A St. Joseph's Day Celebration - Wordless Wednesday

Unidentified Friend, St. Joseph's Day, 19 March 1917

(Digital Images. Photographs Privately Held By Cynthia Shenette; Photographs and Text, Copyright (c) 2013 Cynthia Shenette)  These photographs of my grandfather, Adolf Szerejko, and his friend crack me up.  Clearly they are celebrating St. Joseph's Day--they even took the time to make a sign.  Maybe his friend's name was Joseph, and they were celebrating the friend's name day big time. 

My grandmother told me my grandfather wasn't much of a drinker.  My guess is he and his friend were goofing around with the camera taking pictures to impress (or not impress, depending on your point of view) their respective girlfriends.  Given the number of bottles on the table and in the bags they'd either be in the hospital or dead if they drank all that.  

Adolf Szerejko, Ordering Another...
I've done a little reading on St. Joseph's Day celebrations, but this doesn't seem to quite fit in with what I've read.  If you are Polish or of Polish descent and can enlighten me as to some St. Joseph's Day tradition that involves a seriously party hardy attitude I'd love to hear from you! 

Unidentified Friend, Sleeping it Off
 Na zdrowie!



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San Diego Fun and Research - Wordless Wednesday

San Diego, As Seen From Coronado Island
February 2013

(Digital Image; Photograph and Text, Copyright (c) 2013 Cynthia Shenette) Last month my family and I spent a couple of weeks in southern California on vacation. It was a wonderful respite from the snow and cold of Massachusetts. None of us wanted to come home! This photo was taken on one of the rare cloudy days we had in San Diego.  Quite a dramatic sky, don't you think?

While we were there I had chance to check out the San Diego Public Library.  Doesn't everyone visit the library while they are on vacation?  My son had some homework to do, and I had a little research I wanted to do for myself in the California Room.  While I struck out at finding what I was looking for with my own research I also asked if they had information on surveyors in the San Diego area.  My friend Barbara Poole, who writes the wonderful and ever informative Life From the Roots blog, had an ancestor, Charles H. Poole, who was an early surveyor in the San Diego area.  It was just my luck that a young man overheard me talking to the librarian.  He mentioned the name of two books about surveyors in San Diego, and the librarian brought out the two books, the History of San Diego Land Surveying Experiences by Curtis M. Brown and Michael Pallamary (out of print but available on WorldCat) and Lay of the Land: the History of Land Surveying in San Diego County by Michael Pallamary.  Well, didn't I hit pay dirt!  Barbara's ancestor was featured prominently in both of books!  So even though I didn't find the information I was looking for on my family I still had a great day!

The moral of the story is then next time you are in sunny southern California forget the beaches, and hit the library!  Also, sometimes it's just nice to help another genealogist.  You'll be glad you did!



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Irish Genealogy LibGuide - Follow Friday

(Copyright (c) 2013 Cynthia Shenette) I don't do generally do Irish genealogy, or as I like to say to my two best friends (both of whom happen to be Irish), "There's no Irish in my family unless the boat from Poland stopped in Ireland somewhere along the way."  Anyway, even though I don't have Irish blood flowing through my veins, I'd like to share a resource I stumbled across a while back for those who do.  

Check out the Boston College University Libraries LibGuide for Irish Genealogy (Irish Studies).  LibGuides are pathfinders/guides compiled by librarians to assist library patrons with their research.  Boston College has an Irish studies program and the Irish Genealogy LibGuide supports one of the courses for that program.  The LibGuide includes books and electronic resources.  While many of the resources are specific to the  BC library I am sure they can be located elsewhere.  The LibGuide also has a link to a searchable database that lists the names that appeared in the "Missing Friends" column of the Boston Pilot.


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