Updated 12-25-2019
(I never got this posted to my website, but I still put it up on my diary pages because I wrote it and wanted it to be memorialized)
It's the evening of Christmas Day, quiet in the house now, Wrapping paper all put away and toys and gifts enjoyed, A wonderful meal shared with good friends and family, blessings all around. Looking back it's been a tough year, our dear mom left us quite suddenly in October when what we thought was pneumonia turned out to be kidney failure and she was unable to fight her way back, We weren't ready to let her go but... that's not how it works in the end, we know she's watching over us. Maybe she will be sending a few hints our way to help us get through the brickwalls. Thanksgiving was hard, celebrating her 83rd birthday without her, I keep picturing her and my father dancing and it keeps me going.
Some resolutions for the New Year, I'm off to RootsTech the end of February, with high hopes to get back on track with my research. I will be getting to Salt Lake City a few days before the conference starts so I'll have time to do some research at the Family History Library. My 2020 plans including writing an article about Alexander Baker to be published in a Journal, Also on my ToDo list will getting my DNA matches into a sensible order. On that note, in March our local Society is sponsoring a Seminar featuring Diahan Southard "Your DNA Guide". In August my husband and I will be taking a belated 40th wedding anniversary trip to Scotland, visiting Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Updated 1-23-2017
Seems like forever that I've been able to write a few words here. I'm still working away on my genealogy just not from the road. In April 2013 we welcome our 1st grandchild into the world, a beautiful baby girl, named Paige. We've stayed close to home helping to care for her and enjoying every minute of her sweet life. She will be four years old in April 2017 and of course since I'm Nana, I think everything she does is just awesome, She loves to help her mommy bake and can crack an egg better the most adults. Her vocabulary is pretty advanced and sometimes she cracks us up when she tells us things.
I've just uploaded a new family tree below with new names so take a minute to check out any addtions. My goal this year is to continue to work on the Alexander Baker lines and to see if I can make any headway on James Emery's origins. Last year I was also in touch with a cousin of Tony's; Echo Fling who connects via our Starkey lines. Our joint goal is to ferret out the mysterious Benjamin Starkey who left his wife and children in New York heading off to Illinois (? looking for land maybe). He died in the fall of 1848 in Pekin, Illinois leaving Mary and her children destitute.
Updated 7-22-2015
Seems like forever that I've been able to write a few words here. I'm still working away on my genealogy just not from the road. In April 2013 we welcome our 1st grandchild into the world, a beautiful baby girl, named Paige. We've stayed close to home helping to care for her and enjoying every minute of her sweet life. She's two years old now and it's flown by. I'll post more in the future but tonight I had a minute to add a couple lines. I also updated the family tree with new names so take a minute to check that out.
Updated 9-7-2011
Our summer trip started June 1st with our 1st destination Salt Lake City, Utah. We traveled with my mom who was planing to visit my brother at his new home in Park City for a couple weeks and then she was heading home to Colorado Springs after spending the winter with us in California. We were heading on to Michigan for a headstone dedication for James Emery, Tony's 4th great grandfather, he served in the War of 1812, but had no headstone for his grave. Thanks to Ron Bellinger dedication in researching military members in Allegan County Michigan we were going to be able to see that James' service was properly recognized. One little problem, my mom had fallen the week before we left and injured her knee, what we didn't know was that she had fractured the tibia plateau around her knee replacement, she would need surgery and a several month recovery. Thank goodness my brother and his wife were up to the job of getting her to the doctor's and hospital along with several months of recovery. I'm so blessed to have a great family that pulls together when the need arises.
Tony and I needed to be in Allegan County, Michigan by June 12th for the ceremony, we headed out on June 6. Of course nothing goes as planned, just past the Utah/Wyoming border, the alternator gauge started dropping, we made it to Rawlins and into a freightliner repair shop. Yup, the alternator was dying, but they could get us a new one, Air Freighted from Reno overnight (ouch on the cost of that) and get it installed the next day. Okay with no choice we found an RV park nearby and headed over to spend the night. Oh did I mention the wind was gusting at 60 miles per hour? So on the way to the RV park, I head this horrible banging coming from the roof, I thought maybe one of our vent covers on the the roof was loose or something. Yeah something was loose alright, a big section of our roof had come up and was banging and tearing. We got settled and called a mobile repair guy looking for roof tape, he sent us to a shop that supplied us with what looked like 6 inch wide electrical tape, they use it on oil wells, the hotter it gets the better it sticks. At this point we had no choice but to try it, so here we are, on the roof in 60 mph wind gusts trying to get the tear repaired. Which I'm proud to say we did, and this winter we are getting a new roof put on.
Next it was on to Allegan County, Michigan, where we attended a headstone dedication for Tony's 4th great grandfather James Emery who served in the War of 1812. Below is a link to a page about James and pictures of the ceremony. We had a lovely time visiting with Ron Bellinger who made all the arrangements for the headstone. We spent the remainder of June exploring Michigan, visiting Lansing, Frankenmuth, Detroit and of course we had to stop in Bear Lake to see our good friends Don and Doreen. We even had time to taken a wonderful kayak trip on the Manistee River. Our next stop was Mackinac City and a trip to Mackinac Island, were there are no car, only bicycles and horses to get around, it's a great place to relax and enjoy a slower pace. We had one more stop to make before we left Michigan, Sault Ste. Marie, we stayed Aune Osborn Campground on the banks of the river separating the US and Canada. We spent a week watching the huge freighters heading for the locks, some of freighter are over 1000 feet long. We also had time to visit White Fish Point Light House (remember the Edmund Fitzgerald?) and took an amazing boat tour of Pictured Rocks National Seashore. Overall our time in Michigan was very nice and we're glad we got to explore the state.
After leaving Michigan we headed for New York State, taking a short cut across Canada and entering back into the US at Niagara Falls, our destination was Lockport, NY on the Erie Canal. More genealogy research, several of our family members were in this area, James Emery, Benjamin Starkey and Edward Howe. I was able to track down some land records and a few other things, more pieces to the puzzle. We had one more stop in New York, Massena on what they refer to as the 4th coast, Massena sits on the St. Lawrence Seaway right across from Cornwall, Ontario, Canada. We were researching Tony' s loyalist ancestors along with James Emery who settled in Williamsburg after he was released as a prisoner of war at the end of the War of 1812. It was fun exploring this section of Ontario and seeing where our ancestors lived. We even drove up to Ottawa for the day to visit the Capitol. We met some very nice Canadian Rv's and stayed in the area for about 2 weeks.
We were undecided about were to go next, my mom was going to be back in Colorado around the 24th of August, we thought about making a trip over into Vermont and then down to Washington DC but decided to head back to Colorado so we could be there when my mother arrived back home. Good thing we didn't go to Vermont and DC, as Hurricane Irene made a huge mess there with rain and flooding, Everything happens for a reason, and we are grateful that we weren't there for the disaster. We arrived back in Colorado Springs, the day before my mom and were able to open up her house and stock up the fridge. My sister-in-law drove with her from Utah and we had a nice visit over the weekend before she had to fly back. My mom is doing great her leg has healed and she starting a walking program to build her strength.
We are still in Colorado staying at Peregrine Pines the RV park at the United States Air Forces Academy, a lovely park. We did have one more major problem with the RV, on the way into Colorado Springs, we cracked our windshield, road debris. Thank goodness for insurance, a new windshield had to be ordered from Washington State and took about 4 hours yesterday to put in! We plan on staying here until next week and then we are heading to Salt Lake City to do a be of research and visit my brother. We'll head back to Hemet by the end of September, hope the weather cools down by then.
Updated 1-13-2011
It's 2011, can you believe it, seems like 2010 flew by. We had an awesome summer, spend May through the middle of September on the East coast. We started out in Charlotte, North Carolina and the Nascar Hall of Fame. Then it was north to Massachusetts, we spent the summer hanging out in the Boston area. New England was great, we stayed in an RV park run by Hanscom Air Force Base, located near Concord, Massachusetts. This became our base camp for our New England travels, 1st thing we learned to do is ride the Boston subways, parking in Boston is almost impossible and the subway takes you just about everywhere. One of our trips into the city took us on a walking tour of the Boston Commons and into the North End, all those wonderful Italian dining choices and bakeries, yummm. I was also able to visit the New England Historical Genealogical Society to spend the day researching. Tony was thrilled when we were able to tour "Old Ironsides" in the Charleston Harbor and visit Bunker Hill, I'm proud to say that I was able to walk up all 294 steps to the top.
The highlight of Boston was the 4th of July, we took the subway into Cambridge and set our camping chairs up on the banks of the Charles River, there was food, music and fun, as dusk fell we were treated to a concert by the Boston Pops and a wonderful fireworks display. I've watched this show on TV but being there was so much better, we could feel every burst of the fireworks. Thoughout the summer we took day trips, visiting Newport, Rhode Island and gawking at the Mansions on Bellevue Avenue, enjoying the scenery along Ocean Drive. I can see why weathly New Yorkers made this their summer escape, it is very lovely there. Another day trip was to Hartford, Connecticut and a trip to the State Library there, genealogy research combined with vacations, a dream come true. We also toured parts of New Hampshire, and enjoyed shopping there, they have no state sales tax, so bargins are really bargins.
Tony's Baker family came to this country and settled in the Boston area around 1635, at one point they lived in the Glouscester, which is north of Boston on Cape Ann.
Then end of July we packed up the RV and headed north to Bangor, Maine. I've always been a Stephen King fan, so I had to take a peek at his house, and snap some pics. We also saw the Standpipe, as fans will remember from his book "IT". Day trips in Maine inculded Acadia National Park which has some of the most incredible scenery in the Northeast, it's now one of my favorites and Bar Harbor. We were there the week after the "Pres" was there, we didn't eat at Stewman's like he did, but had a lovely dinner at another local eatery. Looking at a map and realizing that we were so close to New Brunswick, we decided to take a day trip, we crossed the border at Calais (they pronounce it callous). We drove to St. Andrew, visited a military blockhouse and walked along the rocky shoreline of the Bay of Fundy. We found out that we could take a auto ferry from Back Bay to Deer Island and then another ferry to Roosevelt's Campbello Island, so it was off to Back Bay. The ferry in Canada was free and we've never taken an auto ferry, plus we got to see some harbor seals playing along side the ferry. From Campbello Island you can drive back into the United States at Lubec. This put us near Quoddy Lighthouse, which holds the distinction of being the Easternmost point in the contiguous United States, and the closest point to Africa from a point in the United States. We have previously visited Key West which is the Southernmost point.
We like Maine so much that we decided to stay another week. We moved the RV a bit south, staying right outside of Freeport, which you may know is home to L.L. Bean (love their stuff!). Tony and I have always talked about getting a couple kayaks, we both love the water and he had a kayak as a Boy Scout, but I've been in one. We found out that L.L. Bean has a 2 hour "Discovery" tour and they give you the basics of kayaking. We signed up for an early morning class, it was awesome, there were only 3 people in our class and 2 instructors. We were able to paddle around the harbor near South Freeport for a couple hours, and we loved it, a couple of kayaks are on our to buy list, what a great way to see some new scenery.
We were sad to leave Maine but still had more we wanted to do, so we headed back to Boston and Hanscom Air Base, we had made some good friends while we were there and wanted to meet up with them again. Jerry and Janice invited us to take the ferry out to Provincetown on Cape Cod, it takes about 2 hours on the water to get there and then we spent the day wandering around in and out of shops and dinning. We also had the chance to take another trip on the water, this time it was a canoe trip with several couples from the RV park. We put the canoes in near the Old North Bridge in Concord and spent the day floating through the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, saw lots of different birds, turtles and fish. I must say I like kayaks better than canoes, kayaks are easier to maneuver around and paddle.
After leaving the Boston area, we had one state left on our map that we had not visited, Vermont! We have now visited all 48 contiguous states and have been to Alaska on a cruise, that just leaves Hawaii. We found a lovely RV park just outside of Bennington, Vermont, it was a perfect spot to visit places both in Vermont and Albany, New York. Tony and I have a joint cousin (he's related to me through my mother's family and to Tony through his father's lines, kinda cool), John works in downtown Albany so we dropped in to see him one day on a trip into the city. Vermont is a beautiful green state and full of wonderful charm, we only got to visit a small corner of the state and want to return someday and see more of the state. Bennington has a huge battle moument dedicated to the Battle of Bennington. This area is were the famous "Green Mountain Boys" dwelt, Tony is cousins with both Ethan Allen (his mother was Mary Baker) and Remember Baker who is the 3rd great grandson of Alexander Baker.
Updated 11-22-2009
This summer we got a late start on our trip, family obligations delayed the start of our trip until July 28th. Our first stop was Colorado Springs to visit with my mother. We also attended a memorial service for my Great-Aunt Minnie Armbruster Buchheister, she passed away earlier this year and her services were held in August in Colorado Springs were she lived most of her life. This time we RV camped at the Air Force Academy at Peregrine Pines the FamCamp, very nice and we really enjoyed our stay.
Our next stop was the midwest, Omaha, Nebraska where we visited Winter Quarters and planned our trip. We wanted to visit Blue Earth, Minnesota where Tony's Christofferson family 1st settled after coming from Norway. Erland Christofferson came to the US in 1870 from Lesja, Oppland, Norway. Two years later he married Elizabeth Siverson Haugen (also from Lesja Oppland, Norway) on 22 Dec 1872 in Lincoln Township, Blue Earth County, Minnesota. Five childern were born to Erland and Elizabeth, only two of their children lived to adulthood, Anna Christofferson my husbands great-grandmother and Siver Christofferson. In 1882 Erland and his family along with his brother Ole Christofferson and sister Ella Christofferson Brudeseth and their families. They traveled to Ramsey County, North Dakota settling southeast of Devil's Lake. It was here that Anna met her husband to be Henry Austin Baker. We were able spend the day in Blue Earth and Watonwan Counties were the Christofferson families lived and attended church.
Following the trail of the Christofferson family our next stop was Ramsey County, North Dakota, we had visited this area several years ago, but wanted to return and look for records on the Christoffersons. Our last trip involved searching for records on the Baker family, Anna Christofferson married Henry Baker who was the great grandson of Benjamin Baker a British loyalist who moved to Cornwall, Ontario, Canada after the Revolutionary War. While searching for records on the Christofferson family we found a death record for Erland Christofferson's father Christoffer Erlandson who also used the name Christofferson. He and his wife Aare also came from Norway to Minnesota and then on to North Dakota with their adult children. We ran into a bit of rainey weather and some flooding that kept us for visiting the family farm and cemetery, maybe next time we are in the area it will be drier.
The next family on our list lived in Polk County, Wisconsin, Reuben Flectcher Miner and his wife Mary Lucy Starkey lived in and around Polk County following their marriage 23 April 1865. Both Reuben and Mary were originally from New York, but moved to Wisconsin were they met and married. Their daughter Minnie Estella is my husband's great-grandmother, she married Charles Alonzo Huyck.
Mary Lucy Starkey Miner died 2 months after giving birth to her daughter Lucy Maude, the children were fostered out to family members, Minnie was 11 years old when her mother died, the baby Lucy Maude was taken in by a family named Hodgeson. We were able to visit Lorain Union Cemetery were Mary Lucy was buried along with an unamed baby. Also buried in this cemetery are several Huyck family members including the parent of Charles Huyck along with two of his unnamed babies. The Huyck family is an old New York family with roots back into the early 1700's in the Kinderhook area.
It was now the end of August and we had plans to spend Labor Day week with our friends Don and Dorren in Bear Lake, Michigan, close to the shore of Lake Michigan. We arrived to a week of beautiful sunshine and warm days, our friends spend their summer in Bear Lake and they showed us a wonderful time hitting all the local spots. We saw the salmon running, visited a local beekeeper who makes her own honey and produces handmade soap. We had a wonderful time.
One of the stops we planned for this trip was the RV Hall of Fame in Elkhart, Indiana, we spent the day seeing all the displays of old RV's and history of the industry. This area is very close to a large Amish community, so we spent the day touring the countryside and visited several Amish shops and had a wonderful "dutch" family style dinner.
Updated 10-6-2008
We started our summer trip in May with a trip to Kristin's in New Mexico. Her Medical Board was the middle of May in San Antonio, Texas, so we were on the road again, this time with her dog Pandora along for the ride. We arrived 2 days before Kristin flew in for the board. The weather was hot and humid, not my idea of a good time. 2 weeks later we were back in New Mexico. We were able to celebate Kristin's 26th birthday and then were on the road again, this time heading for Salt Lake City and the wedding of my best friends son. It was wonderful for all of us to get to celebrate with the bridal couple.
We had planned to spend a couple weeks in Salt Lake City so I could do research at the Family History Center. Our couple weeks ended up being 6 weeks. We had electrical trouble with the shore power in the Motorhome and it took quite a while to track down what was wrong and get it fixed. I didn't really mind as I was able to go to the Family History Library almost every day. Talk about a researchers dream, I was able to gather tons of data, now I have to sift thru everything I found.
The middle of July we headed for Colorado Spring and spend the next couple weeks relaxing and visiting with my mom in Colorado Springs. We also spent time with Tony's brother and his wife and got to visit my brother's new house in South Denver. Then it was back down to New Mexico to help Kristin get her house ready for the movers. Yeah! She finally got a discharge date from the Air Force. Just in time too, we were scheduled to go an Alaskan Cruise the middle of September.
We made it back to California September 1st with 12 days left until the cruise, it was unpack the summer things and repack for Alaska. Our cruise on Royal Caribbean's Seranade of the Seas was awesome. We had 2 suite cabins with huge balconies and a private concierge lounge. We visited Icy Straights Point and flew down a zip line from the top of a mountain to the beach. Next it was the Hubbard Glacier and a Champange Brunch. Then our next stop was Skagaway with a trip up White Pass into Canada. Our final stop was in the Capital City of Juneau. In between shore excursions we had a great time on the ship with a mystery dinner, trips to the spa and fun and games. The trip was wonderful and I wish it would never end, we'd love to go back someday and tour the interior of Alaska as well as Anchorage and Fairbanks.
Now that I'm back and settled in for the next few months, it's time to review the information from Salt Lake City and get to work on the family tree. I've recently received an email from a cousin who is working to correct errors a well meaning Aunt made on our Davis/Jacobs lines. Sarah Jacobs has been connected to the wrong parents, hopefully we will be able to sort this out. For the time being I've removed data on Sarah Jacobs connection to the Mayflower lines of Richard Warren and to the Joslin family of England.
Also in the works in DNA testing on our Trimbath lines. Many thanks to cousin Charles for his contribution. Earlier in the year I recieved an email from Robert Trimbath who had been told of story of his great-grandfather befriending a young man "Charles" who worked at the mines with him. The great-grandfather took young Charles under his wing since he had no family in the states. Roberts dad said Charles last name was very hard to pronounce, and the paymaster at the mine started calling him Trimbath since the two men were always together. This fits with the family lore that Grandpa Trimbath got his name at the mines when they started calling him Charlie Trimbath. I'm hoping that when the DNA testing comes in we can narrow down a geographic area that the family came from.
Updated 02-05-2008
Last summers trip started the middle of May with a trip to the Grand Canyon, we've driving by the area many times but had never visited. The view from the Canyon is amazing, we thoroughly enjoyed our trip. The only down fall was that Kristin was not able to join us, her leave was cancelled. We then decided to visit her in New Mexico before heading east to Memphis and Nashville. Kristin was still having problems with her wrist, (she fracture the scaphoid bone in 2004), since her surgery in December 2004 she has had on-going pain and loss of feeling in her fingers. The Air Force has decided to send her to a medical board to either discharger her or re-classifcation. We spent the summer in New Mexico with her going to medical appointment and finding a hand surgeon to treat her condition. A second surgery was recommended to help control the pain. The doctor did report, unfortunately, that the numbness and lack of feeling in her fingers is going to be permanent.
We were able to leave New Mexico the end of August and spent 3 weeks in Colorado Springs visiting with my mother and brothers. It was nice to have cooler weather, the summer temps in New Mexico weren't as hot as the deserets of California but close. We had a great time and we're looking forward to my mom visiting us in California for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I was finally able to plan some genealogy research this trip and we took off for Salt Lake City the end of September. It was awesome 7 days of research at the Family History Library, I spent 9 plus hours a day looking a microfilms and books. My research focused on the Baker lines in Connecticut especially the Land and Probate records. I found several documents cementing the connection between Benjamin Baker of Fairfield, CT and Benjamin Baker of New London, CT (son of Joshua Baker) I'm currently working to trascribe the old and hard to read handwritting but the connection is there. This is the paper source to back up the DNA results that we are descendants of Alexander Baker of Boston, Massachusetts. I was also able to locate records to help a cousin unlock and brick wall from his ancestor Rufus Baker back to Alexander, boy was he happy to get copies of those wills and deeds.
We arrived back home in late October and began making plans for 2008, our big trip won't be in our RV but rather on a cruise. In the fall we are having a family reunion during a 7 day Alaska Cruise. My mother is going to be able to have all her children, their spouses and 3 of her grandchildren together to celebrate and see Alaska too. We all are excited and looking forward to the trip. For RV travel this year we are going to Salt Lake City the end of May to visit the Family History Center Library and attend the wedding of my best friends oldest son. The happy couple will be sealed in the Bountiful Temple.
My genealogy is still going strong and taking many directions, however I am still focused on DNA genealogy. One day while surfing I ran across the Baker DNA Website. There I found a group of Baker descendants researching their male Y DNA back to their oldest identifiable ancestor. Tony had his Y DNA tested and we are in the process of matching up with several cousins. The group also has a yahoo message group at Baker Ancestors. Here we meet to share information and find out about upcoming DNA tests. I've decided to put together a new webpage with data on the direct Baker lines from Tony back to Benjamin Baker born in 1685 in Connecticut. I'm working to find the link between Benjamin and Alexander Baker who emigrated from London in 1635. The beginnings of this website can be found at Baker Direct Ancestors. I plan to include information on each generation of Baker men along with source data.
This is a recap of our 6 month trip in 2006 vacationing and working on our family tree. As planned we headed for Daytona Beach March 25 taking nine days to cross the US in a leisurely pace. It was an awesome way to shake down the new RV. The Great North American RV Rally was 5 days of sun, fun and 6000 plus RV's. We were lucky and scored a site inside the track at the Daytona Raceway complete with electric, water and cable TV hookups. Following the Rally we headed to Salt Springs Florida for a 2 month stay visiting with some friends and relaxing. Salt Springs is an awesome place, fresh water springs, tons of wildlife (birds, fish, turtles, a couple of bears and several large alligators). Everything you go to Florida for and more. Too soon it became hot, muggy and buggy so we headed North.
On the road again we made stops along the way in Savannah and Charleston before arriving in Virginia were we spent 3 weeks touring civil war battle site. We made trips to Appomattox, Petersburg, Richmond, VMI, New Market and Staunton. At New Market we were treated to a wonderful tour of the battlefield given by Cadet Byron Faidley of VMI. Virginia is amazing and we fell in love with the Shenandoah Valley, so green and lush. We stayed the 4th of July in Crozet, Virginia in the foothills of the mountains right off the Blue Ridge Parkway. Our last stop in Virginia was in Winchester at the top of the Shenandoah Valley
It was the middle of July and time to start working on the genealogical portion of this trip. I planned to do research in Athens, Ohio so we made this our next destination. Looking at a map we thought "West Virginia" we've never been there, lets drive to Ohio that way". Big mistake, hills and valleys, lots of them, it never seemed to end. Eventually we arrived in Athens and set out to search for Tony's Martin and Hawk families. The Athens County Historical and Museum was a gold mine. The members there are so nice and helpful, plus they have tons of indexed records just waiting to be looked at. They even have all the obituaries begining in 1900 indexed into books and arranged by surnames. You couldn't ask for a better place to search. We were able to track down many names and even met a cousin in the library one day when we were both there search. We were able to track down several graves and discovered that Emma Larison Martin's father Abel Larison had served in the Civil War Later I found his pension card and sent for the pension file from the National Archive, best $37 I ever spent; the file is over 100 pages. We left Athens with pages of new data to process and input into the family tree.
Our next stop was Fayette County, Pennsylvania home to my father's family and perhaps clues into the origins of Charles Trimbath's family tree. I spent time at the PA Room in the Uniontown library and discovered a newspaper article from 1914 with a statement from the Austro-Hungarian Consul Louis Vaczek. In his statement he notified every Austrian and Hungarian in Fayette county to be prepared and ready in case war is declared between their country and Servia and if a call is sent for reserves that each man will leave to fight for his flag. Consul Vaczek stated that there are between 32,000 and 35,000 Austrians and Hungarians located in the Fayette County, the greater majority being workingmen located at various coke plants. In the event of the Austrians and Hungarians in Fayette county being mobilized each man of age and not over the age of 42 will be summoned. This article fits with our family story that about my grandfather's mother worrying about him being called to serve, she returned to Austria-Hungary however he stayed behind in the US.
Updated 3-10-2006
We started 2005 with great plans, first it was off to New Mexico and a visit with Kristin at Holloman AFB. While there we took a day trip to the Carlsbad Caverns, really awesome amazing what nature created. Our time with Kristin was too short and soon we needed to be on our way towards Florida. We did have time for stops in Vicksburg, Mississippi and New Orleans. Lucky for us we were able to tour New Orleans not knowing that in only a few months Hurricane Katrina would wreck havoc and take so many lives.
While we were in New Orleans we visited the French Quarter and the National D-Day Museum. Dinner downtown included shrimp so large it took 4-5 bites to eat them, yummy!! Also we took a boat tour into the swampland near Slidell. Saw some amazing animals, alligators and nutria and heard stories told by a local Pearl River resident. Arriving in Florida we spent an entire week at Ft. Wilderness Campground on the grounds of Walt Disney World. The only way to see Disney World is to stay right in the park, we loved it. The park transit picked us up practically at our RV door and delivered us to the destination of our choice, MGM, Epcot, The Magic Kingdom or the Wild Animal Park. The RV park had a huge pool open 24 hours a day and a lake with boats and a view of the nightly fireworks at the Magic Kingdom.
Our next destination was Key West, we drove all the way to the tip of the Keys and stayed at Sigsbee Navel Base in their RV park. Sites right next to the water with sunsets that everyone brought their lawn chairs out to see each nite. The high point of our stay was a catamaran trip to Dry Tortuga, a island about 90 miles from Key West. It's the site of an old pre-civil war fort and National Park. We spent the day touring the park and I was able to snorkel for several hours. After two weeks in Key West we decided to head north, Hurricane season was starting and we wanted to be out of the Keys before any storms came our way.
We stayed most of June near Kennedy Space center and felt some of the outer bands of Hurricane Arlene and Cindy, mostly just heavy rain and winds. We really liked the area around Patrick Air Force base, it's just below the Kennedy Space Center. We were right on the Banana and Indian Rivers, and across Highway A1A from the Atlantic Ocean. Daily we could watch Dolphin, Manatee and Pelicans from our RV site. A blue heron had it's hunting grounds just down the gravel path along with several alligators. We spent 3 weeks just enjoying the area. Tony especially enjoyed our trip to Daytona USA, we took a tour around the track and spent the day at the Daytona USA exhibit.
The rainy season was really starting so we decided to head to Georgia next, originally we planned to see Savannah, then Charleston, but it was raining along the coast we headed towards Atlanta. We stopped at Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins, about 60 miles south of Atlanta. The weather cleared for the most part except for a brush of Hurricane Dennis, tornados hit outside of Atlanta destroying part of the Atlanta Motor Speedway. We took day trips to Stone Mountain, awesome piece of rock and the views from the top were unbelievable. Also we visited Andersonville National Park and the POW Museum there. For the 4th of July we attend a party at the Lane Peach Orchards enjoying music, ribs, peach pie and the best peach ice cream we've ever eaten. Robins AFB has a wonderful nature center with birds, reptiles, rabbits, ferrets and many other critters. I love anything cute and furry so I spent many days visiting with animals and helping out feeding and caring for them. I made two wonderful new friends Sharron and Sharon who run the RV park and nature center. We plan to visit Robins again this year to see all our friends.
The sad part of our summer was just ahead, the middle of July my mother called from Colorado letting us know that my grandmother was ill. She had been in the hospital briefly the 1st of the month but no real diagnosis. When my mother called they had re-admitted her and done a bone marrow biopsy. The news was bone cancer, a very agressive form. We packed up the RV and drove from Atlanta to Colorado Springs in 4 days, arriving the day she was moved from the hospital to hospice. Over the next five days family arrived, our children from California drove in and our daughter came from Holloman. My uncle (her son) and his wife came also. On Monday July 25 in the afternoon she passed from life with her family surrounding her. I've placed her picture below as a tribute to her life, she would have turned 90 years old in October. We spent the remainder of the summer and fall with my mother who had back surgery in October. We brought her to California for a visit and to recover in the warm weather over Christmas and the entire month of January. She's back in Colorado now and doing wonderful, she plans to visit us this fall when our weather cools down again.
As for Tony and I we're already planned for our trip this year. We'll be leaving towards the end of March for a 5 day stay in Daytona Beach at the Great North American RV Rally. After that we plan to head into Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia. I want to do some research on my grandfather Charles Trimbath so we'll spend some time in Pennsylvania. On his WWI draft registration he listed Zara, Sigar, Austria as his birthplace, there is a town called Zara (now Zadar) in Croatia . Perhaps this is the lead I've been looking for. Recently I've found some new data on our mysterious Emma Larison, I finally was able to track down her death certificate, turns out she died in 1913 and her husband Owen remarried a woman named Emma Beverage. Emma Larison is the daughter of Abel Larison and Rachel McGraw, I've updated the family tree with this new data, and I'm working on Owens mother next. Additionally recently a Slovak cousin Jane Kozak Crosby has contacted me with data on our connected lines and some wonderful pictures of the villages of Markusovce and Lieskovany. Check out my Slovak pages to see some of the photos I've added.
Updated 2-1-2005
Our plans to travel in 2004 got sidetracked in June when my mother was admitted to the hospital for an infection in her leg. I flew to Colorado Springs to care for my grandmother who had just had a hip replacement and take care of my mom when she got out of the hospital. It was several months before everyone was up and around. Then the end of September our daughter Kristin returned from her Persian Gulf assignment. She had a eventful summer, before her unit left for the Gulf, they were ATV training and she hurt her wrist. She thought it was just sprained, but instead she broke her scaphoid bone. Casting it for 4 months produced little healing and she returned in September still in a cast. Finally the 1st part of December she had surgery to place a pin in her wrist to stablize the break. We're still waiting to see how it heals and how well her therapy goes to rebuild her strength.
The whole family had a wonderful time over Thanksgiving, we took a cruise to Ensenada, Mexico. We left Los Angeles on Monday afternoon, cruising overnight to San Diego. Tuesday was spent visiting Seaport Village and relaxing on the ship. That night was a formal diner and we had our picture taken in front of a backdrop of the staircase of the Titanac. (see the picture I've posted below.) Wednesday we spent the day touring Catalina Island in a rented golf cart. Later in the day we took an underwater boat cruise. On Thanksgiving day we were docked in Ensenada and had a busy day. We took a tour of Ensenada's wine country and visited a winery. They also press their own olive oil and we brought back several bottles. Back on the ship we watched the sunset as we sailed out of the harbor. Later that evening we had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner and enjoyed our final night at sea. Friday we arrived back in Los Angeles tired but left with great memories. We've decided our next cruise will be Alaska or Hawaii, not sure which.
Even though I was away most of the year, I managed to complete some genealogy. While at my mothers I worked on adding more names to my Bukovina Germans. Using the book "Illischestie A Rural Parish in Bukovina" I added the following families to my database: Keller, Kerth, Kipper, Kissinger, Wendling and Zachmann. Check out the link to my database below for more details. Recently I was able to find the parents of Alexander Howe' s wife Belinda. Turns out she is the daughter of Abraham Terpenning and part of a Dutch family that settled in New York in the early 1700's. Great news on these lines that I've been been focusing for the past three years. It was only a couple years ago that I found Alexander's parents. Recently I was searching through the "Athens Messenger" (Athens County, Ohio) Imagine my surprise when I found references to Mrs. and Mrs. Owen Martin and the visit of Mrs. Martin's two sisters! I have been looking for Emma Martin's family for 5 years. I never even knew she had sisters, I was even more surprised to find that their maiden name was Beverage. Emma had listed her maiden name as Larison when she married at 16. I've never placed her with any Larison in Ohio, so I have a new direction to search.
As for our plans to travel this year, we are planing to leave in May heading for Florida. We have never been to DisneyWorld and are looking forward to spending a week at Ft. Wilderness Campground located in the Walt Disney Resort. We also want to see the Everglades and Key West. No trip to Florida would be complete without a tour of the Kennedy Space Center and we're hoping the shuttle will be on the launch pad. The remainder of the summer will be spent touring the south, the Georgia, the Carolina's plus many other states. We plan to be gone about 4-5 months.
Updated 5-21-2004
Lets see it's been a couple months since my last update in January (see my diary pages for previous adventures) We did spend some time in Las Vegas, once in March and again in April. Stayed at Sam's Town Hotel/Casino and RV Park. Very nice place to stay off the strip (it's on the Boulder Highway near Flamigo) and on friday nites they have an awesome seafood buffet.
We thought that our next trip would be over the summer to see our daughter Kristin at her Airbase in New Mexico and to tour the southwest. Haven't I said it pays to be flexible and expect the un-expected? Kristin received deployment orders for the Persian Gulf, she's not in Iraq but rather an outlying country. I won't rest easy until she is home again. We decided we needed to visit her before she left so we left on May 4th heading for Alamogordo. Kristin was to leave on May 22nd so we'd have a couple weeks to visit prior to her deployment. Of course that changed and she left on May 15th but we still had 10 days together, sadly though her birthday is May 26th so we had to celebrate early.
Although our visit was short we did manage to see some of the surrounding area, visiting White Sand National Mounment amazing how white and pristine the sand is there. Kids actually use snow sleds to zoom down the sand dunes. We also spent a day visiting the mountains above Alamogordo stopping in Capitan, the birthplace and final resting place of Smokey the Bear. All to soon it was time for Kristin to leave and mom to cry a bit. I've talked with her since and she arrived okay and is settling in. I've already mailed off a care package with many more to follow. Tony and I decided on the way home to stop over in Arizona and vist Tombstone and Bisbee, it was a fun day touring these town and learning about their history.
Now that we're back home it's time to start making new plans for the summer. We're thinking about the Grand Canyon, along with parts of Utah and Colorado. Also we'll be dropping in on my mother and grandmother in Colorado Springs.
Updated January 2004
We took another small trip this month, Kristin graduated from Security Forces School January 16th and Tony and I wanted to be there for her. She also bought a new car when she was home for Christmas leave and wanted us to drive it out to her. She's been assigned to Holloman AFB in Alamogordo, New Mexico, which is only about 750 miles from here so we can visit easily. Our next trip this year will be 5 days in Las Vegas for the Nascar race the beginning of March.
Updated 2-10-2004
Wow 2004, seems like we just were celebrating 2000 and worrying about the Y2K bugs, remember that? What a wonderful year 2003 was. Tony and I with our brand new Keystone Laredo 5th wheel headed up the California coast the 1st part of August. The scenery was beautiful and we stayed over a couple days in the Bay area to visit family. I'd never been to Mt. Shasta and was excited to see snow on the top of the mountain in August. Next stop was The Dalles, Oregon to see my grandmothers sister and of course take a Columbia River cruise on a paddlewheel boat. It was amazing to see the windsurfers and parasurfers? (looked like snowboards on their feet and they were attached to parachutes) With the river currents and wind in the gorge the rides looked wild.
Next on the agenda was Washington state with a stop in at Mt. Saint Helens. The area has been replanted but near top of the road up, there are still many blown down trees and the amount of mud in the river valley is incredible. Our trip to Washington involved meeting with Tony's cousin who lives in the Tacoma area. His mother spent many years working on the Baker Family Tree. She passed away several years ago, however all her original work still exists and I was eager to go thru it. I spent hours scanning old photos (even a couple of tintypes) Tony's sister Betty-Lu was happy to get a CD full of great old photos. Fortunately another cousin will be taking over these records so the traditon can be continued. After leaving Tacoma we headed east into Idaho and Montana. In Great Falls, Montana we were able to visit some of the sites Lewis & Clark journey thru on their way west. Lots of celebrations in honor of the 100th year of their trip.
Next we headed into Canada, we had planned to visit Glacier National Park but there were some bad wildfires burning so we skipped it this trip and instead headed up to Calagary. We have a good friend who lives and goes to school there, it was nice to visit with him and we loved the Canadian Rockies. Our trip would not have been complete with a visit to Lake Louise which is the most beautiful shade of green-blue I've ever seen. We continued north following the Columbia Icefields Parkway seeing a mother bear with 3 cubs along side of the road what a treat. The finale of the day was a trip out onto the Columbia Glacier. Even in August it was cold enough to need coats and scarves. After returning to the United States our next stop was Yellowstone. We stayed in the area for a week touring the park daily. Next it was on to South Dakota and Mt. Rushmore, in Cody, Wyoming we met another couple who had been in Yellowstone and were heading for South Dakota also. Don and Doreen became our traveling buddies for the next week as we stoped at the Famous Wall Drug in Wall, South Dakota. What an interesting story there, people come from all over the world to visit Wall Drug. At Mt. Rushmore we attended a night lighting of the mounment and an evening of Patrotic music. On Septembe 6th there was a night blasting at the Crazy Horse mounment, something that only happends once or twice a year. It was really awesome to see all that dynamite go off.
At this point in our trip we were ahead of schedule to attend the Bukovina German Conference in Ellis, so we decided that as close as we were to North Dakota we should take the time to visit the birthplace of Tony's father. Esmond, North Dakota is pretty close to the Canadian Border and is near Devil's Lake. We found RV space in the parking lot of an Indian Casino on Devil's Lake and that became our base of operations. We managed with the help of a cousin (who we didn't realize was a cousin until we talked a bit) to locate the "Baker" family farmstead. No one lives there anymore but the land is still being farmed. The house is still standing and appears to be in okay shape however the land is reclaiming the barn as it is sinking into the ground. The waters of Devils Lake are much higher than they were 100 years ago and ground is softening. With help from our new "cousin" we located an old church cemetery where there are Bakers and Christoffersons buried. Not far from Esmond is an area called Rich Valley which is certainly an appropriate name, the area is very lush and green and deer are everywhere. We were able to locate records for Tony's great-grandfather Charles Alonzo Huyck who was at one time a clerk of the school district as well as a rural mail carrier. We found school reports (early day report cards) for several of his children and his signature on those reports. We had a lovely visit with the current day Postmaster of Esmond and found Charles name on a list of mail carriers.
We arrived in Ellis, Kansas my mothers birthplace just in time to attend the annual Bukovina Festival and Conference. This was my first time to attend and we had a wonderful time, there were great speakers and lots of friends and cousins to meet. On Saturday and Sunday there was a combined event with the German Heritage Society at the Ellis County Fairgrounds. We attended a strudel making demonstration along with a fashion show and of course Polka dancing every night. After a busy month and half we needed a rest, on next stop was Colorado Springs and a visit with my mother and grandmother. It was nice to relax and visit with them and we had a chance to see my brother and his wife. Their coffee shop August Morning in Longmont was celebrating it's 1 year anniversary.
We had one more stop to make before heading home for the winter. Our daughter Kristin joined the Air Force in September and was graduating from Basic Training October 17th. Leaving Colorado we traveled southeast to San Antonio, Texas and Lackland Airforce Base. Our son and his wife planned their vacation at the same time and flew in just in time to attend Kristins graduation. Then they were off for a week at Disney World. We stayed for two weeks in Texas and then headed home arriving the end of October. Kristin stayed at Lackland and began training as a Security Forces Officer. Once home I've been busy going thru all the records we gathered along the way.
Updated 7-8-2003
If you've been here before you have read of our trips last year, both to do genealogy research and to take care of my mother. We returned home in time for Thanksgiving and spent a relaxing 6 weeks until..... Christmas eve 2002, I received a phone call from my brother, my mother was back in the hospital. She had fallen and broken her leg, yes the one she had so many surgeries on earlier in the year. It was a bad break, a spiral fracture of the femur. Well, Tony and I packed our things and headed back to Colorado Springs on New Years Day 2003. We would spend the next two months caring for her and my grandmother.
Fortunately for my mother she healed very quickly and by the end of February we were able to head home. Actually we spent a week in Salt Lake City at the FHC library and as a treat stopped in Las Vegas for the Nascar Race. The break was nice but it was good to finally be back home mid March.
In June we began making plan for our summer trip. First on the list was to purchase a larger trailer, we enjoyed our small trailer last year but decided we needed something larger. So we are now the proud owners of a 28 foot Keystone Laredo 5th Wheel, it's beautiful and we can't wait to take it out. Our trip this summer will take us 3 months. We plan to leave the end of July and head up the California coast to Santa Clara to visit with family. Then on to the Redwoods (I've never been there, Tony grew up in near Sacramento). Next it's on to Crater Lake and then up to Seattle, more family there and hopefully lots of old family pictures for me to copy. We would like to visit Vancouver and take a boat tour of the Puget Sound. Also on our agenda are Glacier and Lake Louise, Yellowstone and Mt Rushmore. Then September 19-21 we will be in Ellis, Kansas for the Bukovina Festival. Following this we'll head to Colorado for a visit with my mother and grandmother. Finishing off our trip will be a trip to San Antonio, Texas to see our daughter graduate from Air Force Basic Training the middle of October. We should be back home the end of October.
Updated 12-6-2002
We returned from our cross country trip the week before Thanksgiving. Our plans didn't go exactly as we had expected but that is what makes travel fun, the un-expected !!
We left the end of April heading for Salt Lake and the Family History center. I had some wonderful good luck with Tony's Howe lines from Michigan. I have been searching for clues to Alexander Howe's connection to the Howe lines from Westmoreland, New Hampshire and I found it. It was a copy of a will for Alexander who died in 1851 (no wonder I could never find him after the 1850 census) In the records accompanying the will were references to his brothers Danforth, Edward and Robert. I had already connected them to the New Hampshire Howe's so Alexander fit right in. Another piece of data was the fact that Alexander's wife Belinda had been married previous to a man named Caryon and Edward who I thought was Alexander and Belinda's son was really Edward Caryon. Mary Ann Howe, Tony's 2nd great grandmother, was their first child together. Now I am able to carry the Howe lines back much farther and have included 2 more Mayflower ancestors to Tony's lines.
From Salt Lake we head to Colorado Spring and a visit with my mother and grandmother. My mother unfortunately was still struggling with an infection following a knee replacement last year. We had a slight change in plans, we would continue on to Nauvoo for the Temple open house and then return to Colorado Springs the end of May so she could have surgery. We arrived in Nauvoo to rainy weather but nothing could dampen our spirits upon seeing the beautifully rebuilt Temple standing as a testimony to the faith of the early members of the church. We stayed in the Nauvoo area for several days, attending an open house tour and visiting many rebuilt sites in and around the area.
After Nauvoo we decided to head east and then south thru Indiana into Kentucky and down thru Tennessee, very beautiful country, so green and lush. We spent a couple days in Memphis visiting Beale Street and taking a paddleboat cruise on the Mississippi. Then it was on to Arkansas and a brief visit with Tony's sister in Lonoke. We were back in Colorado Springs by the end of May and would spend the next 2 months caring for my mother as she recovered from surgery. Expect the un-expected. By the 1st of August she was doing much better but still facing another surgery the end of August. We decided we could still manage to get to the East Coast for a couple week. So we loaded up the truck and pulled our trailer out of storage.
A flying trip was made across several states (Iowa is mostly cornfields) though we did enjoy watching all the Harley owners going West on I-80 heading for Sturgis, South Dakota. We landed in Niagara Falls as our first major stop, I had been there as a child but it was Tony's 1st trip. We booked a bus tour of the Canadian side that included the Skylon Tower, Journey behind the Falls and of course the Maid of the Mist boat tour. One night we were treated to fireworks over the falls and of course the beautiful scenery. Tony had an ancestor who was killed at the Battle for Queenston Heights so we planned a tour of the park and mounments on the Heights. Also since he is such a military history buff we had to drive up to Fort Niagara and see the fort and buildings. From Niagara we headed east across the state stopping for a bit in Palmyra to see the Temple and Sacred Grove. The tour of the Joseph Smith homestead and farm was very nice and we had a lovely walk thru the groves of sugar maple trees.
Next we headed north to the Canadian border near Cornwall, Ontario, Canada. Tony has Loyalist ancestors who following the Revoluionary War headed north into Canada. Many settled in Moulinette, Stormont, Cornwall, Ontario, Canada. We spent a lovely day searching thru the St. Lawerence Valley Union Cemetery in Long Sault. We also visited the nearby Upper Canada Village Pioneer Memorial in Morrisburg. Unfortunately the town of Moulinette no long exists, it is part of the 6 villages that were casualties of progress, they disappered under the waters of the newly created Lake St. Lawrence, when the St. Lawrence Seaway was built. We happened upon a small settlement of old building and stopped delighted to find "The Lost Villages Museum", eight heritage buildings that had been moved and restored to the Ault Park by members of the Lost Villages Historical Society. There is a website for the society and you can find them at Lost Villages Historical Society
After visiting Canada we headed down towards Schenectady and a quick visit with our joint cousin John Losee, he is the person who helped me get started with a bang on my Bukovina German ancestors, and is also Tony's cousin thru their shared Dutch lines. While we were visiting we discovered that Tony and John's wife Kristy are also cousin, this time thru their Mayflower ancestor! We had a lovely visit and wish we could have stayed longer. From New York we headed to Gettysburg and a long awaited break for Tony from all the genealogy, he's a history buff and loves military history the best, so Gettysburg was perfect. From Gettysburg we went further south into Virginia for a visit to Jamestown and Yorktown before heading west to Repbulic, Pennsylvania my fathers birthplace. We spent a couple days there searching again for my elusive grandfather. Then it was time to head back to Colorado. My mother underwent 4 more surgeries before a final one Oct 1st, and then spent the next 6 weeks recovering. We were there to help her thru it all and returned home to California the week before Thanksgiving. What a trip, We're glad to be home but are already making plans for our next journey in the summer of 2003.
Updated 3-1-2002
This year has begun with great plans to further our family lines. My husband and I purchased a travel trailer and in May we will be setting off for a 3 month trip across the country. Hopefully along the way we will add to our family roots. We plan to start off with Salt Lake and the Family History Library, at least a week there. Then on to Ellis, Kansas my mothers birthplace and home of the Bukovina Society of America. A high point of our trip will be the open house for the recently rebuilt Nauvoo Temple, we plan to spend 2 days in the Nauvoo area. Following Nauvoo we are heading northeast into Michigan. Tony's Howe lines were there in 1850 and I'm eager to check out Orleans Township, Ionia County.
After Michigan it's across the midwest into western Pennsylvania, back to my fathers birthplace, Republic, Fayette County. I'm still hoping for more clues into the Trimbath origins. I had such wonderful success with the Buksar lines the last time I was there, perhaps this time I will be as lucky with the Trimbaths. We plan to spend a week or two in the Fayette area, with trips up to Cambria County were Tonys great-grandfather John Bionaz might be buried.
Following this we're off to Upstate New York and across the border into Cornwall, Canada. Our Baker Loyalist ancestors settled in Moulinette, Ontario following the end of the Revolutionary war. This town no longer exists, it was swallowed up by the building of the St. Lawerence Seaway in the 1950. Lucky for us the church and graveyard were relocated into Upper Canada Pioneer Village. Next we plan to head back down into New York and visit our cousin John Losee (he's my 3rd cousin once removed, and Tonys 7th cousin). John is the person who started me off with a bang working on my family tree. We can't wait to meet him and his family.
Tony enjoyed our last trip east, especially the visit to Gettysburg, so we will be stopping there for a longer look, plus maybe a few other battlefields in the area. We also want to spend a bit more time in Washington D.C. (maybe the National Archives!!) We plan to continue to head south thru the Carolina's and into Georgia, Tony and I have always wanted to visit Stone Mountain, after this we'll head west into Arkansas and visit with Tonys sister and family. Then home thru Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Phew! Good thing we are allowing 3 months for the trip. I'm really excited and can't wait to start hunting for more family.
Updated 9-17-2000
My trip to Pennsylvania turned out to me a bigger success than I ever imagined. Shortly after we returned home I received a letter in the mail from one of the churches my great grandparents attended. We visited them while we were there and spoke with the parish secretaries. Enclosed were four baptism records. Three for my grandmother's brother and his wife's children and 1 for my great grandparents following the birth of their youngest child. This one piece of paper contained the clue I had been waitng for!, the birth villages of my great grandparents.
They were from Markusovce and Lieskovany, Spis, Slovakia. I've been busy learning more about the area and checking out the church records. I've even started a new web page all about the area, please take a look and let me know what your think. You can reach my new page at: Markusovce, Spis, Slovakia. Also I have a web page dedicated to our family after they came to the United States. Below you will find a link to my Trimbath/Buksar Family roots page. It contains stories about those who left their homelands to make new lives in this great country.
In case you haven't heard the Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints has placed their family files on the internet! Researching your family just got easier. Check out their online pages at Family Search. From these pages you can check out the IGI (International Genealogical Index and Ancestral File, also the Family History Library Catalog is online!