Skip to main content

Featured

Getting a Helping Hand on Edward Elliot's Crown Land Petition

rawpixel.com   The genealogy community is nothing if not generous. I received a surprising amount of help from Ken McKinlay, a new-to-me Canadian genealogist, who fielded my recent inquiry about how to find a Crown land petition for Edward Elliot, a probably fourth great-grandfather, in Sullivan, Grey Co., Ontario. Not only did Ken dive head first into researching the case for me, but he also wrote a blog post about the case for his own blog, Family Tree Knots . So, in part, this is a blog about a blog! Using FamilySearch's Full-Text Search I had discovered Edward Elliot had received a Crown land patent on 10 July 1849 for land in 2nd Division, Lot 3, 1st Concession in Sullivan, Grey, Ontario. I looked for Edward's petition on Library and Archives Canada's collection "Land Petitions of Upper Canada, 1763-1865, " but did not find him. Odd. Edward Elliot's Crown land patent was registered in Grey County. Turning to Facebook, I searched on the Ontario Genealogy ...

The Thumb's Christmas

 

Our daughter, Anne, was a prolific artist when she was young. Our refrigerator door was full of her drawings, paintings, and school artwork. She liked to create little books, too, as she was also a natural storyteller.

One Christmas when she was about eight years old, Anne wrote and illustrated a Christmas story for her little brother, James. If memory serves, she drew her inspiration from a book she had recently gotten from the library by illustrator Ed Emberley. He wrote and illustrated The Great Thumbprint Drawing Book. In it, Emberley showed how to make a variety of animals and people using a thumbprint as a starting point. The creations are simple and charming. It's amazing what you can do with a blog of ink and a few black lines. It's art that's accessible to anyone.

Anne's story is called "The Thumb's Christmas," and is based on our family. There is a thumb with glasses (Anne), a thumb with little hair (toddler James), a thumb with a mustache (Jim), and one with a half-circle of curlicue hair (me). There is even a thumbprint Santa, bear, and Christmas tree, along with a little story.

I get a kick out of reading it every year. Not only is it creative, but it was a gift from the heart from our daughter to our son. I'll always treasure it. And hope you will like it too.



It's Christmas at the Thumbs!



 

They went for a walk in the snowy woods.


 

They wrote Christmas lists...


 

They set out eggnog and cookies for Santa.


 

Where are Mom and Pop going?


 

Shh!


 

What a nice surprise!
The End.

 

Until next time... 

Follow my blog with Bloglovin 

© Nancy Gilbride Casey, 2024. All rights reserved.

P.S.  When Anne was a little older, she wrote a story called "Spider's Christmas," which I've featured here in the past. It's always fun to read again. Share it with a little one in your life this Christmas.



Comments

  1. Replies
    1. Isn't it delightful? She really got the expressions right!

      Delete
  2. Such a precious book! Fun and fanciful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'll be sure to tell our daughter you liked it! Happy Holidays!

      Delete
  3. What a wonderfully creative imagination she had. So cute! My youngest used to make Christmas gifts like this for us as well! The best gifts to treasure always! Thanks for sharing. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. She really did...still does. I love these handmade gifts the most of all. Gets me where I live!

      Delete

Post a Comment