The one-time-only conversion option for my watchlist and history when I launch the new version of the app the first time is not only poorly explained, but user-hostile. I now have to manually convert my watchlist, show by show, and give up any history of what I’ve watched in any series.

Or just cancel. Tempting.

Ambrose R. French enters the record at age 35 in 1870, working as a plasterer in Auglaize Township, Paulding County, OH. No parents, no siblings, allegedly born in Ohio.

15-year-old Nellie Sarah Snyder appears out of nowhere in 1872 when she weds Ambrose. No parents, no siblings, allegedly born in Ohio.

Their son Harrison Rice, born in 1873, is thoroughly documented: birth, baptism, census, draft card, city directories, Social Security, etc. Daughter Hattie A., on the other hand, exists only as a line on the 1880 census setting her age at 4.

Harry’s wife, Lula Forest Peters, can be traced back to early-1700s New England on both sides, but Harry’s tree ends at Ambrose and Nellie.

Four years before her death in 1924, Nellie’s last appearance in the census lists her father’s birthplace as “unknown” and her mother’s as “no way to find out”.

This is all based on scanned documents; if there’s someone who’s done actual legwork on this family, I haven’t been able to find it online. I’m hoping that filling in siblings and spouses will eventually lead to a DNA match that includes their parents.

Of course, those tests only work on human DNA…

…I might as well add visuals (“Hi, Scott!”). Everything’s better with Liz Phair.

(and yes, this version’s been in my driving and exercise mixes since the album first came out, alongside the classic Replacements cover of Cruella de Vil)

Funny thing about living 20 minutes from the Pacific Ocean: there’s no evidence of an eclipse-in-progress, thanks to the heavy overcast this time of year. I might see some sunshine around 1pm. Maybe.

Know a family with an “active” small child? Dislike them? Then convince them to buy this coffee table; what could go wrong?

Jean-François Draime (b 1795) married Marie Madeleine Lallemand (b 1800) and had ten children with her that we know of. Marie died at the beginning of 1835, and younger sister Mary Catherine (b 1809) helped him through this difficult time. So effective was her help that she was about three months pregnant when he married her on February 24th, given that the first of their six children together was born on September 2nd.

(some trees have a wife before Marie, but then again, they have Mary’s second kid being born in Ohio two months before their ship reached America; it looks like the 1835 kid didn’t live to make the trip, and likely the 9-year-old and 5-year-old sons (scribble and Albert) listed in the ship’s log died young as well, since they’re not in anyone’s trees)

In 1837, the family moved from Belgium to Ohio, settling in Frenchtown. A year and a half later, daughter Marie Christine became the (possibly second) wife of Jean-Pierre Bergé. They allegedly had 22 children, but since Marie Christine would have been in her fifties for the last four, I suspect data-quality issues.

mumble years ago, my mother actually went to Frenchtown and got a copy of the Barger/Barga/Bergé family book, but it got boxed up in a move and hasn’t resurfaced yet. Fortunately, by combining DNA matches with family trees, ancestry.com has provided pretty decent confirmation that Jean-François and Marie Madeleine were my fourth-great grandparents. Five of my great-great grandparents are still dead ends (Switalski, Nowak, Michalek, French, and Snyder), so eventually someone will have to do some actual field work. And learn Polish.

(a lot of the online family trees get pretty iffy before around 1850, with mismatches, duplicates, mis-merges, and impossible parentages (pro tip: when both parents died years before a child was born, something ain’t right), but the DNA testing provides a nice sanity check)

From now on, I will call the packs of unhinged violent Leftists who label themselves “Antifa” by their proper name, “Transfa”. To call them anything else would be misdiagnosing, which is even worse than [misgendering].

(via) [misgendering]: http://www.breitbart.com/california/2017/08/17/california-bill-1-year-in-jail-for-using-wrong-transgender-pronoun/