Miriam Midkiff on her Ancestories 2: Stories of Me for My Descendants blog has added a new prompt - WINTER. I promised myself that I would write about all of her prompts so that my memories would be available for my progeny to read until time immemorial. My hardy and hearty readers will read it before them! So here goes:
1) What has been your attitude toward winter? Is it "the weather outside is frightful" or "let it snow, let it snow, let it snow"?
It has always been "We need the rain, I hope it comes during the night" and "Will it ever snow again in San Diego? Maybe this year!" and "On a clear day, you can see forever." Besides, it's football playoff season followed by baseball spring training.
2) What are or were your favorite outdoor winter activities? Some ideas to jog your memory include sledding, skiing, skating, snowshoeing, snowball fights, or making snowmen. Where did you go to do these activities? Did you ever have an accident participating in any of the more active sports?
On warm winter days, we would sometimes go to the beach, make sand castles, watch the waves, hunt for neat shells and watch the birds skitter across the wet sand. On cold and clear winter days, we kids would go for a brisk walk ... to the neighbor, to the park or maybe to the zoo. On rainy days, we kids would stay inside and work with our stamp and coin collections, and play with our electric train.
Sledding? Skiing? Skating? Snowball fights? Making snowmen? Those don't compute for a San Diego kid - never done them in San Diego. Several times when I was a youth, the church group took us to the mountains for play in the snow - sliding on trash can lids or cardboard and snowball fights. Fun. Wet. Cold.
3) What are or were your favorite indoor winter activities? Did you play board games or cards, listen to the radio or watch TV, do puzzles or needlework, read books and magazines, or write letters, journals, or stories?
As a kid, we played lots of board games and card games, and did puzzles. There was no radio or TV programs worth dealing with - I know I read a lot of books.
4) What do you remember about winter clothing in your childhood? Do you have any stories to tell about long johns, snow suits or snow pants, a favorite or unfavorite pair of boots? Did you wear a pair of mittens with a string connecting them around your neck?
Well, in San Diego we usually wore long pants in the winter and a light jacket over our shirt on most days. When it rained, we sometimes wore a poncho and a rain hat. My wife bought me long johns early in our marriage and I don't think I've worn them yet. I do keep gloves and a stocking cap in my trench coat which is wadded up in the trunk of my car. I haven't worn it for several years.
5) Did anyone ever make you hats, scarves, mittens or sweaters to wear? Were they knitted or crocheted?
Nobody made us anything - it was all store bought. We had mittens and sweaters and stocking caps, but no scarves.
6) What were your favorite winter foods or drinks? Some ideas include soups, stews, casseroles, hot chocolate, tea, or hot buttered rum.
I love soup, stew, casseroles and hot chocolate. Those are winter foods? I don't drink coffee or tea or hot liquor drinks. I love macaroni and cheese, steak, ice cream and chocolate.
7) How about the cold? Did you ever get frostbite? Did you ever take a dare and stick your tongue on something metal? Was your bedroom cold at night in the winter? How did you stay warm at night...with an electric blanket, a bedwarming pan, or hot potatoes at the foot of your bed under the covers?
I've never come close to frostbite, except on the cruise ship in College Fjord in Alaska in August, which probably doesn't count as winter. It was 35 F, with a stiff wind and a fine mist. My forehead (no cap) had a layer of frost.
Why would I stick my tongue on something metal? Probably has germs...
My folks left the wall heater on low overnight when it was cold, and we have always had central heating in our houses. No electric blanket, or warming pan (huh?), or hot potatoes (huh?). Just socks and another blanket.
8) What big storms or hard winters do you have memories or stories of?
I posted a whole blog about Snow in San Diego here. That's what I remember!
9) If you lived in areas that get little to no snow during the winter, what are or were your winters like? Windy and rainy? Warm or hot? Did you wish for snow, or were you glad you didn't get any? If it did occasionally snow, did the bad weather shut down your community? Do you remember the first time you saw snow? What did you think of it?
Yep, that's us! Little or no snow. Some or little rain. In San Diego, winter days vary greatly - rainy, cloudy without rain, partly cloudy, sunny, sometimes windy. Occasionally, we get Santa Ana winds with warm or cold temperatures - it depends how far north the high pressure area is over the Great Basin. When it is clear overnight, it can get down to freezing - once or twice each year. For instance, today the high was 60 F, last night the low was 50 F, the record high was 83 F in 2006, the record low was 28 F in 1913. We typically get an average of 10 inches of rain between October and April. Two years ago, we had 20 inches with no fires and lots of greenery. Last year it was less than 3 inches and the brush dried out and over 500 square miles of the county burned. This year we are at normal levels, which is good - too much rain and the burn areas will slide down the hills, too little and the rest of the county will burn next year.
10) Do you remember stories from your parents, grandparents, or other family members or old timers of big storms or hard winters of the past?
I do remember my father saying he never wanted to see snow again - he had shoveled too much of it in Massachusetts as a youth and young adult (he came to San Diego in the winter of 1940 and never went back). I never heard stories about storms or hard winters from my Massachusetts grandmother- I only met her once, and it was summer. My grandmother spent 12 years in Chicago, but I don't recall hearing anything from her. My grandfather was born and raised and lived his life in San Diego where we had only the occasional cold spell.
My Aunt Gerry talked about sledding down the hill in Leominster right into the middle of Central Street, but that was in the 1920's. Unfortunately, I forgot to ask weather questions of my father, uncle and aunts. Drat.
11) Do you have any photos of your ancestors outdoors in the winter, or of their homes or automobiles covered with snow? What about photos of ancestral horses and sleighs?
Nope, no photos of snow, sleighs or ancestral horses (of course, I don't have a horse in my ancestry, does anyone besides Mr. Ed?).
You will be amazed to know that the two places that I've been the coldest are Orlando, Florida and Laa Vegas, Nevada. In January 1982, I was in Orlando for an engineering convention and stayed with my Aunt Gerry for a weekend. This was the weekend that the Chargers lost 27-7 to Cincinnati in - 27 F wind chill and QB Dan Fouts got frostbite in his fingers trying to throw the rock. The temp in Orlando was 20 F and the wind was blowing. Then, in the early 90s we took Tami's travel softball team to Las Vegas for a post-Christmas tournament. We had to play in 15 F weather - the girls wore mittens under their ball gloves and wore several layers under their jerseys. Coach Randy was out there in the 3rd base coaches box in his polyester pants and team windbreaker. Cool. We won! I've been in Yosemite, Portland, Topeka and Boston in the winter when it was cold with snow in the air and on the ground, but it was always warmer than 20 F.
Now I can hear many of my readers and fellow genea-bloggers laughing out loud and saying "Boy howdy, that Randy has sure missed out on a major part of life because he didn't live where there was more than one season." And I probably have missed out on many boring days inside trying to stay warm and dry, many walks or rides to school in the cold and flakes, many snowball fights, some ice skating crashes, some sledding mishaps and the like. I've never had to drive with tire chains or snow tires.
My best memory of winter in San Diego is during a Santa Ana several years ago. It was crystal clear, and we went out to the end of Point Loma and could see 100 miles to the north and 50 miles to the east. There were snow capped mountains out there - from Mount Baldy above Ontario (we can see just the top of it due to the Earth's curvature), to Mount San Jacinto above Palm Springs, to Mounts Palomar, Cuyamaca and Laguna in San Diego County. Majestic. Awe inspiring. Breathtakingly beautiful. I will try to go take a picture from this spot the next time these conditions present themselves. From the ocean, to the city, to the mountains white with snow ... I love San Diego winters.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Pennsylvania Historical Records Access
Like many researchers, I have run up against the extremely difficult process of obtaining Pennsylvania death records. They are available only to direct descendants and you have to prove the relationship. If you don't know the death year and death location, the process becomes quite expensive ($34 for a 10-year search).
The People for Better Pennsylvania Historical Records Access (PaHR-Access) web site provides an excellent discussion about the present access problems and makes reasonable recommendations (essentially, open death records 50 years or older) to the state. There are sample letters for constituents to write to their state legislators and the governor.
The PaHR-Access web site describes the organization:
"PaHR-Access (People for Better Pennsylvania Historical Records Access) is strictly a grassroots organization started in the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania in August of 2007. It was first known as People for Better Access to Pennsylvania Historical Records (PBAPHR). The name change took place in early November 2007 to allow for a more pronounceable acronym (i.e. par-access).
"We are merely people who want to literally have better access to Pennsylvania's historical records. Our main concern is the restricted state death certificates. There are no membership dues merely the willingness to help in this effort. PaHR-Access is not affiliated with any political, institutional or religious organization."
Some have argued that having a death index and access to death certificates will cause an increase in identity theft. The PaHR-Access folks refute that argument in the discussion, and say that:
"The Social Security Death Master File (with names, dates, places and numbers, and better known as the Social Security Death Index), which is updated quarterly, is an online identity verification database used to thwart identity theft and fraud. We understand government agencies, banks, insurance and credit card companies use it all the time to verify deaths and to stop the misuse of a deceased person's Social Security number. Expanding our proposed database to include all of Pennsylvania's death records (but with the same limited public access as outlined above) could be used in a similar manner by law enforcement and government agencies. The Division of Vital Records would itself be able to fill requests using the expanded database.
"Having a database of Pennsylvania's death certificates would actually be in accordance with Federal Law 108-458, the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, which requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in coordination with the Social Security Administration and others, to award grants to States to assist them in computerizing their birth and death records, to develop the capability to match birth and death records within and among States, and to note the fact of death on birth certificates of deceased persons. This is done to stop a person from misusing the birth certificate of a deceased person."
If you are a Pennsylvania resident or researcher, please consider writing one or more letters to support this rational proposal to open Pennsylvania death records.
The People for Better Pennsylvania Historical Records Access (PaHR-Access) web site provides an excellent discussion about the present access problems and makes reasonable recommendations (essentially, open death records 50 years or older) to the state. There are sample letters for constituents to write to their state legislators and the governor.
The PaHR-Access web site describes the organization:
"PaHR-Access (People for Better Pennsylvania Historical Records Access) is strictly a grassroots organization started in the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania in August of 2007. It was first known as People for Better Access to Pennsylvania Historical Records (PBAPHR). The name change took place in early November 2007 to allow for a more pronounceable acronym (i.e. par-access).
"We are merely people who want to literally have better access to Pennsylvania's historical records. Our main concern is the restricted state death certificates. There are no membership dues merely the willingness to help in this effort. PaHR-Access is not affiliated with any political, institutional or religious organization."
Some have argued that having a death index and access to death certificates will cause an increase in identity theft. The PaHR-Access folks refute that argument in the discussion, and say that:
"The Social Security Death Master File (with names, dates, places and numbers, and better known as the Social Security Death Index), which is updated quarterly, is an online identity verification database used to thwart identity theft and fraud. We understand government agencies, banks, insurance and credit card companies use it all the time to verify deaths and to stop the misuse of a deceased person's Social Security number. Expanding our proposed database to include all of Pennsylvania's death records (but with the same limited public access as outlined above) could be used in a similar manner by law enforcement and government agencies. The Division of Vital Records would itself be able to fill requests using the expanded database.
"Having a database of Pennsylvania's death certificates would actually be in accordance with Federal Law 108-458, the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, which requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in coordination with the Social Security Administration and others, to award grants to States to assist them in computerizing their birth and death records, to develop the capability to match birth and death records within and among States, and to note the fact of death on birth certificates of deceased persons. This is done to stop a person from misusing the birth certificate of a deceased person."
If you are a Pennsylvania resident or researcher, please consider writing one or more letters to support this rational proposal to open Pennsylvania death records.
Where were my ancestors in 1908?
Lisa on her blog 100 Years in America posted about "Where was your family in 1908?" the other day. Her post discusses what happened in 1908, where her ancestors lived, and a comparison of how people lived then. She challenged other genea-bloggers to write about their families also.
My ancestors that were living in 1908 included:
1) My grandparents Frederick W. Seaver (1876-1942) and Alma Bessie Richmond (1882-1962) probably resided at 116 Lawrence Street in Fitchburg (picture included here). They had children Marion (born 1901), Evelyn (born 1903), Stanley (born 1905) and Ruth (born 1907). My father, Frederick, was still a gleam in the mind of my grandparents, and would be born in this house. The 1910 census shows them living in this house, which they owned with a mortgage. They had moved from the Hildreth home (see below) in Leominster in 1905 and moved back to Leominster in about 1912.
2) My great-great-grandmother Sophia (Newton) Hildreth (1834-1923) resided at 149 Lancaster Street, with her son-in-law Frank Seaver (1852-1922), her daughter, Hattie Hildreth (1857-1920) and grandson Harry C. Seaver (1885-1951). Sophia's husband, Edward Hildreth, died in 1899 in Leominster. The house is included here, and the family had resided here since at least 1870.
3) My great-grandparents Frank W. Seaver (1852-1922) and Hattie L. Hildreth (1857-1920) resided in the Hildreth home at 149 Lancaster Street. I have a wonderful picture of the Hildreth house with the family in front of it and will post it sometime soon - it's the only picture I have of Frank Seaver and Sophia (Newton) Hildreth.
4) My great-grandparents Thomas Richmond (1848-1917) and Julia White (1848-1913) probably resided in Killingly, Windham County, Connecticut. The 1910 census does not list the house address of the rented house. All of their children were out of the house by 1910. They had resided in Leominster MA in 1900 and for several years before - most of their children were married there.
5) My great-great-grandparents James Richmond (1821-1912) and Hannah Rich (1824-1911) resided at 1 Richmond Road in Putnam, Windham County, Connecticut. The household included their son John Richmond (age 44), daughter-in-law Mary Richmond (age 41), grandson Thomas H.M. (age 7) and daughter Louisa (age 57). This was a dairy farm that was obtained in the late 1860's and was worked into the 1980's by their son and grandson.
6) My great-grandparents Henry Austin Carringer (1853-1946) and Abbie Ardell (Della) Smith (1862-1944) resided at 3002 Hawthorn Street in San Diego, San Diego County, CA. Son Lyle L. Carringer (my grandfather) (1911-1976), brother Harvey E. Carringer (1952-1946), and mother-in-law Abbie Smith (1844-1931) also lived in the house. This is the same house that was at 2105 30th Street in 1920 and 2115 30th Street in 1930, and the house shown here.
7) My great-great-grandmother Abigail (Vaux) Smith (1844-1931), the widow of Devier J. Smith, resided with her daughter's family at 3002 Hawthorn Street in San Diego.
8) My great-grandparents Charles Auble (1849-1916) and Georgianna Kemp (1968-1951) resided in Chicago with their daughter, my grandmother Emily Kemp Carringer (1899-1977). In the 1900 census, they resided at 515 West Adams Street, and in the 1910 census they resided at 611 North 70th Street in the 32nd Ward of Chicago. In the 1910 City Directory for Chicago, they resided at 611 West 76th Street in Chicago.
This exercise has shown me that I haven't posted biographies about several of these ancestors on Genea-Musings, or posted some of my early pictures of these people. I will do that in the coming weeks.
Lisa's post finished with a brief paragraph about life in 1908. I posted a longer article, obtained from an unknown email correspondent, about life in 1907 - see it here for more context. Interesting, eh?
My ancestors that were living in 1908 included:
1) My grandparents Frederick W. Seaver (1876-1942) and Alma Bessie Richmond (1882-1962) probably resided at 116 Lawrence Street in Fitchburg (picture included here). They had children Marion (born 1901), Evelyn (born 1903), Stanley (born 1905) and Ruth (born 1907). My father, Frederick, was still a gleam in the mind of my grandparents, and would be born in this house. The 1910 census shows them living in this house, which they owned with a mortgage. They had moved from the Hildreth home (see below) in Leominster in 1905 and moved back to Leominster in about 1912.
2) My great-great-grandmother Sophia (Newton) Hildreth (1834-1923) resided at 149 Lancaster Street, with her son-in-law Frank Seaver (1852-1922), her daughter, Hattie Hildreth (1857-1920) and grandson Harry C. Seaver (1885-1951). Sophia's husband, Edward Hildreth, died in 1899 in Leominster. The house is included here, and the family had resided here since at least 1870.
3) My great-grandparents Frank W. Seaver (1852-1922) and Hattie L. Hildreth (1857-1920) resided in the Hildreth home at 149 Lancaster Street. I have a wonderful picture of the Hildreth house with the family in front of it and will post it sometime soon - it's the only picture I have of Frank Seaver and Sophia (Newton) Hildreth.
4) My great-grandparents Thomas Richmond (1848-1917) and Julia White (1848-1913) probably resided in Killingly, Windham County, Connecticut. The 1910 census does not list the house address of the rented house. All of their children were out of the house by 1910. They had resided in Leominster MA in 1900 and for several years before - most of their children were married there.
5) My great-great-grandparents James Richmond (1821-1912) and Hannah Rich (1824-1911) resided at 1 Richmond Road in Putnam, Windham County, Connecticut. The household included their son John Richmond (age 44), daughter-in-law Mary Richmond (age 41), grandson Thomas H.M. (age 7) and daughter Louisa (age 57). This was a dairy farm that was obtained in the late 1860's and was worked into the 1980's by their son and grandson.
6) My great-grandparents Henry Austin Carringer (1853-1946) and Abbie Ardell (Della) Smith (1862-1944) resided at 3002 Hawthorn Street in San Diego, San Diego County, CA. Son Lyle L. Carringer (my grandfather) (1911-1976), brother Harvey E. Carringer (1952-1946), and mother-in-law Abbie Smith (1844-1931) also lived in the house. This is the same house that was at 2105 30th Street in 1920 and 2115 30th Street in 1930, and the house shown here.
7) My great-great-grandmother Abigail (Vaux) Smith (1844-1931), the widow of Devier J. Smith, resided with her daughter's family at 3002 Hawthorn Street in San Diego.
8) My great-grandparents Charles Auble (1849-1916) and Georgianna Kemp (1968-1951) resided in Chicago with their daughter, my grandmother Emily Kemp Carringer (1899-1977). In the 1900 census, they resided at 515 West Adams Street, and in the 1910 census they resided at 611 North 70th Street in the 32nd Ward of Chicago. In the 1910 City Directory for Chicago, they resided at 611 West 76th Street in Chicago.
This exercise has shown me that I haven't posted biographies about several of these ancestors on Genea-Musings, or posted some of my early pictures of these people. I will do that in the coming weeks.
Lisa's post finished with a brief paragraph about life in 1908. I posted a longer article, obtained from an unknown email correspondent, about life in 1907 - see it here for more context. Interesting, eh?
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Best of the Genea-blogs: 30 December 2007 to 5 January 2008
Here are my picks for great reads from the genealogy blogs for this past week.
My criteria are pretty simple - I pick posts that advance knowledge about genealogy, or are funny and/or poignant. I don't list posts destined for the Carnival of Genealogy, or my own posts (hopefully, others will do that!).
* "2007 In Review" by Dick Eastman on the Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter blog. Dick highlights the important events that occurred in genealogy in 2007. The comments have additional highlights.
* "10 Biggest Genealogy News Stories of 2007" by Diane Haddad on the Genealogy Insider blog. Diane has a somewhat different take than Dick Eastman - I like her list better.
* "Top 10 Genealogy Blogs and Podcasts for 2007" by Mark Tucker on the ThinkGenealogy blog. Mark lists his favorites - do you agree with them? Genea-Musings made the list at #9 - thanks, Mark!
* "The Greatest Genealogy Find Ever" by Craig Manson on the Geneablogie blog. Craig tells about his best-ever find, and challenges the rest of us to discuss ours. I did, did you?
* "Walksheds in the Hill Country" by Terry Thornton on the Hill Country of Monroe County, Mississippi blog. Terry describes a very logical idea about placement of country stores in rural areas. I found this fascinating.
* "Who Was D.B. Cooper?" and "More on the D.B. Cooper Case" by Tim Agazio on the Genealogy Reviews Online blog. Tim summarizes the recent activity in this case.
* "Four Stone Hearth #31: Silver Screen Edition" by Tim Abbott at the Walking the Berkshires blog. This is a Carnival for Anthropology and Archaeology - two disciplines that tie into ancient genealogy well!
* "One of my Great Geneaology Finds: My Cousin Chaya the Commie" by Howard Wolinski at the Gen-erocity blog. I am intrigued by researching in other countries, especially those formerly behind the Iron Curtain. Read Howard's Avotanyu article too - lots of interesting details!
* "New Year's Eve ..." by G. on the how to survive suburban life blog. This is hilarious. I wish I could write funny stuff like this about my grandchildren.
* "Grandpa's Final Resting Place, Part 1" and "Part 2" by Terry Snyder on the Desktop Genealogist blog. Terry tells about tracking down her grandfather's second family and his burial location.
* "Where was Your Family in 1908?" by Lisa on the 100 Years in America blog. Here is another blog challenge for genea-bloggers - post about where your family was in 1908. The Smithsonian article is a keeper, and Lisa's story is great.
* "Have You or Someone Else Sub-primed Your Genealogy?" by Arlene Eakle on the Arlene H. Eakle blog. Arlene makes excellent points about clerk errors, indexes, original records and evaluating evidence. I look forward to hearing her speak next Saturday here in San Diego.
* "To Tell the Genealogical Truth" by Craig Manson on the Geneablogie blog. This is a late entrant, just under the Saturday night wire. Craig gives some excellent lessons about census records from his research. It's not done yet.
Did I miss a great genealogy post? Tell me!
My criteria are pretty simple - I pick posts that advance knowledge about genealogy, or are funny and/or poignant. I don't list posts destined for the Carnival of Genealogy, or my own posts (hopefully, others will do that!).
* "2007 In Review" by Dick Eastman on the Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter blog. Dick highlights the important events that occurred in genealogy in 2007. The comments have additional highlights.
* "10 Biggest Genealogy News Stories of 2007" by Diane Haddad on the Genealogy Insider blog. Diane has a somewhat different take than Dick Eastman - I like her list better.
* "Top 10 Genealogy Blogs and Podcasts for 2007" by Mark Tucker on the ThinkGenealogy blog. Mark lists his favorites - do you agree with them? Genea-Musings made the list at #9 - thanks, Mark!
* "The Greatest Genealogy Find Ever" by Craig Manson on the Geneablogie blog. Craig tells about his best-ever find, and challenges the rest of us to discuss ours. I did, did you?
* "Walksheds in the Hill Country" by Terry Thornton on the Hill Country of Monroe County, Mississippi blog. Terry describes a very logical idea about placement of country stores in rural areas. I found this fascinating.
* "Who Was D.B. Cooper?" and "More on the D.B. Cooper Case" by Tim Agazio on the Genealogy Reviews Online blog. Tim summarizes the recent activity in this case.
* "Four Stone Hearth #31: Silver Screen Edition" by Tim Abbott at the Walking the Berkshires blog. This is a Carnival for Anthropology and Archaeology - two disciplines that tie into ancient genealogy well!
* "One of my Great Geneaology Finds: My Cousin Chaya the Commie" by Howard Wolinski at the Gen-erocity blog. I am intrigued by researching in other countries, especially those formerly behind the Iron Curtain. Read Howard's Avotanyu article too - lots of interesting details!
* "New Year's Eve ..." by G. on the how to survive suburban life blog. This is hilarious. I wish I could write funny stuff like this about my grandchildren.
* "Grandpa's Final Resting Place, Part 1" and "Part 2" by Terry Snyder on the Desktop Genealogist blog. Terry tells about tracking down her grandfather's second family and his burial location.
* "Where was Your Family in 1908?" by Lisa on the 100 Years in America blog. Here is another blog challenge for genea-bloggers - post about where your family was in 1908. The Smithsonian article is a keeper, and Lisa's story is great.
* "Have You or Someone Else Sub-primed Your Genealogy?" by Arlene Eakle on the Arlene H. Eakle blog. Arlene makes excellent points about clerk errors, indexes, original records and evaluating evidence. I look forward to hearing her speak next Saturday here in San Diego.
* "To Tell the Genealogical Truth" by Craig Manson on the Geneablogie blog. This is a late entrant, just under the Saturday night wire. Craig gives some excellent lessons about census records from his research. It's not done yet.
Did I miss a great genealogy post? Tell me!
Searching for Living People - should I be doing this?
Over the years, we have received several queries from people searching for living people - relatives, classmates or friends. I posted about one search last year that was successful - I was able to connect a lady with her father's half-siblings.
Recently, another query came in from a fellow looking for his elementary school classmate from the early 1960's in San Diego. He knew her name (Deborah Turner), her brother's name (Blake), and he thought he knew the father's given name (Robert Turner) [note: all names are fictitious here]. He wanted to contact her for personal reasons.
I charged off into the different California vital records databases, and then the http://www.411.com/ and the Ancestry PeopleSearch databases, and was able to come up with:
* The birth dates of three Turner children, including Deborah, Blake and their sister Susan.
* Marriage dates and spouses names for Deborah and Susan.
* Birth dates and names of the children of Deborah and Susan.
* Lots of deed records for Deborah and her husband John in San Diego County, the string of which ended in about 1995. Did they move? Die? Stop dealing in real estate?
* A phone number and address for one of Susan's sons in San Diego.
* A probable phone number and address for Blake in Palm Springs.
* A MySpace page and some newspaper articles for Deborah's daughter.
* A Google search for Deborah with either Turner or her married name was fruitless - the name is too common, and there was the possibility of a re-marriage.
* A Google, Ancestry and 411.com for Robert Turner was fruitless - too many hits, and I didn't know if they were still alive.
At this point, I passed everything to my client, and he called Susan's son. He verified that Aunt Deborah was still in the San Diego area, but he didn't know where, and said that his Turner grandparents were still alive. He was going to see Deborah at Thanksgiving, and would pass the message to her to contact my correspondent by phone.
Nothing was heard for several weeks, so I suggested trying to track down the parents by obtaining Deborah's birth certificate. I did that, and found that their names were Charles (not Robert) and Edna Turner. I quickly found them living in San Diego, with a phone number and address, and sent that information off to my correspondent.
My correspondent telephoned them, and they remembered him from 40 years ago, and put him in touch with Deborah. They have talked now, and he found out that she is a widow. My correspondent will be coming to San Diego soon to see her. He wants to meet me too. He gave our society a donation for my services.
During this process, I was a bit leery of digging too deep in anything except public records. Even with that limitation, I fear that I (or my society) could be liable for damages if this turns out to be a stalking case. I'm wondering now if I should refuse to take cases like this in the future.
What do you think? I would appreciate comments about this situation. Have you had a similar experience? How did it turn out? What are my risks here? Should I even blog about it using fictitious names as above?
UPDATED: 6 PM - I edited the paragraphs above a bit for better understanding. Jasia and Terry have made cogent comments - see the comments below. There are also several blog posts referring to my dilemma - thank you all for your comments.
Recently, another query came in from a fellow looking for his elementary school classmate from the early 1960's in San Diego. He knew her name (Deborah Turner), her brother's name (Blake), and he thought he knew the father's given name (Robert Turner) [note: all names are fictitious here]. He wanted to contact her for personal reasons.
I charged off into the different California vital records databases, and then the http://www.411.com/ and the Ancestry PeopleSearch databases, and was able to come up with:
* The birth dates of three Turner children, including Deborah, Blake and their sister Susan.
* Marriage dates and spouses names for Deborah and Susan.
* Birth dates and names of the children of Deborah and Susan.
* Lots of deed records for Deborah and her husband John in San Diego County, the string of which ended in about 1995. Did they move? Die? Stop dealing in real estate?
* A phone number and address for one of Susan's sons in San Diego.
* A probable phone number and address for Blake in Palm Springs.
* A MySpace page and some newspaper articles for Deborah's daughter.
* A Google search for Deborah with either Turner or her married name was fruitless - the name is too common, and there was the possibility of a re-marriage.
* A Google, Ancestry and 411.com for Robert Turner was fruitless - too many hits, and I didn't know if they were still alive.
At this point, I passed everything to my client, and he called Susan's son. He verified that Aunt Deborah was still in the San Diego area, but he didn't know where, and said that his Turner grandparents were still alive. He was going to see Deborah at Thanksgiving, and would pass the message to her to contact my correspondent by phone.
Nothing was heard for several weeks, so I suggested trying to track down the parents by obtaining Deborah's birth certificate. I did that, and found that their names were Charles (not Robert) and Edna Turner. I quickly found them living in San Diego, with a phone number and address, and sent that information off to my correspondent.
My correspondent telephoned them, and they remembered him from 40 years ago, and put him in touch with Deborah. They have talked now, and he found out that she is a widow. My correspondent will be coming to San Diego soon to see her. He wants to meet me too. He gave our society a donation for my services.
During this process, I was a bit leery of digging too deep in anything except public records. Even with that limitation, I fear that I (or my society) could be liable for damages if this turns out to be a stalking case. I'm wondering now if I should refuse to take cases like this in the future.
What do you think? I would appreciate comments about this situation. Have you had a similar experience? How did it turn out? What are my risks here? Should I even blog about it using fictitious names as above?
UPDATED: 6 PM - I edited the paragraphs above a bit for better understanding. Jasia and Terry have made cogent comments - see the comments below. There are also several blog posts referring to my dilemma - thank you all for your comments.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
A four generation picture
One of my "get-a-round-tuit" projects is to capture all of our family photographs and scan them into the computer and create a photo story of our family. It's been on the back burner for many years!
When we find pictures in a drawer, in a book, or in a cabinet we usually put them in an over-flowing box in the Genea-Cave to save for filing and scanning when I get a round tuit. Today, I noticed that there was a photo on the floor below the box in the Genea-Cave, so I picked it up and discovered probably the only four generation picture we have with one of my daughters.
When we find pictures in a drawer, in a book, or in a cabinet we usually put them in an over-flowing box in the Genea-Cave to save for filing and scanning when I get a round tuit. Today, I noticed that there was a photo on the floor below the box in the Genea-Cave, so I picked it up and discovered probably the only four generation picture we have with one of my daughters.
This was taken in our living room in April 1975 (either at our old house or just after moving into our present house). From the left, there is my father, Fred Seaver (age 63), Randy Seaver (age 31, beardless for another three years, see - I had hair once), daughter Lori Seaver (age 11 months, cute as a bug), my grandmother, Emily (Auble) Carringer (age 76), my grandfather, Lyle Carringer (age 83) and my mother Betty (Carringer) Seaver (age 54). We still have the dark wood coffee table, but gave the red and gold couch to charity last year.
It's not a wonderful picture - not everyone is smiling or looking at the camera (it was probably taken by Linda), but it's the only four generation picture of this family group that I have. I enhanced it a bit in the photo editing program.
Finding this kind of makes me want to go look in the garage to look in the big box of photos taken from 1970 to 1990 or so that I know is out there, but I fear that the bugs or mice have snacked on over the years. I wonder what other gems are in that box!
It's funny how things happen, isn't it? I don't recall ever seeing this picture before, but there it was on the floor of the Genea-Cave today. Angel Linda must have found it (and there are several others in the top of the box) somewhere. If she had put it in the box, I may never have seen it. But she missed, I saw it and picked it up, scanned it, and now it's on the Internet and is part of my family picture collection.
I love it when things work out well. It's been a good day!
The Full "Ancestry" at the FHCs
Ancestry and the LDS Family History Library announced two weeks ago that they had agreed to provide the full suite of Ancestry databases at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and at 13 large Family History Centers around the country (including San Diego).
I went to the San Diego FHC today and tried it out. From all of my testing, it appears that Ancestry Family History Library Edition is the World Deluxe database collection. I was able to access the Canadian and United Kingdom records in addition to all of the USA records. I tried to access Australia, Germany and Italy but it gave me the "we're busy - check back soon" message.
So that is wonderful news. Having the Canada and UK records is a step up for those of us with a US-only subscription. My society colleagues will be thrilled to have it back after 9 months.
Of course, that wasn't the only thing I did at the FHC today. I read my Glocester RI probate record microfilm and then searched for my elusive Russell Smith on Footnote and WorldVitalRecords. I'll report on that in a separate post.
Then I decided to check for RI and Connecticut records in books on the shelf, since Russell Smith was born in RI according to the scant records we have. The three-volume book "Genealogies of Rhode Island Families" published by the NEHGS has a large section (over 150 pages) on the descendants of John Smith the Miller of Providence (as opposed to my ancestor, John Smith the Mason of Providence). In that work, there is reference to an Elizabeth (Arnold) Hawkins, widow of William Hawkins, who married (2) Israel Smith. The book says she died, as Elizabeth Smith, in Glocester in 1758. I had the date, and an abstract of the probate record, but did not have it on my list of probate records to obtain from Glocester RI. Now I do! It was just happenstance - perhaps even serendipity - that I saw this in the article. A case of being lucky and good, I guess.
I asked one of the center managers about New FamilySearch and when it might be available to non-LDS members; he said by the end of the year. I also asked him why Ancestry and the FHL agreed to put Ancestry in the FHL and 13 FHCs - he said that it helps both organizations, and that the FamilySearch Indexing projects created both competition and cooperation. I don't know how plugged in he is to the FamilySearch folks, but it was an intriguing comment.
I went to the San Diego FHC today and tried it out. From all of my testing, it appears that Ancestry Family History Library Edition is the World Deluxe database collection. I was able to access the Canadian and United Kingdom records in addition to all of the USA records. I tried to access Australia, Germany and Italy but it gave me the "we're busy - check back soon" message.
So that is wonderful news. Having the Canada and UK records is a step up for those of us with a US-only subscription. My society colleagues will be thrilled to have it back after 9 months.
Of course, that wasn't the only thing I did at the FHC today. I read my Glocester RI probate record microfilm and then searched for my elusive Russell Smith on Footnote and WorldVitalRecords. I'll report on that in a separate post.
Then I decided to check for RI and Connecticut records in books on the shelf, since Russell Smith was born in RI according to the scant records we have. The three-volume book "Genealogies of Rhode Island Families" published by the NEHGS has a large section (over 150 pages) on the descendants of John Smith the Miller of Providence (as opposed to my ancestor, John Smith the Mason of Providence). In that work, there is reference to an Elizabeth (Arnold) Hawkins, widow of William Hawkins, who married (2) Israel Smith. The book says she died, as Elizabeth Smith, in Glocester in 1758. I had the date, and an abstract of the probate record, but did not have it on my list of probate records to obtain from Glocester RI. Now I do! It was just happenstance - perhaps even serendipity - that I saw this in the article. A case of being lucky and good, I guess.
I asked one of the center managers about New FamilySearch and when it might be available to non-LDS members; he said by the end of the year. I also asked him why Ancestry and the FHL agreed to put Ancestry in the FHL and 13 FHCs - he said that it helps both organizations, and that the FamilySearch Indexing projects created both competition and cooperation. I don't know how plugged in he is to the FamilySearch folks, but it was an intriguing comment.
The Elusive Russell Smith - Post 2
In Post 1, I summarized the information I gathered recently about Russell Smith (born RI ca 1775), who married Esther --?--, and had at least three children, Ranslow Smith (1805->1870), Lyman Smith (1807-1889) and George Smith (1812-1876). The family history information from Old World Wisconsin says that Russell Smith settled in Jefferson County, New York in about 1800.
Over the years, I have gathered a wealth of Smith information from Jefferson County. From online searches and a research trip in 2004 to Jefferson County, which included visits to the Jefferson County Genealogical Society holdings at the Flower Memorial Library in Watertown and the South Jefferson County Historical Association in Adams, the information on hand includes:
1) Deed Indexes, 1806-1885, Grantor and Grantee for "Smith"
2) Surrogate Court Records - Estate papers (1805-1945), Estates, orders and decrees (1830-1910), Record of wills (1830-1900). I abstracted all Smith entries in the Estate papers file.
3) 1810 to 1850 US Census, and 1825 and 1835 NY State Census, data for Smiths in Jefferson County, by town.
4) Some of the Smith family records from the South Jefferson County Historical Association in Adams. I obtained these handwritten and typewritten pages, which were developed over time from records collected at the association. I don't believe I captured ALL Smith family records - only the ones with families in Henderson, Ellisburgh and Rodman townships.
5) Jefferson County cemetery list, in alphabetical format, for all Smiths in the database (10 pages, about 420 entries).
6) Three articles from the book "Old Houses of the North Country" that describe the Ranslow Smith house in Henderson, the Harvey Smith house in Henderson and the Jesse Smith house in Adams.
I have entered all of this data into my genealogy database in hopes that the parents of Ranslow, George and Lyman would magically appear, but that hasn't happened.
Unhappily, the name Russell Smith does not appear in any of these records. It looks like I'm stuck in a majorly way, doesn't it?
My current mantra is - "Smith families are easy to find, but hard to figure out."
Over the years, I have gathered a wealth of Smith information from Jefferson County. From online searches and a research trip in 2004 to Jefferson County, which included visits to the Jefferson County Genealogical Society holdings at the Flower Memorial Library in Watertown and the South Jefferson County Historical Association in Adams, the information on hand includes:
1) Deed Indexes, 1806-1885, Grantor and Grantee for "Smith"
2) Surrogate Court Records - Estate papers (1805-1945), Estates, orders and decrees (1830-1910), Record of wills (1830-1900). I abstracted all Smith entries in the Estate papers file.
3) 1810 to 1850 US Census, and 1825 and 1835 NY State Census, data for Smiths in Jefferson County, by town.
4) Some of the Smith family records from the South Jefferson County Historical Association in Adams. I obtained these handwritten and typewritten pages, which were developed over time from records collected at the association. I don't believe I captured ALL Smith family records - only the ones with families in Henderson, Ellisburgh and Rodman townships.
5) Jefferson County cemetery list, in alphabetical format, for all Smiths in the database (10 pages, about 420 entries).
6) Three articles from the book "Old Houses of the North Country" that describe the Ranslow Smith house in Henderson, the Harvey Smith house in Henderson and the Jesse Smith house in Adams.
I have entered all of this data into my genealogy database in hopes that the parents of Ranslow, George and Lyman would magically appear, but that hasn't happened.
Unhappily, the name Russell Smith does not appear in any of these records. It looks like I'm stuck in a majorly way, doesn't it?
My current mantra is - "Smith families are easy to find, but hard to figure out."
Friday, January 4, 2008
39th Carnival of Genealogy is Online
Jasia on the Creative Gene blog has posted the 39th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. The theme for this edition is New Years Resolutions. The post is at http://creativegene.blogspot.com/2008/01/carnival-of-genealogy-39th-edition.html
22 genealogy bloggers wrote posts with their resolutions and/or goals for 2008. My own post was Genealogy Goals for 2008. This is an impressive list of blog posts, and there are many ambitious and thoughtful goals and resolutions. May we all succeed! But then, what would we do in 2009?
Looking ahead, the 40th Carnival of Genealogy theme will be: Living-relative connections made during your research processes and/or blog. Who found you or how did you find them? Were they helpful or did they send you on a wild goose chase for further information? How much and what kind of information did they share with you? What did you share with them? What kinds of contacts have you had... in person, via phone, online chat, email, snail mail, web casts? (If you're not comfortable using their real names you might want to consider using pseudonyms).
Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy using our carnival submission form. The deadline for submissions is January 15th. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.
22 genealogy bloggers wrote posts with their resolutions and/or goals for 2008. My own post was Genealogy Goals for 2008. This is an impressive list of blog posts, and there are many ambitious and thoughtful goals and resolutions. May we all succeed! But then, what would we do in 2009?
Looking ahead, the 40th Carnival of Genealogy theme will be: Living-relative connections made during your research processes and/or blog. Who found you or how did you find them? Were they helpful or did they send you on a wild goose chase for further information? How much and what kind of information did they share with you? What did you share with them? What kinds of contacts have you had... in person, via phone, online chat, email, snail mail, web casts? (If you're not comfortable using their real names you might want to consider using pseudonyms).
Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy using our carnival submission form. The deadline for submissions is January 15th. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.
Heir Hunters Videos on BBC
A post on the Transitional-Genealogists-Forum mailing list hosted by Rootsweb by Melissa Barker provided a link to the Fraser & Fraser web site (http://www.lostkin.co.uk/heirhunters/default.htm). Fraser & Fraser are heir hunters - a United Kingdom firm that specializes in International Probate Research.
Heir hunting is a competitive business - if someone dies without a will or trust, there may be a sizable estate. Companies like Fraser & Fraser perform some research to find heirs, attempt to sign them up, and then receive a percentage of the inheritance as a result of their research work. It is competitive in many places, including the USA. Apparently, if estates are not settled in a specific time in the UK, the government receives the estate - 25 million pounds in a recent year.
On the Fraser & Fraser site are links to 15 episodes of hour-long videos that were broadcast on the BBC from 4 June to 22 June 2007 about probate research in England.
I watched the first video, which showed the initial search to find heirs to Samuel Summersby who left an estate of 300,000 pounds, and then showed the contacts of the heirs (cousins of Mr. Summersby) by the F&F employees. Needless to say, the videos are very well done with a detective story flair. You see the work in the office, the work by the researchers in the field, and the reactions of the heirs to their good fortune.
If you are interested in doing heir research, or even interested in researching in England, these videos may be very helpful and interesting. It was a fun hour away from the Russell Smith search!
Heir hunting is a competitive business - if someone dies without a will or trust, there may be a sizable estate. Companies like Fraser & Fraser perform some research to find heirs, attempt to sign them up, and then receive a percentage of the inheritance as a result of their research work. It is competitive in many places, including the USA. Apparently, if estates are not settled in a specific time in the UK, the government receives the estate - 25 million pounds in a recent year.
On the Fraser & Fraser site are links to 15 episodes of hour-long videos that were broadcast on the BBC from 4 June to 22 June 2007 about probate research in England.
I watched the first video, which showed the initial search to find heirs to Samuel Summersby who left an estate of 300,000 pounds, and then showed the contacts of the heirs (cousins of Mr. Summersby) by the F&F employees. Needless to say, the videos are very well done with a detective story flair. You see the work in the office, the work by the researchers in the field, and the reactions of the heirs to their good fortune.
If you are interested in doing heir research, or even interested in researching in England, these videos may be very helpful and interesting. It was a fun hour away from the Russell Smith search!
Another WorldVitalRecords Survey
I just took the latest WorldVitalRecords Customer Input Panel survey. Here are the questions and my answers:
1) Have you ever interviewed a person about family history?
Answer: Yes.
2) What was the purpose of the interview?
Answers: Preserve the individual's legacy, Capture a specific story, Find out more about the individual, Family project
3) Who have you conducted interviews with?
Answers: Parent, Aunt/Uncle, Cousin, Friend of my grandmother.
4) What medium did you use to interview?
Answer: Face to face (parent, cousin, uncle, aunts, friend), and written questions (aunts)
5) How did you record the interview?
Answers: Paper (parent, cousin, friend) , audio recorder (aunts, uncle)
6) Did either of you have to travel more than 100 miles to conduct the interview?
Answer: Yes (Massachusetts from California for uncle).
7) Have you preserved the interview in any way?
Answer: Yes.
8) How have you preserved it?
Answers: Retained the audio-tapes. Transcribed the interviews. Passed the transcriptions to the interviewees, their children and my brothers.
9) How interested would you be in a professional service that conducted video interviews with loved ones anywhere in the US?
Answer: Somewhat interested.
10) Who in your family besides you, would be interested in a service that did a video Interview of a loved one?
Answers: Child, Cousin, Friend (society colleagues).
11) Would you pay $400 for an interview service that would travel anywhere in the U.S; perform a professional video-taped interveiw with a loved one; edit the video; preserve the interview on a DVD packaged in a museum-quality metal case that you would receive in the mail and could be ordered by anyone?
Answer: No.
12) How much would you be willing to spend?
Answer: $0 (I'm cheap! I feel I can do this myself).
13) Do you have any comments about a service that would do a professional video interview of a loved one?
Answer: Unfortunately, there are no loved ones still alive that can shed light on my ancestors - I'm too old!
-----------------------------
As with previous surveys, we can glean some insight into what WorldVitalRecords is about to offer to subscribers. This is a pretty good idea for people who have parents, grandparents, aunts/uncles, cousins etc. in a distant state, especially if the interviewee had special insight into the family stories and history.
1) Have you ever interviewed a person about family history?
Answer: Yes.
2) What was the purpose of the interview?
Answers: Preserve the individual's legacy, Capture a specific story, Find out more about the individual, Family project
3) Who have you conducted interviews with?
Answers: Parent, Aunt/Uncle, Cousin, Friend of my grandmother.
4) What medium did you use to interview?
Answer: Face to face (parent, cousin, uncle, aunts, friend), and written questions (aunts)
5) How did you record the interview?
Answers: Paper (parent, cousin, friend) , audio recorder (aunts, uncle)
6) Did either of you have to travel more than 100 miles to conduct the interview?
Answer: Yes (Massachusetts from California for uncle).
7) Have you preserved the interview in any way?
Answer: Yes.
8) How have you preserved it?
Answers: Retained the audio-tapes. Transcribed the interviews. Passed the transcriptions to the interviewees, their children and my brothers.
9) How interested would you be in a professional service that conducted video interviews with loved ones anywhere in the US?
Answer: Somewhat interested.
10) Who in your family besides you, would be interested in a service that did a video Interview of a loved one?
Answers: Child, Cousin, Friend (society colleagues).
11) Would you pay $400 for an interview service that would travel anywhere in the U.S; perform a professional video-taped interveiw with a loved one; edit the video; preserve the interview on a DVD packaged in a museum-quality metal case that you would receive in the mail and could be ordered by anyone?
Answer: No.
12) How much would you be willing to spend?
Answer: $0 (I'm cheap! I feel I can do this myself).
13) Do you have any comments about a service that would do a professional video interview of a loved one?
Answer: Unfortunately, there are no loved ones still alive that can shed light on my ancestors - I'm too old!
-----------------------------
As with previous surveys, we can glean some insight into what WorldVitalRecords is about to offer to subscribers. This is a pretty good idea for people who have parents, grandparents, aunts/uncles, cousins etc. in a distant state, especially if the interviewee had special insight into the family stories and history.
The Genetic Genealogist Challenge
Blaine Bettinger at The Genetic Genealogist blog (which discusses genetic genealogy issues with authority and detail) is celebrating his first anniversary of blogging, and will award a free DNA test to one of the entries to his contest. See his post here for rules and more information.
I posted about my Genetic Genealogy challenges here, and Blaine discussed them in his post summarizing the 35th Carnival of Genealogy here. If you haven't read Blaine's blog before, and are interested in genetic generalogy, please go visit The Genetic Genealogist and read Blaine's body of work.
I really appreciate Blaine's PhD-level expertise and willingness to analyze genetic genealogy issues for those of us who are interested but challenged by the messy genetic details (my limited reading tells me that it is one of the most complicated subjects in the world's body of knowledge!).
Like many researchers, I have procrastinated in getting a Y-DNA or mtDNA test done. It's on my mental "to-do" list as a "nice-to-have."
Is this contest just Blaine's way of getting more hits for his blog to raise his Alexa ranking (currently 224,343 according to his widgit)? If so, I hope it works for him!
I posted about my Genetic Genealogy challenges here, and Blaine discussed them in his post summarizing the 35th Carnival of Genealogy here. If you haven't read Blaine's blog before, and are interested in genetic generalogy, please go visit The Genetic Genealogist and read Blaine's body of work.
I really appreciate Blaine's PhD-level expertise and willingness to analyze genetic genealogy issues for those of us who are interested but challenged by the messy genetic details (my limited reading tells me that it is one of the most complicated subjects in the world's body of knowledge!).
Like many researchers, I have procrastinated in getting a Y-DNA or mtDNA test done. It's on my mental "to-do" list as a "nice-to-have."
Is this contest just Blaine's way of getting more hits for his blog to raise his Alexa ranking (currently 224,343 according to his widgit)? If so, I hope it works for him!
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Checking in with GenealogyBank
Tom Kemp on the Genealogy Bank blog posted that they have added another 2.8 million records at Genealogy Bank, and that there are now over 2,300 newspapers in the Historical Newspaper section and over 1,000 newspapers in the America's Obituaries section.
The complete list of the newspapers archived on GenealogyBank is at http://www.genealogybank.com/gbnk/sourcelistNewspapers.html. This is indeed an impressive list.
The home page for GenealogyBank is at http://www.genealogybank.com/gbnk/keyword.html - they list the collections that they have for historical and modern records.
I don't subscribe to Genealogy Bank, since I've thought that many of their records are available on other web sites. I'm going to compare what they have with the newspaper holdings on other sites.
I've been hoping that one of these newspaper archives sites will digitize and index the San Diego Union newspaper before 2000, and I know one of my CVGS colleagues is anxiously waiting for a major Philadelphia newspaper between 1922 and 1977 to find her John Robinson Hall's obituary and death date.
The complete list of the newspapers archived on GenealogyBank is at http://www.genealogybank.com/gbnk/sourcelistNewspapers.html. This is indeed an impressive list.
The home page for GenealogyBank is at http://www.genealogybank.com/gbnk/keyword.html - they list the collections that they have for historical and modern records.
I don't subscribe to Genealogy Bank, since I've thought that many of their records are available on other web sites. I'm going to compare what they have with the newspaper holdings on other sites.
I've been hoping that one of these newspaper archives sites will digitize and index the San Diego Union newspaper before 2000, and I know one of my CVGS colleagues is anxiously waiting for a major Philadelphia newspaper between 1922 and 1977 to find her John Robinson Hall's obituary and death date.
Access Genealogy has some databases and many links
The web site www.AccessGenealogy.com is a free genealogy resource that has some databases on their site and links, by category, to many other web sites. The link collections include:
* African American Records Our African American records section provides extensive listings of available free resources online for African American ancestral research.
* Bible Records Our Bible records section contains a listing of the available online Bible records, listed by geographical area.
* Biographies Our biography center is a great way to add genealogy notes to your family tree. While some are small sketches of citizens of various townships and county histories, others are extensive biographies of the individual.
* Cemetery Records Our US cemetery transcription listings listed by state. Browse these listings for cemetery transcriptions found across the web.
* Census Records Our census listings provide an accurate state-by-state view of all available census records online.
* Family Tree Search Search for your ancestor, or upload your own family tree!
* Free Genealogy Charts Large collection of free genealogy forms available for you to download, print, and fill out, along with an explanation how to conduct your research using each chart.
* Genealogy Books Online Extensive directory to all available history and genealogy books online. These can be anything from biography anthologies, county or local histories, to a family history.
* A Bundle of Old Letters History and life as shown through historical letters. Each day a new letter is posted which can provide you with an incredible historical view of our ancestors lives as written by them.
* Military Records Find your American war hero here. From the early Indian wars to the Second Gulf War, we'll provide you with rosters, regimental histories, honor rolls, etc.
* Native American Records We are the premier resource online for Native American Records: tribal histories, final rolls, census, and an extensive collection of online books.
* Naturalization Records Extensive listing of the available naturalization records available online.
* Surnames Investigate your surname meaning and origin. Read family history books online.
* United States Genealogy A large directory of genealogy data organized by state.
* Vital Records These pages contain information about how and where to obtain vital records for each state, and county in the United States.
* World Genealogy A directory of genealogy data organized by country.
You can enter a surname or a person's name in the search box and the site. I entered "smith" and had over 13,000 hits in the online databases. I entered "seaver" and had 93 hits. It appears that they add databases on a regular basis.
There are links to commercial web sites (Ancestry and Footnote were noted) for some information.
I had high hopes for the Beginner's Guide at http://www.accessgenealogy.com/beginners.htm, but the lniks for the tutorial pages don't work - it looks like they link to the Rootsweb Guide to Tracing Family Trees at http://rwguide.rootsweb.com/. There are also some charts available for odwnloading.
This is a useful web site, especially if you are just starting on a surname search (well, maybe not for Smith or Johnson...). You can find many links to records and data.
* African American Records Our African American records section provides extensive listings of available free resources online for African American ancestral research.
* Bible Records Our Bible records section contains a listing of the available online Bible records, listed by geographical area.
* Biographies Our biography center is a great way to add genealogy notes to your family tree. While some are small sketches of citizens of various townships and county histories, others are extensive biographies of the individual.
* Cemetery Records Our US cemetery transcription listings listed by state. Browse these listings for cemetery transcriptions found across the web.
* Census Records Our census listings provide an accurate state-by-state view of all available census records online.
* Family Tree Search Search for your ancestor, or upload your own family tree!
* Free Genealogy Charts Large collection of free genealogy forms available for you to download, print, and fill out, along with an explanation how to conduct your research using each chart.
* Genealogy Books Online Extensive directory to all available history and genealogy books online. These can be anything from biography anthologies, county or local histories, to a family history.
* A Bundle of Old Letters History and life as shown through historical letters. Each day a new letter is posted which can provide you with an incredible historical view of our ancestors lives as written by them.
* Military Records Find your American war hero here. From the early Indian wars to the Second Gulf War, we'll provide you with rosters, regimental histories, honor rolls, etc.
* Native American Records We are the premier resource online for Native American Records: tribal histories, final rolls, census, and an extensive collection of online books.
* Naturalization Records Extensive listing of the available naturalization records available online.
* Surnames Investigate your surname meaning and origin. Read family history books online.
* United States Genealogy A large directory of genealogy data organized by state.
* Vital Records These pages contain information about how and where to obtain vital records for each state, and county in the United States.
* World Genealogy A directory of genealogy data organized by country.
You can enter a surname or a person's name in the search box and the site. I entered "smith" and had over 13,000 hits in the online databases. I entered "seaver" and had 93 hits. It appears that they add databases on a regular basis.
There are links to commercial web sites (Ancestry and Footnote were noted) for some information.
I had high hopes for the Beginner's Guide at http://www.accessgenealogy.com/beginners.htm, but the lniks for the tutorial pages don't work - it looks like they link to the Rootsweb Guide to Tracing Family Trees at http://rwguide.rootsweb.com/. There are also some charts available for odwnloading.
This is a useful web site, especially if you are just starting on a surname search (well, maybe not for Smith or Johnson...). You can find many links to records and data.
NEHGR Table of Contents - October 2007
The Table of Contents for the New England Historical and Genealogical Register for October 2007 (Volume 161, Number 4, Whole Number 644) includes:
* "Editorial" - page 243.
* "Notes on the Family of George Grave of Hartford, Connecticut" by Eben W. Graves - page 245
* "Ancestry of Bennet Eliot of Nazeing, Essex, Father of Seven Great Migration Immigrants to Massachusetts," by William Wyman Fiske ( continued from 161:198) - page 250
* "The London Apprenticeship of Edward Rainsford of Boston, Massachusetts," by Leslie Mahler - page 260
* "Samuel Owen of Springfield and Brookfield, Massachusetts, and Three Descendants Named Samuel Owen" by Nancy Clague - page 261
* Joan (_____) (Wylley) Pilston of Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire by William Wyman Fiske - page 280
* "Updates to 'Peter Pattee of Haverhill, Massachusetts'" by Marie Lollo Scalisi and Virginia M. Ryan - page 282
* "Genealogist John Farmer Discovers His Ancestry: The Warwickshire Family of Edward Farmer, Isabel (Farmer) (Wyman) (Blood) Green, and Thomas Pollard, of Billerica, Massachusetts" by Nathaniel Lane Taylor (continued from 161:222) - page 289
* "Additions and Corrections" - page 300
* Reviews of Books and CD-ROMs - page 302
* Index of Subjects in Volume 161 - page 305
* Index of Persons in Volume 161 - page 308.
The web site for the Register is at http://www.newenglandancestors.org/publications/Register/default.asp. If you are an NEHGS member, you can download PDF versions of the four issues for 2007.
I am a member of NEHGS and enjoy the publications immensely - they each serve as wonderful examples of the best in genealogy research. Since I have significant New England ancestry, the databases on the NEHGS site are highly valued by me.
* "Editorial" - page 243.
* "Notes on the Family of George Grave of Hartford, Connecticut" by Eben W. Graves - page 245
* "Ancestry of Bennet Eliot of Nazeing, Essex, Father of Seven Great Migration Immigrants to Massachusetts," by William Wyman Fiske ( continued from 161:198) - page 250
* "The London Apprenticeship of Edward Rainsford of Boston, Massachusetts," by Leslie Mahler - page 260
* "Samuel Owen of Springfield and Brookfield, Massachusetts, and Three Descendants Named Samuel Owen" by Nancy Clague - page 261
* Joan (_____) (Wylley) Pilston of Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire by William Wyman Fiske - page 280
* "Updates to 'Peter Pattee of Haverhill, Massachusetts'" by Marie Lollo Scalisi and Virginia M. Ryan - page 282
* "Genealogist John Farmer Discovers His Ancestry: The Warwickshire Family of Edward Farmer, Isabel (Farmer) (Wyman) (Blood) Green, and Thomas Pollard, of Billerica, Massachusetts" by Nathaniel Lane Taylor (continued from 161:222) - page 289
* "Additions and Corrections" - page 300
* Reviews of Books and CD-ROMs - page 302
* Index of Subjects in Volume 161 - page 305
* Index of Persons in Volume 161 - page 308.
The web site for the Register is at http://www.newenglandancestors.org/publications/Register/default.asp. If you are an NEHGS member, you can download PDF versions of the four issues for 2007.
I am a member of NEHGS and enjoy the publications immensely - they each serve as wonderful examples of the best in genealogy research. Since I have significant New England ancestry, the databases on the NEHGS site are highly valued by me.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Genea-Musings Stats for 2007
I thought my readers would be interested to know how Genea-Musings is "doing" with regard to readership and page views. The first graph (above) is a day-by-day look at returning visitors (orange), unique visitors (blue) and page views (green) as counted by www.statcounter.com, which has specific criteria. As you can see, only during early May did I have much over 400 page views or over 200 unique visitors on any day, and that was after there was a link on both Leland Meitzler's blog and Dick Eastman's blog - I think this was during the "Genealogy is Bunk" controversy. I had one very big day, several good days, and about 360 average days. Terry Thornton would call the early May data a "blogalanche."
The second graph (above) is a month-by-month summary created by www.sitemeter.com. The total numbers are somewhat different from the Statcounter numbers - one of them counts Blogger hits and the other doesn't, I think. They both seem to collect newsreader hits since I see them in the individual records when I review them.
As you can see, my visits and page views are somewhat constant since May 2007. I average about 200 visitors and 300 page views each day. This is nowhere near what some of the other bloggers average, but that's OK - my readers seem to be very discerning!
If there are other free "counter" programs, please tell me about them. I haven't looked recently. I would love to be able to see how many readers each post generates, and do more analysis, but I only have these two free counting services at this time.
There are also about 100 readers who subscribe to get email via www.FeedBurner.com.
I thank each and every one of my readers for their support, encouragement, and especially their comments. I'm trying to balance genealogy-related news, commentary, entertainment, research and stories in this blog.
The Elusive Russell Smith - Post 1
Working on the assumption that the obituaries for Ranslow Smith's (1805-????) purported brothers, Lyman (1812-1889) and George Smith (1807-1876), are correct, the parents of these three (and perhaps more?) persons was Russell and Esther (--?--) Smith.
Hypotheses:
* Russell Smith must have been born before at least 1785 and perhaps as early as 1760.
* The 1880 census for Lyman Smith in Dodge County WI says that his father was born in CT and his mother in RI (this is, of course, about 100 years after the fact!).
* The Bible record for Ranslow Smith (in my possession) says he was born in Henderson, Jefferson County, NY. Was he?
Searching for a Russell Smith in the census records reveals:
* 1800 US Census
** Western, Oneida County NY: Russel Smith males 1-0-0-1-0. females 0-0-1-0-0 (other Smiths in Western: Caleb, Benjamin, James, Philip, David, John and Arnold)
* 1810 US Census
** Fabius, Onondaga County NY: Russel Smith - males 2-1-0-1-0, females 3-0-0-1-0
** Hadley, Saratoga County, NY: Russel Smith - males 1-0-0-1-0, females 0-0-1-0-0
** Mamakating, Sullivan County, NY: Russell Smith - males 0-0-0-1-0, females 2-0-0-1-0
** Hartford, Washington county, NY: Russel Smith - males 0-0-0-1-0, females 0-0-0-1-0
* 1820 US Census:
** Genoa, Cayuga County, NY: Russel Smith - males 4-0-0-0-1-0, females 1-1-0-1-0
** Austerlitz, Columbia County, NY: Russle Smith - males 0-0-0-0-1-0, females 2-0-1-0-0
** Fabius, Onondaga County, NY: Russell Smith - males, 2-1-0-2-0-1, females 2-1-1-1-0
** Henrietta, Ontario County, NY: Russell Smith - males 1-1-0-0-1-0, females 2-0-1-0-0
** Troy, Renssalaer County, NY: Russell Smith - males 1-0-0-1-1-0, females 1-3-2-2-0
** Greenfield, Saratoga County, NY: Russell Smith - males 3-2-1-1-1-0, females 1-0-1-1-0
** Hartford, Washington County, NY: Russel Smith - males 0-0-0-2-0-1, females 2-0-0-0-1
* "Our County and Its' People" Chapter 37, The Town of Lee [Oneida county, NY}:
** Page 461: "...David Smith and his sons, David and Russell, came to the Mohawk country, near Delta, described by a writer of that time as 'away up the Mohawk country beyond Fort Stanwix, inhabited only by bears, wolves and Indians.' David Smith, Jr. built a saw mill there soon after, which he subsequently sold to Judge Prosper Rudd..."
* "A History of Jefferson County in the State of New York ..." by Franklin Benjamin Hough, pub. 1854:
** Page 72: In a list of early settlers in Adams township, the following are found:
*** 29 Oct 1799: Solomon Smith, David Smith,
*** 14 Nov 1799: John W. Smith
*** 1800: Russell Smith
** Page 73: "...A tract of 500 acres, where Adams village now is, was taken up by David Smith [Footnote: Mr. Smith died March 18, 1844, age 73], who in 1800, built and got in operation a saw mill, and the same season witnessed the arrival of numerous settlers, mostly from Oneida County..."
======================
That's all I've been able to find in the 1790 to 1820 time frame for Russell Smith in searches of Ancestry.com, Google (including Books), and the USGenWeb sites for Jefferson County and Oneida County in New York.
Based on the Hough book, it appears that a Russell Smith was in Adams township, Jefferson County NY in 1800, along with a David Smith. Are these the brothers David and Russell Smith from Oneida County in the Oneida history book, and the 1800 census records for Oneida County NY? Possibly.
The first record for my Ranslow Smith is in the 1830 census for Henderson in Jefferson County NY. Henderson township is the township just to the west of Adams township.
Are any of the Russell Smith families in the 1810 and 1820 census records in NY the same Russell Smith who was in Oneida County in the 1800 census? If there are three brothers that are sons of Russell Smith, then his family would have had at least two males under age 10 in the 1810 census and at least 1 males under age 10 and 2 males aged 10-16 in the 1820 census. The only Russell Smith that I see in the 1820 census that fits that criteria is the one in Greenfield, Saratoga County, NY. While the one in 1810 in Fabius, Onondaga County in 1810 also qualifies, he is still in Fabius in 1820 with only 1 son aged 10 to 16. It is possible that this is the correct Russell smith family and the three sons went up to Jefferson county NY sometime after 1820 to settle, perhaps with an uncle or cousin. All of that is very thin evidence to stake a proof on! It is also possible that Russell and his family were enumerated among other Smith families in Jefferson County NY in 1810 and 1820.
In a future post, I will define the Smith families in Adams and Henderson townships in Jefferson County, NY in the 1800 to 1840 census records.
Unfortunately, finding only two mentions of the name Russell Smith in or near places that my Ranslow Smith lived is very disheartening - I need to look for land and probate records for Smith's to see if Russell Smith put roots down in Adams township. The search, and analysis, is complicated by the Smith surname ... it is difficult to connect families with so many given names and so few pieces of information about each.
I realize that this post may be very boring - and probably skipped - by many readers, but writing this down makes it easier for me to figure out what I've done and what I need to do next.
If anyone has suggestions for further research, I am open to them! Please! Please! Please! Russell Smith appears to be a real elusive ancestor!
Hypotheses:
* Russell Smith must have been born before at least 1785 and perhaps as early as 1760.
* The 1880 census for Lyman Smith in Dodge County WI says that his father was born in CT and his mother in RI (this is, of course, about 100 years after the fact!).
* The Bible record for Ranslow Smith (in my possession) says he was born in Henderson, Jefferson County, NY. Was he?
Searching for a Russell Smith in the census records reveals:
* 1800 US Census
** Western, Oneida County NY: Russel Smith males 1-0-0-1-0. females 0-0-1-0-0 (other Smiths in Western: Caleb, Benjamin, James, Philip, David, John and Arnold)
* 1810 US Census
** Fabius, Onondaga County NY: Russel Smith - males 2-1-0-1-0, females 3-0-0-1-0
** Hadley, Saratoga County, NY: Russel Smith - males 1-0-0-1-0, females 0-0-1-0-0
** Mamakating, Sullivan County, NY: Russell Smith - males 0-0-0-1-0, females 2-0-0-1-0
** Hartford, Washington county, NY: Russel Smith - males 0-0-0-1-0, females 0-0-0-1-0
* 1820 US Census:
** Genoa, Cayuga County, NY: Russel Smith - males 4-0-0-0-1-0, females 1-1-0-1-0
** Austerlitz, Columbia County, NY: Russle Smith - males 0-0-0-0-1-0, females 2-0-1-0-0
** Fabius, Onondaga County, NY: Russell Smith - males, 2-1-0-2-0-1, females 2-1-1-1-0
** Henrietta, Ontario County, NY: Russell Smith - males 1-1-0-0-1-0, females 2-0-1-0-0
** Troy, Renssalaer County, NY: Russell Smith - males 1-0-0-1-1-0, females 1-3-2-2-0
** Greenfield, Saratoga County, NY: Russell Smith - males 3-2-1-1-1-0, females 1-0-1-1-0
** Hartford, Washington County, NY: Russel Smith - males 0-0-0-2-0-1, females 2-0-0-0-1
* "Our County and Its' People" Chapter 37, The Town of Lee [Oneida county, NY}:
** Page 461: "...David Smith and his sons, David and Russell, came to the Mohawk country, near Delta, described by a writer of that time as 'away up the Mohawk country beyond Fort Stanwix, inhabited only by bears, wolves and Indians.' David Smith, Jr. built a saw mill there soon after, which he subsequently sold to Judge Prosper Rudd..."
* "A History of Jefferson County in the State of New York ..." by Franklin Benjamin Hough, pub. 1854:
** Page 72: In a list of early settlers in Adams township, the following are found:
*** 29 Oct 1799: Solomon Smith, David Smith,
*** 14 Nov 1799: John W. Smith
*** 1800: Russell Smith
** Page 73: "...A tract of 500 acres, where Adams village now is, was taken up by David Smith [Footnote: Mr. Smith died March 18, 1844, age 73], who in 1800, built and got in operation a saw mill, and the same season witnessed the arrival of numerous settlers, mostly from Oneida County..."
======================
That's all I've been able to find in the 1790 to 1820 time frame for Russell Smith in searches of Ancestry.com, Google (including Books), and the USGenWeb sites for Jefferson County and Oneida County in New York.
Based on the Hough book, it appears that a Russell Smith was in Adams township, Jefferson County NY in 1800, along with a David Smith. Are these the brothers David and Russell Smith from Oneida County in the Oneida history book, and the 1800 census records for Oneida County NY? Possibly.
The first record for my Ranslow Smith is in the 1830 census for Henderson in Jefferson County NY. Henderson township is the township just to the west of Adams township.
Are any of the Russell Smith families in the 1810 and 1820 census records in NY the same Russell Smith who was in Oneida County in the 1800 census? If there are three brothers that are sons of Russell Smith, then his family would have had at least two males under age 10 in the 1810 census and at least 1 males under age 10 and 2 males aged 10-16 in the 1820 census. The only Russell Smith that I see in the 1820 census that fits that criteria is the one in Greenfield, Saratoga County, NY. While the one in 1810 in Fabius, Onondaga County in 1810 also qualifies, he is still in Fabius in 1820 with only 1 son aged 10 to 16. It is possible that this is the correct Russell smith family and the three sons went up to Jefferson county NY sometime after 1820 to settle, perhaps with an uncle or cousin. All of that is very thin evidence to stake a proof on! It is also possible that Russell and his family were enumerated among other Smith families in Jefferson County NY in 1810 and 1820.
In a future post, I will define the Smith families in Adams and Henderson townships in Jefferson County, NY in the 1800 to 1840 census records.
Unfortunately, finding only two mentions of the name Russell Smith in or near places that my Ranslow Smith lived is very disheartening - I need to look for land and probate records for Smith's to see if Russell Smith put roots down in Adams township. The search, and analysis, is complicated by the Smith surname ... it is difficult to connect families with so many given names and so few pieces of information about each.
I realize that this post may be very boring - and probably skipped - by many readers, but writing this down makes it easier for me to figure out what I've done and what I need to do next.
If anyone has suggestions for further research, I am open to them! Please! Please! Please! Russell Smith appears to be a real elusive ancestor!
Genealogy Software Reviews
I hope to upgrade my genealogy software on my Windows computer system sometime during 2008. I currently have and use FamilyTreeMaker 16, but I want improved charting and publishing capabilities.
I went looking for comparison charts of features, ease of use, and publishing capabilities. I found several, including:
1) Genealogy Software Review, Top Ten Reviews for 2008.
2) Kimberly Powell's Genealogy Software Reviews & Roundup 2007.
3) Louis Kessler's Genealogy Software Links - the most complete list!
4) ConsumerSearch Genealogy Software Reviews - lists of reviews.
The Top Ten Review of Genealogy Software rates the top 10 Windows programs as (prices as shown, ratings based on feature set, ease of use, reporting and publishing, and help/documentation on scale of 4 high, 0 low):
1) Legacy Deluxe 6 ($29.95) - 4.0 rating (out of 4.0)
2) FamilyTreeMaker 2008 ($29.95) - 4.0 rating
3) RootsMagic 3 ($29.95) - 3.5 rating
4) Ancestral Quest 12 ($29.95) - 3.5 rating
5) The Master Genealogist 6.12 Gold ($59.00) - 3.0 rating
6) Family Historian 3.1.2 ($76.00) - 3.0 rating
7) DoroTree 2.1 ($59.00) - 3.0 rating
8) Genbox Family Tree 3.7 ($29.95) - 2.5 rating
9) Cumberland Family Tree 3.14 ($39.00) - 2.0 rating
10) Win-Family 7 ($29.95) - 2.0 rating
There are extensive comparison charts for
* Data Entry and Sourcing
* Management Tools
* Views
* Reports and Charts
* Online Integration, Printing & Publishing
* Help and Support
* Supported Configurations
There are also extensive reviews for each software program found by clicking the software program name.
I also know that The Master Genealogist has just released Version 7 (see announcement here) and that Legacy 7 will be released soon (see discussion here).
Obviously, this list does not include the online genealogy software that stores and displays family trees - like the Ancestry Member Trees, MyHeritage, WeRelate, Geni, FamilyLink, Famillion, TNG, PhpGedView, and several others.
The comparisons noted above are interesting and useful to me. I really need to test drive some of these, and have downloaded the trial versions of Legacy and RootsMagic to do that evaluation.
I went looking for comparison charts of features, ease of use, and publishing capabilities. I found several, including:
1) Genealogy Software Review, Top Ten Reviews for 2008.
2) Kimberly Powell's Genealogy Software Reviews & Roundup 2007.
3) Louis Kessler's Genealogy Software Links - the most complete list!
4) ConsumerSearch Genealogy Software Reviews - lists of reviews.
The Top Ten Review of Genealogy Software rates the top 10 Windows programs as (prices as shown, ratings based on feature set, ease of use, reporting and publishing, and help/documentation on scale of 4 high, 0 low):
1) Legacy Deluxe 6 ($29.95) - 4.0 rating (out of 4.0)
2) FamilyTreeMaker 2008 ($29.95) - 4.0 rating
3) RootsMagic 3 ($29.95) - 3.5 rating
4) Ancestral Quest 12 ($29.95) - 3.5 rating
5) The Master Genealogist 6.12 Gold ($59.00) - 3.0 rating
6) Family Historian 3.1.2 ($76.00) - 3.0 rating
7) DoroTree 2.1 ($59.00) - 3.0 rating
8) Genbox Family Tree 3.7 ($29.95) - 2.5 rating
9) Cumberland Family Tree 3.14 ($39.00) - 2.0 rating
10) Win-Family 7 ($29.95) - 2.0 rating
There are extensive comparison charts for
* Data Entry and Sourcing
* Management Tools
* Views
* Reports and Charts
* Online Integration, Printing & Publishing
* Help and Support
* Supported Configurations
There are also extensive reviews for each software program found by clicking the software program name.
I also know that The Master Genealogist has just released Version 7 (see announcement here) and that Legacy 7 will be released soon (see discussion here).
Obviously, this list does not include the online genealogy software that stores and displays family trees - like the Ancestry Member Trees, MyHeritage, WeRelate, Geni, FamilyLink, Famillion, TNG, PhpGedView, and several others.
The comparisons noted above are interesting and useful to me. I really need to test drive some of these, and have downloaded the trial versions of Legacy and RootsMagic to do that evaluation.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
My Greatest Genealogy Find Ever
Craig Manson has a great post about his "Greatest Genealogy Find Ever" which talks about finding records for the mother of his Aunt Grace. In his post, Craig challenges others to describe their greatest genealogy find.
I want to describe two genealogy "finds" that have immensely benefited my research efforts.
1) The family papers collected over four generations about the Devier and Abigail (Vaux) Smith and Henry Austin and Della (Smith) Carringer families. These were passed down to me by my mother pretty much as they were left by Della in 1944. They include the family Bible pages for several families (with the only known records of birth, marriage and death dates); several letters to and from Abbie and Della from their extended family (one listed all of Della's cousins); Della's Journal for 1929; my grandfather's daily account books; Della's scrapbook and autograph book; many family photographs - framed, loose and pasted into books. My research would be very scanty on this family without all of this material.
2) The father of Isaac Buck (1757-1846) - I described some of this research in two posts titled "Isaac Buck in the Woodpile - Part I" and "Part II." I found the article in "Southborough MA Notifications," stating that Isaac and Ruth Buck had moved into the house of Joseph Richards in Southborough, just by chance - browsing at the library. Then I worked really hard to find the land record that proved that Isaac and Ruth (Graves) Buck had a son named Isaac Buck. I didn't prove that the son Isaac was the father of Isaac Buck (born 1757 to Mary Richards), but that is a lot more logical than the elder Isaac Buck fathering a child by a young woman. But it did affect the genealogy - it added Ruth Graves and her rich Lynn MA ancestry to my ancestral families.
Note that both of these "greatest finds" were obtained before the advent of online genealogy research and online databases. Even now, this information would not be found online except on my blog and web site.
I want to describe two genealogy "finds" that have immensely benefited my research efforts.
1) The family papers collected over four generations about the Devier and Abigail (Vaux) Smith and Henry Austin and Della (Smith) Carringer families. These were passed down to me by my mother pretty much as they were left by Della in 1944. They include the family Bible pages for several families (with the only known records of birth, marriage and death dates); several letters to and from Abbie and Della from their extended family (one listed all of Della's cousins); Della's Journal for 1929; my grandfather's daily account books; Della's scrapbook and autograph book; many family photographs - framed, loose and pasted into books. My research would be very scanty on this family without all of this material.
2) The father of Isaac Buck (1757-1846) - I described some of this research in two posts titled "Isaac Buck in the Woodpile - Part I" and "Part II." I found the article in "Southborough MA Notifications," stating that Isaac and Ruth Buck had moved into the house of Joseph Richards in Southborough, just by chance - browsing at the library. Then I worked really hard to find the land record that proved that Isaac and Ruth (Graves) Buck had a son named Isaac Buck. I didn't prove that the son Isaac was the father of Isaac Buck (born 1757 to Mary Richards), but that is a lot more logical than the elder Isaac Buck fathering a child by a young woman. But it did affect the genealogy - it added Ruth Graves and her rich Lynn MA ancestry to my ancestral families.
Note that both of these "greatest finds" were obtained before the advent of online genealogy research and online databases. Even now, this information would not be found online except on my blog and web site.
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