Genea-Musings

...
I knew that I was going to like Buzzy Jackson's book when I read the title, Shaking the Family Tree: Blue Bloods, Black Sheep, and Other Obsessions of an Accidental Genealogist. Then I read the back cover, which noted:

"In Shaking the Family Tree, Jackson dives headfirst into her family gene pool: flying cross-country to locate an ancient family graveyard, embarking on a weeklong genealogy Caribbean cruise, and even submitting her DNA for testing to try to find her Jacksons. And in the process of researching her own family lore (Who was Bullwhip Jackson?) she meets legions of other genealogy buffs who are as interesting as they are driven -- from the boy who saved his allowance so he could order his great-grandfather's death certificate to the woman who spends her free time documenting the cemeteries of Colorado ghost towns."







Buzzy has created a short video to describe her adventure into genealogy research - you can see it below (or by clicking here):





This book should be read by beginning genealogists who want some idea of how to go about starting research and finding family and historical records, and by experienced genealogists for the joy of reading about an excellent genealogical adventure.

In her book, Buzzy (real name Sarah) starts her excellent adventure by taking a genealogy class at a Boulder, Colorado library, joins the local genealogical society, gets lots of advice and help with her research, takes several trips to ancestral family localities, finds distant cousins online who help her out with research and records, takes a genealogy cruise to hear the speakers (right on - that's why I went!), visits the Family History Library, takes a DNA test, and much more. It is the classical genealogical education roots experience, and the reader gets to fly, ride, sail, sit and research right along with her. In about one year. To be fair, she researched only her Jackson surname.

Buzzy tells her stories with humor, enthusiasm and irreverence. The best part of the book - for me - was that she captured the spirit of all of the genealogists she met along the way - from the local society folks, the repository staffs, the family members (Cousin Mooner?), and some of the most respected professionals in genealogy. The helpful, kind, fair-minded, excited, and sentimental attitudes that most genealogists exhibit shines through in all of her chapters.

Her description of the Caribbean cruise in October 2008 was especially intriguing to me, since my wife and I were on this cruise and I experienced some of Buzzy's experiences first-hand (well, not drinking the night away with John Grenham... drat!). She attended the lectures and managed to interview Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak, Elizabeth Shown Mills, Cyndi Howells, and David Allen Lambert among others.

The beauty of this book is that it is a real genealogical adventure - it actually happened - the research performed and the family visits are realistic, frustrating and productive. She even found a long-lost cemetery that helped her connect to her 17th century Jackson families and enabled her to fill out a DAR application.

You can order Shaking the Family Tree at Buzzy Jackson's website, at your favorite bookstore, or online at Amazon, Borders, Barnes & Noble, etc.

Jackson, Buzzy.
Shaking the Family Tree : blue bloods, black sheep, and other obsessions of an accidental genealogist.
New York, Simon & Schuster, 2010.
Paperback, 256 pages.

Disclosure: I received a free review copy of the book from the publisher in mid-August 2010, and agreed to write an objective review of the book and post it on my blog.

Labels: Beginning Genealogy, book reviews, Genealogy Books

For Tombstone Tuesday, I found a photograph of the gravestone for my great-grandaunt Effie E. Carringer (1858-1874) in Columbia Cemetery in Boulder, Boulder County, Colorado:

Labels: Carringer Research, Cemetery records, Tombstone Tuesday

Work has always been a necessary part of our lives, and the lives of our ancestors. Over thousands of years, the principle has been for individuals and groups to work in order to survive - whether it is working for our self, working for others, or working for a government entity. From work, we receive remuneration in the form of cash, credit or products in order to nurture and support our families.

I knew about my work life, and that of my parents, and my grandparents, and in general about my ancestors back into the 18th century and beyond, thanks to family papers, my own research, or published materials. I wrote about my work life here. It is completely different from that of most of my ancestors. I sat at a desk for many years doing analysis and testing. Almost all of my 19th century ancestors did physical labor inside and outside as farmers, tradesmen or craftsmen.

Here's a list back six generations (males only) in ancestor list order, with residences listed by county:

1. Randall J. Seaver -- aerospace engineer/manager, genealogist (San Diego County CA)

2. Frederick W. Seaver (1911-1983) -- insurance agent (Worcester County MA, San diego County CA)

4. Frederick W. Seaver (1876-1940) -- superintendent of a comb shop (Worcester County MA)

6. Lyle L. Carringer (1891-1977) -- auditor, accountant (San Diego County CA)

8. Frank W. Seaver (1852-1922) -- teamster, comb shop worker/superintendent (Worcester County MA)

10. Thomas Richmond (1848-1917) -- carder, overseer of wool mill (Wiltshire, England, Windham County CT, Worcester County MA)

12. Henry Austin Carringer (1853-1946) -- carpenter, aviation mechanic (Louisa County IA, Boulder County CO, San Diego County CA)

14. Charles Auble (1849-1916) -- painter (Vigo County IN, Cook County IL, San Diego County CA)

16. Isaac Seaver (1823-1901) -- blacksmith (Worcester County MA)

18. Edward Hildreth (1831-1899) -- combmaker, machinist (Worcester County MA)

20. James Richman (1821-1912) -- coal laborer, farm laborer, woolen mill worker, farmer (Wiltshire, England, Providence County RI, Windham County CT)

22. Henry White (1824-1885) -- weaver, worker in cotton mill, carpenter (Providence County RI, Windham County CT)

24. David Jackson Carringer (1828-1902) -- carpenter, farmer (Mercer County PA, Louisa County IA, Boulder County CO)

26. Devier J. Smith (1839-1894) -- livery/feed stable worker/owner, farmer, speculator, inventor (Dodge County WI, Taylor County IA, Andrew County MO, Cloud County KS, Red Willow County NE)

28. David Auble (1817-1894) -- boot and shoe worker, boot and shoemaker (Sussex County NJ, Vigo County IN)

30. James Abram Kemp (1831-1902) -- carpenter, innkeeper (Norfolk County, Ontario)

32. Benjamin Seaver (1791-1825) -- farmer (Worcester County MA)

34. Alpheus B. Smith (1791-1840) -- farmer (Norfolk County MA)

36. Zachariah Hildreth (1784-1857) -- farmer, cooper (Middlesex County MA)

38. Thomas J. Newton (????-????) -- ???? (Maine?)

40. John Richman (1788-1867) -- coal hauler, butcher (Wiltshire, England)

42. John Rich (1793-1868) -- weaver (Wiltshire, England)

44. Jonathan White (1806-1850) -- farmer (Providence County RI, Windham County CT)

46. Jonathan Oatley (1793-1872) -- preacher, stone cutter, mason (Washington County RI, Windham County CT)

48. Henry Carringer (1800-1881) -- farmer (Mercer County PA, Louisa County IA)

50. John Daniel Spangler (1781-1851) -- farmer (York County PA, Mercer County PA)

54. Samuel Vaux (1814-1880) -- farmer (Somerset, England, Erie County NY, Dodge County WI, Andrew County MO, Marshall County KS)

56. Johannes Able (1780-1831) -- farmer (Sussex County NJ)

58. William Knapp (1775-1856) -- shoemaker (Dutchess County NY, Middlesex County NJ, Sussex County NJ)

60. Abraham James Kemp (1795-1881) -- farmer (Prince Edward County, Ontario, Norfolk county, Ontario)

62. Alexander Sovereen (1814-1907) -- farmer (Norfolk County, Ontario)

Not a president, captain of industry, or man of higher learning among them. But they all worked for a living and did all right for themselves and their families. I appreciate each one of them.

Labels: Holidays, My genealogy research, Occupations

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 probate file of Samuel Gray (1681-1712) of Little Compton, Bristol county, Massachusetts (presently in Rhode Island but in Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1712). He married Deborah Church (1676-1772) in 1699 and they had seven children, five of them minors when he died in 1712 (two others died before 1712).

Samuel Gray died testate, having written a will dated 20 March 1712, which was proved 2 April 1712. The will reads (transcribed from Bristol County (Massachusetts) Probate Records, Volume 3, Pages 88-90, accessed on FHL Microfilm 0,461,882):

"In the Name of God Amen The twentyeth day of March in the year of Our Lord one thousand seven hundred & twelve I Samuel Grey of Little compton in the County of Bristoll in her Majesties Province of Massachusetts Bay in New England, yeoman, being very sick and weak in body but of perfect mind & memory Thanks be given to God therefore Calling to mind the Mortallity of my body and knowing that it is appointed for all men once to dye Do make & ordain this my Last will and Testament That is to say Principally and first of all I give & recomend my soule into the hands of God that gave it & my body I Recommend unto Earth to be buried in Decent & Christian mann-r at ye Discresion of my Exect-r, Nothing doubting but at the general Resurection I shall Receive the same by the Almighty power of God. And as Touching my worldly Estate wherew-th it has pleased God to bless me in this life I give & Devise & Dispose of the same in the following maner and form.

"Imp-s. I give and bequeath unto Deborah Grey my Dearly Beloved wife the Improvem-t of my whole Estate both Real and personall for her own and her Childrens maintenance so long as she haves my name or Remaines my widow and do allso Constitute make & ordain Her and my beloved brother Thomas Grey Joynt Executors of this my last will & Testament. Item my will is yt if my wife after my decease do see cause to Marry again that then she shall have one hundred pounds Currant money of this Province payd to her out of my Estate and shall quit her Right, tithe, interest & ronrom [?] to & with any of the rest of my Estate.

"Item. My will is that after my wives Marrying or Deceaseing the whole of my Estate Excepting the one Hundred pounds given unto her be divided among my Children in man-r and form following , viz. I give to my Eldest & beloved son Samuel Gray three Hundred pounds.

"Item I give to my Beloved son Simeon Grey one Hundred pounds.

"Item I give to my Beloved son Ignatius Grey one Hundred pounds.

"I give to my Beloved Daughter Dorothy one Hundred pounds.

"Item I give to my Beloved Daughter Lidiah one Hundred pounds.

"Item My will is that if my Estate be found worth more than Eight Hundred pounds after all my lawfull debts and funerall charges are payd that the Residue be equally divided between my two youngest son Simeon & Ignatius.

"Item My will is that my Execut-rs may when they see cause make sale of my Estate Either Reall or personall for money provided the principall be well served for my Children.

"Item I do Constitute and appoint my Loveing friends Mr William Pabodie Cap-t John Palmer & my Brother John Church to be Overseers of this my last will & Testament and do hereby oblige my Executors (if they sell my lands) to take the Advice & Consent of my overseers in Secureing & Improveing of the money. And I do hereby Disallow, Revoke & Disannull all & every other former Testaments wills Legacies bequests & Executors by me in any wayes before named willed or bequeathed Rattifying & Confirming this and no other to be my Last will and Testament. In Witness whereof I have set to my hand and seal the day and year above written.
"Signed sealed published & declared by the said Samuel Gray as his last will & Testament ..............................................Samuel Grey (seal)
in the presence of us the
wittnesses
Edward Grey
Jonathan Hood
Richard Billings"

The inventory of the estate of Samuel Grey of Little Compton was taken by John Palmer, John Church and William Pabodie on 2 April 1712. The inventory ran two pages and totalled 1,138 pounds, 9 shillings, 7 pence, including real estate of:

* farm and buildings, orchard, fencing (850 pounds)
* 25 acres of outlands (26 pounds)


The personal estate included:

* wearing apparel (11 pounds, 10 shillings)
* feather beds, linen,
* Chest, Table, Chairs and other furniture
* 2 Iron pots, 2 small brass kettles, 2 pewter plates, pots, beakers, plates, 3 porringers, etc.
* 1 pair of worsted combs, 3 pair old cards, 1 woolen wheel, 2 common wheel,
* 1 churn, 1 cradle, 1 cheese press, 1 warming pan
* a chamber pot, 8 glass bottles
* a plow, iron chains, iron bars, five hoes, 2 axes, cart wheels pitch forks, etc
* a Negro man (18 pounds)
* Silver money (12 pounds, 4 shillings, 7 pence), paper money (28 pounds, 10 shillings)
* money due (5 pounds, 10 shillings)
* 25 bushels of Indian corn, a barrel and a half of beef
* 3 mares, 14 cows, 1 heifer, 5 two year old, 3 yearlings, 5 calves, 1 pair oxen, etc.


The inventory was presented to the Probate Court on 7 April 1712 and was approved on that day, and recorded on 28 April 1712.

On 3 June 1713, Deborah Throope, the late wife of Samuel Grey of Little Compton deceased, but the now wife of Danl Throope of Bristol stated that she had received the 100 pounds due her by the will of Samuel Grey, and that she quits her rights, titles, and interests in the estate of Samuel Grey (Bristol County (Massachusetts) Probate Records, Volume 3, Page 180, on FHL Microfilm 0,461,882). It was recorded on 3 November 1713 by the Court.

The Accounts of Deborah Thrope (formerly Deborah Grey) and Thomas Grey, the executors of the estate of Samuel Grey, were presented to the Probate Court on 3 November 1713.
Additional debts were received, and a long list of small debts were paid out (Bristol County (Massachusetts) Probate Records, Volume 3, Pages 177-179, on FHL Microfilm 0,461,882).

No accounting was recorded in the Court of the legacies to the children of Samuel and Deborah Gray, who were all under age when Samuel Gray made his will and died.

Labels: Amanuensis Monday, Probate Records, Richmond/White Research

A little birdie told me that all of the FamilySearch Record Search Pilot databases had been copied over to the NEW FamilySearch Beta site (http://beta.familysearch.org, used to be http://fsbeta.familysearch.org).

A screen shot of the Beta site shows a little different top menu and a new background image (kind of a teal landscape with clouds) - which is on all of the Beta pages I checked.



Clicking on "All Collections" on the home page takes me to the list of historical record collections shown below:



This page shows that there are now 454 collections on this site, listed in alphabetical order. The user can scroll down or can use the category and year range filters on the left-hand sidebar.

There are still 454 record collections on the Record Search Pilot site at http://pilot.familysearch.org as of tonight.

This is probably the first step in transferring most of the FamilySearch record databases from the Record Search Pilot site, and will probably be followed by transferring the older databases over also (the Ancestral File is in the "Trees" tab on the Beta site, and some of the IGI datasets for states or countries are already in the Record Search databases).

Okay, what's next? Hopefully, a better Search interface on the Beta site (the current search capability is fairly limited) and some indication of which databases are new during the previous month (Record Search has had this and it's valuable to bean counters like me).

Labels: FamilySearch, Online resources

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:

* There's Always One by Donna Pointkouski on the What's Past is Prologue blog. Donna is perhaps the best genea-humorist writing today - read this and laugh! Where does she get these pictures?

* Salt Lake Family History Expo 2010 - Day 2 by Renee Zamora on Renee's Genealogy Blog. Renee recaps her second day the the Family History Expo in Sandy, Utah.

* Connecting the Genealogist to the Research -- an online conundrum by James Tanner on the Genealogy's Star blog. James continues the discussion started by Martin Hollick on "Shepardizing Your Genealogy" about having a standard list of authoritative sources for ancestral families, genealogical judges, and more.

* The People Differences in Virginia: a Checklist of Characteristics by Arlene Eakle on Arlene Eakle's Virginia Genealogy Blog. Arlene provides an interesting list of characteristics for different groups that settled in or resided in Virginia.

* Zero to Search Success in Sixty Seconds by the writer of The Ancestry Insider blog. Mr. AI recounts Anastasia Harman's presentation about the five different types of searches on Ancestry.com.

* GYRabbit Carnival - September 2010 by footnoteMaven on The Graveyard Rabbit blog. The theme for this Carnival, with five entries, is A Local Celebrity in our Mist.

* Names: How do you say that? by Schelly Talalay Dardashti on the MyHeritage Genealogy Blog. Schelly should know about the problems with pronouncing names, and she gives some good examples on how to deal with the problem. I always wonder if I'm spelling her name correctly, and found out that I've been pronouncing Talalay incorrectly (and she never chided me about it - thanks Schelly!).

* Is Genealogy a Hobby? by Lorine McGinnis Schulze on the Olive Tree Genealogy Blog. Is it only a hobby? Lorine and her readers discuss the issue using terms like avocation, obsession and sacred trust.

* Defining the Genealogical Pursuit by John Newmark on the TransylvanianDutch blog. John comments on Lorine's post, and picks words like labor of love, quest, pursuit, adventure and compulsion.

* DNA Rule-Out for Cold Case, Australia, 1970 - Part I and Part II by Colleen Fitzpatrick on the Identifinders blog. This series gives readers a good idea of how hard it is to find mitochondrial matches of a living or dead person. A fascinating DNA/genealogy detective story.

* Treasure Chest Thursday: Genealogy in the 1940s by the writer of the Nolichucky Roots blog. Here's a glimpse of how several people pursued their avocation back in the 1940s. Interesting.

* Carnival of Genealogy, 97th Edition by Jasia on the Creative Gene blog. There were nine entries in this Carnival with the theme of Research From Scratch! . Dorene Paul's piece on Learning More about Joseph Willmann posted at Graveyard Rabbit of Sandusky Bay was the featured post.

Other "Best of..." weekly pick posts are here:

* Follow Friday: 3 September 2010 by Greta Koehl on Greta's Genealogy Bog. Greta picks her faves too, and they are all good.

* Weekly Genealogy Picks by John Newmark on the TransylvanianDutch blog. John highlights blog posts, carnivals, press releases and more, plus he 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 670 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

Hey genealogy buffs sitting there in your pajamas (or whatever) on a Saturday Night - it's time for more Genealogy Fun!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (and I REALLY hope that you will, because I know how creative my genea-readers are) , is to:

1) Create a Title and outline an episode of your own Genealogy television show. Be funny, crazy or serious, it doesn't matter!

2) Tell us about it in a blog post of your own, a comment on this blog post, or in a status or comment on Twitter or Facebook.

This idea was prompted by a long thread on Facebook on Paula Stuart-Warren's page - her comment was:

"A new reality show -- the Housewives of Genealogy. Imagine the possibilities. Sitting at a computer, standing at a copier, scanning a document, attending a conference, data entry, and the big draw would be trying to top each other with stories of the horse thieves, murderers, farmers, shopkeepers, and soldiers in our past." And it took off from there... into cabana boys and all sorts of funny ideas.

Thomas MacEntee listed some candidate television show titles back in February with this post, spurred by Donna Pointkouski's post here, if you want some ideas to embellish upon.

Here's mine (an oldie but a goodie, which I've used before):

"Desperate Genealogists": where the sexy ladies on Wisteria Lane compete with each other to find the male with the best pedigree (hmm, related to the Queen, descended from Charlemagne, William the Conqueror, Washington, Jefferson, or maybe fathered the most children through a sperm bank), or conspire with each other to hang a loser (maybe with a horse thief or a black sheep in his ancestry) on one of their "friends." There are plenty of potential episodes in this show idea, eh? Maybe they'll even romance the librarian in the process. Or a fsemi-amous genea-blogger and researcher.

Labels: Genealogy Fun, Genealogy Video, SNGF, strange or funny

It's Surname Saturday, and I'm "counting down" my Ancestral Name List each week. I am up to number 103 - Catherine Ruth (1770-1813), one of my 4th-great-grandparents.

My ancestral line back through one generation of RUTH 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)

102. Philip Jacob King, born 24 February 1764 in York, York County, PA; died 02 March 1829 in Springgarden, York County, PA. He was the son of 204. Philip Jacob King and 205. Maria Barbara Wilhelm. He married before 1790 in probably. York County, PA.
103. Catherine Ruth, born 10 March 1770, perhaps in Berks County, PA; died 08 December 1813 in York, York County, PA.

Children of Philip King and Catherine Ruth are:
i. Catherine King, born About 1792 in York, York County, PA; died young.
ii. George King, born 23 February 1794 in York, York County, PA; died 17 July 1860 in York, York County, PA; married Rachel Johnston in York, York, PA; born 19 January 1800 in York, York, PA; died 01 July 1874 in York, York County, PA.
iii. Elizabeth King, born 05 March 1796 in York, York County, PA; died 18 March 1863 in Conneautville, Crawford County, PA; married John Daniel Spangler 12 March 1815 in York, York County, PA.
iv. Sarah King, born 22 November 1797 in York, York County, PA; married Jacob Ehrhart.
v. Lydia King, born 27 October 1799 in York, York County, PA; died young.
vi. Catherine King, born About 1801 in York, York County, PA; died young.
vii. Jacob King, born 05 September 1803 in York, York County, PA.
viii. Rebecca King, born 10 December 1805 in York, York County, PA; died young.
ix. Anna Maria King, born 26 January 1806 in York, York County, PA; married George Kann.
x. Barbara King, born 02 February 1808 in York, York County, PA; married Peter Zacharias January 1829 in York, York, PA.
xi. Julia Anna King, born 06 September 1810 in York, York County, PA; died About 1825 in York, York County, PA.
xii. Henry King, born 07 February 1813 in York, York County, PA.

All of my information about Catherine Ruth was obtained from the book The Kings of York County: Pioneers, Patriots and Papermakers by Richard Shue, York, Penn., 1959 (accessed at York County [PA] Historical Society. This work provides Catherine's name, birth date and birth place, but no parents names, no marriage date or marriage place. The name and birth date and place must have come from a family record handed down over the generations. York County is about 50 miles from Berks County. There may have been family connections between the King and Ruth families in earlier generations back in Germany or Pennsylvania. Or perhaps one of the Ruth families moved from Berks to York before 1790.

There were Ruth families in Berks County, Pennsylvania in the 1770 time period, including:

* Johann Christian Ruth and Maria Barbara Epler had children born there between 1759 and 1771.

* Johann Jacob Ruth and first wife Anna Elizabeth Schell had children born there between 1762 and 1770, and with second wife Catherine Crick had children born there between 1776 and 1791.

* Johann Michael Ruth and Anna Maria Moser had children born there between 1752 and 1777.

In Bucks County, Pennsylvania in the 1770 time period, there were:

* George Johannes Ruth and Christina Klinker had children between 1771 and 1795.

* Christian Ruth and Barbara Lapp had children born between 1751 and 1770.

There was a James Ruth who had a son Samuel Ruth born in 1788 in York County, Pennsylvania.

All of the above is from mining the Rootsweb WorldConnect database for Ruth families in the specific counties. There may be more families in these places.

Of course, I was hoping to a clear cousin link to George Herman "Babe" Ruth, the baseball player.

Are there any Ruth family researchers that can help me identify the parents of Catherine Ruth (1770-1813), the wife of Philip Jacob King? If so, please email me at rjseaver@cox.net.

Labels: Carringer Research, My genealogy research, Surname Saturday

...
The Chula Vista Genealogical Society (CVGS) will celebrate National Family History Month in October by providing our Annual Fall Seminar, featuring noted genealogical conference speaker Jean Wilcox Hibben, PhD, MA, CG, and Alfredo I. Pena, an expert on Hispanic genealogical research. The program details include:

* Location: Norman Park Senior Center, 270 F St., Chula Vista

* Seminar Theme: Where Do We Go From Here?

* Date and Time: Saturday, October 2nd, 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

* SCHEDULE:

*** 8:30 a.m. -- doors open, Registration
*** 9 a.m. -- Keynote address by Jean Wilcox Hibben, Ph.D., M.A., CG.
*** 9:30 a.m. -- "Introduction to Chula Vista Genealogical Society" - Gary Brock
*** 10:15 a.m. -- Session 1 - “Backdoor Genealogy” by Jean Wilcox Hibben, Ph.D., M.A., CG.
*** 11:30 a.m. -- Catered lunch (provided by CVGS)
*** 12:30 p.m. -- Session 2 - “Moving from Paper to Electronic Records” by Jean Wilcox Hibben, Ph.D., M.A., CG.
*** 1:30 p.m. -- Break: book sales, computer research.
*** 2:30 p.m. -- Session 3 - "Coming to the New World After the Conquest, 1600-1900" by Alfredo I. Pena, head genealogist for CorGoMiUri.
*** 4:30 p.m. -- end of seminar.

This program is designed to help people just getting started in Genealogy, New Members of our Society and Oldtimers who want to catch up on new resources.

Opportunity drawings will take place throughout the day, and a door prize will be awarded.

Used Genealogy books will be on sale and speaker's materials will be available for purchase.

* Registration Fee: Registration includes refreshments and catered lunch. $25.00 per Person until September 20, and $30.00 per person thereafter.

* To register, please print out flyer (Click here), fill out the form and mail to remittance address on bottom of form.

* A confirmation packet will be returned by email if you include an email address, or by US Postal Service with last-minute parking and shuttle information.

For further information, contact Susi Pentico at (619-690-1188), or email at susiCP@cox.net
Or contact Virginia Taylor at (619-425-7922) or email at irishdoll@cox.net

Labels: Conferences/Seminars, CVGS, genealogy education, genealogy resources, Hispanic Research

I like to check the www.Archives.com website from time to time to see what new databases have been added since my last check. Here's the Collections page at Archives.com:




The graphics tell us that there are now 120 databases available at Archives.com, and that there are over 1 billion records now available. The counter increments every two seconds or so (I wonder if records are really added one at a time?).

The list of databases appears below the header, and there is a list of highlighted new or updated databases on the right sidebar. The latest "New!" database is "Living People Records" so I clicked on that link:




There are over 200 million entries in this database. I clicked on the "Search" link and saw:




I added my first name and last name, and narrowed the search to California in the dropdown Location field, clicked on "Search" and saw:

Labels: Archives.com, Online resources, People Finders

Thomas MacEntee has posted Open Thread Thursday: The Content Wars on the Geneabloggers blog for discussion. He wants to know what readers think about four issues (Questions in red, my responses in blue):

1) Once a collection of documents is digitized and indexed, should they be made available to researchers for free or for fee? This means they would either follow the FamilySearch (free) or the Ancestry (fee) models. Note: there are many other vendors and providers both free and fee – I am only using the most recognizable vendors as examples.

RS: It is up to the owner of the document collection and whatever contract or license agreement made between the owner and the digitizer/indexer (if they are not the same entity). Collecting, preserving, organizing, digitizing and indexing cost money to perform, and the contract should define the ultimate form of the online document collection, whether it is to be free or fee, and the length of the time period for it to be accessible. There is no law that says "online genealogy data has to be free for access and downloading or copying." Every entity has to make the free or fee decision for themselves, based on their mission and costs.

2) Does it matter if the documents themselves are in the public domain when it comes to charging a fee for access? Does a good index and search mechanism add value to the record set, to the point of justifying a fee for access?

RS: No it doesn't. "Public domain" as I understand it means that there is no copyright holder. The holder of the documents can choose to hide the documents from private or public view, or make them freely available, or any other decision between hidden and open. Charging a fee for access, or providing the documents under contract or license to a company that charges a fee for access is solely the document holder's decision. A good index and search engine also costs money to create, test, improve and provide and does add value to a record set, and does justify a fee for access.

3) Think about the holdings that genealogical or historical societies have. Should they place access behind a members-only website, even if the documents are in the public domain? What about making the index free but the images members-only?

RS: The decision to provide access to the holdings of a genealogical or historical society is solely up to the society. "Public domain" documents can be owned by a person or an entity like a society, and they should choose their access rules. Some societies keep document collections in paper format only in their repository, some digitize and index them, some provide the digitized records behind a member-only firewall, some make the document collection publicly available for a fee or for free. Ownership or licensing of the documents is what is important, not copyright issues, although copyright issues may restrict what a society can offer online. A wise and enterprising society would create an index of their records, post the index on the Internet, and say "hey come on down, we have what you want" in an effort to gain members or subscriptions.

4) Let’s say that 20 years from now, most records of use to genealogists are digitized and accessible – either free or fee. What will genealogy vendors need to offer consumers to keep them engaged in genealogy? What will genealogical societies need to do to survive if their public domain holdings are made available for free?

RS: Genealogy vendors will have to continue to offer consumers (customers) something of value for their fees or subscriptions - continue to add content, continue to improve indexing, continue to improve search capabilities, continue to try to connect researchers to each other. Once a vendor stops adding content or improving their product, they will lose customers and market share, especially if another vendor is more innovative, or adds more or better content.

RS: In order to survive, genealogical societies need to broaden their member services, in terms of more or better programs, classes, printed or website information, in-house and online database access, and more member-to-member interaction. Successful societies in the 21st century offer programs and classes that help members deal with beginning research, different record types, online record access, and one-on-one mentoring. They need to make wise business decisions about their owned or licensed database collections, and offer them to their members, and the larger genealogical community, in ways that serve the needs of the society.

In these questions, there is the underlying idea that "public domain" means that the document should be freely available to whoever finds it, wherever they find it. That is not the case in our free market, capitalist society. Repositories and companies have acquired the collections by contract or license, and therefore can dictate the access and use of the collection, and charge fees if they wish. Local, state or national governments that have document collections do not have to make them available for free, even if taxpayer dollars or user fees paid for collecting them. The facts are not copyrightable, but the records are obtainable for a fee.

Almost every document collection offered by an organization or a company for a fee is available (perhaps for a fee) in its original form (or in a microform) from a repository (library, archive, agency, etc.). The problem is that the researcher has to find out where the document is held, how to access it, travel to access it (or pay someone to access it), and then make a transcription, abstract, extraction, digital image or photocopy of the document. What the commercial companies offer is the ability to access and capture records in a less costly and time consuming way, for a fee. An Ancestry.com U.S. subscription costs about 42 cents a day, and less than $3 a week. If you use it often, it is an excellent bargain.

So the researcher has choices:

1) To travel to distant repositories to find the information they need in paper or microform format

2) To subscribe to one or more commercial database providers and obtain the information at their home (or at a local library) fairly quickly.

* To sit back and loudly complain about the terrible companies making a profit or the government hiding public information.

If it wasn't for the commercial database providers, there would be a lot less online access to document collections because non-profit repositories and government offices are a lot less nimble and proactive, and in times of economic distress they cut back on public services and raise fees on existing services. The National Archives has digitizing and indexing contracts with a number of commercial companies (e.g., Ancestry, Footnote) or non-profit entities, e.g., FamilySearch) in order to bring document collections online faster. These contracts specify free access within the National Archives facilities, and access for a fee outside of the buildings. My guess is that we will see many more of these types of arrangements as data collections are digitized and indexed.

I recently saw the comment by Gordon Clarke of FamilySearch that only 5% of all genealogy documents are digitized at this point in time. There is a long way to go before "everything," or even 50% of "everything," is digitized. Even if FamilySearch successfully digitizes and indexes every one of their microfilms, microfiches and books, there is still a wealth of genealogical material held by individuals, local, regional or national societies, state and national archives, and private companies to find, access, extract from, and use.

My two cents... what's yours?

UPDATED: 3 PM: Added a bot of content, and made editorial corrections.

Labels: Genealogy Industry, genealogy resources, genealogy societies, Online resources

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:

Labels: Ancestry.com, Immigration records, Naturalization Records

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:

Labels: Treasure Chest Thursday, Vital Records

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.

Labels: Adoption, Carnivals, Online resources

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:

Labels: Carringer Research, My genealogy research, photographs, Wordless Wednesday