Follow Friday: Cher Shots

Anyone who knows me knows that I am fond photography and collecting quotes ... nothing fills the 'something's missing' from a piece of creative writing quite like a photograph, quote or 'ism. Which brings me to my selection for Follow Friday, Cher Shots.

I love this blog ... an eclectic mix of recipes (the woman can cook!), stories, memories and photograph's. Her posts make me feel as if I have taken a walk down the road for a visit - an invitation to sit in her kitchen or out in the garden with something cool to drink and a genuine interest in "what have you been up too?"

Cheryl ... I do have to ask ... who keeps the dust from your beautiful crystal/glass collection??

Wordless Wednesday: The "Surrey" With The Fringe On The Horse

Ed Doucette and Gertie Wirth in a photo dated 1913. They were residents of Vilas Township (Langlade county, WI) and friends of  my maternal grandparents, Harley and Alma Polar Space.

Copyright (c) 2010 Cindy Bergeron Scherwinski

Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture: I Speak From Experience

Does the road wind up-hill all the way? Yes, to the very end. Will the day's journey take the whole long day? From morn to night, my friend.  Grantland Rice


Smallest Leaf has graciously extended the deadline for the latest Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture in order to include a contribution by a family researcher with a french Canadian maiden name searching her Irish family history. Go raibh maith agat

The latest Carnival  is a return to genealogy and asks us to "Speak From Experience."

Have a time-saving suggestion that helped you blaze ahead in your Irish research? Let us know how you did it. Have some personal failures you can share with us to save other researchers the same fate? We'll be grateful to hear your story. Want to recommend a particular type of record to shed insight on the Irish family tree? A certain repository or library, or way to organize your research? Let us know - tell us the tip and give us the story behind it. How did it help (or not help) you and why do you recommend (or not recommend) it?

I have posted about my Little family history and have come to categorize this line of research as my favorite brick wall. The place where I spend a warm summer afternoon - sitting on top of a stone wall; feeling the warmth of the stones and the breeze on my face, looking at the place where my Irish ancestors were born. The problem is - I have no idea where in Ireland this wonderful place is. So we continue the uphill climb.


"But first, Are you experienced?" asked Jimi Hendrix. If it isn't the destination but rather the journey of Irish family research then, yes, I am experienced. My lessons, which have yet to come together, remind me of a mismatched tea set: functional but not much to look at.

Irish Children Naming Patterns: a tradition that a large number of Irish families followed in the 1800’s and 1900’s, My great-grandfather had six siblings and naming patterns have been my road map for culling lists of possible Little and Gallagher family connections.:

1st son was named after the father’s father
2nd son was named after the mother’s father
3rd son was named after the father
4th son was named after the father’s eldest brother


1st daughter was named after the mother’s mother
2nd daughter was named after the father’s mother
3rd daughter was named after the mother
4th daughter was named after the mother’s eldest sister



Did you know ... it was not unusual for a mother-to-be to journey to her parents' home village to give birth to her baby? When searching documents it means, a child appearing on a census record may not have been born in the village of the record at the time of the census. The family could have immigrated to the village after the child was born, prior to the census being taken, or the mother may have returned to her parents' home to give birth. At any rate, a record search in locations beyond the census recorded place of residence should be considered.


Did you know ... English translations of Irish village and town names have taken on different spellings over the years? During the early 1900s map surveyors traveled throughout Ireland, translating Irish place names into English, which can cause considerable confusion when trying to place of birth, marriage or baptism if you don't take this bit of information into consideration.




Don't bother trying to locate your Irish ancestors ...  all birth records were destroyed in the Dublin Four Courts building fire during the Irish civil war in 1922. The Truth?? All Irish civil registration of birth, marriages, and deaths has survived intact. Although birth records were destroyed in the Dublin Four Courts fire, copies of the same birth records were kept in Counties' records offices throughout Ireland.



What family researcher doesn't dream of the day they not only make the leap across the pond but find themselves sitting on the stone fence next to the sign post of the village I can call my ancestral home.

Tombstone Tuesday: Frances Facer and Cyrus Little

Today's edition of Tombstone Tuesday chronicles my paternal great-grandparents, Cyrus Austin Little and Frances Dazie Facer. They are buried in the Aniwa Cemetery located off of Hwy 45 in the township of Aniwa, Shawano county, Wisconsin.

Cyrus Austin Little was the son of Andrew Little and Mary Ann Gallagher; my Irish ancestors who remain my favorite brick wall. Cyrus was born 22 Feb 1856 in Pickering, Ontario, Canada. The youngest of Andrew and Mary Ann's eleven known children who immigrated to the United States prior to the 1880 census where the family is found living in Port Huron, St Clair, Michigan. It is here Cyrus married Francis Dazie Facer on 15 June 1892.

Francis was born 8 Feb 1875 to William D. Facer and Elisabeth Hornby in Port Huron. Francis Dazie was the third of William and Elisabeth's seven children; all of whom, with the exception of Frances's brother Burton Wellington Facer, died during the numerous epidemics during the 1870s and early 1880s.

Around 1892, Cyrus and Frances Dazie have immigrated to Aniwa, Wisconsin. Accompanying the couple are Frances's brother Burton, Frances and Burton's father (a widow for the third time) William D. Facer, Cyrus's sister Elizabeth and her husband George Goldrick and bachelor siblings Robert Little and Mary Little (affectionately referred to as Crazy Aunt Mary). Land and tax records lead me to conclude that George Goldrick was responsible for the Facer and Little family exodus from Michigan as he began purchasing land for logging purposes and is found paying taxes to show he and Elizabeth were residents of the area.

Cyrus and Frances Dazie would not begin their family until the birth of their first known child, William D. Little in 1893; my grandmother, Mildred Eileen, in 1899 and her sister Florence Elizabeth in 1907.

Cyrus died at the age of 77 in 1933; Frances was 73-years old at the time of her death in 1948. Their graves are adjacent to the Goldrick and Bergeron family plots.

Copyright (c) 2010 Cindy Bergeron Scherwinski

Wordless Wednesday: Happy Birthday Mom

Shamlessly using Wordless Wednesday blog prompt to wish my Mom a happy birthday a day early with a photograph taken on her very first birthday a few years ago. I love you, Mom.

Copyright (c) 2010 Cindy Bergeron Scherwinski

Tombstone Tuesday: Forest View Sewing Circle

Located in the northeast corner of the Town of Peck cemetery in Langlade county, WI, this flower planter sits as a monument to the Forest View Sewing Circle. The group, like so many other rural traditions is becoming a thing of the past.

The Town of Peck cemetery was formerly known as Badger Cemetery; originally the site of the Badger School. Situated at the corner of several boundaries, as the boundaries of the townships changed, Badger school and later Badger cemetery can be found listed in the townships of Ackley, Peck and Vilas.

My maternal grandmother, Alma Polar Space, was a long-time member of the Forest View Sewing Circle. How I wish I had the chance to ask Gram about the Sewing Circle. Fortunately I was able to glean some information from Gram's sister Leona. The group met usually once a month and worked on a sewing project; during the war they made the usual clothing items for the soldiers. There was always a social hour; sometimes an afternoon of visiting and then lunch was served.

While making the traditional Memorial Day visits to the area cemeteries, this year someone placed a floral memorial in the Forest View monument urn. I'm certain I heard my grandmother laugh.

Copyright (c) 2010 Cindy Bergeron Scherwinski

Follow Friday: Blind Pig & The Acorn

I am constantly amazed at the number of talented and creative bloggers - on my list of inspirational bloggers is Tipper Wilson Pressley, author of Blind Pig & the Acorn.

Music, food, creative and well written stories about the rich heritage of Appalachia - did I mention Giveaways??