East Haddam "Specials"

If you have a "Genealogy Tip of the Week" please e-mail Carol. PLEASE put in the SUBJECT "EAST HADDAM GENEALOGY TIP OF THE WEEK". Also include your name. This maybe a tip for a new researchers or "seasoned" genealogist. READ THE "FUNNIES"!! I just love reading "puns" and good jokes about genealogists. Most of the time it's 100 % true! Genealogy Thou Shalts....(My personal favorite) and Genealogy Taglines... Do you have Genealogy Pox? Click to find out!     GENEALOGY TIP OF THE WEEK! I know I have posted this "tip" before, but it's a good reminder when spring is upon us and we take the drive on a nice afternoon to go "cemetery" hunting. There should be a few things to take along with you... the obvious is a pen and paper, maybe a camera to take a picture of the stone. There are some things we don't think about taking along, specially when you come across a cemetery that is off the beaten path and not maintained very well.  A simple first aid kit would be a good idea containing an ointment for cuts (specially if you need to climb over a stone wall), calamine lotion in case of poision ivy/sumack, bug repelant. A pair of gloves for pulling up weeds; a small hand broom to clean off the stone. DO NOT use any type of cleaner or abrasvies on the stones... you may do more harm than good. Some of the stones maybe made from brimstone, which becomes very fragile over the years. Brimstone is redish-brown in color, they are easiest to spot and hardest to read. Some people believe in "stone rubbing" so they maybe able to read the stone much better. There are pros & cons to "stone rubbing". My rule of thumb is, leave it alone and do the best you can. The historical society or church may have what your missing off the stone.   WARNING Genealogy Pox is VERY CONTAGIOUS SYMPTOMS: Continual complaint as to need for names, dates and places. Patient has a blank expression, sometimes deaf to spouse and children. Has no taste for work of any kind, except feverishly looking through records at libraries and courthouses. Has a compulsion to write letters. Swears at mailman when he doesn't leave mail. Frequents strange places such as cemeteries, ruins, and remote desolate country areas. Makes secret night calls and hides phone bills from spouse. Mumbles to self. Has strange, farway look in eyes. NO KNOWN CURE TREATMENT: Medication is useless. This disease is not fatal, but gets progressively worse. Patient should attend genealogy workshops, subscribe to genealogical magazines and be given a quiet corner in the house where he or she can be alone. REMARKS: The unusual nature of this disease is that the sicker the patient gets, the more he or she enjoys it. Author UNKNOWN GENEALOGY THOU SHALTS....... 1). Thou shalt name your male children: James, John, Joseph, Josiah, Samuel, Richard, Thomas, William, or Isaac. (2) Thou shalt name your female children: Ann, Elizabeth, Mary, Martha, Margaret, Sarah, or Susanna. (3) Thou shalt leave NO trace of your female children. (4) Thou shalt, after naming your children from the above lists, call them by strange nicknames such as: Ike, Eli, Polly, Molly, or Sally ---making them difficult to trace. (5) Thou shalt NOT use any middle names on any legal documents or census reports and only where necessary, you may use only initials on legal documents. (6) Thou shalt learn to sign all documents illegibly so that your surname can be spelled, or misspelled, in various ways: Hicks, Hicks, Hix, Hixe, Hucks, Kicks (7) Thou shalt, after no more then 3 generations, make sure that all family records are lost, misplaced, burned in a court house fire, or buried so that NO future trace of them can be found. (8) Thou shalt propagate misleading legends, rumors, & vague innuendo regarding your place origination: (A) You may have come from : England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales....or Iran. (B) You may have American Indian ancestry of the _________ tribe...... (C) You may have descended from one of three brothers that came over from ____________. (D) You descended from Royalty and the copy of the family Coat of Arms that you brought with you has been lost. (9) Thou shalt leave NO cemetery records, or headstones with legible names. (10) Thou shalt leave NO family Bible with records of birth, marriages, or deaths. (11) Thou shalt ALWAYS flip thy name around. If born James Albert,thou must make all the rest of thy records in the names of Albert, AJ, JA, Al, Bert, Bart, or Alfred. (12) Thou must also flip thy parent's names when making reference to them, although "Unknown" or a blank line is an acceptable alternative. (13) Thou shalt name at least 5 generations of males, and dozens of their cousins with identical names in order to totally confuse researchers. (14) Thou shalt name several children after famous people, and then use ridiculous nicknames to make them unrecognizable in censuses and other records: George Washington (Joe),     This was passed on to me via e-mail. The author is unknown. Genealogy Taglines Can a first cousin, once removed, return? Cemetery: (n) A marble orchard not to be taken for granite. Crazy.... is a relative term in MY family. Genealogy: It's all relative in the end anyway. Genealogy: Tracing yourself back to better people. I trace my family history so I will know who to blame. It's hard to be humble with ancestors like mine! Life takes it's toll. Have exact change ready! Searching for lost relatives? Win the Lottery! That's strange; half my ancestors are WOMEN! Do I even WANT ancestors? Some I found I wish I could lose. Every family tree has some sap in it. FLOOR: (n) The place for storing your priceless genealogy records. Friends come and go, but relatives tend to accumulate. Genealogists never die, they just lose their roots. Genealogy: A hay stack full of needles. It's the threads I need. Genealogy: Collecting dead relatives and sometimes a live cousin! Genealogy: Where you confuse the dead and irritate the living. Heredity: Everyone believes in it until their children act like fools! I think my family tree is a few branches short of full bloom. Life is lived forwards, but understood backwards. My ancestors are hiding in a witness protection program. My family tree is a few branches short! Research: What I'm doing, when I don't know what I'm doing. Take nothing but ancestors, leave nothing but records. Theory of relativity: If you go back far enough, we're all related.