The key feature that makes www.Ancestry.com and other commercial web sites so valuable are the Indexes. Without them, we would be reading handwriting on page images just like we did with microfilm images in years past. The Indexes on genealogy web sites have many excellent features - wild cards, many search fields, exact or Soundex searches, etc. They significantly raise the odds of finding the information that we are searching for.
However, sometimes there are flaws in the indexes, or in the data indexed. I pointed out flaws in the California Death Indexes here some time ago. Now I have found another.
Ancestry has a database called "Indiana Marriage Collection, 1800-1941." The Ancestry source description of this database says:
"Ancestry.com. Indiana Marriage Collection, 1800-1941 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005. Original data:
* Works Progress Administration, comp. Index to Marriage Records Indiana: Indiana Works Progress Administration, 1938-1940.
* Jordan Dodd, Liahona Research, comp. Electronic transcription of marriage records held by the individual counties in Indiana. Many of these records are on microfilm at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah."
One of my colleagues was looking for a marriage of Benjamin Reynolds to Cerilda Flinn in Indiana in the 1860's. If he goes directly to this database (which is a logical thing to do), he gets the following results:
* If he searches for the name as "Benjamin" and "Reynolds" - he gets 7 matches, but none to Cerilda Flinn.
* If he searches for the name as "Benj" and "Reyn" - he gets 9 matches, but none to Cerilda Flinn.
* If he searches for the name as "Ben" and "Rey" - he gets the 10 matches, but none to Cerilda Flinn.
* If he searches for "B" and "Rey" - he gets 82 matches, but none to Cerilda Flinn.
* If he searches for "Cerilda" and "Flinn" - he gets 1 match for Cerilda J. Flinn married to Benjamin J. Reynolds on 22 Sep 1867 in Crawford County IN. The same match comes up if he uses wild cards for Cerilda.
* If he leaves the names blank and searches for the Spouse name of "Benj*" and "Reyn*" - he gets 10 matches including the one who married Cerilda Flinn.
But if he didn't know Cerilda's given name, or surname, he would have missed out on this information. Before this search, he thought the name was Sirelda from another record. The Soundex search does not find the record with a given name of "Sirelda" because it works only on the surname. [As a side note, there are 31 "Cerilda" entries in this index! I've never heard the name before.]
I found this record just by happenstance. I put "Ben*" and "Reyn*" in the search box on the Ancestry main Search page. That gave me a long list of matches in different databases. When I clicked on the "Indiana Marriage Collection, 1800-1941" link, I found the record quickly. The search found the spouse's name in this search.
It is evident that the search box results for this specific database only finds the name in the "Name" column, not the "Spouse" column. The main Ancestry Search box finds both. I don't know if this holds for all databases or just this one. I tried more spouse's names in the database search box, and while many resulted in matches, some did not - I'm guessing 5% to 10% did not show up as a match.
The lessons here are:
* The Ancestry main search box may provide more matches than the specific database search box.
* Not all names of persons in a specific database are found by a search using "Given Name" and "Last Name" searches.
* In this specific database, some names of spouses are not included in the "Name" database - they apparently were not indexed.
* Searches in specific databases should include not only the search in the given name and last name boxes but should consider putting the target name in the "Spouse's Name" fields if that is available.
Is this www.Ancestry.com's fault? Maybe not, if they took the database from other sources (see above). Perhaps the WPA list did not include the name(s) missing from the "Name" column.
I am so spoiled by the availability of these databases with excellent indexes and search capabilities. If I don't find someone after I use all of my "tricks" to find them in an index, I often will assume that they aren't there. On census records, I have resorted to using spouse names when known, but I haven't used them on vital records indexes and other databases previously. I will now!
We need to remember that "Pobody is Nerfect." Not you, me, Ancestry, web sites, other researchers, etc.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Scanning a Photo Album
I've spent a good part of the day scanning individual photographs from my Aunt Gerry's collection. My goal is to provide a CDROM for my cousins with her photograph collection for Christmas. I have a good start on the loose photographs. I'm saving them as TIF files at 300 dpi and trying to label them by subject-date-location as best I can in the file name (which I can change easily later). Hopefully, I can put real captions on them digitally
somehow.
There are a few "new photos" for me - here is a picture of Gerry and her mother Bess getting off the train in San Diego just before my parents wedding in July 1942. From the left, the people are Lyle Carringer, Emily Carringer, Fred Seaver (my father), Dorothy Chamberlain (my father's cousin), Gerry Seaver (beaming at brother Fred), Bess (Richmond) Seaver (Fred and Gerry's mother), and Betty Carringer (my mother). Look at Fred's suit and the hats on all of the ladies - times have changed, haven't they?
somehow.
There are a few "new photos" for me - here is a picture of Gerry and her mother Bess getting off the train in San Diego just before my parents wedding in July 1942. From the left, the people are Lyle Carringer, Emily Carringer, Fred Seaver (my father), Dorothy Chamberlain (my father's cousin), Gerry Seaver (beaming at brother Fred), Bess (Richmond) Seaver (Fred and Gerry's mother), and Betty Carringer (my mother). Look at Fred's suit and the hats on all of the ladies - times have changed, haven't they?
My next problem is the photo album. It is a "magnetic album" with many photos pasted down and a clear sheet over them. The pasted down photos won't come off, of course, and I'm not going to try. Some photos overlap others. The clear sheet can be raised enough that I can get the pages down on the face of the scanner.
The album has a comb binding, so the pages can lay almost flat. My plan is to lay each page of the album on the scanner flatbed and scan the whole page and save it. Then I hope to use the photo editor to select each individual photo off the image of the album page one at a time and save them individually. There are many photos in this album without captions or dates, and I'm just going to identify them as "album-page01-photo001" unless I know who they are. There are about 16 pages in the album.
Has anyone done this sort of thing before? Any advice?
My next problem will be using software to caption the photos that I have. What do you recommend? I have Picasa and Microsoft digital Imaging on my computer and don't really want to buy more software. I've seen photos online with captions and labels and tags, but am confused by what there is and what would be best. What would work best on a CDROM with a PDF format or in a Powerpoint slide show? What do you recommend?
AncestryPress Webinar available
An AncestryPress webinar (WEB semINAR) was held on 1 November 2007. The webinar can be viewed by clicking the link at the AncestryPress blog post here - it's down at the bottom of the post by Stephanie Condie - a link labelled "clicking here." This webinar presentation will be available until 31 January 2008. You can download the presentation slides as a PDF file. The link to the summary page that starts the presentation, and the presentation itself, are not able to be copied.
AncestryPress books are described in the presentation as:
"Ancestry’s brand new online self-publishing application presents new ways to preserve, share and give your family’s history as a gift. It also presents plenty of new avenues to explore, and plenty of neat features to master. Please join us for a 30-minute online interactive presentation where you’ll learn how to:
* Build a book, or let AncestryPress build one for you from your online tree.
* Bring your book to life by adding photos, historical records, maps, postcards, newspaper clippings, family recipes and stories.
* Customize the look and feel of individual pages by choosing backgrounds and fonts and adding embellishments.
* Create custom family tree posters and photo pages that you can frame and share with everyone on your holiday gift list.
I posted about my AncestryPress experiences in "Using AncestryPress to Make a Book - Post 2.0" and "Using AncestryPress to Create a Book." I was not complimentary to the final product - it really didn't suit my needs. But I'm willing to be shown the error of my opinions...
The Webinar presentation is excellent. Stephanie Condie shows a beautiful coffee table type family history book with many family photos, some stock photos, document images, etc. Then she shows the process used to generate many of the pages. I can see how this product can be very useful as a family history book that provides significant information to living family members about their immediate ancestors for whom there are photographs.
They took several polls during the webinar where participants could respond to questions, and they showed the poll results a bit later. These charts are not in the downloadable presentation.
They took questions and answers in the last 15 minutes of the webinar. Stephanie said that the current format of the book could not word wrap from page to page - you have to build each page separately using cut-and-paste. That was my biggest complaint about AncestryPress, and I'm glad that she addressed it.
Another question concerned the four generation limitation for the charts and the book pages - they said that they were going to increase the number of generations eventually.
If AncestryPress is something you might be interested in, I encourage you to click the link in Stephanie's post and watch and listen to the presentation.
AncestryPress books are described in the presentation as:
"Ancestry’s brand new online self-publishing application presents new ways to preserve, share and give your family’s history as a gift. It also presents plenty of new avenues to explore, and plenty of neat features to master. Please join us for a 30-minute online interactive presentation where you’ll learn how to:
* Build a book, or let AncestryPress build one for you from your online tree.
* Bring your book to life by adding photos, historical records, maps, postcards, newspaper clippings, family recipes and stories.
* Customize the look and feel of individual pages by choosing backgrounds and fonts and adding embellishments.
* Create custom family tree posters and photo pages that you can frame and share with everyone on your holiday gift list.
I posted about my AncestryPress experiences in "Using AncestryPress to Make a Book - Post 2.0" and "Using AncestryPress to Create a Book." I was not complimentary to the final product - it really didn't suit my needs. But I'm willing to be shown the error of my opinions...
The Webinar presentation is excellent. Stephanie Condie shows a beautiful coffee table type family history book with many family photos, some stock photos, document images, etc. Then she shows the process used to generate many of the pages. I can see how this product can be very useful as a family history book that provides significant information to living family members about their immediate ancestors for whom there are photographs.
They took several polls during the webinar where participants could respond to questions, and they showed the poll results a bit later. These charts are not in the downloadable presentation.
They took questions and answers in the last 15 minutes of the webinar. Stephanie said that the current format of the book could not word wrap from page to page - you have to build each page separately using cut-and-paste. That was my biggest complaint about AncestryPress, and I'm glad that she addressed it.
Another question concerned the four generation limitation for the charts and the book pages - they said that they were going to increase the number of generations eventually.
If AncestryPress is something you might be interested in, I encourage you to click the link in Stephanie's post and watch and listen to the presentation.
Should I add images to my FTM and Ancestry databases?
I'm a bit old fashioned sometimes in that I don't take advantage of the latest technological innovations immediately. I still don't have a cell phone, don't have a digital videocam, don't upload videos to my computer, etc.
I don't have any images in my genealogy databases. No family photos, no census images, no passenger list images, no vital records certificates, no Bible page images, etc. I do have lots of those items, but I haven't uploaded any of them into my databases currently in FamilyTreeMaker or into my Member Trees on Ancestry.
Why? Because my "Master" genealogy database is already up to about 20 megabytes. If I added, say 100 images, to that database it might grow to be 80 megabytes.
If I want to use something like FTM or AncestryPress to make a book, I would want to add images. Since I have images for the last 4 or 5 generations, perhaps I should make a smaller database with only 5 generations (perhaps 1,000 people at most) and upload images for those people.
In the past, I have made genealogy reports in word processing format and added photos and images to that word processing file, then saved them as a PDF or other document, printed them out, put them on CDs, etc. This has worked pretty well for me.
How have other researchers handled this problem? What are the benefits of adding photos and images to your genealogy databases in your computer and online? What are the drawbacks? What is the most effective way to share photos and document images with your family members? I would appreciate comments to this post, or a blog post in response, to help me deal with this issue. Are there articles or blog posts available on the Internet that discuss this issue?
I don't have any images in my genealogy databases. No family photos, no census images, no passenger list images, no vital records certificates, no Bible page images, etc. I do have lots of those items, but I haven't uploaded any of them into my databases currently in FamilyTreeMaker or into my Member Trees on Ancestry.
Why? Because my "Master" genealogy database is already up to about 20 megabytes. If I added, say 100 images, to that database it might grow to be 80 megabytes.
If I want to use something like FTM or AncestryPress to make a book, I would want to add images. Since I have images for the last 4 or 5 generations, perhaps I should make a smaller database with only 5 generations (perhaps 1,000 people at most) and upload images for those people.
In the past, I have made genealogy reports in word processing format and added photos and images to that word processing file, then saved them as a PDF or other document, printed them out, put them on CDs, etc. This has worked pretty well for me.
How have other researchers handled this problem? What are the benefits of adding photos and images to your genealogy databases in your computer and online? What are the drawbacks? What is the most effective way to share photos and document images with your family members? I would appreciate comments to this post, or a blog post in response, to help me deal with this issue. Are there articles or blog posts available on the Internet that discuss this issue?
Monday, November 5, 2007
Della's Journal - Week 45 (November 5-11, 1929)
This is Installment 45 of the Journal of Della (Smith) Carringer (1862-1944), my great-grandmother, who resided at 2115 30th Street in San Diego in 1929.
The "players" and "setting" are described here. Pictures of some of the players are here. Last week's Journal entry is here.
Here is Week 45:
====================================
Tuesday, November 5: A[ustin] went to the dentice. Betty did not go to school but no worse. I sent for Prosperity Bank to put in $4.50 so to renew My Unity and Wee Wisdom to Betty & Hazel from Ma for this Xmas Present.
Wednesday, November 6: Ma washed, I trimmed tree by clothes line. Betty went to school. I ironed in P.M. Emily got me two hats $2.00. Fred & Jessie called.
Thursday, November 7: I went down deposited $20. of Girls rent (took out $5), Pd 178.70 1st Instal= on Co tax on lots 8 & 9 & where Ed lives. Got two little tacks @ 10c each, Ma shoe strings 10c, book stamps 25c, & face powder 10c.
Friday, November 8: I told Mrs. Wilson that I could not rent to her next month. She said it was all right. Miss Thoren & I rode down to see parade for Fox Theartre.
Saturday, November 9: Ed over, we worked in yard, transplanted General McArthur rose, divided it into four, Ed too one, I set out three. I trimmed tree at N. corner of house. A[ustin] got his teeth Fri[day] paid $10. Gave Ed a $10 check. His grapes carried him two months.
Sunday, November 10: We did not go any place. Lyle's worked at home.
Monday, November 11: Armistice Day. Ma & I went down to see the Parade. It was nice. Then we walked down to Mrs. Shures. Came home on #7 street car. Lyle's went to the new Fox Theartre. Will Rodgers Picture. Said it was good & the new Theartre very nice.
--------------------------------------
This was a fairly un-newsworthy week. Della's already thinking about Christmas. They seem impressed by the new Fox Theater downtown (although Della can't spell it correctly). There has not been a word in the Journal about the stock market crash that occurred on 29 October 1929.
I wonder where Mrs. Shures lived? Perhaps north of Balboa Park. The #7 street car went up 12th Avenue pout of downtown onto Park Boulevard and then east on University Avenue. The #2 street car went east on Broadway out of downtown and then north on 30th Street. Della and her family lived right on the #2 street car route - I remember the tracks running down the middle of 30th when I was a boy.
The "players" and "setting" are described here. Pictures of some of the players are here. Last week's Journal entry is here.
Here is Week 45:
====================================
Tuesday, November 5: A[ustin] went to the dentice. Betty did not go to school but no worse. I sent for Prosperity Bank to put in $4.50 so to renew My Unity and Wee Wisdom to Betty & Hazel from Ma for this Xmas Present.
Wednesday, November 6: Ma washed, I trimmed tree by clothes line. Betty went to school. I ironed in P.M. Emily got me two hats $2.00. Fred & Jessie called.
Thursday, November 7: I went down deposited $20. of Girls rent (took out $5), Pd 178.70 1st Instal= on Co tax on lots 8 & 9 & where Ed lives. Got two little tacks @ 10c each, Ma shoe strings 10c, book stamps 25c, & face powder 10c.
Friday, November 8: I told Mrs. Wilson that I could not rent to her next month. She said it was all right. Miss Thoren & I rode down to see parade for Fox Theartre.
Saturday, November 9: Ed over, we worked in yard, transplanted General McArthur rose, divided it into four, Ed too one, I set out three. I trimmed tree at N. corner of house. A[ustin] got his teeth Fri[day] paid $10. Gave Ed a $10 check. His grapes carried him two months.
Sunday, November 10: We did not go any place. Lyle's worked at home.
Monday, November 11: Armistice Day. Ma & I went down to see the Parade. It was nice. Then we walked down to Mrs. Shures. Came home on #7 street car. Lyle's went to the new Fox Theartre. Will Rodgers Picture. Said it was good & the new Theartre very nice.
--------------------------------------
This was a fairly un-newsworthy week. Della's already thinking about Christmas. They seem impressed by the new Fox Theater downtown (although Della can't spell it correctly). There has not been a word in the Journal about the stock market crash that occurred on 29 October 1929.
I wonder where Mrs. Shures lived? Perhaps north of Balboa Park. The #7 street car went up 12th Avenue pout of downtown onto Park Boulevard and then east on University Avenue. The #2 street car went east on Broadway out of downtown and then north on 30th Street. Della and her family lived right on the #2 street car route - I remember the tracks running down the middle of 30th when I was a boy.
The First Genealogical Wave?
Megan Smolenyak has been on a genealogy cruise with 350 genealogists, and has what she thinks is the "first genealogical wave" on video at Roots Television. When I heard this, I thought "wow - a wave came over the ship and engulfed a bunch of genealogists" ... then I thought maybe they had everybody lined up at the rail waving goodbye to Megan or Dick Eastman or whoever. Well, I was wrong - you can see the wave here.
It took me three tries to understand what these folks were saying - it appears to be "Holy Jeans."
Why in the world would they do the wave and yell that? You would think they would have said "Hail Megan" or "Yay Dick" or "The Master Genealogist Rules." But no, they said "Holy Jeans."
Aha! Maybe it was "holy genes" - perhaps they had just seen a presentation about Biblical genealogy, or royal genealogy research. Were they worshipping some person named Jean? Or Gene? Or maybe two Jeans?
Then again, maybe I didn't get the context right - maybe it was "Hole-y jeans" meaning jeans with holes in them. If so, whose were they? Stone-died? Tie-washed? Blue?
Strange video - only 3 seconds. They need a little more explanation for us landlubbing genealogists. At least nobody shot the camera the bird - but how could you tell, it was only three seconds of video. And no one flashed the camera-man - I checked.
Couldn't we do this at a conference or in a stadium also? Will there now be contests at genealogy conferences to see who can get the biggest group of genealogists to shout something for the GeneaTube people?
UPDATE 7 PM: OK, I knew all along it was"Wholly Genes" but I thought somebody would appreciate my lame attempts at humor. However, nobody laughed except to think to themselves "he doesn't get it." Or worse! Of course, who would call a software company "Wholly Genes?" Sounds like a teenagers clothing outlet. Don't let me get started again. Get thee down irony, out satire, begone wit. Genealogists are supposed to be earnest, balanced and upright folks. Well, some of us are so tummy heavy we can't be balanced and upright for long. And don't call me Earnest. Nurse! Nurse! My jacket please - yes, the one that ties in the back. They're coming to take me away, ho ho, hee hee, ... I need a good genealogy puzzle to get back on track here, I guess. Dunham will probably ask us to find Jack Bauer's third mother-in-law's second husband's grand-nephew's third grade teacher's name. I pick Mary. I think he makes the puzzles up, frankly.
It took me three tries to understand what these folks were saying - it appears to be "Holy Jeans."
Why in the world would they do the wave and yell that? You would think they would have said "Hail Megan" or "Yay Dick" or "The Master Genealogist Rules." But no, they said "Holy Jeans."
Aha! Maybe it was "holy genes" - perhaps they had just seen a presentation about Biblical genealogy, or royal genealogy research. Were they worshipping some person named Jean? Or Gene? Or maybe two Jeans?
Then again, maybe I didn't get the context right - maybe it was "Hole-y jeans" meaning jeans with holes in them. If so, whose were they? Stone-died? Tie-washed? Blue?
Strange video - only 3 seconds. They need a little more explanation for us landlubbing genealogists. At least nobody shot the camera the bird - but how could you tell, it was only three seconds of video. And no one flashed the camera-man - I checked.
Couldn't we do this at a conference or in a stadium also? Will there now be contests at genealogy conferences to see who can get the biggest group of genealogists to shout something for the GeneaTube people?
UPDATE 7 PM: OK, I knew all along it was"Wholly Genes" but I thought somebody would appreciate my lame attempts at humor. However, nobody laughed except to think to themselves "he doesn't get it." Or worse! Of course, who would call a software company "Wholly Genes?" Sounds like a teenagers clothing outlet. Don't let me get started again. Get thee down irony, out satire, begone wit. Genealogists are supposed to be earnest, balanced and upright folks. Well, some of us are so tummy heavy we can't be balanced and upright for long. And don't call me Earnest. Nurse! Nurse! My jacket please - yes, the one that ties in the back. They're coming to take me away, ho ho, hee hee, ... I need a good genealogy puzzle to get back on track here, I guess. Dunham will probably ask us to find Jack Bauer's third mother-in-law's second husband's grand-nephew's third grade teacher's name. I pick Mary. I think he makes the puzzles up, frankly.
William Hutchi(n)son (1745-1826) Family History - Post 2
William Hutchi(n)son (born ca 1745 NJ, died 1826 Ontario) has been one of my stoutest brick wall ancestors for many years. I found several references to him in the various books about Loyalists who settled in New Brunswick and Ontario, but had not found real "human interest" stories for the family history book.
My first post about my 5th great-grandfather William Hutchi(n)son is here.
Thanks to Bev Franks in her WorldConnect database, there are quite a few stories for me to pass on to the family. Here is one of the stories from: E.A. Owen, "Pioneer Sketches of Long Point Settlement," published by Briggs, Coates and Huestis. Wesley Buildings. Toronto, 1898. This is a series of historical sketches, genealogies and essays which tell the story of pioneer life in the early days of Long Point Settlement, and depict the character and life work of the first cabin-builders. Pages 207-210:
-------------------------------------
"A Jolly Pioneer":
"CAPTAIN WILLIAM HUTCHINSON was one of Walsingham's jolliest old U. E. Loyalist pioneers. At repartee he had no equal among them. If he was not an Irishman, he was certainly equal to one in the large vocabulary of witticisms which he was able to command at all times and on all occasions. He was a tobacco chewer, and on one occasion Squire Backhouse lectured him in court for it. The Squire was very much opposed to the habit, and he told Mr. Hutchinson that tobacco chewing was a nasty, dirty, filthy habit, and that he ought to be ashamed of himself for indulging in it. "Yes," rejoined Hutchinson, "it is a n-a-s-t-y, d-i-r-t-y, f-i-l-t-h-y habit, and I am ashamed of it, but, your honor, it is the only one of which you are not guilty."
"Captain Hutchinson's home was in New Jersey, that little state whence came so many of our old pioneers. When the war of the Revolution broke out he remained loyal, and allied himself with the British army and did some good work as a scout. His military services were varied; and many stories are told of thrilling adventures and narrow escapes experienced by him during the war. On one occasion a scouting party to which he was attached was pressed into close quarters by a strong detachment of the rebel forces. Under the spur of the moment they secreted themselves in a clump of bushes, and the enemy passed so close to them that they could actually look into their faces and hear every word they uttered while passing.
"William Hutchinson was a widower at the close of the war, and in common with all the U. E. Loyalists, he found it necessary either to leave the country or swear allegiance to the new Republic. The latter he could never do, and so he fled to St. John, New Brunswick, where he married his second wife. In 1798, he came to Long Point with his family, and settled in Walsingham, near the Hazen settlement. His family consisted of five sons--Alexander, James, David, Joseph and George; and three daughters--Mary Jane, Elizabeth and Catherine.
"William Hutchinson was sworn in as a Justice of the Peace, and sat on the Bench as Associate Justice in the early years of the old Quarter Sessions at Turkey Point. He sat as Judge, or Chairman, pro tem, at a session during the June term, 1804; and in March, 1809, he was elected Chairman of the Court, succeeding Thomas Walsh, Esq. In 1804, he was made Associate Justice for the
Court of Request for Walsingham, and was reappointed for the same position in the following year."
------------------------------
This book covers his RevWar exploits less than Part 1, but has more background on William's life in Walsingham in Norfolk County, Ontario. The article includes a description of the children of William and Catherine (Lewis) Hutchinson. I posted what it said about Mary Jane Hutchinson, one of my 4th great grandmothers, here.
My first post about my 5th great-grandfather William Hutchi(n)son is here.
Thanks to Bev Franks in her WorldConnect database, there are quite a few stories for me to pass on to the family. Here is one of the stories from: E.A. Owen, "Pioneer Sketches of Long Point Settlement," published by Briggs, Coates and Huestis. Wesley Buildings. Toronto, 1898. This is a series of historical sketches, genealogies and essays which tell the story of pioneer life in the early days of Long Point Settlement, and depict the character and life work of the first cabin-builders. Pages 207-210:
-------------------------------------
"A Jolly Pioneer":
"CAPTAIN WILLIAM HUTCHINSON was one of Walsingham's jolliest old U. E. Loyalist pioneers. At repartee he had no equal among them. If he was not an Irishman, he was certainly equal to one in the large vocabulary of witticisms which he was able to command at all times and on all occasions. He was a tobacco chewer, and on one occasion Squire Backhouse lectured him in court for it. The Squire was very much opposed to the habit, and he told Mr. Hutchinson that tobacco chewing was a nasty, dirty, filthy habit, and that he ought to be ashamed of himself for indulging in it. "Yes," rejoined Hutchinson, "it is a n-a-s-t-y, d-i-r-t-y, f-i-l-t-h-y habit, and I am ashamed of it, but, your honor, it is the only one of which you are not guilty."
"Captain Hutchinson's home was in New Jersey, that little state whence came so many of our old pioneers. When the war of the Revolution broke out he remained loyal, and allied himself with the British army and did some good work as a scout. His military services were varied; and many stories are told of thrilling adventures and narrow escapes experienced by him during the war. On one occasion a scouting party to which he was attached was pressed into close quarters by a strong detachment of the rebel forces. Under the spur of the moment they secreted themselves in a clump of bushes, and the enemy passed so close to them that they could actually look into their faces and hear every word they uttered while passing.
"William Hutchinson was a widower at the close of the war, and in common with all the U. E. Loyalists, he found it necessary either to leave the country or swear allegiance to the new Republic. The latter he could never do, and so he fled to St. John, New Brunswick, where he married his second wife. In 1798, he came to Long Point with his family, and settled in Walsingham, near the Hazen settlement. His family consisted of five sons--Alexander, James, David, Joseph and George; and three daughters--Mary Jane, Elizabeth and Catherine.
"William Hutchinson was sworn in as a Justice of the Peace, and sat on the Bench as Associate Justice in the early years of the old Quarter Sessions at Turkey Point. He sat as Judge, or Chairman, pro tem, at a session during the June term, 1804; and in March, 1809, he was elected Chairman of the Court, succeeding Thomas Walsh, Esq. In 1804, he was made Associate Justice for the
Court of Request for Walsingham, and was reappointed for the same position in the following year."
------------------------------
This book covers his RevWar exploits less than Part 1, but has more background on William's life in Walsingham in Norfolk County, Ontario. The article includes a description of the children of William and Catherine (Lewis) Hutchinson. I posted what it said about Mary Jane Hutchinson, one of my 4th great grandmothers, here.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Best of the Genea-Blogs - Week of October 28 to November 3
Here are my picks for great reads from the genealogy blogs for this past week. My criteria are pretty simple - I like posts that advance knowledge about genealogy, or are funny and/or poignant. I don't list posts destined for the Carnival of Genealogy, or my own posts (hopefully, others will do that!).
* "Using Ancestry: Census Searching Reminders" by Michael John Nell, posted on the 24/7 Family History Circle blog. Michael has excellent tips for finding your elusive ancestor in the census indexes on Ancestry.com. Read the comments too.
* "DNA Analysis of 5 People Who Helped Create America" by Blaine Bettinger on The Genetic Genealogist blog. Franklin, Jefferson, the Adams, Hamilton, and Lincoln DNAnalyzed a bit. Intriguing.
* "How to Innovate and Change the World" by Whitney Ransom on the WorldVitalRecords blog. This is a summary of a lecture she attended by Guy Kawasaki with the same title. Whitney then applies the techniques to WVR. Unfortunately, she missed points 1 and 2. Interesting advice. Does it apply to genealogy blogs?
* "Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635" by Lori Thornton on the Smoky Mountain Family Historian Blog. Lori found several descriptions of the hurricane of 1635 that thrashed the Northeast.
* "Can Kalonji get his Sons of the Confederacy Membership? Maybe DNA Can Help" by Taneya on Taneya's Genealogy Blog. I thought that this was the best post for the Carnival of Genealogy on DNA. It combines family stories and traditional genealogy research techniques to figure out how to use DNA to prove a patrilineal ancestry. I know I'm violating my rule, but it's my blog.
* "FamilySearch vs. Ancestry.com" at the Ancestry Insider blog. Someone may know who this blogger is, but s/he's not telling. Even more interesting are the comments - especially the discussion the costs and benefits of new database content, and how it affects subscription prices.
* "My Ghost Story" by Renee Zamora on Renee's Genealogy Blog. This was the best genealogy Hallowe'en story of the week. Ever had this feeling?
Those are my "best of" for the week - I hope you enjoy them, and learn from them, asm uch as I did.
* "Using Ancestry: Census Searching Reminders" by Michael John Nell, posted on the 24/7 Family History Circle blog. Michael has excellent tips for finding your elusive ancestor in the census indexes on Ancestry.com. Read the comments too.
* "DNA Analysis of 5 People Who Helped Create America" by Blaine Bettinger on The Genetic Genealogist blog. Franklin, Jefferson, the Adams, Hamilton, and Lincoln DNAnalyzed a bit. Intriguing.
* "How to Innovate and Change the World" by Whitney Ransom on the WorldVitalRecords blog. This is a summary of a lecture she attended by Guy Kawasaki with the same title. Whitney then applies the techniques to WVR. Unfortunately, she missed points 1 and 2. Interesting advice. Does it apply to genealogy blogs?
* "Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635" by Lori Thornton on the Smoky Mountain Family Historian Blog. Lori found several descriptions of the hurricane of 1635 that thrashed the Northeast.
* "Can Kalonji get his Sons of the Confederacy Membership? Maybe DNA Can Help" by Taneya on Taneya's Genealogy Blog. I thought that this was the best post for the Carnival of Genealogy on DNA. It combines family stories and traditional genealogy research techniques to figure out how to use DNA to prove a patrilineal ancestry. I know I'm violating my rule, but it's my blog.
* "FamilySearch vs. Ancestry.com" at the Ancestry Insider blog. Someone may know who this blogger is, but s/he's not telling. Even more interesting are the comments - especially the discussion the costs and benefits of new database content, and how it affects subscription prices.
* "My Ghost Story" by Renee Zamora on Renee's Genealogy Blog. This was the best genealogy Hallowe'en story of the week. Ever had this feeling?
Those are my "best of" for the week - I hope you enjoy them, and learn from them, asm uch as I did.
35th Carnival of Genealogy is Online - a must read!
The topic for the 35th Carnival of Genealogy was "Do you have a family mystery that might be solved by DNA?" Blaine Bettinger at The Genetic Genealogist blog offered to analyze a submitted post for questions or family mysteries that might be solved using genetic genealogy.
Blaine really did a great job with this Carnival - it is posted at http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com/2007/11/04/carnival-of-genealogy-35th-edition/. There were 19 submissions by bloggers about DNA analysis, plus two concerning bio-ethics. Blaine's analysis of each post was excellent.
My submission was "Ancestral Clues from DNA Studies." Blaine neatly summarized my meanderings with "Although a Y-DNA test only reveals a tiny portion of your ancestry, why stop with a single Y-DNA test? Why not test your other male lines? Randy points out that this has its own challenges (extensive paper trail research, finding people who will undergo testing, finding someone to pay for it!), but it can be well worth the effort."
If this subject interests you, please take the time to read the Carnival post and every post in the Carnival. They are all good!
The next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy will be a “carousel” edition. Just like carousels have a variety of animal figures on the ride so too will the next edition of the COG have different topics. All topics (genealogy-related of course!) are welcome. Submit any article you’d like. This edition will be hosted by Jasia on the Creative Gene blog. The deadline for submissions is November 15.
Please submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.
Blaine really did a great job with this Carnival - it is posted at http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com/2007/11/04/carnival-of-genealogy-35th-edition/. There were 19 submissions by bloggers about DNA analysis, plus two concerning bio-ethics. Blaine's analysis of each post was excellent.
My submission was "Ancestral Clues from DNA Studies." Blaine neatly summarized my meanderings with "Although a Y-DNA test only reveals a tiny portion of your ancestry, why stop with a single Y-DNA test? Why not test your other male lines? Randy points out that this has its own challenges (extensive paper trail research, finding people who will undergo testing, finding someone to pay for it!), but it can be well worth the effort."
If this subject interests you, please take the time to read the Carnival post and every post in the Carnival. They are all good!
The next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy will be a “carousel” edition. Just like carousels have a variety of animal figures on the ride so too will the next edition of the COG have different topics. All topics (genealogy-related of course!) are welcome. Submit any article you’d like. This edition will be hosted by Jasia on the Creative Gene blog. The deadline for submissions is November 15.
Please submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.
James H. Remley (1911-2007)
This obituary appeared in the 4 November 2007 edition of the Boston Globe (posted on www.legacy.com here):
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"Passed away at Maine General Rehabilitation and Nursing Care at Gray Birch in Augusta on Nov. 1, 2007, at the age of 95. He was born Jan. 21, 1912, to Sarah Ellen and Frederick Lloyd Remley of New Castle, Pa., the town in which he grew up. His entire career was devoted to music education. He graduated from Indiana State Teachers College in Indiana, Pa., with a bachelors degree in music in 1933 and received a masters degree from New York University in 1938.
"He taught music in several Pennsylvania school systems and finally accepted the call to be supervisor of music in the Newton (Massachusetts) Public Schools in 1940, from which he retired in 1970. He was instrumental in establishing a for-credit music curriculum in the schools that received national attention. In addition to his school activities, he directed local choral groups and church choirs and was invited to direct All-State Choruses in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Long Island. He was a part-time faculty member at New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and Lasell Junior College in Newton. He inspired both students and adults with his conducting skills, charisma, and passion for music.
"He married Inez Virginia Hysong in 1938. They were parents to Virginia Elaine (Perachio), Sarah Jane (Southmayd), and James Howard Jr. Inez died in 1969. In 1970 he married Geraldine Seaver who preceded him in death on April 26, 2007. He is survived by his three children, all of whom attended the Newton Public Schools, (listed above); their spouses, Adrian A. Perachio, Willliam W. Southmayd, and Deborah M. Remley; seven grandchildren, Nancy Alice Perachio Clough, Elise Virginia Perachio, Daniel, Glenn Christopher Perachio, Susan Remley Southmayd, David Webster Southmayd, Katherine Inez Remley, and Lauren Elizabeth Remley; and three great-grandchildren, Madison Ann Southmayd, Kyle William Southmayd, and Carson James Perachio.
"The family wishes to recognize and thank the kind souls at Granite Hill Estates, Maine General Medical Center, and Maine General Rehabilitation and Nursing Care at Gray Birch for their care and devotion during their fathers last months of life. Anyone wishing to honor his lifelong commitment to music may contribute to the Lasell College Annual Fund (in memory of James H. Remley), 1844 Commonwealth Ave., Newton, MA 02466. Those wishing to commemorate his longtime and beloved summer residency on Lake Cobbosseecontee may contribute to the Friends of Cobbossee, P.O. Box 5003, Augusta, ME 04332. Services and burial will be private. "Music hath no other end than the glory of God and the recreation of the soul". J.S. Bach. "
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Isn't that a wonderful obituary? I know that Jim's children and grandchildren were very proud of their father's accomplishments and the life he had lived.
Here is a photo of Gerry and Jim Remley on their wedding day in 1970:
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"Passed away at Maine General Rehabilitation and Nursing Care at Gray Birch in Augusta on Nov. 1, 2007, at the age of 95. He was born Jan. 21, 1912, to Sarah Ellen and Frederick Lloyd Remley of New Castle, Pa., the town in which he grew up. His entire career was devoted to music education. He graduated from Indiana State Teachers College in Indiana, Pa., with a bachelors degree in music in 1933 and received a masters degree from New York University in 1938.
"He taught music in several Pennsylvania school systems and finally accepted the call to be supervisor of music in the Newton (Massachusetts) Public Schools in 1940, from which he retired in 1970. He was instrumental in establishing a for-credit music curriculum in the schools that received national attention. In addition to his school activities, he directed local choral groups and church choirs and was invited to direct All-State Choruses in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Long Island. He was a part-time faculty member at New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and Lasell Junior College in Newton. He inspired both students and adults with his conducting skills, charisma, and passion for music.
"He married Inez Virginia Hysong in 1938. They were parents to Virginia Elaine (Perachio), Sarah Jane (Southmayd), and James Howard Jr. Inez died in 1969. In 1970 he married Geraldine Seaver who preceded him in death on April 26, 2007. He is survived by his three children, all of whom attended the Newton Public Schools, (listed above); their spouses, Adrian A. Perachio, Willliam W. Southmayd, and Deborah M. Remley; seven grandchildren, Nancy Alice Perachio Clough, Elise Virginia Perachio, Daniel, Glenn Christopher Perachio, Susan Remley Southmayd, David Webster Southmayd, Katherine Inez Remley, and Lauren Elizabeth Remley; and three great-grandchildren, Madison Ann Southmayd, Kyle William Southmayd, and Carson James Perachio.
"The family wishes to recognize and thank the kind souls at Granite Hill Estates, Maine General Medical Center, and Maine General Rehabilitation and Nursing Care at Gray Birch for their care and devotion during their fathers last months of life. Anyone wishing to honor his lifelong commitment to music may contribute to the Lasell College Annual Fund (in memory of James H. Remley), 1844 Commonwealth Ave., Newton, MA 02466. Those wishing to commemorate his longtime and beloved summer residency on Lake Cobbosseecontee may contribute to the Friends of Cobbossee, P.O. Box 5003, Augusta, ME 04332. Services and burial will be private. "Music hath no other end than the glory of God and the recreation of the soul". J.S. Bach. "
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Isn't that a wonderful obituary? I know that Jim's children and grandchildren were very proud of their father's accomplishments and the life he had lived.
Here is a photo of Gerry and Jim Remley on their wedding day in 1970:
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