Friday, August 5, 2016

More records available to search this Findmypast Friday - 5 August 2016

I received this press release from Findmypast today:

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More records available to search this Findmypast Friday



7,544,737 new records are available to search this Findmypast Friday including:



United States, Canadian Border Crossings contains over 6.6 million highly detailed records. The collection is made up of four collections from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), including both indexes and passenger manifests of entries from Canada into the United States through St Albans, Vermont, between 1895 and 1954. Passage to Canada was generally less expensive than travelling directly to the United States. If you have been unable to discover how your ancestors arrived in the United States using other US travel and migration records, it could be because that they chose to take this route.

The collection contains both transcripts and images which can reveal a wide variety of fascinating biographical details such as your ancestor's country of origin, their occupation, education, physical condition, details of their finances, the name and address of their next of kin and more. Finding your ancestor in these records is easier if you know the general time frame in which your ancestor immigrated. If you are unsure, check out our US Census records to find when they were first recorded, thus providing you with a time range in which to search.



Over 79,000 new records have recently been added to our collection of Yorkshire Baptisms. The new additions cover Church of England parishes across Rotherham as well as the Roman Catholic parishes of Doncaster, St Peter in Chains, Knaresborough, St Mary, Rotherham, St Bede, Sheffield, St Marie Cathedral, Sheffield, St Vincent and Staveley, St Joseph. Each record includes a transcript and an image of the original document that will reveal where your ancestor was baptised, the date of your of their baptism and the names of their parents and.



Over 6,000 new records have been added to our collection of Yorkshire Banns. The new additions come records the details of banns read in Catholic churches in Doncaster, Knaresborough, Rotherham, Sheffield and Staveley. Each record includes both a transcript and an image of the original document that will reveal you're ancestor's name, place of banns, date of banns, marriage year, residence and the name of their spouse.



More than 28,000 new records have been added to our collection of Yorkshire marriages. The new additions record Roman Catholic marriages that took place in the parishes of Doncaster, St Peter in Chains, Knaresborough, St Mary, Rotherham, St Bede, Sheffield, St Marie Cathedral, Sheffield, St Vincent and Staveley, St Joseph. Search these records to discover when, where and to whom your ancestor was married. Each record includes both a transcript and image of the original document that may also reveal the couples birth years, residence, occupation, marital status, fathers' names and the names of any witnesses.



733,000 new Yorkshire burials are now available to explore. As with the new baptisms, banns and marriages, these new additions record the details of Roman Catholics buried across five parishes in Doncaster, Knaresborough, Rotherham, Sheffield and Staveley. The records will reveal your ancestors age at death, birth year, burial date, and burial place.


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Copyright (c) 2016, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

52 Ancestors - Week 136: #181 Deborah (Tracy) Wade (1731-after 1800)

Amy Johnson Crow suggested a weekly blog theme of "52 Ancestors" in her blog post Challenge:  52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks on the No Story Too Small blog.  I am extending this theme in 2016 to 156 Ancestors in 156 Weeks. Here is my ancestor biography for week #136:

Deborah Tracy (1731-after 1800) is #181 on my Ahnentafel list, my 5th great-grandmother, who married #180 Simon Wade (1731-after 1800) in about 1763.

I am descended through:

*  their son #90 Simon Wade 
 (1767-1857) who married #91 Phebe Horton (1772-after 1920) before 1790.
*  their daughter #45 Miranda Wade (1804-1850) who married #44 Jonathan White (1805-1850) in 1823. 
*  their son #22 Henry Arnold White (1824-1885), who married #23 Amy Frances Oatley (1826-1864)
*  their daughter #11 Julie E. White (1848-1913), who married #10 Thomas Richmond (1848-1917) in 1868. 
*  their daughter #5 Alma Bessie Richmond (1882-1962), who married #4 Frederick Walton Seaver (1876-1942) in 1900.
* their son #2 Frederick Walton Seaver (1911-1983), who married #3 Betty Virginia Carringer (1919-2002) in 1942.
*  their son #1 Randall J. Seaver (1943-....)

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1)  PERSON (with source citations as indicated in brackets):


*  Name:                      Deborah Tracy[1]   
*  Alternate Name:      Deborah Tracey[2]
*  Sex:                         Female   

*  Father:                    John Tracy (1695-1751)   
*  Mother:                  Mary Hawkins (1710-1767)   
  
2)  INDIVIDUAL EVENTS (with source citations as indicated in brackets):
  
*  Birth:                      20 February 1730/1, Providence, Providence, Rhode Island, United States[2]   
*  Death:                    after 1800 (after about age 69), probably Foster, Providence, Rhode Island, United States   
  
3)  SHARED EVENTS (with source citations as indicated in brackets):    

*  Spouse 1:                  Simon Wade (1731-1800)    
*  Marriage 1:              before 1763 (before about age 32), probably Providence, Providence, Rhode Island, United States[1,3]   

*  Child 1:                    Levi Wade (1765-    )   
*  Child 2:                    Simon Wade (1767-1857)   
*  Child 3:                    Nehemiah Wade (1769-1836)   
*  Child 4:                    Gideon Wade (1771-    )   
*  Child 5:                    Mary Wade (1773-1812)   
*  Child 6:                    Molly Wade (1775-    )   
*  Child 7:                    Deborah Wade (1777-    )   
  
4)  NOTES (with source citations as indicated in brackets):   

The book by William R. Cutter, Genealogies and Family History of the State of Connecticut (New York, Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1911), Volume IV, provides some information on this family on page 2125[1]:

"(V) Simon (2), son of Nathaniel (2) Wade, was born at Scituate, Rhode Island, December 11, 1731.  He was living in Foster, Rhode Island in 1774, and had two males over sixteen and two under that age, two females over sixteen and two under.  He was still living in Foster in 1790, according to the first federal census, and had three females in his family.  He married Deborah Tracy.  Children:  Levi, was of Foster in 1790;  Simon, mentioned below;  Nehemiah, married Huldah Hopkins at Foster and was living there in 1790;  Gideon, was in Foster in 1790; Ruth, married Captain William Hawkis; Molly, married a Paine; Deborah, married a Williams."

The source of this information is probably Simon's great-grandson, Henry Lawton Wade, who was the main subject of this biographical article.

Deborah Tracy was the second child and first daughter of John and Mary (Hawkins) Tracy of Providence, Rhode Island.  The birth entry in the Providence town record book says[2]:

"1-92  [TRACEY] Deborah, [of John and Mary,] Feb. 20, 1730-1."

Simon Wade married Deborah Tracy, daughter of John and Mary (Hawkins) Tracy in about 1763.  They had at least seven children between about 1765 and about 1780, and they resided in Foster, Providence County, Rhode Island.  None of the births of their children were recorded in a town record in Foster.  

The Simon Wade household was enumerated in Foster in the 1774, 1790, and 1800 census enumerations.  The 1790 and 1800 United States census enumerations for Simon Wade in Foster  showed a female over age 45, who is probably Deborah (Tracy) Wade.  

There is no known death date or location, and no known burial location, for Deborah (Tracy) Wade or her husband, Simon Wade.  Deborah probably died between 1800 and 1810 in Foster, Providence County, Rhode Island.  

5)  SOURCES
 
1. William R. Cutter et al, editors, Genealogies and Family History of the State of Connecticut: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation, Volume IV (New York, N.Y.: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1911), page 2125; digital images, Google, Google Books (http://books.google.com) Simon Wade sketch.

2. "Rhode Island, Vital Records Extracts, 1636-1899," indexed database and digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), "Volume 2 - Providence County Births, Marriages and Deaths Records," page 251 (image 281 of 440), Providence, Deborah Tracey birth entry.


3. Marston Watson, Royal Families: Americans of Royal and Noble Ancestry: Volume One: Governor Thomas Dudley and Descendants Through Five Generations, Second Edition ( Baltimore, Md. : Genealogical Publishing Company, 2005), page 213.


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Copyright (c) 2016, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Thursday, August 4, 2016

Seavers in the Newspapers - Josiah Seaver of Waitsfield, Vermont

It's time for another installment of "Seavers in the Newspapers" - I just love to find Seaver folks in the digitized newspapers.

I saw a notice today that MyHeritage has added the "Chronicling America" set of over 6.7 million newspaper pages to their record collections.  I looked to see if they were in the Record Matches list but I didn't see any listing for them.  So I searched for surname Seaver and there were 7,402 matches.  It didn't take many matches on the list to find an interesting one:


I zoomed into the article of interest in the first column of the newspaper page:


The transcription of the article is:

"Josiah Seaver, of Wartsfield, Vt./, was on
Saturday sentenced to the State prison for
25 years, for arson.  The prisoner made a
written confession, admitting having set six
or seven places on fire since April, 1877.  He
claims that he acted under an uncontrollable
impulse, and always returned to save the
property.  The fires were all set in barns."

The source citation for this record is:

"Resume of the Week's News," The Indianapolis [Ind.] Leader, 10 January 1880, page 2, column 1, Josiah Seaver article; online images, MyHeritage (http://www.myheritage.com : accessed 4 August 2016), Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, 1836-1922.

I was curious as to who this Josiah Seaver was, and who his parents were, and if he was married and had children.  I had Josiah W. Seaver (1847-1888) of Waitsfield, Vermont in my RootsMagic database and thought that he was probably the arsonist.  Sure enough, when I searched the 1880 United States census for Josiah Seaver born 1847 in Vermont, I found him enumerated in Windsor, Windsor county, Vermont, in the Vermont State Prison:


Josiah Seaver (1847-1888) was the son of Jonathan S. and Mary (Drew) Seaver of Waitsfield, Washington,County, Vermont.  He married Harriet V. Adams on 12 November 1878 in Waitsfield, and they had no children recorded.  Josiah died 9 September 1888 in Windsor, Windsor County, Vermont.  I don't know what happened to his wife - she might have married again.  Josiah W. Seaver is my 4th cousin 4 times removed.

You know, there are things that happen in the life of a person that are often difficult to explain.  In this case, not only the actual setting of the fires, but the reporting of the fire so as to save the buildings.

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Copyright (c) 2016, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.


San Diego Genealogical Society Fall Seminar Features Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective

The Fall Seminar for the San Diego Genealogical Society will be on Saturday, 10 September at Marina Village, Captain's Room, 1936 Quivera Way, San Diego, CA 92109, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. PDT.


The seminar speaker will be Maureen Taylor, the Photo Detective.  Her biography is at  http://www.casdgs.org/resources/Speakers/MTBioLong.pdf.

Maureen's four presentations will be:

*  Session 1: Identifying and Dating Family Photographs

*  Session 2: Preserving Family Photographs-1839 to the Present

*  Session 3: Buns, Beards, Bodices and Bustles; Understanding Ancestors Through Clothing

*  Session 4: The Perfect P.O.P. Photo Organizing Plan

The Early Bird price is $45 for registrations paid before August 10, 2016.  The price is $50 for registrations paid after August 10, 2016.  Welcome coffee and tea with pastries will be served in the morning. Lunch is included.

Register at http://www.casdgs.org/event-1910601/Registration

Maureen Taylor will be doing some individual private photo consults on Friday, September 9 at a different location as well as a few consults at the main venue on Saturday.

If you are interested, please follow the following link for price, times and locations for the photo consultation. https://sandiegogen2016.eventbrite.com.

The price for the consultations does not include the seminar.

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Copyright (c) 2016, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.


Treasure Chest Thursday - Post 325: Birth Record of Deborah Tracy (1731-after 1800)

It's Treasure Chest Thursday - time to look in my digital image files to see what treasures I can find for my family history and genealogy musings.

The treasure today is the birth record for Deborah Tracy (1731-after 1800), daughter of John and Mary (Hawkins) Tracy of Providence, Rhode Island:

The birth record is near the bottom of the page:


The transcription of Deborah's birth record is:

"1-92  [TRACEY] Deborah, [of John and Mary,] Feb. 20, 1730-1."

The source citation for this record is:

"Rhode Island, Vital Records Extracts, 1636-1899," indexed database and digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), "Volume 2 - Providence County Births, Marriages and Deaths Records," page 251 (image 281 of 440), Providence, Deborah Tracey birth entry.

The record above is from the published book that is in the Ancestry.com digital book collection.  The numbers (e.g., 1-92) refer to the pages in the original Providence town record volume, so 1-92 is Volume 1, page 92.  I have not found those yet, but I'm pretty sure that they are on FHL microfilm. 

 The same information is in several other indexes and compiled genealogies.

This record is a Derivative Source (since the Original Source is the handwritten town record book), with Primary Information and Direct Evidence for the birth of Deborah Tracy to her parents.

Deborah Tracy (1731-after 1800) married Simon Wade (1731-after 1800) in about 1763, and they are my fifth great-grandparents.  I descend through their son, Simon Wade (1767-1857).

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The URL for this post is:   http://www.geneamusings.com/2016/08/treasure-chest-thursday-post-325-birth.html

Copyright (c) 2016, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.


Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Finding More Cousins Using an Ancestry Member Tree

I received a new AncestryDNA Circle recently - for my 4th great-grandfather Aaron Smith (1765-1841).  There were two others in this circle, so I could see their descendancy from Aaron Smith and Mercy Plimpton.  I wanted to add as much as I could about those lines to my new-found cousins, so I added their lines to my RootsMagic database.

Then I remembered that I had written Thinking About My Descendancy Research Plan back in January, and realized this was an excellent opportunity to create a new Ancestry Member Tree and let Ancestry discover the low-hanging fruit in the form of Hints and an organized search strategy.

1)  I created a GEDCOM file for 6 generations of descendants from Aaron Smith in RootsMagic, then uploaded it to a new Ancestry Member Tree (which I made Private for now).  When I opened the tree, I saw:



Immediately, the green Leaf Hints started to appear for persons in this tree.  The tree has 125 Persons in it, and after less than 30 minutes has 445 Record Hints.

2)  My plan is to:

*  For each person in the tree, review the Record Hints offered by Ancestry and accept the ones that are for the person of interest.  Then add those Hints as events in my RootsMagic database including source citations for the events.
*  For each person in the tree, conduct a Search for the person on Ancestry, and attach the records that are for the person of interest.   Then add events in my RootsMagic database for those matches, including source citations for the events.

3)  Here is the top of the Hints list for James A. Smith (1833-1902), my second great-granduncle:


There are seven Hints offered for this person:

*  Ancestry Member Trees for James Alpheus Smith
*  1870 United States Federal Census for James Alpheus Smith (census record)
*  Massachusetts Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988 (birth record) for James Alpheus Smith
*  U.S. Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current for James A. Smith (cemetery record)
*  Michigan Death Records, 1897-1920 for James A. Smith (death record)
*  1900 United States Federal Census for James Smith (census record)
*  Michigan Death Records, 1867-1950 for James A. Smith (death record)

4)  A Search from the profile page for James Alpheus Smith provides more potential records for him.  My experience is that almost all matches for a person are listed in the first 50 matches, so the list is manageable even though Ancestry found over 2 million matches.


In addition to the 7 green leaf Hints listed above, there are records for:

*  Massachusetts Marriage Records, 1840-1915 for James A. Smith and Annie E. Stewart
*  Massachusetts Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988 for James A. Smith and Annie E. Stewart (2 entries, different resources)
*  1880 United States Federal Census for James Smith (census record)

I reviewed the first 100 matches, and all 10 of the applicable matches listed above are in the first 50 matches.

5)  There may be other records to search for - there are probably census records for him in the 1850 and 1860 U.S. Census, and there may be City Directory entries in Boston and Detroit.  This is a very common name, which is why there were 2 million matches on the list.

Viewing the Hints and searching took just a few minutes;  adding the new content to James Alpheus Smith in my RootsMagic database will take some time, but it is well worth doing the search this way.  I'm not done, obviously, there may be records in other online databases on FamilySearch, Fold3, MyHeritage, Findmypast, AmericanAncestors, GenealogyBank, Google and other online websites.

So, that's one down and 124 persons to go. That's manageable in a week or two, mainly because I have already found quite a few records in my ancestral line from Aaron Smith.

6)  Recall that the green leaf Hints are not the result of an actual search for the person - they are for records that other users have attached to their Ancestry Member Tree.  Therefore, a Search for additional records is necessary.

7)  Having the green leaf Hints and the general Search capability is a real benefit of having an Ancestry subscription.  The Hints save me a tremendous amount of time since almost every Hint (up to 95%(?) provided by Ancestry is for the correct person, even for a common name).

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Copyright (c) 2016, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.


Family Tree Magazine's Lists 101 Best Genealogy Websites for 2016

I received an email from Family Tree Magazine today about their 101 Best Genealogy Websites for 2016.  The email noted:

"Each year, Family Tree Magazine publishes the 101 Best Websites for family history to guide genealogists to the top websites where they can make family history research progress, and to honor the individuals and organizations who create those sites. This year, we took a fresh look at the list, adding more than 30 new, innovative and overlooked sites. For the "old favorites" on the list, we've highlighted new content and features.


"This September 2016 issue is being mailed to subscribers and is available at ShopFamilyTree.com. It goes on sale August 16 at newsstands. 

"The full list of 101 Best Websites for family history can be found using the category links at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/article/101-best-websites-2016 ."



There are 16 categories listed this year (click on the links below):
The big surprise was that Genea-Musings was listed in the Best Genealogy News and Help Sites:


I think the star means that the listing is new for 2016.

So I can use their badge for the next year on my blog:



Cool.  Thank you to Family Tree Magazine for the honor.  

Readers:  What genealogy website should they add to their list?  Here is your chance to tell the editors what they should check out for the 2017 list.

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Copyright (c) 2016, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.


NGS 2010 Conference Photos #2 -- Post 424 for (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 April 2010, we spent five days in Salt Lake City at the National Genealogical Society Conference. Here are some of my photographs from the week:

1) It snowed one day in late April 2010 in Salt Lake City - this California boy went out in it but didn't lick a metal pole:



2)  In the Exhibit Hall, Diane Haddad and Allison Stacy were in the Family Tree Magazine booth:


3)  In the MyHeritage.com booth, Sebastien Hue and Daniel Horowitz posed for my picture:


4)  I always like to visit with Janet Hovorka at her exhibit:


I will share more from this conference in the coming weeks. 


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Copyright (c) 2016, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.


Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Tuesday's Tip - Use WorldCat.org to Find the Nearest Repository for a Book

This week's Tuesday's Tip is:  Use WorldCat.org to find the nearest repository for a specific book.

A reader emailed me asking where I found the book:

Dean Crawford Smith and Melinde Lutz Sanborn, The Ancestry of Eva Belle Kempton, 1878-1908 (Boston : New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1996).

I went to www.WorldCat.org, and put the book title in the search box:

 After clicking "Search everything" on the screen above, I saw the results:


I selected the first one from the list, and saw:


Further down the screen, WorldCat provides a list of the repositories that hold this book, listed by distance from your zip code (you need to enter it into the form):
:

There are five pages, about 29 entries, on the list.

The closest repository to me is Fresno County Public Library, about 325 miles away.  I think I read it at  the Family History Library in Salt Lake City many years ago.  I hope my reader is close to one of the listed repositories.

Have you used WorldCat.org to find repositories with genealogy books that you want to read?

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The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2016/08/tuesdays-tip-use-worldcatorg-to-find.html

Copyright (c) 2016, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.


Treasure Chest Tuesday - Death Date of Elling Eriksen Natvig in Petition to Prove Will

Yes, I know it's supposed to be Treasure Chest Thursday, but I can't help it - I want to share some of the records that I (and others) have found in my/their repository and online searches for my ancestral families.

This week's Treasure is the 1896 :Petition to Prove Will" document that is in the estate file for Elling Eriksen Natvig (1820-1896) in the Dane County, Wisconsin probate records:



The part of the doucment that provides the death date is:



The transcription of this portion of the document is (handwritten portions in italics and underlined):

PETITION TO PROVE WILL
State of Wisconsin, Dane County Court.
TO THE SAID COURT:
The petition of T.S. Leland
of the town of Deerfield, County of Dane, State of Wisconsin,
respectfully represents and shows:
That Elling Erickson Natvig, a resident of the town of Cottage Grove,
County of Dane, State of Wisconsin, died testate on or about the 15th day of March
189 6, at the town of  Cottage Grove in the County of Dane  ,
State of  Wisconsin, as your petitioner is informed and believes.
That the instrument in writing, bearing date the  2nd  day of  September  189 5 ,
herewith presented to the Court is the last Will and Testament of Said Elling Erickson Natvig
deceased, as your petitioner believes.  
...

The source citation for this document is:

Dane County, Wisconsin, Dane County Probate Records, "Dane County Probate Records, Box 159 - 160," Box 160, images 1076 to 1108 of 1335, Estate of Elling Erickson Natvig records, image 1077, petition of T.S. Leland, 1896; "Wisconsin, Wills and Probates, 1800-1987," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 10 September 2015).

The death date is not included in any of the Wisconsin death indexes found online on Ancestry.com or FamilySearch.org.

Elling Eriksen Natvig (1820-1896) is the second great-grandfather of my wife, Linda (Leland) Seaver.

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The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2016/08/treasure-chest-tuesday-death-date-of.html

Copyright (c) 2016, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.