Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - What Is Your All-Time Favorite Song?

Hey genea-folks, 

it's Saturday Night again, 

 time for more Genealogy Fun!

 

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

1. What is your all-time favorite song? Yep, number 1. It's hard to choose sometimes. If you made your favorite all-time Top 40 music selections, what would be #1?

2. Tell us about it. Why is it a favorite? Do you have special memories attached to this song? 

3. Write your own blog post about it, or make a comment on this post or on a Facebook or Google+  entry.

Here's mine:

I listed some of my favorite all-time songs, mainly from the 1950's and 1960's, in several posts here and here. I never got past 1964, it seems, on my list. That sort of dates me, huh?

From that list, my #1 all-time favorite is from 1961 - I Love How You Love Me by The Paris Sisters. You can hear the song here and read the lyrics here.

Why this song? 1961 was my high school graduation year and I was a hopeless teenage geek (5 foot 6 inches tall, 125 pounds, googly glasses, goofy overbite grin, pimples, butch haircut - you get the picture!). No dates, no girlfriends, no hope...just music to swoon by.

Like every red-blooded male teen, I yearned for a girlfriend and more, and songs like this really raised my, um, spirit. It took eight more years before I found the love of my life, but it was worth the wait!

I wonder if my daughters and grandchildren will ever find this post and learn a little bit more about my life?

It will be interesting to see the music mix from the bloggers and readers for this SNGF, since we are such a diverse group!

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/10/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-what-is.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

Surname Saturday - LNU (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 #1053 who is Ruth LNU (1626-1677) [Note: the earlier great-grandmothers and 8th great-grandfathers have been covered in earlier posts].

My ancestral line back through one generation in this LNU 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)

262.  John Fletcher (1692-1749)
263.  Mary Goble (1694-1734)

526.  Thomas Goble (1656-1724)
527.  Sarah Shepard (1667-1746)

1052.  Thomas Goble, born about 1634 in Charlestown, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States; died 22 November 1690 in Charlestown, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States.  He was the son of 2104. Thomas Goble and 2105. Alice Brookman.  He married April 1656 in probably Charlestown, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States.
1053.  Ruth LNU, born about 1633; died about 1668 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.

Children of Thomas Goble and Ruth are:
i. Thomas Goble, born 21 May 1656 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died 10 March 1724 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; married Sarah Shepard 04 July 1686 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
ii. Stephen Goble, born about 1658 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died 21 September 1676 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
iii. Mary Goble, born about 1660 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died 11 February 1700 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; married Joseph Dana 17 January 1682 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; born 21 March 1656 in Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
iv. Ruth Goble, born 04 August 1663 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died 1729 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; married Samuel Stratton 1689 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; born 08 April 1658 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died 11 October 1726 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
v. Robert Goble, born about 1664 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died before 1670 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.

vi. John Goble, born about 1666 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; married Abigail Rogers 03 May 1693 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; born about 1668 in Massachusetts, United States.

The Goble family information as obtained from:

*  Evelyn Goble Steen, Goble Genealogy Homepage (http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~goble/homepage/), online database, Thomas (2) Goble (1631-1690) sketch.

*  Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration, 1634-1635, Volume 3, F-H (Boston : New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2002), pages 81-83, Thomas Goble sketch.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/10/surname-saturday-lnu-england-to.html

copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

Theme for FGS 2015 Conference is Connect. Explore. Refresh

I chose to be an Ambassador for the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) 2015 Conference, which will be held in Salt Lake City from 11-14 February 2015 at the Salt Palace Convention Center.

So what does the theme mean to me?

1)  Connect:  I always look forward to conferences because I get to see many of my genea-friends (bloggers, readers, speakers, exhibitors) in the Exhibit Hall, in the hallways and classes, at the hotel, in restaurants, and at the Family History Library.  It's fun to catch up with and spend time with every person I talk to.  I love meeting new genea-friends in person too.

For my wife, this is the best part of the conference.  She loves to swim, talk and share with old and new friends.  She knows quite a few geneabloggers, and some of my best readers, by now, and really looks forward to the conference.

2)  Explore:  Exploring the Exhibit Hall is the best for me seeing new and upgraded products and discussing the features and capabilities of the products.  I really enjoy getting to know the exhibitors and asking questions about their products.

Another aspect of Explore is the Family History Library - I always try to spend at least one day at the FHL checking out books and microfilms.  I usually explore 10-20 microfilms each trip to SLC, based on my To-Do list, and capture record images on my iPhone and flash drive.

Linda occasionally goes exploring using Trax to go to the shopping centers and occasionally takes a tour arranged through the hotel.

3)  Refresh:  I come to a conference with expectations - to do some useful research, to meet new people and enjoy everyone I talk to, to see some new products and features in the Exhibit Hall, to attend at least some classes, and to work in the Media Center to share my excitement, education and photographs.

I think that the Conference keynote speakers are refreshing - they are the best of the best, and offer enthusiasm, knowledge and new challenges.

Linda and I will be at the FGS 2015 Conference.  It's less than 4 months away now!  We will probably come on Tuesday and leave on Sunday.  I hope to see many Genea-Musings readers there!

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/10/theme-for-fgs-2015-conference-is.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

More on Finding Record Hints for a Specific Database on Ancestry.com

As a follow-up to my blog post Finding Record Hints for Persons in a Specific Database on Ancestry.com (15 October 2014), Russ Worthington has created a short how-to video of the process he uses:



This covers how to find your own Ancestry Member Tree number (the 8-digits required) and how to find the Ancestry.com Database ID number (unique for each of Ancestry's databases - a 4-5 digit number).  Good job, Russ!

Both of those are required in order to search Ancestry Hints for a specific database for persons in your Ancestry Member Tree.

1)  To review:  Once you find those two numbers, you can get a list of Ancestry Record Hints for persons in your AMT for the apecific database.  The process to use is:

*  Copy this URL to your browser address bar:
http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/xxxxxxxx/hints?src=hw&hf=record&hs=last&hdbid=dddd

* Click in the address field and edit it to:
**  Substitute your AMT code number for xxxxxxxx
**  Substitute the Database number you want for dddd

If there are more characters after the Database number, don't add them - add only the 4 or 5 Database numbers to the URL above.

For one of my Ancestry Member Trees and the Social Security Death Index, my URL is  http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/33123910/hints?src=hw&hf=record&hs=last&hdbid=3693

Note:  You cannot click on the link to my tree above - it will not work since you don't have Owner access to my Ancestry Member Tree.

I also recommend that you save the link to your tree and at least one Database number in your Bookmarks or Favorites on your computer.  I put it in my Bookmarks Bar on Chrome so that I can find it easily.  You could also put it in a document in Evernote or in your Dropbox (or other cloud service) folder so that you can find it when you are on another computer.

2)  You can find the Ancestry.com Database ID number on the Database search page.  For example, here is the Database search page for the U.s. World War I Draft Registration Cards (found from the Ancestry.com Card Catalog):

I highlighted the URL at the top of the page.  The dbid=6482 for this database, as shown below:

The dbid number is what you write down and put into the URL described in 1) above.

2)  I want to list some of the more popular (at least for me!) Ancestry.com database numbers here for my own use, and also for my readers' use:

*  1940 U.S. Census:  dbid=2442
*  1930 U.S. Census:  dbid=6224
*  1920 U.S. Census:  dbid=6061
*  1910 U.S. Census:  dbid=7884
*  1900 U.S. Census:  dbid=7602
*  1880 U.S. Census:  dbid=6742
*  1870 U.S. Census:  dbid=7163
*  1860 U.S. Census:  dbid=7667
*  1850 U.S. Census:  dbid=8054

*  Social Security Death Index:  dbid=3693
*  California Birth Index, 1905-1995:  dbid=5247
*  California Marriage Index, 1960-1985:  dbid=1144
*  California Death Index, 1940-1997:  dbid=5180
*  Texas Birth Index, 1902-1997: dbid=8781
*  Texas Death Certificates, 1903-1982:  dbid=2272
*  Pennsylvania Death Certificates, 1906-1944:  dbid=5164
*  Pennsylvania and New Jersey Church and Town Records, 1708-1985:  dbid=2451
*  Massachusetts Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988:  dbid=2495
*  U.S. Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935: dbid=2189

*  U.S. Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current:  dbid=60525
*  U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989:  dbid=2469
*  U.S. School Yearbooks, 1880-2012: dbid=1265
*  New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957:  dbid=7488
*  U.s. Passport Applications, 1795-1925: dbid=1174
*  U.S. World War I, Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918: dbid=6482
*  U.S. World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942:  dbid=1002
*  U.s. World War II Army Enlistments, 1938-1946: dbid =8939
*  U.S. World War II Navy Muster Rolls, 1938-1949: dbid=1143

*  1911 England Census:  dbid=2352
*  1901 England Census:  dbid=7814
*  1891 England Census: dbid=6598
*  1881 England Census: dbid=7572
*  1871 England Census: dbid=7619
*  1861 England Census: dbid=8767
*  1851 England Census: dbid=8860
*  1841 England Census: dbid=8978

*  1921 Canada Census:  dbid=8991
*  1911 Canada Census:  dbid=8947
*  1901 Canada Census:  dbid=8826
*  1891 Canada Census:  dbid=1274
*  1881 Canada Census:  dbid=1577
*  1871 Canada Census:  dbid=1578
*  1861 Canada Census:  dbid=1570
*  1851 Canada Census:  dbid=1061

Your choice of dbid number may be different - go find some and write them down for easy reference.

4)  I am not sure that Ancestry.com ever finds ALL of the Record Hints for persons in your Ancestry Member Tree.  In one of my trees, which is more mature than the other (it's been an AMT since about 2011), the People count is 7,389 and the Record Hints count is 18,575.  This changes occasionally, and the number of Record Hints is reduced when I Attach or Ignore a Record Hint.

In another of my trees, added in August 2014, the number of People is 42,920 and the Record Hint count today is 20,619.  That is up 2 Hints from about an hour ago.  So Ancestry continues to add Hints.  I found that I could spur the production of Record Hints by looking at an ancestor in my AMT in the Family View, wait for the Hints to be added (it sometimes takes 20-60 seconds), and then go back and do the next ancestor in my AMT.

I think the message here is that there will always be newly found Record Hints because Ancestry.com keeps adding databases and finding Hints from previously added databases.  It seems like their search algorithms never stop.  However, we may have to wait for a very recent "New" Ancestry.ycom database to add the Record Hints to our AMT persons.

Now I'm wondering how accurate these Record Hints are.  I have looked at about 100 1940 and 1930 U.S. Census Hints over the past two days, adding content and source citations to my database.  Of these, I think there were only 2 or 3 that were not correct - same name usually, but different family.  That's encouraging!

5)  Some readers may ask "Why don't you just do this person-by-person?"  My answer is that this is a much more efficient method to "mine" databases for my persons of interest.  I don't have to wade through 20-40 Hints for my persons of interest to find the 3 or 4 that are "real" records (and not indexed records) for my ancestral families.  I can control what I add, and creating the source citations is much easier using the "source memory" function in my genealogy software.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/10/more-on-finding-record-hints-for.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

UPDATED:  18 October to correct one dbid and add 3.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 42: Sarah (Feather) Carringer (1804-1848)

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 #42:

Sarah (Feather) Carringer (1804-1848) is #49 on my Ahnentafel list, my third great-grandmother.  She married in about 1825 to #48 Henry Carringer (1800-1879).

I am descended through:

*  their son, #24, David Jackson Carringer (1828-1902), who married Rebecca Spangler (1831-1901) in 1851.

*  their son, #12 Henry Austin Carringer (1853-1946), who married #13 Abbie Ardell "Della" Smith (1862-1944) in 1887.

*  their son, #6 Lyle Lawrence Carringer (1891-1976), married Emily Kemp Auble (1899-1977) in 1918. 

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

*  their son, #1 Randall J. Seaver (1943-....)

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

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

*  Name:                       Sarah Feather [1]
*  Alternate Name:     Sarah Carringer [1, 2]
*  Sex:                          Female   

*  Father:                      Cornelius Feather (1777-1853) [1]   
*  Mother:                    unknown unknown (ca 1785- ca 1830)   
  
2)  INDIVIDUAL FACTS (with source citations as indicated in brackets):   

*  Birth:                      7 June 1804, Warren, Trumbull, Ohio, United States [2]
*  Death:                     9 April 1848 (age 43), Perry, Mercer, Pennsylvania, United States [2]
*  Burial:                    after 9 April 1848 (after age 43), Perry, Mercer, Pennsylvania, United States [2]

3)  SPOUSES AND CHILDREN (with source citations as indicated in brackets):   

*  Spouse 1:               Henry Carringer (1800-1879) [2]
*  Marriage:               before 1825 (before about age 21), Mercer, Pennsylvania, United States[1]

*  Child 1:                  Eliza Carringer (1827-1914)   
*  Child 2:                  David Jackson "D.J." Carringer (1828-1902)   
*  Child 3:                  George Carringer (1832-1880)   
*  Child 4:                  Cornelius A. Carringer (1834-1916)   
*  Child 5:                  Mary Carringer (1835-1908)   
*  Child 6:                  Sarah Carringer (1837-    )   
*  Child 7:                  Henry Carringer (1839-1864)   
*  Child 8:                  Louisa M. Carringer (1842-    )   
*  Child 9:                  Matilda Spangler Carringer (1845-1911)   
*  Child 10:                Harvey Carringer (1848-1870)   
  
4)  NOTES (with source citations as indicated in brackets):   

Sarah (Feather) Carringer was born 7 June 1804 to Cornelius Feather and his unknown wife, probably in Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio.  The birth date was provided by the Kelso Cemetery records.[2]  

There is no marriage record available for Henry Carringer and Sarah Feather.  There first child was born in June 1827, so an estimated marriage date of "about 1825" seems appropriate.  Henry would have been age 25 in 1825, and Sarah would have been age 21.

Between 1827 and 1848, Sarah gave birth to ten children, and all of them lived to adulthood, although two died as young men.

Sarah (Feather) Carringer died on 9 April 1848, and is buried in Kelso Cemetery, Perry township, Mercer County, Pennsylvania.[2]   The record says:

"Sarah Carringer, June 7, 1804- Apr 9, 1848, in the 44th y of her age"

This is in a short list of "Additional names from the state library at Harrisburg, Copier unknown" in the Mercer County Gravestone Inscriptions books for Kelso Cemetery.   Apparently, these persons are buried in Kelso Cemetery in Hadley.

The writ of partition in the estate records of Cornelius Feather in Mercer County filed in 1855 identifies Sarah as the wife of Henry Carringer.  A portion of the writ says:[1]

"...that your petitioner's said father Cornelius Feather lately died intestate leaving him surviving a widow since Dec^d and Issue, your petitioner and George Feather, and also the Issue of two Daughters of said Cornelius Feather towit, Cornelius A., and Ester Ann Milner, children of Mary Milner who was formerly Mary Feather, and said Ester Ann Milner being a miner and having no Guardian; and Eliza, David J., George W., Cornelius A., and Mary Carringer and Sarah, Henry, Loisa M., Matilda S. and Harvy M Carringer, all children of Sarah Carringer intermarried with Henry Carringer who was formerly Sarah Feather, of whom Sarah, Henry, Loiza, Matilda and Harvy are miners and have no Guardian chosen. "

The children of Sarah (Feather) Carringer received $89.95 to divide between them from the estate of their maternal grandfather.

5)  SOURCES (with source citations as indicated in brackets):

1. "Pennsylvania, Probate Records, 1683-1994," digital images, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org), Mercer County, "Mercer County Orphans Court Docket, 1850-1858," Volumes D-E, "Petition for writ of partition" entry for Cornelius Feather, 20 August 1855, Volume E, Pages 148-150 (images 408/409 of 684); citing original records on FHL microfilm US/CAN 878,977.


2. Loretta Barker DeSantis, Sally Glaser Dufford, Mercer County, Pennsylvania, Cemetery Inscriptions, 16 Volumes  (n. p. : Mercer County [Pa.] Genealogy Society, n.d.), Volume 8. page 47, Sarah Carringer (1804-1848) entry.

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

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/10/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks-week-42-sarah.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

More About Mocavo.com Census Images and Census Viewer - UPDATED

UPDATED:  Mocavo just announced in Celebrate Family History Month with an Open Access Weekend that their databases and all Gold subscription features will be FREE to access through Monday 10/20 at 11 p.m. ET.

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

I wrote Major News - Mocavo.com Offers U.S. Census Images last week, highlighting that there are now U.S. census images for all years 1790 to 1940, and that there was an on-screen area of indexed information for a person at the bottom of the screen, and a list of three "Similar Results" on the right side of the screen.  These features are for Mocavo Gold subscription holders only (unless there is a free weekend event).  The new features were highlighted in Experience the Brand New Census Viewer on the Mocavo Genealogy Blog.

I want to go a little further in how to get to the Census Viewer and more of the features:

1)  The 1790-1940 United States Census search page is http://www.mocavo.com/1790-1940-United-States-Census/126199.

I added a first name, a last name, and a state to the search fields above, and clicked on the green "Search" button.

2)  I received 11 matches:

I could select a year from the list on the left, or could select the name from the list of matches.  If I want to modify the search, I could click on the "Modify Search" button at the top left.  If I want to "Search All Databases," I could click on that button at the top right.

At the bottom of this record summary are links to "Attach to Tree," "Saved to Shoebox," and "Hide Forever" (apparently to remove it from the search results if you have already used it or it is not the  person you searched for).

3)  I clicked on the name "Isaac Seaver" for the first match on the list, and saw the record summary for Isaac Seaver in the 1900 U.S. Census:

At the bottom of this screen (not shown above) is a link to "See Other Household Members" (to help you decide if this is the person that you searched for).

4)  Note the "View Census Image" below the census page thumbnail - I clicked on it and saw the census page image:

The person I searched for is highlighted in blue, and other family members are highlighted in green.  I ran mu mouse over Isaac's name and it was highlighted in yellow, and a caption appeared telling me the indexed name.  You can run your mouse over any field to see indexed information.

The Zoom control is on the left-hand edge of the screen.  You can also double-click the image to zoom in.  You can move the record image by dragging with your mouse.

The indexed information is shown at the bottom of the page, with the name, relation to head, race, gender, birth year, birth place, father's birth place and mother's birth place shown for each person on the census page.

There is a search field at the top right of the screen to "Search the document" - presumably for a name on this census page.

On the right-hand side of the page is a listing of "Similar Results."  Below that title, it tells me that "We have found 1,089 results for Isaac Seaver."  The three "Similar Results" provided are not necessarily other census records - they are records selected by Mocavo that they think apply to this person.

At the bottom of the "Similar Results" area is a link to "View More Results."

5)  I clicked on the "View More Results" and was able to see all records in Mocavo databases for my search criteria:

The first three matches on this list are the same three records that were on the "Similar Results" list on the census page.

There is a link to "Show Advanced Search Fields" at the top of the screen above so that a user can narrow the search by adding keywords or a birth date, or another event date and/or place.  The "Search Tuners" on the left-hand side of the page can be used to change database criteria, and there are "Categories" below the "Search Tuners" to narrow the search to specific record types (e.g., census, BMD, etc.).

I added a birth year of 1823 plus/minus two years, and selected only Census records, and had only 23 matches on the results list.

However, even if you search by adding, say, a birth date with a year range, and select only Census collections, the "Similar Results" list still contains the 1,089 results listed before the filters were applied, rather than the 11 (or 23) census records on the results list.

6)  My preference would be:

*  Since we're searching specifically for Census records, I would prefer that the "Similar results" be only census records.

*  I would also prefer that when I click on the "View More Results" that those results reflect what I've selected on the Search form, rather than all possible records for the name which appears to be the case at present.  In other words, the other 20 census records rather than all records.

*  I would also like to see a source citation for each census record that provides the basic features, county, state, town, ED number, page, head of household, website, NARA film-roll numbers.

7)  This Census search system works very well - the new features are the record images, the indexed information at the bottom of the page, the popover information on the image, and the Similar Results.

With this advance, Mocavo.com joins other database providers in capability to:

*   Have all of the U.S. census images available with an every name index; Ancestry.com/Archives.com, MyHeritage/WorldVital Records, and FindMyPast.com have all of the indexed census images.  As noted before, FamilySearch.org and Fold3.ocom do not have every year of the U.S. census images.

*  Be able to attach a census record to a person in the user's online family tree.   Ancestry.com, MyHeritage.com and FamilySearch.org have this capability.

*  Offer other records that might pertain to the searched person.  Ancestry.com, MyHeritage.com and FamilySearch.org have this capability.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/10/more-about-mocavocom-census-images-and.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

Treasure Chest Thursday - Post 236: Norman Sever's Military Service Summary

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 military service summary of Norman Sever of Westminster, Massachusetts in the book Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War (Boston, Mass. : 1905), Volume XIII:

The snippet for Norman Sever:

A transcription of this entry is:

SEVER, NORMAN, Westminster.  Sergeant, Capt. Noah Miles's co., which marched

on the alarm of april 19, 1775, to Cambridge and joined Col. John Whitcom's

regt.; service, 11-1/2 days; reported as not having enlisted into the army; also,

Ensign, Capt. Francis Willson's co., Col. Danforth Keyes's regt.; engaged

June 27, 1777; service to July 27, 1777, 1 mo.; roll dated Providence; also,

same co. and regt.; service from Dec. 1, 1777. to date of discharge, Jan. 3, 1778,

1 mo. 3 days; roll dated Providence; also 1st Lieutenant, Capt. Ebenezer

Belknap's co., Col. Wade's regt.; list of officers of two regiments raised

for defence of New England states and commanded by Col. Wade and Col.

Jacobs; commissioned April 14, 1778; also, 1st Lieutenant, same co. and regt.;

engaged April 1, 1778; discharged Jan. 3, 1779; service 9 mos. 3 days, at

Rhode Island; also, same co. and regt.; muster rolls dated North Kingston,

Nov. 6 and Dec. 1, 1778; appointed March 14, 1778; also, same co. and regt.;

muster rolls dated East Greenwich, Sept. 28, Nov. 10, and Dec. 30, 1778; term

to expire Jan. 1, 1779.

The source citation for this book entry is:

Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War (Boston, Mass. : 1905), Volume XIII, Page 1006, Norman Sever, Westminster, entry.

It appears that the highest rank he attained during his military service was 1st Lieutenant.  He is referred to as Captain Norman Sever in the Westminster, Massachusetts town history book.

The sketch above provides an overview of the Revolutionary War service of my 5th great-grandfather, Norman Seaver (1734-1787).  Using this summary, I can probably find more military records in the Fold3.com records.  

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/10/treasure-chest-thursday-post-236-norman.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

Finding Record Hints for Persons in a Specific Database on Ancestry.com

My genea-colleagues DearMYRTLE and Russ Worthington have been exploring ways to find the green leaf Hints for a specific database on Ancestry.com (Watch their YouTube video at http://blog.dearmyrtle.com/2014/10/video-shaky-leaf-hints.html).  Their thought is that it is easier to find Hints and create source citations for persons in your Ancestry Member Tree (or family tree software database) one database at a time, rather than one person at a time (the classical way to access and add Hints to your AMT).

For example, I may want to find all of the green leaf Hints for persons in my AMT for the Social Security Death Index (SSDI), or the 1940 U.S. Census, or the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Church Records.

I showed a way to do this in my post Mining Ancestry.com Records for Persons in Your Ancestry Member Tree (posted 29 January 2013).  Since then, the process hasn't changed at all, and I'm still using it.  But some readers haven't read it, or have forgotten about it.  I had too while on this week's Mondays With Myrt when it was discussed.

The important steps to do find green leaf Hints for a specific Ancestry.com database are:

1)  Figure out the code number for your specific Ancestry Member Tree.  You can do this by selecting the tree from the "Family Trees" tab.  The URL for the tree contains an 8 digit number:

The web page address (URL) is:  http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/33123910/family

My Ancestry Member Tree code number is 33123910.  See it there?  Write your own AMT code number  down.

2)  Determine out the Ancestry.com Database number for the database you want Hints for.  I picked the Social Security Death Index from the Card Catalog:

The URL for this database is http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=3693.

The Database number for the Social Security Death Index is 3693.  Write it down.

3)  Open a new browser tab, copy this web page address and paste it into your browser address field:

http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/xxxxxxxx/hints?src=hw&hf=record&hs=last&hdbid=dddd

Click in the address field and edit it to:

*  Substitute your AMT code number for xxxxxxxx

*  Substitute the Database number you want for dddd

For my AMT and the SSDI, my URL is  http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/33123910/hints?src=hw&hf=record&hs=last&hdbid=3693

NOTE:  Don't just copy this URL and expect to see Hints for persons in your database.  Only I can use that URL because it is my AMT.  You need to create your own URL with your own AMT code number.

4)  When I use that last URL, the page of Hints for the specific database, the Social Security Death Index, appears:

As you can see, I have 94 SSDI Hints in my AMT that are not attached or ignored to persons in my tree.  I can go through these systematically one by one and attach them (or ignore them), and add any useful content to my database for the persons, then source the name, birth and death events, and attach the Media item (if I'm using my software genealogy database).

5)  Say I want to change to another database.  All I have to do is change the Database number in the URL.  For instance, I wanted to see the Hints in the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Church and Town Records database, which is Database number 2451.

So I edited the URL to http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/33123910/hints?src=hw&hf=record&hs=last&hdbid=2451

Here is the results screen:

I have only 6 Hints for my persons in this database.

6)  Frankly, it makes more sense to me to find these 6 Hints using this specific database search rather than looking for these 6 Hints in the 18,609 Record Hints I have for 7,839 persons in this Ancestry Member Tree.

This is the only rational and efficient way to add information from a NEW Ancestry.com database.  You can cold search all of the persons in your AMT, or look for the green leaf Hints in your AMT.  However, this is terribly inefficient and time consuming if you have already attached or ignored thousands of Hints to persons in your Ancestry Member Tree, like I have.

In addition, it is much easier to add source citations for a number of results from one specific database into a genealogy software program because the software "source memory" or a "cheat sheet" can be copied, pasted and edited.

7)  Once again, I call on Ancestry.com to make this easy for a user to do from any Ancestry.com database.  All it would take is a link on the Database page (e.g., the SSDI screen above) that says:

"Find all entries in the 'Seaver-Leland Family' tree in this database."

Surely, that cannot be hard to do from a programming standpoint.  All it needs is the user's AMT code number and the Ancestry Database number.  The AMT code number would be the "active" AMT number shown on the Home Page or on the AMT tree page.

Have you been using this Ancestry.com hack?  If so, let me know how efficient it has been for you.  How accurate have the records been when you've used it?

UPDATE:  Bernie's comment cautions:  " if the database ID has anything after the number, don't include that in the URL string.  Example: Norway Baptisms ID was dbid=60092&pcat=GLOBALCOLLECTION2014FS. I included the global collections part and received a page not found. I ran it again with just 60092 and it worked."

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/10/finding-record-hints-for-persons-in.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

CGSSD Mini-Fair on Saturday, 18 October

The Computer Genealogy Society of San Diego (CGSSD) meets on the 3rd Saturday of each month  (except December) from 9:00 am 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 18 Oct 2014.  Here are the details:

MINI FAIR 

Saturday, 18 October 2014

Two sessions and two topics per session

No user groups or SIGS this month

9:00 am - 10:00 am Session 1

Room A: Cloud Genealogy 2014 -  Gary Hoffman 

Your deceased ancestors may be in Heaven, but your ancestors' data is probably in the Cloud. The best genealogy computer program for you may be no program at all but rather a website you own or contribute data to. Learn what's new in cloud genealogy from private trees, shared trees, to community trees. Gary Hoffman has been following online genealogy advancements since the advent of the World Wide Web. Learn which cloud service is best for you, updated for 2014.

Room B:  Open Source Genealogy Software -  Judy Jiru

Exploring open source genealogy software.

  

10:00 am - 10:30 am Break / Announcements

10:30 am - 11:30 am Session 2

Room A:  Genealogy & DNA - Kathleen Fernandes 

                

Learn the fundamentals of using DNA & Genealogy with the three main testing companies - FamilyTree DNA, 23 & me, and Ancestry DNA.

Room B: Heritage Photo & Document Scanning - Dona Ritchie

Learn the best ways of scanning to preserve your heritage photos, slides, and negatives, and the best practices to maximize the digital data you capture for use in genealogical applications, charts, and reports, in scrapbooks and photo books, and for sharing these precious resources with your family members. Be the best guardian of your original photos and documents, and your family will thank you!

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 for directions.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/10/cgssd-mini-fair-on-saturday-18-october.html

Thank you to Linda Brady for forwarding this information.