Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2024.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - A Prolific Dad
Your mission for Father's Day, if you decide to accept it, is to:
1) Determine who is one of the most prolific fathers in your genealogy database or in your ancestry. By prolific, I mean the one who fathered the most children.
2) Tell us about him in your own blog post, in comments to this blog post, or in comments on Facebook.
Here's mine:
I tried to find a way in Family Tree Maker 2010, Family Tree Maker 16, RootsMagic 4 and Legacy Family Tree 7 to do this in the software, but I could not.
One of the most prolific fathers in my ancestry is Zachariah Hildreth (1754-1828), who had 9 children by his first wife, Elizabeth Keyes (1759-1793) whom he married in 1777, and 8 more by his second wife, Abigail Hart (1775-1846) whom he married in 1794. The children by each wife were:
by Elizabeth Keyes: Aaron Hildreth (born 1778), Elizabeth Fletcher Hildreth, Hannah Hildreth, Zachariah Hildreth, Lucy Hildreth, Patty Hildreth, Fanny Hildreth, Nabby Hildreth, James Hildreth (born 1793).
By Abigail Hart: Abigail Hildreth (born 1795), James Hildreth, Joseph Hart Hildreth, Mary Hildreth, Jonathan Stowe Hildreth, Elizabeth Hildreth, John Hildreth, Levi Hildreth (born 1808)
Of course, not all 17 children lived to adulthood. Four of the children born to Elizabeth Keyes died in infancy or childhood, and 3 of those born to Abigail Hart died young.
The family story is that Abigail Hart was helping Elizabeth (Keyes) Fletcher care for all of her children when Elizabeth died after childbirth, and then stepped into the mother, and wife, role.
It looks like poor Abigail cut Zachariah off after child #8 was born in 1808. She was only 43, but he was 54. I wonder how many descendants Zachariah Hildreth has? Perhaps another SNGF topic sometime!
Happy Father's Day!!!
Surname Saturday - PLIMPTON (ENG > MA)
It's Surname Saturday, and I'm "counting down" my Ancestral Name List each week. I'm up to number 69, who is Mercy Plimpton (1772-1850), one of my 4th-great-grandparents.
My ancestral line back through nine generations of KNOWLTONs is:
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)
8. Frank W. Seaver (1852-1922)
9. Harriet Hildreth (1857-1920)
16. Isaac Seaver (1823-1901)
17. Lucretia Townsend Smith (1827-1884)
34. Alpheus B. Smith (1802-1840)
35. Elizabeth Horton Dill (1794-1869)
68. Aaron Smith , born 29 May 1765 in Walpole, Norfolk County, MA, and died 04 December 1841 in Medfield, Norfolk County, MA. He was the son of Moses Smith and Patience Hamant. He married 06 October 1795 in Medfield, Norfolk County, MA.
69. Mercy Plimpton, born 09 September 1772 in Medfield, Norfolk County, MA; died 13 April 1850 in Medfield, Norfolk County, MA.
Children of Aaron Smith and Mercy Plimpton are: Susanna Smith, Patience Smith, Mary Plimpton Smith; Alpheus B. Smith; Lucy Smith; Elizabeth Smith; Nancy Smith; Aaron Smith.th; Patience Smith;
138. Amos Plimpton, born before 16 June 1735 in Medfield, Norfolk County, MA; died 20 August 1808 in Medfield, Norfolk County, MA. He married 1756 in Norfolk County, MA.
139. Mary Guild, born 1735 in Walpole, Norfolk County, MA; died 20 March 1800 in Medfield, Norfolk County, MA. She was the daughter of 278. Nathaniel Guild and 279. Mary Boyden.
Children of Amos Plimpton and Mary Guild are: Molly Plimpton, Elizabeth Plimpton, John Plimpton, Amos Plimpton, Mercy Plimpton.
276. John Plimpton, born 18 August 1708 in Medfield, Norfolk County, MA; died 08 May 1756 in Medfield, Norfolk County, MA. He married 03 May 1731 in Medfield, Norfolk County, MA.
277. Abigail Fisher, born 10 September 1711 in Medfield, Norfolk County, MA; died 19 February 1785 in Medfield, Norfolk County, MA. She was the daughter of 554. John Fisher and 555. Abigail Smith.
Children of John Plimpton and Abigail Fisher are: John Plimpton; Amos Plimpton; Olive Plimpton; Abner Plimpton; Unity Plimpton.
552. John Plimpton, born 17 March 1679/80 in Dedham, Norfolk County, MA; died 19 January 1729/30 in Medfield, Norfolk County, MA. He married 13 November 1707 in Medfield, Norfolk County, MA.
553. Susanna Draper, born 01 August 1688 in Dedham, Norfolk County, MA. She was the daughter of 1106. John Draper and 1107. Abigail Mason.
Children of John Plimpton and Susanna Draper are: John Plimpton; James Plimpton; Daniel Plimpton; Elizabeth Plimpton.
1104. John Plimpton, born 16 June 1649 in Dedham, Norfolk County, MA; died 30 January 1703/04 in Medfield, Norfolk County, MA. He married 02 January 1677/78 in Medfield, Norfolk County, MA.
1105. Elizabeth Fisher, born 06 February 1658/59 in Medfield, Norfolk County, MA; died 13 May 1694 in Medfield, Norfolk County, MA. She was the daughter of 2210. John Fisher and 2211. Elizabeth Boylston.
Children of John Plimpton and Elizabeth Fisher are: John Plimpton; Henry Plimpton; Joseph Plimpton.
2208. John Plimpton, born 1620 in ENGLAND; died 19 September 1677 in Dedham, Norfolk County, MA. He married 13 March 1643/44 in Dedham, Norfolk County, MA.
2209. Jane Dammant, born 1626 in prob. Faversham, Kent, ENGLAND; died Aft. 1680 in Dedham, Norfolk County, MA. She was the daughter of 4418. Richard Dammant and 4419. Abigail.
Children of John Plimpton and Jane Dammant are: Hannah Plimpton; John Plimpton; Mary Plimpton; John Plimpton; Peter Plimpton; Joseph Plimpton; Mehitable Plimpton; Jonathan Plimpton; Eleazer Plimpton; Eleazer Plimpton; Lydia Plimpton; Jane Plimpton; Henry Plimpton;
4416. John Plumpton, born About 1579 in of Waterton, Lincolnshire, ENGLAND.
Child of John Plumpton is: John Plimpton.
There are five consecutive generations of John Plimptons on that ancestral name list of mine!
Are any of my readers descended from this Plimpton line? If so, tell me where you fit in.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Finding Nathaniel Wade's Wife's Name Online - Post 3
In the first post of this series, Nathaniel Wade (1709-1754) married Ruth (who?) in 1731? I described my evidence and conclusions that the maiden name of Ruth was Hawkins rather than Hopkins, which appeared in Volume 3 of James Arnold's Vital Records of Rhode Island, 1636-1850. In the second post, Finding Nathaniel Wade's Wife's Name Online - Post 2, I went through trying to find online text and database information about the marriage.
In this post, I'm going to survey the online commercial database services for the marriage of Nathaniel Wade in the 21 volumes of James Arnold's Vital Records of Rhode Island.
My first thought was that the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) (www.NewEnglandAncestors.org) would have the database, and I was right. However, they have transcriptions of the entries, and not images. I put Nathaniel Wade in the search fields, then selected Vital Records, and then Vital Records of Rhode Island, and saw this screen:
The marriage of Nathaniel Wade and Ruth Hopkins is the fourth item on the list. If you click on the "More" link in the screen above you can see all of the entries on the specific page with the search result entry. You can also advance page by page in the book.
Next, I checked World Vital Records. I put Nathaniel Wade in the search fields, and selected the Vital Records of Rhode Island from the list, and then found the match for Nathaniel Wade. The specific page from the book was displayed as an image. I could go backwards or forwards in the book using the arrows next to the page number:
Next was Ancestry.com. I used the Card Catalog to find the Vital Records of Rhode Island by Arnold (it wasn't easy, I finally searched the site for "Vital Record of Rhode Island" - the database book title is not spelled correctly!), then searched for Nathaniel Wade (exact, including similar meanings and spelling). There were 12 matches - the screen below shows some of them:
None of the 12 matches were for the marriage record of Nathaniel Wade and Ruth Hopkins in Scituate, RI. I know it's there, because I've found it in the NEHGS and WVR sites! I clicked on the fourth one down (the children of Nathaniel and Ruth in Scituate) and then used the page number field to browse until I found the record on page 30 of the book:
I wonder why it didn't find this page in the search, because the type is very clear. Did they not index every name in the book? I put "Ruth Hopkins" in the search fields and got:
Two matches, and it did not find the marriage record for Ruth Hopkins and Nathaniel Wade. What's up with this? It appears that the ONLY way to find reliable information in this particular database is to browse the 21 volumes rather than search them. That works fine, but is pretty slow. Are these index and/or search problems only for this database? Or is it worse than that - and nobody knows which databases have complete indexes?
Finding Nathaniel Wade's Wife's Name Online - Post 2
In the post Nathaniel Wade (1709-1754) married Ruth (who?) in 1731? I described my evidence and conclusions that the maiden name of Ruth was Hawkins rather than Hopkins, which appeared in Volume 3 of James Arnold's Vital Records of Rhode Island, 1636-1850.
This work by James Arnold is a set of 21 volumes that encompasses many town records (but not all), some historical newspapers, and other Rhode Island resources. The full set of these red-covered books are on the shelves of many libraries across the country. I've used them many times at the San Diego Family History Center.
I wondered if they were online, so I Googled ["vital records of rhode island" arnold] and found that there are no volumes of this work on Google Books. At least some of them are on the Internet Archive. [When I try to access Internet Archive files, my Internet Explorer freezes up and I end up having to shut IE down. Anyone else have that problem?] There does not appear to be another free website with all of the book volumes online.
I am going to search for the marriage of Nathaniel Wade to Ruth in all of the sites mentioned below.
There is one free database site with information about Nathaniel Wade, but without online images, and without any reference to the Arnold volumes. That site is the LDS FamilySearch site.
The "classic" site at http://www.familysearch.org/ has entries for the marriage of Nathaniel Wade and Ruth Hopkins in the Pedigree Resource File (31 entries for Nathaniel Wade, 4 with Ruth Hopkins, 22 with Ruth Hawkins, 4 for Ruth Howkins, and 1 for Ruth without a surname). All of these records were submitted by LDS members after 1990 (if I recall correctly). Here is a screen shot for one of the entries:
On this record, Nathaniel is listed as being married to Ruth Hopkins on 26 June 1731 in Providence and to Ruth Hawkins on 26 June 1731 with no town named. There were four submissions for Nathaniel Wade. The Ruth Hopkins information lists no parents for her and all six children. The Ruth Hawkins information lists her parents but no children.
This study points out the problems with the large mass of classic LDS FamilySearch records - there are many errors. But there are many researchers that got it right too! Perhaps the new Family Tree database will get it right and attach Ruth Hawkins as the wife of Nathaniel Wade.
I checked the LDS FamilySearch Record Search site for Nathaniel Wade records, and this was the list of matches:
There is a Rhode Island Marriages database, but the only Nathaniel Wade listed is not the right marriage.
In online family trees, there are 28 entries in the Rootsweb WorldConnect database for Nathaniel Wade born ca 1709 - 20 list Ruth Hawkins, 2 list Ruth Hopkins, 4 list both Hawkins and Hopkins, and 2 list no spouse. I'm not going to go into all of the other online family trees (e.g., Ancestry Member Trees, MyHeritage, Geni, etc.). My guess is that they will have both Hawkins and Hopkins for Ruth's surname.
Other genealogy websites with the marriage of Nathaniel Wade include:
* the Pane-Joyce Genealogy site - lists Ruth Hawkins
The next post will display some of the results of a search for the marriage of Nathaniel Wade and Ruth from three commercial websites.
Finding Nathaniel Wade's Wife's Name Online - Post 1
I posted the probate records of Nathaniel Wade (1709-1754) of Scituate, Rhode Island here and here, the will of his wife Ruth (Hawkins) (Wade) Hopkins here, and my Wade ancestral line here.
Reader Pam sent me an email this past week asking me what evidence I have that Nathaniel Wade's wife, and the mother of his children, was Ruth Hawkins, rather than Ruth Hopkins as stated in the 21 Volumes by James Arnold, the Vital Records of Rhode Island, 1636-1850.
On the surface, there is a case to be made for both names, based on the records available in books and online. Volume 3 of Arnold's work, for Scituate marriages clearly states that she was Ruth Hopkins. Web sites and family trees are about equally split between the two women.
Here is my evidence collection trail and conclusion:
Ruth Hawkins was born 14 March 1711 in Providence, Rhode Island to William and Elizabeth (Arnold) Hawkins. She married Nathaniel Wade (1709-1754) in Scituate, Providence County, Rhode Island on 26 June 1731 and they had six children - Simon, Dudley, Mercy, Ruth, Deborah, and John; all of them are listed in the Scituate, Rhode Island entries in the Vital Records of Rhode Island, 1636-1850 Volume III..
Nathaniel Wade died on 29 June 1754, according to his probate records. Ruth (Hawkins) Wade married Zebedee Hopkins on 9 February 1758 in Scituate, Rhode Island. They moved to Glocester, Providence County, Rhode Island, where Ruth Hopkins died on 7 December 1789, according to her probate records. In her will, Ruth's heirs were her sons John Wade, Dudley Wade and Simon Wade, and her cousin Sarah Hawkins, daughter of Uriah Hawkins. So it is evident that Ruth was married to a Wade.
The critical piece of evidence is found in the will of Elizabeth (Arnold) (Hawkins) Smith. Elizabeth Arnold married William Hawkins on 14 December 1704 in Providence, RI, and they had children Elijah, Uriah, Joseph, Ruth and Deborah Hawkins. William Hawkins died intestate on 8 October 1712 in Providence, leaving Elizabeth with five children. She married Israel Smith on 3 June 1718 in Providence, and they had four children, Stephen, Naomi, Elizabeth and Israel Smith.
Elizabeth (Arnold) (Hawkins) Smith wrote her will on 1 July 1758 and it was proved 17 July 1758 in Glocester, Providence County, Rhode Island. In her will, she names six children, including Ruth Hopkins, Deborah Waid, Elijah Hawking (deceased), Stephen Smith, Elizabeth Man and Neomia Angell. [By the way, Deborah Hawkins married Nathaniel' Wade's brother, Nathan Wade.]
Ruth (Hawkins) Wade married Zebedee Hopkins on 1 February 1758, and her mother, Elizabeth Smith, wrote her will on 1 July 1758, five months later. Good timing, eh? Of course, if she had written it a year earlier, she would have named Ruth Wade, and it would have been an obvious link.
So how or why did James Arnold put Ruth Hopkins as the wife of Nathaniel Wade in the Vital Records of Rhode Island, 1636-1850 book for Scituate marriages? I don't know - it may be that the Scituate town records has the erroneous entry, written by the town clerk based on what the informant - either Justice Stephen Hopkins who married them, or Nathaniel Wade. It may be that the town record is correct and that James Arnold transcribed it incorrectly. I have not searched the Scituate town records for the entry, and I don't believe that any other researcher has posted a transcription of that record online. It may have been published in books or periodicals, but I haven't seen it.
Where can you find the 21 Volumes of James Arnold's Vital Records of Rhode Island, 1636-1850? Many libraries have these books on the shelf. I'll tell you where you can find them online in the next posts in this series, with comments about the process on each web site.
The "lesson learned" here is that published books, even those done by careful researchers, are occasionally imperfect. Genealogy researchers need to consult all available resources - manuscript, book, periodical and online - in order to conduct a "Reasonably Exhaustive Search" as part of proving names, facts and relationships.
Thank you, Pam, for the question and for making me review the available resources. I had a fine time this week reviewing my notes, my records and online resources in order to answer your challenge. In the process, I found an excellent resource for information about the Hawkins and Wade families in Rhode Island - at the Pane-Joyce Genealogy website.
Follow Friday - The Family Curator
This week's selection is The Family Curator written by Denise Levenick:
Denise describes her blog as:
"In every family, someone ends up with “the stuff.” It is the goal of The Family Curator to inspire, enlighten, and encourage other family curators in their efforts to preserve and share their own family treasures."
Denise's recent posts highlight her experiences at the SCGS Genealogy Jamboree, but she writes extensively about finding, preserving and sharing your family artifacts and papers - your "stuff." She also provides a free monthly Blogger's Almanac (see here for the June 2010 issue).
To top it off, Denise is a gifted writer - read her articles, under the nom-de-plume of Penelope Dreadful, in footnoteMaven's online Shades of the Departed Magazine. If you want to read all of them in one sitting, there is a compendium of Penelope Dreadful stories are online at http://www.penelopedreadful.com/.
I look forward to seeing Denise at every SCGS Genealogy Jamboree in Burbank - it's in her back yard, and her smiling face and friendly demeanor brighten the long, hard blogging days of all genealogy bloggers in attendance.
If you are not reading The Family Curator, I encourage you to add it to your blog reader or favorites.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
WTFGDFIWS - why are some websites so dumb?
You don't want to know what the code words in my blog title are...I'm really, um, upset.
Here is a screen shot why:
In the mean time:
* I wasted about five minutes trying to make the, um, %& things go away
There. I have to get it out somehow, you know! I feel better now.
[Rant off...]
FamilySearch Advanced Search Capabilities
FamilySearch is gradually adding features to their Beta site at http://fsbeta.familysearch.org. A user can search for records on the FamilySearch Record Search site using the simple search fields on the Beta home page, shown below:
Notice the "Show Advanced" link below the "Death Year" field. If you click on the "Show Advanced" link, you see many more search fields to help you with your search:
* Death Place (with an Exact check box)
* Residence Place (with an Exact check box)
* Mother last name (with an Exact check box)
* Spouse last name (with an Exact check box)
There were 1,880 matches for my search terms, including many that were obviously not a Benjamin Seaver born in 1791. There were no matches for my Benjamin Seaver, born 1791 and died 1825 (which I didn't add to the search field). Presumably, that means that FamilySearch has no historical records for this particular Benjamin Seaver.
The match is a mention of Benjamin Seaver in the Revolutionary War Pension application for Nathaniel Houghton. The link to the record is to www.Footnote.com. The reference to Benjamin Seaver in that record is for the father of Benjamin Seaver (1791-1825), also named Benjamin Seaver, who did serve in the War.
While this match in the 1865 Massachusetts State Census is for a Benjamin Seaver, it is not the one born in 1791. It is for his grandson, born in 1854. The birth year, or age, for this person apparently was not indexed for the 1865 Massachusetts State Census on the FamilySearch Record Search site.
Treasure Chest Thursday - an Account Statement
It's Treasure Chest Thursday - time to find some record or artifact in my computer files or the big box of family treasures handed down by my ancestors.
I've mentioned the Della (Smith) Carringer scrapbook before. On one of the pages was this "Statement of Account:"
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Online Periodical Indexes - Maryland Historical Magazine
Browsing through the blogs, I ran across a link to the Maryland Historical Society's web page for the online copies of the Maryland Historical Magazine for 1906 to 2005. These are in PDF format - each issue is one file. And freely accessible to any researcher.
On the Maryland Historical Society website, I had to sign up with an email address, name and postal contact information:
Once I was logged in (without a confirmation email), I saw the list of the issues of the Maryland Historical Magazine. There was a search box so I entered "mcknew" in the box and clicked on the gold arrow to the right of the box:
There were only two matches:
I clicked on the second one, and the issue containing the search term opened:
The issue opened on the front cover of the magazine. I could have scrolled up and down. I chose to search for "mcknew" in the search box for this issue and was quickly shown:
This is the index for Volume 58 in 1963, and it refers to Page 149 of this volume. That is not in this particular issue, because this issue contains the index for the volume.
I guessed that page 149 would be in Volume 58, Number 2 so I went back to the list of volumes and selected that issue. The page shows:
This is a wonderful resource for Maryland historians and genealogists. While the search engine is relatively primitive, it is functional and easily understood and used.
I was happy to find this - it's one good example for other genealogical and historical societies. Hooray for the Maryland Historical Society -- they understand that having a forward-looking and searcher friendly policy, relative to its complete magazine run, will lure more members and readers than hiding it behind a firewall.
SCGS Jamboree 2010 Post Summary
Here is a list of my posts from the Southern California Genealogical Society (SCGS) Genealogy Jamboree held 11-13 June 2010 in Burbank, California.
* Checked in at SCGS Jamboree posted 11 June 2010
* Day 1 at SCGS Jamboree posted 11 June 2010
* My Saturday at SCGS Jamboree posted 12 June 2010
* Sunday at the SCGS Jamboree posted 14 June 2010
* Some SCGS Jamboree 2010 photos posted 15 June 2010
I tweeted several of the events - check out my Twitter feed at http://twitter.com/rjseaver for 11 through 13 June 2010.
Other genea-bloggers with Jamboree blog posts include (you'll have to scroll down to the week of June 11-16, or use the search feature on each blog):
Emily Aulicino - DNA - GeneAlem's Genetic Genealogy
Amy Coffin -- We Tree
Stephen Danko -- Steve's Genealogy Blog
Elyse Doerflinger -- Elyse's Genealogy Blog
footnoteMaven -- footnoteMaven
Kathryn Doyle -- California Genealogical Society and Library
Dick Eastman -- Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter
Ruth Himan -- Genealogy is Ruthless Without Me - lots of pictures!
Paula Hinkel -- Southern California Genealogy Jamboree
A.C. Ivory -- Find My Ancestor
Susan Kitchens -- Family Oral History Using Digital Tools
Denise Levenick - The Family Curator - Denise and her mother!
Thomas MacEntee -- Destination: Austin Family
Craig Manson -- GeneaBlogie
Miriam Midkiff -- Ancestories: The Stories of My Ancestors
Joan Miller -- Luxegen Genealogy and Family History - excellent photo collection on Facebook!
Cheryl Palmer -- Heritage Happens
Susi Pentico -- Susi's Chatty Performances on Genealogy
John D. Reid -- Anglo-Celtic Connections
Gwynn Socolich -- Gwynn's Genealogy Research
Gini Webb -- Ginisology
Becky Wiseman -- Kinexxions
Lastly, Taneya Koonce in Nashville created a collection of #scgs10 twitter posts here.
I know that I've missed some blog posts about Jamboree. Please tell me in Comments. I will update this post as more genea-bloggers add their comments or I find them in my blog reader.
CGSSD Meeting on Saturday, 19 June
The next meeting of CGSSD is Saturday, June 19, 2010.
User Groups for Legacy, RootsMagic, and Macintosh meet at 9:00 a.m.
After a break and refreshments at 10:00 a.m, Daniel Horowitz of MyHeritage.com presents the main program, “MyHeritage SmartMatching Technology: Find relatives without searching."
Smart Matching is a genealogy innovating technology which intelligently connects individuals from millions of family trees continuously, while helping genealogists make discoveries, collaborate and benefit from the work of their peers all over the world. Daniel Horowitz will explain how the MyHeritage program works and how it can benefit your genealogy research.
Daniel was born in 1971 in Caracas, Venezuela, where he obtained a degree in computer engineering. He was a computer instructor and teacher/director of the genealogy project “Searching for My Roots,” editing and creating the material to be used. He received the “Project of the year” award from his school in 2001, and his students received nine consecutive awards from 1997 to 2005 at the “Beit Hatfutsot / Museum of the Diaspora” international annual “My Family Story” competition. He was also a founding member and lecturer of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Venezuela. He has lived in Israel since 2005 where he is a member and webmaster of the Israel Genealogical Society (IGS) and the Horowitz Families Association.
Daniel lectures at various international conferences as well as for local genealogy groups. He has been at MyHeritage since 2006 and, since 2008, has been a board member of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies.
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 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.
(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 107: Unknown Chicago Family
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:
The only real clue is that this photograph was taken in a studio in Chicago - the Wald (?) studio at 683 Wentworth Avenue in Chicago.
My great-grandparents, Charles and Georgianna (Kemp) Auble resided in Chicago in the 1898 to 1911 time frame, and my grandmother, Emily Kemp Auble, was born there in 1899. This photograph came to me through their collection.
To the best of my knowledge, the only other Auble or Kemp family residing in or near Chicago in the 1898 to 1911 time frame was that of Georgianna's sister, Sarah Elizabeth (Kemp) Cropp (1862-1929). Her husband was Andrew Cropp (1863-1920), and they had children Arley (female, born 1890), Bruce (born 1892), Warren (born 1893), Gladys (born 1899), Blanche (born 1903) and Harvey (1905-1905).
If the photograph is off the Cropp family, then it was likely taken before the birth of Gladys before 1899. However, the young lady in the picture looks older than age 8 or 9, doesn't she? The boys could be ages 6 or 7, but they look a bit older than that. It could also be that Gladys Cropp didn't survive infancy - I don't have a death date or marriage for her, so the picture could have been taken around 1903, which might fit the apparent ages of the children better.
It is very possible, even likely, that this photograph is not of the Andrew Cropp family - it could be acquaintance or friend of the Aubles in Chicago.
I guess I need to do a bit more research on the Cropp family! Chicago Genealogy website and Ancestry census records, here I come!
If anybody from this family is reading this and recognizes the persons in the picture, please contact me via email at rjseaver@cox.net.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
New Modules on LearnWebSkills Genealogy Tutorial site
Debbie wrote:
---------------------------
I thought you might be interested in a couple of book "collections" that I have put together as part of my "Researching Your Revolutionary War Patriot Ancestor" tutorial at http://www.learnwebskills.com/patriot
First, county and town histories that include biographies of citizens can be extremely valuable in documenting family history. Using Google Books, Internet Archive, and BYU Family History Archive, I have organized several thousand links to free county and town histories at:
http://www.learnwebskills.com/patriot/countyhistories1.htm
Next, I have organized links to thousands of free vital records and probate records (check out the links for Massachusetts vital records) at:
http://www.learnwebskills.com/patriot/vitalrecords1.htm
Finally, with the 4th of July approaching, some of your readers might be interested in my links to free sources of Revolutionary War service at:
http://www.learnwebskills.com/patriot/revservice.htm
----------------------
Thank you, Debbie, for the very helpful email.
Readers - go check out the links to county and town histories, and the state vital record links. Debbie has made it very easy to find many online books and vital records.
I hope that she will add the county and town histories and vital records to the main learning modules at www.learnwebskills.com under the appropriate topics.
Online Resources - Genealogy Book Collections
Here is a list of six large online genealogical and historical book collections (in order of free then subscription sites):
* Google Books (http://books.google.com/) -- Free, more than anybody else, I think! Entries can be found using Google Search engine. Book page images. PDF or text file can be downloaded. Books can be added to online personal Google library and read online.
* BYU Family History Archive (http://www.lib.byu.edu/fhc) -- Free, more than 60,000 genealogy related books. Book page images. PDF file can be downloaded.
* Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org/details/genealogy) -- Free, more than 17,000 genealogy related books, plain text obtained by OCR. Text file can be downloaded. Entries can be found using Search engines.
* HeritageQuestOnline (http://www.heritagequestonline.com/, accessed only through a subscribing library) -- Free through subscribing libraries, about 26,000 books. Book page images. Individual pages can be downloaded as JPG images.
* Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com/) -- Subscription required, more than 20,000 books. Book page images. Individual pages can be downloaded as JPG images.
* WorldVitalRecords (http://www.worldvitalrecords.com/) -- Subscription required, more than 9,000 books. Book page images. Individual pages can be downloaded as JPG images.
If a reader knows of more large genealogical and historical book collections, please let me know and I will add to the list above. Thanks!
Some SCGS Jamboree 2010 photos
Linda and I took some photos at the SCGS Genealogy Jamboree in Burbank over the weekend, but many of them did not come out well. The flash on my camera stopped working so all of mine had to use natural light and required holding it still longer than usual.
Here are some photos, mainly from the Blogger's Lounge and the Blogger Summit.
1) Miriam Midkiff and Denise Levenick in the Blogger's Lounge:
2) Becky Wiseman and footnoteMaven in the Blogger's Lounge:
3) Randy and Linda Seaver in the Blogger's Lounge. Randy forgot to bring his "Genealogy is a lot like Sex" t-shirt, so had to wear his Einstein Genealogy shirt (partially obscured by his badge ribbons.
4) The ProGen study group took a picture on Friday night outside - I don't know who everybody is in this picture. I recognize Gwynn Socolich (front row, far left), Thomas MacEntee (front row, middle), Amy Coffin (front row, to right of Thomas), Randy Seaver (back row, behind Thomas), Tami Glatz (back row, back of Amy):
5) The Blogger Summit I panel - from left: Thomas MacEntee, Stephen Danko, Elyse Doerflinger, Miriam Midkiff, Randy Seaver:
6) Blogger Summit picture of genea-bloggers in attendance - 28 of us! Can anyone name all 28? I have 25 of them. Miriam Midkiff has a similar picture on her Facebook page with about 25 names.
7) Elyse Doerflinger graduated from community college on Friday. To honor our favorite college student, Tami Glatz had circulated an autograph book at NGS Conference and the Jamboree and many notable genealogists wrote encouraging words in the book for Elyse. Tami presented it to Elyse on Friday night in the Blogger's Lounge. Elyse was overwhelmed by the gift:
8) Some of the genea-bloggers posing in the Blogger's Lounge - from the left: Miriam Midkiff, Kathryn Doyle, footnoteMaven (in front center), Cheryl Palmer (in back center), Denise Levenick, Elyse Doerflinger (in back), Becky Wiseman (in front right)
9) A goodbye photo in the Blogger's Lounge on Sunday afternoon: from left: Thomas MacEntee, Joan Miller, Becky Wiseman, Randy Seaver, Susan Kitchens (center, in front), Miriam Midkiff, Craig Manson.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Why Don't Genealogical Societies put their Periodical Indexes on the Internet for Free?
One of the big mysteries of genealogy research, for me, is why genealogical and historical societies, large and small, don't have more of a web presence. Most societies have a fine set of periodicals and journals with popular and/or scholarly articles about genealogical or historical research. Some of those societies publish a list of the article titles, and even an every-name index, for each year. Some of those societies have their periodical and journal content imaged and on their subscription website for their members to access and use. But few publish these items on their website for free access by online researchers.
Is there any good reason why the societies should not publish their every-name index, and their list of articles, on a web site with open access for everyone? Surely such an article list, or an index, cannot violate copyright protections - it is usually the society that creates the list and index (the latter perhaps under contract).
It seems to me that an every-name index would be very tempting "subscription bait." To me, the advantages and benefits of having a freely available online every-name index and list of articles include:
* Online researchers using a search engine could find surnames and localities in the article list or every-name index and be led to the society website.
* Online researchers could find their surnames or ancestral names by browsing in the every-name index and be able to find the periodical at a repository to support their research.
* Online researchers who successfully find information in the publications would be more interested in subscribing to the periodical or joining the society.
What is the argument against such an article list and every-name index? That the society would lose revenue because they published a book years ago with an index? That really doesn't make sense to me - online genealogists aren't going to buy those index books - they don't even know that they exist. They have to be led kicking and screaming to a library or society library. Having an online index might lead those online genealogists to at least go to a library to view the the needed periodicals, and perhaps to join the society for further online access to the periodical.
Perhaps the cost of creating the article list or every-name index is the problem? I would buy that argument if the periodical in question had never been indexed. But most societies have indexed their periodicals already, and many are in a word processing format. We're talking text here, so the costs of creating web pages for the lists and name index are relatively low.
Of course, the periodical article titles, author and publication are available in PERSI - the Periodical Source Index published by Allen County Public Library. PERSI is online, but is behind the subscription wall on Ancestry.com and HeritageQuestOnline. Entries in PERSI do not show up in results from an online search engine.
One of the large set of virtually untapped genealogy resources are the periodicals of genealogical societies big and small. There may be absolutely wonderful genealogy gems hiding in the dusty stacks of these periodicals and nobody knows about them. In many cases, the local societies have copyright protections on their work, and won't put their materials online. So they continue to desiccate on dusty shelves in hidden repositories, safe from the eager searching eyes of genealogists. It's sad, really!
What about every-name indexes in books or on CDROMs? The same benefits would apply - the online researcher might seek out the book or CDROM to find the necessary information.
What do you think? Would genealogical and historical societies benefit from having a list of their articles online, and an every-name index for their entire, or even partial, periodical run? I think that they would. Certainly, genealogists would benefit! And they might be able to solve many thorny elusive ancestor problems in the process.
Which societies already do this, either on their website, for free, or behind their subscription wall? The one that I'm most familiar with is the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) that has had their New England Historical and Genealogical Register (since 1847) periodical page images and the associated every-name index online for members behind the subscription firewall for several years now. In addition, they have images and indexes online behind the subscription firewall for The Connecticut Nutmegger, The Virginia Genealogist, The American Genealogist and the New Netherland Connections periodicals. Having the online access to the indexes and the page images has kept NEHGS membership high and growing, even with the current economic conditions.
It seems to me that genealogical and historical societies that think "outside of the box" - thinking "what can I do to draw online researchers to my society" rather than "I need to hide my bushels of names under the firewall" - will thrive.
Sunday at the SCGS Jamboree
We had breakfast in the blogger lounge where they conveniently put the fruit, bagels, and juice breakfast bar (not free...) - and ate with several blogger friends.
I ran off at 8:30 a.m. to crash Elyse Doerflinger's class on "Using Your Computer, Video Camera and YouTube" in the Mini-course parlor. There was room for me, and I used both my digital camera and Flip video recorder to make several short videos which will never see the light of YouTube. Elyse is an excellent presenter and knows her stuff. I learned quite a bit about the freebies available to put the raw video through a file type converter, into an editor and then onto YouTube or RootsTelevision. Excellent class - thank you, Elyse!
I looked at the schedule, and decided to stay in the mini-course area and see if I could crash Tami Glatz's course on "Second Life" (scheduled to be done by DearMYRTLE, but she didn't attend and Tami stepped in). Tami had a short overview presentation of Second Life (it's a virtual world, with several genealogy rooms). Then she took the class through the process of signing up for Second Life, choosing an avatar and a name, going to the Welcome Center, learning how to walk, sit, jump and fly, and then to find the genealogy applications. Unfortunately, I got stuck in the signup process and never got to the Welcome Center. I felt like a dunce, but I don't think it was my fault. Another excellent class - thank you, Tami - I just wish I could have kept up.
Flush with my success in the mini-courses, I wandered out to the Exhibit Hall for awhile, then met Linda for lunch at 11:30, and we ate in the pool area, with SDGS Colleague Pam Journey joining us. I went and got our luggage out of the room and checked us out before the next series of classes. Linda went off to the other pool again...the girl is really tan now!
Well, the choice was to talk to genea-bloggers in the lounge or go to a class where I might embarrass myself by dozing off. I chose the blogger lounge, and spent the next hour blogging, talking and taking pictures as the genea-bloggers left one-by-one. In fact, I did so much of that that I missed going to the 2 p.m. class. Oh well - I'll just read the syllabus! To make up for that, I went over to the exhibit hall to say goodbye to friends, and spent time talking to Janet Hovorka, Tom Champoux and Michelle Pfister about genealogy and markets. Then I hustled across the street to the Subway to pick up foot-long sandwiches for dinner on the train.
Back in the bloggers lounge, we said our goodbyes and joined our CVGS and SDGS colleagues in the lobby for the shuttle to the train station. We had to wait 30 minutes in the shade until 4:25 p.m., but got our own downstairs area to sit on the train. However, there wasn't enough room, so I went upstairs to an empty car and stretched my legs out, took my shoes off and almost dozed off. I read the syllabus all the way home, with a short doze break before dinner, dinner after Santa Ana, and discussions with Diane about Jamboree, SDGS and genealogy. We got into San Diego at 7:50 p.m., and Ron picked us up and we were home by 8:30. I did read my email and blogs but not much else before bed at 10:30 p.m.
I don't have many pictures of the exhibit hall this time (mainly the same old displays and exhibitors, plus my flash wasn't working), but I do have some of many genea-bloggers. Other genea-bloggers have pictures too - lots of that going around. I will post some of my pictures later in the week.
SCGS reported that there were 1,700 attendees this weekend at the Genealogy Jamboree. The place was packed, even though they added the Pavilion venue (which seats about 300) and moved the Tech Zone out of the center of the exhibit hall (and into a room that wasn't well advertised - the Tech Zone could be a very useful place with many online subscription databases for FREE). Thank you, Paula Hinkel and Leo Myers, and the SCGS members who plan and execute this conference every year on a volunteer basis. It's a big job and they do it extremely well!
One of the major events that nobody has talked about was seeing Elyse receive her college graduation gift - a book with good wishes and autographs by genealogists from all over the country - Tami Glatz shepherded this book through NGS and SCGS and presented it to her late on Friday night. Elyse was stunned and appreciative.
I had a wonderful time. The memories will be of seeing all of my genea-blogger colleagues, meeting many for the first time, and sharing laughs, hugs, experiences and photos with them. It was wonderful to meet Becky Wiseman and Miriam Midkiff for the first time in person - it's like being a brother to all of these folks.
Amanuensis Monday - the will of Joseph Seaver (1672-1754) of Framingham MA
"A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another."
My subject today is the will of Joseph Seaver (1672-1754) of Sudbury and Framingham, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. He married Mary Read (1679-????) in 1701, and they had six children.
The will of Joseph Seaver was written 2 January 1753, and was proved 26 August 1754 (Middlesex County [MA] Probate Records, Probate Packet 20,066, on FHL Microfilm 0,421,515. It reads:
"In the name of God, Amen. I, Joseph Sever, of Framingham, yeoman, being of perfect mind & memory, do make this my last will and testament as followeth: I commit my soul into the hand of allmighty God & my body to the earth, decently to be buried by my Executor thereto ... God's pleasuer. And as Touching the Temprel Estate ... which God hath been pleased to bless me withall, I dispose of as followeth:
"Item: First, I give and bequeath unto my well-beloved wife, Mary Sever, one full third part of my Real Estate with house room where it shall be most conveniant for her in my building during her natural life, and also one third of my moveables estate to be at dispose for ever.
"Item: I give and bequeath unto my beloved son, Jonathan Belcher & to my beloved daughter Hannah Belcher and unto my grandson John Nickson equily and joyntly that is to say the one half to the sd. Jonathan & Hannah & the other half to sd John, to them, their heirs and Assigns for ever my homested farm which I bought of Capt. Robert Montgomery (including others I gave to wife after she ... of w/ ... estate) which is bounded as followeth: bounded Northeasterly by lands of the heirs of Thomas Frost, Southeasterly by lands of Hezekiah Stone, southerly by lands of Christopher Nickson, Westerly by lands of John Winch, Northwesterly by lands of Major Cutting, Northerly by land of Sd. Jonathan Belcher. Sd. premises containing about 100 acres etc. to Jonathan Belcher. Paying unto my daughter Abigail Walker twenty pounds lawfull money at or before the expiration of three years after my decease and twenty pounds lawfull money unto my daughter Elizabeth How at or before the expiration of six years after my decease. & the Sd. John Nickson paying unto my daughter Elizabeth How twenty pounds lawfull money at or before the expiration of three years after my decease. And to my daughter Abigail Walker twenty pounds lawfull money at or before the expiration of six years after my decease to be at their dispose of ever and that the Sd. John Nickson pay unto his sister Hepzibah Fairbanks eight pounds six shillings and eight pence lawfull money at or before the expiration of six years after my decease to be at her dispose forever if she be living otherwise to be paid to her niece sisters (viz) Mary Gieron, Elizabeth and Abigail Nickson equily.
"Item: I give & bequeath unto the heirs of my son Robert Sever deceased five shillings, my sd. son Robert having had his full portion in his lifetime.
"Item: I give & bequeath unto my beloved son Nathaniel Sever five shillings, he haveing had his full portion before.
"Item: I give and bequeath unto my grandson Daniel Belcher a certain tract of land containing about twenty acres which I had of my father Reed bounded northerly by Sudbury line, westerly by lands of Benjamin Eaton and partly Southerly and partly easterly by lands of Nathaniel Gibbs to him & his heirs & assigns for ever.
"Item: it is furthermore my will that before any of the above mentioned leagacies are paid that all my Just Debts and funeral charges be paid by the said Jonathan Belcher (out of the whole estate before any ... be made), whom I constitute and apoint my Executor in and unto this my last will and testament. In witness whereof I have here unto set my hand and seal this Second day of January one Thousand Seven Hundred fifty & three & in the 26 year of His Majesties Reign."
..................................... Signed & Sealed ..................... Joseph Sever
"in Presents of Danl Stone
...................... Ambrose Tower
....................... Josiah Browne"
"In witness of our Satisfaction in this will we have here subscribed our Names:
............................................ Mary Sever
............................................ Jonathan Belcher
........................................... Azariah Walker
........................................... John Nixon
........................................... Hannah Belcher
........................................... Elizabeth How
........................................... Abigail Walker"
"Satisfyed .......................... Nathl Seaver" [on next page of packet]
In this case, Joseph Seaver had previously given land to his sons Robert Seaver and Nathaniel Seaver, and he divided the balance of his estate to his wife and four daughters. Son Robert Seaver (my ancestor) had died before the will was written, and that is why Robert Seaver did not sign the "satisfaction" list.
Note the list of other names in this will - grandson John Nickson, his sister Hepzibah Fairbanks, and the niece sisters (of John and Hepzibah?), Mary Gieron, Elizabeth Nickson and Abigail Nickson. These three may actually be sisters, not nieces, of John Nickson and Hepzibah (Nickson) Fairbanks - Christopher and Mary (Seaver) Nickson had children Mary (Seaver) Gleason (who married Isaac Gleason in 1752), Elizabeth Nickson and Abigail Nickson.
Middlesex County, Massachusetts probate records were microfilmed by the LDS Church in complete probate packets, so these are the original handwritten documents and not a probate clerk's copy of the papers spread over several probate record volumes. Unfortunately, there was no inventory included in the probate packet. The widow, Mary (Read) Seaver, received a significant estate, and signed the "satisfaction" paper. I have not found a death record, a succeeding marriage record, or a probate record for her. It is possible that she died soon after her husband.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Best of the Genea-Blogs - June 6-12, 2010
* Sheri Fenley got her feet wet in compendia-making with It's Good To Be The Witch! on The Edcuated Genealogist blog - thank you, Sheri for the list!
* John Newmark compiled his Weekly Genealogy Picks on the TransylvanianDutch blog - great list!
* Great Koehl has a wonderful compendium on her Greta's Genealogy Bog blog in Follow Friday: 11 June 2010 - different from the other two!
Thank you all for the great reads!