Middlesex County, Massachusetts Probate Records, 1648-1871, Now Available on AmericanAncestors.org

There is major genealogical GOOD news for New England researchers this morning from the New England Historic Genealogical Society - the Middlesex County, Massachusetts Probate Records, 1648-1871, have been digitized and made available on the NEHGS www.AmericanAncestors.org website!  I am a happy camper...

The announcement in the weekly NEHGS newsletter, The Weekly Genealogist, noted:

"This database was created from digital images and an index contributed to NEHGS by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives. The collection contains the records of 45,383 Middlesex County probate cases filed between 1648 and 1871. The probate cases include wills, guardianships, administrations, and various other types of probate records. The cases range in length from one to more than 1,500 pages, with a total of more than 668,000 individual file papers. This database is freely accessible to the general public."

Note the last sentence - "This database is freely accessible to the general public."

I have an NEHGS subscription, so I can see it.  I hope that everyone can - the link is http://www.americanancestors.org/Search.aspx?Ca=94&Da=0536&utm_source=twgnewsletter&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=twg700 

If you are accessing it through the NEHGS website, here is the process:

1)  On the AmericanAncestors.org home page, click on the "Advanced Search" link above the search box:

2)  That opens the "Advanced Criteria" search form, where the user can enter the person's name.  Note that wild cards can be used for this name search.  Year ranges and specific place names can also be entered to limit the search.  I entered Joseph Seaver in the name search fields.

The user can search all of the databases available, or limit themselves to one "Category" (record type) or even one database.  I clicked the down arrow to the right of the "Database" field and scrolled down to the "Middlesex County, MA, Probate File Papers, 1648-1871" and selected that database:

3)  I clicked the "Search" button at the bottom of the screen above, and the search results show two matches:

4)  I want to see the first match (circled above), so I clicked on the "View" link to see:

The screen opened to the first image of the probate file papers for Case 20066 for Joseph Seaver, filed in 1754.  The user can advance to the next page in the set by clicking on the "Next" link above or below the page image.

5)  I clicked on "Next" and saw the next page in the file - it's a page from Joseph Seaver's will.  Down at the bottom of the page are icons so that the user can:

*  Print the current view
*  Saves the image - either the original image or the current view
*  Rotate the image left
*  Rotate the image right
*  Zoom in the image
*  Zoom out the image
*  Go full-screen image
*  Return image to go to default zoom and location.

To download the record image, click on the "Saves the image" icon and select the "Save Original" link:

6)  To go back to the Search field, click on the "Refine Search" button at the top right of the web page.

7)  This is an absolutely excellent addition to a very long list of New England and New York databases of digitized records.

There are other Massachusetts probate and court record databases on the AmericanAncestors.org website, including:

*  Barnstable [town] Probate Records, 1685-1789
*  Bristol County, Extracts from Court of General Sessions of the Peace, 1687-1801
*  Essex County, Probate File Papers, 1638-1881
*  Middlesex County, Abstracts of Court Records, 1643-1674
*  Middlesex County, Index to Probate Records, 1648-1871
*  Middlesex County, Probate File Papers, 1648-1871
*  Plymouth Court Records, 1686-1859
*  Worcester County, Index to Probate Records, 1731-1881

I may have missed some of them...and there are court and probate records from other states on the database list.

This will be an excellent help for me.  I had captured many (probably over one hundred) probate files from Middlesex County Probate Records from FHL microfilm over the years, but had only printed them out on paper, most on 11 x 17 sheets which I folded and put into notebooks.  I tried scanning them in parts with unsatisfactory results.  Now I can capture the images with excellent resolution.

The URL to this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/08/middlesex-county-massachusetts-probate.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

Visiting Jim and Gerry -- Post 320 for (Not So) Wordless Wednesday

I am posting family photographs from my collection on Wednesdays, but they aren't "Wordless" - I am incapable of having a wordless post!

Here is a photograph from the Seaver/Carringer family photograph collection from my 40 years of photo albums, boxes and piles of family photographs:

This photo is from our vacation visit to Florida in 2003.  We visited my aunt, Geraldine (Seaver) Remley, and her husband James Howard Remley, at their home in a retirement community in Altamonte Springs, near Orlando.  It was a beautiful retirement center, with lots of activities and good food.  Jim and Linda would go swimming, while Gerry and I talked!  During this visit, we went sightseeing to Kennedy Space Center, and visited my cousin Walter Wood and his wife in Lake county, Florida.

Gerry was my father's youngest sister, and the keeper of all of the Seaver family knowledge. She kept in contact with all of her siblings, nieces and nephews, and their families throughout her life.  I loved being with her - she could talk about the family for hours.  I have three hours of meticulously spoken family history on audio tape from Aunt Gerry recorded in 1990, and I've transcribed all of it.  Gerry was a wonderful encourager for my genealogy efforts.

Jim was from western Pennsylvania, and Gerry was his second wife.  They met in Massachusetts where Jim was a music department director and Gerry was a music teacher in Newton.  They were married for 37 years and we got to know his three children from his first marriage.  I did some Remley research and provided them with a report on their ancestry back in the late 1990s.  Gerry and Jim both died in 2007 in Maine, where they moved shortly after the photograph above was taken.  

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/08/visiting-jim-and-gerry-post-320-for-not.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

New "Sample Source Citations" Page on Genea-Musings

As most of my Genea-Musings readers know (and may relish, or recoil from), I have been crafting source citations using Evidence Explained models in RootsMagic for documents I present in my weekly Amanuensis Monday, Treasure Chest Thursday, and some other blog posts.  They aren't always exactly right, but they're close!  I try really hard.

Rather than rely on memory (the half-life of my memory of a recent blog post now is about one week!), I created a Page on the blog for "Sample Source Citations."

Note the Pages that are listed, as links, under the blog title/description box above, and above the actual title/text area.  "Sample Source Citations" is on the second row of links.  Since the Page is not on an RSS feed, you will have to click on the links in the Pages row of links.

These are organized by Record Type, and then have one or more examples of source citations I have crafted over the past few years.  I have also listed the blog post that created the source citation when there is one available.

Obviously, I haven't crafted a source citation for every record type, or every media type (paper, microform, online), and put it on the list.  I will add more as time goes on.

This will probably be a big help to me, but I'm not sure how much help that it will provide to my readers.

If readers want to suggest a record type and media type to work through, i'll be happy to tackle it.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/08/new-sample-source-citations-page-on.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

More Probate Records Added for Worcester County, Massachusetts on FamilySearch

I noted ecstatically that Worcester County, Massachusetts Probate Files (1731-1881) are on FamilySearch on 12 February 2014.  I was also dispirited that the probate files (images from the probate packet envelopes, not the Probate Court transcriptions) only went through Case 13682 for Stephen Corbin.

I noticed today that the collection on FamilySearch had been updated, and now extended through Case 35981 for Nahum Lackey.  This is a major extension of this record collection, but there are still several more updates to come, I think, to get to the end of the alphabet.

As I've noted before, these probate records are one of the most valuable record types of genealogical records to assert and prove names, death dates, relationships with parents, spouses, siblings, children other descendants, and family friends.  

FamilySearch has probate record collections (partial or complete) for 30 states, two Canadian provinces, three English counties, and more - see https://familysearch.org/search/collection/list and enter "probate" in the search field at the top left.

I went looking for a probate record in this collection for my fourth great-grandparents Nathan Gates (1767-1830) and his wife, Abigail (Knowlton) Gates (1774-1855) who died in Gardner, Worcester County, Massachusetts.  I didn't find them, but I found several other probate files for their children.

Here is how to access the Worcester County, Massachusetts Probate Files (1731-1925) record collection and find probate records for a specific person:

1)  After clicking on the link to the collection, the collection description appears.  There are now 513,629 images in this collection.  The user has to BROWSE through them - unfortunately, there is no index available online with a Case number.

2)  I clicked the link to "Browse through 513,629 images" and the link to the County appeared:

This appears to be superfluous at this time, but I think that FamilySearch will combine all of the County probate record files they digitize into a Massachusetts, Probate Records record collection in the future.

3)  I clicked on "Worcester" on the screen above opens the list of Case File Numbers and Year Range:

Scrolling down to the bottom of the Case File List:

4)  I went searching for a probate record of Jeremiah Knowlton Gates (1809-1845), who was the uncle and guardian of my second great-grandfather, Isaac Seaver (1823-1901).  It took awhile to find it in the 1134 images of the Case Files 23070-23163, but I found it in Case 23138.  Here is the first image for this Case File:

The next image is the start of the will of Jeremiah K. Gates,

I learned that Jeremiah K. Gates left everything to his wife and his son, and the probate record did not mention Isaac Seaver.

There were 30 images for this one Case File.

5)  The browsing process to find a specific case file can be a challenge.  Usually, the files are in alphabetical order.  The Case File after the one above is for Joanna Gates.  The user needs to guess an image number, determine who the file on that image is for, and guess another image number.  Eventually, the user finds the first image for the person of interest with the Case File on it.

These are images of the original papers for the Probate Case, and so they contain original handwriting and signatures of testators, appraisers, witness es, court personnel, etc.  If someone was not literate, they made a mark in the record.  The actual, original papers are in a Probate Packet envelope in a file drawer in the Worcester County, Massachusetts Courthouse.  I have visited that repository and have photocopies of some of the pages for some of my ancestors.

6)  I will use the current set of these records to obtain images of the probate records of my Simon Gates (1739-1809) and Edward Hildreth (1831-1899) for my digital file folders on my computer.  Eventually, I hope to capture more images for my Seaver, Whitney and Phillips and Richards ancestors.  The photocopies I have are not complete, and some of them are not easily readable.

7)  I urge my readers to avail themselves of these FREEly available probate records in their states or counties of interest.  Learn how to browse them, make good notes, and search for records of your ancestors.  If you find them, then click the Download button (top-right of the images) and save it to your digital file folders.  Make sure that you rename the image with a file name that makes sense to you, and put the file in a file folder that you easily can find.  Transcribe the records so that you know what it contains.  Add the Event to your genealogy software program, and craft a source citation for the record.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/08/more-probate-records-added-for.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

Tuesday's Tip: Explore Thomas MacEntee's "Genealogy Research Toolbox"

This week's Tuesday's Tip is:  Explore Thomas MacEntee's "Genealogy Research Toolbox" at  http://genealogytoolbox.weebly.com/.

Thomas MacEntee has been a leader in the online genealogy world, and, over the years, has put together a "Genealogy Research Toolbox" as a way to easily find genealogical research resources.  He mentions this Toolbox in many of his presentations and webinars.

There are pages for:

*  Home (the screen above)
*  General Research
*  Other Research Toolboxes
*  Books and Libraries 
*  Calculators and Tools
*  Cemeteries and Death Records
*  Census
*  City Directories
*  Genealogical Societies
*  Illinois
*  Land Records
*  Living People
*  Maps
*  New York
*  Newspapers
*  Photos
*  Search Engines
*  Vital Records
*  Volunteer Projects

Here is a screen shot of the "Calculators and Tools" page:

Here is a screen shot of the "Newspapers" page:

Go explore!  Maybe there are some new online genealogy resources highlighted in this set of links that can help you with your research.

Websites like this can be a great help to online genealogy researchers, especially beginners, as suggestions for research and education.

Other genealogy educators and curators have something similar - for instance, my "Randy's Genealogy Links" is at http://www.geneamusings.com/p/randys-genealogy-links.html.  It reflects my own research interests and experience.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/08/tuesdays-tip-explore-thomas-macentees.html

copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

Finding Loyalist Petition Papers on Library and Archives Canada (LAC)

After my blog post Looking for United Empire Loyalist Ancestors last week, I had several very helpful comments from expert Canadian genealogists, including:

*  Ken McKinlay actually found a land petition using the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) website (http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/land/land-petitions-upper-canada-1763-1865/Pages/land-petitions-upper-canada.aspx) for me - this was a big help. 

*  Brenda Dougall Merriman noted that she wrote a book about Loyalist ancestors:

United Empire Loyalists: A Guide to Tracing Your Loyalist Ancestors in Upper Canada. It's published by/available from Global Heritage Press at globalgenealogy.com. 

*  Lorine McGinnis Schulze commented that "I have 3 tutorials on finding your Loyalist Land Petition using LAC.   You can view the actual images by following my step by step instructions. The first one is here - http://olivetreegenealogy.blogspot.ca/2014/03/searching-ontario-canada-land-records-eh.html.

"When you find the images for your ancestors' land petitions, be sure you save the image of the envelope. I have a tutorial explaining how to interpret it and what it all means at http://olivetreegenealogy.blogspot.ca/2014/03/understanding-notations-on-envelope-of.html"

Today, Ken McKinlay wrote "Upper Canada Land Petitions at LAC" today on his Family Tree Knots blog.

All of this was very helpful and I've been able to find Land Petitions for several of my Loyalist ancestors, especially Abraham Dafoe and John Kemp.  

The process is basically two steps:

1)  On the Land Petitions for Upper Canada website, there is a "Search Database" link in the upper left-hand column:

I clicked on the "Search Database" link and entered my ancestors name in the search fields:

Lorine and Ken point out in their blog post that the user can use a wild card * in these search fields.

I clicked on the "Search" button above and saw a list of Land Petitions for the person:

The entries on the list provide this information:

*  Surname and given Name
*  Place - where the land was
*  Volume - for the records
*  Bundle - the group of records in the volume
*  Petition - the specific petition number in the bundle on the volume
*  Page(s) - the page for the specific petition on the microfilm
*  Reference - the Record Group at Library and Archives Canada
*  Microfilm - the Microfilm number that has the volume, bundle and petition

So I want to look at the information on microfilms C-1743, C-1879 and C-1885.

2)  The images of the actual land petitions are on the microfilms.  Most of the LAC microfilms have been digitized and are on the LAC website.

The Upper Canada Land Petitions (1763-1865) (Archived) microform collection is not easy to find, as Ken's blog post pointed out.  Here is the website with the Microfilm numbers:

There are additional pages for these microfilm numbers - there are 327 microfilms available.

I was searching for C-1743, so I clicked on that number on the list:

The screen above provides information about a specific image - in this case Page 1 of 1294 images on this specific microfilm.  I want to find Volume 150, Bundle D-3, Petition 12 on this microfilm.

down at the bottom of each image page is a Library and Archives Canada identification of the Bundle.  This is really the only way to find the Bundle you want, instead of searching through all 1294 of the images on this microfilm.  Once you find the right Bundle, then you have to search for the right Petition.

Here is the LAC identification strip on the 4th page of this microfilm:

It appears that Bundle D-3 is the first bundle on this microfilm, and this is for Volume 150.  Good luck there, eh?

The Petition number is usually penned on the top of the page of each petition page.  Guess what, Petition 12 is the first Petition on this microfilm also - good luck again, eh?  Here is the top of page 4 of 1294 on the microfilm:

There was no easy way to zoom in or out on this image.  I had to scroll up or down and scroll left and right to see what was in the petition.  

I right-clicked on the image, and downloaded it to my computer.  I then renamed it and put it in Abraham Dafoe's file folder in my computer files.  Here is the image of the page:

It took me almost an hour to find one of the Dafoe documents because I couldn't find the right Bundle on a microfilm  - that's the problem when you are using the "guess a page number and find" record when there is not an index.  Note back on the first image above that there is a column for Page(s) - it would be a really big help if that was accurately filled in for every microfilm!!!

I am still capturing all of the record images for my Loyalist ancestors.  I need to go back and use the wild card feature because the Dafoe and Kemp names may have variants.

Thank You to Ken, Brenda and Lorine for their very helpful suggestions.  We all get by with some help from our friends wherever they may be - online, in a society, email, Facebook, etc.  Please refer to their blog posts for more information if this research may be useful to you.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/08/finding-loyalist-petition-papers-on.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

Amanuensis Monday - Post 230: 1929 Petition for Determination of Heirship of Devier J. Smith Estate

Genea-blogger John Newmark (who writes the excellent TransylvanianDutch blog) started a Monday blog theme years ago called "Amanuensis Monday."  John offers this definition for "amanuensis:" 

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

The subject today is a 1929 petition to determine heirship of the estate of Devier J. Smith in Red Willow County, Nebraska:

The transcription of this document is (with typed information underlined, and handwritten information in italics):

1   IN THE COUNTY COURT OF     Red Willow     COUNTY, NEBRASKA

2   In the Matter of the Estate of                   }

3     Devier J. Smith                                  }   PETITION FOR DETERMINATION

4                                      Deceased         }               OF HEIRSHIP

5  Comes now your petitioner and respectfully represents to the Court:

6  That     Devier J. Smith        a resident and inhabitant of

7      McCook, Nebraska,      died intestate on or about      December 24,    19 00    

8 leaving as his sole and only heirs at law     his widow, Abbie A. Smith; a son     

9  David D. Smith and two daughters Matie Chenery and Della A. Carringer.      

10 That at the time of the death of said     Devier J. Smith      he was

11 seized in fee of the following described real estate in the County of     Red Willow     

12 and State of Nebraska, to-wit:

13     Lot Seven (7), in Block Thirty (30), Original Town of McCook,     

14      according to the recorded plat thereof and receiving title                 

15     thereto in the name of D.J. Smith                                                  

16 That your petitioner is*       owner of said lot.      

17 That more than two years have elapsed since the death of said     Devier J. Smith     

18 and that no application has been made in the State of Nebraska for the appointment of an administrator.

19      Wherefore, your petitioner prays for a determination of the time of death of said    

20     /     Devier J. Smith             and of his heirs, the degree of kinship and the right

21 of descent of the real property belonging to said deceased, in the State of Nebraska.

22                                                                     John E.  Kelley                       

23                                                                    Petitioner

24 COUNTY OF NEBRASKA    }

25 County of      Red Willow       } ss.               John E. Kelley      being first duly

26 sworn, upon oath deposes and says that he is the petitioner above named; that he has read the

27 foregoing petition and knows its contents, and that the facts therein stated are true and correct as he

28 verily believes.

29                                                                              John E. Kelley         

30 Subscribed in my presence and sworn to before me this     25th     day of

31      November,      A.D.  19 29.   

32                                                                  A. C.  Zink                         

33                                                            Notary Public  County Judge     

  

A source citation for this document is:

Petition for Determination of Heirship by John E. Kelley, 25 November 1929, Estate of Devier J. Smith file folder No. 1992, Red Willow County, Nebraska, Probate Court, McCook, Nebraska (accessed 11 July 2014 by Chris Christenson).

The back story:  Several years ago, I saw a reference in a Probate Record index on the Southwest Nebraska Genealogical Society (SWNGS) website to a probate record for "D. J. Smith" with a date of 1929.  That page has been updated, and it now says "Devier J. Smith" with a date of 1929 - see http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~neswngs/rwprobate/probate_s.htm.  At the time, I did not know if this pertained to my second great-grandfather, Devier J. Smith (1839-1894) or not; it was 35 years after his death.  How could it be about him?

My friend and San Diego Genealogical Society colleague goes to southwestern Nebraska every year to help his family on the family farm.  Two years ago, he went to Red Willow County, Nebraska to search for Devier J. Smith's gravestone in one of the cemeteries in McCook; I had seen the entry in a listing on the SWNGS website that said "D.J. Smith, 1842-1894;"  he looked all over the cemetery, and could not find it.  This year, he emailed me in early July and said he had to go to McCook to find a court record there, and did I need anything else from McCook.

Needless to say, I wrote back to Chris that I wanted to know if the "D.J. Smith" probate record in 1929 was for my Devier J. Smith.  I told him the spouse's name, Abbie A. Smith, and the names of the surviving children, David d. smith, Matie (Smith) (Chenery) (Cramer) Morrill, and Della A. (Smith) Carringer, my great-grandmother.  He said he would check it out and email me with his findings, and if it was the right person, he would take some digital photographs of the records.

It was my Devier J. Smith, the family names all matched, and he took ten photographs of five different pages in the file.

I appreciate Chris's willingness to do this, and I was happy to find out that he had a successful visit to the McCook court house for his research also.   

Now, I am quite sure that this is the correct Devier J. Smith that this probate record applies to.  I also have several other papers from this file, including the final decision of the probate court, and I will show them over the next two weeks.  

The major problem with this record is the date of death of Devier J. Smith.  It states, positively, that he died "intestate on or about December 24, 1900..."  His actual date of death was 1 May 1894, according to the Smith Family Bible, his wife's personal papers, and the obituary printed in the McCook newspaper at the time.  Apparently, Mr. Kelley did not know the exact death date, so he wrote something down, swore to it, and it is legally so.  

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/08/amanuensis-monday-post-230-1929.html

copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

Best of the Genea-Blogs - 3 to 9 August 2014

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:

*  DNA and the GPS by Judy G. Russell on The Legal Genealogist blog.  Judy discusses how DNA testing should fit into the Genealogical Proof Standard.

*  Salt Lake City by Israel Pickholtz on the All My Foreparents blog.  Israel attended IAJGS last week, and summarizes his experiences.

*  Why Do You Love Genealogy? by Mary Harrell-Sesniak on the GenealogyBank Blog.  Mary shares notes and information from friends and readers.

*  First Look: Who Do You Think You Are? Story by Thomas MacEntee on the Geneabloggers blog.  Thomas tries this out...but didn't link to his story.  Love that we provided feedback.

*  Genealogical Research in Spain by Heather Wilkinson Rojo on the Worldwide Genealogy - A Genealogical Collaboration blog.  Heather describes her husband's ancestry, and the record types available to researchers in Spain.

*  The Genealogy of Wills and Probates Made Understandable: Looking at the Will of Frederick Douglass by Joan Shurtliff on the Record Click blog.  Joan highlights some of the nuances of probate records.  The will is short and sweet.

*  Mom Has Officially Retired From Active Pursuit of Genealogy!  That's BIG News! by Diane Weintraub on the Nuts From the Family Tree blog.  Diane and her mom, Virginia Williams Kelly, have been a research team for years.  Now Virginia is retiring at age 96.  Diane is sad, and now is glad, grateful.

*  A Life Revealed by Tony Proctor on the Parallax View blog.  Tony researched a cousin of a distant uncle, and provides a summary of an interesting person from his interesting research journey.

*  Top Ten Canadian Genealogy Websites by Lorine McGinnis Shulze on the Olive Tree Genealogy Blog.  Nice list!

*  Finding Unusual and Unique Sources: The Traits of a Great Genealogist by James Tanner on the Genealogy's Star blog.  This is an interesting and thoughtful piece by James.

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

*  Monday's Muse for 4 August 2014, Whaddya Miss? Monday, August 4, 2014, Whaddya Miss? Tuesday, August 5, 2014; Whaddya Miss? Wednesday, August 6, 2014; Whaddya Miss? Friday, August 8, 2014 by Eowyn Langhoff and Tami Osmer Mize on the WikiChicks blog.

*  Follow Friday - My Favorites From the Last Week (Or So...) by Christopher Shaw on the Diggin' for Family blog.

*  Follow Friday ~ Fab Finds for August 8, 2014 by Jana Last on Jana's Genealogy and Family History Blog.

*  Friday Finds - 08/08/14 by Julie Cahill Tarr on Julie's Genealogy & History Hub blog.

*  This Week's Creme de la Creme -- August 9, 2014 by Gail Dever on the Genealogy a la Carte blog.

*  Saturday Serendipity -- August 9, 2014 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 1540 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/2014/08/best-of-genea-blogs-3-to-9-august-2014.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver 

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Share Some Elementary School Memories

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: 

 It's Saturday Night again - 

time for some more Genealogy Fun!!

Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!): 1) It's almost time for the new school year to start in the Northern hemisphere, and for most children that meant a new grade, a new teacher, and perhaps new friends.

2)  Tell us about some of your elementary school memories when you were a child.  What are your memories of starting school in a new year?  Who were your teachers?  How did you get to school?  Who were your best friends?  What subjects did you like best?  What extra-curricular activities did you participate in?  Make up your own questions if you'd like!

3)  Share your memories in your own blog post, or in a Facebook or Google+ post.

 Here's mine:

I attended all seven years of elementary school (1948-1955) kindergarten plus six grades) at Brooklyn Elementary at 30th Street and A Street in San Diego.  This was about 8 blocks south of my home.  My brother and I either walked or rode our bikes.  It was downhill going, and uphill coming home.  We usually used 30th Street because it was wider and had better sidewalks, plus two mom and pop stores and a drug store.  They built a new school several blocks away about ten years ago, but the old campus is now a Charter school campus called Albert Einstein Academy.  

I was always excited about the new school year.  We never knew who our teacher was gonig to be.  I had Mrs. Cleator for kindergarten (she seemed about 80 years old, but was probably only 60 or so); Mrs. Brown for first grade; I don't recall my second and third grade teachers;  Miss Williams was my fourth grade teacher, and I really liked her;  Mr. de la Torre was my 5th grade teacher, and he was good.  Mr. Wragg was my 6th grade teacher, and I liked him too (he was killed in 1979 by a student shooting at his school in San Diego).  

My best friends during 4th to 6th grade were Gordon MacLennan and Steve Johnson.  I lost track of Gordon after Junior High School.  I went all the way through high school with Steve, who was the smartest, most athletic and most fun guy in the classes - we competed.  Baseball cards were the big deal, and we had a group that traded them like crazy.  We knew the names of all of the San Diego Padre and Cleveland Indian players (Padres were the Indians PCL farm club) -- our favorites were Herb Score, Rocky Colavito, and Luke Easter.  We used to take the #2 bus down to the Padres games at Lane Field (Broadway and Harbor Drive).

Girl friends?  Not many, I was too busy with school and sports.  There was one, named Carrie, when I was in 6th grade.  I don't remember her last name.  I still remember where she lived over on Bancroft Street, but I don't know recall seeing her after 6th grade.  

My favorite subject was mathematics.  I quickly learned to add, subtract, my times tables, and division, and then fractions, and I think we started a little algebra.  I hated doing oral book reports.  My favorite period was recess, of course!  We had a large playground on one block, and a small ball field across Fern Street on the opposite corner.  We usually played baseball or kickball or dodgeball there.  In the spring, there was a travel softball league and I played for several years and got to visit other schools and see their facilities.  I usually played right field or end-of-the-bench, but I rooted good!

The major extracurricular activity for me was the Safety Patrol.  I joined in 4th grade, and did my duty at the corner of Fern and A Street every day after school while in 4th and 5th grade. We wore white uniforms, with a yellow hat and a red sweater.  I became a Sergeant in 5th grade and got to blow the whistle, and then became Supply Sergeant in 6th grade, the second in command;  Steve was the Lieutenant in charge, and then a Captain later in 6th grade.  This was tied into the Police Department, so we had an officer who commanded us.  I was lucky because in 6th grade it was Officer Richard Tazelaar, who was a family friend of ours.  The best part of this was being part of a team and learning discipline (we marched, shouted orders, etc.) but one Saturday a month the Police Department hosted all of the Safety Patrol members at the Fox Theater in downtown San Diego - cartoons, movies, hot dogs, punch, popcorn, peanuts, etc.  It was a great reward!

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/08/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-share-some.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

Surname Saturday - WOODEN (England to colonial New England)

It's Surname Saturday, and I'm "counting down" my Ancestral Name List each week.  

I am in the 8th great-grandmothers and I'm up to Ancestor #1029 who is Martha WOODEN (1655-????) [Note: the earlier great-grandmothers and 8th great-grandfathers have been covered in earlier posts].

My ancestral line back through two generations in this WOODEN family line is:

1. Randall J. Seaver

2. Frederick Walton Seaver (1911-1983)
3. Betty Virginia Carringer (1919-2002)

4. Frederick Walton Seaver (1876-1942)
5. Alma Bessie Richmond (1882-1962)

8. Frank Walton Seaver (1852-1922)
9. Hattie Louise Hildreth (1857-1920)

16. Isaac Seaver (1823-1901)
17. Lucretia Townsend Smith (1827-1884)

32. Benjamin Seaver (1791-1825)
33. Abigail Gates (1797-1869)

64. Benjamin Seaver (1757-1816)
65. Martha Whitney (1764-1832)

128.  Norman Seaver (1734-1787)
129.  Sarah Read (1736-1809)

256. Robert Seaver (1702-1752)
257.  Eunice Rayment (1707-1772)

514.  Samuel Rayment (1679-1723)
515.  Eunice Norman (1686-1743)

1028.  John Rayment, born about 1651 in Beverly, Essex, Massachusetts, United States; died 15 July 1725 in Middleborough, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States.  He was the son of 2056. John Rayment and 2057. Rachel Scruggs.  He married about 1673 in Beverly, Essex, Massachusetts, United States.
1029.  Martha Wooden, born 12 February 1655 in Hampton, Rockingham, New Hampshire, United States.

Children of John Rayment and Martha Wooden are:
*  John Rayment (1677-????), married 1699 Deborah Perry (1678-????).
*  Samuel Rayment (1679-1723), married 1704 Eunice Norman (1686-1743)
*  Martha Rayment (1681-????).
*  William Rayment (1685-????).
*  Thomas Rayment (1687-????), married 1708 Mary Coombs (1689-????).
*  James Rayment (1689-1771), married (1) 1716 Mercy Tinkham (1687-1723), (2) 1724 Elizabeth Fuller (1697-1753).
*  Martha Rayment (1692-????), married 1718 Edward Bumpas (1688-1745).

2058  John Woodin, born about 1620 in England; died before 30 June 1721 in Berkeley, South Carolina, United States.  He married about 1652 in probably Hampton, Rockingham, New Hampshire, United States.
2059.  Mary --?-- , born about 1632 in probably England; died 12 February 1681 in Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts, United States. 

Children of John Woodin and Mary are:
*  Mary Wooden (1653-????), married 1683 Lawrence Clinton (1642-1707).
*  Martha Wooden (1655-????), married John Rayment (1651-1723)
*  Sarah Wooden (1657-1734), married (1) 1685 John Edwards (1644-1697), (2) 1712 Joseph Doty (1651-1732).
*  John Wooden (1659-1721), married 1690 Katherine Heard (1669-1725).
*  Samuel wooden (1661-1685).
*  Ithamar Wooden (1663-1702), married 1685 Bethia --?-- (1665-????).
*  Bethia Wooden (1663-1725),. married 1683 Samuel Gaskell (1663-1725).
*  Thomas Wooden (1667-????).
*  Hannah Wooden (1669-1748), married 1696 James Tufts (1667-????).
*  Dorcas Wooden (1672-1722), married 1688 Anthony Coombs (1657-1728)
*  Peter Wooden (1674-1717), married 1696 Elizabeth Mallett (1678-????).

The best resource I've found for this Wooden family is:

Janet Ireland Delorey, "John Woodin, Brickmaker, of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and South Carolina," The American Genealogist, Volume 64, Number 2, April 1989, pages 65-72.

The URL for this post is:

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver