Managing four blogs can be quite a chore and I find it’s taking more and more time away from the things I really like to do – like family research, photography and writing. So, I’ve decided to do a bit of simplification and consolidation and the result is Moultrie Creek Gazette. The Gazette is one blog organized in magazine style with sections instead of separate blogs. Each section has its own character, which I hope to expand as the site develops.
This move is still a work in progress and you will see some of my favorite posts show up as reruns as I consolidate the content at the Gazette. The old blogs will stay up until that effort is completed.
The only woman to be awarded a Medal of Honor – so far – wanted a commission in the Army. And that’s just the beginning of her story. You’ll get it all and learn more about the history of our country’s highest military honor in this month’s Shades of the Departed magazine. Don’t take my word for it . . . Find out for yourself!
I’m looking forward to a Scribd app for both the iPhone/Touch and iPad, but in the meantime, the current workaround of emailing yourself a document to open in the device is working beautifully on my iPad.
From the document page on Scribd, click the Mobile button in the toolbar above the document.
Select the Send to My Device option, then enter your email address. Now go to your iPhone or iPad and check your email.
When the message arrives, it contains your document as a PDF attachment. Both iPhone and iPad can read PDF documents. Click on the attachment to open it.
While this would be a challenge to read on the iPhone’s small screen, it works quite nicely on the iPad. Here you see the first page of the document displayed on an iPad in landscape mode. The page fills the screen beautifully and is quite easy to read. Images are crisp and clear. My only complaint is that hyperlinks included in the document do not function. When this same Scribd document is downloaded to the desktop or embedded on a web page, the links do work.
As you can see, Scribd offers access to a growing number of mobile devices. As more societies begin offering digital editions of newsletters and quarterly journals, I’m looking forward to having them with me whenever I have a few minutes to read. Who knows – waiting rooms may well become the new reading rooms . . .
Michelle from The Turning of Generations and Dave Weller of Tree Rings have honored me with the Ancestor Approved Award. This award is the brainchild of Leslie at Ancestors Live Here and asks that the recipient list ten things she has learned about any ancestor that has surprised, humbled, or enlightened her and pass the award along to ten other bloggers who she feels are doing her ancestors proud.
Some of the things I have learned include:
Although we aren’t related to William Barrett Travis, the commander of the Alamo, as Grandma claimed [She had us related to anyone named Barrett including Elizabeth Barrett Browning.], we are directly descended from two other heroes of the Republic of Texas. Sinclair David Gervais was appointed chief justice of Matagorda County by President Sam Houston. His son-in-law, Dr. Albert Moses Levy, served both as chief surgeon at the Battle of Bexar and aboard the Texas naval ship, Brutus.
In this historic town where many families have 10+ generations who lived here, we are newcomers – or so we thought. My grandfather brought his family down here from Savannah in 1925, but it turns out that we are related – by marriage – to Dr. Andrew Turnbull who built a colony in what is now New Smyrna before the American Revolution. The plantation was worked by indentured servants brought mostly from the island of Menorca (off Spain). When the colony failed, the surviving workers, known collectively as Minorcans, came to St. Augustine where they live to this day. Dr. Turnbull left Florida in disgrace and settled in Charleston where one of his sons later married into my Gervais family. There was another Turnbull/Gervais marriage connecting the next generation too.
My great-grandfather Barker served in the 29th Georgia Infantry in the Civil War. It was an awe-inspiring experience to follow the 29th through the Battle of Chicamauga and up on to Missionary Ridge during a visit to the national battlefield. The people at the site’s information center provided maps pointing to the spots where the 29th has markers or monuments describing their actions throughout the battle.
By following credits in a local history book, I was able to meet research cousins who provided a huge chunk of my Mississippi and Texas research. These ladies spent hours with me on the phone and sent reams of copied documentation that would have taken years to find on my own.
Surprisingly, much of my time in the Air Force took me to locations near where my ancestors lived. For the most part, I didn’t learn the significance of those areas until much later.
I would like to pass this award on to the following people:
Becky Wiseman at kinexxions who may or may not have the time or connection to respond as she roams this great country connecting personally with genea-bloggers.
I’m sorry this is such an abbreviated post. In just a couple of hours our family – including four grandchildren – get off a plane to spend a week with us. For the next few days we’re going to be involved in some real hands-on family history!
