Concrete Signs of Progress

Posted on February 11, 2019 by vanbraman

Today at the construction site near our office there were concrete signs of progress.

concrete curbs, construction, parking lotHere was my first view of the construction site this afternoon. Can you see the concrete?

Today they poured some of the curbs for the parking lot.

Parking lot curb, constructionOK, it is only the parking lot, but it is actual construction. It will not be long until they have a parking lot which will give easier access to the site and be a staging area for construction materials.

Lime Work, GradingMeanwhile on the other end of the lot the grading work continues. They further built up the area where the building will stand and again are working in lime to help stabilize the ground.

It is really cool as you can now really tell where the building will be.

Water retention pondThey have also constructed a water retention pool. I really liked the reflection of the neighboring building.

Storm Drains, Parking LotThere was also some other concrete which had been brought to the site. Here you can see some of the pieces of the storm drain system for the parking lot. These will soon be in the ground.

Dublin, SnowLook to the hills in the distance, and you can see that we again had snow on the hills around Dublin and Pleasanton. I was trying to visualize the view from the top floor of the new building, and I think that it is going to be good. Especially if we have snow on Mount Diablo or a great sunset.

Steven

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Southold

Posted on February 10, 2019 by vanbraman

A quick post tonight, as my mind has again been wandering through branches of my family tree.

Tonight I have been working on a branch of my family that can be traced back to Southold, New York.

Southold, Long Island, New York, AncestryHere from Google Maps is Southold. You can see that it is surrounded by water on two sides.

Long Island, New York, SoutholdHere you can see that the township of Southold is way out at the end of Long Island.

Southold, New York, Long Island, PuritansThe early settlers of Southold were Puritans who had crossed over from Connecticut. You can see how close they are to Connecticut in this map.

The first English settlers arrived when Long Island was still controlled by the Dutch, and there was quite a bit of discussion as to whether they would become part of Connecticut once the English took control of New Amsterdam. History of course shows us that they remained part of New York.

Some of my ancestors were among those first settlers. I descend from the Mapes, Purrier, Reeves and Terry families on different branches of my family.

Fishers Island, New York, Dutch Traders, Van DuesernIt is also interesting that the township of Southold also includes Fishers Island that is just two miles off of the coast of Connecticut.

Fishers Island was visited by Dutch traders from the time it was discovered in 1614 to about 1640 when John Withrop received a grant to use the island.

One of my Dutch ancestors, Abraham Pietersen van Duesen, was a trader who had a trading post on Dutch Island in the Narragansett Bay of Rhode Island. He also had a trading post on an island near the Pequot River, which could possibly be Fishers Island.

Hmm, a lot more research to do.

Steven

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