Mortgage Monday: People You Can Trust

Now that my wife and I have pulled together our list of things that we need to get done, want to get done, and what might need a second look in the future, it is time to start lining things up and getting many of the ‘projects’ evaluated. While we have both been around and lived through renovations, large and small, in the past, this is the first time that we are looking to get the work done ourselves. With such limited experience, it is best to review these growing lists with some professionals. Thankfully, I have a few resources that will be able to let us know what is worth doing, how much it will cost, and how long it will take.

When it comes to having work done on our home I want to make sure to hire people whom I trust. There are many people to which this applies and I will be reaching out to many of them in the near future to have them look at what needs to be done as well as consider what we want to do in the future. Of course, family comes first and I am fortunate to know a family member who will be able to help with some of the renovations needed… this also might be the biggest project that we are considering as well which makes the whole process that much easier.

For many of the other things on our long, and growing, list I have turned to a few of the brothers from my lodge. The members of the lodge represent a hugely diverse mix of occupations, professions, and specialties and while I don’t know what everyone does for a living (not at this point anyway) I know enough brothers whose knowledge and skills will be a tremendous help to me. So far, I have already been in touch with a few contractors, a couple of electricians, and an architect. All people whom I trust and know that they will do great work at a reasonable price.

This is the basic reason why it is so important to get to know the people in your life. Knowing what they do for a living can be a tremendous asset when you find yourself in need of their services. And you never know when they might need your assistance with a project. The most important thing is that we make sure to help, aid, or assist those in our life. Whenever given the opportunity, take the time to help someone. When you need help, don’t be afraid to reach out. This isn’t just something that applies to home ownership, it is a way to live your life. It just happens to help during times like these.

Time To Party: Part I

Last weekend, after a long day at the lodge blood drive and only spending a couple of hours at home, I took a short walk through the woods between the houses and met our neighbors for the first time. I wasn’t sure about attending given our schedule that weekend but I am certainly glad that I made the time. I liked our house and the area before I had a chance to meet anyone and now I am even more appreciative of having found our home in this neighborhood. As a bonus, there is only one neighbor that owns a cat which may not seem like a big deal to many but for us it allows us to be more welcoming to our fellow neighbors in our home.

That wasn’t the first time we had met some of the neighbors. A few weeks ago, shortly after we moved into our new home, our next door neighbor rang the doorbell and gave us a wonderful pot of soup and an invitation to their holiday party. I was out at the time but my wife had a very nice conversation with her and the soup was definitely appreciated as it provided us with an additional meal that we didn’t have to prepare that weekend. The invitation was a bit unexpected but a pleasant surprise. Almost immediately, with that single encounter, we felt welcomed in our new neighborhood.

It was interesting learning about all of our neighbors who seemed more eager to meet me than I was them. We are an interesting little collection of people with a variety of backgrounds and a diverse collection of occupations. However, the common thread among all that I spoke to at the party was that each of them wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. And this is coming from a group that included someone who has lived on the same street his entire life (50+ years) to those that used to be the new people on the block having moved in about a year or two ago.

With our son down for the night and my wife doing her best to relax and stay awake at home, I had to cut the evening short and was heading back home about an hour after arriving. It is safe to say that, so long as we get another invitation, we will both be attending the party next year. In the meantime, I am looking forward to getting to know all of our neighbors and making the time to visit each of them. This is something that we have been search for and an aspect of finding our home that we are grateful for and will certainly enjoy.

Sunday Search: Beyond The Camera

The McKannan Family c. 1920:
(L-R) William Jacob, William Reuben, Robert James, Helen Walker (Fulton).

In the last few years of my grandmother’s life, she went back and forth between wanting to pass things along to many of us (I will never forget her telling me that she wanted me to have her, and my grandfather’s, High School class rings) and just wanting to get rid of things “because no one would want them”. Unfortunately, what she thought no one would want were the piles of family photos piled in many of the drawers in my parent’s house. In hindsight, I wish I had told her that I wanted to see them from time to time and ask her who everyone was. Definitely a missed opportunity.

Thankfully there are some photos that have survived and recently I came across a few of the older photographs that I don’t remember ever seeing. While sorting through the boxes and files that have been piled in my office for the past several months, I came across a Priority Mail box that my Aunt had sent to me just prior to our move out of the old apartment last year. I had put it aside with the plan of opening it once we got settled and looking through what I thought would be an album of photos from when my mom was growing up.

When I finally pulled the tab on the box I peered in and saw an expected album along with an envelope. I first pulled out the bound pages and only half of it was about what I was expecting. There were also photos from long before that time back to around the year that my grandparents met. I didn’t think that this discovery could get better until I put the binder aside and opened the envelope.

In this unassuming package I found, in layers and layers, a wealth of family history in images. Sliding from one photo to the next, I was unaware of the existence of each image. Some of them were simple portraits and family photos while overs told a little more about the lives of the people in those images. Knowing the basic family history beforehand only added to the story even behind those moments captured. Having done the research, I know that the following photo shows my grandfather around 1910 as a driver for a local grocery store (as was recorded in the 1910 federal census).

Additionally, looking at the family portrait at the top of this post (my great grandparents, grandfather, and great uncle) I can’t help but think about what is happening beyond the scope of the camera. The picture was take around 1920 and shows a family of four. At one point, in 1919 and early 1920, this was a family of six (my great aunts passed away in 1920 and 1922 respectively). By the end of 1922, this was a family of three with my great grandmother having succumb to a stroke in September of that year. It just goes to show that pictures are truly representative of a single moment in time.

Of course, this is just a couple of the photos that have been shared with me and just the stories behind the photos that I have been able to piece together. There are still a lot of images that I have yet to scan, people in those photos that I have to identify, and stories that I hope to find. It is an ongoing project that I hope never ends but I need help from the family to accomplish that… I just hope that I don’t come across another situation when people don’t think that anyone wants these pieces of family history. I want to do everything I can to avoid that situation and prevent that regret for not talking about the photos and asking about family history. Definitely a lot of work but well worth the effort.

Finding Life In Death

Death Certificate of Sarah Hansel (?) Myers.

Every so often I log on to Ancestry.com to check and see if any leaves shaking on the tree. For those of you unfamiliar with the site, this means that there is new information or documents available for review. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the information is correct or adds color to that particular ancestor but there are times when interesting discoveries are made. However, I learned early on that you can’t simply rely on the quivering foliage so, when I have a few minutes here and there, I do a general search of the site to try and find other information (especially when the spelling of the surname is a little different or flat out incorrect).

This week I have noticed that a lot of the Pennsylvania Death Certificates are now listed. I don’t know when they were digitized but I am just noticing them now. While the time frame is a bit of a hindrance (currently only 1906-1940 certificates are listed) there are still plenty of documents that I have been finding. Everything from the tragic deaths of children to the inevitable passing of aged ancestors, the causes run the gamut. These are a great source of information not just about the departure of a relative but they can, most of the time, also be a great way to confirm or correct other generations on your tree… sometimes, like a document I sent to my wife, they can provide the names of the parents which was previously unknown information.

As for my tree, it has been a means of correction and confirmation. The death certificate above lists both parents including the mother’s maiden name which is different from that which I previously had listed on my family tree. And it is not a simple adjustment in the spelling… Davenport is nowhere close to Hansel. This doesn’t mean that I will be correcting it right away but it gives pause to continuing work on that particular branch. Obviously, some more work and verification needs to be done before I change or continue with the tree as is.

These documents are also a means to confirm residence, family health problems (that may have made it across the generations), longevity, and occupation. Sometimes it is a matter of confirming many of those things at the same time. One such document added to the long list of railroad workers in my family while another verified the service of my great great grandfather in the Philadelphia Police Department… I just didn’t realize that he spent 54 years on the force.

In the end, while the primary purpose of these documents was to record the death of the family member, there is more life in them than some people realize… definitely more than what can be found in most census records. All of the information is there and it could lead to some interesting discoveries and answer questions or doubts that you may have had about your family. Just goes to show that we need to read the documents rather than just attaching them to an ancestor.

Double Duty

Last night I experienced a case of masonic split personality as we struggled to fill all the positions to get the degree work done. Oddly, it wasn’t that we were short on men present at the lodge as we saw plenty on hand during the sandwich bar before the meeting but we had a number of brothers that had to accompany candidates, serve as guides, and a couple that needed to sit on the sidelines and observe. So during a night when my role is relatively limited as Secretary, I was also called into service to sit in the chair of the Senior Deacon. For many of you this all seems like a foreign language but my fellow brothers know that by moving over a chair, I was now right in the middle of the degree work.

However, there were a few things that I still had to do as Secretary throughout the night as there were still communication from the Grand Lodge, a few notes that had to be taken, attendance that had to be checked, and the ledger had to be prepared for the new brothers to sign. Basically, the times when the Senior Deacon would normally be resting, I was shifting back to my desk to take care of all these things to ensure that they were not forgotten. The last thing I want to do is forget any of my primary duties. After all, that is the job I am expected to do.

There were still a few things that had to get done after the conferrals came to an end around 10:30 so it was back down to the basement office to take care of the book keeping, correspondences, and updating of Masonic records. Many of these things I usually start while at my desk during the meeting but on a double duty night they were obviously pushed back making the night a little bit longer. Fortunately for me, my assistant was there to give me a hand and the Treasurer has always been a great brother to work with as we both do our best to be efficient with our time when work needs to be done.

So, after a full day at the car dealer and office and pulling double duty at the lodge it was finally time for me to head back home and get some rest. Usually I am up for some time but when I made it home it didn’t take long to get from the apartment door to the bed. Thankfully, today was a relatively light day. Well, at least as uneventful as I could have hoped for which just means that it was really busy but without any major surprises. Most importantly, no double duty beyond my split time between my regular occupation and my lodge duties.