Tag Archives: on-line course

Boston University

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Let me take a short break from “Lest We Forget” to talk a little about the BU course in Genealogical research. I’ll admit the course is a little tougher than I expected. Especially when I submitted an assignment and anxiously awaited the results. Well, the grade cam back at an abysmal number: “You seem to grasp all of the concepts in this module and all of the information is well presented. However […dontcha just love “however’s”…] you missed the central goal. You’ve written a report that….

And on and on… The grade, as I said, was abysmal and I figured I’d have to ace every single element for the balance of the course to keep my head above the line. I sent a “private message” to the grader in a feeble attempt at reconsideration. HA! Reconsideration…. That was out of the question. I know that because I got a response that didn’t even address the points that I made in my plea. Instead, the TA sent a note to all the students to explain that this module has 3 assignments: 1 is graded on a scale based on 30 points, then another 30 and finally 40 for a total of 100. Well, that puts my “junk” score back in the running so I felt much better. Can’t wait to submit this week’s work!

All in all, this course seems to run from really easy “stuff” that I’ve been doing for a while to really hard “stuff” that I never even considered… Well, that why we take these courses.

Wish me luck!

Grand Trunk Pacific Railway January 30 and 31, 1913

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Missed yesterday….Sorry! Getting behind in a few areas and I need to get caught up. Here are yesterday’s and today’s diary entries from my grandfather, Clem Dickson, as he worked the construction crews building the short lived Grand Trunk Pacific Railway:

Thursday, January 30, 1913

Today is the same as yesterday with a little more snow and a little warmer. We were to go east today but the snow did not let up and Cullerne feeling blue because we had to stay in. He made us work. Steve was copying notes all day. I (hunge?) two axes all day at it

Friday, January 31, 1913

Snow all day so that we could not go out to work. Cullerne was raising cane all day because he could not work.
About 4.30 Cullerne got word not to run in spine (?) and to move to Junkin on saturday that was ok for us.

I’ve never said, “…a little warmer about 15 below…” !!!

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Below is the diary entry for January 14, 1913. There are a few words on this page that I can’t figure out, but I’ve come as close as I can. For example, I don’t know what a “clavor” is or an “elavor” for that matter. If anyone out there knows, post a reply! For now, it’s the best I can make out from the handwriting. Maybe a “clavor” is a railroad term or maybe it’s hard to read because his hands wouldn’t stop shaking from the cold! Good grief….15 below!!!

If you’re at all interested in the Grand Trunk Pacific, there’s an article at this link at Wikipedia.

Here’s the transcription of what he wrote 100 years ago today:

Weather a little warmer about 15 below. We stayed in the car all morning. Cullerne went west on the mixed he had some work on the line. In the afternoon Steve and I went out and staked out the clavors/ elavors at Stony Plain worked about 2 hours. After supper Steve and I had 2 games of Pool. Then went home to bed. 9.30 good hours.

Boston University: Genealogy Research Course On-Line

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Today I begin a 16 week on-line course with Boston University to refine my genealogical research skills and, hopefully, learn, learn, learn! I hope that it pays off, mostly in the content that I’ll be able to present in the courses and classes that I’ve been conducting! Wish me luck!!