Day 1 in Salt Lake City - At the FHL

You've probably been wondering if I've been kidnapped by rogue geneabloggers, or got locked into the Family History Library overnight, or worse.

Linda and I arrived on Tuesday evening - we flew from San Diego to Las Vegas and then on to Salt Lake City.  We arrived after 6 p.m. and were in the hotel by 7 p.m.  We quickly adjourned to the restaurant, and joined Schelly Dardashti (from New Mexico), and Heather and Vincent Rojo (from New Hampshire) for dinner at the hotel restaurant.  Daniel Horowitz joined us after awhile, and then it was off to the hotel bar where two groups of genies were discussing the events of the day.  I sat with Thomas MacEntee's group - Sheri Fenley, Jane Halderman, Amy Coffin, Kim Cotton, Lisa Alzo, Jill and Robert Ball.  There were lots of good laughs...it's fun being with my geneablogging colleagues.  Here's Sheri and Thomas surprised by the snap:

Today, I made it to the Family History Library with my 60-odd item to-do list.  I think I completed about 10 items...and some of those were failures.  It always takes longer to find the information on a specific film, then go make an image copy of the record on the microfilm reader/computer system than I think it should.  A 15 minute task turns into 30 minutes, I can't find the record I want because I don't know a specific page number (a 20-year old overlook!).  I did manage to get about ten English parish register images for my Richman and Vaux families, which was my primary goal today.  I also was able to find the John Horton book written by Margaret Weiler and copy some pages from the book.  Then I struck out finding a will for David Auble in Vigo County, Indiana...he may have died intestate - that's another microfilm lookup to be made.

I knid of like this photo - the "light at the end of the tunnel" of FHL microfilms is the computer with FamilySearch record collections on it.

The Library was pretty full today because of the RootsTech conferees.  I am always surprised how many people there are on the computer systems, with the free access to many of the world's commercial genealogy databases.

I was able to meet some new people - Kelvin Meyers and Michael Hait for instance, and renew acquaintances with many others at the library.  It was fun to talk to Russ Worthington, Harold Henderson, Jan Davenport, David Lambert...now I can't remember all of them.

Tonight is the Blogger dinner hosted by FamilySearch, so I may or may not have a report for you later tonight.

Tomorrow is the first day of the RootsTech 2013 Conference, and it starts for me at 7:30 a.m. with an exhibit hall tour, followed by the Keynote talks (some of the geneabloggers are in the front row).

The Keynote talks, and a number of other talks, will be livestreamed on the RootsTech website - see www.rootstech.org.  The schedule for Thursday is (times are PDT, add 3 for EST, add 7 for GMT):

7:30 AM	Keynote – Dennis Brimhall, Syd Lieberman, Josh Taylor
10:00 AM	The Future of Genealogy - Thomas MacEntee and panel
12:45 PM	Tell it Again (Story@Home) - Kim Weitkamp
2:00 PM	The Genealogists Gadget Bag - Jill Ball and panel
3:15 PM	Finding the Obscure and Elusive: Geographic Information on the Web - James Tanner

This livestreaming is an excellent way to virtually attend this conference - be sure to tune in and enjoy a day of genealogy education.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/03/day-1-in-salt-lake-city.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 248: Brothers Ed and Fred in 1981

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:

This is a photograph of one of my best-ever family history memories.  Two brothers - my father, Frederick W. Seaver (1911-1983) and Edward Seaver (1913-2004) - sharing a laugh together at my parents home in about 1981.  

I can't remember and have always wondered what was said by Ed to make my father laugh so hard with his eyes closed!  Perhaps it was about the "golden glow" from their childhood.  I don't think Ed goosed him, but I wouldn't put it past him!

They are in front of the fireplace in the living room of the Carringer/Seaver home at 825 Harbor View Place on Point Loma in San Diego (built by Lyle and Emily Carringer, my grandparents, and then owned by my parents after Lyle and Emily died).  

This was the last time that the brothers got together.  Ed and his wife, Janet, lived in Leominster, Massachusetts at this time, but moved later in the 1980's to Sun Lakes, Arizona.

I can't help thinking that both of these guys were about my present age...

The URL for this post is:

Copyright (c) 2013), Randall J. Seaver

We're off to see the Genea-Wizards...at RootsTech 2013!

We have a 1:55 PM flight out of San Diego for Salt Lake City this afternoon, and will be staying at the Radisson Hotel in case anyone cares.  We'll be ready for dinner when we get there, and will probably stay in the hotel for dinner.  I hope to find some genea-peeps in the bar or lounge area after dinner to enjoy their company..

I ran down My RootsTech 2013 Checklist today and finished most of the items, and packed the laptop bag with everything.  I'm taking much less paper this time!

On Wednesday, I'm going to the Family History Library bright and early (well, when they open at 8 a.m.) to do some research.  I have my list of To-Do items to work on.  The priority this year is obtaining images of English parish register records for my Wiltshire (Richman, Rich, Marshman, Hill, Warren, Ring families) and my Somerset (Vaux, Palmer, Laver, Axe families).  I have abstracts from the records, but not images or exact wordings or page numbers in the registers.  Hopefully, that doesn't take the entire day.  I have plenty more records to find on microfilm and even some books and periodicals to find on the shelves.

Thursday is the start of the RootsTech 2013 Conference and I hope to be in the Keynote presentation at 8:30 a.m. MDT.  I hope my CVGS colleagues and my Genea-Musings readers will be tuned in to the livestreaming video at www.rootstech.org all day!  If you're looking for me in the exhibit hall, check the Media Hub where I'll probably hang out on occasion slaving over my laptop.

Blogging may be relatively light this week if I concentrate on attending sessions and wandering the exhibit hall rather than writing blog posts during the day and in the evening after the various festivities.  Then there is the issue of Internet connections at the hotel and in the conference center.  I have the usual theme posts scheduled so Genea-Musings will not be completely dark, but there might not be as much content as usual.

There will likely be NO Best of the Genea-Blogs this week due to lack of time on my part.  Just sayin'.

The URL for this post is:

Copyright (c) 2103, Randall J. Seaver

Record Matching Progress on MyHeritage.com

I wrote fairly extensively last September about the MyHeritage Record Matching feature - see:

*  MyHeritage Releases Record Matching Technology (19 September 2012)

*  First Look at Record Matches on MyHeritage (19 September 2012)

*  Using MyHeritage Record Matches to Find Find-A-Grave Entries (20 September 2012)

*  NewspaperARCHIVES Records in MyHeritage Record Matches (26 September 2012)

*  Finished Using MyHeritage Record Matching for SSDI Matches (20 December 2012)

Since then, I have continued methodically going through the matches found on the MyHeritage search engine, one block at a time for several of the record collections available, and adding content and source citations to my genealogy database in RootsMagic. 

Here is the top of my Record Matches page in MyHeritage showing only the Pending items (I have already confirmed many matches, and rejected some that were not correct) on the "By Collections" tab:

There are 28 collections with 12,057 Pending record matches on the list. The Top 10 collections with Pending matches are:

1.  WikiTree -  10,611 matches - I haven't started these, mainly because they are almost all my own data from the family tree that I uploaded to WikiTree.com some time ago.

2.  Newspaper Archive - I have 584 pending matches to review, and have confirmed 130 matches and rejected 268 matches out of a total of 982.

3.  Find A Grave - I have 264 pending matches to review, and have confirmed 1,062 matches and rejected 19 matches.  This is my primary area of current review and has been since December (I've reviewed 634 matches in four months).

4.  Maximilian Family Tree - 161 pending matches to review.  I haven't looked at this resource to any great extent.

5.  California Deaths, 1940-1997 - I have 101 pending matches to review, have confirmed 137 and rejected 2 matches.  I will finish this collection after I finish with Find A Grave.

6.  1940 United States Census - I have 61 pending matches to review, and haven't started on them yet.

7.  Texas Births, 1926-1995 - I have 56 pending matches to review, and haven't started on them yet.

8.  England & Wales Deaths, GRO Indexes, 1970-2007 - I have 54 pending matches to review, and haven't started on them yet.

9.  Interment.net - I have 52 pending matches, and haven't started on them yet.

10.  Texas Marriages and Divorces - I have 38 pending matches, and haven't started on them yet.

I noticed that MyHeritage has another tab on the Record Matches page, called "By People" - here is the top of this list:

The top person on this list has 101 record matches - almost all of them are in the Newspaper Archive collection.  Herbert Innerasky is in my database (the husband of a distant cousin), and he is in many issues of the Fitchburg (Mass.) Sentinel newspaper.

The second person, Garrett Branisel, is a distant cousin of mine who is featured in many recent editions of the Chicago Herald newspaper.

Further down the list are record matches for many of my ancestors, but more often siblings of my ancestors.

I hope to finish at least the Find A Grave, California Death Index, Interment.net, Texas Deaths, Texas Marriages and the 1940 Census record matches by the end of the summer.

I really like this Record Matching feature on MyHeritage because it helps me FOCUS on one record collection as I add content to my genealogy database.  It has been very helpful to my effort to update my database with additional dates, places and source citations.

The accuracy level in the record databases (like Find A Grave, SSDI, etc.) is very good - better than 98% if the SSDI and Find A Grave are any indication - I'm actually surprised when I find one to be rejected.  The newspaper match record is not so good because there is usually only a name without some other corroborating data like a birth or death date or spouse's name.  I have found many newspaper articles for persons in my database, and have transcribed the information into my person notes in my database.

However, I have three issues:

1)  I don't believe that the Record Matches for the different record collections have been updated since September 2012.  I know that about 6 million entries have been added to Find A Grave since then, and I don't see that the total number of my record matches for Find A Grave has changed.

2)  I need to update my MyHeritage tree so that it can find Record Matches for the 1,600 persons I've added to my genealogy database since I uploaded my tree to MyHeritage in 2011.  Will MyHeritage come up with a synchronization between the Family Tree Builder software, and the MyHeritage online tree?  I would have to merge my bigger tree into the smaller tree and eliminate duplicate persons in Family Tree Builder, I think.  I don't want to upload the new tree and start all over with all of the Record Matches.

3)  Record Matching is only as good as the number of Record Collections available to match tree persons with.  Has MyHeritage/WorldVitalRecords added many new record collections since September 2012?  And what record collections are going to be added in the near future?

I'll speak to the MyHeritage folks at RootsTech 2013 and see what they have to say about these three issues.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/03/record-matching-progress-on.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

RootsMagic Treasure Hunt Clue #11

RootsMagic is offering a FREE iPad to two winners of their 2013 RootsMagic Treasure Hunt Contest.

The RootsMagic Treasure Hunt starts on Thursday, 21 March.  Here is the RootsMagic press release with directions on how to enter and win:

It's been a tremendous last few months here at RootsMagic. We've been busy with the new releases of RootsMagic 6 and RootsMagic for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. We're also excited to participate in one of the largest genealogy events in North America- RootsTech!


We want to celebrate these momentous events with you, our loyal users! And what better way to celebrate than with a treasure hunt where you could win one of many prizes including an iPad (4th generation)!

Online Treasure Hunt

Once again, we've partnered with 15 of the best and brightest genealogy bloggers who will be reporting at the RootsTech conference. Each blogger will place one of 15 clue words on their website.

From Thursday, March 21 through Wednesday, March 27, 2013, visit http://www.rootsmagic.com/treasure for a complete list of the blogs where the 15 clue words can be found. Visit each blog, collect all 15 clue words, and you could win software, prizes, or an iPad!

Enter at RootsTech or at Home

Once you've collected the clues there are two ways to enter. The first is at the RootsTech conference itself. Pick up an entry card at the RootsMagic booth (#401) in the Exhibit Hall. Write the clue words on the back of the card and return it to the RootsMagic booth in the Exhibit Hall by Saturday, March 23 at 1:20 pm. At that time, we will hold the prize drawings. You must be present to win.

We didn't want those who aren't able to attend RootsTech in person to feel left out so we're holding a second drawing and giving away more prizes including a second iPad. To enter this drawing, visit http://www.rootsmagic.com/treasure anytime between Thursday, March 21 and midnight MST on Wednesday, March 27, 2013. Fill out the online form to be entered into the second drawing. You may enter both drawings but one entry per person, per drawing. Winners will be picked at random and notified via e-mail by Friday, March 29, 2013.

Remember, the treasure hunt doesn't begin until this Thursday. Good luck!

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/03/rootsmagic-treasure-hunt-clue-11.html

Disclosure:  I am an Official Blogger for RootsTech, but I don't have any relationships with RootsMagic, other than being a satisfied user and a recipient of free software twice in the past five years.

My 23andMe DNA Test Results - Post 3: Finding Matches and Seeing Connections

I shared my 23andMe Ancestral Composition results in  My 23andMe DNA Test Results - Post 1 (5 March 2013) and my chromosome details in My 23andMe Test Results - Post 2: Chromosome Views UPDATED! (12 March 2013).

Today, I want to show how 23andMe matches my results to other testers.  

1)  Here is the first page of my DNA Relatives list (Family & Friends > DNA Relatives) showing 25 of my 991 matches (with 5 cm segments or larger) in the List View (the other options are Map view and Surname view in upper right-hand corner):

The default list is sorted by Relationship; other options (dropdown menu is above the names) include percent shared; number of segments; contact status; first name; last name; age; maternal haplogroup; paternal haplogroup; most recent first.

The columns on the screen above are Name, estimated relationship, profile information (regions, names, mtDNA, Y DNA haplogroup), and status relative to yourself.

Some persons permit anyone to view their information (a Public Match), and a few have uploaded a Family Tree, but many have kept their information hidden.  A user can "Send a Message" to those who have a Public Tree and ask if they will share their results with the user.  For the hidden ones, a user can send an Introduction through 23andMe to determine if they want to make contact.

2)  Here is the note sent through 23andMe to one of my matches who has chosen to remain hidden:

3)  The Surname List of matches is shown below (from the DNA Relatives page):

I can click on a surname and see a list of matches that have that surname.

4)  After my autosomal DNA results were received last week, two persons contacted me asking to share my results with them.  I agreed.  They are listed on the Gene Comparison page (Family & Friends > Gene comparison):

5)  That page doesn't tell me a whole lot - I want to see the matches on the chromosomes, so I found the Family Inheritance: Advanced page (My Results > Ancestry Tools > Family Inheritance: Advanced) and added them to the "With" list as shown below:

I clicked on the "Compare" button and the chromosomes with the matches to these two persons were identified:

Obviously, I need to make more connections with persons via the 23andMe message system in order to see chromosome matching with them.

There are a lot more features to explore.  I noticed that geneablogger Diane on Nuts From the Family Tree is doing a similar "show and tell" to my posts.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/03/my-23andme-dna-test-results-post-3.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Amanuensis Monday - Probate Records of Abraham Tucker (1653-1725) of Dartmouth, Mass.

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 Abraham Tucker (1653-1725) of Dartmouth, Bristol County, Massachusetts.  Abraham married (1) Mary Slocum (1660-1689), and they had six children:  Henry Tucker (1680-1722); Abraham Tucker (1682-????); Mary Tucker (1684-1769); Martha Tucker (1686-????) Patience Tucker (1686-????); Abigail Tucker (1688-1730).  After Mary died, Abraham married (2) Hannah Mott (1663-1730), and they had seven children:  Elizabeth Tucker (1691-1768); Sarah Tucker (1693-1727); Content Tucker (1695-1738); Abraham Tucker (1697-1776); Joanna Tucker (1699-1772); Ruth Tucker (1701-????); Hannah Tucker (1704-????).

Abraham Tucker of Dartmouth died testate, having written a will dated 20 November 1724.  It reads (transcribed by Randy Seaver from the probate court clerk's record copy in Bristol County (Massachusetts) Probate Records, Volume 5, Pages 79-81, on FHC Microfilm 0,461,883):

"The Last Will & Testament of Abraham Tucker of Dartmouth in the County of Bristoll in the Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England Yeoman is as followeth:  To all People whome these Presents May Concern.  Know ye that I the said Abraham Tucker through the mercy of God:  being Perfect in mind & of a Sound memory: for the Preventing future Trouble Do make this my Last Will and Testament as followeth.

"First I will that all those Debts & Duties as I Do owe in Right To any manner of Person or Persons whatsoever shall be well & truly Contented & Paid in Convenient Time after my decease by my Executor hereafter Named.

"Item I give & bequeath to Hannah my well beloved Wife my Two Best feather beds with all the furniture thereto belonging with all my plate & Silver money also one third Part of all my within dore househould goodsfor house keeping (Except onely the Remaining Part of my beds and beding, to be disposed of as she Shall See Cause forever. I also give to my wife Dureing the Time that she shall Remain my widdow the whole of my now Dwelling house where I now dwell or live in: & also the Two Best Cows in my stock of Cattel: & also the fruit of five Apple Trees shuch as she shall make Choice of Yearly in my orchard: also do dive and bequeath unto her my sd. wife Sixteen Pounds money or bills of Credit yearly to be Paid unto her by my Executor hereafter Named so long as she shall Remain my widdow as aforsaid and no Longer: And also my said Executor shall Provide her with fire wood Cut fit for the fire always Ready at the Dore: and shall Keep her Two Cows & one horse hind(?)  Winter Summer fit for use & Service; and to let her my said wife have one Barrill of Syder Every Year all which I give unto said wife Dureing her widdowhood as aforsaid and no Longer: I also Give & Bequeath unto said wife Hannah one horse Hind(?) such as she shall make Choice of out of my stock of horse hind(?): & be disposed of as she shall see Cause with Saddle & Bridle therewith: all which I give unto my said Wife Hannah In Luo of her Thirds or Dower and my will is that when my Wife shall marry or Decease & then what is herein given to her dureing her widdowhood Shall belong to my Executor hereafter Named and to his heires & assignes forever.

"Item  I give and bequeath unto my Eldest son Henery Tucker all my Land lying on the Island called Elsabeth alias Pashechanaset & the Island Called Painochiset to be by him his heires & assignes possesed & Injoyed forever: I also Give & bequeath unto my Said son Henery Tucker all my lands whether in meaddow or uplands lying within the township of Dartmouth aforsdaid: Excepting what I have hereafter in these Presents give to my son Abraham Tucker, to Him my said son Henery his heires & assignes forever:  I also give & Bequeath unto my said son Henery all my Stock of Cattel Sheep & horse Hind(?) of what Kind soever that shall be on said Island called Pashecheneset  & Peanochicset att my Decease Together with my Part of the Roat yt we use to Transport to and from said Island for and in the Consideration of the above bequests to my said Son Henery Tucker he shall pay out such Legacies as I Make hereafter in these Presents order him to Pay.

"Item  I give unto my Daughter Mary Russell the Sum of Twenty Pounds in money or bills of Credit to be paid to her or her heires in case of her Decease before the Times of payment within one year after my decease by my said son Henery Tucker together with what or besides what I have already given her.

"Item  I give to my Daughter Patience Woolley the Sum of Twenty Pounds in money or bills of Credit to be paid to her or her heires aforsaid within one year after my decease by my said son Henery Tucker together with what or besides what I have already given her.

"Item  I give unto my Daughter Abigail Chase the Sum of Five Pounds in money or bills of Credit to be paid to her or her heires aforsaid within one year after my decease by my said son Henery Tucker together with what or besides what I have already given her: & I also give to my Daughter Abigail Chase the sum of forty Pounds in money which is due to me from her Husband, Joseph Chase by a bond abligatory Bareing Date ye thirteenth day of Janury 1712/13 and in the Twelfe year of the Reigne of Queen Ann with said bond & whatsoever may be due to me by virtue thereof or thereon.

"Item  I give to my Grandson Abraham Thomas son to my Daughter Martha Thomas deceased Late wife of George Thomas of Portmouth in the Colony of Rhode Island the sum of fourty Pounds of bills of Credit to be paid to him when he shall come to the age of Twenty one years or att his marrage day which shall happen first by my said son Henery Tucker.

"Item  I give to my Granddaughter Mary Thomas Daughter to my said Daughter Martha deceased: the sum of ten Pounds in money or bills of Credit to be paid her by my said son Henery Tucker when she shall come to the age of Eighteen years or either Marrage Day which shall first happen: And further my will yt if Either of my sd Grandchildren shall dye before the Legacies herein to him or her given is become due according to the severall days of payment that then the whole herein given both shall be paid to the survivor in manner as is herein to such as given all: Which I do order my said son Henery Tucker to pay ye abovesaid Legacies given to my Daughter & Grand Children mentioned to be paid by.

"Item  I give to my three daughters namely Joanah Tucker Ruth Tucker & Hannah Tucker Each of them the sum of Sixty Pounds in money or bills of Credit to be paid to Each of them Respectively as they come to the age of Eaighteen years or att theire & Each of them marrage Days: which shall first happen by my Executor hereafter Named: & it is my will that if any of Either of my three daughters Last mentioned shall dye before before she or they come to the age as aforsaid, that then her or their Legacee or Legacies shall be paid in Equall Proportion thereof to the survivors of my Seven Daughters namely Mary Russell, Elizabeth Barker, Sarah Wing, Content Wing Joanah Tucker Ruth Tucker and Hannah Tucker or Their Legal Representatives in case any of them be dead.

"Item  I give & Bequeath unto my youngest Son Abraham Tucker Whome I also Constitute make and ordaine my onely & sole Executor of this my Last Will & Testament, all my homestead farme or Lands with all trhe housing & buildings fences Apurtenances thereon or thereto Belonging to him my said son Abraham Tucker his heires & assignes forever always Excepting what is above Reserved to my wife dureing her widdowhood & no more or Longer.  The said homestead is Bouned as followeth: Northwardly by ye Land of my said Son Henery Tucker: Eastwardly by the Highway that goes from Poneganset harbour along by Josiah Sherman Lands or homestead & Now Deceased: & so along by John Howlands now dwelling house, & so up to the Cuntry Rhoad: Southerly by Lands belonging to John Russell & Partly by the Landss of James Barker, & Westwardly by the highway yt goes from John Tuckers to friends meeting house in Poneganset:  I also give & bequeath unto my said son Abraham Tucker & to his heires & assignes forever all that my Tract of upland & meadows lying on the Westerly side of Clarks Cove so called in Dartmouth aforesaid & is bouned NorWestwardly by the highway partly & partly by Undivided lands, Westwardly by the lands of John Russel Southerly by land of Peleg Slocum & Easterly by the Bay of Salheater: I also give to my said son Abraham Tucker and to his heires & assignes forever all my Right in Ceder Swamps within the township of Dartmouth aforsaid whether divided or undivided together with all my Rights in the undivided land in said Town: it is all my Right yt shall be Remaining after the Eaight hundred & four hundred ... division in said town compleated:  I also give unto my said Son Abraham Tucker & to his heires & assignes forever Two Oxen which he shall make Choice of four Cows such as he shall Chose after his Mother my said wife haith made her Choice as above Together with all my utensils for husbandlry without dores as Cartes Plows with Iron thereto Chaines Yokes & all other for husbandry: and also all my Carpenters Tools & also the Choice of two guns: & further my will is yt after all my Debts & above mentioned Legacies Paid & Satisfied then what shall shall be Remaining of my Personall Estate both Stock & household goods & Paper money of any theire may be at my decease not herein above disposed of shall be Equally divided amonst my Seven Daughters yt is Mary Russel Elezebeth Barker Sarah Wing Constant Wing Joannah Tucker Ruth Tucker & Hannah Tucker or theire Legall Representatives in case any of them be dead: I do Request Constitute & Appointe my Trusted & well beloved friends & Brethren John Tucker & Jacob Mott to be my overseers to Advice my Executor in the Execution of the Trust herein Reposed in him: and I do hereby make null & void all former wills & Ratifie this and no other to be my Last will & Testament in wittness whereof I have hereunto set my hand & seal the Twentieth day of ye Ninth month Called November in ye year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred Twenty foure.

"Signed, Sealed pronounced & Declared by the said Abraham Tucker

Abraham Tucker to be his last will & testament

Richerd Bourden

John Tucker

John Howland

Elezebeth Smith

"Bristoll April ye 20th 1724: then before the Hon. Nath-ll Blaglove (?) Esq-r Judge of the Probaite of Wills within the County of Bristoll Came John Tucker & John Howland & Elezebeth Smith Wittnesses to the Last will & Testament of Abraham Tucker Late of Dartmouth decesed & made oath yt they were Present & did see & hear ye said deceased Signe seal Publish & Declare ye same to be his last will & testament & yt he was of a Disposing mind when he so did and yt at the same time they saw Richerd Bourden signe as a wittness with them & yt they all signed in the presence of the Testator.  Bristoll May ye 7th 1724 Burat Coram. Stephen Paine Register."

On 20 April 1725, Abraham Tucker of Dartmouth, sole Executor of the last will and testament of his Father, Abraham Tucker of Dartmouth, deceased, dated 20 November 1724, was ordered to execute the will, administer the estate, make a true and perfect inventory before 20 July 1725 and to render a plain and true account of his administration of the estate by 20 April 1726 by the Judge of Probate at Bristol (Bristol County (Massachusetts) Probate Records, Volume 5, Page 64, on FHL Microfilm 0,461,883).

No inventory or account is included in the Bristol County Probate records available on microfilm at the Family History Library.

In this will, Abraham names two sons (Henry and Abraham) and ten daughters (Mary, Patience, Abigail, Martha (deceased), Sarah, Content, Elizabeth, Joanah, Ruth and Hannah).  My ancestry is through daughter Content Tucker, who married Benjamin Wing in 1722.  The three daughters from the second marriage not bequeathed something substantial in the will may have received something when they married.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/03/amanuensis-monday-probate-records-of.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Zap the Grandma Gap Power-Up Workbook Available for RootsTech!

I received this press release from Janet Hovorka about her new Zap the Grandma Gap Power Up Workbook:

Most parents and grandparents would do anything and everything to raise the youth in their family to be successful adults.  There are play groups and preschool lessons, music and dance, sports, tutoring and youth groups, the right schools, the right nutrition, etc.etc.  However, many people miss one of the most basic and foundational things that can set a child up for success in life—teaching their child about their family’s history. 

To help, Family ChartMasters has published another unique resource that looks at family history in an engaging and youthful way so that anyone can easily engage the youth in their family with their history.  In conjunction with her corresponding lectures at the RootsTech conference this week, Janet Hovorka has written the new  Zap the Grandma Gap Power Up Workbook: The Particulars About How To Connect With Your Family by Connecting Them To Their Family History, a hands-on book with step by step instructions, procedures, templates and resources that will help teach the next generation to love their heritage.  In the fill-in-the-blank book you will find:

• ·         Brainstorming activities to spark ideas
• ·         Suggestions for travel
• ·         Checklists and invitations for parties
• ·         Outlines for children’s books and activity books
• ·         Templates for games
• ·         Designs for recipe cards and ornaments
• ·         Surveys of the best websites
• ·         Ideas for incentives
• ·         Lists of interview questions
• ·         And instructions and templates for many other activities

This book discusses many ways to combine a family’s specific heritage with the specific interests of their particular youth.

The workbook is a companion to the book Zap the Grandma Gap: Connect With Your Family by Connecting Them To Their Family History.  This new book has already inspired families throughout the world about the importance of family history in connecting today’s families.  In it parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles can learn:

• ·         How to prepare for further curiosity by infusing their surroundings with their history.
• ·         Why plugging into the net is the easiest way to plug their family into their past
• ·         How to utilize your talents to teach their family about their history
• ·         Why discovering the surrounding history together makes their progenitors come alive.
• ·         How to pull their posterity close by carefully creating and recording today’s history.
• ·         Why it is important to simplify their family’s story their family can appreciate the past.

Author Janet Hovorka comes from a family that practices the principles found in this book.  As a librarian, she helped people at the BYU library with their family history research but was completely uninterested in her own. Janet inherited a large amount of genealogy from her mother and grandmother, both wonderful genealogists who lived family history in a way that was attractive and inviting.  Eventually Janet woke up to the soul satisfaction of learning about her past.  Most recently she has found great joy in encouraging her teenage children's genealogical interests. Janet has returned this last month from speaking at the Who Do You Think You Are Conference in London, and the North Florida Genealogy Conference where she gave several lectures about engaging the next generation with their family history.  Among other topics, she will be speaking this weekend at the RootsTech conference on “The Cool Parts of Genealogy: Engaging My Teenagers Case Study.”  Understanding the good and the bad in their own family history can help anyone deal with their family members and their lives in a more healthy way. 

Zap the Grandma Gap Power Up Workbook: The Particulars About How To Connect With Your Family by Connecting Them To Their Family History by Janet Hovorka is available now at www.zapthegrandmagap.com, at bookstores and by calling 801-872-4278.  A 24 page excerpt of the workbook and a 28 page excerpt of the book are available for free on the website along with downloads of other supporting materials.  Sign up on the homepage for a free 52 week e-newsletter with even more ideas on how to engage the next generation with their family history.

About the Author:  Janet Hovorka received a B.A. in Ancient Near Eastern History and a Master's degree in Library and Information Science from BYU.  She and her husband Kim Hovorka own Family ChartMasters (www.familychartmasters.com) —official, award winning printers for most of the genealogy software and database companies.  She is currently serving as President of the Utah Genealogical Association and teaches courses in library skills and genealogy at Salt Lake Community College.  Janet writes the The Chart Chick blog (www.thechartchick.com), has written for numerous genealogy publications, and has presented 100s of lectures all over the world to help people learn more about their past. 

 Zap the Grandma Gap : Connect With Your Family by Connecting Them To Their Family History by Janet Hovorka.  Published by Family ChartMasters: Cedar Hills, Utah, 2013. Paperback, $23.95 194pp.  ISBN 978-0-9888548-0-2.

Zap the Grandma Gap Power Up Workbook: The Particulars About How To Connect With Your Family by Connecting Them To Their Family History by Janet Hovorka.  Published by Family ChartMasters: Cedar Hills, Utah, 2013. Paperback, $23.95 103pp.  ISBN 978-0-9888548-1-9.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/03/zap-grandma-gap-power-up-workbook.html

Best of the Genea-Blogs - 10 to 16 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:

*  The Genealogy Age Gap - My Take On It by Betty Taylor on My Mother's Family History blog.  Betty describes her outlook on getting younger people involved in their family history.

*  The Reasonably Exhausting Search by Beirne Konarski on the GenVoyage blog.  Beirne is using the Genealogical Proof Standard to find the parents of an ancestor.  I wish him luck!

*  The Puzzling Probate by Judy G. Russell on The Legal Genealogist blog.  Judy works out a reader's puzzle - the key is to know the law!

*  Six Irish Genealogy Websites by Diane Haddad on the Genealogy Insider blog.  Diane lists her favorite six, um, eight, Irish websites.  Great list.

*  More Effective Searches by Michele Simmons Lewis on Ancestoring's Ask a Genealogist blog.  Michele shares her general principles for searching genealogy databases.

*  Capturing Ancestry.com Sources in FamilySearch Family Tree by the writer of The Ancestry Insider blog.  This post describes the Tree Connect feature to add a non-FamilySearch online source to the Family Tree.  The shortened Ancestry link for a specific record is very useful.

*  Lessons in Genealogy Collaboration by Crista Cowan on the Ancestry.com Blog.  Crista gets a bit of humble pie...I sympathize.  I like her conclusions.  I would add one more - Some researchers have better records than you do.

*  Reflections on an Australian Lecture Tour by Paul Milner on the Paul Milner Genealogy blog.  Somehow, Paul did 39 lectures in 30 days on 15 topics on the Unlock the Past cruise and then at venues all around Australia.  He survived to tell us about it!

*  Technology Pushes Us Off the Deep End by Anne on The French Genealogy Blog.  You think the USA has record access issues - check out the French problems.

*  Who Do You Think You Are? Live Feb. 22 - 24, 2013 by Emily Aulicino on the DNA - Genealem's Genealogy blog.  Emily summarizes her days at the WDYTYA Live conference in London.  Looks like the DNA folks had a lot of fun!

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 Recap for March 11, 2013 by Amanda on the Geni Blog.

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

*  Follow Friday - Favorites for March 15, 2013 by Heather Kuhn Roelker on the Leaves for Trees blog.

*  Follow Friday - Fab Finds for March 15, 2013 by Jana Last on Jana's Genealogy and Family History Blog.

*  Friday Finds - 03/15/13 by Julie Cahill Tarr on the GenBlog blog.

*  Saturday Serendipity - March 16, 2013 by John D. Tew on the Filiopietism Prism blog.

*  Notable Genealogy Blog Posts, 16 March 2013 by Michael Hait on the Planting the Seeds blog.

*  Weekly Genealogy Picks: March 10-16 by John Newmark on the TransylvanianDutch blog.

*  A Sunday Walk Around the Blogs by Dawn Watson on the Digging in the Roots 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-10-to-16-march-2013.html

Copyright(c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver 

Census Whacking for St. Patrick's Day

Here's an oldie but a goodie from 17 March 2007 on Genea-Musings (with updates and additions over the years):I browsed through the 1920 census on www.Ancestry.com  looking for funny or strange names to help celebrate St. Patrick's Day and Irish names.There is a rich selection:

* Patrick Ireland resided in Matagorda County TX (born in Texas - who knew?)

* St. Lester Patrick resided in Hillsborough county NH (born in Canada)

* Patrick Patrick resided in Macon County AL (born AL)

* Patrick Fitz Patrick resided in Queens County NY (born in Ireland)

* Paddy Green resided in Lucas County OH (born Ireland)

* Green Kelley resided in Hudson County NJ (born Ireland)

*  Kelly Banshey resided in Beardstown, Illinois.

*  Banshe Jedinak resided in Trinidad, Colorado.

* There are 64 males named Patrick Green born in Ireland.

* Daniel Boy resided in Cuyahoga County OH (born in Russia)

* Daniel Erin Ireland resided in Wyandotte County KS (born in KS)

* Patrick Luck resided in Kings County NY (born in Ireland)
*  Erin Ireland resided in Logan County, CO (born in Nebraska)

* There are 87 females named Rose Ireland - but only one was born in Ireland.

*  There are 1,889 persons with the surname Clover, but only 6 were born in Ireland.

*  There are 222 persons with the surname Shamrock, and 6 with the first name of Shamrock, but none were born in Ireland.

*  There are 9 Kate Irelands in the census, but none were born in Ireland

*  There are 91 persons with surname Ireland that were born in Ireland.

*  There are 606 persons with the surname Limerick, but only 5 were born in Ireland.

*  There are 5,372 with the surname Cork, but only 39 were born in Irreland.

*  There are 102 persons with the surname Fairy, but only 2 were born in Ireland.

*  There are 3,861 persons with surname Irish, but only 22 were born in Ireland.

*  There are 26,144 persons with the first name starting with "Kat" and 41,434 with starting with "Cat" born in Ireland

*  There are 22,043 persons with the surname Shannon, but only 880 were born in Ireland.

*  There are 52,560 persons with the first name starting with "Pat" and 49 starting with "Pad" born in Ireland

*  There are 1,059,917 persons in the 1920 census that were born in Ireland.

*  There are 3,888,940 persons whose father was born in Ireland.

*  There are 3,799,355 persons whose mother was born in Ireland.

*  There are 3,078,127 persons whose mother and father were born in Ireland.

*  I have exactly 0 known ancestors who were born in Ireland after 1600.  

There were no people in the census with the surname of Leprechaun or Banshee.  Not being Irish, or having known Irish ancestry, or much experience researching in Ireland - I don't know all of the legends and songs that might provide more names to search.  What other names should I look for next year? 

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/03/census-whacking-for-st-patricks-day.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver