Putting my toe back into the Genealogy pool

Cousin Love!

The big move is over but still figuring where to put stuff.  My craft room is still being used as a bedroom.  Everything I want in the craft room is still packed.  But I have my laptop and I have my digital files.

Recently I got the chance to learn more about my uncle who was adopted.  He recently did a DNA test & found out more about his birth parents.  So I have been working on that sporadically. Went to the library for some obituaries. And used the census to find out that his birth parents were neighbors.

I also explored the largest library in my new county.  They do have genealogy materials so spent some time looking things over.  I did take some photos of materials I found interesting.  There was also a picture of my g+grandparents that I've never seen!

I also attended a local conference where we were encouraged to blog!  Going to conferences always gets me fired up to work on my tree too.  Learned a lot and feel like I'm heading in a good direction still.

I also re-connected with wikitree.com.  I made an account in 2012 but didn't even have the same email.  Got that all straightened out and have been working on adding my lines to the great tree in the cloud.  That has been a good experience since sourcing is very important.  But it is fun when you connect your line into an existing tree!

Good Luck & Good Night

Disaster struck

Okay not total disaster but not great either.  I have been working very hard to create a very sourced family using RootsMagic.  I was going along fine, not quickly, but fine until I started noticing missing people. Yep, names I knew should be there were not there.  I'm not sure if I accidentally switched files or what but it was a big problem.  So I tried to fix the problem by merging an earlier backup with my current file.  Basically I just made it worst.  Now I had multiply people and everything was just mixed up.

Logic thing to do?  Just start over again.  The good part of this is it is going faster the 2nd time because my family logs were much better.  So that work didn't go to waste!  And I have a way to make sure I don't mess up again.  Before every backup on RootsMagic, I keep a spreadsheet of certain key file summaries to make sure that I'm not loosing any additional information.

Making progress on my Genealogy Do-Over

I have been working on my do-over since 2015.  After 2 years and a few months, I have accomplished two very important goals.  I had an overwhelming amount of digital information that needed to be logged and added to my rootsmagic tree.  I am very please that I have complete not only 1 surname, but 2 surnames (out of four).  I'm still working on the remaining files but I also still have a lot of paper not digitized at all.  So sorting and scanning is still in the future.  But I am very pleased with my progress!  

Do-Over Log Jam

www.catskillarchive.com

One of my first ventures into the trenches of Genealogy in 1997 (about) was meeting with my mother's cousin who had done TONS and TONS of work on our shared line.  She very generously shared by copying all her files that included newspaper clippings and handwritten memories.  So I started as a name collector with that huge file of handwritten family group sheets.  But what I did NOT do was sourcing.  I had no idea where that name or date originated.  I negated the work done by others by not giving credit to the original.

As I go back through those pages plus other collections, I'm looking at a lifetime of work by many as well as record of who came before me.  I'm not a name collector.  Rather I'm honoring the work of my relatives.  The years and years of their efforts (typing, organizing, going to libraries) are worth the hours of effort by me.  Their love of family and history deserves preservation.  What I'm hoping to pass down to my descendants is a well organized record of my work, including names and faces and stories of those who came before,

Why I deleted my Ancestry.com Family Trees

I have had an account with Ancestry.com since Mar 2002, that is 15 years folks.  Some of that time was via a membership and other times not.  My mother did a DNA test through Ancestry.com and she also got one for me, a few months later.  When my mother first got her test results, I was able to see the PUBLIC family trees managed by people who were related to my mother.  A lot of people don't have them but it was nice to have the option to browse DNA matches tree.

A few months later I did my DNA test through Ancestry.com and guess what.  Yep, I couldn't view the family trees from anyone except my own.  When I click on the link, it sends me automatically to a membership screen (see below).  All I wanted to view was a tree that someone created and posted in the public trees.  Why does this require a subscription?  Why does Ancestry think that my research should only be viewed by members?  

Since my DNA results are there, I do still have an account.  But I will not be purchasing a membership anytime soon. Frankly, Ancestry has gotten so huge that even a basic search returns too many results to manage because it includes tons of internet sites as well.  So if you are interested in finding relatives via DNA testing, I would recommend using a different company.

UPDATE: Aug 20th - just found out why my mother could view trees and not me.  Nothing was changed by Ancestry EXCEPT my mother actually bought a membership.  I'm not even sure she knows what that means.  So still would not recommend Ancestry.com DNA.

Found this picture of my family and it made my day!

I was casually looking around for some genealogy stuff, switching between windows, when I needed to go to Family Search.  I have an account, of course, but I never really looked at some of the newer functionality of the site.  But this time when I logged in, it sent me to a photo screen based on a simple tree I had put up awhile ago.  The first picture totally got my attention and it was amazing!!  A cousin I didn't know, had this picture with her family genealogy and I had never seen it or even heard of its existence!!

As soon as I saw this picture, I knew which family.  The young man on the viewers left is my great-grandfather Ben.  The reason I recognized him is because I have a wedding picture of Ben and his bride, Emma, which would only be about 5 years from this photo.

So at this time of the family, the father, Minne had died 5 years before of "lung fever".  The only other direct family to pass away was one of the little girls, Klaaske in 1900.  Since Klaaske passed away from "strophia" (some form of muscle atrophy ), this picture is probably around the time of her death (before or after) in 1900.  The only other picture of the mother, Marie, is when she is much older and her face is shaded by a hat.  But you can see the lower part of her face and it does seem to resemble this picture too.

Now that I'm looking at the picture again, there is a weird blank spot between the boys.  May be this picture was altered?

3 Rules of Genealogy (for beginners)

1st (and easiest) rule of Genealogy : Always start with yourself and work backwards

2nd (harder) rule of Genealogy : Always site your sources so you can find that information again if needed

3rd (hardest) rule of Genealogy : Always site your sources so that ANYONE can find that information again; including yourself when you forget what you meant in rule #2

Genealogy Redo Progress

I started the Redo in March 2015 and it has felt like a really long journey.  I'm still in the "organize what you have rather than find more" stage which has been really hard to accomplish.  But I finally feel like I am making some real progress.  (Although there is a long way to go.) I had a ton of saved documents that were only divided by family.  So I finally decided to sort by type of record, i.e. newspaper, census, dutch records etc. and that has helped out a TON.  I also labeled them by number, 1-13 and I'm on number 5 already!

So being "done" with a section means that the each item is saved as a jpg on my external hard drive, saved as a pdf on my dropbox account, and logged into the corresponding family research log.  Then it is also add to my roots magic family tree and each person & fact has a source attached.  I know everything is not perfect because I do make mistakes but I do love seeing those files lining up by numbers!

PS: this is my 200th posting!

Jumping on the DNA bandwagon pt. 4

Now it was my turn to take a test and my mother graciously paid for it.  I went with Ancestry.com (and now regret that) since that is where my mother did her test.  This way I could find out my father's family there too.

So this is my results.  Not surprised now by the Scandinavia.  But confused about the "Thousands of Years ago" heading.  Shouldn't these results be closer to home since my DNA probably doesn't have much left from my great-great-great grandparents?  And the other reason I regret using Ancestory.com.....I am now blocked from viewing public trees of my DNA connections.  When my mother did her test, this was still available.  And was one of the reasons I even liked this service.  But now I have to subscribe to the ancestry mega machine to even see how I might be related to a DNA match?  So not interested.

My next DNA goal is to upload raw results to other sites.  I know very little about this at this time so it will be another journey in my family tree quest.

Keeping it all Together

I have been working hard (when I have time) at reorganizing my genealogy files and making sure to source, source and source again for everything in my tree program.  Part of that organization is my need to see what I'm missing easily, without having to go through all the people in my tree.  So this is my master ancestor listing:

(I ONLY have direct ancestors on this sheet.  Adding more would just cause chaos.)  So I have the generations listed on the left, then the ahnentafel number, the last & first name of the ancestor, then all the primary records, then additional information and finally all the census records.  It is color coded at the name level to match the binders I have for each family.  When I find a vital record, I change the font to green.  If I know that person is not going to be in a certain census, I gray out that field.  I actually really love just viewing the chart!  It really appeals to the part of me that loves lists!

I didn't come up with this chart on my own.  I started with another chart a genealogist had used (and offered it to everyone in the group) and then I've just kept adding things.  The last thing I added was Military/Draft field so I can keep track of military records.  I am positive I will never ever complete this chart.  I can keep on adding names without running out of space.  And there is always something I cannot find.  But I will keep on hunting!

Another Tillotson Adventure!

Through some research online & at the Hastings library, I found Sylvia Johnson who was the only daughter of Sophia Tillotson Johnson and Bushrod Washington Johnson.  Unfortunately she died very young, at 18 in 1872 (after the divorce of her parents).  I have located her grave in Barry County which I thought was cool since I hadn't know this child existed before.  But now something else has occurred, which reinforces my love of Genealogy!

My father-in-law sold his house and we received some of the pictures that were hanging on the walls for as long as I can remember.  I had no idea who this girl was but she had a huge frame, which looked old.  So today I take the backing off the frame so I can see if there is any writing on the back (actually, we think it is a drawing) and it says Sylvia Johnson!!!

"Sylvia Johnson, daughter of Sophia Tillotson Johnson & Bushrod Washington Johnson lived in Milo, Mich.  She was a half-sister of Oscar & Carrie Tillotson.  She died at 18 yrs of age. She had been a student at Kalamazoo College.  She had one sister Ruby Johnson who died in early childhood."  (Ruby was actually a Tillotson, the first born of Sophia & Asahel Tillotson.)

Duncan Livingston's first marriage

So my husband has an ancestor named Duncan Livingston.  And he is really hard to pin down because the dates of his birth and immigration from Scotland keep changing with every census.  I did have his marriage to Ida May Cook (who is another problem, at least for her birth record) proven with a record but beyond that and the census, not much.  From the census (and family information) I knew he had been married before Ida but the family really didn't seem to have much information.  I had been searching around for a while, looking for a marriage record without any luck.  Then I happened upon a death record for Kate Livingston who died in 1898.  The name of the reporter was given as D. Livingston.  Not much to go on really but it did seem like a good fit.  So I kept looking for the marriage record without much luck.  But there were two useful things on this death record.  One was that Kate Livingston had 1 child and Kate had been born in Canada.

I followed the child lead and actually located a marriage record for Ella Livingston in 1903.  Her birth fit with the possible marriage date for Duncan's 1st marriage and Ella's parents were given as Duncan Livingston and Kate Mc Intire.  (Yep, the death record did give Kate's father Michol Mc Intyre.)  But the really exciting information was the witness named Ida M Livingston!  Oh yeah, this was a really good fit!  But Ella had a daughter too and at her marriage, Ida M Livingston again was listed as a witness!  So know I had the names of three women that had been lost!

It does make you wonder how this information was forgotten until I found the death records for both Ella and her daughter Kathleen.  Kathleen died in 1929 from Ilaus with contributory induced abortion.  And Ella died in 1930 from a strangulated hernia after a surgery.  Duncan didn't die until 1945 so he had already lost his entire 1st family.

But I still had to find his marriage record to Kate Mc Intyre.  And that is when the born in Canada helped out.  Because what if they didn't get married in Michigan, where Duncan lived but in Canada where Kate was born?  So Family Search helped out again with marriage records from Canada.  Of course these records where divided by province and I didn't have a clue where to start.  So I picked the closes province to Michigan, Ontario.  And the very first record that showed up was the marriage record of Duncan and Kate in 1882.  Case closed!

Death Records & Modern Medicine

It is both interesting and heartbreaking to browse (or find) death records.  So many causes of death are preventable in our day and age but would wipe out most of a family before modern medicine.  It just makes me wonder about the mother who lost THREE children from Scarlet Fever in less than a month, what she would have risked or given to have been able to prevent that tragedy.

1872 Michigan death record: King children age 9, 12 and  6

It is easy to blame vaccinations for this happening or that, but it really comes down to is poor Margaret King would have jumped at the chance to prevent this kind of tragedy or many others like it.  (Scarlet fever doesn't have a vaccination but is curable today.)  The type of disease that vaccinations due work against are NOT as severe as they once were because modern medicine is much better at treating the symptoms.  But we shouldn't loose sight of the tragic past we can find in the old records which show us just how deadly they once were.

Wedding Wednesday: Gradus Lubbers and Dina Sneller Ball

Gradus Lubbers and Dina Sneller Bol where married March 14, 1896 in Fillmore Township, Michigan.  Three children total born to this couple, one set of twins.

It's curious how little anyone in the family knows about the courtship and marriage of our ancestors.  So write down your own story to save it for the future generations!

Wedding Wednesday: Naber & Lubbers

Walter Naber and Priscilla Lubbers married February 14, 1918 in Fillmore Township, Michigan. Together they had 11 children, 2 who died young.  Walter Naber is credited by family with saving some of his younger children who were very small.  He setup a little incubator at home for the newborns, keeping them warm like little chicks!  Their youngest daughter was actually born at the hospital at a time when very few babies were not born at home because of the high risk birth.

Wedding Wednesday: Brandt & De Vries

Jeanette De Vries and Otto Brandt married October 31, 1918 in Zeeland, Michigan.  I don't have a newspaper clipping describing the dress but the story goes that Otto and Jeanette had a shotgun wedding.  She was pregnant (first child born April 1919) and her brothers (she had six of them) chased Otto down, forcing him to marry her.  They ended up with 11 children, two who died very young.

Tombstone Tuesday: Great-Great-Great Grandparents #32

Egbert and Hermina (Beld) Boes were married November 21, 1858 in Zeeland, Michigan.  Egbert Boes was born July 2, 1819 in Zweelo, Drenthe.  Hermina Beld was born March 16, 1836 in Bentheim.  Together they had 12 children.  Egbert died at the age of 92 on May 30, 1912 in Zeeland, Michigan.  Hermina died at the age of 83 on February 12, 1920 in Jamestown, Michigan.  They are both buried in the Zeeland cemetery, Zeeland, Michigan.

Tombstone Tuesday: Great-Great-Great Grandparents #30

Jan and Trientje (Koenes) Meulenbelt were married September 24, 1862 in Aduard, Groningen.  Together they had five children.  Jan Meulenbelt was born November 21, 1839 in the Netherlands and died June 2, 1925 in Michigan at the age of 85.  Trientje Koenes Meulenbelt was born April 1840 in the Netherlands and died March 21, 1917 at the age of 76 in Michigan.  They are both buried in the Grandville cemetery in Grandville, Michigan.  There is no headstone.

Tombstone Tuesday: Great-Great-Great Grandparents #28

Reijer and Jentje (Bouwman) Sneller were married February 20, 1864 in Heerde, Gelderland, Netherlands.  Reiner Sneller was born in 1839 in Oldebroek, Gelderland.  Jentje Bouwman was born abt 1842.  Together they had seven children.  Jentje died in April 1877 at the age of 35 in Michigan.  Reijer died March 3, 1906 in Michigan at the age of 67.  He is buried in the Bentheim cemetery, Overisel Township, Michigan.  I could not find a headstone.

Tombstone Tuesday: Great-Great-Great Grandparents #27

Hendrik and Zwaantje (Schrotenboer) Lubbers were married October 9, 1865 in Fillmore Township, Michigan.  Together they had 15 children.  Hendrik was born January 30, 1838 in Bentheim and died February 4, 1865 in Fillmore Township, Michigan.  Zwaantje was born October 10, 1847 in Fillmore Township, Michigan and died February 17, 1904 in Fillmore Township.  Together they are buried in the Graafscap Cemetery.