Here's a head's up for any Sears Catalogue House Hunters in Northwest Ohio or Southern Michigan.

Sears, Roebuck sold homes in their catalogues from 1908-1940. They were modern homes delivered in a box. Some assembly required! 

These were not just tiny little bungalows. They could have maid's quarters. Front stairs and back stairs. Duplexes. Barns. Garages. A home builder could buy several homes at a discount and, who knows . . . start a neighborhood?

I cannot imagine purchasing a lot and waiting for my new home to be delivered by Amazon. Holy Cow where do I start. I can't even put a bookcase together without a few screw-ups.  

But to be honest I have to wonder how many home owners/purchasers actually assembled their kit homes. I would have to think that they hired builders, especially when we are talking about the larger homes. When you take into consideration  that many of these homes are still standing and in excellent condition today, it stands to reason that professionals were involved in the assembly.

On the other hand I do know that my two uncles built their own homes and I am pretty sure those homes didn't arrive in a box. They were and still are sturdy, well constructed homes. The reason was the walnut wood used in the construction. Even though I am sure they are not catalogue homes, I do have to admit that I have seen several floor plans from Sears homes that look like the houses where my Aunts lived and raised their families. So it would seem the plans might have been copied or used as "a suggestion".

Regardless it was an interesting period of home building in  this country.

This Saturday, June 15, 2019, Waterville Historical Society in Waterville, Ohio, will be sponsoring a homes tour, Historic Homes of Waterville. One of the five homes in the tour is a #102 1/2. It is quite a large home with both a front and a back stairway. The home has been well maintained over the years.

The tour runs from 10am - 4pm on Saturday, rain or shine. Waterville is located south of Toledo and Maumee. There are other possible Sears homes in the area: a Sears #123 across the Maumee River from Waterville and another located west of town in Neapolis (on Main Street next to the beauty salon).

So now the next question is - Do you live in a Sears Modern Home?

Hey, What's All This DNA Stuff About Anyway?!

The Lucas County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society will present a program about DNA and Genealogy on Saturday, September 19, 2015. The group meets at 2pm in the Huntington Room on the first floor of the Toledo/Lucas County Public Library, 325 Michigan St., Toledo, Ohio. Meetings are open to the public.

Don Hengen will answer the question, "What's This DNA Stuff All About?"

This is a program for those who have already had their testing done, as well as those who know nothing at all about the subject. This will be an excellent opportunity to get acquainted with this new aspect of family research. For years genealogy was a slow tedious process of writing letters, traveling miles to courthouses that hopefully had not had a fire, and searching miles of microfilm in search of an ancestor record. And let's not forget all those cemeteries. Then the computer was born and everything changed.

Well, not everything. You still need to visit courthouses, libraries, cemeteries . . . . but you can also search for your ancestors online in the middle of the night. (If those 4x great grandparents only knew what you are doing right now. No candlelight? No quill pen? You are staring at this screen where words magically appear! and you're waiting for something called "a pizza" to be delivered.) Yes, things have most definitely changed.

And now they have changed even more. DNA has arrived. If you want to find out how this has changed the way we do family research, be sure to attend this meeting on the third Saturday of September. 

All levels of experience are welcome at the chapter's meetings - Beginners, Intermediate, Experienced.

Her Ancestors Would Be Proud.

I read an article today that so inspired me as a widow. It was an article on the first page of The Blade, Toledo, Ohio, Sunday, March 8, 2015: "Drabik ponders spotlight after years as adviser."

Sandy Drabik is the widow of D. Michael Collins, Mayor of Toledo, Ohio,  who passed away five days after he suffered cardiac arrest during a major snowstorm on February 1, 2015. According to the article in the newspaper, Sandy was her husband's partner, adviser, shoulder to lean on. That person behind the curtain, not necessarily pulling the strings -- more like the one who gave him words of encouragement and believed in him. Now Sandy is considering putting her name out there and running for the office of Mayor in order to complete the work her husband started. I am so proud of her. What a strong woman.

It is not easy to recover from the sudden death of your husband. You go through all the stages of grief whether you want to or not. And sometimes you relive the event. When Mayor Collins was rushed to the hospital I began to relive the events that happened when my husband passed away. The few hours that my family went through turned into the five days that the Collins family experienced. It was like slow-motion. I felt he wasn't going to make it; I could see the similarities. 

There have been many women who have taken over where their husbands left off and continued the work that they, in reality, partnered together. I admire Sandy Drabik. Her ancestors would be proud.