Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Genealogy #70: Genealogy 2.0

No I have never wondered which celebrities I most resemble and I don't really needthe Look-alike Meter to find out whose looks I favor but I created myheritage account anyway and used the look-alike meter to find out who my daughter most resembled although I can tell you, she most resembles me. I couldn't find a widget to add the results to your iHCPL blog so I am just loading the results as an image.
I went to Footnote and browsed the Member Discoveries. I really enjoyed what Clio puts on Footnote but then she's the resident historian so of course it's good stuff. There was a post asking for more information about photographs that someone had but they didn't know alot about where they were taken and though it's not a sure thing it could be possible that someone might recognize something in them and be able to help this person out, the ultimate in social networking. Not so helpful are the pages that have been created just to remember someone. The best and the worst of social networking.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Genealogy #69: Database Researching


Since I have an Ancestry account I already know what I'll find there so I conducted a Heritage Quest search instead. I spent quite some time searching around Heritage Quests' Search Books feature and found two wonderful books on a branch of my family's very distant history. I also was able to view the book of Salem county New Jersey Marriage records and found a surname listed in the book several times from another branch of my family. One of the nicest features of Heritage Quest was when I found something I wanted to keep, I put it in my notebook, and then was able to email the contents of my notebook to myself. This was a very nice feature. One of the jobs I'd like to do one day is be someone who scans in these documents for publishing on the web. I think that would be a very neat job.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Genealogy # 68: Detective Work

I have never pursued an oral history project except to try and pry information from my father about his mother but he was very tight lipped. His father died in WWII when my dad was 5 years old so he remembers nothing about his father. His mother was left to raise he and his sister alone. From what I can gather she had great difficulty dealing with the lose of her husband, being a a single mom in the 1940's and 1950's, and being the sole financial provider for the family. Apparently my father didn't think he had much to say about her that would be very nice so he decided it was better to not say anything at all. She died when he was 17 in a car accident. As far as doing one now there's really no one to really interview. All my relatives on my dad's side are deceased. My mom's father is deceased and her mother can not be easily understood nor can she write. We don't have an oral history however we do have all the letters that my mothers parents exchanged while he was serving in WWII. My mother and my Aunt have preserved these letters for future generations to read and enjoy. Even better than an oral history - a primary source! My mom is also an active genealogist so she is documenting more than most people do for the sake of family history. Thanks mom! If I knew then what I know now I'd have forced my father to talk and recorded it or transcribed what he said. I did make a cold call once out of the blue. I called a lady who was the witness at my father's parents marriage. She was living in California and she was probably in her 80's when I called. I explained I found her name on the marriage license and I was wondering if she could tell me anything about my grandmother or grandfather. She said that the four of them had traveled to Indiana for the weekend to see a Notre Dame football game and while there they decided to get married. So they went to the justice of the peace and were married. That's about all I got really but it was good information.

Using the Find-A-Grave site I searched West Virginia cemeteries. For the oldest grave listing I found two from the same date, 10/10/1774.
One for Croley (Crowley), Samuel b. 1750 d. October 10, 1774. He was the first american killed in the Revolutionary War. He died in the first battle of the Revolution. The monument which carries the Crowley name is located at the Battleground at the place where the Great Kanawha River flows into the Ohio. That is called Point Pleasant and is now a park, site of a battle on 10 Oct 1774 between a coalition of 800 Shawnee, Mingo & Delaware against Virginia forces under Colonel Andrew Lewis. About 51 Virginians were killed that day. Point Pleasant Cemetery, Point Pleasant, Mason County, West Virginia, USA

The other for Lewis, Charles b. March 11, 1736 d. October 10, 1774
Colonial Militia Officer. Born at Lewis Fort, near present day Staunton, Virginia, he was a prominent Virginia planter and a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses from 1773 to 1774. A Colonel in the Virginia Militia, he led the forces of the Augusta County Regiment at Point Pleasant, Virginia (which is now West Virginia) during Lord Dunmore's War. On the morning of October 10, 1774 he led the attack of 150 officers and men, in the Battle of Point Pleasant, and engagement that pitted his Virginians against the famous Indian Chief Cornstalk and the Confederacy Indian Nations. Colonel Lewis was mortally wounded and died a short time later. He was buried with his fellow slain officers in the magazine on October 10, 1774. A large monument in memory of Colonel Lewis stands in the Tu Eudie Wie State Park in Point Pleasant. He is remember today for leading the fight in what many consider to be the first battle of the American Revolution. His brother, Andrew Lewis, would go on to become a General in the Continental Army. Battle Monument State Park, Point Pleasant, Mason County, West Virginia, USA

IMHO, this type of website is practically pointless. Unless you are related to a famous person you will probably never find one of your ancestors on this type of website.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Genealogy #67: Genealogy Genesis

I have been researching my family for many years off and on. I had always hoped I'd find a living relative from my father's branch of the family. I have never been able to accomplish this. I know the names of everyone in this picture except the infant yet I still cannot find a living relative from this family. Pictured in this photo from the far left; Grace (my great grandmother) Grace's daughter Marie, Marie's daughter Betty and Betty's daughter Rickey. I am guessing Rickey is holding her daughter but I don't have her name. I don't have a date on this photo but Grace died in 1972 so it's sometime before that. I am a member of ancestry.com and it has been helpful but not sure it's worth the annual fee. I signed up one year I was really into family history and because I didn't cancel it - you guessed it it automatically renewed itself and charged itself to me credit card I used to pay with the first time. Well see if I let that happen again?

Advice for those new to genealogical research? Don't spend alot of money on anything because most legitimate information is nominal. If you find a source of information that you think is too good to be true, it probably is. Start by using the free resources available through your library and ancestry.com is one of those free resources. Also Houston Public Library’s Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research is the first place I would visit. I used to use Family Tree Maker software to organize my information but after the latest computer failure I never reinstalled it on our newest computer and now it's several versions old and I'm just not spending money on hobbies right now. It is helpful to have when you are computing relationships and you have alot of people but if you are just starting out it's not necessary.

Remember: There are only 933 days remaining until Sunday, April 1, 2012! (that's when the 1940 census will be released)

Monday, September 7, 2009

In Memory of Marshall the Duke of Texas












May 5, 2000 - September 5, 2009

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.