The Genealogy Breakthrough that Made Me Cry

Posted on by Kathleen

I don’t usually do blog posts this close together, but I just had to share my latest break through. I was attending one of Legacy Family Tree’s webinars (Mining Uber-sites for Germany Ancestors by James Beidler) and using one of the tips, broke down my not-so brick wall. This brick wall has stumped us all for years. I’ve talked about George Thorward before.

  1. Wordless Wednesday: George Thorward – 1st Car
  2. Tombstone Tuesday: Thorwards – Tombstone pictures for George and his wife Josephine, plus an extra one of them outside their house.
  3. Did I Find Him? – An entry where I first wonder about the George Thorward/George Yohn question.
  4. Surname Saturday: Thorward – A very brief glimpse of what I knew of the Thorwards in July of 2010
  5. An Unexpected, Yet Expected Turn – George shows up in his marriage record as George Yohn and I end the entry with the question: Who are you George?
  6. Mysterious Ancestors: I tried to examine this George Yohn/George Thorward thing yet again.
  7. George Yohn… Again: I got Josephine and George’s marriage record in the mail
  8. Timeline: George Thorward: Again, I use a timeline strategy to sort out what I know about George Thorward/Yohn. Note: Eagle eye readers will notice I state at the beginning that I lost the article that showed where he came from in Germany. Then post that same article at the bottom of the post. Talk about losing things right in front of your face!
Continue reading “The Genealogy Breakthrough that Made Me Cry” →

Genealogy Do-Over or Go-Over?

Posted on by Kathleen
informationoverload

I have been equally overwhelmed and inspired since returning from my genealogy break. Coming back from a long break has left me with fresh eyes, and a mostly fresh brain. What isn’t fresh, is my computer files. After all the stress and heartache of 2014, I just didn’t have it in me to continue trying to fix the mess my computer swap left me. I basically just walked away from the task and didn’t think about it anymore.

I previously talked about it in a March 2014 post. So now here I am. Wondering how I’m going to get started again. Sure I’ve been researching, but I am limping along. My digital organization is working alright, though I’m still trying to better it. I have an overabundance of files after my computer switch and then a software switch after The Unforgivable Act (TUA). Honestly, I don’t even know if I got around to telling you the details about that aftermath. In the interest of saving web space, I will just briefly say that I was using Family Tree Maker and was test driving Legacy Family Tree. Family Tree Maker crashed for the thousandth time and corrupted my file. I restored it just fine but I officially signed off Family Tree Maker that day and started to use Legacy full-time. I was just done with dealing with it.

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When I Started

Posted on by Kathleen

Over the past few years, I have become the go-to person in my family for family information. I gladly overwhelm everyone who asks me with tons of information. I answer any questions about the family or just genealogy in general. I find lots of ways to bring up my ancestors in a fun way. It didn’t happen overnight. I didn’t just say, hey this family tree thing is cool. I’m going to do that for the rest of my natural life.

What I Knew
This is all I knew when I started. With a privacy blur, for privacy sake.
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71 Years of Wedded Bliss!

Posted on by Kathleen
Elkhart Weekly Review - 05 May 1906

All this rain has left us with some plumbing issues and I don’t want to think about it anymore. We got it fixed on a weekend thanks to a very generous local company. It really makes you thankful for people when they go out of their way to help, without charging you an arm and a leg. After all the stress and worry, I decided to use one of the newspaper websites to search and I came across the article to the left! Last week, I talked about what a small world it was and I thought I’d also share this gem about that very same person.

It appeared in the May 5th, 1906 edition of the Elkhart Weekly Review. It talks about Reuben and Anna Webb, my 3x great uncle and aunt. For some reason, I’ve always loved these two. I don’t know why, maybe it’s just their stability and longevity. I am still trying to track down their descendants. I know their wedding anniversary was a big deal, because they frequently appear in the paper as a celebration. Not only that but it seems as if they had a big shindig every year to celebrate! I’m pretty sure if I had been married 71 years, I’d be throwing parties too! That’s a big deal.

One of the things in the article that struck me because I had never heard it before, was that “soon after their marriage they went westward to Indiana with their parents”. I know that they went from Brown County, Ohio to Tippecanoe County, Indiana but I had no idea their parents came with them. In fact, I was pretty sure Reuben’s dad, Reuben, lived in Ohio for the rest of his life. Not that I have any records stating that, it’s just what I assumed! It could just mean Anna’s parents but it didn’t sound like that.

I also love that it mentions Reuben’s time in the Civil War, I had already known that, but I love the more personal recollection about it. Sadly, a few months after this article and their 71st wedding anniversary Anna died.

Tomorrow will be the 181st anniversary of their marriage. According to records, they got their license on the 4th of May, and then were married on the 16th. I say Happy Anniversary for any day they wanted to celebrate on. 🙂

181weddinganniversary

Sources:

“Wedded Many Years,” Elkhart Weekly Review, 5 May 1906, p. 8, col. 3; digital images, Genealogy Bank (http://www.genealogybank.com : accessed 15 May 2016), This entire product and/or portions thereof are copyrighted by NewsBank and/or the American Antiquarian Society.

Brown County, Ohio, Marriage Records, 1818-1939, 4: 136, Webb-Sidwell, 4 May 1835; digital images, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 15 May 2016).

Definitely a Small World

Posted on by Kathleen

Like all genealogists, I am always searching things for familiar names. It could be newspapers and obituaries or even my families Facebook pages. When I finally got my Grandpa Moore to clear out his closet in Columbus, I was absolutely ecstatic. I was even happier when he let me confiscate what was in it. Police Chief’s granddaughter humor there. There were boxes of things in that closet. More than I thought I would ever be able to go through. I even thought I would have to weed some of it out. I had heard stories of grandparents saving things that weren’t exactly important. I haven’t thrown anything out though, because apparently my great-grandparents were amateur genealogists. They saved all the right things at all the right times. I have so many amazing records, I could just cry thinking about it. It makes me wish I had known them. Technically I knew Grandma Llewellyn, but I don’t remember her since I was so young when she died. I know I would have loved her though because through these objects she kept, I know that I would have spent a lot of time talking about the past with her. I am just so grateful that my Aunt Lori loves talking about it so much, because it is the next best thing.

Imagine my surprise when I’m going through all these things that have sat in a closet for over 30 years, and I find the most amazing thing. Not even something for my father’s side of the family, but my mothers.

smallworld
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When to Change the Spelling on a Name?

Posted on by Kathleen

One of the problems I still struggle with is when to change a spelling for one of my families. Usually it’s not an issue. 90% of my families stay pretty consistent. There is that other 10% though. My latest example being the Featherson/Featherston family.

I first became aware of the Feathersons on my great-grandparents marriage certificate.

0284-CliffordHerbertRedford-MR
New Jersey Office of Vital Statistics & Registry, marriage certificate 4422 (1923), Redford-Parkin; New Jersey Department of Health, Trenton

My 2x great-grandmother’s maiden name on this record shows Jennie Featherson. Now in indexes, it usually comes up as Peatherson just like Sutcliffe usually comes up as Putcliffe. I really believe that is an F on this record.

Continue reading “When to Change the Spelling on a Name?” →

William R Parkin and Ann Maltis marriage

Posted on by Kathleen
William R Parkin, Ann Maltis marriage

Since I will be posting a timeline of William Richard Parkin on Friday, I thought I should post his marriage certificate on here as a little teaser. I recently got this in the mail from England and was very excited to jump back another generation. This record taught me a couple of things I didn’t know and confirmed some things I suspected.

  1. I had suspected that a John Parkin, brushmaker, from Sheffield, England was his father and I think this helps sway me in that direction.
  2. I was absolutely surprised when the certificate came in and it was for Middlesex county, Hampton parish. As you can tell it was registered in Kingston, Surrey, England where Ann’s family lived.
  3. William’s occupation of being a private in the 12th Lancers was another surprise. Where I know him from in America, he was a stone cutter and worked in a sand paper factory.

That’s all for now! I don’t want to give too much away before Friday. 😉 Plus I need to update my database website with the new info.

Brief Website Makeover

Posted on by Kathleen

Hello all, just dropping in quickly this morning to say I’ve refreshed my database website with a new look. I am recovering from a 3 day migraine and just could not take the bright colors I used to love.

websitescreenshot

I made sure to leave in links to everything that had links before. Now I just need to keep updating it so it has more current research on it. The only major re-design that would happen to either this section or the database section is when I learn more coding. 🙂 That’s going to take a little time though, so this design will probably be around a while.

I will hopefully be back later today with an actual genealogy update or record at least. Then Friday, I will be posting another time. This time for William Richard Parkin.

SNGF: My 2nd Great Grandparents

Posted on by Kathleen

Randy Seaver has a new Saturday Night Genealogy Fun post up! Since all my housework is done for the day and the house is settling down, I decided to jump in on this one and see how it went.

The mission is to list my 16 great-great grandparents with their birth year, their death year, and their lifespan. It should be interesting to see how they vary or if they vary at all. I’m going to list them as they go right down my pedigree, in fact, for fun here is my pedigree. 🙂

Kathleen's Pedigree

You can see their dates up there but I am going to type them anyway.

  1. Robert James Moore Sr. (1871-1925) 54 years old.
  2. Mary E. Johnson (1873-?) She died between 1910 and 1915, so between 37 and 42 years old.
  3. Lewis Thorward (1875-1946) 71 years old.
  4. Jennie Viola Love (1876-1960) 84 years old.
  5. Herbert Redford (1872-1940) 67 years old.
  6. Sarah Ann Sutcliffe (1873-1924) 51 years old. I found her headstone but not her death certificate.
  7. John Walter Parkin (1863-?) I think he died between 1905 and 1910, so between 42 and 47 years old.
  8. Jennie Featherson (1875-?) I think she died between 1900 and 1905, so between 25 and 30 years old.
  9. John Harmon Mays (1842-1927) 84 years old.
  10. Celia Slusher (1844-1914) 70 years old.
  11. Charles Moyer (1861-1940) 78 years old.
  12. Ada May Evans (1873-1925) 52 years old.
  13. George Thomas Taylor (1863-1913) 50 years old.
  14. Mollie Jane Webb (1867-1931) 64 years old.
  15. James William Applegate (1862-1951) 88 years old.
  16. Elizabeth West (1870-1938) 68 years old.

The average lifespan is 62 years. The average birth year is 1866 and the average death year is 1933. Very interesting and I see where I need to do a little more work at too!