Saturday, September 28, 2013

Surname Saturday - LNU (? Dolbear ?) (England to colonial New England)

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


I am in the 7th great-grandmothers and I'm up to Ancestor  #721, who is Mary LNU (? Dolbear ?) (1677-about 1720) 
[Note: the earlier great-grandmothers and 7th great-grandfathers have been covered in earlier posts].

My ancestral line back through this LNU (Dolbear?) family line is:

1.  Randall J. Seaver (1943-living)

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

4. Frederick Walton Seaver (1876-1942)
5. Alma Bessie Richmond (1882-1962)


10.  Thomas Richmond (1848-1917)
11.  Julia White (1848-1913)

22.  Henry Arnold White (1824-1885)
23.  Amy Frances Oatley (1826-1864)

44.  Jonathan White (1806-1850)
45.  Miranda Wade (1804-1850)

90.  Simon Wade (1767-1857)

91.  Phebe Horton (1772-????)

180.  Simon Wade (1731-1790)
181.  Deborah Tracy (1731-????)

360.  Nathaniel Wade (1709-1754)
361.  Ruth Hawkins (1710-1789)

720.  Jonathan Wade, born 05 March 1683 in Medford, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died before 1720, probably in Mystic, New London, Connecticut, United States.  He was the son of 1440. Nathaniel Wade and 1441. Mercy Bradstreet.  He married  about 1701 in Massachusetts, United States.
721.  Mary --?-- (Dolbear ?), born 13 April 1677 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States.

Children of Jonathan Wade and Mary Dolbear are:
i. Mercy Wade, born 29 August 1702 in Medford, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; married Elisha Hopkins 13 June 1722 in Glocester, Providence, Rhode Island, United States; born 1702 in Providence, Providence, Rhode Island, United States; died 13 November 1798 in Foster, Providence, Rhode Island, United States.
ii. Jonathan Wade, born 03 April 1704 in Medford, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died in Rhode Island, United States; married Mary Albert 19 August 1725 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States; born about 1705 in Massachusetts, United States.
iii. Nathan Wade, born 22 February 1706 in Medford, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died 18 September 1778 in Glocester, Providence, Rhode Island, United States; married Deborah Hawkins 1731 in Providence, Providence, Rhode Island, United States; born 15 May 1713 in Providence, Providence, Rhode Island, United States; died 13 November 1802 in Glocester, Providence, Rhode Island, United States.
iv. Nathaniel Wade, born 27 January 1709 in Charlestown, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States; died 29 June 1754 in Scituate, Providence, Rhode Island, United States; married Ruth Hawkins 26 June 1731 in Scituate, Providence, Rhode Island, United States.
v. Dorothy Wade, born 22 February 1711 in Providence, Providence, Rhode Island, United States.
vi. Rebecca Wade, born 28 January 1713 in Providence, Providence, Rhode Island, United States.

vii. Samuel Wade, born 21 April 1715 in Providence, Providence, Rhode Island, United States.

That's it! I have seen evidence about Mary Dolbear's parentage and birth date/place, as discussed below.  Since the first four children were born in or around Medford, Massachusetts, she was probably from that area.  

Is Dolbear her maiden name?  Many online family trees give that surname.  Was it Doliber or something similar?  Was this Mary's first marriage, or was she married before?

The only source I have for this name and birth date and marriage year is:

Marston Watson, Royal Families: Americans of Royal and Noble Ancestry: Volume One: Governor Thomas Dudley and Descendants Through Five Generations, Second Edition (Baltimore, Md. : Genealogical Publishing Company, 2005), page 66.

Watson gives Mary's surname as "Dolbear" a birth date of 13 April 1677 in Medford, and no death date or place.

A birth of 13 April 1677 in Boston for Mary "Dolberry," daughter of Thomas and Sarah Dolberry, is in the book:

Boston City Registrar, Reports of the Record Commissioners of the City of Boston; Volume 9 (Boston, Mass.: Rockwell and Churchill, 1883), page 141, Mary Dolberry entry.

However, I can find nothing on Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org or AmericanAncestors.org that provides any more information about Thomas and Sarah (--?--) "Dolberry."  There are some online trees with Thomas and Sarah "Dolbear" and variants with Mary as their daughter, but none of them provide sourced information for them.

There were several families with the surnames of Dolbear, Doliber, Dollaver, and other variants residing from Boston up to Marblehead in the 1640-1700 time period.

Is Mary "Dolberry," the daughter of Thomas and Sarah (--?--) Dolberry, the wife of Nathaniel Wade?  I don't know, but she surely is a candidate.

