Early Winter Wonderland along Old Highway 61

Several November storms meant a lot of early snow accumulation inland from Lake Superior near Grand Portage, MN. This photo was taken on November 25, . I was a bit disappointed that these storms left little snow in my yard. I live right on the shores of Lake Superior and early winter storms often mean that rain falls along the shoreline instead of snow. Right now I barely have one inch of snow covering my yard, however one only needs to drive a few miles inland to see the ground covered with almost two feet of snow already!

Newspaper Rock

Along the access road to Canyonlands, thirty miles east of the entrance, Newspaper Rock is a little mystery that will likely never be solved. It is a large slab of rock covered with desert varnish (a blackish manganese-iron deposit that gradually forms on exposed sandstone cliff faces due to the action of rainfall and bacteria) into which have been inscribed numerous petroglyphs. The older images are becoming darker in color as new varnish slowly develops over them. The first carvings were made around 2,000 years ago, although a few are as recent as the early 20th century.

There has been a lot of speculation as to the meanings of the drawings but in fact no one really knows what they mean or why they are in this place. It is in the middle of nowhere. Was this a stopping-off point for native people? Does it have spiritual or religious significance? Is it simply graffiti from a time long past?

There is a reason.......

you see two links to Will's post today. It is worth your time to read it.









http://willgadd.com/ice-breaks-dont-be-in-the-way-of-it-as-it-falls/

Walkin' the Land of my Ancestors

With clear skies and 80 degree temps (in October, no less!) I just couldn't stay indoors today. The Crooked Lake Nature Preserve lies mostly in Whitley County on the Noble-Whitley county line about half a mile west of State Road 9.

The southern area, which I explored today, is the Lawrence Bishop Memorial Addition and is located on the south side of Little Crooked Lake, off of County Road 600N. This southern area borders the land where my 3rd great grandparents, Jacob and Malissa (Stem) Wise lived. And where her parents, Conrad and Indiana (Sisley) Stem lived on a neighboring farm.

Below is a portion of the 1889 Plat Map of Thorncreek Township, Whitley County. It shows that M. A. Scott (Malissa Ann, married Jacob Scott in 1876) owned 106 acres of land in Section 3 on the south side of Crooked Lake. This land had been purchased by Jacob Wise in August 1849. To the east of the Scott property was C. Stem, who owned 32.5 acres. Conrad had purchased 152 acres (most of that southeast quarter) in December 1853. Nowadays, the majority of their lands have been subdivided into 2-5 acre lots, several are still available for purchase. Some of the houses being built are ridiculously large, especially in light of the current economic situation.

The map below is from the Indiana DNR (Department of Natural Resources). The outlined area encompasses the Crooked Lake Nature Preserve. As always, click on the images to see a larger version. The dotted line on the right is State Road 9 and the dotted line along the bottom is County Road 600N.

A mowed path meanders along the south and east sides of the meadow. It enters the woods on the north side, weaving in and out several times before emerging into the meadow once again on the west side. This first view is looking to the northeast (from the west side of the trail).

Skiing? The lines just keep on coming in Chamonix!

Nice!

Have a merry one

OK I'm a scrooge. I'm Scrooge McScrooge. Bah. And oh yeah, humbug.

I'm not sure what came over me, or exactly when. I used to love all things Christmasy. I could happily shop for ornaments in the middle of July. Now I never want to decorate. My husband finally decided that he'd have to put up a tiny tree himself, or we'd have no decorations at all. I didn't get a single Christmas card sent. (I normally do though - I was just busy filling orders this year. Now it's too late.)

Even though I'm scroogy, I'm wishing everyone a merry Christmas. I haven't had time to go out and take pictures lately. So as your gift, I'm sending you to see someone else's.

This great photo of Western Australia mistletoe was taken by John Dolphin, a fellow wildflower nut. (Also see Maximum Depth of Field.)

If you have bizarro-brain like me, the name John Dolphin makes you think of the Buckaroo Banzai movie. (Sorry John!)

All the Lectroids are named John. Some have normal names, like John Parker or John O'Connor. But others are obviously made up, like John YaYa and John Smallberries. My favorite is John Bigboote, who keeps getting called Bigbooty. ("It's BigbooTAY!")

I must have seen this movie at least a dozen times. I love John Lithgow as the fiendish Lord John Whorfin/Dr. Emilio Lizardo. ("Laugh while you can, monkey-boy!") His expressions while giving a speech to the evil but listless Red Lectroids make it among my favorite movie scenes. ("History is made at night. Character is what you are in the dark!") I guess you could call the film a cheesy, over-the-top, low-budget spoof. The special goggles they use to watch a holographic message are clearly made from bubble wrap. But if you like that sort of thing, come on over. Bring the popcorn!

The Phend Surname

The "Phend" surname, as you might imagine, is not a common one. The index to the book on the Phend Family that was published in 1991 only includes 331 people with the surname, and that included everyone that I had found since the family came from Switzerland to the United States in 1832. Johannes Phend, the progenitor of our family, had two daughters and two sons, John and Jacob. John didn't have any children. Jacob had seven children, six sons and one daughter; there were 43 grandchildren, 29 grandsons and 14 granddaughters. In the next generation the numbers flipped and girls outnumbered the boys by about 2 to 1.

According to my Grandpa Vic, his grandfather, Jacob, pronounced the Phend surname as "pay-hend" and said that it was spelt pay-hay-a-n-day. He also told me it was originally spelled with a B instead of a P but that the B was pronounced softly like a P and that is how it got changed from B'hend to Phend. However, in Swiss records the surname has been found spelled as B'hend, Bhend, Fend, Fendt and Pend. In the United States, the surname has also been found in records as Fend, Fiend, Fin, Phind, Pheud, Phena, and Phent.

Considering that names were often spelled phonetically, and the fact that many record keepers and census takers wrote so poorly, the variations are not all that surprising. It just sometimes makes it a bit challenging to find the right records.

Johannes Phend was recorded as Jean (or Sean?) B'hend on his 1832 passport.


The signature of Johannes on his passport.


The Land Record from Carroll County, Ohio (Deed Book 11, page 367) showed John Phend and his wife Susan selling their land in 1849 - and his signature!

The family was found in census records the "old fashioned" way - by turning the crank and going through the reels of microfilm image by image, before indexes were widely available, and before the internet. Lucky for me, from other records, I knew where to look and the townships they lived in were relatively small.

1840 Carroll County, Ohio (Brown Township page 192)


1850 Greene County, Indiana (Taylor Township page 409b)

1860 Marshall County, Indiana (German Township page 56)


1870 Kosciusko County, Indiana (Scott Township page 434)

1880 Kosciusko County, Indiana (Scott Township page 33)


In 1900 and 1910, Jacob was livng with his daughter and her husband, Sophia and John Ernest, in Elkhart County, Indiana. (Nappanee, Locke Township page 232 in 1900 and in Concord Township page 56b in 1910)

Three other recent posts highlight some family records from Switzerland, the christening record of Johannes Fendt, and the family's emigration to the United States.