Nancy Ann Whitlow Cannon

Nancy Ann Whitlow...ancestress born on
18 Nov 1747 in Caswell, North Carolina, and she died on 01 Jul 1830 in Knox County, TN.

She was the mother of William Henry Cannon. She was married to John Cannon, in 1776 in North Carolina.

Her granddaughter Cyntha Cannon married Micajah Clack Rogers in Sevierville, TN, and they moved eventually to TEXAS, where 4 or 5 generations later I was born.

Last night I spent 3 hours that I didn't really want to spend straightening out what had been screwed up somehow on Ancestry, making Cyntha Cannon the sister of her father.  ARGH!  She was only listed once, and was on my tree in the right place, but kept coming up with the wrong family...where she actually had been entered twice.  It took forever, because frankly, I don't want to spend all my life correcting Ancestry mistakes.

Anyway, here's what I know about Nancy Ann Whitlow.  

One family tree lists her name as Nancy Wilton, who married John Cannon on Jan 29, 1800 in TN.  I'm going to discount that entire entry, as being another Nancy who married another John Cannon, maybe their son or nephew.  It's way too late in her life for a marriage.

 Due to being born in Nov, she was actually 82 years old at her death.

She is burried in Steekee Cemetery Loudon, Loudon County, Tennessee

I saw 10 other family trees with the Cannons, and each has her granddaughter as her daughter.  So maybe someday someone else will straighten them all out.  What a mess.

Anyway, she probably had these children: Charles, Elizabeth, Jane (1770-1860), William Henry (1771-1868), John (1779-1864), Henry (1781-1850), Robert (1781-1854) and Martha Patsy (1784-1862).  I say probably for a reason.  You may notice Henry and Robert both listed as birth year 1781.  Robert was born Sept. 30, and Henry was born July 29.  Not possible folks!

So the mess continues.  Of course a slip of the finger typing can give the year of one of these gentlemen's birth wrong.  And I sure make my share of typos.  But to have so many folks keep on passing on false information about real people seems so disrespectful.

Why do I keep working with this system?  Well because today I found one of those other 10 trees had some parents listed for Nancy Whitlow.  They were Henry Othello Whitlow (1724-1788) and Elizabeth Perkins (1724-1798).  To have connected with two more ancestors makes all the headaches worth while.

I'll add this to the meme of Sepia Saturday for this week (HERE).  There are always some interesting reads over there, and some (as well as this one) not on topic for the week.

Staying out of bed

Dear Diary:
There have been times in my life that my goal for the day is to stay in bed as much as possible.
When I was so worn out from work that my body ached, and I wanted nothing more than to sleep, perhaps to read a good book, even to watch TV in bed, weekend days were so precious for that.

Then there were days on end when I was depressed and wanted to avoid the life I was leading, or not leading but somehow surviving.

I won't even mention the times of my life where bed meant honeymoon.  Smiling memories of those times.

Today I'm setting a different intention.  To stay out of bed more than I'm in it.  For the past couple of weeks I've not exactly been physically active.  You might say my biggest activity was punching keys on the computer.  I could sit here for about 6-8 hours, with breaks but no coughing, and then try to lie down.  That would bring about awful coughing.  So I would sometimes go back to the computer and breathe and work on something for another hour, till I thought I was tired enough to prop myself up and try sleep again.

Today I woke up feeling rested.  I don't know what I did differently last night, but I didn't toss and turn with coughs, and today the sun is shining and I went for a walk around the lake.  I haven't been in months.  My physical activities have been severly limited and this was the first day I thought I might make it around.  About a week ago I got as far as a third of the way around and came right back, hacking away.

Today I stopped a few times to take pictures of ducks and people, but kept on trucking.  The gravel walkway was somewhat muddy from rain and then snow...but I slogged through.

I had a loss this week, of a visit with my Florida family...and my investment in airfare.  I was to fly out on Tues night with stormy weather, and the flight was delayed.  I was too sick to wait through the various delays, and asked a friend to bring me home.  I was actually in bed again when the flight that had been scheduled for 8:25 pm took off at 1:30 am.  I had already paid for the tickets in August, and was looking forward to being with my eldest son and his family for a few days...but it was not to happen.   I asked him to call me and tell me about his feast for Thanksgiving.

The medications to stop coughing felt like they befuddled my mind.  And I may not have had a fever, but I've been on antibiotics to keep from getting an infection, supposedly.  I still am taking them, but so far today haven't taken any Musinex or Tussin or narcotic laced cough syrup.  I have coughed a few times, and haven't experienced the suffocating feeling when coughing just doesn't let me get air.  What a relief.

It's amazing how many things I might do today, while being out and about in my home.  There are lots of ideas floating around in my head.  Activities!

Oh Susanna!

Susanna Claiborne, what a melodic name.  I just discovered an alternate spelling Clairborne, had kept me from finding her parents on Ancestry.  Ha.
She was a grandmother of mine, a few generations removed.

I invite you to walk into her life.  None of the "intellectual way" of looking at her dates and places.
Let's just imagine when she lived, raised her family, and made her mark on lives to come (including mine).

She lived in the18th Century in rural Virginia.  She was probably a farmer's wife, since Surry and Sussex County, VA have historically been farm country.  She was born Nov. 29, 1751.  She married in Sussex County, but I don't think she had to move far.  The new county was just created out of Surry County about the time Susanna was 3 years old. 

Interesting reading HERE about Sussex history.  I'll let you go see it if you're interested. 

(1) Susanna Claiborne married  Frederick Jones (1756-1791) when she was 22 years old.

Since she died in 1810 in Dinwiddie County, (the county to the west of Sussex), I have that link HERE.

She had 8 children, and the one that became my ancestor was...(generation #2) Sarah Jones, born also in Sussex County, VA on 2 Feb 1780, who died 4 Aprl 1847 in Union Parish, Louisiana.  That's not only a long way from Virginia, there were Alabama connections as well...and Georgia, then finally Texas!

Sarah Jones (2) married Champion Travis Traylor, Sr. (2) who had been born in Dinwiddie County, VA.  They married in Alabama, and he died 4 Apr 1832 in Perry Alabama.

 Their daughter, (3) Nancy Jones Traylor Powell was born 16 May 1804 in Oglethorpe County, GA.  She died 27 June, 1881 in Old Waverly, Walker County, Texas.

So when following my maternal genealogy, it's really interesting to see how these women traveled all across the south.  In the latter 18th Century and then into the 19th Century, you can imagine what life must have been like.  I always like to do that...think of a household full of children, servants perhaps, slaves if there was farming in the south, and husbands, brothers, uncles and sons working to keep everything running smoothly.  Of course the household was run by the oldest wife...which changed as households aged.  By the time each of these women had stopped bearing children, they were often in their 40's.  Only a few of them lived to go through menopause...it was a hard life not only with frequent childbirth, but the rigors of moving from one frontier to another.  These were true pioneers.

Nancy Jones Traylor Powell (3) married James Moore Powell,(3) and his dates are interesting because apparently he died on his birthday, 27 Feb. born in 1791, in Bertie County, NC, died same date in 1886 in Waverly, Walker County, TX.

Still a long way from my roots, which on this tree are Rogers.  My father's father is where we're going.  George Elmore Rogers, Sr. born in Texas in 1877 in Willis, TX.

Where oh where is the connection  though?
 Their daughter, Mary Ann Elizabeth Powell (5) married none other than Col. Richard Bass (5).  OK, where and when were her dates?  (I've struggled, and we're still following the data rather than the actual lives, aren't we?)  Born 21 Feb, 1825 in Perry AL, and died 12 Oct 1871 in Old Waverly, TX.

And finally, their daughter, Elizabeth "Bettie" Bass, (6) was born either in Feb or March 1860 in Old Waverly, San Jacinto County, TX, and died 17 July 1924 in Galveston, TX.

She was married to...
William Sandford Rogers, (6) born 9 Feb 1850 in Huntsville, Walker County, TX, who died in the same town 29 May 1879.

And they were my grandfather's parents. George Rogers Sr. would be generation (7), my father would be (8) and I'm (9) generations removed from Oh Susanna!

And a post script is in order here.  The Claibornes had an old name from Europe, and the name referred to living near clay deposits on a stream.  As you may already know, I am a potter.  So clay is important to me in both ways, my ancestors and my avocation.

Thomas Conn, ancestor

Thomas Conn has a family crest attached to his ancestry record.

There's likelihood that the Conn family originated in Scotland, and perhaps immigrated to Ireland.  There may be hounds associated on the crest, but I tend to see rabbits.  I'm not much of a "symbols on family crest" fan.  If you know all about them, you're way ahead of me.
He was born Nov 15, 1765, in Loudon County, Virginia.
He died Jan, 1834, in Rawls, Missouri.  (Though the marker looks as if it says he died M... 15, 1833)

Salem Cemetery, Center, Rawls, MO

How was he my ancestor?  I checked.

Eugenia Booth was my great-grandmother (generation 4 with me as generation 1)
Her father was Richard Booth. (5)
His father was William Lewis Booth (6) and his mother was Hannah Leak Conn Booth (6) They married in Indiana in 1843, he having been born in NY and Hannah was born in KY.

Hannah's father, (7) John Thomas Conn (1765 – 1835) had also been born in KY.
And his father (8) was Thomas Conn from Virginia.

There are a zillion cousins from this tree, inevitably.  John Thomas Conn (7 Hannah's father) had at least 9 siblings on Ancestry.  Then he and his wife, (7) Mary Margaret (Polly) Norman Conn (1792-1833) had 8 children (including Hannah), and his second wife gave birth to another 4.

Thomas Conn (8, of the family crest) and his wife, (8) Mildred Ann Conley (1770-1845) had 11 children (2 of whom had the same name but different birth and death dates, according to Ancestry.com).

Witches

Why are people so afraid of them?
Well, the media sure has lots of reasons.  But since I've known a few women in my time who state (to their friends mainly) that they are Witches (with a capital letter so you know they have worked to become one)...let me tell you, they are a force to be reckoned with.  But they are also the most proud and grounded women I have known as well.

So when sitting around for the last week getting better (so slowly) from this coughing disease, I spent hours looking into more details of my ancestors.  (You probably look quickly at my topics and skip those postings.  But I keep them because they are an accumulation of facts regarding people's lives that actually were my foremothers and fathers.)

I came upon Ipswich MA which is near Salem.  And of course Wikipedia isn't always fact based, but some entries have great bibliographies.  Ipswich had the last Witch Trial in the US in 1878.  That was recent, folks. 

And here's the link telling all about it.
Ipswich_witchcraft_trial

Just another bunch of phoey, I thought.  Until they said the man was a Christian Scientist, being tried for having caused harm "mentally."  Uh-oh. 

I was raised in Christian Science, and my grandmother (born about the time of that trial) was a Practioner of the religion.  Would those people have considered her a witch?  I doubt it.  The Practioner was pretty much a regular person who had conservative political leanings, and prayed a lot.  Of course religion was available to go any which way, and still is.

Many people who practice Wicca are asking for recognition as a religion.

Medical care is another issue entirely.  I left the religion because I wanted to use modern medicine to cure various problems.  I still get sick.  I still get well.  The idea that healing comes through prayer is a possibility that I don't practice any more, but it may still work for others.

Mind power is scary to others still.  But I am amazed how fearful people are that someone else can control their own health through the power of the mind.  I'm pretty sure it's your own mind that has control over your body and health.

Isaac Booth Sr, Soldier of Revolution

Isaac Booth Sr, a soldier in the American Revolutionary war
Born Nov 23, 1755, Stratford, CT.
Died 28 June 1841, in Ontario, NY.

Isaac married Elizabeth Moss, (1756-1841) in Stratford, CT when he was 21, in 1776.
They had at least 3 children, Legrand Booth (1783-1865), Isaac Booth Jr (1795-1836) and William Lewis Booth (1797-1864). 

(Ancestry also added another William Booth, who died in PA, but I can't find any records that show he even was in this family, and since he would have been alive at the same time as William Lewis Booth, I have not counted him as a son of Isaac at this time.)

Yesterday I posted a little about his mother, Elizabeth Beers.  His father was Zachariah Booth, Jr. (1721 – 1775), son of Zachariah Booth, Sr. (1693 – 1762).  There were no Junior and Senior designations given on census records in those days, so I got really confused with a person named Isaac Booth showing on a census, and didn't count it until I found other substantiating documents (photo copies) to show it was the one born at the right time (1755) to have fought in the Revolutionary War.


This family is all from Stratford, Fairfield County, CT, so here's what I found on Wikipedia about it's origins.  (Sorry, I can't get the links to go away, no matter how I ask the command to cancel them)

Founding and Puritan era

Stratford (formerly known as Cupheag Plantation, and prior to that, Pequonnocke) was founded in 1639 by Puritan leader Reverend Adam Blakeman (pronounced Blackman), William Beardsley, and families who had recently arrived in Connecticut from England seeking religious freedom. Stratford is one of many towns in the northeastern American colonies founded as part of the Great Migration in the 1630s when Puritan families fled an increasingly polarized England in the decade before the English civil war between Charles I and Parliament (led by Oliver Cromwell). Some of the Stratford settlers were from families who had first moved from England to the Netherlands to seek religious freedom, like their predecessors on the Mayflower, and decided to come to the New World when their children began to adopt the Dutch culture and language.

Like other Puritan or Pilgrim towns founded during this time, early Stratford was a place where church leadership and town leadership were united under the pastor of the church, in this case Reverend Blakeman. The goal of these communities was to create perfect outposts of religious idealism where the wilderness would separate them from the interference of kings, parliaments, or any other secular authority.

Blakeman ruled Stratford until his death in 1665, but as the second generation of Stratford grew up, many of the children rejected what they perceived as the exceptional austerity of the town's founders. This and later generations sought to change the religious dictums of their elders, and the utopian nature of Stratford and similar communities was gradually replaced with more standard colonial administration. By the late 17th century, the Connecticut government had assumed political control over Stratford.

Many descendants of the original founding Puritan families remain in Stratford today after over 350 years; for centuries they often intermarried within the original small group of 17th century Pilgrim families. Stratford's original name was Cupheag, but was later changed to honor Stratford-upon-Avon in England. Despite its Puritan origins, Stratford was the site of the first Anglican church in Connecticut, founded in 1707 and ministered by the Rev. Dr. Samuel Johnson. 

Woodcut of 1840 Town green of Fairfield, CT.

Isaac Sr.'s son, Isaac Jr, was the subject of this blog as a soldier in the War of 1812, HERE.

Since both Isaac Sr. and his wife, Elizabeth Moss (supposedly) died in the same year, 1841, in Canandaigua, Ontario County, NY, I've added some information about it from Wikipedia.

The city, (Canandaigua) was the site of the principal village of the Seneca. It was located on West Avenue where the West Avenue Cemetery is today. The city is also the home of one of three areas of Burning Springs in the United States where the water appears to support a flame caused by escaping natural gas.^[3]

The city public high school, Canandaigua Academy, was founded in 1791.

On November 11, 1794, the Treaty of Canandaigua was signed in the town. The treaty was constructed in hopes of establishing peace and friendship between the United States of America and the Six Nations of the Iroquois and is still recognized by the federal government today.

In 1807-1808, Jessie Hawley, a flour merchant from Geneva, New York, who became an early and major proponent of building of the Erie Canal, spent 20 months in the Canandaigua debtors' prison; during this time he published fourteen essays on the idea of building the canal that were to prove immensely influential.

I've been fighting bronchitis this week, so haven't been able to work much with moving my body in any way, as shifting around seems to trigger coughing spells.

I love that typing from one screen to another, copying onto my hard drive the photocopies of actual records of ancestors who lived 200 or so years ago, is easy.  I don't cough.  I feel like I've made progress.

A foremother from Connecticut

ELIZABETH BEERS BOOTH

Birth 16 Nov 1721 in Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut, United States

Death 9 Nov 1780 in Huntington, Fairfield, Connecticut, United States

She married:

ZACHARIAH BOOTH Jr,  1721 – 1775

Marriage  1743 — Age: 22  Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut

Thier SON:

ISAAC BOOTH Sr, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War.

who's birthday is tomorrow, (see his post)

Her other children:

• Mary Booth  1744 – 

• Tabitha Booth  1747 – 

• Lemuel Booth 1749 – 

• Elizabeth Booth 1751 – 

• Josiah Booth 1753 – 

• Silas Booth 1758 – 

• Anna Booth 1761 – 1769

   

  I just waded into her Ancestry, and found her parents.  But I gave up on copying much into my tree for her, because one record had her father married 3 times, to 2 wives, on 3 different dates...and his death records are as confusing.

   

  Her father was:

  Josiah Beers 

  Birth 8 Aug 1693 in Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut, United States

  Death 10 May 1717 1744??? in Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut

  Her Mother was:

  Elizabeth Ufford (or Uffort) Birth 3 Apr 1698 in Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut, United States Death 19 Sep 1783 in Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut, United States   ---------------------------- I'm going slightly batty because I can't copy and paste a thing from the pages of Ancestry today.  But the info is here, clad in so many HTML commands I doubt that this will ever work.

Regrouping

A monotype from my printing class in art school back in 82 or so.  I've never had it framed, so it's matted and under clear mylar.  Big reflections.  Maybe I'll get it framed someday, because I really like it.  After all, it's survived 31 years...most of which hanging on a wall.

I've been very tired and have been dealing with the cough from hell.  So I'm cutting back on some activities.  Unfortunately they are ones that I've offered to help other people by doing.  I hate to say no to people.

Boundary setting, as my dear minister says.

So I'm regrouping to do things that are less demanding, and give myself more "time off."

What, a retired person needs time off?  Ha.  The time is just chunk full of things that eat up my life.

A quote for today.

It always comes back to the same necessity: go deep enough and there is a bedrock of truth, however hard.

May Sarton

Failing my ancestors

There are some birthdays coming up.  And I haven't been looking up details of their lives.  I haven't been creating stories that represent the times they lived.
These are people who lived real lives, struggling, eating, sleeping, working, laughing, crying, loving, talking, and raising at least one child who went on to become another of a long line to also have a life to give which resulted in my life eventually.
I owe them a lot.  My life.

So this weekend is the Studio Tour, which I think I've talked about till you're probably sick of it.  But that's why I'm postponing some of my ancestors' posts.  Hope they will forgive me, and you as well.

Can you breathe?

My doctor noticed a month ago that I hadn't had my COPD checked in quite a while, though I had another complaint when I visited her office.  But she thought lack of oxygen getting to my feet and hands might be related to my lungs.

So I paid my fees, walked out, and a week later nobody had set up a test that she said would be scheduled.  So I called and spoke to someone, who said the first available opening was in a month, but that happened to be in the 5 days that I would be out of town, so I had a month and a week before I could have the test.

I was reminded by a machine last Fri. to come to the office for this appointment.  This morning (Tues, 9 am) I showed up, signed in, and 5 minutes later was called.  (They use first names now, so that they don't go against HIPPA regulations, but it's really funny.)  The doctor's office is now owned and operated by Park Ridge Hospital.  And then ...

I was told I don't have a test scheduled today, they don't do these tests on Tues.  I asked why did I get a reminder then?  She said when I signed in was the first she knew that I was scheduled for a test.  I said I'd waited over a month and a week for this test that my doctor thought I needed.  I thought I really needed it with shortness of breath and coughing frequently in the last week...my lungs already hurt.  Which I told the nurse.  She said she'd call the doctor and see if I could be referred somewhere else.  WHAT?   I asked.  Their machine wasn't even working she said.  And my doctor was in Korea.  But she'd call her and get me referred somewhere else.

I was fit to be tied.

Rather than rant, I went and bought tropical fish.  I cleaned the tanks and changed their water.  I'm a fire sign by zodiacal reckoning, so water helps me calm down.  By the time I fixed my left over soup to sit and eat lunch in front of the tanks, I was able to digest just fine.  Not tied in knots at all.

Domestic life

Pick up the mail, as part of my son's domestic life.

The cockpit

There are some hair raising stories of air travel going around.

I had minor difficulties on a recent visit, and managed to take a picture of the captain in the cockpit as he had just rebooted the computer for the plane.

I don't remember the kind of plane, but it had 3 letters, beginning with C, and I think was called a Sierra something.  It was only half full, with only 2 seats on each side of the aisle.  Not that the seats were any larger than any other planes, but this was a smallish plane.

I sat next to a young woman who might have still been a teen.  She was highly anxious, and her way of dealing with it before the plane even taxied to the runway, was to wind her watch hands around and around.  After 10 minutes or so, staring hypnotically at the hands going around, she leaned over the window, so I couldn't see anything outside (being in the aisle seat).  I was hoping she felt a bit better, since we were still on the ground.  I knew how anxious she was when she reached up to turn on her light and her armpit reeked of fear.  No wonder animals can smell it.

When we had safely landed, she asked me the correct time.

And I haven't forgotten to remember the veterans in my life.  Thank you for risking your life for what you believed in, or at least by following orders.  I wish you peace as a result of being willing to go to war, whether you did or not.  I personally don't believe political divisiveness helps anyone feel any more connected to our world neighbors.  I didn't think the War in Vietnam was good in any way.  But my friends who fought there survived twice, first the terrible war, and second the lack of thanks from America after they got home.

George Elmore Rogers, Jr.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

My father was born on this day in 1914 in Galveston, Texas.  He died on January 5, 1985, in Houston, Texas.  In his lifetime he lived in Fort Worth, San Antonio, Dallas, and other towns in Texas.  He spent a lot of his life in St, Louis, MO, and for a while in Boston and Framingham, MA.

He married my mother in an honorably committed relationship in which they called each other "Honey" on the good days.  At the other times they didn't talk at all.  They seemed to have had romance according to his photo album of their courtship days.  But I had never experienced this, and  I never even saw that album while they were both living.

They got their marriage license on Friday the 13, which they had not realized until someone else mentioned it.

He had met my mother in San Antonio, after he lived as a boy in Fort Worth for a while.  His father (of the same name) was a bookkeeper, and my father became one as well, then an accountant, about which I really don't know much difference.

He worked for an aircraft factory in Dallas, during WW II. 

Then after my sister was born, right at the end of the war, we moved to Houston.  We lived there less than 4 years, traveling to visit relatives in Wisconsin on a summer trip which included the Smoky Mountain Park, as well as Principia, the Christian Science school in St. Louis, MO.

 George Elmore Rogers, Jr. as a child.  Undated.

May 26, 1917, 2 years 6 mos. George E. Rogers, Jr.

He had three brothers who grew to manhood.  Chauncey and Alexander were older than he was, and James was quite a bit younger.

I think their mother got them out of order, so my guess is that Chauncey is on the left, then George, youngest was James, and the oldest was Alexander.

My mom and dad decided to move to St. Louis.  I never heard their reasoning, but without any job prospects, our furniture was packed up, and we arrived in July or August.  We stayed in a small upstairs apartment for a few days, then a farm house in St. Charles, Mo, then finally an apartment not far from the school.  My mother started doing secretarial work at Principia.  My father looked for a job, and it took a long time I think.  He worked for a while for a big department store, and after a few years got a job with Principia also.  Both my parents continued working there the entire time my sister and I attended the school, 16 years I think. They were dedicated to the values of Christian Science.

I left the college in my junior year, and left Christian Science.  My sister, 4 years behind me in school, also left the school and the religion at that point in her education.  We didn't see much of each other, so I think her choice was her own.  Once we were out of school, my parents left St. Louis and moved to Boston, to work for the Christian Science Mother Church administration.  They were also living closer to me and my new family in Hartfort, CT.  My sister lived with them and went to BU for a while.  

My parents were always a unit in my life, but I felt much closer to my father than my mother.  I think this was partly due to my mother always seeming to have a preference for my sister.  She was younger, and of course needed more care initially.  But the "baby-ing" from my mother never really stopped.  

My dad did everything that a father and husband and bread-winner was supposed to do.  He was "always a gentleman."  But considering he'd been raised in the religion, I don't remember him going to church on Sun, and never to the Wednesday night testimonial service.  

And he had a flirtatious side to him.  I saw it with other women once I was a teen.  I never saw him behave inappropriately however.  He always treated women with respect, but this was where I saw the same sense of humor that his father had had.

I remember going through my adolescence with the turmoils of hormones and how I reacted to boys and tried to find out who I was...without any support from either of my parents.  In the 50's that was just how it was done.

After my divorce, my father would somehow slip me a $20 bill or more whenever I visited my parents.  He would always say, don't tell your mother.  She handled all the finances, so I knew this was coming from his "allowance" and he'd put it aside somehow.  

I miss my father, and wish he could have loved my sons and shared in their growth to manhood.  None of his grandchildren ever got to see him. 

I'm adding this post to Sepia Saturday (HERE) for this week...it may have nothing to do with their topic, but after all, it is celebrating the 99th anniversary of my father's birth on Saturday, so that has to be worth going off topic.