A picture is worth a thousand words...

I really am fascinated with old photographs.  I love to research as much as I can about the the person in the picture.  I often wondered why so many did not smile?  I have learned that in the early days dentistry was not a thriving profession by their teens or early 20's  many had such bad or missing teeth they did not want to show them. Also any kind of movement during exposure could blur the image.  Mystery solved!

George Washington's Teeth

Washington suffered from problems with his teeth throughout his life. He lost his first adult tooth when he was twenty-two and had only one left by the time he became President. John Adams claims he lost them because he used them to crack Brazil nuts but modern historians suggest the mercury oxide, which he was given to treat illnesses such as smallpox and malaria, probably contributed to the loss. He had several sets of false teeth made, four of them by a dentist named John Greenwood.  Contrary to popular belief, none of the sets were made from wood. The set made when he became President was carved from hippopotamus and elephant ivory, held together with gold springs. Dental problems left Washington in constant pain, for which he took laudanum

Ancestors from my Family Tree

Teeth or Not... ?

Melinda Chapman

Mary Craig

Rebecca Minerva Wood

Fergus and Hannah Hewitt

A perfect Smile

Testing...

It's that time of year...

I will be back as soon as school is out.

A ‘wee” bit more Scottish Brag..

A lovely cousin of mine ( Anne) in Australia who shares my passion for family history sent me the following, which I added a few images to …

The typical Englishman finishes his breakfast of toast and MARMALADE invented by Mrs Keiller of Dundee, Scotland and slips into his RAINCOAT patented by Charles Macintosh a chemist from Glasgow, Scotland

He walks to his office along an English lane which is surfaced by TARMAC, invented by John Loudon MacAdam of Ayr, Scotland

or, he drives his English car which is fitted with PNEUMATIC TYRES patented by John Boyd Dunlop, veterinary surgeon of Dreghorn, Scotland.

.Before he acquired a car he used to travel to his office by train which was powered by a STEAM ENGINE invented by James Watt of Greenock, Scotland.

In his office he deals with the mail bearing ADHESIVE STAMPS invented by John Chalmers, bookseller and printer of Dundee, Scotland

During the day he makes frequent use of the TELEPHONE invented by Alexander Graham Bell, born in Edinburgh, Scotland

At home in the evening he dines on his favourite traditional ROAST BEEF from Aberdeen Angus, raised in Aberdeenshire, Scotland

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and then watches an item on TELEVISION - an invention of John Logie Baird of Helensburgh, Scotland ( I would add their were several others who made contributions to this invention)

- about JOHN PAUL JONES, Father of the United States Navy, born in Kirkbean, Scotland.

His son prefers to read TREASURE ISLAND written by Robert Louis Stevenson, born in Edinburgh, Scotland,

whilst his daughter plays in the garden with her BICYCLE, an invention of Kirkpatrick MacMillan, blacksmith of Thornhill, Scotland.

Is it impossible for an Englishmen to escape the ingenuity of the Scots?? !!

In desperation he turns to the BIBLE, only to find that the first person mentioned in the good book is a Scot - King James VI, who authorised its translation.

He could, of course, take to drink, but Scotland makes the finest WHISKY in the world.

Nearing the end of his tether he could uplift a rifle to end it all, but the BREECH-LOADING RIFLE was invented by Captain Patrick Ferguson of Pitfours, Scotland.

Anyway, if he escaped death he could find himself injected with PENICILLIN, discovered by Sir Alexander Fleming, bacteriologist, of Darvel, Scotland,

or be given CHLOROFORM, an anaesthetic first used by Sir James Young Simpson, obstetrician and gynaecologist of Bathgate, Scotland.

Effect of Chloroform.

Where would be be today without the further advances of these original inventions and discoveries?

Back to School…

Went back to school on the 26th of August.  Nice to walk in to the clean shiny hallways and greet old friends. 
Spent the first day doing paperwork.  Yesterday turned on 39 computers to discover during the summer the Tech had changed the passwords.

I asked him why?  His explanation made no sense to me.  He promised me I was on his “list”. He would have to fix it.
First day the students are so quiet when they change classes.  Second day the noise level gets a little higher.
I observed one young lady running towards an old friend and yelling”  I don’t know anyone in my classes”.
It’s fun to be back!  You just have to keep your sense of humor.

“Rabbie Burns”…

For years fellow genealogists working on the Begg Tree have been trying to link the famous and brilliant Poet Robert Burns to our family to no avail.

Burns’ Childhood:

Burns was born on January 25, 1759, the eldest of seven children of William Burness, a tenant farmer in Alloway (Ayrshire), Scotland. His father was self-educated, and he taught his children at home -- Rabbie’s formal education consisted solely of one summer term at a nearby parish school and several stays at an “adventure school” operated by his father’s friend John Murdoch. Most of Rabbie’s youth was spent laboring on his father’s farm(s), a hard life which took its toll on his health and contributed to his early death from heart disease.

It is true that his youngest sister Isabella Burns married a John Begg who lived a few miles away from Muirkirk where my ancestors lived in that time period.

As I am half Scottish and knowing many Scots as I was growing up I listened, and tried to understand why they loved him so much.  My father and my brother in law  would quote him endlessly, usually after drinking a pint or two.  Like the rest of the world many of his quotes and poems are familiar to me.
To a Mouse
Robert Burns
Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beastie,
O, what a panic's in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
Wi' bickering brattle!
He wrote this after plowing up a mouse nest on his fathers farm at night.  All 9 verses are well worth reading as he compares himself and his life to the mouse.

A Red, Red Rose
Robert Burns
O, my Luve's like a red, red rose,
That's newly sprung in June.
O, my Luve's like a melodie
That's sweetly play'd in tune
A Grace Before Dinner
Robert Burns
O thou who kindly dost provide
For every creature's want!
We bless Thee, God of Nature wide,
For all Thy goodness lent
And who hasn’t sung this on New Years' Eve?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
  And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
  And auld lang syne!
Chorus.—
    For auld lang syne, my dear,
      For auld lang syne.
    We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
      For auld lang syne.
Written in 1788.

Burns Family Tartan
I may never be able to claim him as relative by marriage but I have so much enjoyed reading about his life and re acquainting myself with his poetry.
Thanks to the Internet so much knowledge is right at our fingertips.

This is my favorite kind of mouse!