Headaches, Hatfield's, and Free Stuff

Well this has certainly been an interesting week. Month really. Between finalizing plans for a photography gig and finding out I get new/additional responsibilities at work the week has been nuts. And things have just been whirling in my brain. Oh, and I did absolutely nothing productive on my two off days. Or that's what my mother would say. In my mind adding 1000 people to my geni.com tree and going through hints on ancestry.com is quite productive.

Now I know just clicking on hints for family trees is not necessarily the good thing or the right thing to do. And I admit to quickly going through them when I should take my time and check the dates and yadda yadda. But hey I'm an impatient chick. Anyway betweem ancestry.com and geni I added about 1000 people to the tree. The merging feature on geni really helped with that. Mind you, you have to pay for that feature but it does help. Then there's the whole who am I related to feature. Since I added all of these new peeps to my dad's side of the tree I wanted to see if any of those changed. They relationship path's didn't change. New ones just appeared. It seems that I'm related to most people on both sides of my tree. Meaning that my parents are distant distant cousins. Safe to say my head was spinning trying to keep everything straight.

I'm not packing up for West Virginia or going out to buy a banjo yet.... Although I am related to the Hatfields (on both sides of my tree). If you follow me on twitter (@bibliophile89) you know all of this already. I've been tweeting during the History Channel special of the Hatfield's and McCoys. At first I was just kind of doing my little accent imitation... it's so easy to get caught up in that... but then it was more of the yelling at the tv/ yelling on twitter and just thinking the whole thing was pointless. Which, it was. I mean all those people were killed over a fight that started with a pig and a Romeo and Juliet romance. And testosterone of course. There was a lot of that going on.

Before I forget I'm going to throw in a little plug for Geni. By now you should all know I love them and that they are responsible for getting that WSJ writer to contact me. A few months ago they offered to send me a free shirt for being so awesome (you all should know when I'm throwing in some humor/sarcasm in by now). So I was like oh thats cool sure here's my address. I told my mom and she was like oh yeah whats the catch? Or... yeah that will happen. Actually that was her response to my "I might be in the wall street journal" comment. And we all know what happened with that.

I received the package a few days ago. The reason it took so long is that there was a typo in the address and was sent back yadda yadda. But they emailed me and we got it straightened out. Well I just figured there would be a t-shirt in there and I would've been satisfied. So I opened it up and le gasp not one but THREE shirts and two pens. I don't know about you, but I love free stuff. Especially clothes. I believe their merchandise is available on their website too if anyone is interested. P.S I'm not working on commission although I wouldn't decline any offered money. LOL. Anyway the one shirt was just plain white with the geni logo on the arm. The second is black with the Geni logo across the front and a mini tree on the back with the words "who's your daddy?". The third is a cute pink tank top with the logo on front and the tree on back. I think that's my favorite so far. If you are interested in buying the tanks run a little small and the t-shirts run a little big. Oh! I almost forgot about the pens. Now normal people wouldn't be excited about pens but hey. The one is just a normal pen with a logo. Blue ink. Writes well. But the other... the other is fun. I love fun writing utensils. If I had my way I would be like Garcia on Criminal Minds with the feathered pens and bright colored stuff. This pen lights up. It glows blue when you click the little button. But all of that for free! I was pleasantly surprised and excited. I can't wait to wear my new gear and get more people into genealogy.

I meant to talk about more things tonight. I really did. I guess it will have to wait until next time. I really would like to talk about my DAR troubles and the whole biological father deal. Those probably have to be two separate posts. Perhaps I'll visit some of those "new" relatives I added in a future blog. Like I did with the Persing's and Bieda's when I first started.

That's all for now folks!

Being Crafty

Lately I've gone back to my artsy fartsy self doing charcoal drawings and such. Genealogy kind of went on the back burner. But hey I'm getting money for the drawing I did where as I get zippo for genealogy. I even went to a museum this weekend (Ringling up in Sarasota) and that just made me want to do even more stuff.

I went on pinterest today and found that Geni.com has a pinterest page. Woohoo! This is dangerous though. If you don't know, pinterest is crack. And I start looking and hello genealogy craft!


Photo leaves! You can see the site it came from here. Now I was really excited thinking there would be a tutorial on how to make it. Sadly, no. From what I understand someone else makes them onto cloth and then sells them. Well as nice as that is I have no money. Whats a girl to do?

I started thinking... I printed out some photos back in December when I was working on the genealogy ornaments. (Thinking back, I don't even know if I posted pictures for those on here) Anyway I'm thinking of making a tree with similar leaves.

The tree would be on canvas. Made out of gesso and cheesecloth. If that confuses you then don't worry. It's something I did in high school. and a little in college. So much fun. Almost as fun as charcoal and I think even more messy. When ever I get around to it I might post a tutorial with pictures. Have to figure out how to do pictures with gesso. I really don't want it all over my pretty camera or phone.

Anyway. Gesso and cheesecloth for the tree. Maybe some gesso texture in the background. Then let all that dry. Then comes the paint. I'm trying to figure out the colors. I might have to order some stuff online though. I remember using something in high school (maybe another kind of gesso?) that had a pearly quality to it and looked pretty and shimmery when mixed with acrylic paint.  After it's all painted I would add the leaves. My version of the leaves would probably just be the photos sprayed with hair spray and cut out into leaf shapes. Probably covered with mod podge. I'd have to fool around with it.

I just had to get the idea out into written form before my brain exploded.

Farley Family Part 2

Last time I posted about the Farley family I left off with George's parents Jane Hungerford and Thomas Farley.

I'll get to the Hungerford's later

This part of my tree gets relatively messy. I think at one point I found Fabyan Farley (a brother of Thomas) married to Jane Hungerford. I was going insane because I kept finding Jane married to two people. It turns out that there were TWO Jane Hungerfords and they were cousins. They married 2 Farley brothers Thomas and Fabyan. They both had sons that immigrated to America. One in Mass. and one in Jamestown. Read that on an ancestry.com message board. 

Now I really hope I have the right one for this. Either way the Farley side will be the same, and the Hungerford side will not be far off.

Thomas Farley was born in 1570. His parents were Reginald Farley and Barbara Hastings. Reginald was born aroung 1530 and Barbara about 1532.

Reginald's parents were Richard Farley and Joan Eausham. Richard's father, John Farley, was born around 1465

So now we're into the 1400s and thats all the Farley family on my tree. Phew. 

Story time! There are a lot of websites that pop up if you type in Farley family. Trust me I just did that to refresh my memory. 

"This story has a very ancient setting in the fair land of Normandy. Later it traverses the channel to the shores of England where for centuries, during the Middle Ages, members of the House of Farley contributed to the progress and well-being of the Norman princes who established themselves at the coming of William the Conqueror. "

http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/b/o/w/Michael-L-Bowen/GENE2-0052.html

And looking through some of these sites I'm thinking my ancestor is Fabyan rather than Thomas. Like I said, this is all very confusing.

I'm also posting a link to Farleigh Castle although I think it has more to do with the Hungerfords than Farleys...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farleigh_Hungerford_Castle

Thats all for now. Later genealogy peeps!

Pictures from Poland (Part 4)

This should be the last set of pictures. Please please let me know if you recognize these locations.

Polish writing on the back translates to: This is in Tyniec

This one has "Bieda" listed on the right upper part. No idea which Bieda is there though.

Pictures from Poland (Part 3)

More pictures! Please let me know if you can identify anything in the following pictures.

Monastery of Jasna Gora in Czestochowa, Poland

Monastery of Jasna Gora in Czestochowa, Poland

Pictures from Poland (Part 2)

I learned yesterday that the pictures I posted (at least the first 2 anyway) are from Wawel Castle in Krakow.

These pictures are probably in Krakow too but I'm not sure what/ where exactly they are. This is where you guys come in. Once again if your recognize anything in these pictures please leave a comment.

St. Mary's church in Krakow

Bieda Polish Picture

My busia sent me pictures. Some of when my mom was young, but mostly of when my great grandmother (Mildred Bieda) went to Poland.

In the center is Walter Bieda. To his left is his wife whose name may or may not be Anna. In the back is their daughter, either Anna or Wanda. Mildred is on the right.

For more information on the Bieda family please look in the 2010 blog posts.

If by any chance you recognize any of these people please let me know :)

Farley Family Part 1 (aka Caleb & George)

Ok so in a previous post I mentioned that Lambert Pitner married Elida Farley and that this was a really cool connection. I'm going to post some Farley information, at least as much as I can before my brain starts to hurt.

Elida Farley: 1761- 1823 She had approximately 5 sisters and 4 brothers. Once again, not listing siblings unless something interesting pops up. But I will say that two of her brothers were named Caleb and George. This is just to confuse you later on.

Her parents were Catherine Gray and Caleb Farley. I have nothing on Catherine Gray.

Caleb Farley: 1719-1802 From my Geni tree it shows he only had one sibling. That seems odd for that time period though. Oh well.

His parents were Feminitie Teunison (no idea how to pronounce that) and George Farley. Once again no information on the mother.

George Farley: 1687-1720 George had several brothers and sisters... one brother was named Caleb. Seeing a pattern here? No? you will.

George's parents were Sarah Godfry and Caleb Farley... ahh now you're getting it. Crazy right?

So this time I actually have info on the mother. She lived between 1664 and 1704. Her parents were John Godfry and Mary Cox.
-John's parents: William Godfry b. 1610 and Margaret Webster b. 1609
-Mary's parents: Alice Wise b. 1620 and Moses Cox b. 1594 (seems like an iffy age difference to me but oh well...)

Caleb Farley: b. 1667 had a brother named... you guessed it George.

His parents were Caleb Farley and either Lydia Moore or Rebecca Hill. Caleb must have married twice but I'm pretty sure the mother was Rebecca Hill.

Looking at the Hill side it seem's pretty extensive. It will probably require its own post. It involves surnames like Toothaker Flamock and Fauntleroy. Yeah, gonna deal with that one later.

Ok so Caleb was born in 1645. His parents were Beatrice Snow and George Farley. George also had a second marriage but not gonna touch that either.

George Farley 1615-1693 He was the son of Jane Hungerford and Thomas Farley (Finally another name!!!)
George was born in England and died in Massachusetts.

Since there are still several generations of Farleys, and we only touched on one Hungerford out of a zillion that discussion will have to wait for another day.

Once again if you have any comments suggestions or recognize any names in this post or any others please please please let me know! Thanks!

Happy Festivus! (also Lantz family)

First of all, I'd like to wish everyone a Happy Festivus! Time to put up that aluminum pole, air grievances, and of course, the feats of strength.
And if you don't know what Festivus is... well... thats just sad.

I'm going to try and make the Lantz family as brief as possible. hah. thats a good one.

Ok so David Hauck married Anna Lantz

Anna was born in 1809 and her parents were Magdalena Martz (Mertz) and Samuel Lantz

Samuel's parents were Margaretha Sigfried and Henry Lantz

Henry's parents were Anna Kraybill and John Lantz.

John's parents were Anna Milch and John Lantz.

John's mother was Christina. She was born in 1673 and died in 1732.
Anna Milch's parents were John (1686-1713) and Anna (1682-1744)

I have more information on the Martz/ Mertz family as well as the Sigfried and Kraybill family. It will take up another entry though. A bunch go back to the 1600s, and some into the 1500s. Crazy right? The Sigfried family is pretty interesting. If I'm not mistaken one was in the Revolutionary War and recieved a letter from George Washington. Which I think is pretty cool.

Remember everyone, when you're sitting down to dinner tonight air the grievances. Let people know how they've disappointed you in the past year. Enjoy this Festivus for the rest of us!

Hauck Part 2

Good Morning! A few updates since last time:

 Marion Hauck was a carpenter. On his WW1 draft card he is described as tall with a medium build. Grey eyes and light brown hair. Apparently he had his appendix removed too.

Wilfred Hauck was a blacksmith in 1910 and was married in 1890

Henry Hauck was a coach maker according to the 1870 census. That sounds pretty cool.

The sword: Marion gave the sword to my grandpa. Henry was around during the civil war but nothing suggests that he owned the sword. I believe it is a cavalry sword, obviously union side. Theres a belt buckle with an eagle on it. I guess I'll have to look into it a bit more. I wonder if one of Henry's brother's owned it? If anyone knows about the civil war and the weapons and stuff please comment.

Henry's parents were David Hauck and Anna Lantz. Like I said last time, Lantz is a different blog entry.

David's parents were Andrew Hauck and Sarah.
Andrew's father was John Hauck abt. 1750
John's parents were Jacob Hauck abt. 1720 and Margaret b. 1728.

Nest time: either Pitner or Lantz. Havent quite decided. I like the Pitner side better though. It leads to some very cool people. Well, Lantz has some cool people too.

Hauck Part 1

The information I have on the Hauck family goes back to the 1720s. I won't get that far tonight. I'll only go back until the 1800s. I won't include much information on the Pitner or Lantz connections. Those surnames need their own entry.

My grandfather's mother was Eleanor Hauck. She was born in 1913. When I was younger I thought this was neat because I kept thinking that the Titanic sunk in 1912 (Mind you, that movie came out when I was in third grade and I was a bit obsessed with it). I used to call her Nana. She used to make the best Italian wedding soup, tapioca pudding, and milkshakes. She had this really cool thing on her counter. It was like the controls to a blender on one side and the attachment for a blender on the other. She also had a swing in the back with big stones underneath and ivy that would climb up the sides of the stones. I think I colored on her walls when I was little too. I heard stories about her not being a very good driver. I know she drove into a gas station at some point. When she was in the assisted living and nursing home I played with her wheelchairs (one was automatic. and very fun) She passed away in the summer of 2002.

She had a brother named Wilfred.
Their parents were: Marion H Hauck and Ruth Pitner. Ancestry.com has some draft cards (WWI and or II) for Marion.

Marion's parents were Wilfred R Hauck and Mary Eldora Swank (She went by Dora). They were both born in the 1860s.

Wilfred's parents were Henry L Hauck and Hannah Rhoads. Henry was born in 1841. He had many brother's and sisters. I won't get into that right now but it may play a role in a kind of mystery.

My grandfather has a civil war sword that was passed down from the Hauck side and I'm trying to find out who actually owned it. I'll get into that later.

Next time: Hauck family to the 1720s and details of the civil war sword. Maybe even a picture. Depends on how I'm feeling that day.

More Schieb....

Sorry for the delay. Been busy procrastinating for school. One class and 3 exams until break. *breathe*

Left off with Johann Nickel Schieb.
Father: Heinrich Schieb
Mother: Magdalena Bartel
-daughter of Simon Bartel and Anna Reeb

Heinrich
Father: Johan Hans Scheib
Mother: Unknown Wolff

Johan Hans
Father: Casper (b. 1560)
Mother: Anna Tafler

Casper
Father: Lorenz (d. 1583)
Mother: Elsse

Tada! End of the Schieb line! (as far as I know)

This goes a lot faster when I don't know the background stories on every single person.

Sorry this post isn't more interesting tonight.

Comming soon....

So the Polish side is done, now onto my grandpa's side. The information on that side is overwhelming and still getting updated. By the end of the year I'd like to cover the following surnames: Persing, Hauck, Ship/Schieb, and Lantz.

Heres how the posts are going to go...

My great grandfather Walter Persing b. 1906 to Jacob Persing b. 1799.

Jacob Persing + Elizabeth Ship, all of the Ship/ Schieb line.

Back to Persing, Jacob's parents all the way back.

Next its on to the Hauck's... my great grandmother and a few generations back to Marion, Wilfred, and Henry.

Hauck + Lantz, and Henry back to Jacob b. 1720

Back to Lantz family

Just a general outline of whats to come. I need to stay semi organized. Maybe a post later this week, maybe not depending on homework.

Also, a new member was added to the tree yesterday. My cousin Rudy Marion Persing was born just before 1am on 11/8/10 8 lbs 8 oz 20 ish inches long. He looks exactly like my pap!

Lapinski Update

familysearch.org can be pretty awesome at times.

Yesterday I was randomly searching for variations of the name Anthony Lapinsky and I managed to find a marriage certificate. I'm pretty sure its the Anthony I'm looking for. It said he married "Ludwica" which sounds the same as Ludwika. Also, The date was 24 May 1892, and it was in Northumberland Co. Pa. Their first child wasn't born until 1894 so this works too. Luckily, there were some more names that I didn't have previously.

Anthony's parents: John and Josephine Lapinski

Only Ludwika's father was mentioned: George Kazanicka

Short post today, and the last of my Polish roots (so far...)

The Lapinsky's...

or Lapinski.... Lipinski... Lupinski... etc etc...

Now that the Bieda side is done, as much as possible, I will share my great grandmother's side. I'm having a lot of issues, mostly name changes.

My great grandmother's name was Mildred Lapinsky. Her parents were Anthony (Antoni) and Louise (Ludwiga). I don't have a last name for her. I know that they married in America. I'm not sure if Louise was born in America or Poland. Anthony came over from Poland twice. Apparently he didn't like America the first time. In a census record I found Louise listed as Julia. I would have disregarded the record, but all of the children were the same (except for a Ludwika changed to Julia)

The children were: Stanley (b. 1894), Josephine (1895), Julie (1897), Frances (1898), Anna (1899), and Mildred (1905).

Frances kind of confuses me... On another census I found the name Nancy. Maybe they called her Francy and the census taker heard Nancy.. I don't know.

Since that pretty much is the end of my Polish side, I thought I'd share some more Polish stuff. Here are a few words my family uses.

Dziadzi (ja-jee)- grandpa
Busia- grandma
Cioci- aunt
Matka- mother
Ojciec- father

Example: My busia would talk about her cioci Frances.

Food.... very very important!!!
Pierogi- yum yum yum. we usually make Mrs T's with butter and plenty of onions. Very good deep fried! Cottage cheese ones are good too, but Mrs. T's doesn't make those...

Golabki- "little pigeon" stuffed cabbage. delish. We use both beef and pork, and cooked rice for the stuffing part. Then of course cooked cabbage. Put those in a baking dish covered with extra cabbage leaves, place more on top, then cover with tomato juice. Serve with mashed potatoes and use the tomato juice as gravy. AMAZING

Halushki- cabbage and noodles

Bleenies- potato pancakes. good with salt, pepper, and a little bit of sour cream. mmm

Chrusciki- angel wings. I've never tried them but apparently its some sort of dough with powdered sugar?
Anyway, as my cousin says, never put dough in front of a polish girl.

As I'm writing this I may have found another link to the Lapinski's thanks to familysearch.org. Stay tuned.

Jakob and Anna Bieda

Most of the information I have on these two came from a marriage certificate from Poland. Almost everything was handwritten in latin. Needless to say, my spellings may not be accurate. Another interesting thing... a weird name appeared on a ship manifest...I'll get to that a little later.

I'll start with Anna. I don't have as much information on her. She was the daughter of Thomas Klaus and Barbara Kucharzyk.

Jakob Bieda was the son of Paul Bieda and Marianna Jedryka. Paul's parents were B. Bieda (really hard to read on the record... plus latin) and Sophia Kaczmar. Marianna's parents were Martin Jedryka and Magdalena Duda.

I'm not sure about any siblings, but I would assume there were. Jakob was born around 1867 and Anna was born a few years earlier.

Ok now onto the detective work. The Ellis Island record I found has several catagories... who paid, country of origin, final destination etc. Theres also a space for the name and address of a friend or relative they would stay with once they arrived in America. Another record from the same ship had a list of relative in Poland. Anyway. The Ellis Island record listed Wojciech Niemiec as a brother in law in Shamokin. Now, brother in law can mean several things...either Jakob's sister's husband or Anna's sister's husband. Remember, I have no proof about siblings for Jakob or Anna.

So here is where the detective work comes into play. How do I find this Wojciech Niemiec person? How do I even figure out thats his name? Handwritten records remember. Ellis Island does have a typed version, but its very vague. You can get more information from the original manifest struggling with handwriting. Well after several tries I figured out the last name was Niemiec.
 I knew the cemetery where Jakob and Anna were buried. You figure, well, if they're buried there the church would have the same name. And if your going to a new country and only know your family, you're most likely going to attend the same church. They wouldn't have gone to another church. So I searched findagrave.com for the cemetary and the last name Niemiec. I found a Wojciech and Petronella Niemiec.

I later found a ship manifest with a Wojciech and Petronella Niemiec from Galicia. They had 3 children and came to America in 1909. Thats before the Bieda's (1913) so it's possible. Listed as the relative was Anna Niemiec.

Well, thats a bit of a problem. Anna's maiden name was Klaus not Niemiec. Obviously Wojciech is not Anna's sister because of the different last name, but what if she was Petronella's sister? The guy taking down the information could say "What is the name of your relative in your native country?" Wojciech or Petronella could have simply said "She is my sister". If they didn't specificly give a last name, the guy could have just assume Anna had the same last name.

Something to think about.

Ludwik's Brothers

Ludwik/ Louis had three older brothers: Walter,  Alexandor, and Jozef.

I do not have a birthdate for Walter. As of 1913, he was married and had a child, which is why he stayed in Poland rather than comming to America. The names associated with this branch are a little iffy. On one ship manifest for the rest of the Biedas, there was a space for relative in native country. It looked like Wloded Bieda. I don't know if such a name exists, but thats what happens when you look at handwritting from the early 1900s.

Walter married "Anna" , unknown last name. They had a daughter who's name was either Anna or Wanda. She married and had a son named "Jerry". My aunt told me the Polish version was "Yeshie" but I'm not sure how to spell that. Thats what it sounded like. He was in an aerospace program that was top secret. Apparently he wanted to visit America, but he couldn't. (Which makes sense, this was probably during the Cold War). "Yeshie" married Barbara, unknown last name. They had a son Adam. He is probably in his 40s now. My great grandmother Mildred, went to Poland in either 1970 or 1971 and Adam was young, perhaps 2 or 3 years old.

Walter Bieda + "Anna"
-Anna/Wanda + ?
--Jerry ("Yeshie") + Barbara
---Adam

Alex married a woman named Mary and they moved to Philadelphia*. They had three daughters (Angie, Eleanor, and Marie) and a son (Joe). Angie never married. Eleanor married twice and had a daughter. Marie married Dennis Acker, but I'm not sure if they had any children. Joe married a woman named Marie but never had children. I found a draft card for Alex when he was 48. The address listed was in Shamokin and it said he was married. His name was spelled Aleksander Bieda.

Alex Bieda + Mary
-Angie
-Eleanor +?
-- ?
-Marie Bieda + Dennis Acker
-Joe Bieda + Marie

Jozef married but never had children. I believe he stayed in the Shamokin area.

Thats all for now. Next time information from Jakob and Anna's Polish records. Also, a strange name from an Ellis Island ship record.

*At some point the Bieda's (except for Louis) changed their name to Biedzinskie. The reasoning behind it? I was told it sounded "more Polish".

Bieda- Poland to Pennsylvania

First, I'm going to try and break down the surnames in my family. Obviously the main ones are Persing and Bieda but theres more in there. On the Polish side theres also Lapinsky (+ other spelling variations), Jedryka, Klaus, and a few others. Some major ones from my Persing side include: Pitner, Hauck, Kase, Hungerford, and many many others. (It is literally insane how many people are on that side of my tree).

Now we get to the good stuff. First I'm going to tell a little about the Biedas.

In Polish Bieda means 'poverty'. Doesn't sound to pretty when looking back, but hey.

My grandmother's dad was Louis/ Ludwik Bieda. He arrived in Ellis Island in March 1913 when he was 91/2 years old.

He came over with two older brothers, Alexandor (18) and Jozef (11), and his parents Jakob and Anna. (There was another boy "Walter" but he was already married and he stayed in Poland) They settled in Shamokin, Pa and the boys became coal miners. At some point, they all changed their names to Biedzinski(e), except for Louis. Louis later married Mildred Lapinsky and they remained in Shamokin. Jozef and Alex both married. Jozef did not have any children. Alex and his wife moved to Philadelphia

The Bieda's came from Galicia, or what is now Malopolski, Poland. The last recorded place before boarding a ship in Bremen, Germany was Okocim.
They probably resided in Tarnow at some point.

I have baptismal records for Jakob and Louis. I also have a marriage certificate for Jakob and Anna. All the records are in latin and have bad handwriting. I think I have all the names sorted out, except for one. The good think about these Polish church records? They list the parents name, AND the names of the grandparents. So boom. Two generations.

I'll get to those later. What else will I blog about if I post everything now? If anyone decides to read this why not leave them in suspense?

After Louis died in 1968/9, Mildred went to Poland to visit "Walter" in Krakow. I'm still gathering details on that.

Unfortunately we had one family member that decided to throw out a bunch of things when Mildred passed away, so that makes it very hard to find anything on my Polish roots. Gotta love family! *sarcasm*

Jakob Bieda + Anna Klaus
-Walter
-Alexandor
-Jozef
-Ludwik + Mildred Lapinsky
--My grandmother + my grandpa Persing
---My mom
----Me