Happy New Year!

Wishing you and yours the Happiest of New Years.

--Nancy.

Happy Thanksgiving

I wish you a bounty of blessings on this Thanksgiving Day!

--Nancy.

Merry Christmas Greetings

I wish you the happiest of Christmases and in the new year, joy, health, strength, and courage to face whatever comes your way.

I also wish you much success in your genealogy endeavors!

Merry Christmas!
--Nancy.

He Is Risen!

How grateful I am for a Savior who knows and loves me, who suffered and died for my sins, and who offers me the gift of Eternal Life.  And he did and does the same for everyone.

Happy Easter!

--Nancy.

Merry Christmas!

At this season of light,
when we celebrate the birth
of the One Who is the Light,
I wish you and yours
a Merry Christmas!

--Nancy.

Wishing You . . .

 
Happy Thanksgiving!

Nancy.

Like Monuments Without Inscriptions - Veterans Day, 2021

There was a veteran of war “who was in it, who survived it and came home from it, and did not talk about it.  There were several . . . who went and fought and came home and lived to be old men here, whose memories contained in silence the farthest distances of the world, terrible sights, terrible sufferings.  Some of them were heroes.  And they said not a word.  They stood among us like monuments without inscriptions.  They said nothing or said little because we have barely a language for what they knew, and they could not bear the pain
of talking of their knowledge in even so poor a
language as we have."  
                  from Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry     

Today and always I'm grateful for our men and women who serve in the Armed Forces.  Thank you!

--Nancy.

Flag Day, 1922

Wherever Children Are
Flag Day
By Angelo Patri
Author of "A Schoolmaster in the City."

     June the fourteenth is the birthday of the flag.  One hundred and forty-five years ago a great people unfurled it in a vision of hope and love and faith, a vision of human happiness, a vision of man grown to full stature, abounding in freedom; unfurled it as a constant reminder and challenge lest the vision fade from before our eyes and be lost forever.
     The vision has not failed.  It is that I would teach the children of America today.  The vision of their forefathers, their dream of freedom and happiness and justice, is still alive in our hearts; still holds us, still inspires us, still challenges us to struggle on towards its ultimate fulfillment.
     I would teach the children the seriousness and the sacredness of the flag.  When the men in Valley Forge left their bloody footprints in the snow and prayed and starved and held on grimly until death or victory released them, they hallowed the flag for all time.  Time cannot wipe out those footprints, traced in snow though they were.  They were offered and accepted as sacrifice and woven into the folds of the flag.
     The flag, then, is no cheap thing to be flapped about in the hands or on the tongues of the ignorant and thoughtless and selfish.  It is to the American people what the cross is to the Christian, the holy sepulchre to the pilgrim, the six-pointed star to the Jew.  It is the emblem of spiritual travail, a challenge to righteousness, a vision of beauty and peace yet to come.
     It has carried food to the famished, health to the sick and the suffering.  It has given hope to the oppressed, help to the weak and faltering.  It has sped on the errands of mercy and love.
     Under the shadow of the flag brave men have fought and suffered and died.  Blood and tears and the soil of the road that leads through the Valley of the Shadow have sanctified it.  Mothers have given their hearts' dearest in its service.  Fathers have choked back their grief and sent their only sons to its altar.
     On this day, then, Little Boy, Little Girl, say over with me the rosary of your flag.  Tell again the sacrifices that are its soul.  Name over those who followed the vision, took up the challenge for your dear sake.
     Washingon and '76.  Lincoln and Grant and '65.  Dewey and Schley in '98.  Roosevelt.  Wilson.  Pershing.  The people of these United States.
     Our Father which art in heaven, hold us to the vision!  Teach us to serve it in the spirit of those who have lived and died in its service.  Let nothing of fear or hate or selfishness dim for us this light set on high by our fathers.  Make it ever clearerd to us as we struggle to bring its glory among us here upon earth.  For love's sake.  Amen.
(Copyright 1922)

Published in The Youngstown Vindicator, June 14, 1922.

–Nancy.

Copyright ©2021, Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
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Memorial Day, 2021

Memorial Day Hymn for Fallen Soldiers
Michael R. Burch

Sound the awesome cannons.
Pin medals to each breast.
Attention, honor guard!
Give them a hero’s rest.

Recite their names to the heavens
Till the stars acknowledge their kin.
Then let the land they defended
Gather them in again.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

I give heartfelt thanks to the generations of soldiers who served and sacrificed their lives to preserve the freedoms of our country, and to all in their families. 

--Nancy.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to my mom, Audrey (Meinzen) Doyle.

And Happy Mother's Day to all mothers and to all women who in one way or another mother others' children--grandmothers, aunts, sisters, teachers, neighbors, church ladies.... I believe all women sometimes play a role in mothering in one way or another.  Bless you all!

-–Nancy.

Copyright © 2021 Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
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Love Tokens on Valentine's Day

Who, of my ancestor couples, might have given or exchanged heart-and-hand love tokens?  These were common during the early 1800s but by the late 1800s it seems that postcards had won the hearts of most Valentine givers.  Perhaps ancestor couples who married before 1860?  (How I wish an original of one of these survived from that time period!)

The most likely couples are great-great-grandparents, named below with marriage year.
> William and Martha (Reay) Doyle, 1825
> William and Susanna (Holmes) Bickerstaff, 1830
> Robert and Elizabeth (Thompson) Laws, 1834
> Dixon and Rebecca (Smith) Bartley, 1836
> Jacob and Lydia (Fithen) Bell 1843
> Jacob and Mary (Richardson) Thompson, 1848
 
I'll never know whether these ancestors, or any ancestors before the 1950s, celebrated Valentine's Day, but I wish I did.

A Little of the History of Hearts-and-Hands
Hearts-and-hands were created and given as early as the late 1600s as tokens of affection on any day of the year.  By the 1700s they began to be adopted as expressions of affection on Valentine's Day.  By the mid-1800s Godey's Lady's Book and Harper's Weekly include Valentine's verses and cut paper projects.  Read more here, at the American Folk Art Museum website. 

I first saw these heart-and-hand paper cuts several decades ago in a magazine article, photo above, (though which magazine I can't say) and was enchanted.  The ones shown were, the author guessed, from the early 1800s.  I decided to try to create some of my own.  I gave most of them away and kept only the simplest ones.

Happy Valentine's Day, friends.

–Nancy.

Copyright ©2021, Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
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Happy New Year to You!

Good riddance to 2020 and welcome 2021.

I know I should not be too excited about 2021 but I sincerely hope it's a better year than 2020 has been.  Gosh, we've had ups and downs--plenty of downs--since March.  As if Covid-19 wasn't bad enough by itself, the year was rife with discord and unpleasantness across society.

Yes, January 1 is just another day, the next day after December 31, but couldn't we all use a fresh start?  I'm not as full of enthusiasm and expectation as the little one in the postcard above but I can't help but hope!

Happy New Year to you and yours.  I wish you blessings galore.

–Nancy.

Copyright ©2020, Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. .

Merry Christmas to You and Yours!

--Nancy.

Happy Thanksgiving

I wish you and your loved ones bounteous blessings during this strange, difficult Covid year.  I especially wish you the blessings of success as you search for your ancestors.

--Nancy.

Happy New Year!

Wishing you, my blogging friends, all the best in 2020.


--Nancy.
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Happy Thanksgiving to You and Yours

--Nancy.
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Oh, the Costumes We Created!

There was lots to love about Halloween and trick-or-treating when I was a kid in the 1950s and 1960s.  The cool weather was delightful.  The candy was a real treat because my mom rarely bought candy.  And seeing and admiring my friends in costumes was fun.  But maybe one of the best parts was creating and wearing our costumes.  

Halloween wasn't a commercial holiday like it is today.  Most of us scouted around our houses to come up with costume options then chose a character we wanted to or could portray based on what we had on hand or could find.  Parents and sometimes our grandparents or aunts and uncles helped with clothes or ideas for costumes, too.

In the 1959 photo above, in the front row, you can see a queen or princess, a knight-like character, another princess, a gypsy (probably me), a king or perhaps a jester, and a curly-headed bunny who looks like he may have Bugs Bunny printed on his clothes.  In the back row I see a boy wearing a flat cap--a newsboy?, a little Dutch girl in the center, a ghoul, and on the right a cowboy with black mask.  How I wish the photo were in focus!

And trick-or-treating in our town was different than it is today.  We knocked on the door, the door was opened, and then the person who lived in the home guessed who we were.  Are you Johnny?  Linda?  Mary?  In those days not only did neighbors know each other but nearly everyone in town knew who all the kids were.  And we didn't get any candy until the person at the door had identified each of us.

I liked Halloween in those days, before costumes were commercial, before candy was grab and go, when it was all about fun. 

I've written several other posts about Halloween and, my personal favorite, All Saints Day in El Salvador.

• All Saints Day, Sociedad, El Salvador 
• Dried Corn and Bars of Soap (which focuses on the trick in trick-or-treat)
• All Saints Day

Happy Halloween!

This is a post for Amy Johnson Crow's 2019 version of 52 Ancestors.  The topic for this week was Trick or Treat.

–Nancy.

Copyright ©2019, Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner.
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Happy Labor Day

My father taking a well-deserved, late afternoon break.
I believe he was the hardest-working man I have ever known!

There was a time in America when laborers worked long hours with little time for rest and less time for recreation.  They were often at the mercy of their employers concerning their wages and hours of employment.  Thank goodness things began to change when, in 1894, Labor Day became a federal holiday.

My ancestors, both men and women, worked long, hard hours, each with his and her own role in the family, each contributing to keep the family afloat and successful.

Most of the males among my ancestors were what would be called blue collar workers today, though the phrase didn't exist during their times.  They worked in coal mines, steel mills, and on farms.  They were carpenters, carriage builders, coal miners, farmers, and a barber and electrician, among other occupations.  Some earlier ancestors were self-employed and not dependent on others for wages, but on the work they did and the character they built as honest workmen providing quality goods.  

Most of the women among my ancestors labored keeping a home, raising children, making sure there was healthy food on the table and plenty preserved in the larder; tending sick children; and doing a myriad of activities to make a safe and comfortable home for their families.  A few of my female ancestors worked outside the home.  One grandmother was a midwife, on call as needed; another worked in a bakery to earn tuition for her daughter to attend college; one worked as a milliner before she married; and my mom worked as a nurse before children came.  Few records exist that tell me occupations of my foremothers other than "keeping home." 

By example my parents taught us children a good, solid work ethic.  They also taught us to work by practice:  there was plenty of work we were required to do, and do it well.  No ne'er-do-wells in our home!

Happy Labor Day!

–Nancy.

Copyright ©2019, Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
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Thoughts on The Declaration of Independence

As an image for the Fourth of July, the Declaration of Independence doesn't cry out, "Look at me, look at me!" in the same way images of fireworks or flags do.  In fact, the image is so bland that I almost didn't write a post today.  But I realized that the power and attraction of the Declaration is its words and what those words mean.

I spent some time today listening to the words and thoughts of Thomas Jefferson as presented by Bill Barker, Jefferson scholar and re-enactor at Colonial Williamsburg.  Several things he recounted have stuck with me.

• When Jefferson picked up a stack of copies of the Declaration from the printer and began handing them to people, they looked at them and dropped them to the ground.  Why?  The document was of little value to them because they couldn't read the words.  Jefferson knew, when writing the Declaration, that he needed to write words that would capture the attention of not only the readers but also the hearers of the words.
• It was several days before most people living in the Colonies learned about the Declaration of Independence.  Word travelled slowly in 1776.
• Jefferson does not hesitate to state that the ideas in the Declaration were not new but a compilation taken from several other great thinkers of earlier times.

I love the leaders' reliance on Divine Providence as they make this grand statement of independence.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.  And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

If the Colonists had not stood together, if all the people had not unitedly supported this Declaration, the independence they sought could have gone the other way.  I'm grateful for the courage, stamina, and resilience of those early Americans. 

These days we enjoy the fireworks, the picnics, the family time of this holiday and, perhaps, take for granted the freedoms we have as a result -- and the cost of those freedoms.  In the past I haven't always remembered the cost of those blessings.  What followed July 4, 1776, was more than eight long years of war, until September 3, 1783, to fulfill the desired outcome stated in the Declaration.

Hooray for the writers and signers of the Declaration of Independence.  Hooray for all the men and women who fought in the Revolutionary War and who have fought in battles of any kind to help the United States maintain its freedom and freedoms.  It's true that the United States of America is not perfect, but I'd rather be a citizen of this country than any other on earth.

You can enlarge the image above to read the Declaration of Independence or click here to read a transcription.

This is one of the videos I watched today.

These are two other Thomas Jefferson reenactments:
> Interview and Q & A
> Thomas Jefferson on the Declaration of Independence (about 2 minutes)

Happy Independence Day!

--Nancy.

Copyright ©2019, Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
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Happy Father's Day, 2019

Wishing a Happy Father's Day to my dad, Lee Doyle, who's been gone for nearly 32 years, to my grandfather, W. C. Robert Meinzen, who's been gone 40 years, and to all my ancestral fathers who I know only through second-hand memories and pieces of paper.  I wouldn't be here without you.  Thank you!

--Nancy.

Copyright ©2019, Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
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