Genealife in Lockdown Challenge - Australian National Family History Month
NOTE: This blog is written in memory of my dearest cousin Betsy Martin who passed away nine months after my last visit. I miss her and "The Genealogy Kitchen" very much.
Alex Daw of the Family Tree Frog Blog has challenged bloggers Downunder to publish a blog post each Sunday during National Family History Month in August 2021. You can read about Alex's blogging challenge here. My first blog post is a few days late but Alex has assured me I will still qualify for one of her fabulous badges!
Things changed dramatically soon after I arrived at my cousin's home in Lombard, Chicago when Illinois was plunged into Covid lockdown. Australia at that time was also becoming more affected by Covid and I was hearing announcements by the Australian Government of International Border closures. My plan had been to stay in Chicago for a little over three weeks and I was concerned that I should book an earlier flight home. The advice however, I received from Qantas, was to keep the flights that I had booked from Chicago to LA and LA to Sydney because airlines would be cancelling all later bookings before earlier ones as they emptied return flights to Australia. This proved to be the reason I was able to get home while others were left stranded overseas.
I had travelled to Chicago for a twofold purpose. I had been undergoing medical treatment there for Lyme Disease for a couple of years and so I had a week of treatment booked (this was cancelled after my arrival due to Covid 19). I was also visiting my third cousin Betsy Martin in Chicago as I did each year after Rootstech. My great grandfather, John McDade, who immigrated to Brisbane Qld, Australia in 1923 was the older brother of Betsy's great grandmother, Agnes Leonard nee McDade, who with her family had emigrated to Southern Illinois. The families had lost touch until Betsy found me through my online Ancestry tree.
I first visited Betsy in 2015 following that year's RootsTech Conference which I attended as an Ambassador and each visit we researched the family together at her kitchen bench. Often there was more laughter than research happening as we sat with our laptops back to back, in what we referred to as "The Genealogy Kitchen". Every night after we went to bed, Betsy in her green room and I in the Blue Room, we continued chatting and solving family history mysteries on Facebook messenger. Betsy always finished each night with "Goodnight Blue Room".
Cousin Betsy and I cancelled all plans to visit family and friends and we only left the house to collect shopping which was placed in the boot (trunk) of her SUV. On each outing we stopped at a drive through Starbucks on the way home for our favourite treat, a Coconut Chai latte.
On hearing news in the US of the stripping of supermarket shelves in Australia of toilet paper I convinced my cousin to stock up, despite her insistence that Americans would never rush out to do this. Luckily this Aussie insisted as the local supermarkets sold completely out of toilet paper and tissues shortly afterwards.
While I was in Chicago in 2020, I gave a presentation for an online conference held by The Surname Society. My talk was delivered using zoom - my first experience of Zoom - and was entitled "Finding Ancestors who Changed their Names." Little did I know that this was to be the first of many online conferences to come and that RootsTech 2020 would be the last in person conference I would attend for some time.
On this visit another special cousin Therese had travelled up from Southern Illinois to stay at Betsy's home and each day the three of us sat together researching and laughing in Betsy's Genealogy Kitchen. We had no idea that it would be the last time we would be together and that dear Betsy would very sadly pass away nine months later while still isolating in her home.
I finally left Chicago, both Betsy and I in tears and I wearing my Cambridge mask. I had a box of surgical gloves in my carry on luggage which were kindly provided by Nurse Barb, the lovely wife of Betsy's brother who lived next door to Betsy. It was early April and only a few days before the Australian federal Government instigated mandatory hotel quarantine.
Next week's blog: Family History Downunder. More of my Genealife back in Australia during Lockdown.
Sharn,
ReplyDeleteYou have such an interesting genealogical life! Luckily you were well prepared for coping when travelling. I can't imagine having to wear a mask for that long trip LA to Sydney. It was bad enough when I went Hobart to Darwin earlier this year.
Sue
Oh Sharn - what a story. I didn't know all that back story about Cousin Betsy. Now I really feel your loss. And thank goodness for those gloves huh? What a wild ride you have had. Thanks for such a great contribution to our challenge. PS I love the little HI from lockdown at the top of the post. You have to tell me how you did that. I'm such an ignoramus when it comes to this kind of stuff.
ReplyDeleteSuch a great story of phase 1 of lockdown. What wonderful times you had with Betsy and Therese when she could get there. We all miss seeing Betsy on FB where she became a friend. “Good night blue room”.
ReplyDeleteI loved ready this Sharn. You have wonderful memories of your dear cousin. Who would have thought way back at the start of the pandemic, that we’d still be in the grips of it in mid 2021
ReplyDeleteWe had such a fun day. Hugs to you.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely story and beautiful tribute to Betsy, Sharn. Thank you for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteWhat a traumatic end to your fabulous geneajourney. You had some wonderful times with Betsy and family in Chicago, many memories to treasure.
ReplyDelete