Just wanted to update on what I am working on!

I have been filling my hours of each day doing this:

 Sorting through lots of pictures, getting them ready to post on my family history blog.

I just didn't realize how many hours this would take, but I do enjoy it and it keeps me busy! I am working on the Armstrong side of the family for now and have over 100 pictures just from this family. How cool is this? Thanks, Karen!
Thanks for visiting with me today!

MIchelle is 21!

Today is my youngest birthday and she is 21!! She and her husband are at Disneyland celebrating, while we are here. So I made a cake anyway and posted about it here: http://mymomsfilebox.blogspot.com/2011/03/pound-cake.html
Michelle is always happy!!

Do you have an Aunt Woody?

Clara Mae Riggs (1907-1988) and Gladys Naomi Riggs (1913-1990)

 

Do you have an Aunt Woody and Aunt Gladys who live next door to each other? I do and love and miss them as they have now passed on.  But I have a few memories of them from when I lived in Texas. They lived in Oklahoma and I was able to visit them a few times, back in the 70's. They are my grandmother's sisters and granny would tell fun stories of growing up with them. 

At one time during their teen-age years there was this dress they all love and would borrow from each other. One night all three girls wanted to wear the dress and I guess they fought over it, well you can image what happened. No more dress, it got shredded. They laughed and giggled over that story many times.

My grandmother moved to Califorina and Aunt Woody and Aunt Gladys married had families of there own and somehow moved next door to each other. This is when I new them, as neighbors.

Aunt Woody's real name is Clara Mae (Riggs) Woodring. As you can guess she got her nickname from her married  name.

         (Aunt Woody at her house.)

When I would visit I was married to my first husband and had my first daughter, so she and I would drive up to Oklahoma and stay with Aunt Woody.  Oh, I loved her house. She would tell my daughter she could have any food in the house as long as she stayed in the kitchen to eat. Aunt Woody made sure we had full tummys, she was a good cook, like my grandmother.  We would walk over to Aunt Gladys through the back door. No fences were there, but in the back of Aunt Gladys' yard, there was a storm shelter in case of tornados. So dusty down there, and luckily we never saw a tornado when we visited. 

Noble, Oklahoma is so small that we would walk over to Uncle JE's plumbing shop to give him his lunch.  Some days he would close down for lunch and come home.

At 10:00 a.m. sharp Aunt Woody and Aunt Gladys, each in their own homes would watch a soap opera and it was like the town closed down. No one was allow to call each other for that hour.

But by the time it was over, got lunches made and some phone calling done, all in time for the noon hour.  

One time we were there for Easter, we went to their church and afterwards, cousins came from Oklahoma City and we had an egg hunt. My daughter had a blast meeting her Oklahoma cousins, Jay, Jeff and Jan. They are Aunt Gladys' grandchildren.

Clara married Pete Woodring and had one son, Joe.

Gladys married JE Jordan and has one son, Sonny.

Interesting enough that each son, married and has 3 children.

           (Aunt Woody,Uncle Pete and Joe)    

I still keep in touch with my cousins from there and am glad that we can visit through facebook.

We also got to go to a football game, when the twins, (Jay and Jeff) were in high school.  Towards the end of the game, some men came over and told my cousin to get the women out as soon as the game was over, as they heard their might be a big fight. That never happen to me before, so we all left quickly and were so happy nothing happen.

Granny and her sisters were very crafty, they could make the newest craft and it would turn out great. I think they would of love how we scrapbook.

Their were 8 girls and 3 boys in that family. Could you imagine growing up in the early 1900's and 1920's with this fun group? Good times and hard times, as they lived through the dust bowl, the great depression, WWI andWWII, time periods.

Sometime I will have to write about the 2 uncles that I knew.

To Uncle Pete, Aunt Woody, Uncle JE and Aunt Gladys: love and miss you and can't wait to see you on the other side some day.

                                                                                                                                                                         

Aunt Gladys, Uncle JE and Sonny.

                                Uncle JE (on couch) and Uncle Pete (in chair)

Aunt Woody (sitting in the chair) and Aunt Gladys (on the arm of the chair). These were taken in Aunt Gladys' house.

(Lea, if you or anyone else reads this and knows of my Aunts, please comment and leave your story, so I know how you remember them.  If you have pictures, that would be nice too. Thanks.)

Dilbeck side of family

Have had a couple of distant cousins email me through the Ancestry.com with questions of family members.  I have over 3,000 family names and they just keep coming! That might not sound like a lot to some, but I have been working on this for over 30 years off and on.  Just the last few years, I have really concentrated on doing my family history and am amazed everyday what is out there online. I know I have mentioned this before, but it still amazes me.

One distant relative has asked about her mother's family and I found some answers for her. It is on the Dilbeck side.

My grandmother's, mother is a Dilbeck. As I researched and found these answers, I came across 3-4 different articles that I have and was surprised at how different names were given for the same people. I really need to do some extra research and get this corrected. Some skipped a generation and added a brother as a father. Sometimes doing genealogy gets confusing, so please re-research before you think you have everything correct.

I try to go by census and family Bibles. Whoever writes in the census usually spells the names as they hear them and not by how the family may have spelled them. The family Bibles, I think are correct as the mother of the family should know how she wants her child's name to be spelled.

I love when people write their stories and are able to pass them down, these are precious to me.

In my family the Dilbeck's and Riggs' are close first cousins and "3 of the cousins, just before 1920's were riding a bareback together on an old horse. The old horse had been eating grass and had a bad case of flatulence. When they kicked him into a trot, he began to expel gas every time his feet hit the ground. This got the girls so tickled that they couldn't hold on and all three fell off the horse." This story brought laugher to all three girls even after 50 years. This story I received from a cousin and now as silly as this must have been then, I have it to pass down to my children. (Poor horse.) I like how he said the girls were 'tickled'. You don't hear of that word used that way anymore. The cousin that I received this from also sent me a CD with many generations back and 32 pictures of relatives I have never met, pretty cool.

Ok, back to the Dilbeck's story, as told by John C. Montgomery:

It looks like the Dibeck's line entered the USA in August of 1683 when Isaac Dilbeeck and his wife Marieke landed in Philadelphia in the ship, "America". They may have had two boys with them, Jacob and Abraham, according to Samuel W. Pennypacker in his book, "The Settlement of Germantown." They apparently were hired as indentured servants by a wealthy German writer and colonizer, Francis Daniel Pastorius, while the "America" was docked at Deal, England in June 1683. Because he was a writer, there is a wealth of infomation availabe about Pastorius and the early days of Philadelphia, so we are able to deduce much about what life was like for this ancestor. In addition, Pastorius mentions Isaac and Marieke by name (or as servant) several times; he tells us that Dilbeck was a "Dutchman", a "Hollander", a weaver, and was of the Calvinist religion.

This story goes on to explain how the Dilbecks' went to Georgia and came to Oklahoma. I need to ask if I can print the rest. As one can see there is a lot of work for each side of your family. 

Here are a couple of pictures of my great,great-grandparents:

David Nuel Dilbeck and his wife, Amanda Matilda Allen (Dilbeck)                    

 

Still here....

I know I haven't written for awhile, but nothing new is happening here. 

I have been doing a lot of family history searching and am pleased with what is out there.

So many people are doing their families, it is so cool! I love finding my family and putting a name to a date into time periods of history.

Have you ever put a name and birthdate of a family member on google.com and see what comes up? It's great, especially if they are born before 1890. Most names that I have done have had some sort of story online. Thanks to all my unknown ancestors out there doing the work, you are great and I love the stories and pictures.

One distant cousin that I met online had a picture of my parents when they were first married and he didn't know who they were. What a surprise to both of us, as I was thrill to print off that picture and he got to know me and my parents!

If you have family pictures without names, please put them on a picture site as deadfred.com or ancestry.com or many other picture sites. Some will see it and let you know who it is. There is a group on facebook called: "Genealogy Photos" where you can also put unknown pictures.

On most of my family lines, that I have been working on have at least 14-15 generations back!

Here is the famous picture of my parents, that might of been lost if I didn't email my cousin and find out if we were related or not.

What a treasure! Aren't they cute? 

Great Aunt Iza, my dad (Glenn Utterback), my mom (Emma Armstrong Utterback), 

Great Aunt Iola and my grandfather (William Everett Utterback).  Iza and Iola came down to visit their brother, my grandfather. The picture is taken at the house of my parents around 1950, where I lived until 8 years old.

Riggs side of Family

Here is a couple of pictures of my great-grandfather and some of his children. Are any of you, Riggs? I am still working on this side of the family and am happy to say I have found many generations back. 

This picture is of William Emerson Riggs (great-grandfather), Denver (my uncle) and (Ted another uncle).

Denver's real name is William Denver Riggs born in 1896 and Ted's real name is Bernie Miller Riggs, born in 1904. 

I knew Uncle Denver and Uncle Ted as we had many family picnics together when I was little with my family. They are my grandmothers' brothers. We had such fun picnics at different parks throughout southern California.  The food, games and lots of visiting with relatives. 

I never got to meet my great-grandfather as he died before I was born. But his wife, Emma Elizabeth Dilbeck Riggs lived until my junior year in high school. I only saw pictures of her, as she lived in Oklahoma, and we didn't vacation there. 

The second picture is of my great-grandfather with more of his children. This picture must have been taken around 1909, as that is the year my grandmother was born, and that is her in the carriage or chair. Her name is Leona Catherine Riggs. I could guess on the others, but it would only be a guess. 

Oldies but Goodies!

To the ‘cousin-n-laws’, that I like to think of as my cousins.
I went to the web site yearbookyourself.com and decided that since I lived during that time period I would just put on some of my pictures. Let me know what you think.
Fun times!
Enjoy!

The first is when I started Kindergarten. My brother and I went to this private school for about a month, then our parents switch us over to public school as it was a block away versus about 5 miles or so.
The second picture is just a close up of the Kindergarten.
The third is a picture in my grandmothers’ back yard when I was in 7th grade around 1963 or 1964.
The last is my senior picture. Of course the picture was taken in 1968, but I graduated in 1969.
What hair-dos.
Thanks for my memories, this was a fun little project to do.

More Family Names

I have been working and working on family names today. There are so many to correct. I usually have 3-4 web pages opened up to check for correct spelling, dates and the census records. Once you get into the 1800 and back if is very confusing on what records to rely on.

I worked on 11 names and have been working for about 6 hours, just verifing what I have. I hope someday to fine more distant relatives and share information.

Here are some of my family's last names: Utterback, McKenzie, Armstrong, Dilbeck, Riggs. But their spouses names that I did work on today are: Jesse Elax Casey, Nancy Clowers, Margaret Eveline HolcombCoomer, Juanita Davis, Mary Davenport, Blanche Elizabeth Duncan,Elce Fridder, Eliza Selina Goss, Margaret Hamilton, Alice Udorah Brinks Brown, Hannah Burgess, and a baby Armstrong.

If you have any of those last names, maybe, just maybe we are related.
As I mentioned before it is enjoyabe to do, but very time consuming.
Here is a picture of my grandfather, Harry Armstrong, taken about 1971.

Family History

Family History, genealogy, pedigree charts, pictures of our ancestors, I am into it! I love it. It is fun and enjoyable to find out about ones’ ancestors. The time periods bring history alive through our families! I wonder.... If being able to do family history through history classes, would it have opened up the enjoyment of some of the schooling when we were children.

My youngest daughter did a senior project on: “My Family Was There” and so she started with an ancestor on the Mayflower, in the Civil War, WWI, WWII, and other time periods of our country through the present time, ending with herself. It really made her and I appreciate our fore fathers and how they helped build this country. As I continue to do more and more names of relatives I want to know about the countries they came from. I call myself ’57 Heinz’, as we have so many different countries.
My relatives came from England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, and Prussia. Most of the closest lines are here in the United States, a relative in every state, except Hawaii and Alaska. Haven’t found any relatives born in those 2 states, but I might someday. I can go back on one line into the 1300’s. Most are through the 1500’s. It is said if you can go back to English Royalty, you should be able to trace back to ‘Jesus Christ’. I think that would be cool and who knows maybe someday I will.

Here is just a sample of my family that traces to different places. I was born in California, also my mother, my father in Washington, his father in Missouri, back to Virginia, then from Germany and Prussia. On my mothers’ side, her mother in Oklahoma, grandmothers parents from Tennessee and the Carolinas to England, Ireland. The aunts, uncles, cousins, great-grand parents, is just amazing to me the different places they have all lived.
As I gather stories, I will probably put some on my blog and see if possibly you are also related.

Wouldn’t be interesting if we all did our own family history and find out how really united we all are? Would there be more peace in the world because we would respect each other as family members and be excited from where we came, to truly understand each others countries and cultures. We really are our Heavenly Father’s children and doing genealogy proves it!

*The picture is of my father in the cart along with his older brother and sister. I love having a copy of this picture not only because my father is in it, but seeing the time period. How exciting!

My Mom

This past week was my mother and my birthdays.
So, here is a little tribute to my mother.
She was born back in the 30’s in lower part of California. In her teen years they moved to Los Angles area and she attended Garfield High.
My parents married soon after she graduated. My father being in the Navy at that time.
All four of us children were born at Montebello Hospital, near LA. We moved to Azusa. My parents lived in that home for about 30+ years and moved to retirement type housing. My father past away 7 years ago and it has been hard for my mother to live by herself and go on without him.
My mom has many talents. She is a great cook, made many of beautiful cakes, sews and has great artistic abilities.
No one is perfect, but I will tell of my good memories.
She drove many a time, us children and friends to the beach in the summer time. One of our many cars was an old 1949 Plymouth chocolate brown station wagon. We would pile into the wagon, oh about 14 of us or so, on the way to the beach, before the freeway was in. We would have to get out and push this car up over the hill and hurry to get back in and cruise down the hill. I enjoyed driving on Beach Blvd. and seeing all the cows and then stores, until finally there it was…. Huntington Beach. Most times when we went we would see some old friends and even some of my mother high school friends.
We also had an old ugly green Oldsmobile (I think it was 1958) and usually two of us would ride in the trunk and hold open the lid with our feet, so to have air, again as a bunch of us would pile in for another beach trip. One time we had to picked up my grandfather (my mother’s father) and we didn’t have good brakes, so my mom would just use the emergency brake and the car would stop, my grandfather was needless to say a bit shocked when she did that the first time and then got use to it.
On the old brown Plymouth, my brother and his friends would wax that station wagon and it shined like a chocolate dipped ice cream cone. In the passenger side of that car was a big enough hole to where we could put our foot out, so we would pretend to stop the car that way, like in the Flintstone cartoons. It was a miracle we never got hurt doing those things, and not having safety belts back then.
My mother could sew most anything. If something wasn’t working out, boy we couldn’t watch or be around when she was sewing. She made many outfits for me and most of my formals for all the high school dances that I went to. I can remember when I went into high school my brother asked my mom to make sure I had in-style clothes as he didn’t want a little sister without the hippest outfits. So back to the sewing table (which was our kitchen table) to cut and sew away. I wouldn’t say I was in style but I had good clothes. She did sew for all of us and made my brother some of the coolest hippy shirts and jams for summer you wish you had.
We had two of the coolest parties during our teen years. My parents put together a Halloween party and a Surfing Safari party, we were envied by our friends who came, they thought my parents to be cool or should I say ‘Groovy’.
My mother could make and decorate any kind of cake you wanted, at least that is what we all thought. I think it was my 13th birthday I wanted a doll cake and purple! She didn’t like purple, but my Granny asked my mom to do and she did. I had the prettiest doll cake, and of course it tasted great! She usually made what she thought was our favorite dinner for our birthdays, so every year I would get meat loaf and scalloped potatoes. I liked meat loaf, but it wasn’t my favorite.
Another great dish we all liked, especially our friends was rolled-up tacos. We would have contest on who could eat the most, I never won. But, my dad, brother and his friends could down a dozen or so. My mom made a lot of tacos back then.
During one of my high school years, we had a week-end evening paper route. We all worked together and folding 1000 papers then delivering them, (they were throw-away, meaning advertising type newspaper). We would stay up into the wee hours of the morning, so my mom cook up hamburgers, fries and bananas shakes. That was a lot of work, as it also included extra friends, this was usually done after delivering the papers. We finally got to bed around 3 a.m.
This is just a few of the good times. Most of the summers when my dad would have vacation time, we went camping up the coast line of California.
My parents were married for a little over 51 years, before my father passed. Here are a couple of their cute pictures.