The Book of Me - Prompt 3 - Physical Me

My nana often referred to my size as being “big boned”. I do believe that I take after my father’s side of the family in physical statue. At my birth I weighed 9lb 1oz.  Over the past 52 years, my heaviest weight was 195 pounds. Currently my weight hovers around 180 lbs.  While in high school I stood about 5ft 10inches, but have shrunk a tad and now measure just under 5’9”.  

With these measurements, it’s easy to know I’m not a teeny tiny person. My clothes size is just a number to me - with each manufacturer using their own standards I might wear a size 14 for one dress but an 18 for another dress. I choose clothes based on how they look on me, not by the number. 

My hair was brown in my youth and I started to color it in my 20’s. At first I did hennas to make it appear reddish.  Grey roots started showing in my late 20’s and I changed back to brown hair dye to stay close to my natural color.  In my late 40’s my hair stylist surprised me when she said she was actually coloring my hair with blond colorants. She said she did this to help soften the harsh appearance of the greys with my natural hair colors and because I had spent the summer in the sun and my hair was lighter. I've been coloring my hair "blond" ever since but it still appears brown.

The color of my eyes is hazel, sometimes they appear browner than other days and sometimes they look green.

My smile centerline is off center as I had a lateral incisor on my top row of teeth removed due to another tooth growing in above the others. The lateral incisor was a 2nd tooth and all the teeth in my upper jaw shifted to fill the gap left behind.  I had all my wisdom teeth removed when I was 25.

My hands are fairly large, I find women’s gloves do not fit and must buy men’s large.  My ring size 9.

With regards to scars I have some. There’s a gauge on my left shin from when I fell on a concrete slab, and lots of small scratches and bug bite scars. From surgeries I have 3 small scars on my right wrist - I unfortunately broke the same wrist within 5 years and after the 2nd break, was advised it would need to be pinned and had 3 wires inserted during the healing process.  I also have 2 scars on my left breast from the removal of fibroidal cysts, the first when I was just 16 and the other when I was 32.  I use to joke with my doctor that I’d be having a 3rd cyst removed when I turned 48, keeping with a 16 year schedule, but that did not happen (but my broken wrist surgery happened when I was 49, so maybe my surgery schedule is still on - check back in 2025.)

A non-visible scar stems from an auto accident I was involved in.  I was hit from the other direction and the driver’s door was torn off my vehicle. I suffered broken ribs in that incident.  Since then I’ve been nervous as a passenger in a car, becoming more and more anxious when I’m not behind the wheel.

The Book of Me - Prompt 4 - Favorite Season

Having been so fortunate to have grown up and lived in New England, a region of the country (United States) and world based on my limited travels, makes the selection of one season over the others so difficult.

Winter: The crisp freshness of the air, with a briskness to the temperature, mixed with the beauty of the cleanliness of white snow covering the earth.  Learning how to move gracefully on skies, ice skates, snow shoes or even just regular footwear when everything is covered in snow or ice was a greatly anticipated event each year. And don’t forget remembering how to drive a vehicle on snow covered roads.

I remember with much eagerness and some trepidation each and every snowstorm. The timing of the storm in terms of when it would start, how long it would be, the type of storm, be it snow, sleet, ice or a mixture of any and all.  The potential depth of snowfall from the storm. 

To see one’s breath each time you exhaled, to hear the crunch of snow as you broke through it’s crust, the chill of the air on your exposed extremities, the comfort of the soft, thick clothes you wore to maintain a normal body temperature; all these add to why Winter is my favorite season.

And winter is the season with the Christmas holiday, a season of lights, roasted turkey and pumpkin pie aromas, balsam fir smells, sounds of music in carols.

Spring: Seeing the renewed beauty of the earth every year break forth in flower, leaf or even animal birth. The color palette of soft pastels, the fragrant aroma of these newly emerging items, watching first robin of the season, even the soft texture of the new growth and the increasing warmth of each day. These are among the reasons that Spring is my favorite season.

Summer: How I love the length of daylight in the summer months, as well as the warmth of the sun. The past few years my husband and I have been spending summer months traveling the United States and seeing several of our National Parks.  We are doing this at a busy tourist time of the year since schools are out of session and families are taking advantage of time off.  Some of our summer travels have taken us to destinations that are much hotter than the climate I was originally raised, which have given us renewed appreciation of water cooling activities such as swimming, boating, kayaking, fishing. The heady aroma of some flowers such as roses and lilacs are fantastic. Summer is extra special for me as my birthday happens during this season. This is why Summer is my favorite season.

Autumn/Fall: To feel the change in temperature with cool nights, but still brisk warm days, to see the development of colors in leaves, especially all the maples that provide an exquisite display of colors from shades of red through oranges and yellows and fall flowers displaying golden yellows and oranges to hues of dark purple. The harvesting of crops that have grown and developed over the summer, to hear the crunch of dried leaves breaking under my feet as I walk through the woods, listening to the sounds of birds; especially Canada Geese, as they migrate south to warmer climes for winter, the smell of campfires, the sights and sounds of children and families as they prepare for Halloween. These are some of the reasons Autumn/Fall is my favorite season.

The Book of Me - Project 2 - Birth

Prompt 2: Your Birth

How would you like to be a boy awaiting your second birthday and what do you get for a present but a baby sister?  Well that's my story and I'm sticking to it.  You see, I am the baby sister so I did ok in the deal. Fortunately my brother, only being 2 doesn't really remember getting short changed a birthday and never held it against me.  Had he been a few years old he might have noticed that his parents weren't present for his birthday party.

On Monday, June 26, 1961 I was born to Milton and Janice, their third child, second girl. My familywas living in Oakville, a suburb of the city of Waterbury CT.  My birth certificate states I was born at 10 am, but the story my mother has told me is that it was closer to 8am.

Her tale was I was delivering much faster than they thought and the doctor had not yet arrived at the hospital (he had been out celebrating his anniversary the night before and was sleeping in) My mother says she remembers being told to cross her legs and not push to slow my delivery until the doctor arrived.  

Besides my mother and the doctor, Dr. Joseph C. Czarsty, I do not know the names of others present at my birth.  I had dark brown hair and brownish eyes as a baby.  My weight has always been high in life, my birth weight was 9lb 1oz.  All my mother's 5 babies were "large", ranging from 9lb 4oz down to 8lb 2oz.  Mom doesn't remember any of our lengths nor do we have any written records.

The story of my first and middle name, as my parents told me was they had seen the movie The Yearling and thought the name of the young character "Jody" was nice. It's my understanding that had I been a boy I would be Jody (with the y), but because I was a girl, I was Jodie with an ie.  My middle name, Irene, is my mother's middle name.  Had I had my own daughter, I was planning on carrying on what my mother had started and given the child the same middle name.

The Book of Me - Project 1 - Who Am I

At least 20 answers to "Who Am I?"

I, Jodie Irene Bartlett Ramsey am a female, currently age 52 having been born in 1961.  My family position is that of middle child, the third of five children (and 2nd daughter) of Milton and Janice.  About 30 years ago I started to get interested in genealogy and about 5 years ago became quite active in tracing my family tree and searching out the missing pieces to our puzzles.

My current height is around 5'9" although I use to stand closer to 5'10". My weight varies hovering most of the time around 185 lbs. I realize my weight is just a number and according to standard BMI rules, I am overweight, my attitude is I'm happy with myself and size so long as I don't put on more weight (my heaviest was 195 about 10 years ago).

My spouse is Churck and we've been married for over 13 years.  I consider myself a childless mother in that I did not give birth to any children, but am a step-mother (non-custodial) to my spouse's 2 children from a previous marriage. One of the children has made my spouse a Grandfather, but I'm not a Grandmother / Grammy / Nana. Nope, I'm a JoJo.

I am a road traveler in the U.S. and Canada. Over two years ago we sold our home and moved in to a fifth-wheel camper to live full time.  Our motto is "Home is Where We Park It".

Because of limited space in the camper, I'm not able to do lots of my old hobbies but have made room and time to do crafts from knitting to crocheting and even sewing.  I love to take photographs, a hobby first shared with my maternal grandfather, and enjoy making gifts from my photos (books or calendars).  I really enjoy taking photographs of nature, from flowers to animals to landscape. Along for the travels with my husband and me is our standard poodle (we had 2 when we started, but one passed away this past winter).

Staying with my love of nature, both my husband and I enjoy smooth water kayaking and are always on the look out for bodies of water to explore while camping.

When I was in school (high school as well as college / AS in Secretarial Science) I enjoyed music and played the Baritone Horn with school bands and for mom's church as additional sounds during holidays.  I also sang in several choirs, mostly in school, but also a community choir that you had to audition to enter. With that choir I had the opportunity to perform choral works by the Masters, ie, Bach, Purcell, Handel, etc.

When we sold our home, I "retired" from numerous part-time jobs; tour guide, crossing guard, relief secretary and a store sales representative / mascot.  I use quotations around retired as I am not drawing any pay from those postions, rather I stopped working when my husband retired. For some extra income over his pension, we have taken a 6 week job as work campers at a small campground, helping them perpare to close for the season. For some reason they think I have a green thumb, but I will admit I really do enjoy flower gardening, so it is a nice fit for me.

Another mystery to try to solve

The other day, while “playing” on Ancestry.com (I say playing as I was just surfing, not expecting to find anything new) one of my Great Uncles, when a leaf link appeared. I clicked on the possible link and found a birth record for another sibling.

I’m very confused by this new information and very hesitant to add it to the family tree.  For one thing, the birth is listed as April 1898.  I find it very hard to accept as the mother had just given birth in October 1897 and has another known birth in Oct 1898.  

Another confusing piece to this is the birth is listed as taking place in one community, but the certificate was issued in another town.  I am writing to the town clerks in both communities to see if they will be able to help me in finding legible information - the copy shown on the webpage is very jumbled and distorted.  My hope is that the initial information in one of the town clerk books will be clear and I can find out if there was indeed another child born to my great grandparents.

There is a 1st cousin 1x removed that may be able to assist me with some information, but he hadn’t shared information of this new person before, so I doubt it’s something he knows.  Stay tuned...

Here's the info I have to work with...

New Hampshire, Birth Records, 1659-1900 about Clara H Jenness

Name:

Clara H Jenness

Birth Date:

2 Apr 1898

Birth Place:

Brookfield, New Hampshire, USA

Father:

George Jenness

Mother:

Jennie Emmens

story behind blog title

So why is "My Bartlett "Pere" Tree" is the name of my genealogy blog?

Many years ago, while my father was serving a church, the parishioners rewrote the words to "The Twelve Days of Christmas".   Some creative person came up with the play on Dad's surname as well as his occupation as a minister.  As such, the first day went from "a partridge in a pear tree", to "a Bartlett Prayer Tree".

The reworded carol has stuck in my mind for a long time and I've often joked with others that the first day was a "Bartlett Pear" tree.  Since this blog is about my family, I decided to play on Pear and use the french version of father: pere.

Voila, My Bartlett Pere Tree was named.  And you know what? I like it.

Family genealogy - how I got bitten

I consider myself lucky in that part of my family tree has been charted for a long time.  My father's family has been following the genealogy of one specific couple and their offspring, including having annual family reunions. The family has published genealogy documents showing all known descendants and their pertinent information (birth, death, marriage) of which I am part of the 6th generation.

During college, a psychology assignment was to do a family tree and I had rather lopsided tree, lots of people on one grandparent branch, but very little on the other 3 lines.  My tree had been pruned severely.  That project left a lot of questions in my mind about the other lines but I didn't do much about it back then.

Fast forward 25 +/- years and an offer from an online genealogy search program that I decided to take.  With Ancestry.com I was able to get lots of matching details on my paternal grandfather's line to those of the family publication. My paternal grandmother's line was a lot of question marks as Nana's mother died while Nana was very young.  On Ancestry.com I was able to locate census records for Nana's mother.

Armed with a name and location, I wrote to local town halls trying to learn more about this woman, as well as locate a cemetery in the community.  Unfortunately the town office didn't have any new information for me. They did, however, give me a sense of where to find the cemetery and one day I decided to go for a drive.

I did not have much luck on that day, the town hall was closed and I didn't find the cemetery suggested to me.  I did pass one other cemetery and for some reason, decided it might have some information and I stopped.

My decision to stop payed off as it WAS the cemetery I was searching for.  I started to walk about reading names on stones. And there she was.  My Nana's mother, and around her stone were those of her parents, and their parents and even their parents.  I had found the mother lode (forgive the pun).  I went searching for 1 specific person and ended up discovering 4 generations.

That day I was infected by the genealogy search bug and have found several missing links but still have lots of pieces to my puzzle to find.

Recently, while going through old photographs at my parent's home I came across an image of my Nana with her parents and younger brothers, George and the twins Clyde and Claude.