Saturday, September 17, 2011

Day 12 of the Seaver Family History Mystery Tour

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Saturday was cool and pretty clear in southern Wisconsin - ideal weather to go exploring around the homesteads and cemeteries of Linda's Leland and Natvig families.  Here are the highlights:

*  We left the Super 8 in Madison around 9 a.m. and headed for Cottage Grove, where her Natvig family settled in 1862 and lived in Section 28.  Using the 1873, 1890 and 1899 plat maps, and then comparing Google satellite maps, I was able to identify where their land was located.  What is now Natvig Road was part of the road south from Cottage Grove to Pleasant Springs town.  We drove around, and took pictures of some of the houses now on the land owned by the Natvig family.  There are many dilapidated barns in this area, but I didn't see any buildings that looked like they were over 100 years old. 

*  The second stop was at the St. Paul Liberty Lutheran Church in Deerfield town, which is on Oak Park Road just north of US 12.  The church is absolutely beautiful, with large stained glass windows on the east and south sides of the building.  I knew that Linda's great-grandparents, Torger and Ann (Natvig) Leland, and her great-grreat-grandfather, Severt Leland, were buried there, along with Torger's brother, Frank Leland.  I just didn't know where.  We both walked it, and I finally found Severt in the back of the south section, directly in back of the church, almost to the cemetery line and on the right-hand side of the cemetery.   We then walked the right-hand section on the north side of the church, and I finally found the stones for Torger, Anna and Frank near the cemetery line in back and on the right-hand side of the cemetery.  I took pictures of the cemetery entrance and the stones.  They look pretty much like the ones on Find-a-Grave! 

*  We drove up to Deerfield and stopped at a gas station to ask directions to London.  The library was next door, so I went there and copies some pages from the 2005 Dane County government book, which was a plat map of each town with the current owner names, and the roads well defined. 

*  We drove to London (a small town in Deerfield town right on the Dane County border with Jefferson County) via London Road, and went down to Cambridge (in Christiana town south of Deerfield town).  We had lunch at the Lake Ripley small family diner - it was great and cheap.  Then it was back to London to find the Leland land in Section 23.  There was only one house on that 40 acres, and it didn't look 140 years old.   I took pictures, and other pictures of the countryside.  There sure are a lot of corn and soybean fields!

*  We were done exploring, so we headed for our next stop in Delavan in Walworth County.  We checked into the Super 8 there at 2:30 p.m. and I spent three hours on the computer reading my email, blogs, Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus.  I ran a little SNGF asking readers to guess where we were, based on the clues provided.  Kerry Bailey guessed the town we were in. 

*  We ate dinner at the Delavan Family Restaurant and had an excellent waitress who was very concerned about Linda's soy allergy problem, and bent over backwards to make sure she ate safely.  The wait staff at family restaurants seem much more attentive and concerned than the staff at chain restaurants. 

There were no great discoveries today - but it was interesting to walk around, and drive through, the areas where Linda's ancestral families lived and died. 

I probably should have taken the time to check the telephone directories for these areas to find the current residents and to call them for information.  I didn't have addresses for the houses however, so I didn't do that.  The Dane County plat maps provide the information so I can try to contact them when we get home.

On Sunday we will visit Old World Wisconsin, where the Four-Mile House, built by my third great-grandfather Ranslow Smith, has been moved to and restored, along with 50 other historic buildings. 

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - What did you do on your summer vacation?

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Hey genea-philes, it's SATURDAY NIGHT -- time for more GENEALOGY FUN!!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:

1)  Tell us what you did, genealogy-wise, on your summer vacation.

2)  Write your own blog post, comment on this post, or comment in a Facebook status post or a Google Plus stream post.

Here's mine:

I am currently on my summer genealogy vacation, so it's not done yet.  The vacation has included the FGS 2011 Conference in Springfield, Illinois; a one-day research opportunity at the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana;  a visit with geneablogger Jasia (and her husband) in St. Joseph, Michigan; one day of research in Dodge County, Wisconsin; one day of research at the Wisconsin State Historical Society Archives and Library, along with a visit to the Norwegian-American Genealogy Center.  It's not over... maybe I should have saved this topic until next week when summer is officially over (it's been cool here in Wisconsin - fall has arrived early).

Surname Saturday - CLARK (England > Medfield MA)

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It's Surname Saturday, and I'm "counting down" my Ancestral Name List each week. I am up to number 275, who is  Hepzibah CLARK (1699-1791), one of my 6th-great-grandparents. [Note: The 6th great-grandfathers have been covered in earlier posts]

My ancestral line back through four generations of CLARK  families is:

1. Randall J. Seaver

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

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

8. Frank Walton Seaver (1852-1922)
9. Hattie Louise Hildreth (1857-1920)

16. Isaac Seaver (1823-1901)
17. Lucretia Townsend Smith (1827-1884)

34. Alpheus B. Smith (1802-1840)
35. Elizabeth Horton Dill (1791-1969)

68. Aaron Smith (1765-1841)
69. Mercy Plimpton (1772-1850)

136. Moses Smith (1732-????)
137. Patience Hamant (1735-????)

 274.  Timothy Hamant, born 25 March 1699 in Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States; died 06 June 1774 in Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States.  He was the son of 548. Timothy Hamant and 549. Melatiah Clark.  He married 19 October 1727 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States.
 275.  Hepzibah Clark, born 02 February 1699 in Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States; died August 1791 in Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States.

Children of Timothy Hamant and Hepzibah Clark are: Mehitable Hamant (1728-1814); Elias Hamant (1730-1730); Timothy Hamant (1731-1731); Seth Hamant (1733-1771); Patience Hamant (1735-????); Timothy Hamant (1736-????); Basmath Hamant (1738-????); Dinah Hamant (1739-1813); Francis Hamant (1741-1808).

 550.  Joseph Clark, born 14 June 1664 in Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States; died 13 July 1731 in Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States.   He married 08 April 1686 in Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States.
 551.  Mary Wight, born 20 February 1667 in Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States; died 16 December 1705 in Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States.  She was the daughter of 1102. Thomas Wight and 1103. Mehitabel Cheney.

Children of Joseph Clark and Mary Wight are:  Mary Clark (1687-1717); Mehitable Clark (1690-1765); Hannah Clark (1692-1773); Esther Clark (1695-1774); Joseph Clark (1697-1731); Hepzibah Clark (1699-1791); Thomas Clark (1703-1776).

 1100.  Joseph Clark, born 27 July 1642 in Dedham, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States; died 04 September 1702 in Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States.  He married  25 June 1663 in Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States.
 1101.  Mary Allen, born 11 December 1641 in Dedham, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States; died 05 May 1702 in Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States.  She was the daughter of 2202. James Allen and 2203. Anna Guild.

Children of Joseph Clark and Mary Allen are:  Joseph Clark (1664-1731); John Clark (1666-1691); Jonathan Clark (1668-1690); Esther Clark (1670-????); Thomas Clark (1672-1690); Mary Clark (1674-1675); Daniel Clark (1676-1694); Lya Clark (1676-1676); Solomon Clark (1678-1748); David Clark (1680-1714); Moses Clark (1685-1685); Aaron Clark (1685-1759).

2200.  Joseph Clarke, born before 11 April 1613; died 06 January 1684 in Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States.  He was the son of 4400. Thomas Clarke and 4401. Mary Canne.  He married 15 April 1640.
 2201.  Alice Fenn, born about 1619 in England; died 17 March 1710 in Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States.

Children of Joseph Clarke and Alice Fenn are:  Joseph Clark (1642-1702); Benjamin Clark (1644-1724); Ephraim Clark (1646-1699); Daniel Clark (1647-1676); Mary Clark (1649-1732); Sarah Clark (1651-1704); John Clark (1652-1720); Nathaniel Clark (1658-1733); Rebecca Clark (1660-1740).

The vital records for these families were obtained from the town vital record books (the "tan" books). 

Information about the English ancestry is available in:

Christophet Gleason Clark, "The English Ancestry of Joseph Clark (1613-1683) of Dedham and Medfield, Massachusetts," New England Historic Genealogical Register, Volume 152, pages 3-23 (January 1998).

Friday, September 16, 2011

Day 11 of the Seaver Family History Mystery Tour

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Friday, September 16th, was an interesting research day, and fairly productive too.  Here are the highlights:

*  I arrived at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin (816 State Street) in Madison, Wisconsin shortly after 9 a.m.  My first stop was the Archives section on the 4th floor.  After filling out the registration form and receiving my researchers card, I asked the gentleman helping me where I might find Wisconsin State Senate records from March 1866 (the Devier J. Lamphier Smith name change).  My hope was that there would be something more - like a supporting file - than just the Senate Act granting the name change.  This Archive is very well organized - you check the online catalog, write the call number, box or volume number, shelf location, title and your name on a form and they bring the item to you within 5 minutes.  However, you can work on only one item at a time.  Because these were oversized books difficult to copy and fairly brittle, they permitted me to use my digital camera to obtain an image.  I found the Devier Smith name change in the Senate minutes, but nothing more.  Drat.

*  My next foray was into the Wisconsin Naturalization records for Linda's Leland and Natvig families.  I found a declaration for several of them, and several certificates too.  This was a two-step process - look in a physical card file for the names, note the box or volume, and then order the box with the documents.

*  I met Linda for lunch at the local Jimmy John's.  The WSHS is located on the edge of the University of Wisconsin campus, and there was lots of foot and bike traffic on the State Street pedestrian mall.  Then we walked back to the WSHS building and went into the Library section. 

*  I made a quick tour around the reading room, and only saw government documents, including many US census indexes, some cemetery transcription books, etc.  I asked where the county and family histories were located - there are four floors of book shelves in addition to the reading room!  I explored the county histories floor but many books of interest were off the shelf being imaged by Google Books.

*  Back in the reading room, I checked the catalog and then asked how to find pamphlets for several of the Dane County towns where Linda's ancestors resided in the 1860 to 1910 period.  I had to fill out order cards and submit them to the circulation desk.  I ordered four, but only two were available, so I sat in a big easy chair and read them.  I copied one of them on the copy machines - they were different - the copy is made face up.  I had to hold the pages down so that they could be scanned, so my fingers showed up in the copies.  The quality was poor.

*  I was done by 2:30 p.m., so we decided to go to the Norwegian-American Genealogical Center and Naeseth Library (415 West Main Street in Madison).  My goal here was to find local family history in Dane County for Linda's Leland and Natvig families.  The Center has a very helpful and knowledgeable staff, and a wealth of genealogical material concerning Norwegian records and American records of persons with Norwegian heritage.  I was really impressed!  I obtained copies of transcribed church records, articles from a book of Voss emigrants, and more.  The director worked with my genealogy reports on the families, and looked up material in his 300,000+ person database which included vital records, cemetery records, probate, and more.  I was able to add some dates to my database.  A visit by a non-member of the library costs $15, but it was well worth it to see the records and to discuss Norwegian research with the director.  It was a fast two hours!  Thank you to Linda's cousin, Bonnie Larson, a Genea-Musings reader, for the suggestion!

*  We rewarded ourselves for a long day in the stacks with a cocktail and a nice dinner at Outback Steak House, then back to the hotel to get ready for our trip into the Dane County countryside on Saturday - we'll be looking at Leland and Natvig home sites, gravestones, and churches. 

I wish that I could have had a whole week to explore everytihng at these repositories.  The Archives in particular has a wealth of resources all in one place.  The Library has a treasure trove of published books, and I didn't even try to look at newspapers there.  The NSGCNL has many more published books on Norwegian records since I did all of the research back in 1999.  Beggars cannot be choosers - I have to balance my research wants with Linda's absolute boredom when I do research in repositories. 

Stay tuned for the next riveting chapter in the SFHMT.

Follow Friday - Weekend Genealogy Fun

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Here are my recommendations for Genealogy Fun this weekend:

1) Listen to Geneabloggers Radio tonight (Friday night, 10 p.m. ET, 9 p.m. CT, 8 p.m. MT and 7 p.m. PT) hosted by Thomas MacEntee. This week's topic is  " Ancestors in Place – Genealogy, History and Context."  The special guests include:

Jane E Wilcox of the “Your Ancestors Want Their Stories To Be Told” radio show on Blog Talk Radio. Jane will discuss why it is so important to understand your ancestors in the proper context and in their own history.
*  Professional genealogist, author and genealogy educator Lisa Alzo about the various tools you can use to incorporate history into your family history research and writing.

2) Listen to the FGS Radio - My Society show on Saturday (2 p.m. ET, 1 p.m. CT, 12 noon MT, 11 a.m. PT) hosted by Thomas MacEntee this week. The topic is "TechSoup.org: Technology by the Bowlful for Non-Profits."  The  special guests are:

Ricci Powers, National Accounts Manager at TechSoup.Org. Ricci will explain how TechSoup.org works and how your non-profit society can reap the benefits of this amazing technology program.
*  We will highlight the The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania in our weekly Society Spotlight feature.

3) Check out the recent Webinars on:
Exploring FamilyLink.com and WorldVitalRecords.com by their founder, Paul Allen.
Facebook for Genealogists, by Thomas MacEntee (free until 26 September 2011).
Watch Geoff Live: Adding a Census Record, by Geoff Rasmussen (free until 19 September 2011
* "Newspapers for Genealogists: Using GenealogyBank.com to document every day of your ancestors' lives" with Tom Kemp.
* "Organizng for Success" with Karen Clifford (available free indefinitely from Legacy Family Tree)
* "The Power of DNA in Unlocking Family Relationships," with Ugo Perugo (available indefinitely from Legacy Family Tree)
* "Leveraging the Power of "We": a Watershed Event in Discovering Where to Find Your Ancestors (Research Wiki, Research Courses, and FamilySearch Forums)," with Michael Ritchey (available from Legacy Family Tree).
* RootsMagic Webinars (all free) available at http://www.rootsmagic.com/Webinars/
* National Genealogical Society (NGS) Videos (free to view) at http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/videos_online
Thomas MacEntee's Explorinar on Easy Website Creation (free to view).
Thomas MacEntee's Explorinar on Evernote - Easy Note Taking UPDATED (free to view)

4) Respond to my Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge, posted on www.geneamusings.com soon after 12 noon Pacific time (that's 1900 GMT for those who understand time zones).

5) Go to a local genealogical society program, or go to a library or repository with genealogical resources.  I'm on the road this weekend doing research in Wisconsin, but you can go to your local society program!

6) Add material (names, dates, places, notes, images, sources, etc.) to your genealogy software program. I can't do that this weekend, but you can.  Would you do some for me too?

7) Spend time with your family doing fun things.  

8)  Go to a local cemetery and clean stones, take gravestone pictures, or transcribe epitaphs for your local society, for Find-a-Grave, or a similar online service.

Whatever you decide, please tell us about your genealogy endeavors on a social network or in a blog post. You never know when your experiences may stimulate or encourage others to do useful genealogy work.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Day 10 of the Seaver Family History Mystery Tour

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We ate breakfast at Frank's Family Restaurant in Jefferson WI, then were off to Dodge County for exploration and research this morning.  We found Rolling Prairie in Dodge County easily (the intersection of County Rd I and Prospect Rd).  There was even a sign on a tavern announcing that it was Rolling Prairie, but the door was locked (it being 10 a.m.).  We took some pictures, and the owner came out wondering why we were around so early.  I explained, and asked if there were any oldtimers around who remembered the Smith Inn that was on the corner 30 years ago.  Nope... the southwest corner of the intersection had a relatively new house on it, so there were no vestiges left.  The northeast corner was also Ranslow Smith's land, and the Waldmeyer farm is now there. 

Then we were off to find the Burnett Corners Cemetery.  Find-a-Grave says that it is 1.7 miles west of County Road I on County Road B.  Not exactly... it is about 0.5 miles west of County Road I.  We almost whizzed past it.  Find-a-Grave has over 800 listings, and one of them is for the wife of R. Smith who died at age 60 in 1865.  That's my Mary Smith!  The photo on Find-a-Grave shows an in-ground stone with stone pieces nearby.  What are the chances I would be able to find it?  I reasoned that since it was 1865, there were few stones at that time, and it would be close to the entrance.  Sure enough, I essentially walked right to it while looking for in-ground stones.  I pulled some of the grass/sod/weeds around the stone so that I could see at least as much as is in the Find-a-Grave photo, and took my own photos.  I thanked  my third great-grandmother for raising such an interesting son, Devier J. Smith, and asked for her guidance to help me figure out who his birth parents were.

Back in the car, and Maggie (the GPS voice) guided us to the Beaver Dam (WI) Community Library, which was said to have Dodge County newspapers on microfilm with an index, plus more local resources.  We walked in, and I asked a young lady where the local history material was, and she showed me.  Then she asked if I was a genealogy blogger - it turns out her aunt has a Google Alert for "Beaver Dam" and saw my blog posts about the Smith family.  While Anita was telling me about their resources, a local newspaper reporter took some pictures, and asked me if I would permit them to be used in an article about local family history.  I said sure, gave her my name, and got to work in the newspaper indexes.  Anita said that the two major county history books were online, and she volunteered to email the links to me. 

The newspaper indexes spanned 1853 to the present, but included only births, deaths, marriages, probate and anniversary stories.  Unfortunately, there were no listings for my particular Smith or Vaux families.  Next was the cemetery books - they have a book for transcriptions (done back in the 1970s) of cemeteries in each town in the County - a whole shelf of books well organized with typed pages.  I found Mrs. smith and Walter Vaux in the Burnett town book.  There were plat map books (1859, 1873, etc.) and farm books (up to recent times) with nice maps of each town and the farm outlines with names.  There were several other sets of records also, but mostly for the 20th century.  This was an excellent local history collection with a lot of volunteer work to index and organize the material. 

I met Linda for lunch at a tavern in downtown Beaver Dam, and used the wait time to list the newspaper entries that I wanted to obtain using the Old World Wisconsin manuscript that I have.  I copied a few of the  pages that mentioned Ranslow Smith's Inn or house, but was unable to find about half of them.  The Dodge County Citizen newspaper in the 1855-1870 time frame was a weekly with four pages crammed with national news, local news, government information and advertisements in small type over 7 columns.  It is impossible (for me, at least) to scan these pages easily...lots of scrolling up and sideways using the keys on the microfilm reader.  I checked the dates for the marriage of Devier Smith and Abigail Vaux (4 April 1861), Mary Smith's death on 12 May 1865, the births of the children of Devier and Abby between 1862 and 1868, and the time of Devier J. Smith's official name change in March 1866, with no luck.  There were not routine listings of births, marriages or deaths.  I had more luck with the two obituaries of the brothers of Ranslow Smith in 1876 and 1889 - in that time period, there were long lists of births, marriages, deaths, travel news, etc.  So the newspapers were not as revealing as I had hoped...so I go onward to Plan C.

Anita told me that the Dodge County Historical Society had lots of old photographs, so we left at 3:15 p.m. to go there.  They close at 4, and Kurt Sampson, the archivist there, was closing up early.  I explained what I was after - a 1930 photograph of Ranslow Smith's Four-Mile Inn in Rolling Prairie, and we quickly found it in the photo files (which are separated by town in Dodge County).  He scanned it for me, gave me a print, and will send a digital copy by email tomorrow.  That was FREE (thank you, Kurt!) and was the "Catch of the Day" - no doubt!  I wish that I'd had more time there to inquire about vertical files and oldtimers stories, etc. 

We headed off to Madison and are safely ensconced in a Super 8 for the next two nights.  We ate at Cracker Barrel again, which is now off our "like" list because their salads are crummy.  All Linda could eat on the menu was Meat Loaf (yuck she says) and salads due to her allergies.  She's really struggled to find good meals on the trip. 

Friday is the visit to the Wisconsin Historical Society in Madison in search of Devier's name change information, plus newspaper information for Linda's Leland/Natvig families in Dane County.  If we have time, we may visit a Norwegian Heritage Museum too. 

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Days 8 and 9 of the Seaver Midwest Genealogy Tour

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Day 8 of the vacation tour took us from Fort Wayne, Indiana (a Genea-Mecca, if you know what I mean) to St. Joseph, Michigan to see genea-blogger Jasia (Creative Gene and several others) and her husband, Mr. Jasia.  We got there at about 11:30 a.m., sat and talked for an hour (big surprise, that, isn't it?), went to Jimmy John's for lunch (again...Linda can eat it), then MrJ and I took a walk about town while the ladies went shopping, visited the Nina and Pinta replicas at the harbor (interesting docent talks, small ships, absolutely mind boggling how they could sail those ships to the end of the earth), back to the house for more talking, and then to dinner at Clementine's and an ice cream afterwards.  Whew.  Their Internet service was down, so I was blogless yesterday (well, except for the one post I had pre-written). 

Jasia is everything I imagined and more - beautiful, funny, smart, opinionated, happy.  We've been blogging for five years or so, and we've shared our lives and interests online, so I knew her family background and interests.  They share time between their Detroit home and their condo in St. Joseph, which provides relaxation, photography and fun times.  I even know her "real" name, but I'm not telling!  What did we talk about?  The usual - our lives, our genealogy research, and genea-bloggers we know or know about.  You should see their dog, what a majestic and graceful animal.  He was very eager to get to know us and very well behaved.

Day 9 started with a sumptuous breakfast prepared by MrJ, and then we left at about 10:15 a.m. for our drive through four states to our hotel in Jefferson, Wisconsin.  It took five hours... due to the traffic in Chicago, the road repairs in every state, and two stops at the Oasis (food, restrooms, etc.) along the highway.  After getting into the room, I took Linda to the Wal-Mart across the street and took off for the Watertown WI library.  I found it, but it didn';t have much of interest to me.  The Dodge-Jefferson Counties Genealogical Society building in Watertown was not open (my mistake, I didn't double check the open times recently).  So I went back to the hotel in Jefferson early and Linda came back from shopping.  We went to dinner at Frank's Family Restaurant (excellent, cheap meal) and then for an ice cream (hey, I'm on vacation). 

Tonight I finally had a chance to check my email (about 100 messages) and Google Reader (about 500 messages) since Monday night.  Then a couple that Linda met at the pool knocked on the door, and wanted to talk about genealogy.  I can't resist being an evangelist!  They were nice, and I gave him my card.  I even showed off my blog!  Then I wrote this post. 

On Thursday, we are off in the morning for the site of the Ranslow Smith Four-Mile Inn in Rolling Prairie in Dodge County, the Burnett Corners Cemetery, the Beaver Dam Community Library (which has newspapers from the 1850-1870 time frame), and finally to a hotel near Madison. 

Stay tuned - I'm hoping for more genealogy fun on Thursday and the next three days!

CGSSD Meeting on Saturday 17 September Features Joel Weintraub

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The September meeting of the Computer Genealogy Society of San Diego (CGSSD) is this Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to noon, on the campus of UCSD, University of California, San Diego. See our map page for directions.

The next meeting will be held on 17 September 2011 from 9:00 am to noon. Here are the details:

9:00 - User groups: Family Tree Maker and Macintosh; SIG: New Websites
10:00 - Break, refreshments
10:15 - Announcements followed by:


Search Tools for the 1940 Census Opening -- by Joel Weintraub

While the 1940 U.S. Federal Census will not be available to researchers until 2012, preparations are already underway to make the geographical search tools and indexing available. Mr. Weintraub will discuss the unique aspects and questions of the 1940 Census, the 'undercount,' and divulge why we have to wait 72 years to access the Federal census returns. He will explore the Enumeration District Numbers and what the National Archives and the Morse One-Step web site are planning.

Mr. Weintraub is an emeritus Biology Professor at California State University, Fullerton and has won awards for his science teaching. He became interested in genealogy about 12 years ago, and volunteered for 9 years at the National Archives and Records Administration in southern California. Joel started transcribing streets within census districts in 2001 to help researchers search the 1930 U.S. Census (released in 2002). He was joined in the venture by David Kehs and Stephen Morse in 2002, and together, they have produced a number of online census searching utilities for both the federal and the New York State censuses on the Morse One Step Website. Joel has been working on finder aids for the 1940 census since 2005, and has given talks on that census starting in 2006.

We meet at the Robinson Auditorium complex on the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) campus in La Jolla. From North Torrey Pines Road, turn at Pangea Drive into UCSD. Free parking is available in the parking garage on the left; use any space other than those specifically reserved for UCSD vehicles. 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.

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 170: Gerry and Ed

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

Here is one of the most precious (to me) images from my Seaver family collection:


This picture is of Edward R. Seaver (about age 10) and Geraldine Seaver (about age 6) on a porch in about 1923.  My guess is that the photo was taken at their home at 290 Central Street in Leominster, Massachusetts, but I am not sure of that.

This photo was included in the Geraldine (Seaver) Remley "Red Album" of family photographs, and was scanned from the pasted page in that album.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Tuesday's Tip - Keep your Genealogy To-Do list(s) up to date

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This week's Tuesday's Tip is to -- create and keep an up-to-date to-do list for your genealogy research efforts - whether in repositories or online.

I have To-Do lists for the following:

*  Surname/Family History and Locality books that I want to review at a library.

*  Periodicals that I want to review at a library.

*  Books and periodicals that I want to purchase or subscribe to.

*  Websites that I want to check out.

*  Online databases that I want to mine for information about my ancestral families (including surnames).

*  Microfilms that I want to review at the FHC or FHL for specific families or records.

Once you have a set of To-Do lists, it is fairly easy to keep them updated.  Mine are in word processing documents, which I print out to take on a research trip.  When I have reviewed a book, periodical, microfilm or database, I note the place and date, and the results found in handwriting, then I update the list in the word processing document after the research trip.  If I find something of interest that is not on my list, I add it to the list at the repository with my notes.  I can then copy/paste the completed items to a Research Log file (also a word processing document) for a record of what I have done, and delete the item from the To-Do list.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Day 7 on the Seaver Midwest Genealogy Tour

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It took seven days, but I finally did some real genealogy (re)search work on our Seaver Midwest Genealogy Tour.  To review, Day 1 was a travel day to Springfield, Illinois (flew Southwest Airlines from San Diego to Chicago, then drove to Springfield), Days 2 to 5 were spent attending the Federation of Genealogy Societies Conference in Springfield, and Day 6 was another travel day to Fort Wayne Indiana (325 miles).

I carried my research notebook (complete with to-do lists and "already found" lists), but not my laptop, to the Genealogy Center at the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne.  Parking was easy in the underground garage, and I was there when the doors opened.  The Genealogy Center is in the northeast corner of a block-long library building - and it is impressive.  I had no sooner found a table to put my gear down than Curt Witcher came by to say hello and offer advice.  I asked him how to make copies, and he took me over to get a free copy card (copies are 10 cents each).  Then Michelle, a library employee, came around to tell me she read my blog, and I asked her how to use the online catalog.  She showed me, easy peasy!  Now I'm ready and it's only 9:10 a.m.

I went through my book "to-do" list in the online catalog and found about 80% of my targets were in the collection.  First up was the periodicals that I don't have access to in San Diego - and I copied about ten articles in the process and found about ten that did not apply. 

Then it was over to the Family History section, and I quickly found eight surname or multi-surname books that were on my list, and I copied about 150 pages.  The best of the bunch was the four volumes of The Ancestry of Eva Belle Kempton, 1878-1908 by Dean Crawford Smith, edited by Melinde Lutz Sanborn.  For each family sketch, the English background (if known), the bibliographic references, the vital record details, the family history details (including transcriptions of important documents), and then the family summary is provided, all referenced to original or authoritative derivative sources.  That's the kind of book I want to produce eventually.

It was lunch time, so I asked Michelle where a McDonalds was, and she gave me a map that had 45 restaurants within five blocks of the library.  I walked the three short blocks to McDonalds, and had my usual Randy Meal (6 chicken nuggets, three chocolate chip cookies, a small chocolate shake) for $5.46 (the cheapest I've found in Chula Vista is $6.83 for the Randy Meal).  I hiked back to the library - elapsed time for lunch was 35 minutes. 

I wanted to browse through the state and county books, including Prince Georges County MD, Dodge and Dane Counties WI, Louisa and Bedford Counties IA, Andrew County MO, Cloud, Marshall and Cheyenne Counties KS.  I found some goodies in these searches, but didn't find anything monumental.  You never know what you're going to find!  While I was in the stacks, genea-blogger Tina Lyons came by to say hello.  You never know who is going to find you!

Genea-Musings reader (and distant Seaver cousin) Ann and her friend, from Michigan, came over to say hello and remind me that I have the wrong Eunice Seaver married to William Raymond on my web page.  I assured her that I would fix this when I got home.  I just checked, and I have it right in my RootsMagic database.  Ann asked me some questions about RootsMagic too, and I showed her how to do several tasks.

I went back to the Family History section for the last hour, and used every small bill and coin that I had in my pocket to make copies from four more surname books.  I now have over 300 pages of more paper with information to add to my database, including sources, and then file in my surname notebooks (more likely is I'll put them in my to-be-filed piled). 

That was fun!

I left at 5:15 p.m. for the hotel and picked up Linda and took her out to dinner at the Jimmy John's sandwich shop (pretty good, cheap, fast) - Linda likes it, which is the most important.  She has struggled to find restaurant meals without soy on the trip, and has had her fill of salads at this point.  We finished it off with ice cream at the Bob Evans next to our hotel. 

My opinion about the Genealogy Center at the Allen County Public Library?  Wonderful layout and amenities.  Superb resources.  Helpful staff.  One of the best in the world!  I didn't even look at the computer resources available, or the microfilms, or the city directories.    I could spend weeks there...but I had only one day, so I made the best of it.

We're off to Michigan for a day with a friend (can you guess who?), and then we're off for five days of research in Wisconsin.  Stay tuned!

Amanuensis Monday - the Will of Jonathan Sanderson (1646-1735) of Waltham, Mass.

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Genea-blogger John Newmark (who writes the excellent TransylvanianDutch blog) started a 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 Jonathan Sanderson (1646-1735) of Waltham, Middlesex County, Massachusetts.  He was the son of Edward Sanderson and Mary Eggleston, and married Abiah Bartlett (1651-1723) in 1669.  They had eight children:  Abiah Sanderson (1673-1739); Jonathan Sanderson (1673-1743); Thomas Sanderson (1675-1759); John Sanderson (1677-1750); Benjamin Sanderson (1679-????); Samuel Sanderson (1681-????); Edward Sanderson (1684-1766) and Hannah Sanderson (1689-1770).

The probate records for Jonathan Sanderson of Waltham are in Middlesex County Probate Packet 19,801 (original papers, accessed on FHL Microfilm 0,421,512). His will reads:

"In the name of God Amen. The Second Day of Aprill Anno Domini one Thousand Seven Hundred and Twenty Eight.


"I Jonathan Sanderson Senr of Watertown in the County of Middx in New England yeo: Being ligod and deeply Expecting my Change, But of perfect mind and Memory, Thanks be given unto God Therefore Calling to minde the Mortallity of my Body, And knowing that it is Appointed for men once to dye, Do make and ordaine this my last Will and Testament (That is to Say) Principally and first of all, I Give and Recommend my Soule into the hands of God that gave it, Hoping that throw the Merrit and Sattisfaction of my Savior Jesus Christ to have full and pure pardon of all my sins and to Inherit Eternal Life: And my Body I Commit to the Earth to be Decently buried at the Discretion of my Executors hereafter named Nothing doubting But at the Generall Resurrection I shall Receive the same agen... by the mighty power of God. And as touching such Worldly ... wherewith it hath pleased God to bless me in this life, I Give Devise and dispose of the same in the following manor and forme vizt:


"First I Will that all those Debts and duties that I do owe in Right or Continue to any manor of person or person, whatsoever shall be well and truly Contented & paid or ordained to be paid in Convenient Time after my decease by my Executors hereafter named.


"2 Item. I Give unto my son Thomas Sanderson Thirty pounds in good Bills of Creddet or Lawfull Silver money, To be paid by my Executors within Two years next after my decease, Which Sum together with what I have gave for him otherwayes to his full share out of my Estate.


"3 Item. I Give unto my Son Samuel Sanderson Thirty pounds in good Bills of Creddet or Lawfull Silver money to be paid by my Executors within Two years next after my Decease, Which Sum Together with what I have allready Bestowed on him is all I designs him out of my Estate.


"4 Item I Give unto my Son Edward Sanderson Thirty pounds in good Bills of Creddit or Lawfull Silver money to be paid by my Executors Within two years next after my decease, Which sum Together with what I have done for him before this Time, is all his portion out of my Estate.


"5 Item. I give unto my Daughter Abia Sanderson all my Household Stuff within Doors, and all my Stock of Cattle and Horse, Sheep and barne and house, and all my Husbandry Utencills, and all my hay Stows and Corne; and if my sd Daughter Abia long to stand in need of more than I have given Her, for her Comfortable Support, then my Will is that my Executors Shall pay her ten pounds more, Which they Shall Reserve out of my Estate for that purpose, and if it shall so happen that she leaves any Estate at her death, then my will is that her sister Hannah Sternes shall have a double share thereof, and all her own Brothers to have Singel shares of the same.


"6 Item. I give unto my Daughter Hannah Stearns and to her heirs and assigns for Ever, That part of a dividend lott Which I bought of Sarah Hager Called Coolledges Dividend, Which with what I gave her at Marriage is her full Portion.


"7 Item. I Give unto my Son Jonathan Sanderson Sixty pounds in good Bills of Creddit or Lawfull Silver money.


"8 Item. I give unto my Son John Sanderson Thirty pounds in good Bills of Creddit or Lawfull silver money to be Rec'd by them within two years next after my decease, Likewise I give to my sd Son John Sanderson all my Weareing Apperral.


"9 Item. That Whatsoever Estate I Leave at my decease after my Funerall Charges, Debts and Legacies are paid and Satisfied as before mentioned, then my Will is that sd Estate left or atime sd if any there be, shall be Disposed of in the following manor and forme Vizt That my son Jonathan Sanderson shall have a double share thereof and each of my other Naturall Children shall have a Single Share of the same.


"10 Furthermore If It Shall so happen that I do not Sell and Allienate my Reall Estate Vizt. Houseing and Lands, before my Decease, That then my Will is that my Two Sons Jonathan Sanderson and John Sanderson Shall Sell and dispose of the same and the Effects thereof to be improved as before directed and prescribe, and I do hereby Give and grant unto my sd Two Sons full power and authority to give and Pass good and Lawfull Deed or Deeds of Sale of my sd Reall Estate, Which two sons of mine Vizt. Jonathan Sanderson and John Sanderson I Do likewise Constitute make and ordaine my Executors of this my Last Will and Testament. And I Do utterly disalow Revoke & Disannull all and Every other former Wills, Testaments and Legacies, Bequests and Executors, by me in my Life before this time named, willed and bequeathed, Ratifying this and no other to be my last Will and Testament. In Witness Whereof I have hereunto sett my hand & seale this day and yeare first above written."


"Signed Sealed Published pronounced
and declared by the said ............................................... his
Jonathan Sanderson to be .............................. Jonathan S Sanderson Sen
his Last Will & Testament ....................................... mark
in the Prsents of us the
Subscribers Vizt.
Thomas Livermore
Abiah Sanderson
John Coolledg"

The probate packet also included a lengthy inventory of Deacon Jonathan Sanderson Senior of Watertown deceased, taken 30 September 1735 by Allen Flagg, Thomas Livermore and Samuel Livermore. There was no real estate listed. The personal estate totalled 209 pounds, 15 shillings and 8 pence. It was exhibited to the Court on 3 September 1735.

The account of John Sanderson of Leicester was presented to the Court on 4 June 1739. He charged himself with all the goods and chattels. He noted that the funeral charges were paid and satisfied with 32 pounds money left for that purpose, which was not included in the inventory. He paid the outstanding debts of Jonathan Sanderson to Jonathan Bond, Samuel Livermore, Samuel Sanderson, Allen Flag, Joseph Priest, Jonathan Sanderson, Abia Sanderson and several others. He then paid the legacies bequeathed in the will - 60 pounds to Deacon Jonathan Sanderson, 30 pounds to Thomas Sanderson, John Sanderson, Edward Sanderson and Samuell Sanderson. He also paid an additional 10 pounds to Jonathan Sanderson and an additional 5 pounds to the other sons. He also delivered to the attorneys of Abia Sanderson all the stock of costumes, goods and moveables both within and without that was bequeathed to her, amounting to the sum of 134 pounds, 7 shillings, 1 pence (which was not included in the inventory). He requested 13 pounds as his allowance for his trouble, journeys, time and expenses. The account was accepted by the Court.

Jonathan Sanderson names seven of his eight children in this will - Thomas, Samuel, Edward, Abiah, Hannah, Jonathan and John.  He doesn't name Benjamin, who must have died young without issue.

My ancestry is through daughter Hannah (Sanderson) Stearns (1689-1770), who married George Stearns (1680-1760).  This will is an original source with primary information and direct evidence that Hannah (Sanderson) Stearns was the daughter of Jonathan Sanderson.  More evidence is required that the Hannah Sanderson who married George Stearns is the daughter of Jonathan Sanderson. 

I thought it was interesting that daughter Hannah would receive a double portion of the personal estate bequeathed to daughter Abiah upon Abiah's death.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Remembering 9-11 - 10 Years Later

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I have posted blogs on this topic twice in past years - please see:

Still Remembering 9/11 and looking ahead (11 September 2010)

Remembering 9/11 - and looking ahead (11 September 2007)

My memories and my views haven't changed, but some of my concerns have been realized.

Best of the Genea-Blogs - FGS Edition

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As I mentioned last week, I'm at the Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference in Springfield, Illinois this week, and so I haven't been keeping track of my favorite posts.  However, my geneablogging colleagues have been working hard, so please see their picks:

Best Bytes for the week of September 9, 2011 by Elizabeth O'Neal on the Little Bytes of Life blog.

Week in Review by John Newmark on the TransylvanianDutch blog.

Around the Blogosphere - September 11, 2011 by Susan Petersen on the Long Lost Relatives.net blog.

I have been reading blogs, and have noted these blogs that have provided excellent coverage of the week (in random order):

The Ancestry Insider.

The We Tree Blog, by Amy Coffin.

Generations, by Jennifer Holik-Urban.

Family Stories and For Your Family Stories by Caroline Pointer.

DearMYRTLE's Genealogy Blog by DearMYRTLE.

*  Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter, by Dick Eastman.

Documenting the Details, by Linda McCauley

Tracing the Tribe, The Jewish Genealogy Blog by Schelly Talalay Dardashti

Ginger's Genealogy Blog, by Ginger R. Smith

Susan's Genealogy Blog, by Susan Farrell Bankhead.

Nolichucky Roots, by Susan Clark

My Genealogy Pondering by Becky Higgins

Random Relatives by Diana Ritchie

Finding the Flock - A Genealogy Research Blog by slambo

Minnesota Family Historian by MNFamilyHistorian

Journey to the Past by Brenda Leyndyke

Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society by rootcellarsgs@gmail.com

Genie Roadtrip, by JessLibrarian.

Genealogy Dragnet, by Gayle Ficarra Wolcott

Karen's Genealogy Oasis, by Karen

The Genealogy Insider, by Diane Haddad

Gen Wish List, by Tina Lyons

GenBlog by Julie Tarr

Le Maison Duchamp by Kim von Aspern-Parker

A Sense of Family by Shelley

A3 Genealogy by Kathleen Brandt

2338 West Washington Blvd. by Margel

Finding the Flock, by Sean Lamb

You can see all of the posts collected by Thomas MacEntee in the post The Latest News from FGS 2011 on the Geneabloggers blog.

If you have posted a weekly Best Of that I missed, or posted blogs from the FGS Conference, please email me and I'll add you to the list.

Updated: Wednesday, 14 September, 3 pm PT.