Treasure Chest Thursday - 1870 U.S. Census Record Devier 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 treasure today is the 1870 United States Census record for my Smith great-great-grandparents and their family in Benton township, Taylor County, Iowa:

The Devier Smith entry is:

The extracted information for the family, with an enumeration date of 9 August 1870, is:

*  Devier Smith - age 30, male, white, a farmer, real property worth 10,000, personal property worth $800, born New York, a male citizen of the U.S. aged over 21.
*  Abbie Smith - age 26, female, white, keeping house, born New York, father of foreign birth.
*  Della Smith - age 8, female, white, at Home, born Wisconsin, attended school within the year.
*  David Smith - age 6, male, white, at Home, born Wisconsin, attended school within the year.
*  Mary Smith - age 4, female, white, at Home, born Wisconsin.

The source citation for this census record is:

1870 United States Federal Census, Taylor County, Iowa, Population Schedule, Benton township: Page 13, dwelling #207, family #207, Devier Smith household; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com); citing National Archives Microfilm Series M593, Roll 421.

I don't see any errors in this enumeration for the Devier Smith family.  I'm impressed that Devier has a farm worth a lot of money, and I wonder if he owned it outright or if he had a mortgage to pay.  A search of land records in Taylor county may reveal more.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/03/treasure-chest-thursday-1870-us-census.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Education, Collaboration, Crowd-sourcing and Cat-herding at CVGS Today

We had an interesting Research Group meeting at the Chula Vista (CA) Genealogical Society (CVGS) today.  This monthly meeting is two hours long, with myself as the moderator, and is in two major parts - the first hour for education and the second hour for sharing.  We usually hold it in a 20 seat conference room at the library, and now can use the library wireless connection or a cell hot spot using my tablet computer, along with the projector, to show a presentation or live Internet research on the screen.

The purpose of the meeting is enhance genealogy education and research skills, and to help our members (and guests) move their research along by answering their research questions and making suggestions for further research.  The members' research skills and knowledge have grown significantly over the ten years we've been meeting like this, and the group is refreshed by new members with zero to advanced knowledge.

In the first hour today, I used the Internet connection to display and discuss my 23andMe DNA results for the group to see and try to understand.  Several other attendees had received their results also, and were able to contribute their knowledge.  We touted the $99 sale price for the 23andMe test (autosomal, mitochondrial, Y-chromosome, plus health genetics) and the 30 March 2013 CVGS seminar featuring CeCe Moore.

We then discussed genealogy video education - highlighting the coming RootsTech 2013 live streaming sessions, the RootsTech 2012 sessions, the Legacy Family Tree webinars, the Ancestry.com webinars and DearMYRTLE's webinars on YouTube, and the FamilySearch Research Courses.  There is a wealth of online genealogy education available for free if the genealogist will just search for them and learn from them.

The second hour of our Research Group was devoted to answering research questions from the attendees, trying to help an attendee's research by going onto the Internet to find records or make further research suggestions, and attendees sharing their successes or frustrations.  This part of the meeting gets everyone involved in thinking about what research they would perform or recommend, and invariably provides education and instruction to the attendees through this collaboration and crowd-sourcing effort.

Today, the group answered these questions:

*  Where can I find divorce records?  Answer:  Civil court records in the county where the divorce was filed.

*  How much information do you put into your family trees online?  Do you share sources?  Answer:  Some put everything, some hold back.  Some provide sources, some don't.

*  How do you correct an entry on Find A Grave?  Answer:  Register yourself, and contact the creator or owner of the memorial.

The group also crowd-sourced three brick wall problems:

*  Where can I find a birth record for an Elizabeth Titus probably born in Buffalo, New York in 1855, who moved to Illinois with her family?  The only useful evidence found was an Illinois death record, which stated he was born in New York City rather than Buffalo.  She had already found the death record and an obituary, and could not find church records for her in Buffalo.

*  What happened to Leo Clark Bruns, born in Otsego County, New York in 1889?  We could find him only in the 1900 U.S. Census, despite searching many name variations with other known factors to narrow the search.  He wasn't in the World War I or II draft registrations or the Social Security Death Index.

*  Harold F. Thomas was born in Illinois in 1920, enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1943;  what happened to him, and who were his parents?  We found that he received a bronze star in World War II in Burma, and died in Georgia and was buried at Andersonville National Cemetery.  All of this was new information for the attendee.  We suggested she obtain an Illinois birth certificate, a Georgia death certificate and/or a Social Security Application for him to determine his parents, since census research was not conclusive.

It was a fun and informative genealogy day at CVGS...they usually are!  Every meeting there are new educational and research challenges and opportunities, and I'm very happy to be able to contribute to helping resolve them.

Moderating these meetings is sometimes like herding cats - we had 18 attendees today, and they quickly got in the routine of raising their hand to ask a question or comment.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/03/education-collaboration-crowd-sourcing.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

CGSSD Meeting on Saturday, 16 March Features Denise Levenick

The Computer Genealogy Society of San Diego (CGSSD) meets on the 3rd Saturday of each month (except December) from 9:00 a.m. to noon on the campus of UCSD, University of California, San Diego. See our web page www.cgssd.org  for directions.

The next meeting will be held on Saturday, 16 March 2013 from 9:00 am to noon. Here are the details:

9:00 a.m.: User group: Macintosh, with Dona Ritchie. 

9:00 a.m.: SIG: DNA Genealogy, with Corlee Morris

10:00 - Break

10:20 - Announcements followed by program:

Preserving the Past: Archiving and Digitizing Your Family Keepsakes
by Denise May Levenick

Two-part overview of preservation and digitization techniques for family historians. Includes best practices for archival storage and fundamentals of digitization and scanning family history papers.

Denise May Levenick is a writer, researcher, and speaker with a passion for preserving and sharing family treasures of all kinds. She is the author of How to Archive Family Keepsakes (Family Tree Books, 2012) and creator of the award-winning genealogy blog, The Family Curator http://www.thefamilycurator.com/ 

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.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/03/cgssd-meeting-on-saturday-16-march.html

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 247: A Four Generation Seaver Photo

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

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

And with the photograph cropped a bit and enlarged:

This house is located at 149 Lancaster Street in Leominster, Massachusetts. This picture was taken in about 1907 based on the children who are pictured, and the one who is not. The people in this picture are (left to right):

* Evelyn Seaver (child born in 1903)* Stanley Seaver (child born in 1905)
* Marion Seaver (child born in 1901)
* Harry Seaver (male adult standing in back of Marion, born in 1884)
* Frank Walton Seaver (male adult standing, born in 1852)
* Fred Walton Seaver (male adult standing, born in 1876)
* Hattie (Hildreth) Seaver (female adult sitting, born in 1857, wife of Frank Seaver).
* Alma Bessie (Richmond) Seaver (female adult standing, born in 1882, wife of Fred Seaver)
* Sophia (Newton) Hildreth (female adult sitting, born in 1834, mother of Hattie (Hildreth) Seaver).

Frederick and Alma Bessie (Richmond) Seaver, my grandparents, are the parents of the three children, Marion, Evelyn and Stanley. Stanley was born in October 1905. I think that the picture was likely taken after October 1906. Their daughter, Ruth, was born in September 1907, so the picture was probably taken before then (Bess Seaver looks fairly "wide" in this picture, at age 26 - she's probably pregnant). 

Frederick Walton Seaver and Harry Seaver were sons of Frank Walton and Hattie (Hildreth) Seaver, my great-grandparents.

Frank Walton Seaver was the son of Isaac and Lucretia (Smith) Seaver, my great-great-grandparents, who were both deceased in 1907.

Hattie (Hildreth) Seaver was the daughter of Edward Hildreth (died in 1899) and Sophia (Newton) Hildreth, my great-great-grandparents.

This is the only picture I have of Frank Walton Seaver (my great-grandfather), Harry Seaver (my great uncle, brother of Frank), and Sophia (Newton) Hildreth, my great-great-grandmother who died in 1923, outliving both her daughter and son-in-law.

A copy of this photograph on cardboard was found in a cedar chest in the possession of my mother in about 1990. I had it duplicated and sent it to each of my aunts and uncles in 1990 - no one else had seen it to their recollection.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/03/not-so-wordless-wednesday-post-247-four.html

copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

My 23andMe Test Results - Post 2: Chromosome Views UPDATED!

I received my 23andMe.com genetic test results last week, and described the results in "macro" terms in My 23andMe DNA Test Results - Post 1:  Ancestry Composition (5 March 2013).

I've been checking out everything in the autosomal test results pages, and have discovered several features that are very useful and interesting.  I've started speculating how some of the more confusing DNA segments got into my autosomal DNA results.

What I know about my ancestral families, based on my 64 4th great-grandparents, is:

A)  Father's ancestry:

*  Colonial Massachusetts: 24 of 32, all of English ancestry in the 1600s (no known Irish or Scottish)
*  England: 8 of 32, all in Wiltshire in the 1600s, 1700s, and early 1800s

B)  Mother's ancestry:

*  Colonial US English: 13 of 32, in the US in the 1700s, of English ancestry in the 1600s (perhaps 1 known Scots-Irish)
*  Colonial US German: 15 of 32, in the US in the 1700s, of German ancestry in the 1600s (1 known Dutch)
*  Colonial Canada: 2 of 32, of unknown ancestry in the 1700s (perhaps French)
*  England: 2 of 32, all in Somerset in the 1600s, 1700s and early 1800s

The Ancestry Composition page says:

"Ancestry Composition tells you what percent of your DNA comes from each of 22 populations worldwide. The analysis includes DNA you received from all of your ancestors, on both sides of your family. The results reflect where your ancestors lived 500 years ago, before ocean-crossing ships and airplanes came on the scene."

Here is my Ancestry Composition chart (with the Standard Estimate.  There is also a Conservative Estimate and a Speculative Estimate available):

As you can see, I'm 99.3% European, and 0.6% East Asian and Native American. In the chart above, there are 23 sets of lines - one for each chromosome.  For chromosomes 1 to 22, my mother's contribution is above my father's contribution.  The X chromosome is my mother's, since I am a male person.

UPDATED:  1:30 p.m.:  Blaine Bettinger on Facebook and Brian in comments told me that my "assumption" that the top line is my mother's and the bottom line is my father's is wrong...thank you, guys!  Brian noted that the FAQ for Ancestry Composition says:  "Genotyping chips like the one 23andMe uses don't capture the information about which markers came from which parent." That changes things further down!

The above chart is somewhat difficult to sort out, at least for the European sub-groups. However, I found that by running my mouse over the list on the right for each reference population, I could see the segments on the chromosomes contributed from that population.  For instance, I ran my mouse over the Northern European portion and the chart highlighted the segments on the chromosomes that were from Northern Europe:

Here are the British and Irish segments on the chromosomes:

The French and German segments are in the next chart below:

The Scandinavian segments are shown below:

The Southern European segments are:

The East Asian and Native American segments are below:

I've also looked at the "Speculative Estimate" which assigns higher percentages to some of the Northern European ancestry.

I have several surprise in these charts, including (I'm going to leave these here in spite of my assumption error noted in the update...take them with a grain of salt!):

1)  My father has a large segment of German and French DNA on Chromosome 1, and smaller segments on Chromosomes 1 and 17.  I have no clue where that comes from; my speculation is that 500 years ago, some French or German folks had migrated to England.  My English ancestry is from all over England, including areas settled by Normans and Saxons and Angles, plus the folks who had lived in England for thousands of years.

2)  My father has a significant segment of Scandinavian DNA on Chromosome 3, and that is the only Scandinavian segment in my tested DNA.  Again, I don't have any known ancestry from Scandinavia on my father's side (I do on my mother's side!).  My speculation is that this may be one or more ancestors descended from Scandinavia who migrated to the British Isles before 1600.

3)  My father has the only segment from Southern Europe on Chromosome 22.  My speculation is that this may be from Iberia or Italy, and may be a vestige from Roman times in England.  

Interestingly, there are more segments for my father's German and French, Scandinavia and Southern Europe in the "Speculative Estimate."

4)  My mother has a segment for East Asian and Native American DNA on Chromosome 12.  I don't know for sure where that comes from.  My speculation is that this may be from the wife of Abraham James Kemp, who is identified in a Bible record transcript as Sarah Sephrona Fletcher, of French-Canadian heritage.  There may be (or may not be!) a Native American ancestor in her ancestry.  I probably have other candidates who might have had a Native American ancestor, since quite a few of my ancestors lived on the English/Native frontier in the mid-1700s.  This is about 1/167th of my DNA, so it probably occurs in the 7th or 8th generation back).  

5)  My mother has a long segment of French and German DNA on Chromosome 2, and shorter segments on Chromosomes 7 and 12.  I am surprised that there is so little identified here because of her known 15 of 32 ancestors from German ancestor.  There are many more segments identifying as French and German in the "Speculative Estimate" chart.

Here is the "Speculative Estimate" chart (you change this in the upper right corner of this web page, next to your name):

My "Speculative Estimate" breakdown for the reference populations are:

*  99.4% European

** 43.0% British and Irish
** 25.2% French and German
** 2.7% Scandinavian
** 0.0% Finnish
** 26.1% Nonspecific Northern European
**  0.4% Iberian
** 0.0% Sardinian
** 0.0% Italian
** 0.0%  Balkan
** 1.2% Nonspecific Southern European
** < 0.1% Ashkenazi
** 0.0% Eastern European
0.7% Nonspecific European

*  0.6% East Asian and Native European

** 0.6% Native American
** 0.0% East Asian
** 0.0% Nonspecific East Asian & Native America

I hope that I can have CeCe Moore analyze my autosomal DNA results at the upcoming Chula Vista Genealogical Society seminar on 30 March 2013.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/03/my-23andme-test-results-post-2.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Tuesday's Tip - Find New Hampshire Records at FamilySearch

This week's Tuesday's Tip is:  Find FREE New Hampshire records in FamilySearch record collections.

The New Hampshire record collections (put 'new hampshire" in the search field) include:

*  New Hampshire Birth Records, Early to 1900* (indexed, images)

*  New Hampshire, Births and Christenings, 1714-1904**  (indexed, no images)

*  New Hampshire, County Naturalization Records, 1771-2001 (browse images only)

*  New Hampshire, County Probate Estate Files, 1769-1936 (browse images only)

*  New Hampshire, County Probate Records, 1660-1973 (browse images only)

*  New Hampshire, Death Records, 1654-1947* (indexed, images)

*  New Hampshire, Deaths and Burials, 1784-1949 (indexed, no images)

*  New Hampshire, Hillsborough County, Manchester, Cemetery Records, 1800-2007 (browse images only)

*  New Hampshire, Marriage Records, 1637-1947* (indexed, images)

*  New Hampshire, Marriages, 1720-1920** (indexed, no images)

*  New Hampshire, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1636-1947 (browse images only)

The collections marked with one asterisk (*) are images of file cards submitted by towns to the state with birth, marriage and death records.

The collections marked with two asterisks (**) are the International Genealogical Index entries extracted or submitted by LDS church members over the years.

The New Hampshire Town Clerk collection are the original town records, and transcriptions of them in some cases, which contain vital records in addition to other town business.

The two New Hampshire County probate records collections are the county probate court clerk records, so are record copies of original records.

I can hardly wait for the New Hampshire County Land Records that will be in a browse images category when it becomes available.  I need to "mine" more of the birth, marriage and death collections for the Seaver surname and my New Hampshire ancestral families.

For the "browse images only" collections, the user has to treat the records as "digital microfilm" and page through them a page at a time.  These collections are usually "waypointed" by county and/or town, and then by specific record books (volumes, etc.).

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/03/tuesdays-tip-find-new-hampshire-records.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Dear Randy - Two Names, Two Birth Records for One Child? Or Two?

One of the comments on my post Follow-Up Friday - Helpful/Interesting Reader Comments (8 March 2013) was from Dandelion, who said:

"Here’s an interesting case. A baby girl was born March 3, 1861 in Edinburgh Parish, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland. Her father registered her with the name “Mary Milne” (his mother’s name) on March 9, 1861. He then disappeared. Her mother went in on March 22 and registered her with the same birth date and the name “Alison Naismith McIntyre Milne” (her name) Both records were signed by the respective parent and witnessed by the registrar. Seeing the two records I assumed they were twins but wondered why one had been named “Mary” since there already was a child by that name in the family. On the 1861 census, taken about a month later, there was only one baby girl. (The three older children were the children of her deceased husband. The census taker apparently had a hard time dealing with two last names since the two boys were listed as “unknown” although they would have been old enough to know their names.) Another descendant of the family who had seen the divorce records said that he believed that there was only one child, registered twice. The birth records usually state if there were twins. How would one describe the veracity of the two birth records."

That is certainly an interesting research problem, and one that my readers might want to chime in.  Here is my answer:

There are two birth records in the register, and both of them are truthful at the time they were made.  If the father ever saw the child again, he probably would have called her "Mary." (and probably received a quizzical look on his daughter's face!).  The mother called her "Alison Naismith McIntyre Milne" when she registered her, and that was probably the name the mother, and Alison, invariably used throughout her life.  The first one isn't "wrong," it's just "obsolete" in my view, superseded by the mother's registration entry.

Was she called Alison during her lifetime?  Are there any records that call her "Mary" besides the father's register entry?  You probably have a baptismal record, marriage record, a death record, census records, an obituary, a burial record, etc. that have Alison's name.  What about school records, school yearbooks, family Bibles, newspaper articles, work records, court records, letters to or from Alison, etc.?    

What you don't have is any evidence that "Mary" existed apart from "Alison."  There is a finite time period separating the entry of "Mary" and the entry for "Alison" in the register, and you have a logical explanation why there are two birth records.  You just don't know if the explanation is correct!

In the 1861 census, there was no "Mary," at least residing with the mother.  Are there no entries for a Mary Milne in the baptism, death, burial, marriage, or other records?  To do a reasonably exhaustive search, you should look for records pertaining to "Mary." You should obtain the divorce record you mention also.  If you find no evidence at all for the existence of Mary after the birth registration, your conclusion is that "Mary" was a name given by the father to the person "Alison Naismith McIntyre Milne," but it was never used by Alison during her lifetime.   You should write up your conclusion in your research notes for Alison's birth, and note the evidence that you found (and didn't find) to support your conclusion.

What do my readers think of this problem?  

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/03/dear-randy-two-names-two-birth-records.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

What I Hope to Hear at RootsTech 2013

The start of RootsTech 2013 is only ten days away now, and I'm starting to put together my research list for the Family History Library (using the RootsMagic To-Do list, which I'll copy to a file and put in Dropbox and Evernote for access on my smart phone and tablet) on Wednesday, 20 March.

My plan for each of the days at RootsTech is to attend the Keynote talks, then spend time in the Exhibit Hall and at the Media Center, and squeeze in one or two speaker sessions each day.  I look forward to hanging out at the Media Center with the other Official Bloggers.  Hopefully, I will be able to post pictures and experiences each evening from Salt Lake City.

I got to thinking about the exhibitors, and what "new, shiny goodies" they might have for us to see and discuss (and write about).  Here is my "Hope to Hear" list for some of the exhibitors:

*  Ancestry.com :  Enhanced viewer for many more databases, several large and unique databases are released. FTM 2013 announced, will have improved charts and reports, improved interaction with FamilySearch Family Tree, etc.  Access links to unique collections on Fold3, Archives, etc.  Improved app for iOS, Android and Windows.

*  FamilySearch :  FamilySearch Family Tree open for everyone including photos, and API released to software companies to interface with it.  Revamp of website to make searching easier, especially on record collection page.  App for FamilySearch Family Tree, Research Wiki, Library Catalog and Research Courses.

*  FindMyPast :  More U.S. record collections, more Canadian collections, improved navigation (page-to-page, especially) on the site.  Improved family tree capabilities.  App for family tree and searching collections.

*  MyHeritage:  More U.S. and worldwide record collections.  Integration with Geni (including cross-platform searches). Improved Family Tree Builder software.  Improved app for searching collections and family tree.

*  Legacy Family Tree:  Version 8?  Improved interaction with FamilySearch Family Tree, including sources and images.  Lots of FamilyTreeWebinar.com and Legacy QuickGuide sales.  Free app for iOS and Android to access tree information and webinars.

*  RootsMagic : Version 6.1?  Improved app for iOS and Android, including access to webinars.  Improved interaction with FamilySearch Family Tree, including sources and images.

*  Mocavo :  Additional databases available.  App to search databases and genealogy websites.

*  Geni.com :  GEDCOM upload/download capability from genealogy software.  App for photo upload, world tree access.

*  Evidentia : A coming out party for this genealogy software - it may be the "best new product" of the conference.

There - now I've raised everyone's expectations, haven't I?  I have only one bit of "inside information" and I haven't included it in the list above.  I know also that I am not the most "tuned-in" to new ventures in the genea-blogsphere...

There is no list of exhibitors on the RootsTech website yet - only the list of sponsors.  The Exhibit Hall is supposed to be 40% larger this year, so there may be many more small entrepreneurial companies, even professional genealogists, with exhibits.

What new products do you "hope to hear about" from RootsTech 2013?  Tell me in Comments. Let's see if any of us can predict what will be shown at the conference!

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/03/what-i-hope-to-hear-at-rootstech-2013.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Amanuensis Monday - 1853 New York Deed of Heirs of James Vaux to William Bennett

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 deed granted by the heirs of James Vaux of Aurora, New York, deceased, to William N. Bennett in Aurora, Erie County, New York (three pages, starts 3/4 down the first page):

Here is my transcription of this entry (handwritten portions in italics) in Erie County, New York, Land Records 1853-1855, Liber 148, Pages 378-380 (accessed in the "New York, Land Records, 1630-1975" collection on https://FamilySearch.org):

Deed  L 31 Aurora

John Taylor and others to William N. Bennett

........................................... This Indenture made the twenty sixth day of October in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Eight hundred and fifty three between John Taylor and Ann his wfie, Samuel Vaux and Mary Ann his wife, George Vaux and Elizabeth his wife, and Ernest Vaux of the town of Chester, dodge county, Wisconsin, John Vaux of Buffalo Erie County New York and Josiah Vaux and Mary Ann his wife of Aurora Erie county New York of the first part and William N. Bennett of Aurora Erie county New York of the second part, Witnesseth that the said party of the first part for and in consideration of the sum of two hundred and twenty five dollars lawful money of the United States of America to them in hand paid by the party of the second part the receipt whereof is hereby confirmed and acknowledged, have granted, bargained, sold, remised. released, aliened and confirm unto the said party of the second part and to his heirs and assigns forever six undivided sixteenths of a certain farm part of Lot 31 of the Holland Company surveys in the town of Aurora County of Erie and State of New York formerly owned by James Vaux senior and bounded as follows.

................................. Commencing at the South East corner of Land owned and occupied by Erasmus Adams, and on the north bounds of Land owned and occupied by the heirs of Geo Bartlett: thence running South 89-1/4 degree East twenty three rods and fifteen links to the centre of highway, thence North 2-1/2 degrees East along the centre of said highway twenty nine rods and three links, thence Westerly parallel to the first mentioned line twenty three rods and fifteen links to said Adams land, thence South 2-1/2 degrees West twenty nine rods and three links to the place of beginning, Containing four acres and forty seven rods be the same more or less.

........................................................Together with all and singular the hereditaments and appurtenances thereunto belonging as in anywise appertaining and the reversion and reversions remainder and remainders, rents, issues and profits thereof: and all the Estate, right, title, interest, dower, right of dower, claim or demand, whatsoever, of the said party of the first part either in Law or in Equity of in and to the above bargained premises, with the said hereditaments and appurtenances To Have and To Hold the said premises as above described with the appurtenances unto the said party of the second part and to their heirs and assigns forever.

And the said John, Samuel, George and Ernest, and Josiah and Ann Taylor, for themselves, their heirs, executors, and administrators do covenant, grant, bargain, and agree to and with the said party of the second part his heirs and assigns that at the time of ensealing and delivery of these presents they are well seized of the premises above conveyed as of a good, sure, perfect absolute and indefensible estate of inheritance in the law in fee simple and that the above bargained premises in the quiet and peaceable possession of the said party of the second part, his heirs and assigns against all and every person lawfully claiming as to claim the estate or any part thereof, he will forever Warrant and Defend.

............................................................ In Witness Whereof

the party of the first part have hereunto set their hands and seals the day and year first above written,

signed sealed executed ............................ } .............John Taylor SS & Ann Taylor SS

&delivered in presence of ....................... } ............ Samuel Vaux SS & Mary A. Vaux SS

R S Graham, S B Hills ............................. } ............ George Vaux SS and Elizabeth Vaux SS

Erie county SS On this 26th day ........... } ............ Ernest Vaux SS & Jno. P. Vaux SS

of Nov^r 1853 before me personally ..... } ............ Josiah Vaux SS & Mary A Vaux SS

appeared John P. Vaux known to me

to be the person who executed the 

within instrument and acknowledged

to me the execution thereof.

......... CJ Shattucke Justice

................ of the Peace 

Erie County SS  On this 28th day of November A D 1853 before me personally appeared Ernest Vaux known to me to be the person who executed the within instrument and acknowledged to me the execution thereof.

.................................................................. James C Paul Justice of the Peace

Erie county SS On this 28th day of November 1853 personally appeared before me Josiah Vaux and Mary A his wife and severally acknowledged that they executed the same without any fear of compulsion of her husband ^[annex ???????? spent and she said make a] in a private conversation separate and apart from her husband acknowledged that she executed the same without any fear or compulsion of her husband and further certify that I know the persons who made the said acknowledgement to be the individuals described in & who executed the annexed instrument.

................................................................. James C Paul J P

State of Wisconsin }

Fond du Lac County } I Leander B. Hills a Commissioner for the State of New York residing in Waupan in the County of Fond du Lac and state of Wisconsin do certify on the 14th day of November in the Year One thousand eight hundred and Fifty three in the Town of Waupun in the County of Fond du Lac aforesaid personally appeared before me John Taylor and Ann his wife Samuel Vaux and Mary A his wife and George Vaux and Elizabeth his wife all of said persons known to me to be the individuals described in and who executed the within deed and they severally acknowledged to me that they had executed the said deed.  And the said Ann wife of the said John Taylor and the said Mary A wife of the said Samuel Vaux and the said Elizabeth wife of the said George Vaux on a private examination by me apart from their said husbands and further acknowledged to me that she executed the said deed freely and without any fear or compulsion of her husband.

In Witness Whereof I have hereunto set my hand and official seal at Waupun in the County and state aforesaid this 14th day of November One thousand Eight hundred and fifty three.

................................................ S B Hills Commissioner for the State of New York

State of New York } SS

Secretary's Office   }  I hereby certify that Leander B. Hills of Waupun County of Fond du Lac and State of Wisconsin was at the time of taking the annexed  acknowledgement, a Commissioner for the state of New York to take the proof and acknowledgement of deeds and other instruments to be used as recorded in this state, and to administer oaths and affirmations, pursuant to Chapter 270: Laws of 1850 and that suck Commissioner was at the time aforesaid duly authorised to take the same, and that I have compared the signature of the said Commissioner to the certificate subjoined to the annexed instrument with the signature of said Commissioner deposited in this Office and have also compared the impression of the seal affixed to such certificate  with the impression of the seal of such Commissioner deposited in this Office and I verily believe the signature and impression of the seal to the said certificate to be genuine.

SS Witness my hand and the seal of Office of the Secretary of State at the City of Albany, this ninth day of March One thousand Eight hundred and Fifty four.

....................................................... E W Leavenworth Secretary of State 

Recorded Examined and Compared with the Original March 10 1854 8 AM

.......................................................... ? ????? Clk

Whew!  Since John and Ann Taylor, Samuel and Mary Ann Vaux, and George and Elizabeth Vaux had moved to Wisconsin by November 1853, the deed had to be signed by them in Wisconsin.  Consequently, the Commissioner for New York in Waupun, Wisconsin summoned them to his office and they signed the deed.  The Commissioner sent it back to the Erie county court, which then sent it to Albany for the Secretary of State to certify that the Commissioner who handled it in Wisconsin was the same person who signed his commission.  Only then could the deed be recorded in Erie County, New York.

The beauty of this document is that it clearly identifies the children of James Vaux, who died in 1839 in Somerset in England possessed of land in Aurora, Erie County, New York.  My third great-grandparents, Samuel and Mary Ann (Underhill) Vaux, are identified as an heir of James Vaux in this document.  It is one of the only documents that does so that I have found to date (I do have a baptismal record of Samuel Vaux son of James and Mary (Palmer) Vaux from South Petherton, Somerset, England).  

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/03/amanuensis-monday-1853-new-york-deed-of.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Best of the Genea-Blogs - 3 to 9 March 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:

*  Why Analyze Data? by Donna Brown on DonnaB's Weblog blog.  This is a fascinating analysis of available evidence by Donna - relationships are not always clear or recorded perfectly.

*  A Short History of FamilySearch Family Tree by the writer of The Ancestry Insider blog.  This history hits the salient points of Family Tree without belaboring the hard spots.

*  Personal Genetics - Coming out of the Closet - Ostriches, Eagles and Fear by Roberta J. Estes on the DNAeXplained-Genetic Genealogy blog.  Roberta explains options that persons with personal genetic test results have about sharing their health indicators with the medical and insurance professions.

*  Why a Blog is More Attractive Than a Website by Carole Riley on the Social Media and Genealogy blog.  Carole makes an excellent point - I agree!

*  Where You Should Sit at a Genealogy Conference by Lisa Louise Cooke on Lisa Louise Cooke's Genealogy Gems blog.  Lisa has great suggestions here...if you can find a space up front.

*  WW1 Soldier's Letters Found in Attic of Home by Lorine McGinnis Schulze on the Olive Tree Genealogy Blog.  Lorine did a little research on the soldier's family and ... was rewarded with a TV news segment.  Genealogy on TV!

*  Keeping the Lights On by Craig Scott on Judy Russell's The Legal Genealogist blog.  Craig shares the publisher's side of the digital books story.

*  After Two Decades, the Story That Changed EVERYTHING by Susan A. Kitchens on the Family Oral History Using digital Tools blog.  There are stories within stories...read this for a different perspective.

*  Across Our Northern Border by Carolyn L. Barkley on the GenealogyAndFamilyHistory.com blog.  Carolyn provides a helpful summary of Canadian genealogical resources.

*  Grits Without Salt by Michele Simmons Lewis on the Ancestoring's Ask A Genealogist blog.  Michele answers the question "How do you come up with all that background information?"

*  Five Lessons I Learned From My Trip to Britain by Michael Leclerc on the Mocavo Genealogy Blog.  Michael had two weeks in Britain, and survived, but it was close!  He found lots of genealogy stuff, too.

*  Who Do They Think I Am - A Look at Four Autosomal Analyses by Jim Owston on the Lineal Arboretum blog.  Jim shows his autosomal results from four DNA testing companies - I find this fascinating!

*  The Genealogy Age Gap -- How do We Expand to Include the Youth? by James Tanner on the Genealogy's Star blog.  Great question, and James has reasons why youth aren't interested in genealogy.  What are your ideas here?

These genea-bloggers wrote weekly pick posts and news summary posts this week: 

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

*  Follow Friday - Fab Finds for March 8, 2013 by Jana Last on Jana's Genealogy and Family History Blog.

*  Follow Friday - Favorites for March 8, 2013 by Heather Kuhn Roelker on the Leaves for Trees blog.

*  Blog Posts for Genealogists, March 8, 2013 by Michael Leclerc on the Mocavo Genealogy Blog.
.
*  Friday Finds - 03/08/13 by Julie Cahill Tarr on the GenBlog blog.

*  Saturday Serendipity by John D. Tew on the Filiopietism Prism blog.

*  Weekly Genealogy Picks - March 3 to 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/2013/03/best-of-genea-blogs-3-to-9-march-2013.html

Copyright(c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver