Saturday, May 20, 2023

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- Then and Now - Oral Interviews

 Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:

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


Here is your assignment, should you decide to accept it (you ARE reading this, so I assume that you really want to play along - cue the Mission Impossible music!):

1)  Then and Now - Did you ever conduct oral interviews of family members or friends and neighbors about your ancestors over the years?  Who did you interview, how did you record the interviews, and what did you learn from them?  Please share your experiences.

2)  Write your own blog post, or leave a comment on this post, or write something on Facebook.

Here's mine:

Even before starting real work on my genealogy addiction "hobby" in 1988, I was keenly aware of my paternal Seaver and maternal Carringer ancestors.  I met my paternal grandmother only once, in 1958 when she visited us in San Diego when I was 14 years old.  I visited New England in the 1966-1968 time frame on business, and met my father's siblings and their families.  My father started talking on the telephone with most of his five siblings in about that time, and each of them came to visit us in the 1968 to 1972 time frame.  However, I did not write anything down or record conversations with them.

In 1980, my father's sister Marion (Seaver) (Braithwaite) Hemphill came to visit and I made a cassette tape recording with her in our living room talking about her family memories.  Aunt Marion died in 1999 at age 99.

Linda and I and our two daughters (ages 8 and 5) visited New England on vacation in the summer of 1982 and saw almost every relative still in New England.  I took a cassette tape recorder with me this time, and captured my uncle Edward Seaver's family memories on tape.  I eventually transcribed the tape recording of Uncle Ed.  On this trip, we also spent a fun and wonderful week in a cabin on Lake Cobboseccontee in central Maine with my aunt Geraldine and her husband.  

I never sat down and recorded my father's life memories before he died in May 1983.  He was very jealous that we took "his trip" to Massachusetts but he was dying of prostate cancer in the summer of 1982. 

After several "I should do my genealogy" thoughts in the 1980s, I started in earnest in the summer of 1988.  My brother Scott and I went to Massachusetts in August 1990 to enjoy uncle Ed and Aunt Janet 's 50th wedding anniversary party that almost all of his living relatives.  We had a ceremony in the Leominster church they were married, stayed in the hotel they spent their wedding night in Sterling, and had the party at the place they had their wedding reception.  The next day, I  described for the extended family the research I had performed over the two years since I started, and encouraged them to write about their memories.  My father's sister, Ruth (Seaver) Fischer, wrote several pages about her family memories.  Aunt Ruth died in 2000.

My father's youngest sister, Geraldine (Seaver) Remley, made a series of four hour-long tape recordings in 1991 that extensively outlined each family member in much detail.  She had been very close with their mother over the last 20 years of her mother's life, and had many memories of them.  I transcribed these tapes after receiving them.  Aunt Gerry died in 2007 at age 90, and that was the last time Linda and I visited Massachusetts.  I have Aunt Gerry's tapes in my desk drawer but don't have a working tape recorder any longer.  The family generously gave me Gerry's family photograph albums and some of the family papers and artifacts.

Unfortunately, my father's sister Evelyn (Seaver) Wood died in 1978 and I did not have the opportunity to interview her.  I did talk extensively with her daughter, Virginia (Wood) Soule who lived with her children in Salem, New Hampshire and shared memories of her mother's life during our visits.  Virginia died in 2016.  

Unfortunately, I have only the printed transcription of each of these letters and tape recordings in a "Seaver Memories" binder.  I don't have a digital transcription of them, and it's on my to-do list and I need to do it soon.  I could scan them and then OCR the scans but it's about 60 total pages of typing, and I just haven't done it.

From 1989 through 2010, I sent out a yearly genealogy newsletter, called the "Seaver- Richmond Family Journal" to my living Seaver relatives.  In the later issues, I transcribed and included some of Gerry's memories from the audio tapes in the newsletter, so I have at least some of it digitized.

On my mother's side, her parents (Lyle and Emily (Auble) Carringer) died in 1976 and 1977, and left a treasure trove of papers, letters, photographs, records, and artifacts of their lives and the lives of their parents.  I was acquainted with my grandmother' lifelong friend Gladys (Nolan) Taylor, and her daughter Edwina (Taylor) Goddard, both of whom were longtime San Diego Genealogical Society members.  In about 1995, Edwina arranged for me to talk to her mother at her mother's home, but I did not record it.  

My mother, Betty (Carringer) Seaver lived in the Carringer home on Point Loma after her parents died and shared the papers and photographs with me in 1988 when I started doing my genealogy research.  However, I never did a formal interview - she didn't want to but I certainly wish that I had.  Linda and I visited her almost every week after my father died in 1983.  We did go through the papers and the photographs on many occasions.  She was interested in the family stories I found.  My mother died in January 2002 and I received all of the genealogy treasures we found in the house.

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The URL for this post is:  https://www.geneamusings.com/2023/05/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-then-and_01890251019.html

Copyright (c) 2023, 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.  Note that all comments are moderated, so they not appear immediately.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Added and Updated FamilySearch Record Collections - Week of 13 to 19 May 2023

 I am keeping track of the new and updated historical record collections at FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/list) every week.

As of 19 May 2023, there are 3,203 historical record collections on FamilySearch (an increase of 0 from last week):

There were no new records this week.  The updated collections this week from FamilySearch are:


Brazil, ParanĂ¡, Civil Registration, 1852-1996

2,882,741

19 May 2023
Italy, Ravenna, Ravenna, Civil Registration (Tribunale), 1866-1929
22,454
19 May 2023
Mexico, Puebla, Catholic Church Records, 1545-1977
8,532,762
19 May 2023
Virginia, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Birth Records, 1853-1896
839,887
19 May 2023
Uruguay Civil Registration, 1879-1930
686,035
19 May 2023
Peru, Catholic Church Records, 1603-1992
20,979,345
19 May 2023
Florida, Funeral Home Records, 1887-1971
34,228
19 May 2023
Colombia, Catholic Church Records, 1576-2018
26,291,007
19 May 2023
Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Civil Registration, 1829-2012
6,807,587
19 May 2023
Germany, North Rhine-Westphalia, Wuppertal, Civil Registration, 1810-1930
12,066
19 May 2023
Brazil, ParĂ¡, Civil Registration, 1815-1995
48,523
19 May 2023
Ecuador, Catholic Church Records, 1565-2011
6,120,406
19 May 2023
Chile, Catholic Church Records, 1633-2015
7,676,644
19 May 2023
Ohio, Stillbirths, 1918-1953
68,296
19 May 2023
Guatemala, Alta Verapaz, Civil Registration, 1877-1994
1,052,485
19 May 2023
Venezuela Civil Registration, 1873-2003
997,597
19 May 2023
Argentina, Corrientes, Catholic Church Records, 1734-1977
449,315
19 May 2023
Argentina, Jujuy, Catholic Church Records, 1662-1975
148,319
19 May 2023
Costa Rica, Civil Registration, 1823-1975
6,176,232
19 May 2023
Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul, Civil Registration, 1860-2006
1,668,077
19 May 2023
Belgium, Brabant, Civil Registration, 1582-1914
43,610
19 May 2023
Puerto Rico, Catholic Church Records, 1645-1969
3,349,093
19 May 2023
Russia, Lutheran Church Book Duplicates, 1833-1885
280,541
19 May 2023
Costa Rica, Catholic Church Records, 1595-1992
4,198,282
19 May 2023
Italy, Sassari, Civil Registration (Tribunale), 1803-1942
33,873
19 May 2023
Italy, Venezia, Venezia, Civil Registration (Tribunale), 1871-1930
9,336
19 May 2023
Venezuela, Archdiocese of Caracas, Catholic Church Records, 1638-2020
65,784
19 May 2023
Argentina, Catamarca, Catholic Church Records, 1724-1971
185,310
19 May 2023
British Virgin Islands, Methodist Church Records, 1815-2012
44,819
19 May 2023
Belgium, Namur, Civil Registration, 1800-1912
589,097
19 May 2023
Brazil, Santa Catarina, Civil Registration, 1850-1999
660,648
19 May 2023
Brazil, Minas Gerais, Civil Registration, 1879-1949
847,200
19 May 2023
Portugal, SetĂºbal, Catholic Church Records, 1555-1911
1,080,601
19 May 2023
El Salvador Catholic Church Records, 1655-1977
2,262,276
18 May 2023
Peru, San MartĂ­n, Civil Registration, 1850-1999
470,827
18 May 2023
Mexico, Querétaro, Catholic Church Records, 1590-1970
3,026,728
18 May 2023
Guatemala, Baja Verapaz, Civil Registration, 1877-1994
318,843
18 May 2023
Maryland, Church Records, 1668-1995
87,260
18 May 2023
Dominican Republic, Catholic Church Records, 1590-1975
2,272,920
18 May 2023
England, Cumberland Parish Registers, 1538-1990
522,467
18 May 2023
Croatia, Church Books, 1516-1994
2,985,560
18 May 2023
Connecticut, County Coroner's Records, 1883-1934
14,102
18 May 2023
Belgium, Antwerp, Civil Registration, 1588-1913
849,133
18 May 2023
Argentina, Entre RĂ­os, Civil Registration, 1860-1965
755,057
18 May 2023
Alabama County Marriages, 1809-1950
5,933,956
17 May 2023
Massachusetts State Vital Records, 1841-1920
11,579,424
17 May 2023
Sweden, Stockholm City Archives, Index to Church Records, 1546-1927
1,187,588
17 May 2023
Luxembourg Census Records, 1843-1900
42,930
17 May 2023
Ireland, Catholic Parish Registers, 1740-1900
2,833,904
17 May 2023
Argentina, CĂ³rdoba, Censuses, 1778-1874
26,695
16 May 2023
United States, GenealogyBank Obituaries, Births, and Marriages 1980-2014
29,761,750
16 May 2023
Nicaragua, Catholic Church Records, 1740-1960
823,282
15 May 2023
Netherlands, Noord-Holland, Civil Registration, 1811-1950
1,954,467
15 May 2023
Kentucky, County Marriages, 1797-1954
3,382,502
14 May 2023
Bolivia Catholic Church Records, 1566-1996
9,266,640
14 May 2023

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In order to select a specific record collection on FamilySearch, go to   https://familysearch.org/search/collection/list and use the "Filter by collection name" feature in the upper left-hand corner and use keywords (e.g. "church england") to find collections with those keywords.

Each one of the collections listed above has a Research Wiki page (use the "Learn more" link). It would be very useful if the Wiki page for each collection listed the dates for when the collection was added as a new collection and the dates for major updates also.

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The URL for this post is:  https://www.geneamusings.com/2023/05/added-and-updated-familysearch-record_01913586855.html

Copyright (c) 2023 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. All comments are moderated, so they will not appear immediately. Share your comment on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below. Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.