Saturday, February 2, 2013

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - The Super Bowl!


It's Saturday Night - 
time for more Genealogy Fun! 



 It's also Super Bowl Weekend in America - the whole country (well, almost) will watch the game between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday afternoon at 6:30 p.m. EST (3:30 p.m. PST).

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible! music) is to:

1)  What is your favorite National Football League team?  [For those that are not American football fans, but a fan of another sports team, substitute your favorite team]  Why are you a fan of this team?  How long have you been a fan of your favorite team?

2)  What is the genealogy of your favorite team?  When did it start playing, what leagues has it played in?

3)  Have you worked for the team in any capacity, or attended games?  What is your best memory of your favorite team's history?

4)  Predict the score of the Ravens-49ers game on Sunday.

5)  Tell us in a blog post of your own, in a comment to this blog post, or in a status on Facebook, or in a Google+ Stream post.

Here's mine:

1)  My favorite NFL team is the San Diego Chargers.  This is logical, because I was born and raised in San Diego and have never left.  The Chargers first season in San Diego was 1961. They just played their 52nd season in San Diego.

2)  The Los Angeles Chargers were charter members of the American Football League (AFL) started in 1959, with hotel heir Barron Hilton (son of Barron Hilton) as the majority owner.  AFL play started in 1960, and the team moved to San Diego before the 1961 season.  The AFL-NFL merger was consummated in 1966, and the Chargers joined the National Football League in 1970.  San Diego was in the 1995 Super Bowl at Miami after the 1994 season, but lost to the San Francisco 49ers, 49-26.  San Diego has hosted three Super Bowls - the last one in 2003.  There is more history in the Wikipedia article here.  

3)  My first "real" job was in the summer of 1963 working for the San Diego Chargers at their training camp.  I wrote about it in My first real job.  I attended Charger games from 1961 through 1973 with my brother, my friends, and my wife.  Since then, we've watched it on TV.  I refuse to jump on the bandwagon of any other football team - this one is mine, win or lose.  I exult when we get in the playoffs, I die when we lose games we should win, I criticize the coaches and players and front office when they mess up.  That's my prerogative as a lifelong fan.

My best memory is of the 1963 season, when my brother and I attended the AFL Championship game at Balboa Stadium in San Diego.  The Chargers beat the Boston Patriots 51-10.  That is the only league championship that the Chargers have won.  

4)  My prediction for the 2013 game:  49ers 24, Ravens 20

5)  Done!


The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/02/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-super-bowl.html

Surname Saturday - WIGHT (England > Medfield, Mass.)

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

I am in the 7th great-grandmothers, up to number 559: Deborah WIGHT (1685-1730). [Note: the 7th great-grandfathers have been covered in earlier posts].

My ancestral line back through three American generations of this WIGHT family 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 (1791-1869)

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


138.  Amos Plimpton (1735-1808)
139.  Mary Guild (1735-1800)


278.  Nathaniel Guild (1712-1796)

279.  Mary Boyden (1708-1776)


558.  Thomas Boyden, born 16 March 1681/82 in Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States; died 27 September 1771 in Wrentham, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States.  He was the son of 1116. Jonathan Boyden and 1117. Mary Clark.  He married  29 April 1707 in Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States.

559.  Deborah Wight, born 01 December 1685 in Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States; died before 1730 in Massachusetts, United States.

Children of Thomas Boyden and Deborah Wight are:  Mary Boyden (1708-1776); James Boyden (1709-1779); Deborah Boyden (1711-1770); Beriah Boyden (1714-????).

1118.  Ephraim Wight, born before 27 January 1645/46 in Dedham, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States; died 26 February 1722/23 in Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States.   He married 02 March 1667/68 in Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States.
1119.  Lydia Morse, born before 13 April 1645 in Dedham, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States; died 14 July 1722 in Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States.  She was the daughter of 2238. Daniel Morse and 2239. Lydia Fisher.

Children of Ephraim Wight and Lydia Morse are:  Lydia Wight (1669-1741); Esther Wight (1671-????); Ephraim Wight (1673-1744); Miriam Wight (1675-1746); Nathaniel Wight (1678-1748); Daniel Wight (1680-1744); Bethia Wight (1683-1756);  Deborah Wight (1685-1730); Ruth Wight (1688-1747).

2236.  Thomas Wight, born about 1607 in England; died 17 March 1673/74 in Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States.  He married about 1627 in England.
2237.  Alice, born bout 1608 in Isle of Wight, Hampshire, England; died 15 July 1665 in Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States.

Children of Thomas Wight and Alice are:  John Wight (1627-1653); Thomas Wight (1629-1690); Anne Wight (1634-????); Mary Wight (1638-1693); Samuel Wight (1640-1716); Ephraim Wight (1646-1723); Henry Wight (1646-1680).

Resources used for this Wight family included:

*  Dedham and Medfield town Vital Record books

*  William S. Tilden (editor), History of the Town of Medfield, Massachusetts, 1650-1886 (Boston, Mass. : Geo. H. Ellis, 1887)

*   William Ward Wight, A Record Of Thomas Wight Of Dedham And Medfield And Of His Descendants 1635-1890 (Milwaukee, Wis. : Swain & Tate Printers, 1890)

The URL for this post is:

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Friday, February 1, 2013

Dear Randy: What Record Collection Would You Like To Have Indexed?

I was asked this question recently by a genealogy colleague at the recent SDGS David Rencher seminar:

"What record collection would you really like to have digitized and indexed?"

I didn't have to think a long time about my answer, because I've been saying it for years:

"I think that many difficult "brick wall" research problems will be solved once land records and probate records are digitized from microfilms, and the indexes of their indexes are searchable."

We are maybe 25% there (my estimate) with the digitizing of the pre-1920 (approximately) land and probate records for a number of States (and in some cases counties).  But few, if any, of those record collections are indexed, and my guess is that most of them will not be indexed for a very long time, if ever, because of the sheer volume of names and images.

However, if the INDEXES to the land and probate records were indexed, then researchers could more easily find the actual probate and land record images without fighting through the indexes to these records.  The indexes are very NAME RICH!

Let me show you an example:


This is one page out of 689 pages of one volume of the Erie County Grantee deed indexes, in the New York Deeds, 1630-1975 record collection, for surnames R to Z for the years 1808-1859.  The grantees are not in alphabetical order in this volume - the entries are by surname first letter and then date recorded order, so it is very difficult to find every entry for a person over a period of time.  I had to search all of the Vs to find the entries for my Vaux family in this volume - over about 30 pages - and I am still finding them!  Then I have to search the Grantor Index, and then search in later years also, because not every deed was recorded at the time it was executed.  You can see the magnitude and difficulty of the problem.  It's hard to do for the Vaux surname - it's almost impossible for Brown, Johnson, Smith, etc.

I counted over 200 Deed Index volumes for Erie County alone.  The Deed Index volumes are about 25% of the volumes for the Erie County NY Deeds.  There may be almost 5 million lines in the Deed Indexes for Erie County. There are deed records for 60 New York counties in this particular New York collection, with a total of over 8 million images.  Not all New York counties are covered here, either.

I know that "old-timers," like me, who have had to deal with these records on rented FHL microfilms, or in moldy courthouse basements with dust-choking volumes, are saying:  "These new Internet genealogists are sure spoiled - we had to do this at the FHC or at the courthouse.  These newfangled digitized images are making this task way too easy - they can do it at home for free in their PJs."

Yep - that's what we all want in our wildest dreams - to be able to do a better job in a shorter amount of time before we, or our clients, die or get frustrated by the complexity and slowness of the process.  Gathering the indexed names is the hard part - it's relatively easy to find the actual record once we have a volume and page number for the record.

Without indexes of the Grantee and Grantor indexes for land records, I'm afraid that these records will go relatively unused by almost all genealogy researchers because it is too difficult to find names in the Grantee/Grantor indexes.  The same goes for probate records, which would probably be easier to do since there aren't usually multiple entries for persons in probate records.

FamilySearch did and continues to do yeoman work finding these records, microfilming them and digitizing them, and now what needs to be done is indexing the Indexes so that researchers can more easily find records of their ancestral families.  We are indebted to FamilySearch for this work.

This "Indexing the Indexes" task would be a great volunteer indexing task for local and county genealogical societies to perform, and would provide exposure to, and insight into how to use, these record collections to many more researchers.

I would like to know if we can expect to see Indexes of the Grantor and Grantee Indexes for land records, and of probate packet lists for probate records.  If so, I'll hold off doing this work for my ancestral families ... but if not, we all need to get to work on these digitized records, and teach our genealogy colleagues how to access them and use them.

What Record collection would you like to have Indexed?  What would make your research job much easier?

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/02/dear-randy-what-record-collection-would.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver


Review: Legacy QuickGuide on Ontario Genealogy

Legacy Family Tree has commissioned a series of four-page booklets on various aspects of genealogical research.  Each laminated guide contains four pages of valuable information covering a variety of genealogy research topics. Legacy QuickGuides are written by genealogists and family historians who are experts in the subject areas.  These QuickGuides are oriented towards the online researcher - there are several pages of website links on selected subjects for the specific topic covered by the QuickGuide.

You can see the list of available Legacy QuickGuides at http://www.legacyfamilytreestore.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=71.  They are available as laminated four-page folders ($7.95 each) or as downloadable PDF files ($2.95 each).

The Ontario Genealogy QuickGuide was written by Kathryn Lake Hogan. 




The Introduction to this QuickGuide says:

"Researching Ontario ancestors can be confusing especially before 1869. Understanding the history of Ontario is key to finding the correct records. The Ontario Genealogy Legacy QuickGuide™ contains useful information to get you started including the best places to find key record groups such as census, vital records, military, and other records."

The subjects covered in the Ontario Genealogy QuickGuide includes (4 pages):

*  Factoids

*  Research Strategy
*  Additional Resources
*  Geographic Terminology
*  Basic Ontario Resources
*  Migration Routes and Motivations

*  Timeline of Ontario History
*  Ontario History Resources

*  Adoption Records
*  Birth Records
*  Death Records & Obituaries
*  Cemetery Records

*  Court Records

*  Marriage Records
*  Divorce Records

*  Church Records
*  Military Records
*  Census Records
*  Land Records
*  Immigration & Naturalization

*  Newspapers

*  City & Business Directories
*  Geography & Maps
*  Books & Periodicals
*  Organizations
*  Archives & Libraries
*  Miscellaneous

For most of the subjects listed above, the items listed for each subject are website titles with links to the websites.  In some cases, there are shortened URLs for websites with long eddresses.

This Legacy QuickGuide is very useful for beginners and seasoned researchers alike.  The Ontario history timeline and the Research Strategy sections are especially helpful.  The other subject areas, with links to websites, are oriented towards the online genealogist.  I am sure that I will use this QuickGuide to help me find records of my Ontario ancestors.

The laminated version of this QuickGuide is very handy for researchers going to repositories or society meetings - it is light and easy to carry in a briefcase or computer case.  I much prefer the PDF version because I can save it to my computer (and laptop, tablet, and smart phone using Dropbox or another cloud service) and have it available in digital format for instantaneous usage by clicking the links provided rather than typing the links into my web browser. 

Order you copy of the Ontario Genealogy QuickGuide (PDF only) at the Legacy Family Tree Store.

Disclosure:  I was provided a complimentary copy of the PDF version of this Legacy QuickGuide on the condition that I provide a timely review of each QuickGuide provided.  Look for more in the near future!

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/02/review-legacy-quickguide-on-ontario.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Follow-Up Friday - Helpful and Interesting Reader Comments

It's Friday, so I'm dipping into my Comment bag for the week to see what my readers have to share that is helpful and interesting (at least to me!).

1)  On Using RecordSeek to Add Sources to the FamilySearch Family Tree (25 January 2013):

*  GeneJ commented:  "Although my work on FamilyTree has been mostly for naught, I found the source process bulky and the terminology, awkward. 

"(1) For me, the most straightforward part of the process involved adding a "source" to a person or couple (ala, union/marriage). As such, it is not a reference note citation, nor is it really a bibliographic citation. For lack of a better notion, it seems more like a source label. 

"(2) I found no way 'tech/user friendly' way to associate the sources added to the birth, marriage, death (etc.) events as they are added. The best work around I could develop was to write a reference note into a dialog box that appears at the end of that add/edit event process. (The profile pages in FamilyTree are non-responsive right now, or I would provide a little blow by blow.)

"The dialog entries (as in no. 2) are only retained in 'history.' "


My comment:  The FamilySearch Family Tree now permits users to "Tag" a source to Name, Gender, Birth, Christening, Death and Burial, but not to events like Census records or Probate Records.  You have to click the specific Source on the "Sources" list and then click on the "Tag" link to open a dropdown window to check a box.  Writing a reference note works well, too, and may be more useful if the event date or place is questionable or if there are evidence conflicts.


*  Leslie Crews said:  "Hi there! Just wanted to add a note that the "unknown girl" in your photo is most definitely Gladys Nolan (who is also my maternal great-grandmother). If you happen to have any other photos of Gladys in your photo collection of the Carringer family, I'd love to see some."

My response was:  "Would you please email me at rjseaver@cox.net and we can chat about Emily and Gladys?"

Once in awhile, I get a comment like this on one of my daily theme posts, and this one has a lot of potential for both Leslie and myself.  Gladys was my grandmother's best friend throughout her life from high school on.  Blogging about your family - works - sometimes you have to wait awhile!


*  Jacqi Stevens noted:  "I had to laugh when I saw the title to your post tonight, and the question, 'Is it time to upgrade?'  I'm still using my old Family Tree Maker version 4.40 for Windows 95, from January 14, 1998. Can you tell my upgrade is way overdue?

"Now that I hear Microsoft is no longer planning on supporting some of these old versions of Windows, I guess I'll have to get my act together and do some comparative shopping. It's not that procrastination is my middle name; I just have too many notes-to-self from decades of research that I hate to give up."


My comment:  FTM 4.4?  Wow!  True confession:  I still use FTM 16 for some reports!   Why will you have to give up your "notes-to-self?"  If they are in the Notes in your FTM file, they should transfer to Notes in whatever program you decide to use.  

*  Dan Garnitz said:  "Reading this made me think about the first software package I used for genealogy. Most of what I used when I started are no longer around. If I think back another 10-15 years to the mid 80s - early 90s. Software that ran in DOS. I think I was using ROOTS III for quite awhile there. At some time in those years, I used Brothers Keeper, PAF, and Cumberland Family Tree as I recall, just can't recall when I changed from one to the other and why I changed. I finally settled on Family Origins from Parsons, and then RootsMagic, which I still use to this day on my Windows machine."

My comment:  Talk about a hit parade of genealogy software - Dan's tried almost all of them!  CGSSD ran this type of chart for over 20 years - it would be fun to see the chart in, say, 1993, and 1998, and 2008 to give us some benchmarks.  

Has anyone done a family tree of genealogy software?

4)  On A Cure for Genea-boredom -- GenealogyBank! (30 January 2013):

*  Joe Lowry commented:  "I'm glad GenealogyBank has been useful for you. I have to say that I have found so little stories. I've tried probably 100 relatives and ancestors and found maybe five articles. Most of my family is from Pittsburgh and Cleveland and GenealogyBank's coverage of this region is dismal."

My comment:  I completely understand - I rejoiced when GenealogyBank added San Diego newspapers.  You have to really search for the historical newspaper provider (free or subscription) lists to determine which has the content you want.  Also check the specific newspaper and local library websites to see if they have digital archives.

Note to GenealogyBank:  I hope you have the Pittsburgh and Cleveland areas on your "to-do" digitizing list!

5)  On a post that will remain nameless, this spam comment appeared:

*  "I read and walked for miles at night along the beach, writing bad blank verse and searching endlessly for someone wonderful who would step out of the darkness and change my life. It never crossed my mind that that person could be me."

My comment:  This commenter has a fine future writing their own blog or at least a bad novel.


Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Thursday, January 31, 2013

CVGS Research Group meeting had its picture taken...

We had a visitor from the Bay area on 9 January at the Research Group meeting of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society, and she just published her report on the meeting.  Please read Lavinia's visit with the Chula Vista Genealogical Society on the California Genealogical Society and Library Blog.

She even took our picture...

This Research Group is now ten years old, and our members still have research problems to solve.  The members also have much more genealogy knowledge and experience than when they started, and they are very willing to share it with the attendees.  It is meetings like this that keep members tuned into the genealogy world, and provide an opportunity for them to seek help for their problems and offer help to other researchers.

 CVGS welcomes any person interested in genealogy and family history to our meetings - hands-on workshops are on the first Saturday, the Research Group is on the second Wednesday, the Computer Group is on the third Wednesday, and the regular society program meeting is on the last Wednesday.  The CVGS website is www.CVGenealogy.org and the blog is at http://CVGenCafe.blogspot.com.  Not bad for a local society with just over 100 members!

My thanks to Lavinia for the kind words, and I'm glad that she enjoyed her time with us.  And thanks for the picture!

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/01/cvgs-research-group-meeting-had-its.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver


Huntington Beach Genealogy BASH is 2 March 2013

I want to share this news with my Genea-Musings readers - I hope that everyone in Southern California considers coming to the BASH sponsored by the Orange County, California Genealogical Society (OCCGS) in Huntington Beach, California.  Here is the publicity for the event:

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



In 2013, OCCGS is celebrating our 50th Anniversary and putting on our Inaugural Event, called the “Genealogy BASH and Book Faire”.

About OCCGS

We have about 400 active members. We work very closely with the city of Huntington Beach and their library system as we maintain the Central Library’s “Genealogy” collection. This collection has over 19,000 books and other genealogical information in a dedicated area within the Central Library. OCCGS members donate their time, effort and money to maintain and expand the genealogical information available to the public.

The BASH Particulars

Event Name:  Genealogy BASH and Book Faire
Date:  Saturday, March 2, 2013
Time:  8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
  Speaker sessions start at 9:15 a.m.
Location:  Huntington Beach CA Central Library
  7111 Talbert Avenue
  Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Event Plans

  • The library is large and has seven meeting rooms and a theatre. The meeting rooms can seat approximately 50 people for each speaking session and the theatre has over 300 seats. There will be 4 speaking sessions.

  • Expert Speakers: We have eight of Southern California’s best speakers presenting in 20 different lectures. Our speakers are:
    • Barbara Renick
    • Jean Wilcox Hibben
    • Norma Keating
    • CeCe Moore
    • Gina Philibert-Ortega
    • Randy Seaver
    • Linda Serna
    • Dawn Thurston

  • Free Classes for Beginners: A major goal of the OCCGS BASH is to introduce new people to the rewarding pastime of family history research, hence beginner classes and selected events will be available free of charge during the BASH on March 2.

  • Genealogy Exhibitors: Our title sponsors, FindMyPast.com and FamilySearch will have experts available to answer questions on their products and services. There will also be several other genealogy-related exhibitors to answer your questions. Visit them for FREE!

  • Book Faire: OCCGS maintains and adds to the genealogy collection at the library. We receive many donated books and periodicals that are duplicates of our holdings, and we sell these at bargain prices. It's FREE so come in, see what we have, and add books to your genealogical library.

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

Registration is required - see the registration page at http://occgs.com/mtg_event/bash/registration.html.  The registration fee is $40 for OCCGS members and $50 for non-members.  There is an additional charge for a box lunch if requested.

Needless to say, I am honored to be part of this event, and look forward to making two presentations.  The list of presentations is at http://occgs.com/mtg_event/bash/session_summaries.pdf, and speaker biographies are at http://occgs.com/mtg_event/bash/speakers_bios.pdf .

I hope to see many of my Genea-Musings readers at this event.  


RootsTech 2013 Keynote Speakers Will Be...


I just received an email from the RootsTech 2013 permitting the Official Bloggers to announce the Thursday (21 March) Keynote speakers...

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

INTRODUCING THURSDAY’S KEYNOTE SPEAKERS AT ROOTSTECH

DENNIS C. BRIMHALL
Dennis Brimhall is currently the President and CEO of FamilySearch International.  FamilySearch International is a worldwide organization helping individuals find, preserve, catalogue, and search genealogical information. FamilySearch International is sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  He was formerly the President and Chief Executive Officer of University of Colorado Hospital from 1988 to 2005. A native of Provo, Utah, Mr. Brimhall earned an undergraduate degree in zoology from Brigham Young University in 1972 and a master’s degree in management from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in 1974.  Mr. Brimhall and his wife Linda have four children and live in Dammeron Valley, Utah.

SYD LIEBERMAN
Syd is a nationally acclaimed storyteller, an author, and an award-winning teacher. Many of his best-loved stories deal with growing up in Chicago and raising a family in Evanston, Illinois. Syd is also known for his original historical pieces. He has received commissions to write stories for some of America’s leading institutions and agencies, including the Smithsonian; Historic Philadelphia, Inc.; NASA; and the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center.  His work has garnered awards from the American Library Association, Parents' Choice, and Storytelling World. Syd was one of six tellers featured on the television special The Call of Story. He has also performed numerous times at the Timpanogos and National storytelling festivals.

D. JOSHUA TAYLOR
D. Joshua Taylor, MA, MLS is the Business Development Manager – North America for brightsolid online publishing, the creator of findmypast.com. A nationally known and recognized professional genealogist, lecturer, genealogical author, and researcher, Taylor is the current president of the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) and the former Director of Education at the New England Historic Genealogical Society. Taylor holds an MLS (Archival Management) and an MA (History) from Simmons College, and is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Federation of Genealogical Societies Award of Merit, and the Rubincam Youth Award from the National Genealogical Society. Taylor was also a featured genealogist on NBC's Who Do You Think You Are?.

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

No word on topics...but we can guess!


Watch Out for Dates in Mocavo Trees === > FIXED!

I uploaded my family tree to Mocavo early on when they first offered the service.  I rarely receive emails about the information on Mocavo...but I did today.

My wife's cousin, Bonnie, went searching for information about some of her Norwegian ancestors, and found a strange thing about her ancestor, Ã…gota Botolvsdtr (1712-1788).  Here is my RootsMagic screen for the Botolv Eriksonfamily that includes  Ã…gota:


As you can see, I don't have birth or death days for most of the events for that family.   Ã…gota was born in 1712 and died in 1788.

Here is the screen that my cousin saw when she searched for  Ã…gota Botolvsdtr and found my tree entry on Mocavo:


 Ã…gota's birth is given as 31 Jan 2013, and her death is given as 31 Jan 1788.  She died at age minus 225!  Her father's birth date is given as 31 Jan 1664.  Her mother's birth date is given as 31 Jan 1669 and her death as 31 Jan 2013.  Wow - she died on her 344th birthday!!

Obviously, something is wrong with the date algorithms in the Mocavo family tree system.  The current day, current month and sometimes the current year is inserted when there is an entry for only the year in a family tree.  I sure hope that they fix it soon so that researchers can trust the information in these trees.  

Disclosure:  I have a complimentary Mocavo Plus subscription to Mocavo, which I appreciate.  It does not affect my objective evaluation of the website.

UPDATED 3:30 p.m.:  Just received an email from Mocavo that says this problem is fixed.  That was fast - thanks, Mocavo.  Here's a screen shot:


The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/01/watch-out-for-dates-in-mocavo-trees.html

Copyright (c) 2013 Randall J. Seaver

Treasure Chest Thursday - 1850 U.S. Census Record for Daniel Spangler Family

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

The treasure today is the 1850 United States Census record for my Spangler 3rd-great-grandparents and their family in Sandy Creek, Mercer County, Pennsylvania:




The Spangler family entry:



The extracted information for the family, enumerated on 24 August 1850, is:

*  Daniel Spangler - age 68, male, a farmer, real estate worth $1300, born Pa
*  Elizabeth Spangler - age 54, female, born Pa
*  Rebecca Spangler - age 18, female, born Pa, attended school within the year
*  Loisa Spangler - age 12, female, born Pa, attended school within the year
*  Margaret Spangler - age 10, female, born Pa, attended school within the year
*  George Con [?] - age 11, male, born Pa, attended school within the year
*  Matilda McKight - age 23, female, born Va
*  Elcott McKight - age 25, male, Labourer, born Pa

The source citation for this entry is:

1850 United States Federal Census, Mercer County, Pennsylvania, population schedule, Sandy Creek township, Page 312, dwelling #854, family #901, Daniel Spangler household; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com); citing National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, Roll 796.

I see some small errors in this enumeration:

*  Margaret Spangler was born in March 1841, so she should be 9 years old rather than 10.
*  Matilda and Eliott McKight's surname should be McKnight.

Before I saw this census record, I did not have Elcott's full name - he was usually recorded as W.E. McKnight, but one entry had him as William E. McKnight.  So now I think the E. is Elcott.  It could be Eliott, but there is no apparent dot for the i on the record.

If you look closely on the census page image, you can see that the person above Daniel Spangler is Mary Caringer, age 82.  The previous page was shown in Treasure Chest Thursday - 1850 U.S. Census Record for Henry Carringer Family.  Rebecca Spangler married Jackson Carringer in October 1851.  Two other Spangler females from this Spangler family married Carringer males from the Henry Carringer family before 1850.  The two families lived in close proximity to each other, if not "next door."

I don't know who George "Con" is.  The name could be Core, Care, Case, Corr, who knows!  Ancestry indexed him as George Corr.  He could be a grandson of Daniel Spangler by a Carringer also (there is a George C. Carringer born 1839 to Joseph and Anna Maria (Spangler) Carringer).  


The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/01/treasure-chest-thursday-1850-us-census_31.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

A Cure for Genea-boredom -- GenealogyBank!

It's the middle of the afternoon, and I am tired and bored...but I need to write an afternoon blog post (to complete my Daily Three...) - so what to do?

Go look for something interesting on GenealogyBank!!  This rarely fails me - I can usually find something about one of my ancestors or relatives in GenealogyBank - they have so many newspapers and excellent coverage.

So this afternoon I opened GenealogyBank, and put in an ancestor's name David Auble, a second great-grandfather who was a boot and shoe maker in Newark, N.J. and Terre Haute, Indiana.  David lived from 1817 to 1894.

Here is the search box that I used to limit my matches to his lifespan:


That search gave me 42 matches.


I found several interesting articles, that provided information that I had not found before, including this article in 1848:




The transcription of this article from the Newark [N.J.] Daily Advertiser newspaper, dated 8 January 1848, page 3 (accessed on www.GenealogyBank.com) is:

"DISSOLUTION -- The Partnership heretofore existing between the subscribers under the firm of Knapp & Auble is this day dissolved by mutual consent.  The business will in future be continued by David Auble, who hopes to merit and receive a share of the public patronage.
                                                                             SAMUEL C. KNAPP
                                                                             DAVID AUBLE"

A similar article was found in 1855:



The transcription of this article from the Newark [N.J.] Daily Advertiser newspaper dated 15 June 1855, page 3 (accessed on www.GenealogyBank.com) is:

"NOTICE -- The copartnership heretofore existing under the name of Auble & Gordon, (dealers in boots & shoes) is this first day of June, 1855, dissolved by mutual consent.

"The business will be resumed by David Auble, who alone is authorized to settle all claims and collect and receive all dues of the said late firm.
                                                                                     DAVID AUBLE
                                                                                     THOMAS GORDON"

So because I did a semi-random search for my great-great grandfather, I found these two articles that gave me some insight into his boot and shoe business.  Unfortunately, I didn't find an article saying that he was leaving Newark for Terre Haute (I don't know when this happened - it was sometime between 1860 and 1870).  I also didn't find any items in a Terre Haute newspaper, probably because GenealogyBank doesn't have newspapers for that city.

In the 1848 article, the partner was Samuel C. Knapp, the brother of David's wife, Sarah (Knapp) Auble.  I hope that the dissolution of their partnership was friendly.  I wonder who Thomas Gordon was?  And was this a friendly dissolution, or one due to disagreement?

Sometimes the articles adjacent to the articles about my ancestors are more interesting - to the right of the 1848 article is a whole column about the salutary benefits of sarsaparilla.

There - boredom fixed.  Now who else can I search for on GenealogyBank to find interesting family history articles about my ancestors?  Or I could go take a nap!

Disclosure:  I have a complimentary subscription or GenealogyBank, which I am thankful for and greatly appreciate.  That does not influence my objective opinion about the site.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/01/a-cure-for-genea-boredom-genealogybank.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Watching Find My Past Television episodes

I received an email on Monday fromElizabeth at FindMyPast.com (I am a subscriber) that said:

"I wanted to let you know you that Find My Past, the hit UK television show, is now available to view via findmypast.com. Find My Past, now entering its second season, links living individuals to real historical events found in their family tree and now Findmypast.com is the only place in the US where you can watch the show!

"Register on findmypast.com for free and watch Find My Past episodes that aired in the last 30 days at no cost. Missed an episode or want to watch your favorites again? Findmypast subscribers can watch all episodes for an unlimited time. Every episode will be available to watch on findmypast.com a week after it airs.

"Find My Past the TV show is an exciting series which unites ordinary members of the public with their ancestors. Each week in the new 10-part series, we reveal how three people are related to someone from a significant historical event by searching the ancestry records on findmypast. We follow their journey as each person discovers which of their ancestors played a role in modern history.

"At the end of every episode, we unite the participants and reveal how each person's family history is connected to monumental world history– such as the sinking of the Titanic, the WWI Christmas Truce, and the Great Fire of London. Hosted by Chris Hollins of BBC Breakfast, Watchdog and winner of Strictly Come Dancing 2009, the hit UK Television series is now available for the first time to watch online, exclusive to findmypast registered users. The remaining five episodes will be shown after Christmas." 

That sounded interesting, and since the U.S. version of Who Do You Think You Are? was cancelled, I feel deserted by genealogy television...so why not watch a show or two?  After all, I paid for a FindMyPast subscription so I should get my money's worth!

If you are not a subscriber to FindMyPast.com already, you will need to register (for free) to watch the recent television show episodes. 

The home page for http://www.findmypast.com looks like this (two screens):



In the middle of the second screen above is the link to the television show episodes - with a "Watch now" button.  I clicked on it and saw:



There were ten episodes in Series One of the Find My Past shows, and there are currently seven episodes in Series Two (this year).  With a free registration, you should be able to watch the more recent ones in Series Two.  With a subscription, you can watch any of them.

I chose to watch Episode two in Series One - the Titanic:


I watched this in full screen mode on my computer last night - it's 45 minutes with only a few short interruptions for advertising Find My Past.  

It was apparent to me that the show did the genealogical research before hand - picking persons on the Titanic who survived and had their story told, and then they did research in order to find relatives/descendants who were asked to be on the television episode, and then told the story of their relative/ancestor.  When they presented the research to the relative/descendant, they did it as a researcher would - working back in time, showing an ancestral chart, then surprising them with the news about their relative/ancestor on the Titanic, etc.  It was interesting to see the records found in the search, but the fascinating thing for me was seeing the newspaper stories found telling the stories of the survivors.  Many were from the New York Times, and can be found in their archives today.

Watching this television episode was great fun - I got my genealogy TV fix - and I learned a lot.  They used film footage from sailing on one of the sister ships to provide vintage context.  Now I'm wondering where they obtained the pictures of the Titanic as it was sinking.  Perhaps from the film?  

I will try to watch an episode a week just to take a break from my research and normal activities.  

Thank you to FindMyPast for providing these television episodes for their subscribers who are not in the U.K. 


Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 241: Randy, Stan and Dad in 1948

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

Here is a photograph from the Seaver/Carringer family photograph collection passed to me by my mother in the 1988 to 2002 time period:



This photograph shows me (on the left, with clothes on, thank goodness!  It looks like I was about to take it off, doesn't it?), my brother Stanley (in his diaper), and our father, Frederick Walton Seaver (1911-1983).  It was taken in about 1948 or 1949, based on the perceived ages of myself and my brother in this picture, probably by my mother or my grandfather.    

I don't recognize the setting.  There is playground equipment in the background, so it may be a local schoolyard in San Diego.  It was probably taken in the summer or early fall, because two of us don't have shirts on.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/01/not-so-wordless-wednesday-post-241.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver