A post on the Transitional-Genealogists-Forum mailing list hosted by Rootsweb by Melissa Barker provided a link to the Fraser & Fraser web site (http://www.lostkin.co.uk/heirhunters/default.htm). Fraser & Fraser are heir hunters - a United Kingdom firm that specializes in International Probate Research.
Heir hunting is a competitive business - if someone dies without a will or trust, there may be a sizable estate. Companies like Fraser & Fraser perform some research to find heirs, attempt to sign them up, and then receive a percentage of the inheritance as a result of their research work. It is competitive in many places, including the USA. Apparently, if estates are not settled in a specific time in the UK, the government receives the estate - 25 million pounds in a recent year.
On the Fraser & Fraser site are links to 15 episodes of hour-long videos that were broadcast on the BBC from 4 June to 22 June 2007 about probate research in England.
I watched the first video, which showed the initial search to find heirs to Samuel Summersby who left an estate of 300,000 pounds, and then showed the contacts of the heirs (cousins of Mr. Summersby) by the F&F employees. Needless to say, the videos are very well done with a detective story flair. You see the work in the office, the work by the researchers in the field, and the reactions of the heirs to their good fortune.
If you are interested in doing heir research, or even interested in researching in England, these videos may be very helpful and interesting. It was a fun hour away from the Russell Smith search!
Friday, January 4, 2008
Another WorldVitalRecords Survey
I just took the latest WorldVitalRecords Customer Input Panel survey. Here are the questions and my answers:
1) Have you ever interviewed a person about family history?
Answer: Yes.
2) What was the purpose of the interview?
Answers: Preserve the individual's legacy, Capture a specific story, Find out more about the individual, Family project
3) Who have you conducted interviews with?
Answers: Parent, Aunt/Uncle, Cousin, Friend of my grandmother.
4) What medium did you use to interview?
Answer: Face to face (parent, cousin, uncle, aunts, friend), and written questions (aunts)
5) How did you record the interview?
Answers: Paper (parent, cousin, friend) , audio recorder (aunts, uncle)
6) Did either of you have to travel more than 100 miles to conduct the interview?
Answer: Yes (Massachusetts from California for uncle).
7) Have you preserved the interview in any way?
Answer: Yes.
8) How have you preserved it?
Answers: Retained the audio-tapes. Transcribed the interviews. Passed the transcriptions to the interviewees, their children and my brothers.
9) How interested would you be in a professional service that conducted video interviews with loved ones anywhere in the US?
Answer: Somewhat interested.
10) Who in your family besides you, would be interested in a service that did a video Interview of a loved one?
Answers: Child, Cousin, Friend (society colleagues).
11) Would you pay $400 for an interview service that would travel anywhere in the U.S; perform a professional video-taped interveiw with a loved one; edit the video; preserve the interview on a DVD packaged in a museum-quality metal case that you would receive in the mail and could be ordered by anyone?
Answer: No.
12) How much would you be willing to spend?
Answer: $0 (I'm cheap! I feel I can do this myself).
13) Do you have any comments about a service that would do a professional video interview of a loved one?
Answer: Unfortunately, there are no loved ones still alive that can shed light on my ancestors - I'm too old!
-----------------------------
As with previous surveys, we can glean some insight into what WorldVitalRecords is about to offer to subscribers. This is a pretty good idea for people who have parents, grandparents, aunts/uncles, cousins etc. in a distant state, especially if the interviewee had special insight into the family stories and history.
1) Have you ever interviewed a person about family history?
Answer: Yes.
2) What was the purpose of the interview?
Answers: Preserve the individual's legacy, Capture a specific story, Find out more about the individual, Family project
3) Who have you conducted interviews with?
Answers: Parent, Aunt/Uncle, Cousin, Friend of my grandmother.
4) What medium did you use to interview?
Answer: Face to face (parent, cousin, uncle, aunts, friend), and written questions (aunts)
5) How did you record the interview?
Answers: Paper (parent, cousin, friend) , audio recorder (aunts, uncle)
6) Did either of you have to travel more than 100 miles to conduct the interview?
Answer: Yes (Massachusetts from California for uncle).
7) Have you preserved the interview in any way?
Answer: Yes.
8) How have you preserved it?
Answers: Retained the audio-tapes. Transcribed the interviews. Passed the transcriptions to the interviewees, their children and my brothers.
9) How interested would you be in a professional service that conducted video interviews with loved ones anywhere in the US?
Answer: Somewhat interested.
10) Who in your family besides you, would be interested in a service that did a video Interview of a loved one?
Answers: Child, Cousin, Friend (society colleagues).
11) Would you pay $400 for an interview service that would travel anywhere in the U.S; perform a professional video-taped interveiw with a loved one; edit the video; preserve the interview on a DVD packaged in a museum-quality metal case that you would receive in the mail and could be ordered by anyone?
Answer: No.
12) How much would you be willing to spend?
Answer: $0 (I'm cheap! I feel I can do this myself).
13) Do you have any comments about a service that would do a professional video interview of a loved one?
Answer: Unfortunately, there are no loved ones still alive that can shed light on my ancestors - I'm too old!
-----------------------------
As with previous surveys, we can glean some insight into what WorldVitalRecords is about to offer to subscribers. This is a pretty good idea for people who have parents, grandparents, aunts/uncles, cousins etc. in a distant state, especially if the interviewee had special insight into the family stories and history.
The Genetic Genealogist Challenge
Blaine Bettinger at The Genetic Genealogist blog (which discusses genetic genealogy issues with authority and detail) is celebrating his first anniversary of blogging, and will award a free DNA test to one of the entries to his contest. See his post here for rules and more information.
I posted about my Genetic Genealogy challenges here, and Blaine discussed them in his post summarizing the 35th Carnival of Genealogy here. If you haven't read Blaine's blog before, and are interested in genetic generalogy, please go visit The Genetic Genealogist and read Blaine's body of work.
I really appreciate Blaine's PhD-level expertise and willingness to analyze genetic genealogy issues for those of us who are interested but challenged by the messy genetic details (my limited reading tells me that it is one of the most complicated subjects in the world's body of knowledge!).
Like many researchers, I have procrastinated in getting a Y-DNA or mtDNA test done. It's on my mental "to-do" list as a "nice-to-have."
Is this contest just Blaine's way of getting more hits for his blog to raise his Alexa ranking (currently 224,343 according to his widgit)? If so, I hope it works for him!
I posted about my Genetic Genealogy challenges here, and Blaine discussed them in his post summarizing the 35th Carnival of Genealogy here. If you haven't read Blaine's blog before, and are interested in genetic generalogy, please go visit The Genetic Genealogist and read Blaine's body of work.
I really appreciate Blaine's PhD-level expertise and willingness to analyze genetic genealogy issues for those of us who are interested but challenged by the messy genetic details (my limited reading tells me that it is one of the most complicated subjects in the world's body of knowledge!).
Like many researchers, I have procrastinated in getting a Y-DNA or mtDNA test done. It's on my mental "to-do" list as a "nice-to-have."
Is this contest just Blaine's way of getting more hits for his blog to raise his Alexa ranking (currently 224,343 according to his widgit)? If so, I hope it works for him!
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Checking in with GenealogyBank
Tom Kemp on the Genealogy Bank blog posted that they have added another 2.8 million records at Genealogy Bank, and that there are now over 2,300 newspapers in the Historical Newspaper section and over 1,000 newspapers in the America's Obituaries section.
The complete list of the newspapers archived on GenealogyBank is at http://www.genealogybank.com/gbnk/sourcelistNewspapers.html. This is indeed an impressive list.
The home page for GenealogyBank is at http://www.genealogybank.com/gbnk/keyword.html - they list the collections that they have for historical and modern records.
I don't subscribe to Genealogy Bank, since I've thought that many of their records are available on other web sites. I'm going to compare what they have with the newspaper holdings on other sites.
I've been hoping that one of these newspaper archives sites will digitize and index the San Diego Union newspaper before 2000, and I know one of my CVGS colleagues is anxiously waiting for a major Philadelphia newspaper between 1922 and 1977 to find her John Robinson Hall's obituary and death date.
The complete list of the newspapers archived on GenealogyBank is at http://www.genealogybank.com/gbnk/sourcelistNewspapers.html. This is indeed an impressive list.
The home page for GenealogyBank is at http://www.genealogybank.com/gbnk/keyword.html - they list the collections that they have for historical and modern records.
I don't subscribe to Genealogy Bank, since I've thought that many of their records are available on other web sites. I'm going to compare what they have with the newspaper holdings on other sites.
I've been hoping that one of these newspaper archives sites will digitize and index the San Diego Union newspaper before 2000, and I know one of my CVGS colleagues is anxiously waiting for a major Philadelphia newspaper between 1922 and 1977 to find her John Robinson Hall's obituary and death date.
Access Genealogy has some databases and many links
The web site www.AccessGenealogy.com is a free genealogy resource that has some databases on their site and links, by category, to many other web sites. The link collections include:
* African American Records Our African American records section provides extensive listings of available free resources online for African American ancestral research.
* Bible Records Our Bible records section contains a listing of the available online Bible records, listed by geographical area.
* Biographies Our biography center is a great way to add genealogy notes to your family tree. While some are small sketches of citizens of various townships and county histories, others are extensive biographies of the individual.
* Cemetery Records Our US cemetery transcription listings listed by state. Browse these listings for cemetery transcriptions found across the web.
* Census Records Our census listings provide an accurate state-by-state view of all available census records online.
* Family Tree Search Search for your ancestor, or upload your own family tree!
* Free Genealogy Charts Large collection of free genealogy forms available for you to download, print, and fill out, along with an explanation how to conduct your research using each chart.
* Genealogy Books Online Extensive directory to all available history and genealogy books online. These can be anything from biography anthologies, county or local histories, to a family history.
* A Bundle of Old Letters History and life as shown through historical letters. Each day a new letter is posted which can provide you with an incredible historical view of our ancestors lives as written by them.
* Military Records Find your American war hero here. From the early Indian wars to the Second Gulf War, we'll provide you with rosters, regimental histories, honor rolls, etc.
* Native American Records We are the premier resource online for Native American Records: tribal histories, final rolls, census, and an extensive collection of online books.
* Naturalization Records Extensive listing of the available naturalization records available online.
* Surnames Investigate your surname meaning and origin. Read family history books online.
* United States Genealogy A large directory of genealogy data organized by state.
* Vital Records These pages contain information about how and where to obtain vital records for each state, and county in the United States.
* World Genealogy A directory of genealogy data organized by country.
You can enter a surname or a person's name in the search box and the site. I entered "smith" and had over 13,000 hits in the online databases. I entered "seaver" and had 93 hits. It appears that they add databases on a regular basis.
There are links to commercial web sites (Ancestry and Footnote were noted) for some information.
I had high hopes for the Beginner's Guide at http://www.accessgenealogy.com/beginners.htm, but the lniks for the tutorial pages don't work - it looks like they link to the Rootsweb Guide to Tracing Family Trees at http://rwguide.rootsweb.com/. There are also some charts available for odwnloading.
This is a useful web site, especially if you are just starting on a surname search (well, maybe not for Smith or Johnson...). You can find many links to records and data.
* African American Records Our African American records section provides extensive listings of available free resources online for African American ancestral research.
* Bible Records Our Bible records section contains a listing of the available online Bible records, listed by geographical area.
* Biographies Our biography center is a great way to add genealogy notes to your family tree. While some are small sketches of citizens of various townships and county histories, others are extensive biographies of the individual.
* Cemetery Records Our US cemetery transcription listings listed by state. Browse these listings for cemetery transcriptions found across the web.
* Census Records Our census listings provide an accurate state-by-state view of all available census records online.
* Family Tree Search Search for your ancestor, or upload your own family tree!
* Free Genealogy Charts Large collection of free genealogy forms available for you to download, print, and fill out, along with an explanation how to conduct your research using each chart.
* Genealogy Books Online Extensive directory to all available history and genealogy books online. These can be anything from biography anthologies, county or local histories, to a family history.
* A Bundle of Old Letters History and life as shown through historical letters. Each day a new letter is posted which can provide you with an incredible historical view of our ancestors lives as written by them.
* Military Records Find your American war hero here. From the early Indian wars to the Second Gulf War, we'll provide you with rosters, regimental histories, honor rolls, etc.
* Native American Records We are the premier resource online for Native American Records: tribal histories, final rolls, census, and an extensive collection of online books.
* Naturalization Records Extensive listing of the available naturalization records available online.
* Surnames Investigate your surname meaning and origin. Read family history books online.
* United States Genealogy A large directory of genealogy data organized by state.
* Vital Records These pages contain information about how and where to obtain vital records for each state, and county in the United States.
* World Genealogy A directory of genealogy data organized by country.
You can enter a surname or a person's name in the search box and the site. I entered "smith" and had over 13,000 hits in the online databases. I entered "seaver" and had 93 hits. It appears that they add databases on a regular basis.
There are links to commercial web sites (Ancestry and Footnote were noted) for some information.
I had high hopes for the Beginner's Guide at http://www.accessgenealogy.com/beginners.htm, but the lniks for the tutorial pages don't work - it looks like they link to the Rootsweb Guide to Tracing Family Trees at http://rwguide.rootsweb.com/. There are also some charts available for odwnloading.
This is a useful web site, especially if you are just starting on a surname search (well, maybe not for Smith or Johnson...). You can find many links to records and data.
NEHGR Table of Contents - October 2007
The Table of Contents for the New England Historical and Genealogical Register for October 2007 (Volume 161, Number 4, Whole Number 644) includes:
* "Editorial" - page 243.
* "Notes on the Family of George Grave of Hartford, Connecticut" by Eben W. Graves - page 245
* "Ancestry of Bennet Eliot of Nazeing, Essex, Father of Seven Great Migration Immigrants to Massachusetts," by William Wyman Fiske ( continued from 161:198) - page 250
* "The London Apprenticeship of Edward Rainsford of Boston, Massachusetts," by Leslie Mahler - page 260
* "Samuel Owen of Springfield and Brookfield, Massachusetts, and Three Descendants Named Samuel Owen" by Nancy Clague - page 261
* Joan (_____) (Wylley) Pilston of Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire by William Wyman Fiske - page 280
* "Updates to 'Peter Pattee of Haverhill, Massachusetts'" by Marie Lollo Scalisi and Virginia M. Ryan - page 282
* "Genealogist John Farmer Discovers His Ancestry: The Warwickshire Family of Edward Farmer, Isabel (Farmer) (Wyman) (Blood) Green, and Thomas Pollard, of Billerica, Massachusetts" by Nathaniel Lane Taylor (continued from 161:222) - page 289
* "Additions and Corrections" - page 300
* Reviews of Books and CD-ROMs - page 302
* Index of Subjects in Volume 161 - page 305
* Index of Persons in Volume 161 - page 308.
The web site for the Register is at http://www.newenglandancestors.org/publications/Register/default.asp. If you are an NEHGS member, you can download PDF versions of the four issues for 2007.
I am a member of NEHGS and enjoy the publications immensely - they each serve as wonderful examples of the best in genealogy research. Since I have significant New England ancestry, the databases on the NEHGS site are highly valued by me.
* "Editorial" - page 243.
* "Notes on the Family of George Grave of Hartford, Connecticut" by Eben W. Graves - page 245
* "Ancestry of Bennet Eliot of Nazeing, Essex, Father of Seven Great Migration Immigrants to Massachusetts," by William Wyman Fiske ( continued from 161:198) - page 250
* "The London Apprenticeship of Edward Rainsford of Boston, Massachusetts," by Leslie Mahler - page 260
* "Samuel Owen of Springfield and Brookfield, Massachusetts, and Three Descendants Named Samuel Owen" by Nancy Clague - page 261
* Joan (_____) (Wylley) Pilston of Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire by William Wyman Fiske - page 280
* "Updates to 'Peter Pattee of Haverhill, Massachusetts'" by Marie Lollo Scalisi and Virginia M. Ryan - page 282
* "Genealogist John Farmer Discovers His Ancestry: The Warwickshire Family of Edward Farmer, Isabel (Farmer) (Wyman) (Blood) Green, and Thomas Pollard, of Billerica, Massachusetts" by Nathaniel Lane Taylor (continued from 161:222) - page 289
* "Additions and Corrections" - page 300
* Reviews of Books and CD-ROMs - page 302
* Index of Subjects in Volume 161 - page 305
* Index of Persons in Volume 161 - page 308.
The web site for the Register is at http://www.newenglandancestors.org/publications/Register/default.asp. If you are an NEHGS member, you can download PDF versions of the four issues for 2007.
I am a member of NEHGS and enjoy the publications immensely - they each serve as wonderful examples of the best in genealogy research. Since I have significant New England ancestry, the databases on the NEHGS site are highly valued by me.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Genea-Musings Stats for 2007
I thought my readers would be interested to know how Genea-Musings is "doing" with regard to readership and page views. The first graph (above) is a day-by-day look at returning visitors (orange), unique visitors (blue) and page views (green) as counted by www.statcounter.com, which has specific criteria. As you can see, only during early May did I have much over 400 page views or over 200 unique visitors on any day, and that was after there was a link on both Leland Meitzler's blog and Dick Eastman's blog - I think this was during the "Genealogy is Bunk" controversy. I had one very big day, several good days, and about 360 average days. Terry Thornton would call the early May data a "blogalanche."
The second graph (above) is a month-by-month summary created by www.sitemeter.com. The total numbers are somewhat different from the Statcounter numbers - one of them counts Blogger hits and the other doesn't, I think. They both seem to collect newsreader hits since I see them in the individual records when I review them.
As you can see, my visits and page views are somewhat constant since May 2007. I average about 200 visitors and 300 page views each day. This is nowhere near what some of the other bloggers average, but that's OK - my readers seem to be very discerning!
If there are other free "counter" programs, please tell me about them. I haven't looked recently. I would love to be able to see how many readers each post generates, and do more analysis, but I only have these two free counting services at this time.
There are also about 100 readers who subscribe to get email via www.FeedBurner.com.
I thank each and every one of my readers for their support, encouragement, and especially their comments. I'm trying to balance genealogy-related news, commentary, entertainment, research and stories in this blog.
The Elusive Russell Smith - Post 1
Working on the assumption that the obituaries for Ranslow Smith's (1805-????) purported brothers, Lyman (1812-1889) and George Smith (1807-1876), are correct, the parents of these three (and perhaps more?) persons was Russell and Esther (--?--) Smith.
Hypotheses:
* Russell Smith must have been born before at least 1785 and perhaps as early as 1760.
* The 1880 census for Lyman Smith in Dodge County WI says that his father was born in CT and his mother in RI (this is, of course, about 100 years after the fact!).
* The Bible record for Ranslow Smith (in my possession) says he was born in Henderson, Jefferson County, NY. Was he?
Searching for a Russell Smith in the census records reveals:
* 1800 US Census
** Western, Oneida County NY: Russel Smith males 1-0-0-1-0. females 0-0-1-0-0 (other Smiths in Western: Caleb, Benjamin, James, Philip, David, John and Arnold)
* 1810 US Census
** Fabius, Onondaga County NY: Russel Smith - males 2-1-0-1-0, females 3-0-0-1-0
** Hadley, Saratoga County, NY: Russel Smith - males 1-0-0-1-0, females 0-0-1-0-0
** Mamakating, Sullivan County, NY: Russell Smith - males 0-0-0-1-0, females 2-0-0-1-0
** Hartford, Washington county, NY: Russel Smith - males 0-0-0-1-0, females 0-0-0-1-0
* 1820 US Census:
** Genoa, Cayuga County, NY: Russel Smith - males 4-0-0-0-1-0, females 1-1-0-1-0
** Austerlitz, Columbia County, NY: Russle Smith - males 0-0-0-0-1-0, females 2-0-1-0-0
** Fabius, Onondaga County, NY: Russell Smith - males, 2-1-0-2-0-1, females 2-1-1-1-0
** Henrietta, Ontario County, NY: Russell Smith - males 1-1-0-0-1-0, females 2-0-1-0-0
** Troy, Renssalaer County, NY: Russell Smith - males 1-0-0-1-1-0, females 1-3-2-2-0
** Greenfield, Saratoga County, NY: Russell Smith - males 3-2-1-1-1-0, females 1-0-1-1-0
** Hartford, Washington County, NY: Russel Smith - males 0-0-0-2-0-1, females 2-0-0-0-1
* "Our County and Its' People" Chapter 37, The Town of Lee [Oneida county, NY}:
** Page 461: "...David Smith and his sons, David and Russell, came to the Mohawk country, near Delta, described by a writer of that time as 'away up the Mohawk country beyond Fort Stanwix, inhabited only by bears, wolves and Indians.' David Smith, Jr. built a saw mill there soon after, which he subsequently sold to Judge Prosper Rudd..."
* "A History of Jefferson County in the State of New York ..." by Franklin Benjamin Hough, pub. 1854:
** Page 72: In a list of early settlers in Adams township, the following are found:
*** 29 Oct 1799: Solomon Smith, David Smith,
*** 14 Nov 1799: John W. Smith
*** 1800: Russell Smith
** Page 73: "...A tract of 500 acres, where Adams village now is, was taken up by David Smith [Footnote: Mr. Smith died March 18, 1844, age 73], who in 1800, built and got in operation a saw mill, and the same season witnessed the arrival of numerous settlers, mostly from Oneida County..."
======================
That's all I've been able to find in the 1790 to 1820 time frame for Russell Smith in searches of Ancestry.com, Google (including Books), and the USGenWeb sites for Jefferson County and Oneida County in New York.
Based on the Hough book, it appears that a Russell Smith was in Adams township, Jefferson County NY in 1800, along with a David Smith. Are these the brothers David and Russell Smith from Oneida County in the Oneida history book, and the 1800 census records for Oneida County NY? Possibly.
The first record for my Ranslow Smith is in the 1830 census for Henderson in Jefferson County NY. Henderson township is the township just to the west of Adams township.
Are any of the Russell Smith families in the 1810 and 1820 census records in NY the same Russell Smith who was in Oneida County in the 1800 census? If there are three brothers that are sons of Russell Smith, then his family would have had at least two males under age 10 in the 1810 census and at least 1 males under age 10 and 2 males aged 10-16 in the 1820 census. The only Russell Smith that I see in the 1820 census that fits that criteria is the one in Greenfield, Saratoga County, NY. While the one in 1810 in Fabius, Onondaga County in 1810 also qualifies, he is still in Fabius in 1820 with only 1 son aged 10 to 16. It is possible that this is the correct Russell smith family and the three sons went up to Jefferson county NY sometime after 1820 to settle, perhaps with an uncle or cousin. All of that is very thin evidence to stake a proof on! It is also possible that Russell and his family were enumerated among other Smith families in Jefferson County NY in 1810 and 1820.
In a future post, I will define the Smith families in Adams and Henderson townships in Jefferson County, NY in the 1800 to 1840 census records.
Unfortunately, finding only two mentions of the name Russell Smith in or near places that my Ranslow Smith lived is very disheartening - I need to look for land and probate records for Smith's to see if Russell Smith put roots down in Adams township. The search, and analysis, is complicated by the Smith surname ... it is difficult to connect families with so many given names and so few pieces of information about each.
I realize that this post may be very boring - and probably skipped - by many readers, but writing this down makes it easier for me to figure out what I've done and what I need to do next.
If anyone has suggestions for further research, I am open to them! Please! Please! Please! Russell Smith appears to be a real elusive ancestor!
Hypotheses:
* Russell Smith must have been born before at least 1785 and perhaps as early as 1760.
* The 1880 census for Lyman Smith in Dodge County WI says that his father was born in CT and his mother in RI (this is, of course, about 100 years after the fact!).
* The Bible record for Ranslow Smith (in my possession) says he was born in Henderson, Jefferson County, NY. Was he?
Searching for a Russell Smith in the census records reveals:
* 1800 US Census
** Western, Oneida County NY: Russel Smith males 1-0-0-1-0. females 0-0-1-0-0 (other Smiths in Western: Caleb, Benjamin, James, Philip, David, John and Arnold)
* 1810 US Census
** Fabius, Onondaga County NY: Russel Smith - males 2-1-0-1-0, females 3-0-0-1-0
** Hadley, Saratoga County, NY: Russel Smith - males 1-0-0-1-0, females 0-0-1-0-0
** Mamakating, Sullivan County, NY: Russell Smith - males 0-0-0-1-0, females 2-0-0-1-0
** Hartford, Washington county, NY: Russel Smith - males 0-0-0-1-0, females 0-0-0-1-0
* 1820 US Census:
** Genoa, Cayuga County, NY: Russel Smith - males 4-0-0-0-1-0, females 1-1-0-1-0
** Austerlitz, Columbia County, NY: Russle Smith - males 0-0-0-0-1-0, females 2-0-1-0-0
** Fabius, Onondaga County, NY: Russell Smith - males, 2-1-0-2-0-1, females 2-1-1-1-0
** Henrietta, Ontario County, NY: Russell Smith - males 1-1-0-0-1-0, females 2-0-1-0-0
** Troy, Renssalaer County, NY: Russell Smith - males 1-0-0-1-1-0, females 1-3-2-2-0
** Greenfield, Saratoga County, NY: Russell Smith - males 3-2-1-1-1-0, females 1-0-1-1-0
** Hartford, Washington County, NY: Russel Smith - males 0-0-0-2-0-1, females 2-0-0-0-1
* "Our County and Its' People" Chapter 37, The Town of Lee [Oneida county, NY}:
** Page 461: "...David Smith and his sons, David and Russell, came to the Mohawk country, near Delta, described by a writer of that time as 'away up the Mohawk country beyond Fort Stanwix, inhabited only by bears, wolves and Indians.' David Smith, Jr. built a saw mill there soon after, which he subsequently sold to Judge Prosper Rudd..."
* "A History of Jefferson County in the State of New York ..." by Franklin Benjamin Hough, pub. 1854:
** Page 72: In a list of early settlers in Adams township, the following are found:
*** 29 Oct 1799: Solomon Smith, David Smith,
*** 14 Nov 1799: John W. Smith
*** 1800: Russell Smith
** Page 73: "...A tract of 500 acres, where Adams village now is, was taken up by David Smith [Footnote: Mr. Smith died March 18, 1844, age 73], who in 1800, built and got in operation a saw mill, and the same season witnessed the arrival of numerous settlers, mostly from Oneida County..."
======================
That's all I've been able to find in the 1790 to 1820 time frame for Russell Smith in searches of Ancestry.com, Google (including Books), and the USGenWeb sites for Jefferson County and Oneida County in New York.
Based on the Hough book, it appears that a Russell Smith was in Adams township, Jefferson County NY in 1800, along with a David Smith. Are these the brothers David and Russell Smith from Oneida County in the Oneida history book, and the 1800 census records for Oneida County NY? Possibly.
The first record for my Ranslow Smith is in the 1830 census for Henderson in Jefferson County NY. Henderson township is the township just to the west of Adams township.
Are any of the Russell Smith families in the 1810 and 1820 census records in NY the same Russell Smith who was in Oneida County in the 1800 census? If there are three brothers that are sons of Russell Smith, then his family would have had at least two males under age 10 in the 1810 census and at least 1 males under age 10 and 2 males aged 10-16 in the 1820 census. The only Russell Smith that I see in the 1820 census that fits that criteria is the one in Greenfield, Saratoga County, NY. While the one in 1810 in Fabius, Onondaga County in 1810 also qualifies, he is still in Fabius in 1820 with only 1 son aged 10 to 16. It is possible that this is the correct Russell smith family and the three sons went up to Jefferson county NY sometime after 1820 to settle, perhaps with an uncle or cousin. All of that is very thin evidence to stake a proof on! It is also possible that Russell and his family were enumerated among other Smith families in Jefferson County NY in 1810 and 1820.
In a future post, I will define the Smith families in Adams and Henderson townships in Jefferson County, NY in the 1800 to 1840 census records.
Unfortunately, finding only two mentions of the name Russell Smith in or near places that my Ranslow Smith lived is very disheartening - I need to look for land and probate records for Smith's to see if Russell Smith put roots down in Adams township. The search, and analysis, is complicated by the Smith surname ... it is difficult to connect families with so many given names and so few pieces of information about each.
I realize that this post may be very boring - and probably skipped - by many readers, but writing this down makes it easier for me to figure out what I've done and what I need to do next.
If anyone has suggestions for further research, I am open to them! Please! Please! Please! Russell Smith appears to be a real elusive ancestor!
Genealogy Software Reviews
I hope to upgrade my genealogy software on my Windows computer system sometime during 2008. I currently have and use FamilyTreeMaker 16, but I want improved charting and publishing capabilities.
I went looking for comparison charts of features, ease of use, and publishing capabilities. I found several, including:
1) Genealogy Software Review, Top Ten Reviews for 2008.
2) Kimberly Powell's Genealogy Software Reviews & Roundup 2007.
3) Louis Kessler's Genealogy Software Links - the most complete list!
4) ConsumerSearch Genealogy Software Reviews - lists of reviews.
The Top Ten Review of Genealogy Software rates the top 10 Windows programs as (prices as shown, ratings based on feature set, ease of use, reporting and publishing, and help/documentation on scale of 4 high, 0 low):
1) Legacy Deluxe 6 ($29.95) - 4.0 rating (out of 4.0)
2) FamilyTreeMaker 2008 ($29.95) - 4.0 rating
3) RootsMagic 3 ($29.95) - 3.5 rating
4) Ancestral Quest 12 ($29.95) - 3.5 rating
5) The Master Genealogist 6.12 Gold ($59.00) - 3.0 rating
6) Family Historian 3.1.2 ($76.00) - 3.0 rating
7) DoroTree 2.1 ($59.00) - 3.0 rating
8) Genbox Family Tree 3.7 ($29.95) - 2.5 rating
9) Cumberland Family Tree 3.14 ($39.00) - 2.0 rating
10) Win-Family 7 ($29.95) - 2.0 rating
There are extensive comparison charts for
* Data Entry and Sourcing
* Management Tools
* Views
* Reports and Charts
* Online Integration, Printing & Publishing
* Help and Support
* Supported Configurations
There are also extensive reviews for each software program found by clicking the software program name.
I also know that The Master Genealogist has just released Version 7 (see announcement here) and that Legacy 7 will be released soon (see discussion here).
Obviously, this list does not include the online genealogy software that stores and displays family trees - like the Ancestry Member Trees, MyHeritage, WeRelate, Geni, FamilyLink, Famillion, TNG, PhpGedView, and several others.
The comparisons noted above are interesting and useful to me. I really need to test drive some of these, and have downloaded the trial versions of Legacy and RootsMagic to do that evaluation.
I went looking for comparison charts of features, ease of use, and publishing capabilities. I found several, including:
1) Genealogy Software Review, Top Ten Reviews for 2008.
2) Kimberly Powell's Genealogy Software Reviews & Roundup 2007.
3) Louis Kessler's Genealogy Software Links - the most complete list!
4) ConsumerSearch Genealogy Software Reviews - lists of reviews.
The Top Ten Review of Genealogy Software rates the top 10 Windows programs as (prices as shown, ratings based on feature set, ease of use, reporting and publishing, and help/documentation on scale of 4 high, 0 low):
1) Legacy Deluxe 6 ($29.95) - 4.0 rating (out of 4.0)
2) FamilyTreeMaker 2008 ($29.95) - 4.0 rating
3) RootsMagic 3 ($29.95) - 3.5 rating
4) Ancestral Quest 12 ($29.95) - 3.5 rating
5) The Master Genealogist 6.12 Gold ($59.00) - 3.0 rating
6) Family Historian 3.1.2 ($76.00) - 3.0 rating
7) DoroTree 2.1 ($59.00) - 3.0 rating
8) Genbox Family Tree 3.7 ($29.95) - 2.5 rating
9) Cumberland Family Tree 3.14 ($39.00) - 2.0 rating
10) Win-Family 7 ($29.95) - 2.0 rating
There are extensive comparison charts for
* Data Entry and Sourcing
* Management Tools
* Views
* Reports and Charts
* Online Integration, Printing & Publishing
* Help and Support
* Supported Configurations
There are also extensive reviews for each software program found by clicking the software program name.
I also know that The Master Genealogist has just released Version 7 (see announcement here) and that Legacy 7 will be released soon (see discussion here).
Obviously, this list does not include the online genealogy software that stores and displays family trees - like the Ancestry Member Trees, MyHeritage, WeRelate, Geni, FamilyLink, Famillion, TNG, PhpGedView, and several others.
The comparisons noted above are interesting and useful to me. I really need to test drive some of these, and have downloaded the trial versions of Legacy and RootsMagic to do that evaluation.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
My Greatest Genealogy Find Ever
Craig Manson has a great post about his "Greatest Genealogy Find Ever" which talks about finding records for the mother of his Aunt Grace. In his post, Craig challenges others to describe their greatest genealogy find.
I want to describe two genealogy "finds" that have immensely benefited my research efforts.
1) The family papers collected over four generations about the Devier and Abigail (Vaux) Smith and Henry Austin and Della (Smith) Carringer families. These were passed down to me by my mother pretty much as they were left by Della in 1944. They include the family Bible pages for several families (with the only known records of birth, marriage and death dates); several letters to and from Abbie and Della from their extended family (one listed all of Della's cousins); Della's Journal for 1929; my grandfather's daily account books; Della's scrapbook and autograph book; many family photographs - framed, loose and pasted into books. My research would be very scanty on this family without all of this material.
2) The father of Isaac Buck (1757-1846) - I described some of this research in two posts titled "Isaac Buck in the Woodpile - Part I" and "Part II." I found the article in "Southborough MA Notifications," stating that Isaac and Ruth Buck had moved into the house of Joseph Richards in Southborough, just by chance - browsing at the library. Then I worked really hard to find the land record that proved that Isaac and Ruth (Graves) Buck had a son named Isaac Buck. I didn't prove that the son Isaac was the father of Isaac Buck (born 1757 to Mary Richards), but that is a lot more logical than the elder Isaac Buck fathering a child by a young woman. But it did affect the genealogy - it added Ruth Graves and her rich Lynn MA ancestry to my ancestral families.
Note that both of these "greatest finds" were obtained before the advent of online genealogy research and online databases. Even now, this information would not be found online except on my blog and web site.
I want to describe two genealogy "finds" that have immensely benefited my research efforts.
1) The family papers collected over four generations about the Devier and Abigail (Vaux) Smith and Henry Austin and Della (Smith) Carringer families. These were passed down to me by my mother pretty much as they were left by Della in 1944. They include the family Bible pages for several families (with the only known records of birth, marriage and death dates); several letters to and from Abbie and Della from their extended family (one listed all of Della's cousins); Della's Journal for 1929; my grandfather's daily account books; Della's scrapbook and autograph book; many family photographs - framed, loose and pasted into books. My research would be very scanty on this family without all of this material.
2) The father of Isaac Buck (1757-1846) - I described some of this research in two posts titled "Isaac Buck in the Woodpile - Part I" and "Part II." I found the article in "Southborough MA Notifications," stating that Isaac and Ruth Buck had moved into the house of Joseph Richards in Southborough, just by chance - browsing at the library. Then I worked really hard to find the land record that proved that Isaac and Ruth (Graves) Buck had a son named Isaac Buck. I didn't prove that the son Isaac was the father of Isaac Buck (born 1757 to Mary Richards), but that is a lot more logical than the elder Isaac Buck fathering a child by a young woman. But it did affect the genealogy - it added Ruth Graves and her rich Lynn MA ancestry to my ancestral families.
Note that both of these "greatest finds" were obtained before the advent of online genealogy research and online databases. Even now, this information would not be found online except on my blog and web site.
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