Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Go For A Better Google Search

From Randy Seaver over at Genea-Musings:  It's Saturday Night -- time for more Genealogy Fun!! 

Your mission - should you decide to accept it, is to:

1)  Go to genea-blogger Randy Majors website (http://www.randymajors.com/).
                       Done!

2)  Add his blog to your RSS reader, if you don't have it already.
                       Done!

3) Read his blog post AncestorSearch using Google Custom Search - BETA.  See the link at the top of the page that says "AncestorSearch using Google Custom Search - BETA?"  Click on it.
                       Done!

4)  Test out his Custom Google Search form to help you find online information about your ancestors, especially for their marriages. 
                       Done!

5)  Tell us about your results - was this useful? Did you find something new?  How can Randy improve it?
                       I searched on three different ancestors (couples) searching for marriage records, along with anything else out there.  I didn't have stellar results, but I did find some sites I had never seen before.  I did not find any actual marriage records, but I did find family websites that included the people I was searching for and listed their marriage dates.  Not concrete proof, but a start. 


 I do like Randy's custom search; it really cuts through all the excess site results and gives me focused results.  It is so much better than having to wade through thousands of results!

  The only improvement I could suggest would be saved search criteria if you use your browser's back button to go back to the search page.  Sometimes, I wish to change one item of search criteria, but I have to re-type everything.  
 
  Oh, and I agree with Randy about the middle initial wild card, but I would take it one step further.  It would be helpful to have a middle name/initial search box.  Especially here in the south, people used their middle name mostly (and still do!) and would even sign legal/official documents that way. 

6)  If you like Randy's Custom Search, add it to your Bookmarks or Favorites.
                        Done!

(And as far as last week's Saturday Night Fun, Randy:  Those questions were HARD.  I was traveling with my mom, and she didn't know the answers, either!)

Grandma's Diary, Part 6

(You can read prior entries from my grandmother's 1933 diary here:  Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5 )

Key:   The writer is Ethel Ranney Tapley.
          Alice is her sister.
          H = her boyfriend, Hazel Avery Plumlee
          Otho is Otho Hesser, her father's cousin.
          Viella is Otho's wife.
          Uncle Jont is Jonathan Hesser, Otho's father and her father's uncle.
          Herman is Alice's boyfriend.

Sun., February 12:  "Alice, Dad & Mrs. Cooper & I went to S. S.  H. came over in the afternoon.  I made some candy & H. & I went to the show.  We saw Stuarat Hamblin."

Mon., February 13:  "Dad worked.  H. & I went up to Beaumont & took Verda to town to look for a house.  Stopped on our way back to Maries & they took us in their car."

Tues., February 14:  "Dad worked.  Mama & I went to town.  We took Viella with us.  H. came ove rin the evening & we went to Yucaipa."

Wed., February 15:  "Mama & I washed.  Hazel & I went to town & we took Clint with us.  We got stopped by a policeman for not making a boulevard stop & not having a tail light or 1 rear light.  (We didn't get a ticket.)"

Thurs., February 16:  "Mama & I took Mrs. Cooper & Viella with us to an all day meeting at the church.  Clara waved my hair in the afternoon, Lucile came up & I went home with her.  We visited the Catholic Church."

Fri., February 17:  "Lucile & I went to San Berdo to see Freada.  She brought me home about 4:30.  H. came over & was mad, but we made up.  We went to Trowbridges.  Herman came up."

Sat., February 18:  "I have a bad cold.  Alice & Herman went to the Orange Show in the afternoon & Mama, dad, H. & I went in the evening.  H. won 1/2 lb. of bacon."

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History

Week 7: Toys. What was your favorite childhood toy? Is it still being made in some form today?

There are several toys that come to mind when I think about my childhood, but I don't know that I have a favorite.  I will list my top three:

(1)  Fisher Price Classic Pull Toy: Chatter Telephone

This toy is still around today.  Fisher Price has a more updated version, but it is still easy to find the "classic" pull telephone toy.

(2)  Barbie and my Barbie case (or in my mind, her apartment)
 

(My case didn't look exactly like this one... this was the closest I could find!)

Of course, Barbie is still around today in a BIG way.  There are oodles of Barbie available, along with friends of Barbie.  I don't know if that case is still around, but there are still Barbie cases being made.  A girl has to have a bag to carry her Barbie and friends with her, doesn't she?  :)

(3)  My play kitchen 

There are play kitchens still available; however, I am sure there are none quite like this one.  It was made of *GASP* metal.  Yea, we didn't worry about things like that then.  Plastic may not have even been invented yet.  LOL 

Mary Elizabeth (Liz) playing with her refrigerator circa 1972.

Amy Coffin of the We Tree blog (http://wetree.blogspot.com/) has yet another successful series on her hands: 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History (http://www.geneabloggers.com/52-weeks-personal-genealogy-history/)

Toy pictures courtesy of Google images.

Wordless Wednesday: Do you know this person?

(The first part of this post is NOT going to be wordless - I am sorry I haven't posted for several days.  I was traveling over the weekend and really ran out of time or was so tired, I couldn't write a post.  Then on top of my cell phone being stolen on Sunday, my wireless router went kaput on Monday!  Thank goodness AT&T sent a new one that arrived today - that was the longest 36 hours of my life without the Internet!)

Now on to the wordless part:

If you can identify this cute red-headed baby, please let me know!

Grandma's Diary, Part 5

(You can read prior entries from my grandmother's 1933 diary here:  Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4)

Key:   The writer is Ethel Ranney Tapley.
          Alice is her sister.
          H = her boyfriend, Hazel Avery Plumlee
          Otho is Otho Hesser, her father's cousin.
          Viella is Otho's wife.
          Uncle Jont is Jonathan Hesser, Otho's father and her father's uncle.

Sun., February 5:  "Alice, Dad & I went to Sunday School.  H. came over.  We went up to Plumlees.  Bernice's came over for little while.  H. & I went to the show."

Mon.., February 6:  "Mama & I worked & ironed.  I drew off quilt blocks.  Cooper was over for a few minutes.  H. was over for a little while."

Tues., February 7:  "Mama & I went to Pences & quilted.  Mrs. Miller & Clara were there.  We saw Babe & Norma Vogt.  H. came over & we went over to Trowbridges & invited them over for Thursday."

Wed., February 8:  "Mama finished a dress for me (made by hand).  Mama & I worked hard to clean up the hourse.  We went to Hessers a few min.  H. came over."

Thurs., February 9:  "Mama's birthday.  Mama & I went over to Hessers for the day.  In the evening we had Cathearts, Hessers, Trowbridges & Hazel over."

Fri., February 10:  "Mama & I washed & pieced blocks.  Mrs. Balls eggs were stolen.  H. came over & Alice & I went with him to Beaumont to see Delma."

Sat., February 11:  "We ironed today & pieced quilt blocks.  We got 10 eggs up at Mrs. Balls.  H. came over, he didn't work as he is sick.  I believe it's the flu."

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Radio & Television

Week 6: Radio and Television. What was your favorite radio or television show from your childhood? What was the program about and who was in it?

 #1 - All time favorite show:  M*A*S*H!!  I remember watching the final episode in 1983 and crying like a baby!  I still watch it.  I have a couple of seasons on DVD.  Did I mention it's my favorite?!!

Is there ANYONE out there who does not know what this show was about and who was in it?!!  Well, just in case I'm senile one day and can't remember, here's a short synopsis:

"The staff of an army hospital in the Korean war find that laughter is the best way to deal with their situation." (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068098/)
The TV series ran from 1972-1983 and was based on the 1970 film.  The TV series starred Alan Alda, Wayne Rogers, Loretta Swit, Jamie Farr, Harry Morgan, Larry Linville, and Gary Burghoff.  It was a comedy, and it was a drama.  It was hilarious and it could bring you to tears.  It is my opinion that it was the best show EVER.

Of course, I had several other favorites that I can't resist sharing:

- The Dukes of Hazzard
- Taxi
- Happy Days
- The Facts of Life
- Three's Company
- WKRP in Cincinnati
- Little House on the Prairie
- Alice
- Charlie's Angels
- The Waltons
- One Day at a Time
- The Love Boat
- Barney Miller
- Laverne & Shirley
- Eight is Enough
- Donny and Marie

In looking at this list, I see that most of my favorites were sitcoms... the 70's were obviously the decade for great sitcoms.

Amy Coffin of the We Tree blog (http://wetree.blogspot.com/) has yet another successful series on her hands: 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History (http://www.geneabloggers.com/52-weeks-personal-gene...alogy-history/).

Wordless Wednesday: Do you know these people?

Second in a series...

Possibility:  Anna Lois Gladden Tapley could be the adult woman with her children, Mary Ann and Lamar Jr. (Buddy), along with Betty Jean Weaver, daughter of Irene Tapley Weaver. 

UPDATE on last week's Wordless Wednesday photo:  The girl in the picture has been identified!  It is Betty Jean Weaver, daughter of my father's sister, Irene.   You can view the photo here.