Genea-Musings

Follow-Up Friday - Reader Comments and Tips

2012-05-25T13:02:00.000-07:00

I have had several useful and informative reader comments and research tips over the past three weeks, including:

1) On Tuesday's Tip - English Parish Registers on FamilySearch.org (posted 15 May 2012):

* Geolover offered: "For a great deal of information about what parish registers exist, together with dates, some publication data and links to many helpful websites, this site is invaluable:
http://www.genuki.org.uk/contents/#Search

"Use and drill down into the location links at top of this gateway page. It is an extremely deep and broad site. One can search for specific locales and get lists of area churches, for example."

* Catherine noted: "... last night I perused the Hampshire records, from here in South Australia, and not only had my suspicion on the parentage of my GGGrandfather confirmed but discovered another 4 of his siblings! Am smiling to think that his marriage certificate will arrive, by post, next week which certainly should confirm my on-line discovery :-) "

* Howard Swain said: "Diana Trenchard mentioned last Jan. on the Gen-Medieval email list that there is a new site with an update to the info on Hugh Wallis' site. See: http://www.archersoftware.co.uk/igi/index.htm"

My comments: Thank you all for the very helpful links.

2) In Chronology Report in Legacy Family Tree 7.5 (posted 22 May 2012):

* Tessa noted: "I have added timelines to my Legacy program - including timelines for Newfoundland, Ireland, Nebraska, Washington and Oregon. You can add the "title," what appears in the Chronology Report, and then add as much detail/description as you want as well as your source citation (which does not need to print) for purposes of your Report.

"It is important to add events/facts to your peoples because this will flesh out their story in the timeline. I find it very helpful for finding my holes and/or giving me ideas of new places or events to research. I think we are all guilty of not taking the time to learn our software and certainly we are not aware of how robust these programs can be. Thanks for sharing how you do it."

My comment: Thank you, Tessa, for the idea of adding to the Historical Events list. I wonder if someone can show how to do this? If not, I will try to do it in a future post. Maybe when Geoff gets back from his cruise he can demonstrate it.

3) In FTM 2011 Source Citations in Legacy Family Tree 7 - Mangled? (posted 19 January 2011):

* Tenaciousone noted: "I agree that the GEDCOM standard needs to be updated both from a technical and a technological standpoint. It also needs to be monitored and updated on a continuous basis. But the aspect that I haven't seen covered, (at least in this posting), is that standards need to be set for sourcing and equally applied in each free standing program. Being a Legacy user, I know that there Source Writer follows the Elizabeth Shown Mills standard. Having been at this for over 20 years now, I have learned the hard way the value of accurate sources. Having a preset model in place, without having to take the time to look it up each time I needed to cite a source, has made me a better documenter of facts. I understand that each company wants to be unique in its product offerings but this is one area where they should all comply."

My comment: Source citation formatting is one of the problems we've been discussing for several years now. My hope is that all involved - software providers, online tree providers, and users can agree on a GEDCOM-like standard that seamlessly transfer source citations created using a number of standards (e.g., Evidence! Explained).

4) On Surname Saturday - LEWIS (England > RI > NY > Canada) (posted 25 June 2011):

* Mike Lewis commented: "You forgot to mention that Jonathan Lewis, born 1658 in Westerly, Washington, Rhode Island, United States; was not only married to Jemima Whitehead but was later married to Deliverance Townsend. I am a descendant of Johnathan and Deliverance by their son Joseph."

My comment: Thanks, Mike. I didn't forget, but I didn't add it to this list. For these Surname Saturday posts, I am showing only my direct line families with full siblings, rather than all marriages and all children of my direct line ancestors. My choice...

5) In Looking at Della's Ancestry Hints (posted 9 May 2012):

* Russ Worthington offered: "I think, sometimes, it pays to look at the Ancestry.com Knowledge Base website: http://ancestry.custhelp.com/. Search for article 4995. This statement "possibly match the individual in your tree", for me, is based on DATA within the Tree. (AMT or Family Tree Maker). Ancestry doing some searching for you. That is very different, I think, then Doing a Search on your own. (no leaves involved).

"Hints are helpful, but only that Hints. WE need to go beyond the Hints. To me it's like starting with a broad search and narrowing the search down, or starting a narrow search and removing some of the terms in the search. To me, the Leaves are the Narrow Search."
* Anonymous said: "Ancestry's hints only catch the "low-hanging" fruit. Best to always do your own search to be complete."

My comments: Than you for the comments. I see another blog post coming up - what records did the Ancestry Shaky Leaves miss?

Some observation: The knowledge of my readers complements my blog posts every week. I thank all readers for making comments that help me, and other readers, perform better and more complete genealogy research! Communication and collaboration are powerful tools!

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/05/follow-up-friday-reader-comments-and_25.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Using the Online Norfolk County, Massachusetts Deed Registry, 1793-2012

2012-05-25T09:30:00.000-07:00

I was enthused this morning when I read David Allen Lambert's blog post - The Online Genealogist: Norfolk, Co. Mass. Deed Index - on The Question of the Day blog on the American Ancestors website.

David answered a question about Norfolk county Deeds with:

"... I would recommend you visit the Norfolk County Registry of Deeds online. They have deeds and index page images since 1793 well into the late 20th century. You can begin your search online here: http://www.norfolkresearch.org/ALIS/WW400R.HTM"

This sounded promising, so I went to the Registry of Deeds site and tried it out. There are really two parts to this site:

* The Deeds before 1900 must be found by using the Deed Grantor and Grantee Indexes (searching by surname), noting the Deed Book and Page Number for specific deeds, and then using the Book and Page search fields to find the actual Deed (but there is a problem here - more later!).

* Deeds after 1900 may be searched by First Name, Surname and Town.

I was most interested in the first set of Deeds - the ones before 1900. I realized that I did not obtain one deed for Alpheus Smith when I was in Salt Lake City and used the Deed Indexes and Deeds on microfilm, so I wanted to capture that deed, plus several others.

The process to get to the actual deed is very time consuming and needs patience...here is my process:

1) The home page for the Norfolk County, Massachusetts Registry of Deeds is http://www.norfolkresearch.org/ALIS/WW400R.HTM:

2) In the box on the left-hand margin with the white background, click on the "Free Access" link.

3) In the next screen, click on the "Click here to access Norfolk Records" link at the bottom of the box in the left-hand margin.

4) The next screen looks like this:

The left-hand box on the screen above looks like this:

In order to access the Deeds from 1793 to 1900, click on the "Recorded Land Scanned Index by Name" link. To access the Deeds from 1900 on, click on the "Recorded Land by Name" link.

5) I clicked on the link for the 1793-1900 deeds, and the left-hand box looked like this:

In this search box, I used Last/corp name = "Smith" and First name = "Alpheus" and clicked the "Search" button.

6) The list of Deed Index pages that MIGHT contain Alpheus Smith are shown (there may be more than one screen - make sure to find them all!):

While Alpheus Smith is named on only one line above, there may be entries for him on ALL of the links shown.

7) I clicked on the "View" icon, and then the "View" link on the left on the last screen above, and saw:

There is the Deed of Grantee Alpheus B. Smith to Grantee Lebbeus Smith recorded on 1 July 1826. This deed is in Book 78, Page 166 of the Norfolk Deeds.

In the screen above, the system provides a search box on the left-hand margin to enter the Book and Page numbers.

8) I entered the Book and Page numbers, and did not land on the correct page - I eventually figured out that I landed on Page 83b (the page numbers were on only one side of the ledger book, so there were two images per page).

After experimenting a bit with the page number (involving going back to the Book/Page search fields), I finally figured out that I need to multiply the actual Deed Book Page number by two and subtract one. So the Deed I'm searching for is on "image page" 331 (166 x 2 - 1) in this Registry of Deeds system. Here is the deed page:

The Deed I want is at the bottom of the page image above (Page 166 in the Deed ledger). In order to see the rest of this Deed, I had to go back and put Page 332 in the search field:

For the image above, I clicked on the "Zoom to Fit" button on the image.

9) The user cannot Save or Print these Page images. I was able to save the image by using the Windows 7 Snipping Tool. You can purchase the page images from the Norfolk County Deed Records office.

This system is very cumbersome, but it works. It's free to access and use. The images that I accessed were easy to read.

Thank you to the Norfolk County, Massachusetts Registry of Deeds for putting these records online, and to David Lambert for pointing us to it.

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/05/using-norfolk-county-massachusetts-deed.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Geneablogging works really well...

2012-05-24T15:14:00.001-07:00

I had a number of email contacts in the week before we left for the Legacy Family Tree cruise vacation. They included:

* A query asking about my relationship with Albert Freeman Dill, who is buried in San Diego. They saw my Saouth San Diego County Graveyard Rabbit blog post showing the gravestone. We are fairly distant cousins - like 6th cousins.

* Another, independent, query, from a cousin of the queryist above, about the Dill family in San Diego. I found quite a few articles in San Diego newspapers about the family in GenealogyBank. This queryist had heard of my mother - my mother and her mother were sorority sisters!

* A query asking about my wife's McKnew line, from a second cousin of my wife. This queryist is going soon to Edinburgh to search for McKnew connections in Scotland.

* An email from a Samwell descendant offering information about George Samwell, a husband of Belle McKnew, who was one of my wife's great-aunts.

* A query about the Hill family in Wiltshire, England, asking what I knew about a Richard Hill born in 1803, and if he was a son of John and Ann (Warren) Hill of Wiltshire (my ancestors). I wrote back saying I didn't think so, despite information in several Ancestry Member Trees.

* An email from a person noting that they have just purchased the Aaron Smith house in Medfield, Massachusetts, asking for information about Aaron and his family. This is cool - I didn't know the house was still there!

* An email from a third cousin from the Devier Smith line who were in San Diego. His ancestor, David smith, and my great-grandmother, Della Smith, were cousins. My line lost contact with his line in the 1940s, I think.

Yes, indeed! Genealogy blogging works by casting out the "cousin bait" in the form of photographs, stories, and genealogy data. Relatives eventually go "fishing " for the parents and grandparents and somehow find Genea-Musings and me. I love it!

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/05/geneablogging-works-really-well.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Timeline Report in RootsMagic 5

2012-05-24T10:45:00.000-07:00

I posted about creating a Chronology Report in Legacy Family Tree 7.5 on Tuesday and creating a Timeline Report in Family Tree Maker 2012 on Wednesday, so I want to look at a similar report in RootsMagic 5.

I'm going to use my grandfather, Frederick Walton Seaver (1876-1942) again to demonstrate using this Timeline feature. The "Family" View tab in RootsMagic 5 for him looks like this:

I clicked on the "Timeline" tab on the screen above, and the Facts/Events for Frederick Seaver were listed (columns are Age, Event, Date, Note, Source, Details and Place) as shown below (top of the list):

Person Events have a red square on the Timeline "map" at the top of the Timeline, and Family Events have a blue circle. The Events for the family members (spouse, children, siblings, parents) births, marriages and deaths are included (I found no obvious way to modify this).

At the bottom of the list:

As you can see, this Timeline view ends with his burial.

What I really wanted was a Timeline Report, and I found it in Reports > Lists > Timeline (Chronology) List. The Timeline List Report Settings permits me to choose an Individual Timeline (only the person of interest) or to select a group of persons in the database. I chose the latter, and selected my grandfather, his family as a child of his parents, and his family with his spouse. I clicked on the Source button on the Report Settings menu and selected Endnotes.

A ten-page report was created - here is the top of the first page:

Here is the bottom of the Timeline Report (which shows the deaths of the children, so it extends well past Frederick's burial in 1942 - all the way to 2007):

The top of the Sources page looks like this:

I was able to change the page orientation, and the font type, size and bold/italicize/underscore/strikeout for the List text and List header. This Timeline Report seems to have no way to add color to the fonts.

The Timeline View and the Timeline Report seem to have no Historical Event capability. They also seem to have no Notes capability.

I really like the inclusion of all of the Family Events in the Timeline View and Report.

Disclosure: I bought my copy of RootsMagic 5 in 2011. However, I have received free copies of RootsMagic software in the past, and other gratuities from the company over the past four years. These gifts have not influenced my opinion of this product.

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/05/timeline-report-in-rootsmagic-5.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Treasure Chest Thursday - 1841 English Census Record for John Rich Family

2012-05-24T08:20:00.001-07:00

It's Treasure Chest Thursday - time to share an artifact or a document image from my collection of ancestral stuff.

The treasure today is the 1841 English Census record for the John Rich family in Hilperton, Wiltshire.

The information for the John Rich family on this census record is:

* Parish ~~or township~~ of: Hilperton
* Place: Hilperton
* Houses: Uninhabited or Building: [blank]
* Inhabited: 1

* Names of each Person who abode therein the preceding Night:
* Age and Sex:
* Profession, Trade, Employment or of Independent Means:
* Where Born:

** Jno Rich - 47, Male, Weaver, Wiltshire
** Rebecka Rich - 55, Female, Wiltshire
** Jessey Rich - 18, Male, Wiltshire
** Elizabeth Rich - 16, Female, Wiltshire

** Hanah Rich - 15, Female, Wiltshire

** William Rich - 10, Male, Wiltshire

** Samuel rich - 7, Male, Wiltshire

I first obtained this record from a Family History Library microfilm, so the source citation I have is:

1841 Census of England, Enumeration Schedule; Wiltshire, Hilperton [parish], Folio 21 recto, lines 22-25 on page 1, lines 1-3 on page 2, Jno Rich household; Public Record Office HO 107/1182/2, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah; FHL BRITISH microfilm 464,200.

John and Rebecca (Hill) Rich are my third great-grandparents. Their daughter, Hannah Rich (1824-1911) married James Richman (1821-1912) in 1845 in Hilperton, Wiltshire, England.

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/05/treasure-chest-thursday-1841-english_24.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Legacy Cruise Vacation Compendium

2012-05-23T15:30:00.000-07:00

I've added my daily journal entries to my The Geneaholic blog for the Legacy Family Tree Cruise vacation aboard the Vision of the Seas ship (Royal Caribbean, International) cruise ship that Linda and I enjoyed from 9 May to 21 May. I added some pictures to some of the journal posts also.

The compendium includes:

* Cruise Vacation - Day 1 (Thursday, 10 May 2012) -- San Diego to Oslo, Norway

* Cruise Vacation - Day 2 (Friday, 11 May 2012) -- in Oslo, Norway.

* Cruise Vacation - Day 3 (Saturday, 12 May 2012) -- Oslo, Norway boarding the cruise ship.

* Cruise Vacation - Day 4 (Sunday, 13 May 2012) -- at sea, Legacy classes

* Cruise Vacation - Day 5 (Monday, 14 May 2012) -- ship in Le Havre, France; Paris sightseeing

* Cruise Vacation - Day 6 (Tuesday, 15 May 2012) -- ship in Cherbourg, France, no tour.

* Cruise Vacation - Day 7 (Wednesday, 16 May 2012) -- ship in Dublin, Ireland; sightseeing

* Cruise Vacation - Day 8 (Thursday, 17 May 2012) -- ship in Liverpool, En gland; Beatles tour

* Cruise Vacation - Day 9 (Friday, 18 May 2012) -- at sea, Legacy classes

* Cruise Vacation - Day 10 (Saturday, 19 May 2012) -- ship in Edinburgh, Scotland, no tour.

* Cruise Vacation - Day 11 (Sunday, 20 May 2012) -- at sea, Legacy classes

* Cruise Vacation - Day 12 (Monday, 21 May 2012) -- ship in Oslo; travel home to San Diego

* Catch-Up Day - Tuesday, 22 May 2012 -- trip summary.

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/05/legacy-cruise-vacation-compendium.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Timeline Report in Family Tree Maker 2012

2012-05-23T13:05:00.000-07:00

I posted about creating a Chronology Report in Legacy Family Tree 7.5 yesterday, so I want to look at a similar report in Family Tree Maker 2012.

Russ Worthington reported on this today also - see his post FTM2012 - Use of Timeline Feature. Russ describes how using this feature possibly helped understand a change of location for my William Knapp family

I'm going to use my grandfather, Frederick Walton Seaver (1876-1942) again to demonstrate using this Timeline feature. The "Family" View tab in the "People" Workspace of Family Tree Maker 2012 looks like this:

With my grandfather highlighted, I clicked on the "Person" View tab and then on the "Timeline" button in that view:

The "Timeline" view starts with only the Facts/Events for the person involved. The user can "Show Family Events" or "Show Historical Events" by using the dropdown menu on the "Timeline" button (as shown above).

With "Show Family Events" selected, I saw "Years and Ages" in the left-hand column (colored green for the Person, Pink for the Family), the Event name in the second column, the Date and Location in the third column, and any Description in the fourth column, as shown below:

I did not see any way to list Sources for these Events, although highlighting any Fact/Event showed the source in the right-hand panel of the screen.

Next, I want to create a report for this Timeline so that I can print it out. I clicked on the "Publish" Workspace, selected "Individual Reports" from the "Collections" tab, and then "Timeline Report" and, after editing some of the fonts, I saw the report:

In the right-hand panel on the screen above, I clicked on the "Include Event Icons" and "Include Family Events" check boxes.

I was curious about the Historical Events, so I clicked on the "Include Historical Events" check box and saw:

There are a limited number of Historical Events on the list, and not all of them occurred during my grandfather's lifetime. This default list really needs to be improved...a user can choose to "Manage Historical Events" in the "Timeline" button dropdown menu, but who knows about this?

As noted above, there is no option to include Sources in this Timeline Report, nor is there an option to print Notes (like Legacy Family Tree 7.5 has).

Disclosure: I bought my copy of Family Tree Maker 2012 last September. However, I have received free copies of Family Tree Maker software in the past, and other gratuities from Ancestry.com and Family Tree Maker over the past four years. These gifts have not influenced my opinion of this product.

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/05/timeline-report-in-family-tree-maker.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Got Dutch Ancestry? Tell Peter!

2012-05-23T10:30:00.000-07:00

Do you have ancestry from The Netherlands - either recent immigrants or colonial immigrants to North America? If so, please check out Peter's Blog (http://patmcast.blogspot.com/).

Peter has created a list of genealogy bloggers with Dutch ancestry - see http://patmcast.blogspot.com/2012/05/dutch-ancestors.html. I'm on the list!

If you want to be added to Peter's list, please contact Peter through his blog or Twitter (@patmcast), and he will add your surnames to his list.

This is another example of how geneabloggers can work together for the benefit of each other and of blog readers also.

I noted that Peter worked in the commercial aircraft industry before his retirement, as I also did. I can relate to many of his posts about his aircraft industry experience, although I worked on the design/analysis/test side of aircraft development.

Note: Some of Peter's posts are in Dutch. My Chrome browser "knows" this and asks me if I want the page translated. That works!

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/05/got-dutch-ancestry-tell-peter.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 206: Scott's 2nd Birthday

2012-05-23T08:43:00.000-07:00

I am posting photographs from my family collections for (Not So) Wordless Wednesday (you know me, I can't go wordless!).

Here is a small photograph from the Seaver/Carringer family collection handed down by my mother in the 1988 to 2002 time period:

I think that this picture was taken in November 1957 on the occasion of my brother Scott's second birthday (the biggest clue is two candles on the cake!).

The people in this picture are, from the left: Randy Seaver, Scott Seaver, and Stanley Seaver, the three sons of Frederick and Betty (Carringer) Seaver. I was age 14 in this picture.

The bigger problem for me is where this picture was taken. I think that it is in the dining room of our home at 2119 30th Street in San Diego.

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/05/not-so-wordless-wednesday-post-206.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Chronology Report in Legacy Family Tree 7.5

2012-05-22T15:42:00.001-07:00

While on the Legacy Family Tree cruise last week, I was exposed to more features in Legacy Family Tree 7.5 that I had not fully explored. I thought it might be useful to compare specific features between the software programs that I use.

The first feature I want to look at is the Chronology or Timeline feature. I selected my grandfather, Frederick Walton Seaver (1876-1942). The Family View in Legacy Family Tree 7.5 looks like this (my color settings):

There are several View tabs on the screen just below the menu and icon rows near the top - they are for Legacy Home, Family, Pedigree, Descendant, Chronology, Index and Research Guidance. I clicked on the "Chronology" View tab and then on the "Options" button on the right-hand side of the screen below. That opened the "Chronology Options" menu:

The "Chronology Options" menu has tabs for Include, Formatting, Column Widths, Report Options, Sources, and Screen Fonts. I went carefully through those and figured out what I wanted to see in a Chronology Report - I want the events/facts for my grandfather, his parents, his spouse and his children. I couldn't find an option for his siblings. I want my Notes and Sources included in the report. I want Historical Facts in the way of US Presidents and US Wars. I tried to add Inventions but that dominated the chronology. Here is the top of the first page of the Chronology as presented on the View tab:

In the screen above, the Age is in the left-hand column, followed by the Date, the Event, and the Event Description. The Event column uses different colors - the Person's color is black, the spouse is purple, the children red, and the historical events orange. The user can control these colors and the fonts.

I wanted to print a report out, so I clicked on the "Report" button on the right of the screen above. Here is a two-page view of the start of the chronology:

This was a 7 page report, with the General Notes following the Event list, and the Source End-notes following the Notes. Here is a two page view of the end of the notes and the start of the sources:

This printed out very nicely for me. I can change the margins, the title, and other content using the "Chronology Options" menu.

Chronologies/Timelines can be very useful for researchers to help them understand all of the events that might occur in a person's life. However, the researcher needs to add the Facts and Events for each person so that the Chronology/Timeline is complete. I should add the Residence address, the place of employment, newspaper articles, etc. to the Facts/Events in order to have a more complete picture of my grandfather's life.

I would like to have sibling information, children's marriages, and more historical events (elections, economic events, etc.) added to this Chronology report. I noted that some of the U.S. Presidents had only their inauguration date listed, but that there were no notes.

Disclosure: I have received free copies of Legacy Family Tree software, webinar CDROMs and other gratuities from Legacy Family Tree over the past four years. These gifts have not influenced my opinion of this product.

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/05/chronology-report-in-legacy-family-tree.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Catch-Up Day - Tuesday, 22 May 2012

2012-05-22T10:15:00.001-07:00

We're back home in San Diego after a very long day traveling from Oslo to London to San Diego to Chula Vista. Genea-Musings will soon return to its regular programming!

I will add daily summaries of our vacation to The Geneaholic blog (www.geneaholic.com) and link the posts to my daily "What I think we're doing" posts here on Genea-Musings so that interested readers can see what we did without adding a lot of personal posts to Genea-Musings.

Some observations:

* British Airways 777 aircraft were not wonderful as far as traveling in economy is concerned. The San Diego to and from London flights were full, cramped, the food was poor (a dinner meal and a snack later), and the entertainment system sucked. We had to pay to reserve seats before the flight. At least they didn't charge extra for Linda's walker that we checked.

* The weather was pretty good once we got out of Oslo. The Friday (11 May) was very gray and damp, but we had a great time with geneablogger Torill Johnsen (see her blog post about the visit at http://www.disnorge.no/cms/lederblogg/geneablogger-p-bes-k). It rained a bit in Paris also, but was dry after that.

* The Vision of the Seas cruise ship was pretty nice - well organized and efficient (Royal Caribbean International is a Norwegian company!). We ate breakfasts and lunches in the Windjammer Cafe on Deck 9. The outdoor swimming pool on Deck 9 was not used at all due to the cool weather. Linda really enjoyed the indoor pool and hot tubs on Deck 9 in the Solarium. Our cabin was 3006, near the bow on the port side, right over the maneuvering engines used to position the ship in ports. The cabin had two twin beds put together to form a king bed, a desk, a couch, a closet and a bathroom with a small shower (like 5 square feet!).

* Dinner was in the Aquarius Dining Room on Deck 4 mid-ship. The Legacy Family Tree group had the early 6 p.m. seating and sat at Tables 18 through 44. We were encouraged to move around and meet people. Linda and I stayed at Table 32 because the waiter was very sensitive to Linda's allergy problems and we needed that. It was fun to meet and share meals and stories with the other Legacy cruisers.

* The Legacy Family Tree staff (Ken, Dave, Luc and Geoff, and their spouses) and travel agent (Christy and spouse Steve, who took many photos!) were very friendly and helpful and fun to be with. We had a meet and greet on the day we boarded, and everybody got a Legacy name tag with a pouch for key cards, a pen, etc. There were at least three other genea-bloggers on the cruise - Geoff Rasmussen (Legacy News), Donna Peterson (Hanging from the Family Tree) and Kay Haden (Leaves of the Tree). A number of the Legacy group said that they were Genea-Musings readers also, and it was great to put faces with names.

* The Legacy genealogy classes had good attendance (about 100 of the Legacy group of 170 were genealogists) and were well presented. The first and third days of classes were in a conference room with seats and some tables for laptops, but the second day of classes (morning and afternoon) were in a lounge where most of the attendees were far away from the screen across the dance floor. The afternoon session was delayed by the cruise ship Bingo games running long, which made us all late for the second formal dinner. I missed the classes on the first day (slept in without checking the schedule), but made the rest of them. Judy Wight did a great job with her four classes on English, Irish and Scottish research. I gave two talks on the third class day - "The Genealogical Proof Standard" and "Searching Ancestry.com Effectively."

* The shore excursions were fairly expensive and ran on time, and the ones we took had good guides. However, the ones we took were on a bus with all of the boarding problems. Linda was able to sit in the front row on the buses and the drivers were happy to get her walker out at each stop. We went on the Paris Sightseeing with Lunch and Boat Ride tour, the Leisurely Dublin Panoramic tour, and the Liverpool Beatles tour. We did not go on a tour in Cherbourg or Edinburgh.

* The only exercise I got was walking the stairs and decks (which was good for me...but my feet hurt) and playing shuffleboard on Deck 10 twice with Geoff and Luc. They let me play, and I was almost as good as they were. The first time was while we were at sea - the ship was going 20 knots, the wind was about 20 knots, so we had 40 knots over the deck that curved the pucks some and occasionally blew them sideways. Plus the air temperature was about 50 F (10 C) - we were in jackets. The second time I played was while docked in Liverpool and it was calmer! I shot worse the second time.

* Believe it or not, Ken and Diane got Linda and I on the dance floor on Friday night, and we had a great time with them and several other couples.

* Nine days on a cruise ship seems like enough...but we signed up for the next Legacy Family Tree cruise from San Diego through the Panama Canal to Fort Lauderdale in September 2013. It's a 16 day cruise!

* Thank you to Ken, Dave, Luc, Geoff and Christy for arranging a wonderful and fun cruise with genealogy highlights. It's a lot of fun to share a cruise experience with genealogy friends and to come back knowing a lot more people.

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/05/catch-up-day-tuesday-22-may-2012.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Travel Day - Monday, 21 May 2012

2012-05-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

We pulled into port at Oslo, Norway this morning, and plan to get off the ship at 9 a.m.

After catching a shuttle, or a taxi, or a train, to Gardermoen Airport, we should be on the 12 noon British airways flight from Oslo to London, and then the British airways flight from London to San Diego, arriving at 6:15 p.m.

Hopefully, Our friend Barbara will be there to pick us up and drive us home. I suspect, after 18 hours of traveling, that we'll fall into bed without checking email, or blogs, or even turning on the television to watch the Padres game.

My plan is to start the regular blog schedule again starting on Tuesday sometime.

I wonder what I will miss?

* Will AncestorSync work well with Geni?

* Will the FamilySearch Family Tree be open to everyone?

* Will the NGS offer a CDROM of the 2012 Conference syllabus?

* Will Ancestry.com announce another acquisition?

* Will the 1940 Census for California be completely indexed?

* Will the 1940 U.S. Census be 50% indexed?

* Will I have over 2,000 blog posts to read?

* Will more previously unknown cousins find my blog and write me in email?

Who knows? I don't but I wouldn't be surprised by any of the above!

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Legacy Day - Sunday, 20 May 2012

2012-05-20T12:30:00.000-07:00

On the 8th day on our cruise aboard Royal Caribbean's Vision of the Seas, we are in transit from Edinburgh to Oslo.

Therefore, it is a Legacy learning day. The class schedule (in the Conference Center) is:

* 1 p.m.: "Digging for Gold in British Estate Records" by Judy Wight

* 2 p.m.: "Finding Your Elusive Ancestor: The Genealogical Proof Standard, and Doing a Reasonably Exhaustive Search" by Randy Seaver (yep, me, Geoff asked, I couldn't resist!)

* 3 p.m.: "Searching Ancestry.com Effectively" by Randy Seaver

* 4 p.m.: "Merging 101 and 202" by Ken McGinnis

* 5 p.m.: "Questions and Answers with the Legacy team (and maybe a surprise too!)

6 p.m.: Dinner with the group.

We get back to Oslo tomorrow for a long day of travel back to San Diego.

Best of the Genea-Blogs - Week Ending 20 May 2012

2012-05-20T08:30:00.000-07:00

As devoted Genea-Musings readers recall, we are away on a vacation cruise out of Oslo to Le Havre (Paris), Cherbourg, Dublin, Liverpool and Edinburgh. Because I don't have cheap and fast Internet access, and more importantly, time to read 1200 genea-blogs, the weekly Beat of the Genea-Blogs published on Sundays is on hiatus until 27 May.

Several other genea-bloggers post weekly Best Of posts - please read them:

* Lynn Palermo on The Armchair Genealogist blog.

* Lisa Frank on the 1 Ancestry 2 Little Time blog.

* Amanda on the Geni Blog.

* Ruth Blair on The Passionate Genealogist blog.

* Jen on the Climbing My Family Tree blog.

* Diane Haddad on the Genealogy Insider blog.

* Julie Cahill Tarr on the GenBlog blog.

Vacation Day - Saturday, 19 May 2012

2012-05-19T12:30:00.000-07:00

We pulled into Edinburgh at 8 a.m. this morning on the Royal Caribbean's Vision of the Seas cruise ship, but not at a dock. We have to "tender in" to the port.

We have not chosen a tour yet, deciding to see how tired we are and the weather. We've been to Edinburgh before, and have toured the Castle, the Royal Mile, St. Giles Cathedral, and St. Andrews back in 1993 when we were more agile. We may just go ashore for lunch.

We leave Edinburgh at 8 p.m. tonight and head for Oslo. But Sunday is going to be a busy day!

Surname Saturday - LNU (Germany? > New Jersey)

2012-05-19T08:30:00.000-07:00

It's Surname Saturday, and I'm "counting down" my Ancestral Name List each week. I am up to number 453, Maria LNU (????-1738). [Note: The 6th great-grandfathers have been covered in earlier posts]

My ancestral line back to Maria LNU is:

1. Randall J. Seaver

2. Frederick Walton Seaver (1911-1983)
3. Betty Virginia Carringer (1919-2002)

6. Lyle Lawrence Carringer (1891-1976)
7. Emily Kemp Auble (1899-1977)

14. Charles Auble (1849-1916)
15. Georgianna Kemp (1868-1952)

28. David Auble (1817-1894)
29. Sarah Knapp (1818-ca 1900)

56. Johannes Able (1780-????)
57. Anna Row (1787-1863)

112. Johannes Able (1758-1818)
113. Sophia Trimmer (1747-1811)

226. Matthias Trimmer (1722-1793)
227. Anna Martha Nachbar (1724-????)

452. Johannes Trimmer, born about 1700 in of Feldkirchen, Palatinate, Germany; died January 1749 in Amwell, Hunterdon, New Jersey, United States. He married before 1720 in Germany.
453. Maria, died 1738 At sea.

Children of Johannes Trimmer and Maria are:
i. Matthias Trimmer, born 1722 in Germany; died before 10 March 1793 in Readington, Hunterdon, New Jersey, United States; married Anna Martha Nachbar 1742 in New Jersey, United States.
ii. Anthonius Trimmer, born 1725 in Germany; died before 24 December 1754 in Washington, Warren, New Jersey, United States; married Elisabetha Houshall 1749 in Hunterdon, New Jersey, United States; born 1723 in New Jersey, United States; died 1781.
iii. Andreas Trimmer, born 1726 in Germany; died 14 August 1793 in Reading, Adams, Pennsylvania, United States; married Susanna Houshall 1746 in Hunterdon, New Jersey, United States; born about 1729 in Hunterdon, New Jersey, United States.
iv. Amos Trimmer, born 1727 in Germany.
v. George Trimmer, born about 1728 in Germany; died 29 March 1807 in Amwell, Hunterdon, New Jersey, United States; married (1) Ann Hoppock; born 1731 in Hunterdon, New Jersey, United States ; married (2) Catherine before 1769 in Hunterdon, New Jersey, United States.
vi. Harman Trimmer, born about 1730 in Germany; died before 04 September 1810 in Kingwood, Hunterdon, New Jersey, United States; married Martha Case; born 1733 in Hunterdon, New Jersey, United States.
vii. Hannah Trimmer, born 1733 in Germany.
viii. Mary Trimmer, born 1737 in Germany.

I have no clue as to Maria LNU's maiden name, and apparently no other researcher does either. Are there any other descendants of Maria (LNU) Able that are researching this family?

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Legacy Day - Friday, 18 May 2012

2012-05-18T12:30:00.000-07:00

We left Liverpool last night at 6:30 p.m. We are headed for Edinburgh in Scotland, but this is an "at sea" day aboard the Royal Caribbean's Vision of the Sea cruise ship.

Since we're "at sea," this is a classroom day for the Legacy Family Tree team. The scheduled classes in the Some Enchanted Evening Lounge on Deck 6 are:

* 8 a.m.: Small group and one-on-one sessions with the Legacy team.

* 9 a.m.: "Legacy: Especially for Beginners" by Geoff Rasmussen

* 10 a.m.: "GENViewer, GENMatcher, GENCatalog, and Research Guidance" by Luc Comeau

* 12 noon: Join group for lunch.

* 4 p.m.: "Key Genealogical Resources for Ireland" by Judy Wight

* 5 p.m.: "Key Genealogical Resources for Scotland" by Judy Wight

* 6 p.m.: Join group for dinner.

I know nothing about GENViewer, GENMatcher, or GENCatalog - are they Legacy Family Tree features, or add-ons? I guess I'll find out!

Tomorrow is Edinburgh, Scotland.

Book Review - "Texas Cherokees: 1820-1839"

2012-05-18T09:05:00.000-07:00

Do you have Cherokee ancestry that resided in northeastern Texas in the early 19th century? If so, then this book may be just what you've been looking for!

George W. Fields, Texas Cherokees: 1820-1839, A Document for Litigation (Oklahoma City, Okla., 1921, reprinted Baltimore, Md. : Genealogical Publishing Company, 2012), 118 pages + viii; $15.95 (soft cover).

The publicity for this book says:

Prior to the forced migration of Eastern Cherokee during the "Trail of Tears," several hundred tribesmen migrated to Texas in 1819. Following a brief stopover in Arkansas and then the future site of Dallas, Texas, the Cherokee ultimately established a settlement near present-day Nacogdoches. For the privilege to officially establish this settlement, the tribesmen first petitioned the Spanish government and then--following its war for independence--the leaders of Mexico, and, ultimately, the independent Republic of Texas. Despite negotiating in good faith with each regime--including the Treaty of February 23, 1836, negotiated with Texas president Sam Houston--the Cherokee were ultimately driven off their Texas land in 1839. Most of the Texas Cherokee, who had suffered hundreds of casualties, fled to the Indian [Oklahoma] Territory, once again falling victim to a white government attending to real-estate interests rather than honoring prior agreements with Native Americans.

The details of the Cherokee experience in east Texas are described in a legal document filed on behalf of the Cherokee’s descendants by attorney George W. Fields Jr. in 1921. The grandson of Texas Cherokee tribal co-leader Chief Richard Fields, the younger Fields compiled the document to support his--ultimately unsuccessful--suit in the U.S. Supreme Court. Fields was attempting to win compensation for the Texas Cherokee after they had been forced out of Texas.

Unpublished for over 80 years, the contents of Fields' account of the Texas Cherokee experience from 1820-1839 has now been transcribed for publication, complete with affidavits and facsimile illustrations, by Mr. Jeff Bowen. In addition to quoting sources documenting the agreements or understandings between the Texas Cherokee and governments in question, Fields' transcript includes a number of newspaper articles published in connection with the suit, illustrations of Chief Bowles and other personalities involved in this episode, correspondence, and a full name index to all the persons--both white and Cherokee--who figure in this forgotten episode in Cherokee history.

Disclosure: Genealogical.com contacted me recently and asked me to provide a review of this book. They mailed me a review copy for my personal use as remuneration for this review.

Vacation Day - Thursday, 17 May 2012

2012-05-17T12:30:00.000-07:00

Our cruise ship, the Royal Caribbean's Vision of the Seas, departed Dublin at 10 p.m. last night, and we arrived at the dock in Liverpool, England at 7:30 a.m.

Today, we're going to take the "In the Steps of the Beatles" Tour. On the 4 hour tour, tour, the guide will recount the story of the Beatles in photo stops. including: The Beatles Story, a walk-through series of 18 features following the Fab Four; a walk on Mathew Street and hear the music playing in The Cavern; then to Abbey Road studios to experience Beatlemania first hand (I missed it, I guess).

My guess is that we'll get lunch at an English pub, or back on the ship.

The ship departs from Liverpool at 6:30 p.m.

Treasure Chest Thursday - 1841 English Census for John Richman Family

2012-05-17T09:00:00.000-07:00

It's Treasure Chest Thursday - time to share an artifact or a document image from my collection of ancestral stuff.

The treasure today is the 1841 English Census record for the John Richman family in Hilperton, Wiltshire.

The information for the John Richman family on this census record is:

* Parish ~~or township~~ of: Hilperton
* Place: Hilperton Marsh Lane
* Houses: Uninhabited or Building: 120
* Inhabited: 1

* Names of each Person who abode therein the preceding Night:
* Age and Sex:
* Profession, Trade, Employment or of Independent Means:
* Where Born:

** Jno Richman Senr - 52, Male, Cole Dealer, Wiltshire
** Ann Richman - 59, Female, Weaver, Wiltshire
** Elizabeth Richman - 30, female, Weaver, Wiltshire
** James Richman - 20, male, Ag Lab, Wiltshire

I first obtained this record from a Family History Library microfilm, so the source citation I have is:

1841 Census of England, Wiltshire, Hilperton [parish], Folio 25 recto, lines 7-10, John Richman Sr. household; Public Record Office HO 107/1182/2, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah; FHL BRITISH microfilm 464,200.
John and Ann (Marshman) Richman are my third great-grandparents.

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/05/treasure-chest-thursday-1841-english.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Vacation Day - Wednesday, 16 May 2012

2012-05-16T14:45:00.000-07:00

If it's Wednesday, it must be Dublin.

We traveled all night from Cherbourg past the Channel Islands, the southern counties of England and the Isles of Scilly, and up the Irish Sea to the port in Dublin at 12 noon.

In Dublin, we signed up for the Leisurely Dublin Highlights tour, which is 3.5 hours long.

The publicity says that the panoramic sightseeing will show the Old Parliament house, Saint Patrick';s Cathedral and the exterior of Dublin Castle, the Liffey River, the Four Courts and Customs House, Leinster House, and Trinity College.

We may remain in Dublin for dinner and find our way back to the ship somehow.

Linda and I have never been to Dublin or the Irish Republic before, so this will be a new experience for both of us.

CGSSD Meeting on 19 May 2012 - Cloud Computing

2012-05-16T12:01:00.000-07:00

The May meeting of the Computer Genealogy Society of San Diego is 19 May 2012 from 9:00 a.m. to noon on the campus of UCSD, University of California, San Diego. See our map page for directions.

Here are the details:

9:00 - User Groups: Roots Magic. SIG: DNA Genealogy.

10:00 - Break, refreshments.

10:15 - Announcements followed by program:

Updates on Cloud Genealogy: The Future is Already Here

by Gary Hoffman

Gary Hoffman has been involved with genealogy for over 40 years and with the Computer Genealogy Society of San Diego for over 20 years. Gary helped develop the concepts of the USGenWeb and Gendex in the 1990s and most recently has been promoting the idea of cloud genealogy, where your data is stored not in your computer but in a cloud service.

Following a career in the U.S. Air Force, Gary worked in several high tech companies before coming to San Diego. He currently works at University of California San Diego as the Chief Technology Officer for the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies. He is a past president of CGSSD and is our current webmaster.

We meet at the Robinson Auditorium complex on the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) campus in La Jolla. From North Torrey Pines Road, turn at Pangea Drive into UCSD. Free parking is available in the parking garage on the left; use any space other than those specifically reserved for UCSD vehicles. Signs will mark directions to our meeting room. Please refer to our website www.cgssd.org; or the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies website (click here) for driving directions and a map.

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 205: Is This My Monkey Uncle?

2012-05-16T08:30:00.000-07:00

The note on the back of this photograph says "January 1955." This photo was taken at the San Diego Zoo in Balboa Park in San Diego, just inside the entrance.

The people in this picture are:

* Randy Seaver (on the left)
* Stan Seaver (on the right)

My brother and I had our Brownie cameras ready to go, and my mother said "go stand in front of the gorilla..."

I haven't figured out if we're related to the gorilla yet...I don't think so, at least for the last 10,000 generations or so!

A Google search for images reveals the Gorilla's name was Ngagi, who was probably one of the first gorilla inhabitants at the Zoo. I don't recall seeing this statue when we were last at the Zoo with the grandchildren. I'll have to look for it and take a picture of them with it if the statue is still there. It would also be a good candidate for the "Dear Photograph" meme if I could get my brother to stand next to it with me.

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Vacation Day - Tuesday, 15 May 2012

2012-05-15T12:30:00.000-07:00

After our long bus ride and sightseeing in Paris yesterday, the ship departed from Le Havre at midnight. The ship docked in Cherbourg at 7 a.m.

We haven't picked a tour for Cherbourg yet, but we hope to get on the Panoramic Cherbourg tour.

The publicity says that this three hour tour will discover the port of Cherbourg (I didn't know it was lost...), the Old town (will we see the New town, or is there one?), the military base, and the principal monuments (presumably these are statues, not gravestones).

Perhaps we'll have lunch in the city, or back to the ship. The ship departs Cherbourg at 3 p.m.

I haven't been to Cherbourg before. I have been to the American Cemetery and the Normandy Beaches. Linda has not been there, but we judged that tour would be too strenuous for her after Paris the day before.

Tuesday's Tip - English Parish Registers on FamilySearch.org

2012-05-15T09:01:00.000-07:00

This week's Tuesday's Tip is to: Find (some) English Parish Registers on FamilySearch.org.

Every County in England has a collection of :Parish Registers in their record offices. Almost all of the church Parish Registers have been microfilmed by the Family History Library, and are available for loan to read at a local FamilySearch Center.

Some of the County collections of Parish Registers have been digitized during FamilySearch Indexing and are available in the Historical Record collections at www.FamilySearch.org. The available County collections can be found by going to https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/list and entering "parish registers" in the search box (upper left-hand corner).

The available collections include:

* England, Bristol Parish Registers, 1538-1900 (695,479 records, index only)

* England, Cheshire Parish Registers, 1538-2000 (4,140,540 records, index only)

* England, Cornwall Parish Registers, 1538-2010 (browse images only)

* England, Derbyshire Church of England Parish Registers, 1538-1910 (190,343 records, index only)

* England, Dorset Parish Registers, 1538-1910 (332,615 records, index only)

* England, Essex Parish Registers, 1538-1900 (537,583 records ,index only)

* England, Kent Parish Registers, 1538-1911 (browse images only)

* England, Lancashire, Cheshire, Yorkshire Parish Registers (947,377 records, index and images)

* England, Norfolk Parish Registers, 1538-1900 (188,222 records, index and images)

* England, Warwickshire Parish Registers, 1538-1900 (1,196,651 records, index only)

* Isle of Man Parish Registers, 1598-1950 (410,460 records, index only)

Users should be aware that:

* These collections do not include every parish in the County

* The records for each parish may not reflect the year range given.

* These are mainly christening and marriage records that were extracted from the parish registers into the International Genealogical Index (IGI).

Unfortunately, the IGI is a lot more difficult to access these days (you can search it at http://www.familysearch.org/eng/search/frameset_search.asp?PAGE=igi/search_IGI.asp&clear_form=true). A listing of the Parish Registers in the entire IGI is at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hughwallis/IGIBatchNumbers/CountryEngland.htm#PageTitle.

That said, the search capabilities on the FamilySearch Historical Record Collections site are significantly better than on the classic site.

Over future months, more English County Parish Register collections should be added to the FamilySearch site. Check back every month or so for additions.

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver