Thursday, September 2, 2010
Checking out the Ancestry.com Immigration Collection
Ancestry.com announced yesterday that they have added or updated several databases to their Immigration collection, and that the entire collection is available for FREE access through 6 September 2010 (see here for the press release). The major additions include:
* The Ellis Island Oral Histories, a collection of more than 1,700 recorded oral histories from immigrants who arrived in the United States through Ellis Island. This database will always be free on Ancestry.com.
* Added nearly 2 million new U.S. naturalization record indexes, thanks to the Ancestry.com World Archives Project. The indexes span 11 states (AK, CA, CT, HI, LA, ME, MT, NY, PA, TN, WA).
* Added nearly 2 million records documenting crew members on ships who arrived in the port of Boston. The records were added to an existing collection of over 3.8 million records from Boston Passenger and Crew Lists, 1820-1943.
To honor our nation's immigrant heritage, Ancestry.com opened up its entire U.S. Immigration Collection so that it can be searched free through Labor Day. To begin exploring your family's journey to America, visit www.ancestry.com/immigration.
Okay, sounded good. I'm especially interested in the Naturalization Records for Southern California, since several of my society colleagues have been looking for their ancestors who naturalized here.
The top of the special Immigration Collection page looks like this:
I put Last Name = "seaver" and picked "San Diego County, California" in order to narrow the search.
Further down the page is an interesting timeline - the user can use the "magic hand" feature to advance it one way or another:
Over on the right-hand sidebar are links to articles and research tips. There was a link for a slide show about the Ellis Island experience, which was 14 slides with limited explanations, but it was interesting:
Back to my search for Seaver persons naturalized in Southern California. I received 151 matches for my query - here's the top of the page:
I clicked on the entry for William Seaver (the fifth one down) so as to see what information is provided. Here is the image:
For William Seaver, it says:
* The Ellis Island Oral Histories, a collection of more than 1,700 recorded oral histories from immigrants who arrived in the United States through Ellis Island. This database will always be free on Ancestry.com.
* Added nearly 2 million new U.S. naturalization record indexes, thanks to the Ancestry.com World Archives Project. The indexes span 11 states (AK, CA, CT, HI, LA, ME, MT, NY, PA, TN, WA).
* Added nearly 2 million records documenting crew members on ships who arrived in the port of Boston. The records were added to an existing collection of over 3.8 million records from Boston Passenger and Crew Lists, 1820-1943.
To honor our nation's immigrant heritage, Ancestry.com opened up its entire U.S. Immigration Collection so that it can be searched free through Labor Day. To begin exploring your family's journey to America, visit www.ancestry.com/immigration.
Okay, sounded good. I'm especially interested in the Naturalization Records for Southern California, since several of my society colleagues have been looking for their ancestors who naturalized here.
The top of the special Immigration Collection page looks like this:
I put Last Name = "seaver" and picked "San Diego County, California" in order to narrow the search.
Further down the page is an interesting timeline - the user can use the "magic hand" feature to advance it one way or another:
Over on the right-hand sidebar are links to articles and research tips. There was a link for a slide show about the Ellis Island experience, which was 14 slides with limited explanations, but it was interesting:
Back to my search for Seaver persons naturalized in Southern California. I received 151 matches for my query - here's the top of the page:
I clicked on the entry for William Seaver (the fifth one down) so as to see what information is provided. Here is the image:
For William Seaver, it says:
* Applicant = Seaver, William
* Native Country = Ireland
* I (intentions) A (application) = I
* Date = 12 - 3 - 1888 (I)
* Record Vol. = 25
* Record Page = 145
The source citation for this particular database is listed over on the right sidebar. It says:
" National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; Naturalization Index of the Superior Court for Los Angeles County, California, 1852-1915 (M1608); Microfilm serial: M1608; Microfilm roll: 1."
This particular record is an index item, meaning that the microfilm serial number and roll noted in the source above are for the index entry, not for the original record.
The description page for this database explains the naturalization process and how to obtain the original naturalization record. The page notes that:
"Because this database only contains indexes, you will need to order a copy of the original paperwork from the National Archives. The regional offices of the National Archives most often are the repository where the records are now located. In some cases the original records may be available on microfilm at the Archives in Washington, D.C. See below for addresses of where to request copies of original documents. This index will give you the information you need to obtain the copy of the original paperwork. It is always best to provide the Archives as much information as possible when requesting a record."
For this particular record, the National Archives branch where the record is stored is probably at:
br>"National Archives – Pacific Alaska Region (Riverside)
23123 Cajalco Road
Perris, CA 92570
Phone: (951) 956-2000
Website: http://www.archives.gov/pacific/"
William Seaver in the above example is not my ancestor or a close relative. However, I am interested in every person with a Seaver surname, and this information might aid another researcher who is a descendant of William Seaver.
Phone: (951) 956-2000
Website: http://www.archives.gov/pacific/"
William Seaver in the above example is not my ancestor or a close relative. However, I am interested in every person with a Seaver surname, and this information might aid another researcher who is a descendant of William Seaver.
If you do not have an Ancestry.com subscription, this free period through 6 September is an excellent opportunity to explore the collection for your relatives and ancestors.
Labels: Ancestry.com, Immigration records, Naturalization Records
Treasure Chest Thursday - Alma Bessie (Richmond) Seaver's Death Certificate
It's Treasure Chest Thursday - time to display a document or artifact from my boxes of family treasures.
The death certificate of my grandmother, Alma Bessie (Richmond) Seaver (1882-1962) from the records of Leminster, Massachusetts was in the box of treasures passed down from my Aunt Geraldine (Seaver) Remley, who was her youngest child:
The death certificate of my grandmother, Alma Bessie (Richmond) Seaver (1882-1962) from the records of Leminster, Massachusetts was in the box of treasures passed down from my Aunt Geraldine (Seaver) Remley, who was her youngest child:
The nest thing is that every line is filled out, and it is very readable, being typed. The information includes:
1. Date of Death = June 29, 1962
2. Name, and Maiden Name = Alma Bessie (Richmond) Seaver, Richmond
3. Sex, and whether Single, Married or widowed = Female, Widowed
4. Age = 80 Years, 4 Months, 13 Days
5. Color = White
6. Disease or Cause of Death = Carcinoma of Gall Bladder
7. Residence = Leominster, Mass
8. Occupation - Ret. Piano Teacher
9. Place of Death = Leominster Hospital, Leominster, Mass
10. Place of Birth = Killingly, Conn.
11. Name of Husband or wife = Frederick W. Seaver
12. Name of Father = Thomas Richmond
13. Name of Mother, (Maiden Name) = Julia White, White
14. Birthplace of Father = Liverpool, England
15. Birthplace of Mother = Connecticut
16. Place of Interment = Evergreen Cemetery, Leominster, Mass
The death certificate was obtained, presumably by the family, from the Leominster City Clerk on 12 November 1965.
If I was looking for the birth date (calculated from age at death), birth place, parents names, cause of death and place of interment of this person, this death certificate would provide many excellent leads. The only item that is wrong on the certificate, to my knowledge, is the birthplace of her father, Thomas Richmond - it is Hilperton in Wiltshire, rather than Liverpool, which is the port of departure for Thomas Richman in 1856.
Labels: Treasure Chest Thursday, Vital Records
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Was Charlotte on the Orphan Train?
Several months ago, a lady, that I met while giving my "Be An Ancestor Detective!" presentation to a civic group, asked me to check out her family story - was it true?
The basic elements of the family story were:
* It is rumored that my Great-grandmother was adopted and perhaps put on the orphan train from New York to Kansas.
* She was born in 1850 on a ship, her mother died in childbirth, and her father died sometime later when she was young.
* Her name was Charlotte (Lottie) Knight, born to Captain Knight and Gaton (a last name, I think)
* She was adopted by a couple with the last name Green in Kansas.
* We know that she married David Hoke and had nine children (producing my grandmother).
That sounded like a fun challenge. I figured that I could learn more about immigration, orphan trains and adoptions, and help out a potential genealogist in the process, dazzling her with my research prowess.
There were several excellent clues - a spouse's name, the adoptive family's surname, the birth father's surname, an approximate immigration date, etc. Over several weeks, I plumbed the depths of the genealogy databases on the Internet, and gradually turned up these clues:
1) I could not find David Hoke or Charlotte Hoke in the 1920 US Census (accessed on http://www.ancestry.com/).
2) In the 1910 US Census, the David N. Hoke family resided on Sixth Avenue in Ward 3 of Oswego, Labette County, Kansas (dwelling #460, family #469, Page 23B, Enumeration District 142, NARA Microfilm T624, Roll 443, accessed on http://www.ancestry.com/). The household included:
* David N. Hoke - head of household, male, white, age 67, first marriage, married 41 years, born OH, parents born VA/VA, a carpenter, works on houses.
* Charlotte Hoke - wife, female, white, age 59, first marriage, married 41 years, 8 children born, 8 children living, born OH, parents born England/England, a hairdresser.
* Valentine Hoke - daughter, female, white, age 25, single, born KS, parents born OH/OH
* Freda (?) O. Brown - daughter, female, white, age 34, a widow, born IN, parents born OH/OH, a dressmaker, works at home
* Kenneth Hoke - grandson, male, white, age 5, single, born KS, parents born IN/US
The 1910 census says Charlotte was born in Ohio, and her parents were born in England.
3) In the 1900 US Census, the David N. Hoke family resided in Fairview, Labette County, Kansas (dwelling #100, family #101, page 6A, enumeration district 109, NARA Microfilm Series T623, Roll 485, accessed on http://www.ancestry.com/). The household included:
* David N. Hoke - head of household, white, male, born Mar 1843,, age 57, married, for 33 years, born OH, parents born VA/VA, a farmer.
* Charlottie Hoke - wife, white, female, born Nov 1854, age 45, married, for 33 years, 8 children born, 8 living, born at sea, parents born England/England
* Effie Hoke - daughter, white, female, born Jul 1878, age 21, single, born IN, parents born OH/at sea
* William C. Hoke - son, white, male, born Jun 1879, age 20, single, born IN, parents born OH/at sea, a farm laborer
* Joeseph A. Hoke - son, white, male, born Jan 1882, age 18, single, born IN, parents born OH/at sea, a farm laborer
* Bessie Hoke - daughter, white, female, born Aug 1884, age 15, single, born KS, parents born OH/at sea
* Valentine Hoke - daughter, white, female, born Feb 1894, age 6, single, born KS, parents born OH/at sea.
The 1900 census is the only one that lists Charlotte's birth "at sea" with parents born in England. Perhaps she gave the information to the enumerator.
4) There are no 1890 US Census records available
5) In the 1880 US Census, the David Hoke family resided in Cromwell, Noble county, Indiana (dwelling #176, family #179, page 425D, Enumeration District 70, NARA Microfilm Series T9, Roll 302, accessed on http://www.ancestry.com/). The household included:
* David Hoke - white, male, age 37, married, a gunsmith, born OH, parents born OH/OH
* Charte Hoke - white, female, age 26, wife, married, keeping house, born OH, parents born OH/OH
* Jennie Hoke - white, female, age 12, daughter, single, born IN, parents born OH/OH
* Manford Hoke - white, male, age 10, son, single, born IN, parents born OH/OH
* Milo Hoke - white, male, age 8, son, single, born IN, parents born OH/OH
* Effie Hoke - white, female, age 3, daughter, single, born IN, parents born OH/OH
* William Hoke - white, male, age 1, son, single, born IN, parents born OH/OH
6) In the 1870 US Census, the David Hoak family resided in Sparta, Noble County, Indiana (dwelling #168, family #168, page 284A, NARA Microfilm Series M593, Roll 347, accessed on http://www.ancestry.com/). The household included:
* David Hoak - age 24, male, a carpenter, $150 in real property, $200 in personal property, born OH
* Charlotte Hoak - age 19, female, keeping house, born in OH
* Jennie Hoak - age 2, female, born IN
* Manford Hoak - age 6/12, male, born IN
7) In the 1860 US Census, David Hoke resided in Perry, Noble County, Indiana in the Gideon Scholterbach family (dwelling #190, family #186, page 118, NARA Microfilm Series M653, Roll 285, accessed on http://www.ancestry.com/). The household included:
* Gideon Scholterbach - age 49, male, a farmer, $11000 in real property, $1500 in personal property, born PA
* Mary Scholterbach - age 48, female, born OH
* Henry Scholterbach - age 20, male, a farm laborer, born IN
* Eli Scholterbach - age 19, male, born IN
* Amelia Scholterbach - age 17, female, born IN
* Adam Scholterbach - age 15, male, born IN
* Ora Scholterbach - age 9, male, born IN
* Emma Scholterbach - age 7, female, born IN
* David Hoke - age 19, male, born OH
* Daniel Hoke - age 16, male, born OH
* Sarah Hoke - age 12, female, born OH
* Eve Engle - age 77, female, born PA
Note: Mary Scholterbach is probably David Hoke's mother married to her second husband.
8) In the 1860 US Census, the Charles Green family resided in Sparta, Noble County, Indiana (dwelling #416, family #416, page 152, NARA Microfilm Series M653, Roll 285, accessed on http://www.ancestry.com/). The household included:
* Charles Green - age 40, male, farmer, $4000 in real property, $600 in personal property, born OH
* Jane Green - age 39, female, born OH
* Charlotte Wight - age 9, female, born OH.
I searched for a girl born about 1850 with the first name of Charlotte living with a Green family in Noble County IN and this is what came up. I am 99% sure that this is the Charlotte "Knight" or "Wight" who is the foster or adopted daughter of Charles and Jane Green. The circumstances are just too strong here. Charlotte married David Hoke in 1867 and they are in Noble County, Indiana in the 1870 and 1880 census before moving to Kansas in the early 1880s.
I searched for other Knight and Wight families in Noble County, Indiana in the 1860 census and found none. Of course, the father and other children might be anywhere in the USA, in Canada or even back in England, or dead.
9) There is an Ancestry Public Member Tree (member DianeElliott1005) that has essentially the same information: David Noble Hoak (born 4 March 1843 Champaign Co OH, died 5 June 1911) married Sept 1867 in Noble County IN to Charlotte Knight (born 25 Nov 1850 at sea, died 21 Jan 1923). The note for Charlotte's birth says: "born on a ship coming across the ocean to America from England. Her mother, named Gaton, died in childbirth, leaving 8 children." The tree lists these children for David and Charlotte (Knight) Hoak: Jennie Hoke (1868-1943), Manford Erasmus Hoke (1870-1954), Milo Hartel Hoke (1872-1966), Effie Hoke (1876-1955), William Chester Hoke (1879-1938), Joseph Hoke (1882-1953), Bessie Hoke (1884-1972) and Valentine Hoke (1895-1982).
The eight Knight children are given as (with no birth dates other than Charlotte's): Becky, Charles, Ed, Hannah, Mollie, Rhoda, Will and Charlotte. She has no first name for the father or the mother of these children.
10) There is another Ancestry Public Member Tree (member jcain271) that lists Charlotte Knight (born 1850, died 1923) as a daughter of James C. Knight (born 1813 in England, died 1870) and Sarah Gaton (no birth/death years).
11) I searched the immigration records on Ancestry.com for Charlotte Knight and Charlotte Wight born 1850 and found no matches. But she would not be on a ship manifest if born at sea. Unfortunately, the passenger list records are incomplete. I searched for James Knight, Sarah Knight and Rhoda Knight and got no matches. I did the same for James, Sarah, Rhoda and Charlotte Wight and got no matches.
The research summary that I passed to my correspondent said:
* It appears to me, as an objective observer, that Charlotte was a foster or adopted child of Charles and Jane Green, that they lived in Noble County IN in the 1860s, that Charlotte married David Hoke in Noble County IN and the family moved to Kansas in about 1884.
* From the evidence at hand, Charlotte may have been born at sea or in Ohio, her parents were born in England, and perhaps her mother died after childbirth.
* It is possible that Charlotte was adopted in Ohio, which is where the Greens were born. We don't know when, or if, she was adopted, or was a foster child. Was she on an orphan train? Perhaps - we'll have to see if there were orphan trains to Ohio and Indiana before 1860.
* It's very clear to me that she was NOT on an orphan train to Kansas as the family story relates.
I also emailed Diane with the Ancestry Member Tree who had the same family story, asked her if I could connect her to my correspondent, and she agreed. They are second cousins and did not know of each other before this. Hopefully, they are sharing family stories and photographs.
There are, of course, other research avenues to pursue after this general "low-hanging fruit" record search, including:
* There are probably 1841 census records for the Knight or Wight family, and Civil Registration birth records for Charlotte's siblings in England.
* There may be guardianship or adoption records for Charlotte that would more clearly define her birth name, reasons for adoption, and adoption circumstances. There may be orphan train records for her.
* There may be land and probate records for David Hoke and/or Charlotte Hoke in Indiana and Kansas.
* There may be newspaper articles or county history books about the adoption of Charlotte by the Greens, about the Green's deaths, and about the lives and deaths of David and Charlotte Hoke.
* There may be family papers available from other descendants of David and Charlotte Hoke that might provide more details and context to the family story.
My hope is that, by posting this research summary, that other descendants of Charlotte (Wight?) Hoke might read it and also contact my two correspondents and share whatever information they may have about her life. If you have such information, please contact me at rjseaver@cox.net and I will connect you with my two correspondents.
This post was written for the 97th Carnival of Genealogy with the theme of Research From Scratch! Here's an opportunity to put on your research caps and delve into a whole new family history.
The basic elements of the family story were:
* It is rumored that my Great-grandmother was adopted and perhaps put on the orphan train from New York to Kansas.
* She was born in 1850 on a ship, her mother died in childbirth, and her father died sometime later when she was young.
* Her name was Charlotte (Lottie) Knight, born to Captain Knight and Gaton (a last name, I think)
* She was adopted by a couple with the last name Green in Kansas.
* We know that she married David Hoke and had nine children (producing my grandmother).
That sounded like a fun challenge. I figured that I could learn more about immigration, orphan trains and adoptions, and help out a potential genealogist in the process, dazzling her with my research prowess.
There were several excellent clues - a spouse's name, the adoptive family's surname, the birth father's surname, an approximate immigration date, etc. Over several weeks, I plumbed the depths of the genealogy databases on the Internet, and gradually turned up these clues:
1) I could not find David Hoke or Charlotte Hoke in the 1920 US Census (accessed on http://www.ancestry.com/).
2) In the 1910 US Census, the David N. Hoke family resided on Sixth Avenue in Ward 3 of Oswego, Labette County, Kansas (dwelling #460, family #469, Page 23B, Enumeration District 142, NARA Microfilm T624, Roll 443, accessed on http://www.ancestry.com/). The household included:
* David N. Hoke - head of household, male, white, age 67, first marriage, married 41 years, born OH, parents born VA/VA, a carpenter, works on houses.
* Charlotte Hoke - wife, female, white, age 59, first marriage, married 41 years, 8 children born, 8 children living, born OH, parents born England/England, a hairdresser.
* Valentine Hoke - daughter, female, white, age 25, single, born KS, parents born OH/OH
* Freda (?) O. Brown - daughter, female, white, age 34, a widow, born IN, parents born OH/OH, a dressmaker, works at home
* Kenneth Hoke - grandson, male, white, age 5, single, born KS, parents born IN/US
The 1910 census says Charlotte was born in Ohio, and her parents were born in England.
3) In the 1900 US Census, the David N. Hoke family resided in Fairview, Labette County, Kansas (dwelling #100, family #101, page 6A, enumeration district 109, NARA Microfilm Series T623, Roll 485, accessed on http://www.ancestry.com/). The household included:
* David N. Hoke - head of household, white, male, born Mar 1843,, age 57, married, for 33 years, born OH, parents born VA/VA, a farmer.
* Charlottie Hoke - wife, white, female, born Nov 1854, age 45, married, for 33 years, 8 children born, 8 living, born at sea, parents born England/England
* Effie Hoke - daughter, white, female, born Jul 1878, age 21, single, born IN, parents born OH/at sea
* William C. Hoke - son, white, male, born Jun 1879, age 20, single, born IN, parents born OH/at sea, a farm laborer
* Joeseph A. Hoke - son, white, male, born Jan 1882, age 18, single, born IN, parents born OH/at sea, a farm laborer
* Bessie Hoke - daughter, white, female, born Aug 1884, age 15, single, born KS, parents born OH/at sea
* Valentine Hoke - daughter, white, female, born Feb 1894, age 6, single, born KS, parents born OH/at sea.
The 1900 census is the only one that lists Charlotte's birth "at sea" with parents born in England. Perhaps she gave the information to the enumerator.
4) There are no 1890 US Census records available
5) In the 1880 US Census, the David Hoke family resided in Cromwell, Noble county, Indiana (dwelling #176, family #179, page 425D, Enumeration District 70, NARA Microfilm Series T9, Roll 302, accessed on http://www.ancestry.com/). The household included:
* David Hoke - white, male, age 37, married, a gunsmith, born OH, parents born OH/OH
* Charte Hoke - white, female, age 26, wife, married, keeping house, born OH, parents born OH/OH
* Jennie Hoke - white, female, age 12, daughter, single, born IN, parents born OH/OH
* Manford Hoke - white, male, age 10, son, single, born IN, parents born OH/OH
* Milo Hoke - white, male, age 8, son, single, born IN, parents born OH/OH
* Effie Hoke - white, female, age 3, daughter, single, born IN, parents born OH/OH
* William Hoke - white, male, age 1, son, single, born IN, parents born OH/OH
6) In the 1870 US Census, the David Hoak family resided in Sparta, Noble County, Indiana (dwelling #168, family #168, page 284A, NARA Microfilm Series M593, Roll 347, accessed on http://www.ancestry.com/). The household included:
* David Hoak - age 24, male, a carpenter, $150 in real property, $200 in personal property, born OH
* Charlotte Hoak - age 19, female, keeping house, born in OH
* Jennie Hoak - age 2, female, born IN
* Manford Hoak - age 6/12, male, born IN
7) In the 1860 US Census, David Hoke resided in Perry, Noble County, Indiana in the Gideon Scholterbach family (dwelling #190, family #186, page 118, NARA Microfilm Series M653, Roll 285, accessed on http://www.ancestry.com/). The household included:
* Gideon Scholterbach - age 49, male, a farmer, $11000 in real property, $1500 in personal property, born PA
* Mary Scholterbach - age 48, female, born OH
* Henry Scholterbach - age 20, male, a farm laborer, born IN
* Eli Scholterbach - age 19, male, born IN
* Amelia Scholterbach - age 17, female, born IN
* Adam Scholterbach - age 15, male, born IN
* Ora Scholterbach - age 9, male, born IN
* Emma Scholterbach - age 7, female, born IN
* David Hoke - age 19, male, born OH
* Daniel Hoke - age 16, male, born OH
* Sarah Hoke - age 12, female, born OH
* Eve Engle - age 77, female, born PA
Note: Mary Scholterbach is probably David Hoke's mother married to her second husband.
8) In the 1860 US Census, the Charles Green family resided in Sparta, Noble County, Indiana (dwelling #416, family #416, page 152, NARA Microfilm Series M653, Roll 285, accessed on http://www.ancestry.com/). The household included:
* Charles Green - age 40, male, farmer, $4000 in real property, $600 in personal property, born OH
* Jane Green - age 39, female, born OH
* Charlotte Wight - age 9, female, born OH.
I searched for a girl born about 1850 with the first name of Charlotte living with a Green family in Noble County IN and this is what came up. I am 99% sure that this is the Charlotte "Knight" or "Wight" who is the foster or adopted daughter of Charles and Jane Green. The circumstances are just too strong here. Charlotte married David Hoke in 1867 and they are in Noble County, Indiana in the 1870 and 1880 census before moving to Kansas in the early 1880s.
I searched for other Knight and Wight families in Noble County, Indiana in the 1860 census and found none. Of course, the father and other children might be anywhere in the USA, in Canada or even back in England, or dead.
9) There is an Ancestry Public Member Tree (member DianeElliott1005) that has essentially the same information: David Noble Hoak (born 4 March 1843 Champaign Co OH, died 5 June 1911) married Sept 1867 in Noble County IN to Charlotte Knight (born 25 Nov 1850 at sea, died 21 Jan 1923). The note for Charlotte's birth says: "born on a ship coming across the ocean to America from England. Her mother, named Gaton, died in childbirth, leaving 8 children." The tree lists these children for David and Charlotte (Knight) Hoak: Jennie Hoke (1868-1943), Manford Erasmus Hoke (1870-1954), Milo Hartel Hoke (1872-1966), Effie Hoke (1876-1955), William Chester Hoke (1879-1938), Joseph Hoke (1882-1953), Bessie Hoke (1884-1972) and Valentine Hoke (1895-1982).
The eight Knight children are given as (with no birth dates other than Charlotte's): Becky, Charles, Ed, Hannah, Mollie, Rhoda, Will and Charlotte. She has no first name for the father or the mother of these children.
10) There is another Ancestry Public Member Tree (member jcain271) that lists Charlotte Knight (born 1850, died 1923) as a daughter of James C. Knight (born 1813 in England, died 1870) and Sarah Gaton (no birth/death years).
11) I searched the immigration records on Ancestry.com for Charlotte Knight and Charlotte Wight born 1850 and found no matches. But she would not be on a ship manifest if born at sea. Unfortunately, the passenger list records are incomplete. I searched for James Knight, Sarah Knight and Rhoda Knight and got no matches. I did the same for James, Sarah, Rhoda and Charlotte Wight and got no matches.
The research summary that I passed to my correspondent said:
* It appears to me, as an objective observer, that Charlotte was a foster or adopted child of Charles and Jane Green, that they lived in Noble County IN in the 1860s, that Charlotte married David Hoke in Noble County IN and the family moved to Kansas in about 1884.
* From the evidence at hand, Charlotte may have been born at sea or in Ohio, her parents were born in England, and perhaps her mother died after childbirth.
* It is possible that Charlotte was adopted in Ohio, which is where the Greens were born. We don't know when, or if, she was adopted, or was a foster child. Was she on an orphan train? Perhaps - we'll have to see if there were orphan trains to Ohio and Indiana before 1860.
* It's very clear to me that she was NOT on an orphan train to Kansas as the family story relates.
I also emailed Diane with the Ancestry Member Tree who had the same family story, asked her if I could connect her to my correspondent, and she agreed. They are second cousins and did not know of each other before this. Hopefully, they are sharing family stories and photographs.
There are, of course, other research avenues to pursue after this general "low-hanging fruit" record search, including:
* There are probably 1841 census records for the Knight or Wight family, and Civil Registration birth records for Charlotte's siblings in England.
* There may be guardianship or adoption records for Charlotte that would more clearly define her birth name, reasons for adoption, and adoption circumstances. There may be orphan train records for her.
* There may be land and probate records for David Hoke and/or Charlotte Hoke in Indiana and Kansas.
* There may be newspaper articles or county history books about the adoption of Charlotte by the Greens, about the Green's deaths, and about the lives and deaths of David and Charlotte Hoke.
* There may be family papers available from other descendants of David and Charlotte Hoke that might provide more details and context to the family story.
My hope is that, by posting this research summary, that other descendants of Charlotte (Wight?) Hoke might read it and also contact my two correspondents and share whatever information they may have about her life. If you have such information, please contact me at rjseaver@cox.net and I will connect you with my two correspondents.
This post was written for the 97th Carnival of Genealogy with the theme of Research From Scratch! Here's an opportunity to put on your research caps and delve into a whole new family history.
Labels: Adoption, Carnivals, Online resources
(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 118: The Carringer House
I'm posting family photographs from my collection on Wednesdays, but they won't be Wordless Wednesday posts like others do - I simply am incapable of having a wordless post.
I managed to scan about 100 family photographs in the Scanfest in January, and have converted the scanned TIF files to smaller JPGs, cropped and rotated as best I can. Many of these were "new" to my digital photograph collection.
Here is a photograph from the Carringer family collection handed down by my mother in the 1988 to 2002 time period:
I managed to scan about 100 family photographs in the Scanfest in January, and have converted the scanned TIF files to smaller JPGs, cropped and rotated as best I can. Many of these were "new" to my digital photograph collection.
Here is a photograph from the Carringer family collection handed down by my mother in the 1988 to 2002 time period:
This photograph is of the Carringer house that stood on the northeast corner of 30th Street and Hawthorn Street from 1895 to 1927. I posted an earlier photograph, from the late 1890s, of the house in The Carringer house in San Diego. My estimate of the time frame for the picture above is about 1905 to 1910.
The persons in the photograph above are (from the left):
* Far left in a uniform of some sort - probably Harvey Edgar Carringer (1852-1946), brother of Henry Austin Carringer
* Woman standing sideways - Abigail (Vaux) Smith (1844-1931), mother of Della (Smith) Carringer
* Woman seated - I don't know who this is. She may be Harriet (Vaux) Loucks, a cousin of Della (Smith) Carringer who visited often and was heavy-set.
* Woman standing - Della (Smith) Carringer (1862-1944), wife of Henry Austin Carringer and mother to Lyle Lawrence Carringer
* Young man standing - Lyle Lawrence Carringer (1891-1976), son of Henry Austin and Della (Smith) Carringer. Lyle was probably age 15 to 18 in this photograph, based on his slight stature in other pictures.
* Man standing on right - Henry Austin Carringer (1853-1946), husband of Della (Smith) Carringer and father of Lyle Lawrence Carringer.
This picture shows a view from the middle of 30th Street of the house, and shows the extent of the upper floor to the north - it was not possible to tell in the other photograph. I must have scanned this photograph many years ago - I saw it today browsing through the digital collection and did not recall seeing it before. Funny how that happens!
Labels: Carringer Research, My genealogy research, photographs, Wordless Wednesday
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Keeping up with FamilySearch
It has been a challenge for me to stay up-to-date on what's happening with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) FamilySearch website. I am not a church member, but I am very interested in the free offerings from FamilySearch - the database records, the family tree, the Research Wiki, the library offerings, etc.
I was unable to attend the Federation of Genealogical Societies conference two weeks ago in Knoxville, or the Family History Expo held last weekend in Sandy, Utah.
Fortunately, at least two genea-bloggers shared some information from the Family History Expo over the weekend:
1. The Ancestry Insider blogged about FamilySearch In a Corner which summarized Ron Tanner's comments (Ron is the go-to guy for Family Tree now). The comments included:
* "... stated goal for the Family Tree is that it be so genealogically correct that even the best of genealogists will want to use it."
* "...admitted that the current design didn’t go far enough from changing 'my tree' and 'your tree' into 'our tree' since it maintains 'my conclusion' and 'your conclusion.' "
* "... future direction is to change the Tree so that anyone can correct it. Anyone can contribute to it. Anyone can contribute artifacts to it. Anyone can change the information that you contributed to the Tree—maybe for the better."
Read all of The Ancestry Insider's post - there is a lot more there to ponder over! It sounds like there will be a significant change in some FamilySearch features by the end of September.
2) Renee Zamora on Renee's Genealogy Blog posted Salt Lake Family History Expo 2010 - Day 2 that has some interesting nuggets, including:
* "...Only 5% of all genealogy records are online" per Gordon Clarke. I'm glad to see this value - it's what I've been guessing recently!
* Gordon Clarke also said (perhaps in jest) that "... technology will advance to the point that we all will have our own 'seer stone' that we could view our family histories, that are stored in the cloud."
* "Legacy's NFS feature operates as an add-on program. It will launch a separate window to access it. Very similar to how Legacy Charting works." according to Leonard Plazier who presented "Legacy Family Tree and new Family Search."
Please read all of Renee's posts about the Family History Expo.
There were several other genea-bloggers at the Family History Expo, but I haven't read any comments yet about the FamilySearch plans. If you were there and posted something about FamilySearch, please let me know!
My thanks to The Ancestry Insider and Renee Zamora for the up-to-the-minute news about FamilySearch.
For the record, there were 453 databases (33 with red stars) today on the FamilySearch Record Search Pilot site, and only 289 databases at the FamilySearch Beta site (Historical Collecitons).
I was unable to attend the Federation of Genealogical Societies conference two weeks ago in Knoxville, or the Family History Expo held last weekend in Sandy, Utah.
Fortunately, at least two genea-bloggers shared some information from the Family History Expo over the weekend:
1. The Ancestry Insider blogged about FamilySearch In a Corner which summarized Ron Tanner's comments (Ron is the go-to guy for Family Tree now). The comments included:
* "... stated goal for the Family Tree is that it be so genealogically correct that even the best of genealogists will want to use it."
* "...admitted that the current design didn’t go far enough from changing 'my tree' and 'your tree' into 'our tree' since it maintains 'my conclusion' and 'your conclusion.' "
* "... future direction is to change the Tree so that anyone can correct it. Anyone can contribute to it. Anyone can contribute artifacts to it. Anyone can change the information that you contributed to the Tree—maybe for the better."
Read all of The Ancestry Insider's post - there is a lot more there to ponder over! It sounds like there will be a significant change in some FamilySearch features by the end of September.
2) Renee Zamora on Renee's Genealogy Blog posted Salt Lake Family History Expo 2010 - Day 2 that has some interesting nuggets, including:
* "...Only 5% of all genealogy records are online" per Gordon Clarke. I'm glad to see this value - it's what I've been guessing recently!
* Gordon Clarke also said (perhaps in jest) that "... technology will advance to the point that we all will have our own 'seer stone' that we could view our family histories, that are stored in the cloud."
* "Legacy's NFS feature operates as an add-on program. It will launch a separate window to access it. Very similar to how Legacy Charting works." according to Leonard Plazier who presented "Legacy Family Tree and new Family Search."
Please read all of Renee's posts about the Family History Expo.
There were several other genea-bloggers at the Family History Expo, but I haven't read any comments yet about the FamilySearch plans. If you were there and posted something about FamilySearch, please let me know!
My thanks to The Ancestry Insider and Renee Zamora for the up-to-the-minute news about FamilySearch.
For the record, there were 453 databases (33 with red stars) today on the FamilySearch Record Search Pilot site, and only 289 databases at the FamilySearch Beta site (Historical Collecitons).
Labels: FamilySearch, genealogy blogs, Online resources
I'll wait on Family Tree Maker 2011
Ancestry.com announced the release of Family Tree Maker 2011 today - Miriam Midkiff has the press release on her Ancestories blog here. The Ancestry.com Blog also has a post about it.
I don't see many significant changes in the descriptions provided. I rarely use the features that are claimed to be improved. For instance, media management: I don't have many media items attached to persons in my own genealogy database yet, and I won't until I get the genealogy database in better order. It is not a priority for me in my genealogy life. To each their own.
Concerning uploading and downloading to Ancestry.com: I don't add content or media to my Public Member tree on Ancestry.com because I want to keep control of my latest database on my own computer. When Family Tree Maker is able to synchronize a family tree database with Ancestry Member Trees, then I will do more media attachments.
What do I mean by "true synchronization?" In FTM 2011, as in previous versions, the user has to upload a whole family tree file from Family Tree Maker to Ancestry.com, or download a whole family tree from Ancestry.com into Family Tree Maker. It becomes a new tree file, whether on Ancestry.com or in Family Tree Maker. If a user is changing data in both places, some of it may be lost or will have to be re-entered. A true synchronization would find changes in one place (either in the software database or the Member Tree database) and add or edit information in the other place without creating a new file. Perhaps even automatically at login. When a true synchronization is available, then Family Tree Maker will have a significant market edge.
Ancestry.com has released a new version of Family Tree Maker every year since 2008, and has charged users each time. The major Windows competitors, RootsMagic 4 (released in early 2009) and Legacy Family Tree 7 (released in summer 2008) , have updated their offerings many times since the initial release without charging users, their retail price is lower, the software runs faster and they offer equal or better features.
I still use Family Tree Maker 16 to manage my genealogy database because I am very familiar with it, and it serves my purposes well. I have and use RootsMagic 4 and Legacy Family Tree 7 for specific tasks, including unique reports and charts. I appreciate that they both offer free versions of their software with some crippled features - and I recommend them to beginning genealogists to start a family tree database.
So - I will wait to order Family Tree Maker 2011 until I am convinced that I really "need" it.
Information about Family Tree Maker 2011 can be found at http://www.familytreemaker.com/. The Ancestry.com Store has it for sale at a retail price of $39.95, and has an upgrade for current Family Tree Maker users for $27.97.
Disclosure: I have purchased every version of Family Tree Maker from Version 10 to 2010, and have received free copies of Family Tree Maker 2008, 2009 and 2010 from Ancestry.com at promotional events and conferences. I have donated the free copies I received from Ancestry.com to my local genealogical societies or have given them to society colleagues. My comments above are my own and I have received no remuneration or considerations for writing them.
I don't see many significant changes in the descriptions provided. I rarely use the features that are claimed to be improved. For instance, media management: I don't have many media items attached to persons in my own genealogy database yet, and I won't until I get the genealogy database in better order. It is not a priority for me in my genealogy life. To each their own.
Concerning uploading and downloading to Ancestry.com: I don't add content or media to my Public Member tree on Ancestry.com because I want to keep control of my latest database on my own computer. When Family Tree Maker is able to synchronize a family tree database with Ancestry Member Trees, then I will do more media attachments.
What do I mean by "true synchronization?" In FTM 2011, as in previous versions, the user has to upload a whole family tree file from Family Tree Maker to Ancestry.com, or download a whole family tree from Ancestry.com into Family Tree Maker. It becomes a new tree file, whether on Ancestry.com or in Family Tree Maker. If a user is changing data in both places, some of it may be lost or will have to be re-entered. A true synchronization would find changes in one place (either in the software database or the Member Tree database) and add or edit information in the other place without creating a new file. Perhaps even automatically at login. When a true synchronization is available, then Family Tree Maker will have a significant market edge.
Ancestry.com has released a new version of Family Tree Maker every year since 2008, and has charged users each time. The major Windows competitors, RootsMagic 4 (released in early 2009) and Legacy Family Tree 7 (released in summer 2008) , have updated their offerings many times since the initial release without charging users, their retail price is lower, the software runs faster and they offer equal or better features.
I still use Family Tree Maker 16 to manage my genealogy database because I am very familiar with it, and it serves my purposes well. I have and use RootsMagic 4 and Legacy Family Tree 7 for specific tasks, including unique reports and charts. I appreciate that they both offer free versions of their software with some crippled features - and I recommend them to beginning genealogists to start a family tree database.
So - I will wait to order Family Tree Maker 2011 until I am convinced that I really "need" it.
Information about Family Tree Maker 2011 can be found at http://www.familytreemaker.com/. The Ancestry.com Store has it for sale at a retail price of $39.95, and has an upgrade for current Family Tree Maker users for $27.97.
Disclosure: I have purchased every version of Family Tree Maker from Version 10 to 2010, and have received free copies of Family Tree Maker 2008, 2009 and 2010 from Ancestry.com at promotional events and conferences. I have donated the free copies I received from Ancestry.com to my local genealogical societies or have given them to society colleagues. My comments above are my own and I have received no remuneration or considerations for writing them.
Labels: FamilyTreeMaker, genealogy software
Monday, August 30, 2010
Citing My English Sources - My Preference
I wrote Confessions of a Name Collector - English Sources last week in an attempt to determine how I should deal with the thousands of "source citations" in my genealogical database that say essentially "Hilperton, Wiltshire Parish Registers," without a page number, church name, church record, Record Office, film number, or IGI entry. I listed several options to consider, and received a number of comments, which I really appreciated.
The comments by David Newton and Christine (RootsSearcher) in England suggested sourcing the information to the original or derivative material held in the relevant diocesan record offices, expressed in David's comment reprinted below:
"The best way to cite English parish registers I have found is to have the repository as the relevant diocesan record office (almost always a county record office or a unitary authority record office) and then to cite it based on the catalogue call number there and then the page number and entry number in the register if possible (ie post 1812 in most cases). If dealing with earlier registers then the call number in the record office is just as valid and then cite the date in the register if that is the only distinguishing thing."
Christine suggested "...ask the Record Office of the county of where your UK ancestors were if they will take a copy of the page or couple of pages in the parish register..."
Both are excellent suggestions, and I sincerely appreciate them because they expanded my knowledge and appreciation for those records and the efforts made by many persons to collect and preserve them. If I resided in England, this is what I would do, I think, because it is manageable and is the best practice.
However, as Martin pointed out in his comment, I am not in England, the people who might benefit by my public database will be overwhelmngly American, and noted that "... I don't see anything wrong with citing to a scholarly article and saying, 'and the sources cited therein.'"
Several genea-bloggers have commented on this problem of mine. Perhaps the best suggestion was by Bart Brenner in his post Name Collecting - "Mythology" or the "Pirates of the Caribbean" option (GeneaPopPop) on his Stardust 'n' Roots blog, saying:
"What I have come to realize is that I have chosen to take the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' option when approaching the GPS and source citations - that is, they are not so much 'laws' (to be slavishly followed) as they are 'guidelines' (to assist us). This may not measure up to the standards of a professional genealogist. It may not seem very 'professional' - that is, it may be less than desired. I do understand that data without primary sources cited are simply clues to direct further research. I am opting (a) to present primary source data, well cited, wherever I can and (b) to present and site the sources for undocumented data that provides clues for future research. My genealogical research is just that - research. It is always in process. "
I went to the fount of all genealogical source wisdom, the book Evidence Explained by Elizabeth Shown Mills, and noted the two elements below:
in "1.19 Indirect Sources (page 27)
"FOR CREDIBILITY & INTEGRITY
"Citations are built on the principle that we cite only what we have used. It is a sound practice to identify, in our research notes, the sources on which other authors base their assertions or conclusions. Sound practice then dictates that we actually consult those sources that are relevant to our works. We need to confirm the accuracy of what other writers report and glean additional perspectives those earlier sources can offer. For credibility and integrity, we should not borrow sources from other writers or present what amounts to hearsay as credible fact.
(See also Citing the Source of a Source, 2.21.)"
and
"2.21 Citing the Source of a Source (page 51)
"We do not cite sources we have not used. 'Borrowing' sources from other writers is both unethical and risky. When we use the work of others, we cite what we actually used. When other authors identify their source for a detail that is relevant to us, we should add to our note a statement such as,
"The author cites 'Register 3, page 235, St. Peter’s Parish, Wilmington, Delaware.'
"Credit should always be given where it is due. By the same token, we would not wish to assume the blame for an error another writer made in using a record we have not seen."
In my specific case for these English parish records (mostly before 1650), I have, almost entirely, used published book and journal articles to add events and notes to my database. In my present situation, if I were to follow the EE 1.19 and 2.21 dicta, I should cite what I actually used, but should make the effort to find the original source as time permits. I think that doing that, in my specific case, is logical, reasonable and manageable for me to do in the coming years. In many cases, the books and journal articles that I used do refer to the relevant diocesan record office (although some may be out of date).
Citing to the sources I used for the English records is consistent with many of my other citations I use for American records - such as the Massachusetts Vital Records books (extracted from original town records), New England state vital records indexes, state online genealogical index and record databases, etc. They are all derivative sources yet considered authoritative, they are what I've used, and they can be found by an interested researcher.
I feel a lot better now about this issue. I am very grateful to the commenters for their wisdom and advice,
I need to get to work on correcting the English source citations. It may not be too hard - many of my Notes for the immigrants to colonial America refer to the published book or journal article that I used.
The comments by David Newton and Christine (RootsSearcher) in England suggested sourcing the information to the original or derivative material held in the relevant diocesan record offices, expressed in David's comment reprinted below:
"The best way to cite English parish registers I have found is to have the repository as the relevant diocesan record office (almost always a county record office or a unitary authority record office) and then to cite it based on the catalogue call number there and then the page number and entry number in the register if possible (ie post 1812 in most cases). If dealing with earlier registers then the call number in the record office is just as valid and then cite the date in the register if that is the only distinguishing thing."
Christine suggested "...ask the Record Office of the county of where your UK ancestors were if they will take a copy of the page or couple of pages in the parish register..."
Both are excellent suggestions, and I sincerely appreciate them because they expanded my knowledge and appreciation for those records and the efforts made by many persons to collect and preserve them. If I resided in England, this is what I would do, I think, because it is manageable and is the best practice.
However, as Martin pointed out in his comment, I am not in England, the people who might benefit by my public database will be overwhelmngly American, and noted that "... I don't see anything wrong with citing to a scholarly article and saying, 'and the sources cited therein.'"
Several genea-bloggers have commented on this problem of mine. Perhaps the best suggestion was by Bart Brenner in his post Name Collecting - "Mythology" or the "Pirates of the Caribbean" option (GeneaPopPop) on his Stardust 'n' Roots blog, saying:
"What I have come to realize is that I have chosen to take the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' option when approaching the GPS and source citations - that is, they are not so much 'laws' (to be slavishly followed) as they are 'guidelines' (to assist us). This may not measure up to the standards of a professional genealogist. It may not seem very 'professional' - that is, it may be less than desired. I do understand that data without primary sources cited are simply clues to direct further research. I am opting (a) to present primary source data, well cited, wherever I can and (b) to present and site the sources for undocumented data that provides clues for future research. My genealogical research is just that - research. It is always in process. "
I went to the fount of all genealogical source wisdom, the book Evidence Explained by Elizabeth Shown Mills, and noted the two elements below:
in "1.19 Indirect Sources (page 27)
"FOR CREDIBILITY & INTEGRITY
"Citations are built on the principle that we cite only what we have used. It is a sound practice to identify, in our research notes, the sources on which other authors base their assertions or conclusions. Sound practice then dictates that we actually consult those sources that are relevant to our works. We need to confirm the accuracy of what other writers report and glean additional perspectives those earlier sources can offer. For credibility and integrity, we should not borrow sources from other writers or present what amounts to hearsay as credible fact.
(See also Citing the Source of a Source, 2.21.)"
and
"2.21 Citing the Source of a Source (page 51)
"We do not cite sources we have not used. 'Borrowing' sources from other writers is both unethical and risky. When we use the work of others, we cite what we actually used. When other authors identify their source for a detail that is relevant to us, we should add to our note a statement such as,
"The author cites 'Register 3, page 235, St. Peter’s Parish, Wilmington, Delaware.'
"Credit should always be given where it is due. By the same token, we would not wish to assume the blame for an error another writer made in using a record we have not seen."
In my specific case for these English parish records (mostly before 1650), I have, almost entirely, used published book and journal articles to add events and notes to my database. In my present situation, if I were to follow the EE 1.19 and 2.21 dicta, I should cite what I actually used, but should make the effort to find the original source as time permits. I think that doing that, in my specific case, is logical, reasonable and manageable for me to do in the coming years. In many cases, the books and journal articles that I used do refer to the relevant diocesan record office (although some may be out of date).
Citing to the sources I used for the English records is consistent with many of my other citations I use for American records - such as the Massachusetts Vital Records books (extracted from original town records), New England state vital records indexes, state online genealogical index and record databases, etc. They are all derivative sources yet considered authoritative, they are what I've used, and they can be found by an interested researcher.
I feel a lot better now about this issue. I am very grateful to the commenters for their wisdom and advice,
I need to get to work on correcting the English source citations. It may not be too hard - many of my Notes for the immigrants to colonial America refer to the published book or journal article that I used.
Labels: Church records, Family Trees, My genealogy research, Source Citation, UK/Ireland Resources
Amanuensis Monday - Newspaper Advertisements for Property Sales
Genea-blogger John Newmark (who writes the excellent TransylvanianDutch blog) started his own Monday blog theme many months ago called Amanuensis Monday. What does "amanuensis" mean? John offers this definition:
"A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another."
The subject today is the property of two Jonathan Lewises that was advertised for sale in New York City area newspapers. I found these on the America's Historical Newspapers, 1690-1876 database on Newsbank, through the NEHGS's http://www.americanancestors.org/ External Databases collection last week.
1) Jonathan Lewis (1688-1764) died on Staten Island, Richmond County, New York, leaving a will that required the executors to sell his property. The executors placed this advertisement in the newspaper:
A newspaper article in the New York Gazette newspaper, dated 18 March 1765, Issue 328, Page 3 (accessed on the "America's Historical Newspapers" database on http://infoweb.newsbank.com/) describes public sale of the estate of Jonathan Lewis:
"To be Sold, at Publick Vendue, on the Premises on Thursday, the 28th of March next, to begin at Ten of the Clock in the Forenoon;
"The Farm or Plantation, which belonged to Jonathan Lewis, late of Staten Island, in the Province of New-York, deceased, containing upwards of two hundred acres, whereon is a good House, Barn, and Orchard, of five hundred bearing Apple Trees, with a variety of other Fruit Trees, a sufficient Quantity of Fresh (or English) and Salt Meadow, to keep a good Stock of Cattle, all adjoining; well-timbered and watered, a constant Brook running through the Land, and a very good Landing, where Boats of ten Cords Burthen, or upwards, frequently load for New-York Market. It is conveniently situated, lying at the Fresh-Kill, on the main Road from the Narrows to the Blazing Stars Ferry. -- There will be sold at the same Time and Place, the Stock of Cattle, Horses, Sheep, and Hoggs, farming Utensils, and Household Good. Likewise, two Negroe Men, one of them understands House-Work, was bred in Town, and both used to farming Business.
"February 23d, 1765
Joseph Bedell, Silas Bedell, Benj. Seaman, Executors."
2) Jonathan Lewis (1715-1785) of Staten Island, Richmond County, New York, the son of the above Jonathan Lewis, died in late 1785. His executors placed these advertisements in the local newspapers:
A newspaper advertisement in the Loudon's New-York Packet newspaper, dated 30 January 1786, Issue 563, Page 3 (accessed on the "America's Historical Newspapers" database on http://infoweb.newsbank.com/) describes the attempted sale of the estate of Jonathan Lewis:
"To be Sold, at Public Vendue
"On Monday, the 20th day of March next, on the premises (if not disposed of before at private sale,)
"The valuable MILLS, with the lot of ground and meadow adjoining the farm; containing about forty acres. There are on the premises a good dwelling-house, barn and out-houses, belonging to the estate of Jonathan Lewis, deceased, and commonly known by the name of Beadle's Mills, situated on Staten-Island, near Richmond town. -- As this place is well calculated for a store-keeper, and many advantages arising from the situation, any person inclining to purchase, may know both situation and terms of sale, by applying to Mr. Abraham Bond, in New-York, near the White-Hall, or to the subscribers residing on the premises.
"Jonathan Lewis, David Lewis, Executors
Richmond county, January 26, 1786."
A subsequent article for the sale of the farm was placed in The New-York Journal, & Patriotic Register newspaper, dated 10 March 1792, Volume XLVI, Issue 20, Page 4 (accessed on the "America's Historical Newspapers" database on http://infoweb.newsbank.com/). It reads:
"FOR SALE
"Two Valuable FARMS
"ON Staten-Island, pleasantly situated within one mile of the village of Richmond, one late the property of Jonathan Lewis, deceased, the other of John Laforge, deceased; the two containing two hundred and twenty-five acres of land and salt meadow; one being bounded, in front, by the Fresh Kill Creek and the main road from New-York ferry to the Old Blazing Star; the other bound, in front, by the main road from New-York ferry to Perth Amboy, and joining in rear; there are on the said farms two good dwelling houses, almost new, two good barns, and out houses of every kind, with a sufficient proportion of fresh meadow and wood, with post and rail timber of the best kind; likewise, an excellent stream and situation for a grist mill, with a landing place, navigable for vessels of fifty tons burthen. The said farms are in good repair. Any persons inclining to purchase, may know the terms, by applying to the subscribers, on the premises.
"Jonathan Lewis, David Lewis, Executors
Staten-Island, Dec. 31, 1791."
It is unclear to me if the three advertisements above are for exactly the same property or if they are for different, but close, properties. Deed and probate research would likely uncover many more details. The first Jonathan Lewis above had, apparently, only one son, the second Jonathan Lewis above. The second Jonathan Lewis had five sons, including first-born Jonathan Lewis and second-born David Lewis. Those are the two names listed as executors for the second Jonathan Lewis; however, the third Jonathan Lewis is said to have died in 1781 in Dutchess County, before his father died in 1785.
"A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another."
The subject today is the property of two Jonathan Lewises that was advertised for sale in New York City area newspapers. I found these on the America's Historical Newspapers, 1690-1876 database on Newsbank, through the NEHGS's http://www.americanancestors.org/ External Databases collection last week.
1) Jonathan Lewis (1688-1764) died on Staten Island, Richmond County, New York, leaving a will that required the executors to sell his property. The executors placed this advertisement in the newspaper:
A newspaper article in the New York Gazette newspaper, dated 18 March 1765, Issue 328, Page 3 (accessed on the "America's Historical Newspapers" database on http://infoweb.newsbank.com/) describes public sale of the estate of Jonathan Lewis:
"To be Sold, at Publick Vendue, on the Premises on Thursday, the 28th of March next, to begin at Ten of the Clock in the Forenoon;
"The Farm or Plantation, which belonged to Jonathan Lewis, late of Staten Island, in the Province of New-York, deceased, containing upwards of two hundred acres, whereon is a good House, Barn, and Orchard, of five hundred bearing Apple Trees, with a variety of other Fruit Trees, a sufficient Quantity of Fresh (or English) and Salt Meadow, to keep a good Stock of Cattle, all adjoining; well-timbered and watered, a constant Brook running through the Land, and a very good Landing, where Boats of ten Cords Burthen, or upwards, frequently load for New-York Market. It is conveniently situated, lying at the Fresh-Kill, on the main Road from the Narrows to the Blazing Stars Ferry. -- There will be sold at the same Time and Place, the Stock of Cattle, Horses, Sheep, and Hoggs, farming Utensils, and Household Good. Likewise, two Negroe Men, one of them understands House-Work, was bred in Town, and both used to farming Business.
"February 23d, 1765
Joseph Bedell, Silas Bedell, Benj. Seaman, Executors."
2) Jonathan Lewis (1715-1785) of Staten Island, Richmond County, New York, the son of the above Jonathan Lewis, died in late 1785. His executors placed these advertisements in the local newspapers:
A newspaper advertisement in the Loudon's New-York Packet newspaper, dated 30 January 1786, Issue 563, Page 3 (accessed on the "America's Historical Newspapers" database on http://infoweb.newsbank.com/) describes the attempted sale of the estate of Jonathan Lewis:
"To be Sold, at Public Vendue
"On Monday, the 20th day of March next, on the premises (if not disposed of before at private sale,)
"The valuable MILLS, with the lot of ground and meadow adjoining the farm; containing about forty acres. There are on the premises a good dwelling-house, barn and out-houses, belonging to the estate of Jonathan Lewis, deceased, and commonly known by the name of Beadle's Mills, situated on Staten-Island, near Richmond town. -- As this place is well calculated for a store-keeper, and many advantages arising from the situation, any person inclining to purchase, may know both situation and terms of sale, by applying to Mr. Abraham Bond, in New-York, near the White-Hall, or to the subscribers residing on the premises.
"Jonathan Lewis, David Lewis, Executors
Richmond county, January 26, 1786."
A subsequent article for the sale of the farm was placed in The New-York Journal, & Patriotic Register newspaper, dated 10 March 1792, Volume XLVI, Issue 20, Page 4 (accessed on the "America's Historical Newspapers" database on http://infoweb.newsbank.com/). It reads:
"FOR SALE
"Two Valuable FARMS
"ON Staten-Island, pleasantly situated within one mile of the village of Richmond, one late the property of Jonathan Lewis, deceased, the other of John Laforge, deceased; the two containing two hundred and twenty-five acres of land and salt meadow; one being bounded, in front, by the Fresh Kill Creek and the main road from New-York ferry to the Old Blazing Star; the other bound, in front, by the main road from New-York ferry to Perth Amboy, and joining in rear; there are on the said farms two good dwelling houses, almost new, two good barns, and out houses of every kind, with a sufficient proportion of fresh meadow and wood, with post and rail timber of the best kind; likewise, an excellent stream and situation for a grist mill, with a landing place, navigable for vessels of fifty tons burthen. The said farms are in good repair. Any persons inclining to purchase, may know the terms, by applying to the subscribers, on the premises.
"Jonathan Lewis, David Lewis, Executors
Staten-Island, Dec. 31, 1791."
It is unclear to me if the three advertisements above are for exactly the same property or if they are for different, but close, properties. Deed and probate research would likely uncover many more details. The first Jonathan Lewis above had, apparently, only one son, the second Jonathan Lewis above. The second Jonathan Lewis had five sons, including first-born Jonathan Lewis and second-born David Lewis. Those are the two names listed as executors for the second Jonathan Lewis; however, the third Jonathan Lewis is said to have died in 1781 in Dutchess County, before his father died in 1785.
Labels: Amanuensis Monday, My genealogy research, Newspaper/Obituary listings, Oldtime newspapers, Online resources
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Best of the Genea-Blogs - 22-28 August 2010
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 the genealogy carnivals, or other 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:
* Shepardizing Your Genealogy by Martin Hollick on The Slovak Yankee blog. This is an important post for researchers with colonial American ancestors. Do you have these three works in your library that Martin mentions?
* How do we know what we know in genealogy? by James Tanner on the Genealogy's Star blog. This is the sequel to James's earlier post and explains "We begin to know what we know when we recognize that what we think we know may not be correct. "
* People's Cemetery by Janet Iles in the "International Rabbit" column on The Graveyard Rabbit Online Journal blog. This is a wonderful article by Janet showing graveyard records and the stones of a mysterious family (one of hers? it's not clear).
* The Trouble With Harry by Silver Ravenwolf on the Gravediggers Blog. What a fascinating hunt to find a set of grandparents burial spot.
* Sweet Lemonade by Caroline M. Pointer on the Family Stories blog. Caroline's story is about turning a family tragedy into a success story - it's a good one. There is more than one story here, and a good research tip too!
* Playing The Genealogy Board Game - What Fun! by Lorine McGinnis Schulze on the Olive Tree Genealogy Blog. Lorine has too much fun with her grandchildren playing her newly created game. Read the whole series - what a wonderful idea to get our grandkids interested in genealogy.
* Ellis Island: A rose by any other name... by Schelly Talalay Dardashti on the Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog. This is an important post for everyone working with immigration records - Schelly takes the New York Times to task for publicizing the myth that names were transliterated at Ellis Island.
* Where do genealogists meet on the internet? by Marian Pierre-Louis on the Roots and Rambles blog. An interesting question - I hope Marian gets many more responses!
Other "Best of..." weekly pick posts are here:
* Weekly Genealogy Picks by John Newmark on the TransylvanianDutch blog. John also links to several other weekly pick posts.
I encourage you to go to the blogs listed above and read their articles, and add their blog to your Favorites, Bloglines, reader, 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 660 genealogy bloggers using Bloglines, but I still miss quite a few it seems.
Read past Best of the Genea-Blogs posts here.
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 the genealogy carnivals, or other 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:
* Shepardizing Your Genealogy by Martin Hollick on The Slovak Yankee blog. This is an important post for researchers with colonial American ancestors. Do you have these three works in your library that Martin mentions?
* How do we know what we know in genealogy? by James Tanner on the Genealogy's Star blog. This is the sequel to James's earlier post and explains "We begin to know what we know when we recognize that what we think we know may not be correct. "
* People's Cemetery by Janet Iles in the "International Rabbit" column on The Graveyard Rabbit Online Journal blog. This is a wonderful article by Janet showing graveyard records and the stones of a mysterious family (one of hers? it's not clear).
* The Trouble With Harry by Silver Ravenwolf on the Gravediggers Blog. What a fascinating hunt to find a set of grandparents burial spot.
* Sweet Lemonade by Caroline M. Pointer on the Family Stories blog. Caroline's story is about turning a family tragedy into a success story - it's a good one. There is more than one story here, and a good research tip too!
* Playing The Genealogy Board Game - What Fun! by Lorine McGinnis Schulze on the Olive Tree Genealogy Blog. Lorine has too much fun with her grandchildren playing her newly created game. Read the whole series - what a wonderful idea to get our grandkids interested in genealogy.
* Ellis Island: A rose by any other name... by Schelly Talalay Dardashti on the Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog. This is an important post for everyone working with immigration records - Schelly takes the New York Times to task for publicizing the myth that names were transliterated at Ellis Island.
* Where do genealogists meet on the internet? by Marian Pierre-Louis on the Roots and Rambles blog. An interesting question - I hope Marian gets many more responses!
Other "Best of..." weekly pick posts are here:
* Weekly Genealogy Picks by John Newmark on the TransylvanianDutch blog. John also links to several other weekly pick posts.
I encourage you to go to the blogs listed above and read their articles, and add their blog to your Favorites, Bloglines, reader, 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 660 genealogy bloggers using Bloglines, but I still miss quite a few it seems.
Read past Best of the Genea-Blogs posts here.
Labels: BestofGeneaBlogs, genealogy blogs
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Make Your Own Poster
...
It's Saturday Night - is everyone ready for some Genealogy Fun?
Your mission, should you decide to accept it (and I hope that you do... because this one is really cool!), is to:
1) Go to the www.ImageChef.com website and explore their FREE offerings. Click on the "Create" button, or choose to make a slideshow or posters from their main page (there are more than one screen of poster backgrounds).
2) Make one or more posters or other creation - perhaps they relate to genealogy or your own family history. Save them to your computer (right click, Save as Picture for Windows users).
3) Show your creations to us... in your own blog post, on a Facebook post, etc. If you make a really neat one and want to show it to the world but don't have a way to do it, send it to me (rjseaver@cox.net) and I'll show it off for you in a blog post.
My thanks to Sheri Fenley (by the way, where are you Fenley, on vacation?) for showing us her ImageChef creations in her post How I Spent My Sunday Evening And So Should You! last April, and being the inspiration for this SNGF challenge.
Here's mine:
1) I had to have a "Wanted" poster. Devier J. Smith was adopted and I don't know his parents names:
2) I've always wanted to be on television talking about genealogy (not sure about the rabbit ears, though):
It's Saturday Night - is everyone ready for some Genealogy Fun?
Your mission, should you decide to accept it (and I hope that you do... because this one is really cool!), is to:
1) Go to the www.ImageChef.com website and explore their FREE offerings. Click on the "Create" button, or choose to make a slideshow or posters from their main page (there are more than one screen of poster backgrounds).
2) Make one or more posters or other creation - perhaps they relate to genealogy or your own family history. Save them to your computer (right click, Save as Picture for Windows users).
3) Show your creations to us... in your own blog post, on a Facebook post, etc. If you make a really neat one and want to show it to the world but don't have a way to do it, send it to me (rjseaver@cox.net) and I'll show it off for you in a blog post.
My thanks to Sheri Fenley (by the way, where are you Fenley, on vacation?) for showing us her ImageChef creations in her post How I Spent My Sunday Evening And So Should You! last April, and being the inspiration for this SNGF challenge.
Here's mine:
1) I had to have a "Wanted" poster. Devier J. Smith was adopted and I don't know his parents names:
2) I've always wanted to be on television talking about genealogy (not sure about the rabbit ears, though):
3) Wouldn't you have loved to have this in the background at a concert? I wanted to put the caption "Genealogy Rocks" on the image but it obscured the show title:
Like Sheri said, you can spend hours playing around with this site, and the others she mentioned! Be creative! Enjoy!
Labels: SNGF, strange or funny
Surname Saturday - DINKEL (Germany > PA)
It's Surname Saturday, and I'm "counting down" my Ancestral Name List each week. I am up to number 99, who is the wife of Cornelius Feather (1777-1852), whose name I do not know. So I will move on to #101 - Maria Dorothea Dinkel (1748-1835), one of my 4th-great-grandparents.
My ancestral line back through two generations of DINKEL families is:
1. Randall J. Seaver
2. Frederick Walton Seaver (1911-1983)
3. Betty Virginia Carringer (1919-2002)
6. Lyle Lawrence Carringer (1891-1976)
7. Emily Kemp Auble (1899-1977)
12. Henry Austin Carringer (1853-1946)
13. Abbie Ardell "Della" Smith (1862-1944)
24. David Jackson Carringer (1828-1902)
25. Rebecca Spangler (1832-1901)
50. John Daniel Spangler (1781-1851)
51. Elizabeth King (1796-1863)
100. Rudolf Spangler, born 08 August 1738 in Cambria County, PA; died 05 August 1811 in York, York County, PA. He was the son of 200. Johann Balthazar Spengler and 201. Maria Magdalena Ritter. He married 01 January 1767 in York, York County, PA.
101. Maria Dorothea Dinkel, born 1748 in Strasbourg, Alsace, Germany; died 12 June 1835 in York, York County, PA.
Children of Rudolf Spangler and Maria Dinkel are:
i. John Jacob Spangler, born 28 November 1767 in York, York County, PA; died 08 June 1843 in York, York County, PA; married (1) Susannah Hay 05 May 1791 in York, York, PA; born 16 August 1768 in York, York, PA; died 24 February 1818 in York, York, PA; married (2) Catherine Allen Hamilton 23 May 1820 in E. Cocalico, Lancaster, PA; born 13 November 1792 in Paxton, Bucks, PA; died 12 June 1873 in York, York, PA.
ii. Maria Catherine Spangler, born 31 December 1769 in York, York County, PA; died 27 December 1824 in York, York County, PA; married George Augusta Barnitz in York, York, PA; born 18 February 1770 in York, York, PA; died 19 April 1844 in York, York, PA.
iii. Elizabeth Spangler, born 23 February 1773 in York, York County, PA; died 14 April 1844 in York, York County, PA; married William Nes; born 13 July 1761 in York, York, PA; died 19 July 1828 in York, York, PA.
iv. Margaret Spangler, born 14 March 1773 in York, York County, PA; died 15 April 1852 in Winchester, Frederick County, VA; married Joseph Slagle 22 September 1807 in York, York, PA.
v. Jesse Spangler, born 05 July 1775 in York, York County, PA; died 12 September 1860 in York, York County, PA; married Mary D. Heckert; born 19 March 1780 in York, York, PA; died 13 January 1867 in York, York, PA.
vi. Anna Maria Spangler, born About 1779 in York, York County, PA; died 1841 in York, York County, PA; married Peter Small 27 April 1797 in York, York, PA; died 1823 in York, York, PA.
100 vii. John Daniel Spangler, born 09 October 1781 in York, York County, PA; died 19 July 1851 in Georgetown, Mercer County, PA; married Elizabeth King 12 March 1815 in York, York County, PA.
viii. Mary Margaret Spangler, born About 1783 in York, York County, PA; died 1841 in York, York County, PA; married Martin Kieffer 1804 in York, York, PA; born 1781 in York, York, PA; died 1852 in York, York, PA.
ix. Peter Spangler, born 16 May 1786 in York, York County, PA; died 22 May 1823 in York, York County, PA; married Sarah Gardner 15 October 1812 in York, York, PA; born 1787 in York, York, PA; died 19 August 1839 in York, York, PA.
x. Magdalena Spangler, born 24 June 1789 in York, York County, PA; died 15 May 1842 in York, York County, PA; married Charles Frederick Fisher 02 October 1808 in York, York, PA; born 03 August 1783 in York, York, PA; died 26 August 1842 in York, York, PA.
202. Johann Daniel Dunckel, born in Germany, died before 07 November 1755 in York, York County, PA. He married 7. Maria Ursula Von Ernest before 1736 in Germany.
203. Maria Ursula Von Ernest, born 02 April 1713 in Colmar, Alsace, Germany; died 29 September 1793 in York, York County, PA.
Children of Johann Dunckel and Maria Von Ernest are:
i. Margaret Salome Dinkel, born 06 April 1736 in Strasbourg, Alsace, Germany; died 29 June 1813 in York, York, PA; married Philip Caspar Spengler; born 1730 in Germany; died 1782 in York, York, PA.
ii. Anna Maria Dinkel, born about 1738 in Strasbourg, Alsace, Germany; died 23 February 1797 in York, York County, PA; married Philip Albright.
iii. Johan Daniel Dinkel, born 17 June 1741 in Strasbourg, Alsace, Germany; married Anna Margaret Ruhl or Riehl Bef. 1758 in York, York County, PA.
iv. Peter Dinkel, born 11 July 1742 in Strasbourg, Alsace, Germany; died 22 December 1827 in York, York County, PA; married Eliza Wolf 15 February 1767 in York, York County, PA; born 1748; died 07 May 1830 in York, York County, PA.
v. Maria Catherina Dinkel, born 22 June 1746 in Strasbourg, Alsace, Germany; died 22 March 1831 in York, York County, PA; married David Candler 30 October 1763 in York, York County, PA; born 28 April 1740 in Schlotterdam, NJ; died before 04 August 1801 in York, York County, PA.
101 vi. Maria Dorothea Dinkel, born 1748 in Strasbourg, Alsace, Germany; died 12 June 1835 in York, York County, PA; married Rudolf Spangler 01 January 1767 in York, York County, PA.
Everything I know about this Dunckel/Dinkel family line I learned from the book:
Samuel Small, Jr., Genealogical Records of George Small, Philip Albright, Johann Daniel Dunckel, William Geddes Latimer, Thomas Bartow, John Reid, Daniel Benezet, Jean Crommelin, Joel Richardson; Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott Company, 1905. This work can be found online at the www.Archive.org website.
It's interesting to note that my third great-grandfather, John Daniel Spangler, was named after his grandfather Johann Daniel Dunckel.
My ancestral line back through two generations of DINKEL families is:
1. Randall J. Seaver
2. Frederick Walton Seaver (1911-1983)
3. Betty Virginia Carringer (1919-2002)
6. Lyle Lawrence Carringer (1891-1976)
7. Emily Kemp Auble (1899-1977)
12. Henry Austin Carringer (1853-1946)
13. Abbie Ardell "Della" Smith (1862-1944)
24. David Jackson Carringer (1828-1902)
25. Rebecca Spangler (1832-1901)
50. John Daniel Spangler (1781-1851)
51. Elizabeth King (1796-1863)
100. Rudolf Spangler, born 08 August 1738 in Cambria County, PA; died 05 August 1811 in York, York County, PA. He was the son of 200. Johann Balthazar Spengler and 201. Maria Magdalena Ritter. He married 01 January 1767 in York, York County, PA.
101. Maria Dorothea Dinkel, born 1748 in Strasbourg, Alsace, Germany; died 12 June 1835 in York, York County, PA.
Children of Rudolf Spangler and Maria Dinkel are:
i. John Jacob Spangler, born 28 November 1767 in York, York County, PA; died 08 June 1843 in York, York County, PA; married (1) Susannah Hay 05 May 1791 in York, York, PA; born 16 August 1768 in York, York, PA; died 24 February 1818 in York, York, PA; married (2) Catherine Allen Hamilton 23 May 1820 in E. Cocalico, Lancaster, PA; born 13 November 1792 in Paxton, Bucks, PA; died 12 June 1873 in York, York, PA.
ii. Maria Catherine Spangler, born 31 December 1769 in York, York County, PA; died 27 December 1824 in York, York County, PA; married George Augusta Barnitz in York, York, PA; born 18 February 1770 in York, York, PA; died 19 April 1844 in York, York, PA.
iii. Elizabeth Spangler, born 23 February 1773 in York, York County, PA; died 14 April 1844 in York, York County, PA; married William Nes; born 13 July 1761 in York, York, PA; died 19 July 1828 in York, York, PA.
iv. Margaret Spangler, born 14 March 1773 in York, York County, PA; died 15 April 1852 in Winchester, Frederick County, VA; married Joseph Slagle 22 September 1807 in York, York, PA.
v. Jesse Spangler, born 05 July 1775 in York, York County, PA; died 12 September 1860 in York, York County, PA; married Mary D. Heckert; born 19 March 1780 in York, York, PA; died 13 January 1867 in York, York, PA.
vi. Anna Maria Spangler, born About 1779 in York, York County, PA; died 1841 in York, York County, PA; married Peter Small 27 April 1797 in York, York, PA; died 1823 in York, York, PA.
100 vii. John Daniel Spangler, born 09 October 1781 in York, York County, PA; died 19 July 1851 in Georgetown, Mercer County, PA; married Elizabeth King 12 March 1815 in York, York County, PA.
viii. Mary Margaret Spangler, born About 1783 in York, York County, PA; died 1841 in York, York County, PA; married Martin Kieffer 1804 in York, York, PA; born 1781 in York, York, PA; died 1852 in York, York, PA.
ix. Peter Spangler, born 16 May 1786 in York, York County, PA; died 22 May 1823 in York, York County, PA; married Sarah Gardner 15 October 1812 in York, York, PA; born 1787 in York, York, PA; died 19 August 1839 in York, York, PA.
x. Magdalena Spangler, born 24 June 1789 in York, York County, PA; died 15 May 1842 in York, York County, PA; married Charles Frederick Fisher 02 October 1808 in York, York, PA; born 03 August 1783 in York, York, PA; died 26 August 1842 in York, York, PA.
202. Johann Daniel Dunckel, born in Germany, died before 07 November 1755 in York, York County, PA. He married 7. Maria Ursula Von Ernest before 1736 in Germany.
203. Maria Ursula Von Ernest, born 02 April 1713 in Colmar, Alsace, Germany; died 29 September 1793 in York, York County, PA.
Children of Johann Dunckel and Maria Von Ernest are:
i. Margaret Salome Dinkel, born 06 April 1736 in Strasbourg, Alsace, Germany; died 29 June 1813 in York, York, PA; married Philip Caspar Spengler; born 1730 in Germany; died 1782 in York, York, PA.
ii. Anna Maria Dinkel, born about 1738 in Strasbourg, Alsace, Germany; died 23 February 1797 in York, York County, PA; married Philip Albright.
iii. Johan Daniel Dinkel, born 17 June 1741 in Strasbourg, Alsace, Germany; married Anna Margaret Ruhl or Riehl Bef. 1758 in York, York County, PA.
iv. Peter Dinkel, born 11 July 1742 in Strasbourg, Alsace, Germany; died 22 December 1827 in York, York County, PA; married Eliza Wolf 15 February 1767 in York, York County, PA; born 1748; died 07 May 1830 in York, York County, PA.
v. Maria Catherina Dinkel, born 22 June 1746 in Strasbourg, Alsace, Germany; died 22 March 1831 in York, York County, PA; married David Candler 30 October 1763 in York, York County, PA; born 28 April 1740 in Schlotterdam, NJ; died before 04 August 1801 in York, York County, PA.
101 vi. Maria Dorothea Dinkel, born 1748 in Strasbourg, Alsace, Germany; died 12 June 1835 in York, York County, PA; married Rudolf Spangler 01 January 1767 in York, York County, PA.
Everything I know about this Dunckel/Dinkel family line I learned from the book:
Samuel Small, Jr., Genealogical Records of George Small, Philip Albright, Johann Daniel Dunckel, William Geddes Latimer, Thomas Bartow, John Reid, Daniel Benezet, Jean Crommelin, Joel Richardson; Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott Company, 1905. This work can be found online at the www.Archive.org website.
It's interesting to note that my third great-grandfather, John Daniel Spangler, was named after his grandfather Johann Daniel Dunckel.
Labels: Carringer Research, My genealogy research, Surname Saturday
Friday, August 27, 2010
Confessions of a Name Collector - Adding Families to my Database
After the rather depressing realization that I had all of those poor Sources in my database for hundreds of 16th and 17th century English families (see Confessions of a Name Collector - English Sources), I have had an enjoyable three hours adding information to my database from scholarly publications whose veracity I trust.
My pile of "to be entered into the database" was reduced today by addition of the information in these sources today (names, dates, places, relationships, a summary of the publication and family):
* Richard L. Bush, "English Ancestry of Bennet Hodsoll, First Wife of Edmond Freeman of Sandwich, Massachusetts," New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 164, Number 2 (April 2010), Pages 104-111.
* Jan Porter and Daniel F. Stramara, Jr., "The Origin of Gabriel Whelden of Yarmouth and Malden, Massachusetts," New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 163, Number 4 (October 2009), Pages 253-261.
* Jane Fletcher Fiske, "The English Background of Richard Kent Sr. and Stephen Kent of Newbury, Massachusetts, and Mary, Wife of Nicholas Easton of Newport, Rhode Island," New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 162, Number 4 (October 2010), Pages 245-254; Volume 163, Number 1 (January 2009), Pages 51-65.
* Eugene Cole Zubrinsky, "The Immigration and Marriage of William Carpenter of Amesbury, Wiltshire, and Providence, Rhode Island," New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 164, Number 1 (January 2010), Pages 36-40.
* John Insley Coddington and Maclean W. Maclean, "The Blossom Family of Cambridgeshire, England, and New England," The American Genealogist, Volume 63, Number 2 (April 1988), Pages 65-77.
These articles are all from scholarly sources that have excellent research summaries, significant family history items like will and land records, and citations to original sources. I will never be able to duplicate the research performed by these researchers in the years I have left.
My hope is that by posting the citations for these articles that other researchers may find them using search engines and be lead to the article that might help them. It's sort of like paying it forward, and giving credit to those that have done the work.
Now don't worry about my doomy comments recently, there are no medical problems, knock on wood! I'm just thinking that my life expectancy is about 10 years and I'd rather do something other than turn microfilm reels in unreadable English parish registers.
My pile of "to be entered into the database" was reduced today by addition of the information in these sources today (names, dates, places, relationships, a summary of the publication and family):
* Richard L. Bush, "English Ancestry of Bennet Hodsoll, First Wife of Edmond Freeman of Sandwich, Massachusetts," New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 164, Number 2 (April 2010), Pages 104-111.
* Jan Porter and Daniel F. Stramara, Jr., "The Origin of Gabriel Whelden of Yarmouth and Malden, Massachusetts," New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 163, Number 4 (October 2009), Pages 253-261.
* Jane Fletcher Fiske, "The English Background of Richard Kent Sr. and Stephen Kent of Newbury, Massachusetts, and Mary, Wife of Nicholas Easton of Newport, Rhode Island," New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 162, Number 4 (October 2010), Pages 245-254; Volume 163, Number 1 (January 2009), Pages 51-65.
* Eugene Cole Zubrinsky, "The Immigration and Marriage of William Carpenter of Amesbury, Wiltshire, and Providence, Rhode Island," New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 164, Number 1 (January 2010), Pages 36-40.
* John Insley Coddington and Maclean W. Maclean, "The Blossom Family of Cambridgeshire, England, and New England," The American Genealogist, Volume 63, Number 2 (April 1988), Pages 65-77.
These articles are all from scholarly sources that have excellent research summaries, significant family history items like will and land records, and citations to original sources. I will never be able to duplicate the research performed by these researchers in the years I have left.
My hope is that by posting the citations for these articles that other researchers may find them using search engines and be lead to the article that might help them. It's sort of like paying it forward, and giving credit to those that have done the work.
Now don't worry about my doomy comments recently, there are no medical problems, knock on wood! I'm just thinking that my life expectancy is about 10 years and I'd rather do something other than turn microfilm reels in unreadable English parish registers.
Labels: data management, Family Trees, My genealogy research, Source Citation, UK/Ireland Resources
Confessions of a Name Collector - English Sources
I started out in genealogy being a "name collector" in 1988. I totally relied on the published work of other researchers to provide information about many of my ancestors - from books, periodicals, the LDS International Genealogical Index (IGI) and the LDS Ancestral File. I wrote it down, put it in my research notebooks, and added it to my genealogy database on Personal Ancestral File (without source citations).
I think that most of us start out this way, once we get past the family sources and obtaining vital records for our 20th century families. Eventually, we understand that in order to find those elusive ancestors - the ones that aren't in books, periodicals or the IGI - and substantiate the assertions made in those derivative sources, that we need original source material with direct evidence to support our "facts" - names, dates, places and events. When we find them, they are usually in church, military, town, tax, court, land and probate records.
Fast forward 22 years, and aging Randy has over 39,000 persons in his genealogy database in Family Tree Maker (and other programs, but I still use FTM 16 for my database add/edit/delete functions). Some of them have a birth or baptism, marriage, and death or burial date, and those often have a place associated with the date. Over time, I added shorthand source citations to the place name (e.g., Westminster, Worcester, MA (VR, 197) - denoting Westminster MA Vital Records, page 197). I am still finding and correcting these "errors of judgment" from years ago - putting the source and citation in my source field and deleting it from the place field. In addition, I had plenty places denoting (gravestone), (will proved), (admin filed), etc. Most of these source citations are now nearly correct, except I don't have page numbers for many of them. That's one of the next tasks to do... after I finish the Data Error resolutions.
One large set of source citations is a major challenge: English church parish records. I am blessed with a large number of early American colonial ancestors, many of these lines stretch back into England in the 1500 to 1650 time frame. During the name collecting phase, I took as fact those baptisms, marriages and burials that I found in the derivative sources - my thinking was "somebody smarter than me found these records and I'm glad they wrote them down."
My guess is that almost all of the names, dates and places are correct, but who knows? I haven't verified them for myself, but they're in my database and I'll be darned if I'm going to take them out. Rather than cite the actual work where I found them (the surname book, the journal article, the LDS IGI, etc.), I have, over the years, put a source in my database titled something like "Bury. St. Edmunds, Suffolk Parish Registers." I know, that's a mistake. But how do I fix it?
Trying to correct my genealogy database for "posterity" I have the problem of "How do I cite those sources well and accurately?" For the English parish records, my choices seem to be:
* Cite the derivative source work - surname book, journal article. After all, that's where I found the information, and those sources can be found by another researcher. But the data is in about 30 linear feet of notebooks stuffed with paper (plus the "to be filed" pile). Big job.
* Order the FHL microfilms for each set of church parish records and search them for the entries that may or may not be there, and cite the microfilm and original record if found. This would be the best "original source" material available (short of going to each record office in England....). This is the "right" thing to do, but may take more than my lifetime to finish. I have at least 400 "master sources" of the English parish records. Bigger job! Boring and expensive too...
* Cite the entries from the LDS IGI - almost all of them are in the IGI, whether extracted or submitted - and let others follow the trail if they care to. A manageable job, but not something to be proud of!
* Keep the "master source" entries as I have them, but add the comment "consult the LDS IGI for the extracted record, and consult the microfilm from which it was extracted to see the actual record" to each "master source" entry. This is easier to do, but not something to be proud of.
* Don't worry about it, and WGASA (anybody know what this means? I'll tell you in comments later!). This method conveys the messages "It's my imperfect database, and people who use it can figure it out" and "There's no such thing as a useless database, it can always be used as a bad example!" This is the easiest choice of all!
The exception to all of this is the English parish records that I have actually searched on microfilm at the Family History Center and in several County Record Offices in England. For those, I can cite the actual records from the original source microfilm images that I consulted. If I can find them.
How have you sourced English parish records? What would you do in my situation?
I think that most of us start out this way, once we get past the family sources and obtaining vital records for our 20th century families. Eventually, we understand that in order to find those elusive ancestors - the ones that aren't in books, periodicals or the IGI - and substantiate the assertions made in those derivative sources, that we need original source material with direct evidence to support our "facts" - names, dates, places and events. When we find them, they are usually in church, military, town, tax, court, land and probate records.
Fast forward 22 years, and aging Randy has over 39,000 persons in his genealogy database in Family Tree Maker (and other programs, but I still use FTM 16 for my database add/edit/delete functions). Some of them have a birth or baptism, marriage, and death or burial date, and those often have a place associated with the date. Over time, I added shorthand source citations to the place name (e.g., Westminster, Worcester, MA (VR, 197) - denoting Westminster MA Vital Records, page 197). I am still finding and correcting these "errors of judgment" from years ago - putting the source and citation in my source field and deleting it from the place field. In addition, I had plenty places denoting (gravestone), (will proved), (admin filed), etc. Most of these source citations are now nearly correct, except I don't have page numbers for many of them. That's one of the next tasks to do... after I finish the Data Error resolutions.
One large set of source citations is a major challenge: English church parish records. I am blessed with a large number of early American colonial ancestors, many of these lines stretch back into England in the 1500 to 1650 time frame. During the name collecting phase, I took as fact those baptisms, marriages and burials that I found in the derivative sources - my thinking was "somebody smarter than me found these records and I'm glad they wrote them down."
My guess is that almost all of the names, dates and places are correct, but who knows? I haven't verified them for myself, but they're in my database and I'll be darned if I'm going to take them out. Rather than cite the actual work where I found them (the surname book, the journal article, the LDS IGI, etc.), I have, over the years, put a source in my database titled something like "Bury. St. Edmunds, Suffolk Parish Registers." I know, that's a mistake. But how do I fix it?
Trying to correct my genealogy database for "posterity" I have the problem of "How do I cite those sources well and accurately?" For the English parish records, my choices seem to be:
* Cite the derivative source work - surname book, journal article. After all, that's where I found the information, and those sources can be found by another researcher. But the data is in about 30 linear feet of notebooks stuffed with paper (plus the "to be filed" pile). Big job.
* Order the FHL microfilms for each set of church parish records and search them for the entries that may or may not be there, and cite the microfilm and original record if found. This would be the best "original source" material available (short of going to each record office in England....). This is the "right" thing to do, but may take more than my lifetime to finish. I have at least 400 "master sources" of the English parish records. Bigger job! Boring and expensive too...
* Cite the entries from the LDS IGI - almost all of them are in the IGI, whether extracted or submitted - and let others follow the trail if they care to. A manageable job, but not something to be proud of!
* Keep the "master source" entries as I have them, but add the comment "consult the LDS IGI for the extracted record, and consult the microfilm from which it was extracted to see the actual record" to each "master source" entry. This is easier to do, but not something to be proud of.
* Don't worry about it, and WGASA (anybody know what this means? I'll tell you in comments later!). This method conveys the messages "It's my imperfect database, and people who use it can figure it out" and "There's no such thing as a useless database, it can always be used as a bad example!" This is the easiest choice of all!
The exception to all of this is the English parish records that I have actually searched on microfilm at the Family History Center and in several County Record Offices in England. For those, I can cite the actual records from the original source microfilm images that I consulted. If I can find them.
How have you sourced English parish records? What would you do in my situation?
Labels: FamilySearch, genealogy resources, genealogy software, Online resources, Source Citation, UK/Ireland Resources
Exploring AmericanAncestors.org - the Learning Center
One of the FREE areas of the New England Historic Genealogical Society website at www.AmericanAncestors.org is the Learning Center.
There are three major pages on the Learning Center page:
1) Getting Started -- provides five basic steps, and five tips for success. The basic steps have links to forms, key genealogical sources, and software programs. There is a special Getting Started for Young People page also, with a Bibliography for Young People and Families.
2) Online Seminars -- Seminars (you can view the presentation and hear the speaker) are offered on Getting Started (3 videos), NEHGS Resources (3 videos), Irish Research (1 video), Records and Resources (2 videos), and Strategies and Methodologies (6 videos)
3) Articles -- this article archive covers a variety of topics, including: Mayflower research, computers and genealogy, professional development, Canadian family history and much more. You can sort articles by topic, author or location.
Perhaps the most interesting new article I saw on the site was this one:
"#87 Royal Decents, Notable Kin, and Printed Sources: Gary Roberts asks for Help (on his Patrilineal Ancestry): A Likely Solution—I Hope—to My Longest Genealogical Quest.
Toward a “Brick-Wall” Solution: The Elusive Patrilineal and Native American Ancestors of Calvin Henderson Roberts" by Gary Boyd Roberts and K. Todd Johnson.
Gary Boyd Roberts is one of the most well-known and acclaimed genealogical researchers in the business, and he is stuck on the ancestry of his great-great-grandfather, Calvin Henderson Roberts (1827-1892). There are plenty of clues, but not enough to satisfy a proof standard. He is asking for help. It's nice to see that the experts have their own research problems and can ask for help from the genealogy community.
The Learning Center also has a monthly calendar which describes all of the learning programs at NEHGS in Boston. You can see the next months by clicking on the right arrow next to the "Today" item in the calendar header.
If you are looking for information about beginning genealogy, learning new methodologies, or reviewing case studies, the Learning Center on www.AmericanAncestors.org has some interesting material.
There are three major pages on the Learning Center page:
1) Getting Started -- provides five basic steps, and five tips for success. The basic steps have links to forms, key genealogical sources, and software programs. There is a special Getting Started for Young People page also, with a Bibliography for Young People and Families.
2) Online Seminars -- Seminars (you can view the presentation and hear the speaker) are offered on Getting Started (3 videos), NEHGS Resources (3 videos), Irish Research (1 video), Records and Resources (2 videos), and Strategies and Methodologies (6 videos)
3) Articles -- this article archive covers a variety of topics, including: Mayflower research, computers and genealogy, professional development, Canadian family history and much more. You can sort articles by topic, author or location.
Perhaps the most interesting new article I saw on the site was this one:
"#87 Royal Decents, Notable Kin, and Printed Sources: Gary Roberts asks for Help (on his Patrilineal Ancestry): A Likely Solution—I Hope—to My Longest Genealogical Quest.
Toward a “Brick-Wall” Solution: The Elusive Patrilineal and Native American Ancestors of Calvin Henderson Roberts" by Gary Boyd Roberts and K. Todd Johnson.
Gary Boyd Roberts is one of the most well-known and acclaimed genealogical researchers in the business, and he is stuck on the ancestry of his great-great-grandfather, Calvin Henderson Roberts (1827-1892). There are plenty of clues, but not enough to satisfy a proof standard. He is asking for help. It's nice to see that the experts have their own research problems and can ask for help from the genealogy community.
The Learning Center also has a monthly calendar which describes all of the learning programs at NEHGS in Boston. You can see the next months by clicking on the right arrow next to the "Today" item in the calendar header.
If you are looking for information about beginning genealogy, learning new methodologies, or reviewing case studies, the Learning Center on www.AmericanAncestors.org has some interesting material.
Labels: AmericanAncestors.org, genealogy education, Genealogy Video, Kids and Genealogy, NEHGS
Thursday, August 26, 2010
CVGS Annual Picnic - "Wheel of Fortune Surname Game"
The Chula Vista Genealogical Society (CVGS) Annual Picnic on August 25th featured an audience participation game called the "Wheel of Fortune Surname Game." CVGS President Gary Brock devised this game featuring information taken from surnames and information taken from the participant's five generation pedigree chart.
Gary created a 16 segment "Surname Wheel of Fortune" with randomly distributed numbers corresponding to randomly distributed numbers on a large map of the USA and the World. The Wheel was spun, and the first audience member, who had an ancestral family on their chart that resided in the selected geographical area, that stood up was selected to be the contestant.
The contestant then explained information about their selected surname, the research performed, and answered questions about the surname and their research. Points were awarded for 11 criteria, including:
* the number of times the selected surname appeared on their pedigree chart (up to a 7 generation chart);
* the number of generations with the surname that the contestant has photos for;
* the number of generations with the surname that the contestant has newspaper clippings for;
* the number of audience members with the same surname on their chart;
* the number of audience members with names on their chart with the same region as the contestant.
* number of centuries in which the selected surname appears on the chart
* number of lines on the chart with the selected surname
* possession of primary information on the selected surname
* selected surname appears in a published book or journal article
* completion of five-generation chart with at least a name and date or place.
* Pedigree Chart has been submitted to CVGS collection.
Points were awarded for each response and added, using a spreadsheet, to provide each contestant's score. Mary P won with 78 points for her Hatch surname in the New England region. Randy S. was second with 76 points for his Smith surname in the New England region. Myrna G was third with 73 points for her Beach surname in the Midwest region. The lowest scores were 28 for surnames in the Pacific Island region and the Eastern European region. 18 attendees participated in the game and a good time was had by all.
The Annual Picnic also featured a very short business meeting, a duplicates book sale, and a white elephant gift exchange in addition to the bring-your-own lunch.
Surnames used for the game were L'Magdalen (UK/Canada), Erdman (Mid-Atlantic), Beach (Midwest), Whittle (Pacific), Quintero (South America), Page (Pacific), Smith (New England), Self (South), Bellwood (West), Hoffman (Mid-Atlantic), Bricvan (Eastern Europe); Hildreth (UK), Weber (West), Busing (Western Europe), McCall (Mid-Atlantic), Hatch (New England), Tway (West) and Inbody (Midwest).
The origin and meaning of these surnames will be discussed by Gary in his Weekenders presentation at the Chula Vista Civic Center Library at 1 p.m. on Sunday, 29 August.
Gary created a 16 segment "Surname Wheel of Fortune" with randomly distributed numbers corresponding to randomly distributed numbers on a large map of the USA and the World. The Wheel was spun, and the first audience member, who had an ancestral family on their chart that resided in the selected geographical area, that stood up was selected to be the contestant.
The contestant then explained information about their selected surname, the research performed, and answered questions about the surname and their research. Points were awarded for 11 criteria, including:
* the number of times the selected surname appeared on their pedigree chart (up to a 7 generation chart);
* the number of generations with the surname that the contestant has photos for;
* the number of generations with the surname that the contestant has newspaper clippings for;
* the number of audience members with the same surname on their chart;
* the number of audience members with names on their chart with the same region as the contestant.
* number of centuries in which the selected surname appears on the chart
* number of lines on the chart with the selected surname
* possession of primary information on the selected surname
* selected surname appears in a published book or journal article
* completion of five-generation chart with at least a name and date or place.
* Pedigree Chart has been submitted to CVGS collection.
Points were awarded for each response and added, using a spreadsheet, to provide each contestant's score. Mary P won with 78 points for her Hatch surname in the New England region. Randy S. was second with 76 points for his Smith surname in the New England region. Myrna G was third with 73 points for her Beach surname in the Midwest region. The lowest scores were 28 for surnames in the Pacific Island region and the Eastern European region. 18 attendees participated in the game and a good time was had by all.
The Annual Picnic also featured a very short business meeting, a duplicates book sale, and a white elephant gift exchange in addition to the bring-your-own lunch.
Surnames used for the game were L'Magdalen (UK/Canada), Erdman (Mid-Atlantic), Beach (Midwest), Whittle (Pacific), Quintero (South America), Page (Pacific), Smith (New England), Self (South), Bellwood (West), Hoffman (Mid-Atlantic), Bricvan (Eastern Europe); Hildreth (UK), Weber (West), Busing (Western Europe), McCall (Mid-Atlantic), Hatch (New England), Tway (West) and Inbody (Midwest).
The origin and meaning of these surnames will be discussed by Gary in his Weekenders presentation at the Chula Vista Civic Center Library at 1 p.m. on Sunday, 29 August.
Labels: CVGS, strange or funny, Surnames
Periodicals on the AmericanAncestors.org Site
There are quite a few Periodicals and Journals on www.AmericanAncestors.org, the revamped New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) website. They are imaged and indexed.
The periodicals and journals include (from the Database Catalog page - select Periodicals, Journals and Articles from the dropdown Category list):
* American Ancestors Journal -- Volume 163 (2009)
* Connecticut Nutmegger -- Volumes 1-40 (1970 to 2009)
* Death Notices from the New York Evening Post , 1801-1890
* Deaths in The Christian Intelligencer (Reformed Dutch Ch.), 1830-1871
* Deaths Reported in the Boston Recorder and Telegraph, 1827 and 1828
* Essex Antiquarian -- Volumes 1-13 (1897 to 1909)
* Marriage and Death Notices Published in New Hampshire Newspapers -- 1848, 1856 (partial)
* Marriage Notices from the New York Evening Post, 1801–1890
* Marriages and Deaths from the Springfield [MA] Republican, 1847
* Marriages and Deaths in New York State from the New Canaan [CT] Era -- 1868-1871
* Marriages in the Boston Recorder and Telegraph, 1827-1828
* Marriages in The Christian Intelligencer (Reformed Dutch Ch.), 1830-1871
* New England Ancestors -- Volumes 1-6 (2000 to 2005)
* New England Historical and Genealogical Register -- Volumes 1 to 164 (1847 to 2010)
* New Hampshire Gazette: Vital Records, 1756–1800
* New Netherland Connections -- Volumes 1-12 (1996 to 2007)
* Otsego County, NY: Newspaper Records -- 1808-1812, 1828-1831
* Record of Deaths and Marriages from the Albany Argus, 1826–1828
* Search for Missing Friends: Irish Immigrant Advertisements, 1831-1920
* The American Genealogist -- Volumes 9-43 (1932-1967)
* The Virginia Genealogist -- Volumes 1-30 (1957-1986)
I took the volume numbers and the years included from the web page, so they may be imperfect.
Access to these online journals and periodicals, with an every name search function, is a tremendous membership benefit and research asset for the NEHGS member.
The periodicals and journals include (from the Database Catalog page - select Periodicals, Journals and Articles from the dropdown Category list):
* American Ancestors Journal -- Volume 163 (2009)
* Connecticut Nutmegger -- Volumes 1-40 (1970 to 2009)
* Death Notices from the New York Evening Post , 1801-1890
* Deaths in The Christian Intelligencer (Reformed Dutch Ch.), 1830-1871
* Deaths Reported in the Boston Recorder and Telegraph, 1827 and 1828
* Essex Antiquarian -- Volumes 1-13 (1897 to 1909)
* Marriage and Death Notices Published in New Hampshire Newspapers -- 1848, 1856 (partial)
* Marriage Notices from the New York Evening Post, 1801–1890
* Marriages and Deaths from the Springfield [MA] Republican, 1847
* Marriages and Deaths in New York State from the New Canaan [CT] Era -- 1868-1871
* Marriages in the Boston Recorder and Telegraph, 1827-1828
* Marriages in The Christian Intelligencer (Reformed Dutch Ch.), 1830-1871
* New England Ancestors -- Volumes 1-6 (2000 to 2005)
* New England Historical and Genealogical Register -- Volumes 1 to 164 (1847 to 2010)
* New Hampshire Gazette: Vital Records, 1756–1800
* New Netherland Connections -- Volumes 1-12 (1996 to 2007)
* Otsego County, NY: Newspaper Records -- 1808-1812, 1828-1831
* Record of Deaths and Marriages from the Albany Argus, 1826–1828
* Search for Missing Friends: Irish Immigrant Advertisements, 1831-1920
* The American Genealogist -- Volumes 9-43 (1932-1967)
* The Virginia Genealogist -- Volumes 1-30 (1957-1986)
I took the volume numbers and the years included from the web page, so they may be imperfect.
Access to these online journals and periodicals, with an every name search function, is a tremendous membership benefit and research asset for the NEHGS member.
Labels: AmericanAncestors.org, genealogy education, genealogy resources, Online resources, periodical indexes
Treasure Chest Thursday - Charles Auble (1849-1916) Death Certificate
It's Treasure Chest Thursday - time for another document or artifact from my collection of "stuff" collected on my ancestral families over the past 22 years.
Here is the Death Certificate for my great-grandfather, Charles Auble (1849-1916).
The information on this death certificate includes:
* Full Name: Charles Auble
* Place of Death: Agnew Hospital, Ward 4, City of San Diego
* Sex, Color or Race, Marital Status: Male, White, Married
* Date of Death: Mar. 23, 1916
* Husband of: Georgia K. Auble
* Date of Birth: Oct. 31, 1854
* Age: 61 years, 4 months, 24 days
* Occupation: Painter
* Place of Birth: New Jersey
* Name of Father, and Birthplace: Auble, New Jersey
* Name of Mother, and birthplace: Knapps, New Jersey
* Length of Residence: 5 Years at Place of Death, 5 Years in California
* Informant: Emily K. Auble, 14th & F St., City
* Cause of Death: ???? Cystitis, ???? shows -- Gall bladder ruptured, accidental fall
* Contributory: Accidental fall, 3 months
* [Doctor's] Signature: G.W. Compton, M.D.
* Place of Burial or Removal: Masonic Cemetery
* Date of Burial: Mar. 25, 1916
* Undertaker: Bradley & Woolman, San Diego
The family of Charles Auble still thought that he was born in 1854 rather than in 1849 as all of the census data before 1900 states (1950, 1860, 1870 and 1880 all indicate a birth year of about 1849). His 16 year old daughter, Emily, was entrusted with providing all of the information, so it's no surprise that she didn't know the first names of his parents, David Auble and Sarah Knapp. The home address is given as 14th and F Streets in San Diego.
Here is the Death Certificate for my great-grandfather, Charles Auble (1849-1916).
The information on this death certificate includes:
* Full Name: Charles Auble
* Place of Death: Agnew Hospital, Ward 4, City of San Diego
* Sex, Color or Race, Marital Status: Male, White, Married
* Date of Death: Mar. 23, 1916
* Husband of: Georgia K. Auble
* Date of Birth: Oct. 31, 1854
* Age: 61 years, 4 months, 24 days
* Occupation: Painter
* Place of Birth: New Jersey
* Name of Father, and Birthplace: Auble, New Jersey
* Name of Mother, and birthplace: Knapps, New Jersey
* Length of Residence: 5 Years at Place of Death, 5 Years in California
* Informant: Emily K. Auble, 14th & F St., City
* Cause of Death: ???? Cystitis, ???? shows -- Gall bladder ruptured, accidental fall
* Contributory: Accidental fall, 3 months
* [Doctor's] Signature: G.W. Compton, M.D.
* Place of Burial or Removal: Masonic Cemetery
* Date of Burial: Mar. 25, 1916
* Undertaker: Bradley & Woolman, San Diego
The family of Charles Auble still thought that he was born in 1854 rather than in 1849 as all of the census data before 1900 states (1950, 1860, 1870 and 1880 all indicate a birth year of about 1849). His 16 year old daughter, Emily, was entrusted with providing all of the information, so it's no surprise that she didn't know the first names of his parents, David Auble and Sarah Knapp. The home address is given as 14th and F Streets in San Diego.
Labels: Auble Family, My genealogy research, Treasure Chest Thursday, Vital Records
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
CVGS Weekender Program on "Surnames" - Sunday, 29 August
...
The August Weekender Program for the Chula Vista Genealogical Society (CVGS) will be on Sunday, 29 August, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. in the Auditorium of the Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street in Chula Vista).
The program speaker will be CVGS President Gary Brock on the subject of "Surnames: Origins and Meanings.”
In this talk, Gary will discuss the origins of some of the different languages, their different migration patterns and how naming conventions in these different languages have influenced many of the surnames and given names we see today. Then he will analyze each of the surnames collected at our annual picnic and see if we can discover what language it most likely originated in, how it may have evolved and why it takes on the form we see today.
Gary grew up in Michigan and was relocated to Miramar Naval Air Station by the Navy in 1957. After discharge in June of 1960 he returned to Michigan for six months during which time he met and became engaged to his wife of 49 years, Wanda. When January arrived in Michigan, he convinced Wanda to accompany him back to California where they settled in Santa Monica. He attended Santa Monica City College and later was employed at the UCLA Physics Department engaged in Nuclear Physics research. After five years at UCLA he transferred to UCSD and continued research in Nuclear Medicine for another five years. He left the University in 1973 to start his own data processing business, San Dieguito Data Services, based in Carlsbad, CA. In 1979, he and Wanda moved to the Bay Area where he started another data processing consulting business, Brock & Associates, which he still operates on a reduced basis after retiring in 2002.
Gary is an ex-president of San Dieguito Little League in Encinitas, CA., ex-member of the Town Council, Encinitas, CA., an ex-commissioner, Boys Scouts of America, San Diego and current president of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society, Chula Vista, CA. He is an avid gardener and a Life Member of the Handyman Club of America.
This program should be of interest to all all persons interested in genealogy and family history are invited to attend this meeting - it is FREE to attend. There will be snacks and refreshments at "halftime."
For more information about this presentation and about CVGS, please contact Barbara at 619-477-4140 or baribai@cox.net.
The August Weekender Program for the Chula Vista Genealogical Society (CVGS) will be on Sunday, 29 August, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. in the Auditorium of the Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street in Chula Vista).
The program speaker will be CVGS President Gary Brock on the subject of "Surnames: Origins and Meanings.”
In this talk, Gary will discuss the origins of some of the different languages, their different migration patterns and how naming conventions in these different languages have influenced many of the surnames and given names we see today. Then he will analyze each of the surnames collected at our annual picnic and see if we can discover what language it most likely originated in, how it may have evolved and why it takes on the form we see today.
Gary grew up in Michigan and was relocated to Miramar Naval Air Station by the Navy in 1957. After discharge in June of 1960 he returned to Michigan for six months during which time he met and became engaged to his wife of 49 years, Wanda. When January arrived in Michigan, he convinced Wanda to accompany him back to California where they settled in Santa Monica. He attended Santa Monica City College and later was employed at the UCLA Physics Department engaged in Nuclear Physics research. After five years at UCLA he transferred to UCSD and continued research in Nuclear Medicine for another five years. He left the University in 1973 to start his own data processing business, San Dieguito Data Services, based in Carlsbad, CA. In 1979, he and Wanda moved to the Bay Area where he started another data processing consulting business, Brock & Associates, which he still operates on a reduced basis after retiring in 2002.
Gary is an ex-president of San Dieguito Little League in Encinitas, CA., ex-member of the Town Council, Encinitas, CA., an ex-commissioner, Boys Scouts of America, San Diego and current president of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society, Chula Vista, CA. He is an avid gardener and a Life Member of the Handyman Club of America.
This program should be of interest to all all persons interested in genealogy and family history are invited to attend this meeting - it is FREE to attend. There will be snacks and refreshments at "halftime."
For more information about this presentation and about CVGS, please contact Barbara at 619-477-4140 or baribai@cox.net.
Labels: CVGS, genealogy societies, Surnames
Using America's Historical Newspapers on AmericanAncestors.org
...
I posted yesterday about the External Databases on the NEHGS http://www.americanancestors.org/ website. One of them is the Early American Newspapers, Series I, 1690-1876 provided by Newsbank (and probably accessible through http://www.genealogybank.com/, a commercial service).
I clicked on the link for this database on the http://www.americanancestors.org/ page for External Databases, and saw the Newsbank page with the link for the America's Historical Newspapers database:
I clicked on the link and the database description with a Keyword search box appeared. For this search, I input the name "jonathan lewis" (in quotes) plus "richmond" (where he lived) to see if there were any articles about Jonathan Lewis of Staten Island in Richmond County, NY. I have three ancestral families headed by a Jonathan Lewis there, so I thought there might be a good chance of finding an article. Here is the screen:
I posted yesterday about the External Databases on the NEHGS http://www.americanancestors.org/ website. One of them is the Early American Newspapers, Series I, 1690-1876 provided by Newsbank (and probably accessible through http://www.genealogybank.com/, a commercial service).
I clicked on the link for this database on the http://www.americanancestors.org/ page for External Databases, and saw the Newsbank page with the link for the America's Historical Newspapers database:
I clicked on the link and the database description with a Keyword search box appeared. For this search, I input the name "jonathan lewis" (in quotes) plus "richmond" (where he lived) to see if there were any articles about Jonathan Lewis of Staten Island in Richmond County, NY. I have three ancestral families headed by a Jonathan Lewis there, so I thought there might be a good chance of finding an article. Here is the screen:
I clicked on the "Search" button and received 21 matches - the top of the page is shown below:
Each match of the search criteria provides a summary of the source citation and a thumbnail image of the record that might include one or more of the search elements. The user can click on the "View Article" link, the "View Full Page" link, or the thumbnail image to see the article.
There were several articles that concerned Jonathan Lewis who died in 1785 in Richmond County, NY. Here's what one of them looked like on my screen:
There were several articles that concerned Jonathan Lewis who died in 1785 in Richmond County, NY. Here's what one of them looked like on my screen:
The user can zoom in or out, move the image around with the "magic hand" feature, save the image or print the image. Source citation elements are provided above the image area.
The executors of Jonathan Lewis's estate were trying to sell the property. The article above described the location, the size, the buildings and other personal property that were up for sale. I quickly opened my Family Tree Maker program and transcribed the contents of this article into the Notes for Jonathan Lewis, using my "side-by-side" method of transcribing from image to program notes. Note that I manipulated the image to the far right of the screen, and reduced the window size for the FTM program so that I could see the image and type into the Notes:
I spent an enjoyable hour or more in this database looking for articles about ancestral families. There were at least three articles about the Jonathan Lewis who died in 1785, and one article about the Jonathan Lewis who died in 1764. All of them shed more light on the property owned by both men.
Membership in a genealogical society often includes much more than the society newsletter, journals and program meetings. Some societies, such as NEHGS, and libraries offer access to online databases that contain useful information about our ancestral families. Check them out! You may not need separate subscriptions for several historical newspaper collections - they may be available through your membership in societies or libraries.
Labels: AmericanAncestors.org, Newspaper/Obituary listings, Oldtime newspapers, Online resources
