Three Links

www.LaneCountyhistoricalSociety.com

www.ancestry.com

www.cottagegrovegenealogysociety.com

Tracing My Roots

At a glance
What; Tracing your Family's History
Helpful Resources: Cottage Grove Museum, Cottage Grove Church of Latter Day Saints.
Linn County Historical Society: Genealogy Enthusiasts meet once a month at Mennonite village.
Albany Regional Museum:136 Lyon St. S.
Or call:(541) 967-7122



Tracing my family roots is very important to me, I enjoy doing it, and I have found out along the way some interesting family information that I can pass on to my children. By speaking to family members I have found out a lot of family history and I have written this important information down.

My maiden name is Ritter it is German it means chivalrous knight and I found out that my ancestors on my father’s side lived in Deutschland and fought for the nobles.
There is a Ritter castle over in Germany a relative of mine uncle Tex has been there. I someday plan on going there, to study more family history by looking up old records.

I have a cousin that lives in Germany; I probably have a lot of family over in the old country and just have not learned about it yet. I have learned to speak some German and I have learned there culture. My father’s grandparents were born in Germany and lived most of there life in Germany, and then decided to move out to America, they arrived in Jackson Michigan, that is where my father was raised.

I have learned also about my father’s mother’s side my great grandparents came out here from Dublin Ireland the Moore’s, my Great Grandpa John Moore was a boxer that boxed with Jack Dempsey.

Now on my mothers, father’s side the Gambles they came from Ireland and on her mothers side the Johnson’s came out from England. My Great Grandpa Johnson was in the civil war as a general and to this day we don’t know what happened to his swords and uniforms. In fact a lot of family belongings have been lost through the centuries and decades. My grandma gamble had some Native American in her we think it is Sioux, my grandma Josephine used to have a Native American buckskin dress the natives made for her and it was lost in a house fire.

Over the summer my family had a get together, it was a neat reunion we got to have copies of family pictures from long ago. The pictures dated back to the late 1800s, it was a learning experience, we all got to find out who’s whom in our family history.

My uncle Bob and my cousin Flossie have been very helpful in learning my family history, I found out what my ancestors looked like and how they dressed, and what they did for a living. I found out that my Great Grandpa Johnson lived in Wisconsin and owned a nice hotel, I don’t know if it is still standing or not. In a few of the photograph’s there were pictures of homes in North Dakota and I would like to find out if these homes still exist today.

There is an old plantation in Florida called the Gamble plantation; we have a picture of it from a newspaper we do not know if there’s any relation. Unfortunately some of the people in the photo’s we do not know who they are, my grandma wrote on the backs of pictures which were very helpful. I do think it is important to know about our family’s Roots.

I went to the Lane County Historical Society in Cottage Grove Oregon and the Genealogy Society in Cottage Grove also and the museum there to get information but a lot of the information I have received comes from my family asking them questions and also I have found quite a bit of my family’s history on line on Ancestry .com.

Thoughts on Stephen Kings Book

I really enjoy reading Stephen King I like the book on writing I got to get to know the author better Stephen King and to personally see all his views on writing the book shows his talent he is so wonderfully gifted as a writer! I stayed once at a hotel that stephen king wrote his book the shining at the Stanley in colorado so yes I do like his style of writing its so entertaining!

What I have got out of Feature Writing Class

What I have learned and got out of this class is I have learned to write Feature stories and how in general to write better stories for my major in Journalism. The Associate Press Style has taught me how to abbreviate things in Journalism.Iknow now how to write with more feeling and to use a voice in my writing

My Life at the Society

At a Glance: My Genealogy work
What:
Helpful Resorces
http://www.linncountygenealogysociety.org/
Located at Albany Public Library.

http://albanyregionalmuseum.org/
Located on 2nd St. Downtown Albany

http://www.lincountyhistoricalsociety.org/
no location meet once a month at Mennonite Village Albany Ore.
For more information contact Albany Regional Museum.

It all began back 5 years ago in 2005. My name is Jerry Duncan and I work at the genealogy society it has been a wonderful experience, I have a love for this place and helping trace peoples family. I love genealogy and I have been doing some genealogy work for 10 years now.

I never get bored I keep busy when no ones around I do research,There is no real downside to the job except when no one has been in our office for a while. The most interesting part of the job is when I can help people out with a problem and helping them solve it.

Jerry researches old cemeteries he researches the old headstones ones without markers. Jerry enjoys this part very much because he can learn about the history and solve the mysteries.

Jerry went on to say my enjoyment for genealogy research and all the history has inspired me to work here.


The most interesting
Part of Jerry’s job
Is when I can help
People out with
A problem and helping
Them solve it.

A Passion From the Start

At a Glance:
What:
Helpful Resources:
http://www.linncountygenealogysociety.org/

http://www.linncountyhistoricalsociety.org/

http://www.brownsvillemuseum.org/

Going back to the year 2000, when Arthur and Carol Langley became members and volunteers at the Genealogy Society. They both have a love for tracing family history not only for themselves but for other people. Arthur and Carol have enjoyed seeing people walk through the door at the society, they have enjoyed meeting and helping those people trace their family history. Arthur and Carol feel that their job is very rewarding in helping people find out their roots.

Around eight years ago a lady at the Genealogy Society fell ill and had to leave her work her passion behind. So Arthur felt a need to take over her place. Arthur now does her job as writing the Society’s newsletter every month. Now Arthur has wrote the newsletter for eight years, he takes pride in it.

The other part of my interesting job is putting together the obituaries so we can have documentation of historical deaths for the future generations. I obtain the obituaries from The Democrat Herald and put them into books for the society’s records. Arthur also works on the Donation land claims from the 1800s, in which takes time in researching. Arthur goes on to say I have a pretty important job here people depend on me for the deaths, and Arthur goes on saying its not depressing looking at all the death records all the time its just a part of life.

Arthur admits to the downside of the job the boring part is when my works all complete and no one enters those lonely doors. It gets lonely to not have anyone come in to get help on tracing family, look up records,maps and other types of historical documents and books.

Arthur and his wife Carol enjoy it here and feel at home. People can feel their passion for their work. The couple is interested in tracing their family roots more. Arthur mentions if he and his wife get bored on the job they just start doing research, and organize the books and try and keep busy.

The monthly newsletter that Arthur works on is called the Heritage. Arthur also digitizes the Linn county newspapers for Albany,Brownsville and Scio, this is for genealogy purposes and he has done this for several years.


Arthur has been working on a research project on restoring the 1890s census that was destroyed by water .So he has been keeping very busy going through old newspapers and family history records. In Arthur’s own words I have been working on this project for eight years now, it’s been a very long and drawn out project, a lot of digging and intensive researching.Arthur and Carol told me that the most fun and interesting part of their job is meeting people, through the decade we have met a lot of different people. Helping the people trace their family history is also the fun.








The other part of Arthur and Carol
My interesting enjoy seeing people
job walk through the door of the society
Arthur said is
Putting together
The obituaries
So we can have
Documentation
Of historicalDeaths for the future.

Movie Review The Lovely Bones

At a glance:
What: Movie, The Lovely Bones

Helpful Hints: If you liked "Heavenly Creatures" you'll like "Lovely Bones"

Rating 3 Stars
Starring Mark Wahlberg,Rachel Weisz, Saoirse Ronan, Susan Sarandon.
Rated PG-13
Director-Peter Jackson
Now Showing at Albany Cinema.

The Lovely Bones is about, A Suburban American Town in 1973, where a 14-year old girl Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan) is murdered. Salmon is caught in a in-between station between Heaven and Earth. Salmon the story’s narrator is not to be seen by her family, friends or her killer. Jackson has found the perfect fit Susie Salmon (Ronan). Susie Salmon is an ordinary American High-School Girl, full of life, her passion is photography. One day it all changed, it all ended when a deranged neighbor Mr. Harvey(Stanley Tucci) took it all away. I found this movie to be a tearjerker. I felt the loss deeply. This movie displays the afterlife which was not so successful as the novel was. The Lovely Bones is a thriller mixed with fantasy and a family melodrama. It is a different mixture to have in a movie. I have never saw a movie quite like this one before! This movie was strange, but unique. This movie is full of great acting but very sad and depressing.

The Lovely Bones is full of suspense, especially when susie’s sister sneaks into the home of Mr. Harvey, to find some evidence. This part was heart pounding tension. Mark Wahlberg the father of Susie Salmon is overcome with grief, he becomes obsessed with solving the crime and drives his grief stricken wife away(Rachel Weisz).

USA Today Claudia Puig gave The Lovely Bones 3 stars “some books are not meant to be adapted to the big screen.

Dana Steven’s- Slate Magazine gave it 3 stars, The Lovely Bones for this critic fails.

Mick Lasalle- San Francisco Chronicle gave the movie 3 stars. The Lovely Bones is difficult for viewing.

James Berardinelli at Reel Views gave it a 3 star rating also. “The story told by Jackson’s The Lovely Bones is the same as the one related to sebold, but it lacks the complexity and empathy evident in the book.

I found this movie to not be boring full of excitement even though it was a little weird the movie did make you think!


Susie Salmon
Is an ordinary
American High
School Girl
Full of life..

Caught in a
In-between
Station between
Heaven and Earth

Movie Review

USA Today’s Claudia Puig gives the movie The Lovely Bones 3 stars. Dana Stevens from Slate Magazine gave it 3 stars, she said, “If The Lovely Bones, at least for this critic, fails. Mick Lasalle from the San Francisco Chronicle gave it 3 stars. He said The Lovely Bones is difficult viewing, a meticulously crafted experiment that, it turns out, it was not worth it. Kenneth Turan from Los Angeles Times gave it 3 stars , he stated “ By turns warmly sentimental, serial killer sinister Science Fiction.

“The Lovely Bones” movie gets mediocre reviews from top critics. The Lovely Bones is an interesting drama it is a wide release today, it stars Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon. Most top movie critics seemed to think that it was missing a certain element, giving it pretty mediocre reviews.

The Land Before LBCC

At a Glance:
What: Helpful Resources in Linn county
To find out more on the history of LBCC or any location on land in Linn County contact
Albany Regional Museum & The Albany Public Library.


The land before LBCC campus was farmland. The land was owned by the Jones family before and after the 1920s.The Jones had a barn that would have been located on the west end of campus. There were old oak groves on the west end of campus also.

Jones then sold the 80 acres of farmland to Vin Schanke, Schanke eventually sold the 80 acres to LBCC. Richard Bender was another owner of the LBCC land he owned 20 acres that LBCC purchased from Bender. The south parking lot now is where a wetland used to be. The Allen family was on the land in 1904.

The Campbell family was on the land in1929. Dean Campbell’s maternal grandparents were the Allen’s. The road you enter to get to campus is called Allen lane named after the Allen family. Dean Campbell lives in back of baseball field in a three story farmhouse that is 82 years old built in 1929. Down Allen lane it used to be full of all sorts of trees. The oaks now on the Campbell farm are around 200 years old. Before the days of LBCC, turkeys roamed here, it was a grass seed, grain and turkey farm. Pheasants were also on this land. Where the baseball field is now was once a spot where hot air balloons would lift off. Before LBCC found this site there were thinking about having Camp Adair as there spot for the campus. But they were turned down because camp Adair is too big.

The LBCC found its site in 1967; the voters committee approved this site. A bond permit went into effect. The Chamber Of Commerce helped get LBCC started along with contributions from citizens of Linn and Benton County. In the fall of 1968 LBCC opened its doors, offering 140 classes. Today LBCC offers 2,500 classes. In 1970 eight modular buildings were moved to LBCC to be temporary classes until building was complete. At first when campus opened you had to travel to get to class to class, that’s why the school mascot is the roadrunner. In 1970 the first issue of Lack’s commuter, hit the stands. The commuter has been in business for 40 years WOW. LBCC used to get the water from the Campbell family land. When LBCC first opened it used to offer night classes only. The very first LBCC campus was in Albany on the corner of 1st and Ellsworth Street downtown in the 1908 bank building.

So now when you’re doing your schoolwork on campus think of life back 100 years on this land, turkeys roaming, crops of grain growing all around. Think of the southern part of parking that was wetlands. Can you imagine the people hunting the pheasants that used to be allover this land. The Hot Air Balloon’s that used to take off where the baseball field is now, think about how neat it was that part of history of LBCC Land Before! Imp sure if I went back 200 years in this campus’s history of the land we find out about the Native Americans were on this land perhaps one of the 9 Caledonia tribes.

my first feature story

I am thinking of writing about the history of LBCC