Family History

24/7 Family History Circle blog has an interesting article called “Using Ancestry.com: Tips on Using Digitized Books–With a Focus on Local History”, a great look at how to use scanned books you find on Ancestry.com.

How To Find the Book You Need
The Family and Local History Collection at Ancestry is quite large and because of its size it can be easy to miss books of importance. With the addition of more than 300 titles back in late August, it’s quite possible that new materials are out there that can help you locate your ancestors and flesh out the family story.

There are a lot of local histories in the Family and Local History Collection that have been digitized. The trick is locating the books you need. The Card Catalog database at Ancestry is the best way to search for titles that may be of interest to your family. It can be found by clicking on the Search Tab and then clicking on the “Card Catalog” link on the right-hand side of the page under the section “Search Resources” or directly through this link.

The article gives an indepth instruction on how to look through the online versions of this history books and how to trace your family through the online records. Fascinating and a great lesson for those who subscribe to Ancestry.com.

In an article on MSNBC called “DNA Solves a Family Mystery”, author Matt Crenson tells of how modern DNA testing has helped to solve the mysteries about his great-grandfather’s history.

It also includes some rather stunning information on what DNA testing has uncovered.

The news often reports amazing tales of how genetic analysis proves that a few ancient Adams and Eves living in Africa tens of thousands of years ago gave rise to the entire human race. Genetic testing demonstrates that 3.5 million of today’s Ashkenazi — Jews with roots in Central and Eastern Europe — descend from just four women who lived in Europe less than 2,000 years ago. It shows that most of Ireland descends from a legendary king named Niall of the Nine Hostages.

I’m not sure where this information comes from, but it does sound a little far fetched. More than four women were part of the Jewish Diaspora who were in Europe less than 2,000 years ago, so where are all their children? Only time, more research, and more participants will help decode more of these mysteries.

The articles goes on to tell of how Crenson discovered that his great-grandfather was probably Jewish or of Jewish descent. As a reminder, to be recognized as truly “Jewish”, the mother is the conduit, not the father, but that doesn’t matter when it comes to DNA.

His story is fascinating and shows us how DNA research can be combined with facts on the ground to help fill in the missing pieces on our family’s history.

Slashfood, a blog on food and cooking, asks “Are There Ethnic Grocery Stores in Your Neck of the Woods?”

I thought it was just in my neck of the woods that small ethnic grocery stores were the place to go for the hard to find supplies I need for my multicultural cooking and lifestyle. It seems that all over the country, folks are traveling to seek out small markets to find Sriracha sauce, real leaf lard, weird and tasty candy, black chickens, exotic produce, interesting spices, and Asian condiments. This is the exact opposite of one trend I reported recently where some neighborhood grocery stores are tailoring their wares to fit the local cultural profile. These are stores that focus on specific products, and people seek them out for what they consider traditional foods or for items that are difficult to come by in the more generic supermarkets.

Are there ethnic grocery stores or restaurants in your area that match your ancestors’ ethnic roots? Have you explored your family’s historical preferences and tastes for food from around the world?

When I was a child, people would ask me what I was in terms of my ancestry. What they really wanted to know was if my family has some affiliation with an ethnic heritage which often included specific foods, recipes, and cultural traditions. My reply was always “American-mixed-mutt”, which turns out to be more true than I ever imagined.

On two direct sides of my family tree, my families arrived in North American in the 1600s. These families also intermarried with the “locals”, mixing things up even more. Later on, they continued their lack of discrimination in choosing their own ethnic heritage folks to breed with, and the “mixed mutt” definition has turned out to be very true. Only one direct line arrived in the 1800s from Norway, marrying with their own until recently. The rest came from English and/or Scandinavian roots, but far back in history rather than like most, arriving more recently. Our family now is completely disconnected from European culture and traditions. I didn’t grow up English, Norwegian, or Irish meals whipped up by my grandparents. No recent international traditions were passed through relatives. Just hot dogs, apple pie, hamburgers, and pizza. Grease and heart attacks.

Still, I love ethnic food more than American “ethnic” dried, pre-made, canned and boxed foods. Give me Greek, Russian, Spanish, Middle Eastern, Jewish, South American, Thai, Chinese…my food tastes are very varied. As I travel, I love eating the local food groups and learning all about other cultures, since, in a way, I have little of my own.

Think about your own family’s food heritage. Did you grow up with ethnic food traditions? Family recipes carefully carried over the seas by ship and passed down through the generations? Or are your roots so deep, you grew up eating what your great-great-great-great grandmother cooked way back when?

Consider checking out your family’s food heritage and visiting local ethnic grocery stores in your area to explore the foods of your ancestors. Research recipes of traditional holiday meals or festivals and prepare them for your own family, with stories and tales of the family and/or of how the traditions were respected and enacted.

Consider this an invitation to taste a little of your family history while you explore it.

According to a press release announcement from the UK National Archives, “Germinating History: 200 year old seeds spring to life”, is exciting news for biologists as well as genealogists:

Against all expectations, seed scientists from the Millennium Seed Bank at Wakehurst Place, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew´s garden in West Sussex, have germinated 200–year–old seeds discovered in The National Archives – now growing into vigorous young plants.

Botanists at Kew Gardens are used to planting seeds and letting them grow, but never before has the team been asked to use seeds that date back 200 years. This is just what happened, however, when Roelof van Gelder, a guest researcher from the Royal Dutch Library, found 32 different species of seeds in 40 small packets stored in a red leather-bound notebook within files held at The National Archives.

The notebook was inscribed with the name Jan Teerlink, a Dutch merchant who is believed to have collected the seeds during a trip to the Cape of Good Hope in 1804. Germination was going to be tricky but not impossible once colleagues from the Millennium Seed Bank were called in to help.

A few seeds from each of the 32 species were sent to the Millennium Seed Bank. Now three of the 32 species have germinated and the ancient specimens are growing into healthy, vigorous young plants in the glasshouses at Wakehurst Place.

How exciting.

It’s hard for many people to understand what plants mean to genealogists. Plants are more than just pretty flowers, though in some cases, that’s all they need to be. Going through my family’s old photo albums from over the past 100 years, I find that they’ve visited many places I’ve visited, including national parks and public gardens. So when I visit these places again, physically or in my imagination, the odds are that they looked pretty much the same as they did 90 years ago when my ancestors walked the narrow pathways among the tall rhododendrons and trees. But not always. Comparing the past with the present offers insights into what was and what is now.

In Israel, near the airport, is Neot Kedumim, The Biblical Landscape Reserve. This unique reserve and preserve recreates the life and plant life of biblical times.

Neot Kedumim — the Biblical Landscape Reserve in Israel, halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, is a unique endeavor to re-create the physical setting of the Bible in all its depth and detail. Far more than a “garden” showing various biblical plants, Neot Kedumim embodies the panorama and power of the landscapes that helped shape the values of the Bible and provided a rich vocabulary for expressing them.

The Bible conveys its ideas not in abstract terms, but through a clear and vivid record of long human interaction with the land of Israel. Neot Kedumim draws on a variety of disciplines — such as Bible scholarship, botany, zoology, geography, history, and archeology — to bring the Bible and its commentaries to life.

…Hundreds of varieties of biblical and talmudic plants; wild and domesticated animals; ancient and reconstructed olive and wine presses, threshing floors, cisterns, and ritual baths bring to life the literal roots of the biblical tradition in the soil of the land of Israel.

By reuniting text and context, Neot Kedumim opens up before the visitor Israel’s nature as the idiom of the Bible. The symbols, prayers, and holidays of the Jewish and Christian heritage, observed and preserved for thousands of years, blossom in a new and colorful dimension at Neot Kedumim, the world’s only biblical landscape reserve.

If you want to really experience the feeling of walking in the footsteps of Jesus, Moses, Abraham, and the legends of the bible, you can almost be transported back in time in Neot Kedumim.

You don’t have to go to Israel to experience what it was like for your ancestors in biblical times. There are other public gardens found around the world featuring a biblical landscape and experience, including Lucile Halsell Conservatory in Texas, PVUMC Biblical Garden in Arizona, and Elgin Biblical Gardens in Scotland. You can even find information and resources for recreating your own biblical and historical garden from the First Congregational Church of Fair Haven, Connecticut – Sources and Resources for Biblical Gardens.

There are many types of historical gardens which have been recreated as well as preserved over the centuries. Wikipedia’s “History of Gardening” entry lists some of the famous gardens of history:

Though cultivation of plants for food long predates history, the earliest evidence for ornamental gardens is seen in Egyptian tomb paintings of the 1500s BC; they depict lotus ponds surrounded by rows of acacias and palms. The other ancient gardening tradition is of Persia: Darius the Great was said to have had a “paradise garden” and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were renowned as a Wonder of the World. Persian influences extended to post-Alexander’s Greece: around 350 BC there were gardens at the Academy of Athens, and Theophrastus, who wrote on botany, was supposed to have inherited a garden from Aristotle. Epicurus also had a garden where he walked and taught, and bequeathed it to Hermarchus of Mytilene. Alciphron also mentions private gardens.

The most influential ancient gardens in the western world were the Ptolemy’s gardens at Alexandria and the gardening tradition brought to Rome by Lucullus. Wall paintings in Pompeii attest to elaborate development later, and the wealthiest of Romans built enormous gardens, many of whose ruins are still to be seen, such as at Hadrian’s Villa.

Byzantium and Moorish Spain kept garden traditions alive after the 4th century. By this time a separate gardening tradition had arisen in China, which was transmitted to Japan, where it developed into aristocratic miniature landscapes centered on ponds and separately into the severe Zen gardens of temples.

Among some of the most famous gardens that survive today is the well known Palace of Versailles garden near Paris. Began in 1661, the palace and the gardens continue to draw tourists from all over the world to walk through the extensive parterres, fountains and canals, designed by famous landscape artist and architect, André Le Nôtre.

In a different kind of garden, Garden of the Gods Park in Colorado features a landscape revered by Native Americans which continues to fascinate today with its interesting red sandstone rock formations and natural sculptures.

The Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens of Nova Scotia were opened in 1981 but they are designed to restore the 17th century fame the area was known for with it’s beautiful landscape and gardens.

The UK Database of Historical Parks and Gardens helps you find a wide range of garden locations and parks within Britain. The database will help you find gardens and parks by place and type, helping you narrow down historical gardens associated with your family’s history and geography.

The 1875 Peel Mansion Museum and Heritage Gardens of Arkansas is just one of many historic homes, mansions, and gardens around the southern United States working hard on preserving their historical landscape and homes.

So next time you are researching your family’s history, take a moment to find a garden which represents the time period and plant life of your ancestor. It may help you learn more about how they lived, what they ate, and how plants were an important part of their lives.