Genea-Musings

Friday, September 7, 2018

Genealogy News Bytes - 7 September 2018

Some of the genealogy news items across my desktop the last three days include:

1) News Articles:

* Genetic Genealogy Ireland Conference, Dublin, 2018

* MyHeritage Partners with British Retailer WHSmith to Distribute DNA Kits

*  Dutch Genealogy News for August 2018

*  Book Notice: "Dueling Dragons, The Struggle For Ireland, 1849-1875" by Marjorie Harshaw Robie

*  Springville centenarian marks birthday with hundreds of direct descendants

2) New or Updated Record Databases:

*  New Records Available To Search This Findmypast Friday, 7 September 2018

*  New Records on FamilySearch: August 2018

*  Top Quebec genealogy resource, PRDH, almost doubles in size

*  Provincial Archives of New Brunswick digitizes death certificates for 1967

3) Genealogy Education:

*  GeneaWebinars Calendar

*  ISBGFH announces fall line-up of free genealogy webinars

*  Free Family History Classes and Webinars for September 2018

* Upcoming Family Tree Webinar - Wednesday, 12 September 5 p.m. PDT:  Examining Migration & Researching Migrants in the British Isles, by Julie Goucher

* Archived Family Tree Webinar:  What's Been Done: Using Someone Else's Genealogy Research, by Thomas MacEntee

* Archived Family Tree Webinar:  Legacy 9 Unlocked (part 6): Adding a Death Certificate, by Geoff Rasmussen

* Archived Family Tree Webinar:  Social Reasons for Migration, by Mary Hill

* African Roots Podcast: Episode #429 September 4, 2018

* Family History Fanatics YouTube:  Family Roots Conference Class Selection Guide

* Family History Fanatics YouTube:  How to Evaluate a Find A Grave Memorial - Research Over My Shoulder Episode 9

* Family History Fanatics YouTube: Record Availability - Research Over Caleb's Shoulder

* Family History Fanatics YouTube: Write Compelling Family History - Tips from Family History Fanatics

* Ancestry YouTube:  September 2018 Edition | What's New at Ancestry | Ancestry

* 23andMe YouTube:  What Are Haplogroups?

* 23andMe YouTube: My DNA Relatives and Me

* 23andMe YouTube:  Seeing Our Ancestry through DNA

* BYU Family History Library YouTube:  English Research: How Can the 1939 Register Help You? by Kathryn Grant

* Jennifer Holik YouTube:  Are you open to what your family & military research show you?

* Kenneth R. Marks YouTube:  6 Ways for Genealogists to Focus

* The In-Depth Genealogist YouTube:  What Did You Do Over Summer?

4) Bargains:

*  Genealogy Bargains for Friday, September 7, 2018

*  FREE ACCESS at Findmypast This Weekend!

5) DNA Success Stories:

* Co-workers discover they are actually father and son

*  DNA Genealogy tests: Five things I learned in my search for my roots

Did you miss the last Genealogy News Bytes - 4 September 2018?

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The URL for this post is: https://www.geneamusings.com/2018/09/genealogy-news-bytes-7-september-2018.html

Copyright (c) 2018, 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.

New Records Available To Search This Findmypast Friday, 7 September 2018

I received this information from Findmypast today:

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New Records Available To Search This Findmypast Friday

There are more than 158,000 new records and newspaper articles available to search and explore this Findmypast Friday, including:

Scotland, Edinburgh Temperance Pledges 1886-1908

Did your Scottish ancestor sign a temperance pledge between 1886 and 1908? These temperance pledges were introduced by the United Presbyterian Church and originally called the Band of Hope Register. The index contains over 900 names and records, birth years, addresses and includes the names and ages of numerous children who signed the pledge.

The original records are housed at the National Records of Scotland and have been transcribed by the Scottish Genealogy Society in Edinburgh. The society published the transcriptions as Edinburgh, Broughton Place United Presbyterian Church - Band of Hope Register, 1886-1908. According to the society, the objective of the Band of Hope Register 'was to teach children the importance and principles of sobriety and teetotalism'.

Scotland, Berwickshire, Ladykirk Heads of Household 1811

Discover your Scottish ancestors from Ladykirk in Berkshire. This early census recorded the names of the heads of the household in Ladykirk in 1811 as well as information pertaining to their family and other members of their household.

The index has been transcribed by the Scottish Genealogy Society. The original list came from the Kirk Session Records for Ladykirk.

Scotland, Edinburgh St Cuthbert's Census 1790

Explore your Scottish ancestry with the 1790 census of the parish of St Cuthbert's in Edinburgh. The index has been transcribed by the Scottish Genealogy Society and contains over 100 entries. The original list came from the Kirk Session Records for Ladykirk.

This early Scottish census listed the names of each of the head of the household and within each family unit the number of parents, children, lodgers, and servants. Then each category was separated into male and female.

Scotland, Perthshire, Inhabitants of the Burgh of Perth 1766

Discover your Scottish ancestry with this list of inhabitants of the Burgh of Perth in 1766. The inhabitants list was taken by the magistrates on 19 March 1766 and the following days.

This early census recorded the names of the heads of the household and then noted certain facts about the others in the house; such as age, occupation or religion.

Scotland, Shetland, Tingwall List of Inhabitants 1785

Discover our Scottish ancestors live in the Shetland Islands? Search this list of over 5,000 inhabitants of the parish of Tingwall.

This early census will reveal a combination of your ancestor's age, residence and the number of other people residing in their household.

British & Irish Newspapers

This week we have added 148,176 new pages to The Archive. We have added pages to the Irish Independent, as well as to the Liverpool Echo.

We have also added a long run of new pages to the Sligo Champion, spanning the years 1942 to 2006. The Sligo Champion was founded in 1836 by four times mayor of Sligo Edward Howard Verdon, and it is still in publication today.

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Disclosure: I have a complimentary subscription to Findmypast, and have accepted meals and services from Findmypast, as a Findmypast Ambassador. This has not affected my objectivity relative to Findmypast and its products.

The URL for this post is: https://www.geneamusings.com/2018/09/new-records-available-to-search-this.html

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.

52 Ancestors - Week 242: #367 Rachel (--?--) Pray (1685-1755) of Providence County, Rhode Island

Rachel (--?--) Pray (about 1685 - before 1755) is #367 on my Ahnentafel List, my 6th great-grandmother, who married #366 Richard Pray (1683-1755) in about 1723 in Providence County, Rhode Island.

I am descended through:

* their daughter, #183 Sarah Pray (1734-1820) who married #182 Nathaniel Horton (1730-1819) in about 1755.

* their daughter #91 Phebe Horton (1772 - after 1820) who married #90 Simon Wade (1767-1857) in 1790.

* their daughter #45 Miranda Wade (1804-1850) , who married #44 Jonathan White (1803-1850) in 1824.

* their son #22 Henry Arnold White (1824-1885) who married #23 Amy Oatley (1826-1864) in 1844.

* their daughter #11 Julia E. White (1848-1913) who married #10 Thomas Richmond (1848-1917) in 1868.

* their daughter #5 Alma Bessie Richmond (1882-1962) who married #4 Frederick Walton Seaver (1876-1942) in 1900.

* their son #2 Frederick Walton Seaver (1911-1983) married #3 Betty Virginia Carringer (1919-2002) in 1942.

* their son #1 Randall Jeffrey Seaver (1943-living)

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1) PERSON (with source citations as indicated in brackets):

* Name: Rachel --?-- [1]

* Alternate Name: Rachel Pray [2]

* Sex: Female

2) INDIVIDUAL EVENTS (with source citations as indicated in brackets):

* Birth: about 1685, Rhode Island, United States

* Misc.: 18 April 1741 (about age 56), admitted to town of Scituate from Smithfield; Scituate, Providence, Rhode Island, United States[2]

* Death: before March 1755 (before about age 70), not mentioned in husband's will; Scituate, Providence, Rhode Island, United States[3]

3) SHARED EVENTS (with source citations as indicated in brackets):

* Spouse 1: Rachel (1685-1755)

* Marriage 1: about 1723 (before about age 42), probably Rhode Island, United States[1,4]

* Child 1: Rachel Pray (1725- )

* Child 2: Mary Pray (1728-1800)

* Child 3: Sarah Pray (1734-1820)

4) NOTES (with source citations as indicated in brackets):

The birth date, birth place, and parentage of Rachel (--?--) Pray are not known. She was probably

born about 1685 in Rhode Island.

Rachel married Richard Pray of Providence in about 1723, probably in Providence[1,4]. They had

three known children, but no birth records are available for them (dates are estimated based on

children marriage dates and spouse's birth dates):

* Rachel Pray, born in about 1725 in Providence, married William Hines (1715-????) in about 1750.

* Mary Pray, born in about 1728 in Providence, died about 1800 in Providence, married 21

September 1748 in Providence to Ezekiel Hopkins (1727-1762).

* Sarah Pray, born in about 1734 in Providence, died after 20 September 1820 in Foster, R.I.,

married about 1753 in Scituate, R.I. to Nathaniel Horton (1730-1819).

The children of Richard and Rachel (--?--) Pray are listed in the book Genealogical Dictionary of

Rhode Island by John Osborne Austin and George Andrews Moriarty[1].

The Richard Pray family resided in what is now Smithfield, Rhode Island.

Rachel Pray and her children were admitted to the town of Scituate, Rhode Island on 18 April 1741.

The town council record reads[2]:

"Att a Town Council held in Scituate in the County of Providence holden the 18th day of April Anno

Domi 1741 Present

Jedidiah Harris / Samuel Cooper

Jeremiah Angell / Henry Whitmore

Thomas Realph / Benjamin Comeau (?)

"Where as Rachel Pray and her Children are Lately Removed unto this Town and have procured a

Certificate from the Town Council of Smithfield from whence they Removed in the following words

---

"Att a Town Council held in in Smithfield September the 19th 1740 - Where as Rachel Pray, the

wife of Richard Pray of Smithfield, Informed the Council that She hath a mind to Remove her Self

and Children into the town of Situate Wherefore it is voted by this Present Council that of the sd

Rachel Pray Should Remove her self and Children into the Town of Situate and Should become

Chargable to sd Town of Situate: that this Town will Receive them again as Inhabitants of this

town again.

"A true Copy as appears of ] Daniel Jenckes Council clerk

Record Examined ]

"Whereupon it is Voted that the sd Rachel Pray and her Children be admited to dwell in this Town

untill further orders from this Council."

It is not known if Richard Pray accompanied his wife and children from Smithfield to Scituate at the

time of the admission to Scituate. Perhaps they separated for a period of time. However, he was

"of Scituate" when he wrote his will on 15 March 1755[3].

The date and place of Rachel (--?--) Pray's death and burial are not known. Evidently, it is after she

moved with her children to Scituate in 1741 and before Richard Pray wrote his will, since she is not

mentioned in his will[3].

5) SOURCES

1. John Osborne Austin; George Andrews Moriarty, The Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island; comprising three generations of settlers who came before 1690, with many families carried to the fourth generation (Baltimore, Md. : Genealogical Pub. Co., 1969), unmarked page, Richard Pray sketch.

2. "Probate and Civil Records, 1731-1886 (Scituate, Rhode Island)," on 6 FHL US/CAN microfilm reels, citing manuscript records at town hall, Scituate, Rhode Island, Volumes 1-3 (1731-1799), Volume 1, Page 71, Rachel Pray admission to town, accessed on FHL Microfilm US/CAN 0,941,155.

3. "Probate and Civil Records, 1731-1886 (Scituate, Rhode Island)", Volumes 1-3 (1731-1799), Volume 1, Pages 250-252, Richard Pray estate papers, on FHL Microfilm US/CAN 0,941,155.

4. John Osborne Austin, One Hundred and Sixty Allied Families of Rhode Island (Salem, Mass. : Rhode Island Historical Society, 1893), Richard Pray sketch.

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NOTE: In 2014, Amy Johnson Crow suggested a weekly blog theme of "52 Ancestors" in her blog post 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks on the No Story Too Small blog. I have extended this theme in 2018 to 260 Ancestors in 260 Weeks.

The URL for this post is: https://www.geneamusings.com/2018/09/52-ancestors-week-242-367-rachel-pray.html

Thursday, September 6, 2018

Seavers in the News - Edward C. Seaver Shot Down Twice in World War II and Survived

It's time for another edition of "Seavers in the News" - a semi-regular feature from the historical newspapers about persons with the surname Seaver that are interesting, useful, mysterious, fun, macabre, or add information to my family tree database.

This week's entry is from the Burlington [Vt.] Free Press newspaper dated 23 January 1945:

The transcription of the first obituary is:

"Twice 'Missing', Seaver Writes Parents He's Safe

Special to the Free Press

"RANDOLPH, Jan. 22. -- Lieut. Edward C. Seaver, twice reported missing, is safe at his base in Italy after a harrowing experience, according to a latter from him received today by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Seaver. The letter was written Jan. 9. He also said he had been made a first lieutenant.

"Lieut. Seaver was reported missing in action Oct. 13, 1944, and was reported safe Nov. 7, 1944. Dec. 2, 1944, he was again reported missing in action over Yugoslavia.

"Lieut. Seaver, 21, is a bombardier of the 15th air force Liberator Bomber group. He received his instruction at Santa Ana, Calif., and was awarded his wings in Carlsbad, N.M., last April."

The source citation for this article is:

"Twice 'Missing', Seaver Writes Parents He's Safe," The Burlington [Vt.] Free Press newspaper, dated 23 January 1945, page 14, column 2, Edward C. Seaver article; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 6 September 2018).

Edward C. Seaver (1922-1983) was born 26 October 1922 in Randolph, Vermont to Hugh Leland and Ethel Pearl (Rye) Seaver. He married 1 September 1946 to Helen Virginia Scott in East Poultney, Vermont. He died in September 1983. I have information that they had three children.

I sincerely hope that Edward talked about his escapades during World War II serving in the Army air Corps in Europe with his children.

Edward C. Seaver is my 9th cousin once removed.

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The URL for this post is: https://www.geneamusings.com/2018/09/seavers-in-news-edward-c-seaver-shot.html

Book Notice: "Dueling Dragons, The Struggle For Ireland, 1849-1875" by Marjorie Harshaw Robie

I received this book notice via email this week:

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AN AUTHOR’S ANCESTRAL JOURNEY UNCOVERS NEW PERSPECTIVES ON 19th-CENTURY IRELAND

Marjorie Harshaw Robie’s DUELING DRAGONS recounts key years of tumultuous Irish history through three prominent citizens on the front lines.

Available October 15 on Amazon.com

IPSWICH, Mass. – September 5, 2018 – Inspired by a collection of ancestral diaries that survived intact through famine, revolution, generations of owners, a transoceanic voyage, a bank renovation, and a mistaken mailing to the American heartland, Marjorie Harshaw Robie’s new book DUELING DRAGONS tells the story of 25 tumultuous years in the history of Ireland through the words and actions of three men who lived on the front lines of revolution.

DUELING DRAGONS is the second in Robie’s two-volume history of early and mid-19 th century Ireland. Her first, DWELLING PLACE OF DRAGONS, was published in 2006. The new volume spans 1849 to 1875 when famine and emigration decimated the Irish population, religious conflicts divided Protestants and Catholics, and friendships and families were torn apart.

Robie’s unique perspective comes from familial diaries she found after an epic search, and through other first-hand accounts from newspapers and personal letters of the time. She incorporates the lives of three remarkable, interconnected men who struggled through much of the 19th century in a rapidly changing Ireland, and whose stories were told by their own hand, or the news of the day.

James Harshaw (Robie’s great-grandfather’s first cousin) was an Irish farmer and community leader
who endured hardships during the famine and kept detailed personal journals of his Northern Ireland
town, Newry, and of Donaghmore Parish. James’s nephew John Martin, inspired by his mother’s death during the famine to become an outspoken critic of British control, was arrested and imprisoned in a faraway land. But his writings and opinions—documented in personal letters, public speeches and newspaper articles—made him a widely respected political and moral leader. Martin’s schoolmate George Henderson edited an influential conservative newspaper, The Newry Commercial Telegraph, which covered news of the day and fervently supported loyalism, even as popular opinion changed.

Robie’s meticulous research included transcribing the journals’ 3,000-plus pages, reading decades’ worth of the Commercial Telegraph, and researching other public and private documents in Newry over several years. She weaved together the disparate sources to form the story’s chronological backbone, and incorporated everyday stories of townspeople, visitors, one-time events and ongoing stories that give context and real-life flavor to the book’s larger themes.

What emerges from DUELING DRAGONS, Robie says, is a nuanced perspective on incidents generally familiar to those with a general knowledge of Irish history. “What captivates people most is how these stories shed light on what likely happened in their own ancestors’ lives,” she says. “History books–textbooks especially–are often written from a 30,000-foot view. The storylines are there, but the details aren’t always. It’s the small insights into people’s lives, the everyday feelings, struggles and triumphs that connect to history.”

THE JOURNEY OF “THE HARSHAW DIARIES”

“My two books exist only because of a wild set of unlikely events,” says Robie, who for decades heard her Harshaw relatives speak about a series of journals kept by a relative named James—a farmer during the Irish Famine.

In 1992, after a few years dabbling in genealogy to satisfy a curiosity about where her relatives lived in Ireland, Robie did a mass mailing to distant cousins throughout the U.S. She inquired if anyone knew of the diaries’ whereabouts. Many letters came back undeliverable. Of the relatives she reached, none had knowledge about the diaries.

But a relative Robie hadn’t known not only knew of the diaries, she had the diaries themselves. Robie’s letter had led one distant cousin in Pennsylvania to another in Iowa who had taken possession of the them with the hope a direct-lineage family member would one day turn up. “I was stunned that this family story, this Irish national treasure, was nearly lost forever,” Robie says. “My interest in Irish history catapulted from casual to intense.”

On a visit to Ireland after the diaries were found, Robie met more cousins, including one named Hugh
Harshaw who mentioned he sought in vain for James’s journals. “One of the great joys of my life was to tell him, ‘I know where they are’ and to see the look on his face,” Robie says.

When the diaries arrived from Iowa, Robie preserved them on microfilm with help from the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston. She transcribed the journals by hand and became a local hero in Belfast when she returned them nearly 100 years after they landed in the U.S.

DUELING DRAGONS is available October 15, 2018 on Amazon.com. Robie’s first book, DWELLING PLACE OF DRAGONS (2006) is available on Amazon.com here .

ABOUT MARJORIE HARSHAW ROBIE

Marjorie Harshaw was born in Minneapolis to a family with Irish roots. She attended Tufts University in Massachusetts, where she received a degree in English. After graduation she married Eugene Robie and spent time in Virginia and West Virginia before moving to the historic town of Ipswich, Mass., where the couple raised children and Robie was a school teacher. Robie’s interest in history led to years of service on the Ipswich Historical Commission, and a personal journey of genealogy that caught fire with the discovery of her ancestor’s diaries.

The diaries formed the structure of two fascinating historical volumes, Dwelling Place of Dragons (2008) and the new Dueling Dragons (2018). Robie has discussed Irish history on national television in the U.S. and Ireland. She wrote the entry for James Harshaw in The Dictionary of Irish Biography, and had a weekly column on Irish history for the Newry Democrat in Northern Ireland. She is a sought-after speaker on Irish history, ancestral research, and the eternal clash of politics and religion.

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Disclosure: I received this book notice from a correspondent and thought that it might be of interest to Genea-Musings readers. It sounds very interesting.

The URL for this post is: https://www.geneamusings.com/2018/09/book-notice-dueling-dragons-struggle.html

Copyright (c) 2018, 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.

Findmypast Announces Free Weekend - 7th to 10th September 2018

I received this information from Findmypast today:

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Findmypast Announces Free Weekend - 7th to 10th September 2018

Findmypast announces free access to their records this weekend

More than 2.7 billion records free to search and explored

6th September 2018 - Leading British & Irish family history website, Findmypast, has today announced that they will be opening up their archives and offering free access to billions of records from around the world. From 04:00 (EDT), on Friday September 7th until 18:59 (BST), on Monday September 10th more than 2.7 billion records ranging from censuses and parish registers to passenger lists and military service records will be completely free to search and explore.

By providing free access to such a wide array of records, Findmypast aims to encourage genealogists to experience the very best of everything Findmypast has to offer. For the duration of the free access period, all who register an account with Findmypast will be able to access all of the following resources for free:

Millions of records you won't find anywhere else, including Home Office records, Police files, millions of England & Wales Crime, prisons & punishment records and original documents from the British India Office

Civil birth, marriage and death records dating back to the early 19th century

The largest online collection of UK parish records, dating back to the early 1500s

The most comprehensive online collection of British Military service records

The largest collection of Irish family history records available online, with more than twice the number available on any other family history website

The 1939 register, one of the most important twentieth century genealogical resources for England and Wales.

Passenger lists for ships sailing to and from Europe, Australia, New Zealand, North America and beyond

The largest online collection of England & Wales Electoral registers, containing more than 220 million names

The exclusive Catholic Heritage Archive, a ground-breaking initiative that aims to digitize the historical records of the Catholic Church in North America, Britain and Ireland for the very first time

Family historians will also have free access to nearly all other records available to search on Findmypast. Findmypast is home to millions of records you won’t find anywhere else online and is the only family history website committed to releasing new records every single week.

For more information, please visit: https://www.findmypast.com/family-story/

NOTE: British, Irish, US and World Newspapers, the PERiodical Source Index and UK Electoral Registers & Companies House Directors 2002-2018 are not included in this free access promotion.

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The URL for this post is: https://www.geneamusings.com/2018/09/findmypast-announces-free-weekend-7th.html

1711 Death of Sarah (Bassett) White in Marshfield, Mass. - Post 428 for Treasure Chest Thursday

It's Treasure Chest Thursday - a chance 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 1711 death record of Mrs. Sarah White in the Marshfield, Massachusetts Town Records:

The death record is on the left hand page, in the second column:

The transcription of the death record is:

"Mrs. sarah White Deceased January y^e 22: 1711"

The source citation for this record is:

Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, indexed database and digital image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 5 September 2018), "Marshfield Town Meeting Minutes, With Births, Marriages, Deaths," page 23 (penned, image 142 of 390), Mrs. Sarah White death entry.

My judgment is that this record is an original record of the death of Sarah (Bassett) White in the Marshfield, Massachusetts town record book.

Sarah (Bassett) White (1628-1711) was the daughter of William and Elizabeth (--?--) Bassett of Plymouth. She married Peregrine White (1620-1804) before 6 March 1649 in Plymouth County, Massachusetts. The White family resided in Marshfield.

Peregrine and Sarah (Bassett) White are my 9th great-grandparents, through their son Sylvanus White (1667-1688).

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The URL for this post is: https://www.geneamusings.com/2018/09/1711-death-of-sarah-bassett-white-in.html