Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Who is Your Most Recent Immigrant Ancestor?

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) Who is your most recent immigrant ancestor?  I'm assuming that your ancestors moved from one country to another at some point in time.

2)  Tell us about that person - name, birth and death, emigration and immigration country and port, date or year of immigration, etc.  Share it in a blog post of your own, in a comment on this blog post, or on Facebook or Google+.

Here's mine:

My most recent immigrant ancestor is my great-grandfather, Thomas Richman/Richmond (1848-1917) and his mother, Hannah (Rich) Richman (1824-1911).  They immigrated into the United States on 14 November 1856 in New York City, arriving on the ship Osprey out of Bristol in England.  The passenger list included:

*  Hannah Richman - age 32, female, a wife
*  James Richman - age 7, male, a child
*  Thomas Richman - age 6, male, a child
*  Louisa Richman - age 4, female, a child
*  Elizabeth Richman - age 3, female, a child

*  Ann Richman - an infant, female, a child

James Richman (1821-1912) had come to America on the ship Calhoun from Liverpool in England on 22 October 1855.  

The Richmans had lived in Hilperton in Wiltshire, near Trowbridge, until they emigrated.  I don't know how they went from Hilperton to the ports - Liverpool is fairly far away from Wiltshire.  Perhaps they went by wagon or coach.  

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/11/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-who-is.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 -- WODELL (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 #1175 who is Ursula WODELL (1628-1674) [Note: the earlier great-grandmothers and 8th great-grandfathers have been covered in earlier posts].

My ancestral line back through one generation of this WODELL 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)

146.  Jonathan Keyes (1722-1781)
147.  Elizabeth Fletcher (1720-1761)

292.  Joseph Keyes (1698-1744)
293.  Elizabeth Fletcher (1698-1775)

586.  Joshua Fletcher (1644-1713)
587.  Sarah Woolley (1650-????)

1174.  Christopher Woolley, born about 1617 in England; died 28 January 1701 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.  He married 26 February 1647 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
1175.  Ursula Wodell, born 1628 in Cranfield, Bedfordshire, England; died 13 June 1674 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.

Children of Christopher Woolley and Ursula Wodell are:
i. Rebecca Woolley, born 24 July 1647 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died 27 September 1675 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
ii. Hannah Woolley, born 24 January 1649 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died 21 February 1649 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
iii. Sarah Woolley, born about 08 May 1650 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died in  ; married Joshua Fletcher 18 July 1682 in Chelmsford, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
iv. Mary Woolley, born about1652 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died 19 December 1677 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; married Samewell How 27 March 1673 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
v. Eunice Woolley, born 1656 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died 07 May 1737 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; married John Taylor 26 March 1678 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; born 19 October 1653 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died 20 November 1719 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
vi. John Woolley, born about 1660 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died 04 August 1718 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; married Elizabeth Baker 29 November 1711 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; born 15 September 1684 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died 23 January 1757 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
vii. Samuel Woolley, born about 1662 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died before 27 May 1723 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
viii. Joseph Woolley, born 10 March 1662 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died 1745 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; married Rachel Brackett 10 March 1689 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; born 30 September 1669 in Billerica, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died 07 May 1748 in Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
ix. Ruth Woolley, born about 1664 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died 06 August 1720 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; married (1) Joseph Taylor 04 December 1691 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; born 07 April 1665 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died 20 September 1709 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; married (2) Stephen Meads 14 June 1711 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; born Abt. 1665 in Massachusetts, United States; died before 1718 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; married (3) Daniel Cheever 02 July 1718 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; born about 1670 in Massachusetts, United States; died 1733 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.

x. Thomas Woolley, born about 1666 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died 18 November 1710 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; married Rebecca French 14 December 1697 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; born 02 January 1674 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died about 1737 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.

There is a christening for an Ursula Wodell on 24 August 1628 in Cranfield, Bedfordshire, England, daughter of Richard Wodell.  There are online trees at Ancestry and FamilySearch that list his wife's name as Ursula Franklyn, but I don't see parish records for such a marriage.  The surname may have been Odell.  

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/11/surname-saturday-wodell-england-to.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.

England and Wales Electoral Registers, 1832-1932, at Findmypast

Each week, Findmypast releases a number of new databases - some large, some small, and mostly for the British Isles.  I don't always look at them because my English ancestors left in the years before 1856.

Today's press release is New Records Available To Search This Findmypast Friday, November 20, 2015 and can be read at www.GeneaPress.com.

One of the new databases added is the England and Wales, Electoral Registers, 1832-1932.  This is a browse image collection - there is no name index.  The description of this collection is:

"Browse through nearly 10,000 volumes of England & Wales electoral registers containing 5.4 million images and approximately 220 million names. The collection was recently made available online for the first time in association with the British Library and includes parliamentary registers, burgess rolls, parochial registers and county council registers. Electoral Registers are lists created annually of people who are eligible to vote and include their reason for eligibility, such as their residence or ownership of a property. Browsing the registers is a fantastic way to learn more about the history of your home or local area. 

"The period covered by The England and Wales Electoral Registers 1832-1932 includes some of the most important events in history of British democracy and demonstrates how the British electorate changed during the 19th and early 20th centuries: from the vote being extended to working class men and the reform of representation up until women’s suffrage."

I wanted to see if there were listings for my Rich and Richman families in Hilperton in Wiltshire in the 1840 to 1870 time period.

Here is the starting page for the England and Wales, Electoral Registers, 1832-1932.  I put in the county of Wiltshire and selected 1860 plus/minus 20 years:

I clicked the blue "Search ..." button and the results were:

There were 31 matches.  The first Wiltshire register listed is for 1861.  I clicked on the camera icon for that register and saw the front page of 116 pages for the Northern Division of Wiltshire:

The next page was an index of the parishes for the different polling districts.

Hilperton was in thel ist for the Melksham Polling District, and was on page 79 of this register.  I found it on image 81:

There is no mention of the Rich surname and only one mention of the Richman surname:

No.  2847
Name:  Richman, John, jun.
Place of Abode:  Hilperton
Nature of Qualification:  freehold houses and garden
Street, lane, etc.:  Hilperton Marsh lane

I can see how this record can be very useful - a researcher could follow a person from parish to parish or street to street over a number of years.  However, the lists I saw are in alphabetical order so a researcher cannot determine who the neighbors might be.

John Richman, jun. (1816-1884) is the son of my 3rd great-grandparents, John Richman (1788-1867) and Ann Marshman (1784-1856).  I believe that his father, John Richman (1788-1867) resided on the same property, although he is not listed on the register above.  This may be the location of the house of my ancestor, John Richman where his children were born.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/11/england-and-wales-electoral-registers.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 99: #121 Mary (Dafoe) Kemp (1776-before 1832)

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 #99:

Mary (Dafoe) Kemp (1776-before 1832) is #121 on my Ahnentafel list, my 4th great-grandmother, who married #120 John Kemp (1768-1861) in 1795.  

I am descended through:

* their son, #60 Abraham Kemp (1795-1881 who married #61 Sarah Sephrona Fletcher (1802-before 1861) in 1818, 
*  their son, #30 James Abraham Kemp (1831-1902) who married #31 Mary Jane Sovereen (1844-1874) in 1861.
*  their daughter, Gerogianna Kemp (1868-1952) who married #14 Charles Auble (1849-1916) 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:                   Mary Dafoe[1–2]   
 *  Alternate Name:  Mary Kemp[1]  

*  Sex:                     Female   

*  Father:                Abraham Dafoe (1755-1815)   
*  Mother:               Katreen "Catharina"  (1755-1792)  

   

2)  INDIVIDUAL EVENTS (with source citations as indicated in brackets):

*  Birth:                       about 1776, Vermont, United States[1]
*  Death:                     before November 1832 (before about age 56), probably Cramahe, Northumberland, Ontario, Canada[1]    

3)  SHARED EVENTS (with source citations as indicated in brackets):
   
*  Spouse 1:                John Kemp (1768-1861)    
*  Marriage 1:             26 January 1795 (about age 20), Fredericksburgh, Lennox and Addington, Ontario, Canada[1–2]    

*  Child 1:                  Abraham Kemp (1795-1881)    
*  Child 2:                  Nancy Anna Kemp (1797-1874)    
*  Child 3:                  John Cook Kemp (1800-1887)    
*  Child 4:                  Jacob Kemp (1802-1887)    
*  Child 5:                  George Kemp (1806-    )    
*  Child 6:                  Elizabeth Kemp (1806-    )    
*  Child 7:                  James A. Kemp (1807-1891)    
*  Child 8:                  Lucy Kemp (1809-    )    
*  Child 9:                  Mary Kemp (1812-1912)    
 
4)  NOTES (with source citations as indicated in brackets):

Most of the information about John Kemp and his family was obtained from Cheryl Kemp Taber and can be seen on her Rootsweb WorldConnect database (http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cdn-kemp)[1]. 

Mary Dafoe was born in Vermont in about 1776, the daughter of Abraham and Katreen (--?--) Dafoe.  The Dafoes were loyalists, and migrated to Ontario in the early 1780s.  Mary's family was in Fredericksburgh in Lennox and Addington County in the 1790s[1].

The marriage record of John Kemp and Mary Dafoe has this information[2]:

"John Kemp, Fredericksburgh, bachelor, and Mary Defoe, same place, spinster, January 26, 1795
John Finkle, Jacop Finkle, Andrew Rikley, Margaret Huffman"

Mary Dafoe, alias Kemp, daughter of Abraham Dafoe (Sergeant of King's Rangers) of Fredericksburgh, petitioned, as a United Empire Loyalist, for 200 acres of land in Upper Canada on 8 July 1797, which was confirmed on 24 July 1797 and a warrant was issued on 4 August 1797[1].

Mary Kemp was granted a patent for 200 acres by the Crown in Huntingdon township, Hastings County, Ontario in Concession 6, Lot 4, on 17 May 1802[1].

John and Mary (Dafoe) Kemp had nine children between 1795 and 1812, and all of them were baptized in the Fredericksburgh church[1]. 


There is no record for the death or burial of Mary Dafoe.  Her last child was born in 1812.  She was not recorded with her husband in the 1851 Census for Canada West.  Her husband, John Kemp, and eldest son, Abraham Kemp, sold the Huntingdon township lot to Henry Finkle on 13 November 1832[1].  She probably died previous to November 1832.

5)  SOURCES

1. Cheryl Kemp Taber, "Kemps and Kin," online database, Rootsweb WorldConnect Project (http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cdn-kemp).


2. William Briggs, Ontario Historical Society Papers and Records (Toronto, Canada : Ontario Historical Society, 1899), page 68, John Kemp and Mary Dafoe marriage entry.

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

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/11/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks-week-99-121.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.

1900 Census Instructions for San Diego Enumerators

I was looking for articles about my Carringer grandparents and great-grandparents on GenealogyBank this afternoon, and ran across this excellent article about the 1900 U.S. Census in the San Diego Weekly Union newspaper, dated Thursday, 24 May 1900, on page 2:

The transcription of the article is:

SUPPLIES RECEIVED

---------------------

BY THE CENSUS ENUMERATORS

---------------------

WORK WILL BEGIN JUNE 1 AND CONTINUE TWO WEEKS.

---------------------

The Rate of Compensation - The Word Family Has a Wide Application - Instructions to the Enumerators

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"The San Diego census enumerators, whose names were mentioned in the Union several weeks ago, have received their commissions and the supplies to be used by them in taking the census of this city, and are now all ready to enter upon their duties.  The active work of enumeration is scheduled to begin promptly at 8 a.m. of June 1, and is to be completed in cities of 8,000 population or over by June 15.  Throughout the rural districts the enumeration will not be completed until June 30.  All enumerators will be required to work ten hours every day, and the pay for work is to be not less than $3 nor more than $6 per day.

"In this district the compensation will be as follows:  For each living inhabitant enumerated, 2-1/2 cents; for each farm returned, 17-1/2 cents; for each manufacturing establishment returned, 25 cents; for each death reported, 5 cents; for each person defective in sight, hearing or speech reported, 5 cents; for each prisoner reported, 5 cents; fr each proprietor reporting live stock not on farms or ranges, 5 cents.

"The supplies received by the enumerators here consist of six schedules, a portfolio, a badge to be worn when on official duty, two sets of daily report cards, two forms of certificate of completion of work of enumeration, a consolidated time report and a return penalty label.  The first schedule relates to the population, the second to the Indian population, the third to agriculture, the fourth to persons who have died during the census year, the fifth to persons defective in sight, hearing or speech, and the last to live stock not on farms or ranges.  At the close of each day's work, the enumerator must fill out a card, addressed to the census supervisor stating the number of persons, farms, etc., enumerated on the several schedules and the number of hours and minutes occupied.  A duplicate card must be sent to the director of the census at Washington.

"The enumerators, according to their instructions, have the right of admission to every dwelling and to every manufacturing or mechanical establishment for the purpose of obtaining the necessary information.  They have also the right to put every question contained in the census schedules, and to obtain answers to all of them.  The enumerator is advised not to accept statements which he believes to be false.  By giving away information obtained by him in the discharge of his official duties he is rendered liable to a fine not exceeding $500.  The enumerators will not be allowed to comine with their work, any other occupation, such as canvassing for directory publishers, or the sale or advertisement of any article whatever.

"June 1 is known as the "census day" and each question on the schedules will be answered with reference to that day, all changes occurring after that time being disregarded.  For instance, if a family is visited on June 4 in which a marriage took place June 2, the parties will be entered single, because they were so June 1.  Any person who is alive on June 1, even if he should die before the enumerator visits his dwelling, will be classed as alive.

"The word family, for census purposes, has a much wider application than it has in ordinary speech, and means a group of individuals who occupy jointly a dwelling or part of a dwelling place.  A person who boards in one place and lodges in another is to be returned as a member of the family where he lodges.  A domestic servant, unless she sleeps elsewhere, is to be returned as a member of the family in which she works.  All the occupants and employes of a hotel, if they regularly sleep there, make up for census purposes a single family, because they occupy one dwelling place.

"As the census family may thus be much larger than the natural family, so it may also be much smaller, for one person dwelling alone is to be returned as a family.  A clerk in a store, who regularly sleeps there, is to be reported as a family, and the store as his dwelling place.  The transient guests of a hotel are not to be enumerated as of the hotel, unless they are likely otherwise to be omitted from the enumeration.

"The number of enumerators in this district, of which Frank Davis of Los Angeles is supervisor, is 248, and among them will be at least twenty-five women.  Judge Davis, it is said, is finding it exceptionally hard to obtain men to canvass the desert sections.  There are places in the San Bernardino desert where enumerators will be compelled to travel for sixty miles or more in order to obtain the name and pedigree of one inhabitant, and to do this, will require a team or saddle horse, which will cost the enumerator $5 to $10 a day, besides his other expenses.

"Supervisor Davis expects to have the enumeration completed by Sept. 1.  His salary is to be paid to him in a lump sum, and as he will obtain a total of $1,250 for his work, there will be no object in delay.  The pay of supervisors was originally fixed at an even $100, but the compensation has recently been changed by act of Congress.  The statistics upon manufacturing and public institutions will be taken later by special agents sent out for the purpose from Washington."

That was an interesting and informative article.  I can't imagine riding a horse or a team for 10-15 hours 60 miles into the desert in early June!  On the population schedule, there were 50 lines, so if an enumerator completed one page he would earn $1.25.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/11/1900-census-instructions-for-san-diego.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.