Mabee and Teeple Families
Below is a story about the Mabee and Teeple UEL families of southwestern Ontario. Peter Teeple was the son-in-law of Frederick Mabee and Lavinia Pelham. The author, W. B. Waterbury,…
Mabee Family Tree 2
Additional Generations and Notes on Tree Below are notes giving additional details and/or the children of specific individuals in my Mabee family tree. As I explained on the main tree,…
Trump Predictions
(Guest post by Jim Stewart) Prediction: Buyer's Remorse? By Remembrance Day this year (2025), the US will be experiencing the Mother of All Buyer's Remorse. The Reaganesque question "Are you…
Checkers
When Qatar gave Donald Trump a jet, I started thinking about past gifts to politicians. Checkers came to mind. A Cocker Spaniel pup and a $400 million 747-8, and two…
Musk’s Legion
In normal times, this would be a headline only in the Weekly World News, not in pretty much every paper out there: “Inside Musk’s plan to make a ‘legion’ of…
McDonald Family 1912 Curdsville
Heavrin McDonald
Ernest Heavrin McDonald, 24 Oct 1884 to 04 Nov 1885 Curdsville, Daviess County, Kentucky. Buried McCain Cemetery, Curdsville. Fifth child of Hiram Columbus and Sarah Clementine (Brogan) McDonald. Sarah wrote…
What Trump said
It’s easy to forget things. But some things shouldn't be forgotten. So in case you’ve not been following Donald Trump news, and you’re looking back at his time as president…
Smock Family Tree 2
My late mother-in-law, Marji Smock Stewart, did this genealogy of the Smock family. I have added to it, and it has become too large to put on one page. So…
The Wolves of Winter
Novel by Tyrell Johnson, The Wolves of Winter, 2018 Simon & Schuster A young woman and her family had headed north from the United States, ending up in the Yukon.…
Meghan and Harry
(by Jim Stewart) Meghan and Harry: The real story, by Lady Colin Campbell. It's hard to believe that this book came out in 2020. It is remarkably prescient, as if it had been written yesterday. Anyone interested in British history, Hollywood, celebrity and popular culture, the effect of media and social media on our society
Summertime
If you’d asked me two weeks ago who wrote the song Summertime, I’d have said the Gershwins. Music by George, lyrics by Ira. And I’d have been wrong. Well, half…
Medina Spirit
Today, Derby Day, I’ll be thinking of Medina Spirit. He won the 2021 Kentucky Derby. Then, after testing positive for a substance banned on race days, he was disqualified in…
Officers and Gentlemen
Commander Ralph Neville was one of several English naval officers living in Bay St. George, Newfoundland in the early 1900s. They shared a love of salmon fishing (see Part 1).…
The Ride of Her Life
In the fall of 1954, a woman decided to leave her home in Maine and, with her little dog, go to California. Annie Wilkins was 63, had been ill, had…
Hugh Love, St. Stephen NB
From the obituary of Hugh Love, born 24 January 1859 and died 25 June 1936 in St. Stephen, Charlotte County, New Brunswick: St. Stephen lost one of its best known…
9/11 Dogs
Twenty years after, the 9/11 dogs are gone. They searched, rescued, comforted. If you remember the day, you also remember the dogs. Bretagne, the last one, died in June 2016…
Mrs. Elizabeth Keckley
Mrs. Elizabeth Keckley was fashion stylist to the stars of Washington DC in the mid-1800s. As dressmaker and companion of Mary Todd Lincoln, she worked in the White House during…
The Sussex Interview
Oprah's interview with Harry and Meghan is on a par with the 1995 BBC interview with Lady Diana. It asked for compassion, and got it. And, like Diana's, did it…
The Trump Goodbye
Every day there's something on the television screen that you've never seen before. Something that you want to capture for your own historical record. The departure of Donald J. Trump,…
John C. Mabee Stakes
The John C. Mabee Stakes is a 9 furlong Grade II turf race for fillies and mares at the Del Mar track in San Diego County, California. John C. Mabee…
Man o’ War
In 1920, the most promising 3 year old horse in the United States did not run in the Kentucky Derby. Later in May, that horse - Man o' War -…
Stewart Family Tree
Robert Stewart and son Bill with trout they caught in July 1957. Grandparents, parents and grandson camping in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. Ninety-two trout were caught and eaten…
McDonald Family Tree
Daughters of Hiram Columbus "Lum" and Sarah (Brogan) McDonald, about 1910 in Daviess County, Kentucky. From left, front: Lattie Baird, Clara "Doll" Humphrey. Back: Celeste "Luss" (later Steele), Elizabeth (later…
Smock Family Tree
My late mother-in-law, Marji Smock Stewart, did the work on this genealogy of the Smock family from Kentucky. That's her in the photo above, age 9 in 1936. The wedding…
Willow Grove Settlement
On the road to St. Martins in southern New Brunswick you see a sign in a clearing on a corner. Willow Grove Black Settlement Burial Ground, it says. Behind it…
Half a ton of pet food
Day 27 of the US government shutdown. Food banks are helping feed furloughed federal employees. Animal shelters are helping feed their pets. This is short-term desperate need. These are people…
Roger Gonzales
A poster of a young man in Tegucigalpa's central square. Kidnapped April 19, 1988. It's in a photograph I just happened to take when I was there one year later.…
Honduran Contra Camps 1989
Donald Trump calls it "the Democrat Party led... assault on our country by Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador..." (Twitter Oct. 18, 2018). A caravan of migrants started in Honduras, headed…
West Virginia
In 1971 my parents and I drove through West Virginia on our way from Ontario to Kentucky. We'd never been there before and it was stunningly beautiful. So we took…
Angel in a Foxhole
Writer Dave Tabar wants to make a movie called Angel in a Foxhole - about Smoky, the Yorkshire Terrier war dog. Until July 4th, Blackpool Records will match all contributions.…
Mary Jo Kopechne
Known best as "the girl in the car," Mary Jo Kopechne had a promising career as a political worker in Washington. She was idealistic and enthusiastic - the sort of…
Martin Luther King
I don't remember what I was doing when I heard that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had been shot and killed. I do remember the shock and horror I felt.…
Pegasus World Cup
This Saturday, January 27, is the 2nd annual Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park in Florida. The richest horse race in the world, it costs one million dollars to enter.…
One Trump Year
One Trump year is like one dog year - very long! Tomorrow, January 20th, is the first anniversary of his inauguration as the 45th President of the United States. A…
David Duke and Donald Trump
David Duke said "we're going to fulfill the promises of Donald Trump" during the violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville VA on Saturday. David Duke, former Imperial Wizard of the…
Un-American Affairs
A selection from More in Anger (1958), a collection of essays by American social critic and satirist Marya Mannes. From 1904 to 1990, her life spanned most of the 20th…
First Hundred Hours
In his first hundred hours - from midday Friday to this afternoon, President Donald Trump has been busy. Signing executive orders: Directing all federal agencies to ease the "regulatory burdens"…
Dan Patch
Dan Patch was a harness racing horse, a pacer. He was crazy good, they said. 110 years ago, he was the best pacer ever seen. He was a huge celebrity…
Trump Imagery
What is the appeal of The Donald as president? Trump imagery over Trump policy, I suspect. But why? Reading The Englishman's Boy, I got a clue from a 1923 fictional…
Missouri Puppy Mills & Prop B
On November 2, 2010, Americans voted in mid-term elections. One of the things voted on in Missouri was Proposition B, proposed legislation that would regulate dog-breeding kennels. It was passed…
Pen Name Mysteries
The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith and Devoted in Death by J. D. Robb are pen name mysteries by famous authors I've never read. Robert Galbraith is J. K. Rawling…
US: The New Brunswick Option
For disenchanted Americans, I have an escape plan that keeps with historical tradition - New Brunswick. In case of a Trump win in the US presidential race, Cape Breton has…
Your Blues
If you want to do some social research on the USA of the latter half of the 20th century, read Your Blues Ain't Like Mine. It is a first novel…
Breeders’ Cup
Saturday was Hallowe'en. A big day. This October 31st was a big day for another reason. The Breeders' Cup Classic horse race and the chance to see something that's never…
Battle of Ridgeway
Today marks a bizarre incident in Canadian history. Irish-Americans invaded Canada, planning to hold it hostage as leverage to end British rule in Ireland. My family's farmhouse was smack-dab in…
She Loves You
Some things you will never ever forget. One, for me, is Ed Sullivan introducing “these youngsters from Liverpool.” Hands clenched on head, pulling at hair, “eek, aah, oohh.” In the…
A Nation’s Songs
Whatever one might think of the US of A, they got good national songs. Watching Monday’s Presidential Inauguration, the high point for me was the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir giving it…
Newtown CT
When smoking was still permitted in restaurants, you’d sometimes see signs: “No pipes or cigars.” That was because the smoke from those is much stronger. To me, this is a…
Newtown Kids & Dogs
A lot of dogs in Newtown, Connecticut will be working overtime in the solace department. There are children and adults who will need the love of their pets to help…
War of 1812
In 1814 we took a little trip - Along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip’ We took a little bacon and we took a little beans And we caught…
A Tale of the Sea etc.
In January 1883, a dory was lost at sea off the south coast of Newfoundland. On it were Howard Blackburn and Tommy Welsh. They became separated from their schooner in…
New England Fall
Driving to New Brunswick by the American route, through New England. Trying to pick out roads as the crow flies. But mountains and forests in the north. Looking at an…
St. Thomas Ford Plant
In Grade 11, at St. Thomas’ Arthur Voaden Secondary School, I was the only girl, and only Art student, in an English class with Shop boys. I had read most…
Going to Graceland
Thirty-four years ago, Graceland became a memorial shrine. The day before, August 16th 1977, the King of Rock and Roll had died in it, his home. Despite liking Elvis, Graceland…
United Empire Rebels
A couple weeks ago, I posted the family tree of the Mabees, my paternal grandmother’s people. It’s the family I knew least about, other than there are a lot of…
Mabee Family Tree
William Pinckney and Mary (Sinclair) Mabee, seated in middle, with their nine children. It commemorates the wedding of a daughter, seated at right beside her new husband. He holds their…
Sarah Palin and Targets
The first time I saw Sarah Palin on television, I was impressed. It was soon after she was announced as John McCain’s running mate for the 2008 US presidential election.…
Anger Family Tree
Austin and Murel (Mabee) Anger, my grandparents, outside their home near Union, Elgin County, Ontario June 1943. Grandma wrote on the back, "Dad and I ready to go to city".…
Commodity Dogs
Dogs and cats have always been a part of my life - an important part. Most of them, from my childhood and adulthood, have just come along and stayed. An…
Secretariat: The Movie (2010)
The thing that annoyed me most about the movie Secretariat was that the horses playing him were not in the credits. In particular, the one who played him in close-ups…
Lymburner Family Tree
The family of Matthias Lymburner at Midland, Ontario July 1, 1929. Seated, parents Matthias Lymburner (age 64), Mary Emily (Vaughan) Lymburner (age 65). Standing, Otto Lymburner (age 32), Countess Lymburner…