World Refugee Day + 3

In honour of World Refugee Day this past Tuesday I wanted to tell you about something really cool I heard about in a podcast from Wisconsin Public Radio.

They're called Lifeline Radios. The radios have been developped specifically for use by children in developping nations; they are easy to use and virtually indestructible. In Africa, the radios are primarily distributed to communities of children, most of them Aids orphans. The programming gives them vital information on health care and Aids prevention, as well as instruction on farming techniques and animal husbandry. So many of these children are the head of their household with no parent or guardian to instruct them in how to care for themselves and their siblings. For many of these children the radio serves as a comforting, parental voice that reassures them and even helps them get to sleep at night. The radios are shared among a community so it brings people together to listen and work together as a community.

As I was listening to this programme, I was reminded yet again how much Heavenly Father loves and wants to care for ALL his children, not just those of us lucky enough to live in relative luxury in the developped world. He has found ways to help them by inspiring people to develop technologies and set up programmes that help people to support and care for themselves. With all the turmoil and suffering in the world, it is comforting to know that He isn't ever giving up.

If you want to know more about the Lifeline Radios, go to the Freeplay Foundation website. It costs $55 to sponsor a radio. This includes the purchase of the radio and it's delivery to the community with training and instruction on how to use it.

My first broadway show

Michael and I went to the theatre last night, along with his brother Stephen and a friend. It might have been a double date. I'm not sure. It would be cool though, as that would be another first for me. The show wasn't outstanding, but it was entertaining enough and the seats were pretty comfortable. We had a laugh and for $5 you can't really top it.

I haven't thought much about going to the theatre since I've been here. Strange, as theatre is such a part of the city. I've had a couple offers to join Stephen and company (he gets heavily discounted tickets through some sort of theatre organisation he's a member of) but have always had to decline for one reason or another - he always seems to call when I'm in Jersey with Joanne. Anyway, now I've been once, it's peaked my interest. I'd really like to see Alan Bennett's play The History Boys but that just won a Tony so no doubt the tickets will be hard to come by.

Continuing our occassional series on Bovees holding other people's babies, here I am with Joanne's friend Neil's little son Jonas. Jonas is nine months old and we have been following his adventures via his own blog since the very day he was born. I have been pestering Joanne for months to fix up a lunch date so we could meet the little fella in person and yesterday we were finally granted an audience. As we walked into the restaurant and caught our first glance of Jonas, live and in person, we gasped in delight. It was like meeting Mick Jagger or the Queen, only like way better.

Jonas has just started walking, and was desperate to get down on the floor and show off his new trick. Just one problem, he's hidden all his shoes. He likes to play with them and has stashed them somewhere in his apartment where his Mum can't find them,, so he came into town from Brooklyn shoeless. No worries, I took him for a little walk around our table with him walking on my feet. It didn't work so well, but he did find the activity mildly amusing and it produced a photo-worthy grin.

Stephen had asked me to send him any pictures I had of Mum as a baby, but I think everyone needs to see these.

She really hasn't changed much.

Somebody is broody

Jonathan is desperate to be a big brother. He'd even settle for becoming a cousin. There's no immediate hope on either front, unfortunately, so he's having to make do with fussing over other people's babies. Here he is on Saturday holding our Luton friend Aleysha Freeman's son Jayden, born just that morning. Jonathan has always been good with babies, holding them very carefully and dispensing gentle kisses. He's a natural.

I've finally come face to face with the real life gangs of New York...

Yeah ok, not really. This is just my gang of friends playing a game called "Family Business". It's a mobster card game where you put out contracts on people and have mob wars and try to rub out everyone else. It could get rather vicious, but we're all just too nice for that.

This is Kristian and Jill politely murdering each other's mobsters. Now, don't get me wrong, we definitely play to win and there is plenty of rivalry. There's also lots of good-humoured ganging up on people and obliterating them.

The World Cup 2006 starts in just ten days! I know most footballers are spoiled peacocks, but playing for your country is a bit more inspiring than playing for your accountant, so I always enjoy following international competition. I've decided to support England this year. It's Sven's swansong, David Beckham's hair is weirder than ever, how could I resist.

Just in case England crash out early on, I need a backup team to follow - hopefully - to the finals. It all depends on how the tournament goes, but I am considereding Sweden, Spain and the Netherlands as alternatives, but I favour Italy because they have the best outfits!

Finally a post with pictures!

Saturday, my friend Michael and I ventured up to the north end of Central Park. I've never been up there before so it was a genuine adventure. First, we had to make our way through five blocks of Spanish Harlem (the gentrification hasn't made it quite that far up yet!). We entered the park through the Conservatory Garden (unimpressive) and then wandered round the Harlem Meer. We were in search of ducks, as Michael is a fan of fowl. These are New York birds, aggressive, lots of attitude. You can't tell from the picture, but I promise, they were being pushy.

Saturday in the park is all about couples out for a stroll.

It was a beautiful day. We walked down through the park, past the Loch and North Fields to the reservoir.

Genevieve contemplates the beauty of the city.

Michael contemplates ducks.

We were tired after ten blocks of park (I don't want to hear it!), so we caught the bus down the west side to 72nd street to see the Dakota Building and Strawberry Fields. The Imagine mosaic attracts a sizable crowd, equal parts tourists and weirdos. And then we were done with the park and proceeded downtown to Gold Street for some lasagna and Arrested Development.

Attention weather fans! It is monsoon season in New York. It's been raining since Sunday night, and this morning it was chucking it down. There's no wind this morning so it hits the ground straight on and bounces up about three inches. The streets corners are like little inland seas. And clever Genevieve had left her wellies at work. So I swam this morning, picked a fight with some brainless girl who wouldn't let a chap with a cane past first on a narrow stretch of pavement, and just hoped my poor old brown boots wouldn't disintegrate before I reached Park Ave. Sorry I'm not decorating this post with pictures of dark, swirling waters. If it keeps up til tomorrow, I promise to get it all on pixels.

Bruce's clone

Lucy has just found Jonathan reading the yahoo weather reports for Salt Lake City and Dallas. Guess who he's been hanging around!

I want to go on this!

Jonathan is definitely a Bovee

He annouced to Lucy today: "I want to try lots of new things!"

He was hungry for toast when they got home from school today so Lucy decided to show Jonathan how to use the toaster. Excited about his new skill, he decided to go whole hog and made himself a cheese sandwich, slicing/butchering the cheese with one of his little kiddie knives. "Isn't this a nice sandwich?!", he declared, and promptly gobbled it all up.

Oh and Jonathan has adopted three ducks. He made the mistake of feeding them some bread a week ago, and now they hang out in front of the flat. If they're elsewhere on the block and Lucy and Jonathan appear, they come hustling over to see them.

Things are getting a little tense at work. Our Director is on maternity leave, so my boss Aileen has taken on a lot of her work. It's causing her to get quite stressed and because Aileen and I work pretty closely it's starting to rub off on me as well. I'm picking fights with publishers and sending emails that couldn't possibly be mistaken for being polite. The rest of my life is going very well, I've been having heaps of success with my family history research, I've had two terrific weekends in a row, I've been reading the Book of Alma which has been spiritually uplifting, and yet, I'm feeling anxious and aggressive here at work. I'm happy and fun loving at home and about town, but as soon as I get to the office I tense up and start looking for trouble. And as those who really know and love me (well, you'd have to) know, when I go looking for trouble, I always find it.

I found this on an ancestry.com message board. It's from a book of biographies of Beaverhead County, Montana pioneers. Martin Barrett is the uncle mentioned in Ellen Mulherin Ducie's obituary, and the reason she went to Montana.

"Martin Barrett, Bannack, b. 2 Feb 1840 in Mayo Co., Ireland[I have his death certificate]. At the age of 8 he went to Canada with his parents. In the fall of 1859 to St. Joseph, MO. In 1860 to Salt Lake City and back, driving an ox team in a train. In 1861 to CO. While in Canada he learned the trade of tanner and currier, and attended common school. Arrived MT Spring 1863 and with Joseph Shineberger located his present ranch. He remained on the ranch whle Shineberger went to mining. They disolved their partnership after 8 yrs. Mr. Shineberger going to Red Rock and establishing his stock business. Mr. Barrett had mined in CO for two years - on 6 Aug 1867 he married Miss Alice E. Cook [I have her death certificate as well], at Sims Este's place, Red Rock. In 1879, he was elected councilman, served one term and was re-elected in 1884. He has 1,160 acres of hay land, mostly, from which he cut 500 tons; as near as he can estimate has from 1000 to 1500 head on his ranch and range. He is one of the oldest and most successful stock men on Horse Prairie." (1885)

Alice and Martin had no children of their own, but adopted a son, Robert, about 1900.

I've been thinking a lot about the origins of the Bovees and also about our connection to the Church. Cornelius Bovee came from New York and settled in Jackson County, Wisconsin sometime between 1850 (when he's in Lewis, Pinkney County, NY census) and 1859 when his youngest brother Silas N Bovee is born in Wisconsin. He came with his parents Nicholas Jonas and Orinda Bovee and five other siblings, his grandparents Nicholas and Mercy Bovee, and his two uncles Zebulon Bovee and Silas Lewis Bovee and their families. So the whole clan upped sticks and went to farm western Wisconsin. Today I discovered that Jackson County was also settled a few years before by a large group of Mormons. I don't think our Bovees went to Jackson County because they were Mormons, but they must have had contact with these early Saints, possibly even married into their families. I don't know why, but all this intrigues me. As we know, Cornelius' children weren't the nicest bunch, and yet three of his grandchildren and their spouses found their way into the Church. It just seems like we Bovees are supposed to be Mormons. I don't think it's an accident.

And some other things:
I discovered yesterday that you can do a free search of the index of deaths in Minnesota from the last century and order the certificates (only $8) right there online from the Minnesota Historical Society. I requested certificates for uncle Alton Bovee and Herman Narr. And they come in less than two weeks.

I also found in the California death index one Agnes Chadwick Parramore (daughter of Elizabeth Ducie Chadwick who went to San Fransisco). Mum will remember an ill-fated attempt to find her birth certificate in England. The online index shows her mother's maiden name as Ducie.

It's been a good weekend for genealogy!!

Wisconsin trip

Madison is an attractive and relaxed little city. I had enough time to stroll around the downtown and tour the beautiful Capitol Building. I sat by the lake on the university campus and tried not to be my usual frenzied self for just a little while. The weather was perfect, with blue skies and light breezes.

As for research, the trip was definitely worthwhile. Here are the main things I uncovered:
-Death certificate - Sarah Ann Baldwin Patterson
-Obituary - Sarah Ann Baldwin Patterson (Davis is a red herring, her maiden name was Baldwin, I now have her place of birth in Ashtabula, OH and discovered that Charles Patterson's family lived in WI - if you look at daughter Samantha's wedding certificate a Samuel Patterson was a witness)
-Obituary - Samantha Luellen Patterson Brown
-Birth Annoucement - Lillian Adelia Narr
-Muster Roll - Charles H. Patterson and brother Lysander A. Patterson
-Compiled Service Record - Charles and Lysander Patterson
-Land Platt Book records, Jackson County - Cornelius and other related Bovees
-Birth certificate - Helen Grace Bovee
-Birth certificate - Fred Lawrence Brown (Lillian's youngest brother)
-Marriage certificate - Silas R. Brown and Hannah Dolph (his third wife)
-Fairchild, Eau Claire Co. cemetery transcription Details of graves LeonardBovee (brother of George Bovee) wife Jeanette Bovee and 3 children, also Edward Bovee nephew of Cornelius and cousin of George

I also have transcribed birth records for more of Lillian Brown's siblings and loads births/deaths/marriages for Bovees, mostly siblings, nephews and cousins of George and Cornelius Bovee. I now have a long list of follow up tasks, including writing to a number of cemeteries and institutions. So not only have I come away with various bits of new information, but this trip has also opened up several new avenues of investigation.

Part of a river is named after our family. The Bovees settled Hixton and surrounding areas of Jackson County, Wisconin.

I'm still in Madison, but I have some time on my hands so I'll tell you all about something I found today. Compiled Civil War Service record for Charles H. Patterson (my great, great, great grandfather) shows he joined up in August 1862 along with his brother Lysander (didn't know he existed!). There's a description: Charles was rather tall at 6'1, with brown hair and blue eyes and a fair complexion. He lasted just over a year and a half in the infantry and in late 1863 he and his brother deserted. Guess he got fed up and decided to leg it! The brother got clean away, but Charles was later arrested and spent the next year under lock and key at the attractively titled Fort Swelling in Minnesota until he was dishonorably discharged. I did giggle. Anyway, he may not have been much of a soldier, but at least he was good looking.

Today was my first real sick day. I've never spent a whole day away from work because of illness. I've gone home sick, and I've started the morning with a migraine and then later in day (why? I'm not sure) still gone into work. But today was an exception. I was taken ill last night and decided to be kind to myself and spend the entire day at home resting. I spent nearly the whole day sleeping or drinking gatorade. It's now 11 at night and having slept most of the day, I'm quite alert. It will be a little while before I go to bed, but I think be able to sleep the night through alright. I ate baby food this evening, thinly sliced banana and cream of rice, but dined vicariously by watching a show on PBS called Daisy Cooks. She roasted yellow peppers on her stove burners, slow cooked potatoes in a tomato sauce in a frying pan and poached clams, scallops and shrimp in white wine, garlic and parsley sauce. Ah, I intend to eat well when I get my stomach back!