Every genealogy database needs to be fed new information from time to time, and every database needs to be pruned from time to time. Both stimulate new growth.
I was curious as to how much I had added in the past six months, since I've been working on adding content and sources, especially from Find-a-Grave and the Social Security Death Index. I've been keeping track of my progress month-by-month, and thought my readers might be interested in my progress.
At the end of August 2011, RootsMagic told me that I had:
* 41,280 persons
* 16,294 families
* 107,784 events
* 4,827 places
* 681 sources
* 22,652 citations
At the end of February 2012 (six months later), RootsMagic told me that I had:
* 41,478 persons
* 16,479 families
* 109,453 events
* 5,086 places
* 744 sources
* 26,649 citations
As you can see, I've added 198 persons, 185 families, 2,669 events, 259 places, 63 sources, and 3,997 citations. You can see where my emphasis has been. I still have many more events that source citations, but the ratio has improved noticeably over the past six months. The bad news is that at the rate I'm going, it will take about 15 years to get to a ratio of 1.0.
During these six months, I have been:
* Adding content (names dates, places, notes, sources and citations) from my new research (online or in repositories - I had a trip to Wisconsin, and researched at Allen County Public Library and the Family History Library during this period). In addition, I created a "to-be-entered" pile of paper (from earlier research endeavors) about six months ago, and have been working my way down that pile. The "to be filed" pile has been growing! Lastly, I've been adding the blog content from Amanuensis Monday and Treasure Chest Thursday posts to the database.
* Adding content by "mining" the Social Security Death Index, Find-a-Grave, and a number of newly added databases on Ancestry.com and FamilySearch, especially for the Seaver, Carringer, Auble and Vaux surnames.
* Finding information for persons in my database, for whom I have no birth, marriage or death dates, by using online resources (especially the Massachusetts Vital Records on American Ancestors, U.S. census records on Ancestry.com, and online Ancestry Member Trees or Rootsweb WorldConnect trees). Many of these persons with no data are spouses of siblings, or parents of the spouses of siblings, of my ancestors or of Seaver persons, which I obtained from records. I have the attitude that derivative source information is better than no information at all. I would like to have some information about every person in my database.
* Eliminating isolated couples from the database if they are unrelated to my interests. I have many Wiltshire couples (one of them a Richman), without parents or children, in my database because I put them there based on Wiltshire marriage records found in parish registers for 1600 to 1850. These marriages are the only record I've found for these people and I decided that they aren't doing me, or anyone else, any good hanging around in the database. So I pruned them.
* Eliminating living persons from the database for families that I am not actively researching. I combined a number of trees into one larger database about two years ago, and there are quite a few living persons for whom I do not have birth, marriage or death dates or places, so I'm deleting the most recent generations; generally, this is persons born after 1930 or so. This has limited the number of persons added to the database - since I'm both adding and pruning.
This is "fun" work because I am doing detective work and improving my database as I progress. I spent about three hours on Monday afternoon doing this, and I usually spend one or two hours a night (since it's not baseball season yet) doing the data mining. Of course, I could be organizing more surname notebooks, or filing papers, or weeding out the 40 linear feet of dead trees on my bookcases, but that's not near as much fun!
I don't have any great master plan for doing many of these activities - I kind of jump around in the database index and pick a family or a specific person to see what I can find out about them, or if I can delete them.
The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/03/feeding-and-pruning-my-genealogy.html
Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Tuesday's Tip - Historical Newspapers at Chronicling America
This week's Tuesdays Tip is: Use the FREE Historical Newspaper Collection at the Library of Congress' Chronicling America website.
The Chronicling America site is http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/.
The site has a Directory of the newspapers published since 1690 at http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/titles/. A user can identify what titles existed for a specific place and time. There are over 140,000 titles listed.
The currently available newspapers in the digital image collection are listed on the Advanced Search page (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/titles/). The user can select a specific state or a specific newspaper. The list of newspapers does not provide the dates available in the digital image collection. There are newspaper digital page images available from 1836 to 1922, but not every newspaper listed covers those dates.
Unfortunately, there are digital page images from newspapers for only 25 states plus the District of Columbia. Hopefully, more newspaper collections will be added in the future.
Users can search for pages using keywords on Basic or Advanced Search forms. They can restrict the search to a specific state, or city, or newspaper, or date range. Page images can be saved as a JPG or PDF file, or printed.
The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/03/tuesdays-tip-historical-newspapers-at.html
Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver
The Chronicling America site is http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/.
The site has a Directory of the newspapers published since 1690 at http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/titles/. A user can identify what titles existed for a specific place and time. There are over 140,000 titles listed.
The currently available newspapers in the digital image collection are listed on the Advanced Search page (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/titles/). The user can select a specific state or a specific newspaper. The list of newspapers does not provide the dates available in the digital image collection. There are newspaper digital page images available from 1836 to 1922, but not every newspaper listed covers those dates.
Unfortunately, there are digital page images from newspapers for only 25 states plus the District of Columbia. Hopefully, more newspaper collections will be added in the future.
Users can search for pages using keywords on Basic or Advanced Search forms. They can restrict the search to a specific state, or city, or newspaper, or date range. Page images can be saved as a JPG or PDF file, or printed.
The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/03/tuesdays-tip-historical-newspapers-at.html
Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver
Monday, March 5, 2012
1940 United States Census Questions
Four weeks from today, the American genealogy world will be trying to find their family members in the 1940 U.S. Census images without the benefit of an every-name index. We'll discuss the process to find our target persons in a post next week.
Today, I want to highlight the questions that were asked in the 1940 U.S. Census. You can see the 1940 U.S. census form at http://usa.ipums.org/usa/voliii/form1940.shtml.
The 1940 U.S. Census questions included (from http://usa.ipums.org/usa/voliii/items1940.shtml)
Schedule No. 1 - Population.
State ________,
Incorporated place ________.
Ward of city _________;
Unincorporated place [Name of unincorporated place having 100 or more inhabitants] _______________________.
County _______________.
Township or other division of county ________________________.
Block Nos. ___________;
Institution [Name of institution and lines on which entries are made] _________________________________.
Today, I want to highlight the questions that were asked in the 1940 U.S. Census. You can see the 1940 U.S. census form at http://usa.ipums.org/usa/voliii/form1940.shtml.
The 1940 U.S. Census questions included (from http://usa.ipums.org/usa/voliii/items1940.shtml)
Schedule No. 1 - Population.
State ________,
Incorporated place ________.
Ward of city _________;
Unincorporated place [Name of unincorporated place having 100 or more inhabitants] _______________________.
County _______________.
Township or other division of county ________________________.
Block Nos. ___________;
Institution [Name of institution and lines on which entries are made] _________________________________.
- Street, avenue, road, etc
- House number (in cities or towns)
- Number of household in order of visitation
- Home owned (O) or rented (R).
- Value of home, if owned, or monthly rental, if rented.
- Does this household live on a farm? (Yes or No).
- Name of each person whose usual place of residence on April 1, 1940, was in this household. Be sure to include:
- Persons temporarily absent from house-hold. Write "Ab" after names of such persons.
- Children under 1 year of age. Write "Infant" if child has not been given a first name. Enter X after name of person furnishing information.
- Relationship of this person to the head of the household, as wife, daughter, father, mother-in-law, grandson, lodger, lodger's wife, servant, hired hand, etc.
- Sex - Male (M), Female (F)
- Color or race
- Age at last birthday
- Marital status - Single (S), Married (M), Widowed (Wd), Divorced (D)
- Attended school or college any time since March 1, 1940
- Highest grade of school completed
- If born in the United States, give State, Territory, or possession. If foreign born, give country in which birthplace was situated on January 1, 1937. Distinguish Canada-French from Canada-English and Irish Free State (Eire) from Northern Ireland
- Citizenship of the foreign born
- City, town, or village having 2,500 or more inhabitants. Enter "R" for all other places
- County
- State (or Territory or foreign country)
- On a farm? (Yes or No)
- Was this person AT WORK for pay or profit in private or nonemergency Gov't. work during week of March 24-30? (Yes or No)
- If not, was he at work on, or assigned to, public EMERGENCY WORK (WPA, NYA, CCC, etc.) during week of March 24-30? (Yes or No).
If neither at work nor assigned to public emergency work. ("No" in Cols. 21 and 22) - Was this person SEEKING WORK?
(Yes or No) - If not seeking work, did he HAVE A JOB, business, etc.? (Yes or No)
- Indicate whether engaged in home house-work (H), in school (S), unable to work (U), or other (Ot)
- Number of hours worked during week of March 24-30, 1940.
If seeking work or assigned to public emergency work. ("Yes" in Col. 22 or 23) - Duration of unemployment up to March 30, 1940 - in weeks
- Occupation: Trade, profession, or particular kind of work, as frame spinner, salesman, rivet heater ,music teacher
- Industry: Industry or business, as cotton mill, retail grocery, farm, shipyard, public school
- Class of worker
- Number of weeks worked in 1939 (Equivalent full-time weeks).
- Amount of money wages or salary received (including commissions)
- Did this person receive income of $50 or more from sources other than money wages or salary (Yes or No)
- Number of farm schedule
- Name
- Father
- Mother
- Language spoken in home in earliest childhood
- If so, enter "Yes."
- If child, is veteran-father dead? (Yes or No)
- War or military service
- Does this person have a Federal Social Security Number? (Yes or No)
- Were deductions for Federal Old-Age Insurance or Railroad Retirement made from this person's wages or salary in 1939? (Yes or No)
- If so, were deductions made from (1) all, (2) one-half or more, (3) part, but less than half, of wages or salary?
- Usual occupation
- Usual industry
- Usual class of worker
- Has this woman been married more than once? (Yes or No)
- Age at first marriage
- Number of children ever born (do not include stillbirths).
Location:
Household Data:
Personal Description:
Education:
Place of Birth:
Residence, April 1, 1935:
In what place did this person live on April 1, 1935? For a person who, on April 1, 1935, was living in the same house as at present, enter in Col. 17 "Same house," and for one living in a different house but in the same city or town, enter "Same place," leaving Cols. 18, 19, and 20 blank, in both instances. For a person who lived in a different place, enter city or town, county, and State, as directed in the Instructions. (Enter actual place of residence, which may differ from mail address.)
Persons 14 Years Old and Over - Employment Status:
Occupation, Industry and Class of Worker:
For a person at work, assigned to public emergency work, or with a job ("Yes" in Col. 21, 22, or 24), enterpresent occupation, industry, and class of worker. For a person seeking work ("Yes" in Col. 23):
a) If he has previous work experience, enter last occupation, industry, and class of worker; or
b) If he does not have previous work experience, enter "New worker" in Col. 28, and leave Cols. 29 and 30 blank
Income in 1939
(12 months ended December 31, 1939):
Supplementary Questions 35-50 asked only of a 5% sample of the population, for persons 14 years old and over. (For persons enumerated on lines 14 and 29)
Place of Birth of Father and Mother:
If born in the United States, give State, Territory, or possession. If foreign born, give country in which birthplace was situated on January 1, 1937. Distinguish Canada-French from Canada-English and Irish Free State (Eire) from Northern Ireland.
Veterans:
Is this person a veteran of the United States military forces; or the wife, widow, or under-18-year-old child of a veteran?
Social Security:
Usual Occupation, Industry, and Class of Worker:
Enter that occupation which the person regards as his usual occupation and at which he is physically able to work. If the person is unable to determine this, enter that occupation at which he has worked longest during the past 10 years and at which he is physically able to work. Enter also usual industry and usual class of worker.
For all women who are or have been married:
==============================
There is a web page that discloses Rejected Census questions (see https://the1940census.com/rejected-1940-census-questions/).
I sure wish that they had asked questions 35 to 50 of everybody, but we will get that information for only two persons on each sheet of 40 persons enumerated. There is some very useful genealogy information in those last 16 questions, including the place of birth of parents, military veteran information, and the marriage information for females.
The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/03/1940-united-states-census-questions.html
Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver
Amanuensis Monday - Deed of Hinsdale Fisher to Lucy Butterfield in Medfield, Mass, 1841
Genea-blogger John Newmark (who writes the excellent TransylvanianDutch blog) started his own Monday blog theme many months 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 deed for land in Medfield, Massachusetts sold by Hinsdale Fisher, administrator of the estate of Alpheus B. Smith (1802-1840) to Lucy Butterfield. This deed is in:
Norfolk County (Massachusetts) Register of Deeds, "Land Records - Deeds, 1793-1890," Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah, on 373 microfilm reels. Volume 139, Page 109-110 (accessed on FHL US/CAN Microfilm 841833), Deed, Hinsdale Fisher to Lucy Butterfield, dated 16 August 1841, recorded 2 January 1843.
This deed starts on the bottom of the first image above, and is completed on the second image.
The transcription of the deed is (handwritten portions in italics):
Fisher ad. to Butterfield [in margin]
To all People to whom these Presents shall come, whereas I Hinsdale Fisher Administrator upon the estate of Alpheus B. Smith late of Medfield in the County of Norfoilk deceased by an Order of the Judge of Probate of said County made at a Probate Court holden at Dedham on the first Tuesday of August 1840 was licensed to make sale of the real estate of said deceased so far as should be necessary to pay the sum of six hundred twenty three dolls and seventy one cents being the just debts of said deceased over and above what his personal estate will pay. Therefore Know ye that I the said Hinsdale Fisher Administrator as aforesaid as well by virtue of the power and authority to me given as aforesaid as in consideration of the sum of three hundred and fifty eight dollars paid me by Lucy Butterfield of Dedham in said County the receipt whereby is hereby acknowledged, have granted bargained and sold and do hereby grant bargain and sell, confirm and convey unto her the said Lucy, her heirs and assigns forever the following described real estate, situated in the Southerly part of Medfield, and bounded as follows viz. northerly on the heirs of Elisha Clark, Mrs. Keziah Mann and Eliakim Morse, Easterly upon the land of David Smith, Southerly upon Asa Hamant, westerly upon road leading to Walpole and containing sixteen acres more or less. And also all the reversionary right in that part of said deceased real estate which was set off to and assigned his widow as her Dower consisting of about one acre of land with a house and barn, thereon.
To Have and to Hold the same with all the privileges and appurtenances thereof, to her the said Lucy her heirs and assigns forever. And I do hereby in the capacity aforesaid covenant with the said Lucy her heirs and assigns that the said Alpheus B. Smith died seized of the premises, that I was duly licensed by said Court to make sale thereof, and that it was necessary the same should be sold for the purposes aforesaid. That previous to the intended sale I took the oath prescribed by law, and gave public notice thereof according to the directions of said Judge and that the said Lucy offered the most for the said premises and the same were thereupon struck off to her for the aforesaid at a public vendue held at the house on the premises on the twenty first day of April 1841. And I do further in the capacity aforesaid, covenant to and with the said Lucy her heirs and assigns. And I do further in the capacity aforesaid covenant to and with the said Lucy her heirs and assigns that the premises are free of all encumbrances, and that I will warrant secure and defend the same to her the said Lucy her heirs and assigns forever against the lawful claims and demands of all persons. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this first day of May A.D. eighteen hundred and forty one. Hinsdale Fisher Administrator {seal} Signed sealed and delivered in presence of Jona. P. Bishop Caroline E. Bishop, Norfolk SS. August 16 1841. Then personally appeared the above named Hinsdale Fisher and acknowledged the above to be his free act and deed, before me Jona. P. Bishop Jus. Peace Jany 2 1843 Recd Entered & Examined By Enos Foord Regr.
Fortunately, this deed was on the same page as the deed (transcribed last week) of Elizabeth H. Smith to Lucy Butterfield in the Norfolk County (Massachusetts) Deed Book.
With this deed, it appears that the last parcel of the land that Alpheus B. Smith obtained prior to 1826 was sold off in order to pay the debts accrued by Alpheus Smith during his lifetime. Other posts related to the estate of Alpheus B. Smith include:
* Amanuensis Monday - Insolvency Sale of Land of Alpheus B. Smith (posted 17 January 2011).
* Amanuensis Monday - Alpheus B. Smith Probate Papers - Post 2 (posted 31 January 2011).
* Amanuensis Monday - Deed of Alpheus B. Smith to Lois Smith (posted 13 February 2012)
* Amanuensis Monday - Deed of Alpheus B. Smith to Simeon Richardson in Medfield in 1834 (posted 20 February 2012)
* Amanuensis Monday - Deed of Elizabeth H. Smith to Lucy Butterfield in Medfield in 1841 (posted 27 February 2012)
Looking at the records above, I am unclear as to what happened here. At the public sale on 21 April 1841, James H. Dill (the brother of Elizabeth H. (Dill) Smith) was sold the 16 acres of land, and the widow's portion of the land, for $288 and $70 respectively (according to the Insolvency Sale post). However, the 1841 deed above, and this deed, indicate that the same land was sold to Lucy Butterfield on 21 April 1841 for $358 and $100, respectively.
Was the land sold twice in order to pay off the debts of Alpheus B. Smith? Did James H. Dill then quitclaim the land back to the widow Elizabeth Smith and the estate of Alpheus b. Smith in order to be sold again? When I searched the Deed index in Salt Lake City on 31 January, I did not find any other deeds to or from Alpheus B. Smith, Elizabeth H. Smith or James H. Dill.
It may be that James H. Dill did this as part of settling the estate of his father, Thomas Dill of Eastham, who died sometime before 1836 (see
"A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another."
The subject today is the deed for land in Medfield, Massachusetts sold by Hinsdale Fisher, administrator of the estate of Alpheus B. Smith (1802-1840) to Lucy Butterfield. This deed is in:
Norfolk County (Massachusetts) Register of Deeds, "Land Records - Deeds, 1793-1890," Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah, on 373 microfilm reels. Volume 139, Page 109-110 (accessed on FHL US/CAN Microfilm 841833), Deed, Hinsdale Fisher to Lucy Butterfield, dated 16 August 1841, recorded 2 January 1843.
This deed starts on the bottom of the first image above, and is completed on the second image.
The transcription of the deed is (handwritten portions in italics):
Fisher ad. to Butterfield [in margin]
To all People to whom these Presents shall come, whereas I Hinsdale Fisher Administrator upon the estate of Alpheus B. Smith late of Medfield in the County of Norfoilk deceased by an Order of the Judge of Probate of said County made at a Probate Court holden at Dedham on the first Tuesday of August 1840 was licensed to make sale of the real estate of said deceased so far as should be necessary to pay the sum of six hundred twenty three dolls and seventy one cents being the just debts of said deceased over and above what his personal estate will pay. Therefore Know ye that I the said Hinsdale Fisher Administrator as aforesaid as well by virtue of the power and authority to me given as aforesaid as in consideration of the sum of three hundred and fifty eight dollars paid me by Lucy Butterfield of Dedham in said County the receipt whereby is hereby acknowledged, have granted bargained and sold and do hereby grant bargain and sell, confirm and convey unto her the said Lucy, her heirs and assigns forever the following described real estate, situated in the Southerly part of Medfield, and bounded as follows viz. northerly on the heirs of Elisha Clark, Mrs. Keziah Mann and Eliakim Morse, Easterly upon the land of David Smith, Southerly upon Asa Hamant, westerly upon road leading to Walpole and containing sixteen acres more or less. And also all the reversionary right in that part of said deceased real estate which was set off to and assigned his widow as her Dower consisting of about one acre of land with a house and barn, thereon.
To Have and to Hold the same with all the privileges and appurtenances thereof, to her the said Lucy her heirs and assigns forever. And I do hereby in the capacity aforesaid covenant with the said Lucy her heirs and assigns that the said Alpheus B. Smith died seized of the premises, that I was duly licensed by said Court to make sale thereof, and that it was necessary the same should be sold for the purposes aforesaid. That previous to the intended sale I took the oath prescribed by law, and gave public notice thereof according to the directions of said Judge and that the said Lucy offered the most for the said premises and the same were thereupon struck off to her for the aforesaid at a public vendue held at the house on the premises on the twenty first day of April 1841. And I do further in the capacity aforesaid, covenant to and with the said Lucy her heirs and assigns. And I do further in the capacity aforesaid covenant to and with the said Lucy her heirs and assigns that the premises are free of all encumbrances, and that I will warrant secure and defend the same to her the said Lucy her heirs and assigns forever against the lawful claims and demands of all persons. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this first day of May A.D. eighteen hundred and forty one. Hinsdale Fisher Administrator {seal} Signed sealed and delivered in presence of Jona. P. Bishop Caroline E. Bishop, Norfolk SS. August 16 1841. Then personally appeared the above named Hinsdale Fisher and acknowledged the above to be his free act and deed, before me Jona. P. Bishop Jus. Peace Jany 2 1843 Recd Entered & Examined By Enos Foord Regr.
Fortunately, this deed was on the same page as the deed (transcribed last week) of Elizabeth H. Smith to Lucy Butterfield in the Norfolk County (Massachusetts) Deed Book.
With this deed, it appears that the last parcel of the land that Alpheus B. Smith obtained prior to 1826 was sold off in order to pay the debts accrued by Alpheus Smith during his lifetime. Other posts related to the estate of Alpheus B. Smith include:
* Amanuensis Monday - Insolvency Sale of Land of Alpheus B. Smith (posted 17 January 2011).
* Amanuensis Monday - Alpheus B. Smith Probate Papers - Post 2 (posted 31 January 2011).
* Amanuensis Monday - Deed of Alpheus B. Smith to Lois Smith (posted 13 February 2012)
* Amanuensis Monday - Deed of Alpheus B. Smith to Simeon Richardson in Medfield in 1834 (posted 20 February 2012)
* Amanuensis Monday - Deed of Elizabeth H. Smith to Lucy Butterfield in Medfield in 1841 (posted 27 February 2012)
Looking at the records above, I am unclear as to what happened here. At the public sale on 21 April 1841, James H. Dill (the brother of Elizabeth H. (Dill) Smith) was sold the 16 acres of land, and the widow's portion of the land, for $288 and $70 respectively (according to the Insolvency Sale post). However, the 1841 deed above, and this deed, indicate that the same land was sold to Lucy Butterfield on 21 April 1841 for $358 and $100, respectively.
Was the land sold twice in order to pay off the debts of Alpheus B. Smith? Did James H. Dill then quitclaim the land back to the widow Elizabeth Smith and the estate of Alpheus b. Smith in order to be sold again? When I searched the Deed index in Salt Lake City on 31 January, I did not find any other deeds to or from Alpheus B. Smith, Elizabeth H. Smith or James H. Dill.
It may be that James H. Dill did this as part of settling the estate of his father, Thomas Dill of Eastham, who died sometime before 1836 (see
Amanuensis Monday - James H. Dill's Inquiry in Thomas Dill's Revolutionary War Pension File).
This is one of my biggest family history puzzles. I need to go look at the probate packet in Norfolk County, Massachusetts some time to determine if it contains other papers that were not entered into the Probate Court record books.
The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/03/amanuensis-monday-deed-of-hinsdale.html
Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver
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