Visiting Family

I have just returned from a trip to New Jersey to visit my grandmother Jane Maver. While there, I was able to scan nearly all of my grandmother's photos and newspaper clippings. Doug Lodato was also kind enough to scan the photos from great-grandma Madge's scrapbook and send them to me. There is a lot of new information to go through, but I will begin posting photo galleries to the maverfamily.com web site in the next few weeks.

The image above was scanned by Doug Lodato. It shows my grandfather William Maver in his Navy uniform (probably taken in 1944). I'm not sure who the woman next to him is; she is too old to be his sister Mary and it's definitely not his mother Madge.

Windows on the World of the Past

I recently found an amazing book by one James Mavor who was born in 1854 in Stranrear, Scotland. I've only just started reading volume one of his memoirs, "My windows on the street of the world," and it is full of all kinds of interesting stories about his life. He was primarily an economist, so his stories seem to focus on the prevaling trends and industries of the places he lived, but he is an engaging writer and there are enough amusing anecdotes to make it enjoyable.

I'll write more once I've had time to finish both volumes. If you are interested, the entire book can be downloaded for free from the Internet Archive.

Web site update

I uploaded the new version of the Maver Family web site today. Aside from a new look, there are a few organizational changes:

• I removed the Message Board - the board was getting attacked by hackers and spammers on a daily basis and it was taking up way too much time to keep it clean.
• I removed the page about the Mavor-L mailing list - this list had only 3 e-mails in the last 4 years and two of them were written by me.
• I added a Maver History page - there isn't any information there right now, but I will soon have a write-up about the history of the Scottish Mavers from pre-history (through DNA testing) to the present day.

I will be making more changes to this new version of the web site in the near future, including the addition of a database of Maver records I've collected over the years.

Thank you to everyone who has contacted me through the web site over the last few years to share information about the Maver family!