Tombstone Tuesday - Julian Cemetery

It's Tombstone Tuesday and I actually visited a cemetery last Friday and took pictures.  Alert readers know that I have exhausted my collection of ancestral tombstones, and am occasionally posting photos of interesting stones.

My wife and I spent the weekend in Julian, a small mountain town in San Diego County famous for its apples, gold mines and drug store, founded in 1869.  It is a town with many second homes of Southern California people in the surrounding hills, but is susceptible to fires and earthquakes. 

I responded to a query about two years ago from a fellow in Ontario (Canada) requesting information about his Potter ancestry.  I found that his grandparents and great-grandparents were early residents of Julian (before 1875), and had a retail store there.  In my research, I uncovered census records, city directory records and an obituary that defined many of his family relationships.  I gave him the mailing addresses for the historical society and Pioneer Museum so he could inquire about more information.  I promised him that the next time I visited Julian that I would walk the cemetery and see if I could find the Potter stones there. 

Last Friday, I spent an hour at Pioneer Cemetery in Julian, climbing Boot Hill from Farmer Road (up about 100 steps, whew, remind me not to go mountain climbing!) and wandering around the cemetery.  There is a circular road that encompasses Pioneer Circle and the Potter/Bush family plot is within that circle.

Here is the entrance on Farmer Road;  Pioneer Circle is at the top of the steps:

The Potter/Bush stones are shown below:

The area is lined with small stones,and the locked fenced area to the left has a stone at the entrance that says "Potter."  Some of the Potter stones have a small copper plate with just the name of the deceased person, which were probably placed by the family long after the persons died.  Others, including the Potter grandparents and great-grandparents, have standing gravestones with names and dates on them.

The Julian Library had a recently published book by David Lewis, titled Last Known Address, The History of the Julian Cemetery (published by Headstone Publishing, Julian CA, 2008).  The book had historical information about the cemetery and biographical sketches about some of the pioneer families, including the Potters.  One of the trustees of the cemetery is a Potter descended from the pioneers.  My correspondent will be happy to hear about this!  I will forward close up pictures of the stones and the area to my correspondent in Ontario.

The names of persons buried in Pioneer Cemetery in Julian are listed at http://www.juliancemetery.org/content/Name%20List.pdf. 

I was a good Graveyard Rabbit last weekend!

Advent Calendar - December 7: Christmas Parties

This post is number 7 in a series of 24 for the 2010 Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories.

On the 18th day of Christmas,
my relatives acted hearty
at a family Christmas party.

1) Did your family throw a holiday party each year?

When I was a kid, we didn't have a separate holiday party that I recall - just celebrations with my grandparents and my cousin Dorothy's family.

After we were married, my parents, my brothers and us would have a Christmas party either on the weekend before Christmas, on Christmas Eve or on Christmas Day with the traditional dinner. As the children grew, these became great fun watching the little ones open gifts, show off for grandma and grandpa, and play out in the yard.

Our family would fly (on Christmas Day) or drive (several days before Christmas) to San Francisco to celebrate the holiday with Linda's parents and brother. They would invite their living aunts and uncles to dinner and Paul (Linda's brother) and I would often go pick them up and take them home. Sometimes, we would go down the peninsula to visit the aunts, uncles and cousins. There was always lots of laughs, sharing of memories, interesting gifts and lots of good food at these events.

2) Do you remember attending any holiday parties?

Besides the family parties, there were Christmas parties at church and with colleagues at work. The church couples group adopted a New Year's Eve "progressive dinner" party, with white elephant gift giving, rather than a pre-Christmas party. This was done because everybody had a busy schedule with their kids and family, needed a sober New Year's event to attend, and we could get rid of useless but valuable gifts at the New Year's party. We also attended a pre-Christmas party with our Marriage Encounter board couples with a white elephant gift exchange. If we didn't like the gift we got here, we took it to the New Year's party. Fruitcake, especially!

For many years, my work group got together for an evening pot luck party with much drinking and telling stories about people who didn't attend. These were always at someone's house, and it was a good way to meet the spouses of your colleagues, stand under the mistletoe and be spurned, and to see how they lived. I don't have many specific memories of these, of course, except that Linda had to pour me into bed more than once.

Linda's teaching colleagues also had a pre-Christmas party at someone's house, which was similar to my work colleague party, except it was more interesting because the families were in different income brackets. The group was much more diverse and the people more interesting. There was a designated gift giving at these parties - each teacher drew a name at school to give a gift to.

Book Announcement: Atlas of East and Coastal Georgia Watercourses and Military Districts

Reader Paul Graham sent the announcement of his new book last week:

Paul K. Graham., ATLAS OF EAST AND COASTAL GEORGIA WATERCOURSES AND MILITIA DISTRICTS,  The Genealogy Company, 2010. 80 pgs, paperback, black-and-white interior, $14.95 plus shipping.

The description of the book is:

This atlas contains 50 individual county maps encompassing the east and coastal areas of Georgia granted under the headright land system.  It is designed to help genealogists locate ancestors using historical records that identify streams and militia districts, such as deeds, tax digests, and census enumerations. Each map shows watercourses, militia districts (boundaries, numbers, and names), and current incorporated areas.

Each county is presented on a single page, giving researchers a quick reference that can easily be copied and used for note taking. Three indexes help researchers find militia districts by number, militia districts by name, and watercourses by county.

Land descriptions in Georgia’s headright area refer to watercourses and adjoining land owners to identify boundaries. Tax, census, and other government records are arranged by militia district. Many tax digests also include references to watercourses. Because of their use in legal documents, watercourses and militia districts are the two most important features for locating land and the places people lived in the headright area of Georgia. This book is meant to provide a map reference to those features.

For more information, visit the author's website at http://www.pkgraham.com/atlas/ or the book's page on Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0975531239/).

The atlas was recently reviewed in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper (http://www.ajc.com/lifestyle/gifts-for-genealogy-buffs-751897.html).

The Introduction to the book, with links to references and a map of the treated area, is posted at http://www.pkgraham.com/atlas-introduction/. 

This appears to be a very useful book for researchers with Georgia ancestry.  If location-location-location is one of the mantras of location-based genealogy, then this is book is probably indispensable for family history in eastern and coastal Georgia.

Disclosure: I was not offered any remuneration for this announcement. 

Amanuensis Monday - the Probate Records of Daniel Smith (1642-1681) of Watertown, Massachusetts

Genea-blogger John Newmark (who writes the excellent TransylvanianDutch blog) started his own Monday blog theme many months ago called Amanuensis Monday. What does "amanuensis" mean? John offers this definition:

"A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another."

The subject today is the probate file of Daniel Smith (1642-1681) of Watertown in Massachusetts Bay Colony.  He married Mary Grant (1647-????) on 22 February 1667/8 in Watertown.  They had seven children, Daniel Smith (1669-1718); Grace Smith (1671-1714); John Smith (1672-1739); Elizabeth Smith (1673-1747); Sarah Smith (1675-????); Abigail Smith (1678-????); Joseph Smith (1680-1742).

Daniel Smith of Watertown died testate. His will reads (as transcribed by Randy Seaver from Middlesex County Probate Records, volume 5, pages 415-416, accessed on FHL Microfilm 0,521,762):


"I Daniel Smith of Watertown in the Count. of Middlesex, being very sick & weak in my body & dayly looking when my change shall be yet through the mercy & goodwill of God I am in understanding & memory sound, & do declare this to be my last will & testament as followeth:

"I returne my spirit unto God yt gave it & my body to the Earth from whence it was taken to be decently buried at the discretion of my executor, hoping at the last day to have a glorious resurrection, both of body & soul through ye mercies of the Lord Jesus Christ. I give unto my deare & loveing wife my whole estate both housing & lands & moveables for her comfort & maintenance & the bringing up of my children so long as shee shall continue a widdow after my decease, but if she shall see reason to marry again, then my will is she shall enjoy ye thirds of the yearly income of my lands & yt only.

"I give unto my two eldest sons namely Daniel Smith & Jno Smith after my wife's decease or marriage my houseing both dwelling house & barn with all my lands both meadow & upland equally to them as is after expressed, & if either of them dye before they have attaind to the age of one & twenty years yn my will is if my third son named Joseph Smith shall enjoy yt part & proportion of him yt dyed as before; & if all my three sons do live yn my will is yt my son Joseph abovesd shall have an equall proportion with his eldest brethren to be paid him out of my houses & lands but not in house & land. I give unto my eldest son Daniel Smith abovesd my horse & reins & furniture for the horse with all my wearing cloaths both linnen & woollen. My will is yt all my moveable estate after my wife's decease or marriage be equally divided among all my daughters: & as to my [... 3 words...] was to bestow upon any of my daughters my will is yt it shall be performed without any alteration.

"And I do nominate & appoint my deare & loveing wife to be sole Executrix to this my last will & testament & to earnestly desire my good friends John Bisco & William Bond senr to be overseers of this my last will to be helpfull to my wife in her desolate condition in the performance of this my will & in looking after my children. & as a confirmation of this my will I have sett my hand this one & thirtieth of May Six hundred eighty & one.

"As witnesseth,
John Bisco   .......................................................  Daniel Smith
Will. Bond"

Sworn by the witnesses on 20 June 1681 as attested by Jonathan Remington, Clerk of the Court.

The inventory of the estate of Daniel Smith of Watertown, who died 7 June 1681, was apprized by John Bisco, Henry Spring and William Bond, on 17 June 1681. The real estate included:

*   his dwelling house and barn with five acres of upland (60 pounds),
*  two acres of meadow land near the dwelling house on the south side of the highway (16 pounds),
*  5 acres of salt marsh adjoining to Dorchester field (50 pounds),
*  four acres of meadow above Mr. samuells farm (8 pounds)
*  3 acres of upland about the Fresh Pond (3 pounds)
*  50 acres of divident land (10 pounds).

The total estate was apprized at about 154 pounds, including livestock, supplies, clothing, household goods, furniture, etc. The inventory was presented by the executrix and accepted by the Court on 21 4th month 1681. (Middlesex County Probate Records, volume 5, page 416-418, accessed on FHL Microfilm 0,521,762).

All of Daniel Smith's children were minors when he died, and he was relying on his wife to bring them to maturity.  He named his three sons, but not his daughters.  I don't know if Mary (Grant) Smith lived out her life as a widow or if she married again.  My ancestor is their daughter. Elizabeth Smith, who married John Peirce (1673-1744) of Watertown in 1702.

This Daniel Smith and his future wife, Mary Grant, have several mentions in Roger Thompson's book, Sex in Middlesex; Popular Mores in a Massachusetts County, 1649-1699, for their premarital escapades in the barn.

The 100th Carnival of Genealogy is Here!

The queen of the Carnival of Genealogy has done the near impossible - assembled 111 submissions into an organized Carnival of Genealogy.

There are four post for all of the submissions, separated into categories:

1)  Carnival of Genealogy, 100th Edition, There's One in Every Family (Special People 1)

2) Carnival of Genealogy, 100th Edition, There's One in Every Family (Special People 2)



3) Carnival of Genealogy, 100th Edition, There's One in Every Family (Special Places and Things)



4)  Carnival of Genealogy, 100th Edition, There's One in Every Family (Miscellaneous)

There are several hours of excellent genealogy reading in those lists!  Grab a favorite beverage and enjoy them.

For the next Carnival of Genealogy, Jasia has created an online survey (on her Creative Gene blog in the top left corner, active until 13 December).  The four choices are

*  New Year's Resolutions

*  Genealogy Research/Writing Plan for 2011

*  Winter, the Season of Light

*  Best Genealogy Gift I Got This Year

Please vote in this poll!

Thank you, Jasia, for the hard work that goes into creating the Carnival of Genealogy posts (I know how hard this is!), and thank you, contributors, for the excellent posts!

Advent Calendar - December 6: Santa Claus

This post is number 6 in a series of 24 for the 2010 Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories.

On the 19th day of Christmas,
I have many happy memories
of visiting and being Santa Claus.

1) Did you ever send a letter to Santa Claus?

I don't think I ever did send a letter.

2) Did you ever visit Santa and "make a list?"

We visited Santa Claus every year down at the Marston's Department Store in downtown San Diego where my grandfather worked for 55 years. I think we "made a list" sometimes, especially as we got older and the wanted gifts became more complex. My recollection of visiting Santa is one of awe - this really big fat person in a red suit with a long white beard who flies around in a sleigh who goes down chimneys to leave gifts for children - I didn't question this for a long time (being a pretty smart kid, I guess).

3) Do you still believe in Santa Claus?

They say that in the first part of your life, you BELIEVE IN Santa Claus. In the second part of your life, you DON'T BELIEVE IN in Santa Claus. In the third part of your life, you ARE Santa Claus, and in the last part of your life, you LOOK LIKE Santa Claus. In my case, I have all four of these attributes ... still.

The magic of Santa Claus in a child's eyes is priceless. Everybody FIGURES OUT that SC is a figment of imagination - why do we fool our children like that? I love giving gifts to my wife, children and grandchildren. I've had a beard for 32 years, been practicing my "ho-ho-ho's" forever, but am working on reducing the belly. I still believe ... irrational, isn't it? I love going to the shopping center, and sitting on a bench near Santa's little hut and watching the little ones go up and talk to Santa. He waved at me on the escalator the other day - he knew! I've thought about being a "store Santa," but doubt if I ever will.

4) When did you find out "the truth" about Santa Claus?

We lived on the second story of a two-story house at 2119 30th Street in San Diego from the time I was 4 until I left home in 1968 at age 24. The house did not have a fireplace, so my brother Stan and I could never figure out how Santa Claus could bring the presents under the tree. Did he come in the window? Did dad leave a key or leave the door unlocked?

My maternal grandparents, Lyle and Emily Carringer (“Gram and Gramps”), built a beautiful home on Point Loma in 1951, and Christmas Eves were spent there for many years – and it had a fireplace! Our stockings were hung there in hopes that Saint Nick would fill them to the brim. Before bedtime, my grandmother would lead us in Christmas carols while we lay in bed – it was a wonderful way to fall asleep, and is one of my most cherished memories of her (my eyes tear up every time I think of this!).

Santa was always good to us, probably because, in retrospect, we were usually good boys – mischievous but not criminal, loud but not abusive, whirlwinds but not destructive. We usually received toys that were all the rage of the day, plus the usual boring clothes, and fruit, candy and small toys in our stockings. The most memorable gifts were the "good" toys, of course. BB guns and Davy Crockett coonskin caps in 1954, Flexible Flyers (sleds on wheels) in 1955, bicycles in 1956.

Of course, Santa Claus isn’t mysterious forever. The Point Loma house had a two car garage that my grandfather had filled with generations of stuff – it was a wonderful place to hide, explore and search. We found the bicycles in the garage before Christmas in 1956, but didn’t tell anybody else. Sure enough, on Christmas morning they appeared by the fireplace and Christmas tree marked “from Santa Claus.” Aha! So, we knew, but being rather smart astronauts we didn’t tell the folks – why kill the golden goose?

Best of the Genea-Blogs - 28 November to 4 December 2010

Hundreds of genealogy and family history bloggers write thousands of posts every week about their research, their families, and their interests. I appreciate each one of them and their efforts.

My criteria for "Best of ..." are pretty simple - I pick posts that advance knowledge about genealogy and family history, address current genealogy issues, provide personal family history, are funny or are poignant. I don't list posts destined for the genealogy carnivals, or other meme submissions (but I do include summaries of them), or my own posts.

Here are my picks for great reads from the genealogy blogs for this past week:

*  Book Review: Genealogical Standards of Evidence by John D. Reid on the Anglo-Celtic Connections blog.  John reviews Brenda Dougall Merriman's recent book, and notes "This is the book if you're looking for a short guide to help you in adhering to the American professional genealogy canon as taught (and perhaps applied) in Canada. It will find a place in my personal library."

*  A Headstone Before It's Time - Tombstone Tuesday by Apple on the Apple's Tree blog.  Apple tackled finding a burial place and a headstone for her still-living mother well - read this and admire the work.

*  The Story of Today's Shades Old Photo On Twitter by footnoteMaven on the Shades of the Departed blog.  fM is an expert photo analyzer and shares her knowledge and insights about an interesting baby photograph.

*  Melungeon Frequently Asked Questions And Factual Resources by History Chasers on the Melungeon Studies blog.  I thought that this revised FAQ might be of interest to my readers - it was for me! 

*  Arsenic: It's not Just for Rats in the 19th Century  by Gena Ortega on Gena's Genealogy Blog.  Who knew that arsenic had uses other than killing rats or people?  Now we all do.

*  Treasure Chest Thursday: Thanks to Ancestry.com, Another Cousin, Found!  by Dionne Ford on the Finding Josephine blog.  Dionne keeps finding cousins to share her heritage with...interesting stories here in a challenging search.

*  “Remember the Maine!” Researching Spanish American War Soldiers by Carolyn L. Barkley on the GenealogyAndFamilyHistory.com blog.  An excellent summary of the records and finding aids to research Spanish-American War soldiers.

*  Review-Tpstry and Interview - Matt Johnson of Tpstry by Thomas MacEntee on the Geneabloggers blog.  I wish all new genealogy websites were reviewed and their developers were interviewed like Thomas did for Tpstry.  Well done.  It looks interesting.

Several other genea-bloggers wrote weekly pick posts this week, including:

* Follow Friday: Around the Blogosphere - December 3 by Susan Petersen on the Long Lost Relatives.net blog.

* Best Bytes for the Week of December 3, 2010 by Elizabeth O'Neal on the Little Bytes of Life blog.

* Friday Newsletter and Follow News: 3 December 2010 by Greta Koehl on Greta's Genealogy Bog blog.

*  Donna's Picks - December 3, 2010 by Donna Pointkouski on the What's Past is Prologue blog.
I encourage you to go to the blogs listed above and read their articles, and add their blog to your Favorites, Google Reader, RSS feed or email if you like what you read. Please make a comment to them also - all bloggers appreciate feedback on what they write.

Did I miss a great genealogy blog post? Tell me! I am currently reading posts from over 740 genealogy bloggers using Google Reader, but I still miss quite a few it seems (and the number of genea-blogs seems to be increasing by 30 or 40 every week).

Read past Best of the Genea-Blogs posts here.

Best of the Genea-blogs will arrive later in the day...

Never fear, the Best of the Genea-blogs will be online later this afternoon.

We spent the weekend in Julian celebrating Linda's birthday in one of our favorite hideaway spots, and will get home just in time for the Charger/Raiders game.  Then there's the post-game celebration and highlights, and dinner time... so maybe after 7 p.m. Pacific time.  Or not!  If not, I'll amend this post.

Were the Morgan Girls Related to Lyle Carringer?

In (Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 131: Lyle and the Morgan Girls, I speculated that the Morgan family may have been related to my grandfather, Lyle Lawrence Carringer.  Alternatively, were they just friends of the Devier Smith family? 

In my post, I found the Morgan family in the 1910 and 1920 census records, but didn't go any further back to find their ancestral families, nor did I go forward to see if I could find the next generation - after all, there were four young ladies in the picture of marriageable age.  There is, of course, the possibility that a descendant of the Morgans reads this post and finds a great picture of their great-grandmother and her sisters, and their mother.

I went back in time fairly quickly.  Here's the 1900 US census entry:

I n the 1900 US Census, the Nelson Morgan family resided in Ouray, Ouray County, Colorado (1900 US Census, population schedule, Ouray township, Ouray County, Colorado, ED 83, Page 19B, Dwelling #548, Family #549, accessed on http://www.ancestry.com/, citing National Archives Microfilm Series T623, Roll 127).  The household included:

*  Nelson Morgan - head, white, male, born Apr 1861, age 39, married, for 15 years, born IA, parents born IL/OH, a carpenter, rents a home.
*  Susie Morgan - wife, white, female, born Mar 1866, age 34, married, for 15 years, 6 children born, 5 living, born KS, parents born IL/KY
*  Maud Morgan - daughter, white, female, born Jan 1886, age 14, single, born KS, parents born IA/KS, at school
*  Clyde Morgan - son, white, male, born Dec 1887, age 12, single, born KS, parents born IA/KS, at school
*  Park Morgan - son, white, male, born May 1891, age 9, single, born CO, parents born IA/KS, at school
*  Nellie Morgan - daughter, white, female, born Feb 1893, age 7, single, born CO, parents born IA/KS, at school
*  Martha Morgan - daughter, white, female, born Mar 1896, age 4, single, born CO, parents born IA/KS.

This census provides the name of the husband and two sons of Susie Morgan.  Thar enables us to look further in earlier census and other records.

If the 1890 US Census was available, we might be able to identify the child from this family that was probably born in 1889 and was deceased by the 1900 census.

In the 1880 US Census, the probable family of Nelson Morgan was found:

In the 1880 US Census, the William Morgan family resided in Sibley township, Cloud County, Kansas (1880 US Census, population schedule, Sibley township, Cloud County, Kansas, ED 36, Page 171A, Dwelling #211, Family #214, accessed on http://www.ancestry.com/, citing National Archives Microfilm Series T9, Roll 376). The household included:

*  William Morgan - white, male, age 51, married, farming, born IL, parents born OH/OH
*  Nancy Morgan - white, female, age 42, wife, married, keeping house, born OH/parents born NY/OH
*  Mary Morgan - white, female, age 23, daughter, single, at home, born IA, parents born IL/OH
*  Lucy Morgan - white, female, age 21, daughter, single, at home, born IA, parents born IL/OH
*  Nelson Morgan - white, male, age 19, son, single, at home, born IA, parents born IL/OH
*  Lizzie Morgan - white, female, age 16, daughter, single, at home, born IA, parents born IL/OH
*  Minnie Morgan - white, female, age 11, daughter, single, at school, born IA, parents born IL/OH
*  Katie Morgan - white, female, age 7, daughter, single, at school, born IA, parents born IL/OH

I did not know Susie's maiden name, so since Nelson Morgan was in Cloud County, Kansas in 1880, I figured that Susie and her family might also be there.  So I searched for a FirstName = "Sus*" and BirthYear = "1866 plus/minus 2 years" and BirthPlace = "Illinois, USA" - marking all of them as exact, and then selecting ResidedIn = "Cloud County, Kansas, USA."

With the search above, there was only one match.  I found this family that I am fairly certain is Susie's birth family:

In the 1880 US Census, the Noah H. Eaves family resided in Concordia, Cloud County, Kansas (1880 US Census, population schedule, Concordia, Cloud County, Kansas, ED 40, Page 216B, Dwelling #261, Family #261, accessed on http://www.ancestry.com/, citing National Archives Microfilm Series T9, Roll 376). The household included:

*  Noah H. Eaves - white, male, age 59, married, a carpenter, born IL, parents born ME/PA
*  Jane Eaves - white, female, age 50, wife, married, keeping house, born KY, parents born KY/KY
*  Herbert Eaves - white, male, age 21, son, single, grocery, born IL, parents born IL/KY
*  Susan Eaves - white, female, age 14, daughter, single, grocery, born IL, parents born IL/KY
*  William T. Eaves - white, male, age 8, son, single, grocery, born IL, parents born IL/KY
*  William Morgan - white, male, age 52, boarder, married, laborer, born IL, parents born IL/IL.

Well, lookee there.  Is the boarder William Morgan in the Eaves household the William Morgan who is the father of Nelson Morgan?  The age and parents birthplaces are inconsistent, but this cannot be a coincidence, right?  I'm almost positive that it is, and that cinches a connection between Susan Eaves and Nelson Morgan, the son of William Morgan, the boarder.

I haven't gone back further to try to identify where in Iowa and Illinois these Morgan and Eaves families were from, but I don't recall that Devier Smith. Abigail (Vaux) Smith, David Jackson Carringer, or Rebecca (Spangler) Carringer having a sibling named Nancy (born in Ohio) or Jane (born in Kentucky).

I think it is most likely that Susie (Eaves) Morgan was a schoolmate of either Della (Smith) Carringer or more likely, her sister  Matie (Smith) (Chenery) (Cramer) Morrill, in Concordia, Cloud County, Kansas.  My Devier Smith family resided in Concordia until 1885 when they moved to McCook, Nebraska.  I have Della's scrapbook and an autograph book, and will have to look for a picture or signature of Susie Eaves.

There may be a family tree online that will provide more information to researchers about these families.

I'll work on the Morgan family after 1920 in another post.

Advent Calendar - December 5: Outdoor Lights

This post is number 5 in a series of 24 for the 2010 Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories.

On the 20th day of Christmas,

My neighbors gave me a treat,
they lighted up the whole darn street!

1) Did people in your neighborhood decorate with lights?

When I was a kid (1950s and 60s), there were few lights outside the homes, if any, in San Diego. We had no lights outside the house, mainly because we lived on the second floor and with the lighted Christmas tree in the cubby-hole, it was visible to passers-by on the street.

Starting in about 1970 (when we married), I noticed that some neighbors would string lights around their roof eaves or on a bush or tree in the yard. We put strings of lights on our roof eaves all across the front of the house and garage and in the entry-way starting in about 1975 until about 1995. We haven't done it since, mainly due to safety reasons (I'm not confident on the roof any more!).

With our daughters away from home, we were often not home at Christmas time.

In recent years, several of our neighbors on our cul-de-sac have the mesh-lights on their eaves, and several have blow-up displays or lighted figures in their front yard.

2) Did some people really go "all out" when decorating?

Oh yes. And they still do, even more. One of the Christmas traditions for our little family in the 1975 to 1985 period was to drive around "Candy Cane Lane" and "Christmas Tree Circle" in Chula Vista to see the outdoor displays - lights, scenes, music, etc. One of our family traditions for awhile was to go to a pizza place with family friends, then drive by the lighted streets, and then have a gift exchange at our house with the friends. Unfortunately, they moved away, and we haven't done it since.

"Candy Cane Lane" is gone, but "Christmas Tree Circle" still exists in Chula Vista. There are many more of these neighborhood displays now all over the San Diego area. I saw a map in a local magazine yesterday of the biggest and best displays. Someone could drive around to about 20 sites using the map.

Originally published on 4 December 2007.