Finally, my writer bio

Janine Fallon Mower
Local History and Family Lore Consultant

Historians have written that the nineteen sixties was a time when the United States was in turmoil and countless numbers of people were searching for deeper meaning in their lives. The dawning of the Age of Aquarius was expected to occur and PEACE would be the theme for the world. Janine Fallon – Mower, today known as a local history author and family lore consultant, was just one of those seekers, standing high on a windswept hill on the coast of northern Maine in August of 1968. It was there that she took the first step of a journey that would deepen her knowledge of her birth families and the community that she grew up in, Woodstock, NY. Genealogy remains her main passion. She finds connecting generations of families, whose knowledge of each other has often been lost through the passage of time, to be a satisfying process.
Janine spent 10 years researching and interviewing her family members on her paternal side. Learning about the city of Kingston in the 19th century, as it grew to accommodate Irish, Italian and German immigrants, Janine developed a story about three generations of the Heaney and Fallon families. The work resulted in a self published family memoir in 1998, “From the Midlands West to the Rondout Docks”
She began a more formal role in the research and promotion of local history when she served on the Woodstock BiCentennial committee in 1987. Subsequently, she began a relationship with the Woodstock Historical Society that lasted for almost 10 years. She served as co president of the Historical Society for five years, and during that time instituted a program referred to as Historical Road trips. Volunteers, lead by Janine Fallon – Mower would bring artifacts, photos, and paper ephemera from the Historical Society Collection to the outlying hamlets of Woodstock. Local residents attended what are recalled as lively and informative local history discussions at the neighborhood fire houses.
During her tenure with the Historical Society, Janine had the opportunity to interview local residents and, listen to their stories of Woodstock during the early twentieth century, from their personal perspective. Along with anecdotes about daily life, Janine was allowed to peer into the more intimate areas of Woodstock life by reviewing local family pictures. This experience led to the publishing of two books with ARCADIA PUBLISHING in the Images of America series, “ Woodstock” in 2002 and “Woodstock Revisited” in 2005.
Janine has led a number of local history discussions/ slide shows for the Woodstock Library Forum and the Woodstock Senior Citizen Group.
Most recently, Janine was invited by story teller Mary Savage to present a program on genealogy research and local storytelling for the Brooklyn Community Storytellers at Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture in Brooklyn NY. While in Brooklyn, a new research door opened for Janine. The cycle continues.

On a more personal note;


Janine believes that “family genealogy and local history research compliment each other like apple pie and ice cream, Desi and Lucille, night and day. The careful process of researching a family tree reveals a picture of how a family group interacts within a small town or an urban neighborhood. An image that comes to mind when researching multiple families in a geographic area is the image of a simmering pot of stew. With the addition of each ingredient (family member) the stew (family) becomes more flavorful and varied. The same can be said for each local community or urban neighborhood.”
According to Janine Fallon Mower, “it is imperative that we continue the work of capturing the memories of our older family members and community residents. Time moves forward, our memories grow dim, and we risk losing the wisdom held in the events of the past. As many have said before, culturally and socially, we benefit by the experiences of those who have walked before us. Our elders can guide us to find deeper meaning in our lives.”

Back Yard Breakfast

The crusted snow covered over the sunflower seeds we put out before this latest storm. The squirrls found a way to burrow under the thick crust and grab a snack.

California Farmers Idle Crops- Mendota California

That was the tag line in a short article found in the Kingston Daily freeman this week.
“ Consumers may pay more for spring lettuce and summer melons.. now that California farmers have started abandoning their fields in response to a crippling drought.”
I learned that most of the county’s summer supply of fruits and veggies come from the Central Valley in California, and thought to my self, - better get that plot started for my own back yard lettuce. I paid 1.89 for ice berg yesterday at Adams.
Some of the problem is attributed to the worst drought in two decades.
However, as a read through the article, I read, “ While dry weather has exacerbated the problem, farmers’ water woes are not all drought related. “
“Supplies for crops and cities also have been restricted by several court decisions cutting back allocations that flow through a freshwater estuary called the Sacramento – San Joaquin Delta, the main conduit that sends water to nearly two thirds of Californians.
Environmental groups and federal scientists say the delta’s massive pumps are one of the factors pushing a native fish to the brink of extinction. Last year, FEDERAL water deliveries were just 40 % of the normal allocations, fallowing hundreds of thousands of acres causing nearly $309 million in crop losses state wide.”


Can we relocate the native fish? The drought solution is to pump in water, and now the water is cut off to protect a native species. I’m going to buy topsoil as soon as the snow clears. What do you think?

Frank Capra- Jimmy Stewart

Wonderful movie- " You can't take it with you"

Genealogy Day

I thought I was going to work on the Fallon's before I headed down to volunteer at the Historical Society.
Instead, I just received a call from a Bickner relative that I've been trying to get in touch off and on for 12 years.
His father, my great uncle, was placed on an orphan train from NY City at the turn of the 19th century and grew up on a farm in Hillsboro Ill.

Genealogy is a hobby that requires a lot of patience!!

Page 1

At the blog list to the left is Page 1. It is a link to http://www.eatlocalfood.org/
this web site. Take a look see.

Toby - Biggest and Baddest

We saw one heck of a show. 1 hour of Jason Aldeen and 2 hours of Toby Keith and the Easy Money Band. Most of the crowd stood and cheered through out the whole show. I was surprised to see so many under 40 something fans at a concert in Albany NY

Toby played a great blend of old and new songs, he looks like he enjoys himself on stage. The concert ended with a red white and blue tribute to the service men and women. We left the area after being showered in confetti. It was fun.
My ears are still ringing.