The URL for this post is:

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver


Day 7 on the Celebrity Millennium Cruise - Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala

Legacy Family Tree has about 250 persons on this cruise (out of about 2,100 passengers) which will leave San Diego and head for Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and we'll end up in Fort Lauderdale on 7 October.  You can see more information about the cruise at http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/CruiseInfo_2013.asp.

It's Saturday, 28 September, so we will dock in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala at 7 a.m. according to the cruise schedule.




The cruise ship offers a number of excursions on shore.  Since this is a new place for us, we'll probably have an excursion.  We have to keep it mild or moderate activity because Linda can't walk very far or fast these days.  The tours that we might take include:

*  Auto Safari Chapin - a drive-through zoo safari, home to species from Guatemala and Africa.

*  Easy Antigua Sightseeing - visit the city on a bus, and there is a shopping activity.

*  Several others are 8 to 9 hours long and are more expensive.

We leave Puerto Quetzal at 6 p.m. on our way to Puntarenas, Costa Rica on Monday.

The URL for this post is:

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Friday, September 27, 2013

Book Review: "North America's Maritime Funnel: The Ships That Brought the Irish, 1749-1852" by Terrence M. Punch

How did your Irish ancestors come to North America?  Did they emigrate from Ireland to the Maritime provinces of Canada in the period of 1749-1852?  If so, you probably need to have this book:

Terrence M. Punch, North America's Maritime Funnel; The Ships that Brought the Irish, 1749-1852 (Baltimore, Md. : Genealogical Publishing Company, 2012).  171 pages, $33.00 (soft cover), ISBN: 9780806319650, Item #: GPC4716

The publicity for this book describes it well:

"The Maritime Provinces of Canada--New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island--were a convenient destination for tens of thousands of Irish immigrants between 1749 and 1852. Functioning as the narrow end of a funnel through which thousands dispersed widely across the North American continent, the Maritimes offered easy access and cheap fares, beckoning emigrants from Ireland’s catchment areas along the waterways of Dublin, Londonderry, and Cork.

"In all, there is documentation on about 1,050 voyages between Ireland and the Maritimes, and in this book Mr. Punch provides a chronological list of the voyages, gives the names of the vessels, their port and date of departure as well as their port of arrival, indicates the number of passengers and sometimes their names and destination, and adds a great variety of information concerning passengers and crew and the voyages themselves.

"Supported by a history of Irish emigration, with an account of the economic and social causes of this historic upheaval, the book is built around a year-by-year listing of known voyages between an Irish port and a harbor in the Maritimes, with maps showing the movement of population from specific areas in Ireland to the Maritimes, and tables providing port-by-port statistics. But this is not just a list of the 1,050 voyages from Ireland to Maritime Canada. Scattered throughout the list of voyages are the names of passengers--some gleaned directly from passenger lists, others from related sources such as land records and newspaper accounts that by chance connect passengers to the ships, while in other cases references are given to previously published passenger lists. Only 123 passenger lists of the 1,050 voyages survive, but by dint of groundbreaking research, Mr. Punch has managed to fill in many of the gaps.

"To add to the layers of detail, the book further contains several useful appendixes, including: (1) Irish among the Founders of Halifax; (2) Ulster Irish Arrivals before 1773; (3) Irish Emigrant Petitioners for Land in Nova Scotia; and (4) Emigrants in the Ordnance Survey Memoirs, 1830s. These four appendixes alone contain the names of 1,523 people, and the book concludes with a ship index and an index of surnames.

"Accolades are due the author of this reference work, Terrence M. Punch, who in 2011 was inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada for his outstanding work in genealogy."

The Table of Contents includes:

*  Section 1 - Introduction
*  Section II - Ireland's Mounting Demographic Crisis
*  Section III - The Concept of Catchment Areas
*  Section IV - The Irish Ports in 1837
*  Section V - Ships from Ireland to the Maritimes, 1749-1852

*  Section VI - Annual Number of Voyages from Ireland to the Maritimes
*  Section VII - The Number of Irish Emigrants to the Maritimes
*  Section VIII - Maritime Ports of Arrival
*  Section IX - Tonnage and the Passenger Acts
*  Section X - Confusion in the Passenger Lists

*  Appendix I - Irish among the Founders of Halifax, 1749
*  Appendix II - Ulster Irish Arrivals before 1773
*  Appendix III - Irish Emigrant Petitioners for Land in Nova Scotia
*  appendix IV - Emigrants in the Ordnance Survey Memoirs, 1830
*  Appendix V - A Coffin Ship: The Aldebaran, 1847

*  Ship Index
*  Index of Surnames
*  Topical Index

This book costs $33.00 plus shipping costs from Genealogical Publishing.  You can order it here.

The URL for this post is:  

Disclosure: Genealogical.com contacted me recently and asked me to provide a review of this book. They mailed me a review copy for my personal use as remuneration for this review. 

Day 6 on the Celebrity Millennium Cruise - At Sea (Legacy Classes!)

Legacy Family Tree has about 250 persons on this cruise (out of about 2,100 passengers) which will leave San Diego and head for Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and we'll end up in Fort Lauderdale on 7 October.  You can see more information about the cruise at http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/CruiseInfo_2013.asp.

It's Friday, 27 September, so we will be at sea all day today.


Since this is an "at sea" day, Legacy Family Tree has a full day planned for us with excellent speakers in the Conference Center on deck 3, including:

9 a.m.  Small group and 1-on-1 sessions with Legacy team

10 a.m.  Geoff Rasmussen:  "Legacy Family Tree Especially for Beginners"

11 a.m.  Geoff Rasmussen:  Adding Sources for Dummies and Non-Dummies"

2 p.m.  Megan Smolenyak:  "Trace Your Roots With DNA"

3 p.m.  Megan Smolenyak:  "Solving Historical and Family Mysteries with DNA"

We will arrive in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala on Saturday.

The URL for this post is:

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Treasure Chest Thursday - 1850 U.S. Census for Simon Wade in Killingly, Connecticut

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

The treasure today is the 1850 United States Census record for the Lawton Wade household in Killingly, Windham County, Connecticut:




The snippet showing the Lawton Wade family is:


The extracted information for the Lawton Wade household in Killingly, enumerated on 5 September 1850:

*  Lawton Wade - age 34, male, a machinist, $100 in real property, born foster, R.I.
*  Aleph Wade - age 37, female, born Killingly, Ct
*  Lewis Wade - age 16, male, born Killingly, Ct.
*  Lucy A. Wade - age 14, female, born Gloucester R.I.
*  Julia A. Wade - age 13, female, born Killingly, Ct.
*  Henry L. Wade - age 8, male, born Bendville R.I., attended school
*  Mary A. Wade - age 4, female, born Killingly, Ct., attended school.
*  Simon Wade - age 82, male, a laborer, born Foster, R.I.

The source citation for this census record is:

1850 United States Federal Census, Windham County, Connecticut, population schedule, Killingly town; Page 339, dwelling #279, family #313,  Lawton Wade household, digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 11 September 2013); citing National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, Roll 51.

The person in this household that I am really interested in is Simon Wade, Lawton Wade's father according to other derivative works.  He was not found in the 1840 and 1830 U.S. census records, but I knew that he died in 1857 in Killingly according to Killingly town records.  Simon is my 4th great-grandfather.

This census record does add new information to my database by providing the names of the children of Lawton and Aleph (Handel) Wade.

The URL for this post is:

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Day 5 on the Celebrity Millennium - At Sea (no classes)

Legacy Family Tree has about 250 persons on this cruise (out of about 2,100 passengers) which will leave San Diego and head for Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and we'll end up in Fort Lauderdale on 7 October.  You can see more information about the cruise at http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/CruiseInfo_2013.asp.

It's Thursday, 26 September, so we will be at sea all day today.



There are no Legacy Family Tree classes scheduled for today.  We can still talk genealogy at the pool, in the cafes and bars, the dining room, the easy chairs along the decks, etc.  Or we can do something more strenuous like play shuffleboard or lie by the pool.

We will arrive in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala on Saturday.

The URL for this post is:

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 275: Parents at Our Wedding

I'm posting family photographs from my collection on Wednesdays, but they aren't Wordless Wednesday posts like others do - I am incapable of having a wordless post.

Here is a photograph from our wedding albums:




This is one of those traditional wedding group photographs - the happy bride and groom and their parents.

Pictured here are, from the left:


*  Leo Severt "Papa Lee" Leland (1911-2002), Linda's father
*  Edna May "Mama Lee" (Schaffner) Leland (1913-1979), Linda's mother
*  Linda J. (Leland) Seaver, the bride
*  Randall J. Seaver, the lucky groom
*  Betty Virginia (Carringer) Seaver (1919-2002), Randy's mother
*  Frederick Walton Seaver (1911-1983), Randy's father.

This picture was taken in the church after the wedding ceremony and before the reception.  I was gazing at the eternal beauty of Linda, or Papa Lee said something funny when the picture was taken.  She's holding the bouquet in her right hand in this photo and I'm still holding my pants up with my right hand.  Both sets of parents were happy to attend and participate in this ceremony.  It's the only time I saw my father in a tuxedo.  

The URL for this post is:

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Day 4 on the Celebrity Millennium - Puerto Vallarta

Legacy Family Tree has about 250 persons on this cruise (out of about 2,100 passengers) which will leave San Diego and head for Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and we'll end up in Fort Lauderdale on 7 October.  You can see more information about the cruise at http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/CruiseInfo_2013.asp.

It's Wednesday, 25 September, so we will dock in Puerto Vallarta at 12 noon according to the cruise schedule.



There is more than just these columns along the shore, of course.

The cruise ship offers a number of excursions on shore.  Since we've been here twice before, we may not go on an excursion, or we may just go shopping in the downtown area.

We leave Puerto Vallarta at 7 p.m. on our way to Guatemala on Saturday.

The URL for this post is:

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver


Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Tuesday's Tip - Search for Historical Record Collections for a Locality or Keyword on FamilySearch.org

This week's Tuesday's Tip is to: Use the Search field on the Historical ecord Collections page on FamilySearch to narrow your search to a specific state, country or record type.

The FamilySearch historical record collections page (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/list) lists all of the digitized collections in alphabetical order.  It is a list of over 1,647 now.  It is a pain to scroll down to my state or country of interest, and I have no idea what I miss in the process.  


The historical record collections have both indexed and unindexed collections - the unindexed collections can only be browsed (meaning reading the pages in the collection without using a search engine).  However, browsable collections are usually waypointed (meaning separated into logical components - by county, or by a year range, etc.).  Many Family History Library microfilms have been digitized and put into the online FamilySearch record collections in this fashion - so they are like "digital microfilm."

Here is the top of the Historical Record Collections page:


There is a Search field in the upper left-hand corner of the screen.  A user can input a keyword (a state, a country, a subject) in this field and the list changes to reflect the field entry.  for instance, I typed "texa" into the Search field and the list of 32 databases for Texas appeared:


The search works with any number of letters.  Note that I entered a partial state name above.

When I entered "mex" into the Search field, the list of 75 databases with "Mexico" in the title appeared.

The collection search works for keywords also.  When I entered "probate" into the Search field, the 65 databases with "Probate" in the title appeared.

When I entered "1881" in the Search field, the 10 databases with "1881" in the title appeared.

You can have more than one word in the search.  When I entered "england parish" in the Search field, the 14 databases with those words in the title appeared.  Punctuation does not matter in this search.

There is a wealth of free historical record collections on the FamilySearch site - and it has become the biggest and best FREE genealogical record collection site on the Internet.  Use the Search field wisely to find records of interest to you.

The URL for this post is:  

Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2013


Day 3 on the Celebrity Millennium - Cabo San Lucas

Legacy Family Tree has about 250 persons on this cruise (out of about 2,100 passengers) which will leave San Diego and head for Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and we'll end up in Fort Lauderdale on 7 October.  You can see more information about the cruise at http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/CruiseInfo_2013.asp.

It's Tuesday, 24 September, so we will dock in Cabo San Lucas at 11 a.m. according to the cruise schedule.



There is more than just rocks along the shore, of course!

The cruise ship offers a number of excursions on shore.  Since we've been here twice before, we may not go on an excursion, or we may just go shopping in the downtown area.

We leave Cabo San Lucas at 6 p.m. on our way to Puerto Vallarta on Wednesday.

Monday, September 23, 2013

Review: "Tracing Your Eastern European Ancestors" Special Magazine

Moorshead Publishing (Internet Genealogy, Family Chronicle and History Magazine) has gifted me with a digital copy of one of their excellent special magazines - "Tracing Your Eastern European Ancestors:" 



The publicity for this magazine says:

"
Family Chronicle and Internet Genealogy are pleased to announce our latest special issue in our continuing Tracing Your Ancestors series. If you are researching your ancestors in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Russian and Ukraine, our expert authors have provided up-to-date and information on resources that will assist you in your research."


The Table of Contents for this 84 page special magazine is:

*  page 6 -  10 Ways to Jumpstart Your Eastern European Research, by Lisa A. Alzo
*  page 12 - Using Maps & Gazetteers, by Dave Obee

*  page 20 - Online Resources for Researching Eastern European Ancestors, by Lisa A. Alzo
*  page 26 - Meet Your Matches: Helpful Tools from MyHeritage.com, by Lisa A. Alzo
*  page 29 - Top 10 Websites for Researching Your Polish Ancestors, by Lisa A. Alzo

*  page 35 - Finding Polish Records Online with Geneteka, by Donna J. Pointkouski
*  page 38 - JRI-Poland Expands Access, by Lisa A. Alzo
*  page 43 - Online Hungarian Research, by Lisa A. Alzo
*  page 47 - Researching the Hungarian Census, by Lisa A. Alzo
*  page 52 - Start Researching Your Czech Ancestors, by Scott Phillips

*  page 58 - Five Great Sites for Researching Your Slovak Ancestors, by Lisa A. Alzo
*  page 65 - Researching Your Ukrainian Ancestors, by Matthew Bielawa
*  page 71 - Researching Russian Ancestors, by Rick Norberg
*  page 75 - Benefits of Joining an Ethnic Genealogical Society, by Lisa A. Alzo
*  page 81 - Five Simple Ways to Share Old Favorites, by Lisa A. Alzo

Each of these articles discusses the topic in general and specific terms, and often provide lists of online or repository records with very useful information.  The emphasis of this special magazine is online websites and databases.


This special magazine should be very useful for genealogists and family historians just starting their Eastern European research, and for experienced researchers who have been away from the topic for several years.  

The "Tracing Your Eastern European Ancestors" special magazine can be ordered for $9.95 (US) plus $4.50 shipping (PDF download is $8.50) at 
84-pages.  The magazine, along with other books and magazines, can be ordered at their Book Store (http://internet-genealogy.com/Books.htm)

The URL for this post is:  


Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Disclosure:  I was provided a digital copy of this special magazine and was asked to review it.  The gift does not affect my objective evaluation of this magazine.

Amanuensis Monday - Post 190: 1859 Deposition of Luke Bigelow of Westminster, Mass.

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 a deposition in Worcester County, Massachusetts Deeds, dated 12 March 1859, by Luke Bigelow, taken at the request of Job Seaver, which mentions Isaac Seaver 3rd (my great-great-grandfather) in the deposition concerning land owned by Job's father and my Isaac's grandfather, Benjamin Seaver:


To Nathaniel Wood, and Goldsmith F. Bailey, two Justices of the Peace, within and for the County of Worcester, residing in Fitchburg in said County and each Counsellor at Law, …

I, Job Seaver of Westminster, in said County, hereby set forth that I now hold a deed of conveyance of a certain tract of land, lying in the northeasterly part of said Westminster, bounded northerly by land of Nathan Howard; Easterly by land of Aretas Raymond; Southerly by land of Susannah W. Seaver, & my other land, & westerly by a County Road leading to the house of Sewall Barnes, conveyed to me by Mary J. Seaver, by deed, dated December 21st 1833 & recorded in said County Registry of Deeds, Book 299, Page 113, the title to which I contend, was formerly in Benjamin Seaver, the father of said Susannah W. Seaver, & that a certain tract of land (of which the above described tract is a part), was conveyed by Gillman Thurston & Moses Thurston to Abner Whitney & the said Benjamin Seaver, sometime between 1803 & 1806, which deed has been lost never having been recorded.  And I am desirous of perpetuating the evidence that said deed was made and delivered by the said Gillman & Moses Thurston to said Whitney & Seaver, and this I think I can do, by Mr. Luke Bigelow of Westminster aforesaid, and I request that he may be summoned before you to give evidence of what he knows respecting the said subject matter, to be preserved in perpetual remembrance of the thing.  And all the persons interested, or supposed to be interested,in the title, claim or interest, in the tract of land first above described other than myself about which I am desirous of perpetuating the evidence of said Bigelow, are Samuel Munroe & Abigail Munroe, his wife, of Gardner in said county, James Bruce and Lucinda Bruce his wife, Isaac Seaver the third, and Isaac Seaver the first, & Abigail Seaver his wife, all of said Westminster.

March 14th 1859                                        Job Seaver (by mark)
Attest: Edmund A. Proctor    

Worcester ss: To Samuel Munroe and Abigail Munroe, his wife, both of Gardner in said County, James Bruce and Lucinda Bruce his wife of Westminster in said county, Isaac Seaver and Abigail Seaver his wife of said Westminster, and Isaac Seaver the third, of Westminster.
                                                       Greeting,.
Whereas Job Seaver, of said Westminster, has requested us to take the deposition of Luke Bigelow of said Westminster, yeoman, respecting the title & conveyance of a certain tract of land, lying in the northeasterly part of Westminster aforesaid, bounded northerly by land of Nathan Howard; Easterly by land of Aretas Raymond; Southerly by land of Susannah M. Seaver, & other land of said Job Seaver, and westerly by a road leading by the dwelling house of Sewall Barnes, from one Gillman and Moses Thurston, to Abner Whitney and Benjamin Seaver, the father of said Susannah W. Seaver, to be preserved in perpetual remembrance of the thing.  And Saturday the 12th of day of March instant at one of the clock in the afternoon, at our Office in Fitchburg in said County, are appointed the time and place for the said deponent to testify what he knows upon the subject matter aforesaid.  You are hereby notified that you may then and there present, and put such interrogatories as you may think fit.  Given under our hands and seals at Fitchburg aforesaid, on the first day of March in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.              Nath^l Wood {seal}
                                                            Goldsmith F. Bailey {seal}
                                                            Justices of the Peace, & Counsellors at Law.

Worcester ss; March 5th 1859.  I this day served the within notice upon the within named Samuel Munroe, Abigail Munroe, James Bruce, Lucinda Bruce, Isaac Seaver, Abigail Seaver and Isaac Seaver the third, by leaving at the last and usual place of abode of each of them a true & attested copy of the within notice.     
                                          Alpheus P. Kimball; Deputy Sheriff

Fees; Service    2.10
7 Copies            3.50
20 miles travel    .80
                        $6.40

I, Luke Bigelow of Westminster, in the County of Worcester and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, testify & say that I am eighty-four years of age the 26th day of April now last past, and now reside in said Westminster and was born there and that place has always been my residence.  I was acquainted with Benjamin Seaver who died somewhere about forty years ago; also with Abner Whitney both of said Westminster, also with Moses Thurston & Gillman Thurston, and am acquainted with a certain tract of land in said Westminster the boundaries of which are now as follows: It is bounded northerly by land of Nathan Howard, Easterly by land of Aretas Raymond; Southerly by land of Susannah W. Seaver & land of Job Seaver, and westerly by a County Road leading by the house of Sewall Barnes.  I once made a bargain for the purchase of the aforesaid tract of land, together with another piece of land lying northerly thereof with Moses Thurston aforesaid, who then with his brother Gillman Thurston owned the same.  This was I think sometime between the year 1801 & 1807.  The said Abner Whitney being desirous of owning said lands agreed with me for a consideration to give up my bargain, and let him have said lands, and then the said Abner Whitney took said Benjamin Seaver into company with him, as I understood, and it was agreed that said Moses and Gillman Thurston should deed both tracts of land, which were then all one piece of land, to said Abner Whitney & Benjamin Seaver, and then (which was between 1801 & 1807, according to the best of my recollection) we all to wit; Moses Thurston, Gillman Thurston, Abner Whitney, Benjamin Seaver & myself went to the store of Rufus Dodd in said Westminster and he made out a deed embracing the two pieces of land aforesaid, then all in one piece, from said Moses & Gillman Thurston, running to said Abner Whitney & Benjamin Seaver, which deed was signed & sealed by said Moses Thurston & Gillman Thurston in my presence, and I think I witnessed their signatures, to said deed, as also did said Dodd.  Dodd not being a Justice of the Peace, took the deed and carried it down to Abner Holdens, who was then a Justice of the Peace, and said Moses Thurston & Gillman Thurston, Abner Whitney & Benjamin Seaver went with him, and the deed was there acknowledged by the said Thurstons before said Holden I think, and then said Abner Whitney & Benjamin Seaver took the deed & left it in said Dodds hands to keep until they could make a decision thereof between themselves, & give cross quitclaims.  At the same time said Whitney & Seaver, I think, gave their note for the pay for said land at all events they secured the said Thurstons for the consideration given for said land.  The said Abner Whitney & Benjamin Seaver took possession of said land forthwith, & continued to occupy & improve the same.  How they divided between themselves, I do not personally know.  Some years afterwards & after the death of said Dodd, I understood the deed aforesaid was lost & could not be found among Dodds papers, but I never made search for it.
                                                    Luke Bigelow

Commonwealth of Massachusetts Worcester ss:  On this twelfth day of March in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred & fifty-nine, at Fitchburg in the County of Worcester aforesaid, the aforesaid Deponent Luke Bigelow personally appeared before us Nathaniel Wood & Goldsmith F. Bailey, both Justices of the Peace, in & for said County & Counsellors at Law and was duly sworn by us to testify the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, relating to the subject matter, for which this deposition is taken, and was then examined, and his testimony was taken in writing by us, as above written, and carefully read by us to the said deponent, and subscribed by him in our presence.  This deposition was taken at the request of Job Seaver of Westminster, in said County, in perpetual remembrance of the thing.  And Samuel Munroe & Abigail Munroe his wife of Gardner in said County, James Bruce & Lucinda Bruce his wife of Westminster in said County, Isaac Seaver & Abigail Seaver his wife of said Westminster & Isaac Seaver the third of Westminster were all notified, as appears by the annexed notice & return, but did not attend the taking of this deposition.
                                                        Nath^l Wood
                                                        Goldsmith F. Bailey
                                               Justices of the Peace & Counsellors at Law
Rec^d March 22d 1859 at 9^h 15^m A.M. Ent^d & Ex^d By Alex. H. Wilder, Reg^r

The source citation for this deed is:

"Massachusetts, Land Records, 1620-1986," digital images, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 28 May 2013) , Worcester County, "Deeds 1858-1859, Vol. 604-606," image 575-576 of 688, in Volume 606, Pages 442-444, Luke Bigelow deposition, land in Westminster, Mass., dated 12 March 1859, recorded 22 March 1859.

This is a fairly complicated deposition to follow.  It starts with a Justice of the Peace asserting that Job Seaver, an uncle of my Isaac Seaver 3rd, came to be in possession of a tract of land in Westminster, Mass.  Apparently, the deed was lost at some point in time.  So Job Seaver asked Luke Bigelow, who had owned the land before Benjamin Seaver (my Isaac's grandfather), to attest to the provenance of the land to his knowledge.  

In the process, a number of relationships are mentioned, including Benjamin Seaver, who was the father of Job Seaver, Susannah Seaver, Abigail (Seaver) Munroe (and husband Samuel Munroe), 
Lucinda (Seaver) Bruce (and husband James Bruce), and Isaac Seaver (and wife Abigail (Gates) Seaver, the mother of Isaac Seaver 3rd), and Isaac Seaver 3rd (whose father was Benjamin Seaver, Abigail's first husband).  This defines the entire family, except Isaac's father Benjamin who died in 1825.

Presumably, a deed was written for ownership of this land after the deposition was taken, recorded and filed.  I'll have to go look for that!

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Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Day 2 on the Celebrity Millennium - At Sea (no genealogy classes)

Legacy Family Tree has about 250 persons on this cruise (out of about 2,100 passengers) which will leave San Diego and head for Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and we'll end up in fort Lauderdale on 7 October.  You can see more information about the cruise at http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/CruiseInfo_2013.asp.

This is Day 2, and we are at sea having left San Diego on Sunday and we will be in Cabo San Lucas on Tuesday morning.


Since this is an "at sea" day, Legacy Family Tree has a full day planned for us with excellent speakers in the Conference Center on deck 3:

8:30 a.m.  Introductions and welcome.

9 a.m.  Megan Smolenyak: "Hey America, Your Roots Are Showing"

10 a.m.  Karen Clifford:  "Left Only a Trace"

11 a.m.  Geoff Rasmussen:  "What's New in Legacy Family Tree 8"

2 p.m.  Barbara Renick: "Eleven Layers of Online Searches"

3 p.m.  Dave Berdan: "Reporting with Legacy Family Tree"

Those classes should provide a full day of genealogy education.

Most of the classes have a handout which was sent to us in a PDF file by Legacy a few weeks ago.  I have it on my laptop and printed out some of the syllabus material.  I may just watch the presentations and read the syllabus rather than take notes on my tablet or laptop or phone.

I need to make sure I show up at the 8:30 session - I missed that last year in Oslo because I slept until almost noon (got up in time for lunch!

Note to self:  Take pictures!

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Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver



Sunday, September 22, 2013

We're Off! Cruising on the Celebrity Millennium with Legacy Family Tree

Linda and I have looked forward to our 16 day cruise on the Celebrity Millenium for a long time - we booked it in May 2012 while on the 2012 Legacy Family Tree cruise out of Oslo.

Legacy Family Tree has about 250 persons on this cruise (out of about 2,100 passengers) which will leave San Diego and head for Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and we'll end up in Fort Lauderdale on 7 October.  You can see more information about the cruise at http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/CruiseInfo_2013.asp:


Today we leave my home town of San Diego on our 16 day adventure, that includes four days of classes with renowned speakers on the cruise, including the Legacy Family Tree team.


The schedule for today includes:

11:30 a.m.  Boarding the ship begins.  Find the stateroom, and go have lunch.

2 p.m.  Meet in the Michael's Club on deck 4 for a casual meet-and=-greet with the Legacy team and pick up your lanyards and backpacks.  

4:30 p.m.  Mandatory muster call.

5 p.m.  The ship departs.  Join the Legacy team for a private cocktail party in the Cosmos Lounge on deck 11.  We have to bring the gift we received when we checked in to get into the Cosmos Lounge.

6 p.m.  Join the Legacy team for dinner in the Metropolitan Restaurant on deck 4.  Legacy has a dedicated area for the group, and they encourage sitting at a different table every night.  

Who knows what happens after dinner.  We'll be well of the coast of Baja California by then, and it will be dark!

One problem with a cruise like this is that we will not be able to access the Internet for (nearly) free while on the ship or probably docked in ports besides San Diego and Fort Lauderdale.  There is usually Internet access on the ship for an exorbitant fee and it is always really s-s-s-l-l-l-l-o-o-o-o-w-w-w-w-w-w.  So I'm probably not going to do that.  I'd rather read their books (they always have a decent library), walk the deck to work the meals off (I'm supposed to have only 500 calories at each meal - good luck with that!), play shuffleboard, play games in the lounge, or even go in the pool.  Oh yeah, converse with genealogists.

So here we go on our next cruise adventure - we have been to Cabo and Puerto, but we haven't been to Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama or Colombia.

Don't worry about Genea-Musings - we'll be having fun and making more family history with a bunch of genealogists!  What could possibly be better than that?  I do have some blog posts scheduled for these two weeks including posts about where we should be and what we might be doing while there.  The Follow-Up Friday, Saturday Night Genealogy Fun and Best of the Genea-Blogs posts will be on hiatus until the week of 7 October.

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Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver





Best of the Genea-Blogs - 15 to 21 September 2013

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

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

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


*  DNA Disappointment by Judy G. Russell on The Legal Genealogist blog.  Judy received her AncestryDNA update and was disappointed and confused by the results.

*  The Research Three-Step by Harold Henderson on the Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog.  Harold offers a fairly simple research methodology.

*  Disappointed in DNA Test Results? and Why So Much Excitement Over Ethnicity Predictions? by Debbie Parker Wayne on the Deb's Delvings in Genealogy blog.  Debbie comments on the AncestryDNA changes - excellent pieces.

*  Researching a (Genealogy) Roadshow by Gena Philibert Ortega on the Gena's Genealogy blog.  Gena was a researcher for this PBS show debuting on 23 September.

*  My Updated Ethnicity Results from AncestryDNA - A British Perspective by Debbie Kennett on the Cruwys News blog.  Debbie found her updated AncestryDNA results to be confusing too.

*  14 Ways to Find Someone's Death Information by Kenneth R. Marks on The Ancestor Hunt blog.  Ken has a great list.

*  The Problem of Borders by Philip Trauring on the Blood and Frogs: Jewish Genealogy and More... blog.  Philip highlights a video showing 1000 years of European borders.  Fascinating.

*  Your Family History Toolkit - Part 1, and Part 2 by Michael Leclerc on the Mocavo Genealogy Blog.  Here is excellent advice for building a toolkit.

*  1887 Suicide in the Barn and Why Didn't He Kill the Farmer? by Michael John Neill on the Rootdig.com blog.  Michael finds a newspaper article and analyzes the event and how he might find more information.

*  Will You Be Left Behind By FamilySearch Family Tree? by James Tanner on the Genealogy's Star blog.  James embraces the "one world tree" concept of the FSFT, warts and all.

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

*  XX Genealogy Things You Need to Know This Morning, 15 Sep 2013, 16 Sep 2013, 17 Sep 2013, 18 Sep 2013, 19 Sep 2013, 20 Sep 2013, and 21 Sep 2013 by Caroline J. Pointer on the 4YourFamilyStory.com blog.  This is a daily review from the genea-sphere.

*  Follow Friday - Favorites for September 20, 2013 by Heather Kuhn Roelker on the Leaves For Trees blog.

*  Genealogy Blogs, News & Tidbits, #8 by Deb Ruth on the Adventures in Genealogy blog.

*  Follow Friday ~ Fab Finds for September 20, 2013 by Jana Last on Jana's Genealogy and Family History Blog.

*  Friday Finds - 09/20/13 by Julie Cahill Tarr on Julie's Genealogy & History Hub blog.

*  News for Genealogist, September 20, 2013 by Michael Leclerc on the Mocavo Genealogy Blog.

*  Saturday Serendipity (September 21, 2013) by John D. Tew on the Filiopietism Prism blog.

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

Did I miss a great genealogy blog post? Tell me! I am currently reading posts from over 1400 genealogy bloggers using Feedly, but I still miss quite a few it seems.


Read past Best of the Genea-Blogs posts here.

NOTE:  Best of the Genea-Blogs will be on hiatus for the next two weeks because I will be enjoying the Legacy Family Tree Cruise through the Panama Canal.  Best of the Genea-Blogs will resume on Sunday, 13 October 2013.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/09/best-of-genea-blogs-15-to-21-september.htm


Copyright(c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver