Family History Funnies

 

A girlfriend sent me this cartoon, knowing my interest in family history.

I just had to share with you all, since you are perhaps a relative! smile!

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Nuts in the Cemetery

On the outskirts of a small town, there was a big, old pecan tree just inside the cemetery fence. One day, two boys filled up a bucketful of nuts and sat down by the tree, out of sight, and began dividing the nuts. "One for you, one for me, one for you, one for me, " said one boy. Several dropped and rolled down toward the fence. 

Another boy came riding along the road on his bicycle. As he passed, he thought he heard voices from inside the cemetery. He slowed down to investigate. Sure enough, he heard, 'One for you, one for me, one for you, one for me!' He just knew what it was. He jumped back on his bike and rode off. Just around the bend he met an old man with a cane, hobbling along. 

'Come here quick,' said the boy, 'you won't believe what I heard! Satan and the Lord are down at the cemetery dividing up the souls!' 

The man said, 'Beat it kid, can't you see it's hard for me to walk.' When the boy insisted though, the man hobbled slowly to the cemetery. Standing by the fence they heard, 'One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me.' The old man whispered, 'Boy, you've been tellin' me the truth. Let's see if we can see the Lord.'

Shaking with fear, they peered through the fence, yet were still unable to see anything. The old man and the boy gripped the wrought iron bars of the fence tighter and tighter as they tried to get a glimpse of the Lord. 

At last they heard, 'One for you, one for me. That's all. Now let's go get those nuts by the fence and we'll be done.'

They say the old man had the lead for a good half-mile before the kid on the bike passed him.

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and a few favorites gathered from Pinterest

Brick Walls

"Brick Walls" are when you've come to the end of your ancestral line research and you can go no farther. If you can't break through, because information is not available to you at that precise moment or what you found may be incorrect, then you might have to take a little detour around the brick wall. Find another family expert and pick their brains to see what they know, however, be forewarned, some genealogy nuts are harder to crack than others. 

"Even professional genealogists have brick walls and need other genealogists, with specialties in those areas, to help them out." ~ Christa Cowan, Ancestry.com

I've been researching one particular ancestor, Martin White,  and have found much new information which  has enriched the historical environment he lived in. I have found some of his FANS (friends, associates, and neighbors) and, with the help of others, have uncovered journals and letters by his FAN's and family.
  

Are You a Family History Junkie?

Borrowed.

Several sources have reported that genealogy has now replaced stamp collecting as the No. 1 hobby in the United States. If you are spending lots of time working on your family history and still don't think of yourself as an "addicted genealogist" here's a little test:

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1. Do you always brake for libraries?

Yep! But we also brake for cemeteries, historical societies, museums, and tourist information offices. Do you?

2. If you were locked in that library overnight, would you notice?

Probably not, unless they turned the lights out on us. Hubbin would have to have his trusty sidekick though and that's his laptop.

3. Do you hyperventilate when you see an old cemetery not yet explored?

When hubbin and I were courting, we went parking in cemeteries and we weren't necking, either! We were too busy taking notes! LOL!

4. Would you rather browse in that cemetery than in a shopping mall?

Not necessarily -- I like junking in garage sales, thrift stores, flea markets and hobby/craft stores. I have found historical treasures at the three above places that's been donated to our local genealogy library and transcribed for genealogy newsletter publication.

5. Do you think every home should have a microfilm reader?

I don't know where I would put a microfilm reader in my cottage. Lack of space and lack of purchasing power puts a crimp in that idea.

6. Is your closet carefully stacked with notebooks, books and journals while your clothes are stuffed under the bed?

Nope, the closet holds clothes, although there is a small metal drawer cabinet of maps on David's side of the closet which he obtained from raiding old National Geographic magazines at garage sales. Right now, most of our genealogy books are stacked on my walker seat between a stuffed bookcase and the TV. Library books are stacked on top of a TV tray, waiting to be either read or taken back to the library.

7. Does all your correspondence begin, "Dear Cousin?"

Some of my correspondence or emails begin with "Dear Cousin," but not all. I also have friends, some who share my passion for history and some who share my passion for crafts and card-making.

8. Are you more interested in what happened in 1693 than what happened in 1993?

Not necessarily. I try to keep up with current events as I'm making history of my own too! Hopefully, some day I'll be great-grandma to a descendant and maybe they will be interested in my American history as well. To see what happened the year you were born, click here.

9. If you can find Harrietsham, Hawkhurst, Kent on a map of England--but can't find Chicago on a map of the United States--you know that you are an addicted genealogist.
Well, I'm sorry, that's really sad. Maybe that's the difference between the quizzer above and me. I can find Chicago on the map -- probably because I'm a former homeschool mom. We had a huge laminated map of the world nailed to our laundry room wall for many years and I have a well-used US atlas parked next to my computer that gets referred to a lot.
Take it from me. Even though we don't "pass" all the questions above, I can tell you we are addicted family researchers. Both of us have compiled info on our dead relatives since high school and love history, even handing down that love of history to our son! He said one time he would rather go to a flea market than a museum, because you get to purchase a piece of history to bring home! We have this blog, I have a history blog that I write short biographies of interesting people from Missouri and Kansas history for it, I like crafts from grandma's day, my hubbin belongs to both the Miller County, MO. historical society and the MO. Genealogy society and I am the current secretary for the Rush Reunion, so we've got it BAD, BAD, BAD! *wink*

Odd Bits of RUSH Trivia

Did You Know? There is a RUSH Hill and a RUSHville, MO. and also, a RUSH Center & RUSH County, KS.? Dr. Marcus Whitman (1802-1847), a missionary to the Indians in Oregon, was born in RUSHville, NY. There is a RUSH River in Virginia & a RUSH Creek in Missouri!
There is a famous signer of the Declaration of Independence, one Dr. Benjamin RUSH, however, my husband cannot find a link with our RUSH family to old Ben. And did you know that there is a RUSH Chapel United Methodist church in northern Missouri? My husband plans on being buried in the RUSH Chapel cemetery, the one located on RUSH Road in Mary’s Home, south of the Mo. capital, where many of his ancestors have already been laid to rest.

RUSH is even found in the Bible as RUSH, RUSHed, RUSHes, and RUSHing (37 times). And according to my computer dictionary, “RUSH” means = haste, reeds, dash, attack. My husband believes the American RUSH surname is derived from the Gaelic (Irish) “O’Luachrua” which means bullRUSHes or reeds.
There is also a RUSH Medical College, Chicago, IL. and a town named RUSHbrook chartered in Logan County, IL in 1834. It is a ghost town now. There is a RUSH Street in Osawatomie, KS. and a TV commercial featured RUSHCard.com
I looked in my atlas and found all these other RUSH related place names: RUSHville, IL; RUSH County and RUSHville, IN; RUSH City, RUSH River, RUSHford Village, RUSHford, and RUSHmore, MN; RUSHville, NE; RUSHville, OH; RUSH Springs, OK; RUSHton, TN; and RUSHmere, VA.
The head detective on the TV show "Cold Case" is named Lily RUSH.

In 2011, this poem was on my paternal aunt & uncle’s Christmas card. I couldn’t resist adding it to this collection of other RUSH’s. ;)

Christmas Hush
By Kay L. Halliwill.

May the quietness of Christmas,
The calm and holy hush
Of that first advent season,
Still our Christmas RUSH.

May our memories of the manger
Reassure us, ease the stress
Of troubled hearts in troubled times
With His peace and quietness.

If you know of any other bits of RUSH Trivia, such as how the RUSH band got its name, we’d love to hear it. RUSH it into the comments below.

Illustration by Mary Engelbreit.

A girlfriend found this Valentine for me at a church rummage sale!