Great Book: Roots & Patchwork

 I had a wonderful visit to Chase County, Kansas, in September of 2023. One highlight was visiting the Chase County Historical Museum and Research Library. Their wonderful staff pointed me to Roots & Patchwork: An Historical View of Chase County, Kansas USA, which the society first published in 2002; the copy I purchased is from the second printing in 2018. It's 91 pages are a potpourri of photos and vignettes; it is available through their website.

After getting back home from the long trip, I was incredibly surprised to find this photo on p. 65. It is not dated.

While they are not my direct line, one of these men married married a daughter of my great-great-grandparents, Carl Benjamin Hegwer and Maria Ilgner. The Frey brothers also have Hegwer relations.  It is a treat to have images of them!

Kasimer John Fink was born about 15 Mar 1830 in Veringstadt, Hohenzollern, Germany (or perhaps, Prussia?). He arrived in Kansas about 1858. He married Medora Hegwer 27 Mar 1860 in Americus, Lyon, Kansas. He died 3 January 1912 in Cottonwood Falls.

Frank Frey and Julius Frey were Hegwer in-laws. Their sisters, Wilhemina and Maria Charlotte, married Carl Traugott Hegwer and Ernest Gothelf Hegwer, respectively.  There are several other Hegwer-Frey connections over decades. 

Presidential Cousins

The latest post at the Vita Brevis blog, Celebrating Presidential Kinship, US Ancestry by Christopher Carter Lee,  does "briefly" discuss the presidency,  genealogy of the individual presidents, and NEHGS's support of such research and archiving.  It also reminds me that I haven't blogged about any of my presidential connections….

While I am not descended from any American Presidents, several of them are distant cousins through some of my Great Migration ancestors.  At the 2009 SCGS Jamboree, I had the pleasure of talking with Gary Boyd Roberts at the NEHGS booth.  I blogged about his great books before but didn't list my presidential cousins...

That year, after reviewing my pedigree chart, Gary Boyd Roberts listed the following cousins for me:  Fillmore, Lincoln, Grant, Cleveland, Harding, Coolidge, FDR, Nixon, Ford, both Bushes, and conditionally added Pierce and Hoover.  It's almost six years since Mr. Roberts examined my chart and wrote the notes and I'm still gratified by his kindness.

As the Vita Brevis post mentions, there is a newer 2012 edition of the book and I'm sure it's worth having for all the additions & corrections it must have, but I can't bear to replace mine.  I will always cherish the thought that Gary Boyd Roberts actually took my pedigree chart back to his hotel room, read it, wrote on it, and took the time to write a detailed personal comment on my copy of his book! Thank you, Mr. Roberts!

I hope to someday get to Boston to visit the library and do lots of research.  I'll take my book along with me, hoping to show Roberts and talk with him again.  In the meantime, I really, really hope that someday NEHGS brings him back to this area for Jamboree.

Ohio "County Histories" -- Easy Access

The most recent of the Ohio Genealogical Society Quarterly (2013, Vol. 53, Issue 1, pp. 23-38) has the greatest article about the published county histories of the state of Ohio!  Professional librarian (retired), Robert Foster Seal has compiled a listing of county histories currently available online digitally "free of charge to all researchers" at FamilySearch, Google Books, Internet Archive, &/or HathiTrust Digital Library. I had not previously heard of HathiTrust, but it was the easiest of the four for me to actually use for my counties!

Most of the books listed are available on more than one of the sites.  For instance, the 1881 edition of History of Knox County, Ohio: Its Past and Present is at all four sites, as is the 1880 edition of Morrow County and Ohio.  On the other hand, the Historical Atlas of Paulding County, Ohio of 1892 is available only at Internet Archive.

Each of the 88 Ohio counties has at least one book listed, but many have more than one.  For example, Ottawa County has only one listed, but Knox County has four and Seneca has five!

It is a great treat to have this resource list readily available in one place.  The journal editor added a note saying that OGS will add Seal's list to their website and will accept additions of listings for other histories available at free sites.  I am so glad I am an OGS member! I think this article alone was worth the price of my last renewal....!  Thank you, OGS, and thank you very much, Mr. Seal!

Great Books: NGS Conference Souvenirs

What's a genealogy conference with out buying books?  I went with a list of 3 books I was looking for and came home with 4, but only 2 of them from the original list.

The Great Migration Newsletter: Volumes 16-20 by Robert Charles Anderson.  Boston: NEHGS, 2012.

This one brings me up-to-date on the newsletter compilations, a must have for anyone with early New England ancestry.  It's nice to have a book from a highly reliable source with one of my ancestors in every issue if not every page!  I enjoy reading these even when not actively researching a specific individual.  The locale info is always especially worthwhile.




Mastering Genealogical Proof by Thomas W. Jones.  Arlington, VA: NGS, 2013.   

A workbook format with glossary, reading list, and answers for the exercises.  Much of this seems to have been in his two presentations I attended at the conference.  It will be great to have the content in a book format. Besides an overview of the Genealogical Proof Standard, each element gets its own chapter.  I'm really looking forward to reading this one, probably over and over!



Becoming an Excellent Genealogist: Essays on Professional Research Skills edited by Kory L. Meyerink, Tristan L. Tolman, and Linda K. Gulbrandsen.  No location: ICAPGen, 2012.

I spotted this at their booth, thumbed through, slept on it, and bought it on Day 2.  On Day 3, I went back and told them that after only 2 chapters, it seems like a great book!  The font for the chapter titles and sidebars is irritating, but otherwise, I'm really, really looking forward to reading this one! Contributors include Kitzmiller, Russo Adams, Daynes, and Wight.  Essays are in categories including methodology, records, and recording.  Specific topics include migration, medieval research, jurisdictions, writing, and accreditation.

NGS Research in the States Series: Kentucky by Bettie Cummings Cook. Arlington, VA: NGS, 2012.

More a pamphlet than a book, I find myself going back frequently to the other items in this series.  So, it's good to have Kentucky. I'm determined to apply thorough research processes to the Richardson ancestry there and I'm optimistic this guide will help.

Great Book: Hard Road West

... In the category of "Why didn't I think of that?" ...  This book is a must-read for anyone with Gold Rush ancestors.

Hard Road West: History and Geology along the Gold Rush Trail. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007.  By Keith Heyer Meldahl.

I have always been interested in geology, as was my father, and many of my fondest family memories relate to rocks and roadside vistas with him.  With lots of maps and illustrations, Meldahl explains the geology of the land surrounding the Oregon and California Trail.  It's an easy read, but maintains the rigor of the science.

The great part is that Meldahl illustrates the geological description with excerpts of the actual journals written by settlers &/or hopeful prospectors as they made the trek in the 1840-50s.  In the preface (p. xv), discussing the trek as the "greatest mass migration in American history," Meldahl explains how the area along the trail is a past that we can see today:

The rocks and mountains of the West have changed little since 1849 (unlike most of the native animal and plant populations and native cultures). The geologic landscape along the trails needs no reenactments, no props, no tricks of animation to re-create historic authenticity. It is genuine. Subtract the buildings, highways, and reservoirs, and you see the landscape much as the emigrants saw it. The past becomes personal when you stand in the old wagon ruts and read what emigrant men and women thought and wrote while looking out at the same scenes. Byron McKinstry, and 1850 pioneer who kept his diary going even through the worst of times, was once chided by a companion, 'My God, McKinstry, why do you write about this trip? All I hope for is to get home, alive, as soon as possible, so that I can forget it!' Luckily for us, there were many McKinstry's on the road west--emigrants who took the time to write, nearly every day, through the months of toil.

All along the trail, the reader learns the geography, geology, and what it looked like or felt to someone actually there at the time.  For instance, on page 210, the caption for a photo of the Humboldt River outside Elko, Nevada, reads:

The steam comes from a hot spring on the riverbank.  This spring flowed more powerfully in emigrant days and was a famous landmark. Forty-niner Wakeman Bryarly described the water as 'boiling hot & sent off steam & heat from its surface, which [was] as hot as the scape pipe of an engine. Even after it ran into the river, it foamed & hissed as cold water poured into hot and sent off steam for 80 yds. below, and extended half over the river.' Many emigrants bathed and washed their clothes here in the spring-warmed river. The ledge and the lumpy, white slope consist of travertine deposits precipitated by the hot water.

The book is very well documented with many notes and an 8-page bibliography.  No less than two of those pages are emigrant history books or journals.Some of the many surnames quoted include Ackley, Bryarly, Delano, McCall, and Searls.

I don't have gold rush ancestry, but my grandparents met outside Elko and several of the great-greats lived, farmed, or mined in Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, and Missouri.  So, I know they would have seen many of the same vistas described and explained by Meldahl.  I hope I've done this book justice and that you can tell how much I enjoyed it.

Variations in GIB

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

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).

Something Old, Something New

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!

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

 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.  [May 2014 update: better sources are a) "Ancestry of the Children of Robert Croll Stevens and Jane Eleanor (Knauss) Stevens," vols. 4 &6, by Robert Croll Stevens; and 2) Connecticut VR to 1870 {Barbour Collection} at NEHGS--Milford p. 12]...year only for Mary's baptism.

[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 Resource: Los Angeles City Directories

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

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

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.

Great Books: Gary Boyd Roberts

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....

Great Books: Marsha Hoffman Rising

Virtually all genealogy guidelines say to talk to your family members now, since you never know when it will be too late. Now, I add, 'Communicate with your favorite authors or researchers because you never know when it will be too late.'

Two of my very most favorite genealogy books, both in general and for Missouri research, are FamilyTree Problem Solver [1] and Opening the Ozarks: First Families in Southwest Missouri, 1835-1839 [2 ]. This is a very sad blog entry for me because the author, Marsha Hoffman Rising, died this week. I never had the chance to hear her speak, let alone to meet her.

Opening the Ozarks
In this impressive and well-documented 4 volume set, Rising set off to investigate the first 1000 people to file land claims at the federal office in Springfield, Missouri. She wanted to see to what extent the origin of a pioneer can be found by studying their neighbors and she wanted to document successful research strategies for the early 1800s. Counties represented are Benton, Camden, Cedar, Dallas, Greene, Hickory, Miller, Polk, Pulaski, St. Clair, Texas, and Wright. The research techniques, history, and migration patterns, etc., that Rising discussed are all useful for anyone doing early Missouri research.

Unfortunately for me, my RICHARDSONs, SHAWs, & HIX/HICKSs are not in her main sample. But, they were in adjacent Cooper & Morgan counties at the same time and they and some of their in-laws are listed & discussed in Rising’s research. She even cited Cousin Donald’s RICHARDSON research!

In support of the books, she established a website and encouraged submissions of additions and corrections to the book. I found one correction to submit last year and greatly regret that I didn’t get around to it sooner. Not knowing if anyone will maintain the website, I’ll publish my correction here in honor of Marsha Hoffman Rising.

In Volume 2, page 1373, the Benjamin F. McFarland who married Sarah Richardson in 1830 is discussed. This Sarah/Sallie is almost certainly a daughter of Amos Richardson and Elizabeth/Betsey Hicks/Hix. Rising places the couple correctly in 1850 in St. Clair county, Missouri [3] (but did not show images nor list family names since this family was just extra data she added and not part of the main study):

However, by 1860 Sarah is apparently a widow and Rising places her in Cass County. The related census image appears to be [4]:

This Sarah's age is much more than expected and the names & ages of the children do not match well at all with the names from 1850. However, there is an alternative Sallie McFarland in Greene County, shown here beginning on line 39 in the household of John Spears[5]. It was common for my Richardsons to use Sally & Sarah interchangeably.
And, the children continue on the next census page:
The Green County Sarah is a better match for age and an almost perfect match for the children from the 1850 census. I am as certain as we can ever be that the Sarah Richardson who married Benjamin McFarland is really in Greene County in 1860 as shown above.

I also have a comment on Rising's listing Benjamin F. McFarland as one of the possible children of James McFarland and Frances Webb on pages 1372-1373. Now, this is a collateral line for me and I have only researched it a bit in hopes of finding a clue for Benjamin's father-in-law's ancestry, but I don't think that James was Benjamin's father. Morgan County, Missouri probate court records [6] have a series of proceedings for the estate of a Benjamin McFarland, who died before 5 August 1840, and is periodically referred to as 'senior.' A 'junior' Benjamin is specifically listed. Yes, it is possible that 'junior' & 'senior' are used for relationships other than father-son, but this relationship must at least be considered and disproven before assuming otherwise. Also, there is a film of wills for the time period but I have not yet seen it [7]. It could well have a definitive solution for this issue.

Overall, given the location, dates, and names of the administrator and others listed, I am fairly sure that these records belong to the Benjamin McFarland who marries Sarah Richardson. Rising's James McFarland may have had a son 'Benjamin' but I am fairly sure that it is not the Benjamin who married Sarah and appears in the census excerpts above.

FamilyTree Problem Solver
From the Introduction: "Relatively few genealogy books are intended for the advanced researcher, as this one is. Instead, this book is intended to give each reader new ideas for tackling those knotty problems that have been sitting on the backburner of the research schedule for months or even years." [p. 2] The emphasis is on analyzing records, especially those before 1850. Courts, census, and land records are discussed, as is the importance of following collateral families and neighbors. Most examples are from Missouri, Kentucky or New England but definitely applicable to all locales.

For Missouri researchers, the specific record samples are a bonus. After reading just 2 chapters, I had a list of 5 types of records that I have never heard of before and will be checking to see if they exist in my counties! Overall, I just cannot emphasize enough how useful and enjoyable this fine book is to me.

CONCLUSIONS
These are really great books, the kind I read and go back to often. I regret that I did not take the time to communicate with Ms. Rising and tell her myself.

DISCLAIMER
I do not have any connection to the publishing company nor any sales company nor ancestry.com. I use Opening the Ozarks at a local public library and I bought my own copy of Family Tree Problem Solver.

SOURCES
[1]Marsha Hoffman Rising, The FamilyTree Problem Solver: Proven Methods for Scaling the Inevitable Brick Wall. Cincinnati: Family Tree Books, 2005.
[2]Marsha Hoffman Rising, Opening the Ozarks: First Families in Southwest Missouri 1835-1839. Derry, New Hampshire: American Society of Genealogists, 2005.
[3] 1850 US census image at ancestry.com, cropped from Dist 72, St.Clair County, Missouri
[4] 1860 US census image at ancestry.com, cropped from Sugar Creek, Cass County, Missouri
[5]1860 US census image at ancestry.com, cropped from Pond Creek, Greene County, Missouri
[6] FHL # 981,210: Missouri, Morgan County, Probate Court Record, vol. 1A, 1834-1847. Estate of Benjamin McFarland: pp. 96-97, 113, 121-3, 136, 144, 170-1, 185, 196, 235, 257.
[7] FHL # 981,623: Missouri, Morgan County, Probate Court -- Wills, vol. 1-2 1835-1903

A Carr/Causier Voyage & More

The first time I remember hearing the expression "Every journey has two ends" was in a podcast from the National Archives of the United Kingdom. [Please see Note 5 for more info.] Now, I have my own examples!

Fairly recently, findmypast.co.uk (a commercial subscription site) posted oodles of records of passenger lists of people leaving from the UK on long voyages during the years 1890 to 1960. Last week, I finally got around to playing in those records, accessing FindMyPast for free at my local Family History Center. It was great fun!

The Family
Great-Grandparents John Henry CARR and Ann Matilda CAUSIER made at least two trips between the USA and England. The first trip was between May, 1887 and February, 1889, settling in Wisconsin with 3 young children (Matilda, Grice Ethell, & Charles William). There, Jane Catherine, Ernest Grice, and Bertha Maud were born. Sadly, both Matilda and Grice Ethell died in Racine, Wisconsin in July 1889. About 1894, the family returned to England, where their last child, Anne Martha was born in 1904.

The Voyage with Two Ends
Some time ago I had found the arrival manifest for their 15 September 1907 return through Philadelphia. Here are crops of both pages of the arriving manifest.

Page 1 [Source 1]
John Henry CARR is line 18; Ann and four children are lines 19-23:

Before I talk about the Carr’s in this image, let’s look at the ‘scribbles’ on the page. The line through Mr. Marshall on line 26 means he did NOT take the voyage after all. The date and code numbers on line 23 for Aunt Annie most likely mean that she applied for naturalization in 1931. [Note 6]

Page 2 [Source 2]:

I especially value seeing that great-grandfather John Henry was only 5’7” and had blue eyes, while great-grandmother Ann was 5’3” with brown eyes. Re-examing all this info for the writing of this blog, I see that maybe I can’t find a birth record for Ann is because I have been looking in Tipton, Staffordshire per her death certificate, rather than in Castleford, Yorkshire. Given that the passenger list was made 40 years closer to her birth, it could be the accurate one! It’s funny how re-reading documents can reveal details missed before.

Also, note that on Page 2 where it says John Henry was going to his father’s at 188 Wiliams, it really is his father-in-law Charles Causier’s address. There is no indication that William Carr ever left Yorkshire.

Last week, at FindMyPast.co.uk, I found the passenger list for the 4 September 1907 departure from Liverpool [Source 3]. So, now I have both the beginning and end of the Carr’s second voyage! This passenger list doesn’t give me any earth-shattering new info, but it does contain the surprise that Grandma Bertha was called, at least once, “Bessy.” If I had not already had the arrival manifest, finding the departing passenger list would have given me a date, a ship, and a port, which would surely make finding the arrival easier.

The Ship

They traveled on the SS Merion. It was easy to find info on this ship at Wikipedia.com. The wiki entry says that the ship was first launched in 1902, so it was still fairly new when this family sailed. The entry continues that the ship held 150 second class passengers and 1700 in third class. Its career includes running aground and a few at-sea collisions, but fortunately none in 1907! Perhaps most interestingly, it was sunk, without casualties, by a German submarine in WWI while on duty in the Mediterranean as a decoy. [Source 4]

Conclusion
Finding documents and matching photos like all these really strike me. I just stare at this ship thinking over and over that I may have never met them, but my great-grandparents were on this ship! Wow!

Maybe this FindMyPast database will be expanded one day soon and I'll be able to use it to find the date and full info about the first Carr/Causier trip to the USA. For now, I'll just try to get used to the idea that Grandma Bertha may have been a 'Bessie.'

Disclaimer
I neither work for nor receive any consideration from any of the entities listed here.

Sources & Notes
[1] cropped from ancestry.com database “Philadelphia Passenger Lists, 1800-1945,” 1907 / September / Merion / image 27

[2] cropped from ancestry.com database “Philadelphia Passenger Lists, 1800-1945,” 1907 / September / Merion / image 28

[3] cropped from findmypast.co.uk migration database "Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960"; SS Merion, Liverpool to Philadelphia, 4 Sep 1907

[4] Merion picture & info from Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Merion -- Wikipedia says this image is in the public domain in the USA.

[5] More info about the National Archives podcasts: The best way to access their wonderful podcasts is at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/podcasts/

Here's the podcast specific to passenger lists and every voyage having two ends: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/podcasts/every-journey.htm

Just for fun, here are links to 3 of my other most favorite National Archives podcasts:
How the sinking of the Titanic affected the families of the crew
a case study on genealogical research featuring the family of Charles Darwin
workhouses of the 1800s
The National Archives have an incredible amount of resources and I could never do them justice in this blog. For genealogy research help, I love the book Tracing Your Ancestors in the National Archives by Amanda Bevan. My copy is the 7th Edition, published in 2006. !

[6] There is a wonderful document “A Guide to Interpreting Passenger List Annotations” online through JewishGen. It has lots of examples and all sorts of info about all the details on passenger lists. Be sure to look at all of the sections: my printout of the guide runs to 28 pages.

Great Books: Yorkshire

Perhaps I should admit now that even with all my college degrees, I got through school with only one real history course. With the help of PBS, my interest in history did increase over the years but that's not saying much. But as my interest in genealogy increased and my research progressed, I saw how lacking my knowledge was and how interesting specific topics in history could be.

For instance, I soon found that all of my CAUSIER and CARR lines have a connection to Yorkshire but my research was hampered by my complete lack of knowledge of Yorkshire's geography or history. These great books are helping me catch up:

A History of Yorkshire: 'County of the Broad Acres' by David Hey (Lancaster, England: Carnegie Publishing, 2005). It's 472 pages with at least one illustration on almost every page. It is so lovely just to look at that sometimes I just sit and go through reading the picture captions. In 10 chapters, content goes from "prehistory" to present day. Careful attention is made to show how the sub-regions are each unique across that time span.

My Ancestors were Methodists by William Leary (London: Society of Genealogists, 1999). This is a small, 115 page pamphlet. Most of it is a listing of existing Methodist records across England, but the first 20 pages are an excellent overview of all the different types of Methodists. This topic became very important to me when I realized that I was having trouble finding records on the children of John Henry CARR and Ann Matilda CAUSIER because I was looking in Church of England records while the family was Primitive Methodist! Clearly, I need to learn more about Methodist records and history, but this is a start.

Have a great time at your library or bookstore!