A quick check seems to show ZERO photos for here in St. Catharines.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Website of the Day- Jan 11, 2012 - whatwasthere.com
Recently featured the geneabloggers radio show, this great website links old photos into a sort of "street view".
Saturday, January 21, 2012
My New iPhone
My darling husband has bought me an iPhone! XoX to my
wonderful husband!
A few weeks ago I mentioned here that I was hoping to acquire an iPhone. Several genealogy apps have been coming to my attention which caused me to think that this was something I would like have and to learn to use. Over the past few months I have been repeatedly disappointed by the still photos produced by the "photo" setting on my digital camcorder.
I was also looking for something that would take good pictures of documents or pages of a book when I am researching at a library or archives.
I intend to begin a great deal of local research here in the St. Catharines/Niagara/Ontario area. I was also looking for something that would let me upload photos for BillionGraves.com as I find myself usually unable to find the additional time required to transcribe the cemeteries I photograph.
I am disappointed to see that the ancestry.com app wont load my main personal tree because its too large (and its only an eighth of my actual Legacy file!) This leads me to think I may need to install Families 1.0. Im not sure tho this will work, as my file is larger than 300,000 individuals (further investigation on another page states users have been successful with displaying and editing files over 1 million individuals, which mine is not larger than...)
I am not certain if I should put Dropbox on my iPhone, because my Dropbox is very large, and would use more than my Iphone can hold? (I use about 30 GB of Dropbox space) Looking further into this, it appears so long as I dont indicate a file is a Favorite, it wont be stored on my iPhone, so this might not be a problem.
What I am trying to do is get a way to bring my genealogy data to the library, access it and update it at the library, without a laptop. Not sure this is really viable, without getting an iPad as well. I keep two copies, one on ancestry.com and one in Legacy. Maybe what I need is Pocket Genealogiost 4.0 (no, turns out I do not , because I have over 250,000 individuals) Hmmm....
A few weeks ago I mentioned here that I was hoping to acquire an iPhone. Several genealogy apps have been coming to my attention which caused me to think that this was something I would like have and to learn to use. Over the past few months I have been repeatedly disappointed by the still photos produced by the "photo" setting on my digital camcorder.
I was also looking for something that would take good pictures of documents or pages of a book when I am researching at a library or archives.
I intend to begin a great deal of local research here in the St. Catharines/Niagara/Ontario area. I was also looking for something that would let me upload photos for BillionGraves.com as I find myself usually unable to find the additional time required to transcribe the cemeteries I photograph.
I am disappointed to see that the ancestry.com app wont load my main personal tree because its too large (and its only an eighth of my actual Legacy file!) This leads me to think I may need to install Families 1.0. Im not sure tho this will work, as my file is larger than 300,000 individuals (further investigation on another page states users have been successful with displaying and editing files over 1 million individuals, which mine is not larger than...)
I am not certain if I should put Dropbox on my iPhone, because my Dropbox is very large, and would use more than my Iphone can hold? (I use about 30 GB of Dropbox space) Looking further into this, it appears so long as I dont indicate a file is a Favorite, it wont be stored on my iPhone, so this might not be a problem.
What I am trying to do is get a way to bring my genealogy data to the library, access it and update it at the library, without a laptop. Not sure this is really viable, without getting an iPad as well. I keep two copies, one on ancestry.com and one in Legacy. Maybe what I need is Pocket Genealogiost 4.0 (no, turns out I do not , because I have over 250,000 individuals) Hmmm....
Monday, January 16, 2012
The results are in!
Today 23andme informed me that I had test results available.
I expected that it was for my grandfathers 3rd cousin, because his kit was received at the lab Dec 16th, but it was for the person who tested for me believing he is my biological father.
The test confirms it, he IS my father. I have already written him a quick email telling him the results and will be calling him on the telephone in a little while. My husband had just headed out to the store, and right after he left the results came in, so with 5 kids in the house Im a bit overwhelmed at the moment!
Wow, I dont even know what to write. Firstly, I am sooo thankful that my father contacted me and told me who he was. I believe someone gave him a little nudge to contact me again, and I am thankful they did that! 37 years is a long time to not know about someone being your father. I have no experience in how to go about forming a relationship after all this time, but even just knowing is amazing.
From a genealogical viewpoint, my family tree just became MUCH more complete!
I am still waiting on his Relative Finder results.
An old mystery is now being replaced with a new mystery. My grandmother's (!!!! still getting used to this) mother was born to an unwed mother and her father is not known altho apparently he was wealthy enough to leave a trust fund or something similar for the care of my great grandmother whose mother died when she was an infant. I'll be posting more on this in another post.
French Canadian research hasn't been my strong point up until now, but I guess it will be a focus for me moving forward! You can expect many blog postings on French Canadian genealogy from me in the upcoming months!
I'll be writing all my DNA cousins over the next few days as I am able to process all this data.
The question that has been going through my mind for the past few weeks is WHY did my mother lie to me? I just dont understand why she would have done that, especially knowing as she did that she was dying.
Oh, the paternal haplogroup of my father? R1b1b2a1a2c !!!
His maternal haplogroup? H1c
Im soooo excited!
Some people wonder if I will now be "done" with DNA testing at 23andme etc, and the answer is NO. I am still devoted to gathering as much data as I possibly can, if anything this gives me a whole new group of people to request tests from!
Website of the Day - Jan 10, 2012 - stevemorse.org
http://stevemorse.org/ is sure to be a big hit when the unindexed 1940 census comes out in a few weeks.
The tools on this site can help you find "your" people in the 1940 census.
The tools on this site can help you find "your" people in the 1940 census.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Understand genetics and genetic genealogy
http://stevemorse.org/genetealogy/beyond.htm
This is a great explanation to help people understand what is going on with autosomal DNA.
This is a great explanation to help people understand what is going on with autosomal DNA.
Correcting the info out there
Have you heard the saying "you don't know what you don't know"? Well, I'd like to talk about "you dont know what lies you believe".
I have been doing genealogy for a very long time. As a result of that, my family information appears in many places. I often have living peoples data removed, but usually show all deceased data. I am now facing a very difficult dilemna. As my mother lied to be about who my father was, and that person is no longer living, the person she had named as my father is listed in many genealogy places as my father. Obviously this needs correcting.
In my particular case, I have decided to leave the correcting until I have the correct name for certain to replace the incorrect one. Many of you out there I am sure have something in your database / family tree that you have learned was incorrect and have now corrected it. But what steps have you taken to correct the places it appears incorrectly?
I have been doing genealogy for a very long time. As a result of that, my family information appears in many places. I often have living peoples data removed, but usually show all deceased data. I am now facing a very difficult dilemna. As my mother lied to be about who my father was, and that person is no longer living, the person she had named as my father is listed in many genealogy places as my father. Obviously this needs correcting.
In my particular case, I have decided to leave the correcting until I have the correct name for certain to replace the incorrect one. Many of you out there I am sure have something in your database / family tree that you have learned was incorrect and have now corrected it. But what steps have you taken to correct the places it appears incorrectly?
The suspense is killing me.....
It has now been about 3 weeks since the lab at 23andme received the sample for my possible father. The lab received his sample on Dec 17th. The latest date received to have results so far is Nov 26th.
I have tried to see if his family tree connects with any of the matches I know to be on my fathers side, but so far nothing. This means nothing as I cant connect any of the matches on paper, even for people I have extensive genealogies on, such as my grandfather and his matches.
He does have the correct types of Ancestry, especially the French Canadian that my matches have led me to expect, so I suspect the test will be conclusive that he is my father, but after all these years of being told a different story....
I have tried to see if his family tree connects with any of the matches I know to be on my fathers side, but so far nothing. This means nothing as I cant connect any of the matches on paper, even for people I have extensive genealogies on, such as my grandfather and his matches.
He does have the correct types of Ancestry, especially the French Canadian that my matches have led me to expect, so I suspect the test will be conclusive that he is my father, but after all these years of being told a different story....
Genealogy Task of the Day - Day 7 - Vital Statistics
Find or order one vital statistic record for someone in your family tree. A birth record, a marriage record or a death record. Make sure to properly cite it when you add it to your files.
Genealogy Task of the Day - Day 6 - Newspapers
Newspaper articles can bring more details to light about your family members and their lives.
Find a newspaper article about anyone in your family tree.
Find a newspaper article about anyone in your family tree.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Genealogy Task of the Day - Day 5 - Siblings
We have now covered some basics about yourself and both your parents.
Today, record 10 things about each of your siblings. You can use the questions on Day 1 as prompts if you like.
Some additional questions to prompt you:
- hair colour
- eye colour
- height
- blood type
- sports enjoyed, and do they play or just watch that sport?
- your first memory of this sibling
Bonus points if you go back and add more answers for yourself and your parents.
Today, record 10 things about each of your siblings. You can use the questions on Day 1 as prompts if you like.
Some additional questions to prompt you:
- hair colour
- eye colour
- height
- blood type
- sports enjoyed, and do they play or just watch that sport?
- your first memory of this sibling
Bonus points if you go back and add more answers for yourself and your parents.
Genealogy Task of the Day - Day 4 - DNA
Todays task of the day is to look into and hopefully order an autosomal DNA test for yourself. Two major companies offering this test are 23andme and FTDNA.
Males and females can take this test, and both companies then offer a matching service to match you with cousins who share DNA segments.
If a DNA test isn't in the budget, perhaps you could start saving for a DNA test in the future.
Males and females can take this test, and both companies then offer a matching service to match you with cousins who share DNA segments.
If a DNA test isn't in the budget, perhaps you could start saving for a DNA test in the future.
Genealogy Task of the Day - Day 3 - All about Mom
The task of the day is to write 10 things about your mother, you can use the questions on Day 1 as prompts.
Genealogy Task of the Day - Day 2 - All about Dad
Today's task is to write at least 10 things about your father. You can use the questions from Day 1 as prompts if you like.
Genealogy Task of the Day - Day 1 - All about you
Day 1- All about YOU
Do you wish your great-great-great grandmother had written a nice long autobiography filled with everything from her favorite food and pastimes to the names of her parents? Someday your great-great-great grandchild may be wishing the same about YOU
For today, the Genealogy Task of the Day is to record at least 10 things about you.
Some thoughts on possible first 10 things to write:
- When were you born?
- Where were you born?
- Do you play any musical instruments?
- Can you draw or paint well?
- What grade school(s) did you attend?
- What high school(s) did you attend?
- Who was/were your best friends growing up?
- What hobbies do you enjoy?
- How much did you weigh at birth?
- Do you have any medical conditions?
Website of the day - Jan 8, 2012 - 23andme
One of the options for autosomal DNA testing is 23andme.
23andme plans to make genetic genealogy a priority in 2012, with new labs and updates.
23andme plans to make genetic genealogy a priority in 2012, with new labs and updates.
Website of the day - Jan 5, 2012 - familytreedna.com
Arguably the top testing company for genetic genealogy, FTDNA has tests for Y-DNA, mtDNA, and autosomal DNA testing.
Website of the day - Jan 4, 2012 Fold3
Formerly known as Footnote.com, Fold3 has a focus on military records.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Born This Day - Jan 02
Lucy Barnes
Lucy was the daughter of Deacon Daniel Barnes and his wife Zeruiah Eager.
Lucy married Samuel Stevens 23 Jun 1742 in Marlborough, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA.
Children of Samuel Stevens and Lucy Barnes:
Jonas, born 1743
Daniel, born 1746
Francis, born 1749
Lucy, born 1752
Lydia, born 1758
Lucy was a descendant of Edmund Rice.
Sources:
History of the town of Marlborough, Middlesex county, Massachusetts: from its first settlement in 1657 to 1861; with a brief sketch of the town of Northborough, a genealogy of the families in Marlborough to 1800, and an account of the celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of the incoporation of the town by Charles Hudson.
Website of the Day - Jan 1, 2012 - Familysearch.org
This years first Website of the Day is Familysearch.org.
Familysearch.org is a genealogy website run by the LDS. They are free, and have an amazing number of records indexed and record images available. According to the latest email they sent out (Dec 2011), they have apparently indexed 692,038,100 records. 153,013,100 of those records were completed in 2011.
There are records from pretty much every location and time period.
Some records are available as images only, which you navigate rather like the microfilms. In time these records will be indexed, but the website makes them available to those of us who just can't wait for that and are willing to take the time to browse the images.
I am both an indexer and arbitrator there.
Please consider volunteering to index and/or arbitrate there to keep this great site growing.
https://www.familysearch.org/
Familysearch.org is a genealogy website run by the LDS. They are free, and have an amazing number of records indexed and record images available. According to the latest email they sent out (Dec 2011), they have apparently indexed 692,038,100 records. 153,013,100 of those records were completed in 2011.
There are records from pretty much every location and time period.
Some records are available as images only, which you navigate rather like the microfilms. In time these records will be indexed, but the website makes them available to those of us who just can't wait for that and are willing to take the time to browse the images.
I am both an indexer and arbitrator there.
Please consider volunteering to index and/or arbitrate there to keep this great site growing.
https://www.familysearch.org/
Born this day - Jan 1
Alvan Allen
Alvan Allen was born 01 Jan, 1784 in Spencer, Massachusetts, USA, the son of Israel and Thankful (Greenwood) Allen.
Alvan married Mehitable Goodnow in Massachusetts on 10 Feb 1809. The book "Walter Allen of Newbury, Mass., 1640, and some of his descendants : with a few notes on the Allen family in general" by Allen Herbert Bent. indicates they were married in 1800 but this is an error.
In addition, the birth of their daughter Caroline is 5 May 1810 not 5 May 1801 as listed in the book, and the birth of their son Oshea was 8 Sep 1812 not 8 Sep 1802 as indicated in the book. (Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850 has the correct birthdates)
Children of Alvan and Mehitable include:
1. Caroline, born 5 May 1810
2. Oshea, born 1812
3. Alvan, born 1815
4. David G, born 1816
5. Angelina, born 1818
6. Alvan, born 1821
7. Martha Ann, born 1823
8. Mehitable, born 1826
Alvan was listed in the 1810 census.
Alvan was listed in the 1820 census but Ancestry.com lists him as "Alwin Allen".
Alvan was listed in the 1830 census, but Ancestry.com has listed the household as having 7 people, when the image clearly shows 8.
Alvan died 12 Oct 1840 in Spencer, Massachusetts, USA. His estate was administered in 1840 in Spencer. There is some "guardianship" issue for Alvan in 1841, likely the guardianship of his youngest children . Copies have not been obtained of the actual estate or guardianship files.
Alvan was an Edmund Rice Descendant, as was his wife Mehitable Goodenow.
Alvan's line: Alvan Allen-Israel Allen-Obadiah Allen-Mercy Rice-Henry Rice-Edmund Rice
Edmund Rice Assocation
Sources:
"Walter Allen of Newbury, Mass., 1640, and some of his descendants : with a few notes on the Allen family in general" by Allen Herbert Bent.
Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2010)
1810 US Federal Census at Ancestry.com
1820 US Federal Census at Ancestry.com
1830 US Federal Census at Ancestry.com
Edmund Rice Assocation
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