Genea-Musings

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

A Complaint, a Member Tree, and a Tarnished BSO

I can't help looking at my Ancestry Hints, but I rarely look at the Member Tree Hints. So I as surprised today to find that someone has several more generations in the Mansley line in Lancashire than I have in my tree. Cool - it's something to check out!

From the Ancestry.com home page, I clicked on the "View People With Hints," and the "All Hints" page opened:

1) I keep getting that message in the blue outline box. It says:

"Our hint system is temporarily offline. During this time, hint notifications may not appear and existing hints may be inaccessible. We thank you for your patience while we work to resolve this issue."

I get this message every time I go to this "All Hints" page. At all times of day and night. I would be very frustrated if the statement was true.

I usually click the "Records" link and get the message again, then refresh the page, and the list of Record Hints usually comes up. Sometimes it takes two or three refreshes, but it eventually works.

If the Hints were inaccessible ten seconds ago, why are they now accessible? Well, it probably has to do with server capacity and traffic volume or some highly technical term like that. No matter - whiny complaint noted, I hope.

2) Today, I actually scrolled through the "Member Trees" Hints and saw matches for my wife's ancestor, Alexander Whittle. There were 13 trees that matched my tree:

I scrolled down and saw a tree of interest, and clicked on the tree name, and went to the "Family" tree view for Robert Mansley (1750-1802) and saw that this tree had one more Mansley generation than I have in my own tree:

This tree indicates that the parents of Thomas Mansley (1720-1768) were John Mansley (1687-1768) and Elizabeth Walmsley (1691-1743). There were several more generations of ancestors for Elizabeth Walmsley.

I looked at the profile for John Mansley in this tree and saw that the marriage for John Mansley and Elizabeth Walmsley was in 1720, which at least matches the birth date of Thomas Mansley. There was a source attached to the person in this tree, so I clicked on the source to see the detail:

Well, that's frustrating. The attached source is for a marriage of James Mansley (not John!) and Elizabeth Walmsley on 11 April 1769, one year after John Mansley died, and 26 years after John's purported wife, Elizabeth Walmsley, died (at least according to the person profile data).

Now it may be that the parents of Thomas Mansley were John Mansley and Elizabeth Walmsley, and their birth and death and marriage dates may be correct, but at this time, I don't see any evidence that they married or had a son Thomas. Too bad...

3) This Family Tree match was worth investigating, but I am not going to add the information to my family tree database. Oh well. This was a shiny BSO (Bright Shiny Object), but I found it tarnished beyond believability, at least at this time.

I noted that the attached record above is from the "Lancashire, England, Church of England Marriages, 1754-1936." I can't access that database because I don't have a World subscription on Ancestry.com, but it looks very useful. I did see Record Hints for the Whittle and Mansley people in my tree for this database and also the "Lancashire, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1911" database, which from the thumbnails, appear to have record images from the actual parish registers. That's good!

I'll have to go to the FamilySearch Library and see what I can find in these databases. I looked through these parish registers at the Family History Library several years ago for these families.

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The Sydney Opera House -- Post 406 of (Not So) Wordless Wednesday

I'm posting old (and sometimes new) family photographs from my collection on Wednesdays, but they won't be wordless posts like others do - I am incapable of having a wordless post.

Here are some of the most precious (to me) images from my Seaver/Leland photograph collection:

In March 2010, we visited Australia, New Zealand and Fiji on a three week Grand Circle Travel Tour to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary, and I took some photographs with my trusty digital camera.

1) While in Sydney, one of our tours took us to and inside the world famous Sydney Opera House. Wow. Here is a picture of the front entrance:

2) Up closer to the outside shell of the opera house:

The exterior is made of tiles bonded to a concrete framework made from sections of a sphere.

3) Inside the opera house:

4) A view from the water:

Unfortunately, I've lost the memories of all the details of this vacation - I know what we saw but can't remember what we were told. Fortunately, I found my Facebook photo albums from our 2010 vacation with pictures and some captions so all is not lost. I found that I posted very few photos from this vacation on Genea-Musings.

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The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2016/03/the-sydney-opera-house-post-406-of-not.html

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Dear Randy: Are You Related to Baseball Pitcher Tom Seaver?

I am asked this question at least once a month, especially when I tell people that I am interested in genealogy and family history. I was reminded of it today when I received a Google alert for "Genealogy for George Thomas Seaver family tree on Geni, with over 150 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives." - see his Geni profile at https://www.geni.com/people/Tom-Seaver/6000000003011055905.

I made a special point early on in my genealogy career to find out how I was related to Tom Seaver. My father, my brothers and I were fans of "cousin Tom" as we called him, without knowing if we were or not. We wanted to be related, because he represented our surname so well.

Here is a relationship chart created by RootsMagic 7 from my family tree database:

Look at that - Tom Seaver, the Hall of Fame baseball pitcher, is my 10th cousin, with common ancestors of Robert Seaver (1608-1683) and Elizabeth Ballard (1616-1657).

I was almost related to "Tom Seaver" in a closer way. When we were expecting our second child in 1976, we did not know the gender before the birth. We called the baby "TJ" in the womb, and if it was a boy, he was going to be Thomas Jefferson Seaver. It was the bicentennial year, after all. We had Tami Joy Seaver instead on the day before my birthday, and she is a wonderful daughter and has brought extreme joy and happiness to our lives.

Before she was born, Linda had to renew her drivers license at the DMV. She stood in line for awhile in her advanced state of pregnancy, and when she got to the window, the clerk glanced at the last name and asked "Are you related to Tom Seaver?" Linda's answer was "I may be any minute!"

The good news is that the Geni database has both of our Seaver lines correct. I've been looking through cousin Tom's pedigree on Geni.com for closer relationships but haven't seen one yet.

Are you related to any famous person with your surname?

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The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2016/03/dear-randy-are-you-related-to-baseball.html

My Mocavo Account Was Migrated to Findmypast

I received this email from Mocavo today saying that my Mocavo Account has been migrated to Findmypast (as discussed last week in Mocavo Resources are Moving to Findmypast - Today! (23 March 2016)).

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Your account has been migrated

View online

Mocavo has moved to Findmypast

We're pleased to tell you that your Mocavo account has been migrated to Findmypast. Please use your existing Findmypast login details to access your account.

We have also added 30 days to your subscription to say thank you for being patient during the migration period.

Find out more

What about my Mocavo family tree?

We have archived the family trees on Mocavo which contain more than four people. You should have already received an email from us with a link to your tree. Your exported tree is in GEDCOM format, which is accepted by the majority of family tree tools and websites, including Findmypast.

Uploading your Mocavo tree to Findmypast is really quick and simple. When you have gained access to your new Findmypast account, simply click the button below to put your tree on Findmypast and start receiving our marvelous Hints which will allow you to match your ancestors with our extensive record sets.

Import my tree now

Get in touch

You can contact our customer service team with any questions by email at support@findmypast.com

From,
The Mocavo & Findmypast team

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I also received an email recently that provided links to download the family trees I had on Mocavo. I had three which were almost identical. I'm choosing to not import them to Findmypast because I have a more recent tree on Findmypast that incorporates the information in my Mocavo trees.

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2016/03/my-mocavo-account-was-migrated-to.html

Treasure Chest Tuesday - Rachel (Allen) Kirby's Receipt for 1794 to 1801 Support

Yes, I know it's supposed to be Treasure Chest Thursday, but I can't help it - I want to share some of the goodies that Susanne shared with me - see A Kirby Family Genealogical Windfall From Susanne (17 March 2016).

Today's treasure is a receipt list documenting that Rachel (Allen) Kirby received items for her support after her husband, Ichabod Kirby (1705-1793) died. See Ichabod's will in Amanuensis Monday - Post 312: 1788 Will of Ichabod Kirby (1705-1793) in Bristol County, Mass.

The receipt list:

The transcription of this piece of paper is:

Receved in full for the first year to the 15'th of the 4'th mo 1794
witness Noah Gifford
Lovett Tripp

Receved in full for another ^year^ to the 15'th of the 4 mo 1795

Received in full for the third year to the 15'th of 4 mo 1796

Received in full for the forth year to the 15'th of 4 mo 1797

Received in full for the fifth year to the 15'th of 4 mo 1798

Received in full for the sixth year to the 15'th of 4 mo 1799

Received in full for the Seventh year to the 15'th of 4 mo 1800

Received in full for the Eigtht year to the 15'th of 4 mo 1801

attest Lovet Tripp

The source citation for this receipt is:

Ichabod Kirby Family Papers (loose papers on scrapbook page, created after 1801 by unknown persons), digital image of loose papers privately held by Susanne Nisbet, [address for private use], Wake Forest, N.C., 2016 (7th great-grandchild of Ichabod Kirby); Rachel (Allen) Kirby receipt, 1794-1801; Provenance is David Kirby family of Westport, Mass. ca 1801 to Susanne Nisbet 2016, provided to Randy Seaver March 2016 via email.

This paper does not name who is attesting that they received their full measure each year. However, another record indicates that Ichabod Kirby died 11 February 1793 and his wife, Rachel (Allen) Kirby, died on 12 May 1801. My conclusion, based on the evidence at hand, including the will of Ichabod Kirby, is that this receipt is for the foodstuffs and other items that were to be provided to Rachel (Allen) Kirby to support her livelihood by her two sons, John Kirby and David Kirby.

Rachel Kirby, or one of her sons, must have kept this paper to be added to every year. The first line for 1794 is in the hand of one person (perhaps Noah Gifford), and the other lines, for 1795 to 1801, are in the hand of a second person (perhaps Lovett Tripp).

This paper did not make it into the Probate Estate File for Ichabod Kirby, which I photographed on 2 February 2016 at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Very few, if any, of the papers that Susanne has are in the estate file.

Papers like this are probably in the "trust but verify" mode - John Kirby and David Kirby were committed to provide support for their mother, and she signed this receipt so that her sons could prove in court, if necessary, that they had accomplished their task.

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The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2016/03/treasure-chest-tuesday-rachel-allen.html

Monday, March 28, 2016

Ancestry.com Has Homestead Records From 6 States

One of the recently added databases on Ancestry.com is the U.S. Homestead Records, 1861-1936. The database description is:

"Homestead files consist of unbound documents that include final certificates, applications with land descriptions, affidavits showing proof of citizenship, register and receiver receipts, notices and final proofs, and testimonies of witnesses.

"These documents are part of the Records of the Bureau of Land Management (formerly known as the General Land Office), Record Group (RG) 49. The collection currently includes records from Arizona, Indiana, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, and part of Iowa. Additional records will be added in future updates."

The database description also includes information about the process of applying and receiving a homestead - see the description at U.S. Homestead Records, 1861-1936.

I don't have any ancestors who received a Homestead to my knowledge, so I went looking for some of the collateral lines. I found a Homestead application for Herbert G. Dyar (1858-1949, who married my first cousin 3 times removed, Mary Woodward (1866-1945) in Nebraska.

Here is the search form for these records. The user can browse the records by State, then Land Office, then Final Certificate Year, and Township and Range. I entered the surname Dyar into the search form:

There were two results, and I selected the result for Herbert G. Dyar. Here is the record summary for him:

He received a Final Homestead certificate in Range 5 West, Township 20 North, Section 28 on 9 September 1884 in the Grand Island, Nebraska land office.

I clicked on the "View" button on the thumbnail image, and saw the first of 19 images for the Homestead file of Herbert G. Dyar:

He filed for the East half of the Northeast quarter and the East half of the southeast quarter of Section 28 in this Township:

His final affidavit required of homestead claimants:

His application was published in the local newspaper:

He applied to enter the land in 1879:

He submitted Testimony of the Claimant as Homestead Proof on 6 September 1884:

This states that "In the month of October 1879 established actual residence, Oct. 25 1879. Sod house 12 x 16. sod stable 12 x 16; frame granary 8 x 16; corn crib 8 x 16; dug well; total value $300.00"

He claimed that he was a single man and has resided on the land continuously. He said that he has cultivated 50 acres and raised crops for four seasons. Two neighbors testified via affidavits that these claims were true.

This looks like an interesting and very useful record for descendants or Herbert G. Dyar.

I look forward to more records from Iowa (there are some now, but not my counties), Missouri, Kansas and Colorado in hopes that my ancestors have records in this collection.

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The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2016/03/ancestrycom-has-homestead-records-from.html

New or Updated Record Collections at FamilySearch.org - 20 to 26 March 2016

I'm trying to keep up with the new and updated record collections at FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/list).

As of 27 March 2016, there were 2,076 record collections on FamilySearch (an increase of 0 from last week):

The new or updated collections are:

* Czech Republic, School Registers, 1799-1953; Browse Images only, no indexed records, Updated 25 Mar 2016

* Netherlands, Gelderland Province Civil Registration, 1800-1952; 144,334 indexed records with record images, Updated 25 Mar 2016

* South Carolina, Georgetown, Passenger Lists, 1904-1942; 1,302 indexed records with record images, Updated 25 Mar 2016

* United States Civil War and Later Pension Index, 1861-1917; 2,990,891 indexed records with record images, Updated 24 Mar 2016

* Ukraine, Kyiv Orthodox Consistory Church Book Duplicates, 1734-1920; 1,837,807 indexed records with record images, Updated 23 Mar 2016

* South Africa, Orange Free State, Estate Files, 1951-2006; 62,162 indexed records with record images, Updated 23 Mar 2016

* Japan Genealogies, 850-2012; Browse Images only, no indexed records, Updated 22 Mar 2016

* Japan Village Records, 709-1982; Browse Images only, no indexed records, Updated 22 Mar 2016

The asterisk used by FamilySearch is for "Recently added or updated." I am particularly interested in new collections, for the obvious reasons. FamilySearch does provide a listing of which collections are new or updated several days after my post.

My friend, Marshall, has come up with a way to determine which collections are ADDED or UPDATED, in addition to which collections were removed. My thanks to Marshall for helping me out here!

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 dates for major updates also.

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The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2016/03/new-or-updated-record-collections-at_28.html

Amanuensis Monday - Post 313: 1822 Will of David Kirby (1740-1832) in Bristol County, Mass.

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 1822 will of David Kirby (1740-1832) of Westport, Bristol County, Massachusetts.

The transcription of the will is (transcribed line-by-line):

[page 2]

The last Will and Testament of David Kirby of

Westport in the County of Bristol and Commonwealth

of Massachusetts, Yeoman.

Imprimis - my will is that all my just debts, funeral

charges, and expence of settling my estate be paid by

my executor herein after named out of what I shall

herein give him.

2'nd. I give to my beloved wife Martha Kirby all my

household goods of every sort and kind except what I shall

herein otherwise dispose of together with my side saddle.

I also give her my said Wife, all the Estate that come to

us, out of the Estate of her Honored Father Benjamin Sowle,

that we are possessed of, or that we may be possessed of at

my decease, be it in money, securities for money, or of what

sort or kinds of goods or property it may consist of, all

the aforesaid a free gift at her own disposal, forever.

I also give to my said Wife so long as she remains my

widow the use and improvement of one half of my new

dwelling House, with a priviledge in the Cellar, to the well,

and around the House as she may need. I also give her

to be provided by my Executor herein after named, and delivered

to her daily, and every day, during the term aforesaid, the Milk

of one good cow; and yearly, and every year, one hundred

pounds of good pork, eighty pounds of good beef, two geese, nine

bushels of good Indian Corn, two bushels of rye or barley, ten

pounds of good sheeps wool, eight pounds of good flax from the

swingle, forty pounds of good cheese, eight pounds of good

butter, four gallons of Molasses, eight bushels winter apples

and summer apples and summer & winter sauce as

much as she may need for her own use.

[page 2]

And as much fire wood as she may need for one fire

at the door, and cut a suitable length for her fire, and two

hens to be kept for her so long as she may need.

All the aforesaid gifts to my said wife to be in lieu

of her right of dower in my estate, if she is pleased to accept

and not otherwise.

3'rd. I give to my Daughter Sibbel White, Two hundred silver

dollars to be paid her in one year after my decease, by my

executor herein after named, which with what she has already

had of me, is to be her share of my estate.

4'th. I give to my son Ichabod Kirby and to his heirs and assigns

forever, my clock, and desk, one large silver spoon, two

feather beds, bedsteads and Cords, with a sufficiency of furniture

for the same both for winter and summer, my Loom

and tackling belonging to it, my largest brass Kettle, trammels

and handirons, one large iron kettle, & one six Qt. Kettle, my

cupboards, and one Meat Tub & one Meat barrel, a chest with

one draw, and a small chest, one case Knives & forks, and

half a doz. chairs, together with my Homestead Farm, and

all the rest and residue of my estate both Real and personal

wherever and whenever it may be found, not herein otherwise

disposed of, he doing and performing what I have herein

ordered for him to do and perform.[page 3]

Finally and lastly, I do hereby constitute and appoint

my son Ichabod Kirby sole executor of this my last Will

and Testament, desiring him faithfully to Execute the same

agreeable to true intent and meaning thereof.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and

Seal this twenty second day of March, in the year of our

Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty two 1822.

Signed sealed and declared

by the said David Kirby to be

his last will & Testament at whose
request & in whose presence & in David Kerby
presence of each other, we hereto

set our names as witnesses
Isaac W. Brownell
William Case
N.C. Brownell

The source citation for this will is:

Bristol County [Mass.] Register of Probate, Bristol County (Mass.) Probate Records, 1690-1881, on 351 FHL US/CAN Microfilm rolls; original records at Probate Registry, Taunton, Mass., David Kirby, Westport, 1832 Estate packet, accessed on FHL Microfilm 0,573,223 (Kingsley - Kirby, accessed 2 February 2016).

I learned several things from transcribing this will, including:

* The will names his wife's father as Benjamin Sowle and that Benjamin left some of his estate to his daughter, Martha (Sowle) Kirby.

* David Kirby provided a fine list of items, in his will dated 1822, that his wife would be provided after his death by his executor. The list is very similar to what David Kirby had to provide to his mother, as seen in the will of Ichabod Kirby (1705-1793). Alas, Martha Kirby died before David Kirby in 1828.

* David Kirby left 200 silver dollars to his daughter Sibbel (Kirby) White (widow of Humphrey White), who is my link to the Kirby line.

* David Kirby had only two living children when he wrote his will in 1822 - and they are his only known children - which was fairly unusual for those times. Sybil was born in 1764 and Ichabod in 1782 - there are 18 years between them. Their births, and no others, were listed in the Dartmouth (MA) Vital Records. Perhaps there were a series of stillborns or miscarriages in the intervening years that were not recorded.

The will of David Kirby was proved in Bristol County, Massachusetts Probate Court on 1 May 1832.

David Kirby is my 5th great-grandfather. I am descended from his daughter, Sibbel (Kirby) White (1764-1848).

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The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2016/03/amanuensis-monday-post-313-1822-will-of.html

Copyright (c) 2016, Randall J. Seaver

Pages

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Monday, March 28, 2016