Genea-Musings

Thursday, November 23, 2017

I Am Thankful for...

--- for my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

--- for my wonderful loving wife, Angel Linda, who makes every day, and every meal, special.

--- for my two beautiful and smart daughters, and Tami's husband, who work so hard to do so well in order to live securely and happily.

--- for my five precious grandchildren, so innocent and with so much potential, and so much fun to be with.

--- for my enthusiastic father, who provided a large New England ancestry to research, and passed on an undying love for the games of baseball and football.

--- for my loving mother, so patient, supportive and kind, who saved so much family history and whose ancestry provides such fascinating research challenges.

--- for my brothers, their wives and children, who are interested in the family history and remember more than I do about our growing up years.

--- for my grandparents and earlier ancestors, who worked hard, played by the rules, raised healthy families, and provided a firm foundation for their descendants.

--- for my aunts, uncles and cousins, who opened their homes and their hearts and shared their memories.

--- for the brave passengers on the Mayflower and other early ships who colonized New England, and instilled a republican form of government based on personal freedom and responsibility.

--- for the immigrants that populated our country, diversified our culture, worked hard to succeed, and are woven into the country's fabric.

--- for the courageous citizens who revolted to secure our freedoms, and created the institutions that are the foundations of the USA.

--- for the soldiers, sailors, marines and pilots, of every historical time, who have given their lives, defended our country, and kept us safe and free.

--- for the entire Constitution and Bill of Rights - especially the freedoms of speech, religion and assembly. I am awestruck that the Founders wrote such a magnificent set of documents that have stood the test of time.

--- for educational opportunities, whereby every and any person in this country can be the best that they can be, but they have to really make an effort.

--- for the free market and free enterprise economic system that encourages and rewards work and innovation, and has allowed me and my family to enjoy the fruits of our labor.

--- for the marvels of science and engineering, that drive our health, transportation, communication and entertainment industries.

--- for the wonders of nature that beautify our world, inspire us and occasionally overwhelm us.

--- for my genealogy society colleagues, genea-bloggers, blog readers, Facebook friends and Google+ circle members who challenge, educate, encourage and appreciate me.

--- for Ancestry.com, Fold3.com, FamilySearch.org, GenealogyBank, Geni, MyHeritage, FindMyPast, AmericanAncestors, Find A Grave, and other genealogy websites that provide online databases and records to explore into the wee hours of the night.

--- for genealogy software that organizes our family structures and provides incredible reports and charts to share with our families.

--- for repositories that collect, preserve and provide papers, records, photographs, books, manuscripts and artifacts to expand our research.

--- for genealogy conferences, societies, magazines, books, newsletters, webinars, hangouts, and social media that inform and educate us.

This year, I am really thankful for good health and the joys of going out to dinner with my wife on Thanksgiving (so she doesn't drop another frozen turkey on her toes and I have to cook it.)

What are you thankful for on this 155th Thanksgiving holiday?

Note: Edited and reposted every year since 2011! The statements are enduring.

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The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2017/11/i-am-thankful-for.html

Copyright (c) 2017, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post. Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below. Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Thanksgiving

Gettin' together to smile an' rejoice,

An' eatin' an' laughin' with folks of your choice;

An' kissin' the girls an' declarin' that they

Are growin' more beautiful day after day;

Chattin' an' braggin' a bit with the men,

Buildin' the old family circle again;

Livin' the wholesome an' old-fashioned cheer,

Just for awhile at the end of the year.

Greetings fly fast as we crowd through the door

And under the old roof we gather once more

Just as we did when the youngsters were small;

Mother's a little bit grayer, that's all.

Father's a little bit older, but still

Ready to romp an' to laugh with a will.

Here we are back at the table again

Tellin' our stories as women an' men.

Bowed are our heads for a moment in prayer;

Oh, but we're grateful an' glad to be there.

Home from the east land an' home from the west,

Home with the folks that are dearest an' best.

Out of the sham of the cities afar

We've come for a time to be just what we are.

Here we can talk of ourselves an' be frank,

Forgettin' position an' station an' rank.

Give me the end of the year an' its fun

When most of the plannin' an' toilin' is done;

Bring all the wanderers home to the nest,

Let me sit down with the ones I love best,

Hear the old voices still ringin' with song,

See the old faces unblemished by wrong,

See the old table with all of its chairs

An' I'll put soul in my Thanksgivin' prayers.

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The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2017/11/happy-thanksgiving.html

Copyright (c) 2017, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post. Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below. Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Finding the 1868 Richmond-White Marriage Record on FHL Digital Microfilm

About 25 years ago, I wrote away to the Killingly, Connecticut Town Clerk for a marriage certificate for my great-grandparents, Thomas Richmond and Julia White. They sent one, and it said they married on 20 June 1867. Family records said 1868. Which was right?

Today I realized that these marriage records for Killingly were probably on digital microfilm on FamilySearch. The only issue was if they I was required to view them at a FamilySearch Center.

To find out, I went to the FamilySearch Catalog (https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/), and entered "Killingly" as a place name. The list of record types for "United States, Connecticut, Windham, Killingly" opened and I saw:

I chose the "Vital records" list to open on the screen above. The third item looks like what I want - "Records of births, marriages, and deaths v. 1-5, 1700-1903; general index to births, marriages, deaths to 1905."

I clicked on that one and the information page for the Index opened (two screens below):

It looks like I want the third "microfilm" down the list for "Births, marriages, deaths v. 1-1/2-4(p1-10) 1793-1895.

I selected the camera icon on the right side of that item, and then was faced with 821 images.

I had to find the marriages for 1868 in those 821 images. I knew that the images with the black background and information (like the third image on the top line of the screen above) would provide the information I needed. All I had to do was scroll down through the images on the screen above to find more information pages that told me what the different record books included. I found it on image 356, which told me that Volume 2 was for records between 1849 and 1881.

I found the Thomas Richmond and Juliette White marriage record on image 530, which is page 358 of Volume 2:

The Richmond/White record is at the bottom of the page (third from the bottom):

The date for this marriage appears to be 20 June 1868. See the year entry on the top of the page (on the fourth screen above)? 1867 is at the top of the page, and 1868 starts with the 5th item down the list.

So that clears up the date issue. Why is it important? Because I want the dates to be correct.

That online investigation took me about ten minutes to access the database, then find, download, rename, and file the image. That beats a trip to the local FamilySearch Library or going to Salt Lake City.

I think that being able to deal with FamilySearch digital microfilm is one of the key research skills necessary for 21st century genealogy and family history research. Have you mastered it? Are you chasing and finding FS digital microfilm records for your ancestors? Try it - you find priceless genealogy record gems.

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The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2017/11/finding-1868-richmond-white-marriage.html

Finding the Right Grandfather Cornelius Feather

I received an email several weeks ago from a fellow in Huntington, West Virginia, who had found photographs in an estate sale. Here are the front and back of one of the photos:

So the photograph of a relatively young looking man (25 to 40 years old?) is identified as "Cornelius Feather, Grandfather."

There were also photographs of two older men identified as "Uncle John" and "Uncle Jim." Those photos seemed to be from the 1900-1930 time frame, in my judgment.

My correspondent wondered "Who is this Cornelius Feather, and how did these photos end up in Huntington, West Virginia?" So he Googled "cornelius feather" and my Genea-Musings blog popped up with stories about my 4th great-grandfather, Cornelius Feather (1777-1853) of Mercer County, Pennsylvania. And the blog posts had my email address, so he emailed me.

I like research puzzles like this, so I grabbed the photo bait and decided I would try to answer my correspondent's question.

First, I looked in my RootsMagic database. There were three persons named Cornelius Feather:

* Cornelius Feather (1777-1853), my 4th great-grandfather. Since photographs were not in wide use before 1850, the photo is certainly not of him.

* Cornelius Feather (1844-1862), who died in the Civil War, probably unmarried. I'm pretty sure that the photo is not of him.

* Cornelius A. Feather (1836-1873), son of John and Phoebe (Condit) Feather, who married Anna McQuillen (1838-1926) in 1861 in Mercer County, Pennsylvania. They had four children. He is my primary candidate for being the relatively young man in the photograph, even though he died in 1873. At least that was in the age of photography.

* Some other Cornelius Feather not in my database. I searched on Ancestry.com for other persons with the name, and found a few more, but none that made sense.

Another clue was that there were "Uncle John" and "Uncle Jim" in the photos. They might have been from the Feather family, or not. Who knows?

A third clue is that these photographs ended up in Huntington, West Virginia. Perhaps a descendant of the grandfather Cornelius Feather.

I realized I needed to expand my search to all possible Feather families and descendants (since there is no indication that the grandchildren had Feather surnames) in the post-1850 time frame, probably in the area of Pennsylvania and Virginia/West Virginia.

I already had dozens of Feather persons in my database, all of them descended from Stephen Feather (1736-1804), father of my 4th great-grandfather and John Feather (grandson of Stephen Feather), who died in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania (the southwest corner of Pennsylvania).

From there, I performed these operations in my Descendants of Stephen Feather research:

* Matched all of my Feather persons with profiles in FamilySearch Family Tree. Added spouses and children for those who were in the FSFT to my RootsMagic database. I did this for four generations past the children of Stephen Feather, which got me into the 20th century.

* TreeShared my RootsMagic database with my Ancestry Member Tree. Immediately, Ancestry provided record hints, including Member Trees, for the persons. For each person, I added events and sources for the persons in RootsMagic and gradually built up profiles for the RootsMagic persons.

* When I ran out of Record Hints, I searched Ancestry for the end of line persons in census, military, vital and burial records, and added their spouses and children to the RootsMagic database, then TreeShared and received Record Hints, and added those to the new profiles in RootsMagic, then added them to FamilySearch Family Tree.

I concentrated on the descendants of Cornelius A. Feather (1836-1873). He and Anna McQuillen had four children, all born in Mercer County, Pennsylvania:

* Elizabeth D. "Lizzie" Feather (1864-1870).
* Frank Condit Feather (1866-1948); I could find no marriage or children for him.
* Mary Phoebe Feather (1868-1947), who married William Clark Coulter (1865-1929) in 1889, and had seven children. The first four of these children were born in Nebraska, and the last three were born in Mercer County, Pennsylvania.
* Lillie Luella Feather (1874-1910) who married Frederick Leander Stright (1863-1942) in 1893, and had four children born between 1894 and 1902 in Mercer County, Pennsylvania.

Two of Lillie's children were John Orville Stright (1899-1983) and James Leander Stright (1902-????). Could these be "Uncle John" and "Uncle Jim?" Perhaps. The uncles could also be sons of siblings of William Coulter's, or of Cornelius A. Feather's siblings, but I didn't find both a John and James in any one family.

The key to the puzzle is, I think, the death record for George William Coulter (1892-1952), the son of William Clark and Mary Phoebe (Feather) Coulter. He died in Huntington, Cabell County, West Virginia. He was in several Cabell County records residing there from 1930. He married Christine Rowan (1896-1981), and they had three children in Pennsylvania before 1930. Christine died in Huntington, West Virginia in 1981.

George William Coulter's maternal grandfather is Cornelius A. Feather (1836-1873). George's wife lived until 1981, and it may be her property that was obtained in the estate sale at some time since then. It may be that one of the three known daughters of George and Christine Coulter died recently and the photographs were part of her collection.

All of that took about one week to puzzle through. It's a decent example of the Descendants Research I am performing as I go through my 4th great-grandparents and their descendants and building up my RootsMagic database.

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The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2017/11/finding-right-grandfather-cornelius.html

2013 NGS Conference Photos, Part 4 -- Post 491 of (Not So) Wordless Wednesday

Linda and I attended the 2013 NGS Conference in Las Vegas, and I took some photos of things and persons. I took some of these with my digital camera, I think, rather than my iPhone:

1) One of the exhibitors (Findmypast?) had an immigration scene in their display, and I posed with a suitcase:

2) Here's Linda with an Elvis impersonator - probably after a show:

3) MyHeritage was promoting their "Record Detective" feature and I was included in this photo:

4) At the the final day, we shared dinner with our friend and demi-daughter Eileen (one of daughter Lori's best friends from her high school days) who lives in Las Vegas.

That's all I have from the 2013 NGS Conference in Las Vegas. We'll move on to another conference next week.

NOTE: Here is the 2013 NGS Geneabloggers Compendium if you want to relive this event - http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/05/blog-posts-from-ngs-2013-conference.html.

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The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2017/11/2013-ngs-conference-photos-part-4-post.html

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Genealogy News Bytes - 21 November 2017

Some of the genealogy news items across my desktop the last four days include:

1) News Articles:

*  World’s First Online Gallery of Pilgrim Descendants Created by New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS)

*  National Genealogical Society 2018 Family History Conference Program Now Available

*  4th edition of the Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy is now Available

2) Record Databases:

*  MyHeritage Adds New York Newspapers and Marriage License Records

* Added or Updated Record Collections at FamilySearch.org - Week of 12 to 18 November 2017

* Added or Updated Ancestry.com Databases - Week of 12 to 18 November 2017

* Suffolk County, MA: Probate File Papers
3) Genealogy Education:

*  GeneaWebinars Calendar

* Upcoming Family Tree Webinar - Tuesday, 22 November 2017, 5 p.m. PST:  Research in Federal Records: Some Assembly Required, by Malissa Ruffner

* Extreme Genes Radio Show/Podcast:  Episode 215 – Genealogy and Army Repatriation / New App Means Photo Info Travels With The Photo

* The NextGen Genealogy Network YouTube Channel:  Faces of NextGen Live - Paul Woodbury

* Family History Fanatics YouTube Channel:  How Many Cousins do You Have?

* Ancestral Findings YouTube Channel:  AF-153: The Genealogy of Blue People

* Ancestry.com YouTube Channel:  Genealogy Methodology: Using Hypotheses in Genealogy

* Lisa Louise Cooke's Genealogy Gems YouTube Channel:  Create a Family History Tour with Google Earth Pro

* DearMYRTLE's YouTube Channel:  Genealogy Game Night - 18 Nov 2017

* DearMYRTLE's YouTube Channel: Mondays with Myrt - 20 Nov 2017

4) Bargains:

* Genealogy Bargains for Tuesday, November 21, 2017

*  Black Friday MyHeritage DNA Test Sale – 50% Off – Just $49 – Free Shipping on 2+

*  RootsTech 2018 Registration Giveaway Contests

5) Neat Stuff:

*  Father, daughter reunite after 60 years

*  Full Circle: Villager Finds Her Son After 53 Years On Ancestry.com

*  Early American Colonial History Timeline Infographic

Did you miss the last Genealogy News Bytes - 17 November 2017?

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The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2017/11/genealogy-news-bytes-21-november-2017.html

MyHeritage Adds New York Newspapers and Marriage License Records

I received this information via email from MyHeritage over the weekend:

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I'm excited to let you know that we’ve added two significant New York collections: New York City Marriage License Index, 1908–1929 and New York Newspapers, 1806–2007 to SuperSearch™.

These collections are valuable to anyone looking to uncover new information about their ancestors, especially those who had strong ties to New York.

The New York Newspapers, 1806–2007 collection includes more than 1.9 million pages of 56 newspapers published in different cities and towns in New York State, dating back to the early 1800s. Historical information is included on celebrities and important events in the 19th–20th centuries.

The New York City Marriage License Index, 1908–1929 collection is an index to marriage licenses filed at the New YorkCity Clerk Offices from the five boroughs of New York from 1908–1929 and includes more than 1.5 million marriage license records.

Searching these collections is free. A subscription is required to view records and scanned images, and to access Record Matches.

Please read our blog post for more details about the two New York collections. Feel free to explore the collections and let us know what you discover.

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Disclosure: I receive a complimentary subscription to MyHeritage, and gave received other material consideration in past years. I uploaded my autosomal DNA raw data to their DNA product. This does not affect my objective analysis of MyHeritage products.

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2017/11/myheritage-adds-new-york-newspapers-and.html

Treasure Chest Tuesday -- 1806 Marriage Record of Thomas Morley and Jane Bury in Bolton-le-Moors, Lancashire

This week's Tuesday's Treasure is the 1806 marriage record for Thomas Morley and Jane Bury in Bolton-le-Moors, Lancashire, England:

The Bury-Haslam marriage record:

The transcription of this record is (handwritten entries in italics):

No 1043: Thomas Morley of th is Parish   Weaver
and Jane Bury of this Parish Widow   were
Married in this Church by banns
this  twentyninth  Day of  Sep^r  in the Year One Thousand  Eight Hundred
and  six    By me   Jno Bancroft Vicar

This Marriage was solemnized between Us {   the mark + of Tho^s Morley
{   the mark + of Jane Bury
in the Presence of { Will^m Orrell
{   James Orrell

The source citation for this record is:

"Parish Records for St. Peter's, Bolton-le-Moors (Lancashire)," on 12 FHL BRITISH Microfilms, citing originals filmed by Manchester Public Libraries, 1958, Marriages, 1792-1816 - FHL BRITISH Film 559,180; Year 1806, Page 262, No. 1043, Thomas Morley and Jane Bury marriage record.

Jane Haslam (1780-1834) was the daughter of James Haslam and Betty Harrison, and was christened 20 August 1780 in St. Peter's church in Bolton-le-Moors in Lancashire. She married Robert Bury in 1798 and he died in about 1806.

This is Jane Haslam's second marriage, to Thomas Morley (1771-1814), on 29 September 1798 in St. Peter's church in Bolton-le-Moors.

Jane (Haslam) (Bury) Morley is my wife's third great-grandmother. She was the mother of Rachel Morley (1821-1861), by an unknown male, who married Alexander Whittle (1818-1853) in 1840.

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The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2017/11/treasure-chest-tuesday-1806-marriage.html

Copyright (c) 2017, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post. Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below. Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Monday, November 20, 2017

Monday Genea-Pourri

Here are some of my genealogy-related activities over the past week or so:

1) 23andMe has revised their Ancestry Composition numbers, but mine haven't changed much. My "revised" ethnicity is:

* 47.9% British and Irish
* 26.0% French and German
* 2.0% Scandinavian
* 21% Broadly Northwestern European
* 1.3% Broadly Southern European
* 1.1% Broadly European

* 0.4% Native-American
* 0.1% Broadly East Asian and Native-American

* 0.1% North African

* <0.1% Unassigned

I have only one match on 23andMe that is third cousin or closer.

2) My AncestryDNA Shared Ancestors increased from 231 to 237, but all of them are really distant relatives - 5th to 8th cousins.

3) I received an email from a reader asking me to help track down details of her grandmother's death by murder in 1980 in Los Angeles. I checked the newspapers sites that I have access to (GenealogyBank, Ancestry, Findmypast (has NewspaperARCHIVE), Elephind (has Chronicling America)), but none had a Los Angeles newspaper for 1980. Apparently, Newspapers.com has the full run of the Los Angeles Times newspapers, and a search there in just 1980 revealed 17 articles with the grandmother's name. I recommended my reader start a trial subscription there and see if those articles reveal more details.

4) We had a fast-paced Mondays With Myrt Hangout today - see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xfh3Q-py0LY. I was able to participate for the full time today. The panel discussed GEDCOM file uploads to the "Genealogies" section if FamilySearch, the Feedly news reader, the NextGen Genealogy Network and BlackProGen LIVE YouTube programs, the DAR, True Lewis's visit to Harrisburg, Living DNA, Slow Blogging, the WeRemember Ancestry story telling site, and my RootsTech registration contest.

5) Denmark census records and the Denmark Church Records record collections came online on FamilySearch in the last week. I looked for my grandsons' 2nd and 3rd great-grandparents in the Denamrk census records (1860-1900) and didn't find any of their families for some reason. I think it may be because the counties they resided in (Tonder and Haderslev) were part of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany from 1867 to 1919. In the Denmark church records, I found the three Danish surnames and was able to fill out the family group records for them with birth and marriage, and some death, dates. I added the FamilySearch sources for the events and names. That was fun.

6) I continue to add new persons to my RootsMagic database (notably the Denmark families), and then TreeSharing daily. After TreeSharing, Ancestry provides Record Hints and I add the event data and source citations to the database, and then TreeShare the changes. Then I match and update the data to FamilySearch Family Tree. I only have to touch a new person twice, so that's not too bad.

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The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2017/11/monday-genea-pourri_20.html

Good News for Suffolk County, Massachusetts Researchers

I was happy to see this in an email from the New England Historic Genealogical Society today:

The article said:

"We’re announcing a new database, Suffolk County, MA: Probate File Papers. This database was created from digital images and index contributed to NEHGS by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives. It contains the records of 21,387 Suffolk County probate cases filed between 1630 and 1800. The probate cases include wills, guardianships, administrations, and various other types of probate records. The cases range in length from one to over 350 pages, with a total of over 191,600 individual file papers.

The complete Suffolk County File Papers collection will eventually cover cases 1-94,757, which includes years up to 1893. The cases are indexed chronologically, which allows us to present them in sections while digital photography is taking place. The digital photography is expected to continue through 2020. We will continue to add additional cases as they become available."

Note that this collection is digitized images of the actual probate papers that were gathered into probate packets by the Suffolk County, Massachusetts Probate Court, and not the Probate Court clerks transcription of the papers entered into the court clerk volumes which are on FamilySearch (unindexed) and Ancestry.com (poorly indexed).

I stated today in my blog post (Amanuensis Monday - Probate Records for Estate of John Plimpton (1708-1756) of Medfield, Mass. - Part 4) that I had not found a certain record that distributed the two-thirds of the real estate which would go to the four children of John Plimpton by law.

So I searched on the American Ancestors website for "john plimpton" and found the Suffolk County Probate Records for him in File 11295, and went through the 27 images. And there was the "missing" page I was seeking:

Very cool! It even has the actual signature of my 5th great-grandfather, Amos Plimpton!! I will transcribe it in an upcoming Amanuensis Monday post. It will have to be Part 3 and a half in the order of the papers.

Now I can use this American Ancestors database for Suffolk County rather than go through the Probate Estate Index and Probate Docket pages on FamilySearch digital microfilm.

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Disclosure: I am a paid member of NEHGS since 1994, and use their digital resources frequently. They are indispensable for New England researchers.

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2017/11/good-news-for-suffolk-county.html

Copyright (c) 2017, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post. Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below. Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

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Thursday, November 23, 2017

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Monday, November 20, 2017