Old Times and New

My posting about Uncle Charlie's life was nicely edited (thank you!) and used at the funeral. Besides the older generation, most of the Ing family of my generation were there, and a few younger ones. I was surprised to meet three girls I had not seen since elementary school, about 60 years ago: Rose, her sister Alice, and Hilda. Rose and Alice were the closest neighbors about our age. Hilda's family farmed near the old Antross townsite. We all used to ride the same school van to and from Breton. At one point the school van was a WWII surplus army jeep, and the road was dirt (not gravel). On muddy days, even the 4x4 Jeep barely made it through. One spring, a bridge was partly washed-out so the van took us as far as the creek, we were helped across the bridge, and then loaded in other vehicles for the rest of the trip to school. And we call THOSE the "good old days"! Well, I guess they were, but in other ways. They were times of peace and security, when alcohol was the only drug available, and crimes were almost non-existent. 

Research in Ireland

My Buchanan cousin Darlene and her daughter Lindsay are in Europe this week. I received an email from Paris two days ago. Now they will be in Ireland for a few days of family history research before returning home. I was invited by them to meet them in Ireland, and David Keys suggested that I come to Ireland too. Some day maybe, but it is not going to happen this year. I wish them the best of luck in their research. Darlene and I have cooperated on our research over the last several years, and I have been very impressed at some of her achievements. Good luck Darlene!

Partakers from Manitoba, Michigan and Germany

This past week I was contacted by a Partaker relative, and I have had fun looking up every scrap I could find about the family of Frank August Partaker and Christina Riess. Their son Herman Leopold Partaker married Dad's second cousin, Caroline Willerton. It was fun, but I never did find an official record of Frank's birth. In some records he is said to be born in Germany and it others he was born in Michigan. Maybe someone else will solve that riddle.