RootsMagic 6 Update - Adds Source Citations to Pedigree Charts

I saw Bruce Buzbee's social media item on Google+ today that RootsMagic 6 had been updated (to Version 6.3.0.6)  - adding source citations to pedigree charts and the ability to share Notes to FamilySearch Family Tree.  These are both welcome additions!

I updated RootsMagic 6 to the latest version, and then created a Pedigree Chart with source citations.

1)  From the "Family" View screen for myself, I clicked on "Reports" menu and selected "Pedigree Chart" from the dropdown list:

The "Report Settings" dialog box opened, and I could check the box to "Include sources" (to the left of the "Color coding" box):

 2)  I clicked on the "Generate Report" button on the screen above, and saw the five-generation pedigree chart (color-coded, with source citations):

Each person's name, and each vital record date, with a source citation has a superscript source citation number at the end of the name or date.

My five-generation  "Pedigree Chart" now has 8 pages - one for the chart and 7 pages of source citations.  Here is the top of page 2:

The source citations are presented as Endnotes.  Each Endnote may have more than one source citation included.  If there is more than one, then they all run together.  It is difficult to determine where one ends and the next begins, and it's difficult to tell how many citations there are in each Endnote.

On the screen above, Endnote 1 for my name has 3 source citations;  Endnote 2 for my birth has 3 source citations.  Endmote 4 for my father's name has 5 source citations.

I was concerned that the font on the Pedigree Chart for the superscript Endnote was too large.  The user can go to "Fonts" in the "Report Settings" dialog box and choose a smaller font size of "Chart Labels."  I made the "Chart Labels" set at 8 and it looks better:

3)  My preference is that each source citation be separated from the others in one Endnote - perhaps by using a blank line between each citation.  That would make the Endnotes more readable and understandable.  It would add length to the report, but that doesn't matter much to me - I don't usually print them out - I save them in my computer file folders and pass them to correspondents as a digital file.

Another good use for having source citation superscripts on the Pedigree Chart is to see what Names and Events don't have a source citation.  Until recently, I did not attach sources to Names, but now I can see if I've done it to my ancestral persons.

I like the addition of the superscript source citation feature to the RootsMagic 6 Pedigree Chart, and appreciate the addition.

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Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Treasure Chest Thursday - Post 191: 1852 Marriage Certificate for Edward Hildreth and Sophia Newton in Northborough, Mass.

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 1852 marriage certificate for my great-great-grandparents, Edward Hildreth and Sophia Newton in Northborough, Worcester County, Massachusetts.

The transcription of this document is (typed information underlined, handwritten information italicized):

THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

COPY OF RECORD OF MARRIAGE

TOWN OF NORTHBOROUGH

I, the undersigned, hereby certify that I am clerk of the Town of 
Northborough that as such I have custody of the records of marriages required
by law to be kept in my office; that among such records is one relating to the
marriage of:

    EDWARD HILDRETH         and       SOPHIA NEWTON       

and that the following is a true copy of so much of said record as relates to
said marriage, namely:

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

          Date of Marriage                       DECEMBER 25, 1852        
          Place of Marriage                      NORTHBOROUGH, MA   

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

                            GROOM                                         BRIDE

Name             EDWARD HILDRETH            Maiden Name          SOPHIA NEWTON    
Age/Birth Date              21                             Age/Birth Date                   18                    
Residence       NORTHBOROUGH, MA         Residence                NORTHBOROUGH, MA
Number of Marriage  1ST                               Number of Marriage           1ST                 
Place of Birth     TOWNSEND, MA                Place of Birth           VERMONT               
Name of Father  (NOT LISTED) HILDRETH  Name of Father         THOMAS NEWTON
Name of Mother    NOT LISTED                    Name of Mother         NOT LISTED         
Name, Residence and Official status of person by whom married:
         S.S. ASHLEY, MINISTER; NORTHBOROUGH, MA

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

Date of Record:   JANUARY 1, 1853       Volume    3    Page   1    Record   10   

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

I do hereby certify that the foregoing is a true copy from said records.
                                     Witness my hand and seal of said Town of Northborough on
{ Seal }                          this    13th      day of    SEPTEMBER       1994

                                                              Hillary Hamilton            
                                                              Northborough Town Clerk

The source citation for this document is:

Northborough, Massachusetts, Copy of Record of Marriage, Edward Hildreth and Sophia Newton; citing Volume 3, Page 1, Record 10 (1853), Town Clerk's Office, Northborough, Mass. (document dated 13 September 1994).

I received this document in 1994 by postal mail from the town clerk of Northborough.

Since this certificate was created 142 years after the marriage event, it is an official certified record of the marriage.  It is a Derivative Source, with Primary Information and Direct Evidence as to the names, marriage date and place.  The information was obtained  by the Town Clerk from the Town Clerk's record book - Volume 3, Page 1, entry 10.  I found the Town Clerk's record on Ancestry.com, but it's not the original town clerk's record - it's the list of marriages submitted in 1852 by the town clerk to the State of Massachusetts.  It does provide Edward's father's name as Zachariah, his occupation as combmaker, and Sophia's father's name as Thomas J. Newton.  

This is the only record I have that provides the name of Sophia Newton's father.  I also have a marriage record for Sophia's brother, Thomas J. Newton, that provides his father's name and his mother's name.  

Sophia (Newton) Hildreth's death record in 1923 lists her birthplace as Springfield, Vermont.  In the birth and death record for her son, Clarence Hildreth (1874-1878), and the death record for her daughter, Hattie (Hildreth) Seaver in 1920, her birthplace is given as Cambridge, Vermont.  

The URL for this post is:

copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Using RootsMapper and FamilySearch Family Tree to See Ancestral Migration Paths

Jana Last posed Tech Tuesday: Rootsmapper.com ~ Ya, This is Pretty Cool about six weeks ago, and I agree - it is pretty cool!  I had some time today to try it out and wanted to show you what I found:

RootsMapper is at www.RootsMapper.com, and the opening screen looks like this:

To do anything with RootsMapper, you need to have a FamilySearch account (they're free, just register and respond to an email, and you're in) and have yourself in the FamilySearch Family Tree (and it helps to have ancestors in the FSFT for several generations back in time).

There is a red FAQ button on the screen that provides more information about RootsMapper at http://blog.rootsmapper.com/p/faq.html

I logged into FamilySearch, and RootsMapper came back on and named Me as the "Root Person" with my FamilySearch Family Tree ID number (LH5N-K6D):

The screen above showed me a blue line from New England to California, and my name with my vital information in a popup box.

There is an entry field with a dropdown menu to the left of the green "run" button at the top of the screen above.  I selected 5 generations, and clicked on the green "Run" button (this is important - nothing happens until you do this!).

It took several seconds (maybe 30?) and the map below appeared:

Each dot and line on the screen is color coded - blue for males, and pink for females.  There is a number inside each dot - that represents the number of generations back from the Root Person.  In this case, I have a person with a "5" in France and two with "5" in England.

The user can click on the small X in the upper right-hand corner of the popup box with the name in it to close the popup box.

The user can zoom in using the mouse wheel, so I did that and saw:

Zooming in further on New England and the upper Midwest, I can see the migration trails easily:

I decided to do 8 generations (that's the maximum), and I saw (after zooming out):

And zooming in to see the area abetween Wisconsin and New Jersey:

On the screen above, I clicked on one of the dots in Ontario - the one for Mary Jane Hutchinson -  and it shows me the birth and death information in the FamilySearch Family Tree for her. 

RootsMapper only shows birth and death locations for each ancestor back up to 8 generations from the Root Person in the FamilySearch Family Tree.  Note that it doesn't identify intermediate migration stops on an ancestor's life's journey, only the beginning and the end.

I poked around clicking on the pink and blue dots, and I see quite a few wrong or at least questionable locations shown on the 8 generation Rootsmapper field.  That means there is more work for me to do in the FamilySearch Family Tree correcting and adding information in the Family Tree for my ancestors.

To print the map, the user has to make a screen shot and save it as an image file.  On my Windows computer, I clicked on F11to go full screen and then PrintScreen (PrtScr key), which put it into the clipboard, copied it (Ctrl-V) to a word processor window, right-clicked on the image and did a Save As with a file name to a file folder.

All in all, I agree with Jana - this is a pretty cool application that interacts with the FamilySearch Family Tree to show a user his/her ancestral birth and death localities.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/12/using-rootsmapper-and-familysearch.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

First Look at Legacy Family Tree Version 8.0 - Post 5: Census List

Rather than do a comprehensive look step-by-step at Legacy Family Tree Version 8.0 - I did that for Version 7.0, and 8.0 is an improvement on Version 7.0 - I'm going to highlight things I find as I work through the program screens.

Today, it's the "Census List."  I did not see a preview of this on the Legacy Family Tree cruise, but I noticed it today, wondered what it was, and so I checked it out.

1)  From any "View" screen for a person, click on the "Search" menu item, and then the "Census List" button:

The "Census List" button information box says "Create a list of potential people that might be found in a Census."

2)  The "Search" window for "Census List" opened and there were a number of fields to fill in and boxes to check or uncheck in the "Create a List of Potential Individuals" dialog box:

I chose the country "United States," the place "Massachusetts" and chose the census year "1940" which added the date in the Date Range field.

The "Average life span" field was set at "80," so I kept that.  I did not check the "Only include ages from" or "Only include gender" boxes.

I checked the boxes to:

*  "Include married names for wives"
*  "Include surrounding relatives"
*  "Italicize individuals who appear to have been already found in this census"
*  "Include calculated dates (underlined)"
*  "Horizontal lines between rows"

I did not check the boxes to:

*  "Include alternate names"
*  "Exclude individuals who appear to have already been found in this census"
*  Exclude individuals from this report with location percentages less than" 50% [the user can change the percentage]
*  "Display numbers on names"

There are two buttons at the bottom of the left-hand column under "Create the list or report" - one to "Create a Search List" and the other to "Create a Census List Report."

3)  I clicked on "Create a Search List" and saw:

There are 1224 names on the list from my genealogy database who might be in the 1940 U.S. Census.  If I click on one of the names on the list, their information appears on the right-hand side of the screen above.  I can click on the "Detail," "Edit," "Events," "Notes," "Family," "Sources" and "LDS" tabs to see more information for the highlighted person.

At the bottom of the screen above are buttons for "To Do," "Options," "Search," "Print" and "Help."

4)  Back on the "Create a List of Potential Individuals," I clicked on the "Create a Census List Report" and saw:

The 1224 individuals found using the search criteria are listed on 185 pages with the information requested, with columns for Name, Birth/Chr, Death/Bur, Age on Date, and Possible Location.

For those persons with a 1940 U.S. Census Event or Source, the name is in italics (indicating I've already found them in this particular census).  

For each person, the parents names, the spouse's name (if married) and the children's names are listed to aid the searcher in finding the right family in the census.  Females are in the list by their maiden name, but their married name is listed also.  

Each person in a family group that meets the search criteria is listed individually, so there is some redundancy in the list.  For instance, my father, Frederick Walton Seaver, Jr. has his own listing, and is included in the list item for his father and his mother also.  

There is a percentage number given in the "Possible Location" column, which probably depends on the known Events already in the database.  For instance, since I have a 1940 Census Fact for Frederick Walton Seaver Jr, the program says there is a 99% chance I'll find him in Leominster, Massachusetts if I search for him.  

5)  This Census List feature has a tremendous potential to help researchers find census records for each person on the list.  

There are some obvious problems with a list like this:  the main one is that the database is not complete for every individual.  Someone may have died, say before 1940, and I haven't found that record nor entered it into the database.  A female may have married again after a spouse died or divorced, and if that is not in my database with a marriage date, then the list may not include the more recent married name.  

All in all, this list will be very useful when I start my survey of the 1940 U.S. Census (and other census years also, and England and Canada as well) to enrich my database (that's a big To Do task for me).  

6)  You can Search right from this Census List (or any tagged group of persons) from within Legacy - I'll show that feature in a future post.  

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/12/first-look-at-legacy-family-tree_4.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 285: Moms and Babies in 1944

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.

The photograph below was given to me in a photocopy by my 6th cousin, Marnie, and her mother, Gay, on Monday when we met in La Jolla - I wrote about our meeting in A Dill Cousin Connection, and More.  Marnie's sister, Betty, provided the digital copy of the photograph, and one more similar photo also (both shown below).

These photographs were taken on May 27, 1944 in San Diego.  

In the top picture, the young ladies and their babies are (from left to right):

*  Marilynn and her 2-year old son, Terry
*  Gay and her 7 month old son, Bobby
*  Eleanor and her 9 month old son, Clark
*  Betty and her 7 month old son, Randy

In the bottom picture, the young ladies and their babies are (from left to right):

*  Jan and her son, Peter 
*  Dorothea and her daughter, Linda Ellen.
*  Betty and her son, Randy.
*  Marilynn and Bobby and Terry (Bobby is Gay's son)
*  Eleanor and her son, Clark
*  Harriet and her daughter, Virginia

I think that Gay took the bottom picture, and either Jan or Dorothea or Harriet took the top picture.

Of the six women in the bottom picture, only Jan was not from San Diego.  Jan was my father's sister-in-law, visiting her husband in San Diego (he was Captain of a U.S. Navy ship) from Massachusetts.

The five women from San Diego were all sorority sisters from San Diego State College in the 1938 to 1942 time frame.  They all married during the early years of World War II, and had babies in the 1942-1944 time.  This group stayed in touch with each other into the 21st century!

I didn't use the last names of the people because some of the children are still living (like me), and some of the mothers are still living (like Gay).  

This was a wonderful surprise to see and have the names identified by Gay on our visit on Monday.

My thanks to Marnie and Betty for sharing the photographs with me and allowing me to post them here.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/12/not-so-wordless-wednesday-post-285-moms.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

A Dill Cousin Connection, and More

Linda and I had a fun evening last night in La Jolla.  We visited one of my 6th cousins and her mother at the mother's retirement home.

The back story is:  I posted a photograph of the gravestone of Albert Freeman Dill (1840-1905) in Mount Hope Cemetery in San Diego - see One Stone at a Time (posted 29 November 2008).

In May 2012, I had emails from two different descendants of Albert Freeman Dill who found my blog post with the gravestone of Albert.  I wrote about the contact in Geneablogging works really well... (posted 24 May 2012).  One of the email correspondents lives in San Diego and is a great-granddaughter of Albert Freeman Dill, and the other correspondent is a great-granddaughter of Albert who lives in Vermont, but visits her mother regularly in La Jolla. 

So yesterday afternoon, I talked to Marnie, the Vermont great-granddaughter, and we arranged to meet Marnie and her mother, Gay, at Gay's care center at 5 p.m.  We got there on time, met and sat in the large room in the entry area of the center.  This center had been a resort hotel back in the 1930s, and Gay had been to dances in the entry area while in high school.  

Gay had known my mother, Betty (Carringer) Seaver, since 1938, and they both were members of the same sorority at San Diego State College.  The sorority merged into another in 1949, but the group continued to meet on a monthly basis - my mother attended right up to the end of her life in 2002.  Apparently, Gay still attends occasionally, although the ladies are up in years.

Gay wanted to know how we were related.  I took a relationship chart I created that showed that our common ancestors were Thomas Dill (1708-1761) and Mehitable Brown (1714-1758).  Gay and I are fifth cousins once removed, and Marnie and I are 6th cousins.  

I wanted to hear about Gay's memories of my mother.  Gay was one year behind my mother in school, but both went to San Diego High School before going to SDSC.  She said that my mother was so talented in Artwork and was one of the smartest girls she'd known.  

Gay wanted to know more about my mother's life...where did we live, what did she do, etc.  I recapped her life and described her homes, and where my parents were buried.  It turns out that Gay's family lived about one  mile from where Betty's family lived on 30th Street in San Diego.  They both remembered the Piggly Wiggly market on Juniper Street, the corner drug store, the Number 2 bus route, the rickety 30th Street Bridge before it was rebuilt, and the meandering streets of Burlingame.  

I added some family photos of Betty, our Seaver family, and my Seaver family to Dropbox before we went, and showed Gay and Marnie the pictures on my smartphone.  Gay had a photograph of herself and three other young ladies with their babies taken in May 1944 - my mother and I were in it!  And it was labelled on the back!  Marnie gave me a photocopy of the photo and I'll probably show it in Wordless Wednesday tomorrow.

I also brought printouts of the 1938 San Diego High yearbook pages that mention Gay, and the 1939 and 1940 SDSC yearbook pages with both Gay's and Betty's pictures on it.  She was happy with that, and giggled a bit about how young they all were.  

We took a picture of Gay, Marnie and myself, and here it is:

 Marnie and I had a chance to discuss her own family, and to talk a bit about the Dill research I've done.  She has a brother in San Diego, and two sisters living elsewhere.  She had some papers about Albert Freeman Dill who was a boat pilot in San Diego Bay, and there are several newspaper articles in the San Diego Union newspaper archives about him - he was kidnapped during the Chilean Civil War in 1891!  I may do some work finding those articles for her.  We may visit her in Vermont the next time we wander into New England.

This was a really fun genealogy experience, and two hours flew by quickly!  I think we'll get together again the next time Marnie comes to town.  It's amazing that we had a cousin connection, the neighborhood connection and the sorority connection.  Maybe we'll go visit Albert Freeman Dill's gravesite too.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/12/a-dill-cousin-connection-and-more.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

First Look at Legacy Family Tree Version 8.0 - Post 4: Origins Report

Rather than do a comprehensive look step-by-step at Legacy Family Tree Version 8.0 - I did that for Version 7.0, and 8.0 is an improvement on Version 7.0 - I'm going to highlight things I find as I work through the program screens.

Today, it's the Origins Report.  I saw a preview of this on the Legacy Family Tree cruise, and really looked forward to testing it out.

1)  From any "View" screen for a person, click on the "Reports" menu item, and then the "Other Reports" button and select the "Origins Report" item:

2)  The "Origins Report" dialog box opens and the user can choose from the options for the report:

I chose 12 generations; "Include all ancestors (exclude starting person)"; "Include location list and bar chart"; and "Go down to the state level."

3)  The "Origins Report" page took about 25 seconds to generate, and looked like this:

I made some closeups of the two parts to this report.  Here's the list of Origins for me for 12 generations of ancestors (which gets me back to the first generation of immigrants to New England and perhaps the earlier generation in Europe):

The Bar Chart" for the list above has only the top 12 items on the list:

4) I changed the number of generations to 6, and saw this list for all of my ancestors back 6 generations:

5) I checked the "Include ancestors only at the oldest generation" and saw this list for only the 12th generation back:

6)  The 12 generation list for all ancestors list indicated that I have 1640 known ancestral locations for 12 generations of my ancestors.  For reference purposes, I  have 8,190 ancestors in those 12 generations, but some (not many) are duplicates.  I don't have known ancestors or ancestral locations for about 80% of those 8190 ancestors, so this list and chart need to be considered with that in mind.  

If I had a complete list of ancestors back 12 generations, the 12th generation list above would look significantly different.  The number for Germany would be significantly higher - perhaps 20 to 30% (of course, it wasn't Germany then, but a number of smaller entities).

7)  This is an interesting report, but users need to be aware of the issues outlined above - it's only as good as the information in your data file, and if your data file does not include all of your ancestors back to the Nth generation, the results will not reflect the missing ancestors.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/12/first-look-at-legacy-family-tree_3.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Tombstone Tuesday - GEDDES in Mount Hope Cemetery, San Diego

I've taken quite a few semi-random pictures in the local San Diego cemeteries over the years - gravestones that I've been requested to find, gravestones that are interesting, and gravestones for early San Diego pioneers.  For the latter, I mean people who came to San Diego before 1900 and died there.

For Tombstone Tuesday this week, I'm going to post some of these that I've collected in the chance that someone will be searching for a family member and run across my blog post and think to themselves "So that's where they went!"

This week, it's George Geddes and his wife, Maria Sheran, and Maria's sister, Dicey Sheran:

The Geddes stone is one of the tallest in all of Mount Hope Cemetery in San Diego.  Here is a closeup of the inscriptions:

The inscriptions say:

GEORGE GEDDES

Born in East Liverpool Ohio

February 15, 1832

Died in San Diego, Calif.

April 29, 1892

---------------------------

MARIA SHERAN

Wife of George Geddes

Died July 31, 1908

---------------------------

DISIE SHERAN

Died July 27, 1930

In the 1880 U.S. Census, the George Geddes family resided in San Diego on Second Street (enumerated in ED 68, page 541C, dwelling #48, family #51, on NARA T9, Roll 72).  The household included:

*  Geo. Geddes - white, male, age 47, married, a Miner, born Ohio, father born Virginia, mother born Pennsylvania
*  Maria Geddes - white, female, age 32, wife, married, keeping house, born England, father born England, mother born England
*  Dicey Sherran - white, female, age 21, sister-in-law, at home, born Australia, father born England, mother born England.

In the 1900 U.S. Census, the Mariah S. Geddes family resided at 1307 Seventh in San Diego Ward 4, (enumerated in ED 194, Sheet 5B, Dwelling #115, Family #145, NARA T623, Roll 9):

*  Mariah S. Geddes - head, white, female, born Aug 1847, age 52, widow, 0 children born, born England, parents born England, immigrated in 1867, US resident for 33 years, no occupation, owns home free of mortgage.
*  Eliza D. Sheran - sister, white, female, born Apr 1862, age 38, single, born Australia, parents born England, immigrated in 1867, US resident for 33 years, no occupation.

One can draw some hypotheses from this information - that Maria and Dicey were sisters, their family moved from England to Australia between 1848 and 1859, and came to California in 1867.  George and Maria probably married between 1867 and 1880.

This is not my family, and I have no other information about them.  The San Diego newspapers for this time period are on GenealogyBank, and there may be stories and obituaries for George, Maria and Dicey that tell more about their lives.  There probably are birth records for Maria and Dicey in England and Australia, respectively.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/12/tombstone-tuesday-geddes-in-mount-hope.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

The Interactive Racial Dot Map of the United States

I posted Check Out the Census Dotmap - Can You Find Your House? on 24 January 2013, but it was all in black and white.

The Demographics Research Group at the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia has now published a "Racial Dot Map" with each person represented by a dot on the map according to racial information in the 2010 census.  Here is the page with the link to the Interactive Map:

Here is the Interactive Map for the entire USA (except for Alaska and Hawaii in the view below):

The Racial Dot Map has colored dots for each White, Black, Asian, Hispanic and Other/Multi-Racial person.

I zeroed in on the San Diego area:

And zeroed in on the Chula Vista area (maximum zoom on the website):




I can identify several features on the map above, including the strip of I-805 running vertically through the image.  I can also identify several relatively clear areas to the left of the freeway, and can see the general street pattern of Chula Vista (generally a quarter mile grid west of I-805).

If I open the screen image file above, and zoom in further in my Photo viewer, I can see individual pixels.  By identifying the freeway, and the small relatively open area to the left of the freeway (just to the left of the center of the image below), I can figure out where our house is situated.  I've drawn a black circle around a dot that represent my wife and I:

The website says:  "Each of the 308 million dots are smaller than a pixel on your computer screen at most zoom levels. Therefore, the 'smudges' you see at the national and regional levels are actually aggregations of many individual dots. The dots themselves are only resolvable at the city and neighborhood zoom levels."

Apparently, each pixel on my screen above represents one to several persons.  The circle approximates my location.  

I love maps... this one is especially colorful - it shows the racial diversity and concentration of the USA, and the housing patterns across the country.  I'm not making any judgments, just stating what I perceive to be reality. 

My thanks to Tamura Jones for alerting me to this map in his post on Google+ on 1 December 2013.

Can you find the representation of yourself on this Interactive Dot Map?

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/12/the-interactive-racial-dot-map-of.html

copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

First Look at Legacy Family Tree Version 8.0 - Post 3: Family File Statistics

Rather than do a comprehensive look step-by-step at Legacy Family Tree Version 8.0 - I did that for Version 7.0 and 8.0 is an improvement on 7.0 - I'm going to highlight things I find as I work through the program screens.

Today, it's the Family File Statistics.  I saw a preview of this on the Legacy Family Tree cruise, and really looked forward to testing it out.

1)  From ant View page, click on the "Tools" menu item and then the "Statistics" button:

The program paused for quite a few seconds (perhaps 10 or 20?) and then the "Family File Statistics" window opened, and the user can then see lots of interesting and probably useful statistics:

2)  At the top of the list above is:

*  Individual Statistics
*  Births by Era
*  Longest Living Individuals

The next set is:

In the screen above:

*  Longest Lifespan of Individuals (by century)
*  Longest Lifespan by Gender
*  Marriage Statistics

The next set of information:

*  Marriage Counts by Century
*  Longest Marriages by Century
*  Average Marriage Length by Century

Further down:

I stopped adding screen captures here...

Much further down are the Surname Statistics:

Skipping over some...we get to the end:

The Location Statistics are interesting!  

This is the most comprehensive list of family file statistics I've seen in any genealogy software program.  

When I first ran this, the list indicated that I had some errors in my database - I had one man in the database who had lived 1744 years (because I had left out a number in the birth date, had the year 102 instead of 1802!).  I fixed quite a few errors before I showed this to you.  

There is, of course, a "Potential Problem Report" that I'll show in a future post.  i'm embarrassed to show it to you now!

It's impossible to know how accurate the numbers for the averages are in my database (or in anybody's database).  Look at the average lifespan numbers - it's 44 for the 17th century, 35 years for the 18th century, 32 years for the 19th century, and 28 years for the 20th century.  I think the numbers are skewed by the number of persons I have with both a birth and death date.  The same thing happens with Average Marriage Length - the database summary says 31 years, but the ones listed by century have a maximum of 21 years.  Unless every entry in the database has both a birth and death year, and a marriage year, the averages are meaningless and are representative of the specific database and not society as a whole.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/12/first-look-at-legacy-family-tree.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Amanuensis Monday - Post 197: Will of Baltzer Spangler (1706-1770) of York, Pennsylvania

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 will of Baltzer Spangler (1706-1770) of York township, York County, Pennsylvania.  It was written 9 October 1770 and 17 October 1770 and registered in the Probate Court on 3 December 1770.  It starts at the bottom of the right-hand page on the first image below, and includes all of the second and third images:

A transcription of the will and codicils of Baltzer Spangler is (this is a probate court clerk transcription, and the original is in York County, Pennsylvania Probate Court Records, Volume C, pages 9-13):

[page 09]

1 In the Name of God Amen.

2 I Baltzer Spangler of York township in the County of York and province of Pennsylv-

3 ania Yeoman being sick and weak of Body but of sound and Disposing mind memory and

4 understanding Blessed be the Lord for the same and calling unto mind that all flesh is as

[page 10]

5 Grass and the Goodliness thereof as the flower of the field and Remembering what the

6 Lord said unto Hezekiah Set thy house in order for thee must die and not Live have this

7 ninth day of October In the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy

8 made and ordained this my Last Will and Testament in manner and form following.

9 In the first place I Recommend my immortal Soul into the Hands of Almighty God

10 my Creator Who Gave it trusting in the merits of my Ever Blessed Saviour and Redeemer

11 Jesus Christ for pardon and Remision of all my sins and an happy Admision into

12 the Regions of Bliss and Immortality and for my Body I commend it to the Earth to

13 be decently Buried at the discretion of my Executors hereafter mentioned Nothing doubting

14 but I shall receive the same by the almighty Power of God and as touching such Worldly

15 Estate wherewith it hath pleased Almighty God to bless me with in this life I give devise

16 and Bequeath and dispose of the same in the following manner and form.

17 Item My Will is that all my Just debts and funeral charges be paid off and discharged

18 as soon as conveniently may be after my decease by my Executors herein after Named.

19 Item I Give and Bequeath unto my dearly Beloved Wife Magdalena Spangler the

20 Cloaths press and all the Linnen and Sheeting and Ready money in the house at the time

21 of my decease together with two feather Beds and furniture as they now Stand a tea kettle

22 and tea furniture two pewter Basons two pewter dishes six pewter plates one pewter porringer

23 one pewter Quart Measure One dozen pewter spoons, one small Walnut Oval Table, four

24 Chairs, two delf Bowls two small Iron potts one Iron Ladle one Iron Shimmer one Large

25 Copper Ladle for dipping Water one Iron pott Rack, the Copper kettle and Spinning wheel

26 and Reel the Clock and Cease, one Looking Glass one small Walnut Box, the Close Stool Chair

27 a Large Iron pan with feet one small Washing tub one Bucket one pail one Brass-

28 Bucket one Glass Lantern, two Quart Bottles a Psalm Book and two prayer Book, one Grid

29 Iron, one Garden hoe, two Cows of Her own Choice, the Big Roan Mare Saddle and Bridle

30 the Negro Man Jacob and the Negro Woman Tammer her Choice of four sheep and of two

31 Beehives and of two hogs. My will is that my said dearly Beloved Wife shall have the

32 produce of my dwelling Plantation and all that thereon is for one full year after

33 my decease and that She Shall also have the Kitchen Cupboard.

35 Item I give devise and bequeath Unto my Eldest Son George Spangler the plantation

36 and Tract of Land whereon he now Lives being part of any Original Tract as the

37 same is more Laid out Containing one hundred twenty Acres or thereabouts he

38 paying thereout to my Executors hereafter named the sum of twenty five pounds Lawful

39 Money of Pennsylvania to hold to him, my said son George Spangler his Heirs and

40 Assigns forever Which sum of twenty five pounds Tender to be paid in one year

41 after my decease.

42 Item, I give devise and Bequeath unto my son Baltzer Spangler for the house and part

43 of the Lott whereon he now Lives, Situate on the north side of high Street in York town

44 Extending Back the wealth of his Buildings forty feet and then the whole Lott 6 be Equally

45 divided Between Him my said son Balzer and his Brother Daniel by an Eight foot

46 Alley to be Run through the remainder to the twenty foot Alley at the north End of the

47 said Lott To hold to him my said son Baltzer his Heirs and Assigns forever

48 and I also Give and Bequeath unto him my said son Baltzer the sum of twenty pounds

49 Lawfull money of the province aforesaid.

[page 11]

50 Item, I Give and Bequeath unto my son Michael Spangler the sum of fifteen pounds Lawfull

51 money of pennsylvania to be paid him or his order Yearly and every year during his Natural

52 Life to be paid by my son John as is herein after mentioned.

53 Item, I Give Devise and Bequeath unto my son Rudy Spangler the house and Lott he now lives

54 on Situate and being in high Street in York town of aforesaid Number 118 adjoining the

55 Lott of Teeter Uley deceased and William Mathews to hold to him my said son Rudy

56 Spangler his Heirs and Assigns forever, he paying thereout to my said hereafter named

57 Executors the sum of fifty pounds Lawfull Money of Pennsylvania, the sum of twenty

58 five pounds in one year after my decease and the other Remaining twenty five pounds

59 in the next Year following.

60 Item, I also give and Devise unto my said son Rudolph Spangler a certain Small

61 piece of Land containing one Acre and an half more or lesss as the same is now.

62 fenced adjoining the Town Land and Land of my son Baltzer to hold to him my

63 said Son Rudolph his Heirs and Assignes forever.

64 Item, I give devise and Bequeath unto my son Daniel Spangler the house and Parts of

65 a Lott of Ground he now Lives on Situate on the North Side of High Street in York town aforesaid adjoin-

66 ing the house and Ground Bequeathed to my son Baltzer the half Lott to Contain the Weadth of

67 the dwelling house and to be Equally divided off the said Baltzer's part by an Eight foot

68 Alley to be Run from the twenty foot Alley at the North End of the said Lott towards high

69 Street aforesaid one hundred and seventy three feet the Extent of which distance I allow to

70 be the middle of another Eight foot Alley to Lead into the publick Square of the said township

71 of York for the use and Convenience of my said Son Baltzer Spangler his Heirs and

72 Assigns forever, to hold to him my said Son Daniel Spangler his Heirs and Assigns

73 forever.

74 Item, I also Give devise and Bequeath unto my said Son Daniel Spangler a Small piece of

75 Land off my Original tract Adjoining my son Baltzer Spangler and Land hereafter

76 Bequeathed to Francis Koontz Containing one Acre and an half more or less as the same

77 is now fenced to hold to him my said Son Daniel Spangler his Heirs and Assigns

78 forever and I also Bequeath him my said Son the Sum of twenty pounds Lawfull

79 money of Pennsylvania.

80 Item I Give devise and Bequeath unto my son John Spangler the dwelling plantation on

81 Which I now Live with its appurtenances Situate in the Township aforesaid Adjoining

82 the Land of James Smith, Francis Bickle, Geo. Stevenson Conrad Holsbaum Geo Spangler

83 and Containing two hundred and twenty five Acres to hold to him my said Son John his Heirs

84 and Assigns forever, Upon Condition that he provides for his Mother my Dearly Beloved

85 Wife twenty Bushels of Wheat twenty Bushels of Rye twenty five Bushels of Oats fifty

86 pounds of heckled Hemp one hundred pounds of Beef one hundred and fifty pounds of pork

87 her Choise of four Rows of Apple trees Yearly and every year during her Natural Life

88 and allow her to Live in this my dwelling house as long as she shall think proper

89 and if she should not Choose to Dwell with him he shall Build her a Good and sufficient

90 Dwelling house upon such part of my said plantation as she shall Choose at her Requital

[page 12]

91 and shall also deliver her Sufficient fire Wood at her door And that he my said Son John

92 Shall pay unto my son Michael Spangler beforenamed the sum of fifteen pounds Lawfull

93 Money of Pennsylvania Yearly and every Year during the Term of his my said Son Michaels

94 Life and the sum of two hundred and seventy five pounds Lawfull money aforesaid in

95 manner following Vizt: twenty five pounds thereof on the decease of my beloved Wife

96 Magdalena and the sum of two hundred fifty pounds the Remainder thereof at

97 the decease of my said Son Michael Spangler Which said Sum of two hundred and Seventy

98 five pounds I order and direct to be Equally divided amongst all my Children the Children

99 of my Daughter Juliana only Excepted.

100 Item, It is my Will and I do order that notwithstanding the above bequest to my said son John

101 that should he my said son John depart this Life Without Lawfull Issue of his body

102 and he Possessed of the Lands above Bequeathed then and in such Ease the said Lands

103 to him Bequeathed shall become property and Right of all my Children Except the Children

104 of my aforesaid daughter Julia.

105 I also Give and Bequeath Unto my said Son John Spangler the New Waggon and Gears

106 the horse Called Pumer and the Youg Roan Mare the plow and harrow a Lock Chain two

107 Collars & two pair of Iron traces.

108 Item, I Give and Bequeath unto my Grandchildren Born on the body of my Daughter

109 Juliana deceased Vizt: Frederick Magdalena Hannah John and Elizabeth Bickle the sum

110 of ten pounds Lawfull money of Pennsylvania Each to be paid to them as they arrive to the

111 age of twenty one years.

112 Item I Give and Bequeath unto my Daughter Elizabeth now the wife of Francis Koontz the sum of

113 two hundred pounds Lawfull money of Pennsylvania to be paid her by my Executors in manner

114 following Vizt: the sum of fifty pounds part thereof in one Year after my decease and the

115 sum of fifty pounds Yearly until the whole is paid.

116 Item I give devise and Bequeath Unto my said daughter Elizabeth Koontz a small piece of

117 Land part of my Original tract Containing one Acre and an half more or Less as the same

118 is Now Laid out and fenced to hold to her my said daughter Elizabeth her Heirs and Assigns

119 forever.

120 And all the Rest & residue and Remainder of my Estate Real and personal not

121 herein before disposed of I order and direct the same to be Equally divided to and amongst

122 all my Children Excepting thereout the Children of my aforesaid Daughter Juliana.

123 And Lastly I do hereby Nominate Constitute and appoint my son Baltzer

124 Spangler and my trusty and well Beloved friend Michael Swoope Esquire my only and

125 Sole Executors of this my Last Will and Testament hereby Ratifying and confirming this

126 and no other to be and Contain my Last Will and Testament. In Testimony whereof

127 I have hereunto Set my hand and affixed my Seal the day and Year first mentioned

128 Baltzer Spangler {seal} Signed Sealed Published Pronounced and

129 Declared by the said Testator Baltzer Spangler as and for his Last Will and testament

130 who in his presence and at his request Signed our Names as Witnesses to be the Same

131 (Yearly and every Year during her natural life being first Interlind) George

132 Weller Michael Hahn Christopher Lauman Joseph Boude.

[page 13]

133 Be it Remembered that on the day of the date hereof I the above named Baltzer

134 Spangler do Will Order and direct my said son John Spangler to feed and find and provide the

135 Cows Mare and Sheep Bequeathed to his Mother with Good and Sufficient fother during her

136 Natural Life and as this was Omitted in the foregoing Will I have thought fit to

137 place it on this Codicil. Baltzer Spangler {seal} Sealed signed Published

138 and Pronounced by the testator as a Codicil to his Last Will and Testament in our presence

139 George Weller Michael Hahn Christopher Lauman Jos. Boude.

140 Be it Remembered that on the 17^th day of October 1770 I Baltzer Spangler the

141 Testator Within Named do hereby Impower authorize and direct my Executors in my

142 Last Will and Testament Named to Wit: Baltzer Spangler Junior my son and

143 Michael Swoope Esquire or any or Either of them to make Execute and deliver deeds and

144 other proper Conveyances in fee to my Several Children for the Several Houses Lotts

145 and Land Which I have in my said Will Bequeathed to them and also to make Execute

146 and Deliver a Conveyance or Conveyances in fee to such Other person or persons as I am

147 by Articles of Agreement or otherwise Obliged to do and Execute for Lands Sold them as

148 fully and to so good intent and purpose as if I myself were personally present and I do

149 Order and direct that all my Cloathing be given to my son Michael by my Executors at

150 any Reasonable time after my decease, together with a feather Bed he now lays in.

151 Baltzer Spangler {seal} Signed Sealed published pronounced and declared by the

152 said Baltzer Spangler as and for a Codicil to his Last Will and Testamt in the presence

153 of us George Weller Michl Hahn Jos. Boude Christopher Lauman

154 York County SS

155 Before me Samuel Johnston Esqr Deputy Register for the Probate of

156 Wills and granting Letters of Administration in and for the County of York in the Province

157 of Pennsylvania Personally appeared George Weller Michael Hahn Joseph Boude and

158 Christopher Lauman the four Subscribing Witnesses to the foregoing three several Instr-

159 uments of Writing and the said Michael Hahn Joseph Bounde and Christopher Lauman

160 on their Solemn Oaths respectively taken according to Law and the said George Weller on his

161 Solemn affirmation taken according to Law according to Act of Parliament (he being of the

162 People called Unitis Fratrum and conscientiously scrupling the taking of an Oath) do

163 severally say that they were personally present and saw and heard the above named Baltzer

164 Spangler sign seal publish and Declare the first of his within Instruments of Writing as and

165 for his Last Will and Testament and also say that they were personally present and saw and

166 heard the said Baltzer Spangler sign Seal publish and declare the two foregoing Instruments

167 of Writing last mentioned as and for Codicils to his said Last Will and Testament and

168 that at the Times when the said Baltzer Spangler executed the said Several Instruments of

169 writing in manner aforesaid he was of a Sound and disposing mind and Memory and further

170 that the said Deponents and affirmant Subscribed their Names to each of the said Instruments

171 of Writing respectively as Witnesses to the same in the presence of the said testator and at his request

172 Sworn & Affirmed and Subscribed before me at York this 3d Day of } George Weller

173 December 1770. Saml Johnston Dept. Regr.                                     } Michl Hahn

174                                                                                                        Jos. Boude

175                                                                                                        Christopher Lauman

176 A True Copy compared With the Original &c

177 Saml Johnston Dept Regr.

The source citation for this will, entered into the Probate Court clerk record book and accessed on FamilySearch.org, is:

"Pennsylvania, Probate Records, 1683-1994," digital images, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org), Baltzer Spangler will and codicils, written 9 October and 17 October 1770, registered 3 December 1770; accessed in York County, “Wills, 1749-1783, Vol. A-D,” Book C, pages 9-13, images 331 to 333 of 647.

The will names his wife Magdalena (maiden name was Maria Magdalena Ritter), eight children and several grandchildren, including:. eldest son George, son Baltzer Jr., son Michael, son Rudolph, son Daniel, son John, daughter Elizabeth Koontz, children of daughter Juliana Bickle.

My ancestry is through the son, Rudolph Spangler (1738-1811), who married Maria Dorothea Dinkel (1748-1835), and their son Daniel Spangler (1781-1851) who married Elizabeth King (1796-1863).

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/12/amanuensis-monday-post-197-will-of.html

copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

UPDATED:  Thank you to Geolover for the corrections - I proofread that twice (MEGO) and missed several items.  I didn't know about freckled vs. heckled... I corrected the items that Geolover noted, and found another one also.  When I'm transcribing this, I noticed that LibreOffice writer often autocorrects words at the end of a line for some reason...especially the word "the" become "thereafter" and I've seen others.  I need to turn that off somehow...