...
Genea-blogger John Newmark (who writes the excellent TransylvanianDutch blog) started a Monday blog theme several years ago called Amanuensis Monday. What does "amanuensis" mean? John offers this definition:
"A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another."
The subject today is the will of Thomas Graves (ca 1620-1697) of Lynn, Massachusetts. He married Hannah --?-- (ca 1621-after 1697) in about 1642, and they had children: Amy Graves (1643-????); Hannah Graves (1645-????); Mark Graves (1650-1730); Thomas Graves (1653-????); Samuel Graves (1655-1723); Ann Graves (1658-1736); Sarah Graves (1660-????); Elizabeth Graves (1662-????).
Thomas Graves died testate in Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts on 24 January 1696/7. His will was written 22 January 1696/7. It reads (transcribed from Essex County Probate Records, Probate Packet #11,572, and transcribed from copy book Volume 305, pages 236-7, on FHL Microfilm 0,860,486):
"In the Name of God Everlasting Amen. I Thomas Graves Sen-r of Lyn in the County of Essex New England finding the infirmities of old age to Increase upon me & at this time Labouring under pains of body and daily Expecting my great change but being of Sound memory & Judgment and desiring that love & peace may be continued in my family among my Children when God shall call me hence. I have therefore taken this opportunity to make this my last will and testament.
"Impr-s I Resigne up my Spirit into the hands of him that gave it and Into the Armes of my dear redeemer the Lord Jesus Christ excercizing faith in him for ??? ??? and eternal life. My body I commend to the dust out of which it was taken willing a decent Interment theirof Suitable to my rank & quality.
"As for my outward Estate which God of his goodness hath been pleased to bestow upon me. I dispose of it as followeth.
"To my Dear and Loving wife who hath been tender of me and Industrious in her place I give & bequeth three cows & one ox to be at her dispose & my will is that out of the produce of my Estate She be Comfortably provided for during her life and my charge is that my children be tender & carefull of & discharge Their duty Toward their aged mother. Also I give my wife eight Sheep. With reference to the disposing of my lands my will is that all my Lands in Lyn with Housen be Equally divided between my Son Samuell & my son Mark which I give and Bequeth to them excepting three acres of land which I give and bequeth to my son Thomas to be laid out adjoyning to the land which he bought of Joseph Farr. To my five Daughters I give & bequeth five pounds viz. Twenty shillings to my Daughter Ame, Twenty shillings to my Daughter Hannah, Twenty shillings to my Daughter Sarah, Twenty shillings to my Daughter Elisabeth and Twenty shillings to Ann.
"And I Constitute & appoint my Son Samuel to be Executor to this my last will and Testament & to this my last will and Testament I have Set my hands & affixed my Seal this Twentyh Second day of January one Thousand Six hundred ninety six & ninety Seven and in the Eigth year of his maj-ties Reign.
"Signed Sealed & Delivered ............................................. his
in the presence of us .......................................... Thomas G Graves (seal)
Joseph Collins Senr ......................................................... mark
Henry Collins Tertius
Sarah Bread (by mark)"
On 15 February 1696/7, the will was presented to the Court by the executor, Samuel Graves, and the three witnesses to the will of Thomas Graves, late of Lynn deceased, took an oath that they were present when the will was signed, sealed, published and declared, and that he was of a disposing mind.
The will was approved by the Judge of Probate.
An inventory of the estate of Thomas Graves, Senior, was taken by John Witt and William Bassett Senior. The inventory of the estate was 125 pounds, 15 shillings, of which 89 pounds was 16 acres of land and orchard, house and barn. The inventory was approved by the Court on 15 February 1696/7 (Essex County Probate Records, Vol. 305, page 237, FHL Microfilm 0,860,486).
Unfortunately, Samuel Graves did not mention the name of his beloved wife or the married names of his daughters or any grandchildren in this will. My own ancestry is through the son Samuel Graves (1656-1723).
Monday, January 2, 2012
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Tamura Jones Posts on Genealogy Blogs, Industry, Trends, and Awards
...
Tamura Jones writes the Modern Software Experience blog/website, and often scoops the news and genealogy blogs on genealogy software and website issues. He also writes summaries based on his experience and perception.
In the past two weeks, he has written:
* Genealogy Blog Awards 2011 (16 December 2011) - categories are Funniest Genealogy Blog, Best Reanimated Genealogy Blog, Best New Community Blog, and Best New Community Project.
* Genealogy Beta 2011 (22 December 2011) - genealogy websites in Beta development during 2011.
* Genealogy 2011 (28 December 2011) - Genealogy industry and technology developments during 2011.
* Genealogy Trends 2011 (29 December 2011) - all about integration and collaboration.
* GeneAwards 2011 (30 December 2011) - the Best and Worst of Genealogy 2011.
These all provide significant information, and Tamura's opinion, on the subjects, and are well worth the time to peruse.
Tamura Jones writes the Modern Software Experience blog/website, and often scoops the news and genealogy blogs on genealogy software and website issues. He also writes summaries based on his experience and perception.
In the past two weeks, he has written:
* Genealogy Blog Awards 2011 (16 December 2011) - categories are Funniest Genealogy Blog, Best Reanimated Genealogy Blog, Best New Community Blog, and Best New Community Project.
* Genealogy Beta 2011 (22 December 2011) - genealogy websites in Beta development during 2011.
* Genealogy 2011 (28 December 2011) - Genealogy industry and technology developments during 2011.
* Genealogy Trends 2011 (29 December 2011) - all about integration and collaboration.
* GeneAwards 2011 (30 December 2011) - the Best and Worst of Genealogy 2011.
These all provide significant information, and Tamura's opinion, on the subjects, and are well worth the time to peruse.
Benchmark Numbers for 1 January 2012
...
I'm still a "numbers guy" and like to try to keep track of various numbers in the genealogy world. So this is a list of genealogy numbers as of 1 January 2012 (see last year's numbers at 1 January 2011 Benchmark Numbers):
1) http://www.ancestry.com/
* about 1.7 million paying subscribers
* 30,482 Databases in the Card Catalog (2011: 30,006)
* 29 million family trees with over 3 billion profiles
* 1,838,295,985 persons in Public Member Trees (2011: 1,263,587,509)
* 448,817,254 persons in Private Member Trees (2011: 308,674,051)
2) www.Familysearch.org
* 1,000 Historical Record Collections online (2011: 519)
* 65,815 Research Wiki articles (2011: 46,002)
* 252 Research Courses (2011: 109)
* 67 Community Trees (2011: 64)
3) http://www.fold3.com/
* 318 sets of original documents (counted) (2011: 509)
* 85,413,046 images online (2011: 71,731,610)
* 100,036,579 Memorial Pages
4) www.WorldVitalRecords.com
* 28,700 collections
* 4.2 billion names
* 158 million record images
* 100 million newspaper pages
5) http://www.archives.com/
* 268 databases (2011: 140)
* over 1.5 billion records (2011: 1,158,738,805)
6) www.GenealogyBank.com
* over 5,800 newspapers (2011: 4,600)
* over 1 billion records (2011: 700 million)
7) www.Rootsweb.Ancestry.com
* 667,438,708 persons in WorldConnect family trees (2011: 630,984,813 )
* 434,729 WorldConnect databases (2011: 430,030)
* 266,785,174 records in FreeBMD database (2011: 195,536,463)
8) http://www.americanancestors.org/
* almost 3,000 databases
9) www.MyHeritage.com
* 61,626,012 Members
* 20,920,031 Family Trees (2011: 16,306,687)
* 906,702,547 individuals in family trees (2011: 645,780,280)
10) www.Geni.com
* almost 60 million users
* over 100 million profiles in family trees
* 60,629,166 profiles in Geni's World Family Tree
11) www.WeRelate.org wiki
* over 2 million persons in family tree
12) www.WikiTree.com wiki
* 43,000 WikiTreers
* 2.9 million profiles
13) www.FindMyPast.co.uk
* about 750 million family history records
14) www.CyndisList.com
* 309,467 genealogy links (2011: 291,330)
15) www.Linkpendium.com
* 9,948,990 genealogy links (2011: 9,239,987)
16) www.FindAGrave.com:
* over 73 million grave records
17) http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/:
* 4,540,417 newspaper pages available
I obtained those numbers from publicly available information on the websites.
There are many free and subscription websites that do not publish easily findable numbers.
What other websites and what other numbers should I be benchmarking? Are some of the numbers wrong? Please tell me in Comments and I will edit the list above!
I'm still a "numbers guy" and like to try to keep track of various numbers in the genealogy world. So this is a list of genealogy numbers as of 1 January 2012 (see last year's numbers at 1 January 2011 Benchmark Numbers):
1) http://www.ancestry.com/
* about 1.7 million paying subscribers
* 30,482 Databases in the Card Catalog (2011: 30,006)
* 29 million family trees with over 3 billion profiles
* 1,838,295,985 persons in Public Member Trees (2011: 1,263,587,509)
* 448,817,254 persons in Private Member Trees (2011: 308,674,051)
2) www.Familysearch.org
* 1,000 Historical Record Collections online (2011: 519)
* 65,815 Research Wiki articles (2011: 46,002)
* 252 Research Courses (2011: 109)
* 67 Community Trees (2011: 64)
3) http://www.fold3.com/
* 318 sets of original documents (counted) (2011: 509)
* 85,413,046 images online (2011: 71,731,610)
* 100,036,579 Memorial Pages
4) www.WorldVitalRecords.com
* 28,700 collections
* 4.2 billion names
* 158 million record images
* 100 million newspaper pages
5) http://www.archives.com/
* 268 databases (2011: 140)
* over 1.5 billion records (2011: 1,158,738,805)
6) www.GenealogyBank.com
* over 5,800 newspapers (2011: 4,600)
* over 1 billion records (2011: 700 million)
7) www.Rootsweb.Ancestry.com
* 667,438,708 persons in WorldConnect family trees (2011: 630,984,813 )
* 434,729 WorldConnect databases (2011: 430,030)
* 266,785,174 records in FreeBMD database (2011: 195,536,463)
8) http://www.americanancestors.org/
* almost 3,000 databases
9) www.MyHeritage.com
* 61,626,012 Members
* 20,920,031 Family Trees (2011: 16,306,687)
* 906,702,547 individuals in family trees (2011: 645,780,280)
10) www.Geni.com
* almost 60 million users
* over 100 million profiles in family trees
* 60,629,166 profiles in Geni's World Family Tree
11) www.WeRelate.org wiki
* over 2 million persons in family tree
12) www.WikiTree.com wiki
* 43,000 WikiTreers
* 2.9 million profiles
13) www.FindMyPast.co.uk
* about 750 million family history records
14) www.CyndisList.com
* 309,467 genealogy links (2011: 291,330)
15) www.Linkpendium.com
* 9,948,990 genealogy links (2011: 9,239,987)
16) www.FindAGrave.com:
* over 73 million grave records
17) http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/:
* 4,540,417 newspaper pages available
I obtained those numbers from publicly available information on the websites.
There are many free and subscription websites that do not publish easily findable numbers.
What other websites and what other numbers should I be benchmarking? Are some of the numbers wrong? Please tell me in Comments and I will edit the list above!
Best of the Genea-Blogs - for the year 2011
...
There is no weekly Best of the Genea-Blogs this week due to my holiday travels. There were some really good blog posts though - I recommend that you check out the weekly summaries by several geneabloggers that I have listed at the bottom of this post.
For the Year 2011, I posted 48 Best of the Genea-Blogs posts. I missed the weeks of 6/12, 9/11, 9/18 and 1/1/12. There were 188 geneabloggers featured in those posts.
While quantity is not necessarily the best metric, for something like a "Best Of" summary it's the only metric I have to determine which genea-bloggers were listed most often in my series. Therefore, here are the top 20 listed in order of number of mentions (note that persons with multiple blogs are ranked by adding the blog totals):
1) James Tanner on the Genealogy's Star blog (31 mentions) and FamilySearch Tech Tips blog (1 mention).
11) Lee R. Drew on the Family History with the Lineagekeeper blog (10 mentions)
16) Cheryl Palmer on the Heritage Happens blog (7 mentions)
16) Lynn Palermo on The Armchair Genealogist blog (7 mentions)
Well, there are 21 listed there, and each of them is different and uniformly thought provoking, informative and well written.
Congratulations to the Top 21, and thank you for being such talented and dedicated genealogy bloggers.
If someone asked me "what genealogy blogs do you recommend," these 21 would be on my list, along with quite a few others not on the list above.
My thanks to all of the active genea-bloggers who fill my day with news, views and experiences in the world of genealogy. I estimate that I read over 250 blog posts each and every day, and I try to highlight 10 to 20 posts each week. That's about 1% of the candidates. I have a bias for thoughtful, poignant and humorous posts... Obviously, I don't read every genealogy blog there is, but I do have over 1,100 on my reading list. If you know of a really good genealogy blog, please tell me about it - send me a link in a comment to this post and I'll add it to my Google Reader list.
For this past week, the following genea-bloggers took the time to compile their own Best Of list:
* Ruth's Recommendations by Ruth Blair on The Passionate Genealogist blog.
*Follow Friday Gems - 12-30-11 by Deb Ruth on the Adventures in Genealogy blog.
* Follow Friday: This Week’s Favorite Finds by Jen on the Climbing My Family Tree blog.
Please read their lists and click on their links.
For what it's worth - this is Post #221 in the Best of the Genea-Blogs series! That's over four years of trying to review the world of genea-blogs (started 23 September 2007).
I really enjoyed reviewing my lists today - I cannot remember every post that I've listed, but it was fun refreshing my memory.
There is no weekly Best of the Genea-Blogs this week due to my holiday travels. There were some really good blog posts though - I recommend that you check out the weekly summaries by several geneabloggers that I have listed at the bottom of this post.
For the Year 2011, I posted 48 Best of the Genea-Blogs posts. I missed the weeks of 6/12, 9/11, 9/18 and 1/1/12. There were 188 geneabloggers featured in those posts.
While quantity is not necessarily the best metric, for something like a "Best Of" summary it's the only metric I have to determine which genea-bloggers were listed most often in my series. Therefore, here are the top 20 listed in order of number of mentions (note that persons with multiple blogs are ranked by adding the blog totals):
1) James Tanner on the Genealogy's Star blog (31 mentions) and FamilySearch Tech Tips blog (1 mention).
2) Marian Pierre-Louis on the Marian's Roots and Rambles blog (21 mentions) and New England House Historian blog (3 mentions).
3) Susan Farrell Bankhead on Susan's Genealogy Blog (18 mentions).
4) Michael Hait on the Planting the Seeds blog (17 mentions).
7) Jasia on the Creative Gene blog (11 mentions) and The Catholic Gene blog (1 mention)
11) Heather Wilkinson Rojo on the Nutfield Genealogy blog (10 mentions)
11) Lee R. Drew on the Family History with the Lineagekeeper blog (10 mentions)
13) Thomas MacEntee on the Geneabloggers blog (7 mentions), the High-Definition Genealogy blog (1 mention), and the Destination: Austin Family blog (1 mention).
15) footnoteMaven on the Shades of the Departed blog (3 mentions), The Graveyard Rabbit blog (1 mention), and the footnoteMaven blog (4 mentions)
16) Banai Feldstein on The Ginger Jewish Genealogy Blog (7 mentions)
16) Amy Coffin on the We Tree Genealogy Blog (7 mentions)
16) Cheryl Palmer on the Heritage Happens blog (7 mentions)
16) Lynn Palermo on The Armchair Genealogist blog (7 mentions)
16) Philip Trauring on the Blood and Frogs blog. (7 mentions)
16) Bart Brenner (GeneaPopPop) on the Stardust 'n' Roots blog (7 mentions)
Well, there are 21 listed there, and each of them is different and uniformly thought provoking, informative and well written.
Congratulations to the Top 21, and thank you for being such talented and dedicated genealogy bloggers.
If someone asked me "what genealogy blogs do you recommend," these 21 would be on my list, along with quite a few others not on the list above.
My thanks to all of the active genea-bloggers who fill my day with news, views and experiences in the world of genealogy. I estimate that I read over 250 blog posts each and every day, and I try to highlight 10 to 20 posts each week. That's about 1% of the candidates. I have a bias for thoughtful, poignant and humorous posts... Obviously, I don't read every genealogy blog there is, but I do have over 1,100 on my reading list. If you know of a really good genealogy blog, please tell me about it - send me a link in a comment to this post and I'll add it to my Google Reader list.
For this past week, the following genea-bloggers took the time to compile their own Best Of list:
* Ruth's Recommendations by Ruth Blair on The Passionate Genealogist blog.
*Follow Friday Gems - 12-30-11 by Deb Ruth on the Adventures in Genealogy blog.
* Follow Friday: This Week’s Favorite Finds by Jen on the Climbing My Family Tree blog.
Please read their lists and click on their links.
For what it's worth - this is Post #221 in the Best of the Genea-Blogs series! That's over four years of trying to review the world of genea-blogs (started 23 September 2007).
I really enjoyed reviewing my lists today - I cannot remember every post that I've listed, but it was fun refreshing my memory.
Happy New Year!!!
...
I want to wish all of my readers a very Happy New Year in 2012.
May 2012 bring you happiness, good health, many friends, lots of love and more time to pursue your genealogy addic.., er, passion.
May you complete all of your genealogy and family history goals and objectives (you do have them, don't you?) be satisfied and may extra genea-blessings be provided to you! Have fun!!!
Stay tuned to Genea-Musings for more genealogy fireworks in 2012!!!
Hey, I see I have a new reader:
Hey, I'm his cousin!
I want to wish all of my readers a very Happy New Year in 2012.
May 2012 bring you happiness, good health, many friends, lots of love and more time to pursue your genealogy addic.., er, passion.
May you complete all of your genealogy and family history goals and objectives (you do have them, don't you?) be satisfied and may extra genea-blessings be provided to you! Have fun!!!
Stay tuned to Genea-Musings for more genealogy fireworks in 2012!!!
Hey, I see I have a new reader:
Hey, I'm his cousin!
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Watch a FamilySearch Research Course
...
It's Saturday Night again - and time for more Genealogy Fun!! Are you up for this?
Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:
1) Go to the FamilySearch Research Course page - https://www.familysearch.org/learningcenter/home.html - and select a Research Course of interest. Use the filters in the left-hand column for Places, Skill Level, Subject, Format and Language to help you decide.
2) Click on the Research Course you selected, and watch the video. In some cases, there is a syllabus that you can download and/or print out.
3) Tell us about your experiences in a blog post of your own, a comment to this post, or in a Facebook status line or a Google Plus Stream post. Tell us why you selected the specific course, what you learned, and what other course you want to watch.
Here's mine:
I selected the "Heads of Household Only" course, presented by Angela McComas.
My reason for selecting it was that it was relatively short (19 minutes), and I was interested to see what it was about. The syllabus shows each of the slides presented.
The most useful information in this course for me was how she compared several years of census records to narrow down the search for the "right" family in pre-1850 census records. She also mentioned the census forms in the William Dollarhide book, The Census Book, which includes a form to help you with those comparisons. I have the Dollarhide book in a PDF format, so I went into my book files and printed out that page (page 180) for use on a current project.
The course that I want to watch next is Evaluating and Solving Research Problems with Karen Clifford.
There is a wealth of genealogy education on the FamilySearch Learning Center. There is something for persons at every level of genealogy experience.
It's Saturday Night again - and time for more Genealogy Fun!! Are you up for this?
Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:
1) Go to the FamilySearch Research Course page - https://www.familysearch.org/learningcenter/home.html - and select a Research Course of interest. Use the filters in the left-hand column for Places, Skill Level, Subject, Format and Language to help you decide.
2) Click on the Research Course you selected, and watch the video. In some cases, there is a syllabus that you can download and/or print out.
3) Tell us about your experiences in a blog post of your own, a comment to this post, or in a Facebook status line or a Google Plus Stream post. Tell us why you selected the specific course, what you learned, and what other course you want to watch.
Here's mine:
I selected the "Heads of Household Only" course, presented by Angela McComas.
My reason for selecting it was that it was relatively short (19 minutes), and I was interested to see what it was about. The syllabus shows each of the slides presented.
The most useful information in this course for me was how she compared several years of census records to narrow down the search for the "right" family in pre-1850 census records. She also mentioned the census forms in the William Dollarhide book, The Census Book, which includes a form to help you with those comparisons. I have the Dollarhide book in a PDF format, so I went into my book files and printed out that page (page 180) for use on a current project.
The course that I want to watch next is Evaluating and Solving Research Problems with Karen Clifford.
There is a wealth of genealogy education on the FamilySearch Learning Center. There is something for persons at every level of genealogy experience.
Surname Saturday - SMITH (England > Charlestown, Massachusetts)
...
It's Surname Saturday, and I'm "counting down" my Ancestral Name List each week. I am up to number 317, who is Mary Smith (1698-????), one of my 6th-great-grandparents. [Note: The 6th great-grandfathers have been covered in earlier posts]
My ancestral line back through two generations of SMITH 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)
38. Thomas J. Newton (????-????)
39. Sophia Buck (1797-1882)
78. Isaac Buck (1757-1846)
79. Martha Phillips (1757-????)
158. John Phillips (1722-????)
159. Hannah Brown (about 1725 - before 1774)
316. Ebenezer Phillips, born 17 August 1695 in Charlestown, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States; died before 21 August 1746 in Southborough, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States. He was the son of 636. Andrew Phillips and 637. Sarah Smith. He married before 1719 in probably Malden, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
317. Mary Smith, born 08 March 1698 in Charlestown, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States.
Children of Ebenezer Phillips and Mary Smith are: Mary Phillips (1719-????); Ebenezer Phillips (1721-????); John Phillips (1722-????); Samuel Phillips (1726-1810); Joanna Phillips (1729-1788); Ruth Phillips (1733-1746).
634. John Smith, born about 1647; died before March 1706 in probably Charlestown, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States. He married 18 May 1693 in Malden, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
635. Ruth Cutler, born 02 February 1668 in Reading, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died 17 May 1758 in Reading, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States. She was the daughter of 1270. Thomas Cutler and 1271. Mary Giles.
Children of John Smith and Ruth Cutler are: Ruth Smith (1694-????); Mary Smith (1698-????); Elizabeth Smith (1700-????); Hannah Smith (1702-1704).
The only resource I have for this Smith family is the vital records of Charlestown, Massachusetts.
It is possible that John Smith (1647-1706) is related to Michael Smith (1620-1687) of Malden, Massachusetts. Michael Smith's daughter, Sarah Smith, was married to Andrew Phillips (1661-1721) and was Ebenezer Phillips mother.
It's Surname Saturday, and I'm "counting down" my Ancestral Name List each week. I am up to number 317, who is Mary Smith (1698-????), one of my 6th-great-grandparents. [Note: The 6th great-grandfathers have been covered in earlier posts]
My ancestral line back through two generations of SMITH 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)
38. Thomas J. Newton (????-????)
39. Sophia Buck (1797-1882)
78. Isaac Buck (1757-1846)
79. Martha Phillips (1757-????)
158. John Phillips (1722-????)
159. Hannah Brown (about 1725 - before 1774)
316. Ebenezer Phillips, born 17 August 1695 in Charlestown, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States; died before 21 August 1746 in Southborough, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States. He was the son of 636. Andrew Phillips and 637. Sarah Smith. He married before 1719 in probably Malden, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
317. Mary Smith, born 08 March 1698 in Charlestown, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States.
Children of Ebenezer Phillips and Mary Smith are: Mary Phillips (1719-????); Ebenezer Phillips (1721-????); John Phillips (1722-????); Samuel Phillips (1726-1810); Joanna Phillips (1729-1788); Ruth Phillips (1733-1746).
634. John Smith, born about 1647; died before March 1706 in probably Charlestown, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States. He married 18 May 1693 in Malden, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
635. Ruth Cutler, born 02 February 1668 in Reading, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died 17 May 1758 in Reading, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States. She was the daughter of 1270. Thomas Cutler and 1271. Mary Giles.
Children of John Smith and Ruth Cutler are: Ruth Smith (1694-????); Mary Smith (1698-????); Elizabeth Smith (1700-????); Hannah Smith (1702-1704).
The only resource I have for this Smith family is the vital records of Charlestown, Massachusetts.
It is possible that John Smith (1647-1706) is related to Michael Smith (1620-1687) of Malden, Massachusetts. Michael Smith's daughter, Sarah Smith, was married to Andrew Phillips (1661-1721) and was Ebenezer Phillips mother.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Follow Friday - Genealogy Fun on New Year's Weekend
...
Christmas weekend is here, and many of us will be really busy with family and friends. If you have some free time (yeah, right!), I recommend:
1) Listen to the Geneabloggers Radio show tonight (Friday night, 9 p.m. ET, 8 p.m. CT, 7 p.m. MT and 6 p.m. PT) hosted by Thomas MacEntee. There is no show this week - the next live show will be 6 January 2012. Please check the Archives for past radio shows.
2)Listen to the FGS Radio - My Societyshow on Saturday (2 p.m. ET, 1 p.m. CT, 12 noon MT, 11 a.m. PT) hosted by Thomas MacEntee. This show is on hiatus until 7 January 2012. Please check the Archives for past radio shows.
3) Check out the recent FREE Webinars on:
* LegacyFamilyTree:
*** "Is My Pet Frog Part of My Family?" Children and Genealogy in the Classroom, by Maureen Taylor (free until 26 December)
*** Tracing Immigrant Ancestors, by Lisa Alzo (free until 19 December)
*** New Genealogy Technology: Flip-Pal™ Mobile Scanner, by Gordon Nuttall (free)
*** Celebrate the Holidays and Share Family History with Heritage Collector software, by Kathleen Bitter
***Creating a Shareable CD with Legacy and Passage Express software, by Jefferson Shupe
*** Exploring FamilyLink.com and WorldVitalRecords.com by their founder, Paul Allen.
*** "Newspapers for Genealogists: Using GenealogyBank.com to document every day of your ancestors' lives" with Tom Kemp.
*** "Organizng for Success" with Karen Clifford
*** "The Power of DNA in Unlocking Family Relationships," with Ugo Perugo
* RootsMagic Webinars (all free) available at http://www.rootsmagic.com/Webinars/. Recently added:
*** What's New in RootsMagic 5
*** Fun Family Gifts with RootsMagic, Personal Historian, and Family Atlas
* National Genealogical Society (NGS) Videos (some are free to view) at http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/videos_online
* Thomas MacEntee's Explorinars, including:
*** Easy Website Creation (free to view).
*** Evernote - Easy Note Taking UPDATED (free to view)
*** Facebook Pages vs. Facebook Groups (free to view)
* Ancestry.com's YouTube Channel has over 128 items on it now, including (free to view):
*** Ancestry.com LIVE: Using Online Trees to Help with Pre-1850 Relatives with Anne Mitchell.
*** Ancestry.com LIVE: Reading Handwritten Historical Documents with Anne Mitchell
*** Ancestry.com Live: How to Control Your Results with Anne Mitchell
*** Ancestry.com LIVE: How to Use the World War II Draft Registration Cards with Juliana Smith
*** Ancestry.com LIVE: How do I find the maiden names of women in my family tree? by Crista Cowan
*** Ancestry.com LIVE: I believe my ancestor was Native American/Indian, How do I prove that? by Crista Cowan
*** Ancestry.com LIVE: Unlock the Secrets of the 1790 - 1840 US Census Records with Anne Mitchell
*** Ancestry.com LIVE: Search with Ancestry Anne with Anne Mitchell
*** Ancestry.com LIVE: One Question with the Barefoot Genealogist with Crista Cowan
*** Ancestry.com LIVE: Lorraine's 5 Tips for Online Grave Digging with Lorraine Bourne
*** Ancestry.com LIVE: How do I use newspapers on Ancestry.com to find out more about my ancestors? with Crista Cowan
*** Ancestry.com LIVE: How Do I Find My Ancestors Before 1850? with Crista Cowan.
*** Ancestry.com LIVE: How to dress up your family tree ...for the holidays! with Anne Mitchell.
*** Ancestry.com LIVE: How to Find Your Civil War Roots on Ancestry.com with Anne Mitchell.
*** Emigration & Immigration Records Online with Crista Cowan @ Ancestry Day San Francisco
*** Find Them Fast: Secrets to Searching Ancestry.com with Laura Dansbury @ Ancestry Day San Francisco
*** Five Tips for Digging Up Answers at Ancestry.com with Jeanie Croasmun @ Ancestry Day San Francisco
4) Respond to my Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge, posted on www.geneamusings.com soon after 12 noon Pacific time (that's 1900 GMT for those who understand time zones).
5) Go to a local genealogical society program. Is any society doing anything this weekend? Check for seminars in 2012 and sign up for them!
6) Go to a local or close repository with genealogy and family history material. Do some research in traditional resources or order FamilySearch microfilms online with original source records.
7) Do some online research in the latest record collections
* FamilySearch (free, https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/list),
* Ancestry ($$, http://www.ancestry.com/cs/reccol/default),
* Fold3 ($$, www.fold3.com),
* WorldVitalRecords ($$, www.WorldVitalRecords.com),
* American Ancestors ($$, www.AmericanAncestors.org),
* GenealogyBank ($$, www.GenealogyBank.com),
* Archives ($$, www.Archives.com)
8) Add content (names, dates, places, notes, images, sources, etc.) to your genealogy software program. I still have two inches of paper collected from my vacation, and more from before that, and will try to enter some of it into my database this weekend.
9) Spend time with your family doing fun things. We are returning home today from our Christmas visit to Santa Cruz and Monte Rio. We made some more family history and memories.
10) Go to a local cemetery and clean stones, take gravestone pictures, or transcribe epitaphs for your local society, for Find-a-Grave, or a similar online service.
11) GO SHOPPING for genealogical products or services, or for technology products, for yourself, or for a gift for that special genealogy friend. Online or in a store - go for it!
Whatever you decide, please tell us about your genealogy endeavors on a social network or in a blog post. You never know when your experiences may stimulate or encourage others to do useful genealogy work.
Christmas weekend is here, and many of us will be really busy with family and friends. If you have some free time (yeah, right!), I recommend:
1) Listen to the Geneabloggers Radio show tonight (Friday night, 9 p.m. ET, 8 p.m. CT, 7 p.m. MT and 6 p.m. PT) hosted by Thomas MacEntee. There is no show this week - the next live show will be 6 January 2012. Please check the Archives for past radio shows.
2)Listen to the FGS Radio - My Societyshow on Saturday (2 p.m. ET, 1 p.m. CT, 12 noon MT, 11 a.m. PT) hosted by Thomas MacEntee. This show is on hiatus until 7 January 2012. Please check the Archives for past radio shows.
3) Check out the recent FREE Webinars on:
* LegacyFamilyTree:
*** "Is My Pet Frog Part of My Family?" Children and Genealogy in the Classroom, by Maureen Taylor (free until 26 December)
*** Tracing Immigrant Ancestors, by Lisa Alzo (free until 19 December)
*** New Genealogy Technology: Flip-Pal™ Mobile Scanner, by Gordon Nuttall (free)
*** Celebrate the Holidays and Share Family History with Heritage Collector software, by Kathleen Bitter
***Creating a Shareable CD with Legacy and Passage Express software, by Jefferson Shupe
*** Exploring FamilyLink.com and WorldVitalRecords.com by their founder, Paul Allen.
*** "Newspapers for Genealogists: Using GenealogyBank.com to document every day of your ancestors' lives" with Tom Kemp.
*** "Organizng for Success" with Karen Clifford
*** "The Power of DNA in Unlocking Family Relationships," with Ugo Perugo
* RootsMagic Webinars (all free) available at http://www.rootsmagic.com/Webinars/. Recently added:
*** What's New in RootsMagic 5
*** Fun Family Gifts with RootsMagic, Personal Historian, and Family Atlas
* National Genealogical Society (NGS) Videos (some are free to view) at http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/videos_online
* Thomas MacEntee's Explorinars, including:
*** Easy Website Creation (free to view).
*** Evernote - Easy Note Taking UPDATED (free to view)
*** Facebook Pages vs. Facebook Groups (free to view)
* Ancestry.com's YouTube Channel has over 128 items on it now, including (free to view):
*** Ancestry.com LIVE: Using Online Trees to Help with Pre-1850 Relatives with Anne Mitchell.
*** Ancestry.com LIVE: Reading Handwritten Historical Documents with Anne Mitchell
*** Ancestry.com Live: How to Control Your Results with Anne Mitchell
*** Ancestry.com LIVE: How to Use the World War II Draft Registration Cards with Juliana Smith
*** Ancestry.com LIVE: How do I find the maiden names of women in my family tree? by Crista Cowan
*** Ancestry.com LIVE: I believe my ancestor was Native American/Indian, How do I prove that? by Crista Cowan
*** Ancestry.com LIVE: Unlock the Secrets of the 1790 - 1840 US Census Records with Anne Mitchell
*** Ancestry.com LIVE: Search with Ancestry Anne with Anne Mitchell
*** Ancestry.com LIVE: One Question with the Barefoot Genealogist with Crista Cowan
*** Ancestry.com LIVE: Lorraine's 5 Tips for Online Grave Digging with Lorraine Bourne
*** Ancestry.com LIVE: How do I use newspapers on Ancestry.com to find out more about my ancestors? with Crista Cowan
*** Ancestry.com LIVE: How Do I Find My Ancestors Before 1850? with Crista Cowan.
*** Ancestry.com LIVE: How to dress up your family tree ...for the holidays! with Anne Mitchell.
*** Ancestry.com LIVE: How to Find Your Civil War Roots on Ancestry.com with Anne Mitchell.
*** Emigration & Immigration Records Online with Crista Cowan @ Ancestry Day San Francisco
*** Find Them Fast: Secrets to Searching Ancestry.com with Laura Dansbury @ Ancestry Day San Francisco
*** Five Tips for Digging Up Answers at Ancestry.com with Jeanie Croasmun @ Ancestry Day San Francisco
4) Respond to my Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge, posted on www.geneamusings.com soon after 12 noon Pacific time (that's 1900 GMT for those who understand time zones).
5) Go to a local genealogical society program. Is any society doing anything this weekend? Check for seminars in 2012 and sign up for them!
6) Go to a local or close repository with genealogy and family history material. Do some research in traditional resources or order FamilySearch microfilms online with original source records.
7) Do some online research in the latest record collections
* FamilySearch (free, https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/list),
* Ancestry ($$, http://www.ancestry.com/cs/reccol/default),
* Fold3 ($$, www.fold3.com),
* WorldVitalRecords ($$, www.WorldVitalRecords.com),
* American Ancestors ($$, www.AmericanAncestors.org),
* GenealogyBank ($$, www.GenealogyBank.com),
* Archives ($$, www.Archives.com)
8) Add content (names, dates, places, notes, images, sources, etc.) to your genealogy software program. I still have two inches of paper collected from my vacation, and more from before that, and will try to enter some of it into my database this weekend.
9) Spend time with your family doing fun things. We are returning home today from our Christmas visit to Santa Cruz and Monte Rio. We made some more family history and memories.
10) Go to a local cemetery and clean stones, take gravestone pictures, or transcribe epitaphs for your local society, for Find-a-Grave, or a similar online service.
11) GO SHOPPING for genealogical products or services, or for technology products, for yourself, or for a gift for that special genealogy friend. Online or in a store - go for it!
Whatever you decide, please tell us about your genealogy endeavors on a social network or in a blog post. You never know when your experiences may stimulate or encourage others to do useful genealogy work.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Assessing My 2011 Genealogy Goals and Objectives
...
It seems like every year I make a set of lofty goals and objectives, and then fail to meet many of them. Here are my assessments of my goals and objectives for 2011:
1) Research: Grade = C
I went to the FHC once, and to Carlsbad Library once. I did get to the Allen County (Indiana) Public Library for one day of research. My to-do lists are lacking and not up-to-date. I did solve one brickwall research problem and spent quite a bit of time adding information and sources to my genealogy database.
2) Data Organization: Grade = C
I managed to create couple-based digital folders and transferred many, but not all, of my documents into those folders using a consistent file naming convention. I sorted out the paper piles into "to be filed" and "to be entered and then filed" stacks and have worked through about 20% of the "to be entered..." stack. I haven't filed anything. I created a surname notebook system and managed to fill up two surname notebooks, leaving, oh, about 200 to go. The photos have not been added to the couple-based digital folders yet.
3) Genealogy Database: Grade = C
I have added quite a few new sources, and quite a few source citations, as I add new information and work through my "to be entered..." stack. However, I've added very few citations for sources previously entered. I did several critical analysis reviews for brickwall ancestral families, including William Knapp.
4) Education: Grade = B
We went to the SCGS Genealogy Jamboree in June and the FGS Conference in September. I attended a few webinars, but watched many more after the event. I didn't read many new genealogy books.
5) Society Activities: Grade = A
I attended as many CVGS, SDGS and CGSSD meetings as I could, led the CVGS Research Group, edited the CVGS newsletter wrote on the CVGS blog, responded to queries, and contributed to the SDGS newsletter.
6) Speaking and Teaching: Grade = A
I spoke to CVGS, SDGS, CGSSD, NSDCGS, EGS, and GSNOCC during 2011, taught three OASIS courses, one Genealogy 101 course at CVGS, plus two library presentations on genealogy.
7) Writing: Grade = A
I have kept up my writing on my Genea-Musings, The Geneaholic, and the Chula Vista Genealogy Cafe blogs, but the the South San Diego County Graveyard Rabbit blog has languished. I wrote my four FGS FORUM columns, the Graveyard Rabbit Journal columns, and my yearly Seaver-Richmnd Family Journal.
8) Real Life: Grade = B
We went for a two-week Midwest vacation, visited with the daughters, grandchildren, and brother-in-law, but no brothers or cousins. I actually lost 14 pounds by May, but have put it all back on since our vacation (I injured my foot), and ate too much). I think I slacked off a bit on genealogy, averaging maybe 9 hours a day this year.
So, three A's, two B's and three C's. The C's all relate to my research, organization and database work, and the A's all relate speaking, writing and teaching. That's not as bad as I thought it would be!
How did you do with your 2011 genealogy goals and objectives?
It seems like every year I make a set of lofty goals and objectives, and then fail to meet many of them. Here are my assessments of my goals and objectives for 2011:
1) Research: Grade = C
I went to the FHC once, and to Carlsbad Library once. I did get to the Allen County (Indiana) Public Library for one day of research. My to-do lists are lacking and not up-to-date. I did solve one brickwall research problem and spent quite a bit of time adding information and sources to my genealogy database.
2) Data Organization: Grade = C
I managed to create couple-based digital folders and transferred many, but not all, of my documents into those folders using a consistent file naming convention. I sorted out the paper piles into "to be filed" and "to be entered and then filed" stacks and have worked through about 20% of the "to be entered..." stack. I haven't filed anything. I created a surname notebook system and managed to fill up two surname notebooks, leaving, oh, about 200 to go. The photos have not been added to the couple-based digital folders yet.
3) Genealogy Database: Grade = C
I have added quite a few new sources, and quite a few source citations, as I add new information and work through my "to be entered..." stack. However, I've added very few citations for sources previously entered. I did several critical analysis reviews for brickwall ancestral families, including William Knapp.
4) Education: Grade = B
We went to the SCGS Genealogy Jamboree in June and the FGS Conference in September. I attended a few webinars, but watched many more after the event. I didn't read many new genealogy books.
5) Society Activities: Grade = A
I attended as many CVGS, SDGS and CGSSD meetings as I could, led the CVGS Research Group, edited the CVGS newsletter wrote on the CVGS blog, responded to queries, and contributed to the SDGS newsletter.
6) Speaking and Teaching: Grade = A
I spoke to CVGS, SDGS, CGSSD, NSDCGS, EGS, and GSNOCC during 2011, taught three OASIS courses, one Genealogy 101 course at CVGS, plus two library presentations on genealogy.
7) Writing: Grade = A
I have kept up my writing on my Genea-Musings, The Geneaholic, and the Chula Vista Genealogy Cafe blogs, but the the South San Diego County Graveyard Rabbit blog has languished. I wrote my four FGS FORUM columns, the Graveyard Rabbit Journal columns, and my yearly Seaver-Richmnd Family Journal.
8) Real Life: Grade = B
We went for a two-week Midwest vacation, visited with the daughters, grandchildren, and brother-in-law, but no brothers or cousins. I actually lost 14 pounds by May, but have put it all back on since our vacation (I injured my foot), and ate too much). I think I slacked off a bit on genealogy, averaging maybe 9 hours a day this year.
So, three A's, two B's and three C's. The C's all relate to my research, organization and database work, and the A's all relate speaking, writing and teaching. That's not as bad as I thought it would be!
How did you do with your 2011 genealogy goals and objectives?
Treasure Chest Thursday - The 1906 Schaffner-McKnew Marriage License
...
It's Treasure Chest Thursday - time to show another digital image of a treasured document in my collection.
This week it is the 1906 Marriage License of Linda's maternal grandparents - Paul F. Schaffner and Edna C. McKnew in San Francisco, California. I found it in the www.FamilySearch.org historical record collection for San Francisco County Records, 1826-1997.
The transcription of this record is (all words typed, except italicized handwritten entries):
....THESE PRESENTS are to authorize and license any Justice of the Supreme Court, Judge of the Superior court, Justice of the Peace, Police Judge, Priest or Minister of the Gospel of any denomination to solemnize, within said County the marriage of PAUL F. SCHAFFNER aged 26 years, resident of City and County of San Francisco State of California, and EDNA C. MCKNEW aged 22 years, resident of City and County of San Francisco State of California said parties being of sufficient age to be capable of contracting marriage.
..... IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the Seal of the Superior Court of said City and County this 23rd day of June A. D. 1906.
(seal) .................................................. H. I. MULCREVY, County Clerk
............................................................. and ex-officio Clerk of the Superior Court
............................................................. by G.L. MUNSON, Deputy Clerk.
..... State of California
City and County of San Francisco
........................................... I HEREBY CERTIFY that the parties named in the above license were joined in marriage by me, on the 24th day of June A. D. 1906 in said City and County and State, that May Mc Knew a resident of San Francisco County of San Francisco State of Calif. and Herman Schaffner, Jr. a resident of San Francisco County of San Francisco State of Calif., were present as witnesses of said ceremony.
.............. IN WITNESS WHEREOF I hereunto set my hand this 24th day of June A. D. 1906.
.................................................... E.G. KEITH, Clergyman
.................................................... Methodist Episcopal Church
Recorded at the request of E.G. Keith
June 28, 1906
No. G, 703.
............................................................................ Jno H. Nelson
............................................................................ County Recorder
............................................................................ By OW Kyle, Deputy
I'm always interested in the format of these older documents. In this case, there is not much new to my knowledge base - the two new information items are the church denomination and the names of the witnesses, who are siblings of the contracting parties.
It's Treasure Chest Thursday - time to show another digital image of a treasured document in my collection.
This week it is the 1906 Marriage License of Linda's maternal grandparents - Paul F. Schaffner and Edna C. McKnew in San Francisco, California. I found it in the www.FamilySearch.org historical record collection for San Francisco County Records, 1826-1997.
The transcription of this record is (all words typed, except italicized handwritten entries):
M A R R I A G E L I C E N S E
State of California .......................................... City and County of San Francisco
....THESE PRESENTS are to authorize and license any Justice of the Supreme Court, Judge of the Superior court, Justice of the Peace, Police Judge, Priest or Minister of the Gospel of any denomination to solemnize, within said County the marriage of PAUL F. SCHAFFNER aged 26 years, resident of City and County of San Francisco State of California, and EDNA C. MCKNEW aged 22 years, resident of City and County of San Francisco State of California said parties being of sufficient age to be capable of contracting marriage.
..... IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the Seal of the Superior Court of said City and County this 23rd day of June A. D. 1906.
(seal) .................................................. H. I. MULCREVY, County Clerk
............................................................. and ex-officio Clerk of the Superior Court
............................................................. by G.L. MUNSON, Deputy Clerk.
..... State of California
City and County of San Francisco
........................................... I HEREBY CERTIFY that the parties named in the above license were joined in marriage by me, on the 24th day of June A. D. 1906 in said City and County and State, that May Mc Knew a resident of San Francisco County of San Francisco State of Calif. and Herman Schaffner, Jr. a resident of San Francisco County of San Francisco State of Calif., were present as witnesses of said ceremony.
.............. IN WITNESS WHEREOF I hereunto set my hand this 24th day of June A. D. 1906.
.................................................... E.G. KEITH, Clergyman
.................................................... Methodist Episcopal Church
Recorded at the request of E.G. Keith
June 28, 1906
No. G, 703.
............................................................................ Jno H. Nelson
............................................................................ County Recorder
............................................................................ By OW Kyle, Deputy
I'm always interested in the format of these older documents. In this case, there is not much new to my knowledge base - the two new information items are the church denomination and the names of the witnesses, who are siblings of the contracting parties.
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