Saturday, September 20, 2014

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Do/Did Your Children Know Their Great-Grandparents?

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):



1)  Dana Leeds on the Enthusiastic Genealogist blog asks "Did/Do Your Children Know Any of Their Great-Grandparents?"

2)  I thought that would be a great Saturday Night Genealogy Fun question - so please share your response with us in a blog post of your own, in a comment on this blog post, or in a Facebook or Google+ post.

3)  For extra credit, or in case the answer is "No," then please answer the question for yourself, or your parents.

Here's mine:

1)  My children were born in 1974 and 1976, so they did not meet their paternal paternal great-grandparents, Frederick and Alma Bessie (Richmond) Seaver, who died in 1942 and 1962.  They did meet their paternal maternal great-grandparents, Lyle and Emily (Auble) Carringer who died in 1976 and 1977, respectively.   They did not meet their maternal paternal great-grandparents - Severt and Amelia (Brocke) Leland (who died in 1940 and 1974), or their maternal maternal great-grandfather, Paul Schaffner (who died in 1934) but my oldest daughter met her great-grandmother Edna (McKnew) Schaffner (who died in late 1974) once.  We have a picture of the four generations.

2)  For myself, I was born in 1943, and so I did not meet any of my paternal great-grandparents, Frank W. and Hattie (Hildreth) Seaver, who died in 1922 and 1920, nor Thomas and Julia (White) Richmond, who died in 1917 and 1913.  I did meet three of my four maternal great-grandparents, since Henry Austin and Della (Smith) Carringer died in 1946 and 1944, and Georgianna (Kemp) Auble died in 1952, but her husband Charles Auble died in 1916.  

The only one I recall is Georgianna (Kemp) Auble, who lived with my grandparents.  She was warm and sweet, and we called her Nana (which is what my mother called her).  

I would love to have been able to talk to Georgianna about genealogy and family history, since she was born in Ontario, moved to Chicago and married, and came to San Diego in about 1911.  Of course, I would love to talk again to any of them about their life experiences and family memories, but that isn't going to happen, is it?

To summarize, one of my children met three of their great-grandparents, and one of them met two.  I met three of my great-grandparents.  

3)  An additional thought:  My two grandsons know two of their great-grandparents, although one has died recently.  They will have very fond and happy memories of their Gi-gi-ma!  My two granddaughters knew one of their great-grandparents, who has since died.

Thank you, Dana, for your blog post that led to my SNGF post!

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/09/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-dodid-your.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver


Surname Saturday - BEMIS (England to colonial Massachusetts)

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


I am in the 8th great-grandmothers and I'm up to Ancestor #1043 who is Mary BEMIS (1624-1695) 
[Note: the earlier great-grandmothers and 8th great-grandfathers have been covered in earlier posts].

My ancestral line back through two generations in this BEMIS family line 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)

32. Benjamin Seaver (1791-1825)
33. Abigail Gates (1797-1869)

64. Benjamin Seaver (1757-1816)
65. Martha Whitney (1764-1832)


130.  Samuel Whitney (1719-1782)
131.  Abigail Fletcher (1720-1783)

260.  William Whitney (1683-1720)
261.  Martha Pierce (1681-1759)

520.  Nathaniel Whitney (1647-1733)
521.  Sarah Hagar (1651-1722)


1042.  William Hagar, born about 1620 in probably Nazeing, Essex, England; died 10 January 1684 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.  He married 20 March 1645 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
1043.  Mary Bemis, born before 10 September 1624 in Dedham, Essex, England; died December 1695 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.  

Children of William Hagar and Mary Bemis are:
*  Mary Hagar (1645-????)
*  Ruhamah Hagar (1647-1738), married 1675 Joseph Waite (1643-1722).
*  Samuel Hagar (1647-1704), married 1679 Sarah Mixer (1657-1745).
*  Hannah Hagar (1649-1702), married 1674 Joseph Priest (1650-1697).
*  Sarah Hagar (1651-1722), married 1674 Nathaniel Whitney (1647-1733).
*  Susannah Hagar (1653-1731), married 1680 Joseph Grout (1649-1702).
*  William Hagar (1659-1734), married 1687 Sarah Benjamin (1663-1745).
*  Rebecca Hagar (1661-1735), married 1681 Nathaniel Healey (1659-1734).
*  Abigail Hagar (1663-????), married 1687 Benjamin Whitney (1660-1736).
*  Mehitabel Hagar (1665-1691), married 1687 Nathaniel Norcross (1665-1717).

2086.  John Bemis, born about 1589 in Dedham, Essex, England; died before 26 June 1624 in Dedham, Essex, England.  He married 1614 in Dedham, Essex, England.
2087.  Anne Spray, born about 1593 in Dedham, Essex, England.

Children of John Bemis and Anne Spray are:

*  Isaac Bemis (1615-????)
*  Luke Bemis (1617-????)
*  Joseph Bemis (1619-1684), married 1640 Sarah Capron (1621-1712).
*  Abraham Bemis (1621-????).
*  Mary Bemis (1624-1695), married 1645 William Hagar (1620-1684).
*  James Bemis (1626-1665).
*  Susan Bemis (1628-????).

Information about the Bemis family in America can be found in:

Colonel Thomas Waln-Morgan Draper, The Bemis History and Genealogy (San Francisco, Calif. : Stanley-Taylor Co., Printers, 1900).

The English Bemis family was, apparently, gleaned from an online family tree.

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/09/surname-saturday-bemis-england-to.html

copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver


Friday, September 19, 2014

Crafting a Source Citation for a Published Book and a Google Book Version of the Book

When I was writing my 52 Ancestors post this morning, I noticed that I needed to "improve" my source citation for the birth of Miranda (Wade) White.  The only birth record I had was from the book:

William R. Cutter, et al (editors), Genealogies and Family History of the State of Connecticut: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation, Volume IV (New York, N.Y. : Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1911).

I found this book on the shelf at a local library (and I don't recall which one!) back in the 1990 time frame and I made a photocopy of the Wade sketch that had her name.  However, I had not transcribed the information - I had only entered it into my genealogy database directly from the photocopy of the pages.

In my RootsMagic file, I had made a free-form source citation for this on-the-shelf item, with the template looking like this:


The source citation for the birth information in the published book is:

Footnote: William R. Cutter, et al (editors) Genealogies and Family History of the State of Connecticut: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation, Volume IV (New York, N.Y. : Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1911), in "Wade" sketch, page 2125, Miranda Wade birth.

Short Footnote: Cutter, Genealogies and Family History of the State of Connecticut, in "Wade" sketch, page 2125, Miranda Wade birth.

Bibliography: Cutter, William R. Genealogies and Family History of the State of Connecticut. New York, N.Y. : Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1911.

Since this book was published in 1911, I figured that it was online at Google Books, so I did a search for [ cutter genealogies connecticut miranda wade ] to see if I could find it without digging through my bookcases and then scanning the pages.

It was one of the first matches, and I clicked on it and page 2125 with Miranda's name opened:




To cite this book found on Google Books, I needed to add the book publication information plus the Google information.  To get the book publication information, I clicked on the link for "About this book" in the left-hand column.  Here is the publication information about the book:


I copied and pasted most of the information into the source template for "Book, image copy (online)" in RootsMagic 6, and then added the Google information and the source detail information:


Note that I didn't put all of the authors names, I substituted "et al" for them.  

The resulting source citation for the Google Book copy of the published book is:

Footnote: William R. Cutter et al, editors, Genealogies and Family History of the State of Connecticut: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation, Volume IV (New York, N.Y.: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1911), in "Wade" sketch, page 2125, Miranda Wade birth; digital images, Google, Google Books (http://books.google.com : accessed 19 September 2014).

Short Footnote: Cutter, Genealogies and Family History of the State of Connecticut, in "Wade" sketch, page 2125, Miranda Wade birth.

Bibliography: Cutter, William R. et al, editors. Genealogies and Family History of the State of Connecticut: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation. Volume IV. New York, N.Y.: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1911. Digital images. Google. Google Books. http://books.google.com : 2014.

As you can see, the only significant difference is the added "layer" of the Google information.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/09/crafting-source-citation-for-published.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver


"Genealogy Rockstar" Poll Results

Genea-blogger John D. Reid, who writes the excellent Canada's Anglo-Celtic Connections blog, ran a poll last week to determine the "Genealogy Rockstars" in a number of categories.  The vote was taken over a one-week time, and closed last weekend.


Here are links to the Top Ten "Genealogy Rockstars" in the different categories, as voted by those who identify themselves as living in the country or region, or as genetic genealogsts:

*  International Rockstar Genealogists - #1 is Judy G. Russell

*  USA Rockstar Genealogists - #1 is Judy G. Russell

*  Commonwealth Rockstar Genealogists - #1 is Janet Few

*  England/Scotland/Wales Rockstar Genealogists for 2014 -- #1 is Janet Few

*  Ireland Rockstar Genealogists - #1 is Steven C. Smyrl

*  Canada Rockstar Genealogists - #1 is Dick Eastman

* Australia/New Zealand Rockstar Genealogists - #1 is Shauna Hicks

*  DNA Rockstar Genealogists - #1 is Roberta Estes

*  Rockstar Genealogists: Gold Medalists

*  Rockstar Genealogists: Silver and Bronze Medalists

John hasn't shared, yet, how many total votes there were, or statistics for each category.

Congratulations to the medalists of the Genealogy Rockstar poll, and to all of the Top Ten in each category.  Note also that Elizabeth Shown Mills requested to be removed from the poll after it opened, and John honored that request.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/09/genealogy-rockstar-poll-results.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

Updated:  19 September, 10:30 PM PDT


52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 38: #45 Miranda (Wade) White (1804-1850)

Amy Johnson Crow suggested a weekly blog theme of "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" in her blog post Challenge: 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks on the No Story Too Small blog.  Here is my ancestor biography for week #38:

Miranda (Wade) White (1804-1850) is #45 on my Ahnentafel list, my third great-grandmother.  She married in about 1823 to #44 Jonathan White (1804-1850). 


I am descended through:

*  their son, #22 Henry Arnold White
 (1824-1885). who married #23 Amy Frances Oatley (1826-1864)
*  their daughter, 
#11 Julia E. White (1848-1913) who married #10 Thomas Richmond (1848-1917)

*  their daughter, #5 Alma Bessie Richmond (1882-1962), who married #4 Frederick Walton Seaver (1876-1942), 
* their son, #2 Frederick Walton Seaver (1911-1983), who married #3 Betty Virginia Carringer (1919-2002), in 1942.
*  their son, #1 Randall J. Seaver (1943-....)

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

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


*  Name:                    Miranda Wade[1]
*  Sex:                       Female   
*  Father:                   Simon Wade (1767-1857) [1]
*  Mother:                 Phebe Horton (1772-1820)[1]    

*  Alternate Name:   Maranda White[3-4]
*  Alternate Name:   Miranda Wade White[5]   
  
2)  INDIVIDUAL FACTS (with source citations as indicated in brackets):
  
*  Birth:                    25 June 1804, Foster, Providence, Rhode Island, United States[1]
*  Census:                 1 June 1850 (age 45), Killingly, Windham, Connecticut, United States[4]
*  Mortality Census: 1 June 1850 (age 46), Killingly, Windham, Connecticut, United States[3]
*  Death:                   27 August 1850 (age 46), of pleurisy; Killingly, Windham, Connecticut, United States[5]
*  Burial:                   after 27 August 1850 (after age 46), White-Chace Lot, Glocester, Providence, Rhode Island, United States[5]

3)  SPOUSE AND CHILDREN (with source citations as indicated in brackets):   
  
*  Spouse 1:               Jonathan White (1805-1850)[2]   
*  Marriage 1:            about 1823 (about age 19), probably Foster, Providence, Rhode Island, United States[2]
*  Child 1:                 Henry Arnold White (1824-1885)   
*  Child 2:                 Albert Henry White (1827-1910)   
*  Child 3:                 Harriet A. White (1836-    )   
  
4)  NOTES (with source citations as indicated in brackets):

Miranda Wade was the daughter of Simon Wade and Phebe Horton, residents of Foster, Providence County, Rhode Island.[1]  However, the 1850 U.S. census and 1850 Mortality Schedule say that she was born in Glocester, Rhode Island.

The book Genealogies and Family History of the State of Connecticut edited by William R. Cutter (published by Lewis Historical Publishing Company, New York, 1911), Volume IV, provides some information on this family on page 2125:

"(VI) Simon (3), son of Simon (2) Wade, was born November 22, 1767. He married, before 1790, Phebe Horton, born May 7, 1772, and lived at Foster.  Children:  James, born December 10, 1791; Catharine, October 12, 1793: Sarah, October 23, 1798; Arnold, June 26, 1800; Olive, September 23, 1802; Miranda, June 25, 1804; Fenner, March 30, 1807; Lawton, mentioned below."

The source for this information is probably Henry Lawton Wade, son of Lawton Wade and grandson of Simon Wade, who is the subject of this biographical sketch.

Miranda Wade married Jonathan White, in about 1823, probably in Foster, Rhode Island.[2]  Her oldest child, Henry Arnold White, was born in about 1824.  Albert Henry White was born in 1827, and Harriet A. White in 1836.

Miranda's husband, Jonathan White, died on 19 April 1850 of "lung fever."  His estate was probated on 27 April 1850 in which he named his wife "Maranda" and his three children.  

In the 1850 US Census, the remnant of the Jonathan White family resided in Killingly township, Windham County, Connecticut.[3]  The household included (enumerated on 14 September 1850):

*  Albert H. White - age 23, male, a farmer, $1200 in real property, born Gloucester RI
*  Harriet A. White - age 14, female, born Gloucester RI
*  Maranda White - age 46, female, born Gloucester RI

The 1850 U.S. Census Mortality Schedule entry for Maranda White has this information:[4]

Name:  Maranda White
Age:  46
Sex:  F
Color: [blank]
Free or slave: [blank]
Married or widowed: [blank]
Place of birth:  Gloucester R.I.
Month in which Person died: [blank]
Profession, Occupation or Trade: [blank]
Disease or Cause of Death:  Pleurisy
Number of Days Ill:  7 weeks

Jonathan and Miranda White have gravestones in the "White-Chace Yard" in Glocester, Providence County, Rhode Island.[5]  The Find A Grave memorial for Miranda Wade White does not have a photograph of the gravestone, and says that she died 27 August 1850.  

There is no probate record for Miranda (Wade) White in Killingly records.
 
5)  SOURCES

1. William R. Cutter, et al (editors) Genealogies and Family History of the State of Connecticut: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation, Volume IV (New York, N.Y. : Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1911), in "Wade" sketch, page 2125, Miranda Wade birth.

2. Ruth Wilder Sherman, "Some Descendants of Jonathan White of Dartmouth MA and of Humphrey White of Glocester RI," The American Genealogist, Volume 56, Pages 113-118, page 116.

3. "United States Census, 1850 (Mortality Schedule)", Windham county, Connecticut, Killingly, Page 92 (stamped), line 34, Maranda White entry; indexed database and digital image, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org), FHL Microfilm US/CAN 234536, citing National Archives Microfilm Publication T655.

4. 1850 United States Federal Census, Windham County, Connecticut, population schedule, Killingly town; Page 351, dwelling #444, family #492, Albert H. White household;  digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com); citing National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, Roll 51.


5. Jim Tipton, indexed database, Find A Grave (http://www.findagrave.com), White-Chace Lot (Glocester, R.I.), Miranda Wade White entry.

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

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/09/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks-week-38-45.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver


Thursday, September 18, 2014

FamilySearch Has Added an Interactive World Map to Narrow Searches

FamilySearch recently modified their Search page so that a user can see how many collections are available for each continent, country or state.  See the FamilySearch announcement at  https://familysearch.org/blog/en/familysearch-offers-interactive-world-map-searches/.

The updated Search page (https://familysearch.org/search) puts the World Map at the top of the page (on most browsers and 100% magnification) under the heading "Research by Location:"


Scrolling down the page permits the user to "Browse all published collections" which leads the user to the entire Record Collection list (at https://familysearch.org/search/collection/list).

On the Search page and the World map, if the user clicks on a continent (or some countries) on the interactive map, the continent (or country) is highlighted in yellow, and a popup box showing the countries (or states for the USA) opens saying "Choose a Location."  Here is the United States list:


When you select a location from the list, you can see how many collections are available, the years covered, the number of indexed records, and the number of unindexed images:


At the bottom of the popup box is a link to "Start researching in the [location]."  Here's the list for the United States:


From here, the user can select a specific collection to search or browse, can use the "Filter by collection name" in the upper left-hand corner, or can click on a Place in the list of States in the left-hand column.

FamilySearch says that:

"Benefits of using the interactive map: Unlike the previous map, this map should be visible on the screen in most browsers without requiring you to scroll down the page. It requires fewer clicks and less time to get to all the collections for a specific country. Prior to going to the collections for the country, you see the amount of data available for the country and when the collection information was last updated."

Well, not exactly.  I can get to the list of collections for a specific country in two clicks:

1)  I click on the FamilySearch Record Collection page (all collections - https://familysearch.org/search/collection/list) in my Chrome Bookmarks Bar

2)  I click in the "Filter by collection name" link  and  start typing the place name, and the list shows up after three or four letters.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/09/familysearch-has-added-interactive.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver



Become an FGS Ambassador for FGS 2015 Conference in Salt Lake City

This press release was received today from the Federation of genealogical Societies:

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


FGS Invites You to Participate

September 18, 2014 – Austin, TXThe Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) is pleased to announce an invitation for FGS Ambassadors. If you are a blogger, social media enthusiast, writer, editor, or in any way interested in spreading the word about the FGS 2015 Conference, FGS is looking for you.


The 2015 FGS Conference scheduled for February 11–14 in Salt Lake City, Utah, will be a one-time special event with RootsTech. FGS Ambassadors will blog, share, like, +1, and tweet to spread the news about this unique FGS conference to their friends, colleagues, and everyone interested in genealogy.

Benefits to FGS Ambassadors include:
  • ​Link to your blog, website, Twitter, or other social media accounts on the FGS 2015 Conference Ambassadors Page.
  • Potential to be a guest blogger on the FGS Voice Blog.
  • Direct contact with the FGS 2015 Marketing Committee.
  • Advance notice of press releases and other important updates from the Conference Committee.
  • Participation in the FGS Ambassadors Facebook Group.
  • Meet up with other Ambassadors at FGS 2015 - group photo for publicity.
  • Ambassador badge ribbon at the conference.​ 
Having a genealogy blog or planning to attend the FGS 2015 conference are not requirements for participating.

Visit FGS Ambassadors at https://www.fgsconference.org/media-center/ambassadors/ to review the full guidelines for participating and to register as an FGS Ambassador. Please register by October 8, 2014.

About the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS)

The Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) was founded in 1976 and represents the members of hundreds of genealogical societies. FGS links the genealogical community by helping genealogical societies strengthen and grow through resources available online, FGS Forum magazine (filled with articles pertaining to society management and genealogical news), and Society Strategy Series papers, covering topics about effectively operating a genealogical society. FGS also links the genealogical community through its annual conference -- four days of excellent lectures, including one full day devoted to society management topics. To learn more visit http://www.fgs.org.

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



Treasure Chest Thursday - Post 232: 1832 Marriage Record of Abigail (Gates) Seaver and Isaac Seaver in Westminster, Mass.

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 marriage record of Abigail (Gates) Seaver to Isaac Seaver in Westminster, Massachusetts in 1832.


The marriage record is:


A transcription of this record is:

Nov^r 13     Mr Isaac Seaver and Mrs. Abigail
1832            Seaver both of Westminster
 "   29th        Published for marriage as the law directs
                                                    E.J. Kendall Town Clerk

The source citation for this record is:

Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), "Westminster, Births, Marriages, and Deaths," page 326 (penned, image 393 of 1195), Isaac Seaver and Mrs. Abigail Seaver entry, 1832.

This record, apparently, documents the intention of marriage, by publishing it, on 13 November 1832 in the Westminster, Massachusetts town records.  I wonder if the notation "29th" was the actual marriage day.  I don't know.  There are other instances of a second date on some of the marriage records on the town record page, and they are all two to five weeks after the Intentions date.

The published Westminster Vital Record book confounds this even more by noting the Marriage Intentions were on 29 November 1832!


The town record book is an Original Source, while the published vital record book is a Derivative Source.  Here is a good example of finding the Original Source and not relying completely on the published book.   But I still don't know if the 29th November date is the actual marriage date.

Abigail (Gates) Seaver (1797-1867) was the widow of Benjamin Seaver (1791-1825), and my third great-grandmother.  Isaac Seaver (1802-1870) was the brother of Benjamin Seaver who married his brother's widow seven years after Benjamin's death.  Interestingly, the marriage occurred only two months after the death of Martha (Whitney) Seaver, the mother of Benjamin and Isaac.  

Benjamin and Abigail (Gates) Seaver had four children (Abigail, Lucinda, Isaac and Benjamin) between 1817 and 1825 - my second great-grandfather Isaac Seaver was born in 1823, and lost his father in 1825, and gained a step-father in 1832, a man he'd known all his life, his uncle and probable namesake, Isaac Seaver.  Isaac and Abigail (Gates) (Seaver) Seaver had two children, Lyman and Loring in 1834 and 1837, respectively.


Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver


Wednesday, September 17, 2014

I Am Related to Theodore and Franklin Delano Roosevelt Too

With the PBS series about the Roosevelts being aired this week, I wondered if I was related to the two Roosevelt Presidents.

So I went to Geni.com and searched for them, found their profiles, and Geni.com told me that I was related to both of them.

1)  Here is the chart for my relationship to Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), 26th President of the United States:


So I am a 11th cousin three times removed to Theodore Roosevelt.

The common ancestor is William Cranfield (born Glover ) (1483-1536) of Bedfordshire in England.  I descend from William Cranfield (1530-1614) while cousin Theodore descends through his sister, Elizabeth (Glover Cranfield) Carter (1514-1570), wife of William Carter (1510-1569).

2)  Here is the chart that shows my relationship to Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945), the 32nd President of the United States:


This tells me that I am a 7th cousin twice removed to Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

The common ancestors are Joseph Church (1638-1711) and Mary Tucker (1640-1710).  I am descended through their daughter Deborah (Church (Gray) Throop (1676-1772) and FDR is descended from Joseph Church (1662-1715).

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/09/i-am-related-to-theodore-and-franklin.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver




CGSSD Program on Saturday, 20 September Features Joel Weintraub

The Computer Genealogy Society of San Diego (CGSSD) meets on the 3rd Saturday of each month (except December) from 9:00 a.m. to noon on the campus of UCSD, University of California, San Diego. See our web page www.cgssd.org  for directions.

The next meeting will be held on 20 September 2014 from 9:00 am to noon. Here are the details:

 9:00 AM  User groups: Ancestry.com with Del Ritchhart and DNA with Corlee Morris
10:00 AM Break, refreshments
10:20 AM Announcements followed up program: 

Dr. Joel Weintraub

"Crowdsourcing The Path To The 1950 U.S. Census"
The 1940 U.S. Census opened in 2012 without a name index.  A FamilySearch led consortium used 160,000 volunteers to name index that census in 4 months.  In addition, Joel and Steve Morse, over seven years with about 125 volunteers, developed free utilities to find which of 150,000 census districts someone was in, when a location or address is known.  These projects are examples of crowdsourcing.  Steve and Joel are now doing a similar project for the 1950 Census.  Joel will discuss differences between the 1940 and 1950 censuses that impacted their planning and project design.  The film scanning, publicity, volunteer response, Yahoo Group site, cloud storage, software, One-Step utilities, and project phases will be discussed.  All 233,800 1950 enumeration district definitions have now been transcribed.  Street indexes will also be completed for over 2,000 communities to help find 1950 census district numbers.



Joel Weintraub was born and raised in Manhattan. He is an emeritus Biology Professor at California State University, Fullerton and has won awards for his science teaching. He became interested in genealogy about 15 years ago, and volunteered for 9 years at the National Archives and Records Administration in southern California. Joel started transcribing streets within census districts in 2001 to help researchers search the 1930 U.S. Census (released in 2002). He was joined in the venture by David Kehs and Stephen Morse in 2002, and together, they have produced a number of online census searching utilities for both the federal and the New York State censuses on the Morse One Step Website. Joel produced locational finder aids for the 1940 census, and has given many talks on that census since 2006.  He now has the 1950 Census in his sights, scheduled to be released in 2022!  If you want to help with the 1950 project, email Joel at censusfiles@cox.net.

We meet at the Robinson Auditorium complex on the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) campus in La Jolla. From North Torrey Pines Road, turn at Pangea Drive into UCSD. Free parking is available in the parking garage on the left; use any space other than those specifically reserved for UCSD vehicles. Signs will mark directions to our meeting room. Please refer to our website  www.cgssd.org; or the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies website (click here) for driving directions and a map.


My thanks to Linda Brady (VP Administration of CGSSD) for providing this information.

Ruth, Gerry and Randy at Church -- Post 325 for (Not So) Wordless Wednesday

I am posting family photographs from my collection on Wednesdays, but they aren't "Wordless" - I am incapable of having a wordless post!

Here is a photograph from the Seaver/Carringer family photograph collection from my 40 years of photo albums, boxes and piles of family photographs:



This photograph was taken in the spring of 1991 in Sun City Center, Florida while we were on vacation visiting family and friends.  

The persons in the photograph, from the left, are:

*  Ruth Weston (Seaver) Fischer (1907-2000), my father's sister, and my aunt. She resided in Sun City Center in 1991, and was recently widowed.
*  Randall J. Seaver - me!
*  Geraldine (Seaver) Remley (1917-2007), my father's sister, and my aunt.  She and her husband resided in Altamonte Springs near Orlando in 1991.

A thorn between two roses, I think!  The ladies loved to dress up.  It must have been a Sunday, because I'm wearing a coat.  I think we went to Ruth's church in her retirement center on this day.

We visited Gerry and Jim several times while they lived in Florida, and every visit we drove the hour or two down to Sun City Center to see my Aunt Ruth.  She was always dressed and coiffed well, and was a very nice lady.  Ruth was really interested in the Seaver family history and made an audio tape with me on one of the visits.  She and her husband visited San Diego several times before my father died in 1983.  

Every one of my father's siblings were caring, thoughtful, intelligent, and interesting people.  That says something about their parents, my grandparents, I think.  

The URL for this post is:

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver


Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Adding Notes to the FamilySearch Family Tree Using RootsMagic

I've written quite a bit over the last two years about adding content to the FamilySearch Family Tree using RootsMagic's FamilySearch Person Tools.

One of the more recent additions is the capability to add Notes to a person profile in the FamilySearch Family Tree.  In addition to Person Notes, the system will also add Fact Notes.

Here is an example using my great-grandfather, Henry Auastin Carringer (1853-1946), who is Person Profile number LCRX-2DT in the FamilySearch Family Tree in case a reader wants to check him out:

1)  Here is the "Edit Person" screen for Henry Austin Carringer in my RootsMagic database.  I have a long person note for him attached to his name, but I also have a number of Fact Notes for his life events in the Facts/Events list.  I highlighted his Birth Fact, and then opened his Birth Note:


2)  To add "Notes" to the FamilySearch Family Tree, the user needs to open the "FamilySearch Person Tools" for the person (on one of the View screens, click on the FamilySearch icon - see  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/06/using-rootsmagic-6-to-update_5.html).  Here is the screen for Henry Carringer showing My RootsMagic Person and My FamilySearch Person:


In the tabs under the person's name at the top left of the screen above are tabs for "Find Matches," "Share data," "Discussions," "Sources," "Notes," and "Changes."

3)  I had zero Notes in the Family Tree for this person.  I clicked on the "Notes" tab and saw a list of "RootsMagic Notes" in the left-hand column and "FamilySearch Notes" in the right-hand column:
 

4)  I want to add Notes from my RootsMagic list to the FamilySearch Family Tree for this person.  I clicked on the "Birth note" in the RootsMagic column, and a popup box opened asking "What do you want to do with this RootsMagic note?"


There are two radio buttons - one to "Add this note to FamilySearch" and the other to "Add this note as a source in FamilySearch."  I picked the "Add this note to FamilySearch, and selected the person to attach the Note to (if you don't select a person, you will get a reminder).  After a short time, the Birth Note was added to the "FamilySearch Notes" list.


5)  I went ahead and added many more RootsMagic Notes to the FamilySearch Notes list:


During this process, the user can run their mouse over the FamilySearch Note and briefly see the content, as shown below for the Marriage note:


6)  I then went to the person profile for Henry Austin Carringer in the FamilySearch Family Tree and saw the list of Notes:


7)  Readers may note that I did not add the "Person note" from the RootsMagic list to the FamilySearch Notes.  I use the "Person Note" to write a biography of the person involved, which is usually composed of the information in the Fact Notes.  So adding both the Person Note and the Fact Notes to FamilySearch Notes would be redundant.  This is my choice - your choices may vary. I do add the "Person Note" as a "Life Sketch" in the FamilySearch Family Tree.

8)  While my Fact/Events in my RootsMagic database are in chronological date order (except for the Shared Facts), they are not added in chronological order, or in the order they were added, to FamilySearch Notes.  In the case above, the latest Note added is listed first in the FamilySearch Family Tree Notes section for the Person.  I don't see a way to put them in chronological order, except to add them in reverse chronological order from RootsMagic.  That can be done, but if you add another Note because you found a new record, it will appear at the top of the list.

I find this RootsMagic interface with the FamilySearch Famly Tree to be very easy to use and it works very well.  It does take some time (usually a few seconds) to transmit something to FamilySearch.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/09/adding-notes-to-familysearch-family.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

UPDATED:  18 September:  added description of how to open the "FamilySearch Person Tools" screen.