Treasure Chest Thursday - Post 226: 1861 Marriage Record of "David Smith" and "Abigal Vanse"

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 1861 marriage record for my second great-grandparents, "David" Smith (sic) and "Abigal Vanse" (sic):

The transcription of the information in this record is:

1.  Full name of husband:                                        David Smith

2.  Name of father of said husband:                       Ranslow Smith

3.   Name of them other of said husband:              Mary Smith

4.  Occupation of said husband:                              Farmer

5.  Residence of said husband:                                Rolling Prairie Wis

6.  Birthplace of husband:                                       Jeff Co N York

7.  Full name of wife previously to marriage:      Abigal Vause

8.  Name of the father of said wife:                        Samuel    "

9.  Name of the mother of said wife:                     Mary Ann  "

10. The time when the marriage was consummated:  April 4th 1861

11.  The place, town or township and county, 

       where the marriage was consummated:        Rolling Prairie Dodge Co Wis

12.  The color:                                                           White

13.  By what ceremony consummated:                 Judicial

14.  Name of person pronouncing marriage:          E U Baily

15.  Residence of person last named:                      Rolling Prairie

16.  Name of person signing the certificate:           E U Baily

17.  Date of certificate:                                              April 4th 1861

18.  Date of registration:                                           May 2nd 1861

The source citation for this record is (crafted using the "Vital Records (FHL/GSU Film) template in RootsMagic):

Dodge County, Wisconsin, Marriages, 1860-1865, 1842-1852: page 195, David Smith and Abigal Vanse marriage entry; FHL Microfilm US/CAN 1,275,941 (accessed 30 July 2014 by Finn Hansen).

I wrote A Nice Surprise - "David" Smith and Abigail "Vanse" Wisconsin Marriage Record two weeks ago, and noted that the record was on a Family History Library microfilm.

My friend, Finn Hansen, who lives in the Salt Lake City area and visits the Family History Library regularly, emailed me and graciously offered to look up the record for me the next time he visited the FHL.  Finn did the task on 30 July, and immediately sent the record image to me.  He noted that "this record was on the first foot or two of the microfilm reel ... how often does that happen?"

I love it when I get some help from a genealogy friend!  I greatly appreciate Finn's excellent work here, and really enjoy his friendship and our regular contact at Salt Lake City conferences.  I owe him a lunch for this effort!

I debated how to cite this record because the names of both parties are wrong.  I know it's the right people - Devier J. Smith (1839-1894) and Abigail Vaux (1844-1931) - because the names of the parents are correct and the marriage date and place match the Smith Family Bible record I have.  I decided to cite it using the names on the record rather than the correct names.

I wondered in the earlier post if the handwriting was so poor on the record that the FamilySearch indexers may have guessed.  The handwriting on the record above is fairly clear - it is clearly "David" and "Vanse" or "Vause."  There may be the actual certificate given to the happy couple that has poor handwriting that this county recorder copied from.  It may be an inattentive recorder also.  

Since this is a county record taken from some sort of certificate, it is a Derivative Source, with Primary Information and Direct Evidence of the party names, marriage date and place.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/08/treasure-chest-thursday-post-226-1861.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

Reader Comments on my GEDMatch Autosomal DNA Analysis Post

I posted My First Look at GEDMatch Autosomal DNA Analysis on 4 August 2014, and had several very helpful and interesting reader comments, including:

a)  Elizabeth offered:  "1) Currently GedMatch is still recovering from moving server so many features are not available -- many of us are patiently awaiting their return, such as the segment triangulation.

"2) Rather than build your own spreadsheet, consider using Genomemate (www.genomemate.org) -- a user-created program/database that can collate data from all the testing companies and Gedmmatch and help with statistical analysis as well ass tracking email contacts with matches. I am a proud user of it.

"3) Yes, upload a Gedcom file. In the past you used to be able to go to a linked Gedcom from the one-to-many report -- hopefully that will return when they fully restore the website.

"Elizabeth (in charge of kits A131521, A393287, A501757, A658108, and F278130)"

b)  Doris Wheeler commented:  "I agree with Elizabeth's suggestions, but there is another especially useful feature: DNA GEDCOM matching. It produces a list of people you match who also have matching people in your GEDCOM and theirs. It's a relatively "short list" that is a great starting point. I used it yesterday but then it disappeared when I returned later, so it's one of the features they're obviously working on."

c)  Jennifer Alford noted:  "Thank you for sharing this Randy! I have been slowly dabbling in DNA analysis and learning to use Gedmatch was my next step. I look forward to all the great comments that will come from those who use it regularly. You should also know that there is a Facebook group for users that is quite helpful. "

d)  My comments:  Thank you all for the very helpful suggestions and experiences.  I hope that more will be offered, either on the earlier post or on this post.

The URL for this post is:   http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/08/reader-comments-on-my-gedmatch.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

SDGS Meeting on Saturday, 9 August Features Linda Serna

The next San Diego Genealogical Society (SDGS) program meeting is this Saturday, 9 August 2014 at 10 a.m. at the St. Andrew's Lutheran Church building (8350 Lake Murray Blvd in San Diego, just south of Jackson Drive).

The program speaker is Linda Serna.  Linda will have two presentations, "Ethnic Groups: They Came to America" (10 to 11 a.m.) and "Foreign Research" (11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.)

Since the United States is a country of immigrants, the history of who came here when does a lot to shed light on this question. Understanding when and why they left, and where they went helps to round them out as people. Their lives are now in context. And then we can dig into the research necessary to follow our family lines further back in the old country.  “Ethnic Groups: They Came Into America” speaks of the history of our immigrant ancestors. “Foreign Research” shows us how to find them. Together, these presentations add depth to the family story and help lead us in the direction in which we want to go.

“Ethnic Groups: They Came Into America:” Looks at the Polish, German, French, Belgium Walloons, Italian, Irish, and Dutch, and explores where they came from, when they came, why they came, and where they went in America to aid us in our research of these particular groups.

“Foreign Research:” Looks at how to go about tracing our ancestors across the ocean. It addresses beginning here in the States, discovering the clues as to where to go next, and then finding resources that are available here and overseas, both online and in repositories, as well as other suggestions that may open the doors to success.

Linda has been involved with genealogy in researching and writing family stories for over 30 years. Just recently, she was honored to work on the PBS program Genealogy Roadshow.

Currently, she is a member of the Southern California Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists (SCCAPG), the Genealogical Speakers Guild (GSG), the California State Genealogical Alliance (CSGA), the Polish Genealogical Society (PGS-CA), and the Genealogical Society of Hispanic America (GSHA-CA) as well as being Vice President of Programs for the Orange County California Genealogical Society (OCCGS).

Over the last 5 years, Linda has written and given several presentations on various topics for different groups in Southern California and New Mexico, as well as teaching the Intermediate/ Advanced class at her home group about twice a year. She is always in the process of writing new presentations. Her loves, in addition to public speaking, include history, writing, and traveling.

There will be a "New Members" meeting at 9 a.m. in the same venue.  Del Ritchhart will discuss getting started in genealogy research.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/08/sdgs-meeting-on-saturday-9-august.html

Climb Aboard the Swayback Randy Express -- Post 319 for (Not So) Wordless Wednesday

I am posting family photographs from my collection on Wednesdays, but they aren't "Wordless" - I am incapable of having a wordless post!

Here is a photograph from the Seaver/Carringer family photograph collection from my 40 years of photo albums, boxes and piles of family photographs:

Every kid in my house gets a horsey-back ride whenever they want one...at least until they're like, oh, six years old.  In this case, two kids managed to scramble on the swayback Randy back in 1978.  I don't recall how far we went like this, but it was probably from the family room to the kitchen linoleum floor (about ten feet).

The two lucky kids are my daughters, Lori (in  the back seat with the snazzy hat) and Tami (in the front seat).  There's the lovely and tan Linda in the background trying hard to not look at the camera but smiling anyway.  And the swayback Randy had not started growing his beard yet.  I have no clue about the hat either - presumably it got lost soon after this photo was taken.

I have no clue who took this photograph in 1978, but it's a keeper.  This is in our current house in Chula Vista, in the family room, with a dazzling indoor-outdoor carpet pattern (hey, the kids were 4 and 2 at this time).

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/08/climb-aboard-swayback-express-post-319.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

Is Every Famous Person My Relative?

The short answer is "YES."  But the relationships are not always direct and may be a long time ago.  Oh, there are probably no records that document the names, dates, places and relationships.  I almost forgot that!

Kitty Cooper posted Fun with the Relationship Calculator at GENI.com yesterday on her eponymous blog.  I wrote the names down and tested all of them today.

As expected, I am also related to all of the ones she mentioned.  Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator is my 58th great-grandmother.  Who knew!  How cool is that?   The one I was really happy about was Albert Einstein - I am related to him as a second cousin five times removed's husband's wife's husband's sister's husband's sister's husband's great grandson.  Hmmm, not much blood relationship there!  Catherine II the Great, Empress of Russia is my 10th cousin 6 times removed.  Not much blood relationship there either.

I was very despondent that I'm related to Attila the Curse of God and Genghis Khan.  Oh well, we can't choose our ancestors!  

I went looking for other famous persons that I might be related to:

*  John Hancock (whose handwriting was much better than mine) is my 6th cousin 8 times removed:

*  Nathaniel Hawthorne (who was a much better writer than I am) is my 6th cousin 5 times removed:

 *  Orville Wright (who was a much better engineer than I am) is my 7th cousin 3 times removed:

*  Benjamin Franklin (who is one of my all-time favorite historical persons) is my 5th cousin 9 times removed:

*  Lizzie Borden (who was a better chopper than I ever will be) is my 12th cousin 3 times removed:

*  Jesus of Nazareth (whose garment I am not worthy to touch) is related to me as my 17th great grandfather's wife's niece's husband's first cousin once removed's wife's first cousin's wife's first cousin once removed:

[I don't think there are enough generations here - this should be back 80 generations (2000 years, average birth every 25 years) or more, and it's only about 20 to the common ancestor.  someone must have made a mistake!].

The Geni.com tree also says that Almighty God is my 93rd great-grandmother.  Who knew?

Needless to say, I don't know how accurate any of these lines are.  Almost all of them go back to Mother England before 1600, and my experience with that is that there is a lot of wrong genealogy material out there.  Perhaps the folks who added these profiles, and the ancestral links, did a good job of adding reliable data from original source records.  But probably not.

The relationships above are probably most accurate for Orville Wright and Nathaniel Hawthorne. But I haven't done the research for their lines.

At any rate, this is an interesting exercise that draws me into the Geni.com web every once in awhile.

I've hesitated in requesting that my daughters, my brothers and my cousins join my Geni.com tree, but they might find it interesting.  I know my aunts and uncle loved knowing that they were related to European royalty, Mayflower passengers and colonial governors.  That was one way to induce them to at least read my genealogy material I sent at Christmas time.

To answer my question, I think "it seems so - Geni.com can probably find a relationship for any person entered into the system.  However, the relationship may not be correct."

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/08/is-every-famous-person-my-relative.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

Finding a Family for Vernon R. Seaver (1923-1945)

One of the most recent databases added to Ancestry.com is the U.S. Headstone and Interment Records for U.S. Military Cemeteries on Foreign Soil, 1942-1949.  I went searching for Seaver names in it today while I had a little free time (I do love the Hunt!).

There was only one exact match - here is the results page for my search:

Vernon R. Seaver died during World War II, apparently in the Netherlands, and is buried in the Margraten U.S. Military Cemetery cemetery there.  Here is the index card from the database:

Vernon R. Seaver was a TEC 5 in the 311th Infantry, 78th Division.  He died 7 February 1945.  He was from Michigan.  His next of kin was his mother, Mrs. Ruth Gogis of Royal Oak, Michigan.

I checked my RootsMagic database and did not have Vernon R. Seaver, or anything close to the name, in the database.  I have a residence of his mother, who has a different surname.

Can I find Vernon Seaver in, say, the 1940 U.S. Census?  It was a struggle - I searched for Vern* Se*v* with a mother Ruth and found the Stanley J. Gogis family (indexed as 'Gogin') in Fenton, Genesee County, Michigan:

There are three "Severs" children listed (indexed as "Sevens") - Charles (age 18), Vernon (age 16), and David (age 14).  They are listed as "step-sons" so this may be a second marriage situation for their mother.  There are also three Gogis children.  Ruth is age 40.  From the estimated birth dates of the Seaver children, and the estimated birth dates for the Gogis children, the marriage of Ruth to Stanley Gogis may have occurred between 1926 and 1930.

Are the three Seaver boys in the 1930 U.S. Census?  Of course they are - in Fenton, Genesee County, Michigan, with their step-father Stanley J. Gogis (indexed as Gogin), mother Ruth (age 30), and the first Gogis child.  The Seaver boys (aged 8, 6 and 4) are indexed as "Seavert" although the writing is pretty clear - C in Charles looked like a t to the indexer, I guess.  I've seen worse:

If the Seaver boys were born in the 1920s, then perhaps their parents were married before 1920 and are in the 1920 U.S. Census.  Here is the William E. (age 35) and Ruth Seaver (age 19) enumeration in Highland, Oak County, Michigan.

Is this the right family?  It's hard to tell.  although Ruth is not a common first name, it's not rare - there could have been several women named Ruth Seaver in southeastern Michigan in the 1920 time frame.  I need more information!

I looked in my database, and had a William E. Seaver (born in 1883 in Highland, Oakland County, Michigan) married in 1919 to a Ruth H. Vandwater (born about 1900).  Ruth's age fits - I'm sure that this is the right couple in the 1920 census.  But are they the parents of the three Seaver boys in the 1930 and 1940 census records?

I went searching on Ancestry.com and FamilySearch for a marriage record for William E. Seaver and Ruth, and did not find one.  I searched for Stanley Gogis/Gogin and Ruth and did not find one.
If that is the right set of Seaver parents, then I might be able to find a death record for William E. Seaver.  I did, on FamlySearch:

This record provides a death date of 16 Feb 1926 in Washtenaw County, Michigan.  It provides a birth date and place, and parents names. There is no mention of his spouse's name.

I then looked in Ancestry and FamilySearch for birth, marriage and death records for the three sons, Charles, Vernon and David Seaver (using wild cards to cover variations in surnames).  That resulted in a death record for Charles William Seaver (1921-1942) on FamilySearch:

Again, the record included a birth date, place, and parents names - William E. Seaver and Ruth H Vandewater.

A search for Stanley Gogis/Gogin and Ruth Gogis/Gogin provided Michigan death index entries, and Social Security Death Index entries, for both of them.

So I think that I've been able to make a circumstantial case that William E. Seaver (1883-1926) and Ruth H. (Vandewater) (Seaver) Gogis (1900-1987) were the parents of the soldier, Vernon R. Seaver (1923-1945), buried in the Margraten Military Cemetery in the Netherlands.

I looked in the newspapers on Ancestry.com and on GenealogyBank to see if there might be a death notice or obituary in a Michigan newspaper in 1945 for Vernon, but I didn't find one.

Then I thought about Ruth - she lost her oldest son in 1942 at age 21, and her next son in the war in 1945 at age 22.  I found nothing at all about David Seaver.  I'm sure that the deaths of her two sons were sad and depressing for her, but she apparently persevered and lived out her life in Michigan.

It was fun doing the research, and being able to succeed in finding Vernon's ancestry (he is my 5th cousin, 3 times removed), and adding him to my database.  It took less than an hour to do the research here.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/08/finding-family-for-vernon-r-seaver-1923.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

Tuesday's Tip - Kentucky Resources on Family Search

This week's Tuesday's Tip is:  Check out the FamilySearch Research Wiki and historical record collections for Kentucky.

1)  The FamilySearch Research Wiki page for Kentucky is  https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Kentucky

The Research Wiki page for Kentucky describes the genealogical resources available for the state and includes descriptions of the different record types that can be found in both offline and online repositories.  There is also a wiki page for each county. 

The green button titled "Kentucky Online Records" on the screen above provides a list of ALL online record collections available on FamilySearch, Ancestry and other data providers.

2)  There are nine record collections with Kentucky in the title on the list of FamilySearch Historical Record collections [Note: put "kentucky" in the search box in the upper left-hand corner]: 

They are:

*  Kentucky Births and Christenings, 1839-1960 -- 546,313 indexed records, last updated 09 Mar 2012
*  Kentucky Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865 -- 267,987  indexed records with images, last updated 20 Apr 2012
*  Kentucky Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 -- 1,256,188   indexed records with images, last updated 20 Apr 2012
*  Kentucky Confederate Pension Applications, 1912-1950 -- Browse Images  only (no index), last updated 09 Dec 2011

*  Kentucky Death Records, 1911-1955 -- 1,384,241 indexed records, last updated 14 Apr 2011
*  Kentucky Deaths and Burials, 1843-1970 -- 627,320  indexed records, last updated 02 Dec 2010
*  Kentucky Marriages, 1785-1979 -- 1,532,533 indexed records, last updated 21 Mar 2012
*  Kentucky Probate Records, 1727-1990 -- 12,429 indexed records with images, last updated 06 Sep 2013
*  Kentucky, County Marriages, 1797-1954 -- 184,092 indexed records with images, last updated 26 Mar 2012

The collections with "Browse images" are not indexed, but they are waypointed into sections such as County, record type, volume number, etc.  In general, these collections were digitized from microfilm images. 

As always, check the list of historical record collections occasionally to see if more record collections have been added or updated. 

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/08/tuesdays-tip-kentucky-resources-on.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

My First Look at GEDMatch Autosomal DNA Analysis

I have had autosomal DNA testing done at 23andMe, FamilyTreeDNA and AncestryDNA, and reported on the results.  They all told me my ethnicity estimates, and they all differed one from the other.  On 23andMe and FamilyTreeDNA, I can see a chromosome map showing my chromosomes compared to other testers on the same autosomal system.

Unfortunately, very few testers on 23andMe and FamilyTreeDNA have uploaded a GEDCOM file to those systems, so I cannot compare my GEDCOM file with those of many of my matches.

There are other DNA analysis tools that I am just starting to investigate.  Several months ago, I downloaded a spreadsheet file of my autosomal DNA test results from 23andMe.  FamilyTreeDNA and AncestryDNA have this feature also.  I then uploaded it to GEDMatch (www.gedmatch.com) and waited several months for the results.  I checked it again today, and saw that I could use the site.

Here is the GEDMatch.com home page - I signed in and saw:

This page tells my GEDMatch kit number (in this case, it's my 23andMe kit number) in the left-hand column.  In the right-hand column, there is a section to upload my DNA raw file (which I've already done).  Below that is the "Analyze Your Data" box with links to:

*  'One to many' matches
*  'One-to-one' compare
*  X 'One-to-one'
*  Admixture (heritage)
*  Admixture/Oracle with population search (New)
*  Phasing
*  DNA File Diagnostic Utility

On the right side of the right-hand column is a section for GEDCOM files (I haven't uploaded one yet) and Miscellaneous utilities.

For this post, i'm going to look at the 'One-to-many' DNA comparison and the 'One-to-one' comparison.

Here is the screen for the 'One-to-many' comparison - I needed to enter my kit number:

After clicking the "Display results" button, I saw the top of the page for "DNA Matches to Kt No. M......):

On the screen above, there are several buttons - one to see the Chromosome Browser comparison, another to see an Autosomal Matrix comparison, and a third for an X-DNA comparison.

Further down the screen is a table of autosmal DNA kits that have some matching segments (at least 7 centi-Morgans).

The columns show the kit number, a "select" check box, sex, Mt and Y haplogroups, Autosomal DNA (total cM, largest cM, and generations), X DNA (total cM and largest cM), kit owner's name, and the kit owner's email.

When the user first sees this table, it is ranked with the highest Autosomal Total centi-Morgans.  The table can be ranked by choosing any of the blue up or down arrows in the columns:

Note:  I truncated the graphic above to hide most of the kit owner names and email addresses.

The user can select (check) at least two of the profiles to be compared to his/her own profile.  I chose the first ten on the Total autosomal list above (two were duplicates), and scrolled up and clicked to see the "Chromosome Browser" button.  Here's the top of the page:

The graphic tells me the person(s) that I match on each chromosome, and defines the matching segments, and any overlap with a previous match on the list.

Further down is the persons that I match on Chromosome 15:

As you can see, five of the kits match me exactly on this chromosome with over 50 cM.  While that sounds like a lot, it's typical of only 4-5 generations back - in other words, it's 2nd-3rd great-grandparents (I think)!  I've been in contact with the kit owner on FamilyTreeDNA and we think we match on the Hill family in Wiltshire, England.  My third-great-grandmother is Rebecca Hill (1790-1862).

 I looked at the other buttons on the DNA Matches page above, but haven't shown the results.

I wrote down one of the kit numbers above, and my own kit number, and went back to the first screen above, and clicked on the "One-on-one" comparison.  That opened with this screen:

On the screen above, I entered the two kit numbers, checked the "Show graphic bar for each Chromsome?" Yes button, and clicked on the "Submit" button.  The top of the resulting screen looked like this:

The green bars indicate a full match, the yellow bars a half match, the red bars are no match.  There are other indicators.  I'm not sure what all of that means...but I think that green bars are desirable and yellow pairs are good, but red pairs are bad.

Apparently, if I find a lot of green and yellow together on a chromosome, that means that there is a significant matching segment on that chromosome.

Further down the screen, I saw:

Look at Chromosome 15 - there is lots of green and yellow, all in a row!  The small table above the color bar tells me that there is 54.4 centi-Morgans in that segment.

I can do a similar exercise on the X-chromosome results from the DNA Match table.

Now, I think what I want to do next is to make an Excel spreadsheet of the matching chromosome beginning and ending locations, along with the kit number, the person's name, email address, and number of generations, family tree location, and probable matching common ancestors.

There is a lot more on this website, and I'm still exploring it. I haven't looked at all of my matches, but I think I see at least one other genealogy blogger.

I know I've missed some of the website features also, and here, perhaps, my readers can help me out.  What other features should I be using?   Should I add a GEDCOM file? What should I put in my Excel spreadsheet?  What other third-party websites should I be using?  Please help me with links to other blog posts or articles about these analysis tools.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/08/my-first-look-at-gedmatch-autosomal-dna.html

Copyright (c ) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

Amanuensis Monday - Post 229: 1869 Deed of Land in Taylor County, Iowa from Ranslow Smith to Harley U. Greenlee

Genea-blogger John Newmark (who writes the excellent TransylvanianDutch blog) started a Monday blog theme years ago called "Amanuensis Monday."  John offers this definition for "amanuensis:" 

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

The subject today is an 1869 deed in the Taylor County, Iowa deed books for Ranslow Smith selling land to Harley U. Greenlee:

The transcription of this deed is (handwritten text in italics, form fields underlined):

01                                            RECORD OF DEEDS

02                               Ranslow Smith to Harley U. Greenlee

03 Know all Men by these Presents:

04 That    We   Ranslow Smith and Julia his wife     

05 of the County of    Taylor    and State of    Iowa   , in consideraton of the

06 sum of      Six hundred & forty                                     Dollars

07 in hand paid by     Harley U. Greenlee     

08                                          of    Taylor     County, and State of   

09      Iowa      do hereby Sell and convey unto the said      Harley U. Greenlee 

10 the following described premises, situated in the County of     Taylor    and State of Iowa, to wit:

11 The West half of the North East quarter of Section No twenty three

12 (23) of Township No Sixty Eight (68) of Range No Thirty three (33)

13 containing eighty acres more or less

14 and   We    hereby covenant with the said    Harley U Greenlee     

15                            that   We   hold said premises by good & perfect title, that    We   

16 ha ve  good right and lawful authority to Sell and convey same; that they are free and clear of all liens and incum-

17 brances whatsoever, and  We  covenant to Warrant and Defend the said premises against the lawful claims of

18 all persons whomsoever; and the said   Julia wife of R Smith     hereby relinquishes

19 her right of dower in and to the above described premises.

20 Signed this    16th    day of    March    186 9  

21 IN PRESENCE OF                  { $1.00 Revenue Stamp } 

22 _____________________                                                   Ranslow Smith       

23 _____________________                                                   Julia M Smith        

24 STATE OF IOWA,    }  SS

25 TAYLOR COUNTY  }

26                                                On the   16th   day of     March    186 9, before me

27    R B Kinsell                 a       Notary Public       

28 within and for said County, personally came    Ranslow Smith and Julia his wife      

29 personally to me known to be the identical person s whose name s   are   affixed to the above instrument as grantor s

30 and acknowledged the same to be   their   voluntary act and deed.

31 { Notarial }      In Testimony Whereof, I have hereunto submitted my name, and affixed my official

32 {   Seal    }       Seal at   Bedford    on the date last above written.

33                                                                  R B Kinsell     

34                                                                     Notary Public     

35 I certify that the foregoing is a true copy of the Original Deed as filed

36 for Record on the 11th day of May A D 1869

37 J P. Flick   Recorder

The source citation for this Deed is:

Taylor County, Iowa, "Taylor County, Iowa, deed records, 1855-1953; index, 1855-1902", "Deed Records (Land) v. J (cont.) 1867-1869 v. K-L 1867-1870," Volume K, page 375 (stamped), Deed of Ranslow Smith to Harley U. Greenlee, 1869; accessed 4 February 2014 on FHL US/CAN microfilm 1,535,633.

This is the same land parcel that Ranslow Smith purchased from the William Lewis Estate in 1867, transcribed in Amanuensis Monday - Post 227: 1867 Deed of Land in Taylor County, Iowa from William Lewis Estate to R. Smith (posted 21 July 2014) for $220.

He sold the land in the current transaction less than 16 months later for $640, a $420 profit.  Of course, he may have improved the plot by clearing woods or forest, or by building a house or outbuildings, or by planting crops on it.  Without more information, we don't know if he made a profit.

Ranslow Smith (1805-1873) is the adoptive father of my second great-grandfather, Devier J. Lamphier Smith (1839-1894).  He married Julia (Middleton) Johnston, as his second wife, on 8 March 1868 in Taylor County, Iowa.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/08/amanuensis-monday-post-229-1869-deed-of.html

copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

Best of the Genea-Blogs - 27 July to 2 August 2014

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 daily blog prompts or 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:

*  IAJGS 2014: Assembled Jewish Genealogy Bloggers by Emily Garber on the (going) the Extra Yad blog.  Emily lists all of the blog posts relating to the IAJGS 2014 conference.

*  7 Ways to Build a Better Blog by Jenny Lanctot on the Are My Roots Showing? blog.  Jenny has excellent ideas on how to improve your blog.

*  10 Free Genealogy Downloads by Lynn Palermo on The Armchair Genealogist blog.  Every researcher should be aware of these freebies, and use them, and share thel inks with their colleagues.

*  The Enjoyment of Washington,  DC by Tina Marie on the Worldwide Genealogy - A Genealogical Collaboration blog.  Tina Marie reports on her week in Washington attending NIGR and visiting repositories.

*  Who Do You Think You Are? - Cynthia Nixon by Janice M. Sellers on the Ancestral Discoveries blog.  Janice summarizes the first 2014 episode with excellent detail and commentary.

*  My Top Ten Canadian Genealogy Web Sites for 2014 by Ken McKinlay on the Family Tree Knots blog.  Ken takes the challenge to improve the Family Tree Magazine list.

*  My Margarine Cousin From Idaho by Tammy Hepps on the Treelines blog.  Tammy's relative was convicted of selling margarine as butter, and gave her talk at IAJGS this week about it.  A distant cousin, descendant of the relative, drove five hours from Idaho to meet Tammy and hear her talk.

*  5th Unlock the Past Cruise - One Thing Crossed Off MY Bucket List, - Confectionery Stores, Genealogying and Getting Fit and - Comes to an End With a cocktail Party by Alona Tester on the Lone Tester HQ blog.  Alona describes her recent cruise days.

* Invergordon, then Off to the Highland Archives! Day Three, 5th Unlock the Past Cruise Continued: Kirkwall, Scotland Stornaway, and More: 5th Unlock the Past Cruise, Tobermory, Isle of Mull,  Dublin Next Stop on the Unlock the Past Cruise by Helen V. Smith on the From Helen V. Smith's Keyboard blog.  Helen's having a grand time on the cruise - lots of neat pictures, too.

*  Why Collaborative Genealogy Is Super Cool by Elyse Doerflinger on Elyse's Genealogy Blog.  What an interesting story about Elyse's start in genealogy, and some rules for collaboration.

*  David Rencher:  The Role of FamilySearch in a Worldwide Community - #BYUFHGC by the writer of The Ancestry Insider blog.  This is an ice summary of David Rencher's talk at the BYU Family History and Genealogy Conference.

*  Ancestor Hate Mail by Kerry Scott on the Clue Wagon blog.  Funny letters to her ancestors.  I wish Kerry blogged more often.

*  The GeneaBloggers First World War Challenge:  Blogposts Pt1 and Blogposts, Pt 2 by Bill West on the West in New England blog.  Bill provides links to all of the entries for this challenge.

*  Too Poor To Trace by Elizabeth Shown Mills on the Evidence Explained QuickTips blog.  Elizabeth challenges us to research them anyway.

*  7 Genealogy Wonders by Kenneth R. Marks on The Ancestor Hunt blog.  Great list, Ken!

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

*  Monday's Muse for 28 July 2014; Whaddya Miss? Wednesday, July 30, 2014 by Eowyn Langhoff and/or Tammy Osmer Mize on the WikiChicks blog.

*  Follow Friday - My Favorites From the Last Week (Or So) by Christopher Shaw on the Diggin' for Family blog.

*  Follow Friday ~ Fab Finds for August 1, 2014 by Jana Last on Jana's Genealogy and Family History Blog.

*  Genealogy News Corral: July 28 - August 1 by Diane Haddad on the Genealogy Insider blog.

*  Friday Funds -- 08/01/14 by Julie Cahill Tarr on Julie's Genealogy & History Hub blog.

*  This Week's Creme de la Creme by Gail Dever on the Genealogy a la Carte blog.

Readers are encouraged to go to the blogs listed above and read their articles, and add their blogs to your Favorites, Feedly, another 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 1540 genealogy bloggers using Feedly, 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/2014/08/best-of-genea-blogs-27-july-to-2-august.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver