Miriam's Got Canadians - Part I

I was so excited to hear that Kathryn Lake Hogan of Looking4Ancestors has begun a Canadian Genealogy Carnival for those of us with Canadian roots! As I started to look through my RootsMagic program to find all my Canadian ancestors for a post for the 1st Edition of this carnival, I realized that I have a LOT of Canadians in my family tree! Wow! I should have started writing quite a while ago!

I don't have to look far to find my first Canadian-born ancestor: it's my Dad. He was born at the U.S. Army Air Force Base hospital in Edmonton, Alberta when his father was stationed there during World War II. With all the fuss about Barack Obama and John McCain's places of birth, I asked Dad why he had to get naturalized as a U.S. citizen at age 16. His response was that since his birth record was certified by the province of Alberta, rather than by the U.S. military, he was considered a Canadian citizen. Reading through the arguments regarding McCain's status, I'm still not convinced that Dad was required to go through the naturalization process. But that's all history, now. Speaking of history, I find it relevant that it's in Dad's family lines that I find all my Canadian ancestors. I divided this post into two parts: his father's Canadian ancestors, and his mother's. I have prefaced each paragraph with the ahnentafel number of my ancestor, and have included a map for easy reference.

View Larger Map

19. Dad's father's maternal grandmother was Mary J. (WILKINSON) LEWIS, and she was born in 1872 in Port Hope, Northumberland (now Durham) Co., Ontario, the eldest of eight known children of John WILKINSON and Mahala SAYERS. In late 1880 or early 1881--just in time to miss both the 1880 U.S. Federal Census and the 1881 Canadian Census!--the WILKINSONs probably emigrated from South Monaghan, Northumberland Co., Ontario to Montague Twp., Muskegon Co., Michigan, along with several of Mahala's siblings and their families. In 1882, they relocated to nearby Whitehall Township. I'm not sure why the families immigrated to America, unless they found land to be cheaper and more abundant work opportunities there (John WILKINSON was a carpenter).

38. Mary's father, John WILKINSON, had been born in 1845 in Woodstock, Oxford Co., Ontario. He was the second of five known children of Richard WILKINSON and Mary LAMOREAUX (or TERRY). I have had great difficulty tracing this family around Ontario. They seem to have moved east and away from Woodstock and settled in York County by 1856 or earlier. This date was the year John's youngest sibling William was born, in Aurora. I currently have no other specific birth locations for any of the other siblings of John and William, and I can't find the family on any census prior to 1871, when they appear in Whitchurch Township (now Whitchurch-Stouffville). Although his parents and siblings were in Whitchurch Township in 1871, John was living about 108 km (67 m) south and east in Port Hope, Northumberland County where he married Mahala SAYERS, and where at least two of his five Canadian-born children were born. Another child was born in Cavan Township in Dunham County (where Mahala's parents were living), and the last child born before they immigrated apparently had a birthplace in South Monaghan, Northumberland County. What complicates locating this family is the fact that both municipal and county names and borders changed or were merged several times between then and the present!

39. John's wife, Mahala SAYERS, was born in 1847 in Prince Edward County (not Island), Ontario, most likely in Athol Township, where her father is known to have owned land from as early as 1837. She was the eighth of apparently 12 children of John Henry SAYERS and Mary CAHOON, both Ulster Scot immigrants from Ireland. Between 1861 and 1871, most of the SAYERS family moved to Cavan Township, Durham County, although it seems that some of Mahala's older married siblings settled in Hastings County. Cavan was only 39 km (24 m) north of Port Hope, so although I don't know how John and Mahala met, it's easy to see why they were living in that community at the time of their marriage. As mentioned above, their first five children were married in at least three Ontario communities relatively close to one another; the last three children were born in Muskegon County, Michigan.

76. Richard John WILKINSON, John's father, was born c. 1815 in Yorkshire, England, according to family records. Although family records state his second child, John, was born in 1845 in Woodstock, Oxford County and death records state his youngest son William was born in 1856 in Aurora, York County, I cannot find Richard himself on any type of record until the 1871 Canadian Census, where he and his wife and four of their five known children were living in Whitchurch Township, York County. I find them there again in 1881, but in 1891, wife Mary is listed as a widow. I have been unable to locate a death record for Richard in the Ontario death records available at Ancestry, even using a variety of names, spellings, Soundex searches, and nameless searches using his birth year (+/- 10 years) and/or birth location.

77. In our family records, my 4th-great-grandmother is listed as both Mary TERRY and Mary LAMOREAUX. In all official records, her maiden name is listed as LAMOREAUX. Our family records state she was born in New Brunswick, but official records say Ontario. Her death record does say both her parents were born in New Brunswick, however. She was born around 1818. Searching the Internet on both surnames, I found information on a James LAMOREAUX born in Markham in 1825, whose surname was changed to TERRY after his mother, Rhoda [--?--] LAMOREAUX re-married to a man by that name. I have tried unsuccessfully several times to contact the author of this information, a man who lived on the other side of this state. I'm not sure if he is no longer living, or has moved, but I would surely love to find out why my ancestor has two surnames! I have sometimes wondered, LAMOREAUX being of obvious French ancestry, if TERRY was a dit name, but it doesn't seem too likely. In researching the TERRY surname, I've determined there were some prominent Loyalists by that name.

After her husband Richard died, Mary lived in the Village of Markham, where she died of pneumonia in 1901. I would love to be able to discover the burial place(s) of Richard and Mary. They are my brick walls and I have been working hard to discover more about them.

78. Mahala SAYERS' father was John Henry SAYERS, born 1811 in Letterkenny, County Donegal, Ireland; he was an Ulster Scot who immigrated with his widowed father William and four siblings to Prince Edward County, Ontario in the 1830s (the family apparently immigrated in several trips). After his marriage to Mary CAHOON in Picton in 1831, we find him owning land in Athol Township from 1837 to at least 1861. By 1871, they had moved to Cavan Township, Dunham County, as stated above. I cannot find him or Mary in the 1881 Canadian Census, so I assume they may have died by then. However, I cannot find either in death records.

79. Mary CAHOON was born about 1816 in Ireland; her father was Preston CAHOON. I do not know where in Ireland she was born, although it wouldn't surprise me if she also came from County Donegal, as her husband did. I also don't know if her father immigrated to Canada. CAHOON can be an alternate spelling of CALHOUN, and I've looked through some extensive family histories of the CALHOUN and CAHOON families (and other spellings), unsuccessfully. I've only seen Mary's marriage record and found her on the 1861 and 1871 Censuses. She's another brick wall.

156. William SAYERS was born in 1758 in Letterkenny, County Donegal, Ireland. His wife's surname was probably GILLESPIE, since that is the name of one of their sons. In the 1830s, when he was 80, he immigrated with family members and neighbors to the Bay of Quinte, Prince Edward County, Ontario. I found extensive information on the family of one of his sons-in-law, Stephen MARTIN, in a history of the Bay of Quinte. The SAYERS family lived all over in both Prince Edward and Hastings Counties. William died at the age of 102 in Hungerford Township, Hastings County. There has been a great deal of research done by various Sayers cousins and myself on the descendants of William. Someday, I hope we can find out more about his ancestry!

Homestead Records Available at Footnote

HOMESTEAD RECORDS BECOME AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET FOR THE FIRST TIME ON FOOTNOTE.COM

Original Records Documenting the Lives of Early Settlers Offer a Unique View Into 19th Century America

Lindon, UT -- September 18, 2008 – In an event held today at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Footnote.com along with several partners announced a project to make available hundreds of thousands of original Homestead Records on the Internet for the first time. This project involved the efforts of organizations including The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the National Parks Service, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and FamilySearch.

“It’s exciting to see various organizations with different strengths and capabilities come together to make this information widely available,” says Russ Wilding, CEO of Footnote.com. “This record collection is just one example how individuals on Footnote.com can connect their own family history to the big picture of American History.”

The Homestead Act of 1862 was a landmark event at a time when the American Nation was being torn apart by the Civil War. These records, most of which have never been microfilmed, contain more than simply the names of those who petitioned the U.S. Government for land. They tell the rich story of a fast-growing country and those men and women eager to live the American dream by becoming land owners.

Footnote.com has already digitized and indexed the Homestead Records from Broken Bow, Nebraska featuring almost 40,000 records. To view samples of these records and see what Footnote users have discovered, click here. Working together with its’ partners, Footnote.com will continue to release more records on the site.

Footnote.com has focused on making real history accessible to everyone and providing tools that enable people to connect with history and with each other.

Footnote.com recently released Footnote Pages, which allows users to create interactive pages for an individual, group, place or event. These pages bring history to life by allowing users to create:

• Interactive timelines and maps
• Photo galleries
• Stories
• Links to other related Footnote Pages and Footnote Members

“We encourage everyone with an interest in these Homestead Records to come and enrich this content with your contributions,” says Wilding. “When people come together and share their insights, a new and exciting side of history is revealed.”

Learn more by visiting http://www.footnote.com

About Footnote.com
Footnote.com is a history website where real history might just surprise you. Footnote.com features millions of searchable original documents, providing users with an unaltered view of the events, places and people that shaped the American nation and the world. At Footnote.com, all are invited to come share, discuss, and collaborate on their discoveries with friends, family, and colleagues. For more information, visit www.footnote.com.

The 56th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy (Parts I and II) Has Been Posted

Poster courtesy footnoteMaven

Lori Thornton of Smoky Mountain Family Historian has just posted Part I and Part II of the 56th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. Lori is a librarian, so it comes as no surprise that the topic of this edition was "Ten Essential Books in My Genealogy Library." She's divided up the carnival into two parts; the first gives the links to the 33 participants' submissions. The second part is "a compilation of the results of those submissions. Which titles are valued most by geneabloggers?" My own submission is "Miriam's Ten Essential Genealogy Books." I have read most of the submissions this past week, as I believe many of their submitters are already on my Google Reader feed list, and I was excited to see some interesting titles that I may just have to purchase for my own library!

The topic for the next edition of the COG will be: I read it in the news! Newspapers can be a wonderful source of family history information. Share some aspect about your family history that you learned about in a newspaper. Articles, advertisements, obituaries, classified ads, photos... all are fair game if they appeared in a newspaper. What did you learn about your family from this information? Was the information accurate? How did you learn about this information... online search? Perusing old newspapers? A clipping saved by a relative? Fill us in on your family scoops... who in your family was in the news? The deadline for submissions is October 1st. The next edition will be hosted at the Creative Gene blog.

Miriam's Ten Essential Genealogy Books

For the 56th Carnival of Genealogy, we have been asked to name the top ten books in our personal genealogy libraries. My list includes those I use on a regular basis either for personal research or for my teachings and presentations, but does not include those I consider essential yet are merely on my wish list. Some of these titles are older editions, and of these, I was lucky enough to win them in one package at one of our society's book auctions several years ago. They may be older tomes, but they serve me well:

1. 1. Ancestry's Red Book: American State, County & Town Sources edited by Alice Eichholz, Ph.D., C.G.
2. 2. The Everything Family Tree Book (2nd Edition) by Kimberly Powell
3. 3. Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace by Elizabeth Shown Mills
4. 4. A History of US (10-volume series) by Joy Hakim
   
5. 5. Michigan Genealogy: Sources & Resources (2nd Edition) by Carol McGinnis
6. 6. New York State Censuses & Substitutes by William Dollarhide
7. 7. Organizing Your Family History Search: Efficient & Effective Ways to Gather and Protect Your Genealogical Research by Sharon DeBartolo Carmack
8. 8. Searching American Probate Records by Fran Carter
9. 9. The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy edited by Arlene Eakle & Johni Cerny
10. 10. Your Guide to the Federal Census for genealogists, researchers, and family historians by Kathleen W. Hinckley
    

Cabinet of Curiosities #9 has Been Posted

Tim Abbot of Walking the Berkshires has just posted Cabinet of Curiosities #9. The "I Know What You Did Last Summer" Edition has eleven submitters and probes the weird, bizarre, and merely odd. Not necessarily a genealogy-related carnival, many genea-bloggers post their entries nonetheless, for who more than genealogists and family historians have numerous collections of curiosities? I always enjoy a walk on the edge whenever I read this carnival!

Tim informs us:

Next month, Cabinet of Curiosities will be hosted by Thomas MacEntee at Destination: Austin Family, and then in November he will pass the baton to M. Diane Rogers of CanadaGeneaology. Submissions for these carnivals can be made to the hosts directly, or via the carnival submission form.

The 5th Edition of the "I Smile for the Camera" Carnival is Posted!

The 5th Edition of the "I Smile For the Camera Carnival" has been posted by the Shady Maven at Shades of the Departed. The theme was "Crowning Glory" and there were a record-setting 54 articles by 52 participants writing about hair (or the lack thereof) or headgear of some sort. My entry was Trijntje Gerrits (DOLSTRA) VALK (1826 - 1912), where you can view a photograph of my 4th-great-grandmother in traditional Dutch clothing, complete with a cap!

Becky Wiseman of kinnexxions will be our host for the 6th Edition, whose topic is "Funny Bone."

Show us that picture that never fails to bring a smile to your face! An amusing incident, a funny face, an unusual situation. Share!

Choose a photograph of an ancestor, relative, yourself, or an orphan photograph that tickles your Funny Bone and bring it to the carnival. Admission is free with every photograph!

Your submission may include as many or as few words as you feel are necessary to describe your treasured photograph. Those words may be in the form of an expressive comment, a quote, a journal entry, a poem (your own or a favorite), a scrapbook page, or a heartfelt article. The choice is yours!

The deadline is midnight, Pacific Daylight Time, October 10th. Submission options include:

1. Send an email to the host, Becky Wiseman. Include the title and permalink URL of the post you are submitting, and the name of your blog. Put "Smile For The Camera" clearly in the title of your email!

2. Use the handy submission form provided by Blog Carnival, or select the Bumper Sticker in the upper right hand corner.

Now, I'm off to do some reading...!

The Family Heirloom Meme is Posted

Julie Cahill Tarr of GenBlog created a Family Heirloom meme. She wanted to know which family heirlooms people would save in the event of a disaster. Eleven genea-bloggers participated (including Julie herself), and she has posted the results here. Even if you weren't able to participate, given the many natural disasters we've seen lately, it is a good thing to do some planning and set those plans into motion.

SSDI - Free on GenealogyBank

Tom Kemp just announced today that the Social Security Death Index database will now be free to access at his website, GenealogyBank.

"So what?" you may be thinking. "I can access the SSDI in several places online for free already."

BUT, the SSDI database at GenealogyBank is the most comprehensive one on the Internet.

It has expanded & enhanced the data – adding the day of the week when the person’s birth or death occurred and the GPS coordinates that many genealogists like to have for their records.

Also, no other site updates the SSDI weekly. Most update every month or longer.

Check out Tom's announcement here.

Family Trees Grow Virally on Geni.com

Site Traffic Tops 1 Million Unique Visitors in August.

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) September 4, 2008 -- Genealogy and family social networking website, Geni.com, announced today that its traffic in August exceeded 1 million unique visitors for the first time and continues to grow rapidly.

Since Geni spends nothing on marketing, its growth is entirely organic and driven by the virality of its family tree application, which asks users to invite a relative when they add him or her to the tree. That relative can then invite other relatives.

The largest tree on Geni now contains profiles of over 600,000 people and was built by over 40,000 users. No other genealogy site can boast of so many users simultaneously participating in a single tree. As a free, easy-to-use web application, Geni is able to mobilize the efforts of anyone interested in their family, in addition to genealogy enthusiasts.

Geni's goal is to build a family tree of the entire world, enabling families to connect, preserve, and share their lives. Geni's features include but are not limited to photo and video sharing, a timeline to preserve family history, and a family calendar for birthday and anniversaries.

Geni has also invested heavily in privacy features based on relatedness, so user information is shared only with close relatives. This automatically protects privacy-minded users who happen to find themselves in a fast-growing tree.

Recently, Geni released a tree-merging feature, which enables two trees to merge when a common relative is invited to both. This process can be repeated many times over, leading to the discovery of new family relationships and strengthening Geni's network effects compared to other genealogy sites.

David Kaleita, a Geni user, stated, "As recently as six weeks ago, I was connected to approximately 3,000 profiles (2/3 of which were manually entered by me and the rest manually entered by other family members) before merging with anyone. Now, several tree merges later, the stats report that I am now connected to 263,288 profiles! More than half of that growth came within the last two days."

Geni spent a year preparing for tree merging. "Prior to developing the intricate tree-merging feature in itself, we needed to develop an extra layer of privacy features that would maintain the safe family environment necessary for sustainable and continuous growth," said David Sacks, CEO of Geni.

By default, user profiles can be seen only by those in their own blood tree or in directly-connected inlaw trees. Inlaws of inlaws are limited to seeing search results only.

About Geni.com:
Geni is like a time capsule for your family that you can open anytime. With some family participation in Geni, descendants will no longer have to wonder what their ancestors were really like.

Geni, Inc. was founded in 2006 by former executives and early employees of PayPal, Yahoo! Groups, Ebay, and Tribe. It is backed by venture capital firms Founders Fund and Charles River Ventures.

Geni launched in 2007 and has won numerous accolades. The 2007 Webware 100 Awards named it one of the top 100 sites on the internet and one of the top 10 reference sites. Geni was named again in 2008 in the social networking category. In March 2008 PC Magazine named Geni a top free software application. In May 2008 Time™ Magazine named Geni.com one of the top 50 Websites in 2008. Last month Family Tree Magazine named Geni to its list of 101 Best Websites.

New URL for JLog

I'm always amazed at the diversity of blogs that come under the heading "genealogy." There are genealogy blogs that focus on family histories, others on local histories, still others on photography as it relates to genealogy, and those highlighting technology as a genealogy tool. One of the "tech-genie" blogs that I follow is JLB's JLog. I received an e-mail today informing me that there's been a server change for the website, which means the blog URL has changed as well. If you haven't visited JLog, be sure to visit; if this is already a favorite, be sure to change your feed settings.

Press Release from Footnote!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Footnote.com Takes Social Networking into the Past

Footnote.com launches Footnote Pages at TechCrunch50

San Francisco -- September 10, 2008 Losing a loved one can result in a range of emotions, from the grief and sorrow to comfort, which often comes from reminiscing stories and memories with family and friends. The challenge arises when there is no single place where all of these stories can easily come together to be shared, enriched and preserved.

Now at Footnote.com, anyone can find or create Footnote Pages where users connect and share stories, photos, and information about the people important to them.

To kick-off the new Footnote Pages, Footnote.com today released over 80 million of these pages created from data from the Social Security Death Index. Most visitors will find existing pages about several deceased friends and family members already on the site.

Footnote.com was selected from over 1,000 applicants to launch Footnote Pages at this year’s TechCrunch50 held in San Francisco. Russ Wilding, CEO of Footnote, demonstrated Footnote Pages to an audience of over 1,500 investors, bloggers, and major media outlets.

“We encourage people to upload their personal shoeboxes of photos and documents to Footnote.com,” explains Wilding. “Now with Footnote Pages, friends and family can come together to share stories and memories about the people they care about.”

Described as Facebook for the Deceased, these pages feature a photo gallery, an interactive timeline and map, and other tools that bring people together to create a more colorful and rich picture of the past. “Social networking is not only for the younger generations any more,” explains Wilding. “We are seeing Baby Boomers contribute and connect online in increasing numbers. Footnote Pages are an easy way for this audience to interact with each other and learn things they would not otherwise know about deceased friends and family.”

Beyond profiling people, Footnote pages can also be used to document and discuss historical events or places including: the Vietnam War, the Assassination of JFK and the Lincoln-Douglas Debates.

Unlike other social networking sites, Footnote.com provides content that enables users to tell and share stories from the past. Through its partnership with the National Archives, Footnote.com has digitized over 43 million documents including historical newspapers, military records, photos and more. Footnote.com adds about 2 million new records to the site every month.

Visit Footnote.com to learn more about Footnote Pages and get a new perspective on the lives of your own friends and family who have passed away.

About Footnote.com
Footnote.com is a history website where real history might just surprise you. Footnote.com features millions of searchable original documents, providing users with an unaltered view of the events, places and people that shaped the American nation and the world. At Footnote.com, all are invited to come share, discuss, and collaborate on their discoveries with friends, family, and colleagues. For more information, visit www.footnote.com.

About TechCrunch50
Founded in 2007 by leading technology blog TechCrunch and entrepreneur Jason Calacanis, the TechCrunch50 conference provides a platform for early-stage, and frequently unfunded, companies to launch for the first time to the technology industry’s most influential venture capitalists, corporations, angel investors, fellow entrepreneurs, and the international media. Companies are selected to participate exclusively on merit. TechCrunch50 is supported by corporate sponsors Google, Microsoft, MySpace, and Yahoo!, as well as venture capital firms including Sequoia Capital, Mayfield Fund, Clearstone Venture Partners, Charles River Ventures, Founders Fund and Fenwick & West.

Wordless Wednesday: George and Josephine (BUSH) DeVRIES

Source: DeVries, Jarig Egbert Binnes "George" and Johanna "Josephine" (Bos/Bush). Undated second-hand digital copy of original photograph. Privately held by Brian DeVries, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Belmont, Michigan. 2007.

This and That

This past week I took a break from blogging, and simply enjoyed being a reader instead. One of the things I like about Google Reader is that, unlike a lot of my Google applications, I can access it at work during my break or lunchtime (the public school's browser filters are naturally very strong, since we're really only supposed to be accessing the Internet for educational purposes). For those of you whose blog feed is set to display only the title or the first paragraph of your post, it can be a bit frustrating not to be able to read the whole thing. If the title or first paragraph truly piques my interest, then I star it and try to remember to come back to them later when I'm at home. Otherwise, they never get read. Hmm...something to consider when you set up your RSS feeds.

* * *

COG poster courtesy of the footnoteMaven

One of the things I enjoyed as a blog reader instead of a blog writer this week was perusing the 55th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy published by Jasia at Creative Gene on Thursday. The theme was "Show and Tell" and 49 bloggers posted 50 articles about their favorite heirlooms, documents, photos, or significant ancestors in this most-participated edition ever! My submission was about my 4th-great-grandmother's cross stitch sampler. Kudos once again to Jasia for an interesting and pleasurable COG, especially as she labored over it while mourning the recent loss of her dear canine friend, Caesar. Jasia is considering some changes to the COG, as it is experiencing some explosive growth in popularity. The 56th Edition's topic will be: 10 essential books in my genealogy library. It will be hosted by Lori Thorton at Smoky Mountain Family Historian. The deadline for submissions will be September 15th, and you can submit your blog article using this carnival submission form.

Speaking of carnivals, I've updated my "September Is..." post with not only carnival deadlines, but deadlines for other genea-blogging events this month. Check it out.

* * *

The Grand Rapids [Michigan] Historical Commission contacted me after coming across my mother's guest post about her school years at Hall Street Elementary. They sought permission to publish my mother's photograph of the school, as they did not have any of the entire front of the structure that they could use on their website (permission has been granted).

And speaking of mom's guests posts, you may recall her mentioning her best friend Beth, with whom she ended up drifting away during their high school years since they had no classes together. Earlier this summer, Beth came across mom's posts and contacted me. When my parents visited Michigan in July, Mom and Beth had a reunion! You never know what will happen when you start a family history and genealogy blog!

* * *

Jessica Oswalt from Jessica's Genejournal awarded me the "I Love Your Blog" Award. Thanks, Jessica! UPDATE: Thank you also to Sheri Fenley of The Educated Genealogist and Thomas MacEntee of Destination: Austin Family for also awarding me this honor! UPDATES #2 and 3: I'm honored that two three more bloggers also picked me for this award: A. Spence of Spence-Lowry Family History, Travis LeMaster of TJL Genes: Preserving Our Family History and Jeanna of RootsReading.com. The rules are to give this award to seven other blogs (with links) and let them know that you have picked them. Also, link back to the person who gave you this award. I am picking seven new-to-me blogs that I have enjoyed recently and hope you will add them to your list of great reads as well:

Amy's Genealogy, etc. Blog
Exploring My Ancestors
Find Your Folks
GeneaDiva's History, Genealogy and "Stuff"
Genealogy Help and Hints
Granite in My Blood
Historical Town Maps Blog

These are just 7 of the currently-214 genealogy-related blogs on my Google Reader list!

* * *

Speaking of great reads, fellow Michigan ancestry blogger and shirt-tail relative Cheryl (her cousin TK is a distant cousin of mine!) has a new URL for her Two Sides of the Ocean blog here after Blogger ate her old one. :-( Be sure to update your feeds or bookmarks, or if this is a new blog to you, check it out!

Taking Time Off This Week

Source: The Midkiff Teens, First Day of School. Digital photograph. 2 September 2008. Privately held by Miriam Robbins Midkiff [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] 2008.

Today was the first day of school for the 2008 - 2009 school year for both myself as a staff member of our local school district, and for my two teens. My mind is swimming with thoughts of all I did with my students today, the news from my teens on their great first day back, and the responsibilities I have as a parent, homemaker, and employee that will fill my hours for the rest of the week. In addition, there are many duties I need to fulfill for my local genealogical society this month, which begins its genealogical year this Saturday.

For these reasons, I will be taking a break this week from writing my weekly Wordless Wednesday column and its corresponding follow-up normally published on Thursday, as well as Friday Findings. The latter I've actually not published for the past few weeks, as I have been so busy, I just haven't had much time for research. The only thing I plan to publish are any pre-written press releases that I may receive via e-mail.

Because it's my daughter's senior year, and because admittedly I let many things slide as a parent last year, I have made a personal commitment to allow myself to let other things go--like blogging--when life gets a bit overwhelming, and just focus on my teenagers. I had a sentimental thought or two this morning as I took my kids' annual "First Day of School" photos and realized that this was many lasts: the last "first day" of public school for my daughter; the last time I would take a photo of the two of them on their shared "first day"; the last time they would have a first day of school when they were both in high school. This time will never be captured again, and I want to be able to savor it. I know my readers will understand.

September Is...

...Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 - October 15)

September 1: Labor Day (United States)
Labour Day (Canada)
("Labor Day and Ancestral Occupations" by Carolyn L. Barkley)

September 1: Ramadan begins

September 7: National Grandparents' Day (U.S. and Canada)
Father's Day (Australia and New Zealand)

September 11: Patriot Day (United States)

September 15: Independence Day
(Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua)

September 16: Independence Day (Mexico)

September 19: Independence Day (Saint Kitts and Nevis)

September 22: Autumnal Equinox (Northern Hemisphere)
Vernal Equinox (Southern Hemisphere)

September 29, sunset: Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year)

Do any of the above events feature in or affect your heritage, culture, or family history?

September Carnivals and Events:

Posted September 4 - the 55th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy - Show and Tell

Posted September 14 - Family Heirlooms Meme

Posted September 15 - the 5th Edition of the "I Smile for the Camera" Carnival - Crowning Glory

Posted September 15 - the 9th Edition of the Cabinet of Curiosities

Posted September 17 - the 56th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy - Ten Essential Books in My Genealogy Library - Part I and Part II

Posted September 24 - 1st Edition of the Canadian Genealogy Carnival - My Ancestor was Canadian, Eh!

Posted September 24 - 11th Edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy - First (Given) Names

Posted September 25 - the 8th Edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture - Back to School

September 1 - Data Backup Day

It's Data Backup Day
by Thomas MacEntee of Destination: Austin Family

Don't Be Blogged Gone: Tips for Keeping Your Blog Backed Up and Secure
by Elizabeth O'Neal of Little Bytes of Life

Scanfest: Sunday, September 28th, 11 AM - 2 PM, Pacific Daylight Time

Go here to learn how to join Scanfest and our group of chatting, scanning family archivists, historians, and bloggers!

Go here to add the above deadlines and dates to your Google Calendar,
courtesy of Thomas MacEntee of Destination: Austin Family.

Family Tree Magazine Has a New Website!

Have you seen Family Tree Magazine's new website? It's amazing! Not only am I a devoted reader of their magazine, which is a fabulous resource in and of itself, but I have been a regular user of their website for quite a while, recommending it as a necessity to the students of my online genealogy courses. Completely apart from their magazine, this website is a must-visit one for anyone serious about their genealogy. I particularly enjoy the 101 Best Websites of the Year lists they've been running for a number of years now, plus all the heritage resources.

The site now has a new, clean look with easy-to-find links to the many resources available: links to articles, free forms and charts, state research guides, videos and podcasts. Nearly everything on this site is free, and the few for-sale items (such as their helpful state research guides) they offer are priced are very reasonably. You can now order them easily online! Family Tree Magazine has worked hard to create an online presence that's user-friendly, and their forums and blogs are great places to interact with others and stay abreast of all the current genealogy news. Many of the links now have RSS feeds, so you can be alerted whenever there are updates!

You do not have to have a subscription to their magazine to access the site, but I'm telling you, once you see how wonderful it is, you'll want to subscribe! The magazine offers articles of interest to those at any level of research experience: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. I encourage you to check out the website and seriously consider subscribing to their magazine.

September 2008 EWGS General Meeting to Be Held at Shadle Library

The first meeting of the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society's 2008 - 2009 genealogical year will be held at Shadle Branch (2111 W. Wellesley Ave.) of the Spokane Public Library in the meeting room next Saturday, September 6th. This is a different location from our regular meeting place, the Downtown Branch Library. Coffee, cookies, and conversation will begin at 12:30 PM. At 1:00, the business portion of our meeting will begin, and at 1:30 our main program will begin. The topic of this meeting is "Oh, the Places We Went," and members and guests alike are invited to partake in sharing the great genealogical finds during summer research trips. This meeting is free and open to the general public and will end around 2:30 PM.

Parking is free, but somewhat limited in the library parking lot. Street parking along the east side of Belt Street is available, with a short walk across the edge of the park to the library. The library is also accessible via several of Spokane Transit's bus routes.

There will be various genealogical items sold at our society's Ways and Means table, as well as raffling a certificate worth $25 towards our October Workshop with Barbara Nuehring! Because the workshop cost is $25 for society members and $30 for non-members, for the winner this means either free registration or having to only pay $5 towards registration, depending upon whether they are a member.

Raffle tickets will be $1 each or $5 for half a dozen tickets.

This is a great opportunity to learn a little about the society in an informal manner and get to know others who are as passionate (or crazy!) about family history as you are!

If you have any questions, please e-mail Miriam Robbins Midkiff.

Launch of 1911 England Census in 2009

Findmypast.com, in association with the National Archives, will be managing the launch of the 1911 census, in 2009. This mammoth project is underway at this very moment.

www.1911census.co.uk will be the first, and for a time the only place to access the 1911 census online. If you haven't already, then be sure to register on the site in order to receive the latest updates and be among the first to use the census at its launch.

FamilySearch Update: 1905 South Dakota Census and German Church Books Added

FamilySearch added the 1905 South Dakota State Census and German church books to its pilot Record Search collection online. The total number of names available for searching on the pilot site is now 478,034,410. The entire collection can be searched for free directly online at http://pilot.familysearch.org.

Collection Name	Indexed Records	Digital Images	Comments
1905 South Dakota State Census	472,575	472,575	New
Germany, Brandenburg, Church Books	0	248,852	Updated
Germany, Posen, Church Books	0	35,240	Updated

News from WorldVitalRecords.com

WorldVitalRecords.com just published its 100th issue of its free newsletter, the Family History Bulletin. You can take a look at some of their original newsletters and see how it's evolved over time. They've also announced a new partnership with the Dundurn Group to bring more than 400 genealogical and historical books online. And lastly, they are still offering their World Games Special of $88.08 for a one-year membership to their world collection, a savings of over $60.

Labor Day Savings from Genealogical.com

This Labor Day weekend, you can save $$ on some of your favorite genealogy products. From today through 11:59 PM EDT, Monday, September 1, 2008, you can order any product available at www.genealogical.com at a discount of 15% off the current selling price of the books(s) or CD(s) of your choice.

To take advantage of this holiday discount, simply add the special code LD08 (caps, no spaces) in the Discount Code box on the “Calculate Shipping and Discounts” page of the check-out process.

You can use your special LD08 discount code as many times as you like, so long as you place your final order by 11:59 PM EDT, Monday, September 1, 2008.

You can use your holiday code on anything you find at www.genealogical.com, including

• besting-selling books, such as the indispensable Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses, 1790-1920;
  
• 2008 publications, such as Patty B. Myers’ Female Index to "Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England" by James Savage;
  
• our complete selection of CDs; and
  
• hundreds of Genealogy Warehouse books already reduced by 40%-50% or more.

Be sure to take advantage of this terrific opportunity while you can, and have a great holiday weekend.

CONTACT US

www.genealogical.com is the online home of Genealogical Publishing Company and its affiliate, Clearfield Company. For general information about our companies and their products, please e-mail us at info@genealogical.com. To order on-line, please e-mail us at sales@genealogical.com.

To order other than online, you can:

1. Order by mail: 3600 Clipper Mill Road, Suite 260 - Baltimore, Maryland 21211-1953
2. Fax your order to 1-410-752-8492
3. Call toll-free to our sales department at 1-800-296-6687

The Grave of Orville Isaac LUKE (1855 - 1943)

Source: Gravestone of Orville Isaac Luke, Park Hill Cemetery, Vancouver, Washington. Digital photograph. Privately held by Miriam Robbins Midkiff, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Spokane, Washington. 2004.

A number of years ago, before I was a member of the Eastern Washington Genealogical Conference, I attended one of their annual October workshops, and noticed a three-volume set of books for sale on their auction table. Excitedly, I realized that it was Park Hill Cemetery (Vancouver, Washington) published by the Clark County Genealogical Society, and although I really couldn't afford it at the time, I purchased the set, because I knew many relatives of my husband were buried there. After I got it home and started looking up his various surnames, I began to realize just how many of his family members were interred at Park Hill. Many names of collateral relatives--siblings of some of my children's father's great-grandparents who actually were buried in other cities altogether--were found listed in the books. These transcriptions are now available online, so I have passed on the volumes.

We try to visit my children's paternal grandfather at least once a year (it's a 360-mile one-way trip), and four years ago, we visited on Memorial Day. I thought it would be a perfect time to visit area cemeteries and we made the most of it that weekend, visiting three cemeteries within 55 miles. While we were mostly recording my children's paternal family's burials, one cemetery held the graves of one set of my great-great-grandparents; two of only four ancestors of mine buried west of the Mississippi River.

This grave of Orville Isaac LUKE, although surrounded by others, is "alone" as far as not having other apparent family members' graves nearby. Orville was the third of 14 children of Isaac LUKE and Rebecca HEWITT, and an older brother of my children's father's maternal great-great-grandmother, Angelia Rebecca (LUKE) MARTIN. I have not researched Orville nor his family, but what little information I have shows that he was born 17 March 1855 in Wonewac, Juneau Co., Wisconsin; that he was married first to Laura JOINER on 23 September 1883 in Ironton, Sauk Co., Wisconsin; that he later married Chloe May SMITH and had at least one child, Homer Oscar LUKE, b. 10 May 1892 in Bon Homme Co., South Dakota.

When Orville died 23 March 1943, he was buried in Section D of the cemetery. Homer was the lot owner, but he and his wife Jennie were buried in Section V. Chloe, whose cemetery information states that she was born in Minnesota in 1871, died 21 April 1937 (probably in Vancouver) and was buried in Section C. There are also three other Luke family members buried in two other sections of the cemetery, and until more research is done, it is not known if they are related. I find it curious that this family did not have a central plot, but perhaps they could not afford to do so, and bought each plot as needed, based upon what was available and what they could afford.

Got Canadians?

carnival poster created by the footnoteMaven

Do you have Canadian ancestry? Then there's a brand new genealogy carnival, just for you! Kathryn of Looking4Ancestors recently announced the 1st Edition of the Canadian Genealogy Carnival whose topic is to introduce your Canadian ancestors:

Who were they? How did they get here? Where did they live? Did they move? Do you still have family in Canada? Share with us a bit about your Canadian roots.

September 21st is the deadline for submissions. Use the carnival submission form (http://blogcarnival.com/bc/submit_5009.html) to submit your blog article for the Canadian Genealogy Carnival.

News from the JewishGen Conference

Last week while I was on vacation, Schelly Talalay Dardashti of Tracing the Tribe, sent some links from her blog to me and other genea-bloggers about the JewishGen 2008 Conference being held in Chicago. Here they are:

Chicago 2008: JewishGen-Ancestry press release

Chicago 2008: A new chapter, Part 1

Chicago 2008: A new chapter, Part 2

Chicago 2008: Logo controversy

Chicago 2008: Cook County records online

Chicago 2008: Logan Kleinwaks

Chicago 2008: IAJGS awards, elections

Wordless Wednesday: The Grave of Orville Isaac LUKE (1855 - 1943)

Source: Gravestone of Orville Isaac Luke, Park Hill Cemetery, Vancouver, Washington. Digital photograph. Privately held by Miriam Robbins Midkiff, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Spokane, Washington. 2004.

Yet Another FamilySearch Update!

Isn't this exciting! This is the third FamilySearch update in recent weeks!

25 August 2008

FamilySearch has updated or added three new free databases this week to its online pilot program at http://pilot.familysearch.org. The new additions represent over 9 million new names. There are now over 477 million searchable names on the pilot site.

Current indexing projects include the 1920 U.S Census, 1869 Argentina Census, 1930 Mexico Census, 1945 Florida State Census, Louisiana Deaths, German Church Records, Italy Church Records, Spain Church Records, Venezuela Church Records, and Nicaragua Civil Registration Records.

A sincere thanks goes out to the great online community of FamilySearch volunteer indexers for their great work in these initiatives. Individuals willing to help with any of the current or upcoming indexing projects can begin immediately by registering online at www.FamilySearchIndexing.org. The more volunteers participating, the more records FamilySearch will be able to make freely available online—quicker.

1870 U.S. Federal Census

Thirteen new states and almost 9 million names were added to the free 1870 U.S. Census index online. Indexes are now available for Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Dakota Territory, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wyoming. Digital images can be searched for all states except Kentucky, Vermont, and Virginia.

West Virginia Births Index

A searchable name index for West Virginia Births for 1853 to 1930 has been added. This project includes 220,000 names and is 76% complete. For a list of counties indexed in the collection to-date, see the project description at http://pilot.familysearch.org. No images currently.

West Virginia Deaths Index

The West Virginia Deaths Index 1853 to 1870 is now available online. Over 266,00 names were added, and it is 80% complete. This is an index of both statewide and county death records. A link to digital images on the West Virginia Division of Culture and History website is provided from the index.

Summary of Current Projects/Updates

Collection Name	Record Type	Comments
1870 US Census	Searchable database online	Updated – 13 new states
WV Births	Searchable database online	Updated – 14 new counties
WV Deaths	Searchable database online	Updated – 14 new counties
1920 U.S. Census	Indexing Project	New states added
1869 Argentina Census	Indexing Project	New in cue
1930 Mexico Census	Indexing Project	New states added
1945 Florida State Census	Indexing Project	New in cue
German Church Records	Indexing Project	New in cue
Italy Church Records	Indexing Project	New in cue
Louisiana Deaths	Indexing Project	New counties added
Nicaragua Civil Registration	Indexing Project	New in cue
Spain Church Records	Indexing Project	New in cue
Venezuela Church Records	Indexing Project	New in cue

The Genea-Bloggers Group Games are Completed

Thomas of Destination: Austin Family today posted the Closing Ceremonies of the Genea-Bloggers Group Games of 2008 (great job, by the way, Thomas!). Included in his statements was the announcement of the 2010 Genea-Blogger Group Games, hopefully to be hosted by our Canadian Genea-Blogging friends, as a tribute to the Olympic Games being held in Vancouver, British Columbia.

I earned the following medals, created by our own lovely footnoteMaven:

A platinum medal for "Citing Sources."

A diamond medal for "Organizing Research."

A gold medal for the "Write, Write, Write!" category.

A second gold medal for "Genealogical Acts of Kindness."

In addition, I received--along with Thomas and Kathryn--a lovely surprise from the participants and fans for our work administrating the Games. This, too, was designed by the footnoteMaven:

I'm honored to have received all of these medals. I'm especially pleased by the level of participation and the hard work performed by all those who joined. Kudos, too, to the fans who cheered us on despite not being able to join due to other commitments. As I read through the final tallies postings of those who "competed," I see again and again the theme of how the different events caused many of them to stretch beyond their comfort zones in technology and social networking, raise their standards of research and writing, become motivated to be more organized, and raise their awareness of the necessity of backing up their data. I'm especially pleased by how many medals were earned in the "Acts of Kindness" category--pleased, but not surprised. Genealogists, family historians--whatever term you prefer--tend to be the most helpful, kind, and sharing group of people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting!

What a wonderful way to wrap up the summer! As I head into the school year, I look forward to what the genealogical year will bring, both in my local society and in my online networks.