CVGS Research Trip to the FHC today

I spent most of the mid-day at the San Diego Family History Center with 12 other CVGS members - some of us car-pooled there from Chula Vista, and several others drove themselves. Three of the attendees were new members from last Wednesday. When it opened at 10 a.m., I gave the "first-timers" a little tour of the facility - microfilms/fiches, CDROMs, reference books, book stacks, computers, and special collections.

None of the attendees had used the FHC computer system since they added the Premium Services - Footnote, WorldVitalRecords, Godfrey, HeritageQuestOnline, KindredKonnections and Ancestry. The access at the FHC is a little tricky so I demonstrated it for those that wanted to use it.

I sat with one of our new members to provide some guidance for her search for information about her ancestors. She has a good start, with family data back to about 1900, so we started in the census records for 1930 hoping to be able to work backwards in time from there. We struck out on her mother's family - she knows where they were in 1925 (her mother's birth) and 1931 (her grandfather's death) in Montana. However, after using every combination and wild card in my bag of census searching tricks, we couldn't find any of them in Montana or the USA. My conclusion was that the family wasn't enumerated. That's too bad, because the grandfather emigrated in about 1920 and married after that. We found several records for someone with the same name and origin in the right place, but we don't think it's her grandfather because other known data doesn't match well. This was very frustrating for both of us, because we didn't make a lot of progress on her line the first time out.

Several of our attendees had a bit more success with their online and book searches. Several of them found useful information in Footnote and WVR, and copied digital images to their flash drives.

I'm going to redouble my efforts to create a "Beginner's Guide" for our new members who don't have much experience in genealogy research. There is a definite need and it will be helpful to those who excitedly join CVGS and want to get started before we can get them in our yearly new members class. The alternative is, of course, to have more new members classes!

We all had an enjoyable four hours at the FHC. Now the new members know where it is and have a little experience on the computer system - that is one reason we take these trips every two months or so to a local repository.

Descendants of Samuel and Mary Ann (Underhill) Vaux - Post 3

This is the third in a series of posts that define what I know about the descendants of my 3rd-great-grandparents, Samuel and Mary Ann (Underhill) Vaux. Samuel Vaux emigrated from England and settled in Aurora, Erie County, New York in the 1835-1840 time frame. Their family was defined here.

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Descendants of Celia Ann Vaux

Generation No. 1

1. Celia Ann8 Vaux (Samuel7, James6, John5, James4, William3, John2, Thomas1 Vax) was born May 1842 in Aurora, Erie County, NY. She married (1) Milo Redfield 08 January 1861 in Burnett, Dodge County, WI. He was born About 1836 in probably Jefferson County, NY. She married (2) Francis N. Munger About 1872 in probably Andrew County, MO. He was born July 1845 in WI.

Children of Celia Vaux and Milo Redfield are:
+.... 2 ... i. Nellie Redfield, born 1864 in probably Dodge County, WI; died Bef. 1895 in Belleville, Republic County, KS.
...... 3 ... ii. Ada Redfield, born 1865 in probably Dodge County, WI.

Children of Celia Vaux and Francis Munger are:
+ ... 4 ... i. George Francis Munger, born 10 May 1874 in MO.
+ ... 5 ... ii. Amy Munger, born May 1876 in MO; died July 1962 in Prince Georges County, MD (obituary).
+ ... 6 ... iii. Lou M. Munger, born February 1878 in Belleville, Republic County, KS.

Generation No. 2

2. Nellie Redfield (Celia Ann8 Vaux, Samuel7, James6, John5, James4, William3, John2, Thomas1 Vax) was born 1864 in probably Dodge County, WI, and died before 1895 in Belleville, Republic County, KS. She married Charles Woodward before 1883 in probably Belleville, Republic County, KS. He was born about 1862 in MO.

Children of Nellie Redfield and Charles Woodward are:
...... 7 ... i. Gean Woodward, born about 1883 in Belleville, Republic County, KS.
...... 8 ...ii. Ada Woodward, born November 1885 in Belleville, Republic County, KS.
...... 9 ...iii. Nellie Woodward, born October 1889 in Belleville, Republic County, KS.

4. George Francis Munger (Celia Ann8 Vaux, Samuel7, James6, John5, James4, William3, John2, Thomas1 Vax) was born 10 May 1874 in MO. He married Nancy/Nanny M. 1898 in probably Republic County, KS. She was born July 1877 in KS.

Children of George Munger and Nancy/Nanny M. are:
...... 10 ... i. Georgia Munger, born 1901 in Belleville, Republic County, KS.
...... 11 ... ii. Callie Munger, born 1902 in Belleville, Republic County, KS.
...... 12 ... iii. Frank Munger, born 30 May 1903 in Belleville, Republic County, KS; died 17 November 1990 in Belleville, Republic County, KS (SSDI.
...... 13 ... iv. Cecil Munger, born 09 January 1906 in Belleville, Republic County, KS; died February 1972 in Belleville, Republic County, KS (SSDI.

5. Amy Munger (Celia Ann8 Vaux, Samuel7, James6, John5, James4, William3, John2, Thomas1 Vax) was born May 1876 in MO, and died July 1962 in Prince Georges County, MD (obituary). She married Alexander Chalmers Doctor about 1896 in probably Belleville, Republic County, KS. He was born July 1874 in KS, and died 1950.

Children of Amy Munger and Alexander Doctor are:
+ ... 14 ... i. Celia Janet Doctor, born 29 September 1898 in Belleville, Republic County, KS; died February 1970 in Olathe, Johnson County, KS.
...... 15 ... ii. Frank Chalmers Doctor, born 28 November 1900 in Belleville, Republic County, KS; died 08 April 1967 in Olathe, Johnson County, KS. He married Bonnie May Jones; born about 1900.
...... 16 ... iii. Peter Powrie Vaux Doctor, born 07 August 1903 in Belleville, Republic County, KS; died July 1971 in Hyattsville, Prince Georges County, MD (SSDI).
...... 17 ... iv. Amy May Doctor, born 1914 in Belleville, Republic County, KS. She married Earl Lee Rice; born 1901; died 1954.

6. Lou M. Munger (Celia Ann8 Vaux, Samuel7, James6, John5, James4, William3, John2, Thomas1 Vax) was born February 1878 in Belleville, Republic County, KS. She married James Doctor about 1895 in probably Belleville, Republic County, KS. He was born October 1875 in Belleville, Republic County, KS.

Children of Lou Munger and James Doctor are:
+ ... 18 ... i. Ellen Frances Doctor, born 17 December 1896 in Belleville, Republic County, KS; died 18 November 1919 in Belleville, Republic County, KS (cemetery).
...... 19 ... ii. Lizzie Doctor, born about 1900 in Belleville, Republic County, KS.
...... 20 ... iii. Grace Doctor, born about 1902 in Belleville, Republic County, KS.
...... 21 ... iv. Marguerite Doctor, born about 1904 in Belleville, Republic County, KS.

Generation No. 3

14. Celia Janet Doctor (Amy9 Munger, Celia Ann8 Vaux, Samuel7, James6, John5, James4, William3, John2, Thomas1 Vax) was born 29 September 1898 in Belleville, Republic County, KS, and died February 1970 in Olathe, Johnson County, KS. She married Lloyd Robert Hershey about 1919 in Belleville, Republic county, KS. He was born 08 July 1899 in Olathe, Johnson County, KS, and died April 1963 in Olathe, Johnson County, KS.

Child of Celia Doctor and Lloyd Hershey is:
...... 22 ... i. Robert Hershey, born 1921 in Belleville, Republic County, KS.

18. Ellen Frances Doctor (Lou M.9 Munger, Celia Ann8 Vaux, Samuel7, James6, John5, James4, William3, John2, Thomas1 Vax) was born 17 December 1896 in Belleville, Republic County, KS, and died 18 November 1919 in Belleville, Republic County, KS (cemetery). She married Bert Lee Brown 12 December 1917 in Belleville, Republic county, KS. He was born 21 July 1894 in Belleville, Republic County, KS.

Child of Ellen Doctor and Bert Brown is:
...... 23 ... i. Betty Lee Brown, born November 1919 in Belleville, Republic County, KS.

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My intent is to publish three generation descendants reports for each of the children of Samuel and Mary Ann (Underhill) Vaux. That will bring information about these families into the 20th century but will not include information on possibly living people (if I can help it). While I have some biographical material gleaned from various sources, including personal correspondence, for many of these families, I'm only going to publish the "bare bones" vital records information about these families.

My purpose in putting these family summaries on this blog is to make my information about these families available for other researchers and distant relatives to find, with the hope that they will contact me and provide even more family information about the families.

If anybody reading this has information on these families, please contact me via email at rjseaverATcox.net and we can correspond and exchange information. If anybody has additions or corrections to my information, I would appreciate hearing from you!

Genealogy Research shines today

The big genealogy news story today was published in the Boston Globe newspaper - titled "Author admits making up memoir of surviving the Holocaust" by David Mehegan. Genealogist Sharon Sergeant, a professional genealogist residing in Waltham MA, and her team played a central role in bringing the truth to light by finding and correlating original source material in Belgian repositories.

DearMYRTLE has an article today about Sharon's efforts, and interviewed Sharon on her 26 February podcast here.

Sharon's web site http://www.ancestralmanor.com/ has a link to Jane Daniel's BESTSELLER! blog (Jane was the publisher of the book) which discusses this case in much detail.

Sharon posted some additional information about this project on the APG mailing list here. Sharon's conclusion reads:

"For everyone, there are the lessons of success with genealogy methodology, as well as the real history we learn when we do genealogy - even when it touches on very difficult subjects. As the rest of the story unfolds, there will be more food for thought no matter what type of genealogical problem we face.

"I often think of my 7th grade science teacher Mr Hopkins and the basics of the 'scientific method' - postulate a theory, plan a test, test the theory, analyze the results, modify the theory and tests, then retest until you have test results that are consistent with the theory."

Read the Globe article, Myrt's blog post, Sharon's web site, her APG post and listen to the podcast. You will be proud of the profession of genealogy as practiced by Sharon Sergeant and her team in this project.

Bravo!!! Extremely well done!! Thank you, Sharon and team! Genealogy research shines today.

"Researching Slaves in the Family" Presentation at CVGS

Margaret Lewis, the President of the San Diego African-American Genealogy Research Group (SDAAGRG), gave a wonderful presentation on "Researching Slaves in the Family" at the Chula Vista Genealogical Society meeting on Wednesday, 27 February, at the Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library. There were about 45 attendees, including at least 13 guests and visitors.

Margaret's talk centered on two things - the resources that should be considered in a search for slave ancestors and their masters, and examples of some of the records found in her own search for three sets of slave ancestors. The resources included Bible, church, newspapers, court, census, narratives, homestead, Freedman's bureau, Southern claims, military and pension, etc. She told many stories about her ancestral search, some funny, some sad, and one very unique - a slave's recounting of the meeting between General Grant and General Lee under an apple tree the day before the formal surrender at Appomattox courthouse in 1865.

Margaret provided a six page handout that provided significant information content to her presentation.

Listening to her story of searching for records, stories and contacts, it struck me that:

1) Not all of these records are available on the Internet. The census records, Southern Claims and Freedman's Bureau records are available, and many historical newspapers are online. However, many of the documents she showed were obtained through personal contacts, from repositories, or the National Archives.

2) Other than the specific slave records, the record types and repositories are essentially the same that most researchers of any American family would investigate for the 1850 to 1950 time period.

This was a fascinating hour, and it went by quickly due to Margaret's enthusiasm and knowledge about her subject. She answered many questions from the audience about records, social views, slave activities, etc.

My impression was that the attendees came away from this talk knowing more about, and better appreciation of, the difficulties of researching slave ancestry, and admiration for the effort that Margaret has made to find her ancestry in the available documents and records.

Descendants of Samuel and Mary Ann (Underhill) Vaux - Post 2

This is the second in a series of posts that define what I know about the descendants of my 3rd-great-grandparents, Samuel and Mary Ann (Underhill) Vaux. Samuel Vaux emigrated from England and settled in Aurora, Erie County, New York in the 1835-1840 time frame.

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Descendants of Mary A. Vaux

Generation No. 1

1. Mary A. Vaux (Samuel7, James6, John5, James4, William3, John2, Thomas1 Vax) was born About 1839 in Aurora, Erie County, NY. She married James Woodward Bef. 1863 in WI. He was born About 1837 in VT.

Children of Mary Vaux and James Woodward are:
+ ... 2 ... i. Orpha Woodward, born May 1864 in Dodge County, WI.
+ ... 3 ... ii. Mary Woodward, born 09 November 1866 in Dodge County, WI (CA DI); died 11 December 1945 in Los Angeles County, CA (CA DI).
...... 4 ... iii. Ada Woodward, born About 1868 in Dodge County, WI; died young.

Generation No. 2

2. Orpha Woodward (Mary A.8 Vaux, Samuel7, James6, John5, James4, William3, John2, Thomas1 Vax) was born May 1864 in Dodge County, WI. She married Whitfield Needham About 1882 in NE. He was born November 1853 in OH, and died 04 February 1931 in Bloomfield, NE (obituary).

Children of Orpha Woodward and Whitfield Needham are:
......5 ... i. Ada Needham, born July 1885 in NE.
......6 ... ii. Lyndia Needham, born March 1892 in NE.

3. Mary Woodward (Mary A.8 Vaux, Samuel7, James6, John5, James4, William3, John2, Thomas1 Vax) was born 09 November 1866 in Dodge County, WI (CA DI), and died 11 December 1945 in Los Angeles County, CA (CA DI). She married Herbert/Bert Gail Dyar 20 November 1884 in NE. He was born 23 May 1858 in WI (CA DI), and died 18 April 1949 in Los Angeles County, CA (CA DI).

Children of Mary Woodward and Herbert/Bert Dyar are:
+ ... 7 ... i. Verdie Almeda Dyar, born 18 October 1886 in Boone County, NE.
+ ... 8 ... ii. Roy Herbert Dyar, born 11 December 1888 in Boone County, NE; died 24 September 1974 in Waterloo, Black Hawk County, IA (SSDI).
...... 9 ... iii. Chester Gale Dyar, born 18 January 1891 in Boone County, NE; died 29 December 1959 in Los Angeles County, CA (CA DI). He married Cophine Elizabeth Jones About 1916; born 1893 in IA.
...... 10 ... iv. Vern Roland Dyar, born 01 December 1895 in Boone County, NE (CADI); died 06 July 1958 in Los Angeles County, CA (CA DI).
...... 11 ... v. Cecil W. Dyar, born 27 August 1901 in Boone County, NE; died 06 October 1964 in Los Angeles County, CA (CA DI).
...... 12 ... vi. Beulah Woodward Dyar, born 27 March 1907 in Boone County, NE; died June 1979 in Los Angeles County, CA (CA DI). She married Jack C. Ruffin.

Generation No. 3

7. Verdie Almeda Dyar (Mary9 Woodward, Mary A.8 Vaux, Samuel7, James6, John5, James4, William3, John2, Thomas1 Vax) was born 18 October 1886 in Boone County, NE. She married David Robertson Bef. 1915 in NE. He was born 1875 in NY.

Child of Verdie Dyar and David Robertson is:
...... 13 ... i. Neil Alfred Robertson, born August 1915 in NE.

8. Roy Herbert Dyar (Mary9 Woodward, Mary A.8 Vaux, Samuel7, James6, John5, James4, William3, John2, Thomas1 Vax) was born 11 December 1888 in Boone County, NE, and died 24 September 1974 in Waterloo, Black Hawk County, IA (SSDI). He married (1) Ursula About 1912 in Lincoln, Lancaster County, NE. She was born 1893 in IL. He married (2) Jessie F. Bowman Bef. 1930 in prob. Lincoln, Lancaster County, NE. She was born About 1886, and died 22 March 1965 in Lincoln, Lancaster County, NE (newspaper).

Children of Roy Dyar and Ursula are:
...... 14 ... i. Kenneth Dyar, born 1913 in Lincoln, Lancaster County, NE.
...... 15 ... ii. Dorothy Dyar, born 1916 in Lincoln, Lancaster County, NE. She married Walter Stolle 14 February 1939 in Lincoln, Lancaster County, NE (newspaper).
...... 16 ... iii. Charles E. Dyar, born 1923 in Lincoln, Lancaster County, NE. He married JoAnn Waltman 23 August 1946 in Washington, KS (Lincoln newspaper).

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My intent is to publish three generation descendants reports for each of the children of Samuel and Mary Ann (Underhill) Vaux. That will bring information about these families into the 20th century but will not include information on possibly living people (if I can help it). While I have some biographical material gleaned from various sources, including personal correspondence, for many of these families, I'm only going to publish the "bare bones" information about these families.

My purpose in putting these family summaries on this blog is to make my information about these families available for other researchers and distant relatives to find, with the hope that they will contact me and provide even more family information about the families.

If anybody reading this has information on these families, please contact me via email at rjseaverATcox.net and we can correspond and exchange information. If anybody has additions or corrections to my information, I would appreciate hearing from you!

Genealogy web site traffic

There are several services that track web site traffic - how many people visit a specific web site in a fixed period of time. I've used www.alexa.com before and have recently used www.quantcast.com to get relative counts of "reach" - the average number of unique visitors in a month, averaged over 6 months.

I input many of my favorite web sites into the Quantcast search box and found the following for US reach (many sites have only US, not world, reach listed):

* www.rootsweb.com - 3,270,147 (#474 in the entire web)
* www.ancestry.com - 2,661,872 (#628 in the entire web)
* www.genealogy.com - 1,200,691
* www.findagrave.com - 987,942
* www.newspaperarchive.com - 956,510

* www.footnote.com - 929,872
* www.familysearch.org - 927,884
* www.ancestorhunt.com - 527,705
* www.worldvitalrecords.com - 445,433
* http://genealogy.about.com - 412,770

* www.onegreatfamily.com - 411,873
* www.genealogytoday.com - 384,784
* www.interment.net - 368,618
* www.accessgenealogy.com - 328,733
* www.distantcousins.com - 278,655

* www.usgennet.org - 272,149
* www.cousinconnect.com - 247,500
* www.cyndislist.com - 238,665
* www.kindredkonnections.com - 211,402
* www.ellisisland.org - 188,262

* www.familytreemaker.com - 159,010
* www.deathindexes.com - 155,347
* www.linkpendium.com - 149,542
* www.census-online.com - 146,666
* www.genealogyinc.com - 145,983

* www.UScensus.org - 145,703
* www.genealogytrails.com - 142,698
* www.longlostpeople.com - 123,136
* www.genealogybank.com - 119,949
* www.jewishgen.org - 112,292

* www.heritagequestonline.com - 102,999
* www.usgenweb.com - 103,187
* www.usgenweb.org - 88,484
* www.familytreedna.com - 82,272
* www.gencircles.com - 76,962

* www.mycinnamontoast.com - 74,535
* www.ancestry.co.uk - 72,033

Based on what I've read on the Quantcast site, the sub-domains are included in these numbers (e.g., Rootsweb has a http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com sub-domain that had a reach of 384,745 - those are included in Rootsweb's numbers above). I did not include these sites which have an audience larger than the genealogy audience:

* www.legacy.com - 4,566,823
* www.loc.gov - 1,855,494
* www.newsbank.com - 1,416,699
* www.archives.gov - 1,127,637

I may have missed some popular genealgoy web sites - tell me which ones you think should be on this list. There are notable absences here - genealogy societies, genealogy libraries, genealogy software, social networking sites, publishers, bloggers, etc. One problem with bloggers is that Quantcast won't provide information for web sites with a slash (/) after the main web site name.

www.alexa.com has a numbered list of genealogy web sites here. It lists sub-domains and is probably based on worldwide reach.

This was fun. One reason to do this exercise occasionally is to find genealogy-oriented web sites that I don't visit so that I can see if I'm missing something.

Ancestry's New Look and Search Capabilities

Kendall Hulet on the Ancestry.com Blog has provided some insights in "Something exciting is in the works" into potential changes coming to the http://www.ancestry.com/ user interface and search capabilities. There is a link in his article to a quick tour of the potential changes and some example screens at http://search.ancestry.com/search/SignUp.aspx. This page notes

"We'll soon be bringing you several enhancements that will make searching on Ancestry a whole lot easier - and more efficient. That means fewer clicks between you and your ancestors. It also means better search results."

They are highlighting Type-ahead tools, Image snapshots, Site-wide search and Contextual research tips. There is also a list of future ideas, including

* Combined record page and image viewer, allowing you to see all of the information at once
* The capability to submit corrections on transcription errors of dates, locations and more
* Search engine enhancements that will return more relevant results and reduce inaccuracies
* Results about the locations and time periods you are searching
* Results that indicate which content you’ve already viewed or saved to your tree

I was invited to have the opportunity to preview these potential changes, test them and to provide feedback about the changes. I'm still doing evaluations based on my own search style and interests. I don't want to comment here about my observations to date, but I am actively sharing them with Kendall Hulet via email and their feedback form.

I applaud Ancestry's effort to obtain feedback from users on improvements and/or enhancements to the web site, data presentation and search capabilities.
I encourage all researchers to take their quick tour (two screens with an example for Abraham Lincoln) and see the changes being considered.

I really like and am very familiar with the search box options, data presentation, layout, search efficiency and speed of the current http://www.ancestry.com/ web site. It appeals to my "engineer's critical eye" for ease of use, minimal mouse clicks, and ordered searching. I usually use the "Exact Search" options rather than "Ranked Searches." I prefer having all matches from each database in one list - I don't like having results mixed together - a census record followed by a military record followed by a birth record, for instance. That's just my search style and preference.

Change is difficult to adapt to for some people. I welcome changes that measurably improve search accuracy, easy-to-understand data presentation, search speed, and that enhance my effectiveness in using a web site.

It may be that http://www.ancestry.com/ will utilize more than one user-interface for searches in order to accommodate users that are comfortable with and appreciate the current web site layout and presentation.

Descendants of Samuel and Mary Ann (Underhill) Vaux - Post 1

I'm starting a series of posts that define what I know about the descendants of my 3rd-great-grandparents, Samuel and Mary Ann (Underhill) Vaux. Samuel Vaux emigrated from England and settled in Aurora, Erie county, New York in the 1835-1840 time frame.

The English Vaux families have been well-defined by research conducted collaboratively by Hanna Nicholas and Liz James in England and Sarah Vaux in the United States. They have an online book manuscript available for Vaux researchers here. Hanna has submitted a Vaux database to the Rootsweb WorldConnect database here. I contributed information gleaned from census and other online information several years ago, and am working on adding more data from more recent online searches.

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1. Samuel Vaux (James6, John5, James4, William3, John2, Thomas1 Vax) was born before 11 February 1816 in South Petherton, Somerset, ENGLAND (christening), son of James Vaux and Mary Palmer, and died after 1880 in perhaps Marshall County, KS. He married Mary Ann Underhill before 1839 in Aurora, Erie County, NY, daughter of Amos Underhill and Mary/Polly Metcalf. She was born about 1815 in Aurora, Erie County, NY, and died after 1880 in perhaps Marshall County, KS.

Children of Samuel Vaux and Mary Underhill are:
2.... i. Mary A. Vaux, born about 1839 in Aurora, Erie County, NY. She married James Woodward before 1863 in WI; born about 1837 in VT.

3... ii. Celia Ann Vaux, born May 1842 in Aurora, Erie County, NY. She married (1) Milo Redfield 08 January 1861 in Burnett, Dodge County, WI; born about 1836 in probably Jefferson County, NY. She married (2) Francis N. Munger about 1872 in probably MO; born July 1845 in WI.

4... iii. Abigail A. Vaux, born 28 October 1844 in Aurora, Erie County, NY (Bible); died 11 September 1931 in San Diego, San Diego County, CA (CA DI). She married Devier James Smith 04 April 1861 in Rolling Prairie, Dodge County, WI (Bible); born 07 May 1839 in Henderson, Jefferson County, NY (Bible); died 01 May 1894 in McCook, Red Willow County, NE (Bible).

5... iv. James P. Vaux, born about 1847 in Aurora, Erie County, NY; died 29 December 1902 in Aurora, Erie County, NY. He married Mary Alice Patrick before 1879 in KS; born about 1856 in OH; died 19 April 1904 in DeKalb, IL.

6 ... v. Elizabeth B. Vaux, born about 1851 in Aurora, Erie County, NY; died 10 May 1931 in Long Beach, Los Angeles County, CA (CA DI). She married Samuel Crouch 19 October 1871 in Andrew County, MO (IGI); born 1841 in ENGLAND; died 18 May 1931 in Long Beach, Los Angeles, CA (CA DI).

7... vi. Amos S. Vaux, born about 1854 in Aurora, Erie County, NY; died 23 August 1876 in Nodaway, Andrew County, MO.

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My intent is to publish three generation descendants reports for each of the children of Samuel and Mary Ann (Underhill) Vaux. That will bring information about these families into the 20th century but will not include information on possibly living people. While I have some biographical material gleaned from various sources, including personal correspondence, for many of these families, I'm only going to publish the "bare bones" information about these families.

My purpose in putting these family summaries on this blog is to make my information about these families available for other researchers and distant relatives to find, with the hope that they will contact me and provide even more family information about the families.

If anybody reading this has information on these families, please contact me via email at rjseaverATcox.net and we can correspond and exchange information. If anybody has additions or corrections to my information, I would appreciate hearing from you!

Technology - Hardware, software, web site

The 43rd Carnival of Genealogy topic is Technology. What technology do you most rely on for your genealogy and family history research? Resist the urge to dilute the impact of your 3 choices by mentioning several others you use and appreciate as well. This is an exercise in appraising the technology you use/recommend the most.

1) Select one piece of hardware (besides your computer)

The most useful hardware for my genealogy research, over the 20 years I've pursued elusive ancestors, is the microfilm reader/scanner/printer at the LDS Family History Center. This hardware has morphed over the years from separate machines for the reader and printer, that produced slicky pages that faded over time, to a slick reader/scanner/printer that I can use (and frequently do!) to obtain digital images of original source documents like deeds, probate records, etc. My FHC has a Canon Microfilm Scanner MS-300 hooked to a computer loaded with software that captures the document images.

2) Select one piece of software (besides your Internet browser)

In recent years, the software that I've relied on most has been OpenOffice 2. This FREE software is a suite of programs - a word processor, a spreadsheet, a presentation program, a database program, and a drawing program. I use the word processor and presentation program all the time, and the spreadsheet occasionally. The beauty of this program suite is that it emulates Microsoft Office products, reads MS Office files and permits saving in MS Office formats.

3) Select one web site/blog (besides your own) that are indispensable to you.

This is the most difficult because there are so many great web sites with genealogy data. I'm going to select the LDS www.FamilySearch.org web site because of the existing databases (Ancestral File, International Genealogical Index, Pedigree Resource File, 1880 US Census, 1881 Canada census, 1881 UK census, and the new ones on the Records Search site) and the site's future offerings. In the future (say, 5 years from now) the New FamilySearch will be indispensable because it will have original records in digital format (digitized from over 2 million microforms) that no other web site will have.

It's unclear if the question encourages citing a web site and a blog - just in case, I'll say that the indispensable blog for me is Dick Eastman's Online Genealogical Newsletter. Dick's news and technology coverage is the best available, and he has enough readers to take the pulse of the genealogy community on controversial issues.

Six word memoirs

Several other genealogy bloggers have noted the recently published book titled "Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure" edited by Rachel Fershleiser and Larry Smith.

Lisa A. Alzo on The Accidental Genealogist blog provides her own six-word memoir and then wrote several more as tributes to some of her ancestors. That's a great idea!

I, being the "joiner" that I seem to be, did this back in December 2006 with "Six-word memoir contest." My own six-word memoir is

"Descendant of obscure American colonial ancestors." - Randy Seaver

Naturally, I sent that in, and it is on page 208 right below the obscure Kate Evans ("Loved a man, then a woman") and above the obscure Jennifer Johnson ("Brainy widowed sexpot raises hell, kids"). Hmm, I guess I'm in good company - Jen sounds like fun, eh? I wonder how many of the more than 1,000 entries used the word "obscure?"

I also posted one on Chris' Genealogue blog --

"Son, husband, father, carpenter, soldier, citizen." - Norman Seaver (1734-1787) of Westminster MA, my 5th great-grandfather.

Taking Lisa's idea, here are some tributes to some of my ancestors:

* "Patience, love, grace, beauty, devotion personified." - for Betty (Carringer) Seaver (1919-2002), my mother.

* "Loving family man, clerk, philatelist, adventurer" - for Lyle Lawrence Carringer (1891-1976), my grandfather.

* "Bastard son, Revolutionary matross, crippled hero" - for Isaac Buck (1757-1846), my 4th great-grandfather.

* "Innkeeper, inventor, snake oil salesman, speculator" - Devier J. Smith (1839-1894), my 2nd great-grandfather.

How about you - any six-word memoirs to describe yourself or your ancestors? Try it, it's fun. Either put them in your own blog post or in Comments here.