Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- Ancestors Who Migrated a Long Way

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) Many of our ancestors migrated to a distant place.  Which one of your ancestors migrated the furthest?  Or the furthest in North America?  It could be in one big move, or in several smaller moves over their lifetime.  How far did they travel?  Do you know the route they took?

2)  Tell us in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, or in a Facebook or Google+ post.

Here's mine:

I have so many that came from Germany to America, or Holland to America, or the British Isles to America in the 17th and 18th centuries that I'm not going to write about them.  The earliest were probably my Mayflower passengers, some of home traveled from Leiden in Netherlands to England to Plymouth Colony.

I also have a number of ancestors who traveled from the eastern states to San Diego, including:

*  My father likely came the furthest - from Leominster, Massachusetts to San Diego in December 1940, driving through Columbus (where he sent a letter to his Aunt Emily in San Diego), through St. Louis and Route 66 to California, arriving in 3 days (without sleep, he said, drinking lots of coffee).  If he came by freeway today along almost the same route, it would be 43 hours of driving and 2,981 miles, according to Google Maps.

*  My great-great grandmother, Abigail (Vaux) Smith (1844-1931) was born in Aurora, Erie County, New York, moved the Burnett, Dodge County, Wisconsin in the 1850s (by boat and wagon?), then to Bedford, Taylor County, Iowa in the late 1860s, then to Concordia, Cloud County, Kansas in the 1870s, to McCook, Red Willow County, Nebraska in 1885, and then to San Diego in the 1890s after her husband died.  

*  My great-grandfather, Charles Auble (1849-1916) was born in Newark, New Jersey, moved to Terre Haute, Indiana in the 1860s, then to Chicago, Illinois in the 1880s, and then to San Diego in about 1911.  

*  My great-grandmother, Gerogianna (Kemp) Auble (1868-1952), was born in Norfolk County, Ontario, moved to Chicago in the 1890s, and came to San Diego with her husband and daughter in about 1911.

My wife has ancestors who really traveled a long way to get to California.

*  Her second great-grandparents, Alexander Whittle (1818-1852) and Rachel Morley (1821-1859) were born in Lancashire in England, married and traveled to Sydney, Australia in 1841, then came to San Francisco in about 1851.  The boat trip from England to Sydney took over six months, and covered more than 12,000 miles (probably England to Cape of Good Hope, to Singapore, and then to Sydney) - maybe up to 14,000 miles.  The boat trip from Sydney to San Francisco took about four months, and covered about 7,500 miles.  So they traveled at least 19,500 miles from birth to death, and both of them died relative young, in their 30s.  

The URL for this post is:   http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/10/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-ancestors.html

Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Surname Saturday -- LARKIN (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 #1163 who is Sarah LARKIN  (1653-1735) [Note: the earlier great-grandmothers and 8th great-grandfathers have been covered in earlier posts].

My ancestral line back through two generations of this LARKIN 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)

18.  Edward Hildreth (1831-1899)
19.  Sophia Newton (1834-1923)

36.  Zavhariah Hildreth (1783-1857)
37.  Hannah Sawtell (1789-1857)

72.  Zachariah Hildreth (1754-1828)
73.  Elizabeth Keyes (1759-1793)

144.  Zachariah Hildreth (1728-1784)
145.  Elizabeth Prescott (1734-1812)

290.  Jonas Prescott (1703-1784)
291.  Elizabeth Harwood (1701-1739)

580.  Jonas Prescott (1678-1750)
581.  Thankful Wheeler (1682-1716)

1162.  John Wheeler, born 19 March 1643 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States; died 27 September 1713 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.  He was the son of 2324. George Wheeler and 2325. Katherine Pin.  He married 25 March 1663 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
1163.  Sarah Larkin, born 12 March 1648 in Charlestown, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States; died 12 August 1725 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.  

Children of John Wheeler and Sarah Larkin are:
*  Samuel Wheeler (1664-1717) married 1690 Mary Hosmer (1668-????).
*  Sarah Wheeler (1666-1692), married 1691 John Merriam (1666-1748).
*  Edward Wheeler (1669-1734), married 1697 Sarah Merriam (1675-1738).
*  Joanna Wheeler (1671-1748), married 1689 William Woodbury (1662-????).
*  Mary Wheeler (1673-1747), married 1688 John Merriam (1662-1727).
*  Lydia Wheeler (1675-1720), married (1) 1692 Timothy Wheeler (1667-1718); (2) 1720 Nathaniel Stow (1663-1724).
*  Esther Wheeler (1678-1756), married 1698 Samuel Prescott (1674-1758)
*  Ebenezer Wheeler (1682-1748), married 1706 Mary Minott (1689-1760).
*  Thankful Wheeler (1682-1716), married 1699 Jonas Prescott (1678-1750).

2326.  Edward Larkin, born about 1611 in England; died before 06 April 1652 in Charlestown, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States.  He married before January 1639 in probably Charlestown, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States.
2327.  Joanna, born about 1616 in England; died 27 January 1686 in Charlestown, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States.

Children of Edward Larkin and Joanna are:
*  John Larkin (1641-1678), married 1664 Joanna Hale (1646-1693).
*  Elizabeth Larkin (1641-1719), married 1666 John Newton (1641-1723).
*  Hannah Larkin (1644-1704), married 1665 John Newell (1634-1704).
*  Thomas Larkin (1644-1677), married (1) 1666 Hannah Remington (1643-1673); (2) 1674 Elizabeth Dowse (1648-1732).
*  Sarah Larkin (1648-1725), married 1663 John Wheeler (1643-1713).
*  Joanna Larkin (1649-1713), married 1668 Moses Newton (1646-1736).

Information about the Larkin family was obtained from:

*  Mary Lovering Holman, The Ancestry of Colonel John Harrington Stevens and his wife Frances Helen Miller  (Concord N.H. : Rumford Press, 1948).

*  Dean Crawford Smith, edited by Melinde Lutz Sanborn, The Ancestry of Eva Belle Kempton, 1878-1908: Part III: The Ancestry of Henry Clay Bartlett, 1832-1892 (Boston, Mass.: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2004), pages 290-297.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/10/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-ancestors.html

Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

BSO!! Down the Rabbit Hole! Found Leava (Smith) (Smith) DeFrance Death Notice, And More

I love to follow Bright Shiny Objects (BSO) and follow a trail to find possible distant relations.  I think I overdid this one, though.  That's OK.

My great-grandmother's brother was David Devier Smith (1864-1920), whose first wife was Leava Smith (1866-1959), born in Missouri, the daughter of Zachariah and Nancy (Gosney) Smith.  They had one daughter, Eva Etta Smith (1890-1940), who did not have any children.  Leava and David Smith divorced, and Leava married, secondly, Joseph Walton DeFrance (1865-1937), and they lived in San Diego.

I was looking for obituaries and death notices for some of these people in the San Diego newspapers on GenealogyBank, and found Leava's obituary:

Leave DeFrance obituary was in the San Diego Union newspaper dated 22 January 1959.  From that, I easily found her on Find A Grave buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in San Diego:

I see that I need to visit Mount Hope and take a photograph of her gravestone.  Where's my To-Do list?

The California Death Index, 1940-1997 database on Ancestry provided her birth and death dates, and that her mother's maiden name was Gosslin (close to Gosney...wonder which one is right?).

The obituary for Leava said that she was the aunt of Carl W. Weiss and the sister of Mrs. Alice Weiss.  I don't have them in my database yet.  I went back to the 1870 U.S. Census on Ancestry to see if Leava had a sister Alice:

Yep, there is Alice Smith, age 2, born in Missouri, in the 1870 U.S. Census, daughter of Zachariah and Nancy Smith, residing in Pineville, McDonald County, Missouri.

Alice must have married a Weiss and had a son Carl.  I easily found her in the 1920 U.S. Census, with husband Jakob Weiss and children Carl Weiss (age 33) and his wife Grace.

I also found the 1910 and 1900 U.S. Census records for Jacob and Alice.  Here's the 1900 U.S. Census record, from Jefferson, Park County, Colorado:

I found out that Jacob and Alice were married for 15 years in 1900, that Jacob was born in 1858 in Germany, and that Carl and his sister Eva were born in Colorado.

What happened to Jacob and Alice Weiss?  Alice is in the California Death Index, 1940-1997, which provided her birth date and death date;  she died in San Diego County.

The Find A Grave link in the Suggested Records above took me to the Lakeview Cemetery in Cheyenne, Wyoming:

There is also a link to the memorial for Jacob Emil Weiss (1858-1938) who is interred in Cheyenne also.

Next up is Carl W. Weiss.  He is also in the California Death Index, 1940-1965, and died in San Diego County, California.  He also has a death notice in the San Diego Union newspaper:

The death notice lists his wife's name and the name of his son, Lloyd C. Weiss, and the name of his sister, Eva R. Truman.  I found their birth, death and spouse information also.

Alice was not in any Ancestry Member Tree, but she was in the FamilySearch Family Tree with Jake E. Weiss (with a marriage date in Colorado). I updated their profiles and added son Carl and daughter Eva.

I decided that this was as far as I wanted to go down this rabbit hole, since I'm not related to them.  Oh well, it was a fun research hour!

Ten years ago, bopping down this research trail would have taken weeks or months and several trips to the Family History Center to search vital records, census records, and newspaper records.

I know that there is not one original record in all of this;  all of these records are derivative records, but they are, in general, derivative from the original records.  Everything done here seems to hang together.

The URL for this post is:  

Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

How to Correct or Add Alternate Information to an Ancestry.com Record

Ancestry.com permits users to correct or add alternate information to many of their database records.  The addition or correction is added to the Index, but the original indexed information is retained, even if it's wrong.

In years past, the user could add or correct information from the actual record image and the image indexed information.  Now, it is only possible to add or correct from the record summary page using the "Add Alternate Information" link.

For example, here is the record summary page for the 1870 U.S. census for my great-grandfather, Frank Walton Seaver (1852-1922):

The "Add alternate information" link is on the left side of the screen, below the thumbnail image and the "Show blank Form" link and above the "Report issue" link.

I wanted to add his birth name to this record, so I clicked on "Add additional information" link and a popup window appeared titled "Add or update for Frank W. Seaver."  I clicked on the dropdown menu arrow and the choices were:

I could choose to add or edit:

*  Family Number
*  Name
*  Estimated Birth Year
*  Birthplace
*  Age
*  Race

I selected "Name" and another popup window appeared, and I could choose a Reason for the change:

The Reasons to add or correct a Name are:

*  Transcription error
*  Incorrect in image
*  Nick Name
*  Name Change
*  Variation
*  Maiden Name

I chose "Variation" and then corrected the first name to "Frank Walton" from "Frank W."

I could add a reason for the change in the "Explain or Source your update (optional)" box:

I added a reason.

When I was done, I could click on the orange "Submit Alternate" button.  The change should be added to the index for this census in several weeks.

This process is fairly straightforward and easy to understand.  It works, but not immediately.

Does any other record provider permit corrections or additions to their databases or record collections?  I don't recall.  I'll check on this!

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/10/how-to-correct-or-add-alternate.html

Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 93: #113 Sophia (Trimmer) Able (1755-before 1811)

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.  I am extending this theme in 2015 to 104 Ancestors in 104 Weeks. Here is my ancestor biography for week #93:

Sophia Trimmer (about 1755 - before 1811) is #113 on my Ahnentafel list, my 4th great-grandmother, who married #112 Johannes Able (about 1758-1818) in 1777.

I am descended through:

* their son, #56 John Auble (1780-1831), who married #57  Anna Row (1787-1860) in 1804, 
*  their son, #28 David Auble (1817-1894), who married #29 Sarah G. Knapp (1818-after 1900) in 1844.
*  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 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-....)

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

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

*  Name:                      Sophia Trimmer[1-3]    
*  Sex:                         Female   

*  Father:                     Matthias Trimmer (1722-1793)   
*  Mother:                   Anna Martha Nachbar (1724-    )   
  
2)  INDIVIDUAL EVENTS (with source citations as indicated in brackets):
  
*  Birth:                      about 1755, Amwell, Hunterdon, New Jersey, United States[1]   
*  Death:                    before 1811 (before about age 56), Sussex, New Jersey, United States   
  
3)  SHARED EVENTS (with source citations as indicated in brackets):
  
*  Spouse 1:               Johannes Able (1758-1818)   
*  Marriage:              30 January 1777 (about age 22), Oldwick, Hunterdon, New Jersey, United States[2–4]

*  Child 1:                  Anna Maria Able (1778-    )   
*  Child 2:                  John Auble (1780-1831)   
*  Child 3:                  Anna Maria Able (1784-    )   
*  Child 4:                  David Able (1787-1858)   
*  Child 5:                  Elisabeth Able (1789-    )   
*  Child 6:                  George Able (1793-1870)   
*  Child 7:                  Jacob Able (1796-1837)                

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

Sophia Trimmer was born in about 1755 in Amwell, New Jersey to Matthias and Anna Martha (Nachbar) Trimmer.  She is named as "Sofie Abel" (wife of John Auble) in her father's 1791 will.[1]

Sophia Trimmer married John Abel on 30 January 1777 in the Zion Lutheran Church[2-3].  The marriage record in the Zion Lutheran Church records say:

"[1777] John Abel & Sophia Trimmer, Jam. 30"

Zion Lutheran Church birth and baptism records (New Germantown, New Jersey) include the children of Johannes/John and Sophia (Trimmer) Abel/Able/Auble[4].

Sophia (Trimmer) Able probably died before 1811, when John Able married, secondly, to widow Mary Cripps on 17 April 1811.
 
5)  SOURCES

1. Theodore Frelinghuysen Chambers, The Early Germans of New Jersey: their history, churches, and genealogies (Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1982), pages 533-539, Trimmer family sketch.

2. Norman C. Wittwer and D. A. Sinclair, "Marriage Records of the Zion Lutheran Church at Oldwick," Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey, Volume XL, page 10, John Abel and Sophia Trimmer entry, 1777.

3. Juanita Hayter Crampton, The Able Aubles (Utica, Kentucky: Mcdowell Publications, 1987), page 33, John Able sketch; digital image, FamilySearch Books (https://books.familysearch.org/ : accessed 27 June 2014).

4. Ben Van D. Fisher, "Records of the Corporation of Zion in New Germantown in West Jersey - Births and Baptisms," Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey, Volumes XXX to XXXIII (1900-1903), January 1901, page 36.

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The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/10/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks-week-93-113.html

Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.