Still Remembering 9/11 and looking ahead

Thomas MacEntee has encouraged geneabloggers to post their memories and thoughts about 11 September 2001, so here is mine:

I wrote Remembering 9/11 - and looking ahead three years ago, and reading it this morning I wouldn't change a word of what I wrote, so I won't waste bandwidth regurgitating it here.

The situation really hasn't changed much since 2007. The USA is leaving Iraq, but Iraq is not yet a viable country. The USA military performed extremely well in Iraq given the political constraints placed on them by the media and Congress. War is hell, and you cannot expect a perfect war. The war in Afghanistan continues, and will end only when one side wins decisively, or the country is partitioned. A loss in Afghanistan emboldens the Islamists everywhere. Iran and Syria are still threatening Israel, and by extension, the USA. The USA still depends on Mideast oil, and needs to develop alternative energy sources - natural gas, nuclear and solar.

We have had pinprick attacks on the homeland, and thankfully some of them have failed. Only some of them were prevented - we need to do a better job of Homeland Security. There will be more attempts and attacks until we have better control of our borders and ports, and account for all of our residents. There may be a massive attack on the USA once Iran and other bad actors have missiles that can deliver atomic or EMP weapons to the homeland. Only a fool would cut back on ballistic missile and cyder-attack defense measures. I fear that we have fools running the country. Non illegitmus carborundum.

That's enough philosophizing - you know where I'm coming from. Let the slings loose the arrows...oh wait, that's so 16th century, eh?

Surname Saturday - PALMER (Somerset, England)

It's Surname Saturday, and I'm "counting down" my Ancestral Name List each week. I am up to number 105 - who is the unknown paternal grandmother of Devier J. Lamphier Smith; next on the list is number 107, who is the unknown maternal grandmother of Devier J. Lamphier Smith; next on the list is #109 - Mary Palmer (ca 1788 - ca 1840), one of my 4th-great-grandparents.

My ancestral line back through one generation of PALMER families is:

1. Randall J. Seaver

2. Frederick Walton Seaver (1911-1983)
3. Betty Virginia Carringer (1919-2002)

6. Lyle Lawrence Carringer (1891-1976)
7. Emily Kemp Auble (1899-1977)

12. Henry Austin Carringer (1853-1946)
13. Abbie Ardell "Della" Smith (1862-1944)

26. Devier J. Smith (1839-1894)
27. Abigail Vaux (1844-1931)

54. Samuel Vaux (1816- after 1880)
55. Mary Ann Underhill (1815 - after 1880)

108. James Vaux, born before 20 December 1787 in South Petherton, Somerset, ENGLAND; died before 23 July 1839 in South Petherton, Somerset, ENGLAND. He was the son of 216. John Vaux and 217. Joan Laver. He married 13 December 1808 in Martock, Somerset, ENGLAND.
109. Mary Palmer, born about 1788 in probably Martock, Somerset, ENGLAND; died after 1840 in Aurora, Erie County, NY, USA.

Children of James Vaux and Mary Palmer are:
i. John Palmer Vaux, born befpre 15 July 1810 in Martock, Somerset, ENGLAND; died 06 June 1874 in Aurora, Erie, NY; married (1) Angeline King about 23 April 1833 in Aurora, Erie, NY; born 1813 in New York, USA; died 07 August 1852 in Aurora, Erie, NY; married (2) Alfreda A. Conklin after 1852 in Prob. Aurora, Erie, PA; born about 1812 in NY; died 27 December 1887 in Aurora, Erie, NY.
ii. James Edward Vaux, born before 28 February 1812 in Martock, Somerset, ENGLAND; died 30 November 1871 in Bedford, Taylor County, IA; married Harriet Taylor 31 March 1834 in East Coker, Somerset, ENGLAND; born before 23 April 1814 in West Coker, Somerset, ENGLAND; died 21 January 1870 in Bedford, Taylor County, IA.
iii. Anne Vaux, born before 07 July 1814 in South Petherton, Somerset, ENGLAND; married John Taylor 12 August 1835 in Aurora, Erie, NY; born in NY; died after 1870 in probably Waupun, Fond du Lac, WI.
iv. Samuel Vaux, born before 11 February 1816 in South Petherton, Somerset, ENGLAND; died after 1880 in probably Marshall County, KS; married Mary Ann Underhill before 1839 in Aurora, Erie County, NY.
v. William Vaux, born before 25 May 1819 in South Petherton, Somerset, ENGLAND.
vi. George Vaux, born before 07 July 1820 in South Petherton, Somerset, ENGLAND; died before 1880 in probably Pepin County, Wisconsin; married Elizabeth Jarrett 11 February 1841 in Buffalo, Erie County, NY; born about 1824 in ENGLAND.
vii. Josiah Vaux, born before 01 October 1822 in South Petherton, Somerset, ENGLAND; died in WI; married (1) Emilia; born about 1846 in PRUSSIA; married (2) Mary Ann Fiske 28 August 1852 in Aurora, Erie County, NY; born about 1832 in NY; died 1857 in Waupun, Dodge County, WI.
viii. Joseph Vaux, born before 01 October 1823 in South Petherton, Somerset, ENGLAND.
ix. Cyrus Vaux, born 1825 in South Petherton, Somerset, ENGLAND.
x. Mary Vaux, born before 22 February 1826 in South Petherton, Somerset, ENGLAND; died 1828 in Somerset, ENGLAND.
xi. Ernest Vaux, born 30 January 1831 in South Petherton, Somerset, ENGLAND; died 25 March 1916 in Faribault, Rice County, MN; married (1) Jane Nash before 07 December 1858 in Prob. Faribault, Rice, MN; born about 1840; died 07 December 1858 in Faribault, Rice, MN; married (2) Caroline Anderson Johnson 14 January 1862 in Sargeant, MN; born 26 October 1844 in Marion, IN; died 25 April 1907 in Faribault, Rice County, MN.

I have done no original research in Somerset. My hope is to visit South Petherton and vicinity on our next trip to England and to meet some of my Vaux and Palmer cousins.

A team of Vaux researchers have worked through the Somerset parish records over many years trying to find the parents of Mary Palmer, because she is the mother of several Vaux immigrants to the United States. They have not had success in finding the parents of Mary Palmer (unless they've been found very recently, and word hasn't reached me yet).

If there are Palmer family researchers in Somerset with more information about Mary's ancestry, the descendants of Mary Palmer would love to know about it!

What's coming from the Ancestry.com World Archives Project?

Ancestry.com has an active indexing project running called the Ancestry.com World Archives Project. Many volunteers are indexing records from datasets imaged by Ancestry.com at archives and repositories, and by volunteers at genealogical and historical societies.

The Dashboard for the World Archives Project is updated periodically. It lists databases in four categories:

* Available Projects - The "Available" project list means that a project is available for download for keying or arbitration.

* Not Available Projects - The "Unavailable" project list contains projects that aren’t available for keying or arbitration because all of the image sets have been checked out. Projects on this list may re-appear on the Available list as image sets are rejected or expire without being keyed.

* In Processing Projects - contains projects that have completed keying and arbitration by the community. These projects are now being worked on by the Ancestry team to prepare the indexes and images to go live on the site as searchable, indexed databases.

* Live Projects -- The "Live" project list contains links to all projects keyed by the World Archives contributors that are live and searchable on the site.

The important one for researchers anxious for new databases is the In Processing list of projects. The ones on the list today include:

* Australia Historical Postcards
* California Biographical Collection - Burial Records
* California Library Motion Picture Studio Directories
* California, San Diego County Burial Permits, 1913-1919
* California, San Diego Mortuary Records, 1914-1921
* Canada Historical Postcards (Les Cartes Postales du Canada )
* Cartoline storiche d'Italia (Italy Historical Postcards)
* Chalmers' Biographical Dictionary
* Fife, Scotland, Voters Lists, 1832-1894
* Gamla vykort å Sverige (Sweden Historical Postcards)


* Historic Postcards - US (Batch 5)
* Historic Postcards - US (Batch 6)
* London, England, Land Tax Valuations, 1910
* Lorain County, Ohio, City Directories, 1903-1960
* Lübeck Volkszählung 1845 (Lübeck Census 1845)
* Lübeck Volkszählung 1851 (Lübeck Census 1851)
* Lübeck Volkszählung 1857 (Lübeck Census 1857)
* Michigan Passenger and Crew Lists, 1902-1954
* New South Wales, Australia, Depasturing Licences, 1837-1851
* New South Wales, Australia, Entrance Books for the Vernon and the Sobraon, 1867-1911

* Ohio State Directories, 1902-1933
* Österreichische Historische Postkarten (Austria Historical Postcards)
* Slave Ads and Abstracts from a Natchez, MS newspaper, 1823-1849
* Slave Manifests Filed at New Orleans, Louisiana, 1807-1860
* Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves, 1936-1938
* Tarjetas Postales Antiguas de Mexico (Mexico Historical Postcards)
* Testing - 31054TST
* TESTING Indentures of Apprenticeship, DC, 1801-1811
* TESTING Jacksonville, Florida Area City Directories
* TESTING Pennsylvania, U.S. Naturalization Records - Original Documents, 1795-1972


* U.S. Naturalization Originals - MD and VA, 1906-1930
* UK, Prison Hulk Registers and Letter Books, 1802-1849
* United Kingdom & Ireland Historical Postcards
* Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, Piemonte, Italia: Registri di Matrimonio e Morte, 1866-1937 (Italy: Marriage and Death Records)

The links for these databases go to an Ancestry.com Wiki page describing the dataset being indexed and available for searching.

Keeping track of the databases that are on these lists can help researchers determine what may be coming in future weeks or months on Ancestry.com. Of course, these projects don't reflect databases that are being imaged and indexed by Ancestry.com with paid employees or archivists.

New "Digging for Answers" Column in Graveyard Rabbit Online Journal

The Graveyard Rabbit Online Journal has my latest "Digging for Answers" column posted. The question asked by Jeffrey was:

"My local genealogical society wants to do more than a "walk the gravestones and transcribe and index them" survey of our local cemetery. How could we make a really wonderful cemetery book and/or web page that would honor our ancestors buried there and also be a service to our members, local visitors and the genealogical community?"

See the column for my answer.

The latest issue of the Graveyard Rabbit Online Journal has these entries:

* Digging For Answers by Randy Seaver


* A Rabbit's Review by LisaMary Wichowski "The American Resting Place: Four Hundred Years of History Through Our Cemeteries and Burial Grounds"

* The International Rabbit "People's Cemetery" by Janet Iles

* A Rabbit's Tale 8/19/2010 "Developing a Cemetery Walk" by Sandy Peavey


* Photo Monument 8/12/2010 "What Do You Want On Your Tombstone?" by Gale Wall

* Tech T.I.P. 8/5/2010 "The HTML Revolution" by Denise Barrett Olson


* History Hare Has Pneumonia by footnoteMaven

* Graveyard Guru 7/22/2010 "The Burial Mound of the Mississippians" by Stephanie Lincecum

Gale Wall edits and posts the Graveyard Rabbit Online Journal and is looking for more columnists for 2011. Contact her at digitalcemeterywalk@gmail.com.

Jane's Birth Record, and more...

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I posted I Found Rachel in the 1852 California Census yesterday, and noted that I now knew where in Australia that Jane Whittle (1847-1921), my wife's great-grandmother, was born. The 1852 California State Census included children Elizabeth (age 13), Joseph (age 9) and Jane (age 5) were in San Francisco with their mother Rachel Wadle (age 32).

From Jane's death certificate, I "knew" that her parents were Joseph and Rachel (Moore) Whittle, both born in England, and who came to San Francisco in about 1850 from Australia, so this is the right family in the 1852 Census.

Reader Rod Van Cooten kindly offered the website http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/Index/IndexingOrder.cgi/search?event=births (the New South Wales Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages) to check for the Births in New South Wales.

I did check - here is the Births page, where I put in Last Name = Whittle and years 1838 to 1850:




And here are the results:

There is Jane Whittle's birth entry in 1847, Registration number V1847523 32A/1847. And her brother Joseph Whittle's entry as Registration Number V18432393 27A/1843. The mother's name is Rachael (or Rachal) and the father's name is Alexander.

Huh? Alexander? That is a new name for me. The only information we had about Jane Whittle's father's name was from Jane (Whittle) McKnew's death certificate - and that said "Joseph Whittle."

Not only that, but the New South Wales Birth Register reveals three other children of Alexander and Rachel Whittle - William in 1842, John in 1845, and Margaret in 1849. So now I know that there were at least six children born to Alexander and Rachel Whittle. What about Deaths? The NSW Death Index lists infant William A. Whittle in 1842, so that accounts for him. Since John and Margaret are not in the 1852 California Census with their mother, it seems that they likely died in Australia, on the trip to the USA, or in California before the 1852 Census.

This is actually good news for me - I haven't found much on the elder Joseph Whittle in California, but now I know that I've been looking for the wrong Whittle. I don't know for sure if Alexander Whittle came with his family to California, or if he died in Australia or on the voyage to California. He is not in the NSW Death Index. In the England Parish Register and Civil Registration databases, I haven't found a marriage of Joseph and Rachel, I'll have to look for alexander and Rachel.. Of course, the FreeReg Indexes and the LDS IGI don't have records from every parish.

Following the "Buy Now" link on the Birth Index page indicates that I could purchase a copy of Jane Whittle's birth certificate for $29 (Australian).

My thanks to Rod Van Cooten for guiding me to the NSW BMD page. Obtaining help like this from readers and other genea-bloggers is one of the very best examples of the real value of blogging about genealogy.

I Found Rachel in the 1852 California Census

Like many of my fellow genealogists, I regularly check the Ancestry.com list of Recently Posted and Updated Databases (hmm, you do check this regularly, right?). I did this morning.

One new database was added yesterday - the 1852 California State Census. So I got to thinking "who in my ancestry was in California in 1852?" Nobody... but wait, Linda's great-grandmother Jane (Whittle) McKnew was age 5 and in San Francisco then. All I know about Jane is that she was born in Australia in 1947 to parents Joseph Whittle and Rachel Moore, both born in England; this information was from Jane's 1921 death certificate, so the information is secondary and suspect.

Let's see if we can find her in the 1852 California Census. I knew that Jane's mother was Rachel Whittle, and figured that Rachel was a less common given name than Jane, so I looked for:

* First Name = rac*; Last Name = whi*; Birthplace = England

* First Name = rac*; Last Name = blank; Birthplace = England; Residence = San Francisco County

Bingo - Rachel Wadle! Here's the page:

The information for this family includes:

* Name = Rachel Wadle, Age = 32, Birthplace = England, Last Residence = Manchester (?)
* Name = Eliz Wadle, Age = 13, Birthplace = England, Last Residence = Manchester
* Name = Jos Wadle, Age = 9, Birthplace = NSW
* Name = Jane Wadle, Age = 5, Birthplace = NSW

Rachel's husband and father of her children, Joseph Whittle, is not found on this census in any California County. I wonder if he was out to sea, or missed up in the gold fields?

There is so much useful information contained in this census record that provides leads to the identity of Joseph and Rachel (Moore) Whittle. Here is what I've thought of so far:

* Rachel was born about 1820, so her baptism may be in an English parish register entry (and may be in the LDS IGI) for her.

* Elizabeth Whittle (a new person for me!) was born about 1839 in England, so there may be an English parish register entry and an English Civil Registration record for her.

* Joseph Whittle was born about 1843 in New South Wales, which means Joseph and Rachel may have migrated there from England in the 1840 to 1843 time frame. That narrows the search. There may be a birth record for Joseph Whittle in Australia.

* Jane Whittle was born about 1847 in New South Wales, which matches her death certificate information. There may be a birth record for Jane Whittle in Australia.

* The last residence for Rachel and Elizabeth is Manchester. Is that Manchester in Lancashire in England, or is there a Manchester in Australia? Did Joseph Whittle take, or send, his family from Australia back to England after Jane's birth?

* The marriage of Joseph Whittle and Rahel Moore probably occurred in the 1837 to 1839 time period in England. There may be an English Parish Register entry and an English civil Registration marriage record for them that might provide more information about their birth dates, birth places and parents.

* There may be an 1841 English Census record for the family if they are still living in England. If so, that would narrow the date for migration to Australia a bit further. If not, it may indicate that the migrated before 1841.

The Source Citation for this page is (created by Ancestry.com): "California State Library; Sacramento, California; 1852 California State Census; Roll #: 4; Repository Collection #: C144:4; Page: 524; Line: 7.
Source Information: Ancestry.com. California State Census, 1852 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Original data: California State Census of 1952. (microfilm, M/F 144, 6 rolls). Sacramento, California: California State Library)."

The source citation above is not Evidence Explained! style, but it has most of the elements. For my own practice, here is an Evidence Explained! style source citation:

"1852 California State Census, San Francisco County, California, Page 524 [penned, upper right-hand corner], line 7. Rachel Wadle: digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 September 2010), citing California State Library microfilm M/F 144, roll 4."

I wanted a print of this, so I clicked on Print and chose the Enhanced Custom Print option, shown below:

I printed this off for the records. The Source citation says only:

"Source Information: Ancestry.com Database: California State Census, 1852."

I'm speechless. How hard is it to add all of the source citation information already attached to the page image and in the system? Yeah, it would take more space, but it would be a good benefit for researchers who have to carefully write out all of the pertinent information on the printed page in order to have a useful source citation.

My guess is that this is the same citation that would appear in my Ancestry Member Tree if I attached it to these persons in my tree.

As in several other census databases, if the user selects "San Francisco, San Francisco County, California" from the Location dropdown menu, you get NO MATCHES. You get matches if you select "San Francisco County, California." User, beware!

Treasure Chest Thursday - Isaac Seaver's Will

It's Treasure Chest Thursday - time to share a document or artifact that pertains to my family history.

Today's document is the will of Isaac Seaver (1823-1901), my second great-grandfather. He wrote it on 28 February 1901, died on 12 March 1901, and it was proved on 22 March 1901. It was included in Worcester County (MA) Probate Records, Probate Packet B-27905, accessed at the Worcester County Courthouse in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1991.

I will include a transcription of this will, and the rest of the probate packet, on Amanuensis Monday next week.

Update on Census Records on FamilySearch

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I summarized the status of United States Federal census records on the FamilySearch Record Search Pilot site back in June in U.S. Census Records on FamilySearch.org .

One of my complaints, at the time, with the census records on the Pilot site was about those that did not have images (1880, 1910 and 1920). The results of a search provided information about the person, but not about the household that the person was a member of, nor about the households on the same census page.

With the addition of all of the Record Search Pilot databases to the Family Search Beta site, at least part of the problem has been addressed and remedied.

When you go to the FamilySearch Beta site, and click on the "All Collections" link in the menu, you go to the list of available databases. Here is a screen shot for all of the U.S. Census databases currently available, along with the number of records in each database:




I clicked on the 1880 Census and searched for one of my Carringer's, and saw:




Below the information indexed for the person is a list of the individuals in the household on the census page. The name, relationship to the head, gender and age are listed of each household member are listed. The names of the other household members are active - you can click on them and see the indexed information for that person.

The 1900 U.S. Census record looks like this:



The name, relationship and gender, but not the age, of household members are provided, and the names are clickable.

For the 1910 census, a person's page looks like this:




The household information includes name, relationship, gender and age.

For the 1920 U.S. Census, the person page looks like this:

Again, the household members are listed, with name, relationship, gender and age.

The addition of the Household information is a significant improvement over the previous information and capability for these databases. Of course, they are not perfect yet (perfect would be indexing more fields, with images available, and the ability to navigate to other pages in the census), but at least these databases are now more useful.

San Diego Genealogical Society Meeting on Saturday, 11 September

The September meeting of the San Diego Genealogical Society (SDGS) is on 11 September at the St. Andrews Lutheran Church (8350 Lake Murray Blvd, at Jackson Drive) in the San Carlos area of San Diego, starting at 10 a.m.

The day's schedule includes:

10 a.m. - Roots Magic User Group
10 a.m. - Basic Genealogy Class - Vital Records

12 noon - Announcements, and one of the programs

1 p.m. - refreshment break

1:15 p.m. - Announcements, drawings, and the second program.

There are two program speakers for this meeting:

1) Peggy Rossi - "I Wish I Had Asked..."

Every genealogist says this at one time or another. We wish we had asked questions and preserved the memories of family members no longer with us. Ordinary lives hold extraordinary memories. Creating an oral history is not difficult if you follow a few simple steps.

This presentation will discuss how to prepare for and conduct an oral history interview and evaluate options for what type of preservation is right for your needs and skills.

2) Everett Ireland - "Courthouse Records"

The information contained in the files of thousands of courthouses and county repositories throughout the United States are the mainstays of genealogical research. We rely on the information our ancestors left behind in their daily life in the community in which they lived. These records are the more common ones we all use - probate/wills, civil actions, assessments, tax, voting, land records, and vital records. In addition, there are town and municipal court records, and them ore modern records such as building permits, animal licenses, and traffic court records.

This lecture will provide information on finding aids for some of the more unusual courthouse records as well as how to track down and interpret earlier 18th and 19th century records.

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 119: Cousins near the Bush

I'm posting family photographs from my collection on Wednesdays, but they won't be Wordless Wednesday posts like others do - I simply am incapable of having a wordless post.

I have scanned hundreds of family photographs over the past few years, and have converted the scanned TIF files to smaller JPGs, cropped and rotated as best I can.

Here is a photograph from the Carringer family collection handed down by my mother in the 1988 to 2002 time period:

I believe that this picture was taken in the 1915 to 1920 time frame in or near San Diego, California. It may be in the garden of Austin and Della Carringer, but I don't have other photos that show this large bush or tree and the buildings in the background. Likewise, I don't know enough about horticulture to identify the large bush (I think) that dominates this picture.

The persons in the photograph are known:

* On the left is Della (Smith) Carringer (1862-1944), wife of Henry Austin Carringer and mother of my grandfather, Lyle Lawrence Carringer

* In the middle is Abigail A. (Vaux) Smith (1844-1931), mother of Della (Smith) Carringer

* On the right is Hattie (Vaux) Loucks (1849-1924), a first cousin to Abigail (Vaux) Smith, and wife of Matthias Loucks. Hattie visited the Smith/Carringer family in San Diego quite often.