(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 223: Frederick W. Seaver in 1933

 I am posting photographs from my family collections for (Not So) Wordless Wednesday (you know me, I can't go wordless!).    

Here is a photograph from the Geraldine (Seaver) Remley family collection handed down from my Aunt Gerry in 2007 after her passing. 

This is a photograph of my grandfather, Frederick Walton Seaver (1876-1942), taken in 1933, probably in Leominster, Massachusetts.  I don't know the occasion - it may be a wedding occasion, or a birthday or anniversary occasion, or just an after-work picture.  He is dressed in a coat, vest, white shirt, slacks, shoes, tie, and hat.  He is not wearing eye glasses, but has a pin of some sort on his left lapel.  The setting is probably the front steps of a brick house or business.

It looks like someone wiped their nose and touched the photograph before I received this photo album!

The URL for this post is:

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

MyHeritage Releases Record Matching Technology

Back in June 2012, MyHeritage held a press conference - I reported on it in MyHeritage Announces Record Matching Feature.  Some of my ancestral families were highlighted in the video by Gilad Japhet.  
Today, MyHeritage released the Record Matching technology feature with a press release and a blog post at Introducing Record Matching.  Again, some of my ancestral families are featured in the examples.  I will write more about this feature in the coming week.

The press release today from MyHeritage:

MyHeritage releases breakthrough Record Matching technology for family history

Discoveries made easy: Millions of MyHeritage users to automatically receive relevant newspaper clippings and historical records, adding color to their family history

PROVO, Utah & LONDON & TEL AVIV, Israel – September 19, 2012: MyHeritage, the world’s largest family network, today announced the release of Record Matching, an innovative new technology set to change the face of the family history market. Record Matching will help millions of families learn more about their past by automatically discovering relevant historical records and newspaper articles dating back 300 years.

Record Matching is the next generation of family history exploration. It saves time by automating online research for users’ family trees, breaking through “brick walls” for dedicated genealogists, and giving beginners a significant boost with their family tree research. It works by comparing more than one billion profiles in family trees created by MyHeritage users to more than four billion historical records, to find relevant matches. It’s the only service of its kind to automatically research newspaper articles, books and other free text content through semantic analysis, to find articles that can shed light on the actual lives, personalities and achievements of one’s ancestors.  The Internet has helped bring family history to mainstream audiences, by allowing some of the research traditionally done in libraries and archives to be done online. Record Matching now simplifies online research by conducting it automatically.

Supporting 38 languages, MyHeritage has become the trusted home on the web for families worldwide wishing to explore their family history, share memories and stay connected. In addition to its expertise on collaborative family tree building, over the past year MyHeritage has positioned itself as a leading provider of historical records. Record Matching is an add-on feature for SuperSearch, the search engine for historical records successfully released by MyHeritage in June 2012.

MyHeritage Founder and CEO, Gilad Japhet, said: “Record Matching is a family history discovery maker and time saver, designed to delight both dedicated family historians and people with a casual interest in their ancestry. Over the past year we’ve expanded our consumer offering by complementing our social family tree network with a substantial amount of historical content. Record Matching now ties these two assets together, adding exciting new value for our users and giving us a unique edge in the family history market. It’s a significant step towards realizing our goal of bringing family history to the masses.”

Record Matching utilizes the current global pool of more than four billion records on MyHeritage, including strong collections in the USA, UK, Ireland, Australia and Canada, with more content being added daily for additional countries. Users can receive birth, marriage and divorce documents, gravestone photos, death, burial and census information, military, immigration and other types of records in their Record Matches. More information about the lives of relatives and ancestors can be revealed in Record Matches from the world’s largest historical newspaper collection licensed to MyHeritage (currently about 120 million pages dating back to the 18th century), books and other free text materials. Record Matches also cover the 1930 and 1940 US census records and the content from MyHeritage-owned family history websites, WorldVitalRecords and FamilyLink.

Developed in-house by MyHeritage engineers and family history experts, Record Matching technology is designed to mimic the work of a family historian as much as possible, finding matches that a human would consider plausible, and ruling out matches that a researcher would consider as incorrect. Based on multiple genealogical algorithms that match information in the record (names, dates, facts, relationships, etc) to the information in the family tree, semantic analysis, statistical engines and a false positive prevention sub-system, Record Matching provides a high degree of accuracy without sacrificing flexibility. Through its use of massive computational resources and systematic approach of comparing every person to every record, Record Matching makes discoveries that many users would not have the time or luck to find on their own.

Record Matching technology augments MyHeritage’s flagship Smart Matching™ technology that compares family trees to other family trees. The two technologies work together in a cycle that constantly pushes forward the users' knowledge of their family history. MyHeritage users will receive weekly email updates of their new Record Matches. On the MyHeritage.com website, all Record Matches found are consolidated in one interactive report, where users can conveniently review, filter, sort, confirm and reject their matches.

Record Matching has flexible phonetic and multilingual capabilities when researching names, covering many possible synonyms, different spellings and international variations.  Record Matches have an individual confidence score and can be viewed by person or by data collection. Additional features, such as saving information from Record Matches into online family trees, creating references and source citations and displaying real-time matches whenever a new person is added into the tree, will be added before the end of 2012.

As of today, Record Matching will run periodically for every user who has a family tree on MyHeritage. Record Matches found will be displayed for free as a shortened extract. For full access to the historical records delivered by Record Matches, MyHeritage offers affordable data subscription plans and pay-as-you-go credits which are also good for use on SuperSearch, the MyHeritage search engine for historical records. In complimentary collections under license, such as Ellis Island and Find-A-Grave, MyHeritage users will enjoy full access to the Record Matches for free. Family tree enthusiasts interested in receiving Record Matches are welcome to sign up for free at MyHeritage, import their family tree or build a new one using the site’s friendly tools, and receive their matches in less than 24 hours.

About MyHeritage

MyHeritage is the most popular family network on the web. On MyHeritage, millions of families around the world enjoy a private and free place to explore their history and share family memories. Pioneers in making family history a collaborative experience for the entire family, MyHeritage empowers its users with innovative social tools and a massive library of historical content. The site is available in 38 languages. The company is backed by Accel Partners and Index Ventures. For more information visit www.myheritage.com.

Press Contact

Caroline Cohen, PR Manager for MyHeritage
Phone: +44 2081231152   Email: caroline@myheritage.com

Disclosure:  I have a complimentary subscription to both MyHeritage.com and WorldVitalRecords.com courtesy of MyHeritage, for which I am grateful.  However, this does not influence my objective opinions in reviews of these websites and their products.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/09/myheritage-releases-record-matching.html

Catching Up with the New England Historical And Genealogical Register (NEHGR)

I have been a New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) member for about 20 years now, and have a relatively "tall" collection of both the quarterly Register and the American Ancestors magazine.  I renewed my membership for 2013 online today.

About two years ago, I decided to receive the Register as a PDF file by downloading it from the website (http://www.americanancestors.org/the-register/) rather than receive it by mail.  But I need to remember to go into the site every quarter and download the current issue.

I did that today, and found that I hadn't downloaded the last two issues (April 2012 and July 2012).  I saved the issues as PDF files in my My Documents>Genealogy>Education>Magazines?NEHG Register computer files, and now have a six year collection, from 2007 to 2012.

I add these issues to my Dropbox folder also so that I can access them on my laptop or another computer, and also can read them on my iPhone and my Galaxy tablet.

While I rarely find articles about my own ancestral families, I do read the NEHGR cover-to-cover because it provides methods of finding and analyzing genealogical resources in New England, where about 60% of my ancestry resided.

I use the www.AmericanAncestors.org daily for the Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841-1920 databases, and occasionally other databases also.  The search engine works fairly well and I've learned how to effectively search the site by using wild cards and narrowing searches.

I saw something interesting in the July 2012 issue in the editorial:

"Readers may notice the frequent citations to “Massachusetts, Town Vital Collections,” on Ancestry.com in the Dunbar article in this issue. This is the title Ancestry.com has given to the Holbrook Collection of Massachusetts Vital Records, which Jay Mack Holbrook published on microfiche for most Massachusetts towns. Not all towns have been posted on Ancestry.com; a status report can be obtained via links on the search page. Very few libraries have a full set of the Holbrook Collection; for example, NEHGS purchased the microfiche only for a number of the towns for which there were no published vital records to 1850.

"Now one can search the entire Holbrook Collection at one time, and see images of the original records (as well as transcripts, in some cases). While the microfiche often had indexes, they were limited to that town.

"Our experience with the Dunbar article was that: (1) Deaths were in the Holbrook Collection or in the state vital records from 1841 on, but not always in both places; (2) Some marriages were in both places and had the same information; (3) The Holbrook Collection was particularly useful for Boston marriages, intentions, and deaths; and (4) The published town vital records were accurate, but occasionally there were benefits in seeing the original format.

"This is a major development in Massachusetts research, especially for vital records after 1850!"

I agree with that assessment.  The Holbrook collection is a significant genealogical resource for Massachusetts - I'm wondering if NEHGS will work something out with Ancestry.com to enable NEHGS members to access it on the AmericanAncestors website.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/09/catching-up-with-new-england-historical.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

A probate puzzle, or someone actually reads my posts

In my post Amanuensis Monday - the Will of Reuben Waite (1656-1707) of Dartmouth, Mass. (posted 11 January 2012), I wrote:

"Reuben Waite of Dartmouth died testate, having written a will dated 11 September 1707, which was probated on 5 November 1707 at the Court in Bristol."

However the will itself in the Bristol County [Massachusetts] Probate Records (Volume 2, Pages 187-8, accessed on FHL Microfilm 0,461,882) says it was written 11 October 1707, and a later record says the inventory was taken on 10 October 1707.  Here are the images of the will and inventory from the Probate Court records:

Reader (and Waite cousin) Dave actually read and analyzed the transcription in my blog post, and emailed me saying:

"...I am puzzled by the dates.  His will is dated 11 Oct and his inventory is dated 10 Oct and you state his will was written 11 Sep.  I have checked Dartmouth Vital Records and his death is not there. Where is his death recorded, how did his inventory come before the date on his will and when did he die?"

Several good questions, and worthy of discussing.  I found the will in my bookcase (that was a challenge!) and found that the date the will was written was 11 October 1707.  The copy of the will that I have is a court clerk's copy, not the original handwritten will.  The court clerk may not have transcribed this date accurately - it may well be 11 September 1707.  If that is the case, then the inventory date of 10 October (if transcribed correctly) may be soon after the death date.  That would explain why the inventory date is before the written will date.  

I had a death date of 7 October 1707 in Dartmouth, Massachusetts in my database, without a source citation.  I probably obtained that from published materials, and most likely from the report at http://www.waitegenealogy.org/FGS/top.pdf, which lists that date (with three sources being records of three different persons - no original sources listed).  I have changed that death date in my database to one that I am sure of - "Before 5 November 1707" which is when the will was proved by the Probate Court, with a source of the Bristol County Probate Court record..

My thanks to Dave for actually reading and analyzing the will - I wish more readers did that.  He was correct - the text of the will says it was written on 11 October.  I sincerely doubt that this is the only error that I've made in transcribing and analyzing the records of my ancestors!

The Amanuensis Monday posts are one way that I can share my research and help educate readers as to the importance of transcribing and analyzing original source records (or their record copies and/or image copies).  I transcribed most of them over the past 15 years and entered them into the General Notes in my genealogy software program.  I have photocopies of most of the records that I post for Amanuensis Monday but I have only recently been digitizing them.  

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/09/a-probate-puzzle-or-someone-actually.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Tuesday's Tip: Use Princeton Public Library Links to Find Digital Archival Records

This week's Tuesday's Tip is:  Use the Genealogy link at the Princeton Public Library (http://princetonlibrary.org/explore/online-resources/genealogy) to find records in digital archives.

The Genealogy page at the Princeton Public Library website looks like this (two screens, there's more!):

This website has links to archival websites - both public and private.  There are sections for Public Libraries, digital indexes, State or Region, and then Other Resources (why aren't these integrated into the other sections?).  As an example, here are the links for California:

• Anne T. Kent California Room (Marin County Free Library)
  Digitized oral histories, photo albums, maps and more.
• Calisphere (UC Libraries)
  Thousands of images and primary source documents, 19th-20th centuries.
• Digital Anaheim (Anaheim Public Library)
• Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection
• Online Archive of California
• Regional Oral History Office (University of California, Berkeley)
• Sacramento History Online
• San Fernando Valley History Digital Library
• San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection (SF Public Library)
• San Joaquin Valley & Sierra Foothills Photo Heritage
• University of California History Digital Archives
  Includes University of California In Memoriam.

A researcher can spend hours exploring many of these links.  So how can you efficiently determine if a specific site contains information about a specific person or specific surname?  Well, you can use the search engine on the website, or you can do a Google site search.  For instance, I just looked for the Seaver surname on the Maine Memory Network site and was rewarded with four photographs of the 1904 honeymoon of C.M. and Alice Seaver.  Not my folks, but they are probably someone's ancestors.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/09/tuesdays-tip-use-princeton-public.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Checking in on Ancestry.com DNA Matches

I had my autosomal DNA test done by Ancestry.com earlier this year, and wrote some posts about it, including:

*  Results from Ancestry.com Autosomal DNA Tests - Post 1
*  Results from Ancestry.com Autosomal DNA Test - Post 2

Ancestry has now tested many more persons and there may be many more matches for me to examine, and perhaps contact.  

Here is the top of my DNA page on Ancestry.com:

and further down:

I have 12 matches that are 4th to 6th cousins (about 95% confidence), and many more that are more distant cousins (about 50% confidence).  The ones that I haven't looked at before are shown with a blue dot in the screen above.  

When I look at the 12 matches that are 95% confidence, I look for the list of common surnames (as shown below for one of my matches):

If I click on one of the common surnames, I can see my most recent ancestor and the other person's most recent ancestor(s) with the surname:

In this particular case, it appears that our common Boyden ancestor is probably Jonathan Boyden (1652-1731), one of my 8th great-grandfathers.  In other words, we are probably 9th cousins for this particular match.  

I have clicked on every one of the 25 common surnames for this particular match, and do not see any closer potential common ancestors.

I have exchanged emails and Ancestry messages with the person who submitted this match, and we both have extensive family trees online and cannot find any closer matches based on our family trees.  There is the possibility that one or both of us have "brick wall" ancestors that we have not found yet and that those lines produce the 4th to 6th cousin match.  

The other 11 "high confidence" matches have fewer common surnames and I have been able to find 8th cousin matches on one of them and 9th cousin matches on two more.  One has an intriguing list of Knapp families in the Fairfield CT area near where my brick wall 3rd great-grandfather William Knapp was born in 1775.  One match has a private tree, and several trees that match have a limited number of persons in their Ancestry tree (one has 11 persons!).

I will revisit the list of matches later in the year to see how many "high confidence" matches I have then.  

Based on this list of "high confidence" matches, I don't see any 4th to 6th cousins on the list.  Perhaps 7th or 8th cousins.  I don't know what the criteria is for "high confidence" matches because Ancestry.com doesn't provide the raw autosomal data or the matching segment lengths on the different chromosomes the way Family Tree DNA's Family Finder does.  

The URL for this post is:   http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/09/checking-in-on-ancestrycom-dna-matches.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Pennsylvania Marriages, 1885-1950 on FamilySearch!

I'm always on the lookout for vital records data from Pennsylvania, as are many other researchers and geneabloggers.

Last week, Family Search updated a database, Pennsylvania County Marriages, 1885-1950 which now has over 2 million indexed records.  You can read a description of the records included in the FamilySearch Research Wiki page for the collection.

Here is the page for the Pennsylvania County Marriages, 1885-1950  collection:

I put "seaver" in the search box, clicked "Search" and received 664 matches:

I clicked the first one and zoomed in on the image and saw a marriage for a William S. Seaver and Augusta Hodge in 1891 in Crawford County, Pennsylvania:

This 1891 record provides a residence, age, and birth date for both parties in addition to a marriage license date and date of marriage and marriage location for the event.

I could not find William S. Seaver or Augusta Hodge in my database, so I'll go searching to see if I can extend a known Seaver line with this marriage.  I will also "mine" this database today for my Carringer and Vaux one-name studies, plus any other surnames in Pennsylvania in this time period.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/09/pennsylvania-marriages-1885-1950-on.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Amanuensis Monday - Probate Records of Thomas Bartlett (1594-1654) of Watertown, Mass.

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 probate file of Thomas Bartlett (1594-1654) of Watertown, Middlesex County, Massachusetts.

Thomas Bartlett married Hannah --?-- in 1636, and they had five children:  Hannah Bartlett (1637-1639); Mehitabel Bartlett (1640-????); Hannah Bartlett (1643-????); Bathshua Bartlett (1646-1692); Abiah Bartlett (1651-1723), all in Watertown.  All of the children were under the age of 18 and unmarried when Thomas Bartlett died.

Thomas Bartlett died testate, having made a will dated 22 April 1653, and proved 20 June 1654.  It reads (Middlesex County [Massachusetts] Probate Records, Packet 1,361, accessed on FHL Microfilm 0,386,051):

"1653 the 22 of Aprill

"The will and teastament of Thomas Bartlitt as Followeth --

"Imp I give unto my foure daughters viz Mehittibell; and Hanah; Bethshuah and Abbiah: to either of them seaven pounds tenn shillings apeice to be paied unto them att the age of eighteen yeares respectively attayned: or att their seaverall days of Marryage which com first and if either of my saied daughters shall depart this naturall life before the perfixed times: (viz eighteen yeares of age respectively attayned; or their seaverall days of Marryage. Then my will is the portion of such (so deaceassing) shall be eaqually devided betwene those of my daughters that shall survive.

"Also my will is that the rest of my estate of houseing lands goods Chattels and debtts shall be and remayne unto my wife Hannah Bartlitt: duering her naturall life and after hur decease; too thirds of my hoseing and lands to be and remayne unto my Fouer daughters; before named those of them that oute live my wife; to be eaqually devided: and if any of my saied daughters decease before my saied wife and leave: any children (of their bodyes lawfully begotten) then my will is that such children shall injoy the portion or part of the too thirds of the land given to their mother: the other third of my lands and hoseing: to be att my wives desposing att hur decease: (together with other goods or Chattels not hearby disposed of) or before as she shall have ned - my meaning is that such houseing Lands goods Chattels and debts: disposed of by this my will should be and remayne to those unto whome it is hearby given and their heirs to their proper use.

"Also my will is that my wife Hannah Bartlitt be Sole Executrix to this my will

the (mark) mark

of Thomas Bartlit (seal)

"read sealed and subscribed with (which com first enterlined) in the presence of uss

John Sherman

the marke (mark) of

Edward Dix"

"At a County Court held at (Boston) Charlestowne the 20. 4th mo. 1654 Ensigne Jno. Shearman, and Edward Dix attested upon oath that the within named Tho: Bartlet Deceased being of sound Judgement and perfect memory made the within written his Last will and testament, and thereunto put his hand and seale.  Entred and Recorded the 26. (12) 54"

The inventory of Thomas Bartlett's estate was taken by Edward Dix, John Sherman and John Coolidge on 9 June 1654 and totalled 181 pounds 16 shillings.  The real estate totalled 81 pounds, 10 shillings, and included:

1)   dwelling house, barn and homestall, 60 pounds;

2)   three acres of planting land by John Fleming, 4 pounds;

3)  30 acres of Great Dividend, 5 pounds;

4)  two acres of meadow by estimation at Beaver Brook, 8 pounds;

5)  two acres of Remote Meadow, 10 shillings;

6)  12 acres of land in Lieu of the Township, 3 pounds;

7)  three acres of land upon the plain, 1 pound.

The personal estate included two oxen, five cows, one two year old heifer, two calves, two swine, plow, cart and husbandry utensils, household goods, furniture, books, lumber and wearing apparel.

The inventory of the estate of "Hanah Bartlitt widow of Watertowne lately deceased" was taken by John Sherman, Henry Bright and John Biscoe on 30 September 1676, and totalled 138 pounds 13 shillings, of which 120 pounds 10 shillings was real estate (Middlesex County Probate Records, Probate Packet #1,344, accessed on FHL Microfilm 0,386,015):

1)  mansion house and land adjoining, about 20 acres, 80 pounds;
2)  three acres of upland, 6 pounds; 30 acres of Great Dividend, 10 pounds;
3)  16 acres of land in Lieu of Township, 8 pounds;
4)  farm of 60 acres, 3 pounds;
5)  two acres of meadow at Beaver Brook, 10 pounds;
6)  two acres of meadow at West Pine Meadows [Remote Meadows], 3 pounds 10 shillings.

Unfortunately, neither probate record provides information on the distribution to the heirs surviving Thomas and Hannah Bartlett.  My ancestry is through Abiah Bartlett who married Jonathan Sanderson (1646-1735) in 1669.  

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/09/amanuensis-monday-probate-records-of.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Best of the Genea-Blogs - 9-15 September 2012

Hundreds of genealogy and family history bloggers write thousands of posts every week about their research, their families, and their interests. I appreciate each one of them and their efforts.

My criteria for "Best of ..." are pretty simple - I pick posts that advance knowledge about genealogy and family history, address current genealogy issues, provide personal family history, are funny or are poignant. I don't list posts destined for the genealogy carnivals, or other meme submissions (but I do include summaries of them), or my own posts.

Here are my picks for great reads from the genealogy blogs for this past week:

*  Becoming Engaging by Pat Richley-Erickson on DearMYRTLE's Genealogy Blog.  Pat offers ideas for genealogical societies and conferences to engage their attendees through interactive workshops.

*  Per Capita, Per Stirpes by Judy G. Russell on The Legal Genealogist blog.  Judy loves to teach us about Latin terms...this one is important for probate records.

*  Don Anderson at FGS: We Have the Opportunity by the writer of The Ancestry Insider blog.  Mr. AI reports on information about FamilySearch volunteer achievements and opportunities.

*  Interview with Thomas MacEntee by Kim von Aspern-Parker on the Le Maison Duchamp blog. Kim shares Thomas's responses about his life, career and genealogy education.

*  Starting at the Very Beginning and Pitfalls Beginners Need to Avoid by Michele Simmons Lewis on the Ask a Genealogist blog.  Michele offers excellent advice for beginners and experienced researchers.

*  Is Primary Information Truly Reliable for Genealogists? by Michael Hait on the Planting the Seeds blog.  An interesting piece by Michael concerning memory.

*  The "Why" of Genealogy by Thomas MacEntee on the Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner blog.  It's a great question - can you answer it?

*  Portfolio Choices for BCG Ceritfication, Part 1 of 5, Part 2 of 5: The Document and Part 3: Client Report by Harold Henderson on the Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog.  Harold's series is an inside look at the requirements and process of becoming a certified genealogist.

Several genea-bloggers wrote weekly pick posts and news summary posts this week, including:  

*  Monday Morning Mentions by Lynn Palermo on The Armchair Genealogist blog.

*  Monday's Mentionables - 9/3 to 9/10/2012 by Cyndi Beane Henry (Texicanwife) on the Mountain Genealogists blog.

*  Monday Recap for September 10, 2012 by Amanda on the Geni Blog.

*  Follow Friday - Fab Finds for September 14, 2012 by Jana Last on Jana's Genealogy and Family History blog.

*  Friday Finds - 09/14/12 by Julie Cahill Tarr on the GenBlog blog.

*  Follow Friday - Nine Eleven Remembrance, Remember Our Ancestors, and Posts to Make You Think by Anne Gillespie Mitchell on the Finding Forgotten Stories blog.

*  From the Blogs, September 14 by Michael Leclerc on the Mocavo Genealogy Blog.

*  Genealogy News Corral, Sept. 10-14 by Diane Haddad on the Genealogy Insider blog.

*  Weekly Genealogy Picks by John Newmark on the Transylvanian Dutch blog.

I encourage readers to go to the blogs listed above and read their articles, and add their blogs to your Favorites, Google Reader, RSS feed or email if you like what you read. Please make a comment to them also - all bloggers appreciate feedback on what they write.

Did I miss a great genealogy blog post? Tell me! I am currently reading posts from over 1280 genealogy bloggers using Google Reader, but I still miss quite a few it seems.

Read past Best of the Genea-Blogs posts here.

The URL for this post is:    http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/09/best-of-genea-blogs-9-15-september-2012.html

Copyright(c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver 

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Three Degrees of Separation

It's Saturday Night, time for more Genealogy Fun!!

The genealogy world was reminded (again) of how time flies, relatively speaking, by the news earlier this year that there are two living grandchildren of President John Tyler (1790-1862).  There  was also the Robert Krulwich blog post about persons knowing people who knew famous people long ago.

For this week's mission (should you decide to accept it), I want you to:

1)  Using your ancestral lines, how far back in time can you go with three degrees of separation?  That means "you knew an ancestor, who knew another ancestor, who knew another ancestor."  When was that third ancestor born?

2)  Tell us in a blog post of your own, in a comment to this blog post, in a status line on Facebook or a stream post on Google Plus.

Here are several of mine:

1)  My Seaver/Richmond line:   Me (born 1943) - I met my paternal grandmother once in 1959.  My paternal grandmother Alma Bessie (Richmond) Seaver (1882-1962, daughter of Thomas Richmond (1848-1917))  knew her grandfather, Henry Arnold White (1824-1885).  Henry Arnold White probably met his great-grandfather, David Kirby (1740-1832) (Henry's father was Jonathan White (1806-1850), whose mother was Sybil Kirby (1764-1848), whose father was David Kirby (1740-1832).

 2)  My Carringer line:  Me (born 1943) - my maternal great grandfather, Henry Austin Carringer held me when I was a baby.  Henry Austin Carringer (1853-1946), son of David Jackson Carringer (1828-1902) and Rebecca Spangler (1832-1901),  and surely met his maternal grandmother, Elizabeth (King) Spangler (1796-1863).  Elizabeth (King) Spangler certainly met her husband's grandmother, Maria Dorothea (Dinkel) Spangler (1748-1835) (Elizabeth's father was John Daniel Spangler (1781-1851), whose parents were Rudolf Spangler (1738-1791) and Maria Dorothea (Dinkel) Spangler (1748-1835).

3)  My Carringer/Smith/Vaux/Underhill line:  Me (born 1943) - my great-grandmother, Della (Smith) Carringer (1862-1944) held me (I don't remember it, of course!).  Della Smith (born in Wisconsin), daughter of Abigail Vaux (1844-1931), granddaughter of Mary Ann (Underhill) Vaux (1815-1880) may have met her great-grandfather, Amos Underhill (1772-1865, died in New York), but I doubt it!   Amos Underhill certainly met his grandparents, John Underhill (1721-1793) and Joanna Healey (1718-1809) (through their son John Underhill (1745-1816)).

So I can connect, with three degrees of separation, back to a woman born in 1718 (but one of the links likely did not "meet" his great-grandchild) - almost 300 years!  For the requirement that they actually met, I can get back to a person born in 1738. 

It strikes me that four degrees of separation might be really interesting!  Another time!

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Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver