You Learn Something New Every Day

When you're working on genealogy and family history nearly every day, and often for hours on each day, you should strive to learn something new each day.

Today was a frustrating genealogy day for me. I had the day all planned. We received a query last month asking for cemetery information on three people, and then a request for death certificates for these three people, who all died in the 1930's. I had to wait until I got the money in hand to pay for them as a sound financial measure (having been burned in the past!). I received the money on Monday last, and so I planned to go to the San Diego County Clerk's office branch here in Chula Vista to order the death certificates.

My previous experience at the County clerk's office getting death certificates has been great - it takes about 5 minutes to ask for it and about 10 minutes to get it, you pay $12 and walk out happy as a clam. I've done that at least 10 times in the past 5 years. Never a problem.

Today - a problem. Because the deaths occurred in the 1930's, two of the records were not on the county computer system. The clerk had to call to the main office in San Diego and have the records pulled from the paper files, copied, and then faxed to the Chula Vista office. One of the faxed copies was not dark enough - you could hardly see the typewritten information in many fields. The second one was dark enough, but the clerk could not figure out how to get the "For Information Only" overlaid on the certificate. The third one was in the system and I received the certificate. Her recommendation was to go down to the San Diego office and they would be able to give me the two certificates. This process took an hour instead of 15 minutes, throwing off my whole schedule for the day.

While I was waiting, I "played" with the public computer system at the County Clerk's office. Their system has categories of Assessor and Taxpayers, Real Estate Index, Marriage Records (1973-2007) and Death Records (1905-2007). I managed to find the names of the owners of all of the houses on our street, plus the assessed value and the property tax on each property. Now I know more of my neighbors names!

In the Marriage Records (1973-2007), the information contains only the names of the bride and groom and the date - no ages, birthplaces, location of marriage, etc. There are marriage records for 1960 to 1985 on www.Ancestry.com, and at the LDS FHCs on microfiche, but this is the first time I've seen marriages after 1985 anywhere. Good! I learned something new there.

To see the Death Records (1905-2007), they require that you fill out a form in order to see them. In the future, this may be a good way to find recent deaths, since www.Ancestry.com and www.Rootsweb.com databases are from 1940 to 1997, and the Vitalsearch records are for 1905-1939 and 1940-2000. Again, I learned something. I should have filled out the form, I guess, to see what information could be obtained, but the clerk called me to give me the good news about my certificates.

I went to Costco for lunch, then met my friend to go walking, but he couldn't go. So I went to the library for 10 minutes and came home early. Scanning was the time-spender this afternoon.

Family Tree Magazine, January 2008 TOC

The latest issue of Family Tree Magazine came this week in the mail.

The Table of Contents includes:

Features

* "Ladies First" by Lisa Alzo - page 22. Use these eight research strategies and nine key sources to trace your female ancestors.

* "Software Test Kitchen" by Allison Stacy - page 30. How does your software compare to the competition? Our test panel's reviews reveal how four popular family tree programs rate with genealogists like you.

* "That's Entertainment" by Lisa Alzo - page 46. Did your ancestor star in theater, vaudeville or even ther circus? Follow these six steps to spotlight performers in your pedigree.

* "Social Climbing" by Rick Crume - page 52. Social networking Web sites are the hottest new trend in online genealogy. Learn what they can do for you - and pick a service that meets your needs - with our guide.

* "Ancestors of the Caribbean" by David Fryxell - page 58. Bring your island heritage ashore with this compilation of tips and resources.

Columns

* "Branching Out" by Diane Haddad - page 10. What's new in discovering, preserving and celebrating your family history.

* "State Research Guides" - page 37. Pullout guides for Alabama and Nevada.

* "The Toolkit" by Allison Stacy - page 74. Reviews and roundups of the latest, greatest family history resources.

You can see more detail on these articles and the department articles at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/jan08.asp. They also have all of the web links mentioned in the magazine as a PDF here.

The software article covered only FamilyTreeMaker, Legacy Family Tree, RootsMagic and The Master Genealogist. However, they have a web extra with reviews about all 15 programs (10 Windows programs, 5 Mac programs) that were evaluated here. The review for each program goes to a Family Tree Magazine forum article about each piece of software. They did a nice job with this.

I found the "Ladies First" and "Software Test Kitchen" articles to be informative and helpful. If someone has Caribbean ancestry, the "Ancestors of the Caribbean" would be very helpful. I haven't found a circus performer (or worse) in my ancestry and the Social Networking stuff doesn't really excite me yet. Different strokes for different folks, eh?

More Genealogy-related songs

After my semi-futile attempts at writing lyrics that "honor" genealogy and searching for family history, Bill West has written lyrics called "Wests in New England" to Barry Manilow's song "Weekend in New England" music. Great job - I especially love the sound of the National Genealogical Fluteaphone Orchestra!

There are real songs that talk about genealogy, family trees and family history. Some of them include (title and artist, not the lyricist I think):

"Family Tree" by Loretta Lynn

"Let Her Fly" by Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette

"Family Reunion" by the O'Jays

"Here We Are" by Jimmy Buffett

"Heirlooms" by Amy Grant

"Paradise" by John Denver

"I'm the End of the Family Line" by Morrissey.

"In My Family" by Sparks

"Going Home for Christmas" by Steven Curtis Chapman

"Thanksgiving Day" by Ray Davies

"Grandma's Feather Bed" by John Denver

Amazingly, I haven't heard any of these songs, to my knowledge!

The classic song is, of course, "I am My Own Grandpa" which has a YouTube video here.

RootsTelevision.com had a music video two months ago called "Family Tree" by the Crisptones Band - excellent!

I know there are lots more - what are they? I'm limited by my imagination in picking key words. Tell me and I'll add them to the list. Or do like Bill West did, take an existing melody and write your own song - blog about it or put it in comments here. I'll post a list.

SDGS Program on 11/10 - DNA Research

The San Diego Genealogical Society meeting is Saturday, 10 November at 12 noon at St. Andrews Lutheran Church located at 8350 Lake Murray Blvd (at Jackson drive) in San Diego. The meeting is in the hall to the north of the parking lot.

The program speaker will be John R. Carpenter on two topics:

12:10 PM: "DNA Research: Haplogroups, Y-DNA and MtDNA"

1:15 PM: "Famous and Other DNA"

The program summary reads:

"Are you using DNA in your family research? Do you know what it can, and can't do, to help you find your ancestors? Come and learn how to take your research into the 21st century.

"Find out about the DNA of some famous and infamous people. See DNA comparisons from ancient to modern times. Are Neanderthal and Humans related? How do Chimpanzees compare? Learn how scientists can extract DNA from scattered and damaged sources."

The speaker profile reads:

"John R. Carpenter has been involved in his ancestral quest for almost 30 years. His fourth great-grandfather, Samuel Carpenter was in the Revolutionary War. He has assisted the SAR in collecting Carpenter research material for the SAR Library. In 2001 he published a Carpenter Family CD of over 88,000 names. A noted lecturer, he recently spoke at the DAR Southern California Conference.

"John became involved in Y-DNA research after a Carpenter Conference in 2002. He is currently involved in Carpenter Family research program with other serious and dedicated researchers. He is the Administrator of the Carpenter Cousins Y-DNA Project and has written articles on genealogy and on Y-DNA. He is a member of ISOGG - the International Society of Genetic Genealogy. John has four daughters and five grandchildren."

Copied from the San Diego Genealogical Society Newsletter for November 2007.

Note that the SDGS newsletters since April 2004 are on the SDGS web site at http://www.rootsweb.com/~casdgs/newsletr.html. Peter Steelquist does an excellent job of providing society news and genealogy tips and techniques in this newsletter. I am a member of SDGS.

The Best Day of My Life

Terry Thornton in his blog post "Photo Challenge" asked his fellow genea-bloggers and H.O.G.S. Bloggers to post one of the "defining" photographs of your life and to explain why you are all dressed up in a costume as an adult.

Being the rather staid fellow that I am, and thankful that there weren't cameras on hand (to my knowledge) when I dressed up as a woman on Hallowe'en one year (well, maybe two), I searched my photo archives for pictures to post.

I decided on this one, taken 21 March 1970, which I consider to be the very best day of my life.

You can see why - isn't she beautiful? After 37 years, she still is beautiful, and the most caring, friendly and fun person I know.

To Terry's question: I am dressed this way because this was a traditional church wedding and reception in the church hall.

The five things that I remember well from the day are:

* I left Linda's two-pence coin at the apartment - and it delayed the wedding about 20 minutes for me to go back for it.

* During our vows, the pastor said "Linda, do you take this man as your lawful wedded wife?" and she broke up laughing. I didn't catch it, of course...

* At the reception, when we cut the cake, she smeared cake all over my face. I only got it in her veil.

* When Linda's brother was driving us to the airport, he ran over a box spring on the roadway and the car got stuck. The three guys lifted the car up and dragged it out.

* When we got to the airport near Los Angeles airport, we had a midnight champagne toast in our room. The rest is history!

This certainly was a "defining" moment in my life. From this decision - this time - have flowed home, food, love, happiness, babies, church, vacations, sports, friends, grandchildren, and family history.

There ARE things that happen in a second that take a lifetime to explain!

I'm not using Vista, are you?

I'm still using Microsoft Windows XP - not Windows Vista, or Linux.

Here is a funny (if you're not using Vista, or are not a Microsoft fan) video about using Microsoft Vista - http://blip.tv:80/file/340692.

Warning - don't click if you're offended by the 7 words not used on broadcast media.

If you are a Vista user, I'm interested in how accurate this is!

Connecting the Dots

The theory behind "The Mother of All Genealogy Databases" (MOAGD) that was in the news in September was that "everyone will share their genealogy data and be able to connect the dots to earlier generations and create one big database containing all of the families that ever lived."

Two recent emails concerning my Seaver database illustrate both the possibility and improbability of this hoped-for MOAGD.

In the first email, a distant Seaver cousin was excited to find my Seaver family genealogy reports on my web site. He found his great-grandfather listed, and emailed me with data on the later families. I, in turn, made a genealogy report with more information on his Seaver line that included his updated information. In this case, the system worked well - my info helped him, his helped me, we're both pleased with the result. In the ideal world, this is how the MOAGD would work - someone would connect the dots with documented information.

In the second email, my correspondent had seen the Seaver data on my web site but did not find her earliest known Seaver male, Adam Seaver (1811-1889) - an appropriate name, eh? Adam was born in NY, moved to IL and IA, and died in KS. I looked in my Seaver database - but I don't have him included. I have heard of him before from when I was doing my Seaver census collection project. So I checked the Ancestry historical records, family trees and publications/stories. There was one family tree with some information and descendants - created by the person who wrote me. The census records for 1840 to 1880 for Adam Seaver are complete - 6 kids, 2 wives. That matches the family tree data (which probably the same sources). But I still can't place Adam as a child with a set of parents. I looked in the counties where Adam Seaver lived, especially in New York, but did not find any other families with the Seaver (and variants?) surname in the 1840 and earlier censuses. I input Adam and his family data into my Seaver database so that I have it available next time someone asks. It's a brick wall for now.

The only way the "parents of Adam Seaver" problem will be solved is if there are land, tax, or probate records in the places he resided that identify his parents, siblings, or his previous location. The state of online genealogy does not include records like these yet. They might in the future - when the LDS digitizes and indexes these records. The only way for my correspondent to "connect the dots" in this case is to find the pertinent records, if they exist, on LDS microfilm or in courthouse files.

By the way, Adam's wives names were Nancy and Louisa. Adam has a long list of descendants who are proud of their ancestor's life and accomplishments. Unfortunately, Adam's parentage and ancestral lines have not been found yet.

This last example shows the problem with the MOAGD concept - a significant number of ancestral lines have this "connecting the dots" problem - the evidence is hiding in unindexed and hard to find records. Even with exhaustive searching in repositories for all records, many "brick wall" genealogy problems are not solved because there is not enough information, or there are conflicts between different records. My educated guess is that perhaps 40 to 60% of all ancestral lines end up like this - a person born in the 1770-1840 time frame with as-yet unknown parents.

What say you? Is the MOAGD possible?

"Searching" by Randy

SEARCHING
Lyrcs by Randy Seaver
(sung to the tune of "Searchin'" by the Coasters (1958))

(Gonna find 'em,)
(Gonna find 'em.)

I've been searching, un-huh,
Searching all my ti-ime a-way.
Looking for Thomas J. Newton,
I know I'll find him some day.

(Gonna find 'em,)
(Gonna find 'em.)

I've been searching, uh-huh,
Searching my time a-way.
Looking for Elizabeth Dill,
I know I'll find her some day.

If I have to walk a graveyard,
You know I will.
If I have to storm a library,
You know I will.
And if she's hiding up on Beacon Hill
I'm really gonna find her,
I just know I will.

Cause I've been searching,
Oh yeah, searching,
Searching my time away.

(Gonna find 'em,)
(Gonna find 'em.)

Elizabeth Shown Mills and
Arlene Eakle got nothing on me,
Christine Rose, Dick Eastman
And Megan Smolenyak, you see.
They can't find them either,
But I'm searching my life a-way.

I've been searching,
Searching all my time a-way.
I'm looking for William Knapp,
I know I'll find him some day.

I'm searching,
Oh yeah, searching.

(Gonna find 'em,)
(Gonna find 'em.)

I've been searching, uh-huh,
Searching my time a-way.
I'm looking for Cornelia Bresee,
I know I'll find her some day.

No matter where they're hiding,
They'll see me coming down the street.
Looking for all my Ancestors
Still hiding well from me.

I'm still searching,
Oh Lord, searching,
Searching my time away.
Yeah, Yeah.

But I'm like those genealogists,
who look in every place,
Trying to find records
It's a very long race.

I'm searching, uh-huh,
Searching my life away.

(Gonna find 'em,)
(Gonna find 'em.)

Really? When? Where? How?
Oh baby, you know what I want.

The words in parentheses are background singers. The lyrics don't match the music exactly, but what the heck. You get the idea. I wish I could sing. We could have a ball at a conference singing genealogy lyrics to old rock songs, eh?

My Grandfather, Frederick W. Seaver (1876-1942)

Frederick Walton Seaver was born 9 October 1876 in Leominster, MA, the son of Frank Walton and Hattie Louise (Hildreth) Seaver. He grew up in Leominster with his parents and brother, Howard. The family lived at what is now 149 Lancaster Street in Leominster.

Fred married Alma Bessie Richmond (1882-1962), the daughter of Thomas and Julia (White) Richmond, on 18 June 1900 in Leominster, MA. The picture below is of Fred and Bess before their wedding day.

After his marriage, the Frederick Walton Seaver family lived for a short time in Leominster MA at 149 Lancaster Street (with his parents and grandmother Hildreth), where their two oldest children were born. Fred was working in a comb-making factory in Leominster. In about 1905, he became a superintendent at another factory in Fitchburg. The family lived at 56 Linden Street there, where son Stanley was born. They bought a house at 116 Lawrence Avenue in Fitchburg where Ruth and Frederick were born, and the older children went to school at Highland Avenue School, then Maverick Street School, and finally Goddard Street School.

In the 1910 U.S. census, the Fred W. Seaver (it is indexed as Leaver in the census record) resided at 116 Lawrence Street in Fitchburg Ward 6, Worcester County, Massachusetts (1910 U.S. Census for Massachusetts, Worcester County, National Archives Microfilm Series T624, Roll 608, Page 193, Enumeration District 1745, Sheet 6B, dwelling #82, family #125, line 52). The family included:

* Fred W. Seaver -- head of household, male, white, age 33, married once, 10 years, born MA, father and mother born MA, speaks English, superintendent in a comb shop, a worker, owns home, with a mortgage, can read and write
* Bessie A. Seaver -- wife, female, white, age 28, married once, 10 years, 4 children, 4 living, born CT, father born England, mother born CT, speaks English, no occupation, can read and write
* Marion F. Seaver -- daughter, female, white, age 8, single, born MA, father born MA, mother born CT, attends school
* Evelyn Seaver -- daughter, female, white, age 7, single, born MA, father born MA, mother born CT, attends school
* Stanley R. Seaver -- son, male, white, age 4, single, born MA, father born MA, mother born CT, attends school
* Ruth W. Seaver -- daughter, female, white, age 2, single, born MA, father born MA, mother born CT, attends school
* James H. Richmond -- brother-in-law, male, white, age 23, single, born CT, father born England, mother born CT, speaks English, comb-maker, in a comb shop, a worker, 24 weeks out of work in 1909, can read and write

In about 1911, Fred was offered a position as superintendent at the Patton Manufacturing Company in Leominster, which made hairpins from celluloid material. The family moved to a large house on the factory site at 290 Central Street, where Edward and Geraldine were born. The house was on the main road from Leominster to Sterling and Worcester, with streetcar tracks in the middle of the road. There were several smaller buildings around the house - a barn which was used as a garage, chicken coops and rabbit hutches. A brook ran beside the house to the factory. The house was heated by warm air from the factory.

In the 1920 U.S. Census, the Frederick W. Seaver family resided at 290 Central Street in Leominster, Worcester County, Massachusetts (1920 U.S. Census for Massachusetts, National Archives Microfilm Series T625, Roll 747, Page 125, Supervisor District 3, Enumeration District 102, Sheet 14A, dwelling #175, family #288, line 1). The family included:

* Frederick W. Seaver -- head of household, male, white, age 42, married, born MA, father born MA, mother born MA, superintendent of a comb shop, a salaried worker, rents home, able to read, write and speak English
* Bessie R. Seaver -- wife, female, white, age 38, married, born CT, father born England, mother born CT, no occupation, able to read, write and speak English
* Marion F. Seaver -- daughter, female, white, age 18, single, born MA, father born MA, mother born CT, attending school, able to read and write, and speak English
* Evelyn Seaver -- daughter, female, white, age 16, single, born MA, father born MA, mother born CT, attending school, able to read and write, and speak English
* Ruth W. Seaver -- daughter, female, white, age 12, single, born MA, father born MA, mother born CT, attending school, able to read and write, and speak English
* Frederick W. Seaver Jr. -- son, male, white, age 8, single, born MA, father born MA, mother born CT, attending school, unable to read and write, able to speak English
* Edward R. Seaver -- son, male, white, age 6, single, born MA, father born MA, mother born CT, attending school, unable to read and write, able to speak English
* Geraldine Seaver -- daughter, female, white, age 2, single, born MA, father born MA, mother born CT, unable to read and write, unable to speak English

During the 1920's, Fred and Bess bought a cottage on the shore of Whalom Lake, between Leominster and Fitchburg. The family spent summer weekends there. Vacations were taken at Cape Cod on occasion.

In about 1927, the owner of the Patton Manufacturing Company, Barney Doyle, sold the factory to the Dupont Company, and the site closed on Central Street. Fred moved to the main plant in Leominster, and was superintendent of the toothbrush division there until his retirement. The family bought a house at 20 Hall Street in Leominster.

In the 1930 US Census, the Fred W. Seaver family resided at 20 Hall Street in Leominster, Worcester County, Massachusetts. The household included (1930 US Census for Massachusetts, Worcester County, National Archives Microfilm Series T626, Roll 964, ED 226, page 3A):

* Fred W. Seaver -- head, own home, worth $5,000, owns a radio set, male, white, age 52, married, first at age 25, can read and write, born MA, father and mother born MA, speaks English, superintendent in a celluloid company
* Alma B. Seaver -- wife, female, white, age 48, married, first at age 18, can read and write, born CT, father born England, mother born RI, speaks English
* Ruth W. Seaver -- daughter, female, white, age 22, single, can read and write, born MA, father born MA, mother born CT, speaks English, teacher in a public school
* Frederick W. Seaver -- son, male, white, age 18, single, can read and write, born MA, father born MA, mother born CT, speaks English
* Edward R. Seaver -- son, male, white, age 16, single, can read and write, born MA, father born MA, mother born CT, speaks English
* Geraldine Seaver -- daughter, female, white, age 12, single, attends public school, can read and write, born MA, father born MA, mother born CT, speaks English

The picture below is Fred Seaver taken probably in the 1930's.




During the Depression, Fred took a cut in pay at Dupont, and the bank foreclosed on the house. The family moved to an apartment on West Street in downtown Leominster.

Fred Seaver retired at age 65, and died shortly thereafter, on 13 March 1942, of prostate cancer at the home of his daughter, Evelyn Wood, in Andover MA. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Leominster with his wife Bess and their first son, Stanley Richmond Seaver who died in 1910.

"Ge-ne-al-o-gy" by Randy

GE-NE-AL-O-GY
lyrics by Randy Seaver
Sung to the music of "Surfin' USA"
by the Beach Boys (1962 - what memories!):

"Since everybody has a family
Across the USA
Then everybody be searching
for family histor-a.

"You'll see me in graveyards,
And in libraries too,
A white beard and sparse hairdo,
it's genealogy.

"Catchin' ancestors in Boston,
San Francisco C A,
Philly and Chicago,
and Washington D C.

"All over New England
And down Carolina way,
Everybody's gone searchin'
Family history.

"I'm still planning the road trip,
I'm gonna take next year,
Sprucing up my pedigree,
Finding stories to share.

"I'll be gone for the summer,
Seeing cousins and friends,
Tell my wife I'm researchin'
my genealogy.

"Wiltshire and Somerset,
Scotland and Ireland too,
Stockholm, Oslo, and Voss,
Toronto and Waterloo.

"All over the world,
And on the Internet too,
Everybody's gone searchin'
their genealogy.

"Everybody's gone searchin'
for family history."

I hope my cousin Brian Wilson doesn't mind.