31 Days of Genealogy - Days 8-10

For the month of October, which is Family History Month, I've been working through the daily activities that Lisa Lee of Got Genealogy?, has devised to get us working on our Genealogy. Lisa touts that these activities can be done in 10 minutes.

Due to getting slightly behind on reading my e-mails, it was a few days into the month before I realized that Lisa was doing this. As a result, I've been trying to catch up by doing several of the activities each day.

The activities for Days 8-10 are as follows:

DAY 8) County Courthouse Day It may be Saturday, and even though your county courthouse is closed, the internet is open 24/7.  Spend a few minutes looking to see what online databases and resources your county courthouse has available.  Pick a county where one of your ancestor lived, and do the following searches:
Buncombe County, NC register of deeds  (customize this search with YOUR county)
… registrar or deeds
… recorder
… court recorder
… courthouse or court house
… clerk

Each county is a separate entity.  Some offer oodles of online information, some offer none, and they constantly change.  Even if you've looked before, look again.  If you find something useful, be sure to bookmark it.

DAY 9) Public Library Day Just like county courthouses, public libraries may or may not offer information useful to genealogists.  One neat trick I've found is that if I search for public libraries in the county where my ancestor, the search results will include any county public libraries found along with all of the cities within the county that also have their own public libraries.  Try search for, say, "wayne county michigan public library" and you'll get a list of libraries in Detroit, Westland, Garden City, and others, along with a map of where each is located.
You can also go to PublicLibraries.com, which gives an alphabetical list within each state, which may be helpful.
Some public libraries offer free research assistance, the Richland County, SC public library will do free lookups of obituaries and will scan the images and email them to you (for free), the Indiana State Library has free genealogical databases online including marriages, newspaper indexes, military records, etc., and you don't have to be a member to access this information.

State, county and local libraries are a great start, but be sure to look for college and university libraries, private, genealogical, historical society and ethnic libraries.  For example, a search for "african american libraries" or "jewish library association" will provide dozens of links of such libraries all over the U.S. There's a ton of information out there – go find it!

Day 10) Join a Genealogical or Historical Society
Even if you're not a professional genealogist, if you want to become one, the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) is a wonderful place to start (apgen.org). You can join for as little as $35/year, which entitles you to the quarterly journal (APG Quarterly), or for $65/year you'll get full voting rights, discounts to genealogical conferences, will be listed on the APG's Web site and can attend APG meetings.  One of the hallmarks of the APG is their commitment to high research standards, to ensure that all APG members conform to their Code of Ethics.

If your ancestor lived in a faraway county, there's probably a genealogical or historical society there, and you should consider joining.  Most provide a quarterly journal of local information, and being a member, I've found the ones to which I belong more than happy to help me with look-ups and tips for trip planning… even a free place to stay when I came to town on a research trip.  You know how the old saying goes, "You can never join too many genealogical societies."

Day 8: I research primarily in Georgia (maternal lines) and North Carolina (paternal lines). For the counties that I research in Georgia, I don't find much online for the individual counties but I do make full use of Georgia Virtual Vault, which has a considerable amount of information online. In North Carolina, my county of focus has primarily been Martin County. A lot of old deeds and even more recent deeds can be found at the Martin County Register of Deeds Remote Access Site.


Day 9: While I've not done it often, I have employed local libraries in the areas that I research. Most often I write, but I've also visited them if I'm in the area. I appreciate Lisa providing the site to find the listing of Public Libraries. Until now, I did not know of this site.


Day 10: I've already joined a few genealogical societies. I've joined the local ones where my ancestors lived, East Georgia Genealogical Society (EGGS) and Martin County (NC) Genealogical Society. I've also joined the North Carolina Genealogical Society. Depending on funds, I'm also planning to join the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAHGS) and the National Genealogical Society (NGS).


And with this post, I'm finally up to date on the daily activities. So far, I've really enjoyed the activities. Thank you Lisa for coming up with this idea.

31 Days of Genealogy - Days 4-7

For Family History Month, Lisa Lee of Got Genealogy? has devised a series of fun activities and projects to get us working on our genealogy every day during the month of October. Most of the activities will only require 10 minutes of your time.


Today, I worked on the activities for Days 4-7 in an effort to get almost caught up on the daily activities.


The activities for Days 4-7 are as follows:


DAY 4) Consanguinity Loops
Take two minutes to view my "Consanguinity Loops" video and get a better understanding of how two people are related, so that you can explain it at your next family reunion.  View Video
DAY 5) Facebook GroupsIf you're not already on Facebook, you're missing out on an incredible resource of information.  Find relatives, discover new information about your family, find photos, etc.  JOIN FACEBOOK.COM TODAY.

If you're already on Facebook, search for new groups to join and join them.  Do a search for:
GENEALOGY
FAMILY HISTORY
ANCESTRY
DNA

You get the idea.  Once a member of these groups, you can ask questions, post answers, share interesting Web sites, etc.  The more you reach out, the more information you'll find.

DAY 6) Order a Social Security Application ONLINE
If you haven't already tried it, this new, convenient service, is fast, secure and reliable, and costs less, because you don't have to pay for postage, paper and an envelope.  Plus, the desired SS application arrives faster than a mail request. $27 for each request.  BOOKMARK THIS URL: https://secure.ssa.gov/apps9/eFOIA-FEWeb/internet/main.jsp

DAY 7) Subscribe to Dick Eastman's Genealogy Newsletter
blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/)blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/
Dick Eastman has been around since before the beginning of recorded time, and when it comes to computers, genealogy and all things technology, he's your guy.  His award-winning newsletter offers free and premium  ("Plus", only $20/year) versions, and both are jam packed with interesting and useful information.  Sure, you could probably spend countless hours trying to find half the stuff you'll find in just one of his online newsletters, but he's the expert at finding information and making difficult topics easy to understand.  Eastman's newsletter is a must-have for all genealogists.  Subscribe today.


Day 4: Depending on the cousin chart used, I tend to have no problems understanding the chart but trying to explain it to a person who use happens to want someone to explain once removed and twice removed, etc. can be a bit daunting.


Lisa's Consanguinity Loops approach is easy to understand. So, the next time I attempt to explain cousins to someone, I will use Lisa's loops approach and see if eliminates the glazed over eyes.


Day 5: I've been on Facebook almost from the moment that I renewed my research back in 2009. Although I was hesitant in joining Facebook, I'm glad that I did. I've discovered and gotten to know some of the descendants of my great Uncle, Will Hosch, via Facebook.


There are also some great genealogy groups. One that I joined recently is DNA Tested African Descendants. Other groups include East Georgia Genealogical Society, Inc (EGGS), Georgia Genealogy Network, and Haplogroup L3.


Day 6: I've ordered several Social Security Applications online. When compared against request that I've mailed in, I do get the application faster.


Day 7: I've been a subscriber to the free version of Dick Eastman's newsletter for awhile. I decided to go ahead and upgrade to the Plus version because often times I've found myself wanting more.

Genealogy Christmas Gifts and 31 Days of Genealogy - 10 Minutes at a Time

In honor of October being Family History Month, Lisa Lee of Got Genealogy? has devised some great ideas and activities that will have us working on our genealogy every day during the month of October. The activities can be done in as little as 10 minutes.

Since I'm a little behind on the daily activities, I'm hoping to get caught up by doing 2 - 3, maybe more, of the activities each day.

The third activity (Day 3) that Lisa has us doing is

Start Working on Your Genealogy Holiday Gifts
No excuse, you have plenty of time to write the life history of ONE of your ancestors, cite it (sources are a MUST), format it, pretty-it-up, print it and get it gift wrapped in time for the holiday season in December.  You don't have to write the story of your entire family … just pick one or two ancestors, and tell their story.  If you keep it in historical context, it will make your story more compelling and those who receive it will be more inclined to keep it around for future generations.


What a great idea! Lisa even gives an example from her own family. 


The thing I like about this project is that for those of us who one day plan to pen the history of our families, it's a great starting point to begin that process.


For this project, I've selected two ancestors, one from my maternal side, great grandfather Cornelius Pierce, and one from my paternal side, great grandfather Peter Everett.


Since I've already done a PowerPoint presentation for Grandpa Cornelius, I'm hoping that one will come together quickly.

31 Days of Genealogy - 10 Minutes at a Time - Day 2

October is Family History Month and Lisa Lee, Got Genealogy?, has
devised a clever way for us to squeeze a little genealogy in every day this month.

Since I missed reading this earlier this week, I'm a little behind on the daily activities and am trying to get caught up. So, you might see a few posts from me today as I try to catch up.


The exercise / activity for Day 2 is as follows:


Join StumbleUpon.com


This FREE Web site makes it easy to find interesting Web pages, photos and videos that you probably wouldn't find on your own.  You can create your preference of "interests," and StumbleUpon will go out and find other Web sites, photos and videos that include that topic.  In addition, if you login using your FaceBook credentials, whenever any of your FB friends "likes" a particular Web site in StumbleUpon, you'll be notified.  StumbleUpon makes the Web a much smaller place, and increases the likelihood that you'll find new information you probably wouldn't have found on your own.


I've seen some of my genealogy friends using StumbleUpon but never really understood it or knew exactly what it was until doing this activity.


I set up an account on StumbleUpon and selected my interests. I then searched on some of my interests. Although not genealogy related, I came across an interesting recipe posted in one of the blogs at dailytarheel.com for Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites. By the way, I am a Tarheel.

And although I've seen this before, the first thing that came up when I did a search of genealogy was a cousin chart which had been posted at Los Cuatro Ojos

31 Days of Genealogy - 10 Minutes at a Time

October is Family History Month and Lisa Lee, Got Genealogy?, has
devised a clever way for us to squeeze a little genealogy in every day this month.

Since I was a bit behind on reading some of my e-mails, I didn't realize that Lisa was doing this until yesterday. So, I'm going to have to play catch-up for a few days.

Lisa's activity for Day 1 of the 31 Days of Genealogy is as follows:


Speling Dusn't Cownt
The first Golden Rule of Genealogy is "Speling Dusn't Cownt," mainly because, back in the day, most folks could barely read or write, plus spelling standards weren't what they are today.  Can't find a missing ancestor? Perhaps his/her name was just misspelled, so today's task is to "re-spell" their name based on the following tips:
 
a) N = U or V - In cursive writing, the lower-case letter “n” often looks like a lower-case ”u,” and there are, quite literally, thousands of instances on Ancestry.com, alone, where these surnames have been mis-transcribed. Names like ANDERSON, HANSEN, JONES, LANHAM, HENDERSON, MONTGOMERY, STONE, etc. can become Auderson, Hausen, Joues, Lauham, Heuderson, Moutgomery, and Stove.

 
b) REVERSED CONSONANTS - Reversed consonants account for far more unfindable relatives than most people even imagine. In many cases, it’s just due to bad spelling, but in others, it’s poor penmanship or sloppy transcription. Pronounced, bor-DOE, has a Soundex code of B630, sharing that Soundex code with surnames like:
Broadway Barto
Brodie Bort
Beard Brett
Barrett Breed, etc.
     
However, if the middle consonants (“r” and “d”) were reversed, the name would be Boudreau, pronounced BOO-droe or boo-DROE. Boudreau has a Soundex code of B360, sharing that Soundex code with surnames like:
Bowater Bowder
Butter Bywater
Bader Batter
Beaudry Beiter, etc.
     
With a Soundex search, you are searching within one unique Soundex code, so even if you do a Soundex search for Bourdeau, you can’t get from BOURDEAU to BOUDREAU using Soundex. It will never happen. So, you decide to do a wild card search for Bourdeau. You might try:
Bourd*
Bord*
Board*
Bo*deau, etc.
Because the middle consonants were swapped, it’s going to be next to impossible to get from Bourdeau to Boudreau using a wild card search, either. Can’t find your missing relative, try swapping middle characters.

c) MISSPELLED or MISPRONOUNCED NAMES - If a name is mispronounced, chances are, it will also be misspelled. Some surnames commonly mispronounced:
     
GROSVENOR - The “s” is silent, but this name is often mispronounced as GROVES-ner.
WOOLSEY - This surname is often mispronounced as WOOS-lee.
LAHSER - Anyone from the Detroit area is quite familiar with Lahser Road (LA-sir), but for decades, it’s been mispronounced as LASH-er.
MAUGHAN - Both the “g” and “h” are silent, making the correct pronunciation MAWN, but it’s often mispronounced as MAWG-in

JULET - I used to work with a delightful man named Tim Julet. Assuming his surname was French, I pronounced it, zhoo-LAY, only to find out that it’s actually of German origin, and pronounced joo-LET, just like it’s spelled. Too funny.
LEICESTER - I’m going out on a limb here, but I think the correct pronunciation of this is LISS-ter, rather than the commonly used LIE-ces-ter.

Looking for Grosvenor relatives, it would be wise to act as though the silent “s” isn’t even there, and try to track them down as though the name was spelled GROVENER or GROVENOR, and also look for them with the hard "s.".  How far a leap would it be for a sloppy clerk to change GROVENOR to GOVERNOR? Not hard at all.

For today's task, try re-spelling the names of your missing ancestors using the above tips.




Using the above tips from Lisa, I once again tried to locate my 2nd great grandfather, Jasper Pierce, on the 1870 Federal Census. Although, I'm fairly confident that he's just not enumerated on the 1870 census, I still try to locate him on it. I have tried some of the techniques that Lisa mentioned and have been unsuccessful but am giving it another try, so I used various spellings of Pierce such as Pearce and Piers. I tried reversing the i and e, I tried leaving the final e off, and for the fun of it I tried reversing the r and c but so far I still wasn't able to locate Grandpa Jasper on the 1870 census.

Surname Saturday - Perkins

A line in my family tree that I continue to neglect is that of my Rome Ancestors

For the time being, I’m still focusing on trying to penetrate the 1870 brick wall of Jasper and Jane Pierce, 2^nd great grandparents via my maternal grandmother, and the 1870 brick wall of my 3^rd great grandparents, Frank and Venus Everett, via my paternal grandmother. However, when I’ve temporarily exhausted ideas of where to turn next to bring those walls down, I usually begin to focus on other areas of my tree, wondering what became of the various collateral lines.

One of those collateral lines is Great Grand Aunt Penny Rome, my granddad’s, LC Hosch, maternal aunt.

Aunt Penny was one of my Great Grandmother’s, Sally Rome Hosch, younger sisters. Aunt Penny married Wesley (Wes) L. Perkins in Walton County, GA on 22 March 1894.

The 1900 Federal Census, which was the first census after they were married, shows them living in Walton County, GA with the following children: Ruf, Ennis, Wayman, and Maud.

The 1910 Federal Census shows them still to be living in Walton County, GA.

Aunt Penny and Uncle Wes now have nine children: Rufus, Ennis, Wayman, Maud, Calvin, Clifford, Annie, Ophelia, and Ruth M.

After the 1910 census I lose track of Aunt Penny, at least in Walton County, GA, but thanks to Ancestry’s shaking leaves, I’ve long suspected that Aunt Penny migrated to Arkansas. About a year ago, I saw the shaking leaf. My first thoughts were it had to be Aunt Penny. It was just too much of a coincidence that there was a Wesley and Penny Perkins on the 1920 census living in Pulaski County, AR, who were born in GA around the same time as Aunt Penny and her husband Uncle Wesley Perkins and whose children had the exact same names as those listed on the 1900 and 1910 censuses for Walton County, GA and who were also born in GA.

As I focused most of 2010 on trying to bring down those monumental 1870 brick walls on the lines mentioned above, I put Aunt Penny on the back burner. Recently though, my curiosity with regard to Aunt Penny was aroused when I came across another tree on Ancestry that contained the suspected Aunt Penny and unlike a lot of trees I come across on Ancestry, this one actually made sense. As this could possibly be one of my Great Grand Aunt’s descendants, I desperately wanted to make contact, but I needed to be sure that the Penny Perkins that appeared in the 1900 and 1910 censuses in Walton County Georgia was indeed the same Penny Perkins in 1920 Pulaski County Arkansas.

I initially thought about sending away for the SS-5 Application of a Wayman Perkins who died in 1980 in Conway, Faulkner, AR. This could possibly be her son but I decided against ordering the SS-5 and instead went a different route after finding what appeared to be Aunt Penny listed in the Arkansas Death Index. This Penny Perkins died in 1937. As death certificates usually cost less than SS-5 applications, I checked out the Arkansas Department of Health website to get all the particulars on ordering a death certificate. Per the website, death records that are more than 50 years old can be released to the public. Thankfully, this death certificate met the criteria. The cost for a death certificate was $10.00.

When Aunt Penny’s death certificate arrived the week of Sept. 12, 2011, I had literally forgotten about my request for her death certificate. I was excited and didn’t even wait until I got in the house to open the envelope. Sometimes, before you even open an envelope of requested documentation, you just know you’ve scored one for the ancestors. This is how I felt as I ripped open the envelope containing Aunt Penny’s death certificate. Never the less, I still braced myself just in case the information I sought, the names of her parents, was not on the death certificate.

There it is. Her dad is Wyatt Rome. The informant was her son Calvin Perkins. I’m so thankful that Calvin knew the name of his grandfather, my 2^nd great grandfather. I’m also grateful that he saved his 1^st cousin twice removed the expense of having to write for an SS-5 application.

Now that I’ve confirmed the relationship, my next step is to contact the owner of the tree, and try to connect with this forgotten / unknown branch of the tree. Hopefully, I’ll finally be able to record a successful reaching out experience. So far, I’ve not had much success in this department. Wish me luck.

Wednesday's Child

Everyone was excited to welcome him into the world, especially one of his big cousins (that would be me), but we never got a chance. Prior to his birth, he became entangled in his umbilical cord.

The following year, his great grandmother, my grandmother, would be interred beside him. Growing up and even now, I've always imagined that my grandmother was taking care of him in the after life.

“The Help” in my Own Family – The Stories of My Mother and My Aunts

I recently read The Help by Kathryn Stockett as it was this month’s selection for the book club that I am a member of. I hope to also be able to see the movie before it leaves the area.

Especially in the African American community, the emotions with regard to both the movie and the book have run the gamut of emotions, from anger to a sense of pride.

For me personally, I definitely fall in the pride camp. Like so many others, when reading the book, my thoughts turned to “The Help” within my own family. I think it’s the genealogist in me.

Growing up, I heard many similar stories as those depicted in The Help, and I don’t have to travel very far along the ancestral path to encounter them, because at various points in their work lives, my mother and her sisters were The Help. Surprisingly, to the best of my knowledge, my grandmother was never “The Help.”

The following are remembrances from Aunt Marie’s and my Mother’s days as “The Help.”

Mom

The bulk of Mom’s time as “The Help” was during the summer months while she was home from college, which would be the mid 1940s and at times in her early work life, she would fill in for one of her sisters.

My mother had good and bad experiences from that era in her life as well as those that fall some where in between.

When one of the central characters, Aibileen, of The Help is accused of theft, I was reminded that my mother went through a similar situation. In one family that my mother worked for, the wife, Mrs. Cook, was an alcoholic. You can see where this is leading already, can’t you? Mrs. Cook would get so drunk that she would forget where she put her money. One day when she was in a drunken stupor, she, of course, accused my mother of taking her money and threatened to call the police. My mother, while somewhat shy and reserved, could and can also be a bit feisty and told her employer to go ahead and call the police because they wouldn’t find anything on her.

While Mrs. Cook didn’t call the police, she did call her husband, who came home, surveyed the situation, asked mom a few questions, and returned to work. Apparently, he didn’t believe his wife’s claim. Eventually, Mrs. Cook found her money but by then my mother had had enough and told her that she didn’t need the job and wouldn’t be back. And for as spirited and standing up for herself as my mother was, underneath she was trembling and terrified and she arrived back home in tears where my grandmother asked her “What’s wrong with you?” Through tear filled eyes, my mother told my grandmother what had happened.

The irony of all this is that Mrs. Cook called my mother, apologizing profusely, and begging mom to come back. Mom’s response was “No. I’m not coming back.”

On the opposite end of the spectrum was Mrs. Bruce. With Mrs. Bruce, mom and her sisters were baby sitters as mom likes to put it and from the way mom reflects on Mrs. Bruce, that term is probably the most accurate description of the work they did for her. Mrs. Bruce always wanted one of the Hosch girls and if she couldn’t get one of them, then she would just stay home that day and look after the children herself. The Bruces also paid the best.

Aunt Marie

Of all my aunts, four altogether, I think it’s the story of Aunt Marie the oldest of my aunts that can cause anger to well up inside me. Not so much for the system under which she toiled but for the mind set it created in her.

During her work life, Aunt Marie worked for some of the famous people from my hometown, the O. Max Gardner family from whence one of the governors of North Carolina came. As the socialites of my hometown, the Gardners did a lot of entertaining, which means they served alcoholic beverages. Being deeply religious, Aunt Marie didn’t feel comfortable serving the alcoholic concoctions and would always ask her coworker if she would take care of this duty.

Aunt Marie toiled as “The Help” all of her working days, which extended well into the 1970s, even after other opportunities opened up. Her younger sisters were always trying to get her to no longer be “The Help” but I don’t think Aunt Marie was ever able to envision herself as anything else. That being said, at the end of her days as “The Help” and when it was well past time for her to retire, she finally said no more. You see at the end of her work life, Aunt Marie no longer had her own transportation as her car had been totaled in a wreck. By this point in time, her last employer was only using her one day a week anyway. So her employer calls and wanted her to come out but wasn’t willing to provide transportation, so Aunt Marie would have had to pay someone to get there. Whatever the pay was at this point, it wasn’t worth all the trouble, so Aunt Marie told her she wasn’t coming out. Truth is Aunt Marie was just probably tired and worn out.

After reading “The Help” and once again reflecting on the era and times of those who came before, I can say I’m thankful that my mother didn’t meet a worse fate from the accusations leveled against her. I’m thankful that while Aunt Marie never envisioned herself as being anything other than “The Help” that she was still able to hang on to bits and pieces of herself by refusing to serve alcohol. I’m thankful that my mother and all my aunts, even Aunt Marie, knew that this wouldn’t always be the way, if not for themselves, then most certainly their children or grandchildren would know a different life.

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy, Week 33 - Nicknames

Week 33: Nicknames. What was your childhood nickname, and what was the meaning behind it? You can also discuss the nicknames of other family members, both past and present.

This challenge runs from Saturday, August 13, 2011 through Friday, August 19, 2011.

My mother was a stickler that no child of her's would have a nickname. Momma hated and still hates nicknames. In spite of her best efforts to keep the nickname demons away, I still managed to acquire a couple of nicknames. Both were given to me by my maternal aunts.

The first of the nicknames  was Maybelline, given to me by my Aunt Frances. I acquired the nickname due to my long eyelashes. Aunt Frances used to always tell me that I would never need to wear mascara.

The second nickname, Chitty, was given to me by Aunt Lucille. Chitty come from the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. After having seen the movie when it came to my hometown, my mother made me a dress based on the character Jenmima.. From then on,  when when ever Aunt Lucille saw me, she began calling me Chitty