Last post here was in mid-August. Here it is mid-October. Lots of things happening since August.
The most important events -- (1) Barry's daughter is recovering from her horrible accident; (2) My daughter's family is back intact; (3) A Cincinnati Reds ball game and a trip to Xenia Ohio highlight September.
I spoke to the Yellow Springs, OH, Historical Society on September 24, about the Buster family of Monticello, KY, Danville, KY, and Xenia, OH. It's a fascinating story in and of itself, but what makes it even more special was extracting the facts from an historical novel written by one of Garret Buster's grandchildren, recalling events over a hundred years before. There was much fiction, dates and names didn't match, but several of us working together, managed to pull together the "true" story of the family.
I had presented this talk last November in Danville to the African-American Genealogy Group of Kentucky; this past February in Monticello to the Wayne County Historical Society (the first EVER Black History Month event in Wayne County!), and now in Yellow Springs. We stayed with a member of the Buster family who took us all over the area at sites that are important to the family's story. And I was so privileged to have shared the story with over 70 people, a majority of whom were descended from Garret Buster, the enslaved man who bought himself and his family, and left slavery behind.
So maybe now, I'll be more faithful at posting...
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Awful August?
Well, not everything, but definitely a month to let pass by.
1. Rain. It's rained so often that we've had to adjust many of the things we do. Not a lot of rain, and not all the time, but when it's sunny for an hour, then it rains for an hour, then turns sunny again, it's difficult to work outside, mow, tend the garden, or anything that takes more than an hour or two of rain-free time. Right now, while it's sunny I'm looking at the front lawn which needs mowing, but it's so wet I need to let it dry out awhile. But then I look off to the west and I see those familiar steel-gray clouds and I know that by the time I get the mower out of the shed, it'll be raining again.
2. Barry's daughter, Karen. She was in a serious accident last week, and he had to fly up to Maine to be with her. I have no idea when he'll be coming home, but he's needed there, so we'll manage here. She is improving, thank goodness, but it will be a long, slow recovery. Luckily, Barry's family in Waterford is so helpful and supportive, especially his sister, Carol.
3. The garden. Same story as the rain. I can get out there to harvest some things, but the constant rain has made even that difficult. We have peaches on the trees and tomatoes on the vine that need to be made into jam or " 'mater 'serves", but I don't do jam alone -- I don't want to screw it up, as I haven't made jam for 30 years at least, and Barry is the master jam-maker. So what I think I'll do is to pre-process and freeze the peaches and tomatoes so they are ready for jam when Barry gets home. Besides, I can always do stewed tomatoes myself.
4. The "indoor" cat. He heads for the food dish every time I move, all day long. He's yowling, and I know it's just that he "thinks" he's hungry. And now Snowflake, aka "outdoor cat" is doing the same thing. Every time I step outside, she's there waiting to be fed. Funny thing though, except for breakfast, she won't eat until I have scratched her. I guess I'm lucky that I have two pets that love me -- well, they're cats, so that's not it, maybe it's just that I have opposable thumbs and can get into the cat food....
1. Rain. It's rained so often that we've had to adjust many of the things we do. Not a lot of rain, and not all the time, but when it's sunny for an hour, then it rains for an hour, then turns sunny again, it's difficult to work outside, mow, tend the garden, or anything that takes more than an hour or two of rain-free time. Right now, while it's sunny I'm looking at the front lawn which needs mowing, but it's so wet I need to let it dry out awhile. But then I look off to the west and I see those familiar steel-gray clouds and I know that by the time I get the mower out of the shed, it'll be raining again.
2. Barry's daughter, Karen. She was in a serious accident last week, and he had to fly up to Maine to be with her. I have no idea when he'll be coming home, but he's needed there, so we'll manage here. She is improving, thank goodness, but it will be a long, slow recovery. Luckily, Barry's family in Waterford is so helpful and supportive, especially his sister, Carol.
3. The garden. Same story as the rain. I can get out there to harvest some things, but the constant rain has made even that difficult. We have peaches on the trees and tomatoes on the vine that need to be made into jam or " 'mater 'serves", but I don't do jam alone -- I don't want to screw it up, as I haven't made jam for 30 years at least, and Barry is the master jam-maker. So what I think I'll do is to pre-process and freeze the peaches and tomatoes so they are ready for jam when Barry gets home. Besides, I can always do stewed tomatoes myself.
4. The "indoor" cat. He heads for the food dish every time I move, all day long. He's yowling, and I know it's just that he "thinks" he's hungry. And now Snowflake, aka "outdoor cat" is doing the same thing. Every time I step outside, she's there waiting to be fed. Funny thing though, except for breakfast, she won't eat until I have scratched her. I guess I'm lucky that I have two pets that love me -- well, they're cats, so that's not it, maybe it's just that I have opposable thumbs and can get into the cat food....
Friday, July 26, 2013
Cars, Cemeteries, Contractors and Crustaceans...
So much to do, so little time -- even though I'm retired.
We FINALLY had someone come to the house to look at the work we need done. The roof needs minor repair, and the framing of the front door needs work. We have called and called and called, and people haven't even returned our calls. Well, at the Danville Irish Festival a few weeks ago, we met a contractor who is on Angie's List, gave him our number, and he called today. He came out to the house, took a look at the work we need done, and he's going to do it! It'll cost more than doing it myself, but I've watched too many home reno programs on HGTV, and I just know that if I tackled it myself, I'd run into problems, and then would not have a contractor who would bail me out. So, this is the best way, and his price is reasonable -- not cheap, but reasonable. The work should be done by the end of the day on Monday.
Barry also found out that he needs an upper ball joint replaced on his car so we scurried around today trying to find the best price for THAT job. We did go up to Lexington (second trip this week) to check with the Honda dealer there -- and stop to buy a lobster at Meijer's -- they were on sale! So he got an appointment to have that work done, AND he's having lobster for dinner along with our own garden-fresh potatoes and corn...tomorrow we pick tomatoes for sauce, stewing, salsa, and anything else we can do that begins with "s".
Barry and I have been researching several African-American records and cemeteries in Boyle County, and now the quest spills over into the next county east of us, Garrard County. An African-American cemetery was going to be bulldozed to build an RV Park on Lake Herrington. I saw the article in the local paper and alerted several African-American genealogists I know, and the bulldozing was stopped -- but only after one set of human bones had already been unearthed! These people think that because the cemetery is overgrown, it's of no use to anyone.
Well, on Wednesday, Barry and I met with the lady who has been fighting to preserve this cemetery for 33 years now. She's 82 years old, but I wouldn't want to tackle her in court! We're doing our best to continue to preserve her family's resting place, and prevent it from becoming a parking lot for RVs!
Now, I'm working on at least two African-American cemeteries in the Davistown community of Garrard County. It is SO important to me that these burials, some of which are 100+ years old, be preserved, at least on the Internet, if not in reality. Most of the early burials had no stones, only fieldstone markers, or wooden crosses, all of which have disappeared over the years. And before about 1970, African-Americans could not be buried in better-maintained and recorded "white" cemeteries. So many graves and whole cemeteries have been lost. I'll do MY part!
We FINALLY had someone come to the house to look at the work we need done. The roof needs minor repair, and the framing of the front door needs work. We have called and called and called, and people haven't even returned our calls. Well, at the Danville Irish Festival a few weeks ago, we met a contractor who is on Angie's List, gave him our number, and he called today. He came out to the house, took a look at the work we need done, and he's going to do it! It'll cost more than doing it myself, but I've watched too many home reno programs on HGTV, and I just know that if I tackled it myself, I'd run into problems, and then would not have a contractor who would bail me out. So, this is the best way, and his price is reasonable -- not cheap, but reasonable. The work should be done by the end of the day on Monday.
Barry also found out that he needs an upper ball joint replaced on his car so we scurried around today trying to find the best price for THAT job. We did go up to Lexington (second trip this week) to check with the Honda dealer there -- and stop to buy a lobster at Meijer's -- they were on sale! So he got an appointment to have that work done, AND he's having lobster for dinner along with our own garden-fresh potatoes and corn...tomorrow we pick tomatoes for sauce, stewing, salsa, and anything else we can do that begins with "s".
Barry and I have been researching several African-American records and cemeteries in Boyle County, and now the quest spills over into the next county east of us, Garrard County. An African-American cemetery was going to be bulldozed to build an RV Park on Lake Herrington. I saw the article in the local paper and alerted several African-American genealogists I know, and the bulldozing was stopped -- but only after one set of human bones had already been unearthed! These people think that because the cemetery is overgrown, it's of no use to anyone.
Well, on Wednesday, Barry and I met with the lady who has been fighting to preserve this cemetery for 33 years now. She's 82 years old, but I wouldn't want to tackle her in court! We're doing our best to continue to preserve her family's resting place, and prevent it from becoming a parking lot for RVs!
Now, I'm working on at least two African-American cemeteries in the Davistown community of Garrard County. It is SO important to me that these burials, some of which are 100+ years old, be preserved, at least on the Internet, if not in reality. Most of the early burials had no stones, only fieldstone markers, or wooden crosses, all of which have disappeared over the years. And before about 1970, African-Americans could not be buried in better-maintained and recorded "white" cemeteries. So many graves and whole cemeteries have been lost. I'll do MY part!
Thursday, July 18, 2013
What to do when the house A/C can't keep up with 90+ temps outside?
Thursday, 18 July 2013.
Hop in the air-conditioned car and drive all over the eastern part of Boyle County!
I'm working to get published as many African-American records as I can -- marriage records, death records, city directories, cemetery records. I'm almost done the marriage records, because as time goes on there is too much information for me to process easily and quickly (maybe I'll pick those up again some day), but the death records are important. Most African-Americans in the years I'm working on (1911-1916 for now) are not recorded in cemeteries anywhere.
So, to rescue these lost records, I'm trying to locate every African-American cemetery in the county. So far, I've added some records to Zion Hill (Persimmon Knob), Wilsonville, Atoka, (Little) Needmore, Clifton and Meauxtown, all settlements made by freed African-Americans after the Civil War.
On my quest, I've dragged Barry all over the eastern part of the county. Today we looked for Little Needmore and Meauxtown (as well as Davistown, in the next county), and we found (and photographed the stones in) Clifton.
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| The Clifton Baptist Church -- not sure if it's still active. |
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| What I THINK was the former Clifton Baptist Church. |
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Kentucky Army National Guard Band, Stanford, KY, 9 Jul 2013
Well, Barry surprised me. He asked earlier if I had any plans for tonight. What? I'm RETIRED, that means NO plans. So he told me he was going to take me somewhere tonight. He didn't want to tell me where, and I wanted to be surprised. So we ate dinner, then headed out. It looked like we were headed to Stanford when he didn't turn left in Junction City, so, what's going on in Stanford tonight?
When we got into town, Main Street was blocked off, and obviously someone was setting up in the street for a concert. Happens it was the 202nd Army Band of the Kentucky Army National Guard.
The concert was about an hour long, and the band was wonderful. They were balanced and proficient, and played a nice variety of brass band pieces, as well as some classic band numbers. All in all, it was a nice way to spend an evening outdoors, in the shade, in front of the Lincoln County Courthouse.
When we got into town, Main Street was blocked off, and obviously someone was setting up in the street for a concert. Happens it was the 202nd Army Band of the Kentucky Army National Guard.
The concert was about an hour long, and the band was wonderful. They were balanced and proficient, and played a nice variety of brass band pieces, as well as some classic band numbers. All in all, it was a nice way to spend an evening outdoors, in the shade, in front of the Lincoln County Courthouse.
Saturday, July 6, 2013
I'm Back?
OK, so I haven't written in my Blog since January 2012. And now I find out I can't simply continue the old "View From The Back Porch" blog at http://mdenis46.blogspot.com/. So I guess I need to start Vol. 2.
I haven't yet figured out all the "bells and whistles" of "Blogger" yet, so bear with me while I learn.
It's been raining here in central Kentucky for what seems like days. Barry and I went into Danville yesterday with the car windows down, and all I could smell was mold in the air. The garden is getting overgrown and Barry is anxious to get outside in his mud boots and weed before we look like a jungle here.
Hopefully, I can keep up with this blog. The prior one showcased our travels and travails around the house, and it seemed that there wasn't enough interesting material to keep going after we settled into a routine here. But, what the heck? Even a brief posting of our day/week would have been better than nothing. So I will try to do better in the future.
I haven't yet figured out all the "bells and whistles" of "Blogger" yet, so bear with me while I learn.
It's been raining here in central Kentucky for what seems like days. Barry and I went into Danville yesterday with the car windows down, and all I could smell was mold in the air. The garden is getting overgrown and Barry is anxious to get outside in his mud boots and weed before we look like a jungle here.
Hopefully, I can keep up with this blog. The prior one showcased our travels and travails around the house, and it seemed that there wasn't enough interesting material to keep going after we settled into a routine here. But, what the heck? Even a brief posting of our day/week would have been better than nothing. So I will try to do better in the future.
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