This morning my husband and I attended services at the Pioneer & Military Memorial Park in downtown Phoenix, where I had the honor of representing the Auxiliary to the Picacho Peak Camp #1, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW), one of the 5 Allied Orders all representing the Union at the event. The other 3 are Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War (DUVCW), the Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic (LGAR), and the Woman's Relief Corps (WRC). The Margaret Warner Wood Detached Tent #1 (Arizona) of the DUVCW already has photos on their facebook page, along with pictures of the other Allied Orders contingent that attended services at the National Cemetery in north Phoenix. Fast work, Verna!

FWIW, I attempted to enter the names of family members who died in the line of duty on the Memorial Day poppy page that USAA has been advertising during the Major League baseball games this week. I used both Firefox and Safari (Mac versions) and each time it just stared mutely when I hit the "submit" button. So, please remember in your prayers the souls of George L. Phillips, USN (WWII), Asa D. Packard, Charles Tuckwell, and John Geddes (all Civil War, Army), and others who gave their lives in the line of duty.

If you haven't already, please go put out your flag!

....to serve you better, as the slogan goes, it occurred to me that putting the surname of new profilees on the home page in BLOCK LETTERS would help when there is a string of siblings with middle names that are surnames. For example, by listing Gen. James Irish's battalion of daughters in the Rogers section as "Abagail, Adaline, Martha, Mary Gorham, Rebecca Chadbourne & Sophronia IRISH" on the home page it would be (hopefully) clear that Gorham and Chadbourne were middle names, and that the maiden name of each woman was "Irish." This is especially helpful when a non-Mayflower person is in the picture, such as their mother, Rebecca (Chadbourne) Irish. I hope you find this change helpful.

I also finally put in a link to the Twitter account I have had for a long time but didn't use. I will likely never put out tons of tweets but given that I will be traveling about half of the remainder of 2019 and will be doing research in the Midwest, East, and Northeast, Twitter should make it easier to share. So, if you wish, tell the little bird icon (top right) you'd like to "follow" or look for me out and about as @DoctorMaura.

trying to figure out why this doesn't go to facebook

If you are researching ancestors from southeastern MA, Cape Cod, and Rhode Island, like I am, it is easy to overlook their Dutch neighbors in New Amsterdam, part of the larger New Netherland colony in the 1600s. Well, there's a lineage society for that - the Holland Society of New York. Their research focus for the past 134 years has been the colonists and history of New Netherland. Recently I found an ancestor, Thomas Cornell, who had been in Rhode Island but went to what would today be the greater New York City metro area, got a land grant (along with other families), left after an Indian attack, went back again, and eventually died in RI. Anne Hutchinson and family were part of a group that left RI over religious issues and went to New York. Anne was killed in an Indian attack but left descendants. The Holland Society of New York has one requirement many (most) of us cannot meet: a straight male line of descent from that ancestor in New Netherland. In other words, if my surname were Cornell, I could join. There are other options for those of us whose surname changed, though. One is their "Friends Of" membership category, which costs $75 and includes "all the benefits" of membership except attendance at their annual meeting. Another option is to subscribe to their scholarly journal, De Halve Maen (named for the Half Moon, Henry Hudson's ship, if your Dutch is shaky.) Online it is just $15, and $45 for paper. A typical outmigration pattern from New England starting in the mid-late 1700s was into New York, along the Hudson River area settled by the Dutch, then across the state, intermarrying with the Dutch as they went. Also, people often tell me they can't possibly have any Mayflower ancestors because their ancestors settled in the Chesapeake Bay area, but the Allertons and Howlands sent contingents there in the 1600s. New Netherland reached that far. Particularly if you have anyone who ever set foot in what is today the New York City or Hudson River Valley areas or married into a Dutch family, The Holland Society of New York's research library, genealogical database, and journal may have the records you need to close your genealogical gaps.