GreatGreats

Great Connection: Homer Porter & Dolly Ann Bates

2011-12-04T14:00:00.000-08:00

A great day! I'll spare you all the details, but recent "Member Connect Activity" at ancestry.com has led me to a "new" cousin, Marla, and her incredible photos of my great-great-grandparents Homer Thomas PORTER and Dolly Ann BATES!

Dolly Ann (10 Sep 1823 Westford, Chittenden, Vermont - 1892 Great Falls, Cascade, Montana) was the daughter of Norton Bates and Betsey Sweet. [There is no proven connection between these two Bates women: this Abigail is a Bates in the Clement Bates line, while Dolly Ann is in the Edward of Weymouth, Massachusetts line.]

Homer Thomas Porter (20 Nov 1813 - 24 Dec 1903, both Colchester, Chittenden, Vermont) was the son of Thomas Porter and Abigail Bates. He married Dolly Ann Bates 11 Sep 1845 in Essex, Chittenden, Vermont.

Thank you, Marla, for posting these photos and for permission to crop them for use here. I look forward to a long and rewarding partnership with you! You have made my month!!

While I'm on this couple and from our 2004 trip to Vermont: I am confident that this stone from the Malletts Bay Cemetery (Colchester, Chittenden, Vermont) commemorates Homer and his siblings, Ashbel and Sally (who married Horace H. Johnson). Homer's Vermont death record and probate file (both available at familysearch.org) makes it pretty clear that the death date on the stone is incorrect and that 1903 is much more likely. (A more legible image by Barb Destromp exists at findagrave.com)

Happy Birthday, Daddy

2011-11-14T17:30:00.000-08:00

My father was born 98 years ago today in Logan Canyon, Utah. I can't believe that it's been 29 years since he died.

This photo is my newest treasure from Aunt Lelia. She just received the photo from someone but she doesn't remember who (probably a Bannard descendant). I have no other group photos like this one. I am so glad that Aunt Lelia thought to share it with me and that Cousin Gary helped her send me a copy. Also, it was very thoughtful of her to label everyone; otherwise, I would have been doing a lot of guessing....

Standing, left to right: Mickey, Lelia, Flora, my father, Anne, Fred (barely a shadow over Wyla's right shoulder), Wyla

Seated: Bertha, Anne Matilda (Causier) Carr, Jane

Front: Barbara, Jessie, Margaret

The family groups are:
Anne Matilda (Causier) and 3 of her 7 children: Jane, Bertha, Anne
Bertha and 5 of her 8 children: my dad, Mickey, Lelia, Wyla, Barbara
Jane & husband Fred with 3 of their 4 children: Jessie, Flora, Margaret

The location is most probably somewhere in Los Angeles County, possibly in the North Hollywood area. We don't know who is holding the camera (perhaps Ray B?) and Lelia doesn't remember the event itself. It has to be before my great-grandmother Carr's death in 1940. Guessing from Barbara's apparent age, I think the photo is 1938-9. Ray H. died in late 1937, but maybe the photo is earlier and he's the photographer. However, that would make Barbara younger than 6. Does she look that young??

To Honor Brenda May Hass

2011-09-28T18:35:00.000-07:00

A random check of Find a Grave this last weekend revealed an obituary for the recent death of Brenda May (Hegwer) Hass. Brenda was one of the great-grandchildren of Charles Herman Hegwer and Margaret Lavina Richardson, making us second cousins.

Brenda and I never met or even made contact, which somehow makes me additionally saddened to hear of her passing. Our fathers were cousins and I know they met as children and had at least some contact by mail thirty-some years ago, before my father died.

My thoughts are with Brenda’s large and loving family.

Treasures from the To-Do Pile: North Yorkshire archive & maps

2011-09-22T23:11:00.000-07:00

Last March, Linda Elliott's Mad About Genealogy (English and General Genealogy News & Links) had a great post on the North Yorkshire County Record Office and all the goodies they have online.I had left a note in my To-Do-Pile to remind myself to get around to it someday....

The archive section of the North Yorkshire County Record Office website has more goodies than I can describe in one post. I've played there for hours now, and I still haven't seen it all. If you have any connection to North Yorkshire, this website is a must!

Here's a snip of just one section of the webpage. Notice that just this one little part of their site has links to historical maps, photographs, online archive catalog, and links to other excellent sites. As with most large and intricate sites, the search options take a little getting-used-to, but the time is well worth the effort.

I played in the map section and found lots on Malton, Hutton's Ambo, and Rilington. My direct-line surnames ETHELL, ROSE, BEETHAM, and MUNKHAM have ties to that area in the 18th & 19th centuries. It was a joy to see the maps and I am confident that more work with these maps will improve the research I have to do to firm up the latter 3 surnames. Here's a snip of one of the maps showing Rilington and the location of St. Andrew's Church. I haven't yet proven a link to this specific church, but my people were bound to have been in the neighborhood!

Conclusions

Wouldn't it be nice if all the counties of England (or anywhere, for that matter) had similar sites? ! Thank you, North Yorkshire!
Thank you, Linda for sharing this wonderful resource.
Yet again, I've found great stuff in the To-Do Pile... the pile is shrinking, slowly but surely. I think I am, finally, getting control!
I must check out the Archive section of this fabulous website.

Headstones: John D. & Isabella Richardson

2011-09-15T18:59:00.000-07:00

One of the very special treats during my trip to Missouri last June was Cousin Donald taking us to see the headstones of John D. Richardson and Isabella Shaw, our great-great-grandparents. This photo shows the whole plot with a glimpse of the intersection where the stones are located. The map excerpt is a portion of Morgan County. Cousin Donald made the red annotations and gave me this copy. (The red rectangle gives the general location of the land where I took the 2 photos of John Richardson's land and shared in an earlier post.) The red circle shows the location of the plot where these headstones are. Comparing the map to the photo, you can actually pinpoint the location given the roads! That's handy because there are no signs.

As I remember Cousin Donald telling me.... Many years ago, after he had found these stones and was photographing them, an "oldtimer" stopped to see who Donald was and what he was doing there. Donald told of his family relationship and that Donald had even grown-up nearby. The oldtimer hesitated for a few moments and then proceeded to tell Donald that the graves were not actually here: the gravesites had been "down by the creek!" The oldtimer and another neighbor had moved the headstones because pigs were constantly wallowing in the mud along the creek and repeatedly knocking over the stones. Tired of uprighting them and fearing the stones would eventually break, the men had moved the headstones up to this location many years earlier.

Even with two men helping me, it was still hard to get good photos with all the vegetation around the stones. The stone of the left commemorates both John and Isabella.

The center stone commemorates only Isabella. We suspect that it was the stone made at her death. The deterioration is evident; parts of the stone are very hard to read. But is possible to see that it does name her as Isabella Shaw, wife of John D. Richardson.

The third stone in the grouping commemorates John's second wife, Nancy Jane Krues. She is something of a mystery to me. Some people, including Donald, even have her name as Nancy Jane Bowles. Clearly, I need to do more research! Overall, I haven't done much research on other spouses of people from whom I descend. But recently it has occurred to me that I cherish all my great-greats and I should also cherish those whom they married, whether I descend from them or not.

Sadly, there is a small, hidden stone between the two women's stones for 'Infant Richardson.' We cannot make out the second line at all and have no idea who it represents. And, knowing that the stones have been moved, the placement is not even a guarantee that the infant belonged to any of these Richardson's. It bothers me a great deal to have unidentified children.

Going back to the first photo of the whole plot, the closest marker is for Margaret Beaman, wife of N. Beaman. I don't know how she fits with the Richardson's. Given that the marker is apparently from about the same time as that of John's and Nancy's, and that it ended up here, I'm assuming there is some connection. I guess that's more research to do!

Isn't that what always happens? I find something wonderful, but now I have more questions and more to research...!

Great Resource: British Isles Family History Society - USA

2011-09-07T17:47:00.000-07:00

Week-before-last, I had the privilege of attending the monthly meeting of the British Isles Family History Society--USA in Los Angeles. I've been a member for a few years and thoroughly enjoy their publications and meetings. Unfortunately, it's a long drive with an ugly traffic pattern, so I don't make it to every meeting.

This last meeting was "Ask the Experts," a yearly program. Members could email in questions or problems ahead of time and a panel of the group's experts would discuss each one as the program for the meeting! I couldn't let that opportunity pass me by....

I had sent off a family group sheet on my great-great-great-grandparents, John Hughes & Lydia Cooper, and loads of questions. Sure enough, John & Lydia were the third item on the agenda! I won't go into the details here but, trust me, I have lots to go on now! Two of the experts had obviously spent a good deal of time on my issues before the meeting and had lots to say. Both also had several printouts for me of their research efforts. The two experts had approached different issues, so I left the meeting with a handful of their printouts and 2 pages of notes from the group discussion! It was great!! I can't wait for next year: I'm already figuring out which couple I'll target then!

Annual Seminar

...from the BIFHS website...

You may have missed last month's meeting, but BIFHS's seminar is coming! Full information is available at their website. It will be all day, October 22 in Whittier, California. The speaker is Darris Williams, of Salt Lake City, FamilySearch, and the Family History Library there.

A special, added feature, is that for no additional fee, you can attend the group's regular meeting the next day in Los Angeles and have all of Sunday afternoon to research at the Los Angeles Family History Library. The speaker (I think he's giving an extra speech there) and all the experts will be there for individual help. Check the Library website to search their catalog before your visit; they have an extensive British Isles collection. What a great weekend it will be!

Conclusions
Joing genealogy groups is a great thing, and BIFHS-USA is no exception. I'm really looking forward to the seminar next month!

Disclaimer

I am a proud member of BIFHS, but I receive no special consideration from them other than what comes from membership. I think they are all nice to everyone all the time anyway.

First Friday Folder: Lt. Nicholas Shaw & Ruth Beal

2011-09-02T14:48:00.000-07:00

Lt. Nicholas SHAW and Ruth BEAL are two of my 6th-great-grandparents. I selected this folder because, after my Unexpected Gift from a Great Blogger post last month, I played around a bit more in one of Bill West's blogs and Findagrave, which led me to another printout from Findagrave on Ruth (Beal) Shaw to file and no folder in which to place it!

The Couple
Nicholas Shaw was born 28 January 1712/1713 in Abington, Plymouth, Massachusetts and died there 7 June 1780. Ruth Beal was born about 1717 and died 15 December 1808 in Abington. They were married 6 February 1735 also in Abington. According to the page at Findagrave, she is buried at the Mount Vernon Cemetery in Abington. Her Findagrave page give a date and inscription, but no photo. I wonder if Nicholas is also buried there?

The Folder
Ah, great news: this folder is in wonderful shape! Of course, it's brand new today and only has two things in it ....

The Plan
I shouldn't do any more on this couple until I finished tying up loose ends in my research on the paternity of Norton Bates. I'm confident that I have the right parents (as shown here), but I need to finish resolving some mild contradictions and I need to formally write-up my theory and conclusions. Then, I can work back couple by couple in more detail and with a clean conscience.

Line of Descent
I have started printing the line of descent for each of my direct-line couple folders as I use the folders. With my new printer/scanner, I was able to make this image of the chart and, then, insert it here! I have impressed myself!

Conclusions
I had hoped that my First Friday Folder reviews would always result in saving lots of room in the file cabinet by my finding and removing unnecessary duplicates and other unneeded goodies. Unfortunately, this week resulted only in adding material to the drawer. But, I guess better organization is a higher goal anyway....

I would probably have more time for my serious research if I were able to quit reading other blogs and quit "playing" in the places they lead me and stay focused on a current targeted problem/topic/couple.... But, where's the great fun in that?!

Richardson spots in Missouri

2011-08-13T10:54:00.000-07:00

Here are just a few photos in Morgan County from my great trip to Missouri. With cousins Donald and Linda as our personal guides, it was easy to see things we could never have found by ourselves. We spent several hours in the community room (which you can just barely see behind the church) at a Richardson reunion, meeting dozens of third-cousins for the first time.

The Glensted Church was established in 1888. Great-grandmother Margaret had moved away by then, but great-great-grandfather John D. Richardson was still nearby and very active. He may not have worshiped here, but he certainly would have been going by here!

The Glensted Cemetery is just across the road from the church. If facing the cemetery, and then turning right , you'd see:

Below is a shot of the property once owned by great-great-grandfather John D. Richardson. I started to cry as I took this photo, filled with thoughts that my great-great-grandfather had been here and now I was, too.

His property continued on to the other side of the current "road." Both parcels are about 6 miles from the Glensted Church.

I took this photo of the Versailles, Morgan County Court House on Sunday afternoon while standing in the middle of the road. There is certainly no civic center in greater Los Angeles county where I could have taken such a photo with no people in it nor any cars to dodge!

It was a wonderful trip! When I started my genealogy research, I didn't know I had Richardson ancestors, let alone that they were from Missouri. Best of all, I have now met my dear friends, Donald and Linda, face to face. That they happen to be my cousins is icing on the cake! And, that Donald is a generous and incredibly thorough genealogist makes it double-thick, chocolate fudge frosting!

Happy Blogiversary and a State-of-the-Blog Report

2011-08-11T20:15:00.000-07:00

My second blogiversary! I would not have bet that I'd make it this far!

Stats
It looks like 32 posts in the last 12 months. Maybe it could have been more, but life keeps getting in the way....

The number of formal followers has doubled (it's easy to double small numbers!), and all comments have been so very supportive.

The number of monthly pageviews has been over 300 for each of the last several months, but that's not counting last May when I was a big, big hit in Russia (I think some machine was trying to get in; I am not aware of any ancestors or followers there!). I have to credit the increase (but not Russia) to having been included in Randy Seaver's Genea-Musings "Best of" list for 6 February 2011. Thanks, again, Randy!

Last January's Resolutions
So far, I'm three for six! That's not bad... and, hopefully, there'll be more progress by December!

New Look
And, here is the first post in the design I've selected for GreatGreats' third year! I hope it's easy to read and that it's pleasing in appearance.

WARNING: Blogiversary Approaching

2011-08-09T18:01:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that GreatGreats' second blogiversary will be in two days.

Here's the warning: I will celebrate by changing the design template. Once a year isn't too often, is it?!

If you have any comments on color, font, layout, or whatever, now is the time. All feedback is appreciated. Thanks! Have a great, great day!

First Friday Folder: Causier & Tolley

2011-08-05T17:38:00.000-07:00

I selected this folder for review this month because it is the thickest one in my English line. I was hoping I could thin it out a bit. But, it looks like the big result of this review is that I found a huge error outside the folder!

After pulling the folder, the first thing I did was to check past posts and make sure I hadn't reviewed this couple before. Actually, there hasn't ever been a First Friday Folder on a Causier and no Causier posts at all in the past 12 months. The yucky part was seeing that the last Causier post was titled 'William CARR in Dodderhill.' I had written a whole post about William Causier and titled it 'CARR.' That's terribly embarrassing....

The Couple
William Causier and his second wife, Ann Tolley, are my great-great-great-grandparents. William was born about 1793 in Droitwich, Worcestershire, England, the son of Sacheverell Causier and Sarah Hunt. He died 31 Jul 1873 in Whitwood Mere, (West Riding )Yorkshire, England; a snip from his death certificate appears above. He and Ann were married 24 May 1829 in Dodderhill, Worcestershire. Ann Tolley was born about 1809 in Droitwich. She died about October, 1891, in Whitwood Mere.

The Causier's lived in this vicinity in Whitwood circa early 1870s, but on the 2006 personal tour Cousin Val gave us, she said none of the buildings they actually lived in remained.

The Folder
The folder is almost an inch thick. I don't know Ann's parents, so I've been keeping Tolley clues and unknown Tolley's in this folder, but now I've moved them to their own folder.

There was a family group sheet from 2007 and one from 2009. On one hand, I was surprised to see I hadn't printed a new one for 2 years, but it was also nice to see how far I've come in 4 years. Otherwise, there weren't any duplicates or any papers misfiled. Darn, the folder is still thick.

The Plan

I need to review maps of Dodderhill & Droitwich and the locations of other nearby parishes from the GENUKI database.
I need to review my extractions from1813-1874 the Dodderhill Parish Records to be sure I've entered all the appropriate info in my database. Then, I need to go back further and find William's baptism and first marriage for myself.
Who is the Thomas Tolley who witnessed William and Ann's marriage? Perhaps he will be a clue to her ancestry? Judging from how rare Tolley is in the Dodderhill records, I'm expecting her family to have been from a nearby parish.
Who is the "niece" Elizabeth Bernat, age 6, living with William and Ann in the 1851 census?

Conclusions
Every month, I tell myself I am NOT going to continue the First Friday Folder blogposts. But once again, the process has turned up a gross error. So, I guess I better keep doing it.... Either that or stop making mistakes!

Variations in GIB

2011-08-04T13:48:00.000-07:00

One of my CARR-line surnames is GIB. It didn't take any time at all to find that it could just as well appear in records as GIB or GIBB or GIBBS. Well, that's when it appears...it seems to be fairly rare, or at least it is where I've been looking! (East Riding of Yorkshire, 1770s)

Recently I picked up my Genealogical Research in England and Wales, Vol. 1, and I decided to see if the "Surnames -- Given Names -- Dialect" chapter had anything interesting. That's not a topic that ordinarily excites me...and I've probably never looked at that chapter before. First, I was surprised when I came to the name GIBB, and secondly, I was surprised to see a whole half paragraph!

Some variations in the spelling of surnames caused by local pronunciation are somewhat obvious, but others are not. ... A family of Gibb from near Chard in Somerset is found recorded under the spellings of Geeb, Geep, Gabe, and Geab. One interesting case is that of Betty Geab recorded in the 1851 census, whose death was subsequently registered and appears in the indexes at Somerset House under the spelling of Gabe. Although her burial at the parish church of Merriott is written Elizabeth Gibb, it was not until every entry recorded in the week of her death at the local superintendant's register office was checked, that the spelling Gabe was discovered. [1]

I wonder if I've missed any of these variations in my research? I think I would have made note of these, given how rarely I see any one-syllable word starting with G, but I will certainly pay more attention now!

Conclusions

I found this book in a used book store in Utah several years ago. I think older books about research ofter have a lot to offer. And, re-reading them occasionally can be useful!
I've added these unusual variations to my GIBB family group sheet so that I'm more likely to be reminded to be creative in my searching.

Source

David E. Gardner & Frank Smith. Genealogical Research in England and Wales, Vol. 1. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft Publishers, 1956, p. 273. [The italics are as they are in the original; the color is my addition.]

Great Resource at a Great Price

2011-08-03T22:56:00.000-07:00

If you remember my last post earlier tonight, you can easily see that I'm catching up on reading the blogs I follow....

I've been meaning to do a thorough review/comment of Michael John Neill's Casefile Clues, but you know how time flies.... Now, I've just read Michael's latest offer for the whole first volume of Casefile Clues. It says it's good as long as the link is hot; it was just a minute ago at 10:45pm Pacific time.

If it is still available and if you enjoy reading genealogy articles, emphasizing the research and thinking process, then this might be the best $10 you ever, ever spend. I don't have the time to detail all the things I like about Casefile Clues, but some quickies are that

it's not for beginners,
the examples are real and almost read like serial mysteries, and
the charts he develops are super.

I'll still get around to a full review someday, but don't let this bargain pass you by.

NOTE: Other than being a subscriber, fully paying my own way, I am in no way connected to Casefile Clues or Michael John Neill and this post is completely independent (and unknown to him).

Unexpected Gift from a Great Blogger

2011-08-03T19:12:00.000-07:00

Bill West, of The Old Colony Graveyard Rabbit, recently posted lovely photos of the "Olde Beechwood Burial Ground" in Cohasset, Massachusetts. One photo that caught my eye turned out to be the headstone of my 5th great-grand-aunt, Sarah Bates, who died at about the age of 11 in 1737.

I know Bill also contributes to FindaGrave.com, so I quickly clicked over to their site and found out that Bill had indeed already submitted a photo and annotation for Sarah's father, Joshua Bates. Thank you, thank you, Bill!

Thanks to Bill, I now have burial locations for both Joshua and Sarah! I like filling in blanks in my database! Now, I wonder if Bill West and I are related....

Great-Great-Grandparents: Heritage Pie

2011-07-17T16:52:00.000-07:00

Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun looked interesting. I guess it's still ok to participate on Sunday afternoon....

It took only about 3 minutes to make the graph at Kid Zone's "Create a Graph" and represents the birthplaces of my great-great-grandparents.

My sixteen great-greats, with abbreviated info, are:
William CARR (1840-1916?) -- Yorkshire
Jane ETHELL (1841- after 1901) -- Yorkshire

Charles CAUSIER (1836-1912) -- born Worcestershire, died Wisconsin
Catherine HUGHES (1838-1911) -- born Staffordshire, died Wisconsin

Carl Benjamin HEGWER (1791-1860) -- born Silesia, died Kansas
Maria Rosina ILGNER (1801-1873) -- born Silesia, died Kansas

John D. RICHARDSON (1829-1908) -- Missouri
Isabella SHAW (1828-1877) -- born Ohio, died Missouri

parents of Patrick KEATING -- unknown Ireland

parents of Cathrine DOOLEY -- unknown probably Ireland, possibly but unlikely
Canada

Homer Thomas PORTER (1813-1903) -- Vermont
Dolly Ann BATES (1823-1892) -- born Vermont, died Montana

Titus DAVISON (1804-1900) -- Vermont
Hannah Field BASCOM (1808-1881) -- Vermont

If I use the location of their deaths, I get a different picture. I've kept the same people in the same color or with a different value of the original color.

It's a little complicated not knowing four of the 16 at all. This activity has certainly reminded me that that generation saw a lot of major changes in their lives.

A more specific problem this activity has reminded me of is that I've found info to make me think that the death date/location I have for William CARR could be wrong. I've got to add that investigation to my TO-Do list!

Treasures from the To-File Pile: Danes' Mystery Solved

2011-07-09T18:07:00.000-07:00

This is another example of how working through the To-File Pile can take up a whole week.... Warning: this post carries a tragic death.

I picked up a bundle of scans on the Hegwer/Danes family sent to me by genealogy cousin Christi two years ago, thinking it would be something I could quickly file, but then I remembered Christi had said something about not knowing who all the people were. I know that I read the whole packet several times when Christi emailed it: I had been so elated to receive the few pages from a family Bible. It was still easy to pick out the strangers' names: the deaths of two McCRACKENs in the Bible and a newspaper clipping about the suicide of a LIVERMAN. Neither name was anywhere in my database or memory. I decided to try again to identify them before filing the printouts. I reread all 19 pages; no answers, so I set them down. The next night, I reread all 19 pages again. This time it hit me that the obituary clipping was for the mother of Albert Wentling Danes, my step-great-grandfather (link to earlier blog about his marrying my great-grandmother Richardson). While my copy of the newsclipping was completely unidentified, I found a much more legible copy of it at Colorado Historic Newspapers [1]:

I suddenly saw that her survivors included Al Danes (as well it should, since he was her son) and a "Mrs. McCracken!" Aha: The mysterious McCracken's in the Bible must be related to Albert Wentling Danes and probably to a sister of his who married a McCracken! This revelation had only taken a couple of years and another dozen reads to click in my little head....

The Bible image is not too clear--just barely discernible:

xxx Edith McCracken Died July xx 1900 at Cortez 10 years
Earl McCracken Died April 10 1901 at Cortez age 19

A return trip to Colorado Historic Newspapers found a brief mention for one of them [2]:

At Cortez, on Saturday last, Edith, the 10-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J.H. McCracken, was stricken with that dread disease, diptheria, and, before proper remedies could take effect, the handsome, lovable child was a corpse. The remains were buried the same night, and blighted hearts are within that recently happy home. "Whom God loveth, He chasteneth.

It was easy to find the children in the 1900 census at Cortez, Montezuma, Colorado, with parents Jas H. and Minnie McCracken. Sadly, Minnie was listed as having had only 2 children, both living. How sad to think that less than a year after enumeration day, both of those children were dead. To verify, I searched in the 1910 census, easily finding James and Minnie in Denver, Denver, Colorado, with all data matching, including that Minnie had had 2 children who were both deceased. Suddenly, another revelation: the McCracken's were in the same household as a Jennie Liverman and her son, Kenneth.

Quickly, I went back to the obituary: sure enough, Mrs. Danes also had a surviving daughter, Mrs. Liverman. Today's genealogy moral: read it, read it again, and then keep reading it over and over again. Someday, it will sink in. And, did you just see the other revelation?

It took me a few more minutes, but then I went back to the suicide news clipping: Kenneth Liverman. More great sadness. My copy of the clipping is barely legible and would only be a smudge here and Colorado Historic Newspapers doesn't have The Denver Times for that year. Here's an excerpt from the long article headlined "Rejected Youth Ends Own Life" [3]:

Kenneth Liverman 17 years old ... committed suicide by shooting at the Albany hotel at 8 o'clock last night. The boy ended his life because Miss Julie Stewart, a 16-year-old student at the Central Business College refused to marry him. ... The boy left a note, addressed to his mother, ... in which he begs her not to worry over his death. He said that he had been forced to pawn her watch and his violin in order to secure money with which to purchase a revolver. ... Young Liverman was an accomplished musician and linguist. He and his mother had returned to Denver from Germany only last June. For the past three years the boy had studied music in Leipsic, Germany, and also had studied for the stage. He spoke German and French fluently. A few weeks ago, Liverman, at the suggestion of his mother, entered the Central Business college to study shorthand. She thought it would be better to prepare the boy for the management of a fortune left him by his father. ...

Quick research over the last week easily found more on the Liverman's and McCracken's, especially at Findagrave [4] and Colorado Historic Newspapers. Certainly the refusal was a precipitating event, but also in the last 10 years, he had experienced the deaths of his 2 young cousins, his father, and his grandmother. He had been uprooted to leave friends and family for Germany and then uprooted again to return to Colorado. It's hard being a teenager in the best of circumstances. Clearly, Kenneth had had more than his share of pain in just a few years.

Conclusions

Sometimes it takes reading something repeatedly before it sinks in or before the connections click. (That's not just me, is it?)
Family keep clippings in a Bible for a reason. With time, the reason can be found.
I will email the Liverman volunteer at Findagrave to see if he would like any of the info I have.
The To-File Pile is still not any smaller than it was.

Sources
[1] Durango Democrat (Durango, La Plata, Colorado); 18 Nov 1906; p. 1. Found at www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org. NOTE: I love this website and think it is the best of the historic newspapers sites. Still, its OCR needs lots of work-arounds. This article did not turn up through their search engine when searched for 'Danes,' 'Skeels,' 'Liverman,'or 'Cracken.' I had the family Bible notation that she had died in Nov 1906 in Durango. I already had a copy of the article, and given the margins, it appeared that the article was from the bottom of a page. So, I went to Colorado Historic Newspapers, saw that they had the Durango Democrat for November 1906, and I started skimming every page from 1 Nov 1906. Luckily for me, there are only four pages per issue and I only had to read to the 18th of the month!

[2] Durango Democrat (Durango, La Plata, Colorado); 1 Aug 1901; p. 3. Found at www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.

[3] Denver Times; 6 October 1910 (copy of the annotated clipping in the collection of the blogger).

[4] Searching at Findagrave.com for Liverman's in Colorado quickly gives photos and lots of info on the family, courtesy of Greg Liverman and Joyce Escue Culver. Thank you, Findagrave volunteers!!!

First Friday Folder: Grice & Gibb

2011-07-01T15:34:00.000-07:00

I chose this folder for review this month because I knew it would be pretty quick to check! After all, I have to get back to analyzing and inputting all the new Richardson & Shaw data I got on my recent trip to Missouri.... On the other hand, Grice & Gib will be the ones I return to after I get all of Missouri sorted out.

The Couple
John GRICE and Sarah GIBB are my 4th-great-grandparents on the paternal side of my Carr line. I have posted before about these surnames and geography and specifically about their marriage. [1]

There is a nice sequence of baptisms in the West Lutton / Weaverthorpe area for children of John & Sally GRICE, including my 3rd-great-grandmother Rachel (Grice) Ethell. Two trees from solid family researchers had given me the marriage of John Grice and Sarah Gigs as 1808 in Yorkshire, with unsourced, online trees giving John's birth as 1754.

My early research found an 1823 Baine's Directory for Yorkshire with both a John Grice senior (farmer & grocer) and John Grice junior (wheelwright & farmer). This and John's calculated age at the marriage worried me and made me think I should at least consider the idea that Sarah had married Junior or even that "Sally" and "Sarah" were two different women.

But, now having followed both Bishop's Transcripts and Parish Records [3] in the area for a whole lot of years, I agree that

Sarah/Sally is one person,
she married John Grice senior, and
the Rachel Grice who marries Joseph Ethell is their daughter.

The tricky part is that Senior was a widower when they married! Junior was one of at least seven children of Senior and Ann Simpson, who was buried 27 Dec 1807.

Senior was buried in 1833, after he and Sarah had another seven children. Then, widow Sarah Grice married widower George IRELAND in 1834. They had no children together. They appear together in the 1841 census District 6, Weaverthorpe, Yorkshire [2]. Conveniently, Jane GRICE, the youngest daughter of Senior and Sally is with them, cementing the family groups I've formed:

The Folder
Given the time span, the folder is not swollen with census extracts. But, it does need three family group sheets: Grice/Gibb, Grice/Simpson, and Ireland/Gibb. I had only printed out one of those previously, so I fixed that omission today.

The folder also holds several sheets of info on "unknown" Grice's. I think I will be able to label several of those after I finish with the parish records and sorting all the kids and grandkids. I also have a few printouts from online family trees with clearly incorrect and/or incomplete info on this couple.

The Plan

after I "finish" all the work left from my wonderful Missouri research trip, I have to go back and finish reading/analyzing the parish records, land tax records, and church wardens' accounts for this area
input all the data from that analysis
try to see what I can find on the kids in the 1841 and later censuses
verify Senior's birth/baptism and parents as much as possible
look for Sarah Gibbs' birth and parents; I have a clue that leads me to Acklan and I'm excited to start looking there!

Conclusions
It really pays to use multiple sources. I'm pretty proud of the research I've done on this couple. I wonder if I should try to contact some of the owners of those online trees?

Watch out, "Missouri pile," here I come! I've got a thing or two to show you!

Sources & Disclaimer

[1] see those posts for additional source citations

[2] census image cropped from that at ancestry.com

[3] Weaverthorpe, Yorkshire, England. Parish register 1682-1862, FHL # 1,068,415, Item 14-19

I do not and have never worked for nor received any special consideration for any of the entities listed above.

Carl Traugott Hegwer, 1833-1893

2011-06-26T15:01:00.000-07:00

Our trip to Missouri was wonderful! There will be posts about it and all my new info for weeks and weeks to come!


Trinity Lutheran Church & Cemetery: Freistatt, Missouri

Here's how an unexpected conversation led to my standing at the grave of great-grand-uncle Carl Traugott HEGWER: I was sitting with 3rd-Cousin Donald, filling in some missing Hegwer data for him, which was unexpected that he would even want it since the Hegwer's are NOT in his ancestry at all. Donald's eyes widened in recognition as I told him that CT was probably buried somewhere in Freistatt, Missouri. Imagine my surprise as Donald said that not only did he know where it was, but that I would be driving right by there on my way to see Cousin Kate!

I jumped to the computer to see if I could find a Lutheran cemetery there in Find A Grave. Another surprise: not only did I find the cemetery, but also a photo of CT's headstone! (That's another reminder to revisit websites such as findagrave on a regular basis!)

My photo above shows the back of CT's headstone and how close the site is to the current church building. A plaque on the building says the church was founded in 1874 and this building erected in 1954. I wonder if I can find a photo of the original building....

Here is one of my photos of the front of the headstone. Given the scroll work on the other 3 sides, it appears that the original intent may have been to eventually carve more names but there are none.

There are not any more Hegwer's in this cemetery at findagrave nor did I see any others nearby. Checking my database just now, I see that his wife did not die until 1924 and is buried in Joplin, Missouri. Oh, dear me: We drove the highway past Joplin on the way to Springfield and saw convoys of relief vehicles. And, of course, the tornado was a frequent topic of conversation and media coverage during our entire trip. I did not remember that I had a connection to Joplin.

Here's a link to an earlier post including Carl Traugott Hegwer.

Conclusions

Meeting face-to-face and spending a week with Donald & Linda was an incredible gift. I do not have the words to express what a wonderful time we had.
I must remember to check websites such as Findagrave.com more regularly!
I went to Missouri to work on RICHARDSON lines and had been reviewing them in my database and folders for months. But, I should have also reviewed the Hegwer's, too. I bet Joplin and Freistatt were not the only places I was close to. Hmm, another reason for a return visit to Donald & Linda?!
I should probably make it a goal to find the burial sites of all 10 of the children (and their spouses) of Carl Benjamin Hegwer and Maria Rosina Ilgner....

PS: The search for photos of an older church here has led me to:
Escape to the Silent Cities. Nothing older there, but several lovely photos of the cemetery. I've left a comment hoping for help.
PPS: Hurray! Tammi of Escape to the Silent Cities has already come to my aide! Here's a link to the original church. Thanks, Tammi!

Great-grandmother Margaret Lavina Richardson

2011-05-19T16:55:00.000-07:00

Another treasure! Come share my excitement...
When I started my genealogy research, I didn't have photos of all my grandparents, let alone any of the "greats." This month has brought another milestone: my first-ever photo of great-grandmother Margaret Lavina RICHARDSON! I am so very happy to finally see what "Maggie" looked like!

Left to right: Margaret, son Raymond Dudley Hegwer, second husband A.W. Danes

Margaret was the fourth child of John Richardson and his wife, Isabela Shaw. She was born 28 July 1860 in Tiffany, Morgan County, Missouri. She married Charles Hegwer 9 December 1883 in Corning, Nemaha, Kansas; they were divorced 14 August 1905 in Durango, La Plata, Colorado. She married Albert Wentling Danes a few days later in Aztec, San Juan County, New Mexico Territory. Margaret died 13 July 1919 in Grand Junction, Mesa, Colorado. [Click here for an earlier post about the divorce, which includes source notations.]

Third-cousin Donald found this photo in his To-File pile! Interestingly, from the reverse side of this photo, it seems that, on the Richardson side, she was called "Vina." If the reverse side of the photo had not been so well labeled, I'm not sure either of us would have known these people. I have photos of Raymond much younger and much older; I might have guessed it was he, but I'd never have been sure.

We don't know when or where the photo was taken. It looks like some sort of retaining wall in the background, perhaps a mining site? It is probably in or near Mesa County, Colorado. Any ideas? Given Raymond's appearance and his mother's marriage/death dates, I'm guessing this is circa 1915. Comments?

Conclusions

Donald found this photo while tidying-up his files for my visit next month! I haven't even left yet and, already, the trip is a blazing success!!!
Donald found me a few years ago because of a birth-name comment I'd left on a census record for one of our distant Richardson aunts. I am very grateful to both ancestry.com and Donald for making all of this possible. Donald is an excellent researcher, a helpful collaborator, and an extremely nice person.
I can't wait to meet Donald and see our ancestral lands in Missouri with a personal tour guide!

Disclaimer

I subscribe to ancestry.com, but I have no other connection to them and have never received any special consideration from them.

First Friday Folder: Dr. Daniel Porter, Immigrant

2011-05-06T18:14:00.000-07:00

The ancestry of my Porter grandparent is easily my largest database with almost 4,000 names. [See my 'Surnames' blog page for a list of the direct-line surnames of that grandparent's ancestry.] However, I've written relatively few blog posts about my Porter line, and never a First Friday Folder analysis of any of my PORTER surname'd ancestors.

I selected this folder for review this month because of a new (only 16 posts so far) blog dedicated to Porter's: Porter Family Genealogy. Perhaps most interestingly, it talks about a Porter Surname Genealogy website. It seems to have begun in 2002, but it's certainly new to me! It's fairly extensive and I need to spend more time there going over all the info. I'm thinking of contacting the blog and/or the website, so I best review my info first!

The Couple
Daniel Porter was probably born in England perhaps around 1630. The earliest colonial record for him is 1644 in Waterbury, Connecticut. He was a 'bonesetter' (doctor) in Farmington with a yearly salary in 1661 of 6 pounds. His will, 15 August 1688, appears in Manwaring's Early Probate Records of Connecticut, and was probated in 1690.

Little is known about his wife, Mary. She was alive at the time of the will. The couple had seven children between 1653 and 1665; at least 6 of whom married.

The Folder
A relatively thin folder, there were only 7 items besides two old versions of the family group sheet. Of the seven items, only one really belongs in this folder! The other six items have now been moved to the folder of son Daniel Porter & Deborah Holcomb.

I printed out a new family group sheet. Comparing it to the previous one shows I have done a good deal of work on the family, but I don't remember targeting them at all. The newest one:

is the first I've printed in 5 years
is 2 full pages longer
has 12 new sources
has 28 additional footnotes
has comments on all 7 children (vs. only 3 previously)

Problems

How many more folders do I have where 85% of the contents are misfiled???
I don't have full, info let alone good sources, on the marriages of most of their children.
I need to map the towns on the family group sheet to get a better idea of movements. I think many new towns listed may really be newly created towns rather than the Porters moving.
My notes refer to a Memorial History of Hartford County, 1886, Vol. 2, p. 166, but it is not listed in the sources.
I haven't looked at any land records for Daniel. That's depressing....

Conclusions
Yet again, I've shown myself that First Friday Folder review is worthwhile. In this case, it can also be pretty upsetting. Perhaps I should add a day a week where all I do I check folders and immediately fix any misfiled info?!

I've added the problems listed above to my master genealogy to-do list. There will be no shortage of tasks to tackle when I rotate back to working on my Porter line. But, first there's the Richardsons, and then the Keatings, and there's all my recent finds for the Carr line and where they may lead ... So much genealogy ... so little time!

First Friday Folder: Amos Richardson & Elizabeth Hicks

2011-04-01T17:34:00.000-07:00

I selected this folder for review this month, again, in preparation for my trip to Missouri in June, although I am becoming apprehensive that life will get in the way and keep me at home. Amos and Elizabeth are the parents of John Richardson of last month's post.

The Couple
Amos Greene Richardson was probably born about 1792 in Virginia or a part of Virginia about to become Kentucky. His ancestry is one of my biggest problems in my Hegwer line. Elizabeth Hicks was probably born about 1796 in Kentucky. Her ancestry is also unproven.

They married 4 October 1810 in Estill County, Kentucky. Amos died in 1853 in Morgan County, Missouri. Elizabeth was still alive for the 1870 US census of Haugh Creek, Morgan, Missouri. They had at least 10 children, three or four of whom were born after the family moved to Missouri. Their lives in Missouri are fairly well documented.

Yes, there are numerous online pedigrees attributing ancestors to both of them, but I have seen no verifiable sources or logical proof statements, nor have Cousin Donald or I yet found solid evidence or drawn a conclusion we feel good about.

The Folder
This folder is 7/8 of an inch thick, mostly because it includes all my leads and possibilities to consider for their ancestry. It was fairly well organized; I've been working on it off and on the last year. I think that for review this week, I'll look at all the problems and questions I have, and perhaps pick a few to work on before the trip to Missouri.

Problems / Questions
If Benjamin Richardson and Ellen Holt are the parents of this Amos, why are none of his children or grandchildren named "Benjamin" or "Ellen?" It is very tempting to adopt this couple as Amos' parents, especially since their own ancestries are well-documented and it means an immediate jump back for lots of generations .... But, at least for me, there are too many problems and not enough alternative proof/logic yet.

Is the Sara/Sallie Richardson who marries Bemjamin Franklin McFarland a provable daughter of Amos and Elizabeth?

I don't have sources indicated for the births of Amos & Elizabeth's children. I know I have at least census indications for most of them.

Breaking News: Cousin Donald has just proven the husband of Amos & Elizabeth's youngest daughter, Amanda. I have to get that info into my database and see where else it leads us. I think that deserves its own blog entry!

Have I tried to locate or pinpoint my Amos in the 1800-1810 censuses? I think I have him in 1820-30. Does it all line up reasonably with known children?

I have a 'research log' from 2006/7 with 34 items on it for further research. I need to go over that list and incorporate still-resolved issues into this list.

I have to go back and revisit the fine Morgan County Genealogy website. I've learned a lot since I was last there, and they've probably added new info, too!

I need to work on the HIX/HICKS of Morgan County, Missouri. Perhaps there is a link there to Kentucky that will help with finding Amos & Elizabeth's ancestors.

There are Estill County, Kentucky, land records that I have not seen and need to comb. The big problem there is that with all the changes in boundaries, I'll really be looking at at least Bourbon, Fayette, Clark, Madison, Clay, Montgomery, Lincoln, Floyd, Knox, AND Estill counties in Kentucky. And, then there's the issue of Kentucky County, Virginia, before Kentucky statehood. In my dreams, a Kentucky expert comes to my aide....

I must write-up / blog the whole rationale proving that this is NOT the Amos Richardson who marries Nancy San(d)ford. The county history mugbook is wrong and so there!

I need to do the GoogleEarth thing as I did for John on all of my Amos' land!

Donald has reviewed all the Kentucky tax lists and sent me his findings. I need to buckle down and try to make sense of it. There's just so many Richardsons in the area and they all have the same few forenames....@#$%#!

I need to reread all the probate info on Amos & Elizabeth and the first couple to die of their children.

DNA
This may be the biggest to-do of them all! We've got the 67-marker Y-DNA of this line and I must sit down and make a huge spreadsheet with it and that of the Richardson group at FamilyTreeDNA, etc. I'm afraid that all the possible candidates for the father of this Amos are closely related themselves. I think we're also going to need to find mtDNA candidates for Elizabeth's line, and possibly the Hix line and see if we can rule anyone out that way. That's all I need: another field to study. So much to do, so little time ....

Conclusions
Obviously, there's a lot I should do before doing anything really new with this couple. I'll start in this order: Morgan County genweb site, the Amanda news, census and other records for kids' birthplaces, the Sanford issue, the land records, and the DNA.

This is a complex problem. I have to face the "facts" (or the lack thereof!) and look at more of the collateral kin and neighbors and use cluster methodology, ala Chapter 4 of Marsha Hoffman Rising's The FamilyTree Problem Solver. Many of the surnames in Kentucky and Missouri are the same and there are many similar surnames among the children's spouses.

June is going to be here before I know it! Hmm...do I blog or work on research? I need a resolution to focus, focus, focus...

Big & Little Things I've Been Doing

2011-03-23T19:33:00.000-07:00

Big Thing
I regret my recent absence from the genealogy blogosphere, but I know you'll understand. Ah, it feels so good to again sit at my computer and breathe .... We are caregivers for our dear neighbor. He'll be 85 next month. He's retired, career Navy and, oh, the stories he has told, including having been on a ship off Japan for both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He's been very independent until March 9, long story short: ER, hospital, surgery, skilled nursing, and now we are planning the next step. I have had the privilege of giving him all the time I could these last two weeks. Things are better now, but I don't know when my blogs will be regular again.

Relatively Teeney Little Thing
With just a bit of "free" time now, I sat down and started on the accumulated blog postings in Reader. Wow, people have been very, very busy, ..., there are hundreds to read... I don't know if I'll ever get caught up.

I say a recent post at Randy Seaver's Genea-Musings
on how to make these personalized maps for blogs. He credited Becky Jamison and Sheri Fenley with leading him to it. It's so easy that I made this one in just a few moments. The BigHugeLabs webpage really is incredibly easy to use!

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

Some of these states were very short stays for my ancestors. I can probably add Illinois (great-grandparents had one child born there, I think on the way to a South Dakota / Minnesota border town) and New York (4th great-grandfather owned land there, but I haven't proven he lived there).

It strikes me that my ancestors lived in at least 20 states, yet if I made a map for my husband's ancestors, it would only show New York and Italy before that. If I made one for our dear neighbor's ancestors, it would only show Pennsylvania and Germany before that.

How different we all are ....

First Friday Folder: John Richardson & Isabella Shaw

2011-02-04T15:24:00.000-08:00

I've been wondering if this monthly post is worth my time since it is often totally NOT what I'm really working on at the time. I've even been thinking about dropping the project. But, recently, Randy Seaver posted about checking his files, and I am now reassured and re-motivated!

This month I picked great-great-grandparents John D. RICHARDSON and Isabella SHAW because I have to start getting ready for my next big genealogy trip: Hubby and I are going all the way to Morgan County, Missouri to the Richardson Family reunion hosted by Cousin Donald in June! This is the first First Friday Folder I've done from my Hegwer line.

Third-cousin Donald found me online a few years ago through some comments I'd left at ancestry.com. We've communicated quite a bit including several long phone calls. Donald has very graciously offered to show us historic Richardson family sights! He said there won't be too much genealogy at the reunion itself, but I assured him that I will be very happy to finally meet him in person, see the area, and feel the Missouri earth between my toes!

The Couple
I've written about John D. a bit before and there's even a photo of him here. The eighth child of Amos Richardson and Elizabeth Hicks/Hix, John D. was born in 1829 in Cooper County, Missouri, just before that area became Morgan County. Isabella, born in 1828 in Ohio (probably Knox County in an area that later became Morrow County), was the fifth child of Robert Shaw and Sarah Miller.

They married in Morgan County in 1849 and had 7 children before Isabella died in 1877. John remarried 1880 to Mary Jane Krues. John D. died in 1908, just shy of 80, and having outlived both wives and two of his children.

The Folder
This folder is about 1/2 inch thick, mostly because of all the census printout for all the kids. Its organization is in pretty good shape: just 2 pages to reposition. I did a little census work on son John Franklin Richardson, and then printed a new family group sheet. I have full, well sourced data on all the kids except for daughter Anna Bell Richardson who married Wallace Mattox/Maddox in 1885. I don't know what happened to either of them, but she apparently died before 1908 without heirs.

I reviewed my copy (courtesy of Cousin Donald) of John D's 1908 obituary. While it has many errors in info of his early life, it does give details of his last few years which would have been more likely to be accurate anyway. I reviewed a photocopy of a 1908 probate document [1], which names youngest son Amos as administrator and names the heirs: the five surviving children and two sons of deceased son James.

Something New to Try
Last weekend, I attended a full day seminar at the local genealogy association. Lisa Louise Cooke was a wonderful presenter and covered all sorts of tips for Google stuff in genealogy. I used her directions for using Google Earth with the Bureau of Land Management's General Federal Land Records website and EarthPoint to get a view of where one of John D.'s original land patents would appear.

The orange line towards the top of this snip is the north side of 43N Township in Morgan County, Missouri. The purple square is Sec 5. Both of those came up on Google Earth after following Lisa's directions. I added the yellow rectangle (again, following her directions) to show John's W1/2NW1/4, about 40 acres, issued in 1853. I can't wait to try this on other ancestral patents!!

The Plan
I don't think that I need a plan per se for this couple right now. Info and sources are pretty solid. I think this review helped with a little tidying up and as a chance to try a new skill with Google Earth. I think I achieved my main goal of reviewing all info before moving to John D.'s parents next month.

Conclusions

It's mandatory to review all the data I have on one generation before I tackle earlier generations. I want all my Richardson data to be as clear as possible in my head for the trip in June!
Local societies have lots to offer and this seminar was especially useful. And, as soon as Ms. Cooke started the Google Earth portion of her presentation, I knew I could use that info right away for illustrating John D.'s land patents here.
I'm so excited about this trip! I just hope I have time to be fully prepared....

Sources

[1] Morgan County, Missouri, Probate Court. Will Record, Vol. 3, 1892-1919. FHL # 983,550; p. 96.

Full Disclosure

I am not employed by nor do I receive any special consideration from any of the entities named above. Lisa Louise Cooke follows this blog, we share middle names, I subscribe to her podcast, and I bought her new book package with the very nice seminar discount available to everyone who was there.

Forgotten Settlers of Kansas: To Register or Not?

2011-02-01T14:31:00.000-08:00

This group has publications, a nice webpage, and more, both for societies and individuals. One of their projects is, in essence, a lineage society for direct descendants of so-called "Forgotten Settlers of Kansas." Certificates are available in the following categories of Kansas residency:

Territorial -- before 29 Jan 1861
Pioneer -- between 29 Jan 1861 and 31 Dec 1880
Early Settler -- between 1 Jan 1881 and 31 Dec 1900

It appears that great-great-grandparents Carl Benjamin Hegwer and Maria Rosina Ilgner, great-grandfather Charles Hegwer, and most of his siblings are eligible for the Territorial category and I could receive a certificate(s) by completing the application, supplying documentation, and paying $12. per individual. Part of the application and documentation would be published in a book; names would be on their website.

I know Carl, Maria, Charles, and the other Hegwers are NOT forgotten! While it's still a bit sad to me that all the Hegwer/Ilgner names do not appear on the lists at the website, I don't think I'll join the program. What do you think?

Lots More Marriage Records: Grice & Gib

2011-01-12T18:30:00.000-08:00

I didn't intend to write a series, but here's another example (my first such post is here) of the need to use indexes, regardless of their format, only as finding aids leading to the original records. Today's example is from FamilySearch and its England Marriages, 1538-1973 database.

Index Results
Searching for a GRICE and GIB marriage, my 4th-great-grandparents, yields these two index results:

This one gives lots of info; FHL film # 1,655,691 is cited. The slight misspellings/transcription errors could be the first hint that something might be a tad askew....

The second search result gives less info, a bit of conflict in the location, and a marriage a day later:

It cites FHL # 990,896 as the source. I really, really hope that anyone getting these search results takes the time to look at the source microfilms....

FamilySearch Issued a Warning
If you follow the links back from the image screens to those about the database itself, you arrive at the Wiki page for the English Vital Records Index. It's a fairly detailed description of the record set. The first section in this wiki is 'Known Issues with this Collection.' I think FamilySearch made a good decision in making these records available online, even though they knew there were major problems. It's up to the genealogist to carefully evaluate any records and to do a thorough job before drawing conclusions. In this case, the sources cited for my ancestors give a much more precise picture than the conflicting index entries.

Back to the Source
FHL film # 1,655,691 is Marriage Bonds,1806-1811 for the Church of England, Dean & Chapter of York. The entire film is images of marriage allegations and marriage bonds. The indexed "marriage date" of 17 October 1808 is really the date the allegation was made and the bond was pledged. The "marriage location" was really the couple's cited residences at the time. Later in the bond, it says that John "prayed a License to Solemnize the said Marriage in the Chapel of Luttons Ambo." It's good data to have, but it's no guarantee that a marriage ceremony occurred that day, if at all.

I was looking only in the Weaverthorpe area. Without the FamilySearch index leading me to a film about the 'peculiar jurisdiction of the Dean & Chapter of York,' I am not confident that I ever would have found it on my own, even though I knew the jurisdiction existed. I just wouldn't have looked for it. This series of films begins with 1613-1704. I wonder what treasures I could find if I look at more of them?!

and Back to the Other Source
FHL # 990,896 has Bishop's Transcripts: Item 1 for the Parish Church of Helperthorpe, 1631-1870; Item 3 for the nearby parish church of Weaverthorpe, 1631-1852. The Helperthorpe item is much shorter and Helperthorpe residents all most exclusively. The Weaverthorpe item includes residents of both areas and seems to have all the burials for the area. In Item 3, we find this record:

There are no page numbers -- just general chronological order. The section is labeled Marriages 1808. My photo is not that good, but the image was easy to read:

Octr 18th. John Grice of this Parish, Widower, and Sarah Gib of the same Parish, Spinster, were married in Lutton Chapel by licence [sic]

In this case, the index seems to be accurate in giving October 18 as the marriage date and Weaverthorpe was the parish, but not the exact location. A very small number of entries in this film specify Lutton Chapel as the location.

Conclusions

New online databases are wonderful, but there are problems.
Not everything we need for better results in our research is online. Microfilms still have great value.
Having been led to these films by the FamilySearch website and now having read the source films, I've found details of John's first marriage, discovered his probable parents, and found that Jane remarried after John's death. That totally unexpected discovery even led to finding her in the 1841 census. Thank you, FamilySearch!

First Friday Folder: Cary & Godfrey

2011-01-07T21:56:00.000-08:00

I'm backdating this post a bit, but I did start it before January's first Friday...! These are two of my eighth-great-grandparents: John CARY and Elizabeth GODFREY. I picked this folder for this month because I haven't worked on them for a very long time, no one in the line of descent has been a FirstFridayFolder yet, and the folder looked awfully large. I was hoping there would be lots to weed out, leaving more room in the file drawer!

Organization
Yes, I hadn't studied this couple for a long time: the family group sheet was six years old! There were several printouts from 2003 of online, unsourced family trees--clearly from my name collecting days--and I discarded them. Yeah! The file drawer has a little more room!

Updates
I ran the Cary/Godfrey names in searches in the NEHGS databases, printed out a few sheets, and updated the sources in my database. Darn, now the folder is back to the size it was before I started....

Planning
Reviewing my notes in the family group sheet, I see that there is a good deal of controversy/uncertainty about John Cary's ancestry and early years. I checked the Great Migration series at NEHGS and see that there is still no Cary sketch. I checked Hollick's (2006) New Englanders in the 1600s and recorded the sources for Cary in my To Do file.

I need to study more on the best or standard format for locations in the Massachusetts area in the 1600s. Should I be using colony names? What was Bridgewater part of in 1644? It seems to me that there should be a published, industry standard for all those early towns for specific date ranges.

Line of Descent

John Cary = Elizabeth Godfrey

Joseph Cary = Maretia Mercie Bushnell

Elizabeth Cary = Seth Palmer

Joseph Palmer = Abigail Lasell

Zenas Palmer = Lydia Marshall

Lydia Palmer = David Bascom

Hannah Field Bascom = Titus Davison

Clara Eveline Davidson = Celim Homer Porter

L Willis Porter

Genealogy Resolutions: 2010 score card & 2011 goals

2010-12-31T17:58:00.000-08:00

2010 Resolution Scorecard
When I sat down to compose this post, my mindset was that I had had a very successful year. But, having just reviewed my 13 resolutions for last year, I didn't do so well if I just look at the numbers: one completed and two very well along. On the other hand, the one completion was a biggie: a research trip to the Salt Lake Family History Library. Unfortunately, my one completed resolution created more finds to analyze and sidetracked me from my other, more specific, goals.

I had also resolved to eliminate the TO-DO piles. (Yeah, sure!) I didn't succeed, but I am very, very proud to have only 2 piles left and they are both much smaller than this time last year.

My other partial success was in finding the parents of the Lucy WAIT who married Asahel DAVISON circa 1792. I have a couple under study now, and I really think they are the right ones: I just need a solid piece of evidence to tie them to her.

It wasn't on my list of goals, but I feel very fortunate to have found the birth family for a 90-year-old friend of mine. Adopted as an infant, she found out she was adopted when the woman she called 'Mom' died. She has spoken with half-siblings and they are very happy to find out about her. Also, I found the immigrant grandparents of another friend who thought she'd never know their names.

Alas, that still leaves 7 resolutions virtually untouched and 2 touched but with no substantive change in their status. I think I need fewer resolutions for 2011!

Goals for 2011
1. Keep on the search for the parents of the Lucy WAIT who married Asahel DAVISON circa 1792. I think I am really close on this one after all these years....

2. Attend the reunion of descendants of Amos RICHARDSON in Morgan County, Missouri in June, 2010 ... a carry-over from 2010.

3. Write/phone the Del Norte Cemetery in Rio Grande County, Colorado to see who is buried in the plot for which I have a bill of sale / deed to Charles HEGWER ... another carry-over from 2010.

4. Arrange for a headstone at the unmarked grave of Celim PORTER [10 May 1913 - 18 Jun 1913] at Cavalry Cemetery in Los Angeles. Celim was the son of L Willis PORTER and his first wife, Josephine Slater, who died barely a month after her only child and is buried about 20 yards away ... another carry-over from 2010.

5. Keep working on the 2 remaining piles of research to input or analyze. I made great progress on this goal in 2010. This year I will get it down to one pile that fits in the TO-DO box by this computer!

6. Blogwise, my goal was 20 postings published and this makes 47! The only goal I'll make for GreatGreats itself this year is to get the story of finding my grandmother written. That's why I started this blog and the time has come.

Overall, I think 2010 was a good year for GreatGreats! May you have a GREAT year and may your greatest genealogy problem be solved in 2011!

First Friday Folder: Goodale & Clough

2010-12-03T22:20:00.000-08:00

With all my agony over changing templates last month, I completely forgot to do a First Friday Folder. Did anyone miss it?

This month, I picked a folder of which I had absolutely no idea what it needed. It was labeled "Goodale ... Clough," which in my system means that it is a catch-all folder for those surnames and their ancestors: I haven't made folders for the couples and haven't printed out any family group sheets.

The Goodale/Clough folder has about 23 sheets in it: excerpts from some un-sourced online pedigrees, some book excerpts from Heritage Quest, and some database printouts from New England Historical Genealogical Society. This seems to be some of the info I used to add the names to my database, but it has no organization and I did not leave myself any notes let anlone anything resembling a plan. My goal for today is to make folders, print family group sheets, examine sources, and make a general plan for each couple.

So, first, I printed out Mehitable Clough's portion of the pedigree chart:

Then, I checked the file drawer and found that I had followed my system: I don't have a folder for any of these couples. That means that these names were entered into by database when I was more of a name collector than a genealogist, so there's no telling what these family group sheets will look like....

I've made 9 folders now and printed out the corresponding 9 family group sheets. Most were only 2-3 pages long and have source lists looking like this excerpt:

I guess it could have been worse. It looks as though it's been about 5 years since I've looked at any of these names. There are very few primary sources but some reputable secondary sources and definitely a good lead for further solid research.

The General Plan
I need to start with Mehitable Clough and Thomas Goodell, finding primary sources for all events for them and their children. (I believe they are my fifth-great-grandparents.) Then, I can work back through their ancestors, one couple at a time.

Martin Hollick's New Englanders in the 1600s [1] shows several good sources available for most of these names. The first thing that strickes me is that 'Goodale' is a varient for 'Goodell.' I don't think I knew that before.

Conclusion
This has been a secretarial, housekeeping week: making organized folders so I will have a place ready for filing the new research I need to do. These lines seem to have a good deal of established research attached to them. I think I just need to verify and document it. I think research will be easier now, if only because I didn't have the Hollick book five years ago.

Sources

Pedigree and source excerpts cropped from my personal database, which uses Ancestral Quest software. [I am very proud of finally figuring out a way to easily get a nice looking pedigree chart into this blog!]

[1] Martin E. Hollick, New Englanders in the 1600s: A Guide to Genealogical Research Published Betwee 1980 and 2005. Boston: New England Historical Genealogical Society, 2006.

Lots of Marriage Records: John Sweet & Judith Payson

2010-11-30T20:30:00.000-08:00

Great-great-great-grandparents Norton Bates and Betsey Sweet have caused me genealogical problems for all the years I've been working on genealogy. First, it took several years to figure out who Norton's parents were: Moses Bates & Ruth Shaw. Sorting BATES in New England is not easy, but now I have all of his lines back for at least 3 more generations and some for many more.

Betsey Sweet is still a problem. I think of her not so much as a brick wall but more like a climbing wall with footholds and handholds out of reach and me with no safely line.... I've been collecting SWEETs for many years, studying families and hoping for possibilities, while eliminating most of them. Recent additions to the familysearch.org databases gave me a new location for Betsey's possible parents: Adams, Berkshire, Massachusetts.

CAUTIONARY WARNING: I am NOT saying that the following couple are the parents of my Betsey Sweet. They are simply one more lead that I am currently exploring.

From the Massachusetts Marriages, 1695-1910 database:

This looks like a very good lead, given Betsey's death record listing parents' names John & Judith Sweet and a calculated birthdate of about 1794. Last weekend, I traveled to the newly remodeled Los Angeles Family History Library (yes, they've changed names again) and got to see the source film, FHL# 760,652. Sure enough, there where it was supposed to be on p. 23 was entry #124:

But, it's not quite as advertised: it says "intended," not "married," and is the only entry on that page without a notation of when a certificate was given. I was very sad to see that I did not have a solid marriage record here, but I kept reading the film, mostly because it was such easy reading. I was not hopeful since the familysearch.org search function had not turned up any other records. Then, just a few pages later, I found this one:

Aha! Over two years later, they again made their intentions AND got a certificate another month later! The difference in her name is not a deal breaker; it just gives me additional names to watch. But, now I'll need to watch for issues around Betsey's birthdate in relation to the marriage of her parents.

I kept on reading, hoping to see some children for the couple. There were some children listed pages later for other families, but none for any Sweet family nor Payson family. But then, the format of the document changed again and it went back to some marriage records where I found this one:

Aha! Aha! And 'they' thought they could fool me! This entry sure makes it look as though this couple actually married on 4 September 1796. These three entries were the only SWEET or PAYSON names I saw on the whole film. There weren't even any of either name among the recorded earmarks!

I still can't link this couple to my Betsey Sweet with any confidence, but they are the best candidate now and the best candidates I have ever had.

I'm sharing this research to show that the familysearch.org databases are not perfect. I tried again today to form a search that turned up either the second or third entry in the online index. After quite a bit of effort and knowing the records are indeed on the film, I was able to find my second record:

Again, it's indexed as a marriage rather than intentions.
And, finally, I was able to force the third one to show up in a search:

Note that it was indexed as 'Tason' rather than 'Pason,' an understandable indexing interpretation if one had not been reading pages of that handwriting and looking at how known Ps & Ts compared.

This all showed me again in just one day that I must always, always go to actual sources. This experience also reinforced the idea that just because a search in an online database doesn't turn up the people I'm looking for, it doesn't mean that they aren't there!

Sources

Births, Marriages, and Intentions of Marriage, ca. 1766-1847 [Adams, Massachusetts]. FHL # 760,652.

https://beta.familysearch.org ; database: Massachusetts Marriages, 1695-1910.

Digital photos of the microfilm images off the microfilm reader by MHD.

A New Celebrity Cousin!

2010-11-29T18:44:00.000-08:00

I admit it's interesting to me to find a distant relative is a celebrity or historical figure, but I don't go looking for them. I've often thought that I'd much rather be related to a professional or serious genealogist! If only Steve Danko had a Silesian Hegwer in his Polish lines.... At least I've got Pauline Litton in my Carr line, as I've written previously, and I'm very proud of that!

But wait, today there is news: Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings and I are cousins! I'm so excited! Alright, it's only 8th cousins, but that's something!

I just saw Seaver's recent post on his Peirce Surname. We share 7th great-grandparents George Stearns and Hannah Sanderson of my New England Porter line. I am not totally surprised, though, since I've been reading his series of surname lines and I had seen several names that I knew were neighbors of several of my great-greats. I saw him last year at Jamboree but didn't talk with him; if he comes this year, I'll be sure to introduce myself!

Something Old, Something New

2010-11-06T12:17:00.000-07:00

Something New
I hope this is not a let down after all the talk about changing templates, but here it is! My goals were to get to play around with the design options in Blogger and to have a new & more attractive appearance to GreatGreats.

Something Old
I'm still reading/analyzing the microfilm version of the Bishop's Transcripts for Helperthorpe and Weaverthorpe in East Yorkshire. As I've already posted, I've found some solid sources for baptisms and marriages for direct ancestors for whom I previously only had dates obtained from other researchers. I've also found lots of names & dates for which I need to do some more analysis before I write about it here or accept it as something to add to my "proven" lines.

While studying this microfilm, I've been re-reading some of my reference books on genealogy in English records. One book in particular has been very helpful:
Genealogical Research in England and Wales, Vol. I by Gardner & Smith. My copy is from 1956. [Whoa, stop the presses: This is younger than I am...how can I call it old?!]

I've especially found Chapter 13: Bishop's Transcripts and Their Value helpful with this film. In a very thorough discussion of the differences between the transcripts and the parish records, the authors emphasized the importance of seeing both sets of records wherever possible:

There are cases on record where the Bishop's Transcripts list some entries not recorded in the parish registers. One may surmise that the transcript was made, not from the parish register but from some day-by-day account. The differences between the register and the transcript may have occurred at the time the register was copied from the day book, and the transcript was also copied up at the same time with variations occurring in the copying of the details. Researchers should be aware of these possibilities. The Ideal method of research is to search both the registers and the transcripts if such is feasible and not too expensive. [p. 197]

I have found a film reference for Weaverthorpe parish records and I will order that film. It will be interesting to see what differences exist between the records in this one small town.

Conclusions
Older books can be very useful, especially when I am lucky enough to find them at at used bookstore for a very, very good price. No trip to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City is complete without walking over to visit Sam Weller's Books, which is where I found this book (and also Vol 3 on a later trip).

Changing a blog's design can be just as much, if not more, fun than shopping for a new outfit with coordinating shoes!

Reference

David E. Gardner & Frank Smith. Genealogical Research in England and Wales, Vol. I. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft Publishers, 1956.

Disclaimer
I have no connection with Sam Weller's Books and receive no special consideration from them. I just like their used books department and, given the location, it's pretty likely to always have a good selection of used genealogy books!

Great-Great-Great-Grandmother Rachel GRICE: Update

2010-10-27T16:49:00.000-07:00

I'm still working through the Weaverthorpe microfilm. I've already renewed it once and still haven't made it all the way through for the first time! The film does not have its own index, but the FamilySeach entries online have helped me find some of the entries. Otherwise, I'm basically reading the entire film page by page. I've certainly seen films with poorer quality images, but some of this film is very hard going. So, I'm expecting to renew the film again next week; and, that will keep it at my local FHC indefinitely.

There are several GRICE entries and I am extracting each one. I've started to make family group sheets for them all in an attempt to confidently sort out all the Grice's.

The baptism of Rachel Grice

Online, unsourced notes show her birth and/or baptism on 2 June 1816 in Weaverthorpe or West Lutton. With this film, I now have my own real source for Rachel for a specific event with a specific location!

This image is fairly easy to see on the microfilm reader; my photo here does not do it justice. Transcription of the entry on a page of baptisms for the Weaverthorpe parish, Yorkshire, in 1816:

June 2 / Rachel Daughter of / John & Sally / Grice / (abode) West Lutton / grocer / (performed by) Abm Ashworth

Perhaps the most significant information here is that specifying an occupation for her father John. There are clearly two John Grice's in town in this time period and this entry will certainly help correctly determine Rachel's line.

The Marriage of Rachel Grice and Joseph Ethell

Again, all I had here were unsourced notes from other genealogists. But, now I have this beauty:

I've read about 60 years' worth of Weaverthorpe BMD entries now, and this is the only ETHELL in the lot! Joseph may have been "of this Parish" at this time, but he was not part of any extended family raised here! This entry is unusual in Weaverthorpe in that, where only one of the couple signs their own signature, it is usually the groom. I'm assuming the witness, Charles Grice, is Rachel's older brother, but that could change as I proceed with all the other Grice's!

Conclusions

I think I will still need to look at the original parish records, rather than relying only on these Bishop's Transcripts. The original entries could well have additional or even different information.
I'm feeling more confident about the potential for keeping the different Grice families straight. I think I am going to be able to present a fairly solid line of evidence to confidently identify Rachel's parents and at least her paternal grandparents.
I'm still proud that I've stayed focused on Weaverthorpe for several weeks now. But, I must admit, even with all this success, I am getting bored and am eager to change to researching and writing about something else!

Source

Bishop's Transcripts for Weaverthorpe, 1631-1852. Church of England. Parish Church of Weaverthorpe (Yorkshire). FHL # 990,896. Item 3. [There are very few page numbers, but the images are generally in chronological order.]

Elopement of Ben Hegwer & Bertha Carr and Genealogical Kindness

2010-10-15T20:47:00.000-07:00

[from the Ely Daily Mining Expositor, 11 September 1912, p. 1]

I treasure this newpaper clipping. Luckily, the entire, original issue has been handed down. Otherwise, I doubt if I would have ever looked for an article, let alone found this 4-page newspaper. The paper is starting to crack, but it does give a legible image from a scan or photo. Clicking on the image should give you a larger image so that you can easily read all the exciting details of the chase! My research does verify Bertha's being of legal age.

The family legend was that great-grandfather John Henry CARR sent the sheriff's posse after Ben & Bertha. I had always assumed it was just a legend, and was very pleasantly surprised to find the newspaper in the things my dad left. I'm not sure Dad knew he even had this paper.

John Henry and at least two of his other children were working at the mine in White Pine, near Ely. Ben worked for the related power company. [A previous post has a photo of this couple many years later.]

Other news of the day

Other front page news that day included articles on the rebellion in Mexico, election campaigning, violations of banking law, rebuilding New Orleans, and hostilities in Turkey. I guess some things never change...

Interestingly (at least to me), there were two more articles about local weddings, and here's where I get to the Genealogical Kindness. First, the article immediately adjacent to Ben & Bertha's was about the lovely, planned wedding (with breakfast and guests!) of Katherine Graham and Elmer Porter. Was it just a coincidence that they left on the same train for the same destination as my grandparents? It could well have been: the train didn't come by daily and Salt Lake is where it went; there weren't that many options. But they must have all known each other. Maybe the wedding and departure of the Porter's helped prompt Ben & Bertha to plan the elopement and join the ride?!

I went to ancestry.com and found 5 family trees including the Graham/Porter couple. None included a marriage date/location nor did they include Katherine's siblings. So, using ancestry's connection option, I sent brief emails to all 5 tree owners, offering to send a copy of the article. In just 4 days, I've received replies/requests from 3 of the 5. I feel very good about sharing this info!

Second, there was a very brief social notice about Louis Cononelos of McGill leaving (on the same train as everyone else mentioned here!) for New York to meet his fiance, Nina Chakopoulou, who was arriving from Athens. The couple would be married in New York and return to McGill. I did not find any family trees for this couple, but I posted a comment on their 1920 census record and gave her birth name and the newspaper citation. I hope that info will help someone someday.

Disclaimer

I subscribe to ancestry.com, but otherwise still have no connection to these companies and receive no special consideration from them.

Note

I have no reason to believe that Elmer Porter is any relation to my own Porter line.

First Friday Folder: Richard ETHELL & Mary BEETHAM

2010-10-01T10:16:00.000-07:00

I'm taking it easy this month: I know this is a very thin folder! I selected this couple because they are (probably? hopefully?) the parents of Joseph ETHELL, the subject of last month's FirstFridayFolder and my recent Weaverthorpe post. I'm still working on the Weaverthorpe/Helperthorpe microfilm and I just don't want to change gears right now.

The Couple

I am very hesitant to post this information at all: I have no primary sources and there are clearly problems with what I do have. Please do not add this data to your database, but for this discussion, here is what I have right this minute:

Richard ETHELL was born 17 March 1784 in Rillington cum Scampton, Yorkshire and died 18 December 1845 in Low Hutton, Yorkshire. Mary was born 10 September 1774 in New Malton, Yorkshire and died 26 June 1856 in Huttons Ambo, Yorkshire. They were married 23 November 1801 in High Hutton, Yorkshire.

The Problems

Oh, dear, where do I begin?!

Richard seems a bit young to be getting married and what is the likelihood that a 17-year-old would marry a woman 10 years older than he?
I have to be very careful about the town names, given the possibility of confusing the script for 'Hutton' versus 'Lutton' or 'Sutton.'
The first child I have for them, Thomas Beedison ETHELL, was born (or is it a baptism?) before the marriage date and before Richard would have turned 16 years of age.
I have a number of variant surnames for Mary: Beedam, Beedison, Beetham, Betham. If the Thomas I just named goes with this couple at all, perhaps Mary was a widow and has another surname all together.
The biggest problem is my complete lack of anything I can honestly call 'evidence.' Some of my info is from two family researchers who are generally very thorough, but their conclusions are conflicting and not all their pieces are sourced. That's why I'm working on their son's generation and reading the Weaverthorpe/Helperthorpe records for my self right now.

The Folder

It's hard to have organizational problems in a folder that only contains a few items, but there were still a couple of things to do. I had not printed a new family group sheet for 4 years, which isn't so bad I guess since I have not been working on them in that time. There were two copies of the 1841 census image and no annotation to explain why I had two! And, neither of them had been entered in my database.

The Good News
The best thing I have going for me here is Richard ETHELL himself. Noted English genealogist, Pauline Litton, is an Ethell/Ithel descendant and has used the family research as examples in her publications and speeches. It is her reputation that gives me confidence that the other two family researchers and I do indeed have the right people and that we just need to tidy up around the edges! I've seen two of Litton's articles and would like to find more. Also, she has registered the ETHELL surname at the Guild of One-Name Studies. What I really need to do is to write to her! And, I'd like to buy her book,too!

Conclusions
There are certainly problems with my Ethell/Beetham couple, but I can't really do anything here before I thoroughly deal with my Ethell/Grice couple!

It's nice to be able to use the research of others as a help in my genealogy, but my ETHELL line is a good example to show that there can still be conflicts and problems. Clearly, I still need to find and study the sources and build my own solid evidence trail.

I'm proud of myself for staying focused on Weaverthorpe. I'll be even more proud if I can stay focused until I've finished the film, analyzed it, and made a thorough plan for what to do next....

Disclaimers

I have no connection to nor do I receive any special consideration from The Guild of One Name Studies or Litton's Swansong Publications.

Research Diary: Weaverthorpe, Yorkshire

2010-09-27T16:00:00.000-07:00

This post is a report on how my research on ETHELLs and GRICEs of my last First Friday Folder post is going. Ah, the unexpected things I learn....

DAY1

Having reviewed my folder on great-great-great-grandparents Joseph Ethell & Rachel Grice, and feeling well-prepared for my research, I arrived at the local Family History Center and set myself up at a microfilm reader. My goal was Item 3 of FHL # 990,896: Bishop's Transcripts for Weaverthorpe, 1631-1852, Church of England, Parish Church of Weaverthorpe in Yorkshire, England. My first thought was 'How inconvenient that I'm going to have to scroll through 2 whole items to get to the one I need, drat!'

I am still compulsive enough that I at least write down the title of every item on a film and annotate my notes about whether or not I read an item. First, I wrote down the film number and what my general goal was: birth and marriage data on Joseph, Rachel, and their children. Then, I wrote out the title entry for Item 1 and my note that I was not reading this one at all: whoever even heard of 'Helperthorpe'? I need Weaverthorpe and so there.

But the compulsive me, while rapidly scrolling through Item1 on my to Item 3, did a random stop and read one page. And, there was a GRICE! This is not a super common surname so I figured I'd better check this out before I went any further. I ran Google maps on one of the FHC's computers and found that, wonder of all wonders, Helperthorpe is only 0.8 mile from Weaverthorpe!

I had broken one of the cardinal laws of genealogy: know your geography before you do serious research! Fortunately, the Genealogy Elf had given me a GRICE on my random stop. Otherwise, I probably would have sent the film back to Salt Lake without knowing what I had in my hands.

Quickly reading backwards just 3 pages from my random stop yielded 4 more GRICEs, but the year was much to early to be of use to me now, so I went forward to an intermediate section title page which said "Helperthorpe -- 1790-1807, 1802, 1809-1812." As 1790 was where I had decided I would focus my reading in Weaverthorpe, this seemed like a good place to start my notetaking for Helperthorpe. I saw that Helperthorpe must be a pretty small place because there were only 3 baptisms and no marriages nor burials for the entire year from Lady Day 1790 to Lady Day 1791. I also found a notation for one year specifying that the marriages and burials for that year were recorded at Weaverthorpe. So, clearly, these two locations are linked and I must consider them both in my ETHELL / GRICE quest.

I read through to 1850 in Helperthorpe and found 15 GRICE entries (including 3 children of a Wilson/Grice couple. I can't yet connect any of these to my lines, but I've just begun!

DAY 2

Before I left for the FHC, I went to the GENUKI website and ran Weaverthorpe through the church database. I searched for all churches within 6 miles of Weaverthorpe. I quickly got a list of 26 churches (18 Church of England and 8 Methodist of one sort or another). Here's a snippet of those search results:

I'm already pretty confident that my GRICEs & ETHELLs are connected to Weaverthorpe and to Lutton. Now, I see that if I had run this search earlier when I should have, I would have also known to search in Helperthorpe and Butterwick.

At the FHC, I scrolled ahead to Item 3 to read Weaverthorpe. [I had already run Google maps on Hornby of Item 2 and found that it was 60 miles away and I don't feel a need to read it yet!] I started reading/notetaking in the third section, dated 1760-1775.

There are more GRICEs here, but the script is different and it appears to be spelled 'grifse,' which I think is GRISSE, a possible alternative spelling. I was hoping I was making a good assumption when I found this marriage record:

Banns of Marriage between Richard Grice & Ann Kellington were published on Tuesday ye 12th ye 19th & ye 26th of May by Mr Geo Lawson Mininster. / The above Richard Grice, spelled Grifse in ye Baptismal Register of Lutton, Batchelor & Ann Kellington also of Lutton Spinster, were married in ye Chapel of West Lutton by Banns on Wednesday ye twenty ninth day of May in ye year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred & eighty two by me...

Wasn't that nice of the minister to specify the exact name he wanted! Altogether, I extracted 14 more GRICE entries this day. I still can't confidently claim any of them, but I am starting to form family groups. Once I get to the 1830s, I hope to find the link I need.

DAY 3

Whoops! I woke up with the sudden realization that I wasn't looking for GIB/GIBS/GIBB/etc. That's the surname of Rachel's possible mother. I think I would have come to my senses if I had seen a GIB, but it bothers me that I hadn't actually include the surname in my goal statement. The little research I've done before on Rachel has never found any GIB (etc.) families anywhere near a GRICE or ETHELL.

Well, I'm eager to get on with reading the Weaverthorpe film, but I won't make it to the FHC today after all. Life gets in the way sometimes.... But, I've sat here instead and reviewed all the notes I've made so far. I'll try again on Thursday!

MEMO TO SELF

Always run the church locations before reviewing any church records in England.
Always look at a detailed map and see the nearby towns, too.
Make sure the goals I specify for reading any film have all the surnames I'm looking for.

NOTE

There are no page numbers in either of the two Bishop's Transcripts used here. All the records are in rough chronological order. The film is unusually clear and easy to read for the most part.

Irish Genealogy Tip: The Irish Times

2010-09-25T10:26:00.000-07:00

ProGenealogists recently posted a brief mention by Kellie Scherbel about a tool for finding variant spellings for Irish surnames. It's a great tool, hosted by the Irish Times. But, I quickly found that they have a LOT more at their site for those of us trying to research Irish ancestors.

The Irish Times home page, under the 'More' section, the drop-down menu includes an option for 'Irish Ancestors.' The Surname Search button there yields a search box and this explanation:

"Enter a surname in the box above, and find out:
the number and location of households of the name in Ireland 1848-64;
variant spellings or associated names;
surname dictionary entries;
surname histories;
the number and location of births of the name in 1890;
published or printed family histories;
a possible coat of arms associated with the name."

It all works beautifully! I got quite a lot of information on KEATING and less, but still useful, on DOOLEY.

There are also options for placename info, research outlines, immigration, and full text archives of a regular Irish Times genealogy column by noted genealogist John Grenham, beginning from Jan 2009! And, there are more links to additional helps at this page. I think it's a real treat to be able to read regular articles by Grenham!

Conclusions

Thanks to ProGenealogists for this tip. Now, I just wish I could find some little lead somewhere about specifically where my Irish great-grandparents originated ....

Disclaimers

I read the ProGenealogists blog regularly and love the info available at their website, but I have no other connection to them at all.

I receive no consideration from the Irish Times, but I will start visiting their Irish Ancestors webpage regularly now that I know about it! Warning: There is an option to subscribe for full access to Irish Ancestors. But there are oodles of free goodies available.

PORTER Descent

2010-09-15T16:36:00.000-07:00

"In the proliferation of Porters in colonial Connecticut, several large and unrelated families can be sorted out. Significant among them are the descendants of John and Anna (White) Porter of Windsor; of Dr. Daniel, Thomas and Robert Porter, all of Farmington; and of Richard Porter of Weymouth, Massachusetts."

This quotation is from The American Genealogist article 'Some Connecticut Descendants of Richard Porter of Weymouth, Massachusetts' by John A. Leppman [1]. Unfortunately, I am not a descendant of Richard but of Dr. Daniel, and there is not as much written about him. It is, however, reassuring to see a published article in a reputable journal saying that these several PORTER families are unrelated.

On the other hand, my PORTERS were somewhat prominent and left many records in the Hartford, Connecticut area and later in New Haven. It becomes just a bit harder to separate them when they left Connecticut for Vermont in about 1797. But, I am blessed with one of those probate documents that you read about in a journal and ask, 'Why didn't my ancestor's leave a record like that?' !

Thomas Porter (husband of Abigail Bates) appeared 20 February 1799 at a probate court in Waterbury, Connecticut on behalf of his father Ashbel to settle the estate of his grandfather Thomas Porter [2]. Thomas, the grandson, and his father Ashbel are both specified as being 'of South Hero in the County of Chittenden State of Vermont.' Finding one document that clearly lays out three generations in two states for this common surname settled many of my concerns about correctly connecting PORTERs!

Conclusions
Probate records can be wonderful finds, especially for common surnames in colonial New England. Maybe someday I'll attempt to find Dr. Daniel's English origins, but I think that will take a lot of work and a lot of luck!

This line of descent is:

Dr. Daniel Porter (American immigrant prior to 1644) = Mary

Dr. Daniel Porter = Deborah Holcomb

Capt. Thomas Porter = Mary Welton

Ashbel Porter = Hannah Norris

Thomas Porter = Abigail Bates

Homer Thomas Porter = Dolly Ann Bates

Celim Homer Porter = Clara Evelene Davison

L Willis Porter

SOURCES
[1] The American Genealogist, 1977, vol 53, p. 31.
[2] Waterbury, Connecticut: Register of Probate Records. FHL film #6,139; Item 2: Volume 3, 1799-1820, p. 118. (Note: there are many other Porter entries throughout this film.)

First Friday Folder: Joseph ETHELL & Rachel GRICE

2010-09-03T16:26:00.000-07:00

I selected the folder of this set of great-great-great-grandparents because a film of Bishop's transcripts for Weaverthorpe in East Yorkshire, England has arrived for me at my local Family History Center and I need to get ready for starting this research project next week!

The Couple
Joseph ETHELL was probably born 7 April 1816 in Huttons Ambo, North Yorkshire, and probably died 18 Jan 1889 in North Yorkshire. Rachel GRICE was probably born 2 June 1816 in West Lutten, Weaverthorpe, North Yorkshire, and died about March 1895 in Castleford, West Yorkshire. They were perhaps married 16 July 1835 in Weaverthorpe and at least 2 of their 10 children were probably born there, too. These dates/places are from two, usually very thorough, family researchers who were kind enough to share with me. Unfortunately, I have no record of the exact sources they used, nor do they agree exactly with their details.

I have Joseph and Rachel together in the following censuses, all in Yorkshire:

1841 - South Elmsall, South Kirkby
1851 - Glass Houghton
1861 - HIghtown, Castleford
1871 - Gow Close, Glover's Row, Whitwood
1881 - Discomb Row, Welbeck Street, Castleford

Obviously, there should be a good deal of information about this family in the Bishop's transcripts of Weaverthorpe. On the other hand, the family could have really been in one of the little, adjacent parishes and not have used the Weaverthorpe church itself. Another caution is that I know they were members of a Primitive Methodist Chapel by 1849. Their marriage should still be recorded in the parish church, but the early baptisms might not. At any rate, I need to see this film and I am hoping it will give me some "real" sources! And, if they are not there, at least I'll know to start looking in neighboring parishes.

The Folder
The organization of the folder is in pretty good shape. It includes a family group sheet, census summary and images, and a few other copies of records. (I am missing a few censuses for some of the children, but I think four of them may have died young. Perhaps I can find death info in the film next week.)

There was just one 3-page printout from GENUKI in 2006 on "The Ancient Parish of Weaverthorpe" that my current system files under the location rather than in a couple's folder. Reviewing the three pages before moving it to my Yorkshire notebook, I saw that the website included a link to the 1834 Electoral Roll for Weaverthorpe and I don't remember having tried it before. Unfortunately, a quick visit there showed no Ethell, Grice, or anything close in the surnames. But, I did see that they have more maps and have added 8 church photos. Clicking on the link to the Methodist Chapel leads to a nice photo and a database search for other nearby churches that very quickly showed me that there are 6 churches within three miles of the chapel. GENUKI is a wonderful thing!!

The Biggest Problem: Geography
Is it just me or does anyone else have trouble keeping Yorkshire place names straight? It may be 'English' but it usually feels like some language I have never, ever seen....

There is a Huttons Ambo (High Hutton & Low Hutton) only about 16 miles from Luttons Ambo (East Lutton, West Lutton, Lutton). There is also a Sutton in North Yorkshire. With different scripts in that time period, I think these locations could be mixed-up. Also, sometimes they seem to be giving a local neighborhood name but the larger city sometimes. For instance, I have one notation that Rachel was born in West Lutten and one that she was baptized about two miles away in Weaverthorpe. And, I also have that daughter Jane may have been born in Elmsall or in South Kirkby, which are only about a mile apart from each other (and only about 60 miles from Weaverthorpe). Where these seem to be different places, it could just be someone referring to a larger or smaller neighborhood name for one location. I need to keep a map handy and to keep an open mind!

Conclusions

GENUKI is a wonderful resource for anyone researching in England. The aids to finding nearby parishes are outstanding. The site is continually adding info: I need to check back more often!
I must pay continual attention to place names and geography, especially in Yorkshire. Keeping civil and ecclesiastical parishes sorted is hard enough, but when the names themselves are so similar, it is even worse.
I still need real sources for the basic events in this couple's life. I hope that my having reviewed this folder before starting to work on the microfilm will help me focus my search and keep the locations straight.

Line of Descent

Joseph Ethell = Rachel Grice

Jane Ethell = William Carr

John Henry Carr = Ann Matilda Causier

Bertha Carr

William Causier in Dodderhill

2010-08-24T09:42:00.000-07:00

I went back to the Dodderhill Parish Survey Project site mentioned in last post and found great-great-great-grandfather William CAUSIER actually named! It says

Most of the Land is owned by Earl Somers and Thomas Thould, with John Bobeson, Thomas Wilson, Edward Bayliss, and William Causier as main occupiers. Full details are in the Appendices of the document available by clicking the link below, which also has information on the various legal documents conveying the land at Impney to John Corbett.

My goodness! A name and more information available?! What could be better than that?!

It took a while to navigate and get to the additional information, but it is super! Links led to the Worcestershire County Council site and, wonder of all wonders, they have a searchable database with digital copies of the 1845 tithe maps! There are lots of ways to display the maps and a complicated/thorough legend and labeling system. It seems to work much better with IE instead of Mozilla. This image is a very simplified version of what I found:

The pink hash-marked spaces are roads, with the main one from the right of the top center to the bottom left corner being Bromsgrove Road. The label didn't transfer with the image, but the area immediately to the east of that road and immediately south of the L-shaped dead-end is Hill End!

Now, for the biggie: look at the line of 8 structures along Bromsgrove Road in the center of the image. The thin, greenish parcel with the 4th structure down is that of William Causier in 1845! I hope this makes sense because this is a great find: a map that specifically shows William's land and the location of the Hill End area.

The unique intersections allowed me to use Google street view and locate the spot! It shows lush foliage in a mostly residential area with the Hill End busstop in front of a wall that would be just about where William's parcel was. I may never get to see it in person, but this find is almost as exciting as that would be for me.

The tithe mapping database says:

Parcel 436
Owner: Earl Somers
Tenant: William Causier
Title: Cottage and garden
Area: 0,0,9
Tithes: 0
Land Use: Non-agricultural
Parish: Dodderhill

I haven't yet found the appendices and document mentioned, but I'll keep looking. And, I don't know what the '0,0,9' means for the area, but I bet the folks at RootsChat will! Right now, I'm going back to RootsChat to show them what I found because of their answers to my query!

Conclusions
It's good to keep looking and exploring all the info in a large website. I don't know why I kept looking this time because I know I was assuming it was all just general info and would never have anything on just, plain, regular folk....

Now, I have a map and a very specific location for a great-great-great-grandfather from 1845. English geography doesn't seem quite so complicated right now! I am so very excited! A map can be better than anything!

DISCLAIMER

I am not an employee of any of the entities mentioned here, nor do I receive any special consideration from them.

Great Resource: National Probate Calendar for England & Wales

2010-08-20T15:42:00.000-07:00

There have been lots of announcements lately about the debut of the England & Wales, National Probate Calendar database at ancestry.com. I finally got a chance to play around in it and found some of my CARRs and CAUSIERs.

Grice Ethell Carr

He is one of my great-grandfather John Carr's brothers. I don't have problems in that generation or the previous one, so I haven't done too much work on Grice Ethell. Given his unusual name, he is easier to spot when looking for CARRs in general, and I have written about him before.

This find [1] gives me a specific address and a death date. The surprise (or problem?) is his wife's name being 'Sarah,' when I was expecting Emily J. Since I have no other record of him after 1901, Emily could have died and he could have remarried. I should spend at least a little time and see if I can fill in the new gaps and see if I can resolve the wife issue. I don't feel a real need to pursue the original records that go with this index entry, but at least I now know where and how to find them!

The address given, however, intrigued me. I have a terrible time keeping track of the geography and levels of goverance in England. This one, especially with no punctuation, completely threw me. So, I posted a question in the Yorkshire section at RootsChat (also see previous post about this great resource). Almost immediately, I received several responses, telling me that the street address is 12 Brandon Terrace. 'Slade Hill' is an area within the Moortown district of Leeds. I also was told that it's a very nice area of town and that 'Slade Hill' has an alternate spelling of 'Slaid Hill.' I love RootsChat!

William Cornelius Causier

Yes, this record [2] only says 'William Causier,' but with the info given, he is the one in my files as William Cornelius Causier, the son of my great-great-great-grandfather William Causier and his first wife, Letitia Willis. My line is through William's second wife, Ann Tolley, so this is a very collateral record for me.

His occupation at that time is new to me. I sent off another question to the Worcestershire section of RootsChat asking about 'Hill End' and the relationship to Droitwich and Dodderhill. I've seen it many, many times in parish records for the Causiers. Again, I received replies clarifying the lay of the land and including a new website to checkout: the Dodderhill Parish Survey Project. There's enough info there to keep me busy for ages! Their growing site includes history, maps, and records. Thanks, yet again, to the great folks at RootsChat!

The WRONG William Carr!

My William Carr is my great-great-grandfather and I only have death information from another family researcher. Granted he's an absolutely expert researcher, but it would be nice to find more info anyway. As you should assume, the search at the database turned out oodles and oodles of William Carr's who died in 1916. But I was excited when one of those high in the list was a William Herbert Carr who died in 1916 from Scarborough, Yorkshire, which is very close to where I would expect to find William, and 'Herbert' is a family name. But, look at what I got when I went to the image [3]:

Regretably, I have no known relationship to this brave soldier. I am, however, certain that my 76-year-old great-great-grandfather was NOT off in France in WWI. This non-find reminds me that no matter how an index entry may appear to match, don't get too excited!

Conclusions

Yet again, I found myself playing around, finding absolutely interesting stuff on collateral lines and strangers. Do I need to draw a harder line on how I spend my research time?!

The entry on William Carr was a good reminder that I must never assume that an index entry is the person I'm researching, not even when the dates seem to match. And, it's real folly with common surnames.

Genealogy people, and especially those at RootsChat, are the nicest and most helpful people! I should spend more time in RootsChat searching the info already there and I should see if there are any queries where I can be a help and not just a problem.

Sources

[1] England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1861-1941. [Database at ancestry.com] Image from 1928, p. 526.

[2] England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1861-1941. [Database at ancestry.com] Image from 1870, p. 333.

[3] England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1861-1941. [Database at ancestry.com] Image from 1917, p. 454

Disclaimers

I am a paid subscriber to ancestry.com but I receive no other special consideration from them in any way. I am registered at RootsChat [that's free!] and receive nothing but good responses from them.

Sacheverell Causier, 1715

2010-08-09T14:21:00.000-07:00

This image is from Worcester, England. I believe it records the baptism of my sixth-great-grandfather, Sacheverell Causier and (yeah!) shows his father as Wm. Causier [1]. 'Causur' is a fairly common variant for Causier. I believe that this is the Sacheverell who married Betty Astmore in 1744 [2].

Two other entries, perhaps children of the same person but written as 'Will,' are for:

William, 10 Jan 1712
Elizabeth, 19 Oct 1717

The first image on this roll in Item 2 has "The living is a vicarage united to the Rectory of St. Nicholas, Droitwich, in 1928. For microfilm of St. Nicholas parish registers, see BA 4305." As noted below, having people in Droitwich in this era means we have to look at lots of different places!

Interestingly, the third image says "Note. In this register is recorded the baptism of Edward Winslow, a Pilgrim father, on 20 October, 1595."

There are lots of CAUSIER, WOOD, and HUNT entries in this film and the two items listed below. Most of them are, at this time, 'unknown' to me. Unfortunately, there is not an ASTWOOD or anything similar to be seen anywhere....

Source

[1] St. Peter de Witton Church, Droitwich: Parish Registers, 1544-1978; Baptisms 1544-1853, Marriages 1544-1769, Burials 1544-1812, Salt Lake City Family History Library, FHL # 801,595, Items 2-5. Item 2 is kind of in chronological order without page numbers.

[2] Cousin Val is my only source for the Astwood link. So far, I haven't been able to find anything else.

Notes

Additionally, these two records are also available:

Parish register printouts of Droitwich, Worcester, England (St. Peter); christenings, 1716-1875. FHL # 883,780; Item 3. The image of the title page says "Computer Printout of Saint Peter, Droitwich, Worcester, England (1716-1875) Births or Charistenings, A thru Z" and that the info is from a controlled extraction program in 1976. There are 7 CAUSIER (and variants) entries; I only know how 2 of them fit in with the line.

Registers of The Church of St. Peter de Witton, Droitwich, Worcestershire: Baptisms 1544-1840, Marriages 1544-1837, Burials 1544-1838. This very nice book appears to have been published by a genealogy group, but publication info does not appear on the title page or its reverse. The ISBN is 0-905105-83-4. There is a very brief, but nice, historical introduction. WorldCat credits the Birmingham & Midland Society for Genealogy & Heraldry (there are some wonderful resources at their website) and gives a date of 1986. I was able to access a copy by using interlibrary loan at my local library, with the copy I saw having traveled across the country from Harvard University Library! Since this was a nicely typed transcript done by locals familiar with the records, I was able to use it to help with the microfilm of the original that the image above is from. The book's introduction lists the nearby churches of St. Mary de Witton, St. Nicholas, and St. Andrew. I have also seen records from Dodderhill. There can be CAUSIERs in any of them!

First Friday Folder: Job Bates & Sarah Martin

2010-08-06T17:15:00.000-07:00

I selected the Bates/Martin folder, my 4th-great-grandparents on my mother's side, for First Friday review because I am having so much trouble with their parents. Given that researching this Job's parents has only led to bigger problems, back I go to making sure I do everything here that I can.

Physically, the folder was pretty well organized. The family group sheet was old, so I printed a new one: the new one is 4 pages longer than before! I like to work from a new print out because things look different to me on paper than they do on the screen.

I worked briefly on filling in gaps in the US census data for their 12 children and was able to find those for 3 more of the children in 1850-1880! Now I only have gaps for 4, three of whom I cannot prove even lived to 1850.

Job Bates and his wife, Sarah C. Martin

Job BATES and Sarah/Sallie MARTIN were the parents of the Abigail Bates [1] who married Thomas Porter in 1813, probably in Chittenden County, Vermont [2]. Sarah died 19 August 1851 and Job died 4 (or perhaps 7) February 1863, both in Essex, Chittenden, Vermont. They are both buried in the Essex Center Cemetery [3 & 4]. And, that appears to be as far as my certainty goes....

PROBLEMS BEGIN...

Sarah C. Martin was born about 1763-1770 and probably in Connecticut [3]. She is often referred to in undocumented, online trees as Sarah Childs Martin, but I have not found any solid documentation of a middle name nor any tie to a Childs family.

Job Bates was possibly born 22 November 1768 in Attleborough, Bristol, Massachusetts to Simeon Bates and his first cousin, Abigail Bates [4]. I have more info linking my Job to these parents. My concern is whether or not that Job Bates is the Job Bates who is the father of the Abigail Bates who marries Thomas Porter: his entries in the 1850 and 1860 censuses, his children's censuses for 1880, and the History of Chittenden County [5] all give Connecticut as his birthplace. I think his children were probably the informants for all of those sources so they are not independent evidence, but it is still enough to make me hesitate.

Unsourced online family trees consistently have a marriage date for Job and Sarah of 1793 in Thompson, Windham, Connecticut, which is only about 40 miles from Job's supposed birthplace in Attleborough, Massachusetts. But I have not found this record in Barbour, Bailey, or in Thompson town records.

12 children, but who died when?

A publication from 1882 says that Job & Sarah had 12 children (8 boys and 4 girls), "...all of whom arrived at maturity, and six of whom are now living" [6]. Another, from 1886, also says there were 12 children and 5 were living at that time [5] . Unfortunately, neither names the children. A grandson, Luther, is discussed and I am thinking he may have been the informant.

I have 12 children (split 8 & 4), but I only have death dates for 9. I can account for 6 dying before 1880 and 3 died in 1889. That leaves the deaths of John, Hosea, and Elnathan unknown to me. It does, however, seem to say that the three of them were alive in 1882 and one of them died before 1886. That's the kind of unknown data that bothers me, even though it wouldn't really add anything to my direct line.

The PLAN

Go through the Vermont State index cards on microfilm for full details on all the children, especially their birthplaces and being on the look out for 'new' children. Perhaps I can determine the five who were living in 1885. Also, look again for Job and Sarah.
While I'm solid on land records for Job in Chittenden County, I should review/find all probate info for both Job and Sarah in Chittenden County and perhaps in other counties where he might have owned or inherited property.
Try the Connecticut state index as mentioned at the SCGS Jamboree in June 2010 by Christopher Child in his presentation on Connecticut resources. As I remember it, he said it is perhaps more complete and easier to use than the Barbour collection books. (I have specific notes about that source somewhere in the ToFile Pile.)
Review my notes for the town records for Essex and Westford in Chittenden County, Vermont. Perhaps I missed some or perhaps I should just plain go back and do them again?!
Find probates for sons Clark in Michigan and Welcome in Vermont since they might refer to siblings.
Review everything I have on Sarah's parents so that I can make a plan to find her birthdate and birth place.

Conclusions

Review is good and I'm glad I'm doing this formally at least once a month. Writing it out formally this time led to my cleaning up about six little problems I didn't even list above!

Given all that I have on Job and having such things as dates, location, siblings, and land records, I'm fairly confident he is indeed the son of Simeon. It's just all the Connecticut birthplace stuff that makes me hesitate. On the other hand, I have good evidence for Massachusetts and while the Connecticut sources are numerous, they are probably not independent of each other.

SOURCES

[1] Vermont General Index to Vital Records, 1871-1908, FHL #540,106; Abigail (Bates) Johnson's card: Abigail (Bates) Johnson, born Connecticut, age 94y 6 (or 8)m 3d; died 11 Mar 1889 of lung fever, recorded in Colchester; widow; father Job, mother Sallie Martin

[2] Hamilton Child, Gazetteer and Business Directory of Chittenden County, Vermont for 1882-1883 (Syracuse, New York: Journal Office, August, 1882), available at Heritage Quest Online; p. 190: "Thomas Porter, son of Ashbel Porter, born September 17, 1773, came to Colchester from Grand Isle, Vt., in 1806, and bought the Amos farm, then owned by Moses Catlin. Mr. Amos built the house now standing on the place. January 24, 1813, he married Abigail, daughter of Job Bates."

[3] The 1770 date is calculated from her entry in the 1850 census for Westford, Chittenden, Vermont at age 80 and born Connecticut. Her surviving children all gave their mother's birthplace as Connecticut in the 1880 census. The 1763 date is calculated from her headstone's death date of 19 August 1851 at age 88 years. See Findagrave for a photo.

[4] Massachusetts, Attleboro: Vital Records, 1694-1900, FHL # 1,987,017; Item 1, p. 26. However, in the 1850 census of Westford, Chittenden, Vermont, my Job is 80, which would yield a birth year of about 1770, and born in Connecticut. Also, his Essex Common Burial Ground headstone inscription of 4 February 1863 at age 93y 2m 13 d leads to a calculated birthdate of about 21 November 1769. See Findagrave for photos.

[5] History of Chittenden County, Vermont. Syracuse: D. Mason & Co., 1886; p. 698. Available at Heritage Quest.

[6] Hamilton Child (comp.), Gazetteer and Business Directory of Chittenden County, Vermont for 1882-83. Syracuse: Journal Office, 1882; p. 256.

Gravestone Photographic Resource (revised 7/26)

2010-07-23T16:22:00.000-07:00

The blog GenWestUK just posted info on Gravestone Photographic Resource. It seems to be a very thorough site and has super potential as the contributions increase. The goal is worldwide, but at least for now, most entries seem to be UK related.

Their database includes entries for George Causier (1854-1916), his wife Jane Elizabeth (Pearce; 1864-1934), and two of their children: John & May. They are buried in the Municipal cemetery of Linthorpe, Yorkshire. Apparently, their names are on one monument. George is a great-grandson of my 4th-great-grandparents, Sacheverell Causier & Sarah Hunt. I was able to fit George's family in my lines because of all the work Cousin Val has done and kindly shared. I must reconnect with her!

Conclusion: Uh oh, catching up on reading blogs can seriously add to the ToDo pile.... I won't run any of my other Yorkshire surnames now, but posting this resource should make it easier for me to remember to get around to it!

It's nice to have at least one, moderately unusual surname in my Carr/Causier line!

Thank you, GenWestUK!

1928 in St. Charles, Idaho: 1st and 2nd Grades

2010-07-18T18:37:00.000-07:00

This photo of the thirty-four 1st & 2nd graders of the 1927/28 school year completes my little series: these four class photos of Wilson Grade School in St. Charles, Bear Lake County, Idaho, are the only ones I have. The school is not named, but again, the building matches that of the well-labeled 7th/8th grade photo. The teacher is Mrs. Bowman and there are no individual student grade levels indicated. This photo is unique in that, for the first time, the names on the back are in two distinct hands and not all children are fully named. [Again, I've used brackets below for my comments.]

Reed Pugmire
Mark Pugmire [name in different handwriting]
Darl Transtum [surname in different handwriting]
Maretta [may have originally been 'Marie'; written over in different handwriting] Crossly
Lilias Pugmire
June Wilhelmsen
Erma Peterson
Elzo Bunderson
Dean Pugmire
Ardy Bunderson
Averill Pugmire
Rex Arnell
Lelia Hegwer [about age 6 1/2 at the time of the photo]
Oral Pugmire
Lavon Calton
Rula Bunderson
Nora [Nona?; no surname]
[blank]
Leah Pugmire
Oreal Linford
Doris Transtrum [last syllable of surname in different handwriting]
Armond Windly
Rao Floyd
Virl Rich
La Ree Laker
Dale Brewer
Rex Linford
Cecil Windly
Boyed Colton
Ross Bunderson
Jennie Mickleson
Estella Peterson
Fawn Hill
Mong Pugmire

It bothers me that two of the children are not fully identified; perhaps someone can help. And, I wish I had the time to put all of the children of Wilson Grade School into family groups.

Related Posts:

7th & 8th graders

5th & 6th graders

3rd & 4th graders

1928 in St. Charles, Idaho: 3rd & 4th Grades

2010-07-15T16:49:00.000-07:00

Here are the 3rd and 4th graders at Wilson Grade School in St. Charles, Bear Lake, Idaho for the 1927/28 school year. As with the previous photos, the names are annotated on the back on the photo, but this time, grade level for individual students is missing. The school name is also absent, but the front of the building is clearly that of the well-labeled 7th/8th grade photo. The teacher is labeled as 'Miss Grojean.' Note that both the photo and the listing on the back have consecutive students numbered as #3.

1. Rex Wilhelmsen

2. Junior Pugmire

3. David Micklison

3. Billie Wilhelmsen

4. Stanley Mickleson

5. Noel Linford

6. Delmar Arnell [originally posted as 'Ginell;' please read the comments below]

7. Rondle Peterson

8. Cortney Brewer

9. Laura Stewart

10. Leora Pugmire

11. Leona Peterson

12. Clea Wendly

13. Wane Pugmire

14. Marion Pugmire

15. Jessie Stewart

16. Sterling Rich

17. Marion Brewer

18. ~~Labore~~ Lovar Pugmire

19. Ray Hegwer [Ray would have been about 11 1/2 when the photo was taken.]

20. Ione [Jane?] Rich

21. Presely Floyd

22. Ephrian Croossly

23. Oran Peterson

24. Robert Minor Pugmire

Related photos/posts

7th & 8th graders

5th & 6th graders
1st & 2nd graders

1928 in St. Charles, Idaho: 5th & 6th Grades

2010-07-11T12:57:00.000-07:00

The reverse side of this photo is labeled as Grades 5 & 6 of St. Charles, Idaho 1928-27. It certainly appears to be the same school (Wilson Grade School in St. Charles, Bear Lake County, Idaho) as in the more specifically labeled photo of the 7th & 8th graders. The teacher is identified as Jack Wright.

The numbering on the front goes left to right, beginning with the boys kneeling in the front and proceeding up to the back row, and ending with #29. There is a #6 at the end of the kneeling row and again at the beginning of the second row. I do not know who made the annotations but it appears to be by an adult. The names on the back are in numerical order with each one labeled with grade level; there are no other annotations. [I've used these brackets below for my comments.]

1. James Pugmire 6B

2. Max Williamson 6B

3. Lamel [Laurel?] Pugmire 6B

4. Alfred Keetch 6B

5. Claude Willianson 6A

6. Weldon Peterson 5A

[a second #6 at the beginning of second row]6. Elmer Transtrum 6A

7. Cloyd Minor 6A

8. D'Orr Bunderson 6B

9. Myrtle Pugmire 6B

10. Effie Hymas 6A

11. June Bunderson 6A

12. Irene Peterson 65A

13. Lamel [Laurel?] Windly 65A

14. Melba Pugmire 5A

15. Ben Bunderson 5A

16. Preston Booth 6A

17. Dannie Benson 6A

18. Helen Hill 6A

19. Venice Pugmire 6A

20. Verla Pugmire 6A

21. Aseal Rich 5A

22. Billie Floyd 6A

23. Carl Clark 6A

24. Murnell Michaelson 6B

25. Jack Wright -- Teacher

26. Lawand [Lawang?] Michaelson 6A

27. Enid Peterson 6A

28. Chloey Floyd 6A

29. Margaret Hegwer 6A [My Aunt Margaret is about 13 here; she died about 18 months after this photo was taken.]

Related Posts
7th & 8th graders
3rd & 4th graders
1st & 2nd graders

1928 in St. Charles, Idaho: 7th & 8th Grades

2010-07-05T16:20:00.000-07:00

This is one of the photo scans I brought home from my visit with my aunt in March. As you can see, it is labeled as the 7th & 8th grade class of Wilson Grade School in St. Charles, Bear Lake County, Idaho. I have no idea who did the typing or annotations.

If you look closely, you can see that each of the students has been 'numbered' left to right and in sequence: top row 1 to 9, second row 10-17, third row 18-27, and front row of kneeling boys 28-34. Mr. Ralph Brimhall, principal & teacher, was annotated on the back by name and as "the old man."

On the back of the photo, each numbered student is listed in a column by grade level. The writing on the back is apparently one handwriting but with two differently colored inks, perhaps written at two different times. The names are in blue but annotations and marriages are in black.

Here is my best guess at transcribing the names and notations on the back. I can send a scanned copy to anyone who is interested.

Eight

2 Dewedle Peterson

3 Harold Peterson

4 Preston Michilson

8 La Preal Pugmire

9 Or Reta Rich

14 Preston Pugmire

16 Cleone Widely

18 Myrna Wilks

19 Vernon Rich

20 Valois Arnell

22 Virginia Bunderson

23 Lillan Bunderson

24 Lee Bunderson

25 Almer Peterson

26 La Preal Brewer

27 Corrine Wilermian

28 Alfred Peterson

34 Lester ~~Wilermiam~~ Clark ('Clark' and the strike-through in black)

35 absent Dora Allred

36 " Emma "

Seventh

1 Beatrice Michilson

5 Principal

6 Herbert Hegwer

7 Myrle Linferl

10 Agnes Croseley

11 Donald Stewert

12 Andrew Michilson

13 Lowell Floyd

15 Winona "

17 La Ree Peterson

21 Fern Hill

31 Reed Laker

32 Adriaen Stewert

33 Man Cleavland

30 Elden ~~Even~~ Pugmire

29 Evan Allred

Married

OrReta Rich -------------------

Myrna Wills -------------------

Virginia Bunderson now Mrs Devirl Wittington -- 1932

Lee Bunderson -- married Margaret Grandy, Paris -- 1935

La Priel Brewer -- " Jullian Thornoch, Bloomington -- 1931

Corine Wilskilmson xxxx " Cleneta Arnold, St. Charles about 1932

Dora Allred " Andrew Thompson, Bloomington - 1935

Beatrice M. " -------------------------

Agnes Crossley " ------------------------

Winma Floyd " Bob Rosen, Paris

LaRe Peterson " Emmet "Hum" Monson, St. Charles 1933

Erma Allred " Curtis Pugmire " 1934

The ditto marks are clearly for the word 'married' in the Married section. I interpret the lines after the names as meaning that the writer knew the person was married but did not know to whom. I cannot read the marks after Corine Wilskilmson; I think it originally said "(dead)" but was later written over as "deceased."

My dad is #6. He would have been 14y 5m when this was taken. He did not start school until 1923, but was promoted quickly to finish 3rd grade by the end of the school year 1923-24. Dad frequently talked about 'Junior' Pugmire being his best friend in St. Charles. I wonder if that is one of these Pugmire boys?

I also have scans of the 1st/2nd, 3rd/4th, and 5th/6th classes of that year. I'll get them into the blog shortly. I do so hope someone will find these all useful! Have a great day!

Related Posts

5th & 6th graders

3rd & 4th graders

1st & 2nd graders

First Friday Folder: Asahel Davison & Lucy Wait

2010-07-02T23:14:00.000-07:00

Asahel DAVISON and Lucy WAIT are my great-great-great-grandparents in my Porter line. I selected this folder this month because Lucy is my 'most recent' brickwall in this line; I mean that my Porter pedigree is solid until I reach Lucy. Actually, Lucy is more of a 'climbing wall' than a brickwall: there seem to be many clues as to her ancestry and I'm fairly confident that I just need to find the right combination of 'handholds and footholds' to climb my way to her....

The organization of the folder was in pretty good shape. There was just one duplicate to discard and a family group sheet to print out for (collateral) son Wait's family. The most glaring problem is that I really, really need a detailed, specific research plan!

Asahel Davison

Asahel was born 4 June 1769 in Pomfret, Windham, Connecticut, the fourth child of Dea. Dan Davison and Martha Goodell [2]. He died in April 1813 during his first month of service in the 11th regiment of an infantry company in the War of 1812 at or on Lake Champlain [3]. I think it was a state militia group, rather than US forces. I have not yet found any record of any pension for his family. Perhaps the very short duration of his service did not qualify him for any benefits?

He appears in town records of Bethyl, Windsor, Vermont from 1794 through October 1897. [4] (His father was in nearby Hartland from the 1780s to his own death in 1821.) But, Asahel's second and third children may have been born in Waterford, Caledonia, Vermont during that time period. Later children were more certainly born in Waterford, Caledonia, Vermont [5]. For the 1810 census, Asahel is in Milton, Chittenden, Vermont with a listing of males and females that matches his expected family composition.

A compiled genealogy lists his wife as Lucy WAIT, but I have not found a marriage record or location. There are also several unsourced, online family trees that say WAIT. But, I believe I need to be open to her having a different surname.

Lucy Wait

Lucy appears only in the 1850 census of Fairfax, Franklin, Vermont as Lucy Stoddard, giving an age of 81 and birthplace of Massachusetts. Son Titus is the only child who I've found who lived to the 1880 census, where he listed both parents as born in Vermont. Given that Asahel definitely was born in Connecticut, Vermont could also be an error for Lucy.

It's a bit hard to read here, but her gravestone gives 1769 as a birthdate, matching the 1850 census data [1]. The stone shows Lucy with her second husband, Benjamin Stoddard. This engraving is actually on the back side of the stone for her son Wait Davison in the Fairfax Plains Cemetery in Fairfax, Franklin, Vermont.

Clues to Lucy's Ancestry

Son Wait Davison married an Almira Wait of Highgate, Vermont [6]. WAIT is a somewhat common surname in Vermont, so this could be a coincidence, but I think tracing Almira could be the missing foothold.

Vermont State Index Cards include a card of a Lucy Wait, born 27 Apr 1769 in Rockingham, Vermont, with parents John & Sarah. However, reviewing original Rockingham records, there are a number of records that seem to preclude this Lucy being the one who marries Asahel. Also, none of Lucy & Asahel's children were named John or Sarah.

A John Wait of Milton was appointed as one of the administrators of Asahel's probate [3]. This John has left precious few records in Milton and I really don't know anything about him. Clearly, this lead has the be more fully investigated!

There is a record of a Lucy Wait born to Moses & Hannah WAIT 3 April 1769 in Springfield, Massachusetts [7]. I've done a bit of looking in Springfield records, but I have seen nothing that allows me to accept or discount this record. Lucy and Asahel did not name any sons 'Moses' but there is a daughter 'Harriet.' I wonder if this Moses had a son John who could be the administrator of Asahel's estate?

There are several Lucy Davisons in this time period. However, it seems too much of a coincidence that Hartford, Vermont has a "warning out" issued 4 Nov 1817 for "Lucy Davison and family" [8]. Could the young widow, with 7 children under 17, have moved to a new, nearby town and received the notice? If so, did she have family there? I need to check original Hartford, Windsor, Vermont records.

And, there should be a long trail of guardianship records somewhere for all of Asahel and Lucy's young children. Perhaps the relationship to John Wait is explained there.

Research Plans

In addition to following each of the clues above, I need to:

track more fully all of Asahel's 5 siblings to see more places where his marriage might be recorded. The marriages of 3 of his siblings were recorded in 1790, 1793, and 1795 in Hartland, Windsor, Vermont. There were WAITs in adjacent Braintree & Tunbridge in the 1790 census. So, Hartland seems like a good place to start.
track more fully all 11 of their children & spouses, with Almira Wait being a priority
map all of the known 1760-1810 locations for Asahel, his father, and known WAIT census listings to identify surrounding towns/counties that I might otherwise miss
make a formal, specific research plan

Conclusions

Again, at first glance, the folder and family group sheets look pretty good, but then I see that I need some critical primary sources. The most glaring problem is lacking a marriage record for the couple.

I think I have several very solid, potentially rewarding clues to follow. There are certainly clusters here to follow. I think that using different formats (maps, charts, tables, etc.) than I commonly use may help give me a new perspective so that something wonderful will jump out at me!

I need a specific plan. I need to concentrate on following the plan and not let my self be distracted by research on other lines or in other places. [But what fun is that?! I have to think that I am after success and that being more organized here will be the fun!]

Any and all suggestions will be gratefully considered! Have a great day!

Sources

[1] Photo by MHD in 2004. Parts of another image at findagrave.com by Bev Destromp are a bit better. Her image of Wait's side is far superior to my photos of that side.

I have additional and more complete source citations for most of the data above, and they are available upon request. Briefly:

[2] Connecticut, Pomfret: Vital Records of Pomfret, Windham County, Connecticut, (at SLC FHL), p. 93.

[3] (among others) Chittenden District Probate Court, Vermont, FHL# 28,033; Vol. 5, pp. 38-39

[4] Eldest son Cyrus' birth record -- Vermont, Bethyl: Records of births, marriages, and deaths, 1769-1997, (at SLC FHL). FHL# 27,911; Item 3, Bethyl VR Vol I - 1785-1857; p. 4. Asahel in town records -- Bethyl, Vermont. Town Records, 1782-1886, p. 7 & p. 46, (at SLC FHL), FHL # 0982506.

[5] Vermont, Waterford: Vital Records of Waterford, Vermont, p. 11 & etc., (at SLC FHL), FHL # 29,053. Dated: 1809-1931.

[6] Vermont General Index to Vital Records, Office of the Secretary of State, (at SLC FHL). Films are of cards alpha order. All are very clearly written. FHL# 27,528

[7] Springfield MA VR @ NEHGS online, p. 310.

[8] Alden Rollins, Vermont Warnings Out, Vol. 1: Northern Vermont (Camden, Maine: Picton Press, 1995), p. 337.

Daddy 1913-1982

2010-06-20T11:01:00.000-07:00

World War II -- circa 1943

1968 -- Receiving Driver of the Year award from Daniel Bryant, President of Bekins Van Lines

By then, Daddy had been with Bekins for about 32 years. He quit driving later that year, after 3 million accident-free miles. But, he continued in other capacities for a total over 40 years.

He had known the Bekins' and also had genuine respect for Mr. Bryant.

1948 -- the two of us,

a personal treasure, for obvious reasons
I miss you, Daddy.

Mabel York: No Longer Unknown!

2010-06-16T16:45:00.000-07:00

One of my blog posts from a few months ago included a photo of Lila Hegwer and Mabel York (and I've copied it again towards the end of this post). I didn't discuss Mabel at all in the earlier post, assuming she was simply a friend of Lila's and no relation to my family at all. But, in preparing photos to take to the Southern California Genealogy Society's Jamboree [2] last week, I came across a photo I didn't know I had:

As you can see, this photo is clearly annotated that Mabel is a cousin to Ben Hegwer, my grandfather. That was a big surprise! So, just now, I went to my database to be sure that I have no YORKs, and found that I cannot count on my memory for much of anything anymore! Yes, I have Mabel York and a fair amount of info on her! And, I've had that information since at least January 2008.

Actually, Mabel and Ben are first cousins, once removed. Mabel was one of at least 3 children of Clara Hegwer and a Mr. York. Clara was one of the children of Henry Hegwer and his first wife, Katherenah Hornberger. Mabel was born January 1892 in Colorado [1].

If my conclusions are correct for both girls, Lila would be Mabel's aunt, but is only about 4 months older than Mabel. If we look at both photos side-by-side, do you agree that Mabel is the young lady on the right of the duo?

Lila Hegwer & Mabel York

Mabel York

I have no record of Mabel after the 1910 census. Again, as you can see, the undated annotation says that she was deceased at the time of the annotation. I hope there is a descendent of Henry Hegwer who can supply more info.

CONCLUSIONS
It's nice to know who the people in the photos are and how they fit in. I hope that someone more closely related to Lila and Mabel than I will see and enjoy these photos!

Who knows what else I have in my files? I must get better organized....

It's a real blow to, yet again, see that my memory is not what it once was.... I am going to have to make it a rule to ALWAYS check the database, no matter what my first impulse may be on whether or not I have a name on file.

SOURCE and a Disclaimer/Comment

[1] 1910 US Census: Dist 96, Ward 8, Denver, Denver, Colorado

[2] The featured photo of Mabel was scanned for me last weekend at Jamboree by ancestry.com during their "free high-speed scanning" event. Conference attendees (no ancestry subscription required) could make an online reservation before the conference, and then at the conference, select a specific time during the day of their reservation. Images would be scanned into a complimentary USB drive carrying the ancestry.com logo. The early info had included how to prepare and organize images for scanning and had said that they usually can do about 25 images in a person's time slot. Hoping that most people would not take up ancestry.com's offer and there would be additonal time slots available, I took 87 images with me. I was wrong about there being any extra time slots available, but it still turned out well that I had taken the extra images along!

What fun! There were 3 scanning stations going. The young man who did mine was very charming and very efficient. Other than one newspaper page, my images were all simple photos organized just the way they had instructed. He was able to do all 87 images in my 15-minute slot! You will be seeing lots more of them here! Thank you for this service and the USB drive, ancestry.com! I do appreciate it.

I am an ancestry subscriber. I do not receive any other special consideration from them. I have never posted any photos at ancestry.com and do not have any intentions of doing so.

Treasure from the TO-FILE Pile: Western Antique Power Associates

2010-06-09T14:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, working my way down, I hit 3 copies of the 2009 newsletter of the Western Antique Power Associates. I had received them last October when we attended a local community fair and WAPA was one of the exhibitors. I took these two photos of some of the equipment they had on exhibit. The blur in the photo above shows that the engine was working with the wheel spinning! When they set up working machines, they sell corn meal that was ground by an antique right there in front of you!

Their homepage has a link to the newsletter and the April 2008 newsletter is online. My copies of the 2009 newsletters are either a 4- or 6-page, glossy, heavy stock publication. Each of my issues included lovely color photos of their working antiques and older black & white historic photos. Some of the machines included a fully restored John Deere model E tractor, Desjarden's engine, Bouris' Caterpillar, and an M. Lytle & Son cylinder (circa 1900) on a Gibbs, Russel & Company bed (circa 1860s) from the oilfields of Western Pennsylvania.

I'm not a totally dedicated power fan and don't know specifically what I've photographed, but I loved re-reading these 3 issues yesterday and I loved looking at these working antiques on display. I know my dad would have absolutely loved them, too. I bet he would have joined their group! I've decided I don't have the room to archive the newsletter, but at least I've published this blog about them!

First Friday Folder: Catlin, Baldwin, & the 1704 Deerfield Raid

2010-06-04T12:57:00.000-07:00

I took this photo of the Old Deerfield Cemetery in 2004. I only wish I had been more careful and had taken far more photos. I just remember that so many of the stones were seemingly impossible to read. There are many good shots with transcriptions at other websites; here's an especially good one by "Cyndy."

This month's First Friday Folder was selected because I found TCasteel's Tangled Trees blog. I have already forgotten how I recently stumbled on it (probably something from a Geneablogger), but it gave me new info to add to this folder, so here we are!

8th Great-Grandparents John Catlin and Mary Baldwin

John Catlin was born 1643, possibly in Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut, the son of John Catlin and Isabella Ward [1]. He was killed 29 February 1704 [2] during the Deerfield, Hampshire (now Franklin county), Massachusetts raid.

Mary Baldwin was probably baptized 23 June 1644 in Milford, Hartford, Connecticut, daughter of Joseph Baldwin and his wife Hannah (Whitlocke) [3]. Mary died 9 April 1704 [2], at least in part from the trauma and stress of the death and abduction of so many of her family in the raid.

They were married 23 September 1662 in Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut [1]. Their children were John, Mary, Elizabeth, Hannah, Esther, Sarah, Joseph, and possibly 3 others.

What the Folder Needed

The most fun was adding printouts of a blog post from TCasteel on Mary and another about John, and adding the info to my database. I knew there was a monument honoring John Catlin's status as the first school teacher in Newark, New Jersey, but I had never seen it. TCasteel posted a photo and transcription! It's so nice to finally have a photo of the monument! Thank you, Tangled Trees!

The database family group sheet was from 2004 and my old software, so I printed out a new one. There were about 6 things in the folder to discard: old undocumented website printouts, a 26 Nov 2004 Los Angeles Times article (p. A33) about George Catlin (not my line), old handwritten family group sheets from before I had a computer database, and so on. I am forcing myself to be less compulsive and not hoard everything: I am NOT responsible for archiving the world! I also made a new folder and family group sheet for John's parents.

Of course, reviewing the folder led to a bit of new research. TCasteel had slightly different info than I do for some of the details and, as new genealogy cousins, we are in the process of analyzing it all. It's so exciting! I did find an article from New England Historical and Genealogical Register (NEHGR), today, that is new to me [4]. It fits well with a comment Gary Boyd Roberts made to me that 'John Whitlock' is not the father of the Hannah who married Joseph Baldwin. So, I have just removed 'John Whitlock' as Hannah's father in my database.

I see that, yet again, my sources for some of the BMD data are not what they should be: mostly compiled genealogies. I also see that I have only 7 children listed for John and Mary and it appears that there may be 10. I will definitely look at that issue first!

Great Resources on the 1704 Deerfield Raid

I admit that I had never heard of the "Deerfield Massacre" before I learned of my relationship to the Catlin family. I remember asking myself why had all these people died on the same day.... This post is not the place to go into details, but the following book, magazine, and website are filled with info about the 1704 raid on Deerfield:

Evan Haefeli & Kevin Sweeney, Captors and Captives: The 1704 French and Indian Raid on Deerfield. Boston: University of Massachusetts Press, 2003. This book is very thorough and well written while remaining enjoyable reading. The endnotes, appendices and bibliography are excellent.

Historic Deerfield. A nice website and a great place to visit. There is a general newsletter and a group for descendants.

Historic Deerfield Magazine. Vol 4 (1), Spring 2004 . The magazine is published by Historic Deerfield, Inc., and this issue is still available through their online museum store. The description there says 64pp, but my copy is only 40pp. The whole issue was dedicated to the raid, given that it was the 300th anniversary. I especially like the article by Philip Zea, which includes a map and photos by Allison Williams Bell from along the trail the captives were forced along north into Canada. Since the photos were taken about the same time of the year, it gives a much better idea of what the captives faced than when I was there in late summer.

Conclusions
I feel a good bit of closure now having seen at least a photo of the Catlin monument in New Jersey. And, I have a new cousin!

This was my third First Friday Folder, and I think that's a good thing. But, I am now 3 for 3 at finding family group sheets with sources that are far less than what they should be. Yuck! These three folders are now in better shape than they were, but I shudder at the thought of what else is lurking in that file cabinet!

Sources & Disclaimer
I receive no special consideration from any of the companys or groups mentioned here. I purchased my copies of the Deerfield book and magazine. I am a member of NEHGS. Photo by MHD.

[1] George Sheldon, George. History of Deerfield, Massachusetts (2 volumes). Greenfield, Massachusetts: Press of EA Hal & Co.,1895. (available at Heritage Quest Online)

[2]Thomas W. Baldwin (comp.). Vital Records of Deerfield, Massachusetts to the Year 1850. Boston: 1920. p. 271. (available at both HeritageQuest & Ancestry.com)

[3] Eugenie Fellows, "How One Descendant of Baldwin, Catlin and Ward Became a Canadian." Connecticut Nutmegger, 30:370.

[4] David Kendall Martin, "Joseph2 Baldwin, Jr. of Milford, Connecticut, and Hadley, Massachusetts." NEHGR, 156:103-111. Joseph of the title is a brother of my Mary Baldwin. A good deal of info and some exciting leads on other sources to pursue about his parents is included!

Great Census Problem Swap

2010-05-23T18:40:00.000-07:00

Do you have someone you can't find in the census? I do! Wanna swap problems?

Ordinarily I'm very, very good at finding people in the US censuses and I have found many problem listings for other people. But, I still have a few of my own Census Problems! I think new perspectives might help, so I'm starting "The Great Census Problem Swap!"

We can swap problems for a while and see where it takes us all. I'll give info on one of my problems. If you care to spend some time on my problem, just post one of YOUR census problems as a comment and I will work on yours! I promise to give it my best shot!

Clara Eveline (Davidson) Porter in the 1900 US Census?
In 1900, Clara was probably recently widowed, her father had just died, and her only daughter had been married in the past year. Clara should be 50-52 years old and probably with her 16-year-old son, L. Willis. How far could she have gotten?

Clara was born 24 Jun 1848 in Milton, Chittenden, Vermont, daughter of Titus Davison and Hannah Bascom. Clara appears to have always used the spelling DAVIDSON, while Titus consistently used DAVISON. She married Celim Homer Porter 22 Mar 1870 in Colchester, Chittenden, Vermont.

I have Clara in all of the following censuses:

1850 & 1860 in Milton, Chittenden, Vermont with her parents
1870 in Colchester, Chittenden, Vermont with Celim and his parents
1880 in Woods, Chippewa, Minnesota with SA (Celim), and sons George, Frank, and William (who I believe is also called Roy G.).
1910 & 1920 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California with son L Willis

But I cannot find her or son L Willis anywhere in the 1900 census.

Daughter Cora May Porter was born 16 December 1881 in Kerkhoven, Swift, Minnesota and son L (Leslie?) Willis Porter was born 28 Mar 1884 in Big Stone, Grant, South Dakota Territory. However, Willis's birthdate is from a Delayed Birth Certificate filed many years later.

I believe her husband Celim died 23 March 1898 in Grant, South Dakota, but I only have a family note to that effect. I do have formal sources for a 1906 probate in Vermont with no mention of a date or place of his death. Clara's father, Titus, died 22 May 1900, in Milton, Chittenden, Vermont.

Other family in the 1900 census
Son George C. is in St. Anthony precinct, Franklin County, Idaho with his family. Daughter Cora is in Big Stone Twp, Grant, South Dakota with her new husband. There is a Frank Porter, 24, single, butcher, living along in Fort Pierre Stanley, South Dakota, but I don't know for sure if this is Clara's son. There is a Roy G., 23, born Iowa, in the 8th ward, Omaha, Douglas, but I don't know for sure if this is Clara's son.

Two of Clara's three remaining siblings are still in Milton, Chittenden, Vermont for the 1900 census. The third, Willis A. Davison, is unaccounted for; I think he had left Vermont.

Possibilities?
At some point, Clara acquired a farm in what is now Bottineau County, North Dakota; the legend is that she won it in a poker game. There are also family legends that Porterville in California got its name from the family and that son L Willis was a cowboy in Texas before coming to California. (His first wife was born in Texas. Their only child was born in 1913 in Los Angeles.)

Finding Clara or her son L Willis in the 1900 census will probably not give me any earth-shattering new info. It will just fill in some missing info.

Who is your biggest census problem? If you care to share, I'll be glad to give it a try! Have a great day!

Great Resource: Los Angeles City Directories

2010-05-21T14:02:00.000-07:00

My biggest problem in tackling the "To Do" piles is that even just one brief item to check out in a newsletter can keep me busy all afternoon! This week, it was one tiny, little article in the May 2010 Questing Heirs Genealogy Society's Newsletter [1] reporting that the Los Angeles Public Library had added the 1923 edition of the LA City Directory to their digital collection.

I have made the trip to the Los Angeles Public Library in downtown LA a few times; their genealogy collection is quite good. I have used the cumbersome microfilm copies of the directories to track approximate arrivals in and movement around Los Angeles for my Hegwer, Porter, and Keating lines. But I had no idea that any of the directories are online! Wow! And anyone can access them from home: no library card required! (Of course, if you do have a card, there are lots of other databases you can also access.) Note that this is the library of the City of Los Angeles; the Los Angeles County library system is a completely different entity [2].

Access the directories at http://www.lapl.org/resources/en/. [Personally, I cannot find a way to easily get to this link from their home page!] Select the link to the 'Los Angeles City and Street Directories.' Once you get there, the search engine for the site is super easy. Of course, just to test it, I put in my names and found some new-to-me info!

This image is from p. 1082 of the 1942 Los Angeles City Directory. Leonard Benjamin HEGWER was one of Great-Uncle Henry Hegwer's children with his second wife, Flora Wallace. A meterman with the city power company, Leonard appears in the 1929, 1936, 1938, 1939, and 1942 Los Angeles directories, each time at a different address! Interestingly, the listings also vary by who else is recorded with him:

1929 -- alone

1936 -- Louise I.

1938 -- Louise T.

1939 -- alone

1942 -- Dollie

The 2 listings where Leonard is listed without another name don't bother me; I know there are many instances where the directories do not show spouses. My records show that a marriage license was issued in Los Angeles for him and Louise Isabelle Ferguson in 1924, but I don't know if 'Dollie' is Louise.

Genealogy lessons for today

The newsletters from local genealogy societies can have all sorts of wonderful goodies in them.
Freely accessible digital collections at libraries are rapidly growing.
Working on the ToDo pile can create more to do!
Leonard is very collateral for me, so I probably won't spend any more time on his marriage(s?), but it does remind me that new info can turn up when you least expect it.

Line of Descent

Carl Benjamin Hegwer = Maria Rosina Ilgner

Henry Hegwer = Flora Wallace (his second marriage)

Leonard Benjamin Hegwer = Louise Ferguson and/or ????

Disclaimer & Notes

I do not receive any special consideration from any of the entities mentioned in this blog post. I have a library card for both libraries mentioned and I am a Questing Heirs member. For the directory image, first I saved and printed the page I wanted. Then I took a digital photo of a portion of the page and cropped it.

[1] Questing Heirs Genealogical Society meets in Long Beach, California. Both their monthly newsletter and monthly meetings are always very interesting. Past issues of the newsletters are available to anyone at the website.

[2] A library card from the Los Angeles County Library is free to temporary or permanent county residents. I can access Heritage Quest from home and use my local branch for inter-library loans for lots of genealogy sources!

Two Different Ideas from One Blog Post

2010-05-14T17:13:00.000-07:00

I follow Arlene Eakle's blogs since she has a lot of interest in the MidWest, Kentucky, and good research in general. Her new blog post, "American Mobility Declines in the 21st Century," gave me two new ideas!

First, she talked about mobility in this country, citing a 2008 statistic from USA Today: 57% of Americans reported that they have never lived outside the state in which they were born. Very interesting!

If I look at my pedigree chart from me back through my great-great-grandparents, I have a total of 25 individuals. Only 8 of them lived solely in one state (or county of England): me, Mom, and 6 of my great-great-grandparents: one in Missouri, 2 who spent their lives in Vermont, and 3 who stayed in Yorkshire. That's only 32%. If I'd stopped calculating at the great-grandparent level, it's only 13%! And, that's assuming I never move out-of-state....

Secondly, Arlene finished the post with links to 3 new state memory websites: Virginia, West Virginia, & Kansas. Of course, I quickly linked to Kansas Memory, which was created by the Kansas State Historical Society. There are lots and lots of goodies there, including a blog for the site.

Clicking on Chase County on the state map, led me to 71 items, all of which were interesting in one way or another. Most of it was too recent to directly pertain to my direct line, but one of the items is a copy of the 1901 ten-page plat book for Chase County! Each page is fully viewable/savable. Here is a part of Twp 18S Range 7E:

I didn't see any HEGWERs in the book, but here are some closely related FINKs and BOENITZ/BENNETTs. Other pages have FREYs, DRUMMONDS, and UMBERGERs. All in all, it is super interesting to see where these cousins were living in relationship to each other.

A great big 'Thank You!' to the Kansas Historical Society for such a great website! Thank you, Arlene, for such a thought-provoking blog post.

First Friday Folder: Joshua Lassell & Mary Burnap

2010-05-07T19:06:00.000-07:00

This is the second in (hopefully) a habit of regularly picking a folder that I have not seen for a while and giving it a once over. I thought last month's folder cleaning went well! With any luck, this process will eventually lead to either more room in the file drawer &/or better plans on what to do next!

Seventh-Great-Grandparents Joshua Lassell and Mary Burnap

Both Joshua and Mary were descendants of Great Migration immigrants. Joshua was born 18 February 1688/1689 in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and died 11 April 1767 in Kent, Litchfield, Connecticut. Mary was born 6 January 1686/1687 in Reading, Middlesex, Massachusetts, and died before 1740, probably in Connceticut. They were married 14 Dec 1714 in Windham, Windham, Connecticut.

I picked this particular folder because I haven't worked on these lines for a while but had a nagging feeling that something was pending, and I was right! Organizing the contents of this folder was easy since there were only 2 items in it about Joshua and Mary, but there were several things for Mary's ancestors. I had verified her lines, but had not made the folders and had just stuck info in with Joshua & Mary.

So, I made 5 new folders and printed out new family group sheets for everyone. I saw that while I had cited it for his ancestors, I had neglected to site one of the main sources for the LASSELL line in any of Joshua's events: Massachusetts and Maine Families in the Ancestry of Walter Goodwin Davis [1]. A three volume set, this book is considered to be a reliable source for early New England information. I was led to its Lassell info by Hollick's New Englanders in the 1600s [2], which is a wonderful index to recent, quality research. I've had the book for 3 years now, and still haven't finished following up all the excellent citations it gives.

As for a plan for further research, there are no big controversies around this couple. The only big thing I'm missing is death information for Mary (and I will keep an eye out for it), but if greater greater minds than I have not found it yet, I will put it toward the bottom of the research list.

While filing the new folders for BURNAP ancestors, I saw that I had not yet removed the folders for the Martha Swift line, which I believe is NOT part of my ancestry. So, in removing Swift, Hatch, Wing, Dillinham, etc., this FirstFridayFolder effort still resulted in having more room in the file drawer even though I added 5 folders! Hurray!

Conclusions

There are still many early New Englanders with entries in Hollick for me to find, read, and synthesize. What I really need is a plan to more efficiently use my time!

It's only 2 months old, but First Friday Folder is working for me so far. I feel a sense of accomplishment from today's efforts!

Surname Line of Descent: Mary Burnap

Thomas Burnap = Johanna Norrys (my 14th-great-grandparents)

Thomas Burnap = Alice Cramphorne

Thomas Burnap = unknown

Tobert Burnap = Ann/Agnes Miller

Robert Burnap = Ann

John Burnap = Mary Rice

Mary Burnap = Joshua Lassell

Surname Line of Descent: John Lazell

John Lazell = Elizabeth Gates (my 9th-great-grandparents)

Thomas Lassell = Mary Allen

Joshua Lassell = Mary Burnap

Isaac Lasell = Bethiah Woodward

Abigail Lasell = Joseph Palmer

Zenas Palmer = Lydia Marshall

Lydia Palmer = David Bascom

Hannah Field Bascom = Titus Davison

Clara Eveline Davidson = Celim Homer Porter

L Willis Porter (my grandfather)

References

[1] Walter Goodwin Davis, Massachusetts and Maine Families in the Ancestry of Walter Goodwin Davis (1885-1966): A Reprinting, in Alphabetical Order by Surname, of the Sixteen Multi-Ancestor Compendia (Three volumes). Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1996. The Lassell entry is in Vol. 2, pp. 412-415+.

[2] Martin E. Hollick, New Englanders in the 1600s: A Guide to Genealogical Research Published Between 1980 and 2005. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2006.

Disclaimers

I receive no special consideration from these publishers. I bought my own copy of Hollick; I access Davis at a local Regional Family History Center.

New Kansas Farm Data from 1870

2010-04-25T09:57:00.000-07:00

Ancestry.com has begun posting some of the USA non-population census images from the late 1800s. The only state they've done so far that interests me is Kansas, but that was enough to keep me busy for the whole afternoon!

A search for 'HEGWER' in the agriculture schedule database brought up three names: 2 in 1870 and 1 in 1880. The 1870 names were great-great-grandmother Maria Hegwer and her son, Ernest, in adjacent entries on the first of 2 pages for Diamond Creek, Chase, Kansas:

Now, you ask how that kept me busy for the afternoon? Well, the rest of the 2 Diamond Creek pages also had 8 other Hegwer or Hegwer-in-laws, including my great-grandfather Charles:

Charles' farm entry is adjacent to the entry for his brother-in-law Kasimer J. FINK, who had married Medora Hegwer. Charles and 2 other brothers had been wrongly transcribed in the index. So, I spent the afternoon entering alternative names into ancestry.com's database for this census schedule. I also added annotations for all the in-laws, giving their relationships & spouses. Altogether, I annotated 12 of the 48 names on these 2 pages: a great afternoon's work, I think!

The first 4 columns after the names are number of improved acres, woodland acres, other unimproved acres, and cash value of the land. Maria still had a total of 160 acres and Charles had 80. Subsequent columns show livestock and crops. Great-great-grandmother Maria died just 3 years after this census, and Charles had left Chase County by 1876.

Conclusions

This info gives me interesting details of their lives at this time, but nothing earth-shatteringly new. I'm not going to play around in 1880 or the other categories in this new database for fear of spending too much more time here! Maybe later?!

It does remind me that I should look at the Chase County land records and see if I can find the origin of Charles' land and the circumstances of his selling it. I know where he is in 1880, but I'm hoping to someday find something to explain how he meets Margaret Lavina Richardson of Morgan County, Missouri.

Source and Disclaimer

Images are cropped from those at ancestry.com. I am a subscriber but I receive no other consideration from them.

10 Generations Data: Not so great?

2010-04-15T17:03:00.000-07:00

Randy Seaver's Genea-Musings blog for 7 March 2010 was a very interesting discussion about being able to document a person's ancestry back 10 generations. It's only taken me five weeks to get around to doing the calculations for my ancestry....

I counted myself as Generation 1 (Randy started with his parents each as Gen 1, but some of those who commented started with themselves as Gen 1 or even a child of theirs as Gen 1; so be careful comparing yourself to Randy, his commenters, or me). I only counted a woman if I had a birth surname and I only counted anyone of whom I'm very sure should be in my lines.

The first result is as expected: No, I do NOT have everyone back 10 generations. But, if I did, maybe this wouldn't be a fun hobby?!

I am solid through 4 generations, having all 8 of my great-grandparents, but in the 5th, I've lost parents for either of my 1850ish Irish immigrant great-grandparents. For the subsequent generations, the ancestors I claim are:

6th generation -- 3g grandparents -- 19 out of 32 possible or 59%

7th -- 4g -- 19 out of 64 or 30%

8th -- 5g -- 30 out of 128 or 23%

9th -- 6g -- 44 out of 256 or 17%

10th-- 7g -- 64 out of 512 or 13%

Overall, that gives me 203 out of 1023 or 19.8% accounted for through 10 generations. Randy Seaver reported that at the 7g level he has accounted for 56%! (He has a larger percentage of early New England heritage than I do.)

The furthest my HEGWER / RICHARDSON line goes is 6 lines all stopping at the 6th generation. CARR / CAUSIER has one line that makes it to the 10th generation, which I think is pretty spiffy given that they are my most recent immigrants. PORTER / DAVISON has several lines well past 10 generations and finding all of their lines to at least 10 seems very realistic. KEATING / DOOLEY are great-grandparents and I sincerely doubt that I will ever find parents for either of them, but I will keep trying!

I'll use the "SURNAMES" blog page that I started a bit ago to keep track of how these numbers go. Let me know if that Blogger page is interesting to you! May you all have great success getting to 10 generations!

Uncle Benny Hegwer

2010-04-12T19:50:00.000-07:00

This photo is one of the treasures I brought home with me from my visit last month with my Aunt Lelia in Utah. Once again, she pulled out photos I have no memory of ever having seen before! (More of them will probably appear here over the next few weeks!) I believe this is the only photo I have of Uncle Benny where he is not a babe-in-arms.

Uncle Benny was the seventh child of my grandparents Bertha (Carr) and Ben Hegwer, whom you saw in a previous post. In fact, I now know that both that photo and this one of Benny were taken by Bertha's sister, Ann Carr, on the same day, 12 October 1929. Benny was born here in the family home at the plant for Utah Power & Light at Lifton in St. Charles, Bear Lake, Idaho, on 24 December 1926, so he is almost 3 years old in this photo. His father, Ben, was the power plant superintendent.

It strikes me that sometimes a photo can be appreciated for its content and composition or, sometimes, a photo is valued because of who or what it records, regardless of artistic merit. And, sometimes, it may be valued for the greater story it tells. For me, this photo is in this last category and I hope I can express myself adequately...

Thankfully, Grand-Aunt Ann annotated the back of her photo:

So, it seems all the more charming to me and personal to know the names of the cats. Maybe it's because of the name "Fuzzy," but Benny and the cats all look so playful and are obviously planning their next adventure.

But, doesn't the impact and character of this snapshot change when I tell you that Benny died just 17 days after this moment in time?

Shortly after the 2 photos were taken, the whole family became very ill. His sister Margaret died five days after Benny, the death certificates saying scarlet fever (but Aunt Lelia swears it was diphtheria). Their father, Ben, never fully recovered and died 3 August 1933. Brother Ray also never fully recovered but lived til 1937.

One small snapshot can be so much more than just the image on its front side.

A Great Surprise: Ancestor Approved

2010-04-10T19:11:00.000-07:00

I was speechless to find that I had been nominated by Leah of The Internet Genealogist for the Ancestor Approved award, which was originated by Leslie Ann Ballou of Ancestors Live Here. Both of these are fine blogs! Anyway, I've been too speechless to even write and thank Leah for the nomination until now.

Recipients are supposed to write about 10 surprising, humbling, or enlightening aspects of their research. Here are mine:

1. Maria Rosina (Ilgner) Hegwer with 7 young children in tow and being very pregnant, leaving everything behind and getting on the barque Carolina and sailing for about 2 months across the Atlantic to her new world in 1839. She delivered that baby the day before landing in New York. I wouldn't have wanted to do that on a modern luxury cruise ship, let alone the way she did!

2. (First Cousin 3 times removed )Benjamin Stoddard Davison being widowed 3 times [Ellen E. Hunt, Mariette C. Hunt, and Margaret H. Stuart] and all 3 wives being acknowledged on his gravestone in the Fairfax Plains Cemetery, Fairfax, Franklin, Vermont.

3. All the people who contribute to findagrave.com and especially Barb Destromp in Vermont who seems to be dedicated to photographing all Vermont graves!

4. All the people who run great county sites at US Genweb project and especially Lorna Marvin at Chase County, Kansas. She has single-handedly transcribed an incredible number of documents, indexes, etc. The content at this site is super, especially if you are researching the early Hegwer's. I know that my research wouldn't be where it is today if it were not for Lorna's efforts.

5. Thomas Coram's efforts led to the establishment of the first facility in England for deserted children: The Foundling Hospital in London. My 5th great-grandfather was admitted there in 1759 as a foundling. Reading about all the work done by Coram is truly humbling.

6. Stephen J. Hartzell has a great website with both data and history of the St. Francis Orphanage of Tiffin, Ohio. Without his website, I'm not sure I ever would have found one, let alone 2 of the orphanages that housed my grandmother. More on that long story in upcoming blogs here! He may not be a blogger, but in my opinion, Stephen is truly "Ancestor Approved!"

7. My 8th great-grandparents John and Mary (Baldwin) CATLIN died in or as a result of the 1704 Deerfield, Massachusetts raid. I can only try to imagine what it was like to live on a frontier.

8. My father served in WWII, but otherwise, I have to go back to the War of 1812 to find a direct ancestor with military service. Is that surprising?

9. 4th Cousin Donald's eight great-grandparents were all in Morgan County, Missouri by the mid 1800's. At that time, my 8 greats were in Kansas, Missouri, Vermont (2), England (2), Ireland, and Canada.

10. With only a quick perusal of Leah-who-nominated-me's blog, it looks to me as though we are distant cousins! I will have to inquire!

Ancestor Approved recipients also need to forward the award to 10 more blogs "who are doing their ancestors proud." It's kind of a genealogy pyramid or chain letter. My thought was to acknowledge bloggers who had not already received the award, but my prolonged speechlessness, and the rapidity with which the award has spread, may have sidetracked me.... Anyway, here are some very good blogs and I nominate them with enthusiasm:

Kick-Ass Genealogy by Katrina McQuarrie

Relatively Curious about Genealogy, an anonymous blog from Texas

Eastern Kentucky Genealogy by Teresa Martin Klaiber

These Small Hours by Della [not really a genealogy blog, but her grandparents treasure it and so do I; it is so well written and will be a treasure for her descendants]

The Accidental Genealogist by Lisa Alzo

The Genetic Genealogist by Blaine Bettinger

Irish Genealogy by Deborah Large Fox

Midwest Genealogy by Sharlene Miller

Mad About Genealogy by Linda Elliott

Did you count and see that I only list nine blogs? For the rest, please visit my blog's "followers." They are GREAT blogs and were already nominated, most several times.

So, "THANK YOU!," again to Leah and I hope you are happy with what your nominating me has led to here!

CONCLUSION: We all have so many different stories to tell! We should all be sure to thank all those bloggers we enjoy. Have a great day!

Great Books: Gary Boyd Roberts

2010-04-07T14:29:00.000-07:00

I really enjoyed last week's episode of Who Do You Think You Are?, and I was especially happy to see Gary Boyd Roberts briefly as he showed Ms. Shields her pedigree. I've met Roberts a few times, all at the Southern California Genealogy Jamboree. The first time was in 2005, when I asked him to sign my copy of Best Genealogical Sources. At that exhibit hall, he also offered a research consultation for a small fee. I used it to have him look at my New England pedigree chart; the experience was incredible! Not only did he add names, but he wrote down sources with page numbers included--all from off the top of his head! I had chatted with him in intervening years when he attended, but last year, I took my pedigree chart back again. I was purchasing a copy of the new Ancestors of American Presidents, and he volunteered to take it and my chart back to the hotel overnight. The next day, he gave me both back with a wonderful, long inscription in my new book and lots & lots of annotations all over my chart. It will take years to follow up on all the leads. Gary Boyd Roberts is truly one of a kind!

The Best Genealogical Sources in Print: Essays by Gary Boyd Roberts, Vol. One (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2004)

500+ pages, hardback, index; not always the easiest reading, but absolutely packed with sources for New England research; last year I was very unhapy to hear that he no longer thinks he will ever get to a second volume

I really enjoy reading this book and it is my absolute favorite for good sources on New England genealogy. It is a selected collection of some of Roberts' writing from 1976 to 2004 but then updated for this publication. I especially use the chapters on Western Massachusetts, major publications, Torrey, and compiled genealogies. There really is too much of great value to list it all here. I believe all serious genealogists researching early New England need this book.

Ancestors of American Presidents (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009)

830+ pages, hardback, index; oodles of charts & pedigrees; some photographs; extensive bibliography

This book is worth using for the reliability of the research. I wanted this book because of the bibliography and the pedigrees including Alice Freeman, one of my early New England ancestors. I am not a descendant of any presidents, but can apparently call several of them 'cousin.' It's very , very interesting to see how many of our presidents have been each others cousins!

DISCLAIMER, Etc.

Jamboree this year is June 11-13; early bird registration has started. I am a member and volunteer of the society but receive no other consideration.

I am a member of NEHGS but receive no other consideration from them. I paid for my copies of each book.

I am a subscriber to ancestry.com but receive no other consideration from them. I watch WDYTYA but have no other connection to the show. I do wish they would work on my ancestry....

First Friday Folder: Simeon Bates & Abigail Bates

2010-04-02T23:12:00.000-07:00

I see all the neat blogging ideas for days of the week, such as Wordless Wednesday or Surname Saturday, and they do inspire me, but I think I'm just not that kind of genealogy blogger. However, I have been thinking about doing something alliterative maybe once a month that would directly support enhancing my research. My new idea is for the first Friday of the month: take one family folder from my file drawers and spend some time with it.

My plan is to go through it and look at:

Clean-up: Are there any duplicates or other papers I can remove? (I always feel good when I can make a folder smaller!) Is there anything that even shouldn't be in this folder in the first place?!

Organization: Is everything in the right grouping: for instance, are all the census documents together and in order? Are the family group sheets for the children who aren't my direct line together? Have all the documents and other sources been entered in my database? Do I need to print any new family group sheets?

Problems: Are there any glaring problems with this family and have I clearly written my concerns? If it is a time period with censuses available, is there a census summary grid and is it up to date? Where do I stand in having appropriate sources and are they recorded?

Plans: What do I do next? What do I need to do so I can do the next thing?

Simeon Bates and his wife, Abigail Bates

So, today I began with 5th great-grandparents Simeon BATES (21 Mar 1737/1738 - 1828) and Abigail BATES (3 Oct 1733 -- ), who were themselves first cousins as both were grandchildren of Joshua BATES and Rachel TOWER.

This folder had some duplicates in it that I could discard and 2 pages misfiled. I had not entered my source for their children's baptisms & communion. There were several worksheets that could be better grouped for easier review. The family group sheet printout was 2 years old, so it was really good I had discarded some unnecessary duplicates or else cleaning out the folder could have actually increased it!

I ran the names through the databases at New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) to look for new additions, printed a couple of pages, and updated my database. The big problem with this couple is that "Simeon Bates" is NOT a rare name in that time period/locality. There are numerous, sourceless genealogies online that have Simeon with two wives: Abigail Bates and Martha Swift. I'm very confident that my Simeon did NOT marry Martha Swift. The Bates/Swift couple is clearly having children at the same time that my Bates/Bates couple is and in different towns. And, neither of them is the Simeon Bates of lighthouse fame!

I need to review Attleborough, Bristol, Massachusetts history and types of available records, especially probate to see what I can find. I need to track Abigail. I must track their children more thoroughly: I only have anything past births for 2 of the 6.

Conclusions
I think it's a good idea to go back and look at folders every so often, if only to be something different from current, long standing projects. It's a nice, little break!

I knew that I wouldn't reach any great resolution with this folder, but it's certainly in better shape now than it was! And, I think I am more likely to get somewhere with it when I do go back to it.

Great Aunt Caroline (Hegwer) Fritze

2010-03-23T16:37:00.000-07:00

I think this image and the few pages that accompanied it may have been the biggest research finds from my recent Salt Lake City trip. Caroline (1831-1905) was fourth of the ten children of Carl Benjamin and Maria Rosina (ILGNER) HEGWER. I may never find pictures of any of her siblings or parents, but at least I now have this one!

I knew that her husband, whose name I have recorded as Rev. J. Andrew FRITZE (1816-1877), had been a Lutheran clergyman of some note, often the first one in some of the areas where I have found him. I also knew that Andrew & Caroline's family had been in Indiana.

While at the Family History Library, I followed a hunch that there might be some information about him in this book: The Pastors and their Families, St. Peter Fueling Evangelical Lutheran Church, Root Township, Adams County, Decatur, Indiana. It appears in the FHL catalog with call number 977.273/R1 D3f. It's a small book, unpaginated, compiled by Alan Franz. (According to the catalog, it is also available on microfilm as Item 7 on film # 1,440,530.)

I used my digital camera to record the 13 pages about Rev. Fritze. The image above is cropped from one of those pages. The book also includes photos and birth/death dates for their 9 children, copies of obituaries for both Andrew & Caroline, and other general information. In one spot, it says Caroline & Andrew met and married in Europe but in Wisconsin in another spot. I am confident that they met and married in Wisconsin.

In my genealogy dreams, this book was going to include wonderful, specific information about Caroline's birthplace and her grandparents. That dream did not come true, but I'm still very happy having an image of someone from her generation!

Grandparents Bertha & Ben

2010-03-22T15:11:00.000-07:00

Bertha Maud Carr was born 13 December 1893 in Racine, Racine, Wisconsin to John Henry and Ann Matilda (Causier) CARR. Benjamin Theodore Hegwer was born 22 February 1885 in Goff, Nemaha, Kansas to Charles Herman and Margaret Lavina (Richardson) HEGWER.

They were married 11 September 1912 in Ely, White Pine, Nevada, where both Ben and John Henry were working. This photo shows them in the mid to late 1920s in Salt Lake City, Utah. By then, the family was living in St. Charles, Bear Lake, Idaho.

The building with the water tank is the Salt Lake Hardware on N. 400 West just north of North Temple. The railing was in front of the Union Pacific Railway Depot. Where they are standing is now the front of a new Hyatt. So, the railing is gone, the street looks different, and there is now an overpass in the way between where they were standing and the building, but the building is still there!

Back from Researchin'!

2010-03-22T10:03:00.000-07:00

What a great trip! I visited family & friends and got to spend two full days at the Family History Library.

At the FHL, I examined over 50 books, saw 29 microfilms/fiche, made 230 digital images from books or films, and spent an hour with a German-reading volunteer on translating some sources. I am really impressed with the new digital coping process for microfilms.

It's going to take me a good while to get all this new info analyzed. I didn't find anything that is obviously a barn-burner for any of my direct lines, but I think there is a lot here that may lead in good directions.

The researching was great, but easily the best part was spending time with family and friends. That part of the trip was much too short. My dear aunt once again pulled out previously unseen, old family photos. Some of them will show up here shortly!

Goin' Researchin' !

2010-03-04T13:00:00.000-08:00

This is to announce that there won't be any new entries here for a while: I am going to Salt Lake City next week for several days! So, right now, I'm working hard on pre-research homework:

which families and locations am I targeting: I know I want to read the book shelves for specific counties: Knox, Seneca, and Ottawa in Ohio and Estill in Kentucky

what specific books do I want to see that are not available to me otherwise

I've got 3 documents or book extracts set aside which I need to discuss with a volunteer who reads German

I need to place an advance request for 2 films from the vault

I have 2 non-circulating microfiche to see

some other quickie microfilms do I need to see; ie, index films or quick vital records, as opposed to films like town records or deeds that require careful reading (I don't mind ordering those through my local FHC). I'll also use this trip to look at films that I don't expect to be useful but that I'd still like to see but don't want to pay $6 on a whim!

For my first trip there, I had studied Nancy Carlberg's Researching in Salt Lake City and found it quite useful. I think I'll try to reread it again before I leave!

I'm so excited! When I included a Family HIstory Library trip as one of my resolutions, I really wasn't sure it could happen! Have a great few weeks and I'll let you know all about it!