Saturday, May 24, 2014

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Go On a Genea-Scavenger Hunt

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: 

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



Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!):

1) You're going on a scavenger hunt - for records of one of your relatives.  You can pick a relative who lived in the 1800 to 2000 time period.  A brother of one of your ancestors might be best (since males don't change their surname).  Or the husband of a sister of your ancestor.  
Tell us the name of your chosen relative. 

2)   Go to FamilySearch and search for records for that relative.  Start on the Search page - https://www.familysearch.org/search.  Search any way you want.   

3)  Tell us what you found in the FamilySearch record collections.  Did you find something new about that relative?   

4)  Write your own blog post, comment on this post, or write something on Facebook or Google+.

Here's mine:

1)  I chose Robert Auble (1830-1920), born and died in New Jersey, and brother to my second great-grandfather David Auble (1817-1894).


3)  A search for Robert Auble on FamilySearch born between 1825 and 1835 in New Jersey, died 1920 in New Jersey, resulted in:

*  1920 U.S. Census for Blairstown, Warren, New Jersey (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M4YT-2L9) gave me a second wife for Robert (age 90, born N.J., no occupation) named Amanda (age 74, born in N.J.).

*    1910 U.S. Census for Blairstown, Warren, New Jersey (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MK17-6VZ) showed Robert (age 78, has own income) and Amanda (age 54, born in N.J.), with 9 years of a second marriage.

*  1905 New Jersey State Census for Warren County, New Jersey (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KMHP-ZYY) shows Robert (age 70) and wife Amanda (age 49).

*  1900 U.S. Census for Blairstown, Warren, New Jersey (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M9V7-ZR7) showed Robert (age 66, born Jan 1834, a capitalist), son Theodore (age 36), daughter-in-law Mary E. Auble (age 33), and grandson Raymond (age 5).

*  1885 New Jersey State Census for Blairstown, Warren, New Jersey (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/6BL4-63Z) shows Robert, Ellen, Elizabeth, Theodore, and Frank (no ages given).

*  1870 U.S. Census for Blairstown, Warren, New Jersey (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MN6S-4Q3) shows Robert (age 40, a blacksmith), Ellen (age 34), George (age 14), Elizabeth (age 12), Theodore (age 6), and Franklin (age 3).

*  1860 U.S. Census for Blairstown, Warren, New Jersey (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MFCM-JLQ) shows Robert (age 30, a blacksmith), Ellen (age 24), George (age 4) and Emma (age 2).

*  1850 U.S. Census for Frelinghuysen, Warren, New Jersey (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M6MY-F2R) shows Robert (age 20, a blacksmith) residing in home of Benjamin Poyers (age 35, a labourer).

*  There are four entries for births of children to Robert and Ellen Auble - a female in 1858, Theodore in 1864 (see https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FZW8-CXP), a male in 1867, and a female in 1873.  From the census records, I can identify those children as Elizabeth/Emma, Franklin and an unknown daughter.

*  There is a marriage entry of Robert Obble and Elen E. Hartman on 6 December 1855 in Hardwick, Warren, New Jersey (see https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FZPB-HZN).  

*  I wondered about the 1880 U.S. Census, and searched without a birth year range and easily found, in Blairstown, Warren, New Jersey (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MNDM-1LK), Robert Auble (age 40, boarding house) with wife Ellen (age 40, keeping house), daughter Lizzie (age 19), and son Frank (age 12).

*  I looked at the FamilySearch Family Tree for Robert Auble and found him in the tree, and someone identified as randyseaver1 added records in November 2012 and a user named Sterling George did several merges in November 2013.  I see that the son Franklin was deleted in a merge with Theodore by Sterling George, so I need to fix that.

I did not find the death of Robert Auble in 1920 - I looked in my database and saw that I have a very poor copy of a New Jersey State Death record that I obtained many years ago from another Auble researcher.

Having found all of the information above, I can add the second marriage with Amanda ???? in about 1901, and can add census events for 1850 to 1920 for Robert Auble, his wives, and children.  I can also trace some of the children after their marriages and add content about them.  These are all cousins of mine that may appear in an autosomal DNA test.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/05/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-go-on.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver


Surname Saturday - REIFFENBERGER (German states to colonial New York)

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 #969, who is MARIA CATHARINA REIFFENBERGER (1705-1749)
.   [Note: the earlier great-grandmothers and 7th great-grandfathers have been covered in earlier posts].

My ancestral line back through two generations in this REIFFENBERGER family line is:

1.  Randall J. Seaver (1943-living)

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


6.  Lyle Lawrence Carringer (1891-1976)
7.  Emily Kemp Auble (1899-1977)

14.  Charles Auble (1849-1916)
15.  Georgianna Kemp (1868-1952)

30.  James Abraham Kemp (1831-1902)

31.  Mary Jane Sovereen (1841-1874)

60.  Abraham James Kemp (1795-1881)
61.  Sarah Sephrona Fletcher (1802-1865)

120.  John Kemp (1768-1861)
121.  Mary Dafoe (1776-1850)


242.  Abraham Dafoe (1755-1815)
243.  Katreen Diamond  (1755-????)

484.  Johann Ernst Dafoe (1726-1784)
485.  Maria Keller (1729-1789)

968.  Abraham Defoe, born about 1703 in Missy, Vaud, Switzerland; died before 1753 in Rhinebeck, Dutchess, New York, United States.  He was the son of 1936. Daniel Thevou and 1937. Maria Anna Delcour.  He married about 1723 in probably Dutchess, New York, United States.
969.  Maria Catharina Reiffenberger, born about 1705 in Haiger,  Hessen, Germany; died 20 January 1749 in Rhinebeck, Dutchess, New York, United States.  

Children of Abraham Defoe and Maria Reiffenberger are:
*  Johann Ernst Dafoe (1726-1784), married 1749 Maria Keller (1729-1789).
*  Johann Jurgen Dafoe (1727-1788), married 1750 Annatje Keller (1730-1790).
*  Daniel Defoe (1721-????), married 1755 Catherine Keller (1731-????).
*  Johann Teevee Defoe (1733-????), married 1759 Anna Althuyser (1737-????).
*  Maria Elisabetha Defoe (1735-????), married 1753 Thomas Dates (1732-????).
*  Anna Margaretha Defoe (1738-????), married 1759 Abraham Vanderkeer (1733-????).
*  Eva Defoe (1740-1815), married 1759 Henrick Katzenbach (1736-????).
*  Elisabetha Defoe (1742-????), married 1759 John Northern (1738-????).
*  Abraham Defoe (1745-????).

1938.  Johann Georg Reiffenberger, born about 1674 in Flammersbach, Hessen, Germany; died 1750 in Livingston Manor, Columbia, New York, United States.  He married about 1703 in Hessen, Germany.
1939.  Maria Elisabetha Deiken, born about 1680 in Flammersbach, Hessen, Germany; died 1755 in Livingston Manor, Columbia, New York, United States.

Children of Johann Reiffenberger and Maria Deiken are:
*  Maria Catharina Reiffenberger (1705-1749), married 1723 Abraham Dafoe (1703-1753)
*  Anna Margaretha Reiffenberger (1708-????), married 1732 Abraham Laucks.
*  Georg Reiffenberger (1710-1754), married 1735 Anna Marie Leick (1714-????).
*  Daniel Reiffenberger (1713-1789), married 1732 Anna Elisabetha Stuber.
*  Adam Reiffenberger (1716-1756), married 1714 Agnes Falckenberg.
*  Johannes Reiffenberger (1720-1784), married Anna Maria Hauch.

3876.  Johannes Christianus Reiffenberger, born 1650 in Haiger,  Hessen, Germany.  He married 06 October 1672 in Herborn, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany.
3877.  Catharina Cuntz, born 1652 in Amdorf, Lahm-Dill-Kreis, Hessen, Germany.

Child of Johannes Reiffenberger and Catharina Cuntz is:
*  Johann Georg Reiffenberger (1674-1750), married 1703 Maria Elisabetha Deiken (1680-1755).

I have no idea where I found the information on this family line above.  It may have been in one of the Henry Z. Jones books on Palatine families (and the photocopies may be buried in my paper piles), or it may have been in online family trees.  There are several trees on Rootsweb Worldconnect with essentially the information I have above.

The URL for this post is:

copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver



Friday, May 23, 2014

Genetic Genealogy - 23andMe Basic Video Features CeCe Moore

CeCe Moore (who writes the excellent Your Genetic Genealogist blog) is featured on the Hangout with 23andMe: Genetic Genealogy Basics video on YouTube.  The YouTube description is:

"Hangout with 23andMe Ancestry Ambassador CeCe Moore to learn the basics of Genetic Genealogy and 23andMe's Ancestry features. CeCe will be joined by 23andMe product manager, Laurie Kahn, and community manager, Christine. This Hangout will cover interpreting your 23andMe Ancestry Composition results, connecting with your DNA Relatives, understanding maternal and paternal lines -- and more."

The YouTube video is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCJr7t2Sbpg.  You can watch it there.

Here is the video if you want to watch it here:




I've always wondered about the confidence levels, and CeCe indicated that the "Speculative" level contains fairly accurate information.

You can watch many more YouTube videos about genetics and genealogy on the 23andMe YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNTn02DED1jvkx5DbwFYdYA.

Enjoy!  I did.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/05/genetic-genealogy-23andme-basic-video.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver


"Cops and Robbers" - A New Shades of the Departed Digital Magazine is Published Today - FREE!

My friend and genea-blogging colleague, footnoteMaven, is the editor of the Shades of the Departed digital magazine.  The latest issue of the magazine is available, for FREE, through fM's Shades of the Departed blog post titled Cops & Robbers Issue (two screens shown below):



If you click on the "click to read" image on the screen above, the digital magazine will open:


You can click on the right and left arrows on the screen, or on the filmstrip images at the bottom of the screen, to read the pages.


If you click on a page image, it will magnify and be more easily readable.  Use your mouse to move around the page image.  You can use the icons at the top of the page also.

While the technology to do this works really well, the content of the magazine is the real prize.  This issue is about Cops and Robbers, the stories are told by photos and text by skilled story-tellers and photo analysts.  My favorite is the story titled "A Photograph: Commemorating Murder" starting on page 60 with a photograph.

This is really an excellent issue, and I hope that my readers enjoy the stories.

Note that there are many more issues of Shades of the Departed - follow the links on the right-hand side of fM's blog to read them.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/05/cops-and-robbers-new-shades-of-departed.html

copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver


Calling all Genealogy Jamboree Attendees: Ancestry Needs You!

I received this in an email today from Ancestry.com:

Calling Jamboree attendees: Ancestry needs you!

Ancestry depends on user input to help mold the future generation of their offerings. A range of opportunities are being planned here at SCGS for participants to share their impressions of upcoming Ancestry features across multiple products.  These will include both focus groups and individual interviews all four days of the conference.

They are looking for subscribers of all levels of expertise, membership tenure, and tree size. To be considered, please fill out the following online questionnaire and members of Ancestry’s User Research team will reach out to you for scheduling. Incentives will include the latest version of FTM for Mac or PC, an AncestryDNA kit, or a 6 month subscription extension to your membership.


Please reach out to Ancestry directly if you have any concerns: User-Research@ancestry.com

I took the survey and expressed my opinions.  Perhaps they will call me to participate in the focus groups or a personal interview.  I forgot to make a screen capture of the survey page, sorry!

If participating in a focus group or being interviewed about Ancestry.com products appeals to you, and you are attending the Genealogy Jamboree on June 5-8, please take the survey and provide your opinions and information.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/05/calling-all-genealogy-jamboree.html

copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver


52 Ancestors - Week 21: #28, David Auble (1817-1894)

Amy Johnson Crow suggested a weekly blog theme of "52 Ancestors" in her blog post Challenge:  52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks on the No Story Too Small blog.  Here is my ancestor biography for week #21:

David Auble (1817-1894) is #28 on my Ahnentafel List, and is my 2nd great-grandfather. He married #29 Sarah Knapp (1818-ca 1900) in 1844.


I am descended through:

*  their son, #14, Charles Auble (1849-1916), who married  #15 Georgianna Kemp (1868-1952) in 1898.
*  their daughter, #7 Emily Kemp Auble (1899-1977), who married #6 Lyle Lawrence Carringer (1891-1976) in 1918.

* their daughter, #3 Betty Virginia Carringer (1919-2002), who married #2 Frederick Walton Seaver (1911-1983) in 1942.
*  their son, #1 Randall J. Seaver (1943-....)


To create this post, I made an Individual Summary report in RootsMagic 6, then saved it into an RTF file.  I then copied and pasted the Person, the Individual Fact List, the Marriages/Children, the General Notes, and the Source Citations into this blog post.  Unfortunately, the source citations superscripts did not survive this process as superscripts, so I put them in brackets in the lists and notes below, and without brackets in the Source Citation list.  I have images of many of these records, but have not included them in this blog post due to the length of the post.  Many of them have been transcribed or shown in Amanuensis Monday and Treasure Chest Thursday posts.

=====================================================

1)  PERSON (with source citations as indicated in brackets):

*  Name:                 David Auble [1–3, 4-5, 7]    
*  Sex:                    Male   
*  Father:                Johannes "John" Auble (1780-1831)   
*  Mother:              Anna Row (1787-1860)   
  
2)  INDIVIDUAL FACTS  (with source citations as indicated in brackets):
   
*  Birth:                  1817, Stillwater, Sussex, New Jersey, United States [3]
*  Census:               1 June 1850 (about age 33), West Ward, Newark, Essex, New Jersey, United States [4]    
*  Occupation:         1 June 1850 (about age 33), boot and shoe man; Newark, Essex, New Jersey, United States [4]
*  Census:               1 June 1860 (about age 43), 4th Ward, Newark, Essex, New Jersey, United States [5]
*  Occupation:         1 June 1860 (about age 43), shoe store; Newark, Essex, New Jersey, United States [5]
*  Census:               1 June 1870 (about age 53), Terre Haute, Vigo, Indiana, United States [6]
*  Occupation:         1 June 1870 (about age 53), boot & shoe maker; Terre Haute, Vigo, Indiana, United States [6]
*  Census:               1 June 1880 (about age 63), 411 Chestnut Street, Terre Haute, Vigo, Indiana, United States [7]
*  Occupation:         1 June 1880 (about age 63), shoe maker; Terre Haute, Vigo, Indiana, United States [7]
*  Residence:           before 22 March 1894 (before about age 77), 411 Chestnut Street, Terre Haute, Vigo, Indiana, United States [3]
*  Death:                 22 March 1894 (about age 77), Terre Haute, Vigo, Indiana, United States[1-3]  
*  Burial:                 after 22 March 1894 (after about age 77), Woodlawn Cemetery, Terre Haute, Vigo, Indiana, United States [2]
  
3)  MARRIAGE AND CHILDREN  (with source citations as indicated in brackets):
   
*  Spouse 1:             Sarah G. Knapp (1818-ca 1900)
*  Marriage 1:           1844 (about age 27), Newton, Sussex, New Jersey, United States [3, 8]
*  Child 1:                William A. Auble (1845-1901)   
*  Child 2:                Frances Mary "Fannie" Auble (1846-1917)    
*  Child 3:                Charles Auble (1849-1916)   
*  Child 4:                Katherine "Kate" Auble (1851-      )   
*  Child 5:                Anna Mattison Auble (1860-      )   
*  Child 6:                Cora A. Auble (1862-1876)

4)  PERSON NOTES  (with source citations as indicated in brackets):

David Auble was probably born in Stillwater, Sussex, New Jersey in 1817.[3]  This date is supported by other available records.  The case for John and Ann (Row) Auble being the parents of David Auble is circumstantial.  The only real clue is the death record for David's brother, Robert, which lists his father as John Auble.  Robert Auble (1830-1920) is identified as David Auble's brother in David's obituary.  At the time of the birth of David and Robert Auble, the only Auble residing in Sussex County, New Jersey was this John Auble.

The "Newspaper clippings from the Sussex (NJ) Register, 1897-1899" (online database accessed on Ancestry.com) had two articles concerning David Auble. These items were in a column titled "Ancient Local History, compiled from The Register," which was published in Newton, Sussex County, New Jersey.  The articles are:

a) From "The Register" for 4 April 1838:

"David L. Foster and David Auble form partnership and begin business as shoemakers in building recently occupied by George Dennis, and next to W.T. Anderson's law office."

David L. Foster was the husband of Sarah (Knapp) Auble's sister, Hannah Maria (Knapp) Foster.  This may be how David Auble became acquainted with Sarah Knapp, through his business partner.

b) From "The Register" for 10 September 1844:

"William Auble, a native of Sussex, and a brother to David Auble, stabbed to death during a quarrel in Philadelphia, by two brothers, who sang obscene songs as Auble was returning from a party with ladies. Auble had a loaded pistol, but did not use it. The deceased and the men who sent him to an untimely grave were intimate acquaintances, and but for improper use of strong drink the trouble never would have occurred."

Perhaps the death of his brother is why David and Sarah Auble named their first son William.

David Auble moved his family to Newark, Essex, New Jersey after his marriage in 1844.[3]  He was a boot and shoe maker for most of his life.

The Newark [N.J.] Daily Advertiser newspaper dated 7 January 1848 (accessed on GenealogyBank) had this notice on page 3:

"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"

In the 1850 United States census, the David Auble family resided in the West Ward of Newark, Union County, New Jersey.[4]  The household included:

*  David Auble -- age 32, male, a boot and shoe man, born in NJ
*  Sarah Auble -- age 30, female, born NJ
*  William Auble -- age 5, male, born NJ, attended school
*  Frances Auble -- age 3, female, born NJ
*  Charles Auble -- age 1, male, born NJ.

The Newark [N.J.] Daily Advertiser newspaper dated 15 June 1855 (accessed on GenealogyBank) had this notice on page 3:

"NOTICE -- The co-partnership 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"

In the 1860 United States census, the David Auble family resided in the Fourth Ward of Newark,  New Jersey.[5] The family included:

*  David Auble -- age 42, male, worked in a shoe store, had personal property of $500, born NJ
*  Sarah Auble -- age 39, female, born NJ
*  Wm A. Auble -- age 15, male, born NJ, attended school
*  Mary F. Auble -- age 13, female, born NJ, attended school
*  Chas Auble -- age 11, male, born NJ, attended school
*  Kate Auble -- age 8, female, born NJ
*  Anna Auble -- age 1, female, born NJ

The family moved to Terre Haute, Vigo County, Indiana in about 1865.

In the 1870 United States census, the Daniel Auble family resided in Terre Haute city, Vigo County, Indiana.[6] The household included:

*  Daniel Auble (perhaps this is a census taker's error for David, it is obviously the David Auble family) -- age 53, male, a boot and shoemaker, with $2,500 in real estate and $200 in personal property, born NJ
*  Sarah Auble -- age 50, female, keeping house, born NJ
*  Mary Auble -- age 23, female, a teacher, born NJ
*  Charles Auble -- age 21, male, a painter, born NJ
*  Kate Auble -- age 17, female, at home, born NJ, attended school
*  Anna Auble -- age 10, female, at home, born NJ, attended school
*  Cora Auble -- age 8, female, at home, born NJ, attended school

In the 1880 US census, the David Auble family resided at 40 Chestnut Street in Terre Haute, Vigo County, Indiana.[7] The household included:

*   David Auble -- white, male, age 63, married, shoemaker, born NJ, father and mother born NJ
*  Sarah G. Auble -- white, female, age 62, wife, married, keeps house, born NJ, father born NY, mother born NJ) 
*  Charles Auble -- white, male, age 30, son, single, painter, born NJ, parents born NJ
*  Fannie Auble -- white, female, age 32, daughter, single, at home, born NJ, parents born NJ
*  Katherine Auble -- white, female, age 24, daughter, single, at home, born NJ, parents born NJ
*  Anna M. Auble -- white, female, age 20, daughter, single, at home, born NJ, parents born NJ

David Auble died on 22 March 1894 in Terre Haute, age 77.[1-3]  

His obituary reads (probably from a Terre Haute newspaper,[3] a yellowed copy was found in the papers of Betty (Carringer) Seaver):

"David Auble, who died Thursday, aged 77 years, will be buried this afternoon from the family residence, 411 Chestnut Street.  Deceased was well-known and one of Terre Haute's most honored citizens.  He has been an invalid for the past two years and was confined to his home for over a year.  He was born at Stillwater N.J. in 1817 and came to Terre Haute in 1865.  For several years he was engaged in the boot and shoe business on Main Street, during which time he became widely known for his strict and honest business practices.  He was married in 1844 to Miss Sarah Knapp, of Newton N.J., who is a sister of C.C. Knapp of this city and also a sister of Judge Manning M. Knapp, at one time an eminent jurist of New Jersey, who held the Supreme Court bench of that state for seventeen years and died suddenly in the courtroom two years ago.  Mrs. Auble survives her husband with five children, two sons and three daughters:  William in Kansas City, Charles in Chicago, one married daughter Mrs. Harry Buntin of Bushnell, Ill. and Frances and Katherine at home.  One sister and two brothers also survive the deceased, Miss Elizabeth Auble of Philadelphia, now 80 years old, and Robert Auble of Blairstown, N.J., and Hampton Auble of Philadelphia. Deceased was a devout member of the Centenary M.E. Church.  He cast his first vote for William Henry Harrison, a fact which he often spoke of with pride before his death."

David Auble is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Terre Haute, Vigo County, Indiana.  His fairly large stone says only "David Auble, 1817-1894." [2]

5)  SOURCES (with source citations as indicated in brackets):
 
1. "Indiana Deaths, 1882-1920," online database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), David Auble entry, 1894.

2. Jim Tipton, indexed database, Find A Grave (http://www.findagrave.com), Woodlawn Cemetery (Terre Haute, Ind.), entry for David Auble (1817-1894); Find A Grave Memorial# 15606872.

3. Auble/Kemp Family Papers, David Auble obituary, from Terre Haute newspaper, undated, but after 22 March 1894.

4. 1850 United States Federal Census, Union County, New Jersey, population schedule, West Ward, Newark; Page 363, Dwelling #580, Family #826, David Auble household; online database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com); citing National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, Roll 448.

5. 1860 United States Federal Census, Essex County, New Jersey, Population Schedule, 4th Ward, Newark; Page 106 (penned), Dwelling #554, Family #753,  David Auble household; online database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com); citing National Archives Microfilm Publication M653, Roll 688.

6. 1870 United States Federal Census, Vigo County, Indiana, Population Schedule, Terre Haute: Page 503, Dwelling #117, Family #118, David Auble household; online database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), citing National Archives microfilm publication M593, Roll 366.

7. 1880 United States Federal Census, Vigo County, Indiana, Population Schedule, Terre Haute: Page 503D, Dwelling #59, Family #63,  David Auble household; online database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com); citing National Archives Microfilm Publication T9, Roll 319.

8. Alfred Averill Knapp, M.D., Supplement to Nicholas Knapp Genealogy (Winter Park, Fla.: the author, 1956, accessed on FHL Microfilm 1,425,677, Item 9, Number G-109-7, page 23.

================================


Copyright (c) 2014, Randal;l J. Seaver

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Planning My Classes for the Genealogy Jamboree - Friday, 6 June 2014

The Ancestry Insider had an excellent post today titled "NGS2014GEN Planning Your Time at a Conference" so I thought that I would try to plan my time at the upcoming Southern California Genealogy Jamboree.  

The class schedule, including the syllabus material for Friday is at http://app.core-apps.com/scgs2014/events/view_by_day?day=Jun++6. Here are my plans for Friday, 6 June 2014:

*  8:30 a.m.:  FR000E1 - Engaging the Next Generation (D. Joshua Taylor and Elyse Doerflinger) -- in Hotel Holleywood Room

*  10:45 a.m.:  FR000G2 - SCGS - Genealogy World Roundtable Discussions (I am hosting "Technology and Social Media" table) -- Pavlion 1

*  1 p.m.:  FR009 - Dowered or Bound Out: Records of Widows and Orphans (Judy Russell) -- in Hotel Hollywood Room

*  2:30 p.m.:  FR013 - Who, What, Why, When, Where and How of American Divorce (Judy Russell) -- in Pavilion Room

* 4 p.m.:  FR020 - Free Online Tools to Jump Start Your British Research (Kathy Warburton) -- in Academy 2 Room

*  5:30 p.m.:  FR034 - Proof Arguments: How and Why? (Warren Bittner) -- in Hollywood Burbank Room

Those are just the classes that I've selected.  I may not make all of them because I also want to:

*  Visit with folks in the Expo Hall, and the best time to do that is during class times.  I need to take pictures for my blog to share with readers.

*  Write one or two blogs posts each day, perhaps in the evening in the blogger's lounge where the wi-fi is free.  I'm not going to do it in my room because of the exorbitant hotel charges for Internet service.

*  Visit with my geneablogger friends and readers in the blogger's lounge.  We do tend to talk a lot!

*  Eat breakfast (in the restaurant), lunch (in the breezeway) and dinner (probably in the restaurant) each day.

I will highlight my Saturday and Sunday classes next week in separate blog posts.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/05/planning-my-classes-for-genealogy.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver


"Many Languages, One America" Infographic

I received an email from Heather Brown saying:

"We recently finished working on a graphic 'Many Languages, One America' which I thought I would share it with you in the hopes you might make some use of it. Here is the link: http://freepeoplesearch.org/blog/infographic-many-languages-one-america.html"

Here is the Infographic from FreePeopleSearch.org:

Many languages,one america

Did you notice that Oregon and Washington are mislabeled?

I don't see percentages on the U.S. map for Florida, Louisiana and Hawaii.

It appears that California (with 42.6%) has the highest percentage of languages spoken other than English, and that Arkansas and Alabama have the lowest at 4.3%.

I think that information like this is interesting and informative.

Thank you to Heather for permitting me to use the Infographic.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/05/many-languages-one-america-infographic.html


Treasure Chest Thursday - Post 215: Death Record of William Knapp in Newton, New Jersey

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 Death Record for for William Knapp (1775-1856) in Newton, Sussex County, New Jersey (two images, left and right portions of a large page):



The transcription of the 16th line for William Knapp is:

*  Date of Death:  June 16 1856 
*  Name of Decdent:  William Knapp
*  Sex:  Male
*  Married or Single:  Married
*  Age:  81
*  Occupation:  Shoemaker
*  Place of Death:  Newton N.J.
*  Place of Birth:  Dutchess Co. N.Y.
*  Names of Parents:  [blank]
*  Cause of Death:  Old Age
*  Date of Making Record:  June 16 1856

A source citation for this record is:

New Jersey, Records of births, marriages, and deaths of New Jersey, 1848-1900, "Births, marr., deaths, Sussex County, Vol. AF, 1848-1867," page 655, line 16, William Knapp entry, accessed on FHL Microfilm 0,584,582.

This is the best record I have for the death of William Knapp, and it provides his age (which is consistent with the 1850 U.S. census record), and is the only record that provides his birthplace (the 1850 U.s. census record says "N.Y."  The inscription on his gravestone has the date of death as June 16 1856 and his age as "in his 80th year."

Unfortunately, the field for his parents names is blank.  Because of this, William Knapp continues to be an end-of-known-line ancestor of mine, a third great-grandfather.  


Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver




Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Family Book Creator - Post 2: My Ancestors Book - First Try

I wrote yesterday about Stefan Harms' family book creator software - see Family Book Creator - Post 1: Creating the Book for how to make it work.  See www.FamilyBookCreator.com for more information about the product.



When I first tried this product last weekend, I could not make it work for me.  On Google+ (I think), someone commented on Russ Worthington's post that it would only work with Microsoft Word and with OpenOffice.  I had OpenOffice 3.3 from several years ago, but had moved on to LibreOffice.  The book file would not open on LibreOffice, nor on the OpenOffice version I had, and I don't have Microsoft Word.  I finally looked online for an updated version of OpenOffice and downloaded Apache OpenOffice 4.1.0, installed it, and it works fine!  Whew!

I have created several books now, but I am struggling with some of the screens, tabs, buttons, check boxes, etc.  The Quick Start Guide says:

"You should make changes in the FTM file and regenerate the document until the document looks fine.  The changes should not be done inside the word processor.  The goal of the plugin is to generate the book document from information found inside your Family Tree Make database.  If you need to add individuals or fine-tune information, it should be done inside Family Tree Maker and not inside the generated document."

Here's what I received in my Family Book to date:

1)  I got my "Settings" just the way I thought I wanted them.  I selected four generations of ancestors, included family charts, included children details, modified some of the naming conventions, selected endnotes, excluded person notes and research notes, modified the typeface to Times New Roman and some of the font sizes, and did not include photographs (because I didn't have any in the FTM file).  I saved all of my settings to a file.

2) I clicked on the "Create Document" button and information for 27 families appeared within 15 seconds.  The OpenOffice document opened, and I had 96 pages (of which were endnotes).

3)  Once you have the document open in the word processor, you should save it as a Microsoft Word document file (.doc or .docx).  I did that.


Then you should go down to the "Index of Individuals" page and create a name index (the Quick Start guide, and the top of the page provides detailed information on how to do this.

Then you should go to the "Contents" page and create a Table of Contents using the directions from the top of the page (it's easier than the Quick Start directions).

You can then edit any of the pages, but you need to save your file frequently and not add too much new content.

4)  Here are screen shots for several different sections of the book I created:

a)  The Title Page.  I changed the font sizes:


b)  The Table of Contents page (I added the words "Table of"):


c)  The Introduction page:


The Introduction page provides a nice summary about the content of the book.  This one says:

"This document reports the details of 175 individuals, of which 81 are male and 94 are female. Of the 90 individuals with recorded birth and death dates, the average lifespan was 61.96 years. Of these, 39 males averaged 68.82 years, and 51 females averaged 56.71 years. The longest living male was Henry Austin Carringer (1853–1946), who died aged 93. The longest living female was Leava A. Smith (1866–1959), who died aged 92."


d) The "family of the Starting Person" section has a four generation tree chart that includes the children of the starting person's family, the starting person and spouse, and the parents and grandparents of the starting person and his/her spouse.  Then the narrative for person #1 begins, as shown below:



As you can see, the way I have my settings, the information runs on without any paragraph breaks.  It is listing all of the Facts for the person, along with source superscripts, and also any Fact Notes in the data file, although I have the Fact Notes set to "Exclude."  I have not found the right combination of check boxes to put the Facts in separate paragraphs and to delete the Fact Notes.

If there is a Fact in the Family Tree Maker 2014 profile for the person, there will be an entry in this book.  I tried excluding certain Fact types and that didn't seem to work.

Several pages down the document, the information for person #1 ends, and the information for the spouse of the starting person begins, and there is the same problem.


And several more pages down the document, the information for the spouse of the starting person ends, and the list of their children starts:


Again, the Facts (not only the basic birth, baptism, marriage, death, burial facts) are listed in one long paragraph without any line breaks.

e)  The "1st Generation" pages start, followed by the other generations requested:


As you can see, there are links to the parents of a person, and also to the ancestral child of the parents.

f)  After the four generations (in this case) have been treated, the "Index of Individuals" is included:


The user can pick the number of columns and width between columns - the Quick Start Guide suggests 2 columns and 0.50 inches.

g)  The Endnotes section is the final section of my book:


I don't know why the page above is blank, as is the next page, but on the third page starts the listing of Endnotes.


Note that the listing does not have a page title like all of the other pages in the book - it should at least say "Endnotes."

Also, the Endnotes include the "Citation text" information that was in my database - my settings do not have the "Include citation text" box checked.

5)  I have identified several items of concern for me.  They include:

*  "Fact Notes" appeared even though I thought that I had excluded them (Book items > Main part > Items to Include > Primary (also Partner, Children, etc.).

*  I want each Fact to be in a separate paragraph.  I have no clue how to do that (I know, I should probably read the user's manual!).

*  I want to be able to select which Facts to include in the book text.  I tried to include only Birth, Baptism, Marriage, Death and Burial facts for the ancestors and children, but apparently that didn't work out well.

*  "Citation text" appeared even though I thought I had excluded them (Preferences > General > Source Citations and unchecked "Include citation text."

*  I could find no way to enable a Place index - the option is whited out for me (Book items > Indexes > Places).  How do I do this (I know, read the manual will probably help!).

6)  I also have problems with the database I'm using, since it was imported as a GEDCOM file from RootsMagic 6.  For instance, the text for many of my fact notes have extra spaces in them because FTM 2014 does not import concatenated text correctly in a GEDCOM file (and itnever has!).   I have no images in this database because I didn't include them in the GEDCOM file.  I want to see how FBC handles the images.  Those are my own and FTM problems, not FBC problems.

7)  My purpose here is not to complain about the product, but to share what problems I've found in hopes that they have an easy explanation that has escaped my attention to detail, or are easily fixable by the programmers.

The URL for this post is:

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver