Best of the Genea-Blogs - 10 to 16 January 2016

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:

*  Old Genealogies in the Digital Age by Emily Baldoni on the Vita Brevis blog.  There are some unique genealogy resources at NEHGS, and some are being digitized.

*  How Were Slaves Sold? by Robyn N. Smith on the Reclaiming Kin blog.  This is a fascinating article by Robyn.

*  If You Don't Put It Online -- Your Descendants Will Never Find It by Thomas Jay Kemp on the GenealogyBank Blog.  I think Tom is right on with this.

*  How Could I Miss That Clue For Agnes Anderson?; The Crack In Agnes's Brick Wall Widens; The Piece That Ties It Together for Agnes Anderson; A Final Surprise About Agnes Anderson  by Devon Noel Lee on the A Patient Genealogist blog.  Devon gets help from a social media friend - crowdsourcing works!

*  12 Things You Will See From FamilySearch in 2016 by Steve Anderson on the FamilySearch Blog.  A nice list, but, frankly, I want more digitized records.

*  Becoming a Genetic Genealogist by Debbie Parker Wayne on the Deb's Delvings in Genealogy blog.  Good advice from one of the best.

*  A Growing Source for Free Genealogy: Digital Public Library of America by Amy Johnson Crow on the Amy Johnson Crow blog.  Amy describes this resource which is wonderful.

*  Preparing for a Visit to the Family History Library by Jill K. Morelli on the Genealogy Certification: My Personal Journal blog.  Jill outlines her preparations.

*  Oh, Those Dit Names! by Lorine McGinnis Schulze on the Legacy News blog.  Lorine discusses the dit names commonly used in French Canada.

*  11 Places to Find Your Ancestor's School Records by Caroline M. Pointer on the 4YourFamilyStories.com blog.  An excellent list for this record type.

*  San Diego State University ~ Library Collections by Diane Gould Hall on the Michigan Family Trails blog.  Diane struck paydirt in a local university library's digital collections - have you looked for your ancestors in a university collection?

*  California Birth Record Registrations Start by Christine Manczuk on the Ancestry Island blog.  Christine digs into newspapers to find out how California birth registrations came about.

Here are pick posts by other geneabloggers this week:

*  GAGs - GeniAus' Gems - 15 January 2016 by Jill Ball on the GeniAus blog.

*  Recommended Reads by Linda Stufflebean on the Empty Branches on the Family Tree blog.

*   Friday Finds Jan 9 - 15 by Nichelle Barra on the Copper Leaf Genealogy blog.

*  Friday Finds ~ Fab Finds for January 15, 2016 by Jana Last on Jana's Genealogy and Family History Blog.

*  This Week's Creme de la Creme -- January 16, 2016 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 1590 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/2016/01/best-of-genea-blogs-10-to-16-january.html

Copyright (c) 2016, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- Your 2016 Genealogy Education Plans

It's Saturday Night - 

time for more Genealogy Fun! 

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible! music) is to:

1) What are your genealogy education plans for 2016?  Local society meetings or seminars?  Regional or national conferences?  Weeklong institutes?  Genealogy cruises?  Podcasts?  YouTube Videos?  Webinars or Hangouts On Air?  Magazines?  Websites?  Blogs?

2)  How much time do you invest in Genealogy Education?  Why do you do it?

3)  Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, or in a Facebook or Google+ post.

Here's mine:

1)  My 2016 genealogy education plan:

*  I will attend monthly program meetings of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society (CVGS) and the San Diego Genealogical Society (SDGS).

*  I will attend the CVGS and SDGS all-day seminars.  I will attend the all-day Family History Fair in Escondido in March, and the All-day Family Discovery Day in Chula Vista in May.

*  I am scheduled to teach 3 sessions of Beginning Computer Genealogy at San Diego OASIS (adult education), host a monthly CVGS Research Group, will speak at the Family discovery Day, and make presentations to about 10 Southern California genealogical societies in 2016.

*  I will lead the monthly RootsMagic SIG for SDGS at the FamilySearch Library in Mission Valley.

*  I will go to RootsTech 2016 in Salt Lake City in February.  I probably won't attend many classes.  I usually learn more from the syllabus materials and the Expo Hall than sitting in a class.

*  I will go to the SCGS Genealogy Jamboree in June 2016 in Burbank, California.  I usually attend some classes here.

*  I doubt that we will go on a genealogy cruise this year (we've done it three of the last four years) due to my wife's mobility issues.  I haven't been to a weeklong institute, but I'd like to, but not this year.

*  I have a subscription to Family Tree Webinars and usually watch the presentations after the live event (mainly because the CVGS events are at the same time on Wednesdays).  

*  I watch the Southern California Genealogical Society (SCGS) (I'm a member) webinars after the live event also.  I occasionally watch other webinars from other providers that are free or within my subscription package.

*  I participate in the Mondays With Myrt discussions using Google+ Hangouts On Air whenever I can;  when I miss one, I watch it on YouTube.  

*  I watch YouTube videos from a number of genealogy "channels" including Ancestry, FamilySearch, MyHeritage, DearMYRTLE, Russ Worthington, Tessa Keough, etc.

*  I listen occasionally to podcasts from the Genealogy Guys, Lisa Louise Cooke's Genealogy Gems, and Fisher's Extreme Genes.

*  I have subscriptions to the National Genealogical Society (NGSQ and NGS Magazine), the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGR and American Ancestors Magazine), and Family Tree Magazine.

*  I read over 1500 genealogy blogs using the Feedly RSS news reader on a daily basis.

2)  I estimate that I spend about 30% of my genealogy time on genealogy education each year.  That is at least 2-3 hours a day almost every day.  I look at it as an investment - the opportunities are endless, it seems.  I can learn about new tasks, applications, record groups, DNA, etc. from experts in the field and apply the lessons to my own research.   

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2016/01/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-your-2016.html

Copyright (c) 2016, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Surname Saturday - EGGLETON (England to colonial New England)

It's Surname Saturday, and I'm "counting down" my Ancestral Name List each week.  

I am in the 8th great-grandmothers and I'm up to Ancestor #1195 who is Sarah EGGLETON (1630-1687) [Note: the earlier great-grandmothers and 8th great-grandfathers have been covered in earlier posts].

UPDATED:  25 January 2016.  Reader Jane emailed and said I was wrong about the parents.  I think she is correct based on what I have found in the literature.

My ancestral line back through two generations of this EGGLETON family line is:

1. Randall J. Seaver

2. Frederick Walton Seaver (1911-1983)
3. Betty Virginia Carringer (1919-2002)

4. Frederick Walton Seaver (1876-1942)
5. Alma Bessie Richmond (1882-1962)

8. Frank Walton Seaver (1852-1922)
9. Hattie Louise Hildreth (1857-1920)

18.  Edward Hildreth (1831-1899)
19.  Sophia Newton (1834-1923)

36.  Zavhariah Hildreth (1783-1857)
37.  Hannah Sawtell (1789-1857)

74.  Josiah Sawtell (1768-1847)
75.  Hannah Smith (1768-1824)

148.  Ephraim Sawtell (1738-1800)
149.  Abigail Stone (1736-1800)

298.  James Stone (1702-1783)
299.  Mary Farwell (1709-1783)

596.  John Stone (1658-1735)
597.  Sarah Nutting (1663-????)

1194.  John Nutting, born about 1620 in Kent, England; died 13 March 1676 in Groton, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.  He was the son of 2388. John Nutting and 2389. Elizabeth Rawlings.  He married 28 August 1650 in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
1195.  Sarah Eggleton, born about 1630 in England; died 10 March 1687 in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.  

Children of John Nutting and Sarah Eggleton are:
*  John Nutting (1651-1731), married 1674 Mary Lakin (1649-1707)
*James Nutting (1653-1732), married 1672 Lydia Longley (1657-1758).
*  Mary Nutting (1656-1727), married 1678 Samuel Howe (1654-1724).
*  Josiah Nutting (1658-1658).
*  Sarah Nutting (1660-1660).
*  Sarah Nutting (1663-????), married (1) 1681 Matthias Farnsworth (1650-1693); (2) 1698 John Stone (1658-1735).
*  Ebenezer Nutting (1666-????),. married Lydia.
*  Jonathan Nutting (1668-1735), married 1700 Elizabeth (1670-1741).
*  Deborah Nutting (1670-1728), married 1687 Jacob Taylor (1662-1705).

2390.  Stephen Eggleton, born about 1608 in Kent, England; died about 1634 in England.  He married 30 November 1628 in Biddenden, Kent, England.
2391.  Jane Bennett, born about 1602 in England; died 10 March 1687 in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.

2390. --?-- Eggleton.
2391. Jane (--?--) (Eggleton) (Britton) Cole, born about 1602 in England.

Children of Stephen Eggleton and Jane Bennett are:
Children of --?-- Eggleton and Jane --?-- are:

*  Sarah Eggleton (1630-1687), married 1650 John Nutting (1620-1676).
*  Ruth Eggleton (1631-1708), married 1655 Samuel Blodgett (1633-????).

Information about this Eggleton family line was obtained from:

*  Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration, 1634-1635, Volume I, A-C, pages 412-415.

*  Mary Walton Ferris, Dawes-Gates Ancestral Lines (Salt Lake City, Utah : the author, 1983)

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2016/01/surname-saturday-eggleton-england-to.html

Copyright (c) 2016, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

My Relationships to U.S. Presidents - Post 8: Presidents 1-5

I can't seem to stay away from Geni.com and their search capability to find relationships with living persons.  I spent more time today working backwards in time looking for my connections to the U.S. Presidents.  Previously, I have posted:

*  My Relationships to United States Presidents - Post 1: 39 to 44 (posted 2 October 2014), 
*  My Relationships to U.S. Presidents - Post 2: Presidents 34-38 (posted 13 November 2014), 
*  My Relationships to U.S. Presidents - Post 3: Presidents 28-33 (posted 16 January 2015), 
*  My Relationships to U.S. Presidents - Post 4: Presidents 22-27 (posted 16 March 2015).
*  My Relationships to U.S. Presidents - Post 5: Presidents 16-21 (posted 26 June 2015)
*  My Relationships to U.S. Presidents - Post 6: Presidents 11-15 (posted 7 August 2015)
*  My Relationships to U.S. Presidents - Post 7: Presidents 6-10 (posted 16 October 2015)

Here are the next five going back in time:

1)  James Monroe (5th President of the United States) is my 11th cousin 6 times removed, according to Geni.com:

 The common ancestor is John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster (1340-1399), father of Joan Beufort and John Beaufort (but perhaps not by the same mother).

My line back goes through John Pers (1588-1661) of Watertown, Massachusetts according to Geni.com.  I don't know if the parentage of John Pers is correct in Geni.com or not.  I have not found any authoritative work that says his father is Richard Percy.  However, I do have a line back to John of Gaunt, but through Thomas Dudley (1576-1653) of Massachusetts.  John of Gaunt is my 18th great-grandfather.  I can't comment about the line from John of Gaunt to President James Monroe.  My judgment is that I may be related to James Monroe, but not through the Pers/Percy line.

2)  James Madison (4th President of the United States) is my 5th cousin 6 times removed according to Geni.com:

 The common ancestor according to Geni.com is William Horton, of Gumley, whose son was Thomas Horton (1596-1649), one of the signers of the warrant to execute King Charles I.  I have found no authoritative record that defines my Thomas Horton (1638-1715) of Rehoboth, Massachusetts as the son of this Thomas Horton, "the Regicide."  My judgment is that my relationship to James Madison is doubtful, at least through the Horton line.

3)  Thomas Jefferson (3rd President of the United States) is my 7th cousin 6 times removed, according to Geni.com:

 The common ancestor is Thomas Roberts (1494-1562) of Cranbrook, Kent.  My line is through his daughter, Mary Roberts which leads to my ancestor Abigail (Thurston) White (1700-????), whose mother's surname I do not know.  Geni says it is Sarah Guile (1657-1724).  It may be, and it may not be.  I consider this relationship for me to Thomas Jefferson to be doubtful at best.

4)  John Adams (2nd President of the United States is my 5th cousin 7 times removed:

 The common ancestor, according to Geni.com, is the father of William White (1590-1621), a Mayflower passenger (my line) and Richard White (????-????), husband of Rebecca Bushwell, and farther of John White (1620-1691) of Brookline, Mass., noted on Geni.com as "John White of the 2nd Mayflower".  I sincerely doubt that John and William were brothers, and that John came on the "second Mayflower" with his wife and settled in Watertown, Mass.  It is evident to me that John Adams is descended from this John White, however.

However, I do have a common ancestor with John Adams - that being Henry Adams (1583-1646), my 10th great-grandfather through his son Peter Adams (1622-1690).  President John Adams is Henry Adams 2nd great-grandson through his son Joseph Adams (1626-1694), so I guess that makes President John Adams my 3rd cousin 8 times removed.  Perhaps my line is incomplete in Geni.com?  I will have to remedy that!

5)  George Washington (1st President of the United States) is my 7th cousin 8 times removed:

The common ancestor, according to Geni.com, is John C. Cooke (1473-1516) of London, England.  My line from him goes through 4 Cooke names, then Robert Williams (1607-1693) of Roxbury, Mass., whose daughter Elizabeth Williams (1620-1663) may have married Richard Cutter (1621-1693), my 8th great-grandfather.  However, the birth years don't add up for the Williams father and daughter.  Therefore, I doubt that I am related to George Washington through this line.

6)  I did not check the records for each relationship shown in the charts above from Geni.com.  I am confident that my lines back to the immigrant ancestors from England are correct, but I have no idea how accurate the lines are from the immigrants back to some of the common ancestors to the Presidents.  Some are well researched, and have entries in the book by Gary Boyd Roberts, Ancestors of American Presidents (1989).  

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2016/01/my-relationships-to-us-presidents-post.html

Copyright (c) 2016, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Creating Source Citations in RootsMagic 7 - Post 4: Crafting a Source Citation for a Published Book Found Online

Researchers new to RootsMagic 7 may have challenges learning how to enter source citations into RootsMagic, so I thought I would show how I enter a new source and then create a citation, with the Evidence Explained source templates, and with a free-form template (in a later post in this series).

I have a photocopy of pages from this published book in my Adams notebook:

J. Gardner Bartlett, Henry Adams of Somersetshire, England and Braintree, Mass.; His English Ancestry and some of His Descendants (New York City : privately printed, 1927).  

I obtained the pages at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City in 2010, and also found that it has been digitized in FamilySearch Books.

Note that this "Master Source" is a different work than the first two posts in this series.  I am using it because it has more information about the Henry Adams family that suit my purposes for this blog series.  I probably should have used it initially.

Previous posts in this series include:

*  Creating Source Citations in RootsMagic 7 - Post 1: New Master Source (posted 12 January 2016).
*  Creating Source Citations in RootsMagic 7 - Post 2: Adding Source Details to the Master Source (posted 13 January 2016).
*  Creating Source Citations in RootsMagic 7 - Post 3: Adding Master Text, Detail Text, Quality and Repository Information (posted 14 January 2016).

In the first two posts, I created a new "Master Source" and a "Source Detail" using the RootsMagic source templates.  In the third post, I completed the source citation by adding to the screens for Master Text, Detail Text, Quality and Repository.

In this post, I will demonstrate how to find and use a RootsMagic source template for the book as found on FamilySearch Books.  

1)  I added a Probate event for Henry Adams in RootsMagic 7 previously, using the date and place that his will was proved.  I want to find a source template for a published book found on an online provider.  

Here is the title page of the book on FamilySearch Books (https://books.familysearch.org/):

I clicked on the "Source" button in the "Edit Person" screen which opened the "Citation Manager" screen shown below:

2)  I want to add another source for this book found on FamilySearch Books collection.  I know I don't have this as an existing source, so I'm going to click on the "Add new source" button in the "Citation Manager" screen, and I see the "Select Source Type" screen with the list of RootsMagic source templates:

I scrolled through the list of source templates, and settled on the "Book, Image copy (online)" template. 

3)  Here is the filled in template for the "Master Source:" 

The "Master Source" field entries I chose were:

*  Author:  J. Gardner Bartlett and Edward Dean Adams
*  Role:
*  Title:  Henry Adams of Somersetshire, England and Braintree, Mass.
*  Sub-Title:  His English Ancestry and Some of His Descendants
*  Edition:
*  Publish Place:  New York City
*  Publisher:  privately published
*  Publish date:  1927
*  New format:  digital images
*  Creator/Owner:  FamilySearch 
*  Website title:  FamilySearch Books
*  URL:  https://books.familysearch.org/

The "Source Detail" field entries I chose were:

*  Access type:  accessed
*  Access date:  13 January 2016
*  Page:  pages 67-68, Henry Adams probate record entry
*  Annotation:

4)  I clicked "OK" and had to add a "Master Source" name for this work on the FamilySearch Books website.  The "Master Source Name" I chose was:

Adams of Somersetshire, England and Braintree, Mass. - by Bartlett (FamilySearch Books)

5)  I added the Master Text, Detail text, Quality and Repository information also, copying them from the earlier free-form citation I crafted yesterday.

On the "Master Text" button, I clicked on the "Web Tags" button, and then clicked on the "Add" button on the "Web Tags" screen, and filled in the fields in the "Edit Web Tag" screen:

The URL added to the "WebTag" screen was:

https://dcms.lds.org/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE4561766&from=fhd

6)  The "Citation Manager" screen for this event for Henry Adams is:

The three source citation models for this master source and event source detail are:

Footnote: J. Gardner Bartlett and Edward Dean Adams, Henry Adams of Somersetshire, England and Braintree, Mass.: His English Ancestry and Some of His Descendants (New York City: privately printed, 1927), pages 67-68, Henry Adams probate record entry; digital images, FamilySearch, FamilySearch Books (https://books.familysearch.org/ : accessed 13 January 2016.
Short Footnote: Adams, Henry Adams of Somersetshire, England and Braintree, Mass., pages 67-68, Henry Adams probate record entry.
Bibliography: Adams, J. Gardner Bartlett and Edward Dean. Henry Adams of Somersetshire, England and Braintree, Mass.: His English Ancestry and Some of His Descendants. New York City: privately printed, 1927. Digital images. FamilySearch. FamilySearch Books. https://books.familysearch.org/ : 2016.

7)  In the next post in this series, I will show how to craft a source citation for a census record using a U.S. census source template, and then do the same source citation using a "free-form" source template in RootsMagic.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2016/01/creating-source-citations-in-rootsmagic_15.html

Copyright (c) 2016, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.