Monday, December 30, 2024

2025 Legacy Family Tree Webinars series announced — adds members-only AI series and 173 new webinars

 I received this information from Geoff Rasmussen of Legacy Family Tree Webinars today:

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MyHeritage and Legacy Family Tree Webinars are pleased to announce that registration is now open for its 2025 Legacy Family Tree Webinars series, now in its 15th year. Choose from 173 classes taught by genealogy's leading educators including two brand new series: Artificial Intelligence for Genealogists (members-only series), and the Genealogy Guys Learn series.

The new year will feature 132 speakers from 17 countries. We welcome 35 newcomers to the webinar series including Drew Smith (from The Genealogy Guys), Michael John Neill (author of Genealogy Tips of the Day), Bonnie Wade Mucia (Director of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants’ Silver Books Project), David Allen Lambert (Chief Genealogist at American Ancestors), and Mark Thompson (co-host of the The Family History AI Show).


Brand New Members-Only Series: Artificial Intelligence for Genealogists

Our genealogy industry's leaders in the integration of genealogy and artificial intelligence will meet with our webinar members as a private group each month. They will introduce new techniques and technology, provide real-life genealogy applications, and help us learn how to apply AI with down-to-earth examples and step-by-step instructions. This series is accessible only with a webinar membership. Webinar members have access to the live events, the class replays, and the class syllabus materials. Must be signed in as a member to register and attend. See the lineup here.

Brand New Members-Only Series: Genealogy Guys Learn

The popular genealogy education series, Genealogy Guys Learn with George Morgan and Drew Smith, has a new home here at Legacy Family Tree Webinars. Throughout the year (probably twice each month) their well-designed and well-tested genealogy training classes will be added to our webinar library. Their pre-recorded classes will appear at https://familytreewebinars.com/genealogyguys, will be free for a week, and then accessible to anyone with a webinar membership.

Webinar Wednesdays

Join us each Wednesday for "Webinar Wednesday". Reserve Wednesdays at 2pm (Eastern U.S. time) or for the night owls, the second Wednesday of each month at 8pm.

In addition to our weekly Webinar Wednesdays, we will continue to offer other unique classes including:
How to register

Sign up (it's FREE!*) for one or for all of them today and you will receive a reminder email both one day and two hours prior to the live event. (*The "Artificial Intelligence for Genealogists" series is included free for webinar members.)


Webinar Brochure

Print the 2025 brochure to share with your friends, genealogy society, or FamilySearch Center.

Become a webinar member
  • All live webinars are free (except for the members-only "Artificial Intelligence for Genealogists" series) and their recordings are free to watch for the first week. With a webinar membership you get these additional benefits:Access to 1) all the existing 2,300+ classes in the library, 2) plus the 170+ webinars that will be added during the 2025 season, 3) plus any additional bonus members-only webinars (hundreds of these so far) — all available for the duration of your membership
  • Access to all 9,000+ pages of instructors' handouts plus the new handouts of the 2025 season
  • Chat logs from the live webinars
  • Chance for a bonus members-only door prize during each live webinar
  • Advanced navigation of videos with playlists and chapters
  • Exclusive section for all webinars you've registered for
  • Option to bookmark your favorites
  • Additional 5% off anything at FamilyTreeWebinars.com
  • It's just $49.95/year.
Nowhere else - on land, at sea, or online - will you find genealogy courses as comprehensive, diverse, or as numerous as you will find at FamilyTreeWebinars.com


2025 Speakers



Lots of brand new speakers join many of your favorites for 2025. One of them may be the one to help you break down your genealogical brick wall. Don't miss even one week! We welcome these new speakers to our webinar series: Adwoa Ulzen Setrakian, Alison Spring, Amy Harris, PhD, AG, FRHistS; Angela Harris, CG; Art Taylor, Bonnie Wade Mucia, Brent Trout, Brian Nash, Carol Ansel, Chukwudi Emmanuel Ewa, Claire Bradley, Cynthia Evans, David Allen Lambert, Drew Smith, Evan Holmes, CG; Gill Thomas, Jen Shaffer, Jude Rhodes, Julia A. Anderson, MA, AG, AGL; Karen Evans, Kathy Kirkpatrick, Kelly Cornwell, Ken McKinlay, Kyra Bryant, Lene Dræby Kottal, Maggie Gaffney, Marine Soulas, Mark Thompson, Michael John Neill, Michelle Goodrum, CG; Nicholas Dixon, Nicole Elder Dyer, Phoebe Cooper, Sarah Pettyfer, and Tina Beaird.


Have a wonderful 2025 of genealogy learning!

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Disclosure:  I am a paid yearly subscriber to Family Tree Webinars.  

Copyright (c) 2024, 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, or Pinterest using the icons below. Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.  Please note that all comments are moderated and may not appear immediately. 

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Randy's Genealogy Pot-Pourri - Week Ending 29 December 2024

Here are the highlights of my family history and genealogy related activities over the past week (ending 29 December 2024).  

1)  Watched two webinars on Family Tree Webinars:   DNA: Proof, Citation & Privacy by Elizabeth Shown Mills; and Mastering DNA Match Labels: Utilizing the Power of Your Notes Field by Dana Leeds.

2)  Transcribed the 1877 mortgage indenture of Alexander Sovereen to Robert Thompson Livingtone  in Windham township, Norfolk County, Ontario for the Amanuensis Monday theme. 

3)  Wrote a genealogical sketch for my 2nd Great-GrandAunt Harriet Augusta Hildreth (1835-1850) of Townsend and Northborough, Massachusetts for the 52 Relatives theme.

4)  Requested free AI tools to answer a genealogy research question, and posted answers in Ask AI: "What were Christmas celebrations like in the years 1700, 1800, 1900, 1950, 2000?" and Ask AI: "How do I prove that family history information in a family tree is correct?"


                                                   (image created on ChatGPT4)

5)  Requested free AI tools to create a poem and song lyrics about my paternal 2nd great-grandmother, Amy Frances (Oatley) White (1826-1864), and had Suno.com create a song using the lyrics.  I posted the poem created by Claude AI, the song lyrics created by Claude AI, and the Suno song MP4, in  "Amy's Heart of Gold" -- An Ancestor's Story In Poem and Song Created by Artificial Intelligence.


6)  Had AI tools create a poem and song in  "My Christmas Memories" -- My Christmas Story In Poem and Song Created by Artificial Intelligence using ChatGPT4 song lyrics.

7) Curated Genealogy News Bytes - Week of 18 to 24 December 2024, Genealogy Education Bytes - Week of 19 to 25 December 2024, and Best of the Genea-Blogs - 22 to 28 December 2024 to keep readers updated on the genealogy world.

8)  Compiled Randy's "Best Of" Genea-Musings Posts in 2024.  More end-of-year summaries are planned.

9)  My AncestryDNA now has 47,569 DNA matches (up 63 from 22 December) with 2009 "close" matches today (up 1), with 2 new ThruLines.  I added Notes to 3 Matches, and added one new DNA match lines to RootsMagic.   MyHeritageDNA now has 13,112 DNA matches (up 18 from 22 December) for me.  Reviewed the new DNA matches on AncestryDNA, MyHeritageDNA, FamilyTreeDNA and 23andMe.  

10)  Occasionally matched RootsMagic 10 profiles to FamilySearch Family Tree.  I have matched 52,199 of my RootsMagic persons with FamilySearch Family Tree profiles (up 13).  

11)  Searched for more records of ancestral families on Ancestry, FamilySearch and MyHeritage, downloaded record images to my digital file folders, and added research notes, events and sources to RootsMagic profiles.  My RootsMagic family tree now has 73,951 profiles (up 22 from last week) and 147,312 source citations (up 5).  Added more short biographical sketches to ancestors and edited historical place names for a number of families. 

12) Wrote 22 Genea-Musings blog posts last week (Sunday through Saturday), of which none were a press release. The most viewed post last week was Reclaim the Records Does It Again! -- the Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) Database is Freely Available! with over 337 views.  Genea-Musings had about 32,300 page views last week and over 341,000 views over the past month.  

13)  Real life events:  Visited Linda several days at her memory care facility and we played Uno.  Went to the grocery store on Monday and Friday.  Celebrated Christmas morning with Linda and Christmas afternoon in Huntington Beach with Tami's family.  I'm finished reading Hell's Corner by David Baldacci and started A Devil Waiting by Jack Higgins.  My SDSU Aztecs lost one basketball game, so now 8-3.  My Chargers won this week's game over the Patriots, so now 10-6 on the season. 

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The URL for this post is:  https://www.geneamusings.com/2024/12/randys-genealogy-pot-pourri-week-ending_0278006371.html

Copyright (c) 2024, 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, or Pinterest using the icons below. Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.  Please note that all comments are moderated and may not appear immediately. 

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Amanuensis Monday -- 1877 Mortgage Indenture of Alexander Sovereen and Elizabeth Sovereen to Robert Thompson Livingstone for Land in Norfolk County, Ontario

This week's document for transcription is the 1877 mortgage indenture of  Alexander Sovereen and his wife Elizabeth to Robert Thompson Livingstone for land in Windham Township, Norfolk County, Ontario:

*  Norfolk Land Records 1876-1878 | pages 364-365, image 462 of 846:

*  Norfolk Land Records 1876-1878 | pages 366-367, image 463 of 846:

*  Norfolk Land Records 1876-1878 | pages 368-369, image 464 of 846:

The transcription of this document is (based on the FamilySearch Full-Text Search, with corrections as required, including line breaks):

In the left-hand margin on page 365:

N'o 43454 Mort
Sovereen etux
to Livingstone
Entered and Registered
this 14'th day of April
AD 1877, at 3 o'clock
and 10 Minutes P.M.
M: Number 30072
FL Walsh Reg.

In the main body of the mortgage indenture (pages 365-368):
  
This Indenture made in duplicate the Fourteenth day of April One thousand 
Eight Hundred and Seventy seven , in pursuance of the Act respecting short 
forms of Mortgages. Between , Alexander Sovereen of the Township of Windham 
in the County of Norfolk , Farmer , hereinafter called the Mortgagor of the 
First part : Elizabeth Sovereen his wife of the second part : and Robert 
Thompson Livingstone of the Town of Simcoe , in said County Esquire 
hereinafter called the Mortgager of the third part . Witnesseth that in 
consideration of Five Hundred Dollars of lawful money of Canada now 
said by the said Mortgager to the said Mortgagor the receipt whereof is 
hereby acknowledged , the said Mortgagor doth grant and mortgage unto 
the said Mortgagee his heirs and assigns forever . All and Singular those 
certain parcels or tract of land and premises situate , lying and being 
in the Township of Windham in the County of Norfolk containing in the 
aggregate by admeasurement Fifty five acres , two roods and thirty four 
perches of land be the same more or less and being composed of 
Firstly the South Westerly part of the North half of Lot number Twenty 
One in the Eleventh Concession of the said Township of Windham : which 
said parcel of land is bounded as follows , that is to say : Commencing on 
the Westerly side line of said Lot at the South West angle of the North 
Fifty acres of said Lot ; thence South fifteen degrees and forty minutes 
East fifteen chains and twenty links more or less to the limit between 
the North and South halves of said Lot number Twenty one : thence North 
seventy Eight degrees and thirty minutes East five chains and fifteen 
links more or less to the Westerly side of the established road leading 
from the Village of Fredericksburg to the Village of Scotland , Thence 
bounding thereon north about nine degrees and thirty minutes East fifteen 
chains and ninety six links more or less to the Southerly limit of the 
North fifty acres of said lot and thence bounding thereon South Seventy 
Eight degrees and thirty minutes West Eleven chains and forty links more or 
less to the place of Beginning , Containing by admeasurement Twelve 
acres , two roods and eleven perches of land be the same more or less. 
Secondly , Being composed of a Southerly part of the South half of Lot 
number Twenty two in the Eleventh Concession of the said Township of 
Windham containing by admeasurement thirteen acres and twenty three 
Perches of land be the same more or less , which said parcel or tract 
of land is butted and bounded or may be otherwise known as follows 
that is to say : Beginning where a stone is planted on the Northerly 
side of an allowance for road in rear of said concession being at the 
distance of twelve chains and twenty links from where a stone is 

planted at the South Westerly angle of said Lot number twenty two 
thence running parallel to the side lines of said lot North fifteen 
degrees forty minutes West three chains and twenty five links to 
where a stone is planted as the North West angle of the parcel of land 
hereby conveyed : thence running parallel to the allowance for road 
in lien of said Concession North Seventy eight degrees thirty minutes 
East fourteen chains more or less to the Westerly side of the travelled 
road crossing said Lot leading to the Town of Brantford . thence 
bounding on the Westerly side of said Road South eight degrees 
and thirty minutes West Eleven chains and fifteen links more or less 
to where a stone is set at the intersection of said road with the 
allowance for road in rear of said Concession : and thence 
bounding thereon South Seventy Eight depus and thirty minutes 
West nine chains and thirty seven links more or less to the place of
Beginning , and Thirdly , Thirty acres of land more or less being composed 
of the Westerly part of the North half of Lot number Twenty in the 
Twelfth Concession of the Township of Windham aforesaid , which said 
parcel or tract of land is butted and bounded as follows , Beginning 
at the North Westerly angle of the said Lot number twenty , thence 
bounding on the allowance for road in front of the said Concession 
North Seventy Eight depus and thirty minutes East Eight chains and 
ninety links and three tenths of a link : thence running parallel to 
the side line of said Lot South fifteen depers and forty minutes
East thirty three chains and Seventy links more or less to the 
division between the north and South halves of said Lot , thence 
running parallel to the allowance for road in part of said 
Concession ( and upon the division line of said half Lots ) South 
Seventy Eight degrees thirty minutes West Eight Chains and 
ninety links and three tenths of a line to the Westerly side line
of said Lot : and thence bounding thereon North fifteen degrees
and forty minutes West thirty three chains and Seventy links 
more or less to the place of Beginning . To Have and To Hold the 
same with the appurtenances unto and to the use of the said 
Mortgager his heirs and assigns forever subject to the proviso
for redemption thereof hereinafter contained . Provided this 
Mortgage to be void on payment of Five Hundred Dollars of 
lawful money of Canada with interest at Eight per cent as follows : 
At the expiration of three years from the date hereof together
with interest thereon at the said late payable in the meantime
annually , and taxes and performance of Statute labour . 
The said Mortgagor Covenants with the said Mortgagee that the 
Mortgagor will pay the Mortgage money and interest and observe 
the above proviso That the Mortgagor hath a good title in
fee simple to the said lands.  And that he hath the right to 
Convey the said lands to the said Mortgagee . And that on 
default the Mortgagee shall have quiet possession of the said 

lands free from all encumbrances . And that the said Mortgagor will 
Execute such further assurances of the said lands as may Requisite .
And that the said Mortgagor hath done no act to incumber the said 
lands . And that the said Mortgagor will insure the building on the said 
lands to the amount of not less than Five Hundred Dollars Currency 
and the said Mortgagor doth release to the said Mortgagee all his 
claims upon the said lands subject to the said proviso , and it is 
hereby declared and agreed by and between the said parties hereto that 
in case the said interest shall not be paid on the days and times 
hereinbefore appointed for payment thereof then and so often as the 
same shall be in arrears interest shall become due and payable 
thereon at the date aforesaid from the time the same shall become 
due until payment thereof , Provided that the said Mortgagee on 
default of payment for one month may enter on and lease or sell the 
said lands without notice . and the Mortgager covenants with the 
Mortgagor that no sale or lease of the said lands shall be made or 
granted by him until such time as one months notice in writing shall 
have been given to the Mortgagor and the service or giving of such 
notice shall be good and effectual either by leaving the same with 
a grown up person on the mortgaged premises if occupied or 
by putting up the same on some portion thereof if unoccupied 
or at the option of the Mortgagee by publishing the same for four 
successive times in some newspaper published in the County of 
Norfolk. Provisoed that the purchaser shall in no case be bound 
to ascertain that the default has happened under which the 
Mortgagor claims to lease or sell and that the remedy of the 
Mortgagor for any breach of the said Covenant shall be in damages
only and the Sale under the said power shall not be affected . 
Provided that the said Mortgagee may distrain for arrears of 
interest . Provided that in default of the payment of any instal-
ment of the principal or the interest hereby secured the whole 
principal hereby secured remaining unpaid shall become 
payable but the Mortgagee may waive his right to call in the 
principal and shall not be therefore debarred from asserting 
and exercising his right to call in the principal upon the 
happening of any future default . Provided that until default of 
payment the Mortgagor shall have quiet possession of the said
lands . And the said party of the second part hereby bars her 
Dower in the said lands . In Witness whereof the said parties 
hereto have hereunto set their hands and seals. 
Signed , Sealed and Delivered }  
In presence of                            }  (sgd) A. Sovereen   {LS}
(sgd) G.B. Jackson                   }  (sgd) E. Sovereen   {LS}
County of Norfolk  }   I George Bruce Jackson of the Town of 
      To Wit               }  Simcoe , in the County of Norfolk , Attorney at 
law , make oath and say that -1- I was personally present

and did see the within Indenture and a duplicate thereof duly 
Signed , Sealed and executed by Alexander Sovereen and Elizabeth 
Sovereen his wife two of the parties thereto -2- That the said 
Indenture and duplicate were executed at Simcoe aforesaid.
-3-  That I Know the said parties -4- That I am a subscribing 
witness to the said Indenture and duplicate 
Sworn before me at Simcoe            }
In the County of Norfolk this          } 
Fourteenth day of April A.D. 1877  } 
    (sgd)  Charles E. Barber              } G. B. Jackson 
A Commissioner &c 

The source citation for this land deed is:

Norfolk County (Ontario) Registrar of Deeds, #43454, mortgage indenture of Alexander Sovereen and Elizabeth Sovereen to Robert Thompson Livingstone, dated 14 April 1877, registered 14 April 1877;  imaged,   "Norfolk Land Records, 1876-1878," FamilySearch  (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSYS-M97Q-R?view=fullText : accessed 6 September 2024), pages 365-368, images 462-464 of 846; original records in Norfolk County (Ontario) Registrar of Deeds, Simcoe, Ontario, microfilmed and imaged by FamilySearch.

This is a Derivative Source (because it is a court clerk's transcription of the original mortgage indenture) with Primary Information and Direct Evidence of the mortgage number, the mortgagor and mortgagee, and the dates of the indenture execution and recording. 

Alexander Sovereen (1814-1907) was born 22 November 1814 in Middleton township, Norfolk county, Ontario, the son of Frederick and Mary Jane (Hutchison) Sovereen.  He died 15 August 1907 in Windham township, Norfolk county, Ontario.  Alexander married Elizabeth Putman (1820-1895) on 3 March 1840 in Norfolk county, Ontario.  She was the daughter of John Pieterse and Sarah (Martin) Putman.  They had 14 children.

Alexander and Elizabeth (Putman) Sovereen are my 3rd great-grandparents.  I am descended through their daughter Mary Jane Sovereen (1840-1874), who married James Abraham Kemp (1831-1902) in 1861. 

Read other transcriptions of records of my ancestors at Amanuensis Monday Posts.

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NOTE: 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 URL for this post is:  https://www.geneamusings.com/2024/12/amanuensis-monday-1877-mortgage.html

Copyright (c) 2024, 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 your comments on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below. Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.  Note that all comments are moderated, and may not appear online immediately.

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Sunday, December 29, 2024

Best of the Genea-Blogs - 22 to 28 December 2024

Scores of genealogy and family history bloggers write hundreds 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 most 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: 

*  Leave No Stone Unturned, No Ancestor Behind: 10 Easy Steps to Capture DNA Clues by Roberta Estes on DNAeXplained - Genetic Genealogy. 

*  Genealogy Classic: If You’re a Wee Bit Irish by Megan Smolenyak on Megan Smolenyak2.

*  A Wealthy Christmas by Jeff Record on The Last Aha.

*  Preview RootsTech 2025 Today by James Tanner on Genealogy's Star.

*  10 Best Genealogy Research Articles of 2024 by Jessica on Legacy Tree Genealogists.

*  Wow! Reclaim the Records Got BIRLS Files for Us for Free by Marian B. Wood on Climbing My Family Tree.

*  12 For '25 by Jacqi Stevens on A Family Tapestry.

*  Santa Comes to Cedar Hill - Typewriter for Christmas by J. Mark Lowe on Keeping the Story Alive.

*  Finding Your Roots Season 11 Begins Tues., Jan. 7 2025, on PBS at 8 p.m. by Lisa on Macomb County Genealogy Group.

*  My 2024 Research Year In Review by Marie Cooke Beckman on MarieB's Genealogy Blog - Southeastern USA.

*  My 2024 Review & 2025 Genealogy Goals by Linda Stufflebean on Empty Branches on the Family Tree.

*  Year in Review: The Top 20 for 2024 by Bob Taylor on The Family History Guide Blog.

Here are pick posts by other geneabloggers this week:

*  Friday’s Family History Finds by Linda Stufflebean on Empty Branches on the Family Tree.

*  This week’s crème de la crème — December 28, 2024 by Gail Dever on Genealogy a la Carte.

Readers are encouraged to go to the blogs listed above and read their articles, and add the 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 currently am reading posts from over 900 genealogy bloggers using Feedly, but I still miss quite a few it seems.

Read past Best of the Genea-Blogs posts here.

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Copyright (c) 2024, 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, or Pinterest using the icons below. Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.  Please note that all comments are moderated and may not appear immediately.

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