Post a pic of a place of importance to your family history...

[GoddessOfGuinness]

Jerusalem Church was established by the Salzburgers in Ebenezer during the 1730s. Ebenezer, left in ruins after the Revolutionary War, had disappeared by 1855, but Jerusalem Church, now known as Jerusalem Evangelical Lutheran Church, still stands. It is one of the few buildings in Georgia left intact after the Revolutionary War.

Some of my ancestors may have helped to build this church. They were there when the colony first settled. I know that my great-grandfather was a blacksmith like his father before him; so there's a strong possibility that great-great granddad was just carrying on the next of many generations of smithies. :-)

[Elidor]

1. The ancestral home on the Isle of Wight

One of the ancestors fell out of favor with the Powers That Were, and the estate was confiscated. If it wasn't for those damned thieving British kings, I'd be sitting before the fireplace right now, with an expensive cigar and a nice brandy, muttering to myself what a silly twit Prince Charles is.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

4. What a chahhhhming cottage!

Just think of all the dusting you don't have to do... :-)

[maveric]

2. "Wood" Textile Mill. Lawrence MA.

My immigrant ancestors came to this country and worked many hours' under dangerous and repressive conditions, in this and other textile mills in Lawrence.
I spite of that they managed to pull themsleves out of povrty and make a decent life for themselves and their families.

Lawrence was this country's first Planned city. The mills were there first, on the banks of the Merrimack River, and the textile companies built a city that blossomed to 250,000 at one point.
Lawrence was also the where the "Bread and Roses" strike of 1912 occured. Two of my great grandfathers, one Irish, one Sicilian, were involved in that historic labor strike.

In 1974, when taht mill was converted into a warehouse, I worked there for Dom DiMaggio,. Joes brother and former Red Sox star. The man was "strictly business".

[GoddessOfGuinness]

6. Salt of the earth...

Here's to your ancestors! :beer:

[maveric]

14. "Salut!"

When my grandfather was 8, 1912, he worked the mills as a "cleaner'. Little kids were sent into the machines to clean them and dislodge any material that might jam the up the works.
The Bread & Roses strike put an end to that practice.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

18. This is what many people have forgotten...

when they smear labor unions. There are people in this country who'd like to see a return to those "good ol' days" and it burns me up!

[maveric]

123. Info on the Bread and Roses Strike of 1912.

http://www.breadandroses.net/strike.html
My Irish G, Grandfather was severly beaten by "Pinkertons". A private security force made up of union busting thugs.

on edit: more on Bread & Roses.
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45b/073.html

[GoddessOfGuinness]

132. Thanks for the info!

More people should know about these events. I'd like to see movie producers jump on this kind of material. It'd be easy to make a hit movie.

I'm vaguely remembering a United Mine Workers strike in Colorado in the early 1910s that ended with women and children being burned to death in a tent city fire that was started by anti-union thugs.

[nutsnberries]

54. that's the story of my grandparents - a couple more pics from Lawrence

woolen mills on the Merrimack River



Ayer Mill





hey maveric! :hi:

[nutsnberries]

55. here's the restored Ayer Clock

a few good pics of the restoration here> http://www.clocks.org/massachusetts/ma_ayer_mill_2.htm

[GoddessOfGuinness]

64. Nicely done!

The buildings were beautiful. I wonder if there were any pleasant memories for those who worked there.

[Bridget Burke]

60. My grandparents settled along the Merrimack, too...

From East Galway to Manchester, New Hampshire.

They started out as mill workers--I believe my grandmother worked at a shoe factory. Then my grandfather joined the police force & they married.



Here's a pub from my grandfather's home town. (I don't know whether he patronized this particular one.)

[GoddessOfGuinness]

66. Those are wonderful pics!

I especially like the old one. The kid almost right in the middle of the photo looks like he's about 12.

[maveric]

122. My red-faced Grandfather would frequent "The Whippet Club", on S Union St.

South Lawrence was the Irish burgh and N. Lawrence was ruled by the Italians.
I lived in both sides of town. Ma was Sicilian, Dad was Irish.
Lawrence is a delapatated war-zone now but back in the day it was a bustling city of hard working immigrants.
My Dad told me that during the 1910's-30's, 45 different languages were spoken in Lawrence.

I miss the way my city "was".

[Ptah]

3. Geradstetten, where my grandfather's grandfather left to come

to America.



Distant family still occupies this home:



Our coat-of arms.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

7. What a beautiful place!

It's great that you've stayed in touch with some of your relatives there. :hi:

[Ptah]

75. I feel fortunate to have the family history

cook it:

[MrScorpio]

5. Next to where I grew up in Detroit

The Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe renovation district by Lafayette Park where I used to play as a kid. My little slice of childhood paradise.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

8. What did you like best about it?

Do you ever go back to visit?

[MrScorpio]

9. It was modern and pretty

It's where I played, the trails and trees where idylic

There's no other place like it in the city

When I went to Holland, there were some places there that reminded me of back home

And yes, I do go back from time to time to visit

[GoddessOfGuinness]

11. Is it still as you remembered pretty much?

Everybody should have a place where they can go to reconnect with their youth...

[MrScorpio]

28. For the most part it is

It's a National Historic district now

Sometimes I wish that they renovated all of Detroit like that

[GoddessOfGuinness]

30. Maybe one day they will...

when the rethugs get kicked out of Congress. :)

[Lefty48197]

137. Another 20 years of Bill Clinton

and it would have been "mission accomplished" in Detroit.

[FarLeftRage]

10. High in the mountains of South - Central Italy...

This is the ancestal home of my Paternal Grandfather and his family:




San Donato Di Ninea, Cosenza, Calabria

[GoddessOfGuinness]

12. It's all golden!

Lovely! :-)

[FarLeftRage]

13. Thanks

That is a view of the commune from the west where the sun shines on the white buildings.

I'm going to Italy in May and I hope to visit there.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

20. Maybe you'll meet some relatives!

I hope you get there... :)

[SiobhanClancy]

15. View from Skibbereen...

Ancestral village in Ireland:)

[GoddessOfGuinness]

21. And a Happy St Paddy's Day to ya!

[graywarrior]

16. Everyone in my town worked here.

If your father didn't work here, you were beatup material.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

22. What is it?

And where? :)

[graywarrior]

23. General Electric in Lynn Ma on the Saugus River

[GoddessOfGuinness]

27. I hope you weren't beatup material...

I wouldn't expect you to be the way you duct tape ducks an' all... ;-)

[graywarrior]

42. My dad worked at GE. He was a tough guy.

I followed in his footsteps, unfortunately. I'm not as bad now.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

131. Nah...You're not so bad...

;-) :hug:

[wovenpaint]

126. My grandfather worked there!

He lived on Nahant-and so did I. Wish I lived there now!

[graywarrior]

127. Hey, I lived in Nahant for awhile too.

Bet we know the same people.

[Carla in Ca]

17. Argos, Greece

This is where my maternal Grandfather and his family came from. They settled in Los Angeles. He worked as a cook and others had a tailor shop.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

24. The water is such an amazing shade of blue!

Cheers!

[Texasgal]

19. We are decendants of Swedish royalty..

Some of my family is buried here ( twice removed ofcourse! )

[GoddessOfGuinness]

29. What a beautiful church!

Is it in Stockholm?

My mother's maternal ancestors all came over from Norway and Sweden...from villages near and in one case on the border of the two countries.

[Texasgal]

33. Yes.. it is..

My Grandmother speaks only Swedish, we have a HUGE history there in Sweden. Turns out my Great grandmother crossed lines and married a NORWEGIAN!!!

Pretty cool history we have !

[GoddessOfGuinness]

36. Mercy!

Those Norwegians! :rofl:

[Texasgal]

38. Oh let me tell you!

It was practically blasphemous!!!

[Bridget Burke]

69. Many of the Irish have Norwegian blood.

They came a-Viking, then settled down.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

71. I've often thought about that.

Who knows, maybe Vikings were responsible for Guinness... :toast:

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

31. My god that is beautiful!

May it remain so...

[hunter]

26. Salt Lake Tabernacle, about 1867

linked from http://www.ldsces.org/inst_manuals/pres-sm/pres-ch-01-03.htm Presidents of the Church Student Manual

My mom's family came to Salt lake city to work about this time. It was a huge matter of pride with them that they were not Mormon.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

34. Did they help construct it?

I'll bet non-Mormons were a rarity in those days...

[hunter]

57. Yes. I think the Mormons were short of certain skilled workers

They'd intercept some of those who were headed out to make their fortunes in California.

I'm pretty sure my mom's family never became Mormons because they wouldn't give up their whiskey.

[SeattleGirl]

32. Gig Harbor, WA

My maternal grandparents bought their waterfront home when I was three months old, and lived their until their deaths. It's a beautiful little town, and I would sometimes spend entire summers there. I would fish off the deck and catch perch for dinner. Go swimming among the (harmless) jellyfish. Go boating. Climbing the trees on the property. So many things. It was my very favorite place to be when I was growing up.

http://209.15.42.2/images/Artworks/WoodjpgEmailReady/Wood%202955-Mt%20Rainier,%20Gig%20Harbor-Washington-96x3.5.JPG

[GoddessOfGuinness]

35. I can see why...

It's stunning! Do you ever revisit?

[SeattleGirl]

37. I've only been back a couple of times since my grandfather died

Grandma died a number of years ago. It's only about an hour away from me, and I was just thinking that I'd like to go there this summer. It is truly a beautiful place. (And they fought like made to keep WalMart out, and WON!)

[GoddessOfGuinness]

45. I hope they can continue to keep

Slave-Mart out!

[SeattleGirl]

48. I think they will.

They are very protective of their little town, and very proud of it. There are lots of little shops, and almost everything in the town is independently owned. Don't think they want to give that up.

[fishwax]

39. The Oval at Colorado State University

My grandpa came out west to teach at CSU back when it was still Colorado A&M, and had that not happened my folks probably wouldn't have met. My grandparents grew up in the depression and valued education more than anything in the world, saving all the money they ever made to put themselves and then their kids through college. :)

[GoddessOfGuinness]

44. Good for them!

Nice pic! Is the rest of the campus as beautiful?

[fishwax]

50. that's one of the prettier spots

much of the campus is (imo) dry and kind of bare, but there are some really pleasant spots, some beautiful gardens, and the nice backdrop of the Front Range of the Rockies in the distance :)



I think this was a great idea for a thread, by the way, and thanks for posting it :toast:

[fishwax]

49. delete

(replied to wrong post)

[momophile]

63. thanks for bringing up CO... see post below! nt

[Solon]

40. Castle de la Roche...

In Ireland, family settled there in 1180s or so.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

46. Hauntingly beautiful...

Have you visited?

Happy St Paddy's Day!

[Solon]

53. No, unfortunately not, I want to, the Castle is but a ruin now...

But my dream is to get REALLY rich and rebuild the castle to the way it was originally. That would be so cool! :)

[u4ic]

41. Grain elevator in Saskatchewan

one of the most important places for my grandparents, who settled there. They were farmers from Ukraine.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

47. I often wish

that we learned as much Canadian history here in the States as we do US history. We're so similar, after all...
:hi:

[CBHagman]

43. Just Googled a couple.

I recall that my maternal grandmother was born here, Hollohaza:



And my grandfather was from Pankota, though he certainly didn't live in this building.



They eventually made their way here and met and married in New York City:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

51. They met after they arrived?

My great grandmother came through Ellis Island too. It's amazing to me how they all managed to hook up with communities from their countries of origin. Yet most managed to learn to speak English and function pretty quickly. For so many, becoming an American was such a big deal.

[CBHagman]

56. Yes, they married within their ethnic group.

My grandparents were kids when they arrived (she was 9 and he was 11) and came from separate regions of what was then Hungary. Their separate families even came over in contingents and not at one fell swoop (for example, father and daughter came over together, etc.). I recall they all wound up on the Lower East Side. After my grandparents met and married, though, they settled in the Bronx. Up until the 1990s, we still had a member of the family living there.

Hungarian was the secret code of my grandmother, mother, and aunts, as after my grandmother's generation, everyone married outside the Hungarian immigrant community.

I have photocopies of some of my grandfather's papers (from his naturalization and so forth), and of course the entire gang is listed at the Ellis Island website.

Goddess of G, have you looked up your great-grandmother at the Ellis Island website? Was she an Irishwoman?

http://www.ellisisland.org

My grandfather learned English and studied at Cooper Union. :patriot: He was very proud to become an American citizen and could have taugh Dubya a thing or two about running a business!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

68. My great grandmother was Swedish

I tried looking her up on the site and had no luck. One of these days I'm going to sit down with my mom and figure it out. Her last name was Karlson, or some variant spelling; and while everyone called her Otelia, it was apparently not her first name.

[CBHagman]

70. Do keep trying; it can be tricky.

Family Tree magazine did a pretty extensive article about how to search for ancestors at the Ellis Island website.

http://www.familytreemagazine.com

(No, I don't work for that magazine. I'm just a fan!)

Bear in mind that any website, including Family Search and Ellis Island, might have transcription errors. I've found them at both websites. For example, my Aunt Julie's name was recorded incorrectly at the Ellis Island site due to a misreading of the handwriting on the original manifest. Another aunt found the error, and I e-mailed EllisIsland.org and had the entry corrected.

http://www.familysearch.org
http://www.ellisisland.org

One of the misconceptions going around is that people's names were altered at Ellis Island. Actually, they checked ship manifests, so however the person was recorded at port of departure should match the entry at Ellis Island.

There are a bunch of strategies for searching for relatives at Ellis Island. Sometimes you just look for a group of people with the same last name. Sometimes you have to change the spelling of the first name (that was my problem when I looked for my maternal grandmother) and go for the proper first name, not the nickname. It can help to know a woman's maiden name, too.

Best of luck, G of G!

[WolverineDG]

100. True story

but a bit too early for this to have happened at Ellis Island:

one of my immigrant ancestors arrived, knowing some but not much English. He was told by the officer to state his name. He did. The officer then repeated the question a bit more loudly. My ancestor calmly repeated his name. The officer then shouted the question at him. My ancestor said "Lauder. L A U D E R."

:rofl:

dg

[GoddessOfGuinness]

109. HAHA!

:rofl:

[LynneSin]

52. This is Three Mile Island

For many of you this almost became one of the worst disasters to happen in our country but to me this was the site of some of the happiest times of my life. Well, not at the plant itself but in the waters surrounding the plant. When I was 8, my father bought us a speed boat and every weekend when it was warm enough we would go to Goldsboro, which is located across the river from Middletown & TMI. But there was some of the nicest waters local for us to go Water-Skiing. There was a couple of islands around the plant where picnic tables & grills were available so we could grill burgers and hang out with friends & family. We had that boat up until my father passed away of lung cancer (which was 2 years after the accident). I begged & pleaded for her to keep the boat but it was too much hassle to take care of and mother wasn't much of a water person. She was usually just as happy being dropped off at the picnic area and getting lunch ready for us in a few hours.

To me, TMI was always the happy little cloud maker. When you're 8 years old having the time of your life, stuff like 'Nuclear Power' don't really mean much to you.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

73. So THAT's why your posts all seem to glow!

It's a beautiful setting...certainly not the kind of place you'd expect to be a disaster site. Did your dad work in the plant? Do you think his illness was related to the leak?

[Ron Mexico]

58. Here's the town hall of where my parents are from

Leipzig, Germany.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

74. The Bach Museum is there...

What a beautiful city!

[Trigger Hippie]

59. The streets of Poitiers, France.

This city is where many of my people came from before joining Napoleon's army and heading to the "New World" in the late 1700s. They were stationed in Mobile, AL and all over Louisiana. Poitiers is also the twin city of my hometown of Lafayette, LA. :)

[GoddessOfGuinness]

76. Charming!

Ancestors on my fathers side of the family settled on a plantation near Camden. Supposedly the Marquis de Lafayette was a frequesnt visitor....but maybe that's what they all liked to say. :)

[Trigger Hippie]

77. Well, you never know,

that Marquis did get around. :)

[GoddessOfGuinness]

95. hehe...

Hell, if George Washington could sleep everywhere, why not the Marquis?

[tigereye]

61. you have a long US history, Goddess

that's pretty cool.


My ancestors came over from Ireland in the early 20th century.

And some of them lived here:



well, not actually in the falls, but not too far away! :hi:

Happy St. Pats BTW!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

78. I saw the falls for the first time

a couple of years ago, when I went to Buffalo to take an audition. I love that part of the country!



Happy St Paddy's Day to you!

[tigereye]

141. mmm

I thought of you when I bought some beer goodies for St. Pats.

an O'Hara's Irish Red - yum
a Guiness
a Murphy's Stout
a Troeg's Oatmeal Stout - sweet
two types of Hefeweissens, for the wheat lovers...

:hi:

the Falls are lovely. I've been there many many times. In some way the American falls are more natural, more untouched than the Canadian side.

[momophile]

62. another Colorado place...

:toast:Cheers to fixwax for bringing up Colorado. I was trying to think of a place that was important to my family, and after seeing CSU I thought, 'well duh! Boulder!' My husband and I met at the University of Colorado, and his parents met there as well, and my family has spent a lot of time in Boulder including my Grandpa and Grandma.

So here is to the Flatirons!! I don't consider any town as my hometown, but Boulder comes the closest. The Flatirons have always welcomed me back and have always made me happy to see them when I've been gone for awhile.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

79. My parents talked about Boulder a lot...

My dad went to the School of Mines in Golden, and I was born in Denver while he was attending. We moved back to the DC area when I was less than 2. I really don't remember anything about it.

That stunning pic makes me want to visit! :hi:

[fishwax]

96. great pic

The flatirons sure are beautiful, and always a welcome sight :toast:

[Redstone]

65. Judges' Cave, New Haven, CT

If the King's Men had caught up with the old bastard, I'd not be here. Or anywhere, actually.

Redstone

[GoddessOfGuinness]

82. I had to google the history of that one

So your ancestor was a rabble-rouser, eh?
Here's to him!
:evilgrin:

[Redstone]

83. Worse than that; he killed the damn KING! And was Welsh! And ran off

to live with the Indians in his seventies! (His biographies don't cover that little tidbit very much).

Redstone

[GoddessOfGuinness]

91. Which Indians?

Do you know? That's really fascinating!

[Redstone]

104. Remnant Pennacooks who were living with the Algonquians.

My ancestors. He was my many, many times great grandfather. Though there's no "e" on the end of our name anymore.

Redstone

[johnnie]

67. Transylvania in the Carpathian mountains

This is where my great grandfather came from before going to Etna, PA. He somehow made it to Cleveland in the Early 1900s.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

84. Beautiful town...

Do you know why he left?

When my great grandmother came over from Sweden around 1900, there were no jobs to be found. She and two of her sisters came to Boston to work as maids.

[johnnie]

92. I don't know why he left

Probably the same reason. He went back to look for his twin sister that no one knew about. He was in Budapest when he became ill and died one week before I was born.

I have all his personal records here at the house because I am the oldest of all the men in my generation. I have his workbook from Transylvania before he split. Now all i have to do is to learn to read Hungarian, Romanian or whatever it is.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

98. I'll bet you could find someone from your local university to

translate them for you. Sounds like there's a lot of mystery in your history. Did anyone ever hear from his sister?

[johnnie]

102. No. No one knows who she is.

I have been researching a lot of it for years. I found some things my family didn't even know. I also found some things they might have known but didn't want me to know..LOL.

Both sides of the family came from Europe and it is hard to get any information from that period. (1880-1900s)

[GoddessOfGuinness]

106. My family had some of those stories too...

Like the fact that my great grandma was pregnant when she got married.

And my father's mother was briefly married to a gay man.

It's funny how people want to maintain an image that really doesn't mean anything by covering up truth.

[Avalux]

72. Trostle Farm, Gettysburg

My father's family; don't know how many greats grandfather. :hi:





Abraham Trostle Farm, south of Gettysburg near the wheat field. The family left abruptly on July 2 as the battle swept toward them, and Gen. Sickles's staff, who had set up his headquarters in the yard, helped themselves to a meal that had been left on the dining room table. Trostle lost almost everything he owned during the battle

1863 - Bigelow's Stand - Battle for the Trostle Farm

"When we reached the angle of the stone wall at Trostle's house, a swell of ground, 50 yards on our right front, covered us from Barksdale's approaching lines and we began to limber up, hoping to (get) out and back to our lines before they closed in on us...but, McGilvery again rode up (and) told me...I must hold my position at all hazards." - Captain John Bigelow, 9th Massachusetts Light Artille

[QuettaKid]

80. this isin't a place.

just a ridiculously cute baby anteater. thought it would be appreciated by the other anteater pic poster.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

87. AWWWWWWwwwww!

Thanks QuettaKid! It's just adorable! :yourock:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

85. I will think of you every time I pass by there now...

We drive up to Gettysburg often. :hi:

[Avalux]

94. That's very kind of you - wish I was closer.

Haven't visited the place for a very long time; when I was a kid didn't appreciate the historical significance. They did lose everything in the war as their orchard was destroyed and then migrated north to Central PA, where I was born and grew up. :hi:

[achtung_circus]

81. Adolphustown, Ontario

<>

<>

[GoddessOfGuinness]

88. Pioneers...

Are their names on the monument?

[achtung_circus]

136. It's a wall of old tombstones

concentrated from the cemetery and yes, he's there, as is his wife.

[livetohike]

86. Kosice, Slovakia

The largest town near where my Dad and all four of my grandparents were born.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

93. Were they pretty recent immigrants, then?

Pre-Soviet occupation?

There are several pics here of towns in Europe that are several centuries old. It must have been heart-wrenching to leave so much history behind.

[livetohike]

99. My Dad came over in 1929 at age 5

Really bad timing, no? My paternal grandfather came over first in Jan 1929 and sent money for my grandmother and dad to come over in July. Then the Depression started in October :-(. They came here for the jobs.

My maternal grandfather came over in 1904 and his wife (my Grandmother) came over in 1921. They married here. She never met him before, so it was an arranged marriage through her Uncle.

Curiously, my Dad never wanted to go over there and see what it was like until about one year before he died. I really wish we had gone over together. Maybe one day I will get there. But as he always said, "There is a reason all of your grandparents left the old country". I think there were all pretty poverty stricken....

[GoddessOfGuinness]

108. Better that they came here

than deal with Soviet occupation.

My mom visited the former Eastern Block a few years ago, and really enjoyed it. I hope you can travel there sometime. :)

[seemunkee]

89. Mount Hawley Cemetery Illinois

6 generations of my family are here. There is only one plot left and that is owned by my uncle so he can be next to his parents.

View of Tower Park in Peoria Heights Ill. My grandfather ran the park for several years. He was the towns first fire chief and over the years served as mayor, chief of police, and sheriff.

You can't see it from this angle but there is a 6 foot tall woodpecker on the side of the water tower.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

103. Cemeteries are among my favorite places.

6 generations takes your family back quite a ways...

[catmandu57]

90. The ancestral home

Dalhousie castle near Edinburgh Scotland.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

110. It's wonderful!

Is it haunted? :bounce:

[WolverineDG]

97. Lexington & Concord

Here's where one of my ancestors was on April 19, 1775:



dg

[GoddessOfGuinness]

112. Knowing that your ancestor fought for liberty

means its preservation is in your blood. I'm glad you're on our side! :toast:

[WolverineDG]

116. Hi

:toast:

Let's just say that I take any assault on our freedoms & the Constitution personally. :mad:

My fave poster that I made when I went to Crawford was "I'm a DAR against the war." You should have seen the jaws drop. :evilgrin:

dg

[GoddessOfGuinness]

120. Great poster!

I love it! :yourock:

[gollygee]

101. Ellis Island

I can't be the only one :D

[GoddessOfGuinness]

113. That's a fabulous pic!

My great grandma came through Ellis Island too. :D

[trof]

105. City of my birth.

Video shot 4 years prior to the big event.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1361815282366651231&q=montgomery%2C+alabama

[GoddessOfGuinness]

114. Cool footage!

You've seen some amazing changes, my friend! :toast:

[trof]

115. In more ways than one.

The overt racism is pretty much gone.
Unhappily, the below-the-perceived kind is still with us.
I'm workin' on it.
:-)

[GoddessOfGuinness]

119. If only it was like a light switch

that you could permanently turn off.
I'm working on it too...Most of us are, I think. :)

[1gobluedem]

107. I still don't know how to post a photo

But my family hails from Motherwell, Scotland. And, yes, our name is Motherwell. So it's pretty important.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

117. Here's a googled pic of Motherwell...

Instructions for posting online pics can be found here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/forums/faq.html#image

If you have a personal photo to post, you need an online image host like http://www.Photobucket.com where you can upload pics from your computer to the internet. Then you post the URL of your photobucket image in your post.

I hope that makes sense! :D

[Whoa_Nelly]

111. Old Abbeyfeale Parish--County Limirick, Ireland

Old Graveyard in Abbeyfeale




Some info in reference to my family name:

There are a number of tombs in the graveyard, many of which bear the name Harnett. The Harnetts came from a place called the Grove, and used to have a mill in the town. Their wealth probably accounts for the large number of tombs in their name.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

118. Happy St Paddy's Day!

[bertha katzenengel]

121. Can I do more than one? They're small

Something happened in front of a Thrifty drug that I'll never forget. I've told the story here before. It's a boring story but a big part of my childhood.



If my sisters and I have a personal shrine, this is it: the Huntington Beach pier.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

128. I haven't seen your Thrifty story before...

What happened?

[bertha katzenengel]

135. Hi, Goddess. Copied from the archive:

My mother and stepfather left my sisters and me in the station wagon one day while they "ran into" Thrifty. My mother left her purse by the gas pedal. It was hot and the windows were open. I was in the front seat.

A hippy walked by the car on the passenger's side and stopped and looked in and asked what time it was, then suddenly reached in with his whole body and grabbed my mother's purse by the flap. As it was flying out the window, I reacted, grabbing the strap and holding it tight against the car door. The hippy ran away carrying the flap and I saved the purse.

When they came out of the store my mother had a smiley face pendant for each of us. Mine was blue. I said "Is this a reward because I saved your purse?" She said, "No, everyone got one."

[nini]

124. Lisbon Portugal

My Portuguese grandparents left Lisbon in 1884 and ended up in Hilo Hawaii before settling in California.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

129. Interesting...

I've never thought of Hawaii as a major immigration center.

What's the monument in the pic?

[nini]

138. There are a lot of Portuguese in Hawaii.

They tooks ships from Portugal down around South America and ended up in Hawaii - mostly working sugar cane fields. My grandmother was born in Hilo - it was her parents who took the ship over. They lost a 9 year old son along the way too :-(

The monument is to Henry the Navigator in Lisbon. One of Portugal's many superior sailors.

This is a great thread. Very interesting stuff in it :-)

[Sequoia]

125. Castle in Scotland

Castle Menzies

This spectacular sixteenth century castle, restored by the Menzies Clan Society welcomes vistors. Seat of the Chiefs of Clan Menzies for over 400 years and importantly situated, it was involved in the turbulant history of the Highlands and here Bonnie Prince Charlie rested on his way to Culloden in 1746. Architecturally fascinating, it is a splendid example of the transition between earlier rugged fortress and later mansion house.

Castle Menzies stands north of the River Tay at Weem on the B846, one and half miles from Aberfeldy Open from 1st April (or Easter) to mid October. 10.30 a.m. - 5 p.m. (Sundays, 2 - 5 p.m.)
_______
My youngest brother was in the air force and was stationed in England and that's how we found out about it. Our great-great whatever grandfather came over here in 1775 to land in NC granted to him by King George III.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

130. Is it still owned by your kin?

Have you had a chance to visit? Seems we have a number of DUers with castle/palace-dwelling ancestors...

Very cool!

[Kerrytravelers]

133. Vanceburg, Kentucky where my family from.

The Ohio River City of Vanceburg is the county seat of Lewis County, Kentucky.

My mom knew Pauline when she grew up in Vanceburg. Notice what the picture is about!I don't think we're closely related, but I'm sure we are distantly.

Retired Vanceburg Postmaster Pauline Applegate's specially designed Kentucky hat created a sensation at the recent Democratic National Convention in Boston, Massachusetts, where Applegate was Kentucky 4th District delegate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanceburg,_Kentucky

[GoddessOfGuinness]

143. Looks like the Ohio is flooding

in your pic. Does that happen often in Vanceburg?

[htuttle]

134. Sure, it LOOKS like nothing but a hole in the ground

...But when great, great, great (great?) grandda got here in the states, he called it 'home'.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

142. What's the story?

Was it the root cellar? The place where he dug to build the foundation?
Do you live nearby?

[htuttle]

147. Great(x3) Grandda was a what they called a 'badger'

An Irish immigrant miner who lived in a hole (somewhat deeper at the time, and covered by a small wooden roof, I believe) when he first came to Western WI from Ulster in the early 1800's to dig lead out of the ground. They made a break for California during the Gold Rush, but were a bit late to make any money, and ended up right back near Platteville, WI. They eventually built a farmstead nearby, but on a different property.

After re-tracing the ancestral journey out west and back during my own coming-of-age quest, ironically enough, I ended up settling down within about 200 miles of the original 'family hole'. Just like salmon, I guess...

[Lydia Leftcoast]

139. I've been to Jerusalem Church!

When we traveled South back when I was in eighth grade, my father, a history buff, and especially a church history buff, insisted that we attend services there. The church was founded by Austrian Lutherans after they were expelled from Salzburg by the archbishop.

We woke up in Savannah and drove to Ebenezer that morning to attend church.

As I recall, it has a swan instead of a cross on the steeple. The reason is to commemorate Jan Hus, an early Reformation figure who was burned at the stake in Prague in 1415. The name "Hus" means "goose," and Jan Hus is supposed to have said before his execution, "You may cook the goose now, but in 100 years a swan will arise whose voice you shall not silence."

Since it was 102 years later that Luther nailed the 95 These onto the castle church door at Wittenberg, some early Lutherans adopted the swan as their symbol.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

144. It's great that you remember so much about it!

The Salzburgers have a website, too...
http://www.georgiasalzburgers.com/index.htm

:hi:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

140. Sidi Bel Abbes, Algeria, and a host of others

This is where my mother's father was stationed in the French Foreign Legion.



Here is the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway, where my father's parents came from.



Here is the town of Nikolaiken, once part of Germany, now known as Mikolajki, Poland, where my mother's grandmother grew up.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

145. That pic of Sidi Bel Abbes looks like a resort town...

What a lovely place!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

146. Apparently it was one of the bases of the French Foreign Legion, and

the officers liked to have it nice.

The enlisted men and the local Arabs did not have it so nice, according to my grandfather.

[sakabatou]

148. My ancestry was here

[FunkyLeprechaun]

149. It's fascinating to..

read everyone's family history... I'm doing some work for my Irish history class and learning more about my family history along the way.

Here's two things:



Queen's University of Belfast in Northern Ireland. My mum and dad went there (my Protestant dad graduated medical school in '69 and my Catholic mum with a degree in psych in '75). My grandpa (my mum's father) went there, and was the first Catholic to get the University Blue and many Protestants protested his getting that prestigous award. He also got into Queen's when it was exclusively Protestant (now it's majority Catholic) on the basis of being all-Ireland champ in track (qualified for the Olympics but couldn't go because WWII cancelled the games). My cousin taught the psychology department and one of his students was Bernadette Devlin. My sibling went for one semester. Should have taken up the chance to go when I did, but I went to Oxford for that semester instead.

Also, I'm doing the Troubles for my class:



These are the buses that were destroyed on Bloody Friday, 21 July 1972. My mum survived Bloody Friday (heard all the bombs going off and couldn't speak to anyone walking home, because Protestants and Catholics have different accents). The BBC also showed the police shoveling the bodies to scare the citizens of Belfast into not siding with the Provos.

It's all fascinating.