Come on, this must have happened to you too

Okay, so there I am on Ancestry.com minding my own business, building my tree, armed with a plethora of family history and dates. Then some kind soul emails me through Ancestry and tells me that someone one of the branches of my tree is wrong (my great grandfather). The tree that I so carefully filled was wrong?

So what happens if you make an error on your tree? Do you toss it out and start all over again? No, you work the steps from yourself back through time until you find all the facts. But what if you aren’t wrong? You begin the laborious task of proof all over again anyway.

The Irish name in question is so common that maybe my tree and her tree are both right.

Go back to basics and your sources:

My tree is made up of facts from the family bible and family sources:

family bible pages can be indecipherable, but can contain some of the best information

You can find some records on Ancestry:

You can find priceless information in texts online that contain a lot of detail - most of the books on Ancestry.com (where this page comes from) are also available for free on Google books

Or, you can go to my favorite FREE site – FamilySearch – and find transcribed records of historical texts:

So, the next time your information is challenged, remember that you may actually be right and, just to recheck yourself, you can use these sources.

 

 

More about the sadly neglected cemetery

It has been a while since I reported about this sadly neglected cemetery. Since then, I’ve learned so much more, but still have so many unanswered questions.

My local historical society has been closed on the days that I’ve been off and able to get down there – it is run by one volunteer who can’t spend all of her time there. So, I proceeded to conduct a fairly exhaustive internet search. The only thing that came up matching the location of this sad place, was my own blog post and YouTube video about it. Just when I was about to give up, I made one last-ditch attempt to find it through Google using as many filters as possible. I hit pay dirt about two search pages in and found a link to a USGenWeb web page for the cemetery.

It turns out that this cemetery is called Old Lake Cemetery.* Once upon a time it was kept trimmed and neat, as is evidenced by photographs found on Find A Grave. Many, if not all, of the tombstones have already been photographed and posted on Find a Grave, and those photographs show short grass and clearly visible stones. The article, which is really only a listing of names, on USGenWeb (a free genealogy site) mentions that it was overgrown as of the date of its publication in the year 2000. Yet, the first picture of a headstone in this cemetery at Find a Grave, shows cleared grass in September 2010, ten years late. Just to make sure I was in the right cemetery, I looked up a few stones that I had photographed when I first made the sad discovery and found one of the stones and it matches, exactly the same stone. So I knew then that I was in the right place. So what has happened in the ensuring year? Why is this cemetery neglected yet again?

So, even though I have some answers now, I am left with more questions.

————–

*the map on the Find A Grave site is wrong – this cemetery is at the intersection of Lake Road and Main Road. Anyone wishing to visit this cemetery should follow map quest directions to Lake Road school, which is located next to this cemetery.

 

What I stumbled upon on the trail of a dead relative…

I was searching through Ancestry.com for an early relative and stumbled upon a link to this website…

…a site maintained by the National Park Service. After you get on this free information site, you can search for a relative that you know, or suspect, was in the Civil War to see their service record and even their cemetery site. Free info, in a world where documents and searches can be costly is a great thing.

Lesson learned: It pays to look more closely at some of your search info. The James Purdy noted on the research page is not the relative that I was looking for, but I clicked on the research page just for the heck of it, wondering if what I found was a relative of the original relative (it was not). When I read the source information, I saw a link to the park service page. In the future, I’ll look more closely at my sources.

 

Reusing the names of deceased children …. what?

I found a pretty cool ebook called Genealogies of the families and descendants of the early settlers of Watertown, Massachusetts. The book details exactly what the title says. Utilizing this book, I was able to go all the way back to the first Stearns family members who emigrated with the Winthrop fleet in 1630.

So, having already started some flawed work on the family tree, I started a new one utilizing only information found in this book. As I was going along, I found multiple branches that don’t necessarily reach to me, but decided to help others on Ancestry.com by putting the information in for all to use. I had no idea how much of an undertaking that would be.

Between job hunting (post layoff) and generally organizing my home (post education), I’ve been imputing the information I’m finding in this book a little at a time.  I’m about halfway through … I think

Anyway, as I’ve been working through all the descendants and their children and their children’s children, I’ve noticed the high mortality of infants – so sad. It made me rethink the old phrase, “you’ll catch your death,” a warning to people go out in the cold without a jacket. I’ve also noted that some deceased infants had their names, including middle names, reused for later children (from the same parents). I imagine that mothers in the 1600, 1700, and 1800s were heartbroken each time they lost a child. But why reuse the name of the earlier deceased child? That is a question for historians to answer. This amateur genealogist doesn’t have a clue.

Stearns Coat of Arms

 

My LDS adventure

I walk into the LDS temple where the local LDS library is located. I don’t see the temple as I am led by an incredibly healthy-looking girl to the LDS family history library. She leads me through hallways full of reproductions of luminous Christian art. Walls that don’t bear art are paneled with rich oak.

A high school friend of mine, who was Mormon, explained to me once that Mormons don’t drink caffeine, smoke, or indulge in any unhealthy activity because their bodies are temples. This girl’s glistening healthy looks bear evidence that she adheres to this philosophy.

I feel a bit shy in this new environment and tentatively step into the room that houses genealogical research. The LDS library is in a small room located in a the larger religious building. I’m grateful to have this opportunity, yet also feel humbled by the experience.

The LDS library is tiny and its chief components are a few giant file cabinets and an entire wall of computers. The shining, bright-eyed library assistant explains that the computers in this library not only have more access than my own at home, but also contain connections that LDS church members have already researched. Later, I see evidence of this shown by a tiny temple symbol in the top corner of a couple of the clips showing some of my own ancestors. The more I see, the more I am convinced that we are all a part of a giant web of related beings.

Today I seek information for one branch of my family tree. I think I have traced some ancestors back to the early days of the American colonies and the Revolutionary War. In just a few clicks, with the library assistant at my side, I see that most the research I found on Ancestry.com proves to be correct by further research here at the LDS center. I can order a microfilm of one ancestor’s marriage certificate – it is the only record that I can find that has microfilm available for me to review. The more I have learned, the more I know that this is just one tiny piece of the proof I will need to gather to validate my research. With empty pockets and no clear prediction for when I will be able to return to the center, I know I will have to leave with a slip of paper bearing the film numbers I hope to order soon. I promise myself that I will return to order these microfilms.

The library assistant and I talk. I learn very little about her, but she learns a lot about me through her questions about the past and present. I explain that I’m a beginner and am still learning my way around computer-based research and haven’t ventured outside of New Jersey to verify documentation in court houses and legal record stores that are located where my ancestors lived (mostly New York and Massachusetts). I tell her that every time I hit a brick wall with my research, I go onto the FarmilySearch.org site and index records. I tell her that I set a goal for myself to index 1000 records (that is 1000 people) every week.

She is pleased by this and says, “I’m in the presence of a very special person.” Her words are full of sincerity. I cannot picture this girl teasing anyone or saying anything disparaging to or about anyone. It is I who feel that I’m in the presence of a special person.

This library assistant helps me to go back through all of the people that I think I have found to see if I’m correct. Not only are the names and dates that I have correct when compared to the LDS computer system, but the research there goes back even further into the realm of British royalty.

I feverishly print all the names and connections that I’ve found. Time is running out. The library assistant tells me that the LDS system will power down for its nightly update in a few minutes. In the midst of printing, time runs out and the system automatically restarts, wiping out everything on the screen.

Even though my research has been interrupted, I walk out of the LDS family history library with a smile on my face. This has been an overwhelmingly positive experience that I hope to repeat when I have more facts.

 

Genealogy research resource citation

When I undertook my genealogy search, I had no idea that such care had to be taken with source citation. Here is a video post regarding two texts commonly used for genealogy source citation:

 

Tried something different

I thought it might be interesting to try to do a video blog – or vlog – for this week’s reading response as well as a short recap of my recent research findings. Unfortunately the video is slightly longer than I intended – YouTube recommends 3 minutes or less. My video is 5 1/2 minutes long, but it includes a reading response as well as an update on my research. One observation: newscasters must practice in front of a camera a lot in order look as natural as they do. Doing this video has given me a new respect for vloggers who do it well. Hopefully with practice, I’ll improve.

 

First steps in genealogy

I went to my library and checked out two books (more on order):

• Social Networking for Genealogists
• First Steps in Genealogy

Before I can interview anyone or do any further research, I need to learn a little bit about the topic.

Am wondering how I will ever be able to fill out one of these – and this one only exhibits the first steps:

Image from Trusty Guides Genealogy page by Allyson Wells

I was still worried about taking on such an extensive project, so I went to my favorite video site to see if there were any YouTube videos about genealogy. I stumbled upon a YouTube video about the new US series Who Do You Think You Are? (Canada has had its own version since 2006)

This looks like a fun series to watch and learn from – it starts in on March 5th. In the interim, I may just go check out episodes from the Canadian series Who Do You Think You Are?