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Saturday, January 17, 2015

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Do Some Semi-Random Online Research

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



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

1) We're going to do a little bit of Semi-Random Online Research tonight...

2)  Go to your family tree database of choice (you know, like RootsMagic, Reunion, Ancestry Member Tree), and determine who the very first person on your list of E surnames is.  Or the first person on your list of I surnames.  Or Q surnames.  Or any other name you need to research.  Your choice!

3)  What do you know (or not know) about this person based on your research?  It's OK to do more research if you need to - in fact, it's encouraged!

4)  How are you related to this person, and why is s/he in your family tree?

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


Here's mine:

2)  I didn't find a usable candidate, so I went with the spouse of a Seaver with an unknown maiden name.  In this case, it is "Kate," the second wife of Arthur A. Seaver (born in 1860 in Manlius, Bureau County, Illinois), son of Ira A. and Jennie (Hatch) Seaver.  

3)  All I know at this time (from my database) is that Arthur and Kate were married on 3 April 1905, but I don't have a source for that.  I don't know anything about Arthur's first wife, Etta M. Roberts, either.   

I will do more research - starting with a search for Arthur Seaver, born in about 1860 in Illinois.  I didn't find much in the census records for 1910 and later for Arthur and Kate.  A Find A Grave entry for Arthur A. Seaver looks like a good start,  The memorial for Arthur A. Seaver provides a death date - 19 Feb 1918 in Stockton, San Joaquin County, California.  That is new information for me.  He is buried in Stockton Rural Cemetery.  

His wife, Kathryn A. Seaver, is on the same stone, with a birth date of 1864 in Michigan, and a death date of 25 June 1931 in Los Angeles, California.  She is buried in Stockton Rural Cemetery.  All of that is new information for me, and I'll add it to my database, and create a source for it. I also found Arthur and Kathryn in the California Death Index, 1905-1939 database.

I looked for a marriage between Arthur and Kate, and found one for Arthur A. Seaver and Mrs. Kate Seaver on 3 April 1905 in St. Joseph county, Indiana in the Indiana, Marriage Collection, 1800-1941 database on Ancestry.  So I can add the county and state, but I still don't know Kate's maiden name.  This marriage occurred when she was about age 41, so perhaps it is her second marriage.  

I went looking for Kat* Se*ver* persons born 1864 in Michigan, and found the 1920 US Census for Los Angeles, where Kathryn Seaver was residing with her sister, Janet R. Wetmore, a widow born 1866 in Michigan. The 1900 US census for Janet Wetmore names her husband as Frank Wetmore and a son Roy Wetmore.  An Ancestry Member Tree provides their marriage in 1885 and Janet's maiden name as Stoddard.  No parents names are provided.  The California Death Index, 1905-1997 provides Roy Wetmore's death information and says his mother's maiden name is Stoddard!  Ergo, Kate's maiden name is probably Stoddard.

I couldn't find Kat* Stod* in the 1870 or 1880 US census records.  Or Janet either.  Another Ancestry Member Tree says Kathryn A. Stoddard's parents are Mosley Gardner Stoddard (1829-1899) and Lida Ann Turner (1829-1902).  The tree says that she was married to Will L. Seaver in 1882 in Chicago, Illinois.  A marriage record in Cook County, Illinois, Marriages Index, 1871-1920 has an entry for Kittie A. Stoddard and Will L. Seaver (age 23) on 24 May 1882.  Ah, Kittie!  Instead of Kate!  She does appear in the 1880 census with her Stoddard parents, but there is no sign of Janet.  I searched my database for Will* L. Seaver persons, and found several, but only one born around 1859.  The best match was William L. Seaver, born in Vermont, living in Chicago in the 1880 US Census with his parents. He was the son of Ezra and Elma Annie (Kimball) Seaver, and both of them died in Chicago around 1900.  

4)  Arthur A. Seaver (1860-1918), son of Ira A. Seaver is my 7th cousin three times removed.  William L. Seaver (1859-????), son of Ezra S. Seaver,  is also my 7th cousin 3 times removed.  Ira and Ezra were both sons of Ebenezer Seaver (1804-1861) and Sophronia Jillson (1809-1892) of Williamstown, Vermont.  So Kathryn/Kate/Kittie A Stoddard married two Seaver men who were first cousins.  

So I managed to solve this Kate mystery - finding two marriage records, two death records, a burial record, etc.  I added useful information to my database about two Seaver families.  Not bad for about an hour's work.  


Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver



6 comments:

  1. Excellent work Randy. I am seeing your post just before bedtime, but I think I'll take on your challenge and work on it tomorrow. I'll let you know how I do.

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  2. Great post Randy :) Here's Mine!

    http://underthenuttree.blogspot.com/2015/01/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-on-monday.html

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  3. OK, Randy, here is my post. This was definitely fun.
    http://www.michiganfamilytrails.com/2015/01/reviewing-random-person-in-my.html

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  4. These "random research" challenges are some of my favorites! I found some great new information and some new leads I need to follow! http://theenthusiasticgenealogist.blogspot.com/2015/01/sngf-random-genealogy.html

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  5. Here's mine...http://shannonmthomas.blogspot.com/2015/01/your-mission-should-you-decide-to.html

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  6. Seaver! I just now - 7 Feb 2017 - came across this post of yours. You have people buried here in Stockton! If you need more info on them I can try to find it for you.

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