A Genealogy Adventure
Welcome! I am so excited to have my own website! I have been busy in the last week learning all about WordPress and creating a new logo for my blog. I still have a few things I want to add to my new site but I am too excited to wait before going live. I am in full genealogy/tech geek mode and enjoying it.
I saw this car last week in Truckee, California. Only a genealogist would stop to take a picture! Unfortunately, I did not get to meet the driver of this car.
I recently received a death certificate for Amner Caroline Flock. She is my g-g-g grandmother on my maternal line. Amner Caroline and her husband, John are both buried in Enid Cemetery, Enid, Oklahoma. Using the information from their headstone, I ordered death certificates for both of them.
I sat down yesterday and proceeded with my document “intake” process. I first scanned the death certificate. I then added a source citation to the meta data for the digital image and filed it under the proper surname. Next, I opened a word document and transcribed the death certificate. This was also saved to the correct surname folder. I also added facts from the death certificate to my genealogy software and linked each to a source citation.
After I transcribed the death certificate, I noticed two items that needed further analysis. The first was the birth date for Amner Caroline. It was listed as 1841 on the death certificate. This did not match with the date of 1840 I have in my software. The next box on the death certificate listed that she would have been 92 years, 3 months, 4 days old at death. I also noticed that my genealogy software said Amner Caroline would have been 92 years old with a death date in 1933. I found an online date calculator and input the death date and subtracted the 92 years, 3 months, and 4 days. Sure enough, the answer it calculated was 1840. The person who filled out the death certificate made an error in the birth year.
The second item that caught my attention was the informant’s name. It is listed as Addie Thorp. I wanted to know more about this person and how she would know the particulars of my g-g-g grandmother’s life. My first step was to check Amner Caroline’s 1930 federal census. I did this for two reasons: 1. to check to see if she lived at the same address 3 years earlier and 2. did Addie Thorp live on the same street. To my surprise, Addie was listed as living with her mother, Amner Caroline.
This find created another “who is that?” moment. I did not have a daughter named Addie in my research. I do have a daughter named Martha who was born in the same year. I tried a search at ancestry.com for Addie Thorp and Addie Flock. Neither of these resulted in any major finds. Next I tried a general search for the last name Flock (Addie’s maiden name) and a spouse with the last name Thorp. This did not find any great results either.
I went back to the 1930 census and looked at it again. I noticed this time that Addie’s last name was transcribed as Tharp. I went back to ancestry.com and did another round of searches for Addie Tharp and the last names Flock and Tharp. BINGO!
I found a marriage record index listing in Oregon for Addie Flock and Frank Tharp. I also found online family trees that listed this particular daughter’s name as Adeline Martha Flock. It appears that the same person who filled out the death certificate for Amner Caroline made a second mistake and misspelled Addie’s last name.
I need to now order a death certificate for Addie Tharp to confirm her parents. This is still a great find because Addie (Martha) was another woman who seemed to vanish in my family. Finding married female ancestors is always exciting for me.
I thought adding this death certificate would only take 15 minutes. I ended up spending much more time than that as I worked through the process and confirmed additional information. It is so important to take the time to analyze a document when you receive it. If you don’t, you just might miss a female relative hiding on the page.
Why am I doing a Happy Dance? Because I am going to see Tom Jones speak this Fall at the San Mateo County Genealogical Society Fall 2012 Seminar!
With two small children at home and not a professional genealogist, I don’t get to attend seminars, conferences, etc. very often. My wonderful husband has agreed to keep the kids alive for a full day while I go get my genealogy geek on.
Tom Jones will be the second genealogy super star that I have had the privilege to hear speak. My first star was a day long seminar in Sonoma county many years ago where Elizabeth Shown Mills was speaking. In fact, it was my first seminar to attend. I was in my mid twenties and just getting serious about genealogy. I started citing my sources that very same day!
Tom Jones will be giving four lectures during the Same Mateo event. The topics range from creating biographies to Genealogical Proof Standard to finding elusive ancestors. It should be a great day with lots of information to bring home.
My registration and check is officially in the hands of the United States Postal Service as of today. Now I just have to wait until November 3rd!
To read more about the day long seminar visit the San Mateo Genealogical Society’s webpage. Hope to see you there!
Most people know that the 1940 U.S. Census was released on April 2nd. At the time of its release, there was no index for the census. You had to search by enumeration district to find your family members. I was able to find most of the family on my ‘most wanted’ list. There were a couple of families on my husband’s side that had to wait for an index because they had no known address for 1940.
After the census was released, I helped with transcribing efforts by participating at FamilySearch.org. This was the crowd-sourcing effort to index the census for free. There was also a simultaneous effort taking place at Ancestry.com. The indexing at Ancestry.com was outsourced to several companies located outside of the United States.
This week Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org both announced that the transcribing has been completed. FamilySearch has most states up and ready to search. The remaining states are completed and will finish a quality check before they are posted to the Internet in the next couple of weeks. Ancestry.com has all states ready to search on their website. Both sites offer free access to the 1940 census.
I took a spin yesterday on the Ancestry.com index in an effort to find my husband’s Chicago area relatives. Up first was the Radvany family living in Whiting, Indiana. I searched using the last name and the location. They were the first family listed in the search results. I will post their individual census record on another Sunday.
The second family I wanted to locate includes my husband’s grandmother. I knew this search would be a little tricky. Gwendolyn (June) Fuller and her mother, Loretta, moved to Chicago after Loretta divorced June’s father. Sometime between 1930 and 1940, Loretta was married a second time to Alexander Fraser. I knew that there could be a lot of last name variables when looking for this family. I was unable to locate the family by searching for a mix of first names and last names. I then tried using variations of Fraser but still no luck. My next plan of attack was to search using the first names for mother/daughter or spouse/spouse. Bingo! Using the location and first names only for Loretta and Alex*, I found them transcribed with the last name Troger. I have already added name variations to this family. I cannot fault the transcriber for this entry. The census enumerator did not have very clear handwriting. In fact, if I had transcribed this page I would have gotten it wrong also.
I will be interested to see how Grandma June is indexed in FamilySearch.org. Illinois is one of the states that still needs to be posted on that website so I will have to wait a couple of weeks.
This week I am writing a blog post mini-series about the trees in my town. Read the first two installments at Foliage Fun (Part 1) and Foliage Fun (Part 2).
#9 – This tree has little clusters of leaves that are growing at the ends of the branches. It looks like the person researching this tree has found ancestors and attached them to their tree without proving the intermediate generations. I do not recommend this style of research. You need to start with what you know and work out from the trunk of the tree. It is time for this tree to apply the Genealogy Proof Standard!
#10 – The most abundant tree in Northern California has to be the mighty Oak. Every hillside you look at has at least one oak growing on it. I love this Oak tree by my sister-in-laws house. It is HUGE! My guess is that it is easily 60-70 feet tall. Looking at this tree makes me think of the researchers who have thousands of people in their genealogy software databases. You have to be a strong tree to handle that kind of genealogy weight.
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#12 – This is my favorite tree in our neighborhood. It also happens to be in my in-laws front yard. Yes, my in-laws are three stop signs away. I also have a sister-in-law that lives about 2 miles away. It is convenient, especially since they all work together at the family business. I digress, back to the tree. I don’t know what kind of tree it is but it stands about 35-40 feet high. When the wind blows, which is often, it makes a gentle rustling sound. It is very relaxing. The tree is tall, strong, and has many branches and leaves. I hope that someday our family tree resembles this tree. I have a few huge brick walls to tackle first!
Thank you for joining me on a tree trip though my neighborhood. If I come across some other interesting trees that make me think of genealogy I will be sure to share them.
I meant for my Foliage Fun mini-blog-series to run every other day this week. I made a mistake and forgot to click on Publish after setting up the scheduled time. I posted the next installment today and have rescheduled the final post (Part 3) for Thursday.
So please feel free to learn from my mistake and always remember to push the Publish button when you are finished writing a blog post.
This week I am writing a blog post mini-series about the fun trees I see on my walks. Read the first post at Foliage Fun (Part 1).
#5 – When you live in Northern California you can always spot some Redwood trees. There is a grove of them up a nice hike at the western edge of my town. This tree, like the families of the pilgrims, has been around for a long time. I call it the New England Family Tree. The coolest part is the base is about 5 feet in diameter.
#6 – This funny looking tree is the ultimate brick wall! None of the branches grow vertically. It looks like someone has done an immense amount of FAN research but cannot find the next generation. I will never grow a tree like this in my yard. I would not want to jinx my research with this tree.
#7 – The neighborhood where my home is located used to be a walnut tree orchard. Most houses still have one or two on the property. Many trim them each year to nubby branches at the top of the trunk so that walnuts do not grow on the branches. Each year small branches grow with the leaves on them. Almost all of these trees end up with an almost perfectly balanced, round top. I see these trees and think of the organized researcher. All of the data in their software is cited and the originals are filed correctly. There are no piles of research that needs to be digitized or entered in software. When we moved into our house, our walnut tree had to go because it was ruining the sidewalk. Good thing, I would not want anyone to get the idea I was super organized!
#8 – This tree represents the researcher who has carefully pruned their tree so that it looks like they want it too. They have snipped off all of the skeletons and not so positive stories. They do not want anyone to think badly about their family. What they are left with is a freaky looking tree. It is kind of like some of the women you see in reality TV. They have so much makeup and plastic surgery that they end up looking odd.
The conclusion of my mini-series will be up in a few days. Join us for Part 3!
Last month I read a great blog post on staatsofshio.com. The post, written by Chris Staats, is entitled Researching Collateral Lines: A Visual Aid. The visual aid is a photo of a tree he took on a walk near his home. It really helps to drive home the point of how working “sideways” can aid your research.
When I read the blog post, I could not help but laugh at myself. I walk all over my town pushing my kids in a stroller in a bid to keep fit. I, like Chris, look at trees while walking and think of genealogy. I used to look at trees to identify one that portrays my family tree. Now I look at trees and make up a story about what kind of family they belong to.
I have decided to write a mini-blog post series inspired by the blog post on staatsofohio.com. It will capture a sampling of some great trees I see on my walks. Warning : You are now entering the mind of an obsessed genealogist!
#1 – This palm tree represents a family that does not use birth control. Each branch of the family has A LOT of kids as shown by the number of leaves on each branch.
Blogging is like anything else in life. You have to invest in continuing education. Genealogists are usually really good at this. You take the time to learn about different techniques to break down that wall, read history books to create context in your ancestors life, and attend conferences to learn even more.
We tell each other what we learn about blogging. I mostly learn by reading other blogs. My husband has had other opportunities such as working with a digital media consultant.
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| My sweet girl Riley |
The post I wrote last week about Matthias Flock’s family helped me realize some holes in my research on the family. I am not sure how but in the early 2000’s I found information that John Flock might have lived in Enid, Oklahoma at the end of his life. My early research was not always done well. I know now the importance of using citations and research logs!
I did not have death information for John F Flock or his wife, Amner Caroline Flock. I decided to follow up on the information that I already had about the family and see if I could confirm my earlier research about Enid, Oklahoma.
I started by locating Amner Flock in the 1910 Federal Census. She is living in Enid, Oklahoma and listed as widowed. This is a good start, especially since I know that John’s brother and mother are both buried in a nearby county.
I then followed up with a search on FindAGrave.com of Enid, Oklahoma. When I searched for Flock in the Enid Cemetery, I found Lillie Flock Janeway. The genealogy hairs on the back of my neck stood up because John and Amner had a daughter named Lillie. The birth date for Lillie on her gravestone matched the information I have found for her. I was unable to find an entry for John and Amner when using the search term Flock.
Using Lillie’s FindAGrave page, I requested assistance to find her parents whom I suspected were nearby. I received an email the next day from a volunteer in the area named David Schram. He let me know that there was in fact a memorial page already set up for John and Amner and that he had gone and taken a picture that morning. He is a genealogy angel! With the memorial numbers I was given, I was able to find the FindAGrave page for John and Amner. I am going to follow up with an email to FindAGrave about my search parameters and how they did not work for something that was really there.
