CGSSD Meeting on Saturday, 21 April on Computer Security

The April meeting of the Computer Genealogy Society of San Diego is this Saturday, 21 April from 9:00 a.m. to noon on the campus of UCSD, the University of California, San Diego. See the map page for directions.

The schedule is:

*  9:00 - User groups: Macintosh with Dona Ritchie, and Legacy with Reuben Marchant. No SIG this month.

*  10:00 - Break, refreshments.

*  10:20 - Announcements followed by program:

"Computer Security and Safety" by Daniel A. Libby, Director of Digital Forensics, Inc.

Daniel A. Libby, CFC, ACE, CHS-III is the founder and currently Director & Chief Examiner of Digital Forensics Group, a PROTEX International company.  He founded the company in 2000 after completing a career as a Cryptologist with the United States Naval Security Group.

 

We meet at the Robinson Auditorium complex on the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) campus in La Jolla. From North Torrey Pines Road, turn at Pangea Drive into UCSD. Free parking is available in the parking garage on the left; use any space other than those specifically reserved for UCSD vehicles. Signs will mark directions to our meeting room. Please refer to our website www.cgssd.org; or the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies website (click here) for driving directions and a map.

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 201: Christmas 1967

 I am posting photographs from my family collections for (Not So) Wordless Wednesday (you know me, I can't go wordless!).    

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

This picture was taken at Christmas, 1967 at the home of my grandparents at 825 Harbor view Place in San Diego.  

The persons in this photo are (from left):

*  Scott Seaver, my youngest brother
*  Betty Virginia (Carringer) Seaver, my mother
*  Lyle Lawrence Carringer (1891-1976), my grandfather
*  Emily Kemp (Auble) Carringer, my grandmother
*  Randy Seaver, moi (at age 24).

My guess is that my father took this picture with his Kodak Brownie camera.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/04/not-so-wordless-wednesday-post-201.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

FamilySearch Indexing Challenges - Post 2

I've been reviewing my FamilySearch Indexing successes and, um, challenges.  The good news is that I finally achieved 100% on a 1940 U.S. census batch - the one for Beverly Hills, California where the handwriting was very clear and the enumerator actually knew the place names.

Then I checked the previous batch that I indexed for Antelope township in Los Angeles County, and had these noted errors:

*  1935 Residence was enumerated as Trinidad, Los Amis, Colorado.  I looked up where Trinidad was, and it said Las Animas county in Colorado.  The arbitrator selected "Los A"  Not "Los Amis"  Oh well...two dings.

*  Surname looked like Pelater to me (quite blurry), the arbitrator selected Pelster.  One ding, perhaps correct.

*  Surname looked like O Dane to me, arbitrator selected ODane.  Two dings, perhaps correct.

*  1935 Residence was enumerated as Alamonte, Los Angeles, California.  I looked up "Alamonte" and there was none in Los Angeles County, so I indexed it as El Monte, which was in Los Angeles County.  The arbitrator selected Alamonte.  Two dings.

*  1935 Residence looked like R, Caddeu, Oklahoma.  I looked up Oklahoma counties and the only one starting with Cadd was Caddo, which is how I indexed it.  The arbitrator selected "unreadable."  Two dings.

An earlier batch had these errors:

*  Color or Race - the name was Nielsen...the field said "Indian."  I selected American Indian from the list, and the arbitrator selected Indian.  Oh well.

*  Line number - the line was blank, so I used Ctrl-Shift-B to mark the entire line blank as previously stated by veteran indexers and the project directions.  The arbitrator selected the line number, which is clearly wrong.  Four dings.

So, out of the 13 dings above, I think I was right on 10 of them.  But I guess I cheated by looking up the actual place names so that others won't have to do it later.

My arbitration results are up a bit - I'm at 97% for the whole time, and have an average of 98.6% for the 1940 Census batches (but it should be higher - right?).

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/04/familysearch-indexing-challenges-post-2.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

1940 U.S. Census Source Citation in RootsMagic 5 - Census Image Source Template

In 1940 U.S. Census Source Citation in RootsMagic 5 - Free-Form Template yesterday, I created a Free-form source citation for my grandfather's entry in the 1940 Census found on a digital image on Ancestry.com using RootsMagic 5.

I want to demonstrate the process used to create a Source citation for this record using a specific Census Source Template in RootsMagic 5.

1)  From Frederick Walton Seaver's "Edit Person" page, I clicked on the 1940 U.S. Census Fact and clicked on the "Sources" button (on the right, below the Fact entry fields), and then clicked on the "Add New Source" button (top left).  The list of Source Types opened, and I selected "Census, U.S. Federal (online images)" (this is the only one that fits the source that I'm using - the digital images on Ancestry.com): 

2)  After clicking "OK" the Source Template opened and I added information to the fields for the Source, including (my entries in ""):

*  Country = [blank]
*  Year and Type = "1940 United States Census"
*  Jurisdiction = Worcester County, Massachusetts"
*  Schedule = "Population Schedule"
*  Item Type = "Digital images"
*  Website = Ancestry.com"
*  URL = "http://www.ancestry.com"
*  Credit Line = "citing National Archives Microfilm Publication T627, Roll 1651".

I also added to the Citation Detail fields, including (my entries in ""):

*  Civil Division = "Leominster"
*  Enumeration District = "14-181"
*  Page ID = "Sheet 9-A"
*  Household ID = "Family #202"
*  Person of Interest = "Frederick Seaver household"
*  Access Type = "Accessed"
*  Access Date = "12 April 2012"

Having completed all of the fields, I clicked on "OK" and was asked to give this source a Master Source name.  I typed in "1940 U.S. Census - Worcester County, MA (Roll 1651) (Ancestry.com)":

4)  clicking on "OK" brought up the Source Summary:

The completed set of source citations as presented are (lower left-hand portion of the screen above):


Footnote: 
1940 United States Census, Worcester County, Massachusetts, population schedule, Leominster, enumeration district (ED) 14-181, Sheet 9-A, Family #202, Frederick Seaver household; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 April 2012); citing National Archives Microfilm Publication T627, Roll 1651.
Short Footnote: 
1940 United States Census, Worcester County, Massachusetts, Population Schedule, Leominster, ED 14-181, Sheet 9-A, Family #202, Frederick Seaver household.
Bibliography: 
Massachusetts. Worcester County. 1940 United States Census, population schedule. Digital Images. Ancestry.com. http://www.ancestry.com : 2012.
Repository:
Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com) (Provo, Utah, USA)

If you check Evidence! Explained, or the QuickSheet for Citing Ancestry.com Databases & Images, you can see that the above citations almost perfectly match the standard citation formats.  Compare the Short Footnote and Bibliography entries above with the ones I created using the Free-form source citations and you can see some differences (mainly because I have limited information in the Short Footnote field).  

One of the drawbacks in using the RootsMagic 5 Source Template for this specific source is that I need to create a source for every County and every Roll number in the County because that information goes into the Source field that is used for every Citation Detail.  If a researcher has only a few citations for this specific census year in their database, this is not much of a problem.  However, if a researcher has hundreds of Census citations for a specific year, this becomes a more challenging task.  That's one reason I'm using a Free-form source template rather than a specific Census source template.  The other reason is that a GEDCOM representation of the Source Template citation gets mangled when imported to other software programs and online family trees.

The time taken to create this citation was about the same as the free-form citation - about two minutes.

I did this same sort of exercise in:

*  Family Tree Maker 2012:  Creating a 1940 U.S. Census Source Citation in Family Tree Maker 2012

*  Legacy Family Tree 7.5:  1940 U.S. Census Source Citation with Legacy Family Tree 7.5

*  RootsMagic 5 (Free-form source): 1940 U.S. Census Source Citation in RootsMagic 5 - Free-Form Template

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/04/1940-us-census-source-citation-in_17.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Tuesday's Tip - SamPubCo has Probate Indexes and more

This week's Tuesday's Tip is:  Look on the SamPubCo website (www.sampubco.com) to find probate records for your ancestors, especially in New York!

David Samuelson is the proprietor of SamPubCo, and it is a business venture.  If you order something from the site, you will have to pay for it.  My understanding is that Mr. Samuelson has access to the LDS Family History Library microfilms and provides digital or paper copies of over 230,000 records for a fee.

The home page of the website looks like this:

There are links on the home page to Wills, Guardianships, Naturalizations, Letters of Administration, Letters Testamentary, Surrogate's Records/Probate Files, and Census.  For each category, there are links to the states available, and on the state pages there are links to the counties available.  Within a county, there are links to alphabetical lists of the records, along with the list of record volume numbers for the county.

If you see a record that you want, you write down the type of record, the state, the county, plus the volume and page number of the record.  You then fill out a text-based order form (either by hand or in a word processor) and submit it to SamPubCo (either by email or by snail mail - email is cheaper!).  You pay with either a credit card, PayPal or an echeck online, or a personal check if by mail.

I was interested in the KNAPP surname in Dutchess County, New York.  Here are the available Wills:

The available Surrogate's Records/Probate Files for Dutchess County were:

On the page with the Wills is a link for the list of volumes for Dutchess County (http://www.sampubco.com/wills/volumes/nydutchess.htm) which provides a list of the volume numbers and years:

The other record types have similar listings of record volumes.

SamPubCo seems to have concentrated on New York, and on Wills.  However, check all of the record types to determine if your ancestors of interest are available.  

The alternative for all researchers who want these records is to either travel to the State/County of interest and access the records in a County office, go to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and access the records on microfilm, order microfilms from the FHL at a local FamilySearch Center and read/copy them there, or to hire a local researcher to find and copy the records for you.  SamPubCo gives you a fairly cost effective option if your ancestor is listed in his files.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/04/tuesdays-tip-sampubco-has-probate.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Results from Ancestry.com Autosomal DNA Tests - Post 1

I swabbed my cheek, and submitted, the new Ancestry.com autosomal DNA test sample back in early January 2012.  Other, more knowledgeable geneabloggers have written about this test (e.g., see CeCe Moore's New Information on Ancestry.com's AncestryDNA Product, and Blaine Bettinger's A Review of AncestryDNA – Ancestry.com’s New Autosomal DNA Test).

I do want to share the results of the test, and the process  of finding possible genetic cousins.

Ancestry.com did not notify me by email that my results were available.  I've been checking my DNA button on the Ancestry.com site ever week or so, and today I saw that the results were in, and were available on 14 February (two months ago).  

When I clicked the DNA tab, this is what I saw:

The British Isles are highlighted on the map, and the pie chart graph says:

*  94% British Isles
*  6% Uncertain

I clicked on the green "See Full Results" button:

This page above also has the pie chart and the map, but has additional information below the fold.  One of the charts is:

The system wants me to link to an Ancestry Member Tree and identify myself in the tree.  So I clicked the "Add Your Family Tree" button and:

I selected my online tree with only my ancestral families back 12 generations, and the page asked me to identify myself in the tree.  I typed my name, but I got several "No results found" messages.  I noticed that after I typed my name, that a link with my name on it appeared for several seconds and then disappeared.  I managed to click on it (see above) before it disappeared and saw:

Okay, I'm in!  My Family Tree is linked to my DNA results.  

I am not surprised by the results.  I know, from my extensive research, that I had mostly British Isles ancestry (and fairly recent with two immigrant families in the 1840-1855 time frame from Wiltshire and Somerset). Of my 32 3rd great-grandparents, 18 have English colonial ancestry (56.25%), 5 were born in England (15.63%), 8 were of German heritage (25%), and one might have been French-Canadian (3.1%).  So 9 out of 32 (28.1% may be of Western European, but non-British Isles, ancestry).  I probably should look at the 64 4th great-grandparents also, but I have some blank spots in that generation.  

 I was a bit surprised by the 6% "Uncertain" percentage.  It may be that Ancestry.com does not have enough samples yet to identify my "other" DNA sources.  My guess is that they are for my German ancestry, much of which came to America in the 1710 to 1760 time frame.

We'll look at the matches next time after Ancestry.com has created a list of matching surnames for the close matches to my autosomal DNA.  

Disclosure:  Ancestry.com offered this test to me gratis, which I accepted.  This does not affect my objective evaluation of the website or the DNA test process and results.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/04/results-from-ancestrycom-autosomal-dna.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

1940 U.S. Census Source Citation in RootsMagic 5 - Free-Form Template

I described finding my grandfather, Frederick W. Seaver (1876-1942) in the 1940 U.S. Census in Treasure Chest Thursday - the Seaver 1940 Census Page.  I also summarized the information in the record, and wrote a source citation.

I want to add the information and the source citation to my genealogy management program, currently RootsMagic 5.  

Here is the process I used:

1)  On Frederick Walton Seaver's "Edit Person" page, I clicked the "Add a Fact" button and selected a "Census" Fact:

2)  The Fact type was added to the list, and I entered the Date (1 April 1940), the Place (Leominster, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States) and the Description (90 Main Street) to the data entry fields on the right of the screen:

3) The Fact event was added, and now I want to add a Source for the Fact.  With the 1940 Census Fact highlighted, I clicked on the "Sources" button (on the right, below the entry fields), and clicked on the "Add New Source" button (top left).  The list of Source Types opened, and I selected "Free-form source" (because I'm using Free-form source types for all of my sources.  There are many blog posts about this decision!):

4)  The Free-form source template opened.  This has fields for Footnote, Short footnote, Bibliography, and Source Details.  I typed only "1940 United States Census" in the Footnote box, and copied it to the Short Footnote and Bibliography fields.  I typed in the Citation Detail information (in this case, every but the title of the census).  Then I added some of that to the Bibliography field (because I needed the Ancestry information and the NARA information in the Bibliography).  Here's the completed Free-form source citation template form:

5)  I clicked OK, and the program asked me for a "Master Source" title for my new source - I typed "1940 U.S. Census (Ancestry):"  

6)  After adding information about the Repository (Ancestry.com) and the Quality (I chose Original, Derivative, Indirect), the completed Source citation screen looks like this:

The completed Free-form source citation information (in the lower left-hand panel of the screen:

Footnote: 
1940 United States Census, Worcester County, Massachusetts, population schedule, Leominster: Enumeration District 14-181, Sheet 9-A, Family #202, Frederick Seaver household; online images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 April 2012), citing National Archives Microfilm Publication T627, Roll 1651.
Short Footnote: 
1940 United States Census, Worcester County, Massachusetts, population schedule, Leominster: Enumeration District 14-181, Sheet 9-A, Family #202, Frederick Seaver household; online images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 April 2012), citing National Archives Microfilm Publication T627, Roll 1651.
Bibliography: 
1940 United States Census. Population schedule. Online images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), citing National Archives Microfilm Publication T627.
Repository:
Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com) (Provo, Utah, USA)

This is pretty much the same format that I've used for all of my source citations (tailored to the specific census year, of course).  After doing hundreds of them, I can type the different elements of the citation details from memory, needing only to refer to the Ancestry source citation screen for the details that I cannot immediately recall (or didn't write down).  I was able to complete this New source citation with the details in about two minutes of typing.  I am trying to do all of my census sources in Evidence! Explained format, using the Free-form census template.

Astute source citation observers will note that I am citing the source, and providing the detail from the digital repository, from which I obtained the source citation.  Since I viewed it on, and saved it from, Ancestry.com, I am citing the Ancestry.com website.  However, I am also citing the source for the data where Ancestry obtained it - the National Archives Microfilm Publication T627, plus the microfilm roll number (in the Ancestry.com URL for the specific census page), the place name, the Enumeration District, the Sheet number, the Family number, and the Head of household.  That way anyone reading this source citation should be able to find it if they needed to.  The NARA roll number, ED number, etc. are going to be the same for any digital repository that uses this same NARA microfilm set.

I did this same sort of exercise in:

*  Family Tree Maker 2012:  Creating a 1940 U.S. Census Source Citation in Family Tree Maker 2012

*  Legacy Family Tree 7.5:  1940 U.S. Census Source Citation with Legacy Family Tree 7.5

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/04/1940-us-census-source-citation-in.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Amanuensis Monday - Probate Records of Moses Barber (1652-1733) of South Kingstown, R.I.

Genea-blogger John Newmark (who writes the excellent TransylvanianDutch blog) started his own Monday blog theme many months ago called Amanuensis Monday. What does "amanuensis" mean? John offers this definition:

"A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another."

The subject today is the probate records of Moses Barber (ca 1652-1733) of South Kingstown, Rhode Island.    Moses married 1678 (1) Ann Babcock (ca 1660-ca 1690), and they had three children: William Barber (1680-1748); Sarah Barber (1682-1779); Moses Barber (1683-1758).  Moses married 1692 (2)  Susanna West (ca 1666-1756) in Kingstown, and they had 14 children:  Dinah Barber (1693-ca 1774); Lydia Barber (1694-before 1733); Samuel Barber (1695-1760); Susannah Barber (1697-1755); Thomas Barber (1699-1762); Joseph Barber (1701-1779); Martha Barber (1703-????); Ruth Barber (1705-1755); Benjamin Barber (1707-1792); Mercy Barber (1709-1790); Exekiel Barber (1711-after 1782); Abigail Barber (1713-????); Daniel Barber (1714-1805); and Anna Barber (1717-after 1800).

Moses Barber Sr.of South Kingstown wrote a will dated 29 March 1728, which was proved on 17 December 1733.  The will reads (transcribed by Randy Seaver from South Kingstown Probate and Town Council Records, Volume 2, pages 238-245, on FHL Microfilm 0.931,833, a clerk's copy):

"In The Name of God Amen the Twenty Ninth day of March 1728  I Moses Barber Sen-r of South Kingstown In the Colony of Rhod Island Yeoman being Aged and Weak In Body but of Perfect Mind and Memory thanks be Given unto God for it therefore Calling into mind the Mortallity of My body and Knowing that it is Appointed for all men once to Dye Do Make and Ordain this My Last Will & Testament that is to Say principally and First of all I Give and Recommend my soul Into the Hands of God that Gave it and my body to be burried In Decent Christian Burial at the Discrestion of My Executrix and Executor Hearafter Named Nothing Doubting but at the Generall Reasurrection I shall Receive the Same again by the Mighty Power of God & As Touching upon Such Worldly Estate Wherewith It hath Pleased God to bless me In this Life I Give Demise and Dispose of the same In the following manner and Form that is to say --

"Imprimus  After my Just Debts Funeral Charges and Legacies are Duly Discharged and paid by my Executrix andor Executor The use of the Rest of my Movable Estate I Give and bequeath to Susanah my Wife So Long as She Remains my Widow as also the use of my Homested farm and House with all the priviledges and profits therewith belonging and further my Will is that at the Decease of my wife Susannah that then all the Remaining part of my said Estate Shall be Equally Divided between the Daughters of my said Wife or their Children.

"Item  I Give unto my Son William Barber one shilling In token of my Love he having Recieved his portion already In Land.

"Item  I Give unto my Son Moses Barber one Shilling in Token of my Love to him He having Recieved his portion already In Land.

"Item  I Give unto my Son Samuel Barber one Shilling in token of My Love to him he Having Recieved his portion already In Land.

"Item  I Give unto my Son Thomas Barber one Shilling In token of my Love to him he having Recieved his portion already In Land.

"Item  I Give unto my Son Joseph Barber one Shilling In token of my Love to him he having Recieved his portion already In Land.

"Item  I Give unto my Son Benjamin Barber a Certain Tract or parcell of Land Scituate Lying and being In Westerly by Estimation one hundred and Forty Six Acres which I bought of Francis Colgrove to be to him my said Son Benjamin and to his heirs & Assigns Forever.

"Item  I Give unto my Son Ezekiel Barber twenty Acres of Land being the North West Corner of my Homstead Farm Bounded Westerly on the Pebignamscut Line & Easterly on Yancey's Pond  I allso Give to my Said son Ezekiel Barber Twenty Five Acres of Land on the South East Corner of My Homestead Farm be the Same more or less - Butted and bounded as followeth Begining at a Certain Rock by the Pond where the brook Runs out of the pond and to Extend Westward to a Large Oak Tree and heap of stones and so to Extend the Same Course to Samuel Barbers Land Southward on the Land of Robert Willcox and Eastward on the sd Brook and the brook is the bounds to the before Mentioned Rock and both the above mentioned percells of Land Which I give to my said Son Ezekiel Barber to him his heirs and assigns forever.  I allso give to my Said Son Ezekiel Barber one Loom and All my Weaving Utentials.

"Item  I Give unto my Son Daniel Barber all my Remainding part of my homstead Farm with all the housing Orchard and Fencing and all other to the same Belonging to him my said Son Daniel Barber and to his heirs and assigns forever.

"Item  I Give to my Youngest Daughter Ann Barber one Good feather Bead well Fixed and Twenty pounds In money to be paid to her when she Comes to the Age of Eighteen Years.

"Item  I Give to all my Daughters which are Married to Each of them Five Shillings In Token of My Love They Having Recieved their portion already.  also I Give to the heirs of my Daughter Lydia Mery Deceased Five shillings.  Lastly my Will Is and I Do hereby Order Constitue and Appoint my True and Loving Wife my Executrix As allso my Son Benjamin Barber my Executor & this my Last will and Testament and I Do hereby Utterly Disallow Revoke and disannul All and Every Other Former Testaments Wills Leagacies and Bequeaths and Executors by Me In any Ways Named Willed and Bequeathed Ratifying and Confirming this and No other to be my Last will and Testament  In Wittness Whereof I have hereunto set my hand and Seal this Day and Year above Written.
...................................................................... his
.......................................................... Moses  M  Barber  (seal)
..................................................................... mark
"Signed Sealed
published pronounced &
Declared by the said
Moses Barber as his Last
Will and Testament
In the Presence of us the Subscribers
Benjamin Potter
Josiah Shearman
Isaac Shelden"

"Isaac Shelden and Benjamin Potter Both appeared before the town Councill of South Kingstown this 17th Day of December 1733 and Did Declare upon Oath that they did see the above Moses Barber Sign Seal and Declare the above and foregoing to be his Last Will and Testament that at the same time he was In his perfect Mind and Memory and that they then In his presence signed as Wittnesses to the same allso att the same time saw Josiah Shearman Deceased sign as a wittness thereto in said Barbers presence.  This Will being proved as abovesd the Town Councill Doth Approve of the Same  Robert Hannah Councill clerk."

"A true inventory of all and singular the Goods, Chattels and Credits of Moses Barber of South Kingstown in Kings County and Colony of Rhoad Island Yeoman Late Deceased" was taken by Daniel Knowles and Isaac Shelden dated 13 December 1733.

Imprimus his Wearing apparrel and 10 yd of cloath          9--10--00
To Books and 8 Old Silver Spoons 10--00--00
To Money Due by Bonds 94--00--00
To Money Due by Benj-n Barber 5--00--00
To bills of Credit 9--00--00
To Neat Cattle and Sheep 68--00--00
To Some Cloath and Yarn 5--19--00
To a broad Cloath Mantle & Some bed lining                   2--05--00
To some flax yarn and Mohair 0--08--04
To horse kind and one Trunk 13--02--00
To Swine and Gese 8--07--00
To Cotton Woll & pillar Case and Combe Wool                2--17--00
To Woosted and Yarn 3--00--06
To Pork and Beef and Meet Ca?? 25--10--00
To Sheeps Wool and Tallow 2--04--09
To a Tub and Sum Fat & Two Earthen Potts & butter       1--17--00
To a Tub and Tab??s & two old Sudt? and Trillion??         3--15--00
To a Lining Wheel and 3 Bells & a brand Iron 2--00--00
To 1 Lome Some Stays and 2 Chest 4--10--00
To old Iron and woosted Cloath and Sheep Shears           2--05--00
To Shoe Making Tools and 1 Gimblet (?) & Sum bea??    1--05--00
To a Warming Pan & box Iron 1--00--00
To 1 Grind Stone and a hive of bees 2--00--00
To 1 Cart and Wheels & farming Utentials 15--16--00
To 3 pots and 3 Kettles & Other Iron things 8--03--00
To hay & Oats & Corn In the Cribb 2--10--00
To 1 Hetchel & some flax and a pitch fork 1--05--00
To 2 Old Wooling Wheels & five Tables 3--15--00
To feathers In a Barell and sive & Meal bag 3--06--00
To 3 feather Beads & furniture belonging to them 39--00--00
To 1 flock bead & furniture 9--10--00
To Two Chest 6 Chaces a Cradle and Candlestick            2--05--00
To Lumber and Turnups and Cabbidge In Cellar                1--00--00
To 2 Hogsheads & Sum Sider 1--00--00
To Lumber In the Kitchen and Kitchen Chamber                2--06--00
To puter and Earthen and Knife and fork 7--01--00
To a Razour and Beaswax and Two Hides                        1--15--00
To 2 Old Boxes and some salt 0--12--00
To 2 Steel Traps and a pair of Cards 1 Ax and 3 Rakes     2--00--00
==================================================
......................................................................................  452--19--10

The inventory was presented by Susannah Barber, widow and Executrix of Moses Barber of South Kingstown, deceased, and Benjamin Barber the son of the said Moses Barber, to the South Kingstown Town Council on 17 December 1733.  The personal inventory totalled 452 pounds, 19 shillings, 10 pence.

Moses Barber named his wife, eight sons and two daughters in his will.  Susanna (West) Barber died in 1756, and listed all of her living daughters in her will (see Amanuensis Monday - the will of Susannah (West) Barber (1666-1756)) - Ann Kinyon, Dinah Wilcocks, heirs of Lyda Mora [Mowry], Susannah Perry, Martha Parker, Ruth Bentley, and Mary [Mercy?] Tefft.

My ancestry is through the youngest child, Anna Barber who married Sylvester Kenyon.  

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/04/amanuensis-monday-probate-records-of_16.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Best of the Genea-Blogs - 8 to 14 April 2012

Hundreds of genealogy and family history bloggers write thousands of posts every week about their research, their families, and their interests. I appreciate each one of them and their efforts.

My criteria for "Best of ..." are pretty simple - I pick posts that advance knowledge about genealogy and family history, address current genealogy issues, provide personal family history, are funny or are poignant. I don't list posts destined for the genealogy carnivals, or other meme submissions (but I do include summaries of them), or my own posts.

Here are my picks for great reads from the genealogy blogs for this past week:

*  Assessing the reliability of a statement by Michael Hait on the Planting the Seeds blog.  Michael reviews the questions that need to be asked and answered in order to assess reliability.

*  Stay Focused on the Research You Start by Barry Ewell on Barry's Genealogy Blog.  Barry addresses the ideal here - does anybody really do this?

*  The Importance of Sources by Michael J. Leclerc on the Mocavo Genealogy Blog.   Excellent article, and advice, on the subject!

*  Living People in Your Family Tree by Aaron Orr on the Ancestry.com Blog.  Aaron explains how Ancestry.com determines if someone in your tree might be living or not.

*  Paper vs. Digital by James Tanner on the Genealogy's Star blog.  It's not an either-or choice, but there are good reasons to have digital resources.

* Using the Kindle Fire for Genealogy - Families and  Using the Kindle Fire for Genealogy - Ancestry by Julie Cahill Tarr on the GenBlog blog.  Julie is reviewing genealogy applications for the Kindle Fire.

*  Understanding Copyright vs. the Creative Commons by James Tanner on the TechTips blog.  James helps us understand these issues.

*  The First Ten Things You Learn About Genealogy by Diane Boumenot on the One Rhode Island Family blog.   Nice list!  Maybe #11 should be "It's Not all on the Internet!"

Several genea-bloggers wrote weekly pick posts and news summary posts this week, including: 

*  Monday Morning Mentions by Lynn Palermo on The Armchair Genealogist blog.

*  Ruth's Recommendations by Ruth Blair on The Passionate Genealogist blog.

*  Friday Finds - 04/13/12 by Julie Cahill Tarr on the GenBlog blog.

*  Notable Genealogy Blog Posts, 15 April 2012 by Michael Hait on the Planting the Seeds blog.

*  Fab Finds for You - 15 April 2012 by Lisa Frank on the 1 Ancestry 2 Little Time blog.

I encourage readers to go to the blogs listed above and read their articles, and add their blogs to your Favorites, Google Reader, RSS feed or email if you like what you read. Please make a comment to them also - all bloggers appreciate feedback on what they write.

Did I miss a great genealogy blog post? Tell me! I am currently reading posts from over 1200 genealogy bloggers using Google Reader, but I still miss quite a few it seems.

Read past Best of the Genea-Blogs posts here.

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/04/best-of-genea-blogs-8-to-14-april-2012.html

Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012.

Genea-Musings is 6 Today!!

Today is the 6th Blogiversary of Genea-Musings.

It seems like just yesterday that I started my Randy's Musings blog - here is the first post on 15 April 2006. I explained the name change to Genea-Musings in my first anniversary post on 15 April 2007. In my two-year anniversary post, I showed a screen shot of the early blog page and showed a graph of my traffic in the past year. In my three-year anniversary post, I wrote about the past and the future of Genea-Musings.  For my fourth year post, and my fifth year post, I noted that not much had changed from the year before.

There have been some changes in the past year - readership is up significantly, and the number of posts went up slightly. The content has not changed much - in the last three years I have posted more  personal family history research and used the daily blogging memes more (except for this month when the 1940 U.S. Census was released!). 

My genealogy time budget has changed a bit too - with more time devoted to blogging and speaking/teaching rather than research (e.g., I have not been to the Family History Center so far this year, but did have a day at the Family History Library).  I've done much more work in my genealogy database this past year trying to add more dates, places and sources to persons already in my database

After six years of Randy's Musings and Genea-Musings, this is post number 5,804. Over 2,192 days, that averages out to be 2.65 posts per day. In the past year, I've written 1063 posts, or 2.90 posts per day (those are slightly higher than the fifth year). I think that the most over the six years was 8 posts in one day and I've had days with zero posts (usually when on vacation).

My readership has increased each year. Since I started this blog, I have had over 815,640 unique visitors (these include multiple visits per day by the same reader) and over 1,325,500 page views over six years, and over 439,000 page views and over 263,000 unique visitors in the past year. Those numbers are significantly higher than last year, which (I hope) reflects the increasing use of blog readers and RSS feeds.

My StatCounter statistics indicate that this blog currently has about 920 unique visitors a day, with an average of about 1,560 page views.  I also use Google Stats to look at statistics, and the page view numbers are a bit higher for some reason (about 2,040).  

In addition, about 990 subscribe via email using Feedburner, and about 1280 via Google Reader.  I don't have a count for other feeds, blog readers and Facebook readers. If I had to guess, I would say that about 3,000 persons read Genea-Musings on an average day. A significant number of the readers (probably over 50%) on the actual website come via a search engine - you wouldn't believe what some of the search parameters are!

This StatCounter traffic chart for the last year (15 April 2011 to 14 April 2012) shows Page Loads (green), Unique Visitors (blue), and Returning Visitors (orange). 

The blank spot in early February was when I changed my template and temporarily lost the StatCounter widget.  The big day in early April was the day the 1940 Census was released - my SiteMeter count was 1918 visits and 3114 page views. 


This is a traffic chart for the last six years (since July 2006 when I subscribed to StatCounter) in terms of Page Loads (green), Unique Visitors (blue), and Returning Visitors (orange).

Please permit me to genea-muse for a bit here:

I really appreciate the Genea-bloggers community and all of my Genea-Musings readers. Without all of you, we would not have as much genealogy information (news, research experiences, family history, photographs, etc.) online. Blogging and then social networking, has brought democratization to the world of genealogy writing - anybody can do it (and many do it very well) and the genealogy community has more information faster than it ever has had before.

The genea-blogger community is overwhelmingly friendly and supportive of each other and their readers.  There is very little overt competition, back-biting or flame wars.  This reflects the genealogy community as a whole, I believe - almost everyone believes in and works at collaborating with, educating and helping others - from the most famous (e.g., the genea-rock stars like Elizabeth Mills, Tom Jones, Megan Smolenyak, etc.) to the beginners (new society members, blog readers, etc.).  

The genea-bloggers community as a whole has also garnered the respect of the genealogy industry - the database companies, the software companies, website owners, and genealogical societies.  They understand that genealogy blogs are a significant way to announce and publicize their products or services, and to create genea-buzz at conferences.  This could not happen without the commitment of genea-bloggers to objectivity and collaboration.  Not to mention time and energy and lifelong learning.

I'm really proud to be a member of the genea-blogger community and to enjoy the camaraderie online and in person.  At a genealogy conference or seminar, genea-bloggers tend to flock together - it's an instant brother/sisterhood - many of us read each other's blogs and "know" each other's life and blogging experiences.  

Last year, I saluted four individuals that really started this genea-blogging explosion and have been doing it longer than almost everyone else - Dick Eastman, Pat Richley-Erickson, Leland Meitzler and Kimberly Powell.  They continue to provide excellent examples of professional genealogical blogging and I am ecstatic to know them and appreciate them.

This year, I want to salute four genea-bloggers who have contributed so much to bring geneablogging into the limelight over the past years:


*  Thomas MacEntee (Geneabloggers, other blogs), who has organized the genealogy blogging community, and has become the face of genealogy blogging and has created a genealogy business by promoting and using social media.


*  James Tanner (Genealogy's Star blog, FamilySearch TechTips contributor) who is the most prolific of the geneabloggers in terms of original and thoughtful content.


*  Lorine McGinnis Shulze (Olive Tree Genealogy Blog), who has been blogging daily about her genealogy research and family life daily for years, and has a tremendous website to boot!


*  The Ancestry Insider (The Ancestry Insider blog), who offers insightful commentary and news from both FamilySearch and Ancestry.com.


I greatly appreciate the efforts of these people, and they are on my must-read list every day.  There are many, many more geneabloggers on my must-read list every day - I'll try to mention more of them next year.


So - what to blog about today? It's Sunday, so time for Best of the Genea-Blogs!  Life is good in the genea-cave, and it's even better when family history is made with the grandchildren or when we are on vacation (we're going cruising in three weeks!). 


Lastly, thank you to my faithful readers.  I do this to help the genealogy community pursue their hobb obsession, and to document my own family history.  I appreciate your feedback to my posts and learn a lot from the collected wisdom and experience of my readers.  


Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver