Saturday, March 20, 2010

Hank Jones Speaking in Chula Vista on Wednesday, 24 March

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The Wednesday, March 24th program of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society features world-renowned genealogy author and speaker, Henry Z. "Hank" Jones, Jr. on "How Psychic Roots Became an Unsolved Mystery."

The program starts at 12 noon in the Auditorium at the Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library in Chula Vista (365 F Street). There will be a brief business meeting before the speaker's presentation.



Some comments about Hank's work:

"Amongst genealogical professionals who spend their days climbing the family tree, whenever something “off the wall” and strange happens that they simply can’t explain, one often hears the phrase “I’m having a Hank Jones moment.” In the course of his own genealogical work, Hank had his own experiences that defied logical interpretation – events the writer Rod Serling might have included in his classic “Twilight Zone” TV series. Serendipitous finds, synchronistic events, intuitive nudges leading him to information “where it shouldn’t have been.” Hank decided to find out if these unusual happenings were occurring just to him or if other family historians encountered these weird events also.

" He wrote to 200 of the world’s most respected genealogists asking them for input. To date, over 1,500 stories have come back to Hank describing unexplainable experiences that knocked the socks off of his colleagues. These stories make up the core of Hank’s two now-classic books, “Psychic Roots: Serendipity and Intuition in Genealogy,” now in their 9th printing from Genealogical Publishing Company.

"Hank’s talk is chock full of great, fun stories that most every family historian can identify with – experiences that happen to us in libraries, graveyards, churches, and anywhere we are pursuing our ancestors. Hank also talks about NBC-TV filming an episode of “Unsolved Mysteries” based on his books and the worldwide reactions resulting from the broadcast.

"This speech inspires the audience to acknowledge the common feeling we have occasionally of “being led” in our searches – and to go on and overcome those brick walls and blind alleys that pop up as we climb our family tree. We are all kindred spirits remembering and honoring our forebears."

This program is free for all to attend. We do request that you enter through the library Conference Room door in order to register your presence, pick up a copy of the program, and have a snack. There will be refreshments after the meeting also.

Please join CVGS members to hear and enjoy one of the foremost speakers in genealogy circles today! For more information, contact Barbara at 619-477-4140 or baribai@cox.net.

Surname Saturday - HILL (in Wiltshire)

On Surname Saturdays, I am posting family lines from my own ancestry. I am doing this in Ahnentafel order, and am up to number #43, who is Rebecca Hill (1790-1862).

My ancestral line back through only one more generation of my Hill ancestral families:

1. Randall J. Seaver

2. Frederick W. Seaver (1911-1983)
3. Betty V. Carringer (1919-2002)

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

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

20. James Richman (1921-1912)
21. Hannah Rich (1824-1911)

42. John Rich, born about 1793 in Hilperton, Wiltshire, ENGLAND, and died before 06 June 1868 in Hilperton, Wiltshire, ENGLAND. He married 14 February 1815 in Hilperton, Wiltshire, ENGLAND.
43. Rebecca Hill, born before 25 April 1790 in Hilperton, Wiltshire, ENGLAND; died before 07 March 1862 in Hilperton, Wiltshire, ENGLAND.

86. John Hill, born about 1766 in Wiltshire, ENGLAND; died before 13 January 1825 in Hilperton, Wiltshire, ENGLAND. He married 27 July 1788 in Hilperton, Wiltshire, ENGLAND.
87. Ann Warren. Children of John Hill and Ann Warren are: Rebecca (1790-1862); George (1791-????); Samuel (1792-1793); Lucy (1794-????); Samuel (1797-????).

That's as far as I've been able to trace this family due to the seemingly poor parish registers in this area of Wiltshire.

If any reader has more information about this family, please contact me at rjseaver@cox.net. I would love to learn more about this Hill ancestral line.

Fearless Females - Brick Wall

The Fearless Female blog prompt for today is:

March 20 — Is there a female ancestor who is your brick wall? Why? List possible sources for finding more information.

I've already posted something about Elizabeth Horton (Dill) Smith, so let's say Mary (or Molly or Magdalena) Hoax (or Houx, Houcks, Hokes, etc.) (ca 1768-1850). I have written several times about her - see The Elusive Mary Hoax (ca1768-1850, wife of Martin Carringer) for the problem statement.

I tried to find more information about her Hoax/Houx/etc. parents in Searching for Mary's Parents - Post 1 and Post 2. I wonder if I will ever finished this task? I doubt it. Drat! Where's the darn to-do list?

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Treasure Chest Thursday - Town Marriage Records

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It's Treasure Chest Thursday - time to "show-and-tell" some of the treasures found in the papers of my parents and their families. I scanned some of these papers in the February Scanfest, and recently converted some of them to JPG format.

When I wrote to the Westminster, Massachusetts Town Clerk to obtain birth, marriage and death records for some of my Seaver ancestors, they sent two pages of information. The first was the "Certificate of Marriage" that extracts the information from the original town record, Here is the certificate received for the marriage of Benjamin Sever (1791-1825) to Abigail Gates (1797-1867) in 1817:



Here is a photocopy of the page from the Westminster town record book for this marriage (the specific marriage of Benjamin Sever and Abigail Gates is framed in light blue):



Note that two dates are provided in the town records. The first is the notice of the Intentions to marry (15 February 1817) and the second date is the actual date of marriage reported to the town clerk (2 March 1817). Unfortunately, the record does not name the parents of the bride and groom, or their birthplaces.

While the extracted data on the marriage certificate is considered sufficient for heritage and lineage society membership, it is really a derivative source. The original source is the town record book entries.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 95: Emily Auble as young girl

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

I managed to scan about 100 family photographs in the Scanfest in January, and have converted the scanned TIF files to smaller JPGs, cropped and rotated as best I can. Many of these were "new" to my digital photograph collection.

Here is a photograph from the Carringer family collection handed down by my mother in the 1988 to 2002 time period:


I think that this is a photograph of my grandmother, Emily Kemp Auble, born 19 August 1899 in Chicago, Illinois, daughter of Charles and Georgianna (Kemp) Auble. I'm guessing that Emily is age 8 to 10 in this photograph. If so, then it was probably taken in Chicago, where the family resided until after 1910. In this photograph, her hair was not parted in the middle like the toddler photo posted last week.

Note the bow in her hair. I have several other pictures of her with a similar bow, including the pre-wedding photograph shown in this post. Note that in this latter photo, she does have her hair parted in them iddle. Perhaps the part in the middle was made for more formal photographs? I need more photos to confirm that supposition, I think.

Census Whacking St. Patrick's Day

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Here's an oldie but a goodie from 17 March 2007 on Genea-Musings:

I browsed through the 1920 census on www.Ancestry.com the other day looking for funny or strange names to help celebrate St. Patrick's Day and Irish names.There is a rich selection:

* Patrick Ireland resided in Matagorda County TX (born in Texas - who knew?)

* There are 87 females named Rose Ireland - many born in Ireland.

* St. Lester Patrick resided in Hillsborough county NH (born in Canada)

* Patrick Patrick resided in Macon County AL (born AL)

* Patrick Fitz Patrick resided in Queens County NY (born in Ireland)

* Paddy Green resided in Lucas County OH (born Ireland)

* Green Kelley resided in Hudson County NJ (born Ireland)

* There are 64 males named Patrick Green born in Ireland.

* Daniel Boy resided in Cuyahoga County OH (born in Russia)

* Daniel Erin Ireland resided in Wyandotte County KS (born in KS)

* Patrick Luck resided in Kings County NY (born in Ireland)

There were no people in the census with the surname of Leprechaun, but there were many with the surname Irish, Ireland, Green, Clover, etc.

Not being Irish, or having known Irish ancestry, or much experience researching in Ireland - I don't know all of the legends and songs that might provide more names to search. I considered going for city and county names - Cork, Dublin, Shannon, Limerick, etc.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Fearless Females - A Lunch Date

The Fearless Female blog prompt for today is:

March 16 — If you could have lunch with any female family member (living or dead) or any famous female who would it be and why? Where would you go? What would you eat?

I would love to have lunch with one of my third-great-grandmothers, Elizabeth Horton (Dill) Smith (born in 1791-1794 in Eastham, Barnstable County, MA, died 1869 in Leominster, Worcester County, MA) who married Alpheus Smith in 1826 in Medfield, Norfolk County, MA. They had children Lucretia Townsend Smith and James A. Smith.

I don't know Elizabeth's parents names for sure, although I suspect that they are Thomas and Hannah (Horton) Dill of Eastham, Barnstable County, MA. If so, there are several generations of Cape Cod and Plymouth Colony families in her ancestry. I would like to visit the young woman Elizabeth and her family in the mid-1810's in Eastham and hope that the attendees to the dinner would include her parents and siblings. Read Elizabeth Horton Dill: A Very Elusive Ancestor for more information.

Eat? Whatever they want to serve me...a real Cape Cod meal, I guess.

CGSSD Meeting on Saturday, 20 March: Roger Bell of Footnote.com

I received this notice from Linda Hervig of the Computer Genealogy Society of San Diego (CGSSD):

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The next meeting of CGSSD is Saturday, March 20, 2010.

The User Group for Legacy and Special Interest Groups on Web-based Cloud Computing and Beginning Computer Genealogy begin at 9:00. Check the CGSSD website, http://www.cgssd.org/, for last minute changes.

After a break and refreshments at 10:00, Roger Bell presents the main program, “Everything You Wanted to Know about Footnote.com.”

Roger Bell, Senior Vice President for Products for Footnote, Inc., will discuss Footnote.com's capabilities and how to most effectively use the website in doing your research. Footnote.com currently has over 61 million historical documents online with millions of documents being added monthly. Many are from the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Allen County Public Library, FamilySearch Archives, and Pennsylvania Archives, as well as other state and local libraries. Additionally, many documents are uploaded daily from the personal archives of contributing members wanting to share their treasures with others. Footnote.com has years of experience in the digitization business as iArchives, Inc. Starting in 1999, iArchives digitized historical newspapers and other archive content for leading universities, libraries and media companies across the United States.

Prior to joining Footnote in January 2006, Roger Bell was the Senior Director of Product Management at The Generations Network (TGN), where he managed the product teams responsible for Ancestry.com and Genealogy.com. Before joining TGN, Roger held the following positions: Director of Product Management at Sorenson Media, Inc., Co-founder and Vice President of Product Development at Digital Harbor, Inc. (sold company after three years of operation) and Director of Product Management at Novell, Inc.

We meet at the Robinson Auditorium complex on the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) campus in La Jolla. From North Torrey Pine Road turn at Pangea Drive into UCSD. Free parking is available in the parking garage on the left; use any A, B, or S space. Signs will mark directions to our meeting room. Please refer to our website http://www.cgssd.org/; or the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies website http://irps.ucsd.edu/about/how-to-find-us.htm for driving directions and a map.

I look forward to reading a description of Roger's program. Unfortunately, I will be away from San Diego on this date and won't be able to attend.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Fearless Female - Six Word Memoir

The blog prompt for today for Lisa Alzo's Fearless Females series is:

March 15 — Write a six-word memoir tribute to one of your female ancestors.

Energetic, loving, adventurous, smart pioneer woman.

That describes Abigail (Vaux) Smith (1844-1931) perfectly, I think!

Amanuensis Monday - Will of Jonathan Prescott (1645-1721)

Genea-blogger John Newmark (who writes the excellent TransylvanianDutch blog) started his own Monday blog theme several months ago called Amanuensis Monday.

I loved the idea, and recently decided to follow it in order to share ancestral information and keep the theme going, and perhaps it will expand to other genealogy bloggers.

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."

Jonathan Prescott (1645-1721), son of John and Mary (Gawkroger) Prescott, died testate in Concord, Massachusetts. He wrote a will on 23 November 1721. His probate records are in Middlesex County (MA) Probate Records, Probate Packet #18,082 (on FHL Microfilm 0,421,496), transcribed by Randy Seaver). The will reads:

"In the Name of God Amen I Jonathan Prescott senr of the Town of Concord in the County of Middlesx in the province of the Massachusets Bay in New England yeoman being of good and perfect memory praise be given to God for the same yet Knowing the unceertanty of this Life on Earth and being willing to settle things in order to make and ordain this to be my Last will and Testament hereby Revoking all former wills by me made and signed to be null and of none effect.


"In Primas my Soul I give in to the hands of Allmighty God that gave it in hopes of eternall Life through our Lord Jesus Christ and my body to the Earth from whence it came to be decently Interred at the Discretion of my Executors hereafter mentioned -- and after my funerall expences and debts satisfied and paid what worldly goods it hath pleased God to Endow me with all I do give and bequeath in manner as followeth --

"Item = Give and bequeath to my wellbeloved wife Ruth Prescott all that Estate which shee brought with her to me and the use of one Room in my dwelling house as Long as shee cause to Improve it which Room shewill and comonancy of Room in the cellar and Chamber for her use and Liberty of the use of the garding and of the pump for water as she shall have occassion and one cow and two sheep I give her for ease.


"Item I give and bequeath to my son Samuel Prescott the sum of five pounds he having all Ready Received a childs full portion of my estate.

"Item I give to my three Daughters Elisabeth Fowl Mary Miles and Dorothy Bulkley and my Daughter in Law Rebeckah Prescott to each of them Ten pound apeice in or as money to them or thier heirs within the space of one year after my decease.


"Item I give and bequeath to my son Jonathan Prescottmy medow at the South Bridge and to my son Benjamin Prescot my wood lott to them and thier Heirs and that all debts and accompt be in Consideration thereof Crossed And Canceled between them and myself till this day.

"Item I Give And Bequeath to my two sons Jonathan Prescott and Beniamin Prescott the Remainder of my whole estate both Reall and personall to be Equally Devided between them Each his share. Hereby Authorizing And fully Impowering my two sons Jonathan Prescott And Beniamin Prescott to be Executors together and severally of this my Last will And Testament In Witness whereof I the sd Jonathan Prescott have hereunto Set my hand And fixed my Seall the twenieth and third day of November Anno Domini one thousand Seven hundred And twenty one and in the Eight year of his majesties Reign over England &c.


"Signed Sealed And Declared .................................. his
to be the Last will And Testament ........... Jonathan P Prescott
of Capt Jonathan Prescott in presence ................. mark
of us
Wm Keen (?)
Nathll Jones
John Meriam Junr"


On 20 December 1721, Ruth Prescott, widow of Captain Jonathan Prescott late of Concord, deceased, declared her acceptance of the last will and testament of her husband and desired that it be proved. On 20 December 1721, Jonathan Prescott and Benjamin Prescott, joint Executors of the estate of their honored father, posted bond of 200 pounds with the Court.

The will was proved at the Cambridge Court on 21 February 1721/2, with Nathaniel Jones and John Meriam Junior taking oath that Jonathan Prescott was of sound mind when he signed his last will and testament.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Are your clocks set ahead?

Good Sunday morning, genealogy fans!

For almost all of the USA, today is the start of Daylight Savings Time.

Did you set your clocks AHEAD one hour last night or this morning? If not - please do it now (if DST applies to you).

As I mentioned last week, the Best of the Genea-Blogs is on hiatus until early April because of my sojourn away from home. I'll have to set my clocks ahead when we get back.

I've left some theme posts for you to read while I'm gone, so enjoy!