Why Don't We Write This Way Anymore?

I'm still rooting around in the past, looking for ancestors. This evening I have been reading through portions of William G. Cutler's History of the State of Kansas, published in 1883. He gives an early history of the town of Olathe, where parts of my family settled and prospered generations back.

I love the way Cutler describes events from what was, for him, only a few decades ago. For example, in his section on early inhabitants of Olathe, he has this to say about one gent:

John P. Campbell, a cousin of James K. Polk, came here from Nashville, Tenn. He was looked upon as a brilliant and promising lawyer in the State, but he impaired his faculties by the use of alcoholic stimulants, and died of consumption in the early years of the war.

Later, in his section on newspapers in Olathe, he recounts the effect of an attack by Quantrill's raiders on the town's only Democrat newspaper at the time, the Olathe Herald, which had been a growing and healthy concern:

Quantrill paid the office a visit September 6, 1862, after which John M. Giffin, its editor and proprietor, gathered up its debris and sold it for $306; original cost having been $3,500. In addition to his newspaper office, Mr. Giffen also lost through Quantrill's efforts, accounts and notes to the amount of $13,000, and the manuscript of an algebra, for which he had been offered $5,000, and fifteen cents royalty on each book sold.

My favorite, though, is his description of the "Reformed Presbyterian, or Covenanter Church." A congregation formed in Olathe in 1865, and split into two in 1871:

This denomination wherever founded is radical in its character, forward in reform movements, and never received into, nor tolerated slaveholders in its communion. While its members have borne arms in every national conflict for right and liberty, yet they refrain from the exercise of the elective franchise--believing the National constitution to be, though in many respects most excellent, yet in some things infidel and immoral.

Seems like I've read similar sentiments on modern day blogs as well.

Where I'm From

I've been spending a lot of time lately looking into my genealogy, playing around on a site called Geni which is an on-line family-tree tool. I've looked into family past before, of course, but now that I've started working on the family tree I've found a great deal of material on-line.

As part of this, I've put together a map of the birth-places of my direct ancestors; at least those whose birthplaces I could determine.

The earliest Mahaffies I could find -- they were Mahaffeys back in the 1700s-- were from northern Ireland. There were Beckers, from my Mother's side of the family, born in Germany in the 1800s.

In the US, there was a steady progression west by my branch of the Mahaffie family. They were in Pennsylvania, then Ohio, then Indiana. My Great-Great Grandfather JB Mahaffie started his family in Indiana and then settled in Olathe Kansas in 1857. He was one of the original settlers.

My Great Grandfather George Mahaffie had been born in Indiana. He started his family in Olathe, where my grandfather Charles was born. George took his family west to Oklahoma as homesteaders.

My grandfather was a Rhodes Scholar, studying at Oxford for a time. He became a lawyer and lived and practiced in Oregon before going to Washington DC, where my Father was born. My Grandmother had been born in Washington State, but raised in New York City, where many of her forbears were born.

On my Mother's side, Farrars, Beckers, Bartletts, and Redmonds were mostly around New York. I also had forbears in upstate New York and in Vermont.

If any of these names and dates match names and dates in your family tree (and you are not already part of my family tree), let me know. I'm always eager to expand the tree.

On Beach Plum Island

I took a walk on Beach Plum Island the other evening. It's one of the Delaware beaches I'd not been to before, and I wanted to have a look. It's very nice, in a quiet, remote sort of way.

Beach Plum is a nature preserve, managed by State Parks. It is a sand spit between the Broadkill River and the Delaware Bay. It runs south from Broadkill Beach to the Roosevelt Inlet.

There are opportunities for fishing, both in the Bay and in the River, and a calm bay-front beach.

Field Trip!

I took a day off work today to go along with Christina's fifth-grade class on a field trip to Fort Delaware State Park.



Fort Delaware is one of the few Delaware State Parks I had not yet been to. And it was fun to go along with Christina and her friends (though I was under strict orders not to embarrass her). And take pictures.

We took a school bus up to Delaware City and rode the Delafort ferry over to Pea Patch Island. We had a picnic lunch and the kids saw presentations on what school was like in the 1860s and on how to fire the big guns of the fort.

Scientific Minds Want to Know

Are you a politi-blog junky? There's a researcher down in Louisiana who'd like your input on a survey on political blogs at the state level.

Emily Metzgar explains that the impact of national-level political blogs has been studied; she'd like to do the same at the state-level.

My observations about the impact of bloggers on state policy and politics in Louisiana have triggered my interest in looking at that dynamic in states around the country.

The survey is up through June 30. Go take it now.

Sometimes the Timing Just Works Out

State officials opened a new section of the Junction and Breakwater trail on Monday, completing the walking and biking connection between Lewes and Rehoboth Beach. I had an appointment with my eye doctor in the middle of the morning today and had to take the morning off. That meant I had a few spare hours first thing in the morning.

I headed out for a quick hike; I wanted to see if I could reach the section of trail that had already opened and that I hiked earlier. I was just able to make it that far before I had to turn back.

I first had to walk out of Lewes on Kings Highway, to the intersection with Gills Neck Road. The new section starts there and runs along Gills Neck to the entrance of the Hawkseye subdivision. It runs through Hawkseye, including down a segment of the median shown above, and then picks up the old railroad bed and crosses Wolfe Glade, where it joins the existing trail.

This is a great addition to our area. It's now possible to walk or bike from Lewes to Rehoboth without having to go out on the highway. That might work out well if one of the girls gets a summer job down that way.

It might also be a great excuse for Karen and I to get new bikes.

Say What?

The head of the FCC was pretty upset about an appeals court ruling that criticized FCC for its handing of some recent indecency complaints. The court ruled that the FCC had been arbitrary in its handling of what were more or less accidental droppings of several common expletives.

So FCC Chairman Kevin Martin dropped a few of his own in his statement in response. The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire has several quotes in a post called FCC Warning: Explicit Anger.

Don't worry, the Journal has obscured the "**k" and "**t" in Mr. Martin's many uses of “f—” and “s—”.

This Makes Me Feel Good

There is an organization known as The Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor (AATH). That makes me feel better about life.

I got an e-mail today asking for nominations for the 2008 AATH Book Awards. The awards are set up to honor authors of books that further the mission of AATH: "to advance the understanding and application of humor and laughter for their positive benefits."

I was tempted to scoff at this as simply self-evident. But, while laughter in itself is good for you, it is also the case that, with training, one can build therapies on that fact and enhance the power of the smile.

There is a similar therapeutic effect with music. The Lovely Karen is a trained and certified Music Therapist. Music Therapy appears to be a bit further along as a profession, but I see a role of Humor Therapy as well.

Our neighbors Charlie and Nancy were involved in humor therapy for many years. They volunteered around the community as the clowns Happy G and O Lucky; we would see them in parades and at street festivals. We always thought it was simply their way to have fun.

Colleen interviewed them for a school project one evening and they explained to us about the deeper work they were doing, visiting the sick and dying and bringing cheer into hospitals.

I think that's pretty cool.

Governor's Run/Walk

I took part today in the Governor's Run/Walk event in Dover. This is part of the push to get state employees to live healthier lifestyles. It makes sense from a budgetary standpoint; healthier employees cost less in the long run in health insurance payments.

The event featured health-related displays, a station for getting your blood-pressure checked, and things like that. after very brief remarks from the Governor, there was a 5K run, a 5-K walk and a 1-mile fun-walk.

We started at a point on Kings Highway. Our route wound down several back streets and an alley and through Silver Lake Park. It was twice around a course to make the 5 kilometers.

I was among the walkers. At a point on our first circuit, the lead runner came through us, preceded by a motorcycle policeman.

I was not sure I would do the whole walk today. I spent the long week-end and Tuesday with a virus and a moderately high temperature. It seemed wise to start from the back and go easy. In the end, I did finish, and I enjoyed the walk.

My time (55:56, unofficially) was not great, but I was happy to have been able to take the walk.

At the end, there were oranges and bananas. We heard the winners honored. Then headed back to the office for one of the sweatier afternoons in recent state government history.

A Restaurant Recommendation Chain-Post

I'm home sitting out a virus today, so it seems a good time to respond to NPR Junky's having tagged me for a "Best Places to Eat" meme. There are three steps.

1. Add a direct link to your post below the name of the person who tagged you. Include the city/state and country you’re in.

nicole (sydney, australia)
velverse (kuala lumpur, malaysia)
lb (san giovanni in marignano, italy)
selba (jakarta, indonesia)
olivia (london, england)
ml (utah, usa)
lotus (toronto, canada)
tanabata (saitama, japan)
andi (dallas [ish], texas, united states)
todd (louisville, kentucky, united states)
miss kendra (los angeles, california, u.s.a)
jiggs casey (berkeley, ca, usa! usa! usa!)
tits mcgee (new england, usa)
joe (ne tennessee, usa)
10k monkeys (chattanooga, tennessee, usa)
big stupid tommy (athens, tennessee, usa)
newscoma (weakley county, tennessee, usa)
russ mcbee (knoxville, tennessee, usa)
atomictumor mrs eaves (oak ridge, tennessee, usa)
oh really? lissakay (oak ridge, tn, usa)
mark steel blogitude.com (knoxville, tn, usa)
swanky the swank pad (knoxville, tn, usa)
johnny dollar’s vault (baltimore, maryland, us of a)
NPR Junky (Wilmington, Delaware, USA)
Mike's Musings (Lewes, Delaware, USA)

2. List out your top 5 favorite places to eat at your location.

Big Fish Grill is just outside of Rehoboth Beach. It is a simple place; bustling, friendly, comfortable with large portions of simple, well-prepared and fresh seafood and other dishes. They don't take reservations and by 5:30 on a typical Saturday afternoon, there are dozens of folks waiting outside. It is well worth the wait.

Striper Bites is in downtown Lewes. It is a small place, part bar and part restaurant with a short menu of great dishes. It is in an old and well-refurbished building that feels just right for a beach town.

The La Tolteca on Route 1 between Lewes and Rehoboth is a favorite place for comfort food. We know we can always get good Mexican food, inexpensively, from a friendly staff. Every time we eat there, we see people we know.

Tokyo Steakhouse is on Route 1 just south of Five Points. It is a traditional Hibachi-style restaurant but done to perfection. The building itself is so perfectly crafted that it stands out and stands for the craft of the chefs within. And it is great fun.

Nicola Pizza in downtown Rehoboth Beach is a part of that resort town's history at this point. Grotto Pizza may get more press coverage, but that's at least in part because it is a corporate entity. Nicola Pizza is still a family-run small-town pizzeria. And it has better pizza. And the Nicaboli.

3. Tag 5 others. This is the part I'm always a little bit uncomfortable about, but what the hey....

Chaplain Sam, a minister in Smyrna who also works in Elkton, MD. His should be a different perspective from mine.

Howard, of Delmar Dustpan, should be able to shed some light on a part of Sussex County I've not dined-out in.

Elbert (That’s Elbert With An “E”) is another western Sussex Countian who may also have some good western Sussex restaurant ideas.

Now, let us head out of state.

Tara Lynn Johnson is a writer in Pennsylvania, a place I may need to find a restaurant someday.

And Jon Mahaffie is a young man way out in Washington State who may or may not be a very distant cousin. In any case, he's the most distant blogger I could think of for this meme-tagging thing.