Genea-blogger John Newmark (who writes the excellent TransylvanianDutch blog) started his own Monday blog theme several years 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 for Matthew Wing (1674-1724) of Dartmouth, Bristol County, Massachusetts. Matthew married Elizabeth (Mott) Ricketson (1659-1724) in 1694 as her second husband, and they had three children: Joseph Wing (1697-1778); Benjamin Wing (1698-1774); and Abigail Wing (1701-1792).
Matthew Wing died testate, having written a will on 8 January 1723, which was proved in the Bristol County Probate Court on 22 July 1724, recorded on 8 August 1724. The will reads (transcribed from the clerk's copy book of Bristol County [Massachusetts] Probate Court, Volume 4, Pages 332-334, on FHL Microfilm 0,461,882):
"January the Eaight Day In the year of our Lord one thousand Seven Hundred & Twenty three. I Mathew wing of Dartmouth In the County of Bristoll In New England - Being weake of Body but of Perfect mind & memory Thanks Be Given unto God therefore Calling to mind the mortality of my Body and Knowing that it is Appointed for all men once to Dye, do make and ordaine this my Last will and Testament, That is to say Principally and first of all I Give and Recommend my Soule into the hands of God that Gave it and my Body I Recomend to the Earth To be Buried In Decent & Christian manner att the Discrestion of my Executors, and as Touching Such Worldly Estate wherewith it hath Pleased God To Bless me in this Life. I Give Demise & Dispose of the Same in the following manner and form -- and my will is that all my Debts and Legacies be paid out of my Estate.
"Imp. I Give Elizebeth my Dearly Beloved wife the Improvement of all my home stead, and the Best Roome in my house Dureing the Time of her Life, and that my Two Sons Shall Find her fire wood Brought to her Dore Dureing the Time of her Life - also I do Give to my wife Two Cowes to be att her Dispose and also the Improvement of all my house hould Goods Dureing her Life.
"Item. I Give my son Joseph his heires & assignes all my Land that was Recompence Kirby, Excepting one acre Together with all my Adition Lands that Lieth att the East End of it all, So Two Acres of Land Lying to the Southwest of the Houses I now Live in and is Bounded as Followeth Begining att a Stake Standing a Little to the west of an orchard and in the Line of his Land, thence South Thirty Degrees and halfe East Ten Rods to a Stake thence East Thirty Degrees and a half, North thirty Two Rods to a Stake thence North Thirty Degrees west Ten Rods, to a Stake, thence on a Straite Line to the first Bound also the meadow That Lieth att the foot of his Land by the River Together with the Housing Standing on Said Land also the Bush pointe flatt also the meadow that was Timothey Rickitsons, Lying on the Sedge flates also half an acre Lying on the Berring Rocks flat also one acre and half of Cedar Swamp Lying over the Rode, by Comminans Pond, and also the Privilidge of Parte of the Spring that is in my homesteed also the one halfe of my Cedar Swamp ajoyning to that Land I Bought of Landers.
"Item. I Give to my Son Benjamin his heirs and assignes all that parte of my homesteed that was Timothey Ricketson Deceased and the housing Standing upon Said Land, Together with all my addition Land ajoyning to the East End of it also one acre of Land To the Northward of my orchard Beginning in the South Line of that Land that I bought of Kerbee, and on the East side of my orchard aforsaid by a Stone wall thence North forty three Degrees west Seven Rods & Six feet to a Stake thence west Twenty Six degrees South Twenty Rods to white oke Tree marked, thence South Twenty three Degrees East to the Line first mentioned also all the meadow Lying att the foot of his Land, by the River, also to have a way through Josephs Land to that way att the head of his Land, also all the meadow Lying in a flat a Little of the Norward of Ship Rock flat, also all my meadow Lying in Soule flats also all my meadows Lying in the North End of the Grate Island, and also all my Right in meadow Lying att pechiechwet and also the one half of my Cedar Swamp ajoyning to that Land that I Bought of Leanders also one acre and half and Ten Rods of the Cedar Swamp Lying above Shearmans Bridge adjoyning Robert Kerbes Cedar Swamp.
"Item. I Give to my Two Sons Joseph & Benjamin whome I constitute make and ordaine my Executors of this my Last will and Testament all that Land I Bought of Landers Together with the Addition Lands ajoyning to it to be Equally Devided Between them according to quantity & Quality.
"Item. I do Give to my Daughter Abigall all my household Goods after my wifes Decease and also Two Hundred Pounds to be Paid unto her by my two sons Equally Between them, one hundred Pounds to be paid her In one year after my Decease, the s-d Two Hundred Pounds is to be understood Currant money of New England and do hereby utterly Disallow, Revoake and Disanull alland Every other former Testaments wills Legacies & Bequests & Executors by me in any ways before Named, willed & Bequeathed Ratifying & Confirming this and no other to be my Last will & Testament. In Wittness whereof I have hereunto Set my hand & Seal the Day and year above written, the words and Legacies, if interlined in the Tenth Line, before Signing Sealing hereof. Signed Sealed Published Pronounced by the said Mathew Wing as his Last will & Testament.
"In the Presence of us the Subscribers
Elisha Wing .............................................. Mathew Wing his marke (seal)
Thomas Cornel
George Brownel his mark"
On 22 July 1724, Elisha Wing and George Brownel, two of the witnesses of the last will and testament of Mathew Wing, late of Dartmouth deceased, made oath that "they were present and did see and hear Mathew Wing since Deceased sign seal publish and declare the same to be his last will and testament, and that they saw Thomas Cornell sign as a witness with them and that they all signed in the presence of the Testator, who was of a sound disposing mind to the best of their knowledge." The will was recorded on 8 August 1724 in the Bristol County Probate book.
A true inventory of the personal estate of Mathew Wing, "yeoman, late of Dartmouth Deceased in the County of Bristoll in New England," was taken on 20 July 1724 by Jonathan Davill, Jonathan Talman and Nathaniel Soule, all of Dartmouth, yeomen (from the clerk's copy book of Bristol County (Massachusetts) Probate Court, Volume 4, Pages 334-336, on FHL Microfilm 0,461,882). The personal inventory was apprised at 528 pounds, 4 shillings. The highest value items were:
* His cash and wearing apparel (18=12=05)
* his Saddle and Riding mare (11=10=00)
* Five feather beds with furniture well compleated (110=00=00)
* Another Bed with Good Bedding (10=00=00)
* Money Seales & Gratter & 13 Silver Spoons (14=09=08)
* 11 yearling cattel (13=10=00)
* Three Horse kind and 54 Sheep (41=00=00)
* About 12 Loads of old hay (18=00=00)
* Debts due to Mathew Wing at his death (37=10=06)
The inventory was presented to the Court on 21 August 1724 by Joseph Wing and Benjamin Wing.
My ancestry is through Matthew Wing's son, Benjamin Wing who resided all of his life in Dartmouth, Massachusetts.
The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/02/amanuensis-monday-probate-records-of_11.html
Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver
Monday, February 11, 2013
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Best of the Genea-Blogs - 3 to 9 February 2013
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:
* Avoiding Genealogical Search Frustration by James Tanner on the Genealogy's Star blog. James shares how he does this - he's an optimist!
* Genealogical Proof Standard -- Step 2 - Complete and Accurate Source Citations; Step 3- Analysis and Correlation of the Collected Information; Step 4 - Resolution of Conflicting Evidence; Step 5 - A Soundly Reasoned, Coherently Written Conclusion by Michele Simmons Lewis on Ancestoring's Ask A Genealogist blog. Michele takes us through the last four steps of the GPS, with links to pertinent documents and articles.
* Richard III: A King Is Found by Debbie Kennett on the Cruwys News blog. Debbie describes the mtDNA match from the King in the parking lot and two descendants of the King's sister.
* Writing Life Stories in 5 Easy Steps by Lisa Alzo on Lynn Palermo's The Armchair Genealogist blog. Lisa is an expert at this - and has great ideas.
* Analysis and Conclusions with Evidentia by Jenny Lanctot on the Are My Roots Showing? blog. Jenny discusses her experiences using Evidentia, a relatively new software program used for evaluating evidence and forming conclusions.
* What Will the Future Bring for National Conferences by Michael Leclerc on the Mocavo Genealogy Blog. Michael thinks that national conferences should be retained, as lists the reasons.
* The Mystery of Marie by Judy G. Russell on The Legal Genealogist blog. This post really touched me - Judy knows much about this grandmother, but can't know more.
* Never Give Up...Baby Clayton Library Redux by B. Breeding on the No Hoof Left Behind blog. This is a description of an ambitious research project - well described and well done.
* Microfilms vs. Digital - Pros and Cons by Nancy on the My Ancestors and Me blog. Nancy has a great list here - can you add to it?
These genea-bloggers wrote weekly pick posts and news summary posts this week:
* Ruth's Recommendations by Ruth Blair on The Passionate Genealogist blog.
* Monday Morning Mentions by Lynn Palermo on The Armchair Genealogist blog.
* Monday Recap for February 4, 2013 by Amanda on the Geni Blog.
* Follow Friday - Favorites for February 8, 2013 by Heather Kuhn Roelker on the Leaves for Trees blog.
* Follow Friday - Fab Finds for February 8, 2013 by Jana Last on Jana's Genealogy and Family History Blog.
* Genealogy News Corral, Feb 4-8 by Diane Haddad on the Genealogy Insider blog.
* Friday Finds - 02/09/13 by Julie Cahill Tarr on the GenBlog blog.
* Men In High Heels! Covert Burials! It's Follow Friday by Anne Gillespie Mitchell on the Finding Forgotten Stories blog.
* Weekly Picks: Feb. 3-Feb 9 by John Newmark on the TransylvanianDutch 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 1350 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/2013/02/best-of-genea-blogs-3-to-9-february-2013.html
Copyright(c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver
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:
* Avoiding Genealogical Search Frustration by James Tanner on the Genealogy's Star blog. James shares how he does this - he's an optimist!
* Genealogical Proof Standard -- Step 2 - Complete and Accurate Source Citations; Step 3- Analysis and Correlation of the Collected Information; Step 4 - Resolution of Conflicting Evidence; Step 5 - A Soundly Reasoned, Coherently Written Conclusion by Michele Simmons Lewis on Ancestoring's Ask A Genealogist blog. Michele takes us through the last four steps of the GPS, with links to pertinent documents and articles.
* Richard III: A King Is Found by Debbie Kennett on the Cruwys News blog. Debbie describes the mtDNA match from the King in the parking lot and two descendants of the King's sister.
* Writing Life Stories in 5 Easy Steps by Lisa Alzo on Lynn Palermo's The Armchair Genealogist blog. Lisa is an expert at this - and has great ideas.
* Analysis and Conclusions with Evidentia by Jenny Lanctot on the Are My Roots Showing? blog. Jenny discusses her experiences using Evidentia, a relatively new software program used for evaluating evidence and forming conclusions.
* What Will the Future Bring for National Conferences by Michael Leclerc on the Mocavo Genealogy Blog. Michael thinks that national conferences should be retained, as lists the reasons.
* The Mystery of Marie by Judy G. Russell on The Legal Genealogist blog. This post really touched me - Judy knows much about this grandmother, but can't know more.
* Never Give Up...Baby Clayton Library Redux by B. Breeding on the No Hoof Left Behind blog. This is a description of an ambitious research project - well described and well done.
* Microfilms vs. Digital - Pros and Cons by Nancy on the My Ancestors and Me blog. Nancy has a great list here - can you add to it?
These genea-bloggers wrote weekly pick posts and news summary posts this week:
* Ruth's Recommendations by Ruth Blair on The Passionate Genealogist blog.
* Monday Morning Mentions by Lynn Palermo on The Armchair Genealogist blog.
* Monday Recap for February 4, 2013 by Amanda on the Geni Blog.
* Follow Friday - Favorites for February 8, 2013 by Heather Kuhn Roelker on the Leaves for Trees blog.
* Follow Friday - Fab Finds for February 8, 2013 by Jana Last on Jana's Genealogy and Family History Blog.
* Genealogy News Corral, Feb 4-8 by Diane Haddad on the Genealogy Insider blog.
* Friday Finds - 02/09/13 by Julie Cahill Tarr on the GenBlog blog.
* Men In High Heels! Covert Burials! It's Follow Friday by Anne Gillespie Mitchell on the Finding Forgotten Stories blog.
* Weekly Picks: Feb. 3-Feb 9 by John Newmark on the TransylvanianDutch 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 1350 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/2013/02/best-of-genea-blogs-3-to-9-february-2013.html
Copyright(c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Valentine's Day!
It's Saturday Night -
time for more Genealogy Fun!
Valentine's Day is next Thursday, 14 February...
Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible music here) is to:
1) Recall a memory of a Valentine's Day in your life. Is it the first love of your life? A special day with your lover, spouse or significant other? Do you have a picture of a Valentine's Day event, or a special Valentine that you received, to share?
2) Describe your Valentine's Day memory, activity and/or image in a blog post of your own, a comment to this blog post, a comment/post on Facebook, or a comment/post on Google+.
3) Have fun remembering a special day.
Here's mine:
I posted mine three years ago in Valentine's Day is Special for Me.
The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/02/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-valentines.html
Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver
Surname Saturday - SHEPARD (England > Massachusetts)
It's Surname Saturday, and I'm "counting down" my Ancestral Name List each week.
I am in the 7th great-grandmothers, up to number 561: Thanks SHEPARD (1651-????). [Note: the 7th great-grandfathers have been covered in earlier posts].
My ancestral line back through two American generations of this SHEPARD family is:
1. Randall J. Seaver
2. Frederick Walton Seaver (1911-1983)
3. Betty Virginia Carringer (1919-2002)
4. Frederick Walton Seaver (1876-1942)
5. Alma Bessie Richmond (1882-1962)
8. Frank Walton Seaver (1852-1922)
9. Hattie Louise Hildreth (1857-1920)
16. Isaac Seaver (1823-1901)
17. Lucretia Townsend Smith (1827-1884)
34. Alpheus B. Smith (1802-1840)
35. Elizabeth Horton Dill (1791-1869)
70. Thomas Dill (1755-1830)
71. Hannah Horton (1761-1797)
140. Thomas Dill (1708-1761)
141. Mehitable Brown (1714-1758)
280. Thomas Dill (1682-1718)
281. Mary Peirce (1682-1713)
560. Peter Dill, born 1645; died 13 August 1692 in Chelmsford, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States. He married 13 October 1669 in Littleton, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
* John Brooks Threlfall, Twenty-six Great Migration Colonists to New England and Their Origins, ( Madison, Wis. : the author, 1993), pages 275-282.
* Robert Charles Anderson (editor), The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume VI, R-S (Boston, Mass. : New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009), pages 262-269.
Do any readers have this Shepard family, or the Dill line that is shown above?
THE URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/02/surname-saturday-shepard-england.html
Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver
I am in the 7th great-grandmothers, up to number 561: Thanks SHEPARD (1651-????). [Note: the 7th great-grandfathers have been covered in earlier posts].
My ancestral line back through two American generations of this SHEPARD family is:
1. Randall J. Seaver
2. Frederick Walton Seaver (1911-1983)
3. Betty Virginia Carringer (1919-2002)
4. Frederick Walton Seaver (1876-1942)
5. Alma Bessie Richmond (1882-1962)
8. Frank Walton Seaver (1852-1922)
9. Hattie Louise Hildreth (1857-1920)
16. Isaac Seaver (1823-1901)
17. Lucretia Townsend Smith (1827-1884)
34. Alpheus B. Smith (1802-1840)
35. Elizabeth Horton Dill (1791-1869)
70. Thomas Dill (1755-1830)
71. Hannah Horton (1761-1797)
140. Thomas Dill (1708-1761)
141. Mehitable Brown (1714-1758)
280. Thomas Dill (1682-1718)
281. Mary Peirce (1682-1713)
560. Peter Dill, born 1645; died 13 August 1692 in Chelmsford, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States. He married 13 October 1669 in Littleton, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
561. Thanks Shepard, born 10 February 1650/51 in Malden, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
Children of Peter Dill and Thanks Shepard are: Peter Dill (1670-1695); Anna Dill (1673-????); Thanks Dill (1676-1722); Samuel Dill (1678-????); David Dill (1680-????); Mary Dill (1682-1720); Thomas Dill (1682-1718).
1122. Ralph Shepard, born about 1606 in probably Dronfield, Derbyshire, England; died before 11 September 1693 in Malden, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States. He married 21 May 1632 in St. Bride Fleet Street, London, England.
1123. Thankslord Perkins, born about 1612 in England; died after 28 March 1675 in Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
Children of Ralph Shepard and Thankslord Perkins are: Sarah Shepard (1633-1719); Thomas Shepard (1635-1719); Isaac Shepard (1639-1677); Trial Shepard (1641-1704); Abraham Shepard (1647-1716); Thanks Shepard (1651-????); Jacob Shepard (1653-1676).
Resources used for the Ralph Shepard family include:
* Robert Charles Anderson (editor), The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume VI, R-S (Boston, Mass. : New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009), pages 262-269.
Do any readers have this Shepard family, or the Dill line that is shown above?
THE URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/02/surname-saturday-shepard-england.html
Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver
Friday, February 8, 2013
Congratulations, Dona Ritchie! You're the Winner
I've been late in announcing the winner of the Win a FREE Registration to RootsTech (21-23 March 2013) contest I ran starting on 24 January 2013. Suffice it to say that I have reasons...
The winner is Dona Ritchie!
I had 14 entries from 24 January to 3 February (since entrants had already made plans to attend RootsTech) and used the random number generator at www.random.org to pick the winner. It came up #7. Dona was number 7.
I contacted Dona and gave her the RootsTech registration promotional code, and I think that she has used it (or will).
Dona's entry said:
1) "The lecture I really need to attend (the title is so intriguing): Anne Metcalf's 'Have Something to Share? Create Your Own Online Research Class'"
2) "The Vendor I need to see: Gold Bug Software, so I can bug (pun intended) them yet again about coding a version for the Mac. It's been YEARS and they still haven't done it!"
The winner is Dona Ritchie!
I had 14 entries from 24 January to 3 February (since entrants had already made plans to attend RootsTech) and used the random number generator at www.random.org to pick the winner. It came up #7. Dona was number 7.
I contacted Dona and gave her the RootsTech registration promotional code, and I think that she has used it (or will).
Dona's entry said:
1) "The lecture I really need to attend (the title is so intriguing): Anne Metcalf's 'Have Something to Share? Create Your Own Online Research Class'"
2) "The Vendor I need to see: Gold Bug Software, so I can bug (pun intended) them yet again about coding a version for the Mac. It's been YEARS and they still haven't done it!"
Okay, Dona, we'll see you at RootsTech 2013! Please stop by the Media Center and say hello to me and we'll get a picture together.
My thanks to RootsTech for sponsoring this contest and making Dona a happy conference-goer!!
The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/02/congratulations-dona-ritchie-youre.html
'Tis a Mystery - What do these numbers mean?
I've been seeing numbers in place names on Ancestry Member Trees recently, and have been trying to figure out what they mean. One of my readers, Sondra, emailed today to ask what they mean.
Here is an example:
The information on this particular entry for George Prater says:
Birth 1510 in 1679722, Wiltshire, England
Death 15 Jun 1564 in 1679745, Wiltshire, England
The mystery is: What do the 7-digit numbers represent?
My guess is that they represent a parish in England from some master list of English parishes. I thought perhaps they were FHL microfilm numbers for a specific parish, but those two numbers are for records from the Philippines.
Who can explain these numbers for me and my readers? Thank you in advance! Thank you, Sondra, for the email and the image!
The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/02/tis-mystery-what-do-these-numbers-mean.html
Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver
Here is an example:
The information on this particular entry for George Prater says:
Birth 1510 in 1679722, Wiltshire, England
Death 15 Jun 1564 in 1679745, Wiltshire, England
The mystery is: What do the 7-digit numbers represent?
My guess is that they represent a parish in England from some master list of English parishes. I thought perhaps they were FHL microfilm numbers for a specific parish, but those two numbers are for records from the Philippines.
Who can explain these numbers for me and my readers? Thank you in advance! Thank you, Sondra, for the email and the image!
The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/02/tis-mystery-what-do-these-numbers-mean.html
Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver
Follow-Up Friday - Helpful and Interesting Reader Comments
It's Friday, so time to follow-up on posts from the last week that have received helpful or interesting reader comments and questions.
1) On Finding Plat Maps for the James Vaux Land Holdings (5 February 2013):
* Taversoe commented: "One way to download an image when Ancestry's interface doesn't provide for that is to click on Print instead. Ancestry will give you another simplified webpage, with just the image and a title on it. Instead of printing, use your browser to save that webpage to your computer (use the "complete" option). In the folder it saves the page in, there should be a jpg of the image."
My comment: I hadn't thought of that. I tried it, and it saved the "Complete Web Page" as an .htm file on my Windows 7, Chrome browser computer. I can snip the image then, but the resolution is only 72 dpi. It's better than nothing...
* Anonymous offered: "Real estate sites such as zillow and redfin often have info about real estate including when a building was built, which in some cases might help you find an ancestors house (if it still exists). Of course, the date those sites give could be wrong, I suppose.
"As an example, check out: for instance see: http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1455-Center-St-East-Aurora-NY-14052/30271774_zpid/"
"But you also have the half indexed records on Ellis Island. The only name that is searchable is the immigrant. You also have the relatives in the homeland and the most important information the name and address of the person that they are going to."
1) On Finding Plat Maps for the James Vaux Land Holdings (5 February 2013):
* Taversoe commented: "One way to download an image when Ancestry's interface doesn't provide for that is to click on Print instead. Ancestry will give you another simplified webpage, with just the image and a title on it. Instead of printing, use your browser to save that webpage to your computer (use the "complete" option). In the folder it saves the page in, there should be a jpg of the image."
My comment: I hadn't thought of that. I tried it, and it saved the "Complete Web Page" as an .htm file on my Windows 7, Chrome browser computer. I can snip the image then, but the resolution is only 72 dpi. It's better than nothing...
* Anonymous offered: "Real estate sites such as zillow and redfin often have info about real estate including when a building was built, which in some cases might help you find an ancestors house (if it still exists). Of course, the date those sites give could be wrong, I suppose.
"As an example, check out: for instance see: http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1455-Center-St-East-Aurora-NY-14052/30271774_zpid/"
My comment: I keep forgetting about Zillow! Thanks for the lead. And the photo of a snow-covered house!
* Anonymous also offered: "Or this one (from 1845?) - http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1335-Blakeley-Rd-East-Aurora-NY-14052/30271762_zpid/"
My comment: That may be one of the other homes on the same "block" - there were several owners on the 1866 plat map. Thanks for the leads!
2) In Putting the Land Records Together for James Vaux (1787-1839) (4 February 2013):
* www.HungarianFamilyRecord.org said: "Wilhem Willink was the owner of the original Holland Land Purchase in Erie County so Mr. Vaux was one of the original settlers in Erie County."
and: "...as you already know about the Holland Land Purchase History, there is an interesting museum called the Holland Land Office Museum in Batavia, NY . Aurora is still there but part of East Aurora now and quite a picturesque thriving village. If Vaux died in England, then I assume you do not need graveyard pictures?"
My comment: Thanks for the information about the museum, that sounds like a place to visit when/if I get to East Aurora. From what I read on Wikipedia about the Holland Land Company, Mr. Willink was one of the Dutch principals that got very rich by buying the land in western New York and then selling lots. Apparently, they never came to America. James Vaux first bought land in 1832 after immigrating, so he wasn't one of the "original settlers" of Erie county, but was the first to settle on that particular parcel.
James Vaux died in England on a visit to his family after one of his siblings died there, and he is buried in Somerset according to my Vaux cousin. His wife, Mary, died in Aurora in about 1844, but I doubt that there is a stone. There are 3 Vaux memorials and 4 Underhill memorials in East Aurora Cemetery on Find A Grave. I don't know if there are more there.
3) On Dear Randy: What Record Collection Would You Like To Have Indexed? (1 February 2013):
* Chris Staats said: "I have mixed feelings about this, and a much simpler request - that they just digitize and put the deed indexes online. If they do create an "index to the index" - I still want to be able to see images of the compiled index. While a searchable index would obviously be wonderful, I wonder if it doesn't introduce yet another level of potential error in searching for records. "Error" is not really the right word, but I don't know what else to call it. So you create an database, based on a compiled index, which itself was created from individual volume indexes. If the compiled indexes themselves aren't viewable, and the indexes to individual books (where they exist) aren't also digitized, how can a researcher really be sure that a particular record "doesn't exist", or a transaction they are looking for "must not have been recorded"? I like the convenience of records being searchable, but I also think that researchers need to recognize that just because something isn't in the index database doesn't necessarily mean that it doesn't exist."
My comment: I agree with you about wanting to see the images of the index, but I know from experience, and watching/listening to many society colleagues, that they cannot figure out how to search the Browse Only collections. It is just too hard for 80% of the genealogists out there. Without at least a searchable index, they won't even try to search the database. Concerning the errors, we can't control what the scribes wrote or typed, nor what the indexers see. So we need to be able to see the images of the index to find all of the possible entries.
* Debbie Blanton McCoy noted: "I would also love to see the deed and probate records online. I don't care if they are indexed or not; however, they are going to have to list them by county and date, or some title that makes sense. Today I tried to browse the Texas County Marriage Records and they are listed by digital file numbers like 004820654. These numbers don't even match the FHL film numbers. There is no way to find a specific county or time period without opening each digital folder to see what is in it and there are approximately 155 folders. In other records, the files were in alpha and/or chronological order, but I could not determine any order to these records."
My comment: This is exactly why we need the searchable index, isn't it? If you look at the probate and land records they've already put in the collections, they are organized by County and then by the different types of books (e.g., deed index, deed book volume, etc.). It sounds like a Texas society needs to index those Texas marriages.
* GeneJ commented: " I work mostly on historical personalities/families that predate modern census and vital records. It is just not possible for me to approach a "reasonably exhaustive search" working with the low lying fruit (census and vital records) of that era. Access to the probate and real property records from this era are going to change the family historians perspective about genealogical research. For these materials, in particular, the "indexing" work itself would be a lower priority for me. I've been using the FamilySearch historical record collection "browse images" feature for some time. More and more, I actually prefer to work the collections this way."
My comment: Some of us are able to work with these browse only records effectively, but many cannot and will not even try. There's an educational challenge for the genealogical societies and bloggers to expose these records to the masses, and teach them how to use them.
* Jason said: "I wasn't aware they had these records online. Last night I found a land record for a GGG grandfather that led me to the will of his wife's father, breaking a brick wall that I've had for a while. Also, just learning how to use the indexing systems in these records takes some research as well!"
My comment: Way to go, Jason! FamilySearch is adding probate and land records occasionally - usually stater-by-state. So you have to keep checking the collection page. The indexing systems can be a challenge - usually the front pages of a specific index book will describe the system (we.g., the Russell indexing system). This is also why I like to explore these databases myself and blog about them - it may lead a reader to find new information and help solve their research problem.
* Sven-Ove Westberg commented: "Land records are interesting. But an index of the index is overkill. Just add some pointers to where the different parts of the index are and the same for the records.
"But you also have the half indexed records on Ellis Island. The only name that is searchable is the immigrant. You also have the relatives in the homeland and the most important information the name and address of the person that they are going to."
My comment: The land records are quite extensive - over 8 million images for New York State alone, including indexes and deeds. They can be negotiated, but records are not easily found, especially for persons who may have resided in several counties, or states. Indexes of the indexes would really help.
It sounds like the Ellis Island records need to have the indexing enhanced to include all of the important fields.
* Mariann Regan offered: "This is a super idea, indexing the indexes. There were so many volunteers to index the 1940 census, surely some local genealogy societies could step up! I'm getting 'sworn into' the DAR this weekend. I'll ask them what they think about this project. If only the deed and probate records could go online, that would help tremendously."
My comment: The more encouragement we give, the sooner it will get done. It's an especially good project for local societies who could do their county and break the task up into manageable pieces. Erie County, New York has a BIG collection to index.
4) On Tuesday's Tip - Look for Recent Obituaries in Google, Tributes and Legacy (5 February 2013):
* Wonderland Girl said: "Thanks for the reminder. With so many newspapers charging and arm & a leg to print obituaries in their paper, most funeral homes do that at no extra charge."
* bgwiehle noted: "In my obituary searches, I also use Google News Archives and Find-a-Grave. I might check the Obituary Daily Times (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~obituary/) for date and newspaper name. I often check and compare the funeral home obit, especially if the newspaper version is only a death notice. Google will also find obituaries archived at GenWeb and other personal websites. I tend to ignore Tributes.com. Unless they've changed recently, their entries are SSDI names, dates and locations presented in sentence form."
My comment: We all need reminders like this one, don't we? Thank you, bgwiehle, for reminding me about the other sites too.
5) That's it for the week - land records and obituaries were my hot topics. My thanks to all of my readers who commented and managed to defeat the obnoxious, but effectively span-controlling, Captcha feature.
The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/02/follow-up-friday-helpful-and_8.html
Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Entering Deed Information into RootsMagic 6
After abstracting the land records for my 4th-great-grandfather James Vaux (1787-1839), and my 3rd great-grandfather, Samuel Vaux (1816-1880), I wanted to enter the Events into my RootsMagic database, source them, create a Sentence for the Fact and add Media for the deeds.
I listed the abstracts for James Vaux's deeds in Putting the Land Records Together for James Vaux (1787-1839), including finding a useful plat map. So I will work with the Erie county deeds that I have for Samuel Vaux; here are the abstracts:
* On 29 March 1845, Samuel Vaux of Aurora, Erie County, New York bought land in Erie county from Seth Sprague for $795. The land was in the southwest corner of Lot 22 and comprised 53 acres, known as the Sprague farm. The plot was bounded North by lands heretofore owned by Lawrence Woodruff, West by the highway, South by the highway, and East by lands owned by Hezekiah Mosher. The deed was recorded in Erie county on 10 April 1845 (Erie County Deeds, Liber 78, Page 396).
* On 25 July 1853, Samuel Vaux and Mary Ann, his wife, of the town of Aurora sold land in Aurora township, Erie County, New York to Robert Bartlett of the town of Sullivan, New York for $1,500. The land comprised 53 acres, and was in the southwest corner of Lot 22, called the Sprague farm. The land was bounded on the North by land owned by Gordon Pierson, West by the highway, South by the highway, and East by lands owned by Hezekiah Mosher. The deed was recorded in Erie County on 1 September 1855 (Erie County Deeds, Liber 142, Page 21).
The location of the land in the southwest corner of Lot 22 is shown in a snippet of the 1866 Aurora plat map below:
I had previously created a Deed Fact in RootsMagic, but had not created a sentence to describe the information for the Deed Fact. After some experimentation, I created a sentence for my Deed Fact of the form:
<[Date]>, <[person]> <[Desc],> < [PlaceDetails],> <[Place]>.
For the first abstract above, I added this information for the Deed Fact:
Date: 29 Mar 1845
Place: Aurora, Erie, New York, United States
Place details: [blank]
Description: of Aurora, N.Y. bought 53 acres in the southwest portion of Lot 22 from Seth Sprague
The resulting Fact sentence looks like this:
On 29 March 1845, Samuel Vaux of Aurora, N.Y. bought 53 acres in the southwest portion of Lot 22 from Seth Sprague, in Aurora, Erie, New York, United States.
I could have added as a Place detail of the northeast corner of Center Street and Hubbard Road and it would read:
On 29 March 1845, Samuel Vaux of Aurora, N.Y. bought 53 acres in the southwest portion of Lot 22 from Seth Sprague, at the northeast corner of Center Street and Hubbard Road, in Aurora, Erie, New York, United States.
I think that there is merit to knowing where the land was located on current maps.
I copy/pasted the Deed abstract above into a Fact Note for the Deed Fact.
Now a Source, using the "digital archives" source template (based on Evidence! Explained models) in RootsMagic 6:
"New York, Land Records, 1630-1975," Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : accessed 2 February 2013), court clerk transcription, "Erie County, New York Deeds, 1844-1850, Volumes 78-79," Volume 78, Page 396, Samuel Vaux deed in Aurora, N.Y. from Seth Sprague (Lot 22).
And then the Media. I uploaded the Deed image and the map snippet image (above) and Tagged them to Samuel Vaux and the Deed Fact, as shown below:
Here is the Edit Person screen in RootsMagic 6 for Samuel Vaux with the Deed Fact highlighted:
You can see the fields for the Deed Fact entry on the right side of the page, and the Sentence describing the Fact in the lower right-hand corner of the screen..
Now I will do the same tasks for James Vaux and Amos Underhill, whose deeds I've also found, captured, abstracted and sourced from Erie County, New York.
The tasks above take significant time to perform satisfactorily, and I recommend doing them soon after the records are found and captured.
The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/02/entering-deed-information-into.html
Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver
I listed the abstracts for James Vaux's deeds in Putting the Land Records Together for James Vaux (1787-1839), including finding a useful plat map. So I will work with the Erie county deeds that I have for Samuel Vaux; here are the abstracts:
* On 29 March 1845, Samuel Vaux of Aurora, Erie County, New York bought land in Erie county from Seth Sprague for $795. The land was in the southwest corner of Lot 22 and comprised 53 acres, known as the Sprague farm. The plot was bounded North by lands heretofore owned by Lawrence Woodruff, West by the highway, South by the highway, and East by lands owned by Hezekiah Mosher. The deed was recorded in Erie county on 10 April 1845 (Erie County Deeds, Liber 78, Page 396).
* On 25 July 1853, Samuel Vaux and Mary Ann, his wife, of the town of Aurora sold land in Aurora township, Erie County, New York to Robert Bartlett of the town of Sullivan, New York for $1,500. The land comprised 53 acres, and was in the southwest corner of Lot 22, called the Sprague farm. The land was bounded on the North by land owned by Gordon Pierson, West by the highway, South by the highway, and East by lands owned by Hezekiah Mosher. The deed was recorded in Erie County on 1 September 1855 (Erie County Deeds, Liber 142, Page 21).
The location of the land in the southwest corner of Lot 22 is shown in a snippet of the 1866 Aurora plat map below:
I had previously created a Deed Fact in RootsMagic, but had not created a sentence to describe the information for the Deed Fact. After some experimentation, I created a sentence for my Deed Fact of the form:
<[Date]>, <[person]> <[Desc],> < [PlaceDetails],> <[Place]>.
For the first abstract above, I added this information for the Deed Fact:
Date: 29 Mar 1845
Place: Aurora, Erie, New York, United States
Place details: [blank]
Description: of Aurora, N.Y. bought 53 acres in the southwest portion of Lot 22 from Seth Sprague
The resulting Fact sentence looks like this:
On 29 March 1845, Samuel Vaux of Aurora, N.Y. bought 53 acres in the southwest portion of Lot 22 from Seth Sprague, in Aurora, Erie, New York, United States.
I could have added as a Place detail of the northeast corner of Center Street and Hubbard Road and it would read:
On 29 March 1845, Samuel Vaux of Aurora, N.Y. bought 53 acres in the southwest portion of Lot 22 from Seth Sprague, at the northeast corner of Center Street and Hubbard Road, in Aurora, Erie, New York, United States.
I think that there is merit to knowing where the land was located on current maps.
I copy/pasted the Deed abstract above into a Fact Note for the Deed Fact.
Now a Source, using the "digital archives" source template (based on Evidence! Explained models) in RootsMagic 6:
"New York, Land Records, 1630-1975," Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : accessed 2 February 2013), court clerk transcription, "Erie County, New York Deeds, 1844-1850, Volumes 78-79," Volume 78, Page 396, Samuel Vaux deed in Aurora, N.Y. from Seth Sprague (Lot 22).
And then the Media. I uploaded the Deed image and the map snippet image (above) and Tagged them to Samuel Vaux and the Deed Fact, as shown below:
Here is the Edit Person screen in RootsMagic 6 for Samuel Vaux with the Deed Fact highlighted:
You can see the fields for the Deed Fact entry on the right side of the page, and the Sentence describing the Fact in the lower right-hand corner of the screen..
Now I will do the same tasks for James Vaux and Amos Underhill, whose deeds I've also found, captured, abstracted and sourced from Erie County, New York.
The tasks above take significant time to perform satisfactorily, and I recommend doing them soon after the records are found and captured.
The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/02/entering-deed-information-into.html
Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver
Treasure Chest Thursday - 1885 Nebraska State Census Record for D J Smith Family
It's Treasure Chest Thursday - time to look in my digital image files to see what treasures I can find for my family history and genealogy musings.
The D.J. Smith family entry:
The treasure today is the 1885 Nebraska State Census record for my Smith great-great-grandparents and their family in McCook, Red Willow County, Nebraska:
The D.J. Smith family entry:
The extracted information for the family, enumerated on 15 June 1885, is:
* D.J. Smith - white, male, age 45, wife, married, liverman, born New York, father born N Y, mother born N Y
* Abbie Smith - white, female, age 41, daughter, married, at home, born New York, father born Eng[land]
* Della Smith - white, female, age 23, single, born Wisconsin, father born N Y
* Matie Smith - white, female, age 19, single, born Wisconsin, father born N Y
The source citation for this record is:
"Nebraska State Census Collection, 1860-1885," Census Year 1885, Red
Willow County, McCook Township; ED 654, Page 3B, Dwelling #35, Family #35, D.J.
Smith household; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), citing
original data from "Schedules of the Nebraska State Census of 1885," National
Archives Microfilm Publication M352, 56 rolls.
There is no indication as to the Roll number for this county in the Ancestry source citation.
The Ancestry.com indexing for this family shows:
I have no idea why the Ancestry indexing shows "Albret" first when D.J. is clearly listed first on the actual record.
The errors in this entry include:
* D.J. Smith is the head of household, not the wife; he is clearly listed as male
* D.J. Smith occupation is transcribed as "Liverman" but that's my guess; it probably means "Liveryman" which is consistent with what I know about him
* Abbie Smith is the wife, not the daughter, and her name was indexed as "Albret" (I can see how someone interpreted it as such)
* There are no listings for the mother's birthplace for Abbie, Della and Matie
This is the last census entry I have for Devier J. Smith, who died in 1894 in McCook. Della and Matie married soon after 1885, and Abbie moved to San Diego, where Della (Smith) Carringer had moved in 1887, before Devier's death.
The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/02/treasure-chest-thursday.html
Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
GenealogyBank Shows Off New Features
I've been using GenealogyBank quite a bit over the past year, and just recently noted some changes in how the site presents their results. There are three significant changes that I've noticed (there may be more that I haven't noticed!).
1) The first change is that the home page fills the entire screen now and is much more eye-catching:
The search fields for last name and first name are prominent. There is an "Advanced search" link next to the orange "Search Now" button. There is a counter for the number of genealogy records available on GenealogyBank - over 1.38 billion records now. Further down the page are links to search by State (and then by city/town) if the user wants to narrow the search. I do that a lot when I'm searching for specific persons in San Diego.
In the screen above, I put Abraham Seaver in the search fields just randomly...thinking maybe there were obituaries or articles for persons with that name.
2) The second change is that the Search results page also looks different:
Until recently, only five matches were returned on each results page. Now it's ten matches, which is an improvement. Most matches show a thumbnail of the potential match.
The big change is the listing of the matches. There is a listing of the different categories in the left sidebar - Recent Obituaries; Newspaper Archives (with sub-headings Historical Obituaries, Birth Records, Marriage Records, Passenger Lists, Newspaper Articles, Land, Probate & Court, Photos & Illustrations, Newspaper Letters, Historical Maps, Tables & Charts, Poems & Songs, Ads & Classifieds, Commodities & Stocks, Political & Elections, and Uncategorized); Other Genealogical Records (with sub-headings Social Security Death Index, Historical Books, Historical Documents, African-American Newspapers and Irish-American Newspapers).
The categories with matches are highlighted in blue links, while the categories without matches are grayed out.
For the major category, the matches are shown in sub-heading order. On the screen above, the 8 Historical Obituaries are listed first, then the 43 Newspaper Articles, then the 8 Legal, Probate & Court articles, then the 73 Ads & Classifieds, etc. I really like that! If all I want to read are the Obituaries, I can find those easily. Likewise, if all I wanted was the Newspaper Articles, I could click on that link and see them 1-43.
At the bottom of each search results page is the search form, and the user can modify his/her search as desired. On the search form, there are fields for Last name, First name, Keywords included, Keywords excluded, and Date range or Date.
3) The third change is in the actual newspaper images. Previously, you saw the entire page of the newspaper with the search terms highlighted in yellow, and you had to often search for the article by zooming in and panning around.
Here is the newspaper article (obituary) for the first match on the list above:
The specific article containing the search terms is isolated on the screen above. The newspaper name, date, issue number and page number are available above the image. The user can zoom in or out, can print the article, or save it as a PDF.
If you want to see the entire page, there is a link for the entire page in the left-hand sidebar - I clicked on the link for "Page [3]" and the whole page appeared:
The user can also zoom, pan, print and save the full page.
For the specific article I found, I had to go to the whole page image because the article started at the bottom of one column, and finished at the top of the next column.
GenealogyBank feels like the gift that never stops giving, mainly because I find so many articles and records there for my ancestors and relatives. I didn't have that article about Abraham Wood Seaver, but after I found it last night, I took 20 minutes to transcribe the article into my RootsMagic database - he sounds like quite an upstanding and honorable Seaver! It is likely that my great-grandfather, Frank Walton Seaver and my 2nd great-grandfather, Edward Hildreth, knew this Abraham Seaver since he worked with Milo Hildreth, Edward's brother, in Northborough, and was manager of a Fitchburg bank in the 1880s.
I really like the changes that GenealogyBank has made to their page layout and search results.
Disclosure: I have a complimentary subscription to GenealogyBank, but that does not affect my objective evaluation of the website.
The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/02/genealogybank-shows-off-new-features.html
Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver
1) The first change is that the home page fills the entire screen now and is much more eye-catching:
The search fields for last name and first name are prominent. There is an "Advanced search" link next to the orange "Search Now" button. There is a counter for the number of genealogy records available on GenealogyBank - over 1.38 billion records now. Further down the page are links to search by State (and then by city/town) if the user wants to narrow the search. I do that a lot when I'm searching for specific persons in San Diego.
In the screen above, I put Abraham Seaver in the search fields just randomly...thinking maybe there were obituaries or articles for persons with that name.
2) The second change is that the Search results page also looks different:
Until recently, only five matches were returned on each results page. Now it's ten matches, which is an improvement. Most matches show a thumbnail of the potential match.
The big change is the listing of the matches. There is a listing of the different categories in the left sidebar - Recent Obituaries; Newspaper Archives (with sub-headings Historical Obituaries, Birth Records, Marriage Records, Passenger Lists, Newspaper Articles, Land, Probate & Court, Photos & Illustrations, Newspaper Letters, Historical Maps, Tables & Charts, Poems & Songs, Ads & Classifieds, Commodities & Stocks, Political & Elections, and Uncategorized); Other Genealogical Records (with sub-headings Social Security Death Index, Historical Books, Historical Documents, African-American Newspapers and Irish-American Newspapers).
The categories with matches are highlighted in blue links, while the categories without matches are grayed out.
For the major category, the matches are shown in sub-heading order. On the screen above, the 8 Historical Obituaries are listed first, then the 43 Newspaper Articles, then the 8 Legal, Probate & Court articles, then the 73 Ads & Classifieds, etc. I really like that! If all I want to read are the Obituaries, I can find those easily. Likewise, if all I wanted was the Newspaper Articles, I could click on that link and see them 1-43.
At the bottom of each search results page is the search form, and the user can modify his/her search as desired. On the search form, there are fields for Last name, First name, Keywords included, Keywords excluded, and Date range or Date.
3) The third change is in the actual newspaper images. Previously, you saw the entire page of the newspaper with the search terms highlighted in yellow, and you had to often search for the article by zooming in and panning around.
Here is the newspaper article (obituary) for the first match on the list above:
The specific article containing the search terms is isolated on the screen above. The newspaper name, date, issue number and page number are available above the image. The user can zoom in or out, can print the article, or save it as a PDF.
If you want to see the entire page, there is a link for the entire page in the left-hand sidebar - I clicked on the link for "Page [3]" and the whole page appeared:
The user can also zoom, pan, print and save the full page.
For the specific article I found, I had to go to the whole page image because the article started at the bottom of one column, and finished at the top of the next column.
GenealogyBank feels like the gift that never stops giving, mainly because I find so many articles and records there for my ancestors and relatives. I didn't have that article about Abraham Wood Seaver, but after I found it last night, I took 20 minutes to transcribe the article into my RootsMagic database - he sounds like quite an upstanding and honorable Seaver! It is likely that my great-grandfather, Frank Walton Seaver and my 2nd great-grandfather, Edward Hildreth, knew this Abraham Seaver since he worked with Milo Hildreth, Edward's brother, in Northborough, and was manager of a Fitchburg bank in the 1880s.
I really like the changes that GenealogyBank has made to their page layout and search results.
Disclosure: I have a complimentary subscription to GenealogyBank, but that does not affect my objective evaluation of the website.
The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/02/genealogybank-shows-off-new-features.html
Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver
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