A dark day in 1780

I've seen several mentions to a "Dark Day in 1780" in several books and journal articles, but never knew if it was an eclipse of the sun, a weather phenomenon or some other reason. One of my Isaac Buck ancestors (there were 3) supposedly died in Framingham MA on this day.

I've been searching for content to put in my family newsletter, so I Googled <"dark day" "new england" 1780 > and quickly found a page from Weather Almanac here.

The "Dark Day in 1780" was a result of forest fires, probably in the woods of New Hampshire or Maine. The effects of the fire were felt over a wide area:

"As the extraordinary darkness descended, those observing it wondered if it was a local phenomenon or more widespread. With no rapid communication networks in place, the only way to determine the extent of the darkening was through letters and newspapers from across the region. After the event, Professor Samuel Williams of Harvard College undertook the collection of such information from across the region. He was able to determine that notice of the darkness was taken as far south as northern New Jersey and New York City coastal waters, as far north as Portland, Maine and west into the Hudson Valley, but no mention came from Philadelphia or outlying Pennsylvania. (The New Jersey report came from George Washington's diary at Morristown.) Williams concluded the dark centre of the event was located around northeastern Massachusetts, southern New Hampshire and southwestern Maine."

Read the whole article - it's a good compilation from a number of sources.

So now I know. And my family members will also know (assuming they read it!).

this Santa Claus isn't coming to town

A person named "Santa Clause" (born April 1887 in MO) was the son of William Clause (born Feb 1857 in MO) and Henrietta Clause (born May 1861 in MO) in the 1900 census, with siblings Emma B. Clause (born Jan 1881 in MO), William E. Clause (born Nov 1882 in MO), Earler (?) Clause (born Dec 1885 in MO), Nellie Claus (vorn Nov 1889) and Earl Clause (born Dec 1894 in MO). The family resided in Liberty township, Saline County, MO (NARA T623, Roll 902, ED 129, Page 3A).

In the 1910 census, "Sante Claus" was age 23, single, a farm laborer, living as a hired man in the household of David Fleshman in Liberty township, Saline County, MO (NARA T624, Roll 823, ED 172, Page 4A).

In the 1920 census, "Santy Clause" (age 31, single, a boarder) resided with his brother Earl Clause in Blackwater township, Pettis County, MO (NARA T625, Roll 939, ED 125, Page 4B).

In the 1930 census, "Santa Claus" (age 42, married, first at age 24, born in MO, a laborer, works in river construction) resided in Marshall township, Saline County, MO with his wife Mabel Claus (age 36, married, first at age 18 in MO), son William Claus (age 15, brn MO), son Raymond Claus (age 12, born CO), son Fred Claus (age 9, born MO), son Joseph Claus (age 6, born MO), son James Claus (age 3, born MO) and daughter Dorthy Claus (age 0, born MO) (NARA T626, Roll 1246, ED 20, Page 12A).

Michael John Neill at his http://www.rootdig.com/ blog has census images for Santa Claus (with different spellings) for the 1900, 1920 and 1930 census.

Notice that son Raymond Claus was born in Colorado, not Missouri. And also note that Santa was in Missouri in the 1920 census listed as single, but he obviously had a wife and children in 1920 if the 1930 census records are correct.

There is more:

"Santy Clause" registered for the World War I draft on 5 June 1917 in Prowers County, Colorado. He was age 29, born 4 April 1888 in Marshall MO, a natural born US citizen, caucasian, married with two children. He was a farmer, and resided in Lamar, Route A, Prowers County, Colorado. He was medium height, medium build, blue eyes, light brown har, and no disabilities, and had no previous military service.

I was unable to find Mabel Claus or the two children William and Raymond in the 1920 census - perhaps someone else would like to try! My best guess is that they may be in Colorado then, or back in Saline County MO.

One last bit of data: Members of the Clause family are buried in Blue Lick Union Church Cemetery in Saline County, Missouri. The list includes:

Donna Clause (died 3 Oct 1942, age 0-4-24)
Earl Clause (1894-1940)
Helen F. Clause (1919-1955)
Henrietta S. Clause (18__-1915)
Minnie Mabel Clause ("mother," 1894-1944)
Raymond E. Clause (1917-1971)
Santa Clause ("Father," 1888-1957)
Silvina Clause (1877-1964)
William Clause (1856-1917)

So, to summarize:

"Santa Claus" was born 4 April 1887 or 1888 in Marshall, Saline County, MO, the son of William and Henrietta (--?--) Claus. He married Minnie Mabel --?-- in about 1912 and had at least 6 children, and was a laborer in river construction in 1930. He died in 1957 and is buried in Saline County, Missouri.

This Santa Claus is, unfortunately, not coming to town soon - he's dead and buried in Missouri. It doesn't appear that he could possibly be the jolly purveyor of toys and good cheer with a big belly and long white beard who lives with his unnamed wife and elves and 9 reindeer at the North Pole, does it? Don't tell the kids.

Isn't it amazing what you can find on the Internet with lots of spare time on your hands?

Chula Vista Gen Society meeting today

We had our monthly society meeting today, with officer elections and member sharing (a tradition for the November meeting). This year, we asked our members to comment on their "2006 Research Successes" in 3 to 5 minute talks.

We had 11 members share - all the way from long-time members down to one of our newest members (who joined in October). There was a tremendous variety of remarks - from pure research experience to vacation summaries. Here are my summary of each person:

1) Bobbie (new member in 2006) - found immigration records for her German great-grandparents, and found much French-Canadian data while searching for, and finding, a Native American link.

2) Barbara - found data on her biological grandfather in World War I draft registrations and marriage certificate.

3) Martha - found probate records in South Carolina for her RevWar ancestor.

4) Kathy (new member in 2006) - connected with cousin through Internet with 11 generations of family

5) Shirley - found 1850 to 1880 census data for a previously elusive family with four different surname spellings - added a generation of ancestors.

6) John - found land record in PA for an ancestor, then googled the surname and found cousin with two published books, which extended his line 3 more generations.

7) Randy - started a genealogy blog, organized a successful workshop, found many probate records in MA and RI, got a lead on parents of an elusive ancestor, and visited New England to visit relatives, take pictures and drive through Maine, NH, VT and MA looking at the foliage.

8) Bill - received an email from somebody who found a letter with his surname in a purchased used book. He also vacationed in NC and found connections.

9) Helen - vacationed in Philadelphia and found lots of info on her ancestor, James Wilson, a Declaration signer and Supreme Court Justice.

10) Jan - visited the National Archives, DAR, and Colonial Dames libraries in Washington DC and found RevWar connections.

11) Penny (new member in 2006) - received a letter from a distant cousin (who did not respond to her 1993 letter earlier) who provided lots of data and introduced her to cousins in CA and WA.

Our members enjoy these sharing times because they reveal experiences and research tips, in addition to providing insight into their research problems. Several connections were made between members who had suggestions on further research.

Yours truly was elected President of CVGS for the next two years, and very capable people were elected for the officer positions. Our challenge will be to continue the excellent programs, to find ways to help our members in their research, and to not mess up a really good thing.

Free "Family Facts" on Ancestry.com

I posted two weeks ago about the "Our Name in History" books sold by Ancestry.com, and Dick Eastman posted a note last week about the books. One of his readers (Nathan Murphy) noted that the "Family Facts" section of the Ancestry books came from Ancestry's databases, and the facts can be generated for 200,000 surnames by anyone at http://www.ancestry.com/learn/ (and click on the link under "Family Facts" on the page).

On the "Family Facts" page, you can input a surname, and find out the:

1) the numbers of and names of Civil War soldiers
2) the number of immigrants by year for 1851 to 1891 from the NY Passenger Lists
3) life expectancy from 1945 to 2005 from the SSDI
4) surname distribution in England and Wales by county in 1891
5) surname distribution in the US by state for 1840, 1880 and 1920
6) name meanings for a given name and a surname
7) newspaper headlines from a certain decade - with a link for the surname in Ancestry's Historical Newspaper collection
8) top occupations from the 1880 US census
9) place of origin for the surname from the NY Passenger Lists
10) ports of departure for the surname from the NY Passenger lists

If you have an interest in these things, you can check out the different Family Facts for your surnames, but you will need an Ancestry subscription to see the actual records. I will probably use some of this information in my family newsletter.

"The American Genealogist"

One of my favorite genealogy periodicals is "The American Genealogist" (TAG), which is a quarterly that focuses on New England families and their English ancestral lines. It is currently edited by David L. Greene, Robert Charles Anderson and Joseph C. Anderson, and published by David L. Greene. See their web site http://www.americangenealogist.com/ for more information.

Of all the scholarly periodicals I subscribe to (NGSQ, NEHGR, TEG, and TAG), this is the one with the most articles concerning my ancestors, mainly because it has concentrated on southeastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut families for most of its existence. I almost always find a mention of one of my ancestors in each issue. In many cases, someone has solved one of my brick wall problems, or identified an ancestral family in England that I had not found myself.

Have you read TAG at the library? If you have New England colonial ancestors, you should read it regularly.

The Power of Message Boards

Have you noticed that there have been fewer messages posted on many surname and locality message boards - both at Genforum and at Ancestry? I have, at least on the ones I monitor regularly.

That is really unfortunate, since I believe that Message Boards are one of the very best research tools to use to connect to distant cousins researching the same surname or to other researchers in a locality who know more about that place than I do.

As an example: I posted a message about two weeks ago on the Iowa state message boards on both Ancestry and Genforum about the Baldwin family and inquiring about the unknown surname of Matilda who married Fred Baldwin before 1900 and resided in Howard County, Iowa.

I heard from Mary Thiele Fobian on the Ancestry board for Iowa state this week, who had found three articles from the Lime Springs Herald concerning this particular Baldwin family. One included the location of one of Fred Baldwin's brothers in 1952, the second listed Matilda's married name Cannon in an Executor's Deed in 1959, and the third was an obituary for their son Freddie Baldwin in 1962, which listed Matilda's maiden name as Wagner. It is a derivative source, secondary information and indirect evidence, but it's the first piece of evidence I have for Matilda's maiden name.

I had already looked for these people in the newspapers online at Ancestry.com, but I obviously did not use the correct search terms. I had found other items from the Lime Springs Herald, but not these three items. My next task is to figure out why I missed them, by testing the search items out. After that, I will be happy to go look for Matilda Wagner as a young lady in the 1880 census to see who her parents might be.

This is FUN work, you know!

All I Want for Christmas

My wife asked me today "what do you want for Christmas, dear?"

My response was noncommittal, since I knew she wouldn't understand...

"Dear Santa:

"Don't bring me new tools, or shirts and ties.
Genealogists have peculiar wishes.
For Christmas I just want a surname.
A new sweatshirt would be great,
But it's not the desire of my life.

"I've just found an ancestor's birth date;
What I need now is the name of his wife.
My heart doesn't yearn for an iPod
or a large screen LCD TV.
What I want is a much cheaper thing;

"Please give me Mary's last name.
To see my heart singing with joy,
Don't bring me a red leather suitcase,
Bring me a genealogist's toy;
a surname with dates and a place."

(found in Illinois State Genealogical Society newsletter 1984, modified a bit by myself)

I've already given myself some Christmas gifts - a laptop computer (it's officially "ours"), a wireless router and a year's Ancestry subscription. I couldn't wait - I've even opened them and used them!

What about you - what gift do you want from the Genealogy Santa for Christmas?

Snake on the plain

In my quest for data on my friend's ancestors, I ran across this article from the Olean (NY) Democrat newspaper dated 8 August 1893, titled "A Fredonia Snake Story":

"Fredonia, Aug. 7 -- Perhaps the largest snake ever seen in these parts was killed by Henry Berts on Arkwright hills Thursday morning. Berts was hunting woodchucks in the fields back of his house, when suddenly he saw his flock of sheep start on a run. Upon investigation he found that a huge black snake had captured one of his lambs and had coiled himself several times about the animal's body. The lamb was dead.

"Berts came up within 35 to 40 feet of the reptile and gave him a heavy dose of coarse shot. The snake began to uncoil from his prey when Berts took deliberate aim and tore the head completely off with a second charge. This had the desired effect, but the headless snake was still a lively antagonist, and slashed his tail and body in every direction. Berts kept at a safe distance until he had placed two more heavily loaded shells in his gun, and then walked up to within 20 feet of his snakeship and filled his writhing body with the contents.

"The snake was of the black variety seldom seen in this section of the country, with a bright yellow ring encircling the neck and dirt greenish belly. It measured 11 feet 9 inches from the place where the head was shot off to the end of the tail, and 6-3/4 inches in diameter at the largest part of the body. This is undoubtedly the same reptile that gave chase to a party of Cassadaga people in a buggy about a year ago. It is by far the biggest ever seen in these parts."

I wonder what kind of snake this was? It chased a buggy filled with people? Mr. Berts must be a good shot. Did Mr. Berts get any woodchucks, or did he settle for a lamb dinner?

Wouldn't you love to find an article like this for your ancestor? It would kind of spice up the dinner table conversation, eh? My great-grandfather, the snake murderer.

Free 3-day access to Ancestry.com

I'm late with this news, but I'm away from home and enjoyed a leisurely Thanksgiving Day at my daughter's home.

Ancestry.com is offering three days access to their collection for FREE (no credit card) at this link.

Enjoy!

Blogging will be light until we get home on Saturday.

I Am So Thankful...

--- for my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ

--- for my wonderful loving wife, Angel Linda

--- for my two beautiful and smart daughters, and their great husbands

--- for my three precious grandchildren, so innocent and with so much potential, ando much fun to be with

--- for my father, who provided a large New England ancestry to research and an undying love for the game of baseball

--- for my loving mother, so patient, loving and kind, whose ancestry provides such challenges

--- for my brothers, their wives and children, who are interested in the family history

--- for my aunts and uncles and cousins, who open their homes and their hearts and share 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 courageous citizens who revolted to secure our freedoms, and created the institutions that are the foundations of the USA

--- for the soldiers, sailors and pilots, of every historical time, who have 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 transportation, communication and entertainment industries

--- for the wonders of nature that beautify our world and inspire us

What have I left out? What are you thankful for on this 144th Thanksgiving?