seven

cymbalta, genealogy, goats, home repair, microbiome, ollie, rawf, royal winter fair, ssnri, weaning

  1. What an autumn. I sit here in Toronto with all my windows open, enjoying the November air. In the evenings, I put on the fireplace to keep toasty, but really. I’m enjoying this immensely.

    Ollie, cozy in front of the fireplace.
    Ollie, cozy in front of the fireplace.
  2. I had a med check with my doc last month to discuss what I’m on and, based on my blood work, see if any adjustments needed to be made. I was pretty sure my thyroid levels were a little high as I’m always warm, but he said that I was just fine. I also wanted to reduce the level of the SSNRI that I’ve been on for quite a while as I’m feeling well and thought it would be nice to get off it. He looked at me with a smile and said “You know, it could be the meds that are keeping you feeling well.” Acknowledged this, and we decided to give it a go to see whether my post-menopausal moods really needed it. I started the weaning process and cut down by 25% by alternating pill sizes each day. No apparent changes to my mood, but I had completely forgotten about the pain issues that Cymbalta is known to treat. It’s been two weeks, enough time to get to a steady state at 75% dose and I’ve decided to go back up. The total-body achiness is all coming back to me and I don’t want to be there again.
  3. I fixed the pilot light in my hot water tank! Well, fixed might be pushing it. I relit it. But I’ve never done it before and was pretty happy with my home repair skillz. We’ve never had an issue with our tank, but a recent shower that ended up lukewarm suggested that something was amiss. Luckily, the instructions were written on the tank. The hardest part was getting my creaky body down on to the floor to actually see the little flame (or, lack thereof.)
  4. My friend Kath is coming from Ottawa tomorrow for a week to do some genealogical research and go to the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair. We’re attending on November 11 and will see the Longines FEI World Cup and spend time on the exhibition floor. Last year I discovered that show cows wear hair extensions and some type of glossy spray is used to shine up the udders. We’ll also try to get to the Goats on the Go show, and watch for the latest Toronto celebrity-goat, Turbo. There are lots of great, local wares for sale, like honey, wool, flour, cheese, and an entire area devoted to Northern Ontario producers. Plus lots horsey and animal stuff for the hardcore. Kath got a gorgeous turquoise blanket two years ago for her horse River.

    Kath and River, Spring 2014
    Kath and River, Spring 2014
  5. Genealogy-wise, we’ll hit the Archives of Ontario (at York University), the City of Toronto Archives, and probably the Toronto Reference Library. We’re hoping to have our annual breakfast with our mutual friend Jay at OverEasy on Bloor Street. (Other hangers-on are welcome!) We’ll try to fit in a visit to the Turner exhibit at the AGO and/or Warhol at the Lightbox; Kath is an artist (although she hasn’t been arting much over the past few years.) When we went to the Abstract Expressionist exhibit at the AGO a couple of years ago (her favorite period), she taught me so much. It’s exciting to see art with a knowledgeable person.
  6. I’ll be spending a quite a bit of time in Vancouver over the next year or two. Z has “moved” out there for work, has a lovely apartment in the Coal Harbour area, and I will be the one commuting. I’m aiming for half time out there and the rest here in Toronto. It will be a change to go from cold and sunny to mild and grey, but I like the city and will try to find a way to bring Ollie out with me with the least stress for him (and me.) Otherwise, his brother from another mother (and father), namely, my elder son, is very happy to dogsit in my absence.
  7. Saw an excellent documentary on the microbiome on The Nature of Things last week. I’ve been reconsidering my diet over the past few months, trying to reduce the amount of animal protein I consume. More to come on the blog.

For more quick takes, visit our host at the This Ain’t the Lyceum.

Bookish update plus the Outgoing Introvert

book club, choir, community, genealogy, introversion, reading

I usually tweet my #FridayReads, the meme started by Bethanne Patrick (@thebookmaven), so I thought I’d let y’all know what’s cooking on the reading front this week here as well.

I’ve done my first dive in to The Novel: A Biography. I’ve read the Prologue and most of the Introduction and it’s absolutely terrific reading. Once I get to the first chapter (Literature is Invention), I’ll also be picking up The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, noted by the author as being the first English not-quite-a-novel (but a constant narrator and more of a memoir/travel book.) (It’s free at the link as, written in the 14th century, it’s well out of copyright.)

I’m halfway through Inside by Alix Ohlin. I heard Ohlin read at IFOA a couple of years ago and purchased her book based on that. But never got to it. So far so good, and I hope to finish it this weekend.

On the audio front, I started listening to In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. This is for one of the Winter Reading Challenge at Roundtable on Goodreads, and is referenced in The Novel’s chapter title Impersonation.

I have yet to dive in to The Brothers Karamazov, although if I don’t want to get hopelessly behind in the group read, I should pull it out tomorrow. Or rather boot it up. This is one of those cases where my paper copy’s print was too small for me to read comfortably so I ended up buying a copy of the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation for my Kobo. They did a fabulous job on Anna Karenina so I’m hoping Brothers will be good too.

The Outgoing Introvert

This article from the Globe and Mail kinda sums up my project/non-resolution around meeting more people IRL. (It’s well worth a read, if you think you might not have enough community time, and I don’t mean your family or work community.) While I have benefitted incredibly from meeting people online, particularly when I was out of the country for five years, it made me do a bit of a mental inventory of the places where I am part of a community outside of my family. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become much less shy and more outgoing. (“Shy” you say, incredulously, those of you who have met me in the past five to ten years? In truth, I used to have trouble ordering a pizza by phone.)

My communities:

Choir: an absolute necessity in my life. My last two choirs (Toronto and Atlanta) have been associated with my parish. Plus a summer choir that was Catholic but not parish-based. When I lived in Ottawa, I was part of a community choir. I love crave the chance to sing on a regular basis. I meet people of all ages, different religions (or none), knitters, readers, professional musicians, students, vegans, retired people, professors, writers) who all come together to seek beauty in the combination of voices.

Book club: While the club started out with mainly people I know, we’ve branched out and I’ve had a chance to meet fascinating people who have a common love of reading and talking about literature. We’re one of the few book clubs that I know about that includes both men and women and I find that this makes for a somewhat more interesting vibe. We’ve also started an annual low-stress December meeting where, rather than read a book to discuss, we each bring a book that we’ve loved to introduce to the rest of the group. This is a great way to get to know each other a little better.

Genealogical meetings: I used to volunteer quite actively but have had to give that up in the past couple of years. I don’t know many people at the events so sometimes I don’t talk with many people, but I”m travelling to Salt Lake City with a group in February and will get to know some of the local people better.

The Salon: In years BC (before children), we held a reasonably regular “salon” where we invited friends who were interested in smart discussion to talk about topics. Wine and nibblies and a moderator. Sort of like a book club but not on a book. I’d love to do this again and have been mulling over format, topics, and logistics. I even have a spreadsheet somewhere….

So, where is your community? Do you have one? Do you need one?

New Year 2015: Projects

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I’m not making resolutions per se this year, but I’ve started a few projects that will put some discipline in my life.

On the health front, I’m starting the 100 days of real food program. It’s 14 weeks of “mini-pledges” that (hopefully) turn into habits. This week I’ve pledged to eat two servings of fruit/veg with each meal which is only an issue for me at breakfast. I mean, not an issue, but it’s not a habit (yet.) I also have a few minor health issues that I should deal with in the new year.

On the reading front, I’m participating in a few online challenges and read-alongs. I’m a member of the Roundtable group at Goodreads, a newly formed group rising from the ashes of Bookish that was recently closed. Like Bookish, they do a bi-annual reading challenge and so I’ve made my plans for the next four months. (I won’t get them all read, but I’ve lined up a book for most of the challenges.). They’re also doing a year-long group read of The Novel: A Biography by Michael Schmidt (along with various novels discussed therein); and a two-month discussion of The Brothers Karamazov. We’ve got our next four books lined up for my IRL book club: Us Conductors (Sean Michaels), Chez l’arabe: Stories (Mireille Silcoff), All My Puny Sorrows (Miriam Toews), and Bad Feminist: Essays (Roxane Gay).

On the social front, I am committing to meeting some online friends/relatives in real life! Last year, it was wonderful to finally meet Zouheir’s (and now my) friend Jean-Paul Audouy, high school friend Judson Stone who I saw in Paris for the first time since high school, as well as sheep-farming cousin Tom Goddard. This has spurred me on to get together with a cousin on my father’s side, Lillian Orloff Spencer, in Arizona in February and another on my mother’s side, Audrey Groff, close to me here in the GTA later this month. I also commit to be better about keeping in touch with those closer to me but with whom I can go for weeks or months without seeing.

With JP at Volos in Toronto
With the Temiskaming Goddards in Barrie
With Judson in Paris

And finally, on the home front, I will be continuing the decluttering with Rosalind from Fresh Start Solutions and getting some renovations done. December was a great month for that, with a huge purge of our main floor, new fridge and wall oven, as well as a good start on the basement (which is currently the home of things to be consigned/sold in the next little while.) The biggest win for me here will be the creation of my study/studio with all my creative endeavours organized and ready to go.

What do you see looking forward this year? Any projects/resolutions?

Mining (a document) for genealogical gold.

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I started my family history journey 30 years ago, specifically when I became interested in the Jewish side of my ancestry. I knew very little. My father (Franklin) was an only child, and both he and his mother (Vera Elstein) had died by then. Plus, his parents (David and Vera) had divorced when he was quite young and no information about his biological father was ever forthcoming. I knew from David’s marriage certificate that his father’s name was Myer Berkman (b. Minsk) and that his mother’s name was Adela. Her surname was not particularly legible but my best guess is Vaskoboynik.

At some point, I requested death information from the Province of Ontario and got a computer generated extract with the basics: name, date of death, parent’s names (no maiden name for mother). At the time, I’m not sure that one could request a photocopy of the actual death certificate and that it contained much more information of interest to genealogists.

Death Extract, David Berkman
Death Extract, David Berkman

Note the typos (“BERKHAN”, “BECKMAN”), the place of death as Cornwall, and undetermined marital status.

A few weeks ago, I submitted an online request and received the full statement of death.

Statement of Death for David Berkman
Statement of Death for David Berkman

It sent me off on a research journey and I seem to have discovered a branch of my family of which I was not aware.

The first thing I noticed was that David didn’t die in Cornwall as per the extract, but rather in Hawkesbury Ontario, and that his place of permanent residence was the (now demolished) Manitonna Hotel in Brockville. Originally a furrier, he had also been a merchant in ladies wear and millinery. So I supposed that he might have had a store in Brockville. While I was driving through the town on my way home from Montreal, I dropped by the Brockville Public Library and perused their business directories from the 1950s but couldn’t find him there.

Manitonna Hotel. Brockville Ontario
Manitonna Hotel. Brockville Ontario

The marital status field was not filled in, but the name of his ex-wife Vera (my grandmother) was there. I also noticed that the informant on the certificate was described as a nephew. This would imply that he had at least one sibling. Unfortunately, the signature of the informant is illegible.

I noticed from the certificate that he had been in Hawkesbury for a month when he died, and that he hadn’t worked for much of the previous year. So maybe he was living with this nephew. I did a Google search for [berkman hawkesbury] and the first hit was a Sadie (Berkman) Rubenstein (born Russia), who gave birth to a number of children in Hawkesbury after marrying Samuel Rubenstein in Montreal. And then I remember the legal matter.

In going through my father’s papers with my mother a number of years ago, I found an agreement dated 1957 between my father (Franklin Berkman) and a Frank Rubenstein (living in Kingston), regarding David’s estate. There seems to have been some issue with the settlement of the estate and my father would have been his father’s next of kin.

Back to Ancestry.ca and I find Samuel and Sadie Rubenstein’s first child was named Frank. The place of death address on David’s certificate was their home in Hawkesbury.

Sadie had (I believe) nine children. I spent some time finding marriages for (some of) them, births of children, death dates, etc. And it would appear that I have some second cousins living in Montreal. I used a couple of newspaper sites to search for marriages and obituaries. Here’s an example of one for one of Sadie’s children, Helena.

Helena Rubenstein wedding

This experience underscores the importance of locating original documents when doing genealogical research. I was able to discover an entire clan based on a couple of addresses and names, and the word “nephew”.

A parish statistician (1770)

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I’ve been searching the terrific database of parish records for Cheshire and for each set of records that are uploaded, there are  notes from those doing the transcribing.

St. Mary’s Church Tilston – geograph.org.uk – 510742 (Tower from 15th century.)
In the parish of Tilston St Mary, I came across this one:

Since I have been Rector of Tilston there have been
Burials 737
Christenings 829
Weddings 209
May 16th 1770
(Signed) James Richardson Rector
More Christenings than burials 107
Ten Christenings for nine burials
Five out of nine live to be merries [marrried?]
17 females born for 10 males
About one in forty die in a year.

James Richardson MA was rector of this parish from 1719-1773.

If you’v got ancestors from Cheshire, have a look at the Cheshire Parish Register Database. The user-interface is not gorgeous, but once you get there, click on Database on the left hand nav-bar and then you can search by event (Baptism, Marriage, Burial)

Workday Wednesday

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I’ve recently been responding to some hints on Ancestry.com, those little green leaves that tell you that there are records in their database that may contain information about ancestors in your tree. In particular, I’ve been looking at the Rycroft family, my maternal great-grandmother’s mother Eliza Rycroft.

Eliza was born in 1842 and baptised in St. Oswald’s Parish, Chester in Cheshire, England in 1842. This parish was associated with the south transept of Chester Cathedral, inside the ancient walls of the city. Her family lived on Princess Street where her father Thomas was a pawnbroker. Her mother was Sarah Purslow. Eliza married James Dobb Price (also a pawnbroker) in 1866 and they lived next door to her parents. Eliza is noted as a grocer in the 1871 census. They had four children, the second of which was my great grandmother Emily Minnie Price.

Stephen Robert Goddard and Emily Minnie Price
Stephen Robert Goddard and Emily Minnie Price

Eliza died in her late 30s and the children were split up: the elder two lived with their grandmother next door and the younger two went to live with their father’s mother and her second husband, Thomas and Mary Ruscoe, in Toxteth Park (now Liverpool), about 30 miles away. A few years later, Minnie emigrated to Canada where she met and married my great-grandfather, Stephen Robert Goddard.

What interested me yesterday morning was that it became apparent that another Rycroft family member also came to Canada, specifically, the Toronto area.

Anne Rowe (1849-1904)
Anne Rowe (1849-1904)

Eliza was the first of five children born to Thomas and Sarah. Thomas William was born in 1848; Sarah Jane was born in 1850; John Stanley Ford was born in 1851; and Annie Eliza was born in 1854. Thomas is listed as a carpenter in the 1871 census. (Sarah and Annie work with their parents as “pawn brokers assistants”. John heads off to Lancashire to be an “assistant master” in a school.) Thomas sails for Canada on the Nestorian in the summer of 1872 and six years later, marries Ann Rowe in Toronto.

By 1881, they have a toddler (Annie) who dies shortly thereafter and an infant (Stanley) and are living in St. Patrick’s Ward where Thomas continues to work as a carpenter. By 1891, they have three growing sons (Stanley, Percy, and Jamie) and Thomas is now listed as a clerk. Jamie dies the following year at age 4 of diphtheria.

In 1901, Thomas is working as a clerk in a store and making $500 per year, well above others who live on his street. Stanley is a piano maker, making $200 per year, and Percy is a machinist, $200 per year. They are now living at 261 Church St (currently in the middle of Ryerson University) and Thomas is a warden at Holy Trinity (Anglican) Church. In 1904, Ann dies of general peritonitis.

Holy Trinity Church on Trinity Square, Toronto, c 1870-5.
Holy Trinity Church on Trinity Square, Toronto, c 1870-5.

I have been unable to Thomas Sr. in the 1911 census. But death records show that he died in 1912 of heart disease. He was living at 425 Wellesley Street.

In 1904, Percy marries Jean MacPherson and they have two children in the following two years, Dorothy and John. Then they move to Watertown NY where he is a collar-maker in the harness industry. I believe that they return to Canada but I haven’t verified this yet.

Stanley Rycroft (b.1881)
Stanley Rycroft (b.1881)

Stanley marries Frances Mabel Riches in 1907 and by 1921, they are living in Parkdale at 31 Prince Rupert Ave. Stanley works at Gourlay Winter and Leeming, a piano factory and makes $1560 per year. They have two children, Frances and James. I kwow that Gourlay Winter and Leeming go out of business in the 20s, so I’m not sure where Stanley ends up (yet.)

I haven’t taken this story much further, but I know that there are lots of references to Rycrofts in the local paper from those years that I haven’t begun to explore. Even better, I likely have some Rycroft cousins on this side of the Atlantic that I haven’t met yet. If you know or are related to any of these people’s descendants, please get in touch.

 

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Wednesday’s Child: Carole Orloff

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Lillian Elstein was my grandmother Vera’s sister. Lally (as she was known) was born in Winnipeg in 1909. She married Conrad Orloff, an actuary, at the age of 20 and had two children, Warren and Carole.

Lally, Carole, and Warren Visiting family in Winnipeg, Aug 1937. (Winnipeg Free Press)
Lally, Carole, and Warren, Aug 1937. (Winnipeg Free Press)

Sadly, Lally and Carole were killed in a car accident in 1940 outside of Kansas City. The following item appeared in the Winnipeg Free Press shortly after the funeral service.

Winnipeg Free Press - June 13 1940
Winnipeg Free Press – June 13 1940

Mother and daughter were buried side by side in the Shaarey Zedek Cemetery, Winnipeg.

Grave of Lilian and Carole Orloff, Shaarey Zedek Cemetery, Winnipeg
Grave of Lilian and Carole Orloff, Shaarey Zedek Cemetery, Winnipeg

On a happier note, I have recently connected with Lillian Orloff Spencer, Warren’s daughter, and I very much look forward to meeting her in person some day.

Seven Quick Takes – Who loves ya’?

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Seven Quick Takes Friday

  1. I have to admit that after 30 years of marriage, Valentine’s Day has something of a been-there-done-that feel to it. We love each other madly, but really don’t need a day to revel in it more than we normally do. But here’s a shot from a year or so after we were married and spent six weeks in France and England. On the left is Zouheir’s younger brother.

    Jacques, me, Zouheir. Christmas 1984. Villeneuve-le-Roi, France
    Jacques, me, Zouheir. Christmas 1984. Villeneuve-le-Roi, France
  2. I’ve successfully found a home for the memorial cards I blogged about a few weeks ago. The contact I made through ancestry.ca resulted in a referral to a granddaughter of Samuel, one of the younger siblings of the deceased children. He moved with his wife to Winnipeg MB in 1915 and his granddaughter lives on the west coast. I’ve popped the cards into the mail for her.
  3. Last week, I booked a table at a downtown resto for tonight through the Opentable system. Earlier this week, I got a message from them saying that we were seated in the bar, there were no more spots in the dining room, and that we were limited to an hour and a half as they needed the table. I cancelled. And tweeted about it. The restaurant replied to my tweet saying “sorry for the confusion, it’s just an estimate for 2ppl that we try to communicate. You can take as long as you want.” Sorry. Too little too late. Sadly, i’m sure they’ll be fully booked tonight and really don’t care.
  4. We’re seeing Heartbeat of Home, part of the Mirvish subscription series, tomorrow night. This is not something I would buy single tickets for, but Richard Ouzounian gave it 4/4 stars so we’ll see what all the fuss is about. We’ve booked a table at Portico before, a new restaurant (to us).
  5. I’ve made contact with another branch of my ancestry! My maternal grandmother was a Goddard, and thanks to the intrepid work of members of the Goddard Association of Europe, I have connected with a third cousin who is a sheep farmer in northern Ontario (near New Liskeard.) My second great grandfather William and his great-grandfather John both emigrated to Ontario from Kent in the UK around 1870. The children of Willam came south to Toronto and his grandfather John Jr. went north to Temiskaming. Very exciting! We’re hoping to meet up sometime in March when he’s passing through Toronto.

    Great-grandmother Minnie, Grandmother Daisy, Great Uncle Percy, Great Grandfather Stephen
    My Goddard ancestors: Great-grandmother Minnie (Price), Grandmother Daisy, Great Uncle Percy, Great Grandfather Stephen
  6. House of Cards season 2 is now available on Netflix. This may be our Valentine’s Day watching tonight. Yesterday, President Obama tweeted

    Here’s the trailer for the new season:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBabKoHSErI

  7. I’m still loving my Bulletproof Coffee every morning. Check it out if you’re looking for a way to feel energized and productive. I’m gonna post more on this topic soon.

Lots more Seven Quick Takes over at Conversion Diary!