It’s a Very Small World…

When traveling I enjoy meeting and talking with new people, learning where they’re from, etc. Shortly after leaving Basel, Switzerland, this week, MSH (my sweet husband) and I sat with a couple from Montana and had a great time talking about how much we enjoy living in the PNW.  

JD&LD are from the areas where my husband has lots of relatives from both his adoptive and biological families.  During our chat, JD mentioned that his last name was Davidson, to which I replied “the Davidson family with buildings in Anaconda?”… Turns out yes, he is a descendant in that large Montana family which arrived in the 1800s and remains to this day  

But more amazing is that I have already built a portion of his family tree because MSH’s youngest half-brother (Peter, who was adopted at birth) is a Davidson thru his birth father’s line.  It was amazing that JD and I were quickly discussing names and relationships of people.  Turns out that JD and Peter are second cousins, sharing a set of great-grandparents.

More on our travels soon, but I wanted to share this interesting bit of genealogy info with you.  

Enjoy your day, dear readers!

Three Countries in Three Days…

In my previous posts I’ve said we are traveling in Germany, but that’s not 100% accurate. On Wednesday we were in Strasbourg, France, for the day.  Today (Friday) we are in Basel, Switzerland.  We will return to Germany on Monday and continue our trip north on the Rhine River toward Amsterdam.  

We enjoyed a wine tasting in the Alsace region, which is in France but was moved between Germany and France numerous times in history.  We cruised a canal in Strasbourg, as well.

Walking tours with local guides have allowed us to see many city walls, castles, and cathedrals, such as these from Breisach, Germany.  We’ve had wonderful German sausages, and when we stopped for an espresso at a cart in the Freiburg market square, we found a barista who lived in Eugene until a few years ago!  Tommy was very friendly and asked that we say hello to some mutual friends.

        

Today is a rest day for us, and tomorrow (Sunday) we will board our 2nd Viking river boat for our sail to the Netherlands.  

Have a lovely week, dear readers!

Make New Friends, but Keep the Old…

 I learned this song in brownie scouts at a very young age:

Make new friends, but keep the old.
One is silver, the other is gold.

After arriving in Munich on Monday and having a lively tour of the old town followed by a sobering visit to the Dachau Concentration Camp, we are now on a Viking River Cruise from Nuremberg to Basel, with stops in half-dozen cities along the Rhine-Main rivers. We learned on our June 2025 cruise how easy it is to make new friends for the duration of the trip, and in one case a couple from Arizona was on a road trip last Fall and we met them for a lovely dinner on the Oregon coast.  We have also shared text and email with other travelers met on our travels.  

After only two days on this trip, we have connected with a couple from north of Seattle and found we have much in common, including a mutual friend in Eugene!

We made our second port stop this morning at Bamberg, Germany, and an OLD friend from high school met us as the tour bus unloaded.  We were “marching band kids” and had a good time remembering some of our activities from that time.  Tim is retired Army and married to a German woman, so this is a perfect home for them.

Dunny, Deb, Tim Boles

We will be passing thru more than 50 locks over the next few days, so watch for a picture or two in my next post. 

Enjoy your day, dear reader!

Travels to Munich, by way of Texas

 

We have been in San Antonio for three days and boy howdy has it been fun!  While I claim Oregon as as my home, I was actually born about 50 miles from San Antonio, at Bergstrom AFB in Austin.  I left for Germany with my mom at age 6-weeks on the SS UNITED STATES.  (My dad was stationed at Hahn AFB.). For more on this interesting ship, see my blog post from November 2022 or send me an email for a full article about the ship.

I have been attending the GSMD* annual conference, attended by descendants of the 50 Mayflower passengers who survived the winter of 1620-21 in Plymouth, Mass.  On Friday we took a tour of the WWII Museum of Wars of the Pacific in Fredericksburg, TX. As both a military brat and a Navy mom, I found it fascinating.  Admiral Nimitz, head of the Pacific fleet in WWII grew up in Fredericksburg and we enjoyed touring the museum honoring him, as well as exhibits of PT boats, part of a Japanese submarine, and other equipment used by the Pacific Fleet. 

Friday dinner was excellent.  We ate at SiloPrime, in the Fairmount Hotel on Alamo Street.  The history of this hotel is fascinating -  it was put on wheels and moved six blocks thru downtown in 1985.  There are numerous YouTube videos showing the move as it happened, and here’s a link that tells the story:

https://memoriesofsanantonio.com/2025/03/30/the-fairmount-hotel-it-was-a-moving-experience/

Saturday was a full day of business meetings, followed by a dinner with keynote speaker Blaine Bettinger, DNA guru.  He is one of my favorite teachers, and his presentation did not disappoint!

It’s now Sunday and we are at O’Hare airport waiting for our flight to Munich. Updates to come!

Have a lovely weekend, dear readers. 

*GSMD = General Society of Mayflower Descendants

One Carry-On Bag, 5 weeks abroad

Yes, you read that right.  I am heading to Europe for a 5-week trip, with one carry-on suitcase plus a "personal item" bag which fits under the seat in front of me.  MSH and I generally do carry-on only, as we don't want to potentially lose a bag or have it delayed at our travel location.  This also allows us to avoid the baggage claim area in airports.

One bag does, however, mean I have to plan very carefully what's going IN that suitcase.  I purchased a new bag this year, mainly so I could have four wheels for easier moving thru airports.  Turns out it is more than 3-lbs lighter than my older bag.

Airtags have been attached inside both bags.  (Check one of last year's France blog posts and you'll see why I'm a fan of this wonderful little tool.)

I've finished packing, and here are a few thoughts about how I make this work:

• Wear my heaviest items rather than packing them - for me that means  I'll be traveling in jeans, tee shirt, sweater, scarf, raincoat, and tennis shoes .
• Pack primarily solid colored tops and bottoms and a couple of light-weight dresses, with colorful scarves.  This plan makes mixing and matching is easy to do.
• Be willing to wear things repeatedly - I'm never going to see these people again, right?
• Keep small items washed up - I carry a pack of washing sheets (unscented) which, when added to water, turns into laundry soap!  I also have 2 travel clotheslines made from bicycle tires, twisted so that it's easy to hang little items likes socks and undies without clothespins. These work in about any shower I've encountered over the past 10 years.

clothes line - similar to mine

         

We will fly to Munich in a few days and I'll report back after that.  Have a lovely day, dear readers!

Off to Europe... again!

 After our 5-week stint in France during May-June 2024, we weren't sure that we would do another long trip soon, however the opportunity arose and OFF WE GO!  We will again be away from home for 5-weeks, primarily in Germany but with brief visits to Switzerland and France and longer times in the Netherlands and Belgium.

We are starting with three days in San Antonio where I am representing Oregon at the GSMD annual conference (General Society of Mayflower Descendants).  Then on September 7 we will fly to Munich where the vacation begins.  We have several tours scheduled there, followed by a short train ride to Nuremberg for the next leg of our journey.   

As a genealogist, I love all things related to history, so I will be focused on the towns and cities, old buildings, churches and museums, and of course, the people of the various locations.  Plus FOOD!  We’ll be trying out lots of local cuisine, as well. 

My family genealogy research shows that I have ancestry in many of the areas we will visit, primarily thru my maternal family.  I’m reviewing my tree and studying up on those ancestors before we leave.  

Stay tuned for occasional reports on what we find along the way, and have a wonderful Labor Day, dear readers!

52nd anniversary in France

Semmens Family Reunion in Montana

On the weekend of August 1-3, 2025, a wonderful event was held in Hamilton, Montana, for descendants of John Thomas Semmens and Elizabeth Ann Uren Semmens.  Both were born in England in the 1840s.  John appears to have died in England, however, Elizabeth died in Hamilton on May 22, 1907.  The obituary below is from The Western News, Stevensville, MT, May 29, 1907.

John and Elizabeth had seven children, all of whom were born in England.  Two of the children came to the US, immigrating in the 1890s, and both came to live in Montana.  

• Child #1:  Winifred Semmens (1863-1935) married Herbert Vial (1861-1931) in 1895 in Silver Bow, MT.  They had one daughter, Elizabeth Jane Vial, and one son, Herbert DeWitt Vial.

• Child #3:  Edmund John Semmens (1868-1931) married Frances Pender (1866-1923) prior to leaving England.  They had seven children: Ethel, Winifred, Edmund Jr, William, Percy, Elizabeth, and Effie.  Ethel Mary Grace was born in England and came with her mother the year after Edmund.  The remaining six children were born in Montana.

At the 2025 reunion, approximately 30 people attended.  In this case, all were descendants of Edmund and Francie, plus spouses and children.  It was a fun and lively group!  We had two days of conversation, picture sharing, updates on what family members had been doing, etc.  AND great food on both days!

This was particularly interesting for me, as these people are members of my husband's birth mother's family.  MSH (my sweet hubby) did not grow up knowing ANY of these people, although we did meet a few of them in 2019 when we traveled to Anaconda and Hamilton for a very small reunion.  This time there were more "cousins" in attendance.  The picture to the right include three first cousins he now knows.  Wonderful!

If you have followed my travels thru genealogy and learning how to use DNA testing to find people, you will understand how excited I was to meet these people.  Not only does MSH have a blood connection to them, our children and grandchildren do, as well.

If you want to understand "the beginning of the story" please check out my blog posts from the Fall of 2019. 

Have a wonderful week, dear readers!

What's Your Plan for 2025?

Did you start a list of goals or resolutions for 2025?  I always have numerous to-do lists going at any one time, and for 2025 I have made a change in how I will manage my lists and my calendar

During my early full-time teaching and consulting years (1980-1995), I carried a leather notebook which zipped shut... it contained my calendar, a pencil & eraser, and zillions of little pieces of paper with notes on them, stickies, etc.  The zipper was key to keeping things in one place!  I added a Blackberry at one point, but I can't recall why - it must not have made much of an impression on me!

Up to 1995, I taught WordPerfect, Lotus 123, and a few other applications.  When I started teaching the Microsoft Office Suite in 1995, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook became my go-to applications. The Calendar module was a lifesaver.  Each of my 15 or so clients was color-coded so that I could easily identify where I was working on a given day.  I carried a printed copy of the monthly calendar with me during the work day, since my laptop stayed in my home office.

Now that I'm "mostly" retired, I've migrated to Google Calendar because I can see it from the three devices I use daily: (1) my desktop computer, (2) my iPad, and (3) my iPhone.  

The view from my computer desktop looks like this:

My iPad and iPhone have the "mobile app view" which is fine, but but smaller.  AND it does not give me all of the features I can easily see and use at my desk from the full version of Google Calendar.

Also, this calendar program is free!  If you have a @gmail address for your email, you automatically have access to the calendar, as well as Google Docs and Sheets (word processor and spreadsheet).

Another super useful tool, in my opinion, is Google Keep... I use it for my grocery list and reminder notes.  And again, it can be accessed from my desktop, iPad or iPhone.  I hope you are learning new tools in your Genealogy work.  

Have a wonderful Spring, dear readers!  Enjoy!

France 2024 - Week 5 - Paris to Portland

We..are..home. 😊

The trip was wonderful, but home is always best. Smooth flights, easy customs check at Dulles/D.C., then to PDX with an early arrival. 

We loved the many small towns and villages we visited. The food was excellent everywhere, of course. As you might guess, we did lots of walking - over 130 miles. Lots of stairs and a few hills were ascended, including a climb up to the Chateau Galliard. So much fun!

The French countryside was beautiful, but Paris is very chaotic due to the upcoming 2024 Olympics. Traffic is a nightmare, and some locations and sites are closed until after the events are completed later this summer. We did manage a walk to the Arc de Triomphe and croissants on the Champs Elysees, a guided tour of Montmartre, and a cabaret show.

I will leave you with a GREAT TRAVEL TIP from our wonderful Viking River Cruise program manager. It seems that some past guests have forgotten to clean out their room safe before leaving the boat… abandoning things like passports, cash, and other important items. Solution? Put in ONE of the shoes you plan to wear on departure day. You’ll see from our picture that our safe was full, with iPad, 2 Kindles, 2 passports, and our cash envelope - plus one Nike shoe. We didn’t forget a thing.

Thanks to all of you who have read these posts over the past month. I hope you’ve enjoyed hearing about our adventures. Have a lovely summer!

Team Sorensen 

France 2024 - Week 4 - Normandy

It was a sunny and beautiful day on Sunday as we visited the American Cemetery at Normandy where more than 9,300 of our military soldiers and sailors are buried. Ceremonies for the 80th anniversary of D-Day were held on June 6, with President Biden and President Macron attending to honor the men and women who served. We had a small ceremony which included a wreath laying by the military members of our tour, followed by a walk on Omaha Beach.

Dunny lost two uncles in WWII, a younger brother of his adoptive mom and an older brother of his birth mom. His birth father also served in the Navy in that war. I had great uncles who served and returned home afterwards, and as both a “military brat” and a Navy mom, this trip was very important to me.

Last week we had an historian come aboard and talk about the French Resistance, and one afternoon we had a visit to the home and gardens of Claude Monet in Giverny - a very busy little town! Dunny and I pedaled to Giverny and back to the boat with a guide and several others on super heavy bikes, making me anxious to get home for “a proper bike ride” (a term used by our Belgian program manager referring to hikes we took).

Today we’ll visit the Chateau Galliard, a fortress built by Richard the Lionhart in the 12th century. Tomorrow will include Napoleon’s Château de Malmaison followed by the Palace of Versailles - a very long day.

Bonne journee from the Seine River west of Paris!