Geneva Bible

I've been doing a rather unusual Bible study for me. I've been listening - over and over, actually - to J. Vernon McGee's Psalms study. What is unusual is that I've been using the Geneva Bible translation as reference, while writing notes into my NASV. I have often consulted more than one translation at a time just to see all the different nuances of meaning. I use a free download program called E-Sword. Many of the Bible translations featured on E-Sword are free, such as the Geneva. In addition, you can compare texts in E-Sword side by side, which is less bulky than actually pulling out physical books. To be truthful, though, I LOVE my books, the feel of them, the rustle of the turning page, vewing past notes. Sometimes the sheer joy of handling the extra books beats out the ease of the electronic, so I might have E-Sword open on my computer, but I am balancing - or trying to - 5 books in my lap, or on the floor.

I purchased a facsimile of the Geneva Bible - this one to be exact, but there are much more expensive editions that I lust after, but can't justify spending the money.

The Geneva Bible is the one the Puritans used. I'm not sure why this fascinates me, but it does. We all know and venerate the King James in it's beauty, but the Geneva preceded it, and was used by our forefathers. I fell in love with the Geneva translation when I read this verse in 1Kings 11:1 "Bvt King Salomon loued many outlandish women: both the daughter of Pharaoh, and the women of Moab, Ammon, Edom, Zidon and Heth,".

The use of the word "outlandish" to define foreign is so much more picturesque and actually adds to the meaning. Solomon was not supposed to marry foreign women because of their worship of other gods and the influence this would bring to himself, his house and his reign. The word "outlandish" not only literally means from "out of the land" or foreign, but in modern parlance, it is a slang term for something strange, exaggerated, ridiculous - and wouldn't the worship of other gods be just that? That verse did it for me. Of course, I ordered the facsimile copy, which means it looks just like the copy the Puritans read and there are "u's" where today there are "v's" and other quaint old English language tidbits. That makes me love it all the more - I can see the history of the English language. For instance, "would" is spelled "wold" - probably from German origin - so that kind of explains why we have a silent "l" in a word - at one time it was pronounced, and, like a guest that won't leave, it hides quietly inside the modern word to this day.

Gustav and Friends

Looks like Fay has brought some friends along. She is barely out of the picture when we have Gustav to think about. He is far more robust than Fay was. Let's hope he stays to the south of South Florida AND Cuba

Tracking for Gustav as of Monday, 8/25/08
The "cone of death" for Gustav as of today:

Meanwhile, my friend at Seablogger.com has noted a few other tropical systems that are "popping up" TD8, already in the North Caribbean, and not posing a threat to the US at this time - and another strong tropical wave that just exited Africa's coast. It looks like a busy Hurricane season, unfortunately. The weather guys will be happy, but they're about the only ones who will be. Read Seablogger's assessment, both of Gustav and upcoming storms - he is a former mariner and a weather geek who knows his stuff. I read his page to watch tropical storms, rather than refer to the news.

Bugs 'N Flowers

Hubby and I went out on a small photo jaunt this morning. We just stopped along the road in town, stood by the weeds and took the following pictures. As usual, click on them to "embiggen" them.

The first is - I think - a grey hairstreak. She - it has to be a she - is SO beautiful. Her "face" reminds me of a children's book butterfly queen. She was rubbing her wings together - it looked like she was trying to get attention - perhaps find a mate. She has such big, limpid eyes, such delicate "hands" - surely she is royalty.

Next, a small 1/2" green grasshopper. He is very different from the huge Lubber grasshoppers I usually see.

Next, a very unimpressive weed that close-up, is not unimpressive at all.

These lavender flowers with a yellow interior were growing on a tree.

This Familiar Bluet is just one example of something you might miss if you don't look carefully
Here is a side view.
Here is is staring us straight in the eyes

Here is a top view of the Familiar Bluet, and also one of him in flight:

This bunch of orange flowers was growing on another landscaping tree - I need to find out what these trees are, but I just don't have any more room in my yard to plant anything else, darn it.

This is a very tiny mystery orange and yellow bug/butterfly/moth (who knows?). In the first picture, you can see the bug's "face" a little better:

Last, here is what I've named a Darth Vader dragonfly. He is either a widow or a banded skimmer - none of the pictures in my dragonfly book look exactly like him.

A Photo Break

I decided to take a little break from the genealogy work and scanning old photos. Today, I took the day off from work and photographed some critters in my back yard. First, there is the green bee. I had never seen one of these before, so I nearly got heat stroke waiting for one to land and for it to stay still long enough to be photographed. Honey bees seem to be increasing in number also in our yard. Thank God! I was quite worried about honey bees and still am - but I am seeing lots more of them. There have been many on our Firebush in front of the house. We used to see so many of them on our Mexican Heather, and now they are returning again in decent numbers. Here are a few shots of the green bee. In one shot he is all the way inside one of the purple flowers we have in our garden - called a Mexican or Desert Petunia.

Caribbean spider topside

Caribbean spider underside - his "behind" looks like a skull head - interesting!
A snail out and about
Poinciana flowers up close

I have no idea what this bush is, but it started growing on it's own in my back yard. It's pretty, so I kept it. I know it's used as a hedge in landscaping here, but a search on the internet did not reveal what it is called....oh well.

Finally - a "regular" honeybee sticking his head into a Firebush flower

DeWitts and Doolittles

My father's mother's name was DeWitt. Frances DeWitt. Her father was Warren DeWitt. I have two family Bibles that my grandmother passed on to my father, which are now in my possession. The first one has only one generation's records in it - an Elizabeth Bennett and Benjamin Neal, born 11/7/1780 and 3/17/1781, respectively, and their children, Jonathan (b. 1/28/1801), Bersheba (b. 8/10/1803), Ira (b. 9/12/1804), Abigail (b.2/9/1807) and Elizabeth B. (b.3/6/1813). The handwriting is elegant and spidery and the Bible itself is as old as the writing. I have no idea who the Neals are and how they tie into my family history, except I'm sure it's on the DeWitt/Doolittle side and that, possibly, Elizabeth B., the daughter, married a Henry DeWitt in Oak Hill, NY. That is the second Bible I have - a pew Bible which says in large, flourishing script, "Mr. Henry DeWitt's Bible, St. Paul's Church, Oak Hill, Aug 9, '49 (which would be 1849). In small letters in barely legible pencil it says on the inside cover, "Eliza DeWitt, Oak Hill", twice - she wrote it twice in much smaller, more delicate writing than Mr. DeWitt. So I am left wondering if Eliza DeWitt is the married name of Elizabeth B. Neal, born in 1813.

I found one record on Ancestry.com of a Warren DeWit - who is my great grandfather - in Greene County, NY, which is where Oak Hill is, but I can't find him associated with a Henry DeWitt. Warren is 23 in this 1870 census record and he lives with Eliza who is 57, and, I presume, his mother. She keeps house and he is a farmer, His property is worth 2000.00 and his personal assets are $800.00. This DeWit is spelled with only one "t" at the end, but census takers have notoriously been known to be inaccurate, so it could still be my ancestor. The dates are right, the place is right, and his mother's name is Eliza - and her age is right, too - she was born in 1813, so I'm pretty sure it's my great-grandfather.

Warren DeWitt married Minnie Doolittle. Minnie Doolittle was born 3/31/1864 and Warren was born 12/31/1846. Their first child, William - my great-uncle Will who fought in WWI - was born in 1884, so sometime before 1884 hopefully Minnie and Warren were married. I say hopefully because Minnie's family did not want her to marry Warren - perhaps because he was so much older than she - I've just heard that they didn't like him.

Their age difference would have made him 37 when she was 19, a spread of 18 years. That doesn't sound shocking today, but perhaps back then it was.

The next mention of Warren DeWitt (with 2 "t"'s now) is in 1910 in Saratoga Springs, NY. He is married to Minnie. Warren is 63 and she is 45. At that point in time, their son Will has left home - he is 26. Maud has also left - she married someone named Schwingler - she is 23. Ira is still at home at age 21, then there is Fannie - my grandmother - who is 13 and Mabel, the youngest, who was 11. And last, but not least, listed as a granddaughter, is a Dorothy Smith, age 2. Huh? It can't be Fannie's or Mabel's. It can't be Ira's or Will's because their last name is DeWitt - unless this is a mistake of theirs. It can't be Maud's - she is already married to Mr. Schwingler. Very strange. And very interesting.

Here is the image:

And, at age 63, Warren DeWitt has been out of work all of 1909 and some of 1910. And, though he is listed as owning the property, it is mortgaged. Hopefully, Ira is working and contributing. The property is on Gilbert Road, which still exists separated from Saratoga Springs by the Northway superhighway today. If I look at Google earth, I can see Gilbert Road, which is still quite rural. Many of the properties listed on it in 1910 were farms. Here it is today on Google maps. No one has taken pictures along it, so you can't go to street view, darn it. The Saratoga Springs directory of 1891-92 says Warren H. (for Henry?) DeWitt has 2 locations - one at 113 Clinton Street, which is sort of a messy neighborhood today, and one at 26 Catherine, which building no longer exists. I don't know why he has 2 locations - perhaps he worked for two different people, depending on work load.

View Larger Map

Family History and Photos

First let me say that Blogger is being INSANE. I tried to put these three photos at the END of my post, but it was virtually impossible. So after an hour of trying different methods, I just decided they will stay where they pop up - which is right here.

The first photo above is of downtown Saratoga Springs, NY after a BIG snow. The photo under that is of Champlain Canal towpath in Battenkill, NY. There is nothing written on the back, so I don't know the year. The last photo is of Broadway in Saratoga Springs, NY illuminated for Christmas - no year - but these photos are part of the collection of my grandmother's aunt, so they are probably early 1900's. Check out the ice on Broadway - it looks like a frozen lake instead of a street.

I am -and have been in - the process of studying my family genealogy for a few years now. I haven't gotten too far, but I have had lots of fun - and I've found a few things I didn't know in the past. There is a lot more to learn and some puzzles to solve.

I want to post scans of lots of old photos I inherited from my father, who inherited them from his mother, who interited a lot of them from her aunt. Many of these photos date from the late 1800's and early 1900's and take place in and around the environs of Saratoga Springs, NY.

Basically, for now, this is going to be about my father's family. My mother's family is much more difficult to trace since her parents both came from Galicia in Poland at the turn of the century.

My father is Richard James Bootier. He was born on March 24, 1919 in Saratoga Springs, NY. His mother was Frances (Fannie) DeWitt and his father was Frederick J. Bootier. I have traced the Dewitts back to the Doolittles and I've traced the Bootiers. We'll start with the Bootiers.

Back before the Civil War there were two brothers - Nelson and Ezra Bootier, who lived in southeastern Canada, just over the border from Maine. The family story goes that one of them had a wife and children, but his house burned down with all of them in it, and so, brokenhearted and despondent, he came to the US to fight in the Civil War, hopefully to die. I have my doubts about this story - it sounds like so much romantic nonsense, although tragedies like that DID happen back then. The winters were very cold and houses were made of wood. The problem is that Ezra came to the US in 1846, 15 years before the Civil War began. I, however, am descended directly from Nelson Bootier, so let's see when he arrived in this country. Whether it was Nelson or Ezra, I don't know. But they show up on Civil War records and on census records.

Here is Ezra Bootier - he was born around 1838 in Canada and was 82 in 1920. This is a copy of the 1920 Census.

I cannot find census information for Nelson Bootier after 1880. He was listed in the Saratoga Springs directory in 1891-2 as a tinsmith, but after that, nothing.

I did find someone else on Ancestry.com who linked to Nelson and this person somehow has found the birth and death dates for Nelson:
Birth - 18 July, 1829 in St. Croix, Canada. Death - 26, June, 1906 in Saratoga Springs, NY

So now I know where he was born and that he wasabout 10 years older than Ezra. Below is the Civil War record from 1890 for Ezra and Nelson. I'm not sure what this report was for:

The bottom of the form has injuries of each person by line number. Nelson is line number 15, and - poor Nelson - he had piles. That is the old fashioned name for hemmorhoids. We Bootiers are certainly glamorous.

I found another reference on ancestry.com that lists Nelson as entering the country in 1868, which doesn't make sense, since he fought in the Civil War from 1862-1865, as did Ezra.

Here is how the family breaks down.

Nelson Bootier married Phillamenia (sp?) LaJeunesse. They had 6 children as of 1880. I don't know if they had more, but here are the 6:

Freddie, (my direct ancestor), 13, a boot black (born 1867)
Willie, 10, also a boot black (born 1870)
Louis, 9 - at school
Georgianna, 7 - also at school
Charlie, 5
Lena, 1 year old

Freddie grew up and became Frederick N. Bootier. He married Josephine Brunett of Sandy Hill, NY (which became Hudson Falls, NY) on February 28, 1892. Their children were my grandfather, Frederick J. Bootier, Francis X. Bootier and Lawrence Bootier. Lawrence fought in WWI and was never the same after that. He died on 1/25/1964. Francis Bootier was the nicest of the brothers (sorry, grandpa) and helped my father financially through college.

Nelson was a tinsmith, Frederick N. was a carpenter and Frederick J was a linotype operator at the Saratogian. My father worked at carpentry before he became a teacher and he remembers working with his grandfather.

So the continuity is Nelson (1829-1906), Frederick N(1867-1951), Frederick J (1893-1983), Richard James (1919 -), Susan Bootier Humeston (1956-). Phew. Is that cool or what?

Now for some scans of Saratoga Springs and environs. The first one is of an indian. From the info on the back of the photo, his name was evidently Job Shavone, a French Canadian who lived(?) at the Indian Cairn at Highrock Park. I can't find Highrock Park on the internet, except for one by that name in Staten Island. Perhaps that is the one - I have no idea.

The photo under the one of Job Shavone (which Ancestry.com shows to be an Italian name - ??) is a picture of some people in boats near Stafford's Bridge at Saratoga Lake. I think the man seated is Albert Freeman, my grandmother's aun'ts husband.

House - 84 White Street Saratoga Springs, NY

This is my grandfather's house in the 1950's or 60's.

Here is the view from Google earth today.


View Larger Map

Wake Up America!!`

I just watched this Youtube of Newt Gingrich and I agree 110% with what he is saying. He is a lone voice in the political wilderness. I would love to see McCain choose Gingrich to be his VP. If only. We need someone who will tell the truth about Islaam and Mr. Gingrich seems to be the only politician that will.

Wife/Husband Test - 1930's

There is a modern version of this test here or you can see the original pages for both husband and wife below. I think the original pages just look 1930ish and the jargon is British, I think. First, the husband's quiz. I love the comments - you don't get that at the test web site - just the questions. When you click on the images below, they will still be too small to read - so you have two options. The first is (if you have a scroll button on your mouse) to click and hold down the Ctrl key while rolling the scroll button - scroll in a downward motion makes the image larger. The other option is to download this completely free "Virtual Magnifying Glass" that I use ALL the time to see things more clearly on my computer screen. For those who don't have a high definition monitor, the magnifying glass may not work too well, but it's worth a try, since it's free!!

For this to be done correctly, the husband is to rate the wife and vice versa. I know I will get a very poor rating - I cook when I feel like it (which isn't often) and I certainly don't dress for breakfast. My daily outfit is an attractive pair (I like some of the colors and designs) of men's boxer shorts and a matching color T-shirt. Folks, it doesn't get more comfy than that, however, that type of dress is off the charts for this test. And red nail polish? Perish the thought. Nice girls don't wear red nail polish, I guess - but the secret is, - and this test won't tell you this - men often prefer naughty girls anyway - so be brazen!

Now for the wife's test. Marital congress? Does Congress know about this? Hopefully, marital congress isn't anything like political Congress.....

I can tell you my husband got a 98. Some of my favorites are "Calls 'Where is', without first hunting the object".....if I had a dime for all the times my husband does this....er....I just got points off for speaking poorly of him in public. Oh well. And the burping thing? Is that funny or what?

I'm Still Alive

I haven't posted most of the month of June - I've just been lazy. I still don't seem to have much to say - but I'm working on it. I'll have a post tomorrow - hopefully some photos to add. Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend.