This is the 12th in a series of 24 posts for the 2010 Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories.
On the 13th Day of Christmas,
My true love gives to the community
Her time, prayers and compassion.
1) Did your family ever volunteer with a charity such as a soup kitchen, homeless or battered women's shelter during the holidays?
These are difficult questions for the Genea-Scrooge...I don't think my parents ever did this in the 1940-1980 time frame. Charity was not on the radar, other than dropping coins in the Salvation Army kettles.
Our church has hosted a homeless shelter for two weeks twice a year, and the shelter is there this week and next. We donate food items to this, but haven't been physically present at the shelter. Linda went down on Saturday to help set up the shelter cots and bedding.
Linda has been part of the Forest Home Women's Auxiliary for many years - Forest Home is a Christian camp in the San Bernardino mountains that our family attended for many years when the kids were kids. The Auxiliary has run a thrift shop in La Mesa for many years until just recently. We donated many clothing and household items over the years, and Linda worked one day a month at the shop.
Randy has essentially sat on his butt and not done anything of charitable value...sad to say.
2) Or perhaps were your ancestors involved with church groups that assisted others during the holiday?
Once again, I have no idea about this about the ancestors.
3) Were you able to make the holidays special for someone less fortunate? (This question was from three years ago).
The people that I can think of are Linda's great-aunts and second cousins who lived alone in San Francisco during the 1970s and early 1980s. We would go pick them up and bring them to Linda's parents house for Christmas dinner and gift exchange.
Over the years, we have occasionally invited some of the elderly church members with no local family to Christmas dinner with us, and they really appreciate the invitation and invariably are enthusiastic, friendly and fun. Linda was a Deacon at church in past years, and the Deacons usually "adopt" one or more church families, or friends of church families, who won't have Christmas gifts for their children or need help with meals. She is one of two persons who sometimes go with the pastor to serve communion to the shut-in church members.
Needless to say, I almost didn't respond to this prompt, but what the heck - my readers need to know that I'm a Genea-Scrooge sometimes, at least when it concerns the community. Maybe it's genetic, or a learned behavior?
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Be Careful with the Publish button...
Genea-bloggers need to be aware that if you hit the Publish button on your blog writer (for me, http://www.blogger.com/), that Google Reader is really quick on the draw. No sooner did I hit the Publish button this afternoon that I realized I meant to delete the post rather than publish it. I quickly went to the "Edit posts" list and deleted the post. It existed on the Internet for all of 30 seconds.
But wait - here is what I saw in my Google Reader a few minutes ago:
When I clicked on the title, my computer said that the link didn't exist.
But when I click on Genea-Musings in my Google Reader, it is still there! I wrote the post because I was struggling in FTM 2011 to delete a duplicate Fact - and the Delete button didn't do it. I read the Help section, and noticed that I can delete a Fact by highlighting it and then hitting the X button...d'oh!
So how long will the post that was published for 30 seconds last? I don't know. What I do like is that Google Reader finds the updated version of posts. I can't go edit the offensive post because I deleted it! Oh well! I wonder if a Google search for the post will bring up a cached version? I would guess not, but will test it to see! Nope, not yet!
The lesson learned: Think twice before you hit Publish, and then think twice about deleting the entire post. If I had edited the post title and content rather than deleted the entire post, I could have hidden the mistake easily. I didn't, and it's out there for all Google Readers to see!
Is it in your blog reader, or did it get sent via RSS feed to your email?
But wait - here is what I saw in my Google Reader a few minutes ago:
When I clicked on the title, my computer said that the link didn't exist.
But when I click on Genea-Musings in my Google Reader, it is still there! I wrote the post because I was struggling in FTM 2011 to delete a duplicate Fact - and the Delete button didn't do it. I read the Help section, and noticed that I can delete a Fact by highlighting it and then hitting the X button...d'oh!
So how long will the post that was published for 30 seconds last? I don't know. What I do like is that Google Reader finds the updated version of posts. I can't go edit the offensive post because I deleted it! Oh well! I wonder if a Google search for the post will bring up a cached version? I would guess not, but will test it to see! Nope, not yet!
The lesson learned: Think twice before you hit Publish, and then think twice about deleting the entire post. If I had edited the post title and content rather than deleted the entire post, I could have hidden the mistake easily. I didn't, and it's out there for all Google Readers to see!
Is it in your blog reader, or did it get sent via RSS feed to your email?
Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Contribute to GeneaLeaks!
Come on geneaphiles - it's Saturday Night - time to have more Genealogy Fun!
Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:
1) You've probably heard about WikiLeaks - the web site that has been exposing United States government secret documents to the world. Well, Travis LeMaster on his TJLGenes blog posted GeneaLeaks this week - please read his post. I had to make this a SNGF topic...
2) For SNGF, please answer one or more of these questions:
* What GeneaLeak do you want to expose to the world from your own research or experience? Do it!
* What GeneaLeak about your own family history research would you like exposed to help you in your genealogy pursuit?
* What GeneaLeak about genealogy websites, collection providers, genealogy software or genealogy bloggers, writers, or colleagues would you like to see exposed?
Be creative, but not mean, please!
3) Share your GeneaLeaks list on your own blog, as a comment to this blog post, or in a note or comment on Facebook.
Here's mine:
* My own GeneaLeak: I have a new first cousin, three times removed! My first cousin's granddaughter, Megan, had a baby in September named Griffin. I saw his picture on Facebook. You know you're getting old when you have a cousin three generations later than yourself.
* The GeneaLeak I need: The birthdate, birthplace and parents names of Thomas J. Newton (1795?- after 1834), who married Sophia (Buck) Brigham in about 1833 and had two children, including my great-great-grandmother, Sophia (Newton) Hildreth (1834-1923).
* The GeneaLeak I want to see: The discussion, decision making and paper trail at Ancestry.com developing the most sophisticated genealogy search engine in existence (with all of the default/exact options, wild card options, old/new search algorithms, unique search boxes for different collections, etc.). These are very creative people and I'm alternately confused and awed by the product.
Thank you, Travis, for the great SNGF idea!
Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:
1) You've probably heard about WikiLeaks - the web site that has been exposing United States government secret documents to the world. Well, Travis LeMaster on his TJLGenes blog posted GeneaLeaks this week - please read his post. I had to make this a SNGF topic...
2) For SNGF, please answer one or more of these questions:
* What GeneaLeak do you want to expose to the world from your own research or experience? Do it!
* What GeneaLeak about your own family history research would you like exposed to help you in your genealogy pursuit?
* What GeneaLeak about genealogy websites, collection providers, genealogy software or genealogy bloggers, writers, or colleagues would you like to see exposed?
Be creative, but not mean, please!
3) Share your GeneaLeaks list on your own blog, as a comment to this blog post, or in a note or comment on Facebook.
Here's mine:
* My own GeneaLeak: I have a new first cousin, three times removed! My first cousin's granddaughter, Megan, had a baby in September named Griffin. I saw his picture on Facebook. You know you're getting old when you have a cousin three generations later than yourself.
* The GeneaLeak I need: The birthdate, birthplace and parents names of Thomas J. Newton (1795?- after 1834), who married Sophia (Buck) Brigham in about 1833 and had two children, including my great-great-grandmother, Sophia (Newton) Hildreth (1834-1923).
* The GeneaLeak I want to see: The discussion, decision making and paper trail at Ancestry.com developing the most sophisticated genealogy search engine in existence (with all of the default/exact options, wild card options, old/new search algorithms, unique search boxes for different collections, etc.). These are very creative people and I'm alternately confused and awed by the product.
Thank you, Travis, for the great SNGF idea!
Surname Saturday - GUILD (England > Dedham/Medfield MA)
It's Surname Saturday, and I'm "counting down" my Ancestral Name List each week. I am up to number 139, who is Mary GUILD (1735-1800), one of my 5th-great-grandmothers. [Note: The 5th great-grandfathers have been covered in earlier posts]
My ancestral line back through five generations of GUILD families 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)
34. Alpheus B. Smith (1802-1840)
35. Elizabeth Horton Dill (1784-1869)
68. Aaron Smith (1765-1841)
69. Mercy Plimpton (1772-1850)
138. Amos Plimpton, born before 16 Jun 1735 in Medfield, Norfolk County, MA; died 20 Aug 1808 in Medfield, Norfolk County, MA. He was the son of 276. John Plimpton and 277. Abigail Fisher. He married 1756 in Norfolk County, MA.
139. Mary Guild, born 1735 in Walpole, Norfolk, MA; died 20 Mar 1800 in Medfield, Norfolk County, MA.
Children of Amos Plimpton and Mary Guild are: Molly Plimpton (1758-1813); Elizabeth Plimpton (1761-1766); John Plimpton (1763-1765); Amos Plimpton (1770-1800); Mercy Plimpton (1772-1850).
278. Nathaniel Guild, born 20 Mar 1711/12 in Dedham, Norfolk, MA; died 10 Sep 1796 in Walpole, Norfolk, MA. . He married 12 Jun 1733 in Dedham, Norfolk, MA.
279. Mary Boyden, born 09 Feb 1707/08 in Wrentham, Norfolk, MA. She was the daughter of 558. Thomas Boyden and 559. Deborah Wight.
Children of Nathaniel Guild and Mary Boyden are: Mary Guild (1735-1800); Nathaniel Guild (1741-1793); Samuel Guild (1746-1816); Mercy Guild (1748-????); Susan Guild (1750-1822); Mehitable Guild (1752-1816).
556. Nathaniel Guild, born 12 Jan 1678/79 in Dedham, Norfolk County, MA; died 28 Jan 1774 in Dedham, Norfolk County, MA. He married before 1708 in probably Dedham, Norfolk, MA.
557. Mehitable Farrington, born 20 Jul 1693 in Dedham, Norfolk County, MA; died 10 Feb 1771 in Dedham, Norfolk County, MA. She was the daughter of 1114. John Farrington and 1115. Mary Janes.
Children of Nathaniel Guild and Mehitable Farrington are: Mehitable Guild (1708-1798); Mary Guild (1709-1762); Nathaniel Guild (1712-1796); Susanna Guild (1713-1714); Susanna Guild (1717-1742); Samuel guild (1719-1743); Rebecca Guild (1721-1793); Sarah Guild (1723-????); Moses Guild (1725-????); Aaron Guild, (1728-1818).
1112. Samuel Guild, born 07 Nov 1647 in Dedham, Norfolk County, MA; died 01 Jan 1729/30 in Dedham, Norfolk County, MA. He married 29 Nov 1676 in Dedham, Norfolk County, MA.
1113. Mary Woodcock, born 1654 in Roxbury, Suffolk County, MA; died before 1703 in Dedham, Norfolk County, MA. She was the daughter of 2226. John Woodcock and 2227. Sarah.
Children of Samuel Guild and Mary Woodcock are: Samuel Guild (1677-1750); Nathaniel Guild (1679-1774); Mary Guild (1681-1768); John Guild (1683-1684); Deborah Guild (1685-1773); John Guild (1687-1767); Israel Guild (1690-1766); Ebenezer Guild (1692-1774); Joseph Guild (1694-1751); Elizabeth Guild (1697-????).
2224. John Guild, born about 1616 in ENGLAND; died 06 Oct 1682 in Dedham, Norfolk, MA. He married 24 Jun 1645 in Dedham, Norfolk, MA.
2225. Elizabeth Crooke, born about 1618 in ENGLAND; died 31 Aug 1669 in Dedham, Norfolk, MA.
Children of John Guild and Elizabeth Crooke are: John Guild (1646-????); Samuel Guild (1647-1730); John Guild (1649-1723); Eliezer Guild (1653-1655); Ebenezer Guild (1657-1661); Elizabeth Guild (1661-1740); Benjamin Guild (1664-1682).
Nearly all of the information that I have on the GUILD family is from the town vital record books and the family history book:
Charles Burleigh, The Genealogy and History of the Guild, Guile and Gile Family, published by Brown Thurston & Company, 1887.
My ancestral line back through five generations of GUILD families 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)
34. Alpheus B. Smith (1802-1840)
35. Elizabeth Horton Dill (1784-1869)
68. Aaron Smith (1765-1841)
69. Mercy Plimpton (1772-1850)
138. Amos Plimpton, born before 16 Jun 1735 in Medfield, Norfolk County, MA; died 20 Aug 1808 in Medfield, Norfolk County, MA. He was the son of 276. John Plimpton and 277. Abigail Fisher. He married 1756 in Norfolk County, MA.
139. Mary Guild, born 1735 in Walpole, Norfolk, MA; died 20 Mar 1800 in Medfield, Norfolk County, MA.
Children of Amos Plimpton and Mary Guild are: Molly Plimpton (1758-1813); Elizabeth Plimpton (1761-1766); John Plimpton (1763-1765); Amos Plimpton (1770-1800); Mercy Plimpton (1772-1850).
278. Nathaniel Guild, born 20 Mar 1711/12 in Dedham, Norfolk, MA; died 10 Sep 1796 in Walpole, Norfolk, MA. . He married 12 Jun 1733 in Dedham, Norfolk, MA.
279. Mary Boyden, born 09 Feb 1707/08 in Wrentham, Norfolk, MA. She was the daughter of 558. Thomas Boyden and 559. Deborah Wight.
Children of Nathaniel Guild and Mary Boyden are: Mary Guild (1735-1800); Nathaniel Guild (1741-1793); Samuel Guild (1746-1816); Mercy Guild (1748-????); Susan Guild (1750-1822); Mehitable Guild (1752-1816).
556. Nathaniel Guild, born 12 Jan 1678/79 in Dedham, Norfolk County, MA; died 28 Jan 1774 in Dedham, Norfolk County, MA. He married before 1708 in probably Dedham, Norfolk, MA.
557. Mehitable Farrington, born 20 Jul 1693 in Dedham, Norfolk County, MA; died 10 Feb 1771 in Dedham, Norfolk County, MA. She was the daughter of 1114. John Farrington and 1115. Mary Janes.
Children of Nathaniel Guild and Mehitable Farrington are: Mehitable Guild (1708-1798); Mary Guild (1709-1762); Nathaniel Guild (1712-1796); Susanna Guild (1713-1714); Susanna Guild (1717-1742); Samuel guild (1719-1743); Rebecca Guild (1721-1793); Sarah Guild (1723-????); Moses Guild (1725-????); Aaron Guild, (1728-1818).
1112. Samuel Guild, born 07 Nov 1647 in Dedham, Norfolk County, MA; died 01 Jan 1729/30 in Dedham, Norfolk County, MA. He married 29 Nov 1676 in Dedham, Norfolk County, MA.
1113. Mary Woodcock, born 1654 in Roxbury, Suffolk County, MA; died before 1703 in Dedham, Norfolk County, MA. She was the daughter of 2226. John Woodcock and 2227. Sarah.
Children of Samuel Guild and Mary Woodcock are: Samuel Guild (1677-1750); Nathaniel Guild (1679-1774); Mary Guild (1681-1768); John Guild (1683-1684); Deborah Guild (1685-1773); John Guild (1687-1767); Israel Guild (1690-1766); Ebenezer Guild (1692-1774); Joseph Guild (1694-1751); Elizabeth Guild (1697-????).
2224. John Guild, born about 1616 in ENGLAND; died 06 Oct 1682 in Dedham, Norfolk, MA. He married 24 Jun 1645 in Dedham, Norfolk, MA.
2225. Elizabeth Crooke, born about 1618 in ENGLAND; died 31 Aug 1669 in Dedham, Norfolk, MA.
Children of John Guild and Elizabeth Crooke are: John Guild (1646-????); Samuel Guild (1647-1730); John Guild (1649-1723); Eliezer Guild (1653-1655); Ebenezer Guild (1657-1661); Elizabeth Guild (1661-1740); Benjamin Guild (1664-1682).
Nearly all of the information that I have on the GUILD family is from the town vital record books and the family history book:
Charles Burleigh, The Genealogy and History of the Guild, Guile and Gile Family, published by Brown Thurston & Company, 1887.
Advent Calendar - 11 December: Other Traditions
This is the 11th in a series of 24 posts for the 2010 Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories.
On the 14th Day of Christmas
I tried to share ethnic traditions
but we are plain old Protestant Christians!
1) Did your family or friends also celebrate other traditions during the holidays such as Hanukkah or Kwanzaa?
The short answer is "no." When I was growing up, I knew no people of the Jewish faith and Kwanzaa had not been invented yet.
2) Did your immigrant ancestors have holiday traditions from their native country which they retained or perhaps abandoned?
I don't know, because my latest immigrants were from England in the 1850's. Linda's latest immigrants were from Norway in the 1850's.
The holiday traditions we have observed are pretty much the modern American Protestant Christmas expressions with caroling, gift-giving, prayers and family gatherings. And Santa Claus.
On the 14th Day of Christmas
I tried to share ethnic traditions
but we are plain old Protestant Christians!
1) Did your family or friends also celebrate other traditions during the holidays such as Hanukkah or Kwanzaa?
The short answer is "no." When I was growing up, I knew no people of the Jewish faith and Kwanzaa had not been invented yet.
2) Did your immigrant ancestors have holiday traditions from their native country which they retained or perhaps abandoned?
I don't know, because my latest immigrants were from England in the 1850's. Linda's latest immigrants were from Norway in the 1850's.
The holiday traditions we have observed are pretty much the modern American Protestant Christmas expressions with caroling, gift-giving, prayers and family gatherings. And Santa Claus.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Free Family Forest Ancestral eBook
I received an email from Kristine Harrison at FamilyForest about their offer for a free eBook. The email said:
"For a limited time your readers can receive a free Family Forest® Ancestral eBook of their choice at http://familyforest.com/. Please see http://familyforest.com/products/4/e-books for details.
"Kristine Harrison
Millisecond Publishing Company, Inc.
Co-Founder of the Family Forest® Project
http://www.familyforest.com/
A People-Centered Approach To History®
http://familyforest.wordpress.com/"
I followed up to see how the process worked, and Kristine added this information:
"All someone needs to do is to e-mail a short thoughtful answer to any one of the ten questions (http://familyforest.com/resources), along with the title of whatever eBook they would like, to kristine@familyforest.com.
"Then I will send them a link to the free download via YouSendIt.com It's that simple, and no hidden fees."
This is, of course, a pretty nice way to introduce the FamilyForest products to a set of savvy genealogists that might be interested in it. I appreciate Kristine's offer. I ordered the eBook about descendants of Edward III since I have (I think) at least one descendant from him. There were several others that interested me - Richard Warren, William White, Henry Adams and John Prescott.
Please check out what FamilyForest.com offers.
Disclosure: I am not an employee, contractor, affiliate or agent for FamilyForest. I have received no remuneration for writing this post, but I am taking advantage of the free eBook offer.
"For a limited time your readers can receive a free Family Forest® Ancestral eBook of their choice at http://familyforest.com/. Please see http://familyforest.com/products/4/e-books for details.
"Kristine Harrison
Millisecond Publishing Company, Inc.
Co-Founder of the Family Forest® Project
http://www.familyforest.com/
A People-Centered Approach To History®
http://familyforest.wordpress.com/"
I followed up to see how the process worked, and Kristine added this information:
"All someone needs to do is to e-mail a short thoughtful answer to any one of the ten questions (http://familyforest.com/resources), along with the title of whatever eBook they would like, to kristine@familyforest.com.
"Then I will send them a link to the free download via YouSendIt.com It's that simple, and no hidden fees."
This is, of course, a pretty nice way to introduce the FamilyForest products to a set of savvy genealogists that might be interested in it. I appreciate Kristine's offer. I ordered the eBook about descendants of Edward III since I have (I think) at least one descendant from him. There were several others that interested me - Richard Warren, William White, Henry Adams and John Prescott.
Please check out what FamilyForest.com offers.
Disclosure: I am not an employee, contractor, affiliate or agent for FamilyForest. I have received no remuneration for writing this post, but I am taking advantage of the free eBook offer.
Ancestry.com Quirk in 1930 US Census fixed!
I complained in June 2009, in Ancestry.com Quirk - 1930 Census Index, that the 1930 U.S. Census database on http://www.ancestry.com/ had some serious search problems, including:
* Birthplace indexed for only head of household or persons of a different surname in the household (i.e., birthplace of spouse and children not indexed)
* Father's birthplace was not indexed
* Mother's birthplace was not indexed
* A commenter noted that Race was indexed only for the Head of Household.
Those created serious search problems for me, and others, who had used those search fields in the 1920 and earlier census records.
The current 1930 U.S. Census Basic Search box (in New Search) looks like this:
It includes First Name, Last Name, Birth Year and Birth Place, Lived In, Any Event, Family Members, Keywords and Race. However, the search results using the Basic form are all using Default Search Settings.
I prefer the Advanced Search form, which looks like this (two screens below):
The search fields now include First Name, Last Name, Birth Year an d Birth Place, Lived In, Any Event, Family Member, Keyword, Relation to Head of Household, Race/Ethnicity, Father's Birthplace and Mother's Birthplace.
The key to narrowing the search is to judiciously use the different search settings. If you use the "Default Setting" for everything, you will get thousands of matches, although your target will usually be in the first few matches if the names were enumerated correctly. I usually change the "Default Settings" to "Restrict to Exact" for the names, the lived in, and several other fields.
I tried this out, using the Advanced Search form, putting the following in the Search firm:
* First Name = "betty" (restricted to exact)
* Birth Year - "1919 plus/minus 2 years"
* Lived in - "San Diego County, California, USA" (selected from the dropdown list)
* Father's Name = "Lyle" (restricted to exact)
* Mother's birthplace = "Illinois, USA" (selected from the dropdown list)
With those search fields only, I received this match:
The right one. I tried this in June 2009 and got no matches.
I'm glad that Ancestry.com has added more indexed fields to the 1930 census. It will relieve some frustration with the census searches, especially for those who don't understand the nuances of doing searches on Ancestry.
Disclosure: I am not an employee, contractor or affiliate of Ancestry.com. I have accepted travel, hotel, meals and incidental expense from Ancestry.com at certain times. I have a fully paid Ancestry.com U.S. Deluxe subscription. I was not remunerated for writing this article.
* Birthplace indexed for only head of household or persons of a different surname in the household (i.e., birthplace of spouse and children not indexed)
* Father's birthplace was not indexed
* Mother's birthplace was not indexed
* A commenter noted that Race was indexed only for the Head of Household.
Those created serious search problems for me, and others, who had used those search fields in the 1920 and earlier census records.
The current 1930 U.S. Census Basic Search box (in New Search) looks like this:
It includes First Name, Last Name, Birth Year and Birth Place, Lived In, Any Event, Family Members, Keywords and Race. However, the search results using the Basic form are all using Default Search Settings.
I prefer the Advanced Search form, which looks like this (two screens below):
The search fields now include First Name, Last Name, Birth Year an d Birth Place, Lived In, Any Event, Family Member, Keyword, Relation to Head of Household, Race/Ethnicity, Father's Birthplace and Mother's Birthplace.
The key to narrowing the search is to judiciously use the different search settings. If you use the "Default Setting" for everything, you will get thousands of matches, although your target will usually be in the first few matches if the names were enumerated correctly. I usually change the "Default Settings" to "Restrict to Exact" for the names, the lived in, and several other fields.
I tried this out, using the Advanced Search form, putting the following in the Search firm:
* First Name = "betty" (restricted to exact)
* Birth Year - "1919 plus/minus 2 years"
* Lived in - "San Diego County, California, USA" (selected from the dropdown list)
* Father's Name = "Lyle" (restricted to exact)
* Mother's birthplace = "Illinois, USA" (selected from the dropdown list)
With those search fields only, I received this match:
The right one. I tried this in June 2009 and got no matches.
I'm glad that Ancestry.com has added more indexed fields to the 1930 census. It will relieve some frustration with the census searches, especially for those who don't understand the nuances of doing searches on Ancestry.
Disclosure: I am not an employee, contractor or affiliate of Ancestry.com. I have accepted travel, hotel, meals and incidental expense from Ancestry.com at certain times. I have a fully paid Ancestry.com U.S. Deluxe subscription. I was not remunerated for writing this article.
Advent Calendar - December 10: Christmas Gifts
This is the 10th in a series of 24 posts for the 2010 Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories.
On the 15th day of Christmas,
my true love gave to me
The greatest gift of all - her love.
1) What were your favorite gifts, both to give and to receive?
I'm guessing at the date, but on about this date in 1969 I realized just how much Linda loved me and that I really loved her also. We had known each other for almost two years, but had been seriously dating only four months. As we made plans for Christmas with our respective families (mine in San Diego, hers in San Francisco), we talked openly about how much we meant to each other. I don't remember the physical gift we gave to each other at Christmas 1969, but I do know we gave each other a gift of commitment and happiness. The proposal was yet to come on Valentine's Day in 1970 (see, I was Mr. Romantic before I started doing genealogy), but this was the happiest Christmas of my life even though we were apart on December 25.
As a child, the best Christmas of all was 1954, when my brother Stan and I got our Davy Crockett coonskin caps and our Daisy BB guns for Christmas. Next best was 1955, when we got our Flexible Flyers, and the next best was 1956 when we got new bicycles. With the Flexies and bikes, we could roam all over San Diego and deliver our paper route on wheels - they meant freedom. We had had older bikes before this, but these were new with balloon tires and better brakes (still braking with the pedals, though).
Nowadays, I can count on receiving something electronic (I'm hoping for a laser pointer) and photographs of the grandchildren from my daughters and their families, some Hawaiian shirts and HP ink cartridges from Linda, and I usually treat myself to some genealogy books after the holiday. I usually get Linda some clothing - usually colorful (aqua, green, blue, red, purple) tops, gift certificates and perhaps a promise of a cruise or vacation.
My daughters provide hints for gifts for the grandchildren which makes it pretty easy to shop online for them.
2) Are there specific gift-giving traditions among your family or ancestors?
I don't recall any gift-giving traditions for my family, nor do I know anything about traditions from the ancestors, and we don't have any for our daughters and their families.
On the 15th day of Christmas,
my true love gave to me
The greatest gift of all - her love.
1) What were your favorite gifts, both to give and to receive?
I'm guessing at the date, but on about this date in 1969 I realized just how much Linda loved me and that I really loved her also. We had known each other for almost two years, but had been seriously dating only four months. As we made plans for Christmas with our respective families (mine in San Diego, hers in San Francisco), we talked openly about how much we meant to each other. I don't remember the physical gift we gave to each other at Christmas 1969, but I do know we gave each other a gift of commitment and happiness. The proposal was yet to come on Valentine's Day in 1970 (see, I was Mr. Romantic before I started doing genealogy), but this was the happiest Christmas of my life even though we were apart on December 25.
As a child, the best Christmas of all was 1954, when my brother Stan and I got our Davy Crockett coonskin caps and our Daisy BB guns for Christmas. Next best was 1955, when we got our Flexible Flyers, and the next best was 1956 when we got new bicycles. With the Flexies and bikes, we could roam all over San Diego and deliver our paper route on wheels - they meant freedom. We had had older bikes before this, but these were new with balloon tires and better brakes (still braking with the pedals, though).
Nowadays, I can count on receiving something electronic (I'm hoping for a laser pointer) and photographs of the grandchildren from my daughters and their families, some Hawaiian shirts and HP ink cartridges from Linda, and I usually treat myself to some genealogy books after the holiday. I usually get Linda some clothing - usually colorful (aqua, green, blue, red, purple) tops, gift certificates and perhaps a promise of a cruise or vacation.
My daughters provide hints for gifts for the grandchildren which makes it pretty easy to shop online for them.
2) Are there specific gift-giving traditions among your family or ancestors?
I don't recall any gift-giving traditions for my family, nor do I know anything about traditions from the ancestors, and we don't have any for our daughters and their families.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Standardizing Place Names - Using FTM 2011 to Fix Non-standard Place Names
In my post yesterday, Standardizing Place Names - Using FTM 2011 to Merge Place Names, I demonstrated how easy it was to pick standardized place names from the standard place list in Family tree Maker 2011. I noted that some of the place names in my database were still non-standard - i.e., not in the FTM 2011 list of standard place names, and that I needed to resolve them by hand.
In this post, I want to demonstrate the process of standardizing place names, and getting the geotag coordinates of the place, in Family Tree Maker 2011.
I'm going to use Delhi, in Norfolk county, Ontario, Canada as the example. Unfortunately, the standard place list in FTM 2011 for ALL Canadian towns or cities do not include the county that the town is in, and so all of them are going to have to be fixed in this process.
In the "Places" workspace, I highlighted "Delhi, Norfolk, Ontario, CANADA" on my list of places. I clicked on "Place" in the menu, and then "Resolve Place Name" to get the dropdown box. You can see that it lists "Delhi, , Ontario, Canada as the standard place name. Here is the Place list before I did any standardizing:
In the Place list on the left, I have three items for Delhi Cemetery in Delhi (when I clicked on the first one, the map of Delhi, India came up) and six items for the town of Delhi in various forms. I want to merge all of them into one for the cemetery and one for the town, and geotag them in the process.
I chose the one above because it showed the right place on the map, and edited the place name in the upper right-hand corner. It now reads "Delhi, Norfolk, Ontario, Canada." I clicked on the pushpin below the location name on the "Location" line, and saw:
The red band at the top of the page says to "Click the exact location on the map for Delhi, Norfolk, Ontario, Canada." I clicked on the name of the town, Delhi, on the map, and the geotag for the place appeared in the "Location" field in the upper right-hand corner of the screen:
Delhi is at 42.8521° N, 80.4903° W.
I did an Edit -- Copy on my standard name of "Delhi, Norfolk, Ontario, Canada" so that I could use the same place name consistently, and fixed the other five non-standard place names on my list. I edited the Delhi Cemetery name to read "Delhi Cemetery, Delhi, Norfolk, Ontario, Canada" and fixed those three entries also. Now my updated list of the nine Delhi entries is only two, and they have been geotagged, as shown below:
While they are still listed as non-standard places in the FTM 2011 place name list, they are geotagged and the map will come up when the place name is clicked on. That's the best I can do at the moment. hopefully, Family Tree Maker will add counties to their official list of standard place names in Canada. I hope that they will greatly expand their list of place names in England too - it is pretty sparse.
I'm still in the process of working through the Place names in my database standardizing them as shown in my last post. The next task will be to geotag as many of my non-standard place names as possible.
I tested this process in RootsMagic 4 and Legacy Family Tree 7 and thought that the FTM 2011 process was the easiest for me to use. I liked that the process for changing the place name to a standardized version and geotagging that place was easy to use, and was all on one screen.
What I don't know is if a geotag of a place name in FTM 2011 will transfer across through a GEDCOM file to another program like RootsMagic or Legacy. I would hate to have to do all of this again at some time. I guess I better find out sooner rather than later. I'll let you know...
Disclosure: I received a gratis copy of Family Tree Maker 2011 from Ancestry.com. I purchased previous versions of family Tree Maker myself, but also received gratis copies of some versions from Ancestry.com (which I donated to a local genealogical society). I try very hard to be objective in my comments about Family Tree Maker software.
In this post, I want to demonstrate the process of standardizing place names, and getting the geotag coordinates of the place, in Family Tree Maker 2011.
I'm going to use Delhi, in Norfolk county, Ontario, Canada as the example. Unfortunately, the standard place list in FTM 2011 for ALL Canadian towns or cities do not include the county that the town is in, and so all of them are going to have to be fixed in this process.
In the "Places" workspace, I highlighted "Delhi, Norfolk, Ontario, CANADA" on my list of places. I clicked on "Place" in the menu, and then "Resolve Place Name" to get the dropdown box. You can see that it lists "Delhi, , Ontario, Canada as the standard place name. Here is the Place list before I did any standardizing:
In the Place list on the left, I have three items for Delhi Cemetery in Delhi (when I clicked on the first one, the map of Delhi, India came up) and six items for the town of Delhi in various forms. I want to merge all of them into one for the cemetery and one for the town, and geotag them in the process.
I chose the one above because it showed the right place on the map, and edited the place name in the upper right-hand corner. It now reads "Delhi, Norfolk, Ontario, Canada." I clicked on the pushpin below the location name on the "Location" line, and saw:
The red band at the top of the page says to "Click the exact location on the map for Delhi, Norfolk, Ontario, Canada." I clicked on the name of the town, Delhi, on the map, and the geotag for the place appeared in the "Location" field in the upper right-hand corner of the screen:
Delhi is at 42.8521° N, 80.4903° W.
I did an Edit -- Copy on my standard name of "Delhi, Norfolk, Ontario, Canada" so that I could use the same place name consistently, and fixed the other five non-standard place names on my list. I edited the Delhi Cemetery name to read "Delhi Cemetery, Delhi, Norfolk, Ontario, Canada" and fixed those three entries also. Now my updated list of the nine Delhi entries is only two, and they have been geotagged, as shown below:
While they are still listed as non-standard places in the FTM 2011 place name list, they are geotagged and the map will come up when the place name is clicked on. That's the best I can do at the moment. hopefully, Family Tree Maker will add counties to their official list of standard place names in Canada. I hope that they will greatly expand their list of place names in England too - it is pretty sparse.
I'm still in the process of working through the Place names in my database standardizing them as shown in my last post. The next task will be to geotag as many of my non-standard place names as possible.
I tested this process in RootsMagic 4 and Legacy Family Tree 7 and thought that the FTM 2011 process was the easiest for me to use. I liked that the process for changing the place name to a standardized version and geotagging that place was easy to use, and was all on one screen.
What I don't know is if a geotag of a place name in FTM 2011 will transfer across through a GEDCOM file to another program like RootsMagic or Legacy. I would hate to have to do all of this again at some time. I guess I better find out sooner rather than later. I'll let you know...
Disclosure: I received a gratis copy of Family Tree Maker 2011 from Ancestry.com. I purchased previous versions of family Tree Maker myself, but also received gratis copies of some versions from Ancestry.com (which I donated to a local genealogical society). I try very hard to be objective in my comments about Family Tree Maker software.
Treasure Chest Thursday - Isaac Seaver's Civil War Pension File: General Affidavit #2
For Treasure Chest Thursday, I am presenting and transcribing papers from the Civil War Pension File of my Second Great-Grandfather, Isaac Seaver (1823-1901). I presented Treasure Chest Thursday - Isaac Seaver's Pension Declaration, Treasure Chest Thursday - Isaac Seaver's Civil War Pension File: Widow's First Declaration, and Treasure Chest Thursday - Isaac Seaver's Civil War Pension File: General Affidavit #1 in past weeks.
Another General Affidavit was filed on 29 April 1901 by two women who knew Isaac Seaver for 58 years and knew the name of Isaac's first wife.
The transcription is (handwritten words underlined and in italics):
State of Massachusetts, County of Worcester, SS:
In the matter of widow's original pension claim No. 738,086 Alvina M. Seaver
widow of Isaac Seaver 3d, Co. H 4th Regt Mass Vol H.A.
on this 29 day of April, A.D. 1901, personally
appeared before me a Notary Public in and for the afore-
said County, duly authorized to administer oaths Lucinda C. Tisdale,
aged 74 years, a resident of Leominster, in the County
of Worcester, and State of Massachusetts
whose Post-office address is #175 Union Street, Leominster, Mass.
Lucy A. Tisdale, aged 67 years, a resident of Leominster
_________________, in the County of Worcester
and State of Massachusetts, whose Post-office address is________
#15 Main Street, Leominster, Mass.
well known to be reputable and entitled to credit, and who, being duly sworn, declared in relation to aforesaid
case as follows: that we were well and personally
acquainted with the above named Isaac
Seaver, 3d, having known him more than
fifty-eight years. We have know that he was
never married but three times and the
first time was when he married with
Juliett Glazier. The above are facts de-
rived from our long personal acquain-
tance with said Isaac Seaver 3d.
[blank lines]
"Soldier married three times" [written diagonally and underlined, probably by a pension official]
We further declare that we have no interest in said case and are
not concerned in its prosecution.
Lucy A. Tisdale
Lucinda E. Tisdale
(Signatures of Affiants)
There is a U.S. Pension Office stamp dated May 3, 1901.
One interpretation of this affidavit is that the widow Alvina Seaver needed someone to vouch for the name of his first wife. Alvina gave Juliett's name, and her death date, in her General Affidavit filed on 20 April 1901.
This is the first notice I've taken of Lucinda C. Tisdale and Lucy A. Tisdale. These are two different women with essentially the same name. They claim to have known Isaac Seaver for 58 years - that would make their first acquaintance in 1843, when Isaac was age 20, Lucinda was age 16, and Lucy was age 9. Were they relatives, neighbors, or childhood friends? If so, are they single, married or widowed? Interesting puzzle. Maybe I'll check it out this next week.
Another General Affidavit was filed on 29 April 1901 by two women who knew Isaac Seaver for 58 years and knew the name of Isaac's first wife.
The transcription is (handwritten words underlined and in italics):
GENERAL AFFIDAVIT
State of Massachusetts, County of Worcester, SS:
In the matter of widow's original pension claim No. 738,086 Alvina M. Seaver
widow of Isaac Seaver 3d, Co. H 4th Regt Mass Vol H.A.
on this 29 day of April, A.D. 1901, personally
appeared before me a Notary Public in and for the afore-
said County, duly authorized to administer oaths Lucinda C. Tisdale,
aged 74 years, a resident of Leominster, in the County
of Worcester, and State of Massachusetts
whose Post-office address is #175 Union Street, Leominster, Mass.
Lucy A. Tisdale, aged 67 years, a resident of Leominster
and State of Massachusetts, whose Post-office address is
#15 Main Street, Leominster, Mass.
well known to be reputable and entitled to credit, and who, being duly sworn, declared in relation to aforesaid
case as follows: that we were well and personally
acquainted with the above named Isaac
Seaver, 3d, having known him more than
fifty-eight years. We have know that he was
never married but three times and the
first time was when he married with
Juliett Glazier. The above are facts de-
rived from our long personal acquain-
tance with said Isaac Seaver 3d.
[blank lines]
"Soldier married three times" [written diagonally and underlined, probably by a pension official]
We further declare that we have no interest in said case and are
not concerned in its prosecution.
Lucy A. Tisdale
Lucinda E. Tisdale
(Signatures of Affiants)
There is a U.S. Pension Office stamp dated May 3, 1901.
One interpretation of this affidavit is that the widow Alvina Seaver needed someone to vouch for the name of his first wife. Alvina gave Juliett's name, and her death date, in her General Affidavit filed on 20 April 1901.
This is the first notice I've taken of Lucinda C. Tisdale and Lucy A. Tisdale. These are two different women with essentially the same name. They claim to have known Isaac Seaver for 58 years - that would make their first acquaintance in 1843, when Isaac was age 20, Lucinda was age 16, and Lucy was age 9. Were they relatives, neighbors, or childhood friends? If so, are they single, married or widowed? Interesting puzzle. Maybe I'll check it out this next week.
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