RootsTech 2014 is Just Three Months Away! Limited Time Discount Offered!

Early in the year events tend to sneak up on me.  I just realized that RootsTech 2014 is just over three months away.

The RootsTech 2014 Conference is on February 5-8, 2014 in Salt Lake City.  The RootsTech 2014 website is online at www.rootstech.org.  The Developer Day is the first day.  On the 6th to 8th February, there is a General Session in the morning, plus the Expo Hall and 4 presentation sessions each day.  There are lunches all three days, and evening activities the first two nights.  The overall schedule is at https://rootstech.org/schedule-info/

Have you registered yet?  You can register at https://registration.rootstech.org/2014/portal/.  Then you should make your hotel reservations - see https://rootstech.org/venue-hotel/hotels/.  The Salt Lake Marriott Downtown and City Creek is already sold out.  Don't forget your airline reservations if you are flying in and out of Salt Lake City.

I have been named a RootsTech 2014 Official blogger and am planning to attend the full conference.  And blog about it before, during and after the conference.  It's part of my Official blogger duties, of course!

One of the real perks of being an Official Blogger is the opportunity to offer:

Special $149 Limited Time Discount. Genea-Musings readers can save an additional $10 off the early bird price for a full access conference pass by using Promo Code: RT14LTO. This promotion is valid until November 30, 2013, 

My plan is to arrive on 4 February and spend the 5th at the Family History Library doing some research (working on my lengthy to-do list), and then attend the Conference for the 6th to the 8th and fly home on Sunday, the 9th (I'm glad they scheduled this to miss the Super Bowl, which is 2 February).  We will probably stay at the Radisson.  I hope that the geneabloggers have some sort of meetups in the evenings - my wife, Linda, loves to meet and talk to my geneablogging colleagues.  

I will post more information about RootsTech 2014 as I receive them.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/10/rootstech-2014-is-just-three-months.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Adding Fact Notes and Research Notes to My RootsMagic 6 Database

I've been spending significant time adding text information to my Fact Notes and Source Text Detail fields in RootsMagic 6.  The reasons are twofold:

*  A Fact Note is published, with a source citation if provided, to an Individual Summary Report; I don't think they are published for any other Report or List in RootsMagic.

*  A Source Text Detail note is published in a Research Note Report, which can include all Facts whether sourced or not.  If a researcher wants to print an individual's Research Note Report with information from each source, they will need to add the information to the Source Text Detail field.

Like many seasoned researchers, over 25 years I added ALL of my fact notes into the person Notes of a person.  In RootsMagic, those Notes are associated with the person's Name.  In those person Notes, I included my sources.  I still do that, and those person Notes with their sources show up in Narrative Reports, Individual Reports, etc., but are not linked to a specific Source by number unless I do that in the person Notes.

I covered the Research Note creation process in my post Creating Research Notes in RootsMagic 5 - Post 1 and Creating Research Notes in RootsMagic 5 - Post 2 in June 2012.  

Here is the process I'm using to take person Notes and adding them to Fact Notes and Source Detail Text notes:

1)  Here is a person's "Edit Person" screen, with the person's Name highlighted:

I click on the "Notes" button (in the right-hand panel below "Person Details," and the "Notes" window opens and I can highlight a portion of the "Notes" text.  I want to create a "Fact Note" for the 1900 U.S. Census record for this person:

I Copy (Ctrl-C, or Edit > Copy) the highlighted text and close out the "Notes" window and I'm back in the "Edit Person" window.

2)  To create the "Fact Note," I click on the "Fact" of interest:

Each "Fact" has buttons in the right-hand panel under "Census Details" (for this Fact) - for "Note," "Source," and "Share." I clicked on the "Fact" button:

The "Notes" window for this Fact opened and I Pasted (Ctrl-V or Edit > Paste) the text information (previously copied from the person Note) into the "Fact Notes" window.  I edited it a bit (I usually take out the source citation since there is a Source associated with the Fact).

That's all - pretty easy, just Copy from person Note and Paste (or type into) a Fact Note.

3)  The next step is to add the text into a Source "Detail Text" field so that it shows up in a "Research Notes Report:"

With the same "Fact" highlighted in the "Edit Person" screen, and with the Fact Note text still in my Windows clipboard, I click on the "Sources" button in the right-hand panel and see the "Citation Manager" window:

If I haven't added a Source yet, I can do that.  In the screen above, I want to add the Source Text Detail to the specific Source, so I click on the "Edit" button on the screen above, and see:

The "Edit source" screen includes the Master Source information and the Source Details fields in the "Citation" tab.  There are other tabs above the Master Source fields, including "Detail Text."

I click on the "Detail Text" screen and can add information to the "Research Notes" and "Comments" fields:

I can either type in text or I can Paste (using Ctrl-V or Edit > Paste) the Fact Note information into the "Research Note" field.  I could type in (or copy/paste in) text to analyze the information in the "Research Note" field.

That's it - some copy/paste (or typing), some editing, some clicking, and I've added a Fact Note and a Research Note to my database.

4)  What about the "Research Note Report?"  What does it look like?  I closed out the "Edit Person" window and was back to the "Family" View in RootsMagic.  I clicked on the "Reports" menu and then the "Research Reports" (or "All Reports") and chose the "Research Notes" Report:

That opened the "Report Settings" screen for the "Research Notes Report" and I chose my report parameters (which included checking the box to "Include only sources with research notes)":

The "Research Notes Report" for my person appeared with the "Source Detail Text" information at the top under the date and place for the Fact, and the source citation as a footnote at the bottom of the page:

I want to "enrich" all of my Fact Notes with information and add "Source Detail Text" for those notes so that I have a complete set of Research Notes for each person.  

5)  This sounds like a lot of work, but if you have previously typed text available then it goes pretty quickly.  I can do one cycle of this in a minute or less using this process.

Do other genealogy software programs have a "Research Notes Report" similar to RootsMagic?  Should they?  Is this a "must-have" feature for you, or a "like-to-have" feature?

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/10/adding-fact-notes-and-research-notes-to.html

Copyright (c) 2013), Randall J. Seaver

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 280: My 70th Birthday Cake On Fire

I'm posting family photographs from my collection on Wednesdays, but they aren't Wordless Wednesday posts like others do - I am incapable of having a wordless post.

Here's another picture from my 70th birthday party last week:

There were 70 candles on the cake, plus the ones on the number 70.  My daughter took this picture as I started to blow them out.  It took 10 to 15 seconds to get them all out, after several breaths, and trying not to spit on the cake.  The candle wax melted on the cake because I took awhile to get over to the table and have them sing to me...we had to throw out the waxy part of the chocolate cake.  That was a shame!

I had the last piece of the white cake today; it was pretty stale.  The frosting was still good!

Needless to say, I had a great time at my birthday party.  Lots of good friends and family, and many cards and even some gift certificates to local restaurants.  

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/10/not-so-wordless-wednesday-post-280-my.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

CrowdSourcing Opportunity: When and Where did John Louis Powell Die?

Once in awhile, I ask my readers to help me find genealogical and family history data for me, or ask them for advice on resources or methodology.  This is one of those times, and crowdsourcing is what it's called, and it usually works!

I received a phone call from John, a friend of mine here in Chula Vista.  His mother died several years ago, and he needs to know more about his maternal grandfather for probate reasons.  If he knew the grandfather's death date and place, he might be able to shorten the process.  So he asked me to search for his grandfather's death date and place.

John told me the following:

1)  His grandfather's name was John Lewis Burr Powell.
2)  He lived in his later years in Creek County, Oklahoma.
3)  His grandfather's wife's name was Ethel.
4)  His mother's maiden name was Jean Agnes Powell, daughter of John Lewis and Ethel Powell.
5)  John Lewis Powell died sometime after 1941 and probably before 1950 (friend John has a picture of him with his grandfather, John Lewis Powell), and may have been murdered.

I spent several hours yesterday committing genealogy fun yesterday trying to figure this puzzle out.  My first reaction was "This should be easy, there's probably census records, a cemetery record, maybe even vital records, probably a newspaper story about the death, etc."

Well-l-l-l-l-l-l-l... I did find two census records!  And that's it after searching Ancestry.com, FamilySearch, GenealogyBank, NewspaperARCHIVE, Mocavo, USGWArchives, Google, and more.  

1)  I found Louis B. Powell (age 28, born Oklahoma) in the 1930 U.S. Census, residing in Marshall, Logan County, Oklahoma with his wife Ethel M. (age born Indiana), daughter Agnes Jean (age 7, born Oklahoma), son Alfred N. (age 3, born Oklahoma), and son David (age 7/12, born Oklahoma).

This record provides many clues to help me find other records.

2)  The 1920 U.S. Census for Sepulpa, Creek County, Oklahoma has Louis Powell (age 18, born Oklahoma) in a household with a mother Jeis Powell (age 51, born Kansas), sister Frances (age 16, born Oklahoma), sister Ruby (age 13, born Oklahoma) and sister Lucy (age 10, born Oklahoma):

The entries for the four children indicate that their father was born in Ohio, and that Jeis Powell was a widow.  Those Facts may be helpful also.

3)  The 1940 U.S. Census revealed several families with a Louis (or John) with an Ethel, but none with a daughter Agnes or sons Alfred or David.  However, Ethel, Alfred and David were located in Fairfield, Wayne County, Illinois, after Ethel had married Loy Latham.

So either Ethel divorced John Louis Powell or John Louis Powell died and Ethel remarried to Loy Latham and moved to Illinois.

There are no credible "Suggested Records" for any of these persons on the census record summaries.

4)  Looking at Oklahoma records on Ancestry, I found a Find A Grave entry for Louis B. Powell who is interred in Fairlawn Cemetery in Cushing, Payne County, Oklahoma.

That may very well be him.  It fits the known information (the name is right (he went by Louis B. Powell in the census records), the birth in July 1901 is consistent with the census records, his wife married again).  Payne County is between Logan and Creek counties.  But my friend John said he died after 1941.  I will have to call John back and ask him his birthdate - it may be 1931.

This gravestone memorial may not be the right guy.  It's impossible to tell for sure without more information.

5)  There is no Ancestry Member Tree with a John Louis Powell (born about 1901) with a spouse Ethel and a daughter Agnes or Jean, that matches the known information.

6)  There are no newspaper articles on Ancestry.com with a John Louis Powell (born about 1901) with a spouse Ethel and a daughter Agnes or Jean, that matches the known information.

7)  FamilySearch has an "Oklahoma County Marriages, 1802-1995" collection.  I found no credible marriage of a John Powell, Lewis or Louis Powell, a B. Powell, an Ethel Powell or an Agnes or Jean Powell.

8)  The FamilySearch Family Tree does not include John Louis Powell who married an Ethel that matched the known information.

9)  GenealogyBank had no articles about John or Louis Powell, Ethel Powell or Latham, or Agnes or Jean Powell that matched the known information.

10)  A Google search for a John or Louis Powell (born about 1901) with a spouse Ethel and a daughter Agnes or Jean, found nothing that matches the known information.

11)  A search on Oklahoma marriage links on Joe Beine's site revealed a marriage of John Powell to Ethel Bennett in Creek County, Oklahoma on 5 February 1920.  That helps define Ethel's maiden name, but doesn't help with John Louis Powell's death date, which is the goal.

So that's where I am after several hours of thrashing through online databases.  I have one good lead, assuming that friend John erred with the date of the photograph.

What other online resources are there that I could look at?  What non-online resources might be available for these counties or Oklahoma as a whole?

Thanks for any suggestions!

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/10/crowdsourcing-opportunity-when-and.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

What Facts are Included in RootsMagic Software?

Russ Worthington posted FTM2014 - List of ALL Existing Facts on his Family Tree Maker User blog this morning.  I wondered if there was a comparable list of ALL Facts in RootsMagic.

RootsMagic has a list of existing Facts, and the capability to edit the Fact usage, inclusion and sentence template for each Fact.  A user can also Add a new Fact in RootsMagic.  Here's how to find the List of Facts:

1)  In RootsMagic, click on the "Lists" menu item and select the "Fact Type List:"

2)  That opens the "Fact Type" screen, which lists all of the existing Facts in the left-hand column and displays the information about the Fact in the right-hand column, including the usage, inclusion and sentence template:

3)  Rather than show you several screens of the existing Facts, I will list them in alphabetical order, with an indication of how I have edited them (for whatever reason!) for use in in GEDCOM (G), Publish Online (P), Group sheets (S), Narrative Reports (N), Individual Summary (I), and Lists (L):

*  Administration - G P S N I L
*  Adoption - G P S N I L
*  Alt. Birth -  G P S N I L
*  Alt. Burial - G P S N I L
*  Alt. Christening - G P S N I L
*  Alt. Death - G P S N I L
*  Alt. Marriage - G P S N I L
*  Alternate name - G P S N I L
*  Ancestral File Number - G P S N I L
*  Annulment - G P S N I L

*  Baptism - G P S N I L
*  Bar Mitzvah - G P S N I L
*  Bas Mitzvah - G P S N I L
*  Birth - G P S N I L
*  Blessing - G P S N I L
*  Burial - G P S N I L
*  Caste - G P S N I L
*  Cause of Death - G P S N I L
*  Census - G P I L
*  Census (family) - G P S N I L

*  Christen - G P S N I L
*  Christen (adult) - G P S N I L
*  Confirmation - G P S N I L
*  Cremation - G P S N I L
*  Death - G P S N I L
*  Deed - G P S N I L
*  Degree - G P S N I L
*  Description - G P S N I L
*  Distribution - G P S N I L
*  Divorce - G P S N I L

*  Divorce filed - G P S N I L
*  DNA Test - G P S N I L
*  Draft Registration - G P S N I L
*  Education - G P I L
*  Election - G P S N I L
*  Emigration - G P S N I L
*  Engagement - G P S N I L
*  Excommunication - G P S N I L
*  First communion - G P S N I L
*  Friends - G P S N I L

*  Graduation - G P I L
*  Guardianship - G P S N I L
*  Illness - G P S N I L
*  Immigration - G P I L
*  Inventory - G P S N I L
*  LDS Baptism - G P S N I L
*  LDS Confirmation - G P S N I L
*  LDS Endowment - G P S N I L
*  LDS Initiatory - G P S N I L
*  LDS Seal to parents - G P S N I L

*  LDS Seal to spouse - G P S N I L
*  Living - G P S N I L
*  Marriage - G P S N I L
*  Marriage Bann - G P S N I L
*  Marriage Contract - G P S N I L
*  Marriage Intentions - G P S N I L
*  Marriage License - G P S N I L
*  Marriage Settlement - G P S N I L
*  Military - G P I L
*  Miscellaneous - G P S N I L

*  Mission - G P S N I L
*  Name Change - G P S N I L
*  Namesake - G P S N I L
*  Nationality - G P S L
*  Naturalization - G I L
*  None-Ending - G P S N I L
*  Not Married - G P S N I L
*  Obituary - G P S N I L
*  Occupation - G P N I L
*  Ordination - G P S N I L

*  Other-Begin - G P S N I L
*  Partners - G P S N I L
*  Pension - G P I L
*  Petition - G P S N I L
*  Private-Begin - G P S N I L
*  Probate - G P S N I L
*  Property - G P S N I L
*  Reference No - G 
*  Religion - G I L
*  Residence - G P N I L

*  Residence (family) - G P I L
*  Retirement - G I L
*  Separation - G P S N I L
*  Single - G P S N I L
*  Soc Sec No - G P S N I L
*  SSN Issued - G P S N I L
*  Stillborn - G P S N I L
*  Title (Nobility) - G P S N I L
*  Unknown-Begin - G P S N I L
*  Will - G P N I L

4)  There are 90 different existing Facts in this list (tailored in some cases by myself).  I can't tell which Facts are Standard Facts in a newly installed RootsMagic program, and which ones I've added over time.  I think that I have added several Fact types over the years.

I think that every Fact type starts out with a Yes for G P S N I L inclusion.  I know I edited some of them to eliminate them from certain reports (perhaps I need to review that...).  Some Facts have a Yes for Description and some don't - the user can change that also.

I don't know which of those Facts are standard GEDCOM items - I know many are, but some create custom GEDCOM tags.

I'm curious about the None-Ending, Other-Begin, Private-Begin, and Unknown-Begin Facts.  I have no idea what they might be used for.  Does anyone have an example?  Are these GEDCOM tags of some sort?

What Facts do you use that RootsMagic doesn't use?  What Facts should RootsMagic add as standard Facts?

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/10/what-facts-are-included-in-rootsmagic.html

copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Tuesday's Tip - Use WolframAlpha to Obtain Numbers Data

This week's Tuesday's Tip is:  Use the WolframAlpha website to obtain numerical information.

The WolframAlpha website (www.wolframalpha.com) describes itself as:

"Wolfram|Alpha introduces a fundamentally new way to get knowledge and answers — not by searching the web, but by doing dynamic computations based on a vast collection of built-in data, algorithms, and methods."

WolframAlpha deals with numbers and computations, but cannot answer every numerically oriented question.  Users input questions to the site and receive answers.  I love numbers!

The home page is very simple:

1)  I entered "how many 10th great-grandparents do I have" and received the answer (two screens):

The answer to the question was not explicitly stated.  It's in the "blood relationship fraction" and is 4,096.

2)  I entered "how many days since 15 October 1911" and saw:

The answer was 37, 270 days.  The system also told me the day of the week for 15 October 1911 (my father's birthday), how many years/days, weeks/days, and decimal years.

3)  I entered "usa population in 1900" and received the answer:

75.2 million people were in the United States in 1900.  Presumably, that is from census records.

4)  I entered "third cousin's great-grandson" and saw:

It showed me a chart showing the relationship and told me that my third cousin's great-grandson is my third cousin three times removed.

5)  There are some questions I tried that WolframAlpha could not answer:

*  "how many people died in 1918" resulted in famous people who died in 1918
*  "how many people were born in 1943" exceeded the standard computational time.
*  "how many persons do genealogy research" gave me world population 

If these types of questions interest you, give WolframAlpha a try.  It's free to use the standard version, and might help you understand relationships better and figure out some of your numerical questions.

The URL for this post is:

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Are You Using Social Media for Genealogy?

"Social Media" is defined by Wikipedia as "Social media refers to the means of interaction among people in which they create, share, and/or exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks."

A neat "Conversatons in Social Media" infographic appeared on the Infographicality website back in March 2013:

[Hat tip to the In-Depth Genealogist post "Social Media and Genealogy:  It's Not Just About Chats With Friends Anymore" by Shannon Combs Bennett]

There are about 200 different social media outlets listed.

When I saw this, my reaction was "Wow, I'm way behind the times!"  I wondered how many of these social media outlets I use.  Here's my list:

*  Social bookmarks - I use none of those listed.
*  Question and Answer sites - none of those listed.   Where's WolframAlpha?
*  Live Casting and LifeStreams - I use none of those listed.  Where's Google+ Hangouts?
*  Social Shopping/Social Commerce - I use none of those listed.  
*  Crowdsourced content - I use none of those listed.  I have done FamilySearch Indexing, does that count?
*  Collaboration - I  use Google News and Google.  I looked  at Mindmeister once and was confused.
*  Blog Platforms - I haven't used the ones shown.  Where's Blogger?  That's what I use!
*  Blog Search - I use none of those listed.
*  Blog Communities - I use none of those listed.  I use Geneabloggers, Facebook Groups and Google+ Communities for genealogy.
*  Micromedia - I use Twitter!  Finally something I can relate to!
*  Twitter Ecosystem - I have used Tweetdeck a few times.
*  Location Based Services - I use none of those listed.  Where's Google Maps?  I've used that!
*  Social Networks - I use none of those listed, except for Facebook.
*  Forums - I use none of those listed.  I use Rootsweb message boards and mailing lists for genealogy.
*  SMS/Voice, Instant Messaging - none of those listed.  I do send a few messages on my iPhone, and used Microsoft Windows Live messaging for awhile for genealogy.
*  Interest and Curated Networks - none of those listed except for LinkedIn, which I don't use much.  I used Google Reader, and now Feedly for genealogy blog reading, which is an interest network of mine.
*  Reputation - I use none of those listed.
*  Location - I use none of those listed except for Google Maps.
*  Video - I watch YouTube often, LegacyFamilyTree webinars often, FamilySearch Research Courses often, and Vimeo occasionally, but don't create video content.
*  Documents/Content - I have used Scribd, SlideShare and Issuu occasionally. 
*  Gaming - I don't do this.
*  Music - I use iTunes occasionally, and used Last.fm in the past.
*  Wikis - none of those listed except for Wikipedia.  I use WikiTree, WeRelate and FamilySearch Family Tree for genealogy family trees, and the FamilySearch Research Wiki and Ancestry.com Family History Wiki for genealogy knowledge.
*  Pictures - I use Flickr occasionally, and used Picasa in the past, and 1000Memories before it was crushed by Ancestry.com.
*  Reviews/Ratings - none of those listed.

The list doesn't even include Email!  I think it should - it's computer related and social in nature.

Are genealogical societies, teaching classes and making genealogy presentations social media?  I think they are, perhaps in the Networks category.

So, out of the 25 categories above, I use about 10 on a routine basis for genealogy purposes, and have used another 8 occasionally or in the past.  Out of the approximately 200 social media outlets listed, I use maybe 20 of them.

The top 10 social media outlets I use on a regular basis for genealogy are (with approximate estimated time shares):

1.  Blogger - for blog writing on a daily basis (about 120 minutes per day)
2.  Feedly - for blog reading on a daily basis (about 60 minutes per day)
3.  Facebook - for blog promotion and family interaction on a daily basis (about 20 minutes per day)
4.  Google+ - for daily blog promotion and occasional Hangouts (average 20 minutes per day)
5.  Video - for regular but not daily genealogy porn education (about 20 minutes per day)
6.  Google - for daily research and education (15 minutes per day)
7.  Twitter - for daily blog promotion (about 5 minutes per day)
8.  Forums - for occasional research and education (about 5 minutes a day)
9.  Wikis - for occasional research and education (about 5 minutes a day)
10.  Google Maps - for occasional information and education (about 5 minutes per day)

Email adds at least another 30 minutes every day.  Genealogical society meetings, teaching classes and making presentations average out at least 20 minutes a day over a month's time.

That adds up to 325 minutes per day using social media!  Over 5 hours!  No wonder I'm not getting any research done...

My question now is "What should I give up for more research time?"  The obvious answer is blog writing and blog reading, or try to cut back on it.

The next question for me is "Do I want to cut back?"  Right now, the answer is NO, because I'm having a great time doing everything I do.

I do almost all of that on my desktop computer, and on the laptop computer when I'm away from home.  I do very little on my iPhone or tablet other than check email, Feedly and Facebook when I'm away from home.

What about you?  How many hours a day do you spend on social media?

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/10/are-you-using-social-media-for-genealogy.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Dear Randy: Are We Cousins Through William White?

Sometimes my correspondents get me excited, hoping to find a cousin relationship, and sometimes we're disappointed that it doesn't work out.  I recently received an email from a society colleague that said (edited for brevity):

"I came across your name on-line while researching my White family lineage.  My great-great grandmother was Mary E. White daughter of Lemuel Davidson White and Elizabeth Blake.  I have been told by a distant cousin that we are related to Peregrine White (son of William White) through his son Sylvanus White and his son William White.  I am having problems trying to connect the generations between Lemuel Davidson White and William White (son of Sylvanus).  Would you be able to help me?  Any place I can go to reference?  I have the book: Mayflower Families Through Five Generations for William White. 

 "Here is a portion of my family tree if you need it:

" 1 Lemuel Davidson White=Elizabeth Blake
2  Mary E. White=George G Purdy

"I appreciate any help or leads you can provide!"

I did a little bit of checking in the FamilySearch Family Tree and Ancestry Member Trees in order to determine the time frame for the named persons, and checked the Mayflower Families Through Five Generations book for William White (I only have Volume 1 of the MFTFG books for William White), and then responded with:

"The Mayflower Families book is an excellent resource for you for those first five generations, but you need to connect your line to someone in the book.  I had the same problem 24 years ago! 

"Tell me more about Lemuel Davidson White.  Where and when was he born and married and died?  I would look for other White families in those places and time frames to find records for the parents and their children, and work my way back in time with those candidates.  There may be more than one or two candidates, and you may not know the right one until you find them.  My experience is that probate and land records often solve the problem but finding them is a challenge sometimes. 

"Have you looked for clues on Ancestry Member Trees, FamilySearch Family Trees and other online family trees? 

"There is an entry for Lemuel Davidson White in the FamilySearch Family Tree (you will have to register for free to use the tree) at https://familysearch.org/tree/#view=ancestor&person=K63J-ZZ6.  A pedigree for him (see https://familysearch.org/tree-data/pedigree/K63J-ZZ6/spouse/DEFAULT/pdf?locale=en) gives only one more White generation - Samuel Morris White (1790 WV - 1827). 

"There are a number of ancestry Member Trees with Lemuel Davidson White.  Several Ancestry Member Tree go back one more generation to a Samuel Slack White born in Virginia.  

"Another Ancestry tree connects that Samuel White through several more generations to a William White, son of William and Hannah (Cadman) White, but I doubt its veracity.  That William White (#52i in the White section of the MFTFG book) married Abigail Thurston in Little Compton RI, and resided in Dartmouth MA, dying before 1780 with 5 children.  William and Abigail (Thurston) White are my ancestors, and their descendants are in several peer reviewed articles and in probate records. 

"Another Ancestry Member Tree leads back to a William White born in 1710 in Virginia, purported son of Jonathan Bassett White, a son of Peregrine and Sarah (Bassett) White.  Jonathan White (#9 in the White section of the MFTFG book)  lived his whole life in Massachusetts and didn't have a son named William according to the book.  That's another spurious link in the tree, I think. 

"My experience is that very few persons in 18th century colonial Virginia are connected to the early Massachusetts colonial families.  Based on just this 20 minutes of searching, my guess is that your White line is from Virginia and not Massachusetts.  I think that your distant cousin is wrong.

"As you can see, many online family trees have erroneous information.  This often occurs because of a "same name in the same place at the same time" situation, and the searcher does not do a thorough survey of published compiled genealogy literature or records, and draws an erroneous conclusion.  In the worst case, it's a "same name in a different place at the same time" and the searcher leaps to an erroneous conclusion without any checking of published literature or records.  Unfortunately, whoever did those Ancestry Member Trees, and your cousin, took the latter route."

In this case,  experience, analysis, and reviewing available information won out over just finding a link in someone else's online family tree and putting it in a database.  My correspondent was suspicious, as well she should have been.  She consulted an authoritative compiled genealogy which cited sources, and couldn't make the link.  So she asked for advice.  Good for her!  I'm just sorry that we couldn't make the connection to Peregrine White - that would have been fun to discuss at our next research group meeting.

Again, genealogy blogging, or message boarding, or using other social media, to find help on a genealogy problem works!  She probably did a Google search for the name of the Mayflower Whites and saw one of my Genea-Musings posts.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/10/dear-randy-are-we-cousins-through.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Amanuensis Monday - Post 192: 1861 Land Deed of James R,. Bruce to Isaac Seaver 3rd in Westminster, Massachusetts

Genea-blogger John Newmark (who writes the excellent TransylvanianDutch blog) started his own Monday blog theme many months ago called Amanuensis Monday. What does "amanuensis" mean? John offers this definition:

"A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another."

The subject today is a land deed in Worcester County, Massachusetts dated 6 February 1861, transferring three tracts of land in Westminster, Massachusetts from James R. Bruce to Isaac Seaver 3rd (my second great-grandfather) for $1000 (two page images shown below):  

The transcription of the deed is: 

Bruce Jas. R.
to 
Isaac Seaver 3d
Stamp
(1$ Cancelled)

Know all men by these presents, that I, James R. Bruce of Westminster County of Worcester and Commonwealth of Massachusetts in consideration of one thousand dollars paid by Isaac Seaver 3d of said Westminster the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, do hereby give, grant, sell and convey unto the said Isaac Seaver 3d his heirs and assigns a certain tract of land situated on the road leading from the street in said Westminster to Lorenzo Winship's and bounded as follows.  Beginning at the Northerly corner of said tract on the Westerly side of said road thence 75 W 8 rods 16 links, thence S 50 W 4 rods 11 links, thence S 9 E 16 rods, thence S 86 E 12 rods 4 links, thence N 9-1/2 W 19 rods to the first to the first named bound, the last line running on said road. 

 Also, one other tract of land situated on the Easterly side said road and nearly opposite of the above described tract and bounded as follows: Beginning on at a stake & stones on the Easterly side of said road, thence N 8 W 29 rods 5 links to a stake & stones, thence N 21 E 11 rods 6 links to a stake & stones, thence S 40-1/2 E 21 rods 12 links to a stake & stones, thence N 52 E 57 rods 8 links to a stake & stones, thence S 52-1/4 E 24 rods 10 links to a stake & stones, thence S 33-1/2 E 43 rods to a stake & stones, thence S 53 W 12 rods 1 link to a stake & stones on land of T.H. Bailey thence N 42-3/4 W 32 rods 10 links to a stake & stones on land of Wid. A. Mosman, thence N 81 W 21 rods 5 links to a stake & stones, thence S 33 W 20 rods 6 links to a stake & stones, thence N 37-1/2 W 1 rod to a stake & stones, thence in a straight line to the bound first named on said road containing 17 acres more or less.  

Also one other tract of land adjoining the first above described tract on its Southerly side and Westerly side of the afore named road  and bounded as follows:  Beginning at the Southerly corner of the first above named tract on said road, thence Southerly on said road 6 rods to land of Charles Upton, thence Westerly on land of said Upton 5 rods, thence Northerly by said Upton's land 6 rods to the line of land first described above, thence Easterly by said land 5 rods to the first named corner at the road.  

The said Seaver herewith and hereby declares that he makes purchase of the above described Real estate to hold as and for a homestead in accordance with the statutes of the Commonwealth. To have and to hold the afore granted premises to the said Isaac Seaver 3d his heirs and assigns, to their use and behoof forever.  And I do for myself, my heirs, executors and administrators covenant with the said Isaac Seaver 3d his heirs and assigns, that I am lawfully seized in fee of the afore granted premises, that they are free of all incumbrances; that I have good right to sell and convey the same to the said Isaac Seaver 3d and that I will and my heirs shall warrant and defend the same premises to the said Isaac Seaver 3d his heirs and assigns forever against the lawful claims and demands of all persons. 

And, Lucinda Bruce, wife of the said James R. Bruce, for the consideration aforesaid do hereby release and quitclaim unto the said Isaac Seaver 3d his heirs and assigns all right claim or possibility of dower in said premises.

In witness whereof, we the said James R. Bruce and Lucinda Bruce have herewith set our hands and seals this first day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty four.

Signed, sealed and delivered     }                             James R. Bruce     {seal}
in presence of                         }                              Lucinda Bruce       {seal}
W.S. Bradbury                       }                              
Abbie E. Bruce                       }                              Worcester ss. Jan 11
Elis. H. Smith                         }                               1864.  Then 
personally appeared the within named James R. Bruce acknowledged the above instrument to be his free act and deed.

Before me                    William S. Bradbury                   Jus. of the Peace
Rec^d Nov 15th 1864 at 9:30 A.M. Ent^d & Ex^d By. Alex. H. Wilder, Reg^r.

The source citation for this document is:

"Massachusetts, Land Records, 1620-1986," digital images, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org) , Worcester County, "Deeds 1864, Vol. 692-693," images 252-253 of 702, in Volume 692, Page 468-469, James R. Bruce to Isaac Seaver 3d deed in Westminster, Mass., 1861.

This appears to be a straight-forward exchange of James R. Bruce's land for Isaac Seaver 3rd's money.  But we may not know the full story - next week's amanuensis Monday's deed may provide more information.

The three land descriptions in this deed don't provide much information that would help locate these three parcels of land, except that they are along the road in Westminster leading to Lorenzo Winship's property.  I will have to find Winship's property on a plat map, or find a description of Winship's property relative to his neighbors to determine thel ocation.

The witnesses to this deed were W.S. Bradbury, Abbie E. Bruce and Elis. H. Smith.  Who are these people?

*  James Rockwood Bruce (1814-1884) married Lucinda Seaver (1821-1899) in 1846 and resided in Westminster.  Lucinda Seaver is Isaac Seaver 3rd's older sister.
*  W.S. Bradbury is not related to either party, to my knowledge.
*  Abbie E. Bruce is probably related to James R. Bruce, but I don't know the relationship.  She is not his mother (who was Prudence Taylor).  James and Lucinda (Seaver) Bruce had a daughter, Abbie Ellen Bruce, born in 1847, but she would not be old enough in 1861 to witness a deed.
*  Elis[abeth] H. Smith was almost certainly Elizabeth Horton (Dill) Smith (1791-1861), the mother of Lucretia (Smith) Seaver (1828-1884), wife of Isaac Seaver 3rd (1823-1901).  She may have been residing with Isaac and Lucretia (Smith) Seaver in Westminster at this time.

Astute Genea-Musings readers will recall that last week's post - Amanuensis Monday - Post 191: 1861 Land Deed of Isaac Seaver 3rd to James R. Bruce in Westminster, Massachusetts had the same parties, was for the same land parcels, for the same amount of money, and was written on the same date.  It was recorded at a different time, however.  Why would they do this?  It probably has to do with the law mentioned in the first paragraph of the deed in Post 191:

"...in order to comply with the requisition of the Chapter 238 of the Statutes of this Commonwealth passed in the year 1855 entitled 'An Act to exempt from Levy on Execution the homestead of a Householder' ..."

So Isaac and Lucretia (Smith) Seaver sold the property to brother-in-law James R. Bruce, and then bought it back in order to comply with, or be subject to, the 1855 Law.  A search for the Law revealed this page with the text of the law.  It appears to have to do with tax levies and insolvency, and seems to preclude taking a residence from a homesteader for those purposes.  There was also a commentary about the intent of the law and the results of the law here.

Whatever the reason, having these two deeds adds more information about where Isaac Seaver owned land, and provided more associates for Isaac Seaver 3d.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/10/amanuensis-monday-post-192-1861-land.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Best of the Genea-Blogs - 20 to 26 October 2013

Hundreds of genealogy and family history bloggers write thousands of posts every week about their research, their families, and their interests. I appreciate each one of them and their efforts.

My criteria for "Best of ..." are pretty simple - I pick posts that advance knowledge about genealogy and family history, address current genealogy issues, provide personal family history, are funny or are poignant. I don't list posts destined for daily blog prompts or meme submissions (but I do include summaries of them), or my own posts.

Here are my picks for great reads from the genealogy blogs for this past week:

*  Claverley Property Document Analysis, Part 2: Semantic Markup by Sue Adams on the Family Folklore Blog.  Sue extracts information from a complex manorial document using color coding and tables to sort it out.

*  Reading and Digesting Complex Terms: Making a Flow Chart for the MGP by Shannon Bennett on the Trials and Tribulations of a Self-Taught Family Historian blog.  Shannon studied Mastering Genealogical Proof, and came up with a great chart to help her remember it.

*  Nineteen Kinds of Death Records and Their Uses by David Rodeback on the WorldVitalRecords Blog.  This is an excellent list for alternate sources when a death certificate isn't available.

*  30 Reasons Why Searching for Obituaries is Like Finding Gold by Kenneth R. Marks on The Ancestor Hunt blog.  Ken looked at 5 obituaries and found 30 items that could add to a family history or lead to further research.

*  How I Tried to Create a Tree on Ancestry.com and Almost Died Laughing by Harold Henderson on  Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog.  Harold found a definition of "source" on Ancestry.com and thinks it could be improved a bit.

*  Technological Divide in Genealogy -- Yes, it does exist!  What might we do about it? by Diane L. Richard on the Upfront with NGS blog.  The only real answer is education and collaboration at the local level.

*  X-DNA Inheritance Charts by Debbie Parker Wayne on the Deb's Delvings in Genealogy blog.  Deb provides two excellent charts to help figure out where your X chromosome came from.

*  The African Americans, Many Rivers to Cross -- Episode 1, From Africa to Virginia to Mississippi by Melvin J. Collier on the Roots Revealed blog.  Mel summarizes Episode 1 of the new PBS series, and discusses his own ancestry, including some DNA results.

*  Cleveland: Dad worked at Johnson Plastics, Now Where Was That? by Diane Weintraub on the Nuts From the Family Tree blog.  Diane and her family visited the old home town recently, and tracked down where her father worked.  I love stories like this!

*  If Citing Is All You Do..... by Michael John Neill on the Rootdig.com blog.  Interesting post by Michael, who cites his sources well, and analyzes them well also!

These genea-bloggers wrote weekly pick posts and news summary posts this week:

*  NN Things You Need To Know This Morning, Sunday, 20 Oct 2013, Monday, 21 Oct 2013, Tuesday, 22 Oct 2013, Wednesday, 23 Oct 2013, Thursday, 24 Oct 2013, Friday, 25 Oct 2013, and Saturday, 26 Oct 2013 by Caroline M. Pointer on the 4YourFamilyStories blog.

*  Monday Mentions: More Blog Posts of Interest by Pauleen Cass on the Family History Across the Seas blog.

*  Follow Friday - Favorites for October 25, 2013 by Heather Kuhn Roelker on the Leaves For Trees blog.

*  Upfront Mini-Bytes -- Genealogy Roadshow, Medieval Manuscripts, Australia, Medical Miscellany, LibreVox, Auschwitz, WWII Army, Animaps ... by Diane L. Richard on the Upfront With NGS blog.

*  From Sephardic Jews to Popular First Names: Blog Posts and News Stories for Genealogists, October 25, 2013 by Michael J. Leclerc on the Mocavo Genealogy Blog.

*  Follow Friday ! Fab Finds for October 25, 2013 by Jana Last on Jana's Genealogy and family History Blog.

*  Genealogy Blogs, News & Tidbits, #13 by Deb Ruth on the Adventures in Genealogy blog.

*  Saturday Serendipity (October 26, 2013) by John D. Tew on the Filiopietism Prism blog.

Readers are encouraged to go to the blogs listed above and read their articles, and add their blogs to your Favorites, Feedly, another RSS feed, or email if you like what you read. Please make a comment to them also - all bloggers appreciate feedback on what they write.

Did I miss a great genealogy blog post? Tell me! I am currently reading posts from over 1400 genealogy bloggers using Feedly, but I still miss quite a few it seems.

Read past Best of the Genea-Blogs posts here.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/10/best-of-genea-blogs-20-to-26-october.html

Copyright(c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver