Best of the Genea-Blogs - 13 to 19 April 2014

Hundreds of genealogy and family history bloggers write thousands of posts every week about their research, their families, and their interests. I appreciate each one of them and their efforts.

My criteria for "Best of ..." are pretty simple - I pick posts that advance knowledge about genealogy and family history, address current genealogy issues, provide personal family history, are funny or are poignant. I don't list posts destined for daily blog prompts or meme submissions (but I do include summaries of them), or my own posts.

Here are my picks for great reads from the genealogy blogs for this past week:

*  Piecing Together the Puzzle: Some Thoughts on Genealogy by Jeanie Roberts on The Family Connection blog.  Jeanie's thoughtful piece is about genealogy, sharing and working with other researchers.

*  FamilySearch Breaks, Fixes Image URLs by the writer of The Ancestry Insider blog.  Mr. AI describes what happened, and comments on FamilySearch source citations.

*  52 Ancestors Challenge: Week 15 Recap by Amy Johnson Crow on the No Story Too Small blog.  Amy lists the Week 15 participants.

*  Did You Turn the Page? by Kimberly Powell on the About.com: Genealogy blog.  Kimberly has examples where this might be a really good thing.

*  Can a Complete Genealogy Exist? by James Tanner on the Genealogy's Star blog.  James doesn't think so, and illustrates why using Puzzilla.org (he broke it!).

*  Keeping My Genealogy Database in Tip Top Shape by Michele Simmons Lewis on the Ancestoring blog.  Michele works at it and succeeds.  Admirable!

*  Easter Bunny Returns With His Family Tree! by Lorine McGinnis Schulze on the Olive Tree Genealogy Blog.  Lorine's post explains this confusing family tree.

*  14 Ways Timelines Can Help You In Your Research by Karin Hadden on The Art of Genealogy blog.  Great list, Karin!

*  The Death of Expertise, Part 2? by Michael J. Leclerc on the Mocavo Genealogy Blog.  Michael revisits the discussion about expertise.

These genea-bloggers wrote weekly pick posts and news summary posts this week:

*  NN Genealogy Things You Need to Know This Morning, Sunday, 13 Apr 2014; Monday, 14 Apr 2014; Tuesday, 15 Apr 2014; Wednesday, 16 Apr 2014, Thursday, 17 Apr 2014; Friday, 18 Apr 2014, and Saturday, 19 Apr 2014 by Caroline M. Pointer on the 4YourFamilyStories.com blog.

*  Follow Friday ~ Fab Finds for April 18, 2014 by Jana Last on Jana's Genealogy and Family History Blog.

*  Blog Posts and News Stories for Genealogists, April 18,2014 by Michael J. Leclerc on the Mocavo Genealogy Blog.

*  Friday's Finds - 04/18/14 by Julie Cahill Tarr on Julie's Genealogy & History Hub.

Readers are encouraged to go to the blogs listed above and read their articles, and add their blogs to your Favorites, Feedly, another RSS feed, or email if you like what you read. Please make a comment to them also - all bloggers appreciate feedback on what they write.

Did I miss a great genealogy blog post? Tell me! I am currently reading posts from over 1490 genealogy bloggers using Feedly, but I still miss quite a few it seems.

Read past Best of the Genea-Blogs posts here.

The URL for this post is:  

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver 

Census-Whacking on Easter Sunday

Arise, ye Genea-Musings readers and Graveyard Rabbits, and spread the good news!  Happy Easter!

In a spare hour, I happened to notice that Ancestry.com shows:

* Easter Bunny, born about 1908 in North Carolina, was the daughter of John and Mary Bunny in Marion county, South Carolina in the 1910 U.S. Census. I wonder if Easter lived to a ripe old age? And spread colored eggs, or chocolate candy, around the countryside?

* Easter Bunny, born about 1826, resided in Yorkshire, England in the 1841 U.K. census.

* Easter Eggers, born about 1820, resided in Cole County, Missouri in the 1850 U.S. census.

* Easter Morning, born about 1905, resided in Williamsburg, Virginia in the 1930 U.S. Census.

* Easter H. Easter, born about 1825, resided in Cherokee County, Texas in the 1850 U.S. census.

* Easter Chick, born about 1910, resided in Cape May County, New Jersey in the 1910 U.S. Census.

* There are several persons named Easter Flowers, Easter Day and Easter Hunt in the U.S. census records.

* Felix Easter resided in Rusk County, Texas in the 1880 U.S. Census.

* There are a few persons named Easter Lily and Easter Lilly in the U.S. Census records.

*  Bunny Sue Easter died in 1972 in Multnomah County, Oregon.

* I found no persons named Happy Easter, Easter Sunday, Easter Rabbit, or Easter Egg in the U.S. census records.

*  There is an Easter Eggers, born in 1914, in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, in the 1920 U.S. census.

* Peter Rabbit, born about 1833 in Ireland, was residing in New Orleans, Louisiana in the 1880 U.S. census.

* Peter Rabbit, born about 1840 in Ireland, was residing in New York City in the 1880 U.S. census.

* Several other Peter Rabbit persons hop in and out of the U.S. census over the years!

* There are plenty of persons named Peter Cotton in the U.S. census, but no Peter Cottontail persons. Too bad!

* A person named Peter Easter resided in Bourbon County, Kansas in the 1880 U.S. Census.

What other names can you find that appear in the Census Records that pertain, remotely, to Easter?

The URL for this post is:

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Do Some Random Research

It's Saturday Night - 

time for more Genealogy Fun! 

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible! music) is to:

1)  Go to The Random Name Generator and click the red “Generate Name” button at the top of the screen.  You can pick any random name that is generated in successive tries if you don't like or don't want to research the first name generated.

2. Go to Ancestry.com and enter your generated name in the search box on the main search page. If you don't have Ancestry.com, go to http://www.familysearch.org/ and do it there - it's free.

3. From the results, your research target will be the first census result for your generated name.

4. Using whatever online resources are at your disposal, see what else you can discover about your random person and write about it. It can be a formal report complete with footnotes, or just a “research story” about what you tried, problems you overcame, or success you had. Maybe you want to create a research plan for practice?

5. Post about it on your own blog, as a comment on this post, or in a comment on Facebook, Google+ or Twitter.

Here's mine:

1)  My randomly generated name is Monroe Merritt.

2)  I will use Ancestry.com.

3)  On Ancestry.com, the first census match was for J. Monroe Merritt in the 1940 U.S. Census, white, age 69, born in Georgia, residing on Church Street in Byron, Peach County, Georgia.  He had one year of high school education, was a proprietor of a retail grocery store, and was married.  His wife was Susie S. Merritt, age 63, white, born in Georgia.  In 1935, they had resided in Moultrie, Colquitt County, Georgia.

4)  I also found these results for this person:

a)  In the 1930 U.S. Census, James M. Merritt (head, white, age 57, married, first at age 22, born Georgia, , parents born Georgia/Georgia, a salesman, works in a dry goods store) resided in Moultrie, Colquitt County, Georgia at 310 South Main Street.  His wife, Susie H. Merritt (white, age 52, married, first at age 18, born Georgia, parents born Georgia/Georgia) was the only other person in the household.

b)  In the 1920 U.S. Census, J. Monroe Merritt (indexed as Merriot) (head, white, age 48, married, born Georgia, parents born Georgia/Georgia, a clerk in a clothing store) resided at 113 Green Street in Pelham, Mitchell county, Georgia.  The other persons in the household included:

*  Susie Merritt (wife, female, age 43, married, born Georgia, parents born Georgia/Georgia).

*  Bonnie May Merritt (daughter, female, age 21, single, born Georgia, parents born Georgia/Georgia, a teacher in a public school).

*  Virginia Merritt (daughter, female, age 19, single, born Georgia, parents born Georgia/Georgia, a teacher in a public school).

*  Elizabeth Merritt (daughter, female, age 8, single, born Georgia, parents born Georgia/Georgia).

c)  I couldn't find Monroe Merritt in the 1910 U.S. Census.  Nor James, nor any of the children (see below) with their mother.

d)   In the 1900 U.S. Census, Monroe J. Merritt (head, white, born Apr 1870, age 30, married, for 6 years, born Georgia, parents born Georgia/Georgia, a farm laborer) resided  in Pearces, Decatur County, Georgia.  The other persons in the household included:

*  Arlin (?) Susie Merritt (wife, female, born Apr 1875, age 25, married, for 6 years, 3 children born, 3 living, born Georgia, parents born Georgia/Georgia).

*  Arling (?) Zolia (?) Merritt (daughter, female, born Aug 1894, age 25, single, born Georgia, parents born Georgia/Georgia)

*  Lucy Brown Merritt (daughter, female, born Mar 1897, age 3, single, born Georgia, parents born Georgia/Georgia).

*  Virgia Merritt (daughter, female, born Feb 1900, age 3/12, single, born Georgia, parents born Georgia/Georgia).

e)  In the 1880 U.S. Census, Monroe J. Merritt (son, white, age 10, single, born Georgia, parents born Georgia/Georgia, works on farm) resided  in Pearces, Decatur County, Georgia.  The other persons in the household included:

*  Jacob H. Merritt (white, male, age 38, married, a farmer, born Georgia, parents born NC/NC)

*  Emily Merritt (white, female, age 44, wife, married, housekeeping, born Florida, parents born SC/SC)

*  Susan E. Merritt (white, female, age 14, daughter, single, housekeeping, born Georgia, parents born NC/Florida)

*  Mary L. Merritt (white, female, age 13, daughter, single, housekeeping, born Georgia, parents born NC/Florida)

*  Haywood H. Merritt (white, male, age 12, son, single, works on farm, born Georgia, parents born NC/Florida)

*  Lucius Merritt (white, male, age 4, son, single, born Georgia, parents born NC/Florida)

*  no name Merritt (white, male, age 2/12, son, single, born Georgia, parents born NC/Florida)

f)  James M. Merritt is in the Georgia Death Index, 1919-1998 listed as:

*  James M. Merritt, male, white, age 87, died 20 June 1958, died in Ware County, resident of Peach County

g)  James Monroe Merritt is listed in Find A Grave, buried in Byron City Cemetery, Byron, Peach County, Georgia.  He was born 11 April 1871 in Georgia, and died 20 June 1958.  His wife's maiden name is given as Susan Arline Sutton, with a marriage date of 20 November 1893 in Thomas County, Georgia.  There four children are listed with full names, birth dates, death dates, and spouses.  There are links to Find A Grave for his parents and three siblings, but not to his children.  

h)  I searched on FamilySearch for Monroe Merritt and James Merritt with a birth year of 1871 plus/minus 5 years born in Georgia and didn't find anything more. 

h)  After finding the above, I found a Merritt Family Tree in an Ancestry.com Public Member Tree with all of this information, and not much more.  It did ascribe five children to Monroe and Susie Merritt.  

Not bad for 45 minutes of effort (including writing the blog post)!

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/04/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-do-some.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

Surname Saturday - DeCAMP (France > New York > New Jersey)

It's Surname Saturday, and I'm "counting down" my Ancestral Name List each week.  

I am in the 7th great-grandmothers and I'm up to Ancestor #947, who is Joannes "Jane" DeCAMP (1677-1739).   [Note: the earlier great-grandmothers and 7th great-grandfathers have been covered in earlier posts].

My ancestral line back through two generations in this DECAMP family line is:

1.  Randall J. Seaver (1943-living)

2. Frederick Walton Seaver (1911-1983)
3. Betty Virginia Carringer (1919-2002)

6.  Lyle Lawrence Carringer (1891-1976)
7.  Emily Kemp Auble (1899-1977)

14.  Charles Auble (1849-1916)
15.  Georgianna Kemp (1868-1952)

28.  David Auble (1817-1894)
29.  Sarah Knapp (1818-????)

58.  William Knapp (1775-1856)
59.  Sarah Cutter (1785-1878)

118. Stephen Cutter (1745-1823)
119. Tabitha Randolph (1752-1845)

236.  William Cutter (1722-1780)
237.  Mary Kent (1726-????)

472.  Richard Cutter (1682-1756)
473.  Mercy Kelsey (1698-1760)

946.  Joseph Kelsey, born about 1673 in Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut, United States; died June 1742 in Elizabeth, Union, New Jersey, United States.  He was the son of 1892. Mark Kelsey and 1893. Rebecca Hoskins.  He married 1697 in Elizabeth, Union, New Jersey, United States.
947.  Joannes DeCamp, born before 02 April 1677 in Brooklyn, Kings, New York, United States; died Bef. 1739 in Elizabeth, Union, New Jersey, United States.  

Children of Joseph Kelsey and Joannes DeCamp are:
*  Mercy Kelsey (1698-1760), married 1722 Richard Cutter (1682-1756)
*  Hannah Kelsey (1700-1777), married 1726 James Badgley (1699-????).
*  Joseph Kelsey (1702-1753).
*  Mary Kelsey (1704-????), married John Olliver.
*  Benjamin Kelsey (1706-1765), married 1741 Hannah Atkinson (1708-????).
*  Daniel Kelsey (1708-1759), married 1730 Jemima Clark (1701-1759).
*  Ruth Kelsey (1710-????), married 1730 Benjamin Ellstone.
*  Phebe Kelsey (1713-????), married 1734 John Wood (1709-????).
*  Lydia Kelsey (1715-1764), married Barnabas Winans.

1894.  Laurens Jansen DeCamp, born 1645 in Picardie, France; died 1719 in Queens, New York, United States.  He married 1676 in Brooklyn, Kings, New York, United States.
1895.  Aeltje DeMandeville, born about 1650 in Garderen, Barneveld, Gelderland, Netherlands.

Children of Laurens DeCamp and Aeltje DeMandeville are:
*  Joannes DeCamp (1677-1739), married 1697 Joseph Kelsey (1673-1742)
*  Johannes DeCamp (1679-1766), married 1701 Mary Praal (1674-????).
*  Styntje DeCamp (1681-????), married Christopher Christoffel (1676-1727).
*  Hendrik DeCamp (1682-1771), married 1704 Maria de Lamars (1685-????).
*  Agidius DeCamp (1683-1763), married Hendrickje Bastiansed (1692-????).
*  Maritje DeCamp (1686-1781), married (1) Rut Vandenbergh (????-1718); (2) 1718 Chales Ellens (1675-????).
*  Aeltje DeCamp (1690-????), married 17127 Cornelis Egmont (1687-????).

The only resource I have for this DeCamp family is:

George Austin Morrison, DeCamp Genealogy: Laurent DeCamp of New Utrecht, N.Y., 1664 and His Descendants (Albany, N.Y. : J. Munsell's Sons, 1900).

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/04/surname-saturday-decamp-france-new-york.html

copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

Dee Dee King Reports on SSDI/Death Master File Restrictions

If you've kept up with the news about the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) in recent years, you know that public access was threatened.  Recently, a bill was passed by Congress and signed by the President to restrict pulbic access to death information reported to the Social Security Administration for three years after date of death.

Forensic Genealogist Dee Dee King was written a report on her experiences trying to become certified for limited access to the Death Master File (DMF, which we know as SSDI).  She succeeded in becoming certified, and after paying the necessary fees for access, has written up her experiences in a special Forensic Genealogy News publication:

Demystifying the DMF (Go to the Resources page at http://www.forensicgenealogists.org/Resources.html and click the link for Vol 4 #3 Special DMF Edition).

Please read the entire article for a better understanding of how the new law affects genealogical researchers.  My takeaways:

*  The current Social Security Death Index (SSDI) databases can remain on the subscription and free websites with the same information as before.

*  The next public access edition of the SSDI/DMF will probably be released in 2017.

*  Future editions of the SSDI/DMF may contain less information - only SSN, name, birth date and birth place.

We owe a major debt of gratitude to Dee Dee King for her work in explaining and demystifying the SSDI/DMF.  Thank you, Dee Dee!

Interested readers can read all of the Forensic Genealogy News issues at  http://www.forensicgenealogists.org/Resources.html.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/04/dee-dee-king-reports-on-ssdideath.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

Pennsylvania Death Certificates (1906-1924) Now On Ancestry.com

I've been looking forward to this record collection becoming available for a long time.  While I don't have any ancestors who died in Pennsylvania who died after 1906, I do have many persons in my database who died between 1906 and 1924.  How I wish Ancestry.com had a "Record Match" like feature so I could easily mine this database!

The Pennsylvania Death Certificates, 1906-1924, database is at http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=5164.  The database description says:

"Pennsylvania’s Department of Health began keeping birth and death records on a statewide basis on January 1, 1906. This collection includes death records beginning on that date through 1924. Later records will eventually be added to this collection.

"Death certificates recorded the following details:

• name and residence of the decedent
• city and county of death
• gender and race
• marital status
• age and date of birth
• occupation
• place of birth
• parents' names and birthplaces
• date of death
• dates attended by physician
• cause of death
• attending physician and address
• length of stay in hospital or institution or length of residency for transients or recent arrivals
• place of burial or removal
• date of burial
• undertaker name and address
• name and address of informant

"Records of stillbirths were required to be filed as both a birth and death record, so you may find records of stillborn children in this collection."

Here is the search page for this database:

I put "carringer" in the last name field and clicked on "Search" and saw:

There were only 24 matches for Carringer, but I think that I have every one of them in my database.  I looked down the list and saw the entry for Mary Jane Feather (Mary Jane Carringer):

I did not have an exact date of birth or date of death or death location for Mary Jane.  I clicked the "view original image" link:

This death certificate for Mary Jane Feather has lots of very useful information, including birth date birth place, death date, death place, parents names, parents birthplace, occupation, cause of death, length of residence, and place of burial or removal.

A source citation for the death certificate of Mary Jane Feather is (using the Vital Records (state, certificates, online) source template in RootsMagic):

Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Death Certificates, 1906-1924, No. 89928 (stamped), Mary Jane Feather entry, died 10 August 1923; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 18 April 2014); citing Pennsylvania (State). Death certificates, 1906–1963. Series 11.90 (1,905 cartons). Records of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Record Group 11. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/.

Eventually, there will be death certificates online up through 1963 in this database.

Now on to do the rest of the Carringers, the Spanglers, the Feathers, the Vauxes, the Remleys and more!  I'll have some genealogy fun this weekend!

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/04/pennsylvania-death-certificates-1906.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

52 Ancestors Week 16: #23 Amy Frances (Oatley) White (1826-1864) of Killingly, Conn.

Amy Johnson Crow suggested a weekly blog theme of "52 Ancestors" in her blog post Challenge:  52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks on the No Story Too Small blog.  Here is my ancestor biography for week #16:

Amy Frances (Oatley) White (1826-1864) is #23 on my Ahnentafel List, and is my 2nd great-grandmother. She married #22 Henry Arnold White (1824-1885) in 1844.

I am descended through:

*  their daughter, #11 Julia E. White, who married in 1868 #10 Thomas Richmond (1948-1917).
*  their daughter, #5 Alma Bessie Richmond (1882-1962) who married in 1900 #4 Frederick Walton Seaver (1876-1942);
* their son, #2 Frederick Walton Seaver (1911-1983), who married in 1942 Betty Virginia Carringer (1919-2002);
*  their son, #1 Randall J. Seaver (1943-....)

To create this post, I made an Individual Summary report in RootsMagic 6, then saved it into an RTF file.  I then copied and pasted the Person, the Individual Fact List, the Marriages/Children, the General Notes, and the Source Citations into this blog post.  Unfortunately, the source citations superscripts did not survive this process as superscripts, so I put them in brackets in the Individual Facts list below, and without brackets in the Source Citation list.  I have images of many of these records, but have not included them in this blog post due to the length of the post.  Many of them have been transcribed or shown in Amanuensis Monday and Treasure Chest Thursday posts.

=====================================================

1)  PERSON (with source citations as indicated in brackets):

*  Name:                         Amy Frances Oatley [1-2]
*  Sex:                             Female   
*  Father:                         Jonathan Oatley (1790-1872)   
*  Mother:                       Amy Champlin (1798-1865)   

*  Alternate Name:           Amy Oatley [1]  
*  Alternate Name:           Amy F. Oatley [7]
*  Alternate Name:           Amy Frances White [6]
*  Alternate Name:           Amy F. White [5]
*  Alternate Name:           Amy White [4]
       
2)  INDIVIDUAL FACTS  (with source citations as indicated in brackets):
  
*  Birth:                         1826, South Kingstown, Washington, Rhode Island, United States [3]
*  Census:                      1 June 1850 (about age 24), Killingly, Windham, Connecticut, United States [4]
*  Census:                      1 June 1860 (about age 34), Killingly, Windham, Connecticut, United States [5]
*  Death:                       12 November 1864 (about age 38), Killingly, Windham, Connecticut, United States [6]   

3)  MARRIAGES/CHILDREN  (with source citations as indicated in brackets):    
   
*  Spouse 1:                   Henry Arnold White (1824-1885)   
*  Marriage 1:                30 June 1844 (about age 18), Thompson, Windham, Connecticut, United States [7]

*  Child 1:                     Ellen Frances White (1845-1916)   
*  Child 2:                     Julia E. "Juliette" White (1848-1913)   
*  Child 3:                     Emily Elizabeth White (1849-1939)   
*  Child 4:                     Henry J. White (1853-1919)   
*  Child 5:                     female White (1858-1858)    
*  Child 6:                     Frederick J. White (1860-    )  

4)  NOTES (with source citations as indicated in brackets):

Amy Frances Oatley was born in 1826, in South Kingstown, Washington County, Rhode Island, to Jonathan and Amy (Champlin) Oatley [3].  The Oatley family moved to Killingly, Windham County, Connecticut between 1830 and 1840.  

Amy married Henry Arnold White on 30 June 1844 in Thompson, Windham County, Connecticut [7].  The entry in the Thompson section of the Barbour Collection says:

"Oatley, Amy  F., m. Henry A. WHITE, b. of Killingly, June 30, 1844, by Rev. L. Geo[rge] Leonard"

Henry and Amy (Oatley) White had six children, four of whom lived past childhood and married and had families.  

In the 1850 US Census, this family resided in Killingly township, Windham County, Connecticut).   The family included [4]:

*  Henry White -- age 26, male, a weaver, born Glocester RI
*  Amy White -- age 24, female, born S. Kingston RI
*  Ellen F. White -- age 5, female, born Killingly CT, attended school
*  Julia E. White -- age 3, female, born Killingly CT
*  Emily E. White -- age 1, female, born Killingly CT.

In the 1860 US Census, the Henry A. White family resided in Killingly township, Windham County, Connecticut.  The household included [5]:

*  Henry A. White -- age 35, male, manufacturer, $1000 in real property, born CT
*  Amy F. White -- age 33, female, born CT
*  Ellen F. White -- age 15, female, born CT
*  Juliette White --age 13, female, born CT
*  Emily A. White -- age 12, female, born CT
*  Henry J. White -- age 7, male, born CT, attended school
*  Fred J. White -- age 1 month, born CT

The Connecticut Deaths and Burials Index indicates that Amy Frances White died 12 November 1864 at age 36 [6].  It is very likely that she died at her home in Killingly.  

She is probably interred in Bartlett #1 Cemetery in East Killingly, Connecticut.  There is a stone next to Henry A. White's stone that is now unreadable.

5)  SOURCES:

1. Putnam, Connecticut, Certificate of Death, Juliett Richmond, 1 October 1913; Registrar of Vital Statistics, Putnam, Ct. (certificate not dated).

2. Ellery Bicknell Crane, Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Worcester county, Massachusetts, with a history of Worcester society of antiquity (New York: Lewis Publishing Company, 1907), Volume 4, page 388, William Henry Buck sketch; digital images, Mocavo (http://www.mocavo.com : accessed 28 March 2014.

3. Harry J. Oatley, The Oatley Family in America and Their Descendants (Providence, R.I. : The Oatley Family Association, 1970), page 40.

4. 1850 United States Federal Census, Windham County, Connecticut, population schedule, Killingly town; Page 360, dwelling #582, family #635, Henry White household, online database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com); citing National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, Roll 51.

5. 1860 United States Federal Census, Population Schedule, Windham County, Connecticut,  Killingly town, page 588, dwelling #851, family #925, Henry White household; online database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com); citing National Archives Microfilm Publication M653, Roll 92.

6. "Connecticut Deaths and Burials, 1772-1934," online database index, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org), Amy Frances White (1828-1864) entry, on FHL US/CAN Microfilm 1,311,436.

7. "The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records, Volume 46: Thompson, 1785 - 1850," indexed database, World Vital Records (http://www.WorldVitalRecords.com), Volume 46, Page 250 and Page 375.

===================================

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/04/52-ancestors-week-16-23-amy-frances.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

Dear Randy: How Did You Make That Beautiful Pedigree Chart?

I received an email from Marybelle recently asking that question, and I couldn't find the blog post I think she was referring to, so it took me awhile to figure out that I did it with Family Tree Maker 2014.

Here is the result:

Here are the screens I used to create it:

1)  In Family Tree Maker 2014, highlight the selected person for the pedigree chart in the Tree or Family View in the "People" Workspace.

2)  Select the "Publish" Workspace and the the "Pedigree" Chart in the "Collection" View.  click on the "Create Chart" button on the right-hand panel.

3)  That opens the Pedigree Chart Preview page and you can do all of your "creative work" on this page.  It will probably open being all black and white.

4)  There is a row of icons at the top of the right-hand panel under "Pedigree Chart Options."  The icons from left-to-right are:

*  Items to Include (e.g., Name, birth, marriage, death) - select from list to add (use + sign)
*  Fonts (for each item, and chart title) - select size, color, effects
*  Box and line styles - boxes, chart border, pedigree and divider lines
*  Header/footer (used default)
*  Insert image or text box (not used)
*  Page setup (use default)
*  Save settings
*  Use saved settings
*  Save chart

There are fields below the icons for the:

*  Chart title - I typed it in
*  Layout - used Book
*  Overlap - used Only Root Overlaps
*  Spacing - used Collapsed
*  Align nodes - used Top
*  Generations - selected 5, and 5 to a page
*  Background (browse from computer to select) - used a headshot photo
*  Background Transparency - selected 30%
*  Pictures - none

Below those fields there are several other options.

5)  Here is the Items to Include window that I used:

5)  And the "Fonts" window:

6)  And the "Box and Line Options" window:

7)  Over on the right side of the screen, you can see the different options I selected in the fields:

8)  As I added changes, the updated preview picture showed in the left-hand side of the page.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/04/dear-randy-how-did-you-make-that.html

copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

Treasure Chest Thursday - Post 210: 1757 Birth Record for Benjamin Sever in Sudbury, Mass.Town Records

It's Treasure Chest Thursday - time to look in my digital image files to see what treasures I can find for my family history and genealogy musings.

The treasure today is the Birth Record for Benjamin Sever (1757-1816), born in Sudbuiry, Massachusetts.

The birth record for Benjamin Sever is on the left-hand page in the image above, and says:

"Benjamn Sever son of Norman Sever & Sarah his wife was born April 21st 1757"

The source citation for this record is:

"Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Towns Records, 1627-2001," digital images, FamilySearch (https:/familysearch.org : accessed 15 April 2014), Middlesex County, Sudbury, "Births, marriages, deaths, 1663-1829, Vol. 4," page 120 (penned), image 65 of 142, Benjamin Sever birth entry (son of Norman and Sarah Sever), 1757.

I went looking for the microfilm number for this volume, and did not find it in the Family History Library Catalog for some reason.  There is no microfilm number on the first image of the volume.

This volume is not in the "Massachusetts Town and Vital Records, 1620-`1988" collection on Ancestry.com.  

I consider this to be the Original Source record, and is Primary Information and Direct Evidence to Benjamin Sever's birth name, date and place of birth, and parent-child relationship.

Benjamin Sever (also written as "Seaver" in other records, is my 4th great-grandfather.  His parents were Norman Sever (1734-1787) and Sarah Read (1736-1809).  

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/04/treasure-chest-thursday-post-210-1757.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

Step-by-Step Process for Accessing and Finding New York Probate Records on FamilySearch

In my blog post FamilySearch Needs to Make it Easier to Find "Browse Images" Collections (14 April 2014), I pointed out that there are many record collections on FamilySearch that are not indexed, and need to be "browsed" to find records that may pertain to your ancestor or family member.

Reader Saskey commented:  "I have found 'Browse Images' for areas of interest, but I find it a bit daunting beyond the "Browse through 1,459,098 images" page (with no index)."

I completely understand the statement and initially felt the same way when I first saw the number of images listed in a collection.  However, once a user figures out the main steps of finding records, it becomes manageable, but you need a lot of practice to be proficient at it.  

For my New York Research workshop and research group participants, I made a step-by-step description of how I search New York probate records, but in a fairly generic way.  

I thought my Genea-Musings readers, including Saskey, might benefit from the list:

Now 24 steps may seem a bit daunting (again and still), this is the process I use.  I tried to identify each step in the process without being overly specific about the examples.  You can see some examples of following these procedures in my blog posts for:

*  Finding Genealogy Gems in the New York Probate Records on FamilySearch (8 April 2014)

*  Finding James Vaux Probate Records in Erie County, New York (5 July 2012).

I've done similar searches in Pennsylvania for:

*  Pennsylvania Probate Records on FamilySearch! (27 June 2012)

*  Finding Daniel Spangler's Probate Records on FamilySearch - the Russell Index System (15 October 2012)

NOTE:  If you want a PDF of my two page step-by-step process above, please email me at randy.seaver@gmail.com and put "New York Probate step-by-step" in the title and i'll try to respond as quickly as possible (I'm away almost every day this week doing something with the grandgirls).

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/04/step-by-step-process-for-accessing-and.html

copyright (c) 20145, Randall J. Seaver

CGSSD Meeting on Saturday, 19 April Features "Researching Scottish Ancestors"

The Computer Genealogy Society of San Diego meets on the 3rd Saturday of each month (except December) from 9:00 a.m. to noon on the campus of UCSD, University of California, San Diego. 

The next meeting will be held on 19 April 2014 from 9:00 am to noon. Here are the details:

 9:00 AM  User Group meetings: Macintosh with Dona Ritchie

                                                                Ancestry.com with Del Ritchhart

                                                                SIG TBA

10:00 AM Break / snacks & refreshments

10:20 AM Announcements 

10:30 AM Program:  “Researching Scottish Ancestors” by Judy Brooks  

Presentation:  The basics of how to research your Scots and Scots-Irish ancestors online including Scotland and Ireland Sites.

Bio:  Judy Brooks is a professional genealogist specializing in Scots-Irish, Scottish Clans, Irish America, Presbyterians, and Presbyterian church history, especially ministerial.  In her personal research, her focus has been Colonial America, the Revolutionary War and the early settlement of the Ohio River Valley, as well as finding how and when these ancestors crossed the ocean.  She is a retired registered nurse and quality management professional and lives in San Marcos.  

We meet at the Robinson Auditorium complex on the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) campus in La Jolla. From North Torrey Pines Road, turn at Pangea Drive into UCSD. Free parking is available in the parking garage on the left; use any space other than those specifically reserved for UCSD vehicles. Signs will mark directions to our meeting room. Please refer to our website www.cgssd.org; or the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies website (click here) for driving directions and a map.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/04/cgssd-meeting-on-saturday-19-april.html