Family Memories

Links for 2008-07-03 [del.icio.us]

2008-07-04T00:00:00-05:00

Most Corporate Blogs Are Unimaginative Failures

Links for 2008-06-28 [del.icio.us]

2008-06-29T00:00:00-05:00

JUF News : Remembering Historical Jewish Graceland Cemetery

Links for 2008-06-20 [del.icio.us]

2008-06-21T00:00:00-05:00

Michael Jones

2008-06-17T19:17:00.001-05:00

Found a photo of my stepson, Michael Jones, on the Internet today. Michael is currently serving in Iraq and is located “somewhere"" in Baghdad. He's a military policeman and will hopefully be coming home this September. Michael is on the far right.

Agnes Rogers Kostal

2008-05-22T20:17:00.001-05:00

A photo of my maternal grandmother, Agnes Rogers Kostal, with two of her brothers -- Clarence Rogers (on the left) and Edward. My grandmother was born in 1898 (and passed away in 1987). We think this photo was taken sometime in 1901 when she was three years old. She was the second-youngest in the family. My Aunt Veronica (Babe), who was the youngest child, was born in 1902.

Another sod house photo

2008-04-15T18:00:00.002-05:00

Here is another photo of the sod house near Madrid where my grandmother, May Chamberlain Cornelius, was born. I originally wrote about this sod house back in October 2004. This photo was discovered among other photos while we were packing up my mother's belongings. I have not yet gone through all the other photos yet. What makes this photo special is what my grandmother wrote on the back of the photo:

Pioneer sod house built in 1886 southeast of Madrid, Nebraska...by my father, George Chamberlain. I was born here in 1900. Soon after this picture was taken, the house was destroyed and replaced by a frame house.

This little sod house served as the family home from 1886 - 1904. My two sisters and three brothers were also born here.

So now we have the exact dates of the house.

Another Mom update

2008-04-12T20:48:00.001-05:00

Just a brief update for family members who come across this blog. My mother returned home today. She had been in a nursing home for over three weeks rehabilitating her broken hip. She made pretty good progress while in the nursing home and now she needs to build on that progress.

Christmas 1963

2008-03-26T08:14:00.002-05:00

This photo was part of our 1963 Christmas card. I found it as I was cleaning out my mother's house.

Me

2008-03-20T10:27:00.005-05:00

I guess I've posted enough photos of my family members so I thought I would post one of me. This is a photo taken by a professional photographer that we are using for our upcoming annual report. There was some time between photo shoots so he took some employee photos. He said this one makes me look like an Irish writer. I suppose there are worst things I could be called! I added a sepia tint in Photoshop to keep with the spirit of this blog.

Update on my mom

2008-03-18T20:33:00.001-05:00

It's been several weeks (or more) since I've posted anything meaningful here. I do know that several of my family members check this humble blog out so I thought it would be easier to bring everyone up to date through this medium.

After 52 years of living in her home in Northbrook, Mom sold her house and moved in with us on February 15. When you consider the brutal market conditions, the sale of the house went pretty smoothly. She put the house on the market in August and immediately received interest from a number of parties. After a bit of negotiation, she accepted an offer around Thanksgiving and began plans to move.

The packing, cleaning and sorting was the most difficult part of the move. Mom's a "pack rack" and when you combine the need to save everything with a 52-year history in the same house, it was a recipe for disaster. After spending many weekends packing boxes and moving them to my house, we finally rented a dumpster and filled it to the top with "stuff." Her really good stuff was moved several years ago and was divided between my sister's house and my house. Thanks to her neighbors and friends, the house was finally cleaned up and the last box was loaded into my van.

Mom then attempted to settle into her new life in Elgin. She gave up her car when she moved out so she relied on me taking her to the store (which also served as her social release!). February was a brutal weather month in Chicago and Mom did not venture out of the house until the third week she lived with us.

Unfortunately, her fourth week was not a good week. On Saturday, March 8th, while she was getting ready to do her weekend shopping, Mom fell in her bedroom. I was in the kitchen and heard her fall, but the sound was very slight. When I ran into the room, she was already on all fours trying to get up. We eventually got her off the floor and had her sit on her bed. She felt no real pain and there was no bruising, swelling or discoloration. She did feel some pain when she tried to walk with our aid, but nothing that caused any alarm. She spent a quiet Saturday, but Sunday morning revealed that she was still having problems walking. I called the paramedics to take her to the hospital where X-rays revealed that she had broken her hip!

On Monday she had surgery where three pins were inserted into her hip. The actual incision was only 2-3 inches in length and the surgery lasted just over an hour. By Tuesday, they had her taking small, measured steps in her hospital room.

Last Wednesday she was moved to a rest home (they refer to it as a "transitional center") for physical therapy. That's where she is right now. She hates it and is itching to get out! Although she wants to be out for Easter, she will probably need to stay there for another week. She's making good progress, but needs to regain her strength and balance in order to move back to the house. With Lisa and me working all day, she will be by herself for several hours and needs to be able to walk to and from the bathroom and to and from the kitchen.

Once Mom does move back, the weather will hopefully be warmer making her feel more "at home" in her new home.

We're an American Band!

2008-02-13T19:33:00.006-06:00

Here's an old photo I found in my mother's basement as we are cleaning out her home in preparation for her move. (She is moving in with us in Elgin.) I took lessons at an accordion studio in Ravinia, Illinois for several years back in the '60s. We won several band and individual awards and the studio owners decided to sit all of us (including those crazy guitar students!) for a group portrait along with all the "hardware" we won. I'm curious where everyone is now.

Blog posts

2007-12-28T15:46:00.000-06:00

After my last post, I checked the statistics on the number of posts over the years. I created a chart in Google Docs. Seems like I need to pick up the pace!

Happy New Year!

2007-12-28T15:04:00.001-06:00

I'd like to wish all my [extended] family members a Happy New Year!

It's been awhile

2007-10-31T14:30:00.000-05:00

I know it's been quite awhile since I last posted. Without offering excuses, I spent the summer packing and moving into our new house in Elgin. Then, about a week after we moved in, Mozart, my beloved little dog, was killed by a coyote! That cast a pall over the move. Last week we received word that my dad's brother, Lowell Cornelius, died after battling cancer. My mother, sister and I attended the funeral and it gave us a chance to catch up with our cousins and their families. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that several cousins have accessed this site. That gives me the motivation to get out of my funk and start updating this site...which I promise to do!

Links for 2007-11-27 [del.icio.us]

2007-11-28T00:00:00-06:00

Google Service to Store Users' Data

Links for 2007-11-13 [del.icio.us]

2007-11-14T00:00:00-06:00

Over There; and Gone Forever

Links for 2007-09-07 [del.icio.us]

2007-09-08T00:00:00-05:00

Adobe gives peek at online Photoshop

Links for 2007-07-15 [del.icio.us]

2007-07-16T00:00:00-05:00

Our garden - a photoset on Flickr

Young Arlene

2007-06-21T21:10:00.001-05:00

A photo of my mother, Arlene Kostal Cornelius, as a young girl. This photo was found behind another photo of my great grandmother.

< Hosted on Flickr

Coming soon to a brochure near you

2007-02-24T21:47:00.000-06:00

I was recently contacted by an advertising agency about using this photograph in an advertising brochure. The client is a bank located in York, Nebraska and the purpose is to show how long the bank has been in business. We think this photo of Fred Astaire was taken in 1904 or 1905. More detailed information about this photo is here. Hosted on Flickr

Lou and Josie Helebrant

2006-10-14T10:45:00.000-05:00

Photo of my great uncle, Lou Helebrant, with his wife, Josephine Novy Helebrant. Lou was the half-brother of my maternal grandfather, Edward Kostal. Lou and Josie farmed in the Ravenna, Nebraska area for many years. Josie passed away in 1942 and Lou passed away in 1971. I met him on one occasion. Lou is the great grandfather of my half-second cousin (once removed), Sarah Johnson, whom I met through this humble weblog.

Maria Rogers

2006-08-16T19:52:00.000-05:00

Photo of my great grandmother Maria Rogers. I have not seen any studio photos of her before. The only photos I've seen were snapshots similar to this one that I posted in March 2005.

Kostal - Helebrant family

2006-08-16T19:45:00.000-05:00

Recently-discovered photo of my great grandfather James Kostal and my great grandmother Josephine Helebrant Kostal with Josephine's four children and James' first child with Josephine, Agnes (sitting on his lap). James and Josephine had four children together, including my grandfather Edward Kostal who was born after Agnes. You can compare and contrast the above photo with this later photo of the family.

"The Dry Creek Base Ball Team of 1910"

2006-07-23T16:04:00.000-05:00

Photo I found of my grandfather's baseball team that played in and around the Ravenna, Nebraska area in 1910. My grandfather is standing second from the right.

The date of the photo (1910) is two years after the Chicago Cubs won their most recent World Series...in 1908!

Video from Ravenna, Nebraska - Smaha graves

2006-07-22T23:18:00.000-05:00

My mother, Arlene Kostal Cornelius, explaining the significance of the Smaha graves in the Ravenna cemetery.

Video from Ravenna, Nebraska - Helebrant graves

2006-07-22T23:12:00.000-05:00

As a result of a conversation with my new-found cousin, I am posting a link to video of my mother, Arlene Kostal Cornelius, talking about the grave of Lou and Josie Helebrant. This video was shot in August 2002 in Ravenna, Nebraska.

Bringing people together

2006-07-22T10:31:00.000-05:00

It's been proven time and time again that the internet brings people together. Despite negative stories about MySpace and other social networking sites that serve as a haven for pedophiles, weirdos and the like; cyberspace does act as a conduit for people to meet , exchange information and discover new relationships.

I was reminded about it this past week as I've connected with a second cousin that I did not know existed!

To make a long story short, notes from a family photograph led to a Google search which led to this humble weblog. The kicker was the photograph my cousin was looking at was this photo! She wrote me and it has led to a series of e-mails determining our exact relationship to one another.

Turns out we are second cousins once removed!

Hopefully we will be able to exchange more photographs and family information.

Interesting!

Another WWI draft registration card

2006-03-03T21:30:00.000-06:00

Last Friday I posted a picture of my maternal grandfather's World War I draft registration card. Since then, I found the draft registration card of my paternal grandfather, Floyde W. Cornelius Sr. Although he did not serve in the military during The Great War, my Aunt Sandy told me that he was drafted and was actually on his way to boot camp when the war ended on 11 November, 1918. He was sent back home and was not required to serve. It's further interesting because my grandfather spelled his name "Floyde" with an ending "e", but it's spelled without the ending "e" on the card. Obviously a clerical error.

World War I draft registration cards

2006-02-24T17:34:00.000-06:00

Thanks to a tip from a distant relative in the Czech Republic, I became aware of a free offer from Ancestry.com where you can obtain copies of World War I draft registration cards. The free offer runs through the end of February and is available at: http://www.researchguides.net/free.htm.

I found the above draft registration card of my grandfather, Edward Kostal. The card dates from 1917. Interestingly, there were three Edward Kostals available for the draft that year -- two from Nebraska. I wonder if they ever met.

Technorati tags: Kostal, Genealogy

I'm still around!

2006-02-19T16:19:00.000-06:00

I know I haven't made any meaningful posts here for several weeks. I'm awaiting some more photos from my cousin, including a photo of my great grandfather, James Kostal, when he first came over to the U.S. from Czechoslovakia. Technorati tags: Cornelius, Kostal

Uncle "Jay" Cornelius (1908-2005)

2005-12-17T11:41:00.001-06:00

I received word late Friday that my great-uncle "Jay" Cornelius passed away at the age of 97. Uncle Jay (his real name was "General") was the brother of my paternal grandfather, Floyde Cornelius Sr. There were a total of eight children in the family and collectively their lives spanned three centuries. The oldest sibling, Owen Cornelius, was born in 1889. My grandfather was the fifth-oldest sibling and was born in 1896. Jay (born in 1908) was the youngest -- and the last surviving -- sibling. Uncle Jay was the family genealogist. In 1981, he compiled a history of the Cornelius family and called it Cornelius Roots and Shoots. He pulled together everything by hand as this was long before computers and the Internet. My own interest in genealogy was, in part, sparked by his book as well as the birth of my son Kevin in 1995. In fact, I wrote Uncle Jay in 1996 and received back a 4-page letter written in a strong hand. In the letter he wrote that he was trying to document that one of our distant ancestors fought in the American Revolutionary War -- thus qualifying all of his descendants for membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution. I regret that I never met him in person. Uncle Jay is survived by his wife, Esther. They were married 64 years. Technorati tags: Cornelius

Turning 80!

2005-11-21T07:36:00.000-06:00

November 20 was my mother's 80th birthday. We had a party for her at a local restaurant and a total of 48 friends and family attended. I checked Wikipedia to see how November 20 fared in world history. Besides the usual group of celebrities who were born or who died on November 20, it turns out that Sen. Robert Kennedy and Mom were born on the same exact day! I can't imagine turning 80 years old! Technorati tags: Kostal, Cornelius