Saturday, October 26, 2013

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - How Many Days Old Are You?

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



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


1)  Do you know how many days you have lived?  How many hours?  How many minutes?  How many seconds?  


2)  For this challenge - do some calculating.  Figure out how many days you've lived, how many hours, how many minutes, how many seconds (you can round off to account for the time you were born on your birth date - do you know it?).   Tell us your birth date, birth time (if you know it), and then calculate your time alive up until your birth time today.

NOTE:  If math befuddles you, use the Age Calculator at http://www-users.med.cornell.edu/~spon/picu/calc/agecalc.htm

3)  What does all of this mean to you?  Think about that marvelous "machine" inside your chest beating in rhythm.  Share your thoughts!  

4)  Share with us your results in a blog post of your own, in a comment to this blog post, or in a comment on Facebook or Google+.  

Here's mine:

1)  I was 70 years old on Wednesday, 23 October.  My birth time, according to my birth certificate, was 4:58 PM.  Hmm, was there Daylight time in October 1943?  (WolframAlpha said Daylight Savings Time was not observed in California in October 1943!).

2)  I calculated my age (as of 5:58 PDT today) by multiplying 70 times 365 (=25550) and adding 18 for calendar leap days (1944 to 2012) (=25568) plus 3 more days since 23 October 2013 = 25,571.  

24 hours a day gives 613,704 hours.

60 minutes per hour gives 36,822,240 minutes.

60 seconds per minute gives 2,209,334,400 seconds.  Over 2.2 billion seconds.  Wow.

3)  Some thoughts:

*  2.2 billion seconds is almost 2.2 billion beats of my heart - all on rhythm (thank God!) and without stopping.  However, there are now ways to keep it beating if you get treatment, or to a hospital, in time!  

*  That's more than 25,571 wakeups (more because I love to take naps in my recliner!) - my brain went to sleep, regularized my breathing, stuff kept happening (digestion, healing, dreams), and then came to life after sleeping for minutes or hours.  

*  Of those 613,704 hours, I was awake for about 400,000 of them.  What have I thought about?  How many hours have I read books, newspapers, reports, papers, web pages?  

*  How many hours did I work and earn a salary in my life?  I figure 8 hours a day for 5 days a week for 50 weeks a year for about 38 years = 9,500 days, and about 76,000 hours, and about 4.56 million minutes.  I wonder how many minutes I goofed off or daydreamed?  

*  How many hours have I worked on my genealogy research, reading, writing, presenting, meetings, etc.?  I started in 1988, and worked on my genealogy perhaps 2 hours a day on average, until 2002, when I retired from working for a salary (I went to the local FHC nearly every Saturday during that time for 4-6 hours).  Since then, I've devoted an average of 7 to 8 hours a day to genealogy work.  I calculate about 40,000 hours devoted to genealogy efforts.

*  I wonder about longevity and mortality.  A lot.  My father died at 71, my mother at 82.  My grandparents died at 66, 80, 85 and 79.  That average is 77.  WolframAlpha says the average life expectancy (50% chance of attaining it) for a male aged 70 in the USA is 84 years old.  There is a 2.4% chance I'll live to be 100 years old.  That's if i'm "average!"  

4)  I just did - above!!  Can you tell that I'm a numbers type of person?  :)

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/10/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-how-many.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Surname Saturday - GARNSEY (England > colonial Massachusetts)

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


I am in the 7th great-grandmothers and I'm up to Ancestor  #729, who is Mehitable GARNSEY (1673-1742) 
[Note: the earlier great-grandmothers and 7th great-grandfathers have been covered in earlier posts].

My ancestral line back through three generations in this GARNSEY family line is:

1.  Randall J. Seaver (1943-living)

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

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


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

22.  Henry Arnold White (1824-1885)
23.  Amy Frances Oatley (1826-1864)

44.  Jonathan White (1806-1850)
45.  Miranda Wade (1804-1850)

90.  Simon Wade (1767-1857)
91.  Phebe Horton (1772-????)

182.  Nathaniel Horton (1730-1819)
183.  Sarah Pray (1734-1819)

364.  John Horton (1696-1796)
365.  Mary Chase (1695-1735)

728.  John Horton, born 06 June 1672 in Milton, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States; died Bef. May 1752 in Rehoboth, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States.  He was the son of 1456. Thomas Horton and 1457. Sarah.  He married 1689 in probably Rehoboth, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States.
729.  Mehitable Garnsey, born 02 November 1673 in Milton, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States; died 15 October 1742 in Rehoboth, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States.  

Children of John Horton and Mehitable Garnsey are:
*  Thomas Horton (1690-1733), married 1721 Kesiah Carpenter (1697-1763)
*  Sarah Horton (1692-1725), married 1712 John Millard
*  Jonathan Horton (1695-1774), married (1) 1725 Ann Millard (1706-1751); (2) 1753 Elizabeth Perry (1718-????)
 John Horton (1696-1796), married (1) 1719 Mary Chase (1695-1735); (2) Elizabeth __?__.
*  Mary Horton (1704-????), married 1727 James Thomas.
*  Jotham Horton (1705-1797), married 1729 Hannah Martin (1704-1739).
*  Hezekiah Horton (1714-1787), married 1735 Mary Martin (1715-1802).

1458.  John Garnsey, born April 1648 in Dorchester, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States; died 31 March 1722 in Rehoboth, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States.  He married before 1673 in probably Rehoboth, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States.
1459.  Elizabeth, born about 1652 in Massachusetts, United States; died 11 April 1714 in Rehoboth, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States.

Children of John Garnsey and Elizabeth are:
 Mehitable Garnsey (1673-1742), married 1689 John Horton (1672-1752)
*  Joseph Garnsey (1674-????)
*  Hannah Garnsey (1676-1747), married 1700 Thomas Horton (1677-1745)
*  Henry Garnsey (1679-1759), married (1) 1700 Sarah Wheelock (1679-1716); (2) 1717 Hannah __?__ (????-1721); (3) 1721 Elizabeth __?__.
*  Elizabeth Garnsey (1682-1776), married 1703 James Bowen (1680-1738).
*  John Garnsey (1684-????)
*  Sarah Garnsey (1686-1711), married 1711 John Millard.
*  Ebenezer Garnsey (1687-1736), married (1) 1710 Mehitable West (1688-1732); (2) 1735 Martha Tabor (????-1749).
*  Joseph Garnsey (1689-1737), married 1711 Elizabeth Badcock (1686-????).
*  Mary Garnsey (1692-1733), married 1713 Samuel Hicks (????-1722).
*  Waitstill Garnsey (1694-1768), married 1717 Timothy Titus (1692-????).
*  John Garnsey (1696-1789), married (1) 1717 Elizabeth Titus (1691-1752); (2) 1752 Experience Pierce (1731-????).
*  Seth Garnsey (1698-1750), married 1720 Hannah Millard (1704-????).

2916.  Henry Garnsey, born about 1620 in England; died 13 August 1692 in Dorchester, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States.  He was the son of 5832. Henry Garnzey.  He married about 1646 in probably Dorchester, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States.
2917.  Hannah Munnings, born before 06 January 1629 in Tillingham, Essex, England; died 17 August 1686 in Dorchester, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States.  She was the daughter of 5834. Edmund Munnings and 5835. Mary Herris.

Children of Henry Garnsey and Hannah Munnings are:
*  Joseph Garnsey (1646-1730), married 1673 Hannah Cole (1650-1689).
*  John Garnsey (1648-1722), married (1) 1673 Elizabeth (1652-1714); (2) 1714 Judith Ormsbee; (3) 1716 Sarah Miller.

Information about the Garnsey family line was obtained from the book:

 Judith L. Young-Thayer, The 2005 Garnsey, Garnsey, Guernsey Genealogical Dictionary (Baltimore, Md.: Gateway Press, 2005).

This book provides authoritative genealogical and biographical data on Henry Garnsey of Dorchester and his descendants, and is used as the source for most of the vital records and family history information about the Garnsey families.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/10/surname-saturday-garnsey-england_26.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Friday, October 25, 2013

Using MyHeritage Record Matches to Add Family History Content

In my spare time (um, usually in the evening these days), I try to spend an hour or two every day adding content and sources to my genealogy database.  One of the richest sources of information for me is the MyHeritage Record Matches.

The MyHeritage Record Matches look at my family tree on MyHeritage and tries to find records in their record databases (which includes WorldVitalRecords, Newspaper Archives, and other online data providers) for my tree persons.  I've added quite a few names, dates, places, events and sources to my database using the Social Security Death Index, Find A Grave, California Death Index, and other record collections over the past year or so.

You see, MyHeritage searches for these records without my requesting them (even while I'm sleeping, apparently), and then provides them to me in a list by database.  They also send me an email when they find more record matches!

Here's the top of the screen for the current status of my MyHeritage Record Matches (sorted by number of matches to be confirmed):


Today, I decided to look at some of the Newspaper Archive record matches.  I have 540 matches to review and either confirm or reject, or attach to a person in my MyHeritage tree.  Here's the top of that list:


Down the first page was an article for a distant cousin's death, in The Emporia (KS) Gazette newspaper:


I clicked on the article for James Doctor, and saw the OCR summary and a small image of the newspaper page:


By clicking on the magnifying glass at the bottom of the screen above (not shown on the screen above), you can see the full newspaper page:


The name of the person is highlighted in light blue on the image above (but it's hard to see!).  Magnifying the page and scrolling down and across to see the article, I saw:


The article is titled "Burns Fatal to Belleville Man," and describes how James Doctor died by an explosion and fire in the coal shed on 14 March 1939.  It also notes that his mother had died a week before!

Back on the third screen above, another article for the daughter of James Doctor was presented.  I clicked on that and saw the article about the death of Ellen Frances (Doctor) Brown:


I can Confirm or Reject the record match, which indicates that I have acted upon it.  I can also add content, and the record image (if available) and the source to my MyHeritage family tree.

These types of articles are very helpful in creating a family history of a person.  I have saved the articles to my database, and will transcribe them into my database and attach a source for the events involved.

I have found that the records suggested by MyHeritage Record Matches are in the range of 95% to 99% accurate - meaning almost all of them apply to the person in my MyHeritage tree.  However, the Newspaper Archive matches are significantly lower, in the 60% to 70% range.  This occurs because the newspaper articles rarely use a full name or provide a birth, marriage or death date in a specific place, which is how MyHeritage tries to match the record with the tree person.  Your mileage may vary, of course.

As I said, these record matches "magically" appear on my Record Match list.  I don't have to search for them.  I do have to act on them - confirm or reject, add content and the source to my database and tree, etc.  I still have lots of them to review and act on - 12,891 according to the top screen above (but 9,800 are from entries in WikiTree, and most of those are my own).

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/10/using-myheritage-record-matches-to-add.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Disclosure:  I have a complimentary Data subscription and Family Tree subscription through MyHeritage, for which I am grateful.  The subscriptions do not affect my objectivity in evaluating and analyzing the product.

Follow-Up Friday - Helpful and Interesting Reader Comments

It's Friday, so here are some of the helpful and interesting reader comments on Genea-Musings posts this past week:

1)  On Answering Sue's Extracting Challenge - A Simple Massachusetts Deed (22 October 2013):

a)  Geolover commented:  "One element of recorded deeds is that they may reflect a transaction that actually took place before the conveyance was written. The date of the instrument may just be the time by which full payment was received. Sometimes when the property was substantial the grantor may have transaction details spelled out as to dates that partial payments were made (this can occur also in heirs' deeds for a decedent's property).

"One element I missed seeing was that Luke Bigelow caused the deed to be written -- or do you think he wrote the original himself?

"Another element I missed seeing was whether there was a marginal note stating when the original document was given to the grantee by the recording Register of Deeds. Sometimes that is the date by which actual payment was completed. At times the original agreement was put in the hands of the Clerk/Recorder until the grantee showed up with proof that the terms of the sale were met (such as a receipt from the grantee for the consideration money), and paid the official to have the document recorded.

"The old 'indenture' technique had the same purpose. When the grantee showed up with a missing part of a document, presumably provided by the grantor upon receipt of final payment, the official could go ahead and record the transaction and deliver the other part of the document to the grantee."


My comment:  I did not see any marginal notes - I transcribed what was on the deed record pages.  This was, of course, the county deed recorder's book, and information was entered only when the deed was provided to the recorder for copying into the book.  Presumably, the grantor was satisfied with the transaction because he gave the original paper deed to the grantee at some point in time.  

b)  Susan Clark offered:  "This is very similar to the what I am doing with less complicated documents using Evidentia. The database created in Evidentia will allow me to connect individuals to all documents where they are named. With luck I will be able to draw some connections I have not yet made."

My comment:  It seems to me that Sue's method is more extensive than Evidentia offers, and using the color coding and tables itemizes things nicely.  
c)  eva goodwin said:  "This sure is an interesting approach. But I'm like you - I'm lucky to get it thoroughly transcribed and accurately cited! I think doing it this way would hurt my brain because I tend to overthink things."

My comment:  I think that overthinking is beneficial - at least for me it is.  I usually reach a conclusion and am happy to have it.  Then I need to remember it.

2)  On Extracting Information From a 1930 U.S. Census Record (22 October 2013):

a)  oldbonessearch.com said:  "I completely agree with you on the 1930 census. This is the census I use to teach my classes about the incredible amount of data from a couple of little lines. I use my own grandfather's enumeration. It also answered a number of questions for me. Although he was born in Canada, he moved to the US in 1917 and married my grandmother (a descendant of William Bassett of Plymouth Colony) and by 1930 had 2 children, my mother and uncle. But curiously, my Canadian great grandmother was also enumerated. Even though she lived in Canada, apparently she was visiting at the time of the enumeration. At the time I had found this...just after the release of the 1930 records...I had been having difficulty finding any records of her or her husband. The census answered several question: 1) She was widowed by 1930, 2) Her approximate year of birth and 3) the fact that her father was born in Ireland. Can you say, 'Goldmine'! Well, it was for me anyway!"

My comment:  I'm a William Bassett of Plymouth descendant too!  I agree with you - census records often reveal very useful bits of information, especially when extended family members are included.  

b)  Russ Worthington noted:  "I have gotten into the habit of capturing the Line Numbers for the Household, in the citation.

"1930 U.S. census, population schedule, Pennsylvania, Chester County, West Chester; enumeration district 15-88; sheet number 11-B; 700 North High Street; dwelling number 242; family number 268 ; Lines 73 - 77; Marshall Darlington Strode household; Image: 94.0; FHL microfilm: 2341755; ; accessed 15 Apr 2012; NARA microfilm publication T626, roll 2020; digital image, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com)."

My comment:  I used to do that too, but I used the Line Numbers in place of the Dwelling and family numbers.  Using the line numbers makes sense, but seems redundant to me if I use dwelling and family numbers too.  Evidence Explained uses only dwelling and family numbers (but sopmetimes they are confusing or unreadable on census records).

3)  On Ancestry.com's Online Support Community Forums (23 October 2013):

a)  bgwiehle answered my question:  "The Ancestry forums were launched back in Jan 2013 
[http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2013/01/ancestrycom-introduces-new-support-communities.html]

"This was after the Genealogy and Family History Stack Exchange site was launched in 2012 [http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2012/10/genealogy-family-history-question-answer-site-now-in-public-beta.html, http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/10/genealogy-stack-exchange-is-up-and.html] and before the Mocavo's Genealogy Karma in May 2013 [http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2013/05/mocavo-announces-genealogy-karma.html].

"And, of course, Genforum [http://genforum.genealogy.com/] and all the message boards are still around.

"It takes a bit of investigation to know the best place to post a message. And I doubt many researchers monitor every site."


My comment:  I don't monitor any of those sites, and maybe I should.  What do I give up timewise to do that?  What great insights will I receive by doing so?  At least the Ancestry Community Forums are about Ancestry.com so it's a bit more focused than the message boards.


a)  www.HungarianFamilyRecord.org noted:  "Your treatise on the Erie County probate records have been keeping me busy redoing all my citations. Question : Did you also put the IMAGE numbers on your citations or do you find they change too much to be consistent ?"

My comment:  Heh heh.  There's method to my madness.  I now put the image numbers on my citations because that is the easiest way to find them again.  I also put the Waypoint trail (county, book title, volume, page) in my citations because that way, if someone was accessing the original books or a microfilm of them, they could find their way to the exact page.  


a)  Olivier Le Dour offered:  "My name is Olivier Le Dour. I thought you might like to know that I have just published a book (in French) with extensive section (some 100 pages) on the Brusie/Bresee Poupart, the origin of Christoffel Brusie (actually Christophe Bruzai, born in Ancenis, close to Nantes, in France), the conditions of his arrival to New France as well as his descendants. 

"The title is LES HUGUENOTS BRETONS EN AMÉRIQUE DU NORD - VOL 2.  It is available on the Coop Breizh Website
http://www.coop-breizh.fr/livres-3/livres-3/histoire-de-bretagne-et-des-pays-celtiques-320/les-huguenots-bretons-en-amerique-du-nord-vol-5458/zoom-fr.htm

"And hopefully soon on amazon.fr: 
http://www.amazon.fr/Huguenots-Bretons-Amerique-Nord-Olivier/dp/2914612311/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1382433591&sr=1-1&keywords=huguenots+bretons "


My comment:  Thank you, Olivier, for this information.  That is new material for me, and I appreciate the references.


a)  Olivier Le Dour noted:  "Would you mean Cornelia Bresie, baptized in 1725 in Linlithgo, daughter of Andries Brusy (born 1688 indeed in ALbany) and Engeltje Clauw?  Andries' father was not from the Netherlands but from France. He came via New France as a soldier in the régiment de Carignan."

My comment:  No, it's a later Cornelia, but from the same Bresee/Bresie/Brusy family in the Hudson River area.  

Dear readers, this is why I blog.  I wrote these blog posts back in 2007, but Olivier found them using an online search and was able to offer new information, including his own book, to me and the genealogy world.  

7)  On one of my blog posts, this comment didn't get past the spam filter:

a)  Anonymous piped:  "Greetings from California! I'm bored to tears at work so I decided to check out your website on my iphone during lunch break. I really like the info you provide here and can't wait to take a look when I get home. I'm surprised at how fast your blog loaded on my phone .. I'm not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyways, awesome site!"

My comment:  Oh, how I wish there had been genealogy blogs and online databases when I was working.  But I might not have gotten anything useful done at work!  

8)  Thank you to my readers who managed to escape from the dreaded Captcha trap and were able to successfully post a comment.  I appreciate your persistence and wisdom.


Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Mining the Massachusetts Vital Records, 1916-1920 on FamilySearch

I have been using the Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841-1915 and 1916-1920 on the New England Historic Genealogical Society website (www. AmericanAncestors.org) for years, but the 1916-1920 collection there is incomplete.  I had not investigated the Massachusetts, State Vital Records, 1840-1920 collection on FamilySearch.org.  The FamilySearch collection is incomplete - it only has birth, marriage and death records from 1916 to 1920.  But that is exactly what I want!

I've spent the afternoon happily extracting and sourcing the vital records from this collection.  I've only done some of the deaths and marriages so far, since there are 241 records for the exact surname "Seaver."  I especially like the Massachusetts death records after 1900 - they list so much information!  Let me show you:

Here is the results list for the "Seaver" search in the collection:


Down the list a bit, there is an entry for Ella R. (Waterhouse) Seaver.  I didn't have Ella in my database, so I was curious to see who she married and who her parents were.

Here is the record summary for this death record for Ella R. (Waterhouse) Seaver:


The record summary lists her death date and place, her age, her parents names and her spouse's name.

The record summary above has a "View Image" link on the right side.  After clicking that, I can see Ella R. (Waterhouse) Seaver's death record in the Massachusetts Vital Records:


She died in Newton, but the record was made in the town of Wellesley where she resided.  It gives her death date, residence, sex, race, marital status, spouse's name, date of birth, age at death, occupation, parents names and birthplace, informant, and medical information.

Ella's spouse was George F. Seaver.  I did a little investigation and identified him as the son of George F. and Hannah R. (Ham) Seaver, born in Strafford, New Hampshire.  But I didn't have a spouse for him.  A 1900 U.S. Census record for the family lists two children.

I was able to add three persons to my database today (Ella and the two Seaver children), plus source citations for Ella's birth and death.  A researcher seeking Ella's parents would find the information in this death record very useful, and could probably take the Waterhouse line back to the immigrant ancestors using the available online resources.

The neat thing about the FamilySearch records is that they are free for everybody to search and use.  A user doesn't have to have a subscription to Ancestry or NEHGS.  The FamilySearch results  are indexed for all names, so I should be able to find Seaver females who married as long as the father's surname was listed and indexed in the record.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/10/mining-massachusetts-vital-records-1916.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver


FamilySearch Family Tree 7-Generation Fan Charts - What I Do With Them

I was reading the Larry Cragun Family and Genealogy Blog this morning and saw his post Are We Cousins? If Yes, Let's Work on This Together.  He showed his own FamilySearch Family Tree fan chart, and noted that printing it out reveals two more generations.  So you get a seven-generation fan chart.

I've been working occasionally in FamilySearch Family Tree adding families that were not previously included (most of my ancestors from the last five generations were not included) and trying to fix those that have duplicate data, little data or wrong data and relationships.  But how can I determine what needs to be worked on next?  I figured out that making a fan chart would easily show the ancestral families that needed "help" and I could focus on one family at a time to "improve" in the FamilySearch Family Tree.

I decided to make fan charts for each of my grandparents.  Here is the one for my paternal grandmother, Alma Bessie Richmond (1882-1962):


The fan chart above has five generations, including the key person (Alma Bessie Richmond), plus her spouse and five of her seven children.

There is a "Printer" icon on the left side of the screen, just under the "Pedigree | Fan Chart" links.  I clicked on that, and a PDF of the fan chart appeared, which included 7 generations (the key person plus six ancestral generations):


I can save the PDF to my hard drive, and then print it out.  The PDF file size for this fan chart is 794 kb, so it is not large.  An 8.5 x 11 fan chart has about 6-point type, but is readable with a magnifying glass.  A 22 x 17 fan chart will print over four pages, with perhaps 12-point type (I'm guessing).

From the four fan charts, I can now tell which ancestral families may have a problem that's needs my "help" and "improvement."  For instance, on the Alma Bessie Richmond chart, I can see that:

*  The parents of John Richman (1788-1867) are given as John Richman (1765-????) and Jane Child, and parents for John Richman (1765) also.  I have seen absolutely no evidence tying John Richman (1788) to those parents, so I need to work that problem.  First, I will start a Discussion about it, and see if anybody else has evidence that I have not obtained.  I may disconnect John Rivhman (1788) from those parents if there is no evidence presented.

*  The mother of Amy Frances Oatley (1826-1864) is given as Mary Champlin (1797-1863).  My records, and the Oatley book and a Champlin will, say the mother is Amy Champlin (1798-1865).  So I need to review what evidence the Family Tree provides, add my own information and sources, start a Discussion, and correct the parent of Amy Oatley.  Hopefully, that adds the correct parentage of Amy Champlin to the FamilySearch Family Tree and to my fan chart.  If not, I'll have even more work to do!

I see several other entries that need "improvement" and "correcting" on the fan charts I created using the FamilySearch Family Tree for my grandparents.

What I'm doing here is finding the "low hanging fruit" for improvement and correction on the Family Tree. If I can improve my own ancestral families so that I can create accurate fan charts for my grandparents, then I can work further back in time on earlier generations where I know there are a lot of erroneous relationships and facts.

I like the colorful chart that is created by the fan charts, but I wish it showed more generations.  My ideal fan chart would be very large with, say, 12 generations of ancestors from the key person, that could be printed on a fairly large wall chart (something like 5 feet high by 7 feet wide).  I would like to see larger type on that large chart, at least for the latest generations.

I also like Larry's attitude - he's saying "hey, here's my tree, are you on it?  Can you add to it?  Let's work together!"  It's called "collaboration" and "crowd sourcing."  We all need to do it.  Providing a fan chart such as the Family Tree chart to a cousin or another researcher may spark an interest and response that provides critical information about an ancestor or family.

Are you working on your ancestral families in the FamilySearch Family Tree?  Are there research clues for your ancestral families in the Family Tree?  The only way the Family Tree reaches its tremendous potential (and stated FamilySearch goal) as an open, source-centric interconnected family tree with accurate names, dates, places, relationships, events, sources, etc. is if everybody contributes information to the Family Tree.  I'm trying to do my small part.  I hope that all genealogists and family historians do the same.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/10/familysearch-family-tree-7-generation.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver



Treasure Chest Thursday - Post 187: 1840 U.S. Census Record for Johnathan White 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 1840 United States Census record for Jonathan White in Killingly, Windham County, Connecticut (two images):





The Johnathan White household on the first image:



Information for the Johnathan White household includes:

*  1 male aged 10 to 15 years old (almost certainly son Albert, born in 1827)
*  1 male aged 15 to 20 years old (almost certainly son Henry, born in 1824)
*  1 male aged 30 to 40 years old (almost certainly Jonathan White, born in 1806)

*  1 female aged 0 to 5 years old (almost certainly daughter Harriet, born in 1836)
*  1 female aged 30 to 40 years old (almost certainly wife Miranda (Wade), born in 1804)

The information on the second image includes:

*  3 persons employed in agriculture

The source citation for this record is:

1840 United States Federal Census, Windham County, Connecticut, population schedule, Killingly town; Page 152 (stamped on second image), Jonathan White household; online database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 16 May 2013); citing National Archives Microfilm Publication M704, Roll 32.

I could have used the stamped number "4189" for this source citation, which is, apparently, for the specific page in a collection that contains the population schedule.  Note that the second image has a stamped number of "4190."

The information in this record is consistent with what I know about the family of Jonathan and Miranda (Wade) White.  

Interestingly, the Ancestry.com indexing for this census record listed him as "Johnathan Ekite" and somebody has added the correct "Johnathan White" alternate name.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/10/treasure-chest-thursday-post-187-1840.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver


Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Ancestry.com's Online Support Community Forums

I must have missed (or forgotten about) the announcement by Ancestry.com describing their Online Support Community forums.  Was there a press release?  I just discovered them today...I must be getting old.

On the Ancestry.com home page, the "Online Support Community" link is under the "Collaborate" tab:


Clicking on the "Online Support Communities" link takes the user to the Ancestry Support Communities page (http://ancestryforums.custhelp.com/pages/home):


There are a number of different Communities - two for Community Matters and seven for Support Communities.  The Ancestry Support Communities are:

*  Getting Started
*  Product How-To
*  Search
*  Historical Records
*  Research Assistance
*  AncestryDNA
*  Family Tree Maker

I clicked on the "Product How-To" community forum, which has 1047 posts and 4344 comments.  Here is the top of that page:


Each community forum has a list of the posts, with the post with the most recent comment at the top of the list.  I clicked on the top item on the list above:




The post with the question was asked at 2:18 PM today, and the last comment was posted at 3:30 PM.

This community forum may be one of those very useful "Help" functions that users can participate in to ask questions and receive answers or advice for other users (and Ancestry.com staff, I would guess).

The URL for this post is:

Copyright (c) @2013, Randall J. Seaver


(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 279: Randy's 70th Birthday Party

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

This week's post is different - it's spanking new photographs straight from my iPhone to your eyes, unseen by anyone except on Facebook.

My two darling, organized, thoughtful, creative and beautiful daughters, Lori and Tami, put together a 70th birthday party for me over the weekend with 40 of our friends and relatives.  It was a grand time.  The theme was a 1950s sock hop with games (hula hoops, bubblegum blowing, marbles, etc.) and 1950s rock and roll music.  Plus toasts, ice cream and cake - the works.  There were photos of the pre-adult Randy on the tables (most of which I've shared in Wordless Wednesday posts previously) which elicited oohs and ahhs and questions ("you were such a cute little boy, what happened?").

Linda and I got there shortly after the party started, and were greeted by our four grandchildren:



That's Lucas (age 10) with the jeans, white t-shirt and Davy Crockett coonskin cap, Lauren (age 8) and Audrey (age 5) in their poodle skirts, Mary Janes and pink eyeglasses, and Logan (age 7) with the white t-shirt, leather jacket and slicked back hair (with a ducktail in back).  The boys are Lori's, the girls are Tami's.  Have I told you before how special each one is to Linda and me?

Inside, the table at the back of the room had two cakes - a chocolate cake with 70 candles on it, and a white cake decorated as below:


I didn't pose for many pictures of my own (someone else took this one), but here is Linda, some of our friends, and Lauren and Lucas with me after the bubblegum blowing contest (I was the judge - everyone won a prize!).


As you can see, I wore my Disneyland shirt (I went there in 1956), and also wore Linda's wig (yes, I even had hair in the 1950s) which the kids snatched early on.  Linda (in red) wore her Elvis Presley shirt.  

Attendees each received a pair of plastic designer eyeglass frames and the black and white scarf.  Some came in 1950s garb (even another lady in a poodle skirt).  

After some toasts and an inane speech by the guest of honor, the girls lit the 70 candles on the cake (which almost set off the fire alarm) and I blew out the candles (only took about five seconds, cough cough).  They cut the cake, and the guests lined up for cake, ice cream and toppings.  Here is a shot of Audrey and the toppings:



All of my favorite candies from the 1950s!  The kids all had two or three scoops of ice cream, with many toppings, and a piece of cake.  Don't tell anybody, I did too!  

My thanks to Lori and Tami for all of their efforts, planned from afar and executed Sunday afternoon.  We loved seeing many old friends, and showing off the grandkids.  I think the kids had the most fun - they took drink orders and delivered soda bottles to guests, took part in all of the games (they can all hula hoop really well), gave sweet short toasts on the microphone, and hammed it up for pictures. 

This was one of my most memorable family history events!  I hope that the girls and grandkids remember it all of their lives.  I know that I will.

Yes, today, 23 October, is my 70th birthday.  I lay in bed this morning and calculated that it was my 25,569th get-up (that's 70 years times 365 days plus 18 leap days plus 1 today - the start of year number 71).  That's 36,819,360 minutes of life, and about 2,209,161,600 heart beats.  

Maybe I'll take the rest of the day off... nope, I can't, gotta go to the CVGS meeting and do some research, get taken out to dinner by Linda, and watch the World Series game tonight.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/10/not-so-wordless-wednesday-post-279.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver 

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Extracting Information From a 1930 U.S. Census Record

I gleaned a significant amount of information from an obituary last week in Gleaning Information From a Record or Article (posted 14 October 2013), so I thought that I would do a similar task with a 1930 United States census record.  My purpose in doing this is to get practice doing it, determine if I have missed anything, and to provide another example.

My Carringer grandparents resided in San Diego and were enumerated there in April 1930 for the census.  Here is the census page with the family entry:



The snippet for the Lyle L. Carringer family:


1)  Here is the information I captured for the household:

*  The Lyle L. Carringer family resided in San Diego City, which was in San Diego township, in San Diego County, in the State of California.
*  The household was enumerated on 5 April 1930 by Mrs. Georgia A. Stooks.
*  The Lyle L. Carringer family resided at 2130 Fern Street.
*  Four persons resided in this home, Lyle L. Carringer, Emily K. Carringer, Betty V. Carringer, and Georgia K. Auble.

2)  Information for Lyle L. Carringer includes:

*  Lyle was head of the household
*  Lyle owned the home that they lived in, which was valued at $10,000.
*  Lyle owned a radio set.
*  Lyle's sex was male.
*  Lyle's race was white
*  Lyle's age at last birthday was 38
*  Lyle was married, and was married first at age 26
*  Lyle did not attend school since Sept. 1, 1929
*  Lyle was able to read and write
*  Lyle was born in California
*  Lyle's father was born in Pennsylvania
*  Lyle's mother was born in Wisconsin
*  Lyle was able to speak English
*  Lyle's occupation was Office Work in the Dry Goods industry
*  Lyle was a Worker
*  Lyle was employed on the last working day before enumeration
*  Lyle was a Veteran, who served in the World War

3)  Information for Emily K. Carringer:

*  Emily was the wife of the head of the household (Lyle L. Carringer)
*  Emily's sex was female
*  Emily's race was white
*  Emily's age at last birthday was 30
*  Emily was married, and was married first at age 18
*  Emily did not attend school since Sept. 1, 1929
*  Emily was able to read and write
*  Emily was born in Illinois
*  Emily's father was born in New Jersey
*  Emily's mother was born in Canada English
*  Emily was able to speak English
*  Emily had no occupation

4)  Information for Betty V. Carringer:

*  Betty was the daughter of the head of the household (Lyle L. Carringer)
*  Betty's sex was female
*  Betty's race was white
*  Betty's age at last birthday was 10
*  Betty was single
*  Betty did attend school since Sept. 1, 1929
*  Betty was able to read and write
*  Betty was born in California
*  Betty's father was born in California
*  Betty's mother was born in Illinois
*  Betty was able to speak English
*  Betty had no occupation

5)  Information for Georgia K. Auble:

*  Georgia was the mother-in-law of the head of the household (Lyle L. Carringer)
*  Georgia's sex was female
*  Georgia's race was white
*  Georgia's age at last birthday was 61
*  Georgia was widowed
*  Georgia did not attend school since Sept. 1, 1929
*  Georgia was able to read and write
*  Georgia was born in Canada English
*  Georgia's father was born in Canada English
*  Georgia's mother was born in Canada English
*  Georgia's native language was English
*  Georgia immigrated to the United States in 1890
*  Georgia was a naturalized U.S. citizen
*  Georgia was able to speak English
*  Georgia had no occupation

6)  Many of those assertions could be included in a source citation for residence, home ownership, spousal and parent-child relationships, gender, race, approximate birth year, approximate marriage year, birth place, father and mother birth places, occupation, immigration date, citizenship status, education, literacy, etc.  

The source citation for this 1930 U.S. Census Event is:

1930 United States Federal Census, San Diego County, California, Population Schedule, San Diego city; ED 37-116, Sheet 5A, Dwelling #142, Family #148, Lyle L. Carringer household; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 29 July 2012); citing National Archives Microfilm Publication T626, Roll 192.

All in all, it is a very useful exercise to try to capture all of the information in some sort of summary.  The information provided can be used as finding aids for more information in previous census records, in vital records, in land records, in military records, in immigration records, in citizenship records, in cemetery records, etc.  

After extracting the information above, I can enter the information into my genealogy database program.  I can copy and paste the data summary above into the Note for the 1930 Census Event in my genealogy database program, and/or into the Person Note for each person.  I can create a Census Event for each person in the household, along with a Source citation for the Event.  I can attach the document image to each person mentioned in the document, and tag it to the specific Event.

What information do you think I missed, or could have worded better?  When you obtain census information from a source, what information do you enter it into your genealogy database as Events, Relationships, Notes, Media, etc.  

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/10/extracting-information-from-1930-us.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver