FindMyPast Introduces Hints in Family Trees - UPDATED

FindMyPast, a D.C., Thomson company, is a genealogy records provider with a U.K. website (http://www.findmypast.co.uk) and a U.S. website (http://www.findmypast.com) in addition to several other sites.

They recently introduced an online family tree feature (see my series of posts from Family Trees on FindMyPast.com - Post 5: Search Results Are Improved, and Can Be Attached).

Now, the company has introduced Hints to online records for persons in a FindMyPast family tree.  There is a good description of the Hints feature on the website - http://www.findmypast.co.uk/hints.  Note that this feature is still in beta development and the system may take some time to be fully functional.

The Hints page looks like this (two screens):

The Hints page notes;

"Once you start to add to your family tree, Hints will sift through 755 million of our birth, baptism, marriage, divorce, death and burial records to identify matches between them and the people on your tree, providing you with historical records and potential new relatives from our collections. 

You can expect a lot more from Hints in 2015, including Hints on census records and other collections. By reviewing all of your Hints, you'll be helping us to ensure that our process continues to improve."

At the bottom of the screen above are links to a video of "How to use Hints," a step-by-step "How to use hints" report, and a link to "Build your family tree" which has several screens about using Hints (a free registration is required).

The 5-minute video for "How to use Hints" is on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NStRoOsANnw

Basically, the video explains that when there are Hints for a person on a user's FindMyPast tree, an orange circle with a number will appear in the upper right-hand corner of the person profile photo or icon, as shown above.  The number indicates how many Hints are available that may pertain to the person in the tree.  The user can then review the Hint, compare it to other known information, and either accept, reject, or wait on the Hint.  If the user accepts the Hint, then information can be added to the person profile in the tree (either All information, or selected information items).  Accepting Hints may generate more Hints because more is known about the person.

I checked my FindMyPast family tree, and do not have any Hints yet.  Hopefully, they will appear in the next month or so.

Use of the Hints feature is explained very well in the 5-minute video on the website.

Note that building a family tree on FindMyPast is free, but a subscription is required to view the Hints for the tree persons, and to add information to your tree.

=======================================

UPDATE 18 December:  Phil Moir of FindMyPast commented that:

"I thought your readers would be keen to know that the Hints feature is not restricted to subscribed users, and is actually available to all users with a tree. Even better, the review and merge options are also not restricted, so the information that is normally available through record search results can be applied to your tree using the same simple review and merge format. 

"At the moment the hints are generated for a person as you create and edit that person (or spouses) , but the feature will continue to grow and expand throughout 2015. Hopefully it'll give a lot of people something new to try out and enjoy over the holiday period. "

Thank you to Phil for explaining these issues.

=========================================

I look forward to using these Hints, especially for my English ancestors and relatives in my tree.  I have not taken the time to go through English FindMyPast records searching for each person (since I don't have an Ancestry world subscription), but I have used FindMyPast to search for specific U.K. records.  With this Hints feature, it appears that FindMyPast will do the job for me - finding at least the low-hanging fruit (with names spelled correctly, or at least not mangled).

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/12/findmypast-introduces-hints-in-family.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

I Am Not Doing a Genealogy Do-Over

Thomas MacEntee wrote Announcing the Genealogy Do-Over on the Geneabloggers blog recently.  He is going to set aside the 20-plus years of genealogical research and start over.  Thomas describes it as:

" I set aside everything* related to my genealogy research including notebooks, papers, and even digitized files and my genealogy database files and START OVER. I’m hitting the reset button. I’m allowing myself to have a do-over! (* certain items such as vital records ordered and paid for or research gathered on long-distance trips can be retained)."

His blog post describes what he is planning to do, and he will share his plan and his progress with his readers.  This is an ambitious plan and project.  I wish him good luck with it.  Essentially, he's pressing the "Reset" button.

I am not going to do a Genealogy Do-Over. 

Like Thomas and many others, I was a name collector before I decided to be a real genealogist.  I started using a genealogy program (PAF, then FTM, now RootsMagic) in about 1990, but I didn't start adding quality source citations to my genealogy database until about 2006 (when I retired, started writing this blog, and realized that I needed to cite my sources).  Then Evidence Explained was published and I have been adding quality source citations to the events in my database ever since.

I don't want to throw away 8 + years of hard work finding quality sources for events concerning people in my genealogy database (currently in RootsMagic 7).  During these past eight years, I have tried very hard to find records to support assertions of births, marriages, deaths, and other events in the lives of my ancestors, and draw reasonable conclusions about those persons and relationships from the available evidence.

During the past year, the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks series (thank you, Amy Crow!) has been very helpful in focusing my efforts on one ancestor each week, helping me find more records, source them, analyze them, and craft a person Note that describes events in the person's life (I know, they aren't especially well-written, and are devoid of "soft material" - just the facts).  I started with my 8 great-grandparents, and then did the 16 2nd great-grandparents, and am almost done with the 32 3rd great-grandparents.  I will probably keep it going in 2015-6 with the 4th great-grandparents.  Obviously, doing this for one ancestor each week will take years to complete, since I have hundreds of known 17th century colonial ancestors, and over 2,000 known ancestors.  Then there's my wife's ancestry, and the ancestry of my grandchildren.

With a database of over 43,900 persons, which includes my Seaver, Carringer, Auble, Vaux, Dill, Buck, McKnew, and other surname collections of data, I will never be able to do the 52 Ancestors task on all of them, but I can try to add as much information as possible to each of those persons by mining specific online databases to add more sourced content to all of the persons in my database.

I refuse to ignore the 40 or so linear feet of collected paper (most of it is derivative source material from compiled genealogies and periodicals) that contributed most of the name, event, date, place, relationship and information in my database.  I have found a significant trove of original source material for my ancestors - such as vital, church, Bible, cemetery, probate, land, town, military, immigration, census and other records - in record offices, courthouses, archives, libraries on paper or on microfilm.  In recent years, I have been collecting online records for events in my database, with the corresponding source citations, while still doing occasional repository research.

My goal is to leave a well-sourced genealogy database that will provide my descendants and relatives know about the lives of their ancestors, while helping future researchers search for and find records of their ancestors.

At this point in time, my efforts are incomplete. As a check, here are some statistics from my RootsMagic database as of today:

*  People:  43,969
*  Families:  17,558
*  Events:  136,322
*  Places:  7,820
*  Sources: 1,134
*  Citations:  57,697
*  Multi-media Items:  1,071
*  Multi-media Links:  2,888

The percentage of citations per event is only 42.3%, but that is up significantly from a year ago (37.8%) and two years ago (30.3%).  I have added over 22,000 source citations in the past two years - an average of about 900 per month.  I try to do something every day to add to the citation count.  So I'm getting there, but it is a long journey and it is not done.

So, no, I'm not going to start over.  I've worked too hard for too long to get to this point.  My view is that "a good database should not be forsaken in the pursuit of a perfect database, the goal should be to constantly improve it."

The URL for this post is:

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

Christmas at the Carringers - Post 338 of (Not So) Wordless Wednesday

I am posting family photographs from my collection on Wednesdays, but they aren't "Wordless" - I am incapable of having a wordless post.

Here is a photograph from the Geraldine (Seaver) Remley collection provided to me by the Remley family in 2007:

The persons in this picture, taken in the 1970 to 1975 time frame, are (from the left):

*  Emily (Auble) Carringer (1899-1977), my maternal grandmother.
*  Randy Seaver, moi.
*  Betty (Carringer) Seaver (1919-2002), my mother.

I don't know the exact year that this photograph was taken, or who took it.  I think it was probably between 1970 and 1975, based on how the three of us in the picture look.  I think that my wife, Linda, took this picture - it took a creative person to turn the camera 45 degrees to get the diamond effect above, and I don't think my father, or grandfather, or brothers, would have done it.  

The photograph was taken in the living room of my grandparents home at 825 Harbor View Place.

My mother and grandmother were very good home decorators - notice the gold and white motif in the Carringer's living room.  The tree is an artificial tree, with white branches, and with red and gold (with a few blue) ornaments, with gold and blue strands of beads, plus a small angel on the top of the tree.  

I love this photo because it shows my mitochondrial line - three generations from my grandmother to my mother to me.  I don't have many pictures with the three of us, and this is one of the best.  I have no four generation mitochondrial line pictures.  It's a great photograph, showing my mother with a smile on her face, holding a camera, and wearing a fashionable green dress.  

Someone, probably either my mother or my wife, sent this photograph to my Aunt Geraldine (sister to my father) who put it into her photograph collection that was passed to me after Gerry's death in 2007.  I am extremely grateful that the whole series of events occurred - from photograph to someone to Gerry to me, because this photograph is not in my family's collections to my knowledge.  

Randy's Photo Axiom is once again demonstrated - "our extended families have valuable photographs of our family hiding in their albums."

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/12/christmas-at-carringers-post-338-of-not.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

New NameClean Function in RootsMagic 7

One of the new features in RootsMagic 7 is called "DataClean" and is comprised of two separate functions;

*  NameClean finds and corrects many common problems in personal names in your file

*  PlaceClean finds and corrects many common problems in place names in your file

I want to address the NameClean function in this blog post.

Users can access the "DataClean" feature in the Tools menu:

Clicking on the "DataClean" item in the Tools menu list, the "DataClean" window opens:

The two functions, "NameClean" ad "PlaceClean" are shown.  If I want to do a "NameClean," I can only select "Everyone in file" at this time.

If I click on the "NameClean" link, the list of "cleaning" items appears:

The "NameClean" items include:

*  Names in all uppercase
*  Improper spacing
*  Improper punctuation
*  Descriptions instead of names
*  Misplaced prefixes
*  Alternate names inside a name
*  Improper capitalization
*  Invalid characters
*  Abbreviations
*  Misplace nicknames
*  Misplace suffixes
*  Only clean a person's primary name.

I checked all of the boxes on the screen above, and then clicked the "OK" button, and the program worked it's way through all of my names.  The "NameClear" window showed me the progress finding the names to be cleaned:

When the program stopped, it gave me a list of 773 names to be cleaned using the criteria noted above.  The list of names is alphabetical by surname, and I can select any of them one name at a time, or all of them by checking the small box at the top of the window.

With a name highlighted, the Original name (in pink) is shown on the left-hand side of the screen below the name list, and the Cleaned Name is shown on the right-hand side of the screen.  Below the pink and green areas are the Problems to Fix:

I clicked on the three names "_____ _____" in my database, and wanted to make then "unknown unknown".  In this case, I typed the word "unknown" into the fields.  The window looked like this - the "unknown" words were in the green area:

I clicked on the "Clean Checked Names" button at the bottom right, and saw:

The system told me that I now had 3 cleaned names.

Before I do more of this, I want to investigate what the program does for specific Name problems rather than check all of them and then have to fix something later.

For instance, I've noticed that for persons with only a first name and a middle initial, RootsMagic has put the middle initial in the Surname field (e.g., "Cynthia A" is "A, Cynthia" in the name index.  The NameClean function wants to name her "Cynthia A." with the A. in the Surname field.   I think my preference is to put the "A." in the "Given Names" field.  I can do this by editing the "Cleaned name" field on the screen above, or do it in the "Edit Person" screen.  I think I prefer to do it in the "Edit Person" screen.

I noticed that persons with a name like DeWitt or DeCamp when "cleaned" are now Dewitt and Decamp...I tend to go with the names as they are spelled in the records.

Another problem is with persons with the same surname marrying - the "DataClean" is to drop the wife's surname, even though it may be the same birth surname as her husband's.

By using the "check box" system in "NameClean," the user can make these decisions for him/herself.  I think that's wise!

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/12/nameclean-function-in-rootsmagic-7.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

CVGS Annual Holiday Luncheon Highlights

The Chula Vista Genealogical Society Annual Holiday Luncheon was held on Thursday, 11 December 2014 at the Chula Vista South Branch Library in Conference Room B.  There were about 35 people in attendance.

1)  President Virginia Taylor called the meeting to order at 12 noon, with these highlights:

*  She asked for a moment of silence for the two members who died during 2014 - Geni Powell and Kevin Brown.

*  She then noted that over 50% of CVGS members have joined since 2010.  She read a list of members who have been members since 2009, 2004, 1999, and 1994. 

*  She presented certificates of appreciation to the 2013-2014 Board members.

*  She narrated a slide show for four longtime CVGS Members - the attendees had to guess who they were from photos.  The four were Nancy Yates, Sandy Palumbo, Mary Nelson and Margaret Peters.

*  She announced that longtime member and Board Member Shirley Becker was awarded a Life Membership for her service to the Society.

*  Finally, she asked the newly elected 2015-2016 Board Officers to come forward to be installed.  Randy Seaver read the description of the duties of each office, and then each individual was instyalled one at a time by:

**  Susi Pentico installed Treasurer Gary Brock
**  Shirley Becker installed Secretary Karen Yarger
**  John Finch installed 2nd Vice President/Membership Chair Karen Smith
**  Randy Seaver installed First Vice-President/Programs Chair Jane Strawn
**  Gary Brock installed President, Virginia Taylor.

Lastly, Randy Seaver asked the attendees to pledge their support to the 2015-2016 Board of directors and the Society.

Here is a photo of the 2015-2016 Board Officers (from the left, Jane, Virginia, Karen S., Karen Y., Gary):

2)  It was time to eat the delicious ham and turkey (provided by the Society), the finger foods, salads, vegetable and potato dishes, rolls and butter, and desserts brought by the attendees ("Before" picture below).  

3)  After the delicious meal, it was time for the drawings:

*  The Door Prizes (every attendee had one ticket) - a Santa Claus (Joan Largey won), an Angel (Wendy Falkenhan won) and a Popcorn Christmas Tree (Fran Cornell won).  Here's Joan with Santa:

*  The Opportunity Drawing for the table decorations - 12 poinsettias and other arrangements.

*  The Gift Exchange - every one who brought a gift received a ticket to select a gift from the table.

4)  Many attendees to the Annual Holiday Luncheon brought unwrapped toys and canned food to donate to the Salvation Army.  

This was a fun and happy occasion with lots of great food and fellowship, plus recognition of the volunteers who help make the society function well.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/12/cvgs-annual-holiday-luncheon-highlights.html

copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

Tuesday's Tip - Use the Learning Resources on the AmericanAncestors.org Site

This week's Tuesday Tip is:  Use the Learning Resources on the NEHGS AmericanAncestors.org website.

The www.AmericanAncestors.org website (from the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston) has a wide range of learning opportunities available for FREE.  Here is the top of the Learning Resources webpage (http://www.americanancestors.org/Education/Learning-Resources/):

1)  There are three major parts to the Learning Resources:

*  Watch how-to videos, archived webinars, and other broadcasts presented by experts at NEHGS

*  Read subject guides on a variety of topics

*  Download or print commonly used genealogical templates, including research logs, family charts, and more.

2)  Here is the top of the "Watch" (http://www.americanancestors.org/Education/Learning-Resources/Watch) page:

A user can click on any of the small video windows to watch the presentation.  Clicking on the YouTube link at the bottom of the video screen will open the YouTube video in a larger screen.

3)  Here is the top of the "Read" (http://www.americanancestors.org/Education/Learning-Resources/Read) page:

There are a number of text articles, often with images, for a wide range of subjects (I covered this in Tuesday's Tip - NEHGS Subject Guides at the Learning Center - posted 28 October 2014).

4)  The top of the "Downloads" (http://www.americanancestors.org/education/learning-resources/download) page looks like this:

5)  AmericanAncestors has a YouTube channel with all of their learning videos on it - see https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCK_0ulM3mcrP_4h0FLHSf-A:

There are 39 videos at present on the AmericanAncestor YouTube channel.

Here is one of them - "Ten Steps to Writing and Publishing Your Family History" by Penny Stratton:

6)  For researchers with New England ancestry, using these learning resources is an absolute necessity.  For those who don't have New England ancestry, there may be some very useful learning resources on this site - and they are FREE!  

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/12/tuesdays-tip-use-learning-resources-on.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

Ancestry Green Leaf Hints Keep Sprouting in my Ancestry Member Tree

Ancestry.com Green Leaf Hints are kind of the gift that keeps on giving - they never stop sprouting on my Ancestry Member Tree.  With 42,920 persons in my AMT, I think that there are plenty more Hints coming.

Here is the Ancestry home page screen portion where I can see a summary of information about my active Ancestry Member Tree, and also the Recent Member Connect Activity.

I try to note the Recent Member Connect Activity on a regular basis to see how my records and attached documents are enriching other researchers, who never seem to contact me about them.  Occasionally, someone uploads something that I can use in my database, but it doesn't happen very often.  That's OK, I like to share...

On the screen above, the "Recent family tree activity" graphic shows that I have, in my public "Randy Seaver's Genealogy - July 2014" Ancestry Member Tree:

*  42,920 people
*  2,305 photos (because I download document images and attach them rather than attach an Ancestry.com record directly to the AMT)

There is a link to "View People with Hints."  If I click that link, I see the summary of the Hints for persons in this tree:

On the left of the screen above, is a list of record types and numbers, including:

On the "Hints" tab:

*  All Hints:  39,479
*  People with Hints:  6,629
*  Records:  29,735
*  Photos:  2,980
*  Stories:  531
*  Member Trees:  6,233

I have been tracking the number of Hints every day since 27 October - 50 days.  On 27 October 20`14, I had 30,070 Record Hints.  I accepted or ignored 579 Hints, removing them from the count.  Today, I have 29,735 Record Hints.  So Ancestry.com has added 244 Hints in those 50 days, an average of 4.9 Hints per day.

Although I haven't kept track of how many people have Hints, I only have 6,629 People with Hints at present, only 15.4% of the people in my Ancestry Member Tree.

By comparison, I have only 7,389 persons in my Seaver-Leland Family tree (uploaded in 2011), and 5,690 of them have Hints.  The number of Record Hints is now 18,900 (I don't know if that includes attached Hints or not), or over 2.5 Hints per tree Person.  77% of the persons in this tree have Hints of some sort.

I think that there are many more Record Hints for Ancestry.com to provide me.  At the rate of 5 per day, it might take 59 years for them to provide them.

Once or twice a week, I try to review the Record Hints provided by Ancestry.com, and add information to my RootsMagic database if they are actual records from reliable sources (my judgment, of course).  This keeps me up-to-date as far as Ancestry Hints go.  Sometimes, I get a real gem from a database that I previously had not checked.

I appreciate Ancestry.com trying to help me find records for my relatives, ancestors and collateral families.  The "push" technology provides new Hints every day, and I check them out on a regular basis.

Fortunately, a user can "speed up" or "energize" the Hint providing for specific groups of people.  I will try to post something about that process in future posts.

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/12/ancestry-green-leaf-hints-keep.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

New or Updated FamilySearch Record Collections - December 7-13, 2014

I'm trying to keep up with the new and updated record collections at FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/list).  As of 13 December, there were 1,860 record collections on FamilySearch (up 4 from last week).

Here are the 15 new or updated collections for the week of 7 to 13 December 2014:

*  Massachusetts, Boston Crew Lists, 1917-1943; 140,843 indexed records and digital images, added or updated 12 Dec 2014

*  Illinois, Cook County Deaths, 1878-1939, 1959-1995; 2,289,013 indexed records, no images, added or updated 12 Dec 2014

*  China, Collection of Genealogies, 1239-2014, Browse Images only, added or updated 12 Dec 2014

*  Illinois, Cook County Birth Certificates, 1878-1938; 1,675,664 indexed records, no images, added or updated 11 Dec 2014

*  Brazil, São Paulo, Immigration Cards, 1902-1980; 662,225 indexed records and digital images, added or updated  11 Dec 2014

*  Virginia, Marriage Certificates, 1936-1988; Browse Images only, added or updated 11 Dec 2014

*  Hawaii, Obituaries Index, ca. 1980-present; 41,650 indexed records and digital images, added or updated 10 Dec 2014

*  Newfoundland, Vital Records, 1840-1949; 16,711 indexed records and digital images, added or updated 09 Dec 2014

*  Kentucky, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1872; Browse Images only, added or updated 09 Dec 2014

*  Georgia, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1872; Browse Images only, added or updated 09 Dec 2014

*  Tennessee, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1872; Browse Images only, added or updated 08 Dec 2014

*  Michigan Obituaries, 1820-2006; 164,211 indexed records and digital images, added or updated 08 Dec 2014

*  North Dakota, Census 1925; Browse Images only, added or updated 08 Dec 2014

*  Oregon, Yamhill County Records, 1857-1963; Browse Images only, added or updated 08 Dec 2014

*  Canada Census, 1911; 4,810,676 indexed records, no images, added or updated 08 Dec 2014

Unfortunately, it is difficult to tell which collections are brand new and which ones are updated.  The asterisk they use is for "Recently added or updated."  I am particularly interested in new collections, for the obvious reasons.

In order to select a specific collection, go to https://familysearch.org/search/collection/list and use the "Filter by collection name" feature in the upper left-hand corner.

Each one of the collections listed above has a Research Wiki page (use the "Learn more" link).  It would be very useful if the Wiki page for each collection listed the dates for when the collection was added as a new collection and the major updates also.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/12/new-or-updated-familysearch-record_15.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

Amanuensis Monday - Post 247: Letter of Administration for Estate of Simon Gates (1739-1803)

Genea-blogger John Newmark (who writes the excellent TransylvanianDutch blog) started a Monday blog theme years ago called "Amanuensis Monday."  John offers this definition for "amanuensis:" 

"A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another."

The subject today is the 1803 Letter of Administration appointing the Administratrix of the estate of Simon Gates (1739-1803) of Gardner, Worcester County, Massachusetts in Worcester County Probate File 23252:

The transcription of this record is (handwritten entries in italics):

[back of paper (image 91)]

SERIES A, Case 23252

Simon Gates

Recorded

Order dated Apr. 6 1803

Afft filed May 19, 1803

Recorded Vol. 276 Page 144

[front of paper (image 92)]

WORCESTER ss. April Sixth 1803

The Court of Probate for said County hereby order that

Susanna Gates Administratrix of the

Estate of Simon Gates late of Gardner in

said county deceased, give public notice of her appointment to, and ac-

ceptance of, said trust, by putting up notifications thereof, at two or more

public places in the said town of Gardner and by causing the same

to be published in Thomas's Massachusetts Spy, three weeks successively

within three months from the above date, and to make due return of an orig-

inal advertisement or true copy thereof, on oath, within seven months from

the date hereof, agreeable to law.

                                                       Nath Paine JProb

I the Subscriber am appointed and have accepted the trust of

Administratrix of the Estate ------------------ of

Mr. Simon Gates late of Gardner in the County

of Worcester, deceased, and have given bonds pursuant to law. All persons

indebted to said estate, are hereby called upon to make immediate payment,

and those to whom said estate is indebted, are requested to exhibit their de-

mands for settlement. Gardner April 6 1803

                                                     her

                                       Susanna X Gates

                                                   mark

WORCESTER ss. Prob Court Templeton May 19 1803

HEREBY certify, that agreeable to the order of Probate Court of said

County, did within three months from the date of the said order, post up

notifications, similar to the one hereto annexed, at two public dwellinghouses in

Gardner and have caused the same to be published in Thomas's

Massachusetts Spy, three weeks successively as above directed.

                                                      her

                                        Susanna X Gates

                                                   mark

WORCESTER ss. Prob. Court Templeton May 19^th 1803

personally appeared Susanna Gates administrator

on the estate of Simon Gates late of Gardner in said

County deceased, and made solemn oath to the truth of the above declaration.

                                             Before Nath Paine JP

The source citation for this record is:

Worcester County, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, Worcester County, Probate Files, 1731-1925, Case 23252 Simon Gates Estate, 1803, Letter of Administration; digital images, FamilySearch.org, (https://familysearch.org: accessed 12 August 2014); in "Case no 23243-23330, Gates, Sarah-Gay, William, 1731-1881" (images 91-92 of 1069); original records in Worcester County, Mass. Courhouse.

This is the first of several transcriptions from the Estate packet for Simon Gates (1739-1803), my 5th great-grandfather.  He died 11 March 1803 in Gardner, Worcester County, Massachusetts.  

The widow of Simon Gates, Susanna (Reed) Gates (1745-1833), was named the administratrix of Simon's intestate estate on 6 April 1803.  

These records were digitized by FamilySearch from the original probate estate packet in the Worcester County Probate Court in Worcester, Massachusetts.  The papers are also transcribed in the Worcester County Probate Records, 1732-1881, found on Family History Library US/CAN Microfilm.  

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/12/amanuensis-monday-post-247-letter-of.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

Best of the Genea-Blogs - 7 to 13 December 2014

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 daily blog prompts or 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:

*  DAR - On the Road to Membership by Wendy on the Jollett, Etc. blog.  Wendy found the missing piece to her DAR membership!

*  Ten Minute Methodology: Proof Statements 2, Examples by Judy Kellar Fox on the BCG Springboard blog.  Judy provides several proof statement examples.

*  Hoosier Daddy's Daddy? by Michael Lacopo on the Hoosier Daddy? blog.  Michael's DNA test request was turned down, so he went to Plan B (or C, i can't remember).  Stay tuned!

*  A Workbook for My Visit to the Family History Library by Diane Boumenot on the One Rhode Island Family blog.  Diane has two excellent ideas for how to prepare to research at the FHL.

*  Can Charles Be Edward?; Charles - Alias Edward - and the Rest of the Story; The Beginning of a Grand Detour by Jacqi Stevens on A Family Tapestry blog.  Jacqi sorts out a man with two families. There are many useful research lessons in this series!

*  Darned Records; Always Check Adjacent Images by the writer of The Ancestry Insider blog.  Mr. Insider has a great tip here.

*  Patents and patents by Judy G. Russell on The Legal Genealogist blog.  Judy explains why invention documents and land documents are both called patents.

*  "Finding Your Roots" Reveals Genealogical Secrets in Guests' DNA by Diane Haddad on the Genealogy Insider blog.  Diane summarizes the last episode of the PBS series.

*  Have You Built Your Own Brick Wall? by Susan Bankhead on the Brick Wall Genealogist blog.  Susan lists ways we might build our own brick wall.

*  5 Habits for Successful Genealogy Research by Joanne Cowden on the Researching Relatives blog.  Joanne has a nice list of good research habits.

These genea-bloggers wrote weekly pick posts and news summary posts this week:

*  What We Are Reading: December 12th Edition by Amy Johnson Crow on the Ancestry.com Blog.

*  Recommended Reads by Linda S. on the Empty Branches on the Family Tree blog.

*  Friday Finds and Follows: 12 December 2014 by  Miriam J. Robbins on the Ancestories: Stories of my Ancestors blog.

*  Friday Finds in Newspapers: 12 December 2014 by  Miriam J. Robbins on the Ancestories: Stories of my Ancestors blog.

*  Follow Friday ~ Fab Finds for December 12, 2014 by Jana Last on Jana's Genealogy and Family History Blog.

*  Friday Finds -- 12/12/14 by Julie Cahill Tarr on Julie's Genealogy & History Hub blog.

*  This Week's Creme de la Creme by Gail Dever on the Genealogy a la Carte blog.

*  Saturday Serendipity (December 13, 2014) by John D. Tew on the Filiopietism Prism blog.

Readers are encouraged to go to the blogs listed above and read their articles, and add their blogs to your Favorites, Feedly, another 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 1550 genealogy bloggers using Feedly, 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/2014/12/best-of-genea-blogs-7-to-13-december.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver