2011: Really?

Oh my. Has it really been over two years since I've updated here? My sincerest apologies! Let's get right to it:

AUVIL FAMILY: Find us on Facebook! The Auvil Family Genealogy Group has been quite active. Nancy Auvil-Simmons and I are co-administrators of the group as is Catherine Auvil who is once again contributing her genealogical expertise and creativity. Please join us!

PA FAMILY: I've discovered yet another completely unrelated line of Pa-s on Kaua'i. This 'ohana can trace their ku'auhau to the Big Island.

TANIGAWA FAMILY: Y. Charles Tanigawa recently celebrated his 96th birthday!

UYEHARA FAMILY: I've posted some very old pictures online in a secure area. If you have not yet received an invitation to view it, please email me. And if any of you are going to the taikai in Okinawa this year, don't forget to take a lot of pictures!

Mukashi, Mukashi

Mukashi, mukashi ~ a long, long time ago...

Christmas 2008 has now passed, and even though I don't make promises I know I won't be able to keep, I find myself loathing the inevitable New Years resolution time nevertheless. I feel that I should commit myself especially to getting more work done on our genealogy website, but on most days, there just isn't enough energy in reserve. So let's just say that I'll try my best to add more to the site in 2009.

Inspite of my dormancy, the website yielded contact by a number of distant relatives who, I'm very excited to report, are the most interesting, enthusiastic, and genial people! Tony Archuleta, Alton Auvil, Jon Auvil, Kenneth Auvil, Michael Auvil, Tracey Auville-Park, The Cafferty and Hurley families, Larry Franquez, Kelly LaPierre, Alan Porter, Stevanna Pratt, Steve Riggan, Kula Schumacher, Frances Seltz, Shirley Suchdolski, Elaine Weger, and anyone else I may have forgotten, to each of you, thank you so much for sharing with us!

While short on promises, I am nevertheless very hopeful for the new year even though there are so many who are having such a difficult time right now. So here's hoping that we continue to prosper and thrive in the knowing that there is comfort in finding family.

Hau'oli Makahiki e Ku'u Ohana,
Jolene

Official Word: No Domain Names

Sorry Gang, I just checked through the Rootsweb help pages and discovered that the use of domain names is not allowed. Because Rootsweb is a very generous FREE host, especially in terms of unlimited space, I'm not going to get bent out of shape about it. We'll just have to put up with the extremely long and cumbersome URLs.

Family Branches Section Taking Shape

Each family now has its own section on the Forest For The Trees website! Finally, there's a sense of organization as each family has its own unique gateway. Enter through the Front Gate, or go directly to a family's opening page:

The Auvil Family

The Chong - Ahnee Family

The Davis - Harter Family

The Pa - Ilalaole Family

The Skonieczny Family

The Tanigawa Family

The Uyehara Family

While these sections are not yet completed, you can keep checking back at a specific page containing the stuff that captures your interest.

And yes, I am contemplating a domain name. These long URLs are getting to me too...

Mahalo nui and thanks for your continued patience!

Chong - Ahnee Family Pages Available

I am very happy to let you know that the Chong - Ahnee section of the website is ready for viewing! It's not quite done, but I have a feeling that all of these Branch sections won't be fully complete for a very long time... In the meantime, take a look at The Chong - Ahnee Family branch here.

Included are documents sent to me by the very nice people at the National Archives in San Bruno, CA back in 2004. Among many things, this precious packet contained passport pictures of my grandmother, Gladys (Chong) Tanigawa, at age 3, and a picture of her younger brother who died soon after the photo was taken. It also revealed the birth of another brother while the family was in China. The child, Soon Yen Chong, was left in China in the care of the mother of my great-grandfather, Fook Yee Chong.

Hurley Family Reunion

Aloha, Pa family 'Ohana! You are all invited to attend the Hurley Family Reunion on March 15, 2008! Please email me at dearpat@hawaii.rr.com for details. Our grandfather, Pitt Hurley Sr., was married to Pa decendent Miriam Keaupuni of Kaua'i. We would love to meet you, so please come!

Pat Kamalani Hurley

Auvil Website Revived!

Hello Family,

My name is Jolene Auvil, and I am the wife of Todd Auvil, a descendant of Johannes Abel as are all of you. When we first began our genealogical search, we were ecstatic to have found Catherine Auvil's website at Auvil.com. As a lot of you might remember, her site was a treasure trove of the research of many, many Auvil genealogists, compiled and posted by a tireless and dedicated Catherine. Around 2004 however, the site disappeared from the Internet.

For years now, I've been working on a website to house the information we've gathered on both of our families, and I began to realize that so much of our research was based on that of others who contributed to Catherine's website. In October of last year, I contacted Catherine and asked her permission to re-publish the information on her former website, incorporating it into mine. She very graciously allowed me to do this, and finally, that task has been completed.

Please come by and wander through the site:

FOREST FOR THE TREES
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~forestforthetrees/branch/auvil/auvilindex.htm

We apologize for the length of the web address.

Whether you have comments, suggestion, corrections, etc., we'd love to hear from you. You may write to us directly, but we encourage you to use the blog:

http://forestforthetreesblog.blogspot.com/

We feel that this might be yet another place for Auvils everywhere to connect directly, eliminating the middleman.

Our special thanks to all the Auvil genealogists who generously submitted tomes to the original Auvil website. And our deepest gratitude to Catherine who, for many years, was the glue that held the Auvil generations together.

Mahalo Nui & In Thanks,
Todd and Jolene Auvil
Honolulu, HI