Showing posts with label William E. Burnes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label William E. Burnes. Show all posts

Friday, July 05, 2013

Giving Credit Where Credit is Due


"Giving credit where credit is due is a very rewarding habit to form. Its rewards are inestimable." -Loretta Young

Someone who truly deserves credit; my Grandfather William Emry Burnes.
Read the remarkable truth I found about him.

Keep connecting the dots -Sarah

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

A Tribute to William Burnes on March 13th.


My big bro has been cancer-free in heaven for 7 years now, and Grandpa hasn't had to deal with his bad heart for 57 years. I am remembering these great men today and how ironic that they both died on March 13th, exactly 50 years apart. I am so grateful that I will see them again someday. This is where my family history journey began. There were too many coincidences that left me wondering, and wanting to learn more. Now I know the truth and continue to learn about my family history; I love "connecting the dots". Let's take a moment to remember those who have gone before us, and are now free from their pains and sufferings.

William Aaron Burnes Bio >> http://www.myburnesclan.com/2012/01/william-aaron-burnes-bio.html
William Emry Burnes >> http://www.myburnesclan.com/2010/03/my-grandparents-william-ruth-burnes.html

Friday, September 28, 2012

Using Photoshop to Create Timeless Heirlooms: Framed Photo with Keywords and Grandpa's Signature. 7 Easy Steps.


I will teach you how to use Photoshop to create Timeless Heirlooms IN 7 EASY STEPS:

You WILL NEED:

  1. A scanned or copied photo of a family member or ancestor (never use original photos)
  2. Some Keyword facts about your family member or ancestor (see image for examples)
  3. Photoshop, (you can download a free trial here).
Here's a framed  photo of my Grandpa, William Emry Burnes, using keywords to portray the man he was.  After doing research and asking grandma questions, I learned so much about him. So with the gathered information, I decided NOT to write a novel, instead I would write "keywords" to portray his character and attributes.  My goal was to keep the interest of my reader and in 10 seconds or less, they would know who my grandpa was. For the finishing touch, I wanted to add something personal; his signature, which I happened to find on his fishing license. So I scanned it, and using Photoshop, I pieced it all together. This has probably been my favorite Family History Project yet!!

I promise this is EASY, and if you don't have Photoshop, you can download a free trial 
here.

My Grandpa was a Mechanic and a Sheriff, so I thought these accessories worked perfectly..
I found the cute sheriff's car for $20 and the mechanic sign for $10 both at Hobby Lobby.


My Grandpa's signature was the the perfect touch to complete this heirloom. 
The frame was 50% off $28, so I paid $14 at Hobby Lobby.
YOU WANT THIS NOW DON'T YOU? Well I am here to teach you. 

STEP 1: Open Photoshop, and create a new file (Click on "File" then "New")
I named the file and set the parameters to this below: 

STEP 2: Open your favorite background image (or use this one below) and drag or copy the background into the current file. I will share this famous background with you, here you go: (Click on image to enlarge then right mouse click and "save image as").

IMPORTANT:  STAY AT LEAST 1/8 OF AN INCH AWAY FROM ALL EDGES FOR FRAMING. (ctrl + R, gives you the ruler for guidelines . If you don't plan on framing, take your image to the edge of your design.

STEP 3:
 Open the image you would like to use of your family member or ancestor (do not drag or copy it into your file yet).  Click on the "POLYGON LASSO" Tool (looks like this):


STEP 4:
Start using the polygon lasso tool by LEFT MOUSE 
clicking in small areas around the image until you have come completely around to where to started from and do one last left mouse click. You'll now see little dancing lines, click on the "DRAG" tool, and drag it into your file.
Drag tool will look like this:



Here's the result:


STEP 5:  Fix the jagged edges and color.  As you can see, there were a few rough edges (especially around the head), so with a fine eraser brush of 5 pixels (with soft edges), erase those jagged edges. ( click on the icon that looks like an eraser on the Left side). 

Fix the color: As you can see it's very yellow, so I added a "COOLING FILTER" to this this by clicking on "IMAGE" (at the very top) then "ADJUSTMENTS" then "PHOTO FILTER" then "COOLING FILTER 80" and set it to 25% (any more than that, will make the image too blue). Then I brightened and added more contrast until it looked like this.
NOTE: If your original image is too blue add a warming filter instead.

Here's the result from fixing the color and jagged edges: 

STEP 6:
  Add the text. Click on the "Text" Tool (on the left) It looks like a capitol "T" and add the KEYWORDS that explain your family member. I used words like: Sheriff - 5'7" - Christian - Napa, CA - Navy WWI, and so on. Do as many or little words that you would like. Remember save some room on the bottom for the signature. If you don't have a signature to add, make your words equally spaced from the top.


After you've added the words, It should look like this:


STEP 7:
  Add the signature. I opened a scanned copy of my grandpa's signature and using the "POLYGON LASSO TOOL" from before, I cut around his signature and dragged it into the file.

After you've added the signature, It should look like this:
Send your digital creation off to be printed. I used Costco because it was only 39 cents (.42 with tax) for a 5x7 print and it only took 1 hour.

Now for the final touch; the frame. Get a 5x7 frame (mine is from Hobby Lobby $14) and frame your AMAZING HEIRLOOM.

WA-LA, YOUR DONE!!  Notice how the 1/8th inch border was the perfect amount for framing.


Total Cost: $14.42 (Includes frame and 5x7 print)
Total Time: 25-45 minutes

Don't have the time to do this?
The Teach Me Genealogy Design Team can create this for YOU for only $20
(high resolution jpg image w/ print release)

send an email to sarah@tmgenealogy.com with your image and keywords.
"Connect The Dots"

Friday, June 15, 2012

Genealogy Proved The Truth - Correcting False Truths

I felt the impression to get a little personal in this entry because of my struggles with the "false truths" in my own family. There were a lot of details in my Family History that didn't quite add up.

Here's what I mean:

My father was an only child to William Emry Burnes & Ruth Imogene Adams. I was told my grandfather William Burnes was around 50 years old when he married my grandma Ruth when she was only 18 years old. I was told that grandpa most likely had a wife and children he left back in Iowa when he married my grandma. I was told they most likely eloped and "ran away" to California together. My father believed this to be the truth because everything added up that way. Does this sound like a small town scandal to you? Well that's what I thought too. My grandfather died from a heart attack at a young age of 62, leaving behind his only child, a son (my father) age 12, and his wife (grandma) age 33. Imagine losing your father at the age of 12 and not knowing the truth.

I knew very little about my grandfather, and what little information I did know, wasn't very charming. I too lived with this same knowledge of my grandfather, as my father did because of the family history that was tied to him through "false truths".


My quest for TRUTH:
My brother William Aaron Burnes was named after his grandfather; William Emry Burnes, and they both died on the exact day, March 13th, 50 years apart, 1956 & 2006.  After my brother's death, I would embark on something very unknown; the Burnes Genealogy & Family History. Many remarkable events unfolded, including the miraculous "Will Ball". I began tracing our lineage only to find how difficult and merely impossible it was. This is not the case with most people starting their genealogy, but that's how it was with me. At times I wanted to give up, but there is a power in all of us to "learn the truth" especially when it comes to our heritage.
It is who we are, why we are, and where we will go that kept me going.

As I began on this genealogy journey and started discovering the truth of our heritage, I had a dream of my brother William. In my dream he was beautiful! His skin, his eyes, his entire physical appearance was radiant. He walked up to me, looked at me in the eyes, hugged me (with great power) and said two words to me; "thank you". He turned and walked out the excessively large wooden ornate doors that he had walked in. I awoke the next morning in tears because of this encounter I had while dreaming. The dream was so intense, but more importantly I retained everything I had seen and heard so perfectly, and I knew it was the newly discovered TRUTH behind our family history that William was thanking me for; the truth about our grandfather. The same truth he was trying to discover before his passing.


The TRUTH was this:

My Grandfather, William Emry Burnes was an incredible man! A World War I Navy Hero, The city Sheriff,  a Free Mason, a violinist, a successful Business Owner, a Deep Sea Fisherman, an Honest man, Hard working & intelligent.

He was a young man who had carried the heavy load of supporting his mother and siblings through the death of his father during the time of the Great Depression.  He was the oldest of 8 children, and without hesitation,  he took on the responsibility to support his mother, brothers and sisters and their spouses through the painful years of the depression.  A second cousin confirmed this, stating “he even made sure his sisters and sister in laws had beautiful hats and shoes to wear.” At the age of 37, when all of his siblings were able to make it on their own, he married his first wife, Kathryn Fleig. The short marriage of 3 years ended when he noted in the divorce papers that he stayed faithful for the space of 3 years awaiting her return. The papers also stated this small but very important detail "no children were born to this marriage". For unknown reasons, she had left him and never came back. Heartbroken by this tragedy he removed himself from the "normal" way life should be, and focused on living an honest life as the local town Sheriff and Business Owner. It was eleven years later that he would meet Ruth Imogene Adams in Batavia, Iowa. He was 49 years old, she was 19, the perfect match separated by 31 years. They married a few months later and set off to start their lives far from home; in Napa, California. They had two children together, one son (my father) and a baby girl who died just a few hours after she was born. They lived a happy life together for 12 years, until his death in 1956. This was not the typical story for most of your grandparents, but this was mine, and one that I am very proud of.


The passion I have for doing genealogy is very personal to me. It defines the line between the truth and the unknown. It gives me hope, it gives me knowledge, but mostly it gives me the opportunity to link our ancestors together as one family. We live in a day in age, where we can learn the truth of our ancestors from many genealogical websites like;
Ancestry, Family Search , Findagrave , USGenweb , Google and so many more. My newly discovered lineage has impacted the way I view myself and every living and non living person. I know our loved ones who have passed on, are still here, just unseen to our earthly eyes. We can feel them close when we are in tune to them. We all have ancestors cheering for us, helping us daily, and strengthening us as we bear the burdens of this life. They have paved that rocky road so we can pay it back to them by keeping them alive, in us, and staying true to our family name and heritage.

I am so truly blessed to have corrected the "false truths" about my own family history. May we all be diligent in seeking for the truth to clear up those uncertain details and to give credit, where credit is due.

A Tribute to William Emry Burnes